Always Trixie to us

 I didn't have time to take any photos today. So I will fall back on photos of Trixie sent to Irene. They have renamed her Luna but she will always be Trixie to us.

Trixie

Trixie, 1 week: She was very eager to come out of her original room, so the new owners let her into the whole apartment which she loves. She jumped on the bed a few times and claimed all the dining chairs as hers.

The Palace has been occupied by a pair of middle aged rag dolls and a kitten. It seems that the kitten drives them demented with his energy. His name is Ulysses. So Ulysses is to have an hour in the play pen every day. Max was moved, surprisingly easily, to Diego's condo. He was pleased to see me with the chicken but didn't shout the house down.

Ulysses had his first play hour in the play pen this afternoon. He hid in a scratchy pole box. He was very happy to have a cuddle. I loosened his collar which was very tight. His Palace mates continued to grumble.

I brought extra chicken so everybody had more than a small amount but never enough.

No adoptions today. A ?mother and son arrived asking for Tigger to go with their adult cat. Tigger got adopted ages ago ( or was it just last week?) We don't have any young kittens available this week and the adult might be harrassed by a young kitten (eg Ulysses et al). So I showed them everybody and they liked Basil who purred like a mad thing and Coco who was happy to be laid in their arms on her back. They are thinking about it and bought a cat carrier big enough to fit two cats into. And he took the Volunteers Needed leaflet so might be back as a volllie. . .  we need them.

Adoption Tails: Mr Magoo, again

 1 day: Eating and drinking, doesn't seem scared/hesitant at all, very 
confident. Has used litter tray. Renamed to Bob (or Big Bob)

Day 1

1 week: Doing really well. Seemed to be desperate to explore after a few 
days and he was totally fine (like he's been here years). Eating and 
drinking as much as he gets given and is very comfortable with new 
owners. He particularly likes chilling on the sofa.

Week 1

1 month: He's totally fine. He seems to be less jumpy and doesn't tend 
to bite as much. He will happily sit next to the new owners and 
sometimes on them if there is a blanket in between.

Month 1

Adoption Tails: photos from Irene

Pete and Buddy at home.
 

 

 Pete and Bud have their eye on the bird

Darcee keeps struggling with flu symptoms. But has a mate to keep him warm.

Darcee and friend

 

Duke is much loved and his eye is improving.

 

Duke

Fork lift

 The day started with a phone call from Rozelle from a retired nurse who is mad for Persians and wanted to come visit Luigi and Bambi. She has had Persians before and especially loves red Persians like Luigi. She wanted chapter and verse about their medical history and I said that Tim would know more than me. "I am on my way anyway" she said. And we hurried to clean up them and their condo which was in the usual state of havoc as somebody had poo'd out of the litterbox and wee'd on it to make sure. Then sat in it. I dried Luigi's legs and paws while Rod scrubbed. We got them looking splendidly fluffy and she didn't turn up. She phoned at 4pm to say that she would come tomorrow because when she set off in the morning the rain was so heavy that she couldn't see where she was going. I doubt they will look as spruce tomorrow but she is very keen.

The day ended with the delivery of something corrosive to next door. The driver called up on the intercom to ask if I had a fork lift to get it out of his truck. No. Eventually we arrived at the compromise that he would drive his truck to the basement entry (too big to drive in), unpack the pallet on which was one 20gallon carboy of 90% acetic acid (that is a lot of salads!) onto our trolley, I signed all the paperwork and trundled it up to Suite 18. I have thought of a good payback: John can come and clean the really high condos. Only he is tall enough to reach their ceilings.

This morning I noticed that Violet's kittens were having trouble getting to the upper level of their condo. She hangs out upstairs. They claw up the mesh to get to her. So I added a stratchy box downstairs and put their fluffy bed upstairs. They had a marvelous time running up and down. Quite exhausted Violet who flaked out on the fluffy bed.

Violet + 4

Wanda has been separated from "her" kittens. She is delighted that she doesn't have to share her food any more.

Wanda says "MY bowl"

She is below Ricki who might be pregnant. There was not signs of any kittens today.

Ricki

Google says: The 'ginger gene' which produces the orange colour is on the X chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes and so need two copies of this gene to become ginger, whereas males need only one. This means there are roughly three males to one female ginger cat.

 

Adoption Tails: At last

 [Long time no AT blog. But today we have real news to celebrate.]

Tabitha was adopted yesterday. Don't they look well matched?

Tabitha with her new owner

And today Diego was adopted and has moved to Potts Point. I hope he will have a great view.

Diego

 

And we are still thrilled that Trixie was adopted on Tuesday, April 19.

Day 1: Trixie is already walking around like she owns the place and has been playing a lot of games. She is still a little skittish but is gradually getting used to her new owner's company.

Adoptees that we are unlikely to hear more of:

Mr Magoo, adopted March 17
day 1: Yeah he’s absolutely fine. Like a duck to water. Eating and drinking, doesn’t seem scared/hesitant at all, very confident. Used his litter tray too. We named him Bob (or Big Bob)
1 week: He’s doing really well. Yeah he seemed to be desperate to explore so after a couple of days we let him out and he was just totally fine. Like he’s been here years. Eating and drinking as much as we give him, and yeah very comfortable with us. He particularly likes chilling on the sofa. (They sent two photos and he looks very happy).

Duke adopted April 2, 22
1 week: Duke has settled in incredibly well. He sleeps on new owners bed, follows her around and give lots of affection. The eye seems to be improving too.

A flat solar system

 Only one adoption today and it doesn't count because it was Lucky who was adopted from foster by vollie Vicky weeks ago and she just did the paperwork today. No follow ups required. He already rules the house, husband and dogs.

Steph brought in a mum and her kittens. The mum, a calico is Star. Her boy kittens are Jupiter (tabbie) and Venus (white). Her girl kittens are Saturn (champagne), Pluto (tortie) and Mars (ginger). They must have all been named when it was too early to tell what sex they were. They formed a very flat universe today when they moved into the Canin condo because some have the flu and one has ringworm. Because they are sick the Canin condo has been rolled back into Incoming and Beauty, Amelia are back beside Jackson.

Star and family

 There is another sweet ginger girl in Incoming, Ricki. Don't know where she came from.

Ricki

And Flo, a tiny kitten below Midsummer who goes home with Katie every night. She was dumped in somebody's yard. (It must be exciting at Katie's because she was flaked out all afternoon).

Flo

Sabrina and Tutu have been moved to boarding.

Sabrina and Tutu

Tigger

Tigger is where Rufus used to be. You can tell that Tigger is upset about the move, there is food in his bowl.

Rufus in above Sabrina and Tutu. He is to be picked up on Monday. I think he liked being close to the roof but he stayed out of camera range.

Rufus

And Jackie is below them. She is not well but we don't know what to do to help her tummy. She did like a little bit of chicken.

Jackie

Coco, who has been on the adoption list for some weeks while in foster, came in because her fosterers are going away. Their other cats came in to board. Coco quickly figured out how to open her condo and passed me while I was sitting close by trying to get mats from Gigi's flanks. I called a warning and when she made a bolt for the front door her fosterer grabbed her. It is never dull at Safe Haven.

Coco

One left

 Of Sabrina's kittens, there is still one left, if you don't count Lulu the short haired tuxedo who sticks by her side and hasn't yet been desexed. (I still think that she is a younger ring-in even though she and Tigger had a lovely game of ring-around-the-litter box today). 

We have a new mum and four kittens on Naughty Row. They are mum Violet and Ivy, Clover, Orchid and Natalia.

Violet plus 1 upstairs

Three others downstairs on the luxurious bed

 But the one that we are really happy to have left is Trixie. She was adopted yesterday by a young couple who just fell in love with her. They know all about her history and possibly expensive future but still took her. Lucky them.

Today the Ringworm pair were upgraded to her condo in the main cat room. They are completely cured and should be ready to adopt. Basil is the bolder kitten. He has a white upside down V on his face.

Basil, the bold

His brother, Piglet is very shy still. He was the one with the ringworm lesions that needed frequent applications of nasty ointment (he thought it was nasty; it is really very soothing). He hides from people and is protective of food which Basil tends to greedy. I hope there are enough Trixie vibes left in their condo to bring him out of his shell.

Piglet

Had a rare sighting of Rebel this afternoon.

Rebel

And Rufus is still waiting to be picked up by his new owner.

patient Rufus

I took a chance and added hammocks to the D's and Tommy/Mia's stand alones. The previous hammocks had been used as litter trays before they came down with the flu. I hope it was just cats feeling too poorly to make it to the box.

Two of the D's immediately jumped into the new hammock and had a noisy wrestle.

D kittens

Tommy is withdrawn. I suspect that all his testosterone has disappeared and he doesn't know whether he is Arthur or Martha. He curled up in the smallest triangular hammock.

Tommy and Mia

The only visitors we had today were a couple of young women who had wanted to walk some dogs at Monika's Doggy Rescue. But it was closed. So they rang to ask if we had any dogs that needed to be walked. I said they were welcome to come visit some cats. They came under strict instructions from their parents that they were NOT to bring home any cats/kittens. They were very restrained. Our new ginger and white boy Ginger was thrilled to see them.

Full of boarders

 I was going to count the number of cats today, but didn't get around to it. Another boarder arrived who has stayed with us before. He was not amused. His owner says that he has trouble with his teeth so I suggested we give him TD's instead of the harder chrunchies. He might be very happy by the time she comes back.

I was just handing out the last of the chicken (there is never enough) when a family of mum and 3 twenty-something daughters arrived for one daughter to choose a loving cat, not too young, that would be happy to be left all day while she works in retail. She rather fancied Sabrina's Mocha (Sasha has already been adopted but not picked up) but the family advised that two kittens would be happier at home alone all day than just one. She then fell in love with Trixie but really can't afford the possible expense of her gingivitis. After Tim told her all about Trixie's history past and possible future, she looked harder at Po who decided that she liked the whole family, rolled on her side, kneaded the air with her front paws, let herself be picked up and cuddled by all the daughters. Perfect match. And a bargain at $230 because she is 6 years old. We started the paperwork at 4pm. 

I took a couple of quick photos so that there would be something for the blog. (Didn't get one of Po because her new family was recording her every move.)

The D kitten with the slow heart rate who had an electrocardiogram is just fine. His heart speeds up when it needs to. He is just a super fit, athlete type of cat.

D boy, the athelete

D girl who looks scared but really isn't

Sabrina's kittens are all ready to go. This may be the last time they are all together in the Canin condo. It will probably be just Sabrina there by the end of the long weekend. They all got their vaccinations this afternoon and at one stage all escaped. I was handing out chicken at the time so they were really easy to catch.

Sabrina + 6

Wanda had time out from her four on Katie's chair.

Wanda (not winking but one sore eye still)

Back in the 90's

 We had 90 cats and 2 rabbits this morning when I arrived. But 4 (or 5) boarders arrived and two went home so we are still over 90 but not quite to 100!

The garbage men were VERY early this morning. When I arrived at 6:50am, they had already collected the commercial as well as the residential bins. Which means that every vollie should take home at least one bag, please, because I didn't have the opportunity to put our extra 18, or so, bags into other peoples' bins. And those were last week's bags. We will have more bags this week because of more cats. 

The Canin condo has been moved into the main cat room with its cargo of Sabrina and her kittens.

The only way to control five of the kittens is to put them into a carrier. It is a very full carrier. Lulu (the short haired tuxedo sticks close to Sabrina).

a container of kitten mischief

A woman rang early to get directions to come to meet Romeo and Juliette. I quickly cleaned their condo to make them ready for visitors. It required Gumption. The whole family arrived. The rather deaf mum  wants a cat (or two) to replace her beloved but stand-offish previous cat. Her husband, her daughter and her grandson (last two visiting from the UK). Romeo and Juliette were overwhelmed and hid in their carrier, together. . . . or was it the lingering smell of Gumption? Disappointed the family asked to see others. We went through the lot and husband, daughter and grandson liked Trixie the best. She behaved beautifully and purred in everybody's arms. But the mum was hesitant about the potential cost of her swollen salivary glands and decided that she liked one of Sabrina's best. They are not yet available but probably will be tomorrow.

Coco had demolished her box and I couldn't find a suitable replacement so gave her one of the "cat towers" that teeter on top of the D kitten's condo. She loves it. When she has chewed her way through the tower I will put $5 in the donation box.

Coco has a new box

Between these visitors and the boarders and their owners who kept coming and going, and being two vollies down, it was a busy day. A man even came to sell us some kind of Vet Clinic package. A woman came from the local funeral home to give us stuff left over from her recently dead pug (at 12 and a half years old, he was a very old pug) and cat beds. So busy that we didn't have time to make a fuss of Mayka who has graduated to the next age group. No more kitten food for her.

Speaking of food, we are desperately short of wet food. If you have any that your cats have rejected, please donate it to the Safe cats.

Kitten clean

 I handed out the usual chicken. The Palace lot are coming further out for chicken than before. Adelaide will come up to the upper level for hers. It is interesting that when all four of them were in one condo, Yang was usually upstairs while the other three hid downstairs. The four girls from Incoming are behaving in the same way with one tortie of Kate, Naomi, Helena and Cindy curled up by herself in the bed upstairs and the rest downstairs in the cat carrier.

Kate, Naomi, Helena or Cindy

Sootie was the star performer of the afternoon. She actually ate her chicken while I sat outside her condo with her door open. She then continued and ate all her breakfast wet food with me as an audience. GOOD GIRL.

Peach has been moved from Boarding to below Yang. She is not a happy cat. No chicken thank you.

Peach

There were only 2 D kittens (Dumpling and Dawn both girls). They liked their chicken and polished off their breakfast while I held their dishes for them. They are still full of flu. Dabi, the boy was off having an electrocardiogram because he has a slow heart rate.

Dumpling and Dawn (both girls)

Midsummer LOVED her very small serving of chicken.

Midsummer wants MORE

And Oreo, the boy of Sabrina's three desexed kittens (the other three were off being "done") cleaned the bowl for me.

Oreo cleans while Sabrina misses out

Pity it wasn't cats

 I made a note for myself this morning: "18 out and 4 in".

This referred to 18 bags of trash out to various bins on the street first thing in the morning (although the garbos didn't come until after 1pm) and 4 bags of clean washing in. The laundry shelves are satisfyingly filled again.

I went out to get the bin at 2pm and it is cracked and one wheel has been broken off. Nasty garbage man must have thrown it back onto the ground. (It was upright.) 

Mariko spent quite a while scrubbing Lilly's hutch. There have been complaints about the rabbit smell which is not surprising as she doesn't use a litter box and few folk clean out her soiled straw. (Should be done daily.) The wee seems to react with the plastic which hardens and cracks off.

 As the last tall scratchy pole has been sold, I rearranged our foyer and was rejoicing at being able to cut the corner into the kitchen when we had a delivery at 3pm.

There is another column of boxes on the other side of the merch shelves in the foyer. Happy flattening tomorrow! The bloke down the corridor may take the cardboard if nicely flattened and the two sheets of bubble wrap that surround one cat carrier (I assume) in every box. 

Then a nice woman came to check out our cats. She has a "very gentle" 4 year old child. [How often mothers say their children are angels. Peggy Brown never let a kitten go to a family where there was a child under 5. The kids just don't know their strength and can squeeze the life out of a kitten. . . all in the name of love]. She liked Trixie and Andy. She will bring said child and partner to met them on Sunday, perhaps. She has checked out various other places so should be a good owner.

Andy, raring to go

Guess who was out and about (in her condo) today! Melody. I haven't seen more than the top of her ears for months.

Melody, pretty kitty

Two of Sabrina's have been desexed. Sabrina can't wait for them all to GO ALREADY.

Sabrina's ?

And why is the hammock never big enough?

Wanda says "Your turn next"