Who is in charge?

Ginger George and Tiger

 I had to pull up the poof to label the condo cards for the flood of boarders who will arrive in the next few days. Bo arrived this afternoon. She was adopted from us last year when her name was Petite and is much loved by her people. (See https://safehavencats.blogspot.com/2021/09/adoption-tails-santa-maria-and-her.html). She has a pumpkin with a dangling spider as her security blanket (!)

Bo (previously Petite)

I set up all the boarders condos. So Better Row looks occupied if you look at litter trays. But there is only Joni at one end and Bo at the other end.

The usual suspects have moved next door to Dr Kim's. Mia is much happier there. She has an upper condo and I think she feels more secure at face level rather than at leg level. (Perhaps she had too many kicks in her former life).

There is a new mum and kittens in both Reception (aka the junk room) and in Incoming. The kitten season seems to never end.

Adoption tails: Santa Maria and her kittens

Santa Maria

 Santa Maria (Dolly) was adopted on 7/8/21
1 day, 8/8: Santa Maria is still hiding under the bed. She is eating well and using the litter box. She has poked her head out from under the bed to eat a treat from Caroline's hand.
1 week, 14/8: Dolly still spends a lot of time under the bed but last night she appeared at her new owner's bedroom door and jumped onto the bed when her name was called. She also ventured into the lounge room for a quick visit while her owner was working. She always comes to her owner when she sits down near her and chats to her and purrs.
1 month, 7/8: Dolly has settled in really well. She is sweet and loving and has started talking to her owner with squeaks and purrs. We have been recommended us to all her friends.

Petite (adopted on 8/8)
2 days: Petite settled in very quickly into half the house and is slowly exploring the other half now. She is very cuddly.
1 week: Petite is doing great. She is becoming more and more confident each day and couldn't be loved more.
1 month: Petite loves to sleep in human beds; she is very loved and seems really comfy in her new home.

Norma and Petite

Norma (adopted on 8/8)
1 day: Norma is doing well. She has come out of her shell and started asking for pats and is sleeping on her man's lap while he is working. She started exploring the rest of the flat. She is very affectionate.
1 week: Norma has settled in really well and loves her pats.
1 month: Norma is a massive attention seeker. She wakes her owner up by sleeping on his face.

Snowy (adopted on 12/8)
1 month: Snowy is a bit naughty at times, especially when she gets the zoomies, but her new family loves her unconditionally. Her owner is grateful for making the process easy and for guidance when required.
 

Snowy

Patches & George (adopted on 21/8)
1 day: Both are still hiding, as expected. Their owner has set up a wonderful separate room for them and knows that he can't rush things.
1 week: Patches and George are still in hiding and they are hissing sometimes too. They are eating and toileting well. Patches will eat food from her owner's hand and let him pat her when eating, George will not eat near that man but he will come within 3m of him and watch him.
1 month: Patches and George are quite comfy in their room now. They play with each other and make lots of noise when the owner is not in the room. Patches accepts pats, George only does when he is eating. Slow progress is being made. 

George (L) and Patches in "their" box

New Faces

There were still only 52 cats at Safe Haven this morning but there are new faces to replace those adopted since last Friday: namely Santa Maria, Norma, Petite (separately) and Valentino yesterday. Plus Casper has disappeared --- into foster care, I assume. Her previous fosterer/rescuer rang today to ask how she was getting on. There are lots of new faces in the outer office. Can't call it quarrantine any more because all of the cats are healthy. Fawny is a particular delight. Her fur is extremely soft and she chirrups rather than meows (when she is not eating).

Thelma and Louise are together again and have been moved to the jewel condo (ie where Amber, Jet and Opal were)

Misty is a pretty girl, if a trifle confused.

And in the cat room we have Lasagne who is a bit smelly.

A man arrived to meet Honey. He and his wife had decided that they want to add a cat to their family and chose her from the web page. I asked who else was in the family. A 2 and a 5 year old. I did not recommend Honey with her history of biting. But suggested Snowy. He was delighted and took a photo and video to show his wife. He may be back tomorrow. A woman phoned to say that she had talked yesterday to Katie about Mixa and was OK with his FIV status but then thought that she would probably want to get another cat because she has always had two and hers had recently died. So could she come in and see Honey. I said "Of course" and that she had bitten a couple of vollies but with an experienced cat owner we agreed that wouldn't be an issue. She came. Mixa smiled at her. Honey was a little stand offish. For contrast I introduced her to Dolly and she agreed that she didn't want a cat that was that friendly perhaps. I showed her Lord Dudley and she thought he was lovely. She went away to think about it. She got as far as the car park and after 10 minutes rang back to say that she had decided on Lord Dudley. Then she came upstairs with the biggest cat carrier! Just made for Lord Dudley. After we did the paperwork, I hoisted him to his feet and he strolled into the carrier as though he had done in a hundred times before. I think she will be back for a friend for him because she works long hours as a nurse and feels that a single cat could get lonely. (My sister tells me that the Lord Dudley is a really nice pub in Paddington. Perhaps she trained at Crown Street at some time).

Different digs

We decided that Lord Dudley needed a better box. The box he had was low and long. We found a box that he could sit in rather than having to crawl into.

He approved.

Petite and Norma were left overnight in the play place. I thought it would be nice if their sister who usually sits outside the box containing her brother and sister, could join them. The microchipper told me that she is Snowy. It is Patches who stays inside the box with Ginger. The other two were more interested in having pats from me when I took her into the play place. But they greeted her with licks and rubs. It was quite sad to put her back into the condo with the exclusive pair.

But somebody else needed a turn in the play place. I took Zelda thinking that if she ran around for a bit it might help her tummy. She sat in a corner. So I sat with her and gave her a massage concentrating on her tummy area. She loved it and purred and purred. Then I thought, perhaps she is taking air into her tummy as she purrs. Then she farted. Whatever . . . she enjoyed it.

I put her back into her condo which gets sunshine in the late afternoon, and wheeled in Harry and Harley who love it there because they have space to chase each other.

Then a neighbour arrived with his ?7 yr old daughter for their regular cat pat visit. It struck me that Miko came from a family with children. The father rang a couple of weeks ago because the kids had begged him to find out how she was getting on. Miko REALLY liked the kid. The kid liked the cat too. But dad said "What about the dog at home?"

Max in incoming was super friendly to Robyn while she was cleaning him until she tried to wipe his floor with some paper towel and then whap! Makes you wonder what his past experience with paper towel is.

Charlie is available. Wonder how long he will last.

I was going to clean the back windows . . .

I did a vet run with the tuxedo's in Incoming first thing. Tim told me to take Socks and Tip. Who is who? He said that Mo is the one who is hardest to catch and has the smallest moustache. But he did microchip Socks and Tip just in case I managed to catch Mo. (One of them is a girl, by the way)

I returned in the afternoon to clean windows but it got busy. A potential fosterer arrived and talked to/at Tim for at least an hour. He measured up for some more shelving. I put some cat carriers together. The first one took 20 minutes. The second one 7 minutes. The third one 4 minutes. And I had had enough and decided to share some chicken. A man brought in his daughter, when Katie was busy elsewhere, to check out Amber. I had just got to them with the chicken. They are not keen on chicken. They like hands touching them even less. The daughter is doing her HSC and has a 2 year old cat who is full of energy. The plan is to get a second cat to entertain the cat so that she can study/give her something to do while she studies from home. Amber really didn't cooperate. I introduced them to Silky who will take any amount of cuddles when there is chicken on offer. The daughter was interested even though Silky shrank away from her. And there are Santa Maria's brood who are very soft, friendly cats (except for George). They should be ready in a few days. They couldn't make up their minds so will bring Mum to help another day. I introduced them to Charlie on their way out because who can resist a Charlie. The one photo I took all afternoon was of Santa Maria standing up because this was the first time I had seen her on her feet.

(But I can share some of Joy's lovely photos from Wednesday.) Another man came in to look at Harry and Harley when Katie was busy elsewhere. He wants a pair of cats for his kids to grow up with. The kids are 4, 7 and 9. He had cats when he was a kid. I suspect that Harry and Harley would be better with older children. He agreed. I introduced Ginger and Lechusa who have just become available. He took videos of them (and Norma and Petite who will be ready really soon) and will be back after consultation with his wife. He loves cats and as soon as the kids go back to school and his shift changes at work he may come to volunteer with us.

Dolly liked her chicken but not as much as cuddles as Joy found out on Wednesday.

Thunder clouds

As I drove south from Avalon around noon, a huge bank of thunderclouds was moving north. The rain came down as I crossed Roseville Bridge. Somewhere must have got hail at least. The cats weren't concerned. They could smell the chicken that I brought with me. Doel was adopted just before I arrived to a family with two small daughters who asked a hundred questions. Katie forgot to give them his cardboard house. It won't be of use to anybody else after being "sterilized". She plans to get in touch with the new owners to coordinate a pass over of his safe house. Valentino has graduated to "out front". He likes this view better.

I took some photos of Chloe after softening her up with chicken. On the web page she looks like a tuxedo instead of the favoured grey and white. Let's hope a better photo gets her adopted.

Some cats have come out of Incoming: George and Lechusa are next to Harry and Harley. I hope the H's learn their manners rather than vice versa.

Norma and Petite are where Mini was. Norma has a very small black spot on her bottom lip (just like Marilyn Munroe's). Petite has black blotches around her mouth.

Tim moved their brother Ginger and Snowy in their box to the condo below Valentines while Katie carried Patches without any fuss. Of course, they are all in the box now.Their mum, Santa Maria is next to Luna. Katie picked her and her bed up. S.Maria clung to the bed and the transfer went smoothly.

Riley was desexed. And is/was wearing an Elizabethan collar. She is a girl! And we don't know if the kitten in Incoming, Billie, is a girl or a boy. How very modern.

Neat morning, messy afternoon

When I arrived at noon there was a family with two small children after a kitten. They chose Kimmy (and vice versa). Then the woman and her daughter who wanted Kimmy on Sunday came in after getting permission from her landlord to have a cat. While Irene was checking out Kimmy, they decided that Chilli really was the better choice for them. They are Spanish speakers and will change his name to something unpronouncable. She has had cats forever so knows what to do. While I checked out Chilli, Irene introduced a woman to all the quiet cats in residence. She had a problem choosing between Soxy and Marmalade. And finally chose . . . . . MARMALADE!

She paid her money and went away without him but promised to be back. She came back at 3:30 having set up her house with everything that he will need . . . . lots of hiding places initially. But we think that they will be a good match. They are both quiet, aloof, self contained folk just aching for somebody to love. And then Robyn came in and talked to Tim about Belle's condition and dietary needs. While she was doing this (and Irene was processing Marmalade) I introduced a woman and her two teenaged sons who really had wanted Kimmy, or a Kimmy-like semi-long haired kitten. I introduced her to the longish haired ones in Incoming. We think that Petite and Norma are the longer haired girls. And then to the delicately grey Lucy and the longer haired of her brothers in Mia and Bella's stand alone. I suspect that the boys will go for Lucy because she will be ready earlier. They are desexed. They just need a vet check and microchip whereas the ones in Incoming need to be there for another week and then go through the vet check, etc. Those boys need a kitten while they are in lockdown to replace the much beloved cat who died last year. They want a longish haired cat because their old cat was. But they don't want a matted cat. I tried to convince them that if they start brushing the kitten while it is young, the cat will enjoy being brushed all its life. I suppose this is true.

They certainly like to cuddle up together. Robyn and I processed Belle and she went home with Robyn. I thought it was warm at Safe Haven today but the cats didn't. Ginger and Lechusa shared a box.

Now that we have spare condos, we have assigned separate condos for Bobby and Doel. While they came as a bonded pair, they have been quarrelling all day. They have gingivitis so are on TD's. A better solution is daily brushing, of their teeth. What's the chance of that while they are cross with each other?