Tortie corner

Barb Webster gave us a cat clock. Today, I finally got around to installing it with Rod's help (after I dropped the one, tiny screw and we put the battery in the right way round). I put it over the feeding table so that the cats out back can enjoy it's wagging tail and sweeping eyes. Buddy and Petey were enthralled.

I also dangled feather toys from the ceiling in the outer office to give the cats there something to look at. They only like them when they move. There is a tortie corner there with a new Harley. As a tortie she is obviously a girl and by the look of her tummy, she was recently a mum.

Joy spent time smooching with Apricot, yet another tortie, who really does like to be loved on. (They both do!)

Don't know what happened to Max, son of Misty but there is a bonded pair in the perspex place. They are Bobby (friendly with a squinty left eye) and Doel (below).

Don't know what the outcome of Pearl's vet visit was. She is happy in her new condo and even happier with a new bed (sans poos and hair balls). Her nose looks a little less encrusted.

Rod gave Mixa a clean bed which he loved too.

No adoptions today but a Chinese family will be back with their 15year old son on Saturday to see if he likes Oscar as much as they did. The kid will fall in love.

Musical condos

Stop the music when Prue is exhausted. Because Pearl went to the vet this afternoon, Irene, with Tim's approval, instituted a major move of cats. All those who are available are out front, those who need more time are out back and only boarders are in Boarding, except for Kendra. Kendra and her kittens are on special diets. Kimmy was very flat today so was put into the sick bay in the outer office. She yelled so loudly that they brought Kate to keep her company. It perked Kimmy up.

The person who adopted Sage came back and adopted Sugar as well. How sensible is that! And a nice man came in looking for a black and white cat (not a kitten) and was talked into Sammy. So two wheely cages were free. I moved Roscoe into Sammy's and Whiskey and Socksie into Sage's. They were delighted to be out of the outer office. And first thing they did was to introduce themselves to their neighbours. Later Steph came, with lashings of litter, and spent lots of time giving them all cuddles which was exactly what they (both 2 and 4 leggeds) all needed.

And Coco the 11 year old Burmese arrived. She is in Celeste's condo. I don't know where Celeste is . . . . I hope in a foster home. Strange that we have two Burmese cats in residence and they are both called Coco. This Coco will not be with us for long, is my guess.

I moved Baxter into Roscoe's condo. Pearl went into Baxter's condo out back when she got home from the vets. I moved Misty into Pearl's condo and then Romeo and Juliette into Misty's condo (that was an exciting job as Romeo decided not to be picked up but did a runner from the carry cage that I had enticed him into with chicken. He ran into Myuki's condo mid sterilization and I cornered him into the carrier to deliver him to his girlfriend. Neither seemed very thrilled.) A lovely couple came and adopted Mako. He was posted on Facebook and Instagram and created a positive storm of interest. The new owners are experienced with shy cats and I think he will settle well with them. I moved Myuki into Mako's condo and then Anthony and Cleopatra into Myuki's condo. In between each move the condos were sterilized, of course. I am knackered. But I did manage to update all the sheets that tell which cat is where.

The charm of Valentino

We were down to 72 cats when I arrived this morning. And then Terry came to take Kendra and her four kittens to Mona Vale. And I took Apricot to Beaches Vet in Manly Vale because Tim forgot to take her yesterday. Down to 66 when I got back in time for breakfast.. . . except I was really LATE for breakfast according to the cats. Since last Friday only Bonnie and Sandy have been adopted so it must be the boarders going home that made all the difference. And today a lovely couple who live locally and just happened upon us adopted Button. They have a quiet older, black cat and a rabbit so wanted a younger friendly, chatty kitten to perk up the house which has three kids including an HSC candidate. It was the husband who made the decision. The wife would have taken the smallest kittens who happen to be Sylvi, Sylvester and Dudley (he has white on his face) who are in the stand alone cage next to Sugar. (Sage was taken home yesterday.)

During the day a woman rang to adopt Valentino. ???. By a process of elimination, I guess he is the ginger boy in the stand alone in incoming. He has a shaved area and a red spot on his jaw. Seems a sweet boy. She said that she knows him from his foster home and wants him. I told him to phone Tim tomorrow (my standard response).

Max across the way is just as good looking.

But the most charming, delightful thing I discovered to day was . . . . . the store room which is clean, tidy, with shelves. THANK YOU Irene and Peter and whoever else helped.

Caesar adopted

Thursday was a bumper adoption day. Caesar was adopted. As were Gale and Primrose. I thought that the nice couple who came on Wednesday afternoon came back to get Gale. But they wanted him as a companion for their 2yr old girl cat. And Gale and Primrose were adopted by the same people. So it seems unlikely that the couple would have adoped two kittens to keep their shy cat company. Never mind. There is still a black kitten from that litter in the play place along with a tabby girl. We hope for a record breaking Saturday with Terry. Belle's kittens were looking more frisky today. They hadn't eaten all their crunchies. But they weren't ID crunchies so perhaps they didn't taste right.

The Japanese kitten who was adopted last weekend came in to be boarded over this weekend. He cried himself to sleep after lunch but then revived for a game. Pity we couldn't put him back with his mum and two remaining siblings. His name is now Maxwell.

My afternoon of "improving cat behaviour" was disrupted by having to pick up the new cats in Incoming, Whiskey, Socksie and Max from Warringah mall where they had been sent for desexing and deliver Honey and her two kittens back to Clare in Dee Why. The fosterer who first "found" Honey (actually Honey found her when she just turned up on the doorstep) wants to adopt her and the two kittens. So we can stop trying to think of two H names. The kittens are both female. . . Haley, Holly, Honoria, Hester. . . . . And Tim recounted that the foster children had named Whiskey and Socksie. They don't know about Scotch. Plus, they called the kitten without the white socks Socksie. Whiskey is the one with the socks! I tried to get a photo of Lillian who smooches the glass when you walk by. But when you open her door, she backs off. And she doesn't perform if there is a camera pointed at her.

But Pearl is happy to knead her bed despite a camera in her face.

Incoming welcome

Now that we do not have any sick cats who need to be isolated, the outer office has an "Incoming" area. With occupants who must have come in last night after I talked to Tim at 4:45 pm. They are Whisky and Socksie (who should have been named Scotchie with a brother named Whiskey!) They take their job of welcoming seriously.

There were 81 cats in house despite the number adopted over the weekend. I had plenty of volunteers to fill in the gaps of Rod having to leave early to get his jab, and Katey arriving late because she has been worked hard housesitting dogs. But Catsie dropped by to help so everybody was happy. The Hungergames kittens (formerly the Gooey eyed kittens) are in the play place because all bar two of Silky's kittens are left and one of them, Sage has been adopted and will be picked up on the weekend. The Hungergames kittens are great purrers so should be snapped up quickly. A couple inspected each available cat/kitten this afternoon to choose a companion for their 2yr old girl cat and he liked Dale (Hungergame boy) but she liked the grey Japanese. So they went away to think about it.

Another couple came to get a little kitten. Any little kitten. The littler the better. The grey and white fluffy Japanese kitten appealed to her but he perhaps wanted something smaller. They may come back later. I did not show them Honey's kittens who are deliciously little. Barb Webster, who visited later, would have taken them home except that she knows how much work tiny kittens are.

Robyn had a lovely time with "her" litter. Button was not interested in eating today. But Belle is.

Just in case you wondered, Ashleigh is still with us. She looked perfectly relaxed on top of her carry cage this afternoon until I put the camera against her perspex to get a good photo. Too close, Prue.

And Mia and Bella still love each other despite the fact that they really need to be adopted. They would love each other much more if they had a little more space.

Ginger Express

There was a superfluity of day managers this afternoon: Tim, Irene, Katy and me. I busied myself filling the laundry shelves. They are full. I might have to relocate the feeding puzzles on the bottom shelf under the handtowels. . . . next week. Belle's kittens are no longer in quarantine. They are back where they were, above Ashleigh. While I fed Ashleigh some chicken, they tried to pat my hair with their paws. The idea is to get Ashleigh comfortable enough to take the food from my fingers, so I have to lean in to the back of her sleeping shelf because she backs herself into a corner. Which puts my head at the perfect patting place for Belle's kittens. They don't need to be enticed to be patted. Since Wednesday Skylar and Scooter have been adopted (the littlest kittens). We cleaned their condo and moved the Japanese family in there. They, being grey, will probably go over the weekend. Mimi won't have noisy downstairs neighbours for long.

Then I cleaned the quarantine condos, again. I really will put my headlamp into my glovebox for next time. Finished that job, I started to hand out chicken. Daisy wouldn't eat it. Mako wanted cuddles before chicken. Romeo ate it out of the bowl. I still haven't seen Juliet (or is it vice versa). I got around the corner and had a lovely head scrunching with Silky (!) and a stand off with Ebony (as usual) when Tim declared that he was off to collect cats. I'll go, says I. You have more important stuff to do. I picked up Magnus who has had his eyelid stitches removed.

He made a few comments on the way home. And Caesar who had three teeth removed including a canine. He will be on soft food for a few days. While I was gone, Daisy got adopted by the perfect woman for her. They will snuggle and love each other forever. Katy did the adoption. Daisy and her new owner are both camera shy.

Quarantine rearranged

The condos from in front of the desk have been moved into the "front office" to be quarantine accomodation. The stand alones/wheely cages have been moved to their space. I understand that we will get more shelving for the For Sale carriers.

Marigold, Gracie and Bridie have been moved with their condos into quarantine even though they are not in quarantine. . . . confused? I cleaned the condos that had been occupied by Candy and Collette, Daphne (who was adopted by the person who came to met Sprinkles but fell for her instead) and Apricot. Next time I will bring my head torch with me to see the grubby bits clearly. It was a good thing that I cleaned them because Buttons, the smallest of Belle's kittens failed her desexing today. She has flu. Because they have all been in the same condo (above Ashleigh, out back) Terry and I decided that they should all go into quarantine to see who sneezes or not. Honey's kittens are getting more adventurous. One of them kept going downstairs, finding him/herself all alone and screamed. (I bet he is a boy).

Honey, being the perfect mum that she is, would go down to calm him/her.

leaving the sibling in the carry cage upstairs.

Eventually I got sick of the scraming and moved the carry cage and sibling downstairs and Honey followed. She can jump up to her litter tray from some peace and quiet. Another scream came from Coco and Mason's Palace. Mason said "It wasn't me. It was him" But the tuft of brown hair dangling from the side of his mouth tells another story.