Adoption Tails: Kit Kat and Sampson, Luigi

 No new photos with these cats, unfortunately.

Kit Kat and Sampson

1 day: Both Sampson and KitKat have eaten - particularly Sampson who wasted no time once the owners left the room! They have both used the litterbox for a pee but other than that, the owners have not seen or heard them as they both still in hiding. The owners think they will be keeping both names. KitKat has not eaten the dried food so far so they may have to try a different brand.

Kit Kat

 
1 week: Sampson is still scared when the owners enter the room but eats well and plays with his toys at night when all is quiet. Sometimes the owners notice his big yellow eyes glaring at them from the box that has been claimed as his favourite place when food is brought to him. 

Sampson

KitKat also eats well and has now started to come out. He will sit at a distance and look at the owners when they enter the room. He goes crazy playing at night that the owners could swear he had friends in the room with the amount of banging. His things are also everywhere in the morning.

 
1 month: KitKat has settled in very well and was able to venture out of his room just 2 days ago. He eats like a vacuum! Sampson is still very scared and hides when anybody enters his room but he is a little more confident with the child who does the feeding - allowing her to give a little rub on the cheek. The family is very understanding of Sampson's need for more time given his deep mistrust of humans.

 

Luigi

1 day: Luigi spent the night in the bar (his own special room!) and had a wander around the house this morning under the owner's supervision. He was quite keen to rub himself on her legs! Luigi has not had much food and the owner is not sure if it is because he does not like when she is giving him but will take the food trialling slowly.

Luigi

1 week: Luigi has been doing crosswords on the bed with his owner. He now sleeps at night on her bed and loves his food which was a relief for the owner as he was quite disinterested in the beginning. Luigi also loves sitting on window ledges and looking at the neighbours!
1 month: Luigi has settled in and taken over the house! He had a trip to the vet with an upset stomach and had an injection (got his toenails trimmed while he was there). He also has an upcoming appointment to get his teeth looked at but they are OK at the moment. Luigi is a thoroughly spoilt cat!
 

Nada nada

 Jacqui's cats have gone home so the play place is available for our cats as none of the boarders are inclined to move. I put Tiger in after Diego and Dora had a play. He liked it. Strolled about and did a big, smelly poo. Then Opie went back in overnight,

Tiger

There have been adoptions. Sampson and Kit Kat have "adopted" on their condos but are still with us. Luigi has gone. He didn't even make it to the "for adoption" list! One of Mia's and Cindy of the Supermodels have also gone. So has Betty White from foster.  And SOOTY has gone to a family whose previous cat hid for 9 years. They like a quiet cat. So Helena and Kate have moved into Sooty's condo. They were not happy but they will get used to it. 

Whitney and Mary will be next to go as soon as they recover from being desexed. Whitney tried the Top Cat this afternoon. She was not keen. And went back to bed.

Whitney

Later I set it up next to Nada. And she wasn't impressed (while I was watching). I hope she comes out overnight.

No Nada

But Yin did unroll himself this afternoon and posed for Robyn.

Yin

And I gently held Tibby still while he ate his dinner. He pecks at the food like a bird rather than hoovering it up as most kittens do.

Tibby

There is a new mum, Ruby in Incoming. She has 5 jewel named kittens about 2 weeks old. One of them has a eye that hasn't opened correctly. It needs to be bathed and anointed 3 times a day. This kitten will get very used to being handled. The mum is completely friendly. Don't know her story. 

We will have to inspect all volunteers who wear black tops as they leave to make sure that they are not trying to smuggle Margot out with them.

Margot gets first prize in the Cuteness Class

Meet Midnight

 There is another new kitten, Midnight in Incoming. This one came with his mum who is a young cat. He is only three weeks old but is enormous! As big as the four in the stand alone. It just shows what a difference it makes when you have a mum, Pumpkin to feed off continuously.

Midnight and Pumpkin

He is bigger than Margot who is still adorable and twice his age.

Margot

On Naughty Row are a pair of 6 month old kittens, Tabby and Tibby. Tabby has cerebellar hypoplasia which means that she wobbles. But she makes up for her defect by being super sweet and upstages her sister Tibby

Tibby

Tabby

Dr Chris came on Tuesday to vet check some cats. He wasn't very happy with Tiger who has bad teeth as well as his hypersensitivity to food and something hard in his tummy. But he looked tigerish this afternoon when Robyn took his photo and ate all the soft special food I gave him.

Tiger

And Kit Kat is looking much better. He got passed by Dr Chris. He let me pat him.

Kit Kat

And Ginger smiled at me. If you look closely you can see that he has only two canines: one on top and one below, on opposite sides of his smile.

Ginger

Catsie came to tidy our laundry shelves. They look splendid! Let's keep them that way. (She actually came to keep me company because Sandy has broken her wrist. Sandy moved quickly out of the way when a woman with two dogs passed her on the street, fell over a tree's roots and . . . ouch. We wish her a speedy recovery and know that her cats will love having her lazing around at home more. Purrs heal and she will get lots of those.)

Follow up on the humungous cat tree: It is huge. I moved it onto the space by the front door where we used to have large cat trees for sale. It fills that space to the ceiling: more so than the previous ones. Great job Ark to put it together.

Adoption Tails: Confectionary kittens

Confectionary Kittens
Here are the length updates for Buttercup, Kit Kat & Skittles. The owner originally took Buttercup and Kit Kat only, but quickly adopted Skittles also when they heard that Coco (their mum) was adopted and she was left alone at SAFE. I have put in an approximate timeline based on when Buttercup & Kit Kat first got adopted. I also received quite a lot of photos, mostly a rotation of 2 out of the 3 kittens on the cat tower hammock, taking turns squishing each other. Please take a look at all three profiles (ID: 5251, 5252, 5253) as I might have missed uploading all photos on all three profiles. 

Confectionary Kittens
1 day: The owners picked up Buttercup and Kit Kat last night from the foster carer. The room has been set up with new things. They have been hiding the whole day. First under the bed, now under the desk. They have little interest in food and the owner has put out some wet Ziwi food as per foster suggestions. Owners are worried that they do not want to eat anything and have prepared food and water in 2 different places in the room but cannot tell whether they have touched the food or not. The cats also have not used the litter tray. The owners have left the cats alone in the room, trying to minimise the noise level. They will also check with foster carer with the cat litter the cats have been using.

Buttercup

Kit Kat

1 week: Buttercup and Kit Kat are fine, having used the litter tray shortly after the 1 day follow up. They have slowly eaten more food and now eating a normal amount every day and drinking water also. Buttercup is a quiet girl, always hiding under the bed or desk when the owners come in. Kit Kat is quite naughty, giving the owners a scare when he went "missing" twice! The first time he was in a drawer that was never opened by the owners. They have no clue how he got in. Second time Kit Kat was found in a suitcase. Kit Kat loves watching birds at the window. Both kittens have climbed up to the top of the cat tree to explore. Buttercup and Kit Kat are quite comfortable in the room but they still prefer to keep their distance from the owners. Every time they enter the room, the two will immediately run away to hide. Kit Kat likes to stare at his owners though. The owner is thinking that either she or her husband will work in the room with the kittens next week to get Buttercup & Kit Kat used to their presence while the other stays outside with their resident cat. The resident cat has been very curious and sniffing at the door but has not seen them yet. He is a little bit anxious.

Giant scratchy pole

1.5 weeks: The owners have set up a camera to take video and watch the kittens since they are very active after they close the door. The kittens are very playful and the owners have bought them lots of toys. They have dragged everything under the bed. They are pushing back the plan to have her or the husband work from home in their room to let Skittles settle in some more first. Buttercup lets her stay 1.5m away from her and did not run away when she got this close. They were also successful in playing laser with Buttercup.

2 weeks: The owners took Skittles home on Friday, less than 2 weeks after taking Buttercup and Kit Kat after learning Skittles is left alone at SAFE when Coco got adopted and went home. They were a little concerned about whether Buttercup & Kit Kat have forgotten their sister Skittles and vice versa. All was well when they brought her into the room where Buttercup and Kit Kat are staying, Buttercup came down from the cat tree. Skittles immediately ran to Buttercup and they stayed under the bed together until Buttercup left again to sleep in her favourite spot on the cat tree, leaving Skittles alone. They are very playful and the owners have bought them lots of toys. The three kittens have dragged everything under the bed.

Skittles

Buttercup is the proclaimed boss of the three kittens. The owners got a new toy for them which was initially ignored until Buttercup started to play and did not let the other two get anywhere near it. Skittles was waiting for Buttercup to get tired to play. The owners have been able to watch them through the baby monitor. Kit Kat stole Buttercup's favourite spot on the cat tower while she was eating. She returned and promptly sat on top of him and forced him to go away.

Baby camera

1 month: The kittens are much bigger now and naughty too. They knocked down everything on the table and shelf. The owner does not seem to mind too much because she is happy that they are playful. Buttercup will now come to the owner when she walks into the room, the owners find it very sweet. Their resident cat is still a little bit scared so they are still separated at this stage.

1.5 months: All three of them are very playful and naughty. They do not mind sitting next to the owner but do not allow her to touch them. She hopes the three will cuddle with her and her husband soon. The kittens sniff their hands during feeding. Kit Kat has been showing his belly, she thinks it is a positive sign that they will come around. She and her husband play with them every day. Skittles loves any kind of toy whereas Buttercup prefers feather toys. The resident cat is slowly getting along with them, even kissing on the nose with them.

Home again

Maggie and Kit Kat went home today. Really home. To the people that they came from. Since they have been with us the parents have moved again to a place where they can have the cats and the daughter has returned from Canada and from Canberra where she was going to go to uni but Covid cancelled that plan. Hurrah for Covid!

Maggie and Kit Kat and Fi

Their owners only brought one cat carrier (borrowed from a neighbour). The cats inspected it, with their door open for a while and decided to stay in their condo. I offered to lend them another carrier which was good because while Maggie went into her's quite quietly, Kit Kat had to be inserted backwards. By this time they should be curled up on Fi's bed. It seems that Kit Kat learned to play with water in the house they had with a pool.

Just before this happy time, a women and her daughter surrendered Shiba (or Shifty but we have renamed him) -- a dearly beloved, 8 year old cat who is the collateral damage of a broken marriage. I suppose we should be happy that we don't get the small child.

Shiba

The vet came with his nurse. They peered at, poked and jabbed almost everybody who needed it. They confirmed that Willow's kittens do have ringworm. They have been moved to the condo block next to the horror wall art with quarantine signs. They will be treated with anti-fungals in their food (but not by baths as was the practice at AWL). 

W-kittens in lock down.

The vet checked and passed lots of the cats who were waiting for clearance. So now Indy is available. Tim tried to get a good photo.

Indy

As is her neighbour, Tam.

 Tam

 And Berry and Fizzy who are impossible to photograph because all they want is OUT or CUDDLES.

Fizzy

Berry

There is another new cat, now available, Jasmine. Her kittens were accepted by AWL but she wasn't. She is so beautiful that she could be called Bengalese.

Jasmine

Sootie was adopted on Wednesday afternoon. I took the phone call (Tim was next door feeding Angus at the time, I think) from a bloke who had been talking to Tim about either him or some other cat. He asked if he could come to visit that afternoon. I said Sure!

After we had finished the cleaning up, I asked Ros to give him extra loving to soften him up for a visitor. It worked!

Mr Popular today

His name is Peanut.
I moved him to a wheely cage so he can get used to being out and about more. And sterilized his condo because it was grubby. With any luck and he gets a home this afternoon, that is done.

There are two lots of folk coming this afternoon to look at him. They would have prefered a kitten but he is the smallest one we have available except for the shy Diana and Danielle (not suitable for small children). He is still a teenager.

Peanut plays with Rod

Peanut when he arrived

 But he is also Mr Problem. Remember when he arrived last year, in October, he was picked up from the streets of Brookvale, without a microchip. So his owner couldn't be contacted and the vet can't tell if he has been desexed. By the look of him, and his behaviour, he has been desexed: he hasn't developed the big, booffy head that late desexed males grow and he hasn't sprayed anywhere. But we don't have a desex certificate for him.

The Liverpool mother cat had 2 kittens (at least) on Monday night. She is doing a purring good job. This is not her first litter.

L mum and ? 2 kittens

Nala/Neill is looking more relaxed

Nala/Neill

And Dorito is feeling better.

Dorito

With Peanut in the wheely cage, Sootie modesty clothed, Taylor snoozing behind her partial modesty cloth, Penny doesn't have anybody to watch except for Kit Kat and Maggie who only move when there is food on offer.

Penny

PS. Had a phone call from the mother who adopted Angelo and Alex last week. She asked if it was normal for them to be hiding behind the washing machine from her children who are home from school. . . . . smart cats!

Cuddle time

The Friday morning crew finished up early and had left by the time I arrived at 12:30. Or perhaps it was the smell that drove them away. I talked Tim into turning on the fan. The worst smell might have come from the A kittens. I replaced the dirty white sheet that "protects" the dreaded painting.

Angelo and Annabelle 

(who deny that anything was going on)

I decided to spend time with the shy cats.

Bonnie loved her pats especially if I stroked her with her small mouse.

Bonnie

Milly wasn't keen to be touched but was soft eyed and blinky. And she was very interested in what was going on with the other cats she could see with her doors open. Kit Kat and Maggie demanded, and got, extra food. I always thought that they were both girls. But KitKat is a boy. He has the straight line of white up his nose. Her line wobbles.

KItKat

Penny was keen. She looked heartbroken when I stopped. Olivia did not want to be touched. Or even looked at, thank you.

While I was stroking Candace, who loves it, Elsa managed to knock her food bowl from her ledge. It must have given her a surprise as well as everybody else. She was probably leaning forward watching me pet Candace. I fed the escapee crunchies to her sisters who appreciated them (having eaten their own HOURS ago). And gave Samantha a box which she immediately got into. Tim suggested that she might like it better than sitting in her litter tray. She is not easy to see in the box.

Samantha

Taylor seems settled in a condo away from Buffy (who loves her venison soft or crunchie). But Taylor hadn't eaten any of her crunchies. She ate them when I put them under her nose, one by one. But not out of the bowl. . . . cats!

Taylor

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

Happy Catmas

Yesterday afternoon, Catsie and I went to Safe Haven because we felt guilty that we couldn't be there this morning (Christmas Day). It was a good thing that we did because Rod, the volunteer, wanted to get away and Tim had to go to the vet in Brookvale.

So we entertained the cats and tried to figure out the kittens.

Boarding is almost full of adults: some vocal, some cross, some shy, some needy but all lovely.

There is a new surrender, Wendell who is definitely pissed off. He is in a kitten sized condo so doesn't have much room to vent his spleen.

Wendell

I still don't know who is Kit Kat and who is Maggie. They are 9 years old and very friendly.

 Angelo and Annabelle

These two are Angelo and Annabelle (according to the condo signs). Easy to tell from the rear.

Arnie is the spotted  silver and Alex is the spotted brown. Both are asleep after much fun and games. Not so easy to tell.

Arnie and Alex

 There are now four Melody kittens (again). The fluffy one has reappeared with a shaved rear end. We decided that he should be called Mikado. Monty has more ticking that Mozart and so is greyer. It is easy to pick the fluffy Mikado.

Melody's kittens

Shivers is back with us for boarding. But he is in with "our" cats. His coat is looking splendid.

Shivers

At home for Christmas Day the family had a lovely time around the table while the dogs played in and out of the house and the cat, Cody, was shut in the quietest, downstairs room available.

Jessie of the green smile is just a bit ball obscessed