Humungous cat trees

 We were given (perhaps) three boxes containing "cat trees". The boxes are reasonably sized: about knee high, thigh long, forearm wide. But the constructed cat tree is tall. Thank goodness for Arch who   in put together his own cat's tree and knows how to read instructions even thought those instructions were very meager. Thank you Arch. 

Not completely erected cat tree

We decided to charge $175 for the erected one and $150 for the two still in their boxes.

 Soon after we started to put it together a customer arrived. A very nice young woman who hasn't had a cat before but her brother got one from us (renamed Remi) and she wanted her own, friendly, cuddly cat. Macy went onto the adopted list today. She was perfect for this woman. They will be very happy together.

And Geoff, who always forgets to clock on has devised the following icon for logging into Shelter Buddy. It is at the upper left corner of the main cat room computer screen.

As soon as I walked in this afternoon I was told that we had a new, adorable kitten in Incoming. Eventually I got around to her:

Not that much cuter than her next door neighbours in the stand alone: 

Cosmo, Duke, Freya, Olivia

Katie will know who is who. They lived with her for a while.

No boarders

 There weren't any this morning unless you count Jacqui's three cats in the play place. She had a problem with her roof which meant that she and the dog had to move to a B&B and the cats came to us. The roof is now fixed but the ceilings have to be dealt with. So we don't know how long her three will be with us. They were all hiding today.

And then Buffy came in to occupy the Palace. She stayed in her carry case all day. She will only be here until Friday afternoon. But the supermodels got kicked back to a double condo. 

Mia and Eric were adopted over the weekend. Mary has moved into Mia's small stand alone and has taken on her mantle of being the "cuddle cat". She just loves a good patting. 

Mary

Macy is not much better! We let her out for a wander and she enjoyed herself on the stratchy pole that Robyn bought in because she doesn't have a suitable place for it.

Macy

Earlier in the day, Opie shot out of his stand alone when I went to put his breakfast into it. He ran straight for the front door but detoured into the junk room. . . . thank goodness. I corralled him out of there after hastily shutting all the doors I could find. He decided not to hide under the merch shelves but popped into one of the cocoons in front. I covered the entry hole with a handy rug and carried him back to his stand alone. 

Which made Sandy and I think about the difficulty of the space below the merch shelves. First we thought that we could block it up with upturned litter trays. I tried it but it seemed to create more places to hide than less. Sandy came up with the brilliant idea of cutting cardboard to fit into the slots in the shelves at the top side and have an L-angle on the floor. We found suitable boxes to cut up (there is never a lack of cardboard boxes on Wednesdays!) and it looks like it works. When they get wet, we can easily replace the cardboard. We look forward to feedback.

There is a litter of kittens where Mia's used to be in Incoming. Don't know where they came from (their names are Earl, Cosmo, Freya and Olivia!) but I gave them a hammock to play in.

Mia's three have been moved to Eric's stand alone. There were only 2 hammocks so I added another so that they each have one which made them all happy.
 

Adoption Tails: Zatoichi

 1 day: He is doing just great. He poos and pees in his litter tray and is eating normally. He even climbed into bed last night. His owner is considering renaming him Kimchi. "He's honestly the cutest"

day

5 days: He’s chill and lets his owner cuddle him. 

day 2

1 month: Kimchi is doing well. He's having a great time.

day 4

I watched an episode of Jackson Galaxy last night when he talked about the 10 most popular names for cats in the USA in 2021. Here is his list from the most popular to 10th place (with the number of cats we had with those names last year in brackets).

Luna (1)

Milo (0)

Oliver (0)

Leo (1)

Loki (0)

Bella (1)

Charlie (2)

Willow (1)

Lucy (2)

Simba (1)

Don't waste a good name

 The black cat that I called Mickey because Michelle brought him in on Wednesday, had already been named Shadow.

Shadow

So Katie used "Mickey" for a ginger and white cat with a sore foot. (Perhaps somebody kicked him. He is very wary and street soiled). Young Mary has cleaned herself up beautifully and is now friendly.

Mickey

I spent some time brushing out Cherry's undercoat which is excessively fine and gets up your nose and everywhere else. She clung to me as I brushed her. I don't know if that was because she was so grateful to get rid of the fluff or because she felt exposed down at ground level.  I imagine that her owners will think that we have starved her when they pick her up on Sunday because she looks slimmer,

Cherry

And I brushed Yuki in the hopes that it might get her adopted. She tolerated it for a minute and then had had enough before I could get to her bib.

Yuki

Chi Chi is still in the box

I gave Luigi a bit of a brush too. But he was more interested in CHICKEN!

Luigi

We have another pair of torties on Naughty Row, under Melody. Don't know why we bother with beds sometimes.

Gia and Winnie

Adoption Tails: Callie

 

Callie in foster home

 1 day: no direct response from the owner but Cally was very frightened and shy, refusing to show her face.
1 week: There has been enormous progress made with Cally through the owner's communication with Lexi (foster carer) and Irene. The owner has felt very supported throughout this whole process. Cally is eating and using her litter tray. She even looked out the window to have a peek as the owner came home and stepped out of the car yesterday. The owner loves her to bits and is very glad that she is gaining confidence day by day.
1 month: Cally has settled in really well, having found her inner kitten self 2 weeks earlier which was fabulous. She was given the freedom of the house and the owner was able to move her food bowls nearer the kitchen about a few days ago. Cally has assumed playground status of the whole house after taking a day or two of cautious exploration. She has completely rearranged the couch cushions and was fast sleep underneath, looking absolutely pleased with herself when the owner found her there. 

She loves licking treats of the owner's fingers and will curl up right beside her after. Though the owner has not been "invited to touch her yet", Cally no longer dashes for cover when she passes by closely. The owner is very pleased with Cally's progress only after one month and cannot wait to stroke and cuddle her when the time comes. "Cally is so deserving of a happy life given her very rocky start in it."

Callie closer

 

Opie is a pussycat

 We have new cats.

Luigi is friendly but desperate to go somewhere else. He tells us that he doesn't belong here. He needs to go. He has burrs caught in his rather grubby fur.

Luigi

Tiger is a surrendered Ragdoll who is very thin. He is on a special hypoallergenic diet. We are feeding him often to try to build him up. He has lovely green eyes, no stripes and is quite chilled out. .  or is he just weak?

Tiger

Chester is new in Incoming. Don't know his story but he looks as though he might tell it.

Chester

And Michelle who has supplied us with cats before, brought in a cat who has recently joined the cat colony that she looks after. She finally managed to trap him last night after 6 days of not feeding the colony cats in order to get him hungry enough to go into the trap. Tuna did it today. He is black and was being picked on by the other cats in the colony. . . . probably because he is an entire male and the colony's dominant male saw him as a threat. He is a good looking black boy but didn't want his photo taken. I called him Mickey.

 

I pushed the Top Cat to Max's condo but he wouldn't get out of bed to come out. So I moved it to Lucky's condo. She stuck her head out but stayed in.

Lucky

 

 

We were more successful with the play place. Tried out Macy who didn't mind it but prefers to be paid homage to in her stand alone.

Macy

And Opie was wheeled in. He walked all around, looked out the window, and as soon as I appeared with some crunchies, hopped back into his stand alone so we wheeled him back to his corner. 

Later on he made a dash for freedom, shot out of the hall door with me in pursuit. While he was trying to decide whether to make a dash out the front door or to explore Incoming, I shoved him back through the hall door and closed him in. He investigated the desk. I walked around it and picked him up and popped him back into his stand alone. He is not such a bossy boy.

Opie

Adoption Tails: Supermodels

 Only one has been adopted so far. I will add her sisters, in due time.

Naomi

Adoption Day

 1 day: Her owner thinks she’s ok. She’s been to the litter box and has eaten some dry food last night and this afternoon. She hasn’t drunk much water and didn’t eat her wet food this morning. She’s under the bed as they expected. They will keep her name.

Naomi, 1 week

1 week: She's doing really well. She had a trip to the vet nurse yesterday to trim her nails and was really good! She wandered out of her room this morning and retreated back under the bed. She was fine to play late in the afternoon which is her normal playtime. She's eating very well and is very affectionate.

Naomi

1 month: She’s great. Very happy now running from one end of the apartment to the other! She is still not sitting on her owner’s lap and is a bit jumpy but she is very affectionate (even with others). She loves playtime, looking outside, and especially loves tickles.

Adoption Tails: Rhapsody, Florence, Dan and Coco

  It was very nice to get this message about Rhapsody on the day that Finn was adopted. Rhapsody came with Mia and four kittens (one of whom is Finn). We couldn't decide if Rhapsody was the kittens granny or aunt. She was the shyest of them all, initially. Not now:

Rhapsody

Rhapsody

1 day: The kids have renamed Rhapsody to Silky. She is settling in well and is definitely a lap cat. She loves her cuddles and is super chill!
1 week: Silky is getting more and more confident and is still super cuddly. The owner is surprised at how trusting she is, considering she was a street cat. She also thinks Silky is ready to explore more of the house! Silky currently spends short periods in the kid's bedroom. She gets time to explore and will get up on the bed for a cuddle. She is taking the lead with the exploration.

A bit chubbier Silky

1 month: Silky has settled in really well. Hew new big sister is still making it known that she's the boss but Silky knows her place and they have not had any bad run-ins. Silky uses a pillow like humans, actually seeking out pillows and laying her head on it. She also will stick her entire leg into her water bowl to clean her paws.

Florence 

1 day: She’s used the litter tray and has been both eating and drinking. “Very happy and so are we”. They’re keeping her name.

1 week: “Florence is flourishing.” She is going to all rooms in the main part of the house. It’s quite at home with a three-generation household. Now likes being picked up so she can get a better view of what’s going on. She goes to her safe room when she’s tired.

1 month: Florence is doing very well. She runs the house and is allowed outside for some of the day. She comes inside by herself and prefers someone in the garden. She has also been registered with the council.

Dan

1 day: He seems to be settling in well. He is mostly comfortable under the bed but has some social times and wanders around when unattended. So far he hasn't used the litter tray, and hasn't gone anywhere else. He's eating and drinking all ok. They’re undecided about renaming him at the moment.
1 week: He is a lot more sociable and is hiding under the bed less.
1 month: No response.

Coco

1 day: Coco has settled into the bottom shelf of her owner’s wardrobe. 

[with the insecticide!]

She is quite affectionate and is happy for them to pat and stroke her. She has had a little bit to eat and has used the litter tray. She purrs when her owner is near and stroking her. She has not made any attempt to pick Coco up. She seems OK. When she put Coco into the safe room, she didn’t seem happy so she left the door open and was looking at her owner from the wardrobe shelf this morning. She’s all cozy amongst the pyjamas. She has stayed there today. Her owner thinks she prefers to be in her room. She moved the litter and food into her bedroom for her.

I week setup

1 week: Coco has moved to the other room. She seems happy to be stroked and patted. Coco pushes her head towards her owner's hand as her owner approaches.

Happy Coco

1 month: It’s going really well! She has bonded with her owner and is very happy.

John made us laugh

 He came in from Dr Kim's next door and demanded who was parked in his car space in the basement. He said "Who owns a BMW?" . . . . . None of us!

Honey had a lovely time in the Top Cat while Guilia sat beside it and played with her. When Guilia left, she started to look for the escape holes. She would run a ping pong ball at all the cracks to test them.

Honey

I put Mogu and Kishu in the play place and she was interested in them (mostly him because he was running around). Not in an undesexed way . . . . just in the "I would like somebody to play with" way. One of the Supermodels was watching her. I really must learn who is who.

Supermodel

But I couldn't rely on a supermodel to tell me if Honey found a gap wide enough to escape through so I put her back into her condo and took down the Top Cat.

Later I put Opey in the Play Place. He was so happy looking out the window. His stand alone is in there with him so if his dinner is put in there he will hop back in to be wheeled out again to his corner. By the way, the paper rolls have arrived. Unfortunately they are super large toilet paper rolls ordered by mistake. We stashed them behind Opey's stand alone in the bookshelf there.

Opie

Cleo's kittens are growing like weeds. There are more kittens in Incoming. They arrived with a possibly tick bitten mother who didn't survive. And one of the litter didn't either. They are quite small, especially compared to Cleo's chubby foursome.

Cleo + 4

And Sara a vollie came with her parents to adopt Finn, the largest of Mia's kittens. He is already bigger and heavier than she is. He will share his new owners with two other cats. They might have to watch out that he doesn't steal all their food!

Finn's new servants

 

 

What happened to Linda's whiskers

 I put Linda and Yoko into the play place today. I wanted to give them a good brush. It worked last week when I brushed Bubbles (but not Cheena). They got adopted over the weekend. So I am hopeful that the brush will work its magic on L & K. Sammy and Cypher were adopted over the weekend too without any help from me. On one side of her face, Linda has a crop of short whiskers. The other side's whiskers are long and graceful. What happened?

Short ones with a few long ones

We tried Kiki in the Top Cat. She finally figured out how to get down, after I leaned the stratchy pole against her condo but wasn't very happy. She was much happier this morning playing soccer with a ping pong ball while lying in her carrier.

Long way down Kiki

Mia was happy as long as she was being cuddled. There are plenty of volunteers for that job. Mia is where Pluto was. Pluto has been adopted.

Mia with Sandy

Taylor also played soccer with his ping pong ball but he was bouncing about behind his igloo. I've never seen him so active in all the time he has been with us.

Taylor

Wanda has got over her horrors at being back in the institution and is the sweet mum cat who adopted two stray kittens along with her own and then had Midsummer added to the litter later.

Wanda

Lobster was adopted today to a family who missed out on Duke. They will probably change his name to Charles. He will come back as a boarder to delight his fans at Safe Haven.