Adoption Tails: Harry and Dexter

 Harry

2 days: He’s doing well. He has used his litter box to go pee and poo and is eating well. He seems very relaxed as long as his owner is around and he prefers to eat when his owner is home. He doesn’t seem to need the safe room but he gets put in it when his owner is out. He will not be renamed and has already been registered with the council.

1 week: “He’s gorgeous! He has the run of the place. Given his age not surprising that he sleeps a lot. Not particularly interested in playing but likes to be near me (preferably on me!)” His owner thinks he’s put on a bit of weight. 

1 month: “He is currently on my lap! He made a run for freedom today but I collected him from the top of the fence. I think he must have been an indoor/ outdoor cat. He is desperate to be outside. He is still having problems with his ear and tongue so is having a GA tomorrow for them to have a proper look. Fingers crossed.”

Dexter

2 days: He seems fine so far. He's eating, drinking and using the litter tray. He’s been out of his safe room but seems comfortable around the house. He responds well to his name so his owner doesn’t think they’ll change it. He has attacked his owner’s arm twice. It wasn’t really obvious why as his owner wasn’t trying to pat him or anything. Mostly, it has been times when his owner is doing something like sitting on the couch or using the computer and Dexter will be sitting nearby and seems to be doing his own thing, and then he’ll jump onto his owner’s arm with teeth and claws before they even notice Dexter was interested in his owner. He stops when scolded and his owner is hopeful that he’ll learn what makes him like that with more time. 

 
10 days: Dexter is starting to settle in after his first week. He had a cough so he went to the vet and got some antibiotics. He’s getting better with his behaviour. “He will occasionally bite if he doesn't get his way but I think it's gradually happening less.” He still eventually bites after a while if he doesn’t get what he wants quickly enough. “He's improved from the attacks with serious biting and scratching which he started with. He seems pretty comfortable in the house and is using the cat tower and beds around for him.” He has been using the litter tray with no accidents. He will play when his owner waves around a ribbon or belt but doesn't seem interested in cat toys. “He also likes cardboard boxes. He seems pretty happy most of the time but is also definitely interested in getting out the front door to see what else is out there.”

1 month: Health-wise, he is good. He very rarely has a cough now and he had some sort of intestinal worms but seems to have cleared up with worming treatment. Behaviour-wise, he has improved in that he mostly doesn’t attack his owner when he wants something. Unfortunately, they still can’t trust him to sit on their lap or be too close for long. He’s still prone to attacking when his owner tries to get him off their lap or for some other reasons that they can’t figure out. “he seems to me to act more like an immature cat than a 3 year old so I'm hoping he still has potential settle down more with time”

Terry Tidys up

 Terry came today on his day off to replace Dexter's mesh. I remembered to bring my needle and thread and luckily by the time I arrived (late because of DH's doc visit) he had already removed the screws, located the mesh and was on the job. Meatball was delighted that his new condo (he is now available so out of Incoming) because he got to roam around while the vollies were working so could make mad dashes out the front or back door then get chased, picked up, cuddled and settled onto another lap. 

After Terry finished his mesh, he started to repairing all the cat carriers that adorn the top of the condos. Many of them didn't have doors that fitted, or tops that stayed with bottoms, etc, etc. By the end of the day there were only 4 left that couldn't be repaired. All the rest are neatly stacked on top of the condos or in the area where goods are for sale because they are almost new. THANK YOU Terry.

And Joy was back from her eventful holiday in the UK. She tested the National Health and was delighted by the service. And for friends and relatives who made her mum's fall bearable. We will celebrate with some of her photos from today.

Lion and Enoki are in Oscar's enclosure.

Lion (calico) and Enoki

And Sebastian and Pebbles are in Yin and Yang's enclosure. I made new hammocks for them out of the mask fabric brought in a couple of weeks ago by a visitor.

There seems to be a wine theme going on with names. Merlot and Jerry are where Sebastian and Pebbles used to be in the corner.

Merlot and Jerry

And Gino Grigio and Pino Nero are in the stand alone next to Julie and Bassuria where. . . . used to be. (Having a senior moment). I installed two hammocks (old ones) for them.

Gino Grigio & Pinot Nero

Amelia is where Annabelle and Abagail used to be. That has fine alliteration.

Amelia

Movement at last

 After an adoption drought (despite the rainy weather), there have been adoptions and movements of cats.

Dexter got adopted by a man who "has experience with difficult cats". It has been 4 days which is 3 days longer than the last time he was adopted. So fingers crossed. 

And Betty has gone to a foster home. And Hermionie has gone to Katie's to live. And two of Honey's kittens have been adopted naturally including the super friendly Socks. Left are Luna, Scarlett, Patches and Panther. Honey is posted as 10 months old. What a heroine!

Honey plus 4 this evening at dinnertime.

The Squee litter in Isolation has been moved out except for Pumpkin who is still there and being treated as infectious. Two have . . . ? been adopted. . .. disappeared. And two are in Dexter's condo. They are still dedicated to eating.

Spots and Marmalade

We have new cats on Better Row. Moet and Jerry were surrendered. I will try to find out why. They seem to be a lovely pair. Jerry is the ginger male who is friendly. Moet is the ginger and white girl who is wary. Or the other way around!

Jerry and Moet

And Calli is under Josie who is getting friendlier every day.

Calli

As are Theresa's big cats in the stand alone in Incoming. They are very food oriented. They loved it when they were getting 2 month old kitten rations.

Theresa's three

Trude and Prue would like to go back to those good old days. But with patience, Sue is getting them used to being touched.

Trude, Prue and Sue

And for entertainment we have: Meatball, PC and Derek. Meatball is a comedian, PC is an opportunist, Derek is a fanatic (aka a kitten).

Cat fight

 Well, after the weekend we know which one is Harley and which is Quin. Quin has been adopted so it is Harley who is still with us. I can't tell if she is the friendlier tortie or has become friendlier since her sister left her.

Harley

My camera was playing up today so it is still difficult to tell who is who.

One of our earlier vollies, Monica brought in her cat. Molly whom she adopted from us, to board while she goes to Canada for a holiday. Somebody had left instructions about the eardrops to be applied to a boarding cat called Epsilon. Turns out they changed her name. She might be the same Molly who might have been adopted on the blog of September 1, 2023. Her name has been changed to Epsilon. (Google definition: Epsilon: the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet (E, ε). the consonant sound represented by this letter. Mathematics: an arbitrarily small quantity, used to indicate that a given quantity is small, or close to zero. 

She will be with us for three weeks. She is not close to zero.

Epsilon

Later, after letting Seb and Pebbles out into the Top Cat (which they love), I noticed that Dexter's window was covered in snot. So, as he had been happy out wandering with other cats before, I let him out and cleaned his perspex. Then the screaming started. He went for Cooper. I went for him. Used my foot to separate them. Shepherded Dexter back into his condo with the rubbish tin lid and retired for bandaging.

Cooper afterwards just wanted cuddles

Dexter afterwards (when my camera went on the blink)

Ignore the blood smears on the floor. They are either mine or Adrians who got smacked by Billy earlier in the morning or Azar's who got chomped on by Betty yesterday.

Consequences

 Because Jake and Josh got adopted their condo became available for Liam. 

Because Liam moved away from his "mother",  she promptly dropped another kitten in Incoming! I didn't get a photo. The kitten is too small and mum looks plump enough to have other kittens still to come.

Because Ryan and Luna got adopted (separately), Hansel and Derek moved into the front door stand alone and had a wonderful time in a space 6 times, at least, as big as their condo in Incoming.

Because Queen Victoria got adopted, Pickles was moved into her condo. He wasn't really pleased but I think he will enjoy watching other cats more than watching food.

So that means there are 3 empty condos on Better Row. Irene won't be able to resist that for long. She has 11 cats/kittens at her house.

And because a previous adopter dropped by few weeks ago to visit the cats and admire the hammocks I have two big bags of fabric scraps to make into hammocks. She was in the business of making face masks during Covid and has lots of left-overs.

And because an ex-vollie was collecting bedding for charity, she thought of us and rang to ask if we needed any fitted sheets. . . . no, thank you; blankets. . . . . no thank you; towels. . .. yes! please!

And, because we were busy I didn't get out my camera so here is an old photo of Dexter who made a dash for freedom during his condo cleaning. His cleaner was too wary of getting bitten to pick him up. But he is very good for me. . . . famous last words?

Dexter

And a photo of my Cody who is a Safe adoption. Sharon picked up her Leo this afternoon. He was very pleased to see her after being abandoned with us for 5 WHOLE DAYS!

Cody

Camera fixed

I recharged the battery and put in the date and time zone. If only other electronics were as simple!

Vollie Michelle came in this afternoon with her daughter whose 3 year old grey cat has just died. She just wanted the comfort of being around folk who love cats and other cats (especially grey ones like her previous cat.) Violet fit the bill.

Violet

And Dexter who almost bit me. I picked him out of the box that I put into his condo that he loves and he sat happily to be admired in my arms for a while. But then he got stroppy and went to bite me. Luckily I knew the signs and my shirt got bitten while my arm escaped all by very marginal tooth marks. Which Emily happily bandaged for me even though it was really a waste of a good bandage.

Max and Maisie came in to board. It took her owners three hours to get Maisie into the carrier. They carefully hadn't made any moving moves. . . . no suitcases taken out of cupboards, etc, etc. But she KNEW that something was going on. Max was no trouble, of course. I put her into their condo in her small carrier. When the owner left I checked on them and Max had moved in with Maisie. The small furry grey mouse is theirs.

Max shielding Maisie

We have a boarder called Josie who needs eye treatment. As well as our Josie's kittens who both have gummy eyes that need treatment. Confusion!

Josie plus 1

Josie plus 2

And Bubbles needs ointment in her eyes too. She hates it. But loves any kind of attention so is prepared to put up with it if she gets a cuddle as well.

Bubbles

Eric was delivered from his foster home. He had been getting on well with the fosterer's two girl cats but recently has started to try to take over the dominant position which entails urinating on their couch and standing over the girls. So let's see if he can get adopted from us quickly. He is in the stand alone beside Mouse who is a good draw card.

Eric

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

An Odd Day

 At 10am a woman arrived to choose one of Sabrina's kittens. They are not available yet. But she has been "told" by spirits that a Sabrina kitten is fated to be in her life and she must come to be chosen by the kitten or her world will . . . .. goodness knows what. Tim said "They are in Isolation and you can't go in there". "Come back when Prue has moved Pickles and her lot out of the play place, cleaned and sterilized it and put Sabrina's kittens in there". 

She was happy with that. And I got on with cleaning up Pickle's mess. She came back when the kittens were just exploring their new digs so were somewhat distracted. I shut her in with them. She phoned her medium to discuss the situation. After half an hour she had decided which kitten had "chosen" her with the help of the phone medium. 

So I said, when that kitten comes up on our web site, come and get her. "But I want her NOW". Sorry, she isn't on the web site. Besides. Her tummy looks a bit red and she can't get adopted until her surgery wound is all healed. 

Eventually she went away with our assurances that we wouldn't adopt "HER" kitten to anybody else.

In a effort to get normality, I gave PC and Dexter a run this afternoon (after Aslan had his). They decided that they are office cats. PC chose the guest chair and loved being groomed by Charlie. He has gloop in his left eye. Tim gave him some ointment.

PC loves to be groomed

PC's grooming tool

Dexter took over the office chair. It matches his eyes.

Dexter

Then we had a call from the emergency vets at Terry Hills. Last night man jumped from his balcony down four stories to his death. He had his small dog in his arms. The dog is only slightly injured. It is more shocked and is missing the other dog that was left in the apartment. The vets wanted to know if we would deal with the dogs. I said we don't have any dog fosterers. They are all foster fails. She said their staff would happily foster the dogs if we would do the adoption process. Tim was on the phone so while she was waiting to talk to him she said she would try the "pound". With success. Somebody else is taking the two dogs. 

I have a sore finger from playing tennis. My physio sister gave me a pair of gloves to ease the pain. Catsie came in to work with a sore hand. She is left handed so I gave her the glove that I don't need. It helped. I will try the right glove at tennis on Friday.

Neat day

 I got all the poo bags out into other peoples' bins early. Including the old ones that I had left behind the door last Friday. So today we have two empty Willoughby bins in the basement and two Cousins bins on the sidewalk. One is full with 30Kg of poo bags, etc. The other only has 17 Kg of trash in it. So can be added to before Friday afternoon.

Sue tackled the stuff that shouldn't be in the entry hall. I squeezed those cardboard boxes into the Cousin's bin which wasn't emptied on Friday. Then we tackled the teetering column of cat carriers in the Boarders Back Corner. They are up top now and the ridiculously large sifting litter trays (which must take all of a 15Kg bag of compressed sawdust litter) that were put in the working space in Better Row are now back where they used to be in the Boarders Back Corner. Some people will be unhappy. But more will be overjoyed at not having to negotiate piles of stuff all morning long.

Pickles and kittens are back in the play place. They were having such a lovely time, Sue and I decided to leave them there. Pickles is a great mum. She supervises and plays with her kittens.

The person who was going to adopt Angel, didn't. She (the kitten) is available again. Don't know what happened there.

Angel and Luke

They have new neighbours in the corner whose names I have forgotten.

And Talia above, whose condo mate (?Henry) was adopted. She is very pretty.

Talia

There was only one visiting couple today: a daughter who is trying to talk her dad into having a cat. He doesn't speak much English so it was hard for me to gauge how convincing his daughter was. She seemed to like any and all kittens. He seemed to like Dexter who behaved perfectly.

We moved Chilli's carry cage out of his condo and replaced it with an igloo shaped like a Xmas plum pudding. He seemed much happier! Who knew that cats like plum puds.

Chilli before the plum pud transfer

He has a new neighbour who must have been well loved because he came in a box labelled Tommy's Shed. I don't know his story but will try to find out.

Too busy

 Sue forgot that I told her that I would be late today as I had to take DH to the eye doc for another injection. She thought Tim would be on today but he
is not well. So when she arrived at 9am, nobody had been fed and the trash hadn't been taken out for collection. Then Mariko was hijacked by her bus driver and had to walk further than she expected, Robyn's car wouldn't start, other vollies decided they couldn't do today. Plus there were deliveries of large boxes of food, bags of litter and other mystery boxes.

Now, some heavenly person has cleaned out Opies room. It looks habitable. The table is clear, the floor is clear. Even Lola deigned to go in there to sit on a vacated shelf this afternoon! But there wasn't enough room for all the stuff that was delivered. So we left it in the corridor. [Sorry tomorrow].

On my heals, when I arrived at lunchtime, were visitors. The first lot was a young man who met us at a Dog and Cat show in town and bought a T-shirt. He later ripped the T shirt while skate boarding. Today he brought his (girl) friend to buy another T-shirt and meet all the cats. I introduced them all. And met Kenzi for the first time. He is in Rocky's condo because Rocky was adopted earlier in the week. They loved Dexter who was happily passed from arms to arms. He bought another T-shirt and a hoodie for his friend and left. 

As another group arrived. This was Charlie's family. They are considering another cat for their 16 year old. So I showed them all again. Dexter was happy with cuddles.

Then a happy previous customer arrived with friends who wanted a kitten or two. We went around the possibles again. There were 3 of Grace's kittens in the play place. They finally settled on two of them. They were two of the boys. The last remaining, all grey kitten is a female. I did the adoption. . . slowly and inefficiently.

Then a previous visitor came to see who was available. But they really wanted to see Dexter who they rather fancied. He, by this stage, had had enough of being picked up and admired. He latched onto his potential owners arm with teeth and claws. We had to pry him off. Her skin is AMAZING. She hardly bled. If he had done that to  me I would have been shredded. They were amazing and continued with the tour and admired Kenji. Who wouldn't!

Kenji

Nobody got to have play time except Aslan for a while and Charlie and Champ. (Champ is getting more adventurous).

Charlie and Champ

Poor Cindy didn't get fed nearly often enough. Why is one kitten not in the clump?

No lunch

 I usually eat my lunch in the car on the way from tennis to the cats. I came from home today a bit earlier than usual and didn't think to eat. I had a vague passing lunch thought at 2pm when I let Lola out so that she could share some with me. But that thought was swamped by yet another visitor.

Visitors ranged from a pair of primary girls and their mum having a treat away from their iPads to interact with some kittens. Good for the kittens and a good opportunity to teach a kid how to hold a kitten. (With any luck the parent is taking on the instructions as well). They stayed for ages.

Then a couple came for a companion to their boy cat. Kind of looking for a girl but rather liked the pair below Aslan for their fluffy tails, Luna and Jack. But they are moving within the month. So they will keep an eye on the website to see when J & L become available. They considered Pippa who trilled at them. Nice young couple.

Then some litter and food was dropped by a couple who didn't stay. (Thank goodness because everybody else did!)

Then an ?Japanese woman arrive with some donations. I think she is Japanese because she kept stopping herself from bowing to me and happily sat on the floor to admire the cats. She came with gifts. . . . items from first class airplane travel. I rejected the polyester comforters, the toothbrushes in paper packages but accepted the towel, baggie full of sugar, coffee, etc and the $50 note! She stayed until I threw her out at 4pm. She held the bowl of chicken while I handed it out. I wonder how she found us.

Japanese visitor with Dexter

Then another young couple came in to find a companion for their teenaged rescue boy kitten. They looked at and loved everybody, especially Pippa. I gave my usual advice to take photos of the ones they really liked (all of them) and keep an eye on the web page. They went home to think. They live on Victoria Ave in Chatswood. How do I know that? They were back within half an hour with a carry cage to adopt Cherry (who will get along fine with an older kitten if she remembers her big brothers). Poor Peanut is all alone (with his mum who is coming into heat, again.)

Peanut

I tried to get a photo of Pickle's kittens who are getting more adventurous.

a pile of Pickles kittens

And of Cindy's slugs.

Cindy's babies

At four I still hadn't unpacked the clean washing. But Geoff came to take over the afternoon feed. So I did that and remembered that I hadn't eaten lunch.

Geoff rearranging Elsa's condo

Forgetful Prue

 No photos again. I left my camera at home and my phone is still at the shop getting fixed.

Mariko had the day off from her jobs (one is a Haig's chocolates and she left some of their goodies). She reports that Rebel and Melody are getting on OK together. She can stroke Rebel with a stick. And she only has 3 mice left. Perhaps the mice died of fright because of the cat smell! Luckily the mouse breeder that she took the surplus from has given up breeding mice.

She brought, of course, a big bag of Christmas toys for the cats. They are in the form of three coloured, rope covered balls possibly with catnip inside which hang from a nifty hook. We put one on the handle if the box the Tosca hides in. The red ball managed to fall into her water bowl. And the water was stained bright red! 

I think she needs to get a refund from whoever sold her those cat toys.

A pair of Chinese ladies came to get their first cat (since the younger was 5 years old). They liked Molly whom they had seen on the website. And Dexter, and Yuki, and Angus and. . . . .  They have some preparation still to do at home before adopting one.

Since the beginning of the month, Margurete, Kittah and Hunter have been adopted. 

I schlepped two bags of washing, 1 bag of recyclables, a disgusting cat carrier and litter tray down to the loading zone and left them there. Rosanna has done the same thing. So I am not the only vacated minded vollie at the end of a long day. Luckily Sue was still then when I got home and can rescue the things I left behind.  I will get them on Friday.

Recent photo of Cody will have to do.

Upside down Cody

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.