The Assertive Cancer Patient

Kitten Face

Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of a two and a half week old kitten? With a digital camera (between the time you click the shutter and the camera fires, the kitten has turned its head ...)?

It took two of us (you can't tell unless you look closely, but my friend is holding the kitten in a head lock--the kind of move that would be illegal in wrestling), and even so only one of the three shots I snapped was useable.

The foster kittens are growing, eating, sleeping, purring, and one of them is up walking on his legs. The other three are still doing the kitten crawl, with their fat little tummies on the ground.

Zoe, Dubutaunt's daughter, has naming rights. Except for one, which was named by the kids I teach Japanese to at First Place School. They named him Kuro-neko-chan, which means "little black cat." Very appropriate. If I have a favorite, it's that little guy. But really, my favorite is whichever one I'm holding at the time.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

The Kittens Are Awake!

This is a good reason to get out of bed early: four 10-day-old kittens who need to be bottle fed.

The babies arrived last night, dropped off by an Animal Talk Rescue volunteer who had had them for the past two or three days. I get the bottle babies because I'm home during the day and can feed them frequently, and because I have an adult cat who would be upset if I fostered a nursing feral mother.

He doesn't mind kittens, and the dogs like them, especially the Golden Retriever. What is not to like about this breed? The Golden, who is Younger Son's dog, lets kittens pounce on his tail and walk all over him. He just smiles his doggy smile and washes them.

These babies are too young for that kind of play, of course. But they are chubby and eating well and just starting to move around with some purpose.

They also didn't wake up especially early. I was listening for them and didn't hear a peep until after 7. Good kittens!

Here they're asleep. Can you see four kittens in this pile of bodies?

They're in a crate with a heating pad and towels to keep them warm.

Oh, and when they nurse on the bottle, their little ears move with each gulp, because they are nursing so hard.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Beautiful October Light

My house faces west, so the front rooms and the porch are flooded with warm light in the late afternoons. The light filters through the three birch trees on the steep slope that is my front garden, making dappled shadows that dance across the walls.

It's great light for taking pictures, as you can see from these shots of one of the three kittens I am fostering. My favorite kitten is whichever one I am cuddling or feeding at the moment, but this little darling was the first one through the door when I called for a volunteer to be photographed.

He doesn't have a name yet, and in fact I haven't even looked yet to see if he is a HE, but that will come. For now, I call him Grey-kins, Tiny-kins, and Smokey, in turns. This kitten and its litter-mate are about 3 weeks old.

The third baby is about a week older. It was a single so Missy at the rescue put it in with the other two for better socialization.

I've been a volunteer with Animal Talk Rescue for at least six years now. My job is to take the bottle-babies, orphaned kittens that are not yet weaned, because they need to be fed every few hours. I can do that because I'm at home during the day.

When these little munchkins are about 8 weeks old, they'll go back to the rescue and then to new homes.

Feeling generous? Animal Talk can always use your help: Animal Talk Rescue

Jeanne's Causes

One of the ways I cope with having metastatic cancer is to make sure my life is NOT ALL ABOUT CANCER.

One of the ways I do that is to volunteer for causes I care about. And, for the most part, the organizations and people I work with are not aware that I even have cancer. So I get a break there.

Right now, I am volunteering to help homeless kids and homeless kittens. A sad irony, the cats' lives are often better than the kids'.

I volunteer once a week at First Place, an incredible school here in Seattle for grade-school-age kids who are "in transition." None of these kids actually is living on the streets. They live in shelters and other housing for families who have been homeless.

My job is to run the Japanese Club. It's a once-a-week commitment, for just an hour. And I love it.

I teach the kids some Japanese. We do origami. We practice picking up jelly beans with chopsticks. We draw maps of Japan and talk about the ways people in Japan are different from us: They bow. We shake hands. If you try to do both at the same time (a common occurrence when East meets West), you bump heads.

The kids love that last part.

First Place can always use help. The school needs money. It needs donations (check the Web site to see what is needed right now). It needs volunteers, warm bodies to make a difference. First Place especially needs male mentors: guys who can spend at hour a week at the school just being friends with a little boy.

First Place School

Kitten Therapy
I call it kitten therapy.

I've been a volunteer with Animal Talk Rescue for about six years now. In fact, right now I'm fostering the tiny kitten I mentioned earlier, Percival. Two of my pets, one cat and my dog, Constant, came to me through the rescue.

So I know what good work this no-kill shelter does. Animal Talk's mission is "to end the plight and suffering of homeless, neglected, and abused companion animals, also to educate the public about the benefits of spaying and neutering."

The shelter can always use help--anything from fostering animals to a donation of old towels. Cash is also good.

Animal Talk Rescue

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.