A Diamond in the Ruffs: Ellie Boo

Here is the news on the newest member of the Ruff Family; Ellie Boo

She was a stray, visiting the homes in our neighborhood, being fed here and there. She is black but in the sun light looks as if she has dark brown stripes. Our neighbor Shelli said one day she saw Adam in the backyard and "that black kitty jumped the fence and went and sat on his lap!" He'd carry her around like a football and she would just hang there. The girls gave her a little food and from then on she wouldn't leave our yard. We spent the next week and a half trying to find her owner. We scoured the Internet for lost pet postings, put up a sign at the local grocery store, and even went to the Vet to see if she was micro-chipped. At one point we thought we found her owners, but that turned out to be a dead end.
From the moment she first came over she began to woo us with her charms. She was very attentive and cuddly; like a dog. You'd call her and she'd come. (By this time the girls had already named her) She'd roll over and let you rub her belly. Most precious of all; she would jump up, keeping her hind legs on the ground, grab your hand with both paws and rub her face on your hand. And when you hold her in your arms, she takes her paws and puts them on both sides of your face. She knew what she was doing! She was picking us to be her family! I finally asked Dave to make the decision to keep her or not. I am allergic to cats so she couldn't be in the house, but having her be an outside kitty in the elements made me sad. What made me even sadder was the prospect of taking her to the pound. He made the final decision and now we have a cat.
The last two weeks we have been taking care of her and setting her up to live a healthy life. We found a vet and had her vaccinated and micro-chipped. Poor thing, being a stray we didn't know her medical history, so she had like 6 shots that day. She had tummy worms and ear mites too, so we took care of those. This last Monday she was spayed...it seems she had a litter of kittens earlier this year...luckily we got her spayed in time. My kind-hearted husband spent all last Saturday making her two cat houses; one for outside on the back porch and a heated one for in the garage. The girls painted them to match the house and we placed an "E" above the door- ways.
Ellie finally has....a HOME