Threes

 We had three visitors today.

1. Was a long time supporter. She adopted her second cat, Rigby (perhaps) from AWL Ingleside to be company for her childhood cat Annastasia. Annie loathed him on sight and has ever since. Nevertheless, she is an enthusiastic cat lover. She brought in a handsome cat igloo that Annie had only deigned to sleep in once and a cat tunnel that goes around corners. She often picks up and delivers our cats to vet appointments. So I showed her around. If Dexter disappears one day, she will be first suspect. The second may be me (us redheads need to stick together).

Dexter

Then the man who adopted Billie to go with his problem boy cat came in to give us his surplus stuff, including litter, 3 beds, a water fountain (without the filters which he will bring in later with the surplus toys). All this stuff he bought from us in the hope of enticing Billie to settle in well. She settled in exceedingly well. The boy cat used to be on anxiety meds before she came, now he is not and is perfectly happy with her. 

The third visitor came at 3:40 to adopt Oreo. It was the fastest adoption I have ever done. She was determined to have him and seems to be the perfect mum for him.

And today Kingsley came out of his bed condo at breakfast to reveal that he has only three legs! I didn't know. So now we have three three legged cats: Petey, Kingsley and Charlie. Will the next one be called Jake?

Kingsley

As soon as Oreo left, I cleaned his wheely cage and moved Fawny into it. His collar is off. Time to be on the website.

Fawny

I also moved Rula into Callie's condo. She seemed very interested in her new across the way neighbours.

We have a new cat, Mr MaGoo who has a cattitude sign but I think it might have just been initial grumpiness.

Mr MaGoo

But Jackie definitely has the shits again even though she has been moved out of Boarding.

Jackie

Fifty barrier broken

I counted noses this morning. There are only 49 cats in residence! As I was counting, I saw that Buddy and Petey's door was open. They were sitting primly in their condo, side by side, as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. A little while later I went back to their corner and Silky's door was open! She looked at me as though to say "I just made it easier for you to feed me." Her sliding bolt could be a cm longer. But since Friday's clearance "sale" the following cats have been adopted: Bridie, Sabrina, Bobby, Candy and Apricot. James, who hasn't been in since last Wednesday was shocked. So I gave him this blog addy so that he can keep up, kind of. Welcome James. And Daisy, the pregnant cat has disappeared from Incoming. In her place is the marvellous Sir Dudley.

And the miniscule Billy who only does meals in bed.

Megsy is still with us but wants to break out of condo confinement. He lead Robyn a merry dance when she tried to clean his condo.

Another of Santa Maria's kittens ventured out of the box this afternoon. She is pretty. The two who are out most of the time (five kittens do not fit into one Purina box) are very friendly. I got kisses on my forehead.

Another still in hiding one is named Ginger: no prizes for guessing what colour he is. And out back, Honey, she of the two yummy kittens in Boarding last month or so, is back. She has had her flank shaved. There is a little cut with no stitch. I can only guess that it was a tubal ligation via keyhole surgery. But why shave such a swath of fur? She is not in the best of moods and bit Joy who was just trying to be friendly.

Tom and Jerry and co are in the play place. They were having a lovely time when I arrived good and early but then slept the rest of the day until I enticed them with milk. A trainee spent some time with them and only the fluffy boy would play nicely with him. The rest rested:

Chicken lick'n kittens

I defrosted the chicken that I had not finished some weeks ago in the microwave. It has a "frozen dinner" option which I tried. Mistake. I checked it after 2 minutes and the middle was frozen and the edges were boiling. So everybody who had a nose knew there was chicken and had to wait. Kendra in the Boarding area is the furthest away from the kitchen and she was keen for food/chicken. Meanie me didn't give her any because despite being on a strict ID diet, her tummy is bloated to pregnancy size yet again. All her kittens are together again, out of isolation. They didn't get any chicken either, just in case.

Everybody out back loved their chicken. I gave Silky, Petey and Pearl a good pat and Ebony and Casper ate from the dish that I held (the first step)

Ashleigh would have done the same but she has gone. . . . home with Sandy who has a spare room just waiting for a foster cat. Lucky Ashleigh. The Hungergame kittens went wild for chicken. But they go wild for any kind of food. I took advantage of having chicken sticky hands to give them all a good cuddle. They then spent 15 minutes licking themselves and each other clean. While I was with them, Mimi, who has been moved to the corner on the other side of the door, wailed for her share of chook. When I gave her some she not only let me pat her but she purred. It is the chicken, not my magic touch.

Sooty and Tammy will not play the love chicken/love me game. And Marmalade would if only I was Tim. But Soxy loved both chicken and pats, as did Bridie. And Matty and Maddie only play give me the chicken or I will rip your hand off. They are going to a foster home tomorrow. The fosterer is coming on the bus. Irene has, I hope, arranged for a vollie to drive them all back home to Maroubra.

The one small containter of chicken didn't last very long which was good because I had to leave early to attend my nephew's daughter's naming ceremony at a synagogue in Woolhara. The container was scrupulously cleaned by Harry and Harley.

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.

Grass for treats

The rain has made the grass in pots grow. So I took a box of pots to Safe Haven this afternoon to give as treats for the cats. They were not as keen on grass as they are on chicken. And one box of pots doesn't have enough grass for everybody. So I had to play favourites. Of course, Billy got his pot first. He has decided that I am "alright" and accepts pats willingly. Marmalade, on the other hand, is still unhappy that I am not Tim. Same with Soxy and Buddy/Petey. What is this boy/boy thing. The kittens are unaffected it is just the adults. It might just be that they are shyer and like the hand that feeds them most often. When I came to take a few photos, I got the "flat battery" message, again. So I will add some old photos. Candy and Collette were not feeling well this afternoon. They didn't leap out of their condo when the door was opened with a food offering. They just lay at the back of the very hot box. They were desexed earlier in the week and still have their collars on.

Sapphire is wearing a collar too. She, and Tiny Tim will be adopted on Sunday. Big Tim is counting the nights he still has to take them home with him.

Octavia is still with us but has moved to the outer edge of Quarantine. Gracie has moved out to the condo below Dobby (whose nose is getting stuffier every day in the stuffy condo). Daphne and the 3 little d's are in a wheely cage where Octavia was. I have talked my cat Cody into being brushed every day. He rather enjoys it. But he doesn't purr as loudly as Tara did when I brushed her today.

I roll the fur I brush off him into balls. I would much rather these fur balls that the ones that he vomits up.

Rita report plus

Irene heard from the folk who adopted Rita. They say that she is the BEST cat that they have ever introduced into the family. She leans into any hand that is stretched out to love her. May they be happy together foreever. Elona has come back. I think we/the cat got in the middle of a perennial mother/daughter tussle. Elona was very happy to get some chicken this afternoon and happy to be patted. (She might not have been given breakfast before she was returned which may explain her eagerness for food. But I prefer to think that she is happy to be back with us.) And Lane, one of Luna's kittens was returned.

For him, the timing was perfect. One of our Friday volunteers adopted another of Luna's kittens. She has loved being woken up at 6am with an invitation to play footsies under the doona. (She is under the doona and the kitten is on top of it). Today she realised that what her kitten needed was a brother to play with. So Lane's feet hardly touched the condo floor before he was whisked away to PLAY. Someone has booked the Palace for Easter. So I had to move Dobby back into the condo that he shared with his mum and clean (the snot off) the Palace.

His nasal congestion has improved since he has been there. It will be interesting to see if it returns when he doesn't have so much airflow. I replaced the large scratchy pole there with another from on top of the condos. It is called a "Bono Fido". Doesn't that mean "Good Dog". What a strange name for a cat scratchy pole company.

Sapphire is booked in to be desexed on Monday. I imagine the person who is keen to adopt her and Tiny Tim will be in on Tuesday to take them home.

Joy and Vi dropped by to check on Billy and she took this photo of TT and S which was much better than mine. They were more focused on chicken when I tried to photograph them. I had lovely, fresh BBQ chicken to share. Everybody went wild. Petey mistook my finger for chicken and bit me. This is Tim's finger who demonstrate how much Petey loves him, and the probably not ring worm lesion on his face.

We had a delivery of "free" food today so Irene took off the slightly out of date kitten kibble for the woman who feeds a cat colony. It will be better for them than cold noodles.

Chicken fingers

I took some BBQ chicken to do my cat behaviour routine this afternoon. Give me chicken, was Dolly's reaction.

But she says that to any food on offer. Other more circumspect cats were lured into more friendly behaviour by my chicken fingers. Even Windsor came out of his cave. (He had heard the fuss that Buddy and Petey were making: Buddy even let me pat him with my chicken fingers).

Silky was interested to eat chicken but not to make friends. She wears white stockings.

And Marmelade let me pat him. And Billy shut up while I tossed chicken at him. Gracie yelled for her share and Mimi and Macey fought over every piece. Macey got most of them because Mimi is a push over. The cat who REALLY LOVES CHICKEN is the new mum with four grey kittens. She still doesn't have a name. But, she is wearing a rather frayed collar. Her "rescuers" put the collar with a bell on her to stop her catching birds (to feed her kittens). She still doesn't have a name. I think we should call her Ruth, or RBG, or Rubygee because of the lace(y) collar. She was not going to give any of her chicken to her kittens . . . . she laid down the law. Then she followed me with her eyes as I distributed my inadequate stash to those other worthless cats.

Patchy and co have finished their ringworm treatment. To celebrate, I redecorated their wheely cage with new hammocks. And I swung it around to face the action. Tim is worried that they are not yet desexed so should not be on show. But I said that visitors won't see them until they are leaving and by then it will be too late. They have names. Meet Spotty, named for the spot on her nose/the end of her nose is black.

Tippy because she has a white tip on her tail.

And PJ who is the tortie.

They should be desexed and ready to go next week. Irene said that she would share photos of our cats who now live with other servants who take photos of them too.

Weight lifting

When I arrive in the morning I leave all the doors open so that the pong de chat can dissapate. Imagine my horror when I went through to the feeding station to see Buddy and Petey's door wide open, again. I rushed back to close the doors and then approached their condo. They were sitting together in their carry cage. Petey has learned to jump up to the higher level. My heart beat went back to normal.

Later when I was bathing the face of the dark tabby kitten (to the right of the desk) I heard Peggy hiss. I looked over my shoulder to see Macy stopped in her tracks on the gutter outside Peggy's condo. Perhaps Macy wanted to visit Rara. Mimi was watching from the open door of their condo with a worried expression on her face. I just turned Macy around with one hand (the other was holding the above kitten) and she walked back home. But it may be the eyebrow marking that makes Mimi look worried. Because later when I was washing the gummy eyes of some of Gracie's kittens, she watched with concern. I went to take a photo and my camera said "Charge the battery". Sue had three new volunteers to train this morning and Robyn is still nursing a very sore arm so took it gently. There were plenty of helpers. And then the men's shed arrived. They call themselves a community shed these days because there are women as well as men involved. They wanted to attach the brackets that will support the walls and top of the play place. And they the brought bits to fit.

We thought that they would be able to work around the stack of litter bags. But no, they had to be moved from where I put them yesterday. Luckily the community shedders did the moving, not me. I did it yesterday. And we had to move Hera, Diamond and Octavia because the litter bags are now behind Octavia where the scratchy poles used to be. They have been moved to the foyer beside the ones for sale. Really Octavia and Lily should change wheely cages. Octavia's only has three wheels and a peg leg. Lily's has 4 wheels. Maybe tomorrow. The community shedders will be back tomorrow or Friday to finish the job. By the way, I think Hera and Diamond are happier in separate areas rather that bunking in together. Patchy and her crew were happy when I rotated them so that I could mop their area.

We have a new, nameless, label-less mum with four grey kittens. She is a frightened, hissy mum. But she has a collar on. So she must just be really pissed off to be with us rather than a wild child. Later when It was quiet I noticed Star's tail hanging out of her condo. And when I looked at the photo there are two kitten tails hanging out as well. . . . cute.

More chicken necks grrrrrr

As we have so many kittens, I went to Woolies to buy chicken necks. I tried them on Cody again. He licked it and left it. Not so Dolly's kittens who got the first lot. (Dolly got hers first so we could put her kittens back into the condo from their carrier). They knew exactly what to do with them except for the smallest tuxedo who had a touch of the flu some weeks ago and is still behind his siblings. He had a drink of water in the corner while they growled over their chicken necks.

Lily and her kittens knew exactly what to do with them too. Her kittens growls were louder. Luna's kittens are too small so they missed out.

Billy and Petey loved theirs. So did Rita, who is pregnant proved by ultrasound. (But remember Bonnie, Candace's sister!)

Patchy got hers first and almost swallowed it whole! But, being a very good mum, she patiently waited until her kittens had a good chew on their before tidying them up.

We have new cats some of whom are very shy. Vinnie got adopted by a man from Rozelle who was advised to come pay for him quickly because he will go fast. As soon as he walked out (without Vinnie . . . he needs to set things up at home) the phone rang with another enquiry after him. Angelique was also adopted over the weekend. My friend Gina sent me a photo of Lola relaxing at home.