With Indians' well known superstitions regarding cats Friendicoes has a hard time getting kittens adopted from the shelter. Nevertheless our efforts continue and we occasionally have the pleasure of finding great homes for our kittens. One such story is that of Starjump and Frisky, two adorable ginger kittens brought to Friendicoes by a Russian lady Nathalie and her husband, who had adopted their mother from the road along with another 5 strays.

The couple, who already had cats at home, had raised the kittens since birth and had approached Friendicoes to help find them a cat loving family who would adopt these lovely kittens. Realizing that leaving them at the shelter was not the best option, especially since the kittens were hand reared; they instead opted for a foster family as they were unable to continue looking after them. Friendicoes volunteer Sonali, although inexperienced with cats generously opened her home for the kittens. With hardly any experience in keeping cats, Sonali was excited about spending some time with the kittens, and learning from them and with them.she made cat toys with strings, ping pong balls, old pompoms and the like...stuff that would best keep the kittens entertained.

Now came the hard part.finding them homes...so photos were uploaded on Facebook, calls were made to the Friendicoes network, personal messages to friends and family went out and we all waited patiently for someone to adopt the pair. The two siblings were so attached to each other that separating them was out of the question. In fact it was really amazing to see how close their bond was.more often seen in puppies than in kittens. They did everything together from sharing their plate of food, drinking water, playing with the balls and strings, to even using the litter tray at the same time!

However, the two were wary of strangers and did not come out much from their hiding place in the presence of any family members. Their tactics continued to amuse anyone who was watching. They displayed great skills at dribbling the TT ball and playing soccer, loved climbing up curtains, scaring one another by surprise jumps from behind sofas, and with time even made friends with Sonali. Days passed but our search for a home only met with failure. Until one day hope came in the form of a phone call from Ena who had just seen the update about the kittens on Facebook. She had lost her previous kitten to infections and illness, but was finally ready to bring in a pet into the family. A meeting was arranged where Ena came over with her father to meet and pick up the kittens, but the evening took a surprising turn. The kittens refused to be put in a basket, and gave everyone a merry chase for about 30mins, until finally, scratched and tired, they had to give up. The next day Nathalie and her husband were requested to come and help, and with their assistance the kittens were transported to their new home.

They instantly took to Ena and her mother, and by the next day were playing around and entertaining them with their usual antics. Ena can now differentiate between the two but only by personality, they continue to look exactly identical. Everyday she contemplates on names for them, but has not yet found the perfect names. For the moment she has settled for Frisky and Starjump. This is one adoption that was successful from the start till the end.

Not every kitten is as lucky. Please adopt your kitten from the shelter today.