The kittens are finally not scared of us! Well. Mostly not scared of us. Not scared of us enough for me to get up in their faces with the camera. So: I got you some kittens. They’re my kittens, but you can make kissy noises at them.

This is Sylvia Catchell. She has won more than 900 women’s basketball games and 1 national championship. She and her mama were pulled out of a high-kill shelter and taken to Goathouse last year. She’s about 8 months, and she has a funny birth deformity on her front right paw — she only has three toes. Sylvia already loves being brushed, and spends a lot of time under the couch. She doesn’t talk much, but lookit those eyes. Those eyes say everything.

This is Cat Summitt. She is the winningest all-time Division 1 basketball coach, men or women, and that’s saying something for a 9 month old kitten. She also has a ringworm infection in one of her ears, which is why she’s all bundled up in a towel. Cat Summitt is not a fan of being picked up, so this is how I have to clean her ear. Unlike her sister, she talks all the time, chirping and singing and yowling and purring. She rolls her R’s. When you scratch her sides, she kicks her back legs like you’re tickling her. She’s all legs and tail.

They are so gorgeous and funny and sweet and shy. They adore each other, I adore them, and I cannot wait for them to trust us enough to sit in our laps.

Sylvia and Cat were two of the last “babies” from last spring and summer at Goathouse to be adopted, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more kittens and cats and mamas and teenagers there who need your help. Spring starts kitten season, and Goathouse already has taken in many mamas and their litters. You can see the cats available for adoption here, and donate here. They do amazing work to save all kinds of animals, and they could use your help.