Midsummer madness

 As you can imagine I carefully checked that Mayka was in her stand alone when I arrived this morning. She was. And the rubbish men had not come yet so I hurried around collecting the black bags on the verandah to take down to other people's not quite full garbage bins. Then I noticed that Remi's condo door was wide open. I walked carefully down naughty row and her condo was in a state of disorder (not uncommon with Remi) but her igloo had lost a leg and was on its side. I was VERY releaved when I was greeted by the usual Remi hiss-spit. She was on her upper ledge, at the back, as usual (unless there is food on offer). What a relief.

After that the day went smoothly despite a new vollie having to drop out late last night because her husband has Covid. Catsie came instead so I had a full team who worked like a dream. Thank you.

They were all high on the fact that Pete and Buddy got adopted on Monday. I scrubbed out their condo trying to put all the energy in it to keep them from coming back to it.

Wanda has a new kitten called Midsummer. It is grey and much smaller than the rest of her collection. She seems to have accepted it very well and her neck is looking much better with the anitibiotic cream. 

Midsummer in the middle

We have new cats including a pregnant mum, Violet who didn't give birth today.  Her expression indicates that she has never done anything that could lead to that!

Violet

And Duke, out back in Boarding who needs twice daily eye drops. It looks like his right eyelid is missing. He is very patient with strangers who insist on dropping cold liquid into his eye.

Duke

Next to  Duke is Stephi who has just been desexed, as has Amy's Annie.

Stephi

And we have another Peanut where Tammy used to be. (Tammy is slowly settling into Tim's house full of cats). I doubt that this Peanut will be as charming as the last one, but live in hope for another miracle.

Peanut

Baby names

 Sorry about no blog last night. The modem decided to go wrong, even though all the lights were shining. I left it to think about it overnight. This morning there were no lights so I turned it off, waited a bit and then back on again. It seems to have worked.

We had a quiet day yesterday. The only visitors were fosterers who came to pick up more baby cat food.

We were thrilled by the "Please clean" sign on Tammy's condo. We assumed that Tim has taken her with him on holiday. I wanted to leave it there to surprise and delight the rest of this week's vollies. But Irene assures me that we need every available condo for the raft of kittens that she has parked on foster carers. So I gave it a deep clean, with bleach, gumption, muscle power. . . . the full Monty.

There is only one boarder whose owner is very devoted and wants daily reports on how she is settling in. There are 70 other cats in residence, and one rabbit. Only 9 of the cats are on the Safe webpage ready for adoption.

Valentine is a new cat in Iso, aged 15. Her owner has moved to the old people's home. The kids were coming by occasionally to feed her. She is desperate for the kind of companionship that she is used to.

Valentine

Trixie overnighted in the play place. She had a marvellous time and needed a good long sleep today to recover. I tried the Ragdolls there (separately). Augustus grumbled and grouched until he found the dog scratchy pole (brand name Buono Fido!) to curl up in to go to sleep. He wouldn't come out when it was time to go back to his condo. So I had to carry him in the scratchy pole to the condo. When there, he promptly got out of it, of course.

Augustus

Darcee settled in well after Augustus (and fogging). He curled up and napped until I joined him for lunch. Then he sat beside me. He didn't want my salad. He just wanted pats. He is a nudger: stop patting him and he will prompt you to continue by nudging your hand. Cute!

There is a new cat below Augustus named Lee-Lee (as opposed to Lele). She is young and very sweet. Don't know her story.

Lee-Lee

The newborn kittens have names. Three of them came from Jayde's when Wanda was with them and knew that they were not her kittens. They are Pickles: the calico, Racoon: the tabby with swirls and Squiggle: the tabby with parallel lines. Sandy and I decided that Wanda's own kitten, the ginger should be a Q name and chose Quentin if a boy, and Queeny if a girl. I changed the birthing towel for a clean one.

Another Darcy

 Except this one is spelled Darcee. Does this mean that it is a girl? No, according to the database he is a boy. He is also a shaved Ragdoll. 

Darcee

And he also came from Mona Vale Vets just like Augustus did. Evidently Augustus was dumped on their doorstep tick paralysed. He didn't have a microchip so they just guessed at his age. They both could go to foster homes and be immediate foster fails they are so friendly.

Linda brought in Smoochie and her kittens. We are to keep Smoochie who has a similar tummy upset to Jacky. Perhaps they could share a condo and bitch about how having a litter of kittens messes with your guts.

Smoochie

Her three kittens were microchipped and vaccinated and taken home by Linda who already has homes for them. This makes 7 kittens that she has found homes for after fostering them. She also used to foster rabbits and says that bunnies like dark green greens like kale, watercress, bok choy leafy bits, etc. And if they don't poo they need to be given pineapple juice. It seems that if rabbits are not regular they quickly become ex-rabbits.

Shortly after 3 there were two phone calls about Amelia's kittens. I said "first come, first choice". Two parties arrived almost simultaneously. An elderly gent had his heart set on Aurora. She was a gift from the "Computers for Old Folks" group that he has run for years. He is a very experienced cat owner with a 3 bedroom flat full of cat trees and toys. 

The second party was a pair of young women who fancied Kiwi. Tim dealt with them while I did the oldies. And now Amelia has a stand alone all to herself.

Diego is on the to be adopted list. Somebody must have told him to look cool.

Diego

I don't know why Nipper isn't on the list. If I don't pat him when I go to his condo he reaches out for my hand in a gesture that could be mistaken for a swipe but he doesn't mean it that way.

Nipper

And last thing in the day, Tammy shows herself. I suspect she wants a smooch from Tim.

Tammy

Chicken lick'n kittens

I defrosted the chicken that I had not finished some weeks ago in the microwave. It has a "frozen dinner" option which I tried. Mistake. I checked it after 2 minutes and the middle was frozen and the edges were boiling. So everybody who had a nose knew there was chicken and had to wait. Kendra in the Boarding area is the furthest away from the kitchen and she was keen for food/chicken. Meanie me didn't give her any because despite being on a strict ID diet, her tummy is bloated to pregnancy size yet again. All her kittens are together again, out of isolation. They didn't get any chicken either, just in case.

Everybody out back loved their chicken. I gave Silky, Petey and Pearl a good pat and Ebony and Casper ate from the dish that I held (the first step)

Ashleigh would have done the same but she has gone. . . . home with Sandy who has a spare room just waiting for a foster cat. Lucky Ashleigh. The Hungergame kittens went wild for chicken. But they go wild for any kind of food. I took advantage of having chicken sticky hands to give them all a good cuddle. They then spent 15 minutes licking themselves and each other clean. While I was with them, Mimi, who has been moved to the corner on the other side of the door, wailed for her share of chook. When I gave her some she not only let me pat her but she purred. It is the chicken, not my magic touch.

Sooty and Tammy will not play the love chicken/love me game. And Marmalade would if only I was Tim. But Soxy loved both chicken and pats, as did Bridie. And Matty and Maddie only play give me the chicken or I will rip your hand off. They are going to a foster home tomorrow. The fosterer is coming on the bus. Irene has, I hope, arranged for a vollie to drive them all back home to Maroubra.

The one small containter of chicken didn't last very long which was good because I had to leave early to attend my nephew's daughter's naming ceremony at a synagogue in Woolhara. The container was scrupulously cleaned by Harry and Harley.

Gone

Shumai. Of course. His new person was on the doorstep at 10am on Thursday morning. (Shumai was posted on Pet Rescue and our website on Wednesday around noon). I had told the other enquirers on Wednesday afternoon to phone before they set off for Safe Haven. Pity they didn't come to fall in love with somebody else.

Like Baby. . .  who is a female. I judged her a male because of her lovely round face and affectionate ways. Perhaps, as she is 13 years old, we should change her name to Babette.

Although, perhaps some of Shumai's success could be because of his "Chinese" name. Ask all your Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, etc friends what are the cutest names for cats that they know.

But the significant thing that is gone is the huge wall "art". As soon as I walked in (with the litter) this afternoon, I realised something was different. It took a little while to realise what the difference was. It is as though a black, frowning cloud has been lifted from our space.

So I checked with Tim who agreed that Buffy should be removed from above Tammy. He suggested that she take over Shumai's condo. She is such a social cat, she will enjoy being part of the action from the middle. 
Doesn't she look a happy cat!

Buffy

Haley and Harold are happy too because their wheely cage us just under the heater. 

Haley and Harold

Then I noticed that Octavia's condo was open. I hopefully asked if she was at the vets being desexed. She was . . . so we didn't have to search for her. Quartro was there too. I offered to go pick them up. Tim was planning on doing it which would have made him very late home tonight (after last night's meeting which lasted until 10pm). 

We put Quatro into  Jasmine's condo because as soon as she has recovered from her op, she will be adopted. Octavia needs more work.

Enough excitement for one day

It started quietly enough with Joy wrangling kittens out the back and me cleaning the welfare cats. 

We had finished all but the three wild ones who Tim brought from Lauren's. They were supposed to be "sweet" when given to us, but either the process has been upsetting for them or the donors lied. Or perhaps they didn't like the names chosed for them: Winston (ginger), Wesley and Tammy. They were in the condo below Scarlett as a hissing, spitting trio. Tim decided that they should be separated to give them a chance to be socialized. We set up sheets as barriers to make a straight path to the condo where Shivers was. Tim donned his gauntlets. Tim grabbed the cat he wanted but Tammy hightailed it to freedom.

Silly girl chose to bolt behind the condo block adjacent to the ghastly wall art. Sienna had tried that before so Tim had a method involving a broom. We again set up "barriers" of blankets and sheets to direct her to the nearest condo. The broom was inserted and the cat shot straight out and up the huge climbing tree. Luckily I was standing beside it and grabbed her and threw her into the condo. It was over in two seconds. No blood was drawn. My heart beat fast for five minutes. 

So the ferals are sorted. They will soon be tamed by tender words, food and love.

Next door (below Kimmy) are four little kittens and their mother who hides under the bed. The kittens are friendly. Charlie was prepared to play footsies with one of them.

Charlie

Joy played with another

 Smokey was surrendered this morning. She walked out of her carry case into the condo but would not say goodbye nicely  to her person. There was a clash with a dog at home. I doubt she will be with us for long.

Smokey

Samantha was very keen to be patted so I decided to wipe the gunk from her eyes. She didn't like my choice of cloth so I had to do it with my fingers which I washed three times and F10'd throughly. Candace is full of flu. But her kittens don't seem to be infected.