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?

A Fall from Grace

 When I got to Grace's condo on this morning's food delivery, it was a mess. She had pulled up the grass from its pot and then tipped over the pot so that there was dirt everywhere. I may have said something that startled her because as she jumped up to her upper box she missed her footing and fell out of her condo. To the floor. And then scurried, screaming "I AM SCARED" which got the attention of every cat in the cattery. We proceeded to have a merry dance with me trying to direct her back to her condo and her trying to hide under any low furniture. Luckily she didn't take the high way. 

Eventually she hid under the new merchandise shelves. I cornered her with the duvet cover from Mini's stand alone, put her breakfast in a carry cage that was draped with the same duvet cover. With the help of a prod or two with a bit of stick, she allowed herself to be guided into the carry cage. And got carried back to her condo. Pretty exciting for before breakfast.

We have three new cats in Boarding: Sasha, Shadow and Ellie. They are not boarders with us. They have been surrendered to us. They are really friendly with people. Ellie is a long/ish haired cat who has been shaved. It will be interesting to see how long her hair grows. Her whiskers are enormous.

Ellie

 

I tried putting Sasha into the play place with her but got the distinct impression that it was not a good idea. Katie confirmed that although they came from the same household they are not friends with each other. They just love people.

Sasha

 

 

Shadow is the third member of this trio.

Shadow

Steph dropped off Autumn and Summer. Lovely to have tortie kittens again.

Summer and Autumn

Magnus has a bare tip of tail. A bit has been amputated. There is no bandage. Let's hope this fixes his problem. He is such a loving cat.

Laurie (aka Lasagne) wins the photo of the day 

Laurie

 

As Dolly got adopted on Tuesday, the mother and daughter who fell in love with her on Sunday came to meet Petal. They promptly fell in love with her and will be back when she has been desexed. 

And another lady came in at 3:30pm to adopt Meow Meow. But she didn't do it today. She decided to go home and set up everything, buy lots of food, etc, etc, and come back tomorrow at 1pm to adopt her. (Adoption hours have been limited to from 1pm to 3:30pm to limit our volunteers' exposure to members of the public. We are not admitting people who come from hotspot LGA's)

Tortie corner

Barb Webster gave us a cat clock. Today, I finally got around to installing it with Rod's help (after I dropped the one, tiny screw and we put the battery in the right way round). I put it over the feeding table so that the cats out back can enjoy it's wagging tail and sweeping eyes. Buddy and Petey were enthralled.

I also dangled feather toys from the ceiling in the outer office to give the cats there something to look at. They only like them when they move. There is a tortie corner there with a new Harley. As a tortie she is obviously a girl and by the look of her tummy, she was recently a mum.

Joy spent time smooching with Apricot, yet another tortie, who really does like to be loved on. (They both do!)

Don't know what happened to Max, son of Misty but there is a bonded pair in the perspex place. They are Bobby (friendly with a squinty left eye) and Doel (below).

Don't know what the outcome of Pearl's vet visit was. She is happy in her new condo and even happier with a new bed (sans poos and hair balls). Her nose looks a little less encrusted.

Rod gave Mixa a clean bed which he loved too.

No adoptions today but a Chinese family will be back with their 15year old son on Saturday to see if he likes Oscar as much as they did. The kid will fall in love.

Midnight adopted

Sue's friend Vann did come to adopt Midnight. Lucky Midnight. She has already been taken to the vet and questions were asked (and answered).

And Angus is the 13Kg cat in boarding. Not a happy chappy. He is on pain meds probably because all his joints ache from the strain.

Angus

Grayson and Giselle will go to the vet tomorrow. Grace (the tuxedo) was only .99Kg today so will have to wait. There is a queue to adopt this lot. With one person wanting Grayson and Giselle, another wants Grace and Giselle and yet another wants Grayson by himself. First come, first serve unless we make it an auction and the kittens will go to the highest bidder.

Jaffa and one of her kittens was desexed yesterday. Poor girl. She doesn't look comfortable with those big titties and the kittens aren't the slightest bit interested in helping her out.

Jaffa

Jaffa's kittens

I am convinced that Tessa's nose is dirty. And cleaned it with a wash cloth. Can you tell which is the before and which the after photo?

Tessa

Tessa

Lucia's kittens are roly poly cuties. They are outside the carry cage and Lucia is inside it. In the meantime, Luca went for a stroll and was quite easy to catch to get back into his condo. Buffy also wandered about and was a snap to catch.

Lucia and bub

Willow's kittens are growing quickly except for the black one who had a separate breakfast. . . and ate, and ate, and ate.

Willow

Second time lucky?

Jewell has been taken back by the folk who returned her earlier this week. I don't know if they were asked to pay a second adoption fee. They should have been asked!
Whatever. . . . her condo needs sterilizing again and her bed went with her.

And a young couple in an apartment came today to look at Blossom. He had had cats in his youth but she was a dog person. He seemed more tentative than she. Sue gave them Blossom's history (of biting an 80+ year old, twice) and they were apprehensive. I strolled over and started to brush Blossom and talk about her history. While I was chatting to them and patting her, the man became bolder and brushed her cheeks (a sure winner with Bloss) and the woman relaxed and told Bloss how lovely she was (another way to her heart). They went off to have a discussion. Came back and adopted her.

We lent them a cat carrier. I put a dark green towel in it for Blossom and said that we don't want it back. When Blossom sits on it and looks up at them they will see how heavenly green her eyes are. Both Sue and I asked them to call us if they have any problems and to let us know how they get on. They will have to return the carrier. Fingers crossed there won't be a Blossom inside it this time.

Chester is out of his carry cage which has been beautifully sterilized. (Thank you Sandy? Irene?)
He is a very lumpy cat. LOVES his soft food.

Chester

I believe this is Grayson. He dominated both double food dishes at the afternoon feed until I moved one down for Grace on the lower level. He was first in the hammock with a full tummy.

Grayson: white stripe on nose

Giselle and Grace

 Midnight has a sign "Save for Vanna" who is a friend of Sue's. She is off medication for her eye.

Midnight

Bumpabet

TIm is back at work . . . . just. He croaks and looks like he needs more sleep. But the cats are happy to have him back. Even Sootie ate all his breakfast.

I asked him if he knew who was who amongst the G's. He thinks that the tuxedo is a girl which will make one of the tabby's a girl and the other a boy. The tuxedo is definitely a lower ranked girl and the tabby girl is usually roughhousing or grooming with the tabby boy. So I propose (by what right?) that the tuxedo be "Grace" and the tabby "Giselle". If I remember my ballet stories, Giselle got up to trouble with the prince.

Giselle, Grace, Grayson

My guess is that Grayson moved as soon as I pointed the camera at them. Which means that he has the white line down the middle of his nose. We shall see in the fullness of time.

I tried to devise a cover that small kittens could use to climb up our stylish wooden ramps. The velcro is not strong enough to support the weight of a kitten on the carpet like pads that the manufacturer sticks to the front and back of it.

I used some of the quilted mattress covers that we were overwhelmed with at Ingleside and put extra bumps so the kittens could climb up it. It is secured with ties that can be tied into bows.

 It took Jaffa's kittens 10 minutes to untie the bows. And they jumped up from the lower to the upper level in a single bound. . . . . . back to the drawing board.

Jewell was returned because the person who adopted her had unrealistic expectations about the amount of time it would take for her to settle in and become a lap cat. Luckily the person returned her bed which she is happily hiding under. She does appreciate a covered cuddle.

Jewell

And Pepi is back and NOT HAPPY.

I made friends with Chester, the 20year old cat surrendered along with his doggie friend last Friday. His person can no longer look after them. The dog is in foster care.

Chester is affectionate but smells. So I got a brush and that interested him. I doubt he has been brushed for years. I could only do his face and cheeks  and when I felt down his flank there was damp. Tim says that he has ulcers all over. Poor, old guy. But he has come to the best place to get some loving attention.

Chester

Catsie and I have devised:

The Bumpabet

We started with an EB = elbow bump, moved to an FB = foot bump. What about the rest of the alphabet?

AB = Adult Bump, only to be done by consenting adults, in private

BB = Baby Bump, which there will be a lot more of in 9 months time

CB = Cat Bump, they can catch it from us but we can't catch it from them so try not to sneeze on your cat

DB = Dog Bump, they don't seem to be able to catch Covid-19 so let them slobber, you need it.

GB = Grandparent Bump, best done over the phone/email.

HB = Hug Bump, what we will do when the pandemic passes

IB=         Ignore Bump. Ignore all attempts at bumping.

JB = Jump Bump. Equivalent to Hi-5, jump up, don’t touch.

KB = Kiss Bump, only if you live with them anyhow

LB =  Long Distance Bump, for faraway friends and family

MB = Mother Bump because all kids need hugs from their own mum

NB =  No Bump. Don’t want to know about bumps.

OB =  Oldies bump are not too hard, they may fall over

PB = Papa Bump because all kids need hugs from their own dad

QB =  Quiver Bump: an exciting bump, indicating a desire for more

RB = Rather Not Bump because we have learned to respect personal boundaries.

SB = Sole Bump for those who are sitting down. The soles of your shoes can't get much dirtier.

or SB = Shout Bump: Don't do it. The louder you talk the more droplets are spread and the further they go.

or SB = Smile Bump: contagious but in a good way

TB = Tickle Bump to be performed on babies by their close family members only

UB = Underarm Bump: only to be attempted by teenagers but NOT NOW.

VB = Virtual Bump: must be an emoji for this

WB =       Wobbly Bump: beware, unsteady bumper

XB =  X-rated Bump: the after-dark bump, for very close friends

YB = Why Bump for pandemic deniers

ZB = Ze Bump pronounced with a phoney French accent

Share it with your friends rather than sharing the virus. And send us more B ideas.

Win some, loose some

The excitement was over by the time I arrived. One of Jaffa's kittens, the grey one, had got out of their upper condo. Initially she couldn't be found and Terry and Joy were contemplating clambering up to see if the kitten was on top of the condos. Then Joy saw a grey ball of fluff move under the food shelves. A happy ending but it delayed breakfast which didn't please the rest of the crew.

Jaffa's grey kitten

Blossom is back and not happy (eating). Evidently she bit her old lady . . . . twice.
After I rearranged her condo to the way it had been before she settled down to breakfast.

Jewell is not there. Her condo has been sterilized. Has she been fostered or adopted?

There is a new dark tortie called Midnight in Peanut's condo. She is friendly but shell shocked. Has she been surrendered? She has the loveliest green eyes. She settled down to her breakfast after a few pats.

Midnight

Another one who needs encouragement to eat is Katie. She really needs hands/brush stimulation to eat.

Katie

The mums have names and Joy has taken some lovely photos of them and their kittens.

Jaffa and three kittens (of 4)

Tessa's kitten (1 of 4)

Tessa

Willow's kittens (3 of 4)

Willow

Giselle, Grace and Grayson 

Terry might take Milly home to foster. His wife came in today to help with the decision.