Leo the Little Lion and his fan club

Leo, the big boned, large framed, 7 lb cat has had a hard life. Someone put him outside after declawing him, where he begged for food and probably warm laps too. At some point, Leo got sick, developed diabetes and was turned in to a kill shelter. He was a very sick boy. He'd lost probably half of his body weight or more from the ravages of this illness. Diabetes is no easy thing for a cat, and especially not for an outdoor, un-homed cat. Once in the shelter, Leo faced certain death, were it not for a lady who contacted one of FDMB's board members, Ken (and Sneakers). Ken was so keen to get Leo off death row that he actually was seriously considering giving up one of his own precious babies to save Leo. Thinking that his baby girl kitten, Tabitha, could be adopted easily, he was willing to lose her to save Leo. He posted on the FDMB.. could anyone save this sweet boy? Kind people who could not take him in had pledged money to the adopter for medical costs. Every member who saw the post had their heart broken with worry. All members have full or overfull homes.

Jennifer (tuckersmom), another member of FDMB, was thinking of how to take him into her already overcrowded home of specially abled kitties. I saw the post, after having missed the first post, and responded immediately. I knew the cat was meant to be mine. Sometimes you just know those things. Jennifer and I talked in PM, and I told her I wasn't sure if I could get Leo past Ronnie, who has many allergies, chief among them - cats. I sent an email to my good friend Jenn (and Sabrina). "Please help me, I'm about to adopt that cat on Community." When stuff happens so fast, you start to feel impulsive and reckless. The last thing you want to do is take a cat in a bad situation and somehow make it worse. Jenn sent an email back. I can't remember her exact wording, but basically she told me I was too far gone to stop. She was right of course.

At lunch, I called Ronnie, and the planets shifted and my wonderful man said "Yes". I was ecstatic, I couldn't believe I was so hooked on this cat already. Then the love really started. I was contacted by a money donor. She really wanted to help the cat, but she already had too many. Another money donor. And another. Syringe donors, meter donors, and people just sending good wishes. The board really comes together for these babies. God bless every one of you. I happened to have room in my home for Leo, and am glad I could help him, but I could not do it without your support, and cheering me on.

People clamored for updates, wanted pictures, wanted to know how he was. Ken picked Leo up for the week before bringing him to me and did his best to stabilize our young lion. He fed and fed (and fed!) the cat with no bottom. He monitored him, worried about him, fussed over him, and most importantly let Leo know he was loved. He provided updates for all of us, took pictures, and kept us all up to date on his day to day life with poignant stories of Leo greeting him at the door, or laying with his head in Ken's lap.

I could not imagine a more loving group of people than the FDMB, and that makes YOU the best Fan Club ever. For you guys, who cheer like proud parents over every single out of focus picture I upload, thank you. I will try to do you justice.

Here's Leo, a mere 3 weeks after that shelter picture was taken, after stealing my seat to bathe himself.

*gack*

Gack. An interesting word, isn't it? It's one of those words that sounds like what it is, like puncture or titillate. I digress. Gack actually references what happens when you do bad "crank" (some kind of Methamphetamine drug or something) when the idiot's "gag reflex is triggered by the extreme burning sensation of the nasal passages when the drug is snorted, and the very bitter taste as it drains down the back of the throat" as per the Urban Dictionary. I digress again.

We've been gacking in our house. Leo farts. Can you believe that? A farting cat! Roxanne and Niko are mortified, and want to move out. Niko put his own harness on all by himself last night. When all the gas runs out of him and Leo leaves that dog-size poo we were talking about the other day, and doesn't bury it... *gack*

Last night, Ronnie was minding his own business, as he tends to do when he's watching House, Leo hopped up on the couch next to him and let one rip. Then he turned around and looked at Ronnie innocently just before Ronnie dove under the backrest pillow for relief. That hurt Leo's feelings. I think I will create some anti-poot devices so that Leo can be more comfortable in our home and less insecure. Now, it's KNIT ONE PURL TWO right?

Leo Stalks Innocent Prey

We're home! Gosh it was so much fun. Here's a brief rundown of what happened in Atlantic City so we can get to the Leo story:

Wednesday: We (me, Ronnie, Mike and Kathy) leave Virginia Beach at 8:30am, spend 5 hours driving and 3 hours sitting in traffic before arriving in Atlantic City. We check into Bally's (comp'd room) and promptly get lost. We finally locate our hotel room and promptly get lost again. Fortunately we are able to find a doorway out to the boardwalk and find ourselves playing poker at Caesars. We drink. We get hit up by bums. No one remembers anything else.

Thursday: Apparently we found our way back to our hotel room because we all wake up the next morning in the correct beds. I find a Starbucks, we meet up, we get lost, we find poker, play more poker, get lost trying to find food, drink more. There are a lot of bums here! We eat Thanksgiving dinner at a burger joint at 2am. We all agree it's the best Thanksgiving dinner we've ever eaten. No one remembers anything else.

Friday: We find ourselves back in our beds in our hotel room, and make arrangements to check out and go check into our new cat-friendly hotel room where we are to meet up later. We nap. We leave and go to The Borgata. Ahhh The Borgata is beautiful. Then Carolyn finds the Keno game on the video poker machine. Jackpot! We "play" more poker at Borgata (players have more money than brains), drink more, lose more, drink more and back to video Keno to make up what we lost. We notice we never get lost in the Borgata and there are no bums here.

Leo-day: We get up, shower, and Andrea calls. She's on her way! Yay! No one is sure where Jenn is, but we know she's coming too. We pick Andrea up and head for the Borgata. We teach her how to play Keno, we eat, drink, play a poker tournament badly, and wait for Jenn. YAY! Jenn makes it to the Borgata and we all head back to the hotel room and meet Ken, who has driven at the speed of sound to get to AC with Leo. Andrea has a Lantus emergency and has to head home early, so she doesn't get to meet Ken and Leo. Leo makes himself right at home in the hotel room. He discovers Ronnie and decides that Ronnie would make a nice human. Ronnie pretends to be horrified, but secretly he is probably flattered. We leave Leo to relax for a few hours and head back to Harrah's to meet up with Kathy and Mike. Ahhhhhhh finally we find people who know how to play good poker! Ronnie and I make up what we've lost and teach Jenn how to play poker and order drinks. She shows definite talent in that department! We leave poker and go to see a band at a bar. We close that bar out and leave for the hotel room where we proceed to stay up til 6am with a bottle of Jack Daniels and Leo, who's perfectly happy with that decision.

Sunday: Uh-oh. 3 hours sleep and a long drive home facing us. Jenn takes me to a diner. New Jersey has a redeeming quality! If you have never been to a diner in NJ, you must go. I had the best french toast I have ever had and I'm from Connecticut, a state that has perfected french toast. Jenn leaves to go home, Ronnie and I nap and at 5:30pm we hit the road for Virginia Beach in the rain. Leo takes up residence on the well covered backseat, with a litter pan on the floor for a portable restroom.

About 2 hours later, Leo is hungry. We stop, feed Leo and clean his box. This becomes a pattern, where every two hours we have to stop and feed Leo and clean his box. It's raining and traffic is barely moving. Leo's a very hungry boy, eating about 18oz of canned food a day. We seem to be making almost no progress due to the rain several hours later, when a smell begins to permeate the Rodeo. O. M. G. Eye bleedingly bad.

Naturally, by now it's 10pm, I'm on the Eastern shore and nothing is open on my side of the road. It's raining and I don't feel like I really want to stand in the rain to clean out his box, but I'm game since the smell is horrendous. An HOUR later I find a Royal station open. I am so overcome by the fumes at this point that I may never sleep again and I am sure my nostrils have burn marks inside them. I open the back door, and in the litter box is the biggest cat poop I have ever seen. I am immediately reminded of the Newfoundland poops I saw growing up. Those are large black dogs, the size of Saint Bernards. This is a 7lb cat. I have never cleaned a cat box so fast in my life. Ronnie wakes up and says, "what's that smell?" I glare at him and we hit the road again.

Next post: And then there were three. Again.