Adoption Tails: Anthena (no photo)

 1 day: Athena will be renamed to Cherie as the cat sitter teaches French. She was picked up in the afternoon and has been hiding under the bed which was expected by the owners. She has yet to use the kitty litter nor to eat/drink yet. The owner believes she is a little traumatized from the move and is leaving her be for now.

1 week: Cherie has certainly started to come out of her shell. She is exploring every chair, nook and cranny. She is gorgeous! However, she is sneezing and scratching a bit (on the owner’s furniture so that is a no no), and the owner suspects it’s the dust irritating her. She is not interested in the scratching poles provided and the owner has provided her with a damp flannel bath to help with the dust induced sneezing. Cherie is also holding in her wee and doing huge ones when she goes but is happy with kitty litter/tray, (only 2 pees and 2 poos in one week!) She has a good appetite, lots of rolly pollies es and has certainly moved in and seems content.

1 month: All good with Cherie except she is a furniture scratcher so discipline is being administered. She is not interested in the scratching pole and mat and other scratchers the owner has for her because the arm chair and carpet is far more interesting! She is also a night owl and charges around the unit at 2am and then jumps up on the bed and headbutts the owner until he gives her a cuddle. "She is so pretty and just loves people so the owners feel so lucky to have her!"

Boarders trickling in

 Archie arrived today. I think he is one of ours. (See Friday, Sept 10, 2021) His people are moving this weekend and didn't want to subject him to that trauma (or themselves to the trauma of him disappearing in the middle of the chaos). They will pick him up on Sunday. They left his dinners and breakfasts in separate baggies so that he doesn't have to change his diet!

Bissie seems more comfortable after coming from his foster home on Wednesday.

Bissie

There is another new cat, Pippa in Incoming. Don't know her story.

Pippa

 And PC is settling in. I think he is more interested in food than people.

Pippa

And there is a new Molly in Welfare. I think she came from a foster home because she has a list:

FIV+, all teeth removed, doesn't like other cats, loves scratches and laps, but doesn't like to be picked up, OK around strangers if in  familiar surroundings, always seems to be constipated (tried latulose for about a month but it didn't seem to work). Perhaps too much detail but I would suggest the hairball crunchies that certainly keep Codys colon moving! No photo because she is a black cat hiding in a dark carry cage.

I came home with the Cousin bin key in my pocket (again). I will try to drop it back before Tuesday so that they can be filled for Wednesday collection. I managed to get all the cardboard behind and under the couch into the blue bin.

Furnishing the new enclosures

 Two cats need two hammocks. So I added one to Logan and Angus's condo.

Slow adopters

And to Trude and Prue's enclosure.

Trude and Prue understand "one each"

Blossom and her kittens didn't have one. So far, they don't know what to do with it.

Cherry and Peanut prefer the bench (Mum Blossom on floor)

And I wasn't quite brave enough to put one in Mia's enclosure. She'd had enough of this changing houses malarky.

Mia

 I also moved all the litter trays to the front of the enclosures because when the cats dig, with enthusiasm, the litter goes everywhere including out of the enclosures. If the litter tray is at the back, that means there is litter behind them which is difficult to clean up.

Pickles had her babies (5, I think) over the weekend. I installed a hammock for her to give her a roof to her box bed. She must have had the babies in her previous hammock because it is in the box.

Pickles plus newborns

 We left Lola in charge when the storm drove us home.

Lola

She can visit with Thelma and Louise who will have a night in the Top Cat (sounds like a glamorous club)

Thelma and Louise

Terry postcript

Max adopted to one of our members who have another Safe cat.  Cleo adopted from foster care.

Max and his new family

No photos

 As I drove to Safe this morning, I remembered that my camera was sitting beside the charger getting its battery recharged. "Never mind, I can use my iPhone to take photos". 

In the meantime, three Friday morning vollies set up photo shoots to get Christmas photos of any cat who would cooperate. Dexter was a star. He sat in the fluffy bed (for sale at $60) and flashed his green eyes against a Xmas background. Mollie cooperated and posed with an elf toy although she didn't get out of her tee-pee. (The bulldog clips are keeping it together).

Max was a reluctant star. His top shelf was decorated with red crepe paper, yellow streamers, Xmas stockings and he sat solidly allowing himself to be photographed. 

I think these photos will appear on various platforms to advertise Safe.

Pickles hasn't had her kittens yet.

There is a mum and 4 kittens in the stand alone in Incoming who is very hungry and prepared to be friendly for food.

Here are a couple of photos that have hung around my desktop for quite a while

Hanna

 

Hermione

And above is the dog that I knitted for the next door grandson who will visit this year for Xmas from Denmark.

Installment complete

 Of the new enclosures. We managed to get rid of the pile of bubble wrap and strapping tape in todays garbage. But there is a pile of cardboard to be got rid of. (Most of it is behind the couch in the entry). 

Plus, the air conditioning men came and fixed the leak in the airconditioner in the nursery. By the way, the box didn't do the trick on Pickles. I remembered a newspaper today so perhaps that will precipitate the birth. Katie reckons they should be born within the next five days.

Angus and brother have moved from the play place to a new enclosure which they enjoy. They have been replaced by Patch and Lily who came from the local pound. Patch is friendly, if confused. But Lily prefers to hide. They came from the same household but don't particularly like each other.

Patch

Lily

Blossom and her remaining two have moved from the Palace to a new enclosure. One of the kittens is very thin. He was always attached to a nipple but perhaps Blossom has run out of milk. He polished off a bowl of baby food in short order.

Blossom's boy

I let Aslan out for a walk. Prue and Trude noticed him. And Sydney came out to watch as well.

Aslan being watched

Then Trude noticed Sydney and stuck her paw into Sydney's enclosure.

Hi says Trude. Who are you? says Sydney

We have two boarders including Suzie aka Topaz who is dearly beloved by her owner.

Hugo has taken his bloke smell away and Ted has been adopted as well.

New enclosures

 These are very spacious for one cat. I imagine that they will be used for families. Prue and Trude were overexposed so I put up a modesty sheet to shield them from the front door traffic and put a towel over the transparent dome on the igloo that they were hiding in. They did come out for chicken. Sydney (next door) didn't.

Prue and Trude

These enclosures will be fun to clean because you can stand up easily in them. But I think the floor will take a beating. I will have to make more triangular hammocks for the cats to loll in.

Mimi also came out for chicken. She was so thrilled that she arched her back and her tail stuck through the top of her wigwam and made it fall to pieces. She may be sleeping on top of a felt bed tonight.

Mimi

Spot, another new cat from a foster home is still sulking. He didn't fancy any chicken. It is a pity that Sparky's sang froid didn't infect that stand alone.

Spot

I forgot to bring in a newspaper for Pickle. As there was lots of cardboard around, I made a nesting box out of a sheet of it with the help of the Stanley blade and the stapler. I put some odd bits of paper in it and placed it behind a modesty sheet in Pickle's stand alone. She immediately jumped in and started to scratch at the paper. There might be kittens by tomorrow morning! Then I found the new mop and bucket in a perfectly sized box! The mop is put together and the box is on top of Pickle's stand alone in case it is needed.

Geoff made friends with blind Hermione.

Hermione

Mia Row

 

Mia is the only cat left on Better Row since Hugo has moved to the Main room (despite still being somewhat stinky). So let's change the name, again. Christmas week only has one single and one double condo available for boarders.

Blossom only has 2 kittens left in the Palace. The black and white ones were adopted over the weekend. One of the little ones has a DIRTY nose. Don't know how that happened.

I enticed Max out for a walk with a brush. He loves to be brushed. He put himself back pretty quickly. He doesn't love meeting other cats.

Later Ted came out. He had to pass Lola, the office manager cat

Ted moving fast past Lola

To get to the front door. Look at that amazing tail!

He was interested in the boxes that contain our new wire cages that need to be assembled.

The three kittens who were by the front door are in the play place because they couldn't be put back into their stand alone yesterday. The stand alone is blocked in by those boxes now so they will probably stay in the play place. And Sunset got adopted this afternoon so it is just the two boys, Angus and Logan.

Logan and Angus

 Pickles still hasn't had her kittens in the Nursery. I will bring a newspaper in on Friday to see if the old trick of shredding a newspaper brings on kittens. (It is probably an old wives' tale similar to the one about putting butter on a new cat's paws to stop it going back to its old home. But Pickles has been pregnant for such a long time that we need to try any old trick.)

I missed it

 This morning a nice lady came in and adopted Helena, Kate and Jagger!

 

How is that for a brilliant end to a brilliant week!

Later this afternoon a lovely young woman from DY came to adopt Bear from foster. He will be a happy cat.

 Timmi and Hugo went to be desexed today. I am not usually at Safe when the fixed ones come back. Timmi was off her face with the happy drugs that they gave her. She is on Better Row and easily levited to the high shelf, and shedded an Elizabethan collar on the way. After dinner she will sleep like a log.

Hugo is to be moved to the main room (to Kate and Helena's) but his condo wasn't quite ready so he went back into Better Row. Good thing until his pong evaporates. I took home his dirty bedding and had to drive with all my windows open.

Adoption drought broken!

 Eight cats were adopted over the weekend: Astra and Zaria, Arlo and Annie, Roman, Sparky, Trixie and Mabel. And one was adopted today from foster by the fosterer before it even was posted. And Kat has been posted as available so with any luck, she will go tomorrow!

Or course, there has been lots of rearrangement because of this. Mia and Hugo are the only cats out on Better Row. She demonstrated how much better it is there by staying in her condo even though the door was wide open for at least half an hour!

Ted has moved to Arlo and Annie's stand alone.

Ted

Max has moved to the other side of the smaller AWL condo block.

Max

Niether look happy. But Dexter does where he is below Tosca.

Dexter

Isolation has "new" condos donated to us from Mona Vale Vet. They have a distressing tendency to stain when poo'd on and the doors are a bit tricky to close. But Gracie and her kittens have the run of the upper layer of the one that has been put together. 

The bottom layer is marked for Sabrina and her kittens and across the way is another set to be installed for Elsa and her lot. We might have to rename this room the Nursery. Elsa and her kittens are on medication and have to be separated into a cat carrier to eat their dose. Only two of the six ate voluntarily. Sue and I had to spoon feed the others. Made me feel as though I was force feeding suffragettes.

Lola got back into her stand alone with the encouragement of soft food. (Thank you Paris)

Lola

And the three boys were happy when I installed a hammock big enough for all three of them. They spent the night in the play place because they couldn't be enticed back into their stand alone. They did it for dinner tonight.

Just a reminder not to leave rolls of paper towel on top of stand alones.

Oh, and I forgot to mention. The mop died. It fell into two pieces. It is an ex-mop.

Time for somebody to go to Bunnings to buy a new one.

Adoption Tails: M kittens

 Martha and Matilda, now Io and Exy

1 day: Martha and Matilda are now Io and Exy (smudge head). Io has been fine with food, water and toileting. She is already super playful. Exy has yet to eat, drink or toilet but she is coming out of her hiding spot under the bed and playing a little bit.

1 week: Io and Exy are settled well in their safe room. The owners have introduced one of their resident cats to the girls and they are chilling! Very successful! One of the resident cats is a little unhappy about the kittens but Io and Exy seem to be great at holding their own. Lots of treats and cuddles for everyone.

1 month: Exy is still sneezing but the owners have meds from the vet to help and she seems okay health wise. They've also noticed a rash and think it could be an allergy or stress. Both Exy and Io are so cute. They cuddle with the owners at night and play so much. They love to cuddle together and clean each other. Resident cats are happy-ish. One tolerates them and the other enjoys their company and they play together a little. Feeding is difficult as Exy and Io will eat ANYTHING

Martha and Martini on chair

! The owners have to keep bread away from Io.

Martini, now Gypsie

1 day: Martini has settled in very well! She didn't eat much on the first day but now she is eating and using the litter tray. She loves pats and company and to have a play. She is so affectionate and lovely, "the sweetest, most beautiful kitten ever". The owner got Martini a multi storey cat house and she is loving it!

1 week: Martini is doing amazing! She comes out more and more every day. She purrs and plays and makes cookies on her favourite cushion. She is the sweetest thing ever, they love her so much! However, the resident boy cat is still not very happy but the introduction has been taken slowly with limited interaction time.

Martini

1 month: Martini has come leaps and bounds and is adorable! The owner's resident boy cat still wants nothing to do with her but it has only been a month and thinks it will just take some more time. Martini is quite happy to be around the resident cat. The owner keeps calling Martini Gypsy Girl and will probably change her name. "Thank you for bringing such a gorgeous kitty into my life and for being so supportive!"

A film set

 This morning half a dozen Chinese young women arrived with cameras, tripods and other equipment. They are learning how to make documentaries, I gather. One was the director. There were a pair of cameras that the others operated. The cats and us were the actors. Tim got interviewed. Jade brought in a "cat" to board and I did the paperwork. We even did a mock adoption of Arlo and Annie. Let's hope that it was a warm up for the real thing tomorrow!

Of course with all that excitement and the distribution of chicken, I didn't even think of taking any photos so will use Joy's from Wednesday.

Kittah and Tosca were surrendered from the same family. They are not in a condo together because they didn't really like each other at home even though their eyebrows look sisterly. They both had dental work yesterday and are on soft food for a while. They got chicken juice.

Kittah

Tosca

Kenzie who used to be on soft food after dental work is back on crunchies. I think she prefers the soft stuff.

Zenzie

I put up the Top Cat for Maggie. I think it was her first opportunity and she had a lovely time. She even relaxed in the hammock. Billy is having the overnight go. 

Jagger is in the play place. He hid in a box most of the day. When it came to chicken time I wheeled in his stand alone. But he was too canny to jump in while I was close by. So he is still there. 

It doesn't matter because the space where his stand alone was, by the filing cabinet, has another empty stand alone there. It was moved from Isolation because new condos have arrived (thank you, Geoff) from Mona Vale vets who don't use them any more. They will be set up in Isolation and the Royal Cannin monster will be dismantled and discarded. Hurrah! It was originally built as a temporary display place for cats at shows. It is very hard to clean properly. And we will get more wire enclosures to take the place of the small AWL condos which will move into Incoming. 

Max is thrilled at the prospect:

Max says "Oh, really"

Adoption Tails: The Opera Kittens

 Minnie, now Zuzu

1 day: Minnie is renamed to Zuzu and she is doing very well! She is still confined to one room while the resident cat gets used to her smell, they have seen each other through the door a few times and are both curious and slightly unsure of each other but the owner thinks they are getting more comfortable each day. One thing the owner is unsure about is that Zuzu loves suckling on her quite a bit and she is assuming it was because she did not have her mum and was bottle fed but the owner wonders if the behaviour is OK or if it should be discouraged.

1 week: Zuzu is doing so well and the resident cat Eve has welcomed her with open arms and seems to even treat Zuzu like her own kitten! The owner was introducing them slowly but they were so keen to suss each other out and play together. Within one afternoon, they were comfortable hanging out together!

 

1 month: Things are going well and Zuzu & Eve are great friends! She's also growing so much every day!

Flute & Skeeter, now Suki and Smokey

1 day: Skeeter and Flute have been renamed to Smokey and Suki. They are great! Eating, running around and being awesome!

2 weeks: No problems with Smokey and Suki. They are well and lively. The owner is glad they have got each other because it is great to see them get on.

 1 month: They are great! The owner's son is interested in one of the siblings currently available at SAFE.

Pavarotti, now Figaro

1 day: Figaro, previously known as Pavarotti, is settling in well - eating, drinking and using the kitty litter. He is very playful and loves to explore. Even jumps up on the owner's lap for plenty of fubs and scratches with his motor running loudly. At the moment, Figaro is being restricted to the kitchen, family room and laundry although he made an escape attempt on Saturday night through a slight crack in the sliding door to the rest of the house. He was quickly guided back with a laser pointer. In the morning, he is usually in hiding but emerges when called. Figaro is quite at home.

1 week: Figaro is settling in very well. Very playful and lively. Climbing on everything, eg the table, heater, TV cabinet. The owner thinks she will invest in a tower. Using distractions and a firm "no" to counteract this natural behaviour. He's a very affectionate little cat.

1 month: Figaro is settling in well. He made it known he no longer wants to be locked in the kitchen area at bedtime. After one night of wanting to sit on the owner or hopping under the doona and trying to play, he now has the run of the house while the owner locks herself in the bedroom. That works well. He is a beautiful affectionate little cat.

Carreras & Domingo, now Bluey & Bingo

1 day: Domingo and Carreras have settled in wonderfully! It's like they have always been here. The owners have played lots of games with them and they slept through the whole night with very loud purring! They decided to sleep next to the owner last night which was really special, and came in for lots of cuddles. They have been eating the dry food that was provided and drinking lots of water. The owner plans on getting them onto the wet+dry food fix shortly but just wanted them to settle first. She also bought some cat milk from the shops for them to have about once or twice a week for their calcium. The owner was very impressed that they used the litter tray straight away. The family has nicknamed Domingo "Bingo" but plan on keeping his name and are in the process of coming up with a name for Carreras but he will stay the same if they don't think of anything. "They are such good boys
! Absolutely wonderful and I am very happy to have them here."

 

1 week: Bingo and Bluey are going well!! They are both currently asleep under the owner's bedsheets. They have met the dog and Bingo and the dog play together nicely. Bluey is still warming up to him. The two of them are mostly well behaved, they sleep through the night and wake the owner up in the morning by sneaking under the bedsheets and lying right next to her which is really cute. Bluey also sometimes sleeps with his eyes open which is slightly scary.

 

1 month: They are such incredible little boys. Adorably perfect and very entertaining. They love their food, they get fed three times a day but still act like they have never seen food in their life!! Definitely growing! At night and first thing in the morning, they always come for a cuddle without failure, they love being in the centre of everything no matter what is going on. They are the sweetest little things and the owner is so happy they came into her life!