Livia and Barb Kipp: Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail

“I love seeing the stories of adoption,” Barb exclaims. “I was good friends with Julie Reamer who passed away years ago, but she volunteered for Furry Friends. I took two kittens from her and raised them.

“I am friends with and follow my kitten’s foster mom, Kate. I noticed this particular batch of kittens, and one was a calico. The last thing I needed in my life right then was a kitten. But I talked with Kate, who’s incredible with cats, about Sweet Dee’s personality, adopted her at the end of July, and changed her name to Livia, a common Swiss name.

“I have had many, many cats. Livia is different. She’s extremely chatty and I adore her! She follows me around like a dog. She sits on the bathroom counter and opens my makeup drawers to obtain her favorite toys: hair ties. She’s basically fearless. I brought her home, set her down, and she was immediately comfortable, even around her new sister, a 160-pound rescue St. Bernard and shepherd mix. I missed not having a cat when my last one passed away in November 2024. I didn’t wait long to get another, but it had to be the right one. And Livia certainly is!

“I’m pretty sure that she’s one of the more intelligent cats I’ve had. I hid her cat toy in the pantry and she found it. She seems to be able to reason and she learns quickly. She won’t get on the counters anymore, but sits on a box and watches me in the kitchen or strategically displays her beautiful self on the rug in the kitchen.

“Livia sleeps with me every night. She used to lie sprawled out on my head and bite my nose and try to suck on my fingers! I never had a kitten do that before! She’s truly the best addition that I could have ever asked for.”
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Furry Friends Fur-Ever Stories are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA.