Some cats cause predictions to fall out of our mouths the minute they arrive at Tabby’s Place.

“He’s not going to be here very long at all.”
“This little girl is probably going to get adopted right out of Quarantine.”

But the funny thing about predictions is, they can be profoundly wrong.

So it was with Madeline.

A pint-sized dynamo with a head tilt and a love of hugs, Madeline came to Tabby’s Place in one of the all-time greatest groups of cats: the Islip eight. Madeline was a fan favorite from the very beginning – and her fans crossed species lines.

I distinctly remember predicting that Madeline would be one of the first Islip babies to go. At ten months of age, she still carried that kitten aura. The simple fact of being under a year old gives a cat a mighty power over adopters, comparable to the gravitational force of a small planet. Even folks who come in looking for an adult cat have been known to go weak-kneed in the presence of a still-wacky teenager like Madeline.

The folks who brought the Islip eight (and who, I might add, were as amazing as the feline octet they rescued), noted that Madeline had been passed over at their shelter due to her head tilt.

Well, paint me green and call me Gumby if I didn’t think that was the kookiest thing I’d heard. A head tilt becoming an adoption deal-breaker? Really?

Sigh. Really.

Dumbfounded (and hoping no one would actually paint me green), I watched as each of the other Islip girls flew out the door into forever homes. Petite Bella, bashful Popcorn, gentle Pixie, even petrified Cleo…and yet Madeline stayed on. And on. In fact, December marked a full year since Madeline first came to us. She wasn’t a baby anymore, but the gregarious, happy-hearted little black-and-white girl was as irresistible as the day she arrived.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, there was one (itty-bitty-smaller-than-a-breadcrumb) crimp in Madeline’s perfectly-adoptable picture uk kamagra. Along with that head tilt was a history of stomatitis. As wacky as it may sound, this means Madeline was allergic to the plaque on her own teeth. A temporary course of steroids cleared up her inflammation very nicely, and she became medication-free fairly early on. Still, there was the need to warn all potential Madeline-adorers that she may someday need further treatment, or even removal of some or all of her teeth (a la ruthless, toothless Desi).

But still. What cat doesn’t come with mysteries, with “maybe someday…” contingencies? We take a chance every time we choose to love. The healthy cat we adopt today could be felled by silent heart disease next month, or develop a costly, scary condition requiring intensive, tender care - or she might live to age 37 and land in the international media. We just can’t know; we can only do our best and love them as well as we can.

Which brings us back to the last of the Islip girls.

Last week, a kind young woman came to Tabby’s Place looking to adopt. Her heart was wonderfully open to the full gamut of our cats, and she even (quite seriously) considered my massively-batty, definitely-not-for-everyone friend Natalie. Ms. ThoughtfulAdopter came impressively prepared to find her kitty, bearing a laser light toy and a wealth of personal experience in cat-adoring. As she played with the various contenders in Suite B, it slowly became apparent that there was just one cat for her…the same sweet cat who had been waiting over a year for the forever home she deserved.

Things really do work out as they should.

And, today, the high-spirited, photogenic girl with the head tilt has had life tilted definitively in her favor. I hear she is loving life with Mrs. ThoughtfulAdopter, to whom she’s already become quite bonded.

And so we are bereft – giddily, gleefully bereft – of Islip girls. Now it’s just a matter of time before the last two Islip boys (Rusty and Georgie) make their way from here to forever.

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