Adoption tails: Blockbuster weekend

 So many cats were adopted from Safe this past weekend:

On Saturday: Honey, Mini, Mixa, Patches with George, Sock

On Monday: Misty, Pooh

Misty

 

Pooh, Piglet and Tigger

 

Misty was still in Incoming last Friday. And I didn't get around to sorting out the Wind in the Willow kittens. It will be easier now there are only two left.

And remember the delightful Bailey? He is one happy cat now.

"Do we have to get up?"

"There is enough room for us both here"

 

His person's daughter is going to adopt Emerald who has been living with Irene and family.

News of Harry and Harley after a week in their new home:

They’re doing good. Took a little longer for Harry to come out from under the bed, but by the end of the week they’ll both play with their new owner. They also took their first steps out of the bedroom and have been exploring the rest of the apartment. 

Sudden noises or larger movements do make them retreat to the bedroom but they come back out shortly after. The owner can get quite close to them as long as s/he doesn’t touch them and they are comfortable enough to eat in the human's presence and outside the bedroom.

Lola adopted

I know this because my friend Gina is finally ready to adopt a cat. She came in some months ago and fell for Penny and for Bailey.

Gina with Penny

Bailey

Gina has kept an eye on our website and rather fancied Lola. She was going to come in on Friday afternoon but couldn't make it. Lola was peacefully asleep in her condo. I advised Gina to ring before she came to make sure Lola was still there. When she rang at mid day on Saturday, Lola was just leaving with her new owners!

Lola

Baby

I thought that Baby would be a good match with Gina but her eye condition has flared up again. Baby will not be available again until her eye has had 4 weeks of antibiotic treatment. I hope Gina can wait that long and that it will be third time lucky!

Fig leaves and happy endings

 It is very nice to be greeted at 9am with joyous cries even though it is only cupboard love. And even better, there was space for our 6 bags of garbage in the bins on the street.

We have new cats:
Adam and Eve used to live in a Nursing Home/retirement village. But now that they are 8 months old they are deemed a "trip risk". Adam is quite friendly but Eve is nervous. So perhaps their life amongst the oldies was not that pleasant.

Eve

Adam

And we have Peggy who was surrendered. I don't know her history but she is right pissed off.

Peggy

I saw Ashleigh's kittens out of their carry cage for the first time. One has very mucky eyes. I don't think they are as skittish as their mother so some lotion might clean her up.

They are obviously both girls. . . . A? and A?

After the cleaning had been done I went back there to find Octavia's door wide open. Those little sliding locks are not very secure. Luckily she was sitting on her shelf. I rewarded her with crunchies.

Octavia

Shortly later Willow's door was open too. And she got the same reward. Her eye looks mucky too.

A Japanese couple came to adopt Haley and Harold. They are about to move to Haymarket so won't pick them up until next Tuesday. I explained how much they love each other and what a long time it will take for them to love the people. But feeding them will help enormously.

Harold and Haley in a clinch

Yesterday, a supremely suitable person came in and adopted Jewel. Fingers crossed that it works this time.

When I spoke to Tim yesterday to catch up before arriving today for my Boss Cocky duty, he said that he was worried that Lily's kittens were going to fall off the high shelf where she had them because they are getting much more active. So we talked about building box walls to keep them in, putting the slant board to break their fall, moving them down but will Lily just carry them back up. When I arrived they were upstairs so I assumed that he had tried but she had taken them back where they belonged. But, Tim had left a not to say that he didn't move them because she was feeding them when he tried. 

So I moved them down around 10am. They were still down when I left after the night feeding. Where will they be tomorrow.

Lily's kittens

And a woman phoned to say how happy her family is that they adopted Bailey. He is their perfect cat.

Bailey

The T-shirt says it all

Just after I arrived (to find all the work done by the morning shift) a couple arrived from Pymble to adopt Bailey. They are experienced cat owners. Their last cat dropped by to eat for 16 years but lived next door most of the time except in the winter when he came for a warm lap. The husband walks with a walker but is alert. The wife is super capable. Bailey will have lots of love and a garden.

My friend GIna arrived 10 minutes later to meet him. I sent her his photo a couple of months ago. She was going to come last week but couldn't pick up a taxi on Pacific Highway. It obviously wasn't meant to be.

So I introduced her and her friend Astrid to everybody. It took hours because all the cats were interested and interactive. They both loved Blossom but the ongoing meds could be a problem. And Penny loved Gina.

Penny

Gina will think about it. 

Freda and Ginger are a little better. They have both grown a lot since the last time I groomed them. Ginger was quite clean and not very wiggley. 

Ginger

But Freda is not putting any weight on her front left paw and her tail was a bit crunchy.

Freda

In the middle of the afternoon a young man arrived with three plastic tubs of dog food, cat food, fish and rabbit food. I put the non cat food into one bin in the "office" and filled another with the towels on top of Tammy's condo. If you come across a suspect towel in the washing basket: chuck it out. We have HEAPS of them. (While Bailey was being processed I tidy-up-ed the linen shelved. . . . . LOTS of TOWELS).

Still with us

I got to Safe Haven early-ish because the tennis group folded early because we were one person short, one person with a bad back, one person with a chest infection. Enough already, we said after 2 sets.

So Sandy and Joan were just finishing up and Tim had taken cats to the vet:
         Kit Kat (or Maggie) was checked out to be better than expected.
         Buffy is on antibiotics. Her skin is looking better.
         The D kittens are still off their food. But obviously not REALLY sick.

Sandy and Joan were worried about Freda who is off her food too. She was due to be picked up by her foster-to-adopt person. Her bum was a bit red and sore looking. But she ate her lunch (when Tim got back) and was still passing formed stools. So perhaps it is just a reaction to having been vaccinated on Tuesday.

The family who is to foster to adopt Ginger plus Freda came. The mother loves cats and had them as a child. The husband doesn't know cats so is worried about hairs on everything. The two little girls are just thrilled with the idea of having a kitten. They are about 5 and 7 so if Ginger and Fred go home with them, we will never see them again!

While Freda was having her lunch (she ate well and he polished everything off), Bailey performed fabulously for them. He let them pat, brush and love on him. Personally, I think that he would be a better match for the family but having F & G in a foster home would be better for TIm. They went away, catless with instructions to call on Sunday to see how Freda is and whether she is well enough to leave Safe Haven.

Bailey

My friend Gina was supposed to visit but she couldn't get a taxi in time. I will pick her up at home next week on my way! I think Bailey will be perfect for her too.

I spent time organising stuff.

I put labels on the wheely cages. Tim remembered where the blue labels were so I added them, later.

Angelo inspects the label

And I spent time socializing:

        Blossom: she is much more relaxed since her thyroid is appropriately medicated.

Blossom

Bonnie: who is off her food. She managed to eat two dental crunchies and some mouthfuls of breakfast wet food.

 Bonnie

Candace: who, if you give her enough time, really likes to be patted, stroked and generally loved on. She, and Bonnie, will be desexed next week. Tim and Chris (the vet) hope that the assigned day will be a good one for them because they both still are flu-filled. Candace's purr is deep and rumbly. She wouldn't pass a Corona virus test!

Candace

Big bags

Food was delivered today including a 20Kg bag of kitten chow. I asked Tim if he expected a lot more kittens. He replied that he expected the kittens to eat a lot more.

I had a Sunday volunteer to help clean up so we were finished by 1pm. Thank you. The litters are all in wheely cages except Diana and Danielle one of whom is not well. She isn't eating despite being tempted with every variety of food that we have. I just hope that Dale (adopted on Saturday) is OK. So it is easier to clean them. We will have to remember to disinfect their carry cages and shift them to the top for storage. . . . we need the floor room with the big bags of food!

Five F kittens fit on one square hammock.

 F kittens

The M kittens who are left are Madonna and Mozart. As I was getting out of the lift a mother and cute blond daughter arrived carrying an empty cat carrier. I assumed they were for us so asked them where they were going and escorted them up in the lift. They had come to adopt Madonna. So by this time it will be just Mozart left!

Caleb and Cooper are not on the cleaning list so get missed. Evie is not on the list either because we have run out of bandaids. She behaved perfectly for me. I bribed her into good behaviour by introducing a stratchy pole. She just needs to be distracted.

Bonnie has been upgraded to a Palace condo. She is overwhelmed. Perhaps Candace, across the way is giving her the evil eye.

Bonnie

I tried to unsquash Penny's ping pong balls but saw that she had bitten them, probably when trying to carry them around.  I got her some soft balls to carry around and her story came out. She was spotted by an animal worker being kicked by a man. The animal worker rescued her and took her to the vet who realized she was near her time and when she was put under her kittens were stillborn. So I got her a soft toy. Unfortunately it is a pink and purple bear with big, stick-on eyes. . . . perhaps that will transition her from her need to carry baby cats to a desire to rip a bear to bits.

Penny

 I took a photo of Bailey because my friend might come visit him on Friday (xxxxxx fingers).

Bailey

The other big bag was all the washing from the adoption day at Petstock. Mostly sheets to cover the wheely cages. My neighbour has started working at the local Red Cross and has claimed all the cat sized cloths for me. I may just substitute new for old and bin the dirties.

Bonnie is pregnant

It is inevitable. It seems that she has two kittens in her womb. Tim is taming her by feeding her frequently and rubbing her head. Her auspicious name was chosen because she is the 200th surrender to SafeR.

Jewell will be desexed in a fortnight. She has been suffering from hypocalcaemia (three litters in a row will deplete your calcium stores). But after special food she is recovering.

We had a bit of a fright this afternoon. A woman came in asking for "Gypsie". Our Gypsie went to her new home on Wednesday afternoon. The person who surrendered Gypsie and Blink is now a volunteer with us. It wasn't her. The woman said "my Gypsie who is boarding". We sent her next door with the staffer from there who was giving Ming a cuddle.

Blink over Bailey

I moved Blink up to Gypsie's condo and Bailey into his condo below. So the B's are together. I wonder if that top corner condo is going to turn into the HOT BOX for adoptions.

I took two chicken necks in for the kittens. Cody didn't much fancy the one I gave him a month ago. I tried him again, and he is still not interested. So off to SH they went, each got cut into two and all were greeted with growls of delight. But the kittens still wanted their lunch.

J kitten meets chicken neck

Still here

Gypsie is on hold until her new person/family gets all the things that she will need delivered via the Internet. What she really needs it to be in a loving home. . . forget the accessories. . . . cuddles will do.

Gypsie

There is a tentative date to pick her up on Oct 30. 
In the meantime, she enjoyed her grass munching. 

I get the feeling on Friday afternoons after Sandy has done a splendid job cleaning everybody up, that the cats see me as a grass distribution mole. Blossom leads the chorus. She has a brush in her condo. While she ate her grass, I brushed two full brushloads of fur from her.

Blossom and brush

 The chorus of "Me, me, meow" by the Kitty/Kimmy/Scarlet chorus does not quite overpower the Charlie MEEEEEEEEEE.

Bailey was more interested in smooching than anything else. And Little Ging loves grass but is not still sure that people are worthwhile. His sister, Diva is all about the cuddles.

Peanuts is slowly getting to be a black and white cat rather than a cream and black cat. If we gave him a bath he would achieve tuxedo status quicker. Anybody want to give a cat a bath?

Peanuts

Jewell is very vocal. Tim and I decided that she is on heat. . . . AGAIN

Jewell

Bailey's story

Sandy did a sterling job this morning. All that was left was a few dishes, etc to wash. Thank you.

So I had time to fit the washed bedding back into the shelves and feed the cats grass.

There are only two condo's of boarders on the back row. It was full last Friday. But there are 6 or 8 boarders on the front row. And Blossom who doesn't feel as though she has put on any weight despite being on double rations. She enjoyed the grass.

Charlie waited patiently for his turn. It is a pity that he is so far down the list.

The grass helped me make friends with Diva who has a wonderful purr and Little Ginj even let me pat him, for a while. And then he decided he wanted to play handsies, so I stopped playing before it got bloody.

Diva and Little Ginj

At least their sister Samantha comes out to watch the action. I haven't set eyes on their other sister Elsa who lives on the very top shelf behind her bed. The food disappears and the litter tray gets used but not while there are people about.

Samantha

Bailey belonged to an old lady who died. The family came and emptied out the house and left the cat behind. The nice neighbour man looked after Bailey for 4 years before asking the vet for help because he felt that his time was near (the man not the cat: Bailey is only 7 years old). He is a lovely boy. Wasn't the least bit interested in the grass but wanted more cuddles.

Bailey

Tortie needs cuddles more than grass too. I left her to last because she has the most flu and gave her a good body rub. Don't you love her white whiskers: one on each side, straight out like a villain's moustache.

Tortie

Zero chance of guessing who got adopted today!

And while you are thinking about it:

Dotty is back . . . but as a boarder. She was pleased to see me. Hence the fuzzy photo.

Dotty

Paco and Ethan got adopted over the weekend. The family wanted to take only one of them but Tim refused to separate them so they took them both.

Paco and Ethan

We have a new cat in Welfare, Bailey who seems sweet.

Bailey

There is a huge pile of laundry because lots of the boarders have gone home already. The pile is now in my laundry and will take days.

Give up?

Zero

A lovely lady who has just moved and her two overweight, precious cats have recently died, came in because her daughters had nagged her into it. She loved everyone but decided that Zero would match her new couch cushions best. They spent ages getting to know each other and will be very happy. Zero's name will be changed probably to Lassie because she is a Scottish short hair, according to her paper work, and her new owner has famous Scottish forebears.