Adoption Tails: Bambi, Thumbelina, Cypher, Sammy

Bambi and Thumbelina

1 day: Bambi and Thumbelina ate some wet and dry food overnight and are out and about in their room, sleeping in separate boxes. Unfortunately, they peed on the bed. The owner suspects it was because he had put a lid on the bed and the kittens have mistaken the bed as the litter. He has since removed the bed and put in its old place the litter box.
3 day: The owner is pleased to find Bambi and Thumbelina using the litter as intended and have not had any accidents since the first time. He affectionately calls Thumbelina a little "nerd" as she was hiding inside a computer when he was in their room cleaning up and feeding.

Thumbelina the nerd

 He also found her staring for hours at the door leading to the rest of the house when spending some time in the same space as them. The owner has tried to give both Bambi (hiding in a box) and Thumbelina (perched on a windowsill) a scratch but neither were particularly keen though Bambi did accept it. He has provided lots of cardboard boxes as hiding spots for the two and bought a cat tower for them to survey their new kingdom.
1 week: The owner has had a little bit of success with Thumbelina (Lina) when initiating interactions. Bambi is still in hiding when he is around. He left the door open last night and now they are hiding under the couch which is where the owners sit so they are starting to get used to their presence. He will coax them back into their room later.

1 month: The owner has jokingly remarked that Bambi and Thumbelina "hate him" as they still run away from him at times. B&T have made some great progress and have started to wander around the house while the owner is still there, doing his own thing. They still freak out a little when he moves suddenly though. He has recently been able to start picking them up without "getting destroyed" though Lina is still not very keen but Bambi enjoys a little cuddle with petting. Lina is an "absolute food junkie" whereas Bambi just watches the owner throw snacks at her, giving him a good stare. Lina will happily eat snacks out of the owner's hands as long as he does not move much and will not even run away from him as long as he has food. The owner affectionately calls Lina an "absolute creeper" who is "plotting his downfall" with her "terrifying" stare down techniques from a distance. The brave Lina has started to wander down the house behind the owner very recently. She scrams off when the owner makes a move towards her but comes back less than a minute later. Both love to watch the litter robot, especially Lina who will jump up and stare at it while it does its thing. Since exploring the house, B&T have found a little outdoor enclosed area and love spending time there for a little sun baking.

 

Sammy & Cypher

In their foster home

1 day: Both Sammy and Cypher have been eating well and have used the litter tray for wees. They are definitely enjoying the few toys the owner has set up in the laundry room.
1 week: Sammy and Cypher are going really well. they seemed keen to explore the house and they have been let out of the laundry room for a little while and they have since been doing zoomies and playing together. They are the best of friends and the owners find it so sweet. They woke her up at 4-5am playing together and running through the cat tunnel. She is very glad that they have each other and the two are definitely very entertaining. Sammy's purrs are very loud and the owner loves it! She has so much love for them already and feels that the boys have already come such a long way in just a week of staying with her.

2 week: Sammy has started to come out of his shell a lot more recently, shadowing the owner into the kitchen for food and playing with the toys. The boys are doing really well, becoming a lot more comfortable with the owner. They constantly beg for treats (which the owner guiltily admits they definitely get a lot of), playing lots with their toys. Cypher has started to come onto her bed and cuddling when she is half asleep.

cuddle time

1 month: Sammy and Cypher are so comfortable at home. Cypher loves the owner but wants to play constantly with her visiting boyfriend. She identifies herself more with Sammy... a lot more chilled out and want snacks all the time. Both boys always get her undivided attention, especially for playtime. She did not realise how hard it is to entertain two playful kitties. They keep her up some nights being crazy together when she is trying to sleep and waking her up way before she wants to get up. The owner usually gets up and cleans their litter and feeds them, returning to lay in bed for a while until they wake her up again. "Cats are a good alarm clock." The boys have definitely given her a new reason to live since the passing of her previous cat Lilith. Sammy and Cypher are very loved here and she feels so lucky to have given them this second chance to life! She is writing this at 1am because the boys have woken her up for treats despite the endless dry food provided throughout the day and wet food in the morning and night. The owner thinks the boys are a bit spoilt!

play time

What happened to Linda's whiskers

 I put Linda and Yoko into the play place today. I wanted to give them a good brush. It worked last week when I brushed Bubbles (but not Cheena). They got adopted over the weekend. So I am hopeful that the brush will work its magic on L & K. Sammy and Cypher were adopted over the weekend too without any help from me. On one side of her face, Linda has a crop of short whiskers. The other side's whiskers are long and graceful. What happened?

Short ones with a few long ones

We tried Kiki in the Top Cat. She finally figured out how to get down, after I leaned the stratchy pole against her condo but wasn't very happy. She was much happier this morning playing soccer with a ping pong ball while lying in her carrier.

Long way down Kiki

Mia was happy as long as she was being cuddled. There are plenty of volunteers for that job. Mia is where Pluto was. Pluto has been adopted.

Mia with Sandy

Taylor also played soccer with his ping pong ball but he was bouncing about behind his igloo. I've never seen him so active in all the time he has been with us.

Taylor

Wanda has got over her horrors at being back in the institution and is the sweet mum cat who adopted two stray kittens along with her own and then had Midsummer added to the litter later.

Wanda

Lobster was adopted today to a family who missed out on Duke. They will probably change his name to Charles. He will come back as a boarder to delight his fans at Safe Haven.

Thank You Helen

 I slept in this morning and arrived at Safe a little late. But, thank goodness, Helen had taken home all the poo bags yesterday so I didn't have any to schlep down to the bins. I could get straight on to feeding our 62 cats plus four boarders. There will be many more boarders next week. But our Daphne (now Tilly) goes home tomorrow. She was really happy to see me today having got over her disgust at being sent back to lock up land last Friday.

Daphne/Tilly

Yin had tossed all his bedding into his litter tray which was in his tall space. So I tossed the blankets onto the upper shelf to get it out of the way of his breakfast. Later I found him wrapped up in his blankies.

Yin

I put the red and black spotted rug thing in his sleeping room because it might be more difficult for him to dig it out of there and into the litter tray. Later he went into that space and I removed the dirty blankets. Cats have strange ways of relating to two leggeds.

I demonstrated the erection procedure of the Top Cat play place to Terry who came by with a load of litter. (If the person who overfills the litter trays on Tuesday will stop doing that, the litter will last much longer). So now he knows how to do it.

Kiki enjoyed it. But later when we moved it, Diego escaped through the gap at the bottom.

Kiki kinda likes it

Kiki preferred being in the proper play place. A couple of blokes came to find a friend for their ginger, 1-2 year old boy. They rather fancied Duke on line. (What's not to like!) But I thought that two bossy boys was not such a good idea (especially in view of the nasty pee smell that came with Duke and Bowie when they arrived) and suggested that a female cat would rule the roost and everything would smell sweet. So they looked at all our single girls. Couldn't decide between Courtney and Kiki. I put them in the play place with each, successively, for a good while. .   for them to get to know each other. They went off for a cup of coffee and a talk. They came back and chose Courtney. 

Courtney's new best blokes

Enzo and Cleo are in Truffle's stand alone. The daughter of the house is doing her HSC and doesn't need the distraction. But said daughter and sister arrived to have a kitty cuddle today. I put them all in the play place. (I had a struggle getting the kittens out of the high-rise-hidey-hole when they left).

Enzo and Cleo's girlfriends

Later their mum and brother arrived to have their cuddle and discuss other cats that need to be rescued. 

And another woman came in to see one of the Supermodels. She will return on Saturday, perhaps, when she makes up her mind about her first ever cat.

Head to head super models

Luckily, Ann baked a banana cake this morning and brought it with her. Thank you, Ann. There are left overs.

Nada doesn't need cake. She has been on weight reduction crunchies for ages. It is not working.

Nada

And a fortuitous kitten photo. (Thanks Robyn)

Cleo plus 4

Empty boarding row

 Look at that! Completely empty after Wal-E went home today. All ready and waiting for the deluge (20 bookings) for the coming holidays. What a good thing, for me, the folk didn't realise that tomorrow is a public holiday and extend their vacation by two days. (They probably were not able to change their bookings!)

 After I finished feeding the Incoming cats their breakfast I went out back to find Cyber on top of the play place crying to be helped down. I thought I had put the clip on their condo after I fed them but can't have done it right. Where was Sammy? Not down the corridor, thank goodness, not under the merchandise shelves, not on top of the condos. Eventually I found him under the dirty washing tub shelf. . . . close to the food, of course. As I had helped Cyber down into the play place, I enticed Sammy with some food, picked him up and put him in there too. Too much excitement before 9am!

Star and Truffles had a turn in the play place too. Geoff has fixed the giant scratchy pole which Star really appreciated.

Star

Truffles

 There were three sets of visitors this afternoon, all female. The first older woman came to look at a replacement for her British shorthair who died a year ago. She wants somebody who will not sit on her too much because she has a bad back. A very experienced owner, she rather liked Duke. . . . what's not to like! She will come back in a few days when she gets back from babysitting.

Prue helping the new vollie by holding Duke

Then a young woman came looking for a friend for her 12 month old boy cat. She did fancy Pearl who is a loving armful now that she has got over the indignity of being surrendered. She needs to talk to her partner.

Pearl

Then a mum came in with her 3 daughters including twins who want a cat each. It was nice to be able to show the pairs. They had a good cuddle with Linda but Yoko didn't play nice. They will be back. The younger daughter liked Pluto but she doesn't sound at all well. . . . she gasps when she purrs. And Truffles loved the girls.

Pluto

Cleo is getting that  exhausted new mum look and eats everything given to her.

Cleo plus 4

 

Adoptions picking up

The excellent news over the weekend is that there were adoptions:

Rhapsody. . . . no surprise there.

Beauty . . . . . you little beaut!

Sarah  . . .  hallelujah!! 

Maggie has moved into Rhapsody's stand alone

Truffle is where Beauty was. I straightened out her hammocks and covered the nasty wire shelves and she was much happier. Robyn gave her some toys and she played.

Truffle

And Star is where Sarah was. Out of Incoming at last. Her last kitten, Pluto, is still there though. She is in Syd's condo. He has gone to a foster home! Nancy is still with us.

And then a man come in looking for a pair of cats. Did he come to the right place! I showed him them all and he decided that he needed Princess and Precious because they are pet names at his place. I had a terrible time getting the computer to behave when adopting a pair of cats and buying miscellaneous mercandise. Poor Tim will have to sort it out tomorrow. But the buyer was very patient with my ineptitude. He was even more patient when Princess took off when I tried to put her into a carrier. She jumped off the back of my right hand with her back leg and took some of my skin with her. Of course, I dripped blood all over the place. Catsie had to use all her St John's skills to bandage me. Eventually we got her into a carrier. (Precious was no problem at all). The patient new owner happily took them both off. 

I had a cuddle with Maggie.

Maggie

Robyn had a cuddle with Ginger Megs.

Ginger Megs and Robyn

Geoff came to measure the movable play place for a flip up top. I am told that Sootie had a lovely play in it over the weekend. Sammy and Cypher gave themselves a fright this afternoon and went back into their condo.

Sammy

Cypher

An Adoption at last

 Eric and Lucy have been adopted, together. But they are still with us as boarders. They will be picked up next Friday.

Lucy (on left) and Eric

I think the only way their owners will be able to tell them apart is her short tail. (A dog attacked her and part of it had to be amputated. She does not like dogs.) Duke has moved into their condo and is available  but the world doesn't know because the computer system keeps loosing the cat profiles that are "uploaded" to the adoption page. He will sell himself to anybody who comes in, of course.

I moved Sammy, Cyber, Thumbelina and Bambi back to their own condos and gave the play place a good scrub. We have boarders who have paid extra to get play place time. 

empty play place

The tall scratchy pole that the play place was build around is a danger to cat and volunteer. Jeff will try to salvage what he can from it.  The Top Cat structure that he has almost finished was enjoyed by Princess and Precious this afternoon. It still needs a secure top.

Lisa is back with us. Her new owner had a stroke and is in hospital for a week or so. She wants to keep Lisa but her brother, who came from Adelaide to help her, can't cope with the cat. So we will keep Lisa for at least a week. I carried Maggie around to say hello to her mother.  She growled when Lisa jumped down from her high perch.

Lisa

But Lisa doesn't have to put up with Mia's tantrums from the condo below her. Mia has been moved to Max and Gus's condo because they have gone to a foster home! Taylor will have to put up with Mia instead.

Taylor above Mia

 

Who's who in the Play Place

 The usual crowd of four been there since last Friday. At least, turning the tall scratchy pole around has stopped them from toppling it over during their night time partying. I sent Jayde in with the microchip reader to try to sort out who is who:

Sammy (.....594) has large black spots over both ears with a straight, white line between.

Cypher (....599) has large black spots over both ears that meet in a V in back and front. This looks like a white egg timer-shape on his forehead.

Bambi (...118) has tabby markings on her tail.

Thumbelina (...119) has small black spots under her nose that make a heart shape.

Katie and I think that they don't need to go as two boys separate from two girls. They seem all happy with each other although the girls are shyer than the boys.

Lily got adopted yesterday and Kiki has been moved into her condo today. Maggie was then moved to Kiki's top condo because her mum Lisa was adopted yesterday too. She didn't like it much up there initially but will get used to it. Plenty of vollies will give her cuddles. Dan(ger) moved into Lisa and Maggie's condo this afternoon. About an hour later a couple of girls came to look for a cat to be friends with their puppy. Their mum liked Dan best (she was there via Facetime). So Dan when home with them. He will be able to cope with the whippersnapper dog.

Dan's new owners

He may be back over Christmas in boarding. We got Princess and Precious out of the corner of no adoptions to the double under Nada. She must like their smell because she was out lying on the connection door this afternoon. Or was she remembering Diego's visits and discouraging any more invasions with her, not inconsiderable, weight?

Baby is back from foster because she doesn't like to be part of a multi animal home. She wants to be the one and only.

Baby

Skeley has had another name change. First she was Skeletor, now she is Sophie. Whatever the name, she is still a scardey cat.

Sophie = Skeley

After chicken, I went back to boarding and Juliette looked up at me a blinked. More chicken magic.

My Cody is being photogenic. .   he can't help himself.

Foster Fail again

 Three kittens and their mother were put up for adoption this week. When an adopter came to the foster home to choose one, the fosterer was in tears about loosing one of her three babies. Then they couldn't decide which kitten to keep so decided to keep both. . .  plus the mum. It cost her almost a thousand dollars! But she was very happy to be able to keep her family together.

Luckily Tim was there to help me through the new adoption system. . . . I will get it, eventually. In the meantime, somebody might come in to adopt Shelly on Sunday. And there is a new black boy in Incoming from Helen's work colony.

Deigo and Dora/Delores enjoyed a run around in the play place after it was thoroughly cleaned after the coffee shop kittens were there for 2 nights and 1 day.

Diego (in front) and Dora

 

Vollie Leon was worried that Domino had a sore throat. But I think he just has a deep, sexy purr.

Domino

Skeley has been moved to the condo next to Domino. Her eyes are very round and black. I hope Domino's purrs will calm her down as well as the cool vibes coming from Princess and Precious.

Precious (white 4th toe L paw)

Sammy and Cyber have had a couple of nights out, again. The food bags have been attacked, again. Tim thinks that they rattle the door hard enough so that the bolt comes loose and they can squeeze through. Geoff is working on the problem. In the meantime, I put them and Thumbelina and Bambi in the play place together overnight. It might keep them slim.

I hope Abby gets adopted this weekend.

Abby

[Thanks Joy for the extra photos. I didn't think to get my camera out this afternoon.]

No Danger in Dan

 This morning when I arrived Cypher was on top of the main room row of condos. He waited patiently for me to pick him up and put him back into his condo where Sammy sat. I had to remove the litter bin that had been propped against their door to open it. The litter bin was there because on Sunday night they both got out and had a poop party. They tore up multiple bags of crunchies that we had hoped to sell to new owners. Hence the litter bin to keep them in. But it didn't work on Cypher. Somehow???*

Because they have too much energy, I decided that they should go into to the play place to use some of it up. Easy enough. They were both in their doorless carry cage. And I added Thumbelina and Bambi because they are from the same litter and same foster home. Within no time,  Thumbelina was in with the boys. 

Thumbelina

Soon Cypher was out of the carry cage looking for some fun. 

Cypher

 Sammy happily stayed there to "protect" his sister.

Sammy

Bambi hid in full view away from everybody else.

Bambi

I took the opportunity to match their microchip numbers with their photos.

 There is a new ginger boy from a well tamed colony called Danger who is in the condo below Mia in Boarding. Mia has been with us for a week but is still in full savage, unhappy cat mode. Compared to her, "Danger" is a pussy cat. So I suggest that we rub out the -ger and call him Dan.

Dan(ger)

He is next to Cheena (of the middle ear infection) and Bubbles (the shy one). This afternoon they were "sharing" (ie maneuvering for more space each) a small bed. 

Small bed + Cheena and Bubbles

So Sandy and I decided to give them a bigger bed.

Big bed for Bubbles

We have a new kitten, Domino from the fosterer who raised Trixie. He also came in a pullover which I promptly pulled off. . . . . kittens need to learn to look after their own fur. He is a purr machine and anybody's best friend, forever.

Domino

*There was also an "escape proof device" leaning against Max and Gus' door. It worked to keep them in overnight. But during the afternoon, when the front door and the balcony doors were open, I saw a Gus shaped slink moving from the main room to Naughty row. Gus puts his paw through a hole in the mesh and pushes down the door stop. I must fill in the mesh. Luckily, he is happy enough to go back to Max who doesn't put a paw out of place.