Adoption Tails: Pickle and her litter

Pickle

1 day:  Pickle is doing well. She's quite curious and not hiding away from the family. She has been eating, drinking and using
her litter tray. The family will keep her given name. The kids love her! They've yet to introduce Pickle to the family dog and will do so gradually as suggested by the info sheet provided.

1 week:  Pickle seems quite settled now. She has her safe room that she goes to if she feels a bit unsure. Her stitches ended up being removed by the vet as the owner had some questions about her care. The resident dog is slowly getting used to her - they have met each other under supervision and still have separate spaces at this stage. The family expects it will be a bit of a journey for them both.

1 month: The family and Pickle are all getting into a routine at home now. Her furbaby brother and her are getting along well. He doesn't even care if she sleeps on his bed. She is particularly fond of the youngest son so she sleeps in his room but roams around the house with the dog.

Salt   No Response

Dill aka Shadow

4 days: She is eating, drinking, and has used the litter box. She is doing really well and has been renamed Shadow. She has a bathroom as her safe room (by necessity) and is adventuring around in there as well as sitting on their laps, rubbing herself on them, etc. She is very food-oriented but they are sticking to 2-3 small handfuls of dried biscuits and wet food in the morning.

 1 week: She’s exploring the flat now. She was getting very impatient to get out of the bathroom.

1.5 weeks: “She’s exploring the whole flat now, and while she’s still easily frightened she’s also very curious.”

 40 days: “Shadow is the undisputed boss of the house and loves to run around the top of all the furniture. We got her a climbing/scratching tower too to survey outside from indoors.” She’s ultra-affectionate which the kids love and is very happily settled.

Cucumber & Brine aka Mango

Brine was first adopted by the family who adopted Cookie about a year ago. Cucumber was then also adopted by them a few days later. 

1 day: The family loves Brine. She's so affectionate and playful. She's currently called Mango. Eating and drinking fine, had a bit of runny poo but is improving already.

Brine/Mango

1 week: Cucumber was pleased to see her sister! The family will keep them in a room for a few weeks before gradually introducing them to Cookie and Snoop.

Cucumber

1 month: Mango is all good, embodies "thug life" at home and has no problems settling in. Everybody has been getting along really well. Cucumber (currently Coco, potentially Dot if the mum can get her way) has been having some toileting accidents where she is missing the tray. She was also more timid than Mango and had some soft poos at the beginning. The family will get an additional tray and find a suitable spot where Snoop the dog cannot get into. Snoop, Cookie, Mango and Coco are all getting along really well, cuddling on the sofa together at times. Snoop can get a little over excited but the cats will let him know it's enough and they will end up cuddling together again.

Cucumber with Snoop

Caper  aka Whisper

1 week: “His name is Whisper and he’s settled really well.” His owner’s office is his safe space but he’s exploring the house. “He’s all good.”

1 month: Whisper is good and is growing enormously. “He’s very playful and now has full run of the house. Learning ’no’ in relation to bookcases and bench tops is slow but otherwise all is well.”

Caper = Whisper

Camera fail

 I took some quick photos late this afternoon to remind myself of new names. And the camera is on the blink. I will have to use my iPhone, I suppose. Or rely on Joy's photos which are much better than mine anyway.

Was delighted to find that Magic has disappeared. She has gone back to her foster home. Strangely enough, Willow, who is in the next door condo to where Magic was, was much more outgoing (or outcoming as she has consistently hidden in her cat carrier in her condo until today). She must have got some "keep away" vibes from Magic.

Magic's condo was occupied by four pretty kittens that I drove to a foster home in Avalon on my way home this evening. The fosterer lost her Burmese beloved over the New Year and is pining for more kitty love. These four should do it. The calico is reluctant but the others were friendly.

Stevie has been declared recovered from her desex wound (or from the treatment of iodine and honey). She is back with her brothers. Sabrina, their mother has disappeared from the Adoption list as well as from her condo so she must have been adopted!

And Gemma got adopted.

And Dexter got adopted. 

    But Tim was a bit dubious about that adoption. With good reason it transpired because Dexter came home to a beautifully spring cleaned condo this afternoon. The bloke who adopted him said that his flat mate really wanted a dog not a cat! 

And we got new cats as well as the 4 kittens for foster. There is Mouse, a small, 3 month old, all black boy. He adapted quickly to his new spacious digs in Gemma's stand alone.

Mouse

And Violet who is wearing one of our collars. Which is strange because I can't find them and Elsa has been desexed and doesn't have one on. (She would have had to be under anaesthetic for me to attempt to put one on her!) Likewise Gracie in Isolation has a new desex certificate and no collar.

Violet

And today two of Pickles kittens, Brine and Dill were adopted . . . to two separate families with (not too) young children. They are lovely kittens. But perhaps it is their catchy names that appeal. Geoff came this afternoon and installed a scratchy pole in their enclosure. Which meant that they had to be taken out of it, put into a carrier, entertained with bits of my lunch, until all the screws were tightened, the enclosure was reclad with cloth and put back in its cleaned position such that the litter tray fits. . . . Geoff is a treasure.

Pickles in the before enclosure

 AND, there was a telephone enquiry about Yang! . . .. or Ying

Ants

 I came home today to find ants in Cody's quarter full bag (4Kgm) of crunchies. It has been a very bad summer for ants here in Sydney and I had not sealed the zip seal properly last time I scooped out a jam jar of crunchies. Be warned. And hope that ants don't discover the Safe crunchy shelves!

I moved Pickles from Isolation (aka Maternity) into Dancer's enclosure. No, Dancer hasn't been adopted. She has been moved next to Angel and Rory and Little have moved to the condo below Virgo.

Pickles and co love their new space. They were acrobatic when exploring the possibilities when they first moved in. There are 3 hammocks. Top two have one kitten each, bottom one has two kittens. Mum gets to sleep on the floor.

Salt and Brine

Dill

Cucumber

Penelope and Dot were brought in by their foster carers. And left them with us accompanied by tears. They are quite young so should settle down well (both cats and people). [Dot is a boy and has a spot above his right eye].

Josie's kittens are doing very well. They are plump and adventurous. A grand advertisement for not having 7 kittens at one time like Betty did. Her lot have gummy eyes and empty tummies because she has quit feeding them.

Josie and her ginger

PC had time out today and got to meet Michelle. She was not impressed. He was much more interested in being groomed with the strange blue cylindrical toy-thing.

Michelle and PC

Betty not so well

 At 3:15 she was OK. But by 4 pm there were 2 big vomits and 2 skinny poos. Plus the kittens bedding was wet. So I changed it all. There was a little chicken left for her tummy.

One of Pickles kittens was adopted today: Caper, the champagne medium haired one. Sue did the adoption. . . .. and had the same problem with the program that I often have. I call on Tim to "fix" it which he invariably does by pressing "reset". Sue did the same, twice, and it worked. Cranky computers!

So now Pickles only has 4 kittens. I changed the signs on her condo in Isolation just in case somebody, over the weekend got into a panic about a missing kitten. These are the four left. Their names are Brine, Cucumber and some other picklish names.

I don't know who is who. And am not prepared to open the door to take a photo because they are all crazy to get out.

Tinkerbell is on the website. Has been all day without being adopted. What is wrong with them out there!

I was a bit late and all the work had been done. I had to go home at lunch time to see to my cat who has a urinary blockage problem which is not uncommon in boy cats. He had surgery yesterday and I wanted him at home to recover so I borrowed a cat cage from Bronwen. She reports that Max is fine. I didn't get to see him although he was just outside. His favourite sleeping place in hot weather is in their basin in the en suite. Thelma and Louise were hiding so the only critters I saw were the two madly barking alsatian dogs. I might get to see Max when I return the cat cage.