Hi everyone!
It’s an honor to do the first of my rescued animal interviews with Halo today. Halo is one of the cats who lives with USA TODAY best-selling romance and mystery writer Karen Rose Smith.
Welcome Halo!
Rawhide: Tell us how you were adopted/came to live with Karen and her husband.
Halo: Three years ago on Mother’s Day, Karen and her husband found me napping in their yard. I was thin and looked as if I needed care. I must have looked like I’d been on my own for a while (I had had a rough go of it!), and Karen was concerned I wouldn’t trust easily. But she and her husband were so patient with me. They began to feed me but allowed me to come and go as I wished. After about a month, I took refuge from rain and storms in their open patio sunroom. I decided to stay close because I was pretty sure I was pregnant. After an emergency visit to a vet—I had a severe case of colitis—it was confirmed that I was. I was sure Karen and her hubby wouldn’t abandon me even though they’d never seen a cat through a pregnancy. I was right…they took me into their home. They consulted friends who experienced feline births, put me on a special diet Karen cooked each day—poached chicken breast, white rice and pumpkin—and fed me every few hours to give me the nutrition me and my babies needed. I became healthier and delivered three wonderful kittens—Tia, Mason and Miss Paddington. I tried to be a good mother, watched over the kittens, nursed them, and washed them. When they were old enough to escape the storage bin where they were born, I’d call them back to me and they’d come running. I cared for them until Karen and hubby found homes for two of them. I was thrilled that they decided to keep my baby who they named Miss Paddington. We still have a tight bond to this day.
Rawhide: What other cats live with your family?
Halo: Zoie Joy was already part of the family when Karen and her husband adopted me. As I mentioned, after I had my kittens, Karen and hubby found forever homes for two of them and kept my first-born, a dark tortoiseshell named Miss Paddington. Just this past summer, Karen and her hubby rescued two one-pound kittens named Freya and Zander. We all get along…pretty well!
RAWHIDE: Karen cares for two feral cats, Bonnie and Clyde. Tell us about them.
Halo:When I was still outside roaming yards, a yellow tabby named Sunnybud directed me to Karen’s house. He and I became friends. Karen and her hubby took me in because I was pregnant and Sunnybud wouldn’t be confined. Shortly after Sunnybud passed on, two feral kittens with clipped ears (they must have been captured, neutered and spayed, then released again) began coming to our feeder. One was a yellow tabby Karen’s hubby named Clyde and his sister was a dark tortoiseshell like my Paddy who they named Bonnie. It took a year for Bonnie and Clyde to accept wet food on the patio. It took another year before they would come through the cat door and inside the basement to be fed. Now they come into the basement every night and stay until morning. Karen and her hubby close the door at night to protect them from other creatures and the cold. I overhear Karen and her hubby talking about them. They are still feral and spook easily. Clyde will allow petting, but Bonnie doesn’t want to be touched and runs away. I’m glad it didn’t take me that long to realize what a good home awaited me inside the Smith residence!
RAWHIDE: What kinds of books does Karen write?
Halo: Karen writes cozy mysteries, romances and women’s fiction while I snuggle against her. She uses a tape recorder so that makes it easy for me to keep her company. She includes some of her cat family in her cozy mysteries.
RAWHIDE: What is Karen’s latest book?
Halo: Murder With Lemon Teacakes was released in January and Murder With Cinnamon Scones is a June release. Both are part of her cozy series Daisy’s Tea Garden Mysteries.
Rawhide: Karen dedicated a book to a feral cat named Sunnybud whom she loved deeply. Can you tell us about him?
Halo: Sunnybud was my friend. He led me to Karen’s yard and the feeder there. But he was an independent spirit and a roamer. He was unusual in that he would stay in the patio room in the heated bed sometimes. By the second year he was coming for regular meals, he would lay in Karen’s arms and let her massage him. Karen and her hubby tried to confine him in the basement one night, but he practically climbed the walls and demanded to be let back out. When it was really cold, Karen warmed up heat packs in the microwave and took them out to the sunroom where he usually laid. But Sunnybud had FIV and got an infection that he couldn’t fight. Karen still misses Sunnybud and is sad he’s gone. The book she dedicated to him is “Shades of Wrath,” another cozy mystery.
Rawhide: What other hobbies does Karen have?
Halo: Karen spends time with Bonnie and Clyde in the basement while she gardens. Beginning in January, she plants petunia and snapdragon seeds. Now she is nurturing heirloom potato plants she started from seed. She also likes to do watercolor paintings of cats, cook…and shop!
Rawhide: What is a book Karen read recently which she really enjoyed?
Halo: “Reckless Creed” by Alex Kava. She listens to her books as audiobooks so our cat family listens too.
Rawhide: Anything you would like to add, Halo?
Halo: I love to cuddle with Karen and her hubby when they watch TV at night. Sometimes I have to make room for Zoie who usually sleeps under the throw on the bed. We have a happy life.
Thank you Halo!
Rolling With Rawhide 