One less

 I didn't take any photos except for Nahla today. Because she was looking so cute.

Nahla

 Thank goodness for Joy's photos.

Tilly must be sick of all the fuss at every meal time made by Biscuit and Milly. They fight over food.

Tilly

Biscuit and Milly

 Next door to B & M are Maple and Benny. . . another B & M!

Maple and Benny (who is who?)

 They are very civilized compared with their neighbours. And friendly.

Irene was trying to guage whether or not Renny and Blossom are bonded. I say no. Others say yes. We need individual kittens made available for adoption for the coming school holidays.

Renny and Blossom

Irene may take one of them home to destress.

Peaches is the one who needs to be tamed. She has had it with us.

Peaches

 This afternoon I fed in Incoming and discovered that one of Autumn's kittens was dead because Autumn was out of her bed box and happily stayed on the shelf. When I look closely at the photo I took on Wednesday there are only 5 kittens suckling. The sixth was probably dead then. She (a calico) probably died last week. She was very small and still had some umbilical cord attached. The trouble with overprotective mums is that we can't check out their kittens closely. 

Aslan report:

He likes the warmer weather.

Aslan

 

Skinny teeth

 I arrived at Safe this morning before the Willoughby truck. So I thought that I would just check in the basement to see if both bins were on the pavement on my way upstairs. One wasn't. It was empty. Just on the off chance, I took it upstairs with me and found 9 bags of trash on the balcony. So I put them in the bin and took it down to the sidewalk. The Willoughby truck had just collected our lot and the man was organising the bins next door. He, very kindly, emptied my bin before moving on. 

So when it came to filling the Cousins bins, one was almost full (28.9Kg) and the other had only 10.4Kg in it.  . . . . until we got the diagnosis of the planet kittens in the play place. One died over the weekend so they all went to the vet. The diagnosis is serious and two more have died since. So the play place had a thorough bleach treatment. And I filled the second Cousins bin with large, potentially un-disinfectable things from there. We hope we have caught the highly infectious bug before it spreads further. 

Choc and Chip heard the fuss and the bolder of the two, Chip has taken to sitting on top of his shy brother to keep him safe. Sorry for the fuzzy photo. But, of course, kittens will move when you point a camera at them.

Chip and half a Choc

Where Mieka and Loki were are Maple and Benny . . . another bonded pair. Maple is the front "man" and Benny, with the brown nose is shyer. But they are very sweet.

Maple (left) and Benny (behind)

On high on Better Row is another gorgeous ginger boy called Bobby. I don't think I have seen a pattern like his.

Bobby

And we have a ginger Brennan:

Brennan

And Biscuit and Milly:

Biscuit and Milly

Gingers galore.

And the bad ginger news is the Griffin was returned today having been adopted on Monday! He got on with the resident cat and with the young(-ish) man who adopted him. But the mother thought that there wasn't enough room for a second cat!

He is getting to be Griffin the travelling cat.

 

 

 

Rice Noodles!

 Aslan: the fierce player with a feather on a stick in the morning.

When I came home from Safe this evening, Aslan greeted me at the top of the stairs with his "I am STARVED" look. So I fed him. Then went to wash SAFE from me after putting some rice noodles into hot water to soften. When I was clean, he was eating the rice noodles . . . on the kitchen bench!

I am now soaking another batch in the oven. And I put the peeled onion and garlic in there too  . . . . just in case.

He is getting double rations but is still hungry all the time.

It was surprisingly quiet at Safe this afternoon. We waited for Phoenix and Sydney's people to come to sign the contract now that Tim fixed the files. They came at 3:45pm. It was a quick finish up of an adoption. The 9 year old son was thrilled. P & S. . not so much.

Good thing Joy took lots of photos on Wednesday.

The "Pregnant Mum" still only has one kitten. Tim tried to listen for other heart beats but only heard her purrs.

Kitty only comes down for food. . . and Joy's treats.

Kitty

Our new full time vollie (who is getting paid to volunteer by somebody else) is daunted by Milly and Biscuit at feeding time. I showed her how I do it. . .  just add food and let them sort it out.

Milly and Biscuit (below)

The planet kittens have moved to the play place. Not happy. Just like when they moved into Incoming. But they came around pretty quickly. Now they are all desexed.

Roxy's four are still appealing. The ginger seems smaller and frailer than everybody else. Somebody make up some names please.

Bree needs a scratchy pole

 For such a small cat she is remarkably quick. So am I. But she is quicker at catching my thumb with her claw as I hand in her bowl of food, six times a day. She usually only gets me once. Today when she got me, I got her claw. . . stuck in my thumb.

But the good news is that Turbo and Hiccup were adopted today. A nice couple came in looking for a replacement of their dearly beloved female cat. They live in Darling Harbour, have two balconies and work most of the time from home. So, two cats would be better than one. But he loved Teddy who was in smooch mood. And they both loved Mr  Bigglesworth for his relaxed style. And Hank, of cource, because he is a luv bug. 

So I sent them next door to have a coffee and a chat at the cafe there. And they came back having decided to take T & H. They got their carrier as well. And will have a happy life with one cat for both of them.

Another lady came in looking for a kitten to replace her old cat. She has met everybody and will return. 

The woman who adopted Milly brought her in because she has the dreaded ringworm. Just one spot on her ear. She is settling in very well at home. She and the pug get on well. She was reluctant to leave Milly with us for 6 weeks of ringworm treatment. So we told her all about the cream that you can put on the lesion daily and she decided to take Milly home and treat her there. We may get more returned kittens.

We did get two traumatized kittens from a hoarder via Willoughby Vets. (I named them Will and Lobey). They each have very strange, large round red lesions on each side of the back of their necks. They seem terrified of people. . . possibly with good reason. 

Because of the ringworm in the enclosures and coccidia in Isolation, a lot of scrubbing and redecorating took place. Many thanks to Joan for scrubbing the wall behind the stand alone in Isolation. It was decorated with poo that probably was put there by Peach's kittens when they had the coccidia. A lession for  us all . . . don't forget to sterilize the wall!

Cookie (adopted), Chuck and Chip (still with us)

Some random Joy photos because I didn't have time to take any today.

Codie who needs somebody to love her

Cheddar1

Ash who has been adopted

Lilly + lot have left

 A woman came in this morning. She had come in on Monday to adopt Lilly but she had already been adopted. She came back today to adopt Tinsel. But he doesn't want to be a cuddle cat. And as soon as Lilly's last kitten Milly was put into the adopters arms is was mutual LOVE. The woman's pug will have its nose out of joint (! if a pug's nose has a joint!) but only until Milly wins him over. . . .. three days, max.

We have some new cats on Boarders Row.

There is an unfortunate fellow, Brandon who has had both of his eyes removed. He seems to find the litter box, definitely finds his food bowl (especially if it is put up on an upturned bowl to make it easier from him to get his cone around) and his water. He enjoyed being brushed for a little while.

Brandon

 His neighbours are the four Scaredy kittens. They are getting settled and I got to pat each one this afternoon with no hisses. Names L to R:

Flynn, Greta, Ebony, Frankie

Greta is the friendliest. Should they be the Geff litter?

And a new Teddy arrived this morning at 9:45. He is a bit shell shocked at being surrendered but will be a love bug soon. He has the celestial single in Boarding.

Teddy

His neighbours are still not happy.

Minty

Rascal

But around the other side on Better Row, Willow seems to be settling back into her old digs.

Willow

Bon Candy

Candace and Bonnie were adopted today. They have gone to a woman who has had cats before, works from home and has her two peri pre-teen kids every other week. The cats will have a quiet life for one week and lots of fun the next week. Terry was the hero that put them into the carry cage. He dripped blood after Candace.

Then we had a quiet time tidied up. Sorry Tim, you might not recognise the place.

Tessa's kittens are Tommy: black, Toulouse, dark tabby, Tobias: White face, Tinkerbelle: light tabby.

Jaffa's kittens are Jenny: grey tortie, Josie: tortie and Jayda: grey (the one who almost got away on Wednesday)

Stephanie and her partner came by with a 20 year old cat, Casper who has been surrendered. He is in the guest quarters recuperating from his trip in from Cronulla way with an elderly Maltese who is off to be fostered, somewhere close by. He seems a sweet dog but Luca, Kit Kat and Maggie were not at all convinced.

After bandaging, Terry consulted his better half and decided to foster Milly. He donned the gauntlets. She was very vocal about being moved -- first time I have heard a word from her. She will have her own room with a view, three other cats to sniff at under the door and devoted people to love her.

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.

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

First day

This morning I did my first volunteer stint at Safe Haven in Chatswood.
Tim was glad to have somebody else to do the work so that he could catch up on the paperwork, I think. He was finishing up feeding when I arrived at 10am.
It wasn't too onerous for one person as there are not too many cats, the space is small and protocols minimal.

There are only two boarders. I didn't get photos. One is still cross at being abandoned.

Shivers has the flu so I did him last. He had it when he arrived covered in something gunky which has mostly been hacked off.

Shivers

Other cats have strange names too:


Zero, a calico.

Zero

Dotty, a tortie without spots. Maybe it is her personality

Dotty

Foxy, is anything but at 15 years old

Foxy

Blink, who stares.

Blink

Hidden behind privacy towels are Milly, Tilly, Elsa, Diva and Little Gins who are the first family of a very young mum who has five (?) newborns.  Then, across the way, Samantha is also shrouded.