Hungry Bears Crossing

I went to take a photo of Lillian now that she is better settled into Dolly's condo. Only to find that my camera battery was flat. Again. My phone takes lousy photos so you will have wait until next week for a good photo of her. Her upstairs neighbour, Salam, has settled in nicely but his eye looks worse and Lynda gave him a chin rub and felt a lump. Tim has been told. But Tim was busy collecting his mum from a hospital test so may need to be reminded. The drama of the day was that the tin of paint that we use to prop the balcony door open developed a leak. White paint spread over the blah grey tiles to make a very modern looking tile design. But . . . . . messy possibilities of white foot prints being tracked into the cattery. We moved the many poo bags onto towels and I washed down the balcony with buckets of water, in the rain. On Wednesday when there was a strong wind that kept pushing the door closed despite a bag on poo on top of the can of paint, I found a cat leash that looped around the railing and the door handle to keep it open. That will be the new way of letting real air into Safe Haven. The woman who adopted Sam came to talk about fostering Billy, to adopt. After a long chat with Tim, she decided to wait and see. Billy enjoyed the attention. We were disappointed. But the woman has Sam to go home to and he is "a delight".

The good news since Wednesday is that the woman that I spoke to then convinced her husband that Dolly should go live with them. He was involved in feeding her when she was a street cat so it wasn't a hard sell. There is a 6year old at home for Dolly to deal with but we know how well she can control the little ones.

Dobby should be desexed soon and will be easy to find a home for. He is a smoocher. Sue came in and while she was there I pointed out the cat sofas on top of the condos. (The new step ladder gives a new perspective of Safe Haven). She agreed that they should be sold. When we got them down we discovered that they were covered with dust. So it was decided that I should take them home, clean them and send photos. There are zips that take off the covers. I wonder if I will ever be able to get the covers back on again. I doubt the fabric was washed before the covers were made. They might shrink.

Two new cats

First came Salam who is a very mellow fellow. He is to be boarded with us for a while but may stay. Don't know why I didn't take a photo but will do so on Friday. The person who rescued him is very attached. She rang back later in the day to ask how he had settled in. And Katy brought in Lillian who has only just been trapped. She brought in her pair of kittens last week. They are beside the desk. One is a particulary handsome tabby/Bengal-ish kitten. His sister is a pretty calico.

Once you see Lillian you can understand why the kittens are so striking.

In this photo I had just encouraged her to get out of the cat trap and she was busy trying to find a way out of Dolly's old condo in boarding. She has wonderful tabby spots. Star's kittens were desexed today as were Quincy and Jones (the pair below Tiny Tim). Star's kittens are Sarah, Shazar, Szabo, Sandra and Sophie. . . . . told you that Katy came up with great names last Friday. The sister of the three C kittens out back came in. She is very shy/nervous and the smallest C has been put in with her to calm her down. Doesn't seem to be working so far. Rita's kittens seem to have got better from their trots. Still not healthy enough to go onto ringworm meds though.

And Gracie's kittens are positively chubby and eat all their mum's food as well as their own.

And they sleep in the top-most hammock. But Leaf is Joy's choice of the new favourite kitten.

Top kitten is a C-kitten and bottom is Leaf.

Chicken magic

We need to make a recording of Tara's purr. It is distinctively lovely. Anybody who heard it would be prepared to take the probable months that she needs to settle into a new home. Dobby thought my finger was part of the chicken treat and bit down on it, hard. Luckily it was the finger next to the one that I sliced while cutting up the chicken. Having bandaids on consequitive fingers took me back to childhood. Suki loved her chicken. She is actually putting on weight and growing so much hair that it needed a brush. I found the softest one I could because she must still hurt from all her weight loss. She doesn't scream so loud since Gracie moved to quarantine corner. This seems successful now that there is a sheet of cardboard behind her wheely to stop the escaped kittens (from both sides) running under the cage. Peggy liked her chicken until I got too friendly and she swiped at me. Luckily she missed or I would have had a slash to match Tim's cheek. (More later). The chicken worked magic on Rosie who actually stood up, got out of her igloo, wanted to be stroked and made loving eyes at me. She has forgotten, perhaps that she is heartbroken at being abandonned with us and will give love for chicken.

Tim's cheek was the take off point for the back legs of a kitten who is (probably with a friend) in the condo above the computer. I didn't see inside because they have a modesty cloth. Next door to them are three tuxedo kittens (black and white is definitely the colour of 2020/21). I think we got them by mistake but they look sweet.

Tim weighted kittens to work out a desex schedule. He doesn't like the naming part of this job so Katy and I helped. Katy had brilliant ideas for names. I have forgotten them but Tim wrote them all on a bit of paper . . . . . .

Hera the hero

Yesterday I picked up a carload of litter from way out west and delivered it to Safe Haven in time to chat to Liz and Cass. They were fighting over the right to cuddle Tiny Tim. Cass lost because she had cleaned the ring wormers. Liz had a lovely cuddle. Tim (the big) told me that Gracie's kittens have ringworm. They were in their own, tight quarantine area around their condo. He was worried about how to move them somewhere else when nobody could be moved because everywhere was full. This morning I arrived to find that Hera was adopted yesterday. Lucky adoptees! Lucky us. We had a spare wheely cage. So I cleaned and reorganised so that now we have an expanded quarantine corner with better access to the scales and fogger shelf. With Rod's help I moved the humungous scratchy pole out into the foyer so that there is room to move in the Rita/Gracie quarantine quarters. A couple came to find a replacement for a cranky, unpillable cat to go with their lovely lady cat. He really liked Mia. But Mia and Bella are billed as a pair.

Another pair of young women came to look at one of Mini/RubyG's long gone greys. They rather liked Mini/RubyG.

And liked Elona except that she hides.

And REALLY liked Luna who cuddled up to both of them and is so small and sweet. But is not on the website yet.

The folk who fostered Zelda and her kittens brought in the pair that they adopted to board today. They couldn't resist spending some time (quite some time) with Zelda who loved their attention. They said that they felt angst every time that they read that one of Zelda's kittens was adopted by another family. They wanted to keep them all for themselves.

Left overs

I wasn't at Safe Haven today. I had to have a lump cut from my temple. When I arrived home with a big white bandage wrapped around my head, turban style, Cody recognised my voice but not my face. It was funny to see him look at me as though I was a stranger. But I have left over photos from Wednesday. Sooty is brave enough to stick his face out of his carry cage. The towel that has covered it for the past month or so has slipped down as well. He comes out of his carry cage to eat his breakfast which is progress.

The three kittens that have been living with Bronwen are getting used to us, slowly. Surely she gave them names.

The second blue gauntlet was found.

I have been going through my cat photos trying to delete some of the 14,000 to make more room on my computer. So many old friends. Any cat without a name is deleted. But who can forget Abbey, Klaus and Sunny, Charzie, Sparkie or Brooklyn?

Belle's Buffy: Robyn reports

Buffy is tiny compared to the other four. She is feeding though, so that's good. I got another photo of Buffy with a sibling hugging her - very cute.

She's getting a bit bigger now she has some solo feeding time.

Thanks for the present

Thanks to everybody who bought stuff that has been given to us. Barb bought an elegant scratchy pole for her two indoor cats for Christmas. Rudi and Bella love it.

Belle update #2

Belle and kittens going well.

Little Buffy (the tiny one) is feeding well and has a nice plump tummy.

There is another one who is a bit of an acrobat - feeding upside down with legs hanging out. Hilarious!

Belle is coming out of her shell and comes into the other room for a play the last 2x days. Although today she heard Anthony outside the door and started growling. It was more funny than threatening. He's going to start spending short stints in there each day to help Belle adjust. And tomorrow he is giving her 2 feeds.

Belle is no longer bony all along her spine! She is so lovely and friendly.

A little birdie told me. . . .. . Rod saved the day

Last week I took two bags of dirty washing home. An occasional chirp came from a bag which was easy enough to ignore. On the way back to Safe Haven today with two bags of washed sheets, hammocks, towels, toys. . . .the same bird chirped happily all the way. It would not be quiet. It was so happy to be going home. Sandy unpacked the bag of cleans and immediately commented on the chirp. She gave it to Star's kittens in the play place and it chirped happily for as long as they were in there. A happy bird. Later, Sandy went to do the washing and found the the plug/strainer wouldn't hold the water in the sink. She couldn't fix it, I couldn't fix it, Rod couldn't fix it so he went to Bunnings while Sandy, herocially, washed up in the small sink. The bloke at Bunnings said that the washer was on upside down! Imagine designing a washer that has a right side! Must have been a plumber that thought that one up. So we now have two spare washers in the tool box and the old one is working in the sink. Thank you Rod. The three grey kittens of Mini who were desexed last week all have been adopted since then. The one that I couldn't catch, Myra, was desexed yesterday. This afternoon she would have been adopted by a young couple who missed out on the other grey kittens. They WANT her but will have to wait until she is cleared for adoption. Lunar's kittens were also desexed yesterday. Another young couple came to check out a suitable cat to go with their small dog to replace a rescue cat who died a couple of months ago. Eventually, they decided that Belle, without Mia, would be perfect. More decisions for Tim to sort out as neither are available at the moment. Rosie really liked them. But she is not on the available list either.

We have new kittens: Three from Clare who are not necessarily from the same litter.

The three who had been fostered by Bronwen are settling down:

One arrived yesterday and is called Leaf.

Last week Tim put a couple of large boarding cats in the play place. I took this surreal photo of the cat and the outside of our building from the balcony

: Soxy is growing up.

Emerald update 1: Irene reports

I just read the update on Isabella, so I thought I might just send you a photo of Emerald as well. The remaining 3 kittens are doing well, although we are a little concerned about the little Calico. Fingers crossed.

Coincidence or Psychic?

Around 10:20 this morning I thought "I should phone Tim to see if there is anything I can pick up before I go to Safe Haven this afternooon". Five minutes later he rang me to ask if I could come in early because the third vollie did not show up. I asked if he wanted anything on my way. He answered "No thanks." Soon after I arrived a family came to find a companion for their difficult cat. Irene, eventually, handed over Dobby who played beautifully with the young girl. They went away to think about it. It was a good thing they didn't put their noses into Dolly and Dobby's bed box. They were moved to below Mimi and Macey yesterday. In that time they managed to poo twice on their bed and saturate it with urine. That pretty, pink, fluffy bed is now in the rubbish. No way was it going into my washing machine! Shortly after the family, the woman who rang about Hera on Wednesday arrived with her daughter. They were going to come as soon as a parcel was delivered. It didn't come until 5pm. Hera was not very friendly until I offered her some crunchies. In the meantime the chatty couple met all the other cats available. They have been following the webpage closely and were pleased to meet Apricot's brother Marmelade.

Marmie, of course, is not interested in anybody but Tim. They loved Macey and Mimi because they are so pretty. The daughter especially spent lots of time playing tootsies with Macey. They, eventually, went away to "think about it". They know there are lots of kittens in the pipeline but want a more mature cat for the elderly mum who wants a companion who won't bolt out the door or get underfoot. And Lauren arrived with Miles to adopt one of the cats that she has been fostering. Miles was a great help keeping Mimi/RubyG's kittens inside their condo while I cleaned them.

Even the boy came back from the vet with a collar. (I put them in their carrier cage on Wed morning before being savaged by the littlest). ((My thumb is fine, thank you)). Eventually all the visitors left and I could continue to clean condos. A couple of boarders had play time in the play place. They are big cats so appreciated being able to stretch out.

I cleaned Rita and co. Only the little silver and white tabby is still poorly. The other three are full of beans. I made some towelling cloths to line their hammocks out of left overs from sewing some new hammocks. Being germy from cleaning them up, I left at my usual time.

Belle update #1

Robyn sent some photos of the new mother.

I hope she will continue to document their progress. Meanwhile, last Friday she got a classic shot of Princess Octavia.