Adoption fervour

 By Tuesday all the cats on the website had been adopted including Marigold and Miko. So Blacky, Ganda, Archie and Maranda were posted on Tuesday night. This evening only Maranda is left.

It was a busy afternoon. I didn't get lunch until 4pm. Archie went to a young couple who just loved him on sight. She has a lion tattoo on her left forearm so I think he will be forgiven any sins. She just wants to cuddle him and he was perfectly happy with that and the bloke looked as though he could afford any vet bills if the heart murmur gets to be a problem. 

Then a single woman who has just moved into a larger, cat friendly appartment arrived to choose between Ganda and Blacky. She chose Blacky because. . . 1) Blacky the smooch and 2) she wanted to adopt a cat who would be more likely to be overlooked by others. I think they will be very happy together.

Then an older couple arrived looking for an older cat to settle into retirement with. They had hoped for Archie but their meeting ran later than they expected. But they were happy with Ganda who really does have the most rumbly purr. He will have the rec room all to himself and, eventually when he has settled, will have the choice of a sunny deck or fenced back yard. 

 And the woman who adopted Shadow 2 yesterday picked him up. She was so excited I carried him down to her car in his cat carrier. I was afraid she would drop it she quivered so with joy.

Bronwen discovered a bare patch on both sides of Tori's rump. It doesn't look like ringworm.

Tori with bare patch between the orange spots

Petal is still wearing a collar. It is difficult for her to eat with it on because her neck is not long enough to reach the bowl.

Petal

 

Thelma and Louise will go to be desexed tomorrow. They have got much more relaxed with people and lean into your hand for pats now.

Thelma and Louise

Cathy's family is being caught one by one. One arrived this afternoon. The organiser, Michelle couldn't tell if it was a female (the mother) or a male (the brother) from the photo sent to her. I couldn't tell either because the cat was more interested in trying to get away from me than to make friends. But from the size, I imagine that it is the mother. In which case we might have a pregnant cat on the premises because the brother has been desexed. Cathy, by the way, is due to have another ultrasound to determine if she is pregnant.

Will Silky stick?

 Soxy is back. His new owner is frightened of him. He was very pleased to see me this afternoon. I think he, like Mini, is really happy to be back home.

Soxy

 

Wilson went to the vet this afternoon for his vet check. So I took Petal into the play place to see how she would cope. She was fine while I sat on the floor with her while she explored. Then I got my lunch and took off my mask and she hid under the tall scratchy pole. After lunch, Robyn arrived as did some customers. Katie was going through the paperwork with another woman who adopted Daisy. So I popped the masked Robyn in with Petal. They had a lovely time. Lots of cuddles and happy to be carried back to her condo. Do masks make us more appealing to cats?

Petal

The customers were a mum and her two kids (under 10). They have been enjoying looking after a pair of older cats that a friend left with them when she went overseas. Covid struck, the friend was stuck overseas, the kids really got used to having cats to play with. Then the friend came back and claimed her cats back. They thought initially that they'd like older cats like the ones they looked after. So I introduced them to Marigold and Mini who both behaved beautifully and let little kids pat them (Who'd a thunk it!) After lots of consultation with mum, photos taken, extra pats with Patches (who didn't behave very well and George hid) they chose Tip (because that will make more boys in the family than girls). 

Tip

Tim quickly vaccinated him and they took him home. Lucky Tip will have a great life. And perhaps Socks will accept Mo as a hammock mate now.

Alice brought in her kittens (in floods of tears). They hid in the box until I coaxed them out with a magic ping pong ball. There are two black kittens, Barrington and Hiccup. Barrington is bigger. The tuxedo is Momo and the tabby is Gia.

Momo

Gia and Barrington or Hiccup

Sandy sideswiped

It was her car, not her, sometime during the morning when she was slaving away doing angelic deeds. Unfair! Riley was being adopted as I arrived. She is to live with a primary school aged boy and a big brother cat. They know that she doesn't like to be picked up but are prepared to play with her until she gets used to the idea. Coco and Mason were in the play place overnight. Jasmyn was sitting with them when I arrived so I grabbed the nail clippers and she held squiriming cats while I clipped off gigantic claws. Coco's in particular looked dangerous because they were large and pearly against her brown fur. Front and back paws were done so they shouldn't get caught up in their bedding and come to fistycuffs any more. After fogging the playplace, Megsy had a go. He loved it (and tolerated having his front claws trimmed: he kept getting his feet caught while exploring all over). Late in the afternoon a woman dropped by with a donation of food for cats and dogs. I popped her into the play place with Megsy and she would have taken him home because he was so loving. But her parents would "kill" her. Everybody reacted well to chicken. Some cats are getting easy to stroke, eg Silky. But others are resistant eg Marigold. Gingey just wanted the cuddles. Santa Maria too. I can see why her kittens like their box. She happily stays in her condo box all the time. Patches (or is it Snowy) was more interested in hugs than chicken and climbed all over me while I tried to engage Ginger and Snowy (or is it Patches) in the box.

I am tying to update the photos on file so that every cat has a picture. My computer refused to do it for a while but it seems to be working now. So I took photos of Romeo and Juliette. Still one in front and one behind the cat carrier.

And I tried to take a good photo of Dolly but it is impossible. She just wants to crawl into your arms and snuggle. Velcro would have been a more descriptive name for her.

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.

Quarantine rearranged

The condos from in front of the desk have been moved into the "front office" to be quarantine accomodation. The stand alones/wheely cages have been moved to their space. I understand that we will get more shelving for the For Sale carriers.

Marigold, Gracie and Bridie have been moved with their condos into quarantine even though they are not in quarantine. . . . confused? I cleaned the condos that had been occupied by Candy and Collette, Daphne (who was adopted by the person who came to met Sprinkles but fell for her instead) and Apricot. Next time I will bring my head torch with me to see the grubby bits clearly. It was a good thing that I cleaned them because Buttons, the smallest of Belle's kittens failed her desexing today. She has flu. Because they have all been in the same condo (above Ashleigh, out back) Terry and I decided that they should all go into quarantine to see who sneezes or not. Honey's kittens are getting more adventurous. One of them kept going downstairs, finding him/herself all alone and screamed. (I bet he is a boy).

Honey, being the perfect mum that she is, would go down to calm him/her.

leaving the sibling in the carry cage upstairs.

Eventually I got sick of the scraming and moved the carry cage and sibling downstairs and Honey followed. She can jump up to her litter tray from some peace and quiet. Another scream came from Coco and Mason's Palace. Mason said "It wasn't me. It was him" But the tuft of brown hair dangling from the side of his mouth tells another story.

Eating is hard

Earlier in the week Tim arrived to find Magnus' condo covered in blood. There were smears, flicks and pools of blood. It seems that he had removed the bandage from the end of his tail which had had some kind of surgery and it bleed. He now has an large, plastic, Elizabethan collar on to stop him chewing off the bandage on the tip of his tail. The collar makes it hard for him to eat. So I held his dish at an accessable angle for him. It is a great confidence building opportunity. It seems that his right eye may need further investigation. It may have a tumour in it in which case the eye will be removed. He sees (his dinner) very well with his left eye.

Next door to Magnus is Luna who is back again. I don't know why. She is just as sweet and friendly as she was when she left. And just as hungry.

Between Luna and Ebony is Caspar who came from a colony. Poor girl had all her teeth except for two canines removed last Thursday. She is on soft food only until her gums harden up which will take 3 weeks or so. She ate all the wet food that I offered her. (Which is more than Tara did. She seems to be on a hunger strike at the moment. Perhaps she is a Moslem cat. It is Ramadan at the moment which means that you should fast during daylight hours).

I moved Coco and Mason into the Palace condo. They had a lovely time exploring their new digs.

There is only one other boarder left now. Milly was picked up early because her people went to Far North Queensland and the weather was shocking. They came back three days early and picked her up this afternoon. They paid the full boarding fee and asked how they could give us a donation as well. What nice people! Katey noticed that Marigold's sleeping condo needed cleaning and fresh bedding but Marigold would not move out despite offers of treats. She didn't move until dinner time. I quickly shut her bedroom door and cleaned the bloody snot off the walls, replaced the bedding and refreshed the air. Marigold was most suspicious of my efforts.

But it was nice to see Olsen out of her cat carrier bolt hole this afternoon (after everybody had left). She is a lovely, large, medium haired, grey tortie. So should be called Olsanne!

Belle's kittens have come back. There are only three left. They seem healthy except for Button who still has a touch of flu.

Goodbye Sesame

I was worried when I realized that Sesame was not in her condo and it had the "please clean" sign. She wasn't in the Available for Adoption file, on the website as having been adopted. I worried that she had taken a turn for the very worst. But Irenne rang in the afternoon to check on the flu cases and told me that Dr Kim came in on Sunday to teach her how to give vaccinations and spotted Sesame. When Sesame first arrived it was via Dr Kim for a checkup. Dr Kim fancied her then. She fancied her even more on Sunday. So on Monday, she came to adopt her. She will have expert, constant veterinary care and we hope she does not get as fat as Angus.

Below Christopher are four more Stephanie kittens. These are not so over-the-top friendly as the previous bunch. In the photo they are, starting from 1 o'clock, clockwise: Hank, Jean, Logan and Anna Marie.

Charles has been returned "because he was too playful".

And Nori was returned because he sneezed.

Another woman came in with a donation of weird shaped litter boxes. She adopted Paco and Ethan in the early days. She, and the family, love them. They have made being house-bound very enjoyable (although she suspects that the cats prefered to have the house to themselves). She has a teenaged son who drops his dirty clothes on the floor. One of the cats adds his smell to the pile. What to do? [I told her to call Tim]. The annex has been rearranged and has lines on the floor that the germs are not allowed to cross.

Belle was looking better today. She has her appetite back.

Marigold's flu seems a bit better but Lily is miserable (but she still managed to purr at the vollies).

Joyful photos

I was at Safe Haven all day but only found time to photograph Faith and Bud. I made time to give them some serious cuddles because my previous neighbours adopted Sam and Sally from us at Peggy Brown's. Sally died last week. Sam died last year. I needed to cuddle some mature cats in memory of S & S.

Luckily, Joy took some photos. Our most recent arrivals are Cabbie from Cabramatta and his big sibs Uber and Taxi.

Some people have said that my choice of names is . . . lame. . . unalphabetical. . . un-catterly. But, for me, any names are better than no names. For example, when I sent off Rita and her kittens to be desexed today, I had no idea how many of the kittens were girls/boys. So I didn't know how many collars to attach to their carry cages. They all came back bare necked because the vet didn't/wouldn't dress them. I had to check the tummies. Rita has one girl (all black) and two boys. None of whom have names! (Nor photos because Joy had left by the time they returned from the vet). But Joy took a lovely photo of Miss Silky, who is just like her mum.

And of Matty and Maddie who are much happier away from Marigold. She, in turn, is much happier that her kittens have left the building (as far as she is concerned.)

The Soft Drink kids are getting bigger and more strident about meal times. This afternoon one discovered the joy of burrowing into the Kitten Kibble container. It didn't last long, but s/he will remember it.

No adoptions today but some visitors who may return.

Puddle of Purs

The traffic was dreadful this morning. It took twice as long as it should for me to get to Chatswood. Luckily Terry was caught up in it too so the kittens that he was to take to be desexed were ready by the time he arrived. They were the second pair of boys that Steph has been fostering. The first pair were desexed yesterday and I can only assume that the vet first demonstrated how to shave the bum of a kitten on one of them and let the student do the second. The poor ginger has a shocker of a shave job! He is bare to the hips. But the second pair of boys came back early (the vet gave them lunch) and while I finally got around to sorting out the laundry shelves, there was a puddle of purs coming from their condo. Soooo happy to be back together again.

Further down the Boarding block, Marigold and her kittens are not quite so chilled.

We have a new Japanese family who tend to stack one upon the other.

Wasabi, the mother, is on the right with the large, wary eyes. Her kittens are quite happy to be handled. Wasabi and Inari were desexed yesterday so I had to separate them from the boys to have pain meds. The boys were quite happy to be picked up to check their bald balls. And I put a collar on Inari to make it easier tomorrow. Didn't like my chances of getting a collar on Wasabi. We have a new Peanut-level grubby cat called Sesame. She has problems with her teeth and probably a wounded foot that leeks blood and perhaps a gut full of worms. But she is super friendly. If you try to take a photo of her, she immediately lies down for more cuddles.

Last thing this evening I had a Celeste sighting. Small steps.