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).

Last little one

Billie was desexed yesterday. She managed to get her leg through her collar while asleep in her igloo. She has potential adopters lined up being the smallest kitten until Christmas, probably. Opal was being adopted when I arrived this afternoon. I chatted to Sandy who was trying to engage Harry and Harley with the fuzzy three string interactive toy. Harley watched it. I found the last feather toy and Harley was much more interested in catching that. [I need more feathers. The birds around here don't seem to be loosing theirs. So if you have some, please may I have them to make more feather toys.] Opal did not enjoy being in a cat carrier. We could hear her next door. Her new owners were thrilled.

By the way, Jet is settling in beautifully to her new home. Other cats who were desexed include Dolly in incoming who is the mother of Socks, Mo and Tip. Mo is still very "don't touch me" while the other two are "Whatever". Rather like George who hides in the box clutching Patches while the rest of Santa Maria's kids are as friendly as she is. She rolled over to let me tickle her tummy this afternoon. What can I say. . . . . "cats!" A couple of sisters arrived to look at Charlie. One of them couldn't get away from him while I showed the other around. They changed places and Charlie liked the other sister too. Decision made. Adoption processed. Lucky them. I will miss Charlie.

The other cat with potential adopters is Valentino. He was more interested in MORE CHICKEN this afternoon.

So was Lucky. (Isn't she a pretty pus when she is not spitting?)

Of course, Harry and Harley were most interested in chicken. Somehow their door opened and Harry ventured out as far as the wheely trolley. All I had to do was to wave the chicken in the play place and he scurried back in. Such a relief.

Harley is in front with the black elbows and Harry is in the back with the white elbows.

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.

Sandy sideswiped

It was her car, not her, sometime during the morning when she was slaving away doing angelic deeds. Unfair! Riley was being adopted as I arrived. She is to live with a primary school aged boy and a big brother cat. They know that she doesn't like to be picked up but are prepared to play with her until she gets used to the idea. Coco and Mason were in the play place overnight. Jasmyn was sitting with them when I arrived so I grabbed the nail clippers and she held squiriming cats while I clipped off gigantic claws. Coco's in particular looked dangerous because they were large and pearly against her brown fur. Front and back paws were done so they shouldn't get caught up in their bedding and come to fistycuffs any more. After fogging the playplace, Megsy had a go. He loved it (and tolerated having his front claws trimmed: he kept getting his feet caught while exploring all over). Late in the afternoon a woman dropped by with a donation of food for cats and dogs. I popped her into the play place with Megsy and she would have taken him home because he was so loving. But her parents would "kill" her. Everybody reacted well to chicken. Some cats are getting easy to stroke, eg Silky. But others are resistant eg Marigold. Gingey just wanted the cuddles. Santa Maria too. I can see why her kittens like their box. She happily stays in her condo box all the time. Patches (or is it Snowy) was more interested in hugs than chicken and climbed all over me while I tried to engage Ginger and Snowy (or is it Patches) in the box.

I am tying to update the photos on file so that every cat has a picture. My computer refused to do it for a while but it seems to be working now. So I took photos of Romeo and Juliette. Still one in front and one behind the cat carrier.

And I tried to take a good photo of Dolly but it is impossible. She just wants to crawl into your arms and snuggle. Velcro would have been a more descriptive name for her.

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:

Phantoms and angels

When I arrived, early, the phantom streaker was singing in the shower. I can now report that he is a male to match his long footprints. The angels arrived throughout the morning to fill in and help out. Thankyou especially Catsie and Ros. Because of all of you, I was about to take it easy and leave on time with the cattery looking tidy as well as clean. Riley thought the ghost of Christmases to come had caught up with him when a decoration got caught around his neck. We cut it off and he relaxed.

When I arrived Harry and Harley had been in the play place overnight. Somebody else's turn. So I wheeled their stand alone cage into the play place, put their breakfast into it and waited until they were busy eating to close their door. During the day Bobby and Doel had a turn. Bobby loved it. Better yet when somebody sat with him so he could get more attention. Doel seems to resent the amount of attention he gets but was quite happy to be patted.

Harley the girl, had a lovely time and welcomed company of patters. But Bridie didn't like it although she did put up with cuddles to compensate.

There are new cats in incoming including five big kittens only one of which is on show. You can see another guarding the entrance to the communal box.These are the kittens of Santa Maria who is very shy and is in Incoming as well. She didn't eat at all today.

There is George (ginger) and Lechusa (tortie) where Bobby and Doel were. She stays mostly in one box or the other.

There is a family of four kittens who have moved to where Mia and Bella were:

Because Mia and Bella have been adopted. Their people returned the dog carrier they borrowed to take them home. It seems the cats have decided to hide under the buffet . . . . in a space smaller than a mouse. I gave them a feather toy to entice them out. If that doesn't work I gave them the left over chichen necks from today. If they had been in residence there wouln't have been any left overs. And Mimi was picked up this morning. She went into their carrier without any fuss. (Admititedly, I had not given her any crunchies at breakfast time but scattered some in their carrier. It might have helped). So it has been a fabulous weekend for adoptions with homes found for Anthony and Cleopatra, Cooper, Miyuki, Lillian (foster home), Lily, Mia, Bella and Mimi. Roll on the lockdown.