Adoption Tails: Pippy and Cleo, Pippy, Kitty, Cosmo

Pippy and Cleo

 1 day: Pippy and Cleo are doing really well. They already jumped on the bed last night and slept with the owners. They have been eating and drinking as well as using the litter tray. The two also want to come out of the designated room for them already.

Pippy (left) and Cleo

1 week: Pippy and Cleo are doing very well. They started to explore the rest of their home and just got their vaccination.

1 month: They are fine. They're big cats now.

Olivia

1 day: Olivia is doing fine. She was very shy yesterday but has been happy to interact playfully with everybody today. She is eating well and using the litter tray. Her name will be changed (the granddaughters are having fun suggesting names) and they are currently trying out Sammy Whiskers!

1 week: Earlier this morning, Sammy was let out of the study where she has been confined for the past week. She was a bit spooked at first by some unfamiliar noises but just scampers back to the study when that happens. She is very friendly - jumps onto the owner's lap then walks across the keyboard while she is trying to type and if she lies down on the bed, Sammy tiptoes up to her chest and snuggles down for a sleep.

Olivia, 1 week

1 month: She is very much at home now. She has explored every room in the house, sleeps on her owner’s bed, and is starting to explore the garden.

Kitty

1 day: The family adores Kitty so much. She is naturally shy and first thing upon arrival in her new home out of the cage, she found a hidden place under a book cupboard and did not come out for 2 days. Their daughter had to push food and water containers under the cupboard for her. While Kitty is still afraid of people, she also occupies the entire study room. The owner's daughter often sits on the floor reading and after a long while, Kitty will sneak out from her spot to explore which made the daughter very happy. Kitty came out and did a poo in the litterbox yesterday and tonight when nobody was in the study. The family would love to share photos once they get a chance to see her more.

1 week: She is much more interactive than previously. She comes out to wander around the room. She went out to the lounge and ran back to her safe room after being seen. She sometimes sleeps on a chair. "She is so adorable".

Kitty, 1 week

Cosmo

1 day: The owner discussed Cosmo's name with her daughter and he is now Snowy. Snowy is settling well in his safe room, eating and drinking well. This morning, he did a wee and poo in the litter tray. Snowy is very playful and energetic in his new home. They bought him some toys to play with. He has been very gentle with their daughter who loves him so much. Snowy loves patting and purrs every time they pat him.

1 week: Snowy is settling in extremely well. He is adventurous and seems ready to explore. The owner started to let him out to the living room just yesterday and he already walks around comfortably. He likes to jump and rest on the dining chairs. Snowy is happy to have his new family around him all the time. They currently live in a 2 bedroom apartment so it has been very easy to spot where Snowy is.

Snowy, 1 week

1 month: He has settled extremely well in their home and loves to be around them. He had his 3rd vaccination last week and now weighs 2.3 kg. He likes dashing in and out of the living room and bedroom. He jumps on his owner's bed at dawn every day asking for breakfast. During the day, he likes lying on top of the piano or on his owner's bed for naps. "It is really a joy to adopt Snowy"

Snowy, 1 month

Humungous cat trees

 We were given (perhaps) three boxes containing "cat trees". The boxes are reasonably sized: about knee high, thigh long, forearm wide. But the constructed cat tree is tall. Thank goodness for Arch who   in put together his own cat's tree and knows how to read instructions even thought those instructions were very meager. Thank you Arch. 

Not completely erected cat tree

We decided to charge $175 for the erected one and $150 for the two still in their boxes.

 Soon after we started to put it together a customer arrived. A very nice young woman who hasn't had a cat before but her brother got one from us (renamed Remi) and she wanted her own, friendly, cuddly cat. Macy went onto the adopted list today. She was perfect for this woman. They will be very happy together.

And Geoff, who always forgets to clock on has devised the following icon for logging into Shelter Buddy. It is at the upper left corner of the main cat room computer screen.

As soon as I walked in this afternoon I was told that we had a new, adorable kitten in Incoming. Eventually I got around to her:

Not that much cuter than her next door neighbours in the stand alone: 

Cosmo, Duke, Freya, Olivia

Katie will know who is who. They lived with her for a while.

No boarders

 There weren't any this morning unless you count Jacqui's three cats in the play place. She had a problem with her roof which meant that she and the dog had to move to a B&B and the cats came to us. The roof is now fixed but the ceilings have to be dealt with. So we don't know how long her three will be with us. They were all hiding today.

And then Buffy came in to occupy the Palace. She stayed in her carry case all day. She will only be here until Friday afternoon. But the supermodels got kicked back to a double condo. 

Mia and Eric were adopted over the weekend. Mary has moved into Mia's small stand alone and has taken on her mantle of being the "cuddle cat". She just loves a good patting. 

Mary

Macy is not much better! We let her out for a wander and she enjoyed herself on the stratchy pole that Robyn bought in because she doesn't have a suitable place for it.

Macy

Earlier in the day, Opie shot out of his stand alone when I went to put his breakfast into it. He ran straight for the front door but detoured into the junk room. . . . thank goodness. I corralled him out of there after hastily shutting all the doors I could find. He decided not to hide under the merch shelves but popped into one of the cocoons in front. I covered the entry hole with a handy rug and carried him back to his stand alone. 

Which made Sandy and I think about the difficulty of the space below the merch shelves. First we thought that we could block it up with upturned litter trays. I tried it but it seemed to create more places to hide than less. Sandy came up with the brilliant idea of cutting cardboard to fit into the slots in the shelves at the top side and have an L-angle on the floor. We found suitable boxes to cut up (there is never a lack of cardboard boxes on Wednesdays!) and it looks like it works. When they get wet, we can easily replace the cardboard. We look forward to feedback.

There is a litter of kittens where Mia's used to be in Incoming. Don't know where they came from (their names are Earl, Cosmo, Freya and Olivia!) but I gave them a hammock to play in.

Mia's three have been moved to Eric's stand alone. There were only 2 hammocks so I added another so that they each have one which made them all happy.
 

Adoption Tails: Olivia . . . a tail from the past

 Olivia (adopted 19 April, 2020)

[Her adopters want to share an update on Olivia.]

Olivia at Safe Haven

We (my partner and I) adopted Olivia over 2 years ago just at the beginning of Covid in April 2020. We thought that since we would be home a lot, it would be the perfect time to finally adopt a cat. Something we had talked about for a long time.

Olivia was extremely shy and I admit, I had doubts as to whether we were the right people and the right environment for her. But I worried she would never be adopted out or would be at the cattery for many more months. I believe she had been there 9 months already? [Ed: since November 2019] I didn't want to give up on her.

She was very scared but such a sweet and gentle nature. She has not once has she scratched, hissed or bitten.

So it took some time and a lot of coaxing with food to build her confidence. She tends to take her time and then suddenly, take a huge leap forward.

She now knows her home, her safe hiding spots and spends her nights exploring the house. She has become very vocal and if we get home late, she let's us know, she is highly unimpressed.

She has learned how to play and climb and explore. Whilst still a shy cat and at times lacking in confidence, we have developed a deep bond. She is so affectionate and loves cuddles A LOT. It is a standard and non negotiable requirement to snuggle and cuddle each morning and night (minimum), apparently. 

We are so grateful to have her in our lives and can't wait to see her grow in confidence more and more over the years.

I know it was so long ago that we adopted her  but I hoped it would be nice to be reminded how much of a difference everyone at Safe makes. I have attached some pictures. The pictures show a big change in her, but nothing compared to in person of course.

How long will she last?

Remember the litter of kittens in the far condo out back one of whom is a tortie. She was fostered to keep her out of harm's way. Well she is back. Her name is Alice. She is currently the smallest available cat at SH. How long will she last?

Alice

I took Taylor to Sandy's friends in Mona Vale. They have given up on the foster to adopt idea and have just adopted her. They will change her name to Tinkerbelle. I think they will find that she is a Belle rather than a Tinker. But before she was Taylor she was Tutu so she won't mind the name as long as she gets respect.

She was good in the car. She objected initially but settled down when I turned on RN to women's voices.

They have promised frequent updates and photos.

Taylor

A work at home mum and her teenaged (18-ish) son arrived. They had looked at the website and decided they wanted to meet Elsa and Olivia. Tim smooched up to Elsa and told them how to approach her. She did splendidly and won the mother's heart. She didn't take to the lad but I think it was because he looks a bit like Tim but his hair was combed straight up. Confusing for a cat.

Olivia didn't want to have anything to do with anybody this afternoon.

They went off to buy a suitable carry cage and stratchy, etc, etc. So, hopefully Elsa should be settling into the mother's home office by now.

Elsa

Dorito, Apricot and Ginger were off being desexed. I am amazed that Ginger is over 1 Kg. But he is 12 weeks old so should cope with the op. Somebody has bagsed him so I won't be able to say goodbye. Tim is going to miss him but won't miss schlepping his carry cage back and forth.

Ginger

Co habiting

I decided to install the new hammocks before the weekend rush. Perhaps some folk will decide that if they must be quarantined at home for a fortnight they may as well get a kitten to keep them company.

Alex and Angelo

Annabelle looks very fetching in her Elizabethan collar.

But Tim decided that it had been long enough since she was desexed and she could go back in the stand alone cage with her brothers. Her brothers (especially Alex) were not convinced. They had one hammock each. And who was this cat with a funny neck.

When I installed a third, triangular hammock they settled down.

Annabelle, Angelo, Alex

Mozart loved his. It might have spun his head some.

Mozart

And the F's had a ball.

F kittens

I enticed Taylor down to nose level with sweet talk and pats. She is such a pretty cat and loved to be patted.

Taylor

I moved to Elsa who had upended her food bowl in her bed. So I had some food rewards for pats. She obliged. Quite liked it in fact. When I took my hand away, she reached out for it with her paw.

Elsa

Then, moving to the next grey cat, I kneeled before Olivia. She hissed at me. After 5 minutes all I got was a couple of blinks but no softening. Next time, perhaps.

I peeked into Candace's condo but she wasn't there. She was downstairs snoozing with Bonnie. Their communication door has been left open for the past few days. Bonnie is due to be desexed on Tuesday. As soon as she has recovered, Tim hopes that she and Candace will go together to a woman who is keen to have them.

Bonnie and Candace

 At lunch time Ginger appeared to bury his face in his food. Look at that round belly!

Ginger

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

New instructions and a new vollie

Sue indoctrinated us and Robin (new vollie willing to do Joy's other Wednesday plus some other day/s. . . brilliant) on the new protocol. I mentioned that we should use the red buckets for the dirty scoops. That will be added to the protocol as it got a big tick. Let us hope that no vollies are colour blind. Because of that and that Robin is new, it took rather longer than it should have. Nevertheless, the garbo's hadn't come by when we left at 2pm so we dumped our trash bags locally which is a big win for the atmosphere in the car especially on a hot day like today.

Sue asked me to take photos of the following cats because they are all now available and can be posted on various platforms. If you have a better photo, please send it to Sue.

Wendell

Penny

Olivia

Peanut

Elsa

Melody

Evie

Blossom

Samantha

Stellar weekend

Eight cats were adopted this weekend. Plus the dog, Ella.

Ming went to a family who already has a cat. So he will be happy rumbling with his new buddy. (Shivers has been upgraded to his condo. Tim tried to add Peanuts but they didn't like sharing digs).

A family came for a pair of kittens but took Tortie and Kitty instead. . . sensible people.

But, all three of Jewel's son's were adopted. So little Jilly is left by herself. . . . not for long: she is so cute.

Next door to her are four new kittens not yet ready to desex. They are all tabbies. Three are spotted and the fourth is a mackerel tabby with ginger fur. She must be a tortie and will be a dramatically gorgeous adult. Perhaps we should auction her to the highest bidder! This is a lousy photo but kittens will not stand still to be photographed, even if they look fabulous. Perhaps Joy will get an appropriate shot.

On the other side of Jilly is Bonnie who hasn't had her kittens yet! But she has had an ultrasound to prove that she is pregnant. Evidently, a queen can be pregnant from between 7.5 and 10 weeks. She is somewhere in there and holding on.

 Bonnie

Her sister, Candace hardly looks bigger than her kittens who are getting bold and playful.

Candace

Tilly was also chosen! And her condo has an new shy occupant, Olivia.

 Olivia

We have a new 6 year old, JImmy in Kimmy's condo. 

 Jimmy

And Jack, a disgruntled ragdoll who will accept pats, in Torties' condo. Where do they all come from?

 Jack