Meet Zoolou & Markie!

I'd like to introduce you to our 2 furballs who provide a lot of the inspiration for my paintings. Zoolou is a Maine Coon mix who was dumped at the Kansas City zoo with her siblings. Thankfully they all have homes now! Markie was living under a dumpster in a parking lot in K.C. with a group of feral cats. He was the last kitten rescued from the group & the volunteer waited 3 hours for him to finally come out! They tried to get his mother too but had no luck. I always wish I could somehow let his mother know he is happy in a new home & showered with love! Both kitties were staying with a foster mom in a house in K.C. You can see how they got their names from their foster mom. We got them 3 1/2 years ago ~ Zoolou was 8 weeks & Markie 12 weeks. I found Zoolou on Petfinder as I was looking for a Maine Coon but wanted to rescue one rather than pay hundreds of dollars for one. She's not a pure Coon but has all the characteristics of one & that's close enough for me. Markie was her roommate at the foster home & I'd intended to get 2 cats all along so he came home with us too. They are great siblings & still romp & play & get into mischief together! Markie sleeps snuggled up to me every night while Zoolou prefers her "throne" at the top of the cat condo where she can survey her kingdom. Yes, Markie is the sweet boy & Zoolou is the honery one into everything!

Before we adopted these 2 we had 3 other kitties who all lived til their late teens. They all passed away within a few years of each other which was so hard. I still miss them! We always told the kids we could get a puppy after all the kitties went to Heaven so that summer we got Koda at 8 weeks old & he, Zoolou & Markie all grew up together. Koda is a big goofy 90 lb. Labradoodle. I'll save him for a later post - ha.

Hope everyone's having a great President's Day!