Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Spud


I am going to try to get a paragraph or two up about each of the current crew.
This is Spud. The daughter of a neighbor of my parents found him last fall in a box outside of the daycare where she was working. After a couple of days she realized kittens are a lot of work and called to see if I would take him and get him big enough for the shelter. With everything she said, I was sure he was a bottle baby. Nope - ends up he was about 6 weeks old at the time.
I brought him home - at the same time I had Ivy and her mommy and sisters. My main concern was getting him FIV/FeLV tested. I managed to get a last minute appointment with Banfield. They took him in the back to draw blood and the vet came back out with this tiny red kitten in one hand and the test in the other and a concerned look on his face. I panicked - I was sure the test was positive. Nope - seems the test wasn't done yet but the vet wanted to know if I would be upset if the kitten was male, not female as I had told them (really, I hadn't looked too close). I told the vet I didn't care if the kitten was a puppy so long as the test was negative.
Turns out it was, and a year later, he is still living with me. He bonded with the group of kittens and when Ivy came back to stay, I couldn't part with him. You can't tell really well in the picture, but he is more red than brown and has the LONGEST fuzz coming out of his ears. He is OK with people, but very comfortable with the cats. In fact, I call him the "stalker boy" as he has no sense of personal space - if Tim or Tom lays down, he is right there - right up next to them. I have seen him pull the same move on Ivy who usually doesn't mind. Mozart and Maestro make him move or get up and leave.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Dazed & Confused


Daisy is one of the kittens that I took from the shelter. A friend is letting the momma cat take up one of their spaces at a local Petsmart in the hope she gets adopted soon. Aida's spay and dental went very well and her long term outlook is great.
Anyhow, Miss Daisy is trouble. Last night I got home and everyone met me at the door to the garage. I went upstairs and the kittens followed me to the bathroom for dinner (I am trying to feed them canned kitten food at least twice per day since they are now out and about 24/7). Only - no Daisy. Which is strange.
OK - the kittens were downstairs. So I go back downstairs and hear "meep meep meep" from behind the garage door. Yep - she went out as I came in. So I grabbed her and took her back upstairs for some dinner with her sisters.
But, it gets better. Later that night, I opened the fridge door to get something out and let it shut without checking first. Yep - about 10 second later "meep meep meep". I open the door and Daisy stuck her head out with this look on her face like "Why did you do that?" I have seen her launch herself into the fridge before and just this one time didn't look before shutting the door.
Note to self: make sure you know the location of all kittens before shutting any doors.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Ivy

So, this is the only other (permanent) girl in the house. Like everyone but Maestro, she was a foster failure (definition: came as a foster, failed to return). Her mommy was Harmony and she had 4 sisters: Iris, Daffodil, Rose & Lily. Believe it or not, Ivy was much smaller until last Christmas - apparently Santa left her about 5 pounds while I was out of town.

Anyhow, I love the girl, but she is going to be the only girl. She has....attitude. She is now a year old, spayed, short hair, torbie (a cross between a calico and a tabby - a brown tabby with orange spots). Her full name: Princess Ivy Crankypants. Nickname: Chunky Monkey

Let's put it this way - I can trim nails on every one but her. I took her with me to the shelter Saturday morning to get reinforcements. I held her and an adoption counselor got her nails. I then took her over to put her on the scale - over 10 pounds - and she screamed. I finally got her back in the carrier and she spent the next 20 minutes growling at everyone. In the car on the way home - she was rolling around being a flirt.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

put up or shut up

I have been thinking about this a lot. I took that momma cat (still needs a home - she should be spayed next week) and kittens, I wonder if there isn't something more I can do. Some friends and I have talked about starting our own sanctuary. No way we have the money to buy land or anything, but I have been doing some research about getting a name registered and getting non-profit status. It seems hard, but not impossible. At least that was, we could take cats from the shelter, raise them up, get them well, whatever, and then post them on Petfinder or take them to events. Plus, we can take donations and accept adoption fees. The more I think about it, the more I think I have to do this. We wouldn't take cats from people - just cats from the shelter to alleviate space. I would love to get money, get some land and do it that way, but that may be more down the road. Right now I just think there is more I can be doing. It may not be the ultimate step, but at least it is a step in the right direction. And better to have tried and failed than not tried anything at all.