Back in Black ... it gets personal

Hi, everyone - MP here!

First of all, let me just say - THANK YOU to all who spread the word on their blogs, FB pages, Twitter, etc. about Finn's Comment-A-Thon in conjunction with the Back in Black 2 event!  

I had some personal stuff going on this weekend, so imagine my surprise when I checked the blog this morning and found that thanks to all of you spreading the word, we have now exceeded our goal of one hundred comments!  I hope we'll get even more, as we still have ten days to run! So if you haven't already - leave your comments HERE! We are very happy to have the opportunity to give a small amount of aid to an animal rescue or shelter close to your hearts.  

Now, on to the main reason for today's post.  The Back in Black event is very personal this time around, because a friend of mine has found herself in need (for medical reasons) of rehoming her three cats.  In fact, we have already found placements for two of them, but the Black Beauty of the trio, Bella, is still in need of a home.  My friend, S, who I have known for some ten years, was approached by a family member approximately two years ago about taking in a mother cat and her kittens who had been found as strays.  She did so, and was able to find loving homes for all but two of the kittens, and Bella, the mom.  S. has severe asthma, but what she didn't know at the time, and found out about nine months ago, is that she also has a very severe cat allergy (diagnosed via allergy tests).  Despite this, she was very reluctant to give the cats up, not only because of her own personal attachment to them, but for fear of where they could possibly go.  Shelters are more jam-packed than ever, and even more critically underfunded, so she made some practical adjustments around the house - banning them from her bedroom, replacing her upholstered furniture with leather, etc. to try to reduce the amount of dander, but she has continued to suffer, and recently her allergist advised her that she really needed to seriously consider trying to find homes for the cats.  I was able to help her do that with two of them (the now-adult kittens), but we have been unable to find a suitable home for Bella.  Rescues and sanctuaries are over capacity right now as it is kitten season, and what S. is finding is that even with two of the cats out of the home, she is not seeing any real improvement in her symptoms.  Therefore, the need still exists to find Bella a new home where she will be safe and loved for the rest of her life. 

A bit of pertinent information:  

Bella is a medium/long haired, stunningly beautiful girl of approximately five years of age.  She is in good health with no known medical issues.  She uses the litter box reliably.  She is very affectionate, and loves attention.  She is always there to greet S. when she returns home from being away, and one thing that really bothers S. is that she cannot give Bella the physical attention, petting, cuddling, etc. that she obviously craves as to do so brings on a severe allergy/asthma attack, and requires her to use her inhaler. As she has lived with other cats, it would seem that Bella would be able to integrate into a house with another cat or cats, assuming introductions were done properly, but she would probably also not mind being an only cat, provided she got plenty of attention and interaction from her person/people.  She is good with calm children, but has never been around dogs.  She is spayed, vaccinated, and FIV and Feluk negative.  Any reasonable additional vetting that the new adopter would like to be done can and will be done, and S. is willing to consider out of area adopters if the right home can be found.  Additionally, she will hold on to Bella  for as long as it takes to find the right home for her.  

If anyone is interested, or knows someone who is, they can email me at:  tuckertellsall@gmail.com and I will forward the emails on to S. It would also be great if you could pass the word along in any manner you see fit.

Thank you!