Full of boarders

 I was going to count the number of cats today, but didn't get around to it. Another boarder arrived who has stayed with us before. He was not amused. His owner says that he has trouble with his teeth so I suggested we give him TD's instead of the harder chrunchies. He might be very happy by the time she comes back.

I was just handing out the last of the chicken (there is never enough) when a family of mum and 3 twenty-something daughters arrived for one daughter to choose a loving cat, not too young, that would be happy to be left all day while she works in retail. She rather fancied Sabrina's Mocha (Sasha has already been adopted but not picked up) but the family advised that two kittens would be happier at home alone all day than just one. She then fell in love with Trixie but really can't afford the possible expense of her gingivitis. After Tim told her all about Trixie's history past and possible future, she looked harder at Po who decided that she liked the whole family, rolled on her side, kneaded the air with her front paws, let herself be picked up and cuddled by all the daughters. Perfect match. And a bargain at $230 because she is 6 years old. We started the paperwork at 4pm. 

I took a couple of quick photos so that there would be something for the blog. (Didn't get one of Po because her new family was recording her every move.)

The D kitten with the slow heart rate who had an electrocardiogram is just fine. His heart speeds up when it needs to. He is just a super fit, athlete type of cat.

D boy, the athelete

D girl who looks scared but really isn't

Sabrina's kittens are all ready to go. This may be the last time they are all together in the Canin condo. It will probably be just Sabrina there by the end of the long weekend. They all got their vaccinations this afternoon and at one stage all escaped. I was handing out chicken at the time so they were really easy to catch.

Sabrina + 6

Wanda had time out from her four on Katie's chair.

Wanda (not winking but one sore eye still)

Mahem and Murder

 I arrived in the middle of morning cleaning. There were people everywhere. Rosanna was training a group of new vollies. Robyn is back from her skiing in Canada. Geoff was discussing jobs that need to be done with Tim.

One job is to fix the Palace Door. Those kittens can shake the door open at night. Last night they had a poo party in front of Max in the Play Place. No wonder he wouldn't come down from the highest shelf to have lunch with me. Tim thought one of the Palace crew had escaped and was lurking somewhere behind the laundry shelves. . . . unless it had squeezed through a partly open window. But when it came time for me to hand out the Friday chicken, there were three interested faces in their cat carrier. They must have staggered home to the Palace after their night on the town.

The naughty row loved their helpings although Rufus was more interested in being patted than the chicken. And now that Duke is next door to him we really can't call it "naughty row" any more. Even Amy came out and blinked for chicken.

Amelia hissed then smiled

                                    Ziggy couldn't decide between a stroke or the chicken 

Tabitha just wanted strokes

Peanut is always good for cuddles

Rosanna had brought in some chicken necks that I distributed to the kittens earlier. Sasha's lot loved theirs.

Sasha plus

When I got to the four kittens below Zoe, I noticed that their bedding needed to be changed. I added some chicken to distract them. Pulled the dirty towel out which caused them to do a washing machine impression in their outer condo. Two of them were spun into the bed section and out the door. I grabbed one. The other took off out the door with Tim close behind it. 

The one I grabbed put up a good fight but I held on until I could put it back with its siblings. On the way, a claw or tooth snagged a small artery and blood spurted out of my hand. I applied pressure while Tim caught the runaway who had exhausted itself by running to the other end of the corridor and back to Unit 20. A woman came up in the lift just as it turned to do another lap and Tim grabbed the kitten. The woman, when she saw me covered in blood must have thought that murder had been done. Katie thought that cleaning up after a murder might have been easier.

So I spoiled their plans to get off early while I fed the cats their dinner. I went to the doctor to get a decent pressure bandage and a tetanus injection. By the way, if you have some spare absorbent pads, elastoplast, pressure bandages, etc our First Aid Kit needs them.

Licking the washing up

 When I arrived this afternoon Oreo and Lucky had been in the play place overnight and were hiding (probably because the vollies had cleaned everything with super efficiency and speed!) So I took some of the unassembled carry cases in there with me so they could help me put them together. A cat really helps by giving distraction when the b. . . y things won't cooperate. Oreo came out of hiding first and let me take off her too tight collar. She is the mother. Her fur is much better than when she arrived probably suffering from a flea allergy.

Oreo

Soon Lucky (her son) joined us to help finish off their breakfast crunchies. I took off his collar too and there is what looks like a healed pressure sore under it. Those collars had been on for far too long.

Ragged collars

Lucky soon discovered that my shoes smelled amazing. And Oreo discovered the out-the-window view shelf.

Lucky

 

 

 

Shadow (the "sister" of Ellie) was adopted this morning. And Alice took Gia home with tears in her eyes because she couldn't adopt her sister and brothers as well. In the afternoon a father arrived with his daughter for Sasha. They had read on the website that Sasha was overweight but rather baulked when they saw just how plump she is. So I introduced them to the other cats who are available and those who will be coming on line soon. There are some pretty cats among them like Cathy, some loving ones like Malabar and some charming ones like Wilson. But, no, the small girl decided that Sasha was the cat for her. They had looked after a friend's adult cat while the friends were overseas but the "friends" had come home to claim back their cat so she wants one all for herself. They took her home.

Chicken treats this afternoon were not enjoyed by Schnitty who was dropped off by his family last Sunday and has spend the intervening days mourning in a hammock. He has cried himself into unilateral conjunctivitis (or perhaps has a touch of the cat flu). He is miserable. I tried to get him to purr by brushing him but he is having ONE MAJOR SULK.

Schnitty

Blacky was just the same when he arrived at the end of July. But now he is eager for the pats that come with the chicken.

Blacky

 

He needs a dental before being ready for adoption.

Gracie will do (almost) anything for chicken including coming down with the door open. She certainly has put on weight since she arrived last July.

Gracie

Autumn and Summer have been trained to help with the licking up of chicken flavoured plastic bags and spoons.

Autumn and Summer

A Fall from Grace

 When I got to Grace's condo on this morning's food delivery, it was a mess. She had pulled up the grass from its pot and then tipped over the pot so that there was dirt everywhere. I may have said something that startled her because as she jumped up to her upper box she missed her footing and fell out of her condo. To the floor. And then scurried, screaming "I AM SCARED" which got the attention of every cat in the cattery. We proceeded to have a merry dance with me trying to direct her back to her condo and her trying to hide under any low furniture. Luckily she didn't take the high way. 

Eventually she hid under the new merchandise shelves. I cornered her with the duvet cover from Mini's stand alone, put her breakfast in a carry cage that was draped with the same duvet cover. With the help of a prod or two with a bit of stick, she allowed herself to be guided into the carry cage. And got carried back to her condo. Pretty exciting for before breakfast.

We have three new cats in Boarding: Sasha, Shadow and Ellie. They are not boarders with us. They have been surrendered to us. They are really friendly with people. Ellie is a long/ish haired cat who has been shaved. It will be interesting to see how long her hair grows. Her whiskers are enormous.

Ellie

 

I tried putting Sasha into the play place with her but got the distinct impression that it was not a good idea. Katie confirmed that although they came from the same household they are not friends with each other. They just love people.

Sasha

 

 

Shadow is the third member of this trio.

Shadow

Steph dropped off Autumn and Summer. Lovely to have tortie kittens again.

Summer and Autumn

Magnus has a bare tip of tail. A bit has been amputated. There is no bandage. Let's hope this fixes his problem. He is such a loving cat.

Laurie (aka Lasagne) wins the photo of the day 

Laurie

 

As Dolly got adopted on Tuesday, the mother and daughter who fell in love with her on Sunday came to meet Petal. They promptly fell in love with her and will be back when she has been desexed. 

And another lady came in at 3:30pm to adopt Meow Meow. But she didn't do it today. She decided to go home and set up everything, buy lots of food, etc, etc, and come back tomorrow at 1pm to adopt her. (Adoption hours have been limited to from 1pm to 3:30pm to limit our volunteers' exposure to members of the public. We are not admitting people who come from hotspot LGA's)