Engaging Ebony

There was a hole in the mesh of Wasabi's condo before she moved in. (Star's kittens did it). Her kittens have just learned to poke their heads through the hole. Within days their bodies will follow. So I patched the hole. Unfortunately there wasn't any of the thicker mesh left so it is a temporary fix. But whatever it was, Ebony was fascinated.

She gazed and gazed. While Wasabi tried to hide in her bed because my hands kept coming into her condo.

And her kittens went to sleep in a carry case that kept them from escaping all over the place.

Tim has listed lots of cats and kittens availble so that Terry can get them all adopted tomorrow. The list includes Coco, Cola and Pepsi who had a lovely time this afternoon in the play place while Silky's kittens were off getting desexed. Charles and Christopher are available. The "I am adopted" sign on Elona's condo that had Charles written on it was a mistake. Elona is to be picked up tomorrow. And perhaps the interested person of Wednesday will come by for Charles. Zelda is back on the available list and is desperate for cuddles. Steph's kittens Dash, Flash, Bear and Chip are bound to go quickly because they are such love bugs. Dobby, at last, is available with his loving snot.

As is Windsor with his old man's morning cough and hack.

Talking of which, why is Sunny's nose brown? He is available.

And Salam. We tried to get a good photo but he kept wigglying with the joy of being out and with people to love on.

Puddle of Purs

The traffic was dreadful this morning. It took twice as long as it should for me to get to Chatswood. Luckily Terry was caught up in it too so the kittens that he was to take to be desexed were ready by the time he arrived. They were the second pair of boys that Steph has been fostering. The first pair were desexed yesterday and I can only assume that the vet first demonstrated how to shave the bum of a kitten on one of them and let the student do the second. The poor ginger has a shocker of a shave job! He is bare to the hips. But the second pair of boys came back early (the vet gave them lunch) and while I finally got around to sorting out the laundry shelves, there was a puddle of purs coming from their condo. Soooo happy to be back together again.

Further down the Boarding block, Marigold and her kittens are not quite so chilled.

We have a new Japanese family who tend to stack one upon the other.

Wasabi, the mother, is on the right with the large, wary eyes. Her kittens are quite happy to be handled. Wasabi and Inari were desexed yesterday so I had to separate them from the boys to have pain meds. The boys were quite happy to be picked up to check their bald balls. And I put a collar on Inari to make it easier tomorrow. Didn't like my chances of getting a collar on Wasabi. We have a new Peanut-level grubby cat called Sesame. She has problems with her teeth and probably a wounded foot that leeks blood and perhaps a gut full of worms. But she is super friendly. If you try to take a photo of her, she immediately lies down for more cuddles.

Last thing this evening I had a Celeste sighting. Small steps.

Zelda is back

Despite the pep talk I gave her owner last week and the telephone support Irene has provided over the weekend, Zelda's person could not provide her a safe place. Goodness knows why she thought it would be a good idea to have a young cat in a two bedroom flat with a 102year old and her daughter with carers coming frequently. We will find her somebody to love her properly. In the meantime, Belle's kittens are growing fast despite her gastric troubles. There is Baxter.

And Bugsy,

Button,

Bonnie,

And Buffy.

Despite the drip he got the snip

I didn't get to do much animal behaviour-ing this afternoon because Anna arrived with a pile of donated stuff. And later another woman came by with even more. It all had to be sorted and sterilized. Then found places for. We may well make more out of this "get rid of the cat stuff in your garage" drive than the fun run last year. I did spend time with Silky's kittens who are still in the play place. They responded beautifully to food.

Later Tim added a couple of the black ones to Silky's condo. She was NOT HAPPY, JAN! Previous to that she almost smiled at me when I walked by. But she has definitely had enough of her kittens who are now almost as big as she is small. After sterilizing the donated items I decided to give Salam some attention before cleaning up Quarantine corner. He is definitely a lap cat. He didn't want to move off my lap as I sat on the floor. And everybody else looked at us.

The four new tiny kittens who were poorly on Wednesday evening were full of beans today.

And the other tiny kittens, closest to the front door are named Candy and Colette. They are crazy for Babycat.

Dobby got desexed today despite his pesistant sinus infection. Dr Kim "did" him late this afternoon. Here he looks a bit stunned but still hungry.

Continuous visitors and enquires

Before we had finished cleaning up a woman arrived to check out Floyd. But on further chat she indicated that she would prefer a pair. So after lots of cuddling she chose a boy and girl from the N kittens who got 50 kisses each a day from their fosterer. . . . . Nancy and Nigel will continue with their luxury lifestyle. Poor Nero is left behind to be handed to any visitor who wants to cuddle a kitten. By the end of the day even he had had enough cuddles. Then somebody came to see if we had any kittens. I showed her the availables and she chose the grey tabby. . . either Charles or Christopher who are not available. She will keep her eye on our website. Another woman came to check out Elona who was having none of this being looked at business. She stuck firmly to the inside of her igloo. In the meantime, Nero got cuddled, Luna performed beautifully, I got the history of her previous cat who was adopted from Ingleside AWL 8 years ago. The cat's name was Calico. . . we did have a few of those. . . . She was incompletely desexed so kept coming into heat. She was a stress eater because of problems before AWL days. So she developed diabetes. She didn't like to sit on her person's lap unless there was a cushion there ready for her. She was a much loved cat. This woman brought in her son because he is a good cat picker. He cuddled Nero. In the meantime, she enquired about the birth dates of all the available, and unavailable cats. She liked Octavia. And Lily. She will return. One of my jobs for the day was to find out the sex of each of Silky's kittens who now live in the play place. Silky is in glorious isolation below Windsor. She gets to eat all the food all by herself. I sat with her kittens and played with them. They were not enthusiastic.

Being their mother's children, the only time I could try to determine their sex was when they were lined up with their heads in their food bowls. I quickly lifted their tails and made a guess. . . boy, girl, boy, girl. Four little kittens were dropped off yesterday. They were lively this morning but by the afternoon they were not happy. Could be worms. Could be they miss their mum.

Zelda adopted: Liz reports

Zelda was taken by a middle aged woman whose elderly mother lives with her. She wanted a calm friendly cat so Zelda was the perfect choice.

Prue comments: Over the weekend Jack was adopted by mistake. He wasn't on the website as available but his paperwork was in the available file. The telling clue to his readiness should have been a pink or blue condo card with his name, age and price. But the condo cards we have are rather pale pink or blue. I will try to find some more eyecatching paper to laminate. Nevertheless, a man rang on Friday wanting to come and have a cat choose him. Evidently, Jack chose him. They are happy together. Tim has spoken to the man. All is good. And Pearl can now relax. They came from a hoarder so were not necessarily "bonded" but they did like each other.

Also over the weekend Leaf persisted on the website. I was worried that he had been returned as a failed Chinese New Year special. But he is still with his new family. He was just slow at getting off the webpage. . . cutie that he is, he looked good there.

Happy Year of the Ox

Unfortunately we don't have any oxen ready to adopt. But the lass who came in on Wednesday brought her mother to choose a "special something for Chinese New Year". We introduced mum to all the cats but she, reluctantly, admitted that black cats are unlucky for Chinese. Mum fancied Sapphire. . . . . the smallest kitten. But daughter settled on Leaf. By next Chinese New Year, he should have grown into a beautiful TIGER. He pulled out all the cute stops to engage them both. I think they will be happy together. I asked about favourable names for cats in Chinese families and they said that anything to do with good luck or money is irrestible. So expect names like Euro, Billion, Dollar, Megabucks, Jackpot. If anybody can come up with a list send it to us before the next kitten season which we hope will be an all tabby season (unlike this years mostly black and white season). We have a new mum parked in boarding. As she is our 500'th cat I decided that she should be called D, or something starting with a D. (I admit that we had to Google which letter was Latin for 500, but I knew that there was one). Tim decided on Daphne after rejecting my suggestions of Darling, Dearest, Dearsley. . . . Either way, she is a honey. And her kittens know a beam of sun to lie in when they find one.

Last thing Robyn brought in (Isa)belle and her kittens. Can you believe that she has had them for almost 6 weeks! The kittens had such a lovely time exploring their new digs while Belle relaxed upstairs.

Second to last thing, a family came in to surrender their two cats. Don't know why. . . yet. They are Bud and ?

They are in Luna's old condo out back. She is up front and ready to go now that I patted her so hard that most of her hair fell out. I brushed out the rest.

And Salam is where Dobby used to be

Because Dobby is in the Palace

From whence he can breathe fresh air and sneeze snot on Irene in the morning from several yards. In the afternoon his nose was much better/clearer. So we hope that Florence Nightingale's method of fresh air will cure what ails him. In the meantime, he got to watch Irene clean the play place.

Well done Irene.

Seasoning adoptions

Visitors ask why we have so many kittens. "Because spring is when there is lots of game around" I reply which usually stuns the city folk who come to us. But today our seasoning kittens have left the building. Pepper went yesterday and Salt went today with a lovely couple who were sooo pleased. And will change his name.

A trio of women arrived because one of them had adopted a kitten from us some months ago and it is such a successful addition to her family that she talked her friend into getting a pet for the first time ever. YES! She chose Jones. When I spoke to Tim yesterday he said that he would prefer Quincy and Jones to go together. So I told her to check the web site and when they are posted to get back to us. An hour later she rang to say that Jones was available as an "optional" pair so could she come and pick him up? She paid cash! He has gone despite some confusion with the microchip number on his adoption paperwork. It was correct on the official registration form and that is the only one that really counts so, he has gone. And Quincy lingers on.

We have some beautiful, friendly kittens like the F's whose mother is a spitting fiend,

And Bronwen's kittens, Coco, Cola and Pepsi whose paperwork I might just pick up tomorrow form the Avalon Vet if Irene's telephone diplomacy worked.

And our three, nameless kittens across from the front desk should find a home while they are stll small.

Meanwhile, Billy is still Joy's favourite.