It was 1997 – Siamese Rescue still just a passing thought. Whiskers of all sorts were joining the ranks of those who had moved from old to new house: felines Beeky, Broadway, and Triscuit; woofers Solomon, Scout and Benji. Right after the move came felines Opi, Suki and Duke plus woofers Smutty and Pepper. And not to let a few acres go to waste, along came cottontail Flopsy, Nibbles and Gobbler, the Nubians, and quackers Donald and Jemima (who were short on whiskers but made up for it in feathers).
The woofers needed some work on sibling relationships, and it wasn’t long until Scout ate Flopsy and Pepper ate Donald and Jemima. Solomon munched on a foster child which bought him a ticket to ride; Nibbles and Gobbler escaped one too many times, earning them two seats in the back of a VW bug as they headed to a new home. Meowm worked hard to keep her numbers up – she knew that X + 1 was always better than just plain X. After Suki (strong seal diva female) and Duke (soft dim chocolate goof) failed to fill her need for a smart but snuggly soulmate, Sapphire, Mamagayo, Whitney, Coffee, Blue, Taraatini, Jasmine and Blupert all auditioned for the job. Let me tell you, that upstairs Geezer Ward was a little tight on pillow space. It was a good thing most everyone was a sealpoint; Hubby1 never caught on that when he was home, everyone went by the same name – Meowm’s attempt to whitewash how many of us were actually in the house.
If I were to ask Meowm what the most difficult lesson of rescue was, there would be no doubt as to her reply – while every cat deserves a chance, and in an ideal world there’s a place for everyone, when faced with a limited number of rescue spots, one has to invite cats in that can be adopted back out. This was a fluid number depending on a lot of different things – how many fosters there were, how many adopters were asking, what the bake sales were like, what time of year it was, and so on and so forth. It was muddling my brain to listen to all the criteria that had to be considered every step of the way. And there’s no doubt, Meowm’s heart got the best of her early on. As a consequence, some of us Geezer Ward residents had to find alternate arrangements when the facilities were occupied.
You’ve read about Sapphire (Episode 1) – the one who stayed simply because Meowm hadn’t made it clear to her owner that rehoming was gong to happen. Mamagayo (lucky #13) was ‘older than the wind’, and obviously someone that age had only one last move in her – to the upstairs heated bed. Whitney was next – Hubby1 fell in love with her and he had been such a sport, Meowm had to say yes. (While he did have second thoughts when she peed on him in bed on Valentine’s Day, by then it was too late.) Then there was Coffee who won the ‘most muddled’ award (and came the closest so far to soulmate material); the Blues Brothers – Blue (who was a seal) and Blupert (a blue) (don’t ask me how they secured those names or a spot, but they did); Jasmine (a medical curiousity that never got figured out) and Taraatini – such a crabby seal diva she refused to budge. A good thing that by this point the Rescue Center had been built, because if two is company, 13 was definitely a crowd.
As if this wasn’t enough, Meowm followed some crazy lady’s online advice and signed up to rescue an Italian Greyhound. (HELLO Meowm, did you even READ that they are close to impossible to house train?) She figured the wait list was long and it would be months before she had to say something to Hubby1. But it was her lucky week and within two days she was bumped to the top of the list (rescue experience and all that (HA!)) and before Hubby1 had even been informed not one but two Iggys showed up on her doorstep. Does it surprise anyone to learn there was not a spot left for Hubby1?
By the time Y2000 rolled around, Meowm had roped in some amazingly good Beans – Beans who would not only be adopters but who would morph into all different cogs of the wheels of Siamese Rescue. Fosters, transporters, interviewers, crafters and many others brought their compassion and skills to Team Meezer. A Team that – despite many mishaps yet to be told – would become a family of friends, a community of cat lovers, a history worth repeating – pooling their resources together to save Siamese.
I, for one, remain furever grateful.
Yours truly,
Howard Beakman (follow me and my adventures by subscribing to this blog!)
