Random Fridays

Another weekend.....and this one includes 3 days!!  We hope you get to enjoy it. Mom said something about it being hot and humid here - so no open windows.

Also, she has been muttering something about Big Ten football starting this weekend...yep, she has broken out the green t-shirts and is saying "GO GREEN!!" (she is a Michigan State fan)

Mom got to spend time with Nasa (Hubble) and Orbit last night....they are getting big and crack mom up.

         we are having technical difficulties (have we mentioned mom is a techno-dork recently?) anyhow - if you check our facebook page later, there should be video up...it was on mom's phone and she can't get it to load to you tube or to facebook.....sigh

Licorice is still pretty itchy and mom has a call into the v-e-t.....mom says she just wishes she knew how to make Licorice more comfortable. The tech (Rob) answered the phone this am and said he gets it and will see what they can do.

Otherwise, we hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend!!!

Thankful Thursday....

Mom got to watch the Cat Video Festival from the Minnesota State Fair online thanks to Animal Planet Live. She enjoyed it, but her lap was taken up with the laptop. MOL

We are thankful for nice local vets. The woman who found Mitts had taken her in to a local vet and gotten her tested and everything else.

Mom got a copy of her medical records but didn't look really close. Today she noticed charges for sedation and surgery. Huh....  so she called the vet. They said that Mitts had a laceration on her paw when she came in so they knocked her out to clean it and put in a couple of sutures. Excuse us??  Sutures???  Ummmmm......that could be a problem. Mom spoke to the tech and they agreed mom would check when she got home and call them back if she needed to. So mom got home but didn't see anything. Since she wasn't sure which paw it even was, she called and the vet agreed to see Mitts. A few minutes with a tech and mom was assured that there was no sutures still in (mom hadn't seen anything either) and the nice tech even trimmed Mitts nails. And....no charge. :)

Mitts is now at Petco. Stella wasn't really happy about getting a new roommate. There was some name calling and Stella tried to smack Mitts - until mom told Stella NO and got the stink eye. MOL

Now we gotta work on Licorice. Mom was hoping things would clear up. She started giving Licorice coconut oil this past weekend. But the last shot from the vet isn't working - Licorice has a big spot on her neck that she has scratched raw. We have a feeling she is gonna end up with another v-e-t visit and may end up having to wear the cone of shame. ugh.....

Wordless Wednesday.....

SPUD!!

 BABY Spud!!

Trouble and then some....

Sorry this is a little later than normal.  :)  See, mom thought she left the flashy box in the car but the laptop is upstairs, and mom is lazy, and.... you get the point. Only no camera in the car this morning, so no pictures.

Anyhow.....that Jake and Elwood are quite the pair. We are beginning to think Jake has a new first name: Dammit!!  We are so used to young kittens that we forgot how much "fun" 6 month old kittens can be. MOL  They are into EVERYTHING!!!

That being said, they are seriously lovey and sweet. While mom and the rescue don't normally tell people that pairs have to go together, she is really going to suggest it for these boys. Around here it is find one, find the other (usually).

So far Jake has been into the garage TWICE (see the Sunday post). He has managed to pull the screen out of the door and get onto the balcony. He is constantly on the kitchen counter and knocking stuff off (though mom yelled this morning only to discover that is was actually Elwood on the counter).

We know - sounds like he is a pain in the tail. And yet he is so much fun (Junior is having a blast having two bigger kittens in the house) and so lovey.  Mom does say she gets tired just watching the two of them - add in Mitts and another gray boy Oliver here on temporary leave from Petco for a snotty nose, and you get complete chaos.

So Mitts, Jake and Elwood were dropped off for spay/neuter this morning. Mitts will go to Petco and the boys will go when there is space.

Sad news.....

For those of you who have read Homer's Odyssey about Homer the Blind Wondercat, you may already know this. But, if not, his mom Gwen Cooper and his family let him run to the Rainbow Bridge last Wednesday. She posted to his facebook page on Sunday.

Mom first read Gwen's book a few years ago. She has read it many times since then. While on it's face, it is a book about a woman and her cat, it is more than that. Throughout the book, Gwen comments that she learns from Homer that what people view as a "disability" for Homer, is not a big deal for him. He has no idea that he is different and no idea that he isn't "normal". It is a lesson that we all can learn.

Most recently, mom reread the book last summer. Last summer we had two "special" kittens that we fostered.

Doc was rescued while helping some former adopters found kittens and asked for help with rescuing the kittens and doing some TNR. After some time in the house, mom discovered that Doc was deaf. And he had no idea.

The best part, mom was at an event Friday night and was approached by a mother and daughter. The mom said "you may not remember us but we adopted Doc last summer". OMG!!  They spoke for a while and the daughter found a picture of Doc on her phone. He has grown into a big handsome mancat - they say he is long and lean. And the daughter has to leave her door closed as Doc is a certified thief.

Then came Bourbon. Mom realized right off that there was something different about him. After x-rays, we learned he was born without kneecaps. And like Doc, he was adopted by a wonderful family who doesn't care that he is "different".

So, purrs to Gwen and Lawrence. And THANK YOU for making people more aware that being different shouldn't be a death sentence.  Doc and Bourbon may not have ever been given a chance in some shelters. We are lucky that we are associated with a rescue that is willing to take chances and is no-kill. 

Fly Free Homer.

Snoozy Sunday....

Mom left the flashy box in the car, but decided to get a video of most of us snoozing the day away....

Jake Jake Jake

Jake almost gave mom a heart attack last night.

Mom was gone all day from 8am to after 9pm with work, an errand for grandma then an event for the rescue.

As mom was getting ready for bed she realized.....no Jake. She searched everywhere-TWICE!!

Finally she went down and opened the door into the garage. And Jake strolled by like it was no big deal.

Which it wouldn't be....except our garage door stays open about 6 inches for our feral girl Allie.

So thank heaven Jake didn't go anywhere. And now mom is extra extra careful coming in the house.

Random Fridays

 

Elwood on TOP of the carrier guarding Tim.

 

Licorice - out and about

Well, mom goofed. Miss Mandy will go home tomorrow. The family is having company tonight and mom is helping the rescue at an event (and taking Stella) so tomorrow worked out better.

Licorice is now out and about more often. She does hiss and growl when anyone come near her though, so we gotta work on that. And she is still kinda itchy. Mom keeps saying she was going to get some coconut oil and we are going to get her a little more motivated this weekend.

And now for some purrs please.....  Remember Ebright from Tuesday? Well, Miss Beckie had to move him to her house. He is in a room with a couple of other cats, so he might be OK living with older sedate cats in a home. But.....he surely misses his mom. Miss Beckie said she fed him before picking him up and he ate. But she is having to force feed him at her house. And when he runs out of the room, he runs down the hall to the last door on the left - cause in his house that was his mom's bedroom. Miss Beckie says he walks into the room and is just confused because it isn't what he was expecting.  And Miss Beckie's dog Casey is having major surgery today too..... like Miss Beckie needs one more thing.

We hope you all have a nice weekend. It is cooler here in the evenings, so mom leaves the windows down during the day but opens them later.

Thankful Thursday.....

Mom says she is just thankful that it IS Thursday.

She was scheduled to drive a transport leg on Saturday for a preggers German Shepard....but the girl decided to have the pups on Tuesday. So they are safe in foster care until the entire family can travel. :)

Miss Mandy goes to her new home tomorrow. Mom talked to Mandy's new mom the other day and they agreed that Mandy would be better served spending a couple of days after surgery at our house. They have three girls who are VERY excited plus a dog.  Both she and Hobbes came through surgery very well. Mom brought them home and put them in the play pen to keep them from running around. Mandy dozed off. Unfortuately, Hobbes started climbing the pen trying to get out..... Mitts and the blues brothers were running around like crazy and Hobbes wanted to play. Mom finally laid out treats for everyone, put Mitts in the play pen (where she spent the first few minutes hissing at Mandy and Hobbes....again), and got everyone settled back down.

Hobbes will be going up to Petco (where he will room with Stella....we KNOW she will be thrilled - MOL) probably tonight and if not then over the weekend.

wordless Wednesday....

Mitts on the trackball with Hobbes wandering in later

Opt to Adopt....

Breaking News: Colony Cats (the rescue we foster with) is a finalist for the Hauspanther Catification makeover!!!  All you have to do is click, vote and enter your email. The cats thank you!!!!
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This week we were going to feature Stella. But then we found out about a boy in more need than she is:

Ebright has been with the rescue for a while.

He had been adopted and returned a couple of times - by no fault of his own. And then a year ago an older woman called and said she wanted to adopt HIM! No other cat - she wanted Ebright. Miss Beckie is his foster mom and they worked out the details.

Well, Ebright is now alone again. He spent a wonderful year with his new mom, but she recently passed away (she was 96). He doesn't like other cats and so it makes it hard for him to go back to Miss Beckie's house. No one in the family will take Ebright. So for right now, he is staying in the home he knows and Miss Beckie is taking care of him. But that isn't the life we want for him.

So, if you know of anyone in the central Ohio area who is looking for a single senior (he is about 9 years old) mancat that would like to live without other cats, PLEASE let us know. Even if they would be willing to foster him long term. Our poor Ebright boy deserves better than he is getting right now.....

Weekend wrapup....

It has been a busy couple of weeks.....  so let's catch up. First, mom is hoping things settle a bit so we can be commenting a little bit more. :)

Friday afternoon, Busch and Miller were adopted - together!!!  It was by the sister of the woman who adopted Sierra and Sebastian (who emailed us and said they are doing great).

So Stella is the only beer kitten that needs to be adopted.

Since the kittens here haven't been spayed or neutered yet, mom put in a call to Miss Beckie who took a couple of her kittens up there.

We mentioned on our facebook page about a newbie. Well, in fact we have three newbies.

This is Mitts (no, we didn't name her). One of our previous adopters has a friend who found a kitten and needed some help. The woman had the kitten tested and vaccinated but didn't have the resources to find her a home. So Mitts is staying with us until she can be spayed and then she will go up to Petco. And yes, she is polydactyl....on all four paws!!!  She is a little skittish but coming around.

Then late last week, the dog trainer at the Petco store asked for help. It seems his parents have some neighbors who are..... let's go with "idiots". They had a dog that they were neglecting that the trainer's parents took in. Then the next thing you know, they bring home a pair of kittens.....and are neglecting them too. This couple is very kind hearted but out of resources. So, mom agreed to help. And we now have these guys here too:

The pictures were taken at the vet office.r. First rule - EVERYONE gets tested. And they are: negative!! They couldn't be a sweeter pair. They purred the entire time at the vet's office. Wanted to check everything out and were just happy to be loved on. After a night here, we have to agree. Mom let them out into the general population and they have been great. Even Tommy can't find a reason to growl at them (much). They are about 6 months old and once they are neutered they will go up to Petco when there is space as well.

So, names. The couple were calling the smaller one "starvin Marvin"....so mom was thinking Marvin and Daffy from the Bugs Bunny cartoon. But it didn't seem to fit. She posted a teaser picture on facebook, and Miss Kelly from Whiskers in the Window suggested Jake and Elwood. That works....

 Elwood

Jake

So, we have done 4 adoptions in the last 10 days at Petco. And we now have 5 kittens and Licorice in the house. Hopefully the adoptions will keep up and these guys will all be in their forever homes soon.

Oh - and on the Licorice front....she was still pretty itchy so she went back to the v-e-t on Saturday when the boys were going to be tested. They did a skin scraping and found - NOTHING. Argh....  even the vet is a little frustrated. So, she got a steriod shot. If that works, then it may well be an allergy of some sort (heaven help us)....the shot should work within 8-12 hours (mom said as of Sunday afternoon when this is being prep'ed that Licorice does seem better). If the shot didn't work, it is all in the kitty's head. Keep purring for our girl. Dr T did say that Licorice's teeth are pretty nasty, so mom will need to talk to the rescue about that.

Transport Saturday

Mom drove another transport yesterday. Brooklyn is a Cane Corso mix and as of last night made it to her forever home!!

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And in baby news.....remember the bottle baby from last weekend? Well that same weekend someone else brought in another orphaned group. But mom spoke to the rescue lady yesterday and a nursing mom with older kittens (ready to be adopted) took the kittens and is taking good care of them.

Black Cat Appreciation Day....

Allie may not appreciate your appreciation, but we still love her!!

Mo is fairly certain this should be EVERY day!!

(BTW - we want to take a quick minute to let everyone know that mom has been VERY bad helping us read and comment this week......we would lock her out of the house, but we can't open the food container by ourselves)

We know we are preaching to the choir here, but for SOME reason we will never understand, black cats (ok, and dogs) are overlooked at shelters. But we think that is profiling, and profiling is wrong. :)  So, check out your local shelter or rescue. Or go to Petfinder to find someone near you!!

Mom's favorite guy at the shelter is Oscar. He is VERY handsome, dog friendly (he lives in the shelter lobby and is out during the day when staff is there), and great with everyone.

Random Fridays....

So Licorice has been out and about more. She was supposed to be spayed last Friday, but that didn't happen. She still has some hot spots from chewing. She is on another round of antibiotics. Mom has a cone but is hoping she won't have to make Licorice wear it. Licorice is still a little growly with everyone here....and mom puts her in the bathroom at night (mainly cause mom is afraid Licorice will get in the bedroom at night and not come out).

Well, she has one spot that looks much worse. Mom tried to put the cone on her this morning. So far the score is Licorice - 1, Mom - 0.

Mom says we are pretty good with her.....Licorice is now over 6 pounds - which is 2 pounds over where she was when we found her. So it is all good. Just gotta get her spayed and get her available for adoption.
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So an update on Nasa/Hubble and Orbit at the shelter.

Mom noticed a new sign on their cage Tuesday night. It pretty much said that they think that the Science Diet fed at the shelter appears to not agree with their stomachs and that they should eat something different once they are adopted but it is too hard to feed separate diets at the shelter.

Pffffftttttt.....  Mom is afraid the sign may scare people off. And she also thinks it is more Nasa than Orbit. Mom wants to add her own sign "and I wouldn't feed them Science Diet anyhow".
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We may have some exciting adoption news on Monday. Oh, and we put a teaser on facebook about a newbie and didn't follow up - mom says it has been one of those weeks....stay tuned.  :)

Cookies for us???

Nope....the mom was mean. See, the man in the blue shorts brought a box from those nice people at Chewy.com. It sat for a few days, and then Tuesday mom opened it. And TOOK our treats with her.

OK - she took them to the shelter. Guess we can't begrudge that. She said that some new test subjects were called for. Whatever mom....

This time we decided to try Halo's Healthsome Real Chicken Treats.

Darth Vader and Princess Leia

Glitter

Kit

(we hope her family comes soon - she had been at the shelter over a year)

Minnie

(we have no idea how people resist that cute face)

(and yes, she loves the faucet and drinks from it)

Nala (our mostly blind kitty) and Stabler (the orange guy)

Dragon 

(mom loves this guy - he lives in one of the shelter offices)

And of course, since mom loves us, we tried them too.....

The kittens seemed to like them more than the adults. Not sure if they weren't smelly enough or what, but about half the adult ate them. Which held true here too. The kittens on the other hand were ALL about the treats...in fact, Glitter found the stack in her room (she lives in an open room with 2 other kittens) and growled at her roommates. MOL

The treats were pretty crunchy and lots of us prefer the chewier treats, so that may have been part of it. But all in all, pretty much everyone was a fan.

Wordless Wednesday....

This was last Friday night....mom laughed like mad

(left to right: Tim, Maestro and Tommy)

The fosters that are HERE

First, we have a winner from our Blogoversary party. The Poupounette If you could get #1 to email us at randomfelines at hotmail dot com we will get you your prize!!!

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Mandy was trying to climb up on the sofa (mom covers them to TRY to cut down on cat hair on the furniture). She didn't quite make it.  :)

Hobbes is our shyer boy. The vet who tested him was calling him Cat Masterson, but mom is sticking with Hobbes. Mom opened the playpen on Saturday. He and Mandy came out.....and mom didn't see him most of the day. He turned up in time for dinner. Sunday he was out and about in the living room. If mom catches him, he is friendly and will purr. He just doesn't seek out attention.....yet.

On the other hand, Mandy couldn't be more friendly. We already told you about her flirtations with the boys here. She loves to play with Hobbes. But she is also all over mom looking for attention as well. She already has a family lined up when she is big enough to be spayed. The family has three little girls - a match made in heaven.

weekend wrapup....

Well, if you follow us on Facebook, you have seen this guy:

Yep, mom offered to "baby" sit for the weekend. The little guy doesn't have a name, but mom thinks she may try to christen him Logan (after the Wolverine). If you look close at the second picture, you can see his back legs. One foot is a little crooked, but the other back leg is pretty curled in toward his body. The person who brought him to the rescue saw his mom carry one kitten away. Another kitten (with deformities also) had been killed by something. And then this little guy. We have the woman keeping an eye out for mom and the other kitten. In the meantime, he is eating very well and is a joy. Mom has enjoyed having him here. Oh, and that other kitty she got a Blog Paws as part of a microchip demonstration.  Mom calls him Floyd (if you are old enough, think about it and feel free to laugh....for the rest of you, mom just sighs).

 

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Our boy Screech was adopted on Saturday. The family has a 13 year old daughter and a 3 year old Bichon. We wish him well and know the girl will spoil him rotten.

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Recognize these kittens:

 

What about now:

Yep - that is Nasa and Orbit.  :)  They are finally up for adoption at the shelter. Nasa (now known as Hubble as they got the names backwards) took a while to grow the fur back after being so sick. But the change to Orbit shocked mom.
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Miller went back to Petco on Sunday. He is in the top cages with Busch. Stella moved downstairs with Sorcha. And while mom sat there for the adoption event....  NO ONE was happy about it.  MOL  Busch hissed at Miller, Miller growled at Busch. Sorcha and Stella spent some time calling each other names as well. But, by the time mom left for the day, everyone had settled down.

Happy 4th Blogaversary to us!!!

who would have thought.....

Mom was doing some math and when she started this, it was 6 of us....she thought she started before Ivy and Spud joined the family, but nope.

The only addition to the family has been the orange monster:

We have been very lucky that we haven't had any permanent residents here run off for the Bridge. We are all pretty healthy (even Ivy the watermelon). Maestro will be 19 years old next month, so mom knows she is probably on borrowed time, but she is doing her best to ignore it.  MOL

When we started, we were letting mom do the talking. Until we discovered that, along with her lack of technical skills, she isn't all that interesting sometimes (sorry mom). So, we took over and she gets to type. Now, we let her get on and talk sometimes, but let's be honest....this is a cat blog!!

We thought we would share some numbers with you that you might find interesting:
Fostering: we have been fostering for 7 years. In that time, we have had a total of 180 come through the house - 168 kittens and 12 momma cats. There have been some other "rescues" in there but these are official foster numbers.

Pageviews: total 94,790, last month 4,618 (though we wonder how sometimes we get more comments than pageviews...we think it might be a reader thing, but again, how would mom know?)

Entry Pageviews (we thought this was interesting)

     United States - 651
     Canada - 83
     Latvia - 76
     Germany - 28
     Ukraine - 20
     France - 12
     United Kingdom - 12
     Russia - 11
     Netherlands - 4
     Panama - 4

Our first foster family on the blog was Aida and her kittens, Daisy, Minnie and Mouse.  We rescued them from the humane society where they were not looking at a good outcome.

So, there you have it. Feel free to stop by and help us party.  Oh - and you may notice the layout changed a little. Mom had notice that some blogs had the ability to "reply" to comments. She figured out how to change our set up so replies to comments can now be posted.

And.....we are going to pick a comment at random and send YOU a present for helping us celebrate. Because without you, we would just be talking to ourselves. MOL 

Random Fridays.....

This is how we plan on spending the weekend. Mom has the monthly adoption event at Petco on Sunday. It is supposed to be about 81(F) during the day and cooler at night, so maybe we will try to get in some window whiffin'. Mom says she likes sleeping at night with the windows open.
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One of those times you wish for video, but will have to deal with the descriptive:
Mandy and Hobbes were in the playpen in the living room Wednesday evening when they arrived from the rescue. Mandy is QUITE the flirt and was trying to charm everyone....in the vain attempt they could work the zipper to let her out. "Uncle" Tim laid there for a while to keep her company. And then Junior came over to check her out. She was giving him the googly eyes when he sneezed. Scared her so much she jumped - and hit the top of the play pen. She hit the ground running and promptly scared poor Junior.  :)
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Miller is a goof.....he kinda of reminds us of Bourbon in that nothing-bothers-him-much slight goofy shake-you-head-at-him sorta way.

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Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

World Cat Day....

So how else would we celebrate????

Mom stopped at the adoption center last night and came home with another carrier. We think the issue is this....mom walks in there and sees babies and can't help herself. And of course, with Sierra and Sebastian going home last night, we have Licorice (who stopped coming out of the bathroom once her heat cycle ended - must have been the hormones making her brave) and Miller.

Of course, Miller will go back to Petco once he is not snotty (don't tell him that though - he may decide never to get better). He has stopped growling at everybody too....not sure if it was time or getting whapped. MOL

Anyhow, the carrier contained this:

The fuzzy black girl's name is Mandy. She actually has someone interested in adopting her, but she doesn't weigh enough to be spayed yet. So once that happens, she will go right from here to her new home.

The stripey boy (who needs a name but mom is thinking Hobbes) just doesn't feel good. He is eating but is boney. And he sneezed on mom and Miss Mona when mom was picking him up.

Mandy is currently flirting with "uncle" Tim. Hobbes (yep - that might stick) is curled up on a blanket sleeping. He just looks like he feels kinda miserable. Poor baby.....

Oh - and there was a TINY bottle baby (eyes closed, umbilical cord still attached) at the rescue center. Miss Mona said "want him?"....um - no thanks. Mom just can't take them to work. Mom did love on him a bit and he curled right up on her chest. Not sure what his story is.

So, let's celebrate world cat day!!!!