Babies

Charlie got out of bed for grass this afternoon.

Charlie

But Zero was convinced that I was trying to feed her poison.

Zero

And Tortie displayed her two, white whiskers which stick straight out from her cheeks, on either side rather like the villian in a panto.

 Jewell was feeding the tabby kittens under the bed. But the two gingers were more than happy to come out for a cuddle.

Jewell

Strawberry jam

I staggered into Safe Haven with a load of clean washing, a king size set of flannelette sheets that I have ripped up and hemmed into cloths suitable for bed liners or kitten wrappers and a basket of strawberry jam (in jars.)

Twizzle was having "time out". That usually means that you have to go and sit in a corner or other naughty place. At Safe Haven it means that it is your turn to be out of your condo to run and play. She took full advantage of the run and engaged me in a game of kick the ping pong ball. Every now and then she would run back to her condo just like she was running to home in a game of hide and seek. What was the sentence we used to chorus when we made it to home?

We have a new cat, Blossom: a 13 year old tortie. She is vocal but there is no bite to her "bark". I think she is just asking why she is here.

Blossom

And there is another pair of boarders on the kitchen side of boarding against the wall. They would be easy to overlook if it wasn't for the Siamese-like wails that come from their condo. My guess is that Coco is the Burmese and he is the one who calls. They are only here for a week. I hope Mason's eyes relax before they go home.

Mason and Coco

I had to leave early to meet my sister in the Roseville shopping centre at 12:30 so I didn't get to play with the kittens. I didn't want to disturb them because they were being nursed when it was their turn. Tim has decided to call the queen Jewel.

I left in good time burdened by a bag of litter waste and had to drive around to find where the garbo's hadn't been yet. Finally found a bin with some space in Chatswood. And I wasn't too late for my sister. 

(PS there is a good European deli in that shopping centre by the station.)

New office assistant

Shivers is taking his duties very seriously. He just sits on the printer and waits for a piece of paper.

Shivers

Sandy had done a wonderful cleaning job so I could get on with feeding grass to the cats.

I noticed that Kimmy was sticking to her blanket and her foam pad so decided to trim her nails. She didn't want to come onto my lap on a chair, so I climbed up into her condo to do the job. I also did Kitty's. She was happy to sit on my knee on the chair but she has one funny lump of fur above a claw on her right front paw. Keep your eye on it.

Kimmy

Rajah and Prince don't do grass. So I brushed them instead. They look better and enjoyed being brushed with the brush with plastic tips on its metal tines.

Rajah and Prince, brushed

I almost got Charlie to come out of his "shell" for grass. I can't decide if he is a snail or a tortoise. That basket will have to go with him.

Charlie

Annabelle adopted

The lovely people came on the weekend and took her home. Knots and all. Her condo was pretty grubby but I don't know if it was that way before she moved in or she did it. It is now clean, F10'd and waiting for a new occupant.

Annabelle

My fellow volunteer is another refugee from Ingleside. She adopted Pumpkin. We had several but I think this is the one because the other two were paired: Thai and Pumpkin and Pumpkin and Joel.

Pumpkin

I left her to mop the floors and packed up Mini Mama (from Blacktown Pound) to go to the foster home in Avalon which has a special room for queens. Unfortunately it is presently occupied by one of her cats that was tick bit and is shaved, and grounded for the moment. So we prepared another room that is used as a laundry room for Mini Mama. 

On the way she was as good as gold (sorry the photo is from last Saturday. My camera was at home. And I could have used my phone but forgot about it. But here expression is the same).

Mini Mama

And when we opened the carrier, she strolled out to say hello, give me a pat, where is dinner. . . . very  relaxed.

There is a gap under the door through which she will be introduced to two dogs who love cats.

Errand of mercy 2

This morning I drove to Blacktown Pound (from Avalon) to pick up a pregnant cat and delivered her to Safe Haven.
She is so young to be a mum: possibly 6 months old. She was as good as gold in the car. She just asked "are we there yet?" a few times and watched out the front of her carrier cage all the way. 

EOM2

When we unpacked her into a condo she wanted pats and chin cuddles. So she must have been somebody's beloved kitten until she went out and got herself knocked up. Shades of the 1950's and before.

My first EOM was a month or so ago when I was sent to Blacktown Vet. They had a kitten from the Pound with a manky leg. They took X-rays and made telephone consultations with various vets and decided that he had a diaphragmatic hernia and needed to be at a 24hour vet. So I delivered him to the Emergency Vets at Terry Hills at about 7pm. They determined that he had been hit by a car and had multiple injuries that he probably would not recover from. So he went to heaven. He was a beautiful tuxedo too.

Cody update

I registered him with the Northern Beaches council last week and explained carefully that he has two microchips but is just one cat. My guess is that the vet put in a microchip when he was desexed. But the next day when he was discharged, they couldn't find it (possibly a faulty detector) so gave him another microchip. The chips have sequential numbers. I had a long, detailed discussion with the clerk who said she could fix it.

Yesterday I got, in a mail, two certificates from the council for him. One is a Certificate of Registration. The other is a Certificate of Identification. The first one says that he is desexed. The second one says that his desex status is unknown. The first has been paid for. The second one needs to be paid for. 

I visited the council today and they will sort it out.

In the meantime, he is in the garage probably chasing the fat tailed geckos. 

He loves being on the front deck (except when it rains). On Wednesday I put the harness onto him because he is a cat that will want to go outside and will need to be taught where he can go and when he should come back inside, so he will have to be on a leash for some time. 
He thought I was trying to kill him. He didn't move for a while and then he decided that if he ran fast enough, he would get away from it. Didn't work. So he retired to the furthest point under the bed to sulk. 
I tried to bribe him out with his favourite crunchies (DTs) but he wasn't talking to me. 
Eventually, I pulled the mattress back and reached down to unclip him.
He forgave me by breakfast time and has probably forgotten all about it (says I, but wait until I try to get it on him again!)

Making new friends with grass

Oh, the bliss of arriving to Safe Haven to find all the work done. Thank you Sandy.

I spent my time socializing the cats by feeding them grass that was due to be sprayed yesterday but the weather wasn't right for the council workers, luckily.

We have a pair of new boarders, Captain and General. One is a Burmese and the other some kind of Bengal. The Burmese knew what to do with grass. The Bengal didn't have a clue. In fact, he looks like he doesn't have much of a clue about anything, so he is probably the General!

Torti

Also in Boarding, are Kimmy and Kitty who have come in, with Torti from our wonderful foster home in Avalon. We met some of them at the adoption day at PetO in July. They got out of bed for grass.

Kimmy

Kitty

Ninja and Ming were right into it (teenagers!) But Paco and Ethan had to learn (kids!)

Paco and Ethan

 Prince and Raja wouldn't have a bar of it (oldies!) But enjoyed the crunchies that they had forgotten about upstairs. Prince is on the left and Raja on the right. Raja has more black on his forehead and wears a blue collar (although I doubt he has done a lick of work in his life.)

Prince and Raja

Curtains away

Some of the cats who had modesty curtains last week have had their curtains dropped. Diva and Little Gins for example. They are some of the first litter of the queen (still without a label). Diva is a friendly dark tortie and her brother (I assume) is a shy ginger but I don't think he will hide for much longer.

Diva

Their sisters Samantha and Elsa may not have a curtain to hide behind but they keep well out of reach. As does their mother.

ElsaSamantha

But her kittens are at the stage that they need to be handled by a few people. Tim said that they hissed at him initially. . . . quite hard to look as though you mean it when you don't have teeth. But they were friendly with me. There are two gingers and two dark tabbys.

Foxy has found a foster home. She will be happy snoozing there. And Annabelle might be taken home on Friday. So I tried to comb around her head. There was a huge lump under her chin that we cut half off. She must have been a well loved and frequently groomed cat earlier in her life because she put up with the pulling and tugging while on my knee out in the open.

Annabelle

The plan is to move this blog to the Safer website. I will run it here as will until things internet settle down.

Spruced up

Today was easier than Wednesday because I know where everything is now plus, I cleaned it properly on Wednesday and it is still clean today. . . mostly. . . . except for some cats who are deep diggers.

As usual, Ming and Ninja exploded when Tim fed them this morning so that their food was all over the floor. I picked up as much of it as I could and gave it back to them. Ming put his foot on some of the crunchies to stop Ninja from getting his fair share. 

I had time to groom the long haired cats. Annabelle did not like it. She is a shaved Persian. But she has knots in the unshaved areas around her head and her tail is a mess. I did what I could in the time that she was prepared to tolerate. About 3.2 minutes worth.

Then I moved to the royal suite of Rajah and Prince. Earlier Rajah condescended to eat when I held his bowl for him.  Rajah has a collar and is on the upper level. 

Rajah

Prince had a wet bed because somebody had upset the water bowl. . . . no fingers/claws are pointed. I changed his bed to a pink velour with an ersatz fleece which he accepted, eventually. Then, after cleaning the other cats I came back and picked him up to brush him (those last seven words should be in indignant capitals). But, because he is a ragdoll, he put up with it. He even purred. And looks ever so much better for a gentle brush.

Prince

Mind you, he didn't enjoy it as much as Suzy does. (This photo is from when she first came into Boarding in 2012!)

Suzy

I also did Rajah who is much thinner. He has a nobbly spine. He tolerated it.

So the royal ragdolls are all spruced up so that somebody can come to adopt them this weekend.

First day

This morning I did my first volunteer stint at Safe Haven in Chatswood.
Tim was glad to have somebody else to do the work so that he could catch up on the paperwork, I think. He was finishing up feeding when I arrived at 10am.
It wasn't too onerous for one person as there are not too many cats, the space is small and protocols minimal.

There are only two boarders. I didn't get photos. One is still cross at being abandoned.

Shivers has the flu so I did him last. He had it when he arrived covered in something gunky which has mostly been hacked off.

Shivers

Other cats have strange names too:


Zero, a calico.

Zero

Dotty, a tortie without spots. Maybe it is her personality

Dotty

Foxy, is anything but at 15 years old

Foxy

Blink, who stares.

Blink

Hidden behind privacy towels are Milly, Tilly, Elsa, Diva and Little Gins who are the first family of a very young mum who has five (?) newborns.  Then, across the way, Samantha is also shrouded.