I was going to clean the back windows . . .

I did a vet run with the tuxedo's in Incoming first thing. Tim told me to take Socks and Tip. Who is who? He said that Mo is the one who is hardest to catch and has the smallest moustache. But he did microchip Socks and Tip just in case I managed to catch Mo. (One of them is a girl, by the way)

I returned in the afternoon to clean windows but it got busy. A potential fosterer arrived and talked to/at Tim for at least an hour. He measured up for some more shelving. I put some cat carriers together. The first one took 20 minutes. The second one 7 minutes. The third one 4 minutes. And I had had enough and decided to share some chicken. A man brought in his daughter, when Katie was busy elsewhere, to check out Amber. I had just got to them with the chicken. They are not keen on chicken. They like hands touching them even less. The daughter is doing her HSC and has a 2 year old cat who is full of energy. The plan is to get a second cat to entertain the cat so that she can study/give her something to do while she studies from home. Amber really didn't cooperate. I introduced them to Silky who will take any amount of cuddles when there is chicken on offer. The daughter was interested even though Silky shrank away from her. And there are Santa Maria's brood who are very soft, friendly cats (except for George). They should be ready in a few days. They couldn't make up their minds so will bring Mum to help another day. I introduced them to Charlie on their way out because who can resist a Charlie. The one photo I took all afternoon was of Santa Maria standing up because this was the first time I had seen her on her feet.

(But I can share some of Joy's lovely photos from Wednesday.) Another man came in to look at Harry and Harley when Katie was busy elsewhere. He wants a pair of cats for his kids to grow up with. The kids are 4, 7 and 9. He had cats when he was a kid. I suspect that Harry and Harley would be better with older children. He agreed. I introduced Ginger and Lechusa who have just become available. He took videos of them (and Norma and Petite who will be ready really soon) and will be back after consultation with his wife. He loves cats and as soon as the kids go back to school and his shift changes at work he may come to volunteer with us.

Dolly liked her chicken but not as much as cuddles as Joy found out on Wednesday.

Everything was under control and then. . . .

I came home to discover that our internet wasn't working. But I have fixed it by the tried and true method of turning it off, waiting 20 seconds, and turning it on again. 54 cats when I arrived. 51 when I left. It was a very well controlled morning with lots of vollies doing their work slowly and spending time with each cat. I put Maxwell our boarder in the play place because he is a kitten and was desperate for a run. He is one of ours, I think. They must have put a collar on him when they took him home and hadn't checked how tight it was. I took it off and found a matted piece of fur below the collar.

And I noticed that half his whiskers have been trimmed. Is there some myth that if you cut a new cat's whiskers it won't wander off?

Then a woman called ahead to alert me that she was bringing in her client who has issues to look for a cat. Suddenly there were too many people around. Lovely people, vanished to elsewhere. And the nice man decided that he liked lots of cats and would go away and think about it and prepare for it. I confess that I showed him Charlie who is a softie, Valentino who loves everybody and Blackie who is a couch potato. None of them are ready yet but neither is he. Then all the vollies finished the jobs and left and I had a call from a teacher who lined me up to adopt Jerry to her at 4pm when she finished school and got to us. What to do in the meantime? I cleaned the balcony windows! And then was wondering what to do when a woman arrived to adopt Gingey for her 14 year old's birthday. DONE. Then a young couple arrived with Mum to check out Peggy. And an older mother and daughter came to pick up Pawsey II's stuff. Unfortunately I saw a litter bag sitting beside a rubbish bin with some obvious rubbishy stuff in it this morning. I took it out and put it in a rubbish bin with the other trash. It contained the stuff that had been taken home to be washed before Pawsey was picked up, returned, and packaged in a trash bag! I think I managed to pacify them with gifts of bowls and bits of bed and a carrier. In the meantime, Peggy was charming her visitors. And they adopted her. During the process, Peggy swiped her new mum but I had warned her and she seemed fine with the occasional demarcation dispute. Then the teacher arrived to adopt Jerry for her fourteen year old son. "He is a bit shy" I said. "So is my son" she said.

And I think I may have solved the problem of Gracie's wandering litter tray. We were given a grey, flat, plastic sheet that might be silicone. I put it under her tray. See the pile that she had dug and the tray stayed put!

Sandy sideswiped

It was her car, not her, sometime during the morning when she was slaving away doing angelic deeds. Unfair! Riley was being adopted as I arrived. She is to live with a primary school aged boy and a big brother cat. They know that she doesn't like to be picked up but are prepared to play with her until she gets used to the idea. Coco and Mason were in the play place overnight. Jasmyn was sitting with them when I arrived so I grabbed the nail clippers and she held squiriming cats while I clipped off gigantic claws. Coco's in particular looked dangerous because they were large and pearly against her brown fur. Front and back paws were done so they shouldn't get caught up in their bedding and come to fistycuffs any more. After fogging the playplace, Megsy had a go. He loved it (and tolerated having his front claws trimmed: he kept getting his feet caught while exploring all over). Late in the afternoon a woman dropped by with a donation of food for cats and dogs. I popped her into the play place with Megsy and she would have taken him home because he was so loving. But her parents would "kill" her. Everybody reacted well to chicken. Some cats are getting easy to stroke, eg Silky. But others are resistant eg Marigold. Gingey just wanted the cuddles. Santa Maria too. I can see why her kittens like their box. She happily stays in her condo box all the time. Patches (or is it Snowy) was more interested in hugs than chicken and climbed all over me while I tried to engage Ginger and Snowy (or is it Patches) in the box.

I am tying to update the photos on file so that every cat has a picture. My computer refused to do it for a while but it seems to be working now. So I took photos of Romeo and Juliette. Still one in front and one behind the cat carrier.

And I tried to take a good photo of Dolly but it is impossible. She just wants to crawl into your arms and snuggle. Velcro would have been a more descriptive name for her.

Charlie is a darling

I started off the day with 52 cats and finished it with 55! This is going the wrong way. Terry brought in a tabby girl. The cat that he was supposed to bring in made a mad dash for freedom over the roof and Terry could tell that if he tried to help catch that cat he would be torn to shreads. So another cat was snaffled instead. She is a pretty tabby and we called her Malabar because she was caught on Malabar Street. She is quite friendly, on that street, but a bit shocked in a condo.

Then Blacky was brought in by a woman who has to find homes for her deceased mother's cats. He is a sweet 7 and a half year old.

And finally a woman who has surrendered several cats to us that we have found homes for, had to give us her very own sweet Charlie who is only a year and a half old and who loves tummy rubs.

Blacky and Charlie have been moved straight into the Welfare area because we know that they have been vaccinated, desexed, flea'd, etc so they don't have to stay in Incoming for 10days. But in Incoming we have Red, who arrived last night after being desexed. He is not in a good mood. He got put into Quarantine because there wasn't another available condo but there is nothing wrong with him.

Moe, Tip and Sock are in the plastic condo of Incoming. I took a couple of blurry photos of them sitting on the shelf looking at me and then managed to drop my camera. I swore and when I looked up they all had horrified expressions. . . was it the noise or the language?

New in Welfare are Gingey who came from the same group as Blacky.

And there is Meow Meow. Don't know where this grey cat came from. But she/he comes with a special diet and is only 3 years old.

And there is Dolly in Incoming who is another darling, just like Charlie.

I did manage to rearrange the furniture a bit. Just in case we need to open the front doors and to give the stand alone cages a bit more separation just in case there are sneezes.

Thunder clouds

As I drove south from Avalon around noon, a huge bank of thunderclouds was moving north. The rain came down as I crossed Roseville Bridge. Somewhere must have got hail at least. The cats weren't concerned. They could smell the chicken that I brought with me. Doel was adopted just before I arrived to a family with two small daughters who asked a hundred questions. Katie forgot to give them his cardboard house. It won't be of use to anybody else after being "sterilized". She plans to get in touch with the new owners to coordinate a pass over of his safe house. Valentino has graduated to "out front". He likes this view better.

I took some photos of Chloe after softening her up with chicken. On the web page she looks like a tuxedo instead of the favoured grey and white. Let's hope a better photo gets her adopted.

Some cats have come out of Incoming: George and Lechusa are next to Harry and Harley. I hope the H's learn their manners rather than vice versa.

Norma and Petite are where Mini was. Norma has a very small black spot on her bottom lip (just like Marilyn Munroe's). Petite has black blotches around her mouth.

Tim moved their brother Ginger and Snowy in their box to the condo below Valentines while Katie carried Patches without any fuss. Of course, they are all in the box now.Their mum, Santa Maria is next to Luna. Katie picked her and her bed up. S.Maria clung to the bed and the transfer went smoothly.

Riley was desexed. And is/was wearing an Elizabethan collar. She is a girl! And we don't know if the kitten in Incoming, Billie, is a girl or a boy. How very modern.

Fifty barrier broken

I counted noses this morning. There are only 49 cats in residence! As I was counting, I saw that Buddy and Petey's door was open. They were sitting primly in their condo, side by side, as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. A little while later I went back to their corner and Silky's door was open! She looked at me as though to say "I just made it easier for you to feed me." Her sliding bolt could be a cm longer. But since Friday's clearance "sale" the following cats have been adopted: Bridie, Sabrina, Bobby, Candy and Apricot. James, who hasn't been in since last Wednesday was shocked. So I gave him this blog addy so that he can keep up, kind of. Welcome James. And Daisy, the pregnant cat has disappeared from Incoming. In her place is the marvellous Sir Dudley.

And the miniscule Billy who only does meals in bed.

Megsy is still with us but wants to break out of condo confinement. He lead Robyn a merry dance when she tried to clean his condo.

Another of Santa Maria's kittens ventured out of the box this afternoon. She is pretty. The two who are out most of the time (five kittens do not fit into one Purina box) are very friendly. I got kisses on my forehead.

Another still in hiding one is named Ginger: no prizes for guessing what colour he is. And out back, Honey, she of the two yummy kittens in Boarding last month or so, is back. She has had her flank shaved. There is a little cut with no stitch. I can only guess that it was a tubal ligation via keyhole surgery. But why shave such a swath of fur? She is not in the best of moods and bit Joy who was just trying to be friendly.

Tom and Jerry and co are in the play place. They were having a lovely time when I arrived good and early but then slept the rest of the day until I enticed them with milk. A trainee spent some time with them and only the fluffy boy would play nicely with him. The rest rested:

Missed in the mess/Belle at home

Told you it was a messy afternoon. I forgot to confirm that Robyn took Belle home. I have added that to the previous blog. After a noisy trip home by car with Belle yowling or Robyn singing the same song for 20 minutes to quiet her, Belle explored

By the next day she was well rested and stretched:

Had a good play:

and lots of cuddles and now feels right at home. But while the rest was happening on Friday afternoon, a pair of Japanese ladies arrived to foster Ebony. I know that they are Japanese because one was wearing a black sweatshirt with very specific geologic coordinates printed on it. She didn't know what it referred to. I asked her to turn around expecting a photo of Mt Fuji on the back, but there was nothing. We were travelling up in the lift at that time after I helped the dad of Jayde and Jasmin (and Rosy Nose's two kittens who came to be microchipped and vaccinated) take down the humumgous cat scratchy and to fit it into his car. It fitted. He drove off. Those two tiny kittens will be Olympic athletes if they can get to the top of that scratchy! And Ebony went home with the Japanese ladies. She got her Friday chicken treat before she left.

Neat morning, messy afternoon

When I arrived at noon there was a family with two small children after a kitten. They chose Kimmy (and vice versa). Then the woman and her daughter who wanted Kimmy on Sunday came in after getting permission from her landlord to have a cat. While Irene was checking out Kimmy, they decided that Chilli really was the better choice for them. They are Spanish speakers and will change his name to something unpronouncable. She has had cats forever so knows what to do. While I checked out Chilli, Irene introduced a woman to all the quiet cats in residence. She had a problem choosing between Soxy and Marmalade. And finally chose . . . . . MARMALADE!

She paid her money and went away without him but promised to be back. She came back at 3:30 having set up her house with everything that he will need . . . . lots of hiding places initially. But we think that they will be a good match. They are both quiet, aloof, self contained folk just aching for somebody to love. And then Robyn came in and talked to Tim about Belle's condition and dietary needs. While she was doing this (and Irene was processing Marmalade) I introduced a woman and her two teenaged sons who really had wanted Kimmy, or a Kimmy-like semi-long haired kitten. I introduced her to the longish haired ones in Incoming. We think that Petite and Norma are the longer haired girls. And then to the delicately grey Lucy and the longer haired of her brothers in Mia and Bella's stand alone. I suspect that the boys will go for Lucy because she will be ready earlier. They are desexed. They just need a vet check and microchip whereas the ones in Incoming need to be there for another week and then go through the vet check, etc. Those boys need a kitten while they are in lockdown to replace the much beloved cat who died last year. They want a longish haired cat because their old cat was. But they don't want a matted cat. I tried to convince them that if they start brushing the kitten while it is young, the cat will enjoy being brushed all its life. I suppose this is true.

They certainly like to cuddle up together. Robyn and I processed Belle and she went home with Robyn. I thought it was warm at Safe Haven today but the cats didn't. Ginger and Lechusa shared a box.

Now that we have spare condos, we have assigned separate condos for Bobby and Doel. While they came as a bonded pair, they have been quarrelling all day. They have gingivitis so are on TD's. A better solution is daily brushing, of their teeth. What's the chance of that while they are cross with each other?

Phantoms and angels

When I arrived, early, the phantom streaker was singing in the shower. I can now report that he is a male to match his long footprints. The angels arrived throughout the morning to fill in and help out. Thankyou especially Catsie and Ros. Because of all of you, I was about to take it easy and leave on time with the cattery looking tidy as well as clean. Riley thought the ghost of Christmases to come had caught up with him when a decoration got caught around his neck. We cut it off and he relaxed.

When I arrived Harry and Harley had been in the play place overnight. Somebody else's turn. So I wheeled their stand alone cage into the play place, put their breakfast into it and waited until they were busy eating to close their door. During the day Bobby and Doel had a turn. Bobby loved it. Better yet when somebody sat with him so he could get more attention. Doel seems to resent the amount of attention he gets but was quite happy to be patted.

Harley the girl, had a lovely time and welcomed company of patters. But Bridie didn't like it although she did put up with cuddles to compensate.

There are new cats in incoming including five big kittens only one of which is on show. You can see another guarding the entrance to the communal box.These are the kittens of Santa Maria who is very shy and is in Incoming as well. She didn't eat at all today.

There is George (ginger) and Lechusa (tortie) where Bobby and Doel were. She stays mostly in one box or the other.

There is a family of four kittens who have moved to where Mia and Bella were:

Because Mia and Bella have been adopted. Their people returned the dog carrier they borrowed to take them home. It seems the cats have decided to hide under the buffet . . . . in a space smaller than a mouse. I gave them a feather toy to entice them out. If that doesn't work I gave them the left over chichen necks from today. If they had been in residence there wouln't have been any left overs. And Mimi was picked up this morning. She went into their carrier without any fuss. (Admititedly, I had not given her any crunchies at breakfast time but scattered some in their carrier. It might have helped). So it has been a fabulous weekend for adoptions with homes found for Anthony and Cleopatra, Cooper, Miyuki, Lillian (foster home), Lily, Mia, Bella and Mimi. Roll on the lockdown.