Flat tyre

 I started the day with a flat tyre. Luckily the NRMA came a full hour before anticipated so that I wasn't too late for the breakfast feed. Although I did miss filling other folks bins because the Willoughby truck had come and gone by the time I arrived.

Several empty condos including Dylan's which will please Irene on her return. And Petal has been adopted. Mario and Luigi were picked up and I moved Annie and Lola into their place. They are next door to Bonnie who is  a gloriously soft and friendly cat. I will get a photo of A & L when they settle in.

Bonnie

Adom has been moved into Lola's stand alone. He has also mastered the wobbly bottom door latch and bursts out on occasion.

Three separate photographers tried to get photos of Bagherra and co in the the play place. The shy ones are impossible to get and the non shy ones won't sit still. It doesn't help that they are mostly black.

This is a good way of getting kittens to sit still. But not much good for telling them apart if they are black.

kittens in the Incoming Stand Alone

Their mum is still without a name. There must be some famous woman well known for being a chatterbox. . . .

Their mum.

Tim suspects that the father of the dirty grey kittens is either a Siamese or similar because the edges of their ears are getting darker by the day.

There is a new trio in Incoming from the Collaroy Vets. Chip and Cookie are friendly. But Chuck is a scaredy cat. He seems younger as well.

Chip and Cookie (? L - R)

Chuck

We had some lovely clients. A girl and her mum came to "visit." The girl would love a cat but by the time she'd spent half an hour with us her nose was stuffing up and her eyes itching. I mentioned the anti immunogenic food that we used to have. 

Then a couple came looking for a grey cat in the play place. They were happy to meet others as that lot is not quite ready yet.

Adoption Tails: Arlo and Annie

 Arlo & Annie, now Sparky & Mini

1 day: Annie is now Mini Moke (Mini for short) and Arlo is Sparky (inspired by Sparky at SAFE and because the owner's partner is a sparky). Mini is going to be a fatty and there will be no grazing for this household as she is eating/drinking well. The owner is not sure if Sparky has eaten though suspects has done so during the night. She is also pretty sure both have had a wee and there has been one poo. Unfortunately, one wee was in one of their brand new beds just purchased over the weekend. The other wee and poo have been in a cardboard box. The owner has since increased the ratio of the SAFE litter to the crystal litter. There are lots of hiding holes for Mini and Sparky though Mini did not come out of the carrier for the first night and Sparky hid in the wardrobe. Both are letting the owners pat them and there is no hissing. Mini is out having a wander around the room this morning and just a few feet away from the owner who didn't think she was the confident one of the two. "She keeps checking herself out in the mirror, if I was that cute, I would too." 

Mini

1 week: All is good in this cat den. Mini is already exploring and has explored most of the home over the weekend. The owner realised she was much more confident after Mini came home so this is not unexpected at all. The owner accidentally left the door open by mistake and Mini was down the hallway quite soon. She felt like she should've called Sparky Smoochie as he craves pats, regularly rolling onto his back and wants his tummy rubbed which is amazing as he is still quite timid. The owner would lay down on the floor with him and he snuggled up beside her and used her arm as a pillow (so cute). Sparky has had one small exploration across the hall to see what Mini was up to (eating resident cat Lemmy's leftovers). The owner does not expect Sparky to be out exploring for at least another week or two. 

The resident cat Lemmy has been exceptional and is just curious. He crouched (relaxed) on the other side of the closed door just last night for about 30minutes and again this morning. When the owner walked in, Mini was behind the door so the two have just been getting acquainted with each other's smell. 

Kitty litter front is all good too, there's only been the one accident from the first day (suspected to be Sparky). The owners will continue to coax Sparky out of his shell and won't be rushing the process as they really want a cohesive environment for all 3 cats. Mini started playing a tiny bit on about day 2 whilst Sparky only started playing yesterday which the owner is taking as a milestone. Neither have jumped up onto any furniture or the like, so the owner thinks that will be another milestone yet to be reached as they are in her home office which has many horizontal surfaces to be explored.

Sparky

1 month: They've definitely gone to a loving home. The owner wanted to make a video of Sparky smooching all over her. It's absolutely adorable and she's confident he's over the moon that he chose the couple for parents. Mini got an inflamed eye so was taken to the vet, the poor kitty was so traumatised that she exploded anal glands all over the two owners and has since regressed. They are working very slowly at building up her confidence again. Mini has just started to allow pats again so progress is being made. The owners are letting Mini all the time she needs to come out of her shell again. Lemmy the resident cat absolutely loves them both and just wants to be around them 24/7, especially Mini. The owner feels very much the same way as she heard them playing at 4am and by 4:15am, she just could not resist getting up to play with them. "I'm utterly exhausted but they are just too cute".

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.

Photo pairs

Joy spent time today trying to get good photos of our paired cats. The new website only has one photo per cat or pair of cats. So it is important to have a good photo.

Thelma and Louise

Mable and Tori

The R cats in the Palace

Kate and Helena

It is impossible to get a good photo of Arlo and Annie. He is either sitting on top of her or she is behind him or squashed on the self below. Vicky took videos of me giving him a good cuddle to prove that he is an affectionate cat. All I can say is that he has very sharp claws. This was after a worm was discovered in their litter box and before they got a worming pill each. He is 5.2 Kg. Check the FB page.

I got a photo of Venus and Muffin who both came out into the Top Cat eventually.  Not up to Joy's standard!

Muffin and Venus

The bolder of the two came out first and was interested to meet Jagger (who kept looking up to his old condo as though he wanted to jump back there but he went into the supermodels condo instead.)

Lucky Leon

 She is a very nice lady. She was going to check with the husband and do the paperwork tomorrow but decided not to risk it and did the paperwork today and will pick him up tomorrow. They will be very happy together.

And Klaus was picked up, early, by his family. He will be happy to be home again even though he had a good long play in the play place today.

Klaus

Lola has given up Opie's room. She stationed herself in different places in the main room before settling down on the drying table out back. I had to entice her back to her condo with a soft food tube.

Lola and Adelaide

Don't know why Hugo has stitches in his tummy. Shouldn't he be wearing an Elizabethan collar? He is above Thelma and Louise who should be available soon.

Hugo

Also soon to be on the for adoption list should be Holly and Arlo & Annie. I spent some time trying to get decent photos of them without the bars. I am sure that Joy's photos are better.

Holly

 

 

 

 

Annie

Arlo

No surprise that Roger was adopted by a vollie before hitting the adoption list. I gather he has gone home to live with his sister who looks just as cute.

And Jagger was left in charge of the Top Cat. I wonder if he will still be in it by morning.

Jagger

Flip a box

 Holly got out of her box at breakfast time for a pat. So later in the day, I tried to find her a larger box that she could sit up in. I couldn't find or make one. So I tipped her box on it's edge. She can sit as well as lie in it this way and it is wedged under the shelf so won't fall over.

Of course, she didn't like it. She migrated upwards to her top shelf where she made eyes at me, accepted pats and long body strokes and eventually purred. She climbed into the hammock for more cuddles. Vicky gave her more. She is a reformed cat. 

Holly

Her erstwhile partner, Tiger, didn't eat, poo or wee overnight. He might have the flu.

Annie on top of Arlo

Annie is back from the vet and Arlo has been ejected from the hammock while she recovers from being desexed as an adult. (Go Annie!)

A woman arrived after lunch to adopt Junior and Lucy. She has been stalking our Adoption Page so that she could get a red headed kitten for her two red headed girls. She bought lots of stuff and they will be happy, much loved kittens.

Speaking of which: Libby was adopted over the weekend. Her new owner emailed to say that she has chosen her favourite placeto sit: a small table by a window and she certainly looked comfortable on an embroidered, white tablecloth. Both are very happy.

Klaus is in boarding. He was our May cat on FB. He has the most unusual long, brown hair on his chest. I found a brush for him which he loves.

Klaus

Talking of love: Leon loves a new, arty blanket.

Leon

No play time

 Nobody is allowed out to play until the sneezing stops. And the boarders are being cared for very carefully. The last thing anybody wants is a sniffle caught at the cattery. Phantom came in to board for the first time today. He is now called Sprout and is dearly loved. He spends his time sleeping on her bed or in an avocado-shaped cat couch. He likes to play with Q-tips so she included several along with his special food.

Sprout, was Phantom

Ginger Meggs is back too.

Ginger Meggs

Joni has been moved to where Lyra was (which was Phantom's old condo). She seems fine and enjoyed her chicken. If she is, it may demonstrate that flu viruses fall downwards because Kat has it and Thelma and Louise have it and they were all below her.

Joni

Arlo looked miserable. He is just opposite the Maggie kitten source of the sneezes who have moved back into the main cattery. But his misery was because Annie was off being desexed so he didn't have anybody nice and soft to lie on!

Arlo

The single cat in Isolation is Sparkle. He is there because there is no room elsewhere. I suggested that his name be changed to Sparky which is more masculine sounding than Sparkle!

Paired off

 We have lots of pairs of cats.

Jack and Luna, the kittens with the long, will be fluffy tails will be picked up on Monday. They will go home with a vollie and never made it to the Adoption list.

Below them are Charlie and Champ who are settling back into the condo after being in foster home.

Charlie and Champ

They entertained Jagger this afternoon. He hid under their bed. Then he moved on to Rosie and Callie's condo and into their carry cage. Which made it easy for me to get him back into his condo for his share of chicken. . . . . he forgives anything for chicken.

On the other side of Kate and Helena are Trixie and Roxy.

Roxy (left) and Trixie,

And beyond them is Mabel and Tori. Very hard to get Tori to stay still for a photo.

Mable and Tori (the tortie)

They are below Virgo who has had her second curtain removed. She was very keen for chicken.

Not to mention Donatella and McQueen. Arlo was sitting on top of Annie today. Usually he pushes her to the front of the hammock. She is the shy one. He loves cuddles. Go figure.

Arlo behind Annie

More boys

 Violet's kittens names have been chosen: Iris, Lilac, Mauve, Magenta, Lavender

The kittens are too small for us to tell their sex yet. And these all sound like girl's names to me. I suppose you could change Magenta to Magento, Lilac to Liluke and Lavender to Laven. Dr Google tells me that:

The overall sex ratio at birth was 100 males to 92 females. There was a significant seasonal effect on sex ratio with litters conceived during the wet season (September to February) producing more males than expected and litters conceived during the dry season producing more females than expected.

 They are to go to a foster home on Sunday. I managed to change their birth towel to a clean one by enticing Violet out of their area with chicken. I closed the swing door, changed the towel and opened the door again before she had gobbled it all down.

Wanda + 5

I managed to change Wanda's towel as well after I took this photo of the kittens all lined up except for the sticky beak ginger one which is her own kitten.

Wanda's kittens

And while I was distributing chicken I noticed that Megsy had turned himself around. Let's hope that this is the beginning of him loosing his fear of us.

Megsy

Blueberry's eye is still a little squinty but I didn't hear any sneezes today.

Blueberry

I had a lovely time hand feeding bits of chicken to Beauty, Amelia and Annie in turn. The only problem is that Amelia can put her paw into Beauty's stand alone to steal Beauty's food if the modesty sheet is not drawn around it. (Annie feels much better today, thank you. But Amy is not a happy cat in her condo on high.)

Midsummer madness

 As you can imagine I carefully checked that Mayka was in her stand alone when I arrived this morning. She was. And the rubbish men had not come yet so I hurried around collecting the black bags on the verandah to take down to other people's not quite full garbage bins. Then I noticed that Remi's condo door was wide open. I walked carefully down naughty row and her condo was in a state of disorder (not uncommon with Remi) but her igloo had lost a leg and was on its side. I was VERY releaved when I was greeted by the usual Remi hiss-spit. She was on her upper ledge, at the back, as usual (unless there is food on offer). What a relief.

After that the day went smoothly despite a new vollie having to drop out late last night because her husband has Covid. Catsie came instead so I had a full team who worked like a dream. Thank you.

They were all high on the fact that Pete and Buddy got adopted on Monday. I scrubbed out their condo trying to put all the energy in it to keep them from coming back to it.

Wanda has a new kitten called Midsummer. It is grey and much smaller than the rest of her collection. She seems to have accepted it very well and her neck is looking much better with the anitibiotic cream. 

Midsummer in the middle

We have new cats including a pregnant mum, Violet who didn't give birth today.  Her expression indicates that she has never done anything that could lead to that!

Violet

And Duke, out back in Boarding who needs twice daily eye drops. It looks like his right eyelid is missing. He is very patient with strangers who insist on dropping cold liquid into his eye.

Duke

Next to  Duke is Stephi who has just been desexed, as has Amy's Annie.

Stephi

And we have another Peanut where Tammy used to be. (Tammy is slowly settling into Tim's house full of cats). I doubt that this Peanut will be as charming as the last one, but live in hope for another miracle.

Peanut