A recurring pattern?

Today Marmalade and Duke went to be desexed. 

Duke and Marmalade

They are both ginger,  have been with us since they were tiny kittens and it was just assumed that they were both boys. They came back Marmalade and Duchess! They had a lovely trip to the vet on a sunny morning. They haven’t, perhaps, ever seen or felt sunshine. They pressed their bodies against the door of their carry cage to absorb the warmth.

And we are not quite sure if Saffron is a boy or a girl. His/her tummy has the typical, desexed female sag/spare handbag. We did manage to remove the remaining clumped bits of fur from his/her side this afternoon with the rechargeable trimmer.

The fluffy pair of the C kittens originally named Clementine, Claudius, Cornelius and Cordelia and all tortie, to a greater or lesser degree, went to be desexed and came back to their sisters all with Elizabethan collars this weekend. (The vast majority of torties are girls and if they are boys they are XXY and sterile which would save us money.) A group of young folk who are about to move into a flat where they have permission to have a cat came to look at some of our older cats. Then they saw the C kittens and fell for them. They will watch the website like demons and come in at the first listing to claim one.

There was lots of mixing of cats in the Top Cat in spread out mode. . . ie rather than just being the extension of one condo, you can stretch the Top Cat so that is creates a ”fenced” area in Welfare. Most cats don’t seem to realize that they can scale the mesh sides of the condos and climb up to the top where they can hide amongst the carriers (which is a great relief. Even though Opie often clambers up there to lord it over everybody else). So we mixed Tibby, Tabby, Alfredo, Helena and Kate who all got on well. After we put them away, we wheeled in Lola and let her out. She hissed at some cats but eventually agreed to play with a fluffy wand toy. She put herself back into her stand alone after 20 minuets so I wheeled her out and rewarded her with the chicken remnants. She licked the spoon clean.
Outside the Top Cat, Tiger, Ginger George and Maxwell all enjoyed separate, stretchy walks to entertain the confined cats in that area. Opie disported himself in Incoming.

Opie on (Katie's) his desk

Maxwell is a very handsome boy. His squinty right eye is because that eyelid has had surgery to correct  an inward roll which made his eyelashes scratch his retina. It doesn't stop him talking. . . as long as there is someone  to talk back to  him.

Maxwell