Adoption tails: Lucky 14th

 On Sept 14 this year, Miko, Shadow and Wilson were adopted.

Miko

Miko

Her new owner enthuses:

1 day: "She has been very calm and friendly using her litter tray and eating her food she’s enjoying the sunny spots looking out at the garden.
She’s a great explorer and is very nosey. She is watching me work at the moment and keeps my chair warm when I have a stretch I think she’s going to be a great addition to our family”
1 week: "Miko is divine and such a good girl. No accidents with litter tray and full of fun. She has started to play with toys. We bought her some treats from the vet and built her a climbing area which she loves. Miko has settled in incredibly well and seems very happy."
1 month: "Miko is such a sweet girl she loves watching Dr Jeff Rocky Mountain vet whilst having cuddles She has settled in great no accidents and she loves playing with her toys. She loves a nap in the sunshine”

Shadow

Shadow

1 week: Her new owner had a house visit as she had a couple of questions about set up and nail clipping. Shadow is otherwise settling in very well.
1 month: Shadow is doing very well. Her owner is very grateful for the nail clipping visit. Shadow was a bit frightened but with the "expert's" tips even her new owner's partner was finally able to clip them this week.

Wilson

Wilson

1 day: "He did really well for his first night with us. He's very affectionate and always tries to stand next to us. He's claimed a spot in one room that he goes to whenever there's a noise outside that freaks him out, not a big fan of the gardener with his leaf blower”
1 week: Wilson has been amazing, settled in comfortably and is very affectionate.
1 month: Wilson is doing great. Always playing or sleeping. And is the star of some lovely videos.

Computer failure

 It is not a long way to the limit of my understanding of computers. When the screen told me that it was running out of battery I jiggled all the wires that I could see, turned it off and back on again. It worked for long enough for me to process Bodhi and Tara's adoption and then turned itself off again. Thank you computer. Tim is sure that he can fix it and that the fault is just the new desk and the new set up on Sunday. The desk is closer to the front door. . . . . just beside the poster with pictures of paralysis ticks. I think I should move that so the our visitors can see it more easily.

Bodhi and Tara were adopted by a couple who fell in love with their photo on our web page. Turns out that they used to have a cat who looked just like them except that he had a mark beside his nose that looked like he had a runny nose. Our Bodhi and Tara do not have that. They are perfect. And behaved perfectly. The husband was sent to "do the deed" because if the wife came "she would have adopted every cat in the shelter". I showed him our other pairs but he was fixated on B & T.

Magnus has gone. . . . . to foster with Fiona. Perhaps to adopt if he gets on well with Windsor. Overnight signs are all good. He will be missed in the shelter. But I must admit that the cleaning gets done quicker when he is not in need of somebody cuddling him while his condo is straightened. Once Fawny gets his eye sorted (he has the same problem as Schnitty had. . . . an in-turned eyelid with the eyelashes scratching his cornea) we will be able to dispense with one vollie per session!

Yesterday afternoon we accepted a 14 year old cat, Kitbells whose owner has been moved into a dementia unit and nobody in the family can take her. She is in shock, of course. But this afternoon when I talked to her (she had not eaten her breakfast) she rolled over so that I could tickle her tummy.

Kitbells

I didn't take up her offer. Even a 14 year old can change her mind in a flash.

Naughty corner is now naughty row. Two of the cats, Max and Gus from Incoming who hid in a carrier in the two story stand alone have been moved there. I expected there to be two cats in the box when I stuck the camera into their condo. Wonder where the other one is hiding?

Max/Gus

Their "mum" Willow is under Tiger, who came out for a chat today, again! Willow does not want to talk to anybody.

Willow

Soxy's second chance

 First, go to yesterday's Adoption Tails to look at the lovely photo of Collette sent by her new owners. No photo of Candy, unfortunately.

They were two vollies down this morning at Safe Haven. Robyn to the rescue. She came in and helped Sophia who is a brand new vollie. Later in the day, Sophia brought her mother by to meet the cats. She cooed at them in Hungarian and all the cats understood every word she said. Pommie was particularly receptive. She is a girl, 5 years old, no history yet.

Pommie

 

 

Archie, next door was not quite so ready to make friends although he did warm to me later (or was it to my chicken fingers?)

Archie

 

Petal is without her cone as is Magnus. They both looked more relaxed. And Wilson was in the play place all afternoon. Initially when there he walked around growling. Today he was happy enough getting pats from me while I ate my lunch with him. But when I opened the balcony door and noises came in from downstairs he was a bit grumbly. I never finished my lunch because a mother and daughter arrived to adopt Spot and Smudge. They have always had 3 cats but are down to one so wanted males to get their numbers up to normal. The finger test didn't determine which was who. And they were equally friendly to their new family. Kittens adapt so well, sometimes.

Even Harper and Scout are more relaxed. Their sibling Latte is to be brought in tomorrow "from the wild". That might set them back a bit. Or, perhaps, they will tell Latte how delicious chicken is.

Harper and Scout

There are new kittens in Incoming called Quinn, Sidney, Yin and Yang. I could only see one.

Looks like a Yang to me

But the very best news of the day is that Brandon came, sat with Soxy for ages and adopted him. He has his flat all set up with the box that his fridge came in on its side with another box with a comfy blanket in it along with a litter tray etc in his bedroom. He works from home, on the phone, so Soxy will always have somebody nearby. He has had lots of shy cats in his 21 years.

Soxy meets his new owner

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

Will Silky stick?

 Soxy is back. His new owner is frightened of him. He was very pleased to see me this afternoon. I think he, like Mini, is really happy to be back home.

Soxy

 

Wilson went to the vet this afternoon for his vet check. So I took Petal into the play place to see how she would cope. She was fine while I sat on the floor with her while she explored. Then I got my lunch and took off my mask and she hid under the tall scratchy pole. After lunch, Robyn arrived as did some customers. Katie was going through the paperwork with another woman who adopted Daisy. So I popped the masked Robyn in with Petal. They had a lovely time. Lots of cuddles and happy to be carried back to her condo. Do masks make us more appealing to cats?

Petal

The customers were a mum and her two kids (under 10). They have been enjoying looking after a pair of older cats that a friend left with them when she went overseas. Covid struck, the friend was stuck overseas, the kids really got used to having cats to play with. Then the friend came back and claimed her cats back. They thought initially that they'd like older cats like the ones they looked after. So I introduced them to Marigold and Mini who both behaved beautifully and let little kids pat them (Who'd a thunk it!) After lots of consultation with mum, photos taken, extra pats with Patches (who didn't behave very well and George hid) they chose Tip (because that will make more boys in the family than girls). 

Tip

Tim quickly vaccinated him and they took him home. Lucky Tip will have a great life. And perhaps Socks will accept Mo as a hammock mate now.

Alice brought in her kittens (in floods of tears). They hid in the box until I coaxed them out with a magic ping pong ball. There are two black kittens, Barrington and Hiccup. Barrington is bigger. The tuxedo is Momo and the tabby is Gia.

Momo

Gia and Barrington or Hiccup

Looks like a shop

We have new shelves for merchandise. They look lovely when sparsely stocked. I took the rest of the items from on top of the condos where Billie was (no surprise that she was adopted on Monday at 10am!) As I dusted the top of those condos I was reminded of the cat who kept escaping from the condo he shared with his sister and retreating to the top of those condos. I cornered him there once and conned him into walking into a cat carrier. What was his name? I tried going back through the database but no names lept out at me. If I go back through this blog it will take hours. I moved all the cat beds there and they look more desirable now as a line of beds rather than a pile of beds.

Dolly and Mo were desexed yesterday. Dolly had one arm outside her collar when I arrived and she had spilt her water and rolled in the puddle so my shirt got wet when I picked her up to put her arm back where it belonged. Mo is her daughter (Why did I assume she was a boy? Was it the name? Could Mo be short for Maureen, Mouse, Monica? and not Moustache?) Mo wears her collar as a tutu. I think it will have to be cut off as she is such a skitty kitty (Mouse is a good name for her). I will take my good, sharp scissors with me on Friday. The scissors at Safe hardly cut paper).

Talking of changing names: Perhaps Sarah should be called Burrito. She wrapped herself tightly in her blanket and only came out at the end of the day. She was happy to be patted through the blankets.

Wilson has been moved to the play place because Harry and Harley were adopted on Saturday. (Well Done Terry). He is not a happy cat. When somebody goes to sit with him, he walks around growling and grumbling. I think he is telling us how unhappy he is to have been abandonned by his people. He loves pats and is very gentle. He even likes children. The bloke who works down the corridor and his daughter who lusts after a cat visited (again) this afternoon. I chucked her in with Wilson and he treated her just the same as the adults. . . . mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble, keep patting me, growl, complain . . . .

Last week Katie and I decided that Lasagne is a dreadful name for a cat and changed this ginger cat's name to Laurie on the assumption that he was a boy from a glimpse at his rear end.

But it turns out that s/he has some GI tract disease that will require 3 pills a day for a month, 2 pills for the next month and a pill a day for the last month. S/he will be with us for a while. Such a relief that s/he is such a nice cat.

What goes around. . . .

A beautiful cat was surrendered today because his people plan to go travelling around Australia. His name is Wilson. But his name was Merry. He was adopted, as a kitten, from AWL in January, 2017. Unfortunately I don't have a photo from then. But do you recognise him?

He arrived with a very tearful owner and a trolley load of litter and food. Other cats arrived to take our numbers above the 50 who were there when I arrived early. I came with a gift of 6 pots of grass from Catsie. As they were such tall pots of grass I gave them to our adult cats, like Red.

Coco chewed on her's and Mason's and had a gratifying upchuck (which is exactly what Catsie's cat did when she taste tested the pots.) The nice man who came on Wednesday and took a photo of Snowy came back with his wife. Snowy was gone but Patches was on display because before breakfast I took away her and George's squat box. She retreated upstairs to the comfy bed, he stayed downstairs in the corner. After breakfast I gave them a taller, shorter box into which I cut two windows. George moved in but Patches stayed upstairs in a comfy bed. She stayed there all day long being a sensible cat. The wife rather fancied Dolly (who doesn't!) mostly because she is mostly white and they have cream carpets. All our cats are shedding hair at the moment. The wife was worried about black hair on her carpet. She rather liked Petal.

The lovely Kristine who rescued Petal brought in Tabitha, another cat from the same colony.

She had spent a lot of time cuddling with Petal, so Petal was in a very mellow mood until she saw the nice man's hat. When he took it off she was fine. Everybody was wearing masks but none of the cats seem to be phased by masks. I moved Mini's stand alone to the corner where she was before. She is happy there. Sue came this afternoon and wanted character references for each cat for the web page. I went from cat to cat, patting and chatting. That was when I discovered that Max seemed to have trouble fitting through the porthole in the single condo. So I put him into a stand alone. He complained loudly for a while but soon settled down and by dinner time, was quite happy with his position by the front door. It must be good luck to have a black cat beside your front door.