Adoption Tails: Simon

 Simon

1 day: He loves the spare room and has three places to hide and nap. He didn’t touch his dinner last night but ate breakfast and dinner today. He’s used his litter tray perfectly too. “He literally can’t get enough pats and scratches” and he has had half an hour of exercise play today. His owners sat at either end of the room and rolled a tennis ball to each other and he had so much fun chasing it. “When he goes into a sleeping place we take that as a sign he’s had enough, but within hours we’ll hear him meow and we’ll visit and have another pat play session. He seems pretty relaxed, we’re letting him set the pace”.

 When they visited SAFE yesterday, they didn’t intend to fall in love as they recently lost their previous cat. When his owners stood in front of his condo, Simon meowed at them and bunted their hands. Since he spoke up when they were deciding to adopt him, they renamed him Locutus, Latin for ‘the one who speaks’. For short, they’re calling him Locky.

 

4 days: His first adventure out of his safe room wasn’t a big deal. He’s happily napping while his owners are watching a movie. “Just likes being close to us, we couldn’t feel luckier to have found him”.

  1 week: He has really come out of his shell and sleeps on his owner’s pillow. His owners bought him a scratching post and some more toys, but he “can’t get enough pats”. They had 7 friends come over last night and he was getting pats from everyone before snoozing on the couch next to them. He is very social and loves the den they have made out of the TV cabinet. His owners have said “he’s perfect” and it’s a “match made in heaven”. “We appreciate him so much”.

one month

 1 month: “He was way too playful for either of us to keep up, so we got him a brother to play with”. His new sibling, Ninja, is three months younger and they play chase games, wrestle, and play with toys. “It’s a riot. He couldn’t be more spoiled. He’s a pretty happy boy, so much more affectionate now.”

2 months

 

Ruby RIP

 It was noticed that Ruby was breathing with difficulty yesterday so she was taken to the vet instead of the three C's in the play place who are overdue to be desexed. When Dr Chris examined her he found a lump in her abdomen, had trouble with the anesthetic so X-rayed her to find that her lungs were riddled with cancer. The abdominal mass was cancerous as well. It was kindest to put her to sleep. We can console ourselves with the thought that her time with us must have been sweet compared to life on the streets. And her son Simon is safely adopted.

Ruby in March

Fluffy went to the vet too as he was thought to be sluggish on Thursday and Robyn's friend wanted to adopt him. He came back with a clean bill of health. And Robyn and her friend Kathy came this afternoon to adopt him and Little Monster. (I have such an aversion to that name that I can never remember it. I had to check Shelter Buddy just now and I did the adoption this afternoon!) I think Kathy should change her name to Monica and his name to Flavian.

Kathy bought two harness with leads so that "Monica" can get out for walks and so that "Flavian" doesn't miss out either. To demonstrate/try out the ones for sale, I put one on Ginger George who was sitting on one of our two visitor chairs, supervising the adoption (Robyn had to sit on the poof). 

Ginger George's chair

He graciously allowed me to harness him and obediently walked out through the door into Incoming and back to his chair. What a star!

Robyn sent photos just now to show how well they are settling in:

"Monica" on Kathy's lap and "Flavian" finding his comfort zone

An hour and a half later she has "taken over the house":

A granny came to do the paperwork for Pavarotti who is in foster. I shut the granddaughter in the play place with the C kittens while we did the deed. She needed to be pried out of there when we finished. He will be a happy cat.

Robyn's photos are from Wednesday (as I forgot to take any today). She had time to take them while Kathy was falling in love with "Monica" and "Flavian".

Thelma and Louise (R to L or L to R)

Billy (chanelling chicken)

l

Bassuria and Julie

She came

As promised to adopt Tiger and Maxwell. She brought her partner who had to sit on a stool because Tiger was on the guest chair! It will be interesting to see how they get on together. 

A woman arrived earlier to adopt Venus. But Venus hid in her carrier. Her condo mates/sisters were friendly enough but they aren't up for adoption. So I showed all the other available cats and the lovely lady feel for Lucky boy. I am sure they will be happy together as she is an experienced cat owner.

Robyn came to entertain the cats who were out. Helena usually runs around and plays but today Kate came out too. The toy was irresistible. Jagger needed it.

Jagger and Helena watch Kate play

Simon now jumps over the low barrier. He disappeared behind Opie's stand alone and pulled down his cover sheet. . . . just to annoy Opie.

Opie ignores Simon

 

While he was busy, his mum Ruby got head rubs from Robyn and was sent into a state of bliss

Happy Ruby

 

 

 

How many canines does Ginger George have?

I finished putting pockets for nametags on all of the aprons. It really helps to know names of vollies.

Missed out

As expected, several folk came yesterday to adopt Hank having come earlier in the week and not deciding on the spot to take him. They were disappointed. But we do tell folk that we don't "bags" cats. It is a matter of "first out or the house, best dressed."

 I didn't find time to sew the name tag pockets on the rest of the aprons this afternoon. I will try again next Wednesday. And I forgot my pinny so had to wear an apron, with my name on it much to the delight of the few remaining vollies and relief of the visitors.

A pair of young women came to spend time with the cats. Perhaps they came to us rather than go to the cat cafe over the hill on Eastern Valley Way. It is called Jiji's and charges $15 each to spend 20 minutes with their cats. These women spent at least an hour socializing with the cats who were out. They didn't get a cup of coffee though.

And a couple came to check out our cats. I gather they are fosterers and currently have a foster cat for just a few weeks more. They (she rather then he) is well up on our cats for adoption list as well as other shelters' lists. Are they shopping around for the nicest foster cat? Tiger gave them the regal swipe. Ginger George loved them. (But he doesn't need fostering. He needs a home. . . . and more food.)

Ginger George

Robyn caught Helena and Callie investigating his stand alone on Wednesday. (No surplus food there!)

Callie, inside and Helena in GG's stand alone

 

She also got a good photo of Leon who looks better than he did (believe it or not).

Leon

 

Aslan has a scratch on his nose. (When I went to take a photo and my camera battery went flat.) I suspect it was Simon because I'd put everybody else back in to let out Aslan after I let out Simon and Ruby who deigned to come out too. It certainly wasn't Lucky who was back in his condo and he wouldn't scratch a fly. (He made friends with both lots of visitors).

Lucky on Wednesday (Robyn's photo)

When I left Davo was having a wander and Geoff was in charge of the race of the Maggie brood.

Grass is greener

 When it is on the other side of the fence.

Simon

Notice that he is outside the area that usually contains him. To get him back to where he belonged, I lifted the tray of well chewed grass over the fence.

Kate and Simon

And Kate came out of her condo to try some. She usually stays inside while Helena roves around looking for any dishes that might have some left over breakfast in the open condos.

Helena, I think

Virgo has moved to where Coco and her sisters were, next door to Chia. Coco and one of her sisters (Muffin) were adopted over the weekend. The last sister, the shyest one, Venice, is above Thelma and Louise on Better Row. She spent the entire day in her litter box. No way was she moving out of it to let us clean it, or to eat breakfast, or dinner. She is Miserable without her siblings.

Venice

Maggie and her five have moved into the play place. They like it and are masters of the big, ring thing already. While I cleaned their area, Maggie forgot herself and rubbed up against my legs. And at early dinnertime her fluffy tuxedo was so jealously guarding a small toy, growling away his brothers and sisters, that he missed out on dinner. I told Tim who offered to give them a second dinner later.

Lucky day

 Lots of vollies today. I cleaned only one condo which took a good half an hour. Some clever person had put a pot of grass on one of the upper shelves in Luigi, Maria and Princess's stand alone. Some cat knocked it over. There was dirt over everything. Plus one of the ties on their hammock had broken, and water was everywhere and the litter was mostly under the stand alone and not in the litter tray. I forgot (couldn't bear to) take a before photo. Here is the after photo to prove that they can stay clean for more than 5 minutes.

top to bottom: Princess, Maria, Luigi

 

Ginger Meggs is in boarding again. He is to get play time every day. But he refused to come out of his condo today. Perhaps tomorrow. In the meantime, Milo got a good wander. Last time he was out he came when I called him. This time I had to search. He was on the very top of the boxes on top of the food shelves . . . . just to prove that he is a big, strong, athletic cat (and butter wouldn't melt in his mouth).

Milo

Simon likes high places too.

Simon

The surprise of the afternoon was Lucky boy. Cammy had him out on Monday afternoon and said that after an initial hiss, he was very friendly. He was the same this afternoon. He is a delightful fellow, with a kink on the end of his tail. He is good for a pat, a purr, a play and is willing to meet other cats.

Lucky boy

But the lucky cat of the day was Maxwell. Cammy was determined to give him a bath. I was going to help with the bandaging afterwards. But the cat shampoo was locked in the medicine cabinet. He missed out.

Maxwell

Roger's dirty face and grubby coat is probably due to ringworm. He must have the same fungus that Maxwell had when he arrived.

Roger

Still no new bins

 And, the garbos came early! Must be a new crew because as well as being early, they were extra neat. But it means that the bins are already full of yesterday's bags and we will have to all take home a bag or the balcony will be overfilled by next week.

There were adoptions so we had condos to sterilize and cats to move.

Another Stones kitten, Mick, was adopted so only Jagger and Ronnie were left on the play place. They moved into where Rajah and Genie were as they were adopted separately over the weekend. Virgo and her 6 kittens moved into the play place. The kittens had a marvelous time running, jumping, climbing. They will sleep soundly tonight. Virgo found a nice corner to lie in and was quiet for the first time ever.

Marmalade and Duchess were also adopted yesterday. Their condo is now occupied by Narnia and Angel from Quarantine. Cammie had some trouble to get them to go into a carrier and ended up just picking them up and carrying them there. We did the same thing for Jagger and Ronnie. Big kittens are more tractable than adult cats!

Narnia and Angel

Cammy thought it would be a good idea to let out McQueen and Donatella. Previously McQueen played around outside and Donatella stayed in the stand alone. This afternoon she came out to play and had such a good time that she didn't want to go back into the stand alone. Ginger George played ball with them.

Tiger supervised the play

On the other side of the Top Cat barrier, Simon and Maxwell played separately (as long as there was somebody to twitch the toy.) Later Aslan came out, climbed over the Top Cat and settled back to groom himself. When I lifted him back into his condo, he felt damp.

There is a new kitten in Incoming called Roger. He is a mess.

but cute, Roger

No show garbos

 After all Dean's effort to get the poo bags out on time, the garbos didn't come today. Shit!

There were heaps of vollies so the work got done in record time which meant that lots of cats got to be out together with lots of supervisors/cuddlers. Milo thought there was too much action at ground level so jumped to the trolly, to the top of Maxwell's stand alone, then straight up to the top of the condos. All we could see of him were his ears behind the row of carriers. There he stayed until Rosanna arrived with a very tall American, and his daughter (perhaps). He didn't need much talking into to help get Milo down. And Milo didn't need much prompting from the giant. I popped him back into his condo.

Later when the vollies had gone and it was quieter, I let out Maxwell (so that I could change his hammocks). He is a very handsome cat with stricking markings and black balls. Callie thought he was lovely and chirruped at him.

Maxwell and Callie

After I put him back in his stand alone, I was able to pat Callie for the first time ever. She is soft, soft, soft. (Rosie, the fluffy mum stayed in her carry cage, of course.)

Callie

Then I let Aslan out and he had a grand leg stretch and cheek marked every vertical surface. Charlie didn't appreciate Aslan looking at him but everybody else seemed cool.

Aslan

Later we had visitors. One couple came to check out our boarding facilities. They have to go to Argentina to do some family business (her's) which will take at least a month. They met Ginger Megs' folk at a luncheon who mentioned how convenient we are and how happy GM was with us. So they came to check us out. He got the details. She doted on every cat. 

Later a mother arrived with her 2 kids: girl about 8 and boy about 6. The kids, and dad, want a cat. She hasn't had one before. Daughter wants a kitten. Son wants a cat who will love him completely. Mum was undecided. Dad is in Melbourne. They will be back. Today the choice was between Simon, Miranda and Milo. Milo was very good with the overactive, loud boy.

Milo and friend

In Quarantine, where Joy slaved away, there are some kittens who might be added to their not-so-short list:

Aster

Dahlia

And if they are prepared to wait a little longer there is always Adele's three in the Junk Room. And others.

Adele + 3

GGG is back

 Georgous Ginger George is back. Somebody in the family is allergic to cats. He was grumpy today. He swiped at (and damaged) a vollie. But when I went later to tell him how pleased I was to see him, he forgave me and let me take off the collar, with a bell and fluorescent stripes. He is happier now. 

Gorgeous Ginger George

And he has Salazar for a neighbour two doors up, Mia below, Rosie and Callie coming out of seclusion below left.

Rosie and Callie (in front)

There are new cats too. Couldn't get a photo of Charlie and Champ as they were hiding in their carrier. Don't know where Simon, Alvin and Ruby (the mum) came from. They are sticking together in the smallest space in what used to be Rebel's condo. Perhaps his grumpy aura lingers!

Simon, Alvin, Ruby

 Sydney has gone to foster with one of our fabulous vollies.

The wobbly scratchy pole in the Top Cat has been replaced by another of the humungous cat trees that sits by the front door. It fills the Top Cat and is a bit cumbersome to maneuver. But if you slide it around and put it close to the condo doors after opening them and then quickly put the Top Cat frame around it before the cat in the condo makes a bolt for it. . .  it works a treat.

Chika did come out when TDs tempted

The wobblers enjoyed it while it was in the middle before dinner time.

Tibby and Jolene at play

NB: If you let Phantom out while Tibby and Tabby's condo is open, put the food onto the upper level. He is not supposed to eat anything by ZD and Tabby sometimes leaves some crunchies for later.

And there are new big kittens in the "Meet and Greet" Stand alone. Didn't take note of their names. They are more friendly with other cats than with people.

Phantom and phrends

 

Chanel died of parvovirus earlier this week. So we are anxiously watching all the cats for symptoms. 

Late in the afternoon a very nice man came to adopt Aladdin and Jafar. Unfortunately, Aladdin had been adopted the day before. He really wanted two more male kittens to go with his male kitten at home (!) I tried to convince him that a girl kitten would be a good idea but he adopted Jafar and has taken him home. He will be back for another boy kitten when one is available.

Too sick for chicken

 One of the smaller pair of kittens in the stand alone in Incoming is so stuffed up with the flu that she breathes through her mouth and can't smell anything. She is not interested in eating. I couldn't get her to even try some delicious chicken juice. The kitten that came in with her had some. So did the older two who came in earlier. They aren't related. They just couldn't fit anywhere else. But everybody else told me that there is not enough chicken. I gave the plastic bag to Lola to lick and could probably have used it again it was so clean.

The family in the stand alone by the front door sort of liked it. Mum, Ruby definitely had had chicken before.

Ruby

One boy was keen, the other not so much. I don't know which is whom of Alvin and Simon. The boys have fabulous stripes. They have been in a foster home for a while.

Alvin and Simon

A woman came to get her pair of kittens vaccinated and the adoption paperwork done. She was able to take them from their first foster home in time for the kittens to be Christmas presents for her daughters. The kittens have lived with the family ever since and were now, after being given their last vaccination, finally ready to be paid for. She brought one of her daughters with her. The daughter was disappointed that Opey didn't hiss at her as he had the last time she visited!

Opey, IC lobby

One of our boarders did a perfect hand stand when he jumped down from his upper level to get some chicken. Of course, when I went back with the camera later, the hand stand was not quite so long lasting but then, I didn't have any chicken left! (Mine is not a fast, iPhone camera but a Canon really camera)

Tip

Having saved the best news for last:

Rebel has been fostered. By Mariko. And her 22 mice. All in separate boxes. In another room in her flat. 

I would put my money on Rebel.