No bags again

 Thank you Tuesday. But I took the bags our vollies filled out before the Willoughby garbos came just to get rid of them. The first bin whose lid I opened did have some space. And also a rat. . . a live rat who scurried down into the bin's depths. Poor thing will get a surprise when s/he arrives at the landfill. But it might just be the perfect place for a rat to live.

Since last week Chilli, Mouse and Eric have been adopted. I wonder if the person who adopted Chilli was the one who initially wanted Jade. But Jade was adopted by a mum for her kids' holiday pleasure. That didn't turn out well because one of the kids developed a severe cat allergy within 2 days. He hadn't shown signs to other cats in his life. So it was just Jade. Jade is back with her fosterer. 

Pickle has been moved to Eric's stand alone. This afternoon we moved her to the play place because Cindy and Co had it overnight last night. They need a quiet night tonight.

Cindy, Rufus and Indiana (L to R)

Chilli's is empty. And Tim wants to move Yin and Yan into Mouse's condo. But they were perfectly happy to be stroked this afternoon in their separate hidey holes. Sue and I thought that they would regress if shut up in an airless condo. So we left them where they were.

And let Venus and Muffin have a night out in the Top Cat. They were delighted to have a good stretch and scratch.

Venus and Muffin

Miz and Riley came to us because their owner has a terminal disease. They don't need their privacy covering. Riley is very friendly now. Miz perhaps not so much but she will come around.

Riley above, Miz skeptical

Betty's kittens have been named Barry and Blaze (by Sue). They have ringworm and today had a ringworm treatment bath. They did not enjoy it (neither did Sue). But they rather liked being snuggled up in towels on top of fresh hotties.

Barry and Blaze

Each week Lola tries another spot. She is accepting greetings from strangers as well as vollies these days and does nose bops with anybody who feeds her.

Lola

a good Friday

 The traffic was terrific. The parking was plentiful. But Cousins didn't come to empty their bins.

Otherwise it was a good Friday with 11 vollies falling over each other and lots of cuddling going on when I arrived around noon.

With not much to do, I decided that PC needed some beauty treatment. His saliva blackens on exposure to air and where he licks himself is covered with black tar-like stuff. I put some warm water in the big sink and added PC. He didn't like it much. But he is such a gentleman he tolerated it. And he didn't really mind being dried with a towel by Emily. And he really liked being combed with a fine tooth comb while sitting on the visitors chair when he was all dried off. Meanwhile Stephen Gumptioned his condo. PC was quite happy to go back to his condo and was ravenous for his dinner.

Meanwhile Marissa arrived to spend time with her Azlan. Her house is being "fixed" so he is better off with us but she misses him. She pops a harness on him and lets him take her for a walk.

Azlan walkies

While I took this photo a man arrived and said "I am here to pick up Emily". My memory failed me. We don't have a boarder named Emily. Of course not. He came to collect his daughter Emily. And to check out our torties (because he had one in his boyhood). While showing them to him I noticed that Salt was trying to suck on Pickles. He is too big to do that. . . . and she is too skinny to tolerate it. So I let her out. She immediately went back to her previous enclosure.

Pickles pickle

But Yin and Yan are in residence there now. They have come in again from their foster home where they were doing very well. I tried to make lots of covers for them to settle into/under. One had made it out of the hidey hole when I left.

Yin/Yan

Chilli was moved into Mouse's stand alone because his condo is needed for a boarder. He was transported in his plum pudding. That will definitely need to go with him when he is adopted.

Chilli

I reaarranged the two stand alones so that neither Chilli or Eric is in a busy traffic lane. The trolley is back there.

Betty's two kittens are still with us. One is much plumper than the other. Guess which?

Picture perfect

 Barb Webster is a great fan of Deb's paintings of cats. She asked me on Thursday to take photos of the paintings that Deb delivered on Wednesday afternoon. As I was too busy/distracted to take other photos this afternoon, this is the photo element of this blog post!

If you want one, get onto it fast because Arc has contacts with galleries that may want to hang them (and they charge much more commission than we do).

Why was I busy? 

There were visitors. A couple arrived to pick up the microchip specific feeder that Cammy tested on Wednesday and found that it worked. Somebody uploaded it on Thursday to the Facebook page. And the new owner came to pick it up this afternoon. They brought with them a bed to donate. I declined the bed (Cammy will be pleased about that). And an electronic weighing device that is accurate from 200gm. That I accepted with delight. Tim won't have to schlep the Incoming cats out back to weigh them. He will have his own scales if he can only find a free, flat area to put it on (that Opie hasn't claimed as his own)! They, of course,  wanted to visit with the cats.

Then the folk who fostered Lucky boy came to visit him. (He is in Lucky girl's condo). At that time there were various other cats wandering around and they asked why Lucky boy couldn't be out too. I said that we would let him out on his own in the Top Cat later. When I went to introduce myself to him with chicken, he hissed at me. (At least he didn't spit). I think their visit upset him.

Lucky boy

Yin and Yan have gone to a foster home. As have Charlie and Champ. Their condo has been taken by a pair of cats who came from a foster home. All the family came to drop them off (including the foster puppy who will be adopted on Sunday by somebody from Mittagong). Can't remember the names of the cats. . . do you blame me?

And a couple arrived at the same time to check out our cats for a replacement of their dear boy cat. They want a girl this time and rather fancied the Stones black cats. But who can tell who is the girl and who is the boy? I don't like your chances of getting near them with a microchip reader just yet. (At least they didn't chomp on my finger at chicken time this afternoon.)

Bassuria's left eye has gone a funny colour. Chris, the vet, thinks that it might have to be removed. He was feeling better today than on Wednesday. . . . he claimed all the chicken as his. Poor Julia is back to being No 2.

Bassuria's left eye

And boarders arrived . . . . . except for Jolene who was due to come but hadn't arrived by the time I left at 4:15pm.

And Steph visited with her foster cats. (We gave her the dog bed, Cammy).

Traffic chaos

 I was very late today because all the traffic from the beaches had been channeled into Mona Vale Road. We crawled up the hill. I could have walked faster. But it was rather nice to have the time to examine the rock walls and the ferns and the waterfalls cascading down the man-made drains. 

 

Nevertheless, I got to SAFE before the garbos had come so got rid of lots of poo bags. There had been a clean out of the junk room/store room over the weekend which generated bags of old towels, mattress covers, etc, etc. I binned some of them too. Some I put on the shelves which are now full. Others I gave to a vollie who is about to become a WIRES vollie and the price of that membership is some old towels, pillowslips, cloths, etc. She went off very happy to have found a source.

 

The clean out of the store room is because it will become the Isolation Room when we get John's play room just to the right of our front door. This is supposed to happen in 7 days. Imagine!

 

The cleaning crew got through their work in record time. Not being able to play with the cats makes it much faster. I got my kitty cuddle by having to move Ginger George into the main cat room because he is now available for adoption again. We both enjoyed the cuddle.

Ginger George

He is in Chikka's condo because she was adopted this morning. (I wasn't aware that she was available until she was gone.) She went with an older woman whose cat has recently died and she can't be happy without a cat. 

 

On Sunday Demi and Winnie were adopted. Their stand alone was set up to receive Paul tomorrow at 11am. I understand that he was the second cat that we adopted. It must have happened before we got these premises. There is no record of him on this blog. His name has been changed to Mr Milo.

The condo cards say that there are 9 tiny kittens where Yin and Yan used to be. I didn't see them. So far they well. We need to keep strict parvo protocols to ensure that they stay uninfected. Chanel will be coming back soon as she is much improved but some other kittens in Incoming are not well.

Irresistable Peach

 They came back early to get Peach today. She didn't really want to get into a carry cage but luckily Tim did the adoption and the transfer so no blood was shed. Here is the proof:

"Please Clean" on Pearch's condo

You can tell it was in the later part of the afternoon because Yin and Yan are out on observation duty. There is a plan afoot to move them to the pair of condo's with the connecting hatch currently occupied by Lucky and Suki.

A couple came in today looking for a "bonded" pair. They were after Midnight and Pumpkin but as they don't want the cats until Feb 20. . . . that train has left the station. They will keep an eye on the website between now and then now that they have met everybody. 

If the move of Yin and Yan works well, I suggested that Sydney be added to the mixture so that that family of boys can be reunited. 

Chikka has been moved to next to Max (on the other side from Libby)

Chikka

She was a bit shocked. She had been in boarding and Rosanna let her out for a wander this afternoon. Salazar spotted her and chirruped in a very suggestive manner. 

Archie was adopted yesterday (or Thursday) by the person who was going to foster him. Chessy has moved into his condo. She has had some changes in the last week or so! (From male to female, desexed, moved).

Chessy

She is now next to Rebel who was playing with his ping pong ball after chicken time.

Rebel

A pile of cat carriers went to the vet for check ups this afternoon: Jolene, the little kitten in Incoming with the underdeveloped legs, Tiger with the funny tummy and Puss with no teeth.

Midsummer's big day

 I picked her up from Catsie's at noon. She snoozed in the car all the way to Safe Haven. Jayde claimed cuddle rights as soon as we walked in the door. (Midsummer lived with her when she was first found as a newborn on the street). I sent them to the play place where Florence was stretching her legs. Midsummer and Florence remembered that they didn't like each other. So Flo went back to her crate.

Midsummer is four times as big now

Then her adopter arrived. She asked if she could do the paperwork today and her sister would pick her up on Monday! What? The deal was take her today because we are full. We have no space for her. She could have stayed at Catsie's until next week. The adopter was convinced to take her today for which I am very grateful because Tim was there to guide me through the Shelterbuddy maze. It seems to have lots of quirks that weren't on the practice version. . . . just press refresh (F5) says Tim.

She got the fancy cloth carrier and a bag full of litter, food samples and paperwork and set off to Burwood by bus and train, then another train and another bus. I am glad she had a run around with Florence and some lunch before she set off. 

Then a couple arrived to investigate the possibility of trying out a kitten. He was keen. She is allergic to mites and remembers sneezing mightily when she slept with a pair of long haired cats as a child. The dry food we feed the cats is supposed to decrease the allergic-ness of cat hair and dander. Will it work for her? I suggested that they foster to adopt to try it out but Tim says we don't have any cats suitable at the moment. So they talked and talked and will probably be back tomorrow to adopt Bart. He really wanted Maggie but she hasn't been desexed yet because of her heart murmur.

Bart and Lisa

Then a pair of folk came to inspect us and our procedures to make sure we are a safe place to work. They wanted to know all about our fire escape plan, if we used safety harnesses when working more than 1.6 m off the ground, if our power tools were all safety checked, etc, etc. Amazing amount of paperwork for a one roomed establishment on the first floor of a fairly new building. While she ticked the not applicable boxes, he decided that he needs a tuxedo kitten like Bean or Dynamo

Dynamo

to go with his small grey and white kitten. He might be back tomorrow too. He really fancied Oreo but somebody else might want her.

Oreo f

Or there is Violet.

Violet

Not to mention Yan and Yin. We are spoiled for choice of tuxedos at the moment.

I thought that Yoko and Linda were adopted yesterday because they disappeared from the website. But it turns out that they don't have microchips.