Holiday Recap, Part 1: The Tails of Romona and Zod

As part of wrapping up 2013, we're going to do multiple parts of what would traditionally be our holiday newsletter. There's just so much great stuff to share, and we're kicking it off with this testimony from Karen, who adopted Ella and Cadbury, now Ramona and Zod.
-Elizabeth

The Tails of Romona and Zod
By Karen

Some kids say “mama” first, or maybe “dada.” But for our third daughter, the first word to emerge out of her incoherent babble this summer was “ca! ca!,” which she emphatically spit out whenever one of the pointy-eared furry creatures sauntered into the room. Whether it was Romana, our Torgie mama cat, or her kitten Zod, it’s hard to say--when she enthusiastically scooted her way at them, chubby baby fingers grasping, you can hardly blame a cat for dashing for higher ground.

Now that Amelia is a bit older, she has learned from her older sisters how to (gently!) play with these two wonderful cats that came into our lives in April. We had been without a pet since our cat Saavik had died the year before, so when Elizabeth Leis-Newman of Walter Rescue contacted us about Romana (then Ella) and her litter of kittens, we were happy to check them out. After our family visited the cats with Stephanie, their foster parent, we knew it was a good match. In a few short weeks the two remaining cats joined our family and we renamed them after some of our favorites characters from science fiction.

Now, when not chasing our girls’ ribbons and dangling craft yarn, Zod can often be found scooped up in their arms. I might as well be honest: he did wear a baby bonnet at one point, although I’m sure as a teenage cat with a lot of dignity, he’d deny it now. Meanwhile, his mom’s favorite time seems to be when I can sit down at the end of the day and she can curl up in my lap.

It is hard to imagine that if Walter Rescue hadn’t taken on these cats, they wouldn’t be a part of our lives. We are so grateful every day to Elizabeth and Stephanie for taking such care with our cats and for the work they do all the time to unite animals with the people like us that will come to love them.