I spent all day at work today doing absolutely nothing work-related but
emailing incessantly with 4 different people about Annie, Marbles, and Riley.
This is the situation now and I know it is not what some people suggested and,
yes, I do feel bad in some ways:

Annie has been removed from the store and put back into foster care for the
time being.  They felt she has a bad case of "cage-itis" and needs to calm down
a bit.  I went tonight and she was, indeed, gone.

While I was emailing all morning with the Pres. of this rescue group, the VP
(or it may be the other way around) was making arrangements for Annie.  She
emailed me at 12:34 pm that Annie would be removed but sent it to the wrong
email adrs.  When I finally got it at almost 5pm, Annie was already removed.  I
was not aware that she was going to be moved today.  In her email, she gave me
the phone # of the woman who was moving her from the store.  I attempted to
call her twice but got no answer.

Meanwhile, I had been to the Petsmart by my work at lunch (Annie was at the one
by my house 13 miles away) and saw, again, Marbles, the tux who I saw yesterday
who was in a cage with a cat named Precious.  They both came from the same home
but their card didn't say they had to go together.  I didn't want to split them
up, though, in the hopes that maybe someone would adopt them together.  I saw
another tux named Riley, who I had seen yesterday also but he didn't have a
card.  Someone from the group was there and said he had been adopted last
Sunday and returned later in the day because he didn't get along with the
adopter's cats (!!!!).  She said she was waiting for some info on him and his
card would be up later today.  I held Riley, he was soooo sweet, chatty, and
cute.  I contemplated adopting him.

When I got back to work, I had a bunch of emails.  The woman from the group
(Heather) who I had been emailing all morning had asked both Riley's and
Marbles' former moms to email me detailed info about both of them.  They had
both been given up because their children had developed severe allergies to
them (whatever!).  Well, I had almost convinced myself to take Riley until I
read his mom's emails.  In a nutshell she said:

He is one year old.  He was originally one of 3 cats.  One of their 3 cats died
leaving 2.  Then they had a baby (the allergic one) so they decided to get rid
of one of them in the hopes that the kid's allergies would abate enough.  Riley
was the one they kept.  He then began to pee all over things and ruined their
couch.  He had been aggressive with the other neutered male cat they had,
fighting for dominance all the time.  He made a lot of noise at night banging
around in the blinds.  He ate every plant they had.  He tried to get outside
every chance he got even tho he was an indoor cat.  Well, hmmm, I thought this
may not be what I want to get into.  I hate to have my male cat, Scottie, who
is so nice, getting beat up all the time.  And the peeing worried me, too.  The
former mom, Audra, kept saying how sweet he was and she would never have gotten
rid of him if it had only been the peeing but that it was the allergies that
made her get rid of him.  Uh-huh.  Well, this is even a sadder situation than
Annie's but I'm not taking him.

Marbles' mom emailed me that he is very mellow, never sprayed or peed
inappropriately, did not fight with other cats, just likes to sit in laps,
watch birds, and talk to you.  He is 6 so he is past his wild teenage and young
adult years.  She also said she had never intended that he and Precious needed
to be kept together.  She said they were friendly but not real close.

So, on my way home, I decided to stop back in just to see Riley and Marbles
again.  Well, Marbles' cage-mate, the cat who he lived with in his former home,
had a hold on their cage saying someone was buying her tomorrow.  So they had
been split up anyway.  Annie was now in foster care, Riley was a definite no
for me, and Marbles was going to be without his friend anyway so I paid for
Marbles.  I didn't have my carrier with me since I wasn't planning to get a cat
today and I wanted to get things straightened up here and litter boxes cleaned,
etc. so I'm bringing him home tomorrow night after work.  And here's a
clincher, I went to look at Riley and he had a card on his cage now and he's
declawed!!!!!!  (I hadn't noticed that when I held him).  So, hmmmm, I wonder
why he has a peeing problem.  Poor guy, he's got a lot going against him.  And
there was also a letter from his former mom attached to the card saying all
those things about him peeing, etc., but attributing it to the fact that he
didn't want to be an only cat.  So I don't know what the future will hold for
Riley, either.  I guess he's very lucky he's with a no-kill rescue.  But yet
another sad story.

So....tomorrow night I pick up Marbles, bring him home and leave him in the
only room (actually a 2 room sort of suite) where we can separate him.  Scottie
won't be able to sleep with us for a couple nights so I hope he's okay with
that.  Scottie seems to get his feelings hurt easily.  Then I'm off Fri., Sat.,
Sun., and Mon., so I hope things can get acclimated in that time.  Then, also
tomorrow night, I am heading to the Petsmart by me where I will be training
with the group to care for the cats one night a week at Petsmart.  I assume
that is cleaning boxes, watering and feeding them, etc.  And...I am going to
ask the Pres. (who will be training me) about Annie.  They already said I could
foster her if I wanted but she's now being fostered anyway.  I am going to tell
her that if Annie has not been adopted in 2-3 weeks and is back in the stores
that we will foster her, if Marbles has been fully acclimated.  And, if it
works, we would keep her, I assume.  I told Tony this plan tonight and all he
said was, "Well, we don't know if she will work for us," and I said, "That's
why she would be a foster, if it absolutely doesn't work, we won't keep her."  

Yes, I know it's not the best thing for Annie but it's not the worst either.
She should be cage-free now, she's with a no-kill group, she'll be put in a
different store in a different part of town when she comes out of foster care,
and maybe I will wind up with her...or maybe not.  I do feel for Annie but I
can't get over my hesitation.  I'm hoping she's back in her original foster
home so she has some continuity.  All these cats have a sad story.

I'm sorry if some of you think I'm selfish and short-sighted.  Maybe I am...

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human."  (Loren Eisely)