International Day of the Cat, 2026

 Mona Vale Vet hosted a celebration of the day and Irene organised a visitation by some of our cats.

She was going to take all three C kittens but a young man came at 10am to get a kitten as a surprise for his girlfriend and as a treat to go with their existing boy cat. He fell in love with Crystal. And took her home.The remaining 2 C girls went to the celebration and only one came back as the other was adopted. Only Caroline left now.

She also took Kiwi who has gone home on appro with the vet nurse.

Kiwi

Soon after they left for the celebration, an older lady came in to meet Enzo. Her most beloved cat died recently and she needs a cat. She loved Enzo on our website. But, Enzo was not impressed with her. So I introduced her to Nala who, most uncharacteristically, turned herself inside out to impress the person. She purred, flashed her fabulous whiskers, jumped up a level, etc, etc. The lady was entranced. 

Then I suggested that we meet Minke just to have met all the possibles. And the lady fell in love. Minke lapped it up. Match made in heaven. Minke will live happily ever after.

Minke

 Susie and Sirocco didn't go the the celebration so they are still with us. (And Susie has shed her collar since Joy took these photos on Wednesday. Thanks Joy.)

Susie

 

Sirocco

 

 

 

Comings and goings

 Frankie and Floyd were returned after a short adoption. They were "too active".

Frankie and Floyd

Better luck next time kids.

It might be a race between them and Belle and Beau who are active kittens (except when they are resting.)

 

Beau and Belle

I have decided to let Toby explore the house tonight because I will have time tomorrow morning to find him if he has hidden himself somewhere. The visitors are well gone and last night he came to sit under my foot stool while I spent time with him in his room. 

Toby

A mother and daughter who visited last Friday returned and decided on Tyrone. But when I got the paperwork out, it says "Tim to approve adoption". They are happy to come back tomorrow for him to approve.

Lola will approve.

Lola

 And we have a new "breed" cat to replace Demi who has gone home to her owner. Kiwi's people rang this morning to ask how the cat was settling in!

Kiwi

 

Shy ones appear

 There was a happy crew of vollies today and after they left the cats were eager to interact.

 Persephone was introduced to THE shoulder. She knew just what to do. (Must have seen my blog posts).

Later in the afternoon, she seriously napped to recover from the thrill of smelling Mayavan's hair.

Persephone

 Tahlia, who arrived from the western suburbs on Wednesday turned on a show for Robin who visited this afternoon. Look at these whiskers! And an orange leg to display when she joy rolled. Not to mention the green eyes.

Tahlia

 Later in the afternoon, I had a loving time with Nala! Up to now she has hidden and pointedly refused food. Today she jumped up to her ledge, licked the blankey and allowed me to pat her.

Nala likes this blanket

 

Nala's profile

Her neighbour, Muffin has devised a new game. You poke your finger against the sheet covering her stand alone and she tries to pounce on your finger. It is an endless game.

On our website it says that she is tail-less. But she does have a very cute, short, pompom tail. 

Muffin

 

 

8 adoptions last week

 Kath knows how to get to the computer page that tells us how many and who were adopted.

 And one adoption today that Kath did in record time because the adopters were in our system. They adopted one of the Spice Girls, Cumin at Bunnings not so long ago. She has got to the stage that she needs a friend to play with so the people can relax. They thought they should get a boy just in case the two female cats had trouble deciding who was going to be boss. With a boy and a girl it is very straightforward. . . . . the girl will be boss. 

So they chose Solano and went home to talk dad into it. Later in the day they were back with their carrier ready to take him home. 

Solano

That left Siroleo all alone tonight. I put an igloo in his stand alone so that he had a warm place to snooze.

Siroleo

The excitement of the day, though, was that Lani washed Persephone while I held her (the kitten) down.

 First she got her nails done.

"pink please"

  Then into the tub. Her eyes were huge and black and she wheezed throughout.

Persephone

But after being dried with Lani's hair dryer and popped into the Transit Lounge with a pair of hotties, she was her usual bouncy self.

Kath took a photo of Gideon to record his progress. (He finished off Lola's breakfast while going for a walk around the office.)

Gideon

Tim is back so his cats have gone home. 
 

More vollies

 A couple of folk (women) came today to check us out as potential volunteer opportunities. One decided, in view of the work involved, that she'd wait until her back got better. The other would have signed on straight away. And we had two new, trained vollies on shift today. I will be able to retire soon.

Cats went to the vet or have come back since Wednesday. The C girls are all back. Only the Elizabethan collars distinguish them from their brothers. All are sweet and friendly.

C girls above and below. Could be Crystal, Caitlin or Carolyn

I almost had a home for Cedric, the almost Siamese-coloured boy today. A young woman came in with her son who is obsessed with a ginger cat of movie/iTunes fame and mum liked Cedric best. But the boy didn't make a choice. He did like other coloured cats. They will be back.

Rascal was taken to the vets. I was the lucky one who managed to get her into a carrier. I might never live that down until another wild one rips my arm off. Nevertheless, she came back with a clean bill of health so should be available for adoption soon.

Rascal

Likewise, Hunter went. And came back just as sweet as when he left.

Hunter

And while upstairs, I photographed Dinesh just to record how much better he is looking. He seems happier as well and while he still begs for food every time he sees me, it is not so mindlessly as it used to be. Soon he will be white below his "knees".

Dinesh

 In my last blog post I misnamed a vollie who came in to love on Bonnie and others. She is Amelia and here she is training one of our new vollies today how to win the trust of the shyer cats, like Minke.

I had never seen Minke out of her safe space before let alone being happy to be cuddled.
 

 

 

New vollies

 We had two today. And yesterday (while I filled in in the afternoon) a potential vollie came to check us out. She stayed for ages but decided to join the team. There will be training tomorrow, I understand, as lots of locals have shown interest.

No visitors or adoptions but we had a phone call from a woman who would like to foster Ravyn for 2 days in order to make a decision about adopting her! We routinely advise folk to allow 3 months for a cat to settle into a new home.

Anthea dropped by in the afternoon to socialize the cats. I think she only intended to stay a short while but she stayed all afternoon. Muffin enjoyed several sessions.

Muffin with the short and curly tail

And Nala ignored her attempts to make friends. I carried Nala downstairs yesterday. I thought that putting her into a carry cage would just upset both of us so picked her up in her fluffy bed, held the opening against my stomach and walked down to the stand alone where Cosmo and C-friend were. (Have they gone to a foster home?)

Nala

Today she was still sulking. I don't think she has eaten anything since she arrived even though she was provided with food by her previous owners along with all kinds of toys and "stuff".

All the C kittens went to be desexed but only the 2 boys came back. The vets didn't have time to do the girls. They should be home tomorrow morning. The boys are delightful. 

Cedric (above) and Curtis (below)

We do have some handsome male cats.

Maxi: looking good

Phoenix: having a good look

Toby: Day 31

 He joined me when I sat on his couch to listen to a physiotherapist talk about what exercises old folk should do. Don't think he agreed but he listened from under the stool.

Then he moved to the pot of grass (revived from PT's pots).

And then decided to watch for birds.

 A hard life for a cat.

Second time a sticker?

 The perfect adopters came in for Eleanor this morning. They saw her on the website and decided she was for them. So she was adopted, again.

Later another couple came in with a blue eyed dachshund strapped to her chest. They looked at everyone but stopped dead when they came to Pickles. They'd seen him on the web too. And I think had decided before they came. Because of the dog-cat situation, I involved Irene and eventually she asked enough leading questions to confirm that they are suitable owners of a short dachshund and a shy kitten. So that adoption was successful. We have saved the original, white, standalone that Pishi and her kittens were in for Pishi when she recovers from having had 4 kittens. She is being feed up with constant crunchies and wet food three times a day. And is still skinny.

Later in the afternoon, when David had arrived and could look after feeds, etc, I was again assistant cat washer. This time it was Fay's kittens who had a medicated bath to make sure that the ring worm treatment was complete. They were easier to get wet than Bonny was and were just as wiggly. They are now in the Transit Lounge and have lost faith in human beings.

Frankie and Floyd

Their mum, Fay is still in Isolation but should be moved out sooner rather than later. (I think she is on heat from the conversations she was trying to start today.)

We got 5 kittens (biggish, I think) from a couple who were devastated at having to hand them over. They seem very shy. And there was much discussion about what their names should be.

Bonny came home from the vet. Didn't hear whether or not they detected any lesions but she won't be available for adoption until her stitches are out in about 10 days. So get your Bonnie cuddles in.
 

Bonnie's bath

 Bonnie has been moved out of Isolation and after a visit to the vet on Friday to confirm that she is free of ring worm, will become available. I do not expect that she will last the weekend. Vegas didn't.

Because Bonnie is a British Short Hair, she was especially difficult to get wet. Their hair repels water. So she was sprayed with the medication.

Then she was immersed in a basin of medicated water and massaged for 10 minutes.

 

Then she was enfolded in a series of towels (which all got thrown away) and rubbed until she was almost dry. She was popped into Lola's stand alone with a hottie and was soon back to her normal, fluffy self.

Disinfected Bonnie

 I took Ravyn for a walk. She went to the vet and is feeling much better. We went upstairs and Demi was overjoyed to see her. It was just like when you see an old friend at a railway station. Demi was thrilled to see Ravyn. Ravyn ignored her.

 Gideon is much better. His appetite has returned and he poos in his litter tray. The urine is still a bit tricky but he is so much better. He really wants to become friends with Raffaella.

 

Four on Friday

 Bronwyn came at 10am to adopt Heathcliffe. Bronwyn used to be a volunteer cleaner and has at least one of our cats at home with her two soppy Alsatians and kids who are home schooled. Her daughter "needed" to adopt Heathcliffe for her own cat. (Mum paid. . . . of course.) They will pick him up on Sunday morning (probably at 10am again). And in the meantime he has had his scheduled vaccination and should have recovered from that by Sunday. Nice for us to have time to say good bye.

Heathcliffe

 Then a young man named Zane came to adopt a cat. He lives in a granny flat with his girlfriend. There is an Ozzie bulldog in the main house who is a whimp. He chose Eleanor and plans to change her name to Zara!

Her two remaining kittens will miss having mum to suck on even if there is no milk.

Erika and Evie

Their neighbour Billy got a good look at from another visitor. And a prolonged cuddle from a vollie.

Then a young couple came to choose a cat. . . or two. They eventually fell for Indy and Marcy. Despite the pairs of ginger, ex-Parvovirus boys and the paired surrendered cats like Pablo and Kenny. (So much choice, so few customers).

Indy

Marcy

 Actually, more customers came. But they were just looking . . . . this time. 

And somebody phoned about the two S kittens in Avalon. 

 

 Today we moved Rosie's kittens down from upstairs to the Voonie enclosure. All the V's except Vegas have been adopted. He has moved to Lola's small stand alone. Perhaps I should rename that to Jimmy's twice adopted stand alone. As we were short staffed (THANK YOU Catsie for coming to help out) I cleaned upstairs so got to clean the Rosie stand alone and move Gideon into it. It will be warmer for him overnight in "the office". He is eating very well but seems to have forgotten about getting to the litter tray.

The entertainment for the Rosie kittens was when Kenny and Pablo made a dash from their enclosure. Pablo was a snap to get back in. . . . just open the door with food in your hand. But Kenny got all confused and ran back and forwards until he saw Pablo inside and rushed to join him.

Pablo was unaffected

Kenny was shocked

Robyn visited and Rascal took to her. That back scratcher has done wonders for Rascal.

 

Rascal and Robyn

And Robyn noticed the fabulous curls in Muffin's ears. (Her right eye looked a bit weepy but it might just have been the colouration there).

Muffin

Ravyn wasn't feeling well. She declined to go for a walk. Even though she has a smart new harness and leash donated by a woman who wanted to give us a litter tray. (Thanks but no thankyou).

Ravyn not as usual

And Pishi is on an "all you can eat" diet under vet's instructions. She is wallowing in it.

 

Pishi's phat