Another whisker

While I was giving Blossom some attention this afternoon I noticed that she has a short whisker on her jaw bone, below her ear. She has one on each side which match. I had not noticed these back whiskers before. Tim hadn't noticed them either. Then he looked at other cats and some have them and others don't.
Caramel doesn't have them.
Candace has very visible white ones. (I gave her a corrugated scratchy pole for something to do). And I stood beside Evie and unravelled the feather toys to entertain her.)

Candace

I gave Samantha a scratchy pole. She was not impressed.

Samantha

Buffy's skin is looking much better and less itchy. The hair is growing back on the shaved areas.

Buffy.

 I decided that the tiny kittens should be called Fred(a) and Ginger as they play footsies. Tim says that they hope to have a naming competition for them as a fund raiser, if they can figure out how to do it.
I washed their feet which were much better than on Wednesday. Apart from a footprint on the back of Ginger's neck, he was quite clean and excessively wiggly. Freda's feet were the usual skate board of hardened poo. But she purred loudly while I soaked her feet and picked turds from between her toenails. They were rewarded by food. No wonder their tummy's are so round.

Ginger and Freda

Goodbye Charlie

Charlie was picked up over the weekend. And Kimmy will be picked up on Feb 14. Let's hope that she is just the first of may

Kimmy

 Wendell moved into Charlie's condo. He really liked the scratchy pole that we put in to stop him scratching the mesh. And the tennis ball. And the soft toy. He reminds me of Cody so is probably just a big kitten.

Wendell

Joy took photos of some of the kittens. This is the mixed litter: Dale, Danny and Diana but we don't know who is which.

Dale, Danny, Diana

Dale, Danny, Diana

Eden and Emily

Eden and Emily now occupy a stand alone cage: much more viewable. There is a series of desex ops scheduled for this and next week so tell everybody who wants one that we have kittens just in time for the end of the school holidays.

A couple from Artarmon brought in a pretty grey kitten who they found wandering the neighbourhood. They doorknocked all around but couldn't find the owner. They phoned Dr Kim who has our number on her answering machine. They brought the kitten to us to see if it has a microchip. It doesn't. They took it home again because a neighbour said "I'll have it". My guess is that the kitten saw the kids go off to school and followed but couldn't find a way home. 

Tiny faces

Steph took photos of the babies after I washed them on Friday.

Although I did wash their faces, it doesn't look like it.

Message from cousin Mary about Jimmy:

Yes, Jonathan has just given Jimmy some kedgeree. Jonathan says he loves jumping up onto the kitchen table and really wants to eat what he is eating! I said he has to push him off the table and bar! Jonathan sounded reluctant. He thinks I should push him off! 

My friend Gerry arrives this afternoon to stay and will put all to rights! She does cat and dog sitting. Do you know anyone who needs a sitter?

Jimmy jumps up behind Jonathan on the sofa (when J is reading) and sits up there looking out the window purring.

I have found some bamboo so will get him more active!

Yes Jonathan is good with spoiling.

Jimmy looks thinner. He is pretty active.

Not for long.

Visit to Jimmy

I dropped the leash by to Jimmy this morning at around 10am. He was in the closet when I arrived but soon came out for cuddles.

I put the leash on him easily (he didn't fight it). He got out of it as easily as he is slenderer than Cody . . .  or has less hair. I tightened it up a bit.

He is already asking to go out onto the front courtyard (an easy leap over the fence to the street so I hope that doesn't happen.) He spent last night on the bed with Mary and J. He wants to explore the rest of the house. He has chatted, eaten, rubbed his cheek on everything and charmed them completely already.

my bed

my calm eyes

my Jonathon and my stratchy pole

Jimmy adopted

Couldn't have happened to an nicer cat. And I am lucky that he has been adopted by my cousin so that he is now a member of my family.

Jimmy

I will try to get a photo of him tomorrow in situ, in North Sydney when I drop off the harness that Cody no longer needs.*

Jimmy will need to learn to walk on a leash because my cousin has a house at Bar Point which is up the Hawkesbury River, accessible only by boat. There is no road on Bar Point, just a line of houses along the waterfront. So Jimmy will have to learn where his property lines are by being walked to them, and not beyond them, on the leash. Luckily today, he went into his new carry cage like an angel.

Today might have been the last time that I need to wash the bottoms of the tiny kittens. They have been seen grooming each other and their poos are much firmer. The boy didn't need to be dunked into the bath to soften the poo on his rear end today. But the girl did need a dunk to get the poo from between her toes. From which I infer that she is cleaning him better than he is cleaning her.

* Cody and I have trained each other for outside walks. Yesterday morning there was a brush turkey in the back yard. Cody snuck up behind a tree to get closer to the bird who calmly walked by him (within two feet) to the other side of the yard. 

Cody and brush turkey

Cody vanquished the turkey

New instructions and a new vollie

Sue indoctrinated us and Robin (new vollie willing to do Joy's other Wednesday plus some other day/s. . . brilliant) on the new protocol. I mentioned that we should use the red buckets for the dirty scoops. That will be added to the protocol as it got a big tick. Let us hope that no vollies are colour blind. Because of that and that Robin is new, it took rather longer than it should have. Nevertheless, the garbo's hadn't come by when we left at 2pm so we dumped our trash bags locally which is a big win for the atmosphere in the car especially on a hot day like today.

Sue asked me to take photos of the following cats because they are all now available and can be posted on various platforms. If you have a better photo, please send it to Sue.

Wendell

Penny

Olivia

Peanut

Elsa

Melody

Evie

Blossom

Samantha

Cute Critters in Collars

Evie and Melody look lovely in their collars and they seem to be doing the trick comfortably.

Evie

Melody

They will be ready to be adopted soon. Evie's grey and white kitten was duely adopted. Emily is a great purrer and Eden is as handsome as a silver tabby can be. They shouldn't last long.

Eden and Emily

As I left the A kittens woke up from their hammock naps, for a moment. (I need to make more hammocks as they are getting used. The only reason this litter hasn't been desexed is that the one girl is still under one kilo. The three boys are all well over the kilo. She gets fed separately so that she gets her fair share).

A kittens

I washed the tiny kittens, again. They were only half as pooy as on Wednesday. After cleaning they look like rat tailed cats.

 Blake, next door, has Egyptian khol markings from the outer corners of both his eyes. He looks particularly fetching on the pink and white blanket but rushes forward when you open his door. Another potential photo for Valentines Day.

Blake

 Peanut was looking much better today than on Wednesday. The grass did the trick.

Peanut

Kittens ready to go

Evie's kittens have been desexed and are ready to be adopted. There is one grey and white kitten who probably has a home already.

 Smarty cat

Sammy

My old neighbour adopted Sam and Sally from Rose Cottage 15 + years ago. Sammy died over the weekend. And Evie's silver tabby arrived at Safe Haven around the same time. Coincidence?

There is a new "litter" of black kittens: 3 little ones and a big black kitten: obviously a ring-in but nice for the little shy ones to have a big brother.

Joy and I had a busy morning. We are still doing the kittens first which is perhaps a good idea because they are so messy that you need all that fresh energy to clean up after them. The adults are a pleasure to clean up.

My final job of the day was to clean the poo off the kittens that I washed last visit. The smallest ginger didn't survive the night after my last clean up. At least he went to his maker with a clean behind.

The surviving two were in a right state. They must have stomped in poo to get such thick soles of brown on their legs, sides, tummies. 

Before the clean up

After the clean up.

Still standing.

Washing kittens

I didn't go to Safe Haven yesterday because I had visitors from the US to entertain (at the Zoo). But Sandy mentioned that Tim was disappointed that I wasn't there to wash the tiny kittens who have taken to walking in their poo (not in the litter box) and then climbing over each other. What a job mother cats have!

So I went there this afternoon to deliver grass to delighted cats and wash less than delighted kittens.

The tortie was the most tolerant of my combing and pulling.

The larger ginger, also known as Mr Wiggle, did not like it at all and fought me every inch. He, naturally, had most poo stuck to his fur.

The little ginger, was lethargic so let me do what I needed to do most of the time. Or I got the job done while he was resting. But then he passed some wet blood and Tim rang the vet. They will all go home with Tim tonight and visit the vet first thing in the morning. Fingers crossed for the little ginger.

More kittens

First the good news: Pepi has been adopted to an older couple who have grandchildren.

Pepi

We were asked to clean the kittens first, even before the borders. Catsie had to hold the kittens while I cleaned their condos. . . . I gave her the hard job.

This little, white and grey tabby boy has shy eyes but is quite engaged with people and toys. Tim thought that the folk who dropped him off called him Nemo. But he is not ginger and white striped so we will probably change that name.

 There are three tiny kittens who prefer to hide in a cat cave. They haven't quite got the hang of the litter tray. So while I was cleaning crap off the tail of one, he obligingly pooed for me. There are two ginger tabbies and a grey tortie girl.

 We moved the M's: Mozart, Monti, Mikado and Madonna to a condo out back across from the feeding station. They had knocked over their water, probably yesterday, so all headed for the clean water bowls. The sound of lapping was loud.

Madonna, Mikado, Monti, Mozart

I think I have brushed most of Caramel's winter coat off her back and sides. While she was sitting beside her food bowl waiting for more pats, I noticed that she has a white chest and tummy with a grey mark on her chest that is shaped like half a heart. I suggested to Tim that she should be our Valentine cat . . . . . "mend my broken heart, adopt me".

Caramel

Sooty Shoots Through

When I arrived from picking up 20 bags of litter from Arundel Park, all was under control at Safe Haven. Dishes were washed, floors swept, last few condos to be done by the four volunteers. And the family of two adult men and one boy who stayed for HOURS to play with one kitten at a time had finally left. Then Joan got to Sooty to clean. She opened the door a crack and Sooty shot over her head, through the air to the other side of the room and hid behind the block of condo's next to the giant climbing tree. 

Other cats have hidden there. We have an established technique that involves a broom, a blanket and the magic gauntlets. All primed, Sooty was encouraged out from behind the condos. But instead of coming into the open, she opted for climbing up the "art work" behind the climbing tree. She only got half way up, hung there for a while then dropped to the ground. She was grabbed by Tim's gauntlets and hustled back into her condo. On the way she managed to bite through the leather but didn't break any flesh. Those gauntlets will be washed/bleached/F10'd.

So now, Sooty knows that her condo is a safe place and that "out there" is fraught with brooms, unscalable heights, shivering blankets and squeezing blue hands.

After we caught our breath. . . . all was peaceful again. As I had been to Arundel Park I didn't have any grass to distribute. I don't think Charlie will ever forgive me.

Charlie

Candice's kittens are much better. They are eating well but unfortunately being eaten by fleas. They have been treated and the fleas are in a death frenzy and driving them mad. I decided the black and white one with half a moustache should be called Cemi (because it has to start with C rather than S). But Tim's Mum has names for them already.

C kittens

 Candice's sister Bonnie looks younger and younger. She is definitely not pregnant any more.

Bonnie

Candace has decided that she likes to be patted. Her purr is amazing. . . . probably because her lungs are still full of flu so the reverberations are legend. 

Candace with two hands patting

 I spent some time with Blossom who seems much happier in her bottom, small condo. She has put on 250gm since the last weigh in. I gave her a soft bed because she has old bones. She will have another thyroid test next Tuesday.

Blossom