Biggest donation ever

 When I arrived at half past noon, it was not the usual state of mayhem. Two of the trainees didn't come at the last minute: one had covid (thanks for staying away) and the other had a house inspection (good idea to stay home). A woman looked lost so I asked if I could help. She explained that she came to look at Archie whom she might foster from next weekend if he doesn't get adopted in the meantime.

Archie

She has to set up things at home. She might bring in her housemate to meet him during the week. I said that we would put a carrier in his condo that he can hide in and make the transition easier.

Then a man came to adopt a kitten from a foster home. This is the second cat he has had from us so he was in the system and he knows the routine. It was the quickest, smoothest adoption that I have done. 

Then a woman came in with a humongous donation. Arc had to go down to get a trolley-load of stuff three times. There is a teetering tower of clumping litter in the junk room. If you use it, please take a box. Or tell your fosterers to come and get a box or two. There was lashings of food in boxes and bags. I got so confused trying to find space for it all that I added a pair of boarders food to the general pile. Luckily Tim sorted that out. The lady benefactor was shown around by Tim and Katie.

Then a woman came in, scantily clad, to adopt a kitten from a fosterer. She had the kitten with her because it needed a shot. Tim attended to her. (It seemed to take much longer than my adoption earlier.)

Rosanna has devised a new way of using the Top Cat. Geoff approves. Tabby and Tibby had a lovely time playing there with Amber. Later Helena and Kate wandered around. In the meantime Ginger George had been let out to wander and his condo door was left open. H & K both went in and rolled on his bedding. Won't he have a surprise when he is put back!

Open top Top Cat

George loves to plop in front of me

Exchange Row

 The Naughty Row needs a new name. This week I suggest Exchange Row, or The Exchange. It is where things change from bad to good for the cats who come in. 

For example, remember Chester? He came from a vet with various other cats and was said to be desexed. He was in Incoming first and was withdrawn/shy. Then he moved out back and started to become much more friendly. Then he started to call out to other cats. Then Tim had a good view of his back end and realised that he is a she and that she was coming into heat! So Chester is now Chessy and will wail until she is really desexed.

Chessy

We had the minimum number of vollies today which was still good as Sandy arrived in the afternoon to help clean up out back. And one vollie brought her sister who stood and watched the cats until I found her jobs to do. . .. the boxes of plastic gloves are stored in the bookshelf behind Opey. There are only two packs of toilet rolls left there (hurrah!). Next I asked if she like putting things together. She did. So I got her to assemble the pingpong roller track that had been left on the drying table.The idea was that it go into the play place. But it was too big.

She made is half as extensive and Jasmine and her kids will learn to play with it. And we will get used to it looking like a reticulated python.

There were visitors. One came looking for a young cat (not a kitten) for her unit. She is expecting visitors in a fortnight to the room which should be the cat's safe room. We decided that she should delay her decision until those visitors leave. She rather liked Lucky! Fingers crossed.

Other visitors came with donations and got to visit with the cats by way of thanks: one lot adopted Tom and ? 2 years ago (and changed their names immediately) from us and are very happy with them. Another came with donations because their cat died of urinary failure. They will be back when they are ready. Another brought in a splendid crate and a bag full of ? mouse hidey holes (too small for cats) that can be suspended!

We have a kitten in Incoming who needs physio on her back legs. This entails gently pulling her back legs every afternoon. She is getting much better. Her name is Jolene.

Jolene, nothing wrong with her appetite

Phantom will have company perhaps.

Phantom's funny way of sitting

And finally, I don't know why Demi and Winnie are still with us. Such loving cats.

Demi and Winnie cuddle

Nada adopted

 After being with us for 16months, she deserves her own blog post.

Nada

 She was adopted by a woman and her daughter who already have a 2 year old cat. The daughter fancied Amber or Helena but the mother wanted to "rescue" one of our older cats so focused, eventually on Beans and Nada.

Beans

Terry finalised the adoption at 6:15pm (as they didn't arrive until 4pm). And we are all so happy that he took the time for Nada. And I hope they change her name to Something.

Bye, bye Nada

And while we are talking of old friends: Irene sent a photo of Casper in her new home in Cooma. She comes when she is called and is a happy, outdoors cat.

Casper

Frantic Friday

 One result is this:

The remaining three ABBA kittens were adopted today. Agnetha and Bjorn went to an enthusiastic teenager and her parents first. They were torn between them and Pumpkin and Midnight but Bjorn had called to the daughter over the www. 

Later a family came to find a kitten to replace their dark tortie who died not so long ago. Amber looked too much like their previous cat and they wanted somebody to go with their 8 year old boy cat. So they chose Freda who was looking very sorry for herself with her siblings gone.

Alongside these adoptions there was a superfluity of vollies and trainees, folk coming with donations of such generosity that they deserved a conducted tour around all the cats, folk coming to pick up their boarding cats who were more, or less, eager to go home. Tilly/ Daphne didn't really want to go but she will be back. Fosterers came in with kittens to be vaccinated including the fosterer of Sushi and her litter. Sushi is in the small stand alone. She is very sweet and a little shy.

Sushi

Her remaining two kittens are in the stand alone beside the trolley.

Tofu

Pork Bun

Lots of cats got to wander around enjoying the visitors. Max got time in the play place (as all boarders who paid for time have had it.) He is happy to be carried there by Katie.

Max

I didn't get to eat my lunch until 3 - 3:30. At which time I decided that it was too late to hand out the chicken. But Rosanna was so horrified at the idea that the cats would go without their Friday chicken that she offered to stay late to share it out. And Katie wanted some for the Incoming cats too. I got away just as Tim came back from the vets with Coco (check up), Cleo (desex) and somebody else. Opey was let out in the hope that Tim will get him back into his stand alone when he came back from the vets. As I left Opey's expression dared me to walk past him.

Opey is all bluff

 

Cat watching

 There were some adoptions over the weekend: Benny, Earl, Gia, Schmo, Scout, Sesame and Smudge.

Our cats have been moved back from next door. Their condos have been cleaned. Our cats have been rearranged on Better Row. They all seemed subdued this afternoon.

Lucy, sporting new multicoloured hair tackled the dry food shelves. They are now neatly labelled and perfectly organised. I didn't take a photo. I will take one on Friday when she has installed the proper, typed labels. I didn't take a photo of the great wall of poo bags on the back deck either. . . . too disgusting.

Tiger and Phantom parallel played this afternoon.

Phantom and Tiger

But Tiger is really a desk cat.

Tiger

And Phantom is a chick magnet. Yin and Yang can't resist watching him

Yin, Yang, Phantom

Talking about being watched. Tibby was inspected by Ginger George and Max (who she must think of as dirty old men)

Ginger, Tibby, Max

.

Timless Friday

 He had a day off today. Friday is a good day to choose. The training of a new batch of volunteers always adds an element of chaos to the morning. But all the washing up was done by 12:30 this morning. (And overflowed to the floor again).

It was a busy afternoon with visitors.
The first batch arrived to look at kittens because Santa had left all kinds of kitten gear while they were away on Christmas Day. Slight complication is that the daughter has displayed allergy to cats. But she says that it was just certain cats that make her sneeze which is why they had to come to test our kittens. I sat her down with a Cleo kitten and her younger brother with the other (which they kept swapping) for 10 minutes. She should have been sneezing if she was allergic. But she didn't with either of them. And Mum fell in love with the calico. Then I sprayed her hands with F10 and she sneezed. She didn't sneeze at Earl but did sneeze at Midnight and the F10 lotion. So they went away to talk to dad.

Then a mother and her son came to donate us cat stuff. I didn't ask the details but think that their cat had recently died because of what she gave us. They has a short look about.

Then a prize winner came to pick up her raffle loot. She volunteered with us when she was let go when Covid struck. She gave us up when she got another real job and then got her old job back. She was very pleased to meet the new cats and did recognise Stella who has been with us for way too long. I mentioned that we are always looking for foster homes for our long term residents.

All these visitors were a fine audience for Ginger George who strolled around and introduced himself to everybody (in the hopes of more treats). Later Phantom had a lovely roll in some cat nip. He is moving better and his movements are more solid now that he is on ZD.

Even Tabby is surer footed. Perhaps the antibiotics that she is on for her tummy wound is good for her balance?

Lucky was the Top Cat and hypnotized me into feeding her a tube of treats. We left her there overnight and opened Nada's door in the hope that they will not tear each other to pieces overnight. They may as well be friends as they are both on weight reduction crunchies and their condos have a connecting hatch. (Remember when Diego used to force open the flap and end up with Nada overnight?)

Nada + Lucky = ?

Daisy came back to board after her people took her home for the night on Wednesday.

Daisy

Our Daphne (their Tilly) is back in boarding and has settled down quickly.

Daphne/Tilly

Joy worked the morning shift in Incoming and was happy to get more photos of Jasmine's smallest kitten who is doing much better now. He eats everything and his tail is a curly as a piglet's.

Jasmine's piggy

There are ringwormy kittens in Incoming so vollies who work there cannot linger elsewhere after their shift. I don't know if these are they as Joy took the photo.

Adoption Tails: Phoebe, Sophia, Whitney and Scout

 Phoebe

1 day: Phoebe is very timid and has hidden under the bed. The owners have kept noise to a minimum but she is pretty committed to staying under the bed! They managed to lure her out for some pets and bring her closer to her bowls. They have set up a box with blankets (covering most of the box) in the bathroom for her to settle and have a drink as she has not used the litterbox. The family kids are older and the house is quiet so they're hopeful that Phoebe is not too freaked out. She seems to love human contact despite still "slinking" around. Their resident cat is insanely jealous and wants in to where Phoebe is staying.
1 week: Phoebe is a funny little cat. If the owner takes her out from under the bed that she refuses to come out from on her own, she is super affectionate. Otherwise, she would not budge from under the bed. The owner has been working from home as much as possible to make sure Phoebe has some company though she is a really quiet one! The resident cat has met Phoebe from a distance through a cracked open door. They had a sniff and all seems amicable.

Phoebe

1 month: Phoebe is settling in really nicely. She's a chirpy little cuddle bug. The resident cat is being a bit bossy though it seems to be settling down. 

Sophia

1 day: The owner adopted Maomao earlier and thought it would be good to give him a friend since she can get quite busy at times and won't be home for longer hours AND the more cats she can provide a permanent home to, the better! She is finding Sophia (now Sophie as the owner's mother find it easier to pronounce) even shyer than Maomao when he first came. She has eaten a little last night and used the litter box for a wee. Sophie did not seem to want to venture out of her little box this morning when she was offered breakfast but the owner is hopeful that once Sophie settles in over the course of the next few days, she will learn to trust her new family.
1 week: Sophie is a lot shyer than Maomao - still loves to hide in her box when the owner comes in but is definitely more active when nobody is watching as toys are in different positions every time. She is eating and using the litter box well though the owner is a little concerned that Sophie is not eating enough especially since Maomao devours his food even when he first came. Overall, Sophie is just taking her time to trust her new family and new space.

Sophia

 3.5 weeks: Sophie made her way out while the owner was in the room. The owner is ecstatic! "I can't express my happiness with words"
1 month: Sophie has actually walked out of her room pretty regularly now. She just had a wander around the apartment. The owner usually sits by the side and supervises her and Maomao. Whenever Sophie sees Maomao, she lies down on her side to show her tummy and occasionally, Maomao also does that to Sophie. The two cats are now fed on opposite sides of a door (opened by a crack). A very recent development is that Sophie will walk out of her room to eat out of Maomao's bowl (even though she has her own!) and Maomao is happy to continue eating from it afterward. One main concern is that Maomao really loves to chase Sophie around (body language seems to be playing -- no ears pointed flat and back, hissing nor claws out) and Sophie has never chased Maomao around. The two are showing good signs of getting along. Currently, Sophie is let out 20 minutes during mealtimes so that the two can mingle and so Maomao will stop chasing Sophie around. Sophie claws at the door every time she is put back inside and meows like she wants to be out again. It is definitely still a work in progress between the two but their relationship is looking quite good.

Cosmo (formerly Whitney)

1 day: When the owners first brought Whitney home, she tucked herself away for a couple of hours but then she came out at night time, wanted to play and explore everywhere. She is doing amazing settling in so far, having used her litter tray (which is wonderful). She has not been eating as much as expected though they suspect that she will eat some more once she is more comfortable. The owners have also decided to change her name to Cosmo which she has surprisingly responded to. She has since been super affectionate and has lots of yarn (knitted into squares and other craft projects) to play with!
1 week: Cosmo has definitely got her appetite back which is amazing. She is so affectionate, it has made the owners cry a couple of times. She has since explored the rest of her home at her own pace and now she is content to be their cuddle bug.

Whitney/Cosmo

1 month: Cosmo is completely settled in and everyone is still as obsessed with her as they have been since Cosmo first came home.

Scout

1 day: Scout is currently in the guest bedroom. She is eating and drinking but has not used the litter tray yet. She has explored the room a bit as Tania (the wife) noticed a key had been knocked off from the window sill. Garry (the husband) has just spent about 30 minutes sitting in the room with Scout for her to get used to him being there. She had a sniff of his hand and is definitely slowly getting used to the new environment. Tania likes the name so Scout will stay Scout.
1 week: Scout is doing well and wants company. The couple has let her out a few times to explore. Their resident cat Myf is not at all impressed with the new housemate; having seen Scout a couple of times at a distance and hisses and growls. Myf was outside Scout's door hissing the other day. Scout was lounging on the husband's lap earlier this morning.

Scout

1.5 weeks: There has been a backward step with Scout as she pooed in the dining room yesterday and the day before. She even pooed and weed today; all in the same spot. This is very likely a response to Myf. The previous morning, Myf headed downstairs when Scout was out (Myf normally stays upstairs on the owners' bed at least until they get out) and there was some hissing. There was also some hissing from Myf in the afternoon though the details are not so clear. Scout is appearing to be more hesitant with the husband and in general from Wednesday night. Scout will stay in her room for the time being until she is ready to go out again (without Myf present).
1 month: Scout is doing well. She now has free reign of the house though Myf is still getting used to the idea of sharing the house. Sometimes, Myf will ignore her but other times Myf will hiss. The introduction process is still ongoing but the relationship seems to be better than before.