Random Fridays

We are back on kitten watch.

Roadrunner was adopted over the weekend!!

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And...mom spoke to one of the clerks at the store who said that Liberty and Freedom's dad was in buying something again and showed her a video of the girls playing - out in the living room of the house!! Mom did the happy dance right there....

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It is supposed to be nice here this weekend, so mom plans to do some cleaning and other stuff. We plan to make sure the windows are at least open a little bit and we get in some window whiffing.

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Oh - and we have to show this cute video. Norman is available for adoption and is currently in the partner store where mom cleans. He was found as a stray (hence the ear tip) along with another boy named Cliff (2 points if you get the reference) and the rescue is presuming they are brothers since they look very alike. However, Cliff tested FIV+ (see yesterday's rant) so he is now is the FIV room with the rescue. That being said, if people look at Norman, we are MORE than happy to tell them he has a brother looking for a home as well. (Cliff isn't in the store as two big boys in that cage would be tight quarters and we keep our FIV cats in their own space to reduce their stress).

FIV cats

**another rant from the mom

I've been watching Dr. Jeff on Animal Planet. I love that he works to make sure all pets get care and makes it affordable. I love that no pet leaves the clinic without being spayed or neutered.

The episode last week showed him helping a client with cats in her backyard and doing TNR. WOOHOO!! I got excited....

Then I got annoyed. One of the cats was friendly so they tested him and it came back positive for FIV (see more info here from Best Friends about FIV). There was a conversation about finding him a home or euthanizing him due to his FIV status.

I yelled at the TV that I would STOP WATCHING if they killed that cat. They decided to find him a home. OK....

Then Dr Jeff gets on and continues to refer to FIV as "feline aids" (which does these cats a serious disservice as people freak out when they hear the word "aids") and says the cat would have to live alone or in a house with other FIV+ cats.

OMG - you idiot!!! Unless the cat is aggressive and bites, studies have shown these FIV+ cats CAN live very well with other cats. He had a great platform and opportunity to spread positive information and SCREWED IT UP!!

Our friend JaneA Kelly wrote an article for Catster on this very thing. I love her opening lines:
"Today in News of the Obvious: FIV-positive cats can live with uninfected fellow felines and not transmit the virus. A veterinary study concludes this. Finally."

In July of last year, I wrote about the new FIV room our rescue put into our adoption center. We have done several adoptions from there since it opened. We always tell people to do introductions slowly but that these cats can live long healthy lives with other cats.

For Dr Suess Day this year I wrote about some of the cats in our FIV room.

Kevin Kyle was adopted shortly after that post was written

I guess what I am saying is this: for those on TV or social media or blogging or whatever....you have a responsibility to do the homework and GET IT RIGHT! Regardless of whether you want them to or not, people are listening and will take you at your word.

Dr Jeff - I will keep watching, but I am disappointed. And I'm tempted to print those articles and mail them to you.

PMT Photohunt

Mischievous 

Draw your own conclusions.....

off visiting

Mom went away this past weekend to visit family in Tennessee. Her dad's birthday was Friday so she went down to see everyone. They had a very nice visit and everyone went out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate.

our cousin Izzo

Grandma and Grandpa's house

Saturday afternoon they all took a drive and went to Gatlinburg and Sevierville. Those are the towns last summer that had the devastating forest fires. A lot of it is being rebuilt, but there was a lot of damage. Gatlinburg was full of tourists though and the main street seemed to be missed by the fire.

relaxing weekend

This is Ivy's new favorite spot

at the end of the hall where she can see 

both directions

Spud and Daiquiri snoozing

We hope you had a nice quiet and relaxing weekend. We certainly gave it our best try.

Mom was actually gone most of the weekend visiting family in Tennessee so it was even more quiet here with no kittens and no mom.

Random Fridays

We mentioned the new door that went in last weekend. It doesn't LOOK much different, but mom says it doesn't leak as much cold air and that the door guy fixed some other stuff too. Also, mom had him help her put the cabinet back and it is now right up next to the wall and gave the room another few inches on that wall.

With these monkeys gone, it will certainly be quiet around here. Though mom saw the head of the rescue on Monday at the clinic and was told that she would get a call when the next momma and kittens comes in to the shelter. We suspect it won't be too long.

Mom got home from the rescue adoption center Wednesday night after dropping of the kittens. About an hour later, she got a text from another volunteer that Coyote had been ADOPTED!! Young couple, one other cat....he will be a great fit.

food review #ChewyInfluencer

We received the product at no charge from Chewy.com. All opinions expressed are our own and are not influenced by receiving the product.

This month there was canned food from Taste of the Wild on the list and mom decided to try that. (the link leads to a 5.5 ounce can but we got 3 ounce cans) It is grain free which is what mom is trying to keep all us on.

Daiquiri heard the can open in the foster room and wanted in

the chunks are a decent size with a good amount of gravy

that said, if the kittens were any smaller, mom would have 

to mush up the chunks

starving kitten (not)

action shot

The kittens loved it. The first couple of times mom tried to get Mozart to eat it by himself in the bathroom. He licked off ALL the gravy. Fortunately the kittens don't care and were more than happy to play clean up crew for the house panther.

Then over the weekend mom knew we would have to be locked in the back bedroom so our sliding door could be replaced on Saturday. Mom split a can on Friday night and we all thought it was wonderful. She did it again on Saturday morning, and while we were all chowing down....she SHUT THE DOOR!! Dang...busted by the allure of canned food.

This does have a few weird vegetables and fruits in it, but they are pretty far down the list of ingredients. But all in all it seemed to be a hit here with everyone!

new guy

Last week we got a big box in the mail. Mom opened it up and it was a present to put in the foster kitten room from our Fairy Cat Mother.

cute isn't he?

"who is this strange new creature?"

Neither kitten was too sure about this guy. Mom only got the picture of Coyote by putting him there and clicking quickly. There were a couple of pictures of Roadrunner, but upon inspection, they were all blurry as mom must has screwed up something on the camera (go figure). So while the duck hasn't gotten much love from THIS pair of kittens, we hope he will from future kittens.

it's that time already

Well, it happens quickly when you get kittens that come to you almost weighing enough for surgery and just needed a little socialization.

Coyote and Roadrunner had their spay and neuter surgery yesterday. Mom likes them to come back to the house for a couple of days to recuperate. But they will be headed up to the rescue tomorrow. Because of the time of year, we know they will be adopted quickly since there really aren't any little kittens available.

first day at the foster home

more recent picture

They didn't change a whole lot during their stay in terms of appearance other than gaining a little weight. Coyote really was friendly from day one and just seemed to get friendlier as time went by. Roadrunner took a little more convincing, but she came around and now likes to be held (for a few minutes) and sit on mom's lap (but you have to catch Roadrunner first).

ADOPTED

Back in July of last year, we were asked to take a pair of shy kittens with colds. The lady who brought them to the rescue had named them and since it was the beginning of July, she picked Freedom and Liberty. Mom took of poll of our cat blogging friends and they were tagged the Patriot Kittens.

They gave mom a SERIOUS run for her money. They had to be medicated...and hated it. They needed to be socialized....and wanted nothing to do with it.

Mom pulled out all the tricks and while they certainly got better, they never really decided they like mom a whole lot. Which, she will tell you is fine. They don't have to like her, but they do have to learn to be social or they won't get adopted. After some work with them, it was decided they did need to be adopted as a bonded pair as Liberty is SO much shyer than her sister.

The kittens went up to a partner store....and were there for several months.

 

Well....about 10 days ago mom got a call and there was an application for the girls (there have been a couple of others but they both fell through for various reasons). Retired couple - own their home - no other pets. This could be the one. Mom called them that night and went over EVERYTHING - Liberty is super shy....they are sneezy.....etc. C and B asked lots of good questions and said they were ready to move forward. However, they were going to be gone all weekend. Mom agreed the girls could stay at the store, and last Monday night they went home. We didn't post right away to be sure the new family had time to see if it would work. B has been in to the store and told the clerks it is going well.

people really wrote that

**a post by the mom

The other night I was online roaming around and decided to search google for our rescue information. Of course there are reviews and I got sucked into reading them. I should know better.

A lot of them were good. Some may have had legitimate issues. Others need to get a life. After reading several and then getting frustrated and walking away from my phone, I decided something.

If a person gives a small non-profit a 1 star review for something that isn't related to the direct focus of the non-profit, that person should be required to volunteer a few hours (I vote a minimum of 5 hours) on that task to help out.

For example, one review said the place needed some "sprucing up". Great - grab a paint brush or window cleaner or a mop and make yourself useful. (in fact, the rescue has been very lucky in the last month and two groups from different companies have volunteered their time and the whole interior of the adoption center has been repainted)

Another review said that "no one returned my call promptly". OK - first please define promptly, as I am sure your definition is different from mine. Second, let me give you the access code to our voicemail system. Then you can spend several hours wading through several hundred voice mails: some demanding help we cannot or do not provide, some with information you can't understand, many demanding we pick up cats in their neighborhood (not our jobs), and so on. Then sort out the ones that are urgent, call those first and wade your way back through the rest. Oh - and remember that people will continue to call while you are working on the first batch.

I had a man confront me in one of our partner stores one day. He was upset that his elderly mother wanted to adopt a cat and we took 2 days (OMG!!) to check her application. And he is a lawyer (so?) and that seems ridiculous. I had had a long day that day and can now admit this guy got on my last nerve. I gave an apologetic look to the store manager and then let this guy have it. "We take our time to be sure the fit is right for the cat and the people. We are ALL volunteers and do this in addition to working and families and other responsibilities. And we check information since our first responsibility is to the SAFETY OF OUR CATS! I'm sorry she had to wait a couple of days but we want to be sure we are doing it right rather than doing it fast." And I walked away. (I tried to apologize to the manager later for getting into it with a customer and he laughed and said it was fine - he was glad I said something since he can't.)

There are days I seriously want to tell some people to PUT UP or SHUT UP. It is the same with trolls on the internet - it is all so very comfy and convenient to sit behind a keyboard and complain but annoying and hurtful to those of us that are actually out there and doing the work. Take THAT into consideration the next time you (*OK - not you our lovely readers, just the general you) want to complain about something.

Now that I have that out of my system, here's a gratuitous baby picture....guess who is going to be 1 year old the end of the month???

relax already

That boy leads such a tough life. His new family is in for a treat....

Fortunately he isn't much of a climber either, he just wants to be on a lap or lean up against mom.

wordless Wednesday - glamour shots

new toy

Mom found a mylar ball and thought maybe the kittens would find it interesting....

what is this strange thing?

still strange

very curious

While they weren't interested while she was in there with the camera (go figure), she has heard them playing with it and it ends up in different places in the room.

Mom took them on Sunday to an adoption event just to get them used to being out and in different situations. Roadrunner decided pretty quickly that being social wasn't her thing. She could be held but pretty much wanted back in the crate. Coyote was curious though jumpy. And then a store clerk broke out a wand toy and he was ALL about that. 

Napping Day

Per the day of the year calendar, today is Napping Day. Now THAT we can get behind.

Spud, Mozart and Daiquiri

Mom took the kittens to an adoption event on Sunday. And since the basketball team she was rooting for lost on Friday, it was a pretty quiet weekend.

Random Fridays

The kittens will be (if we got accurate information), 11 weeks old on Sunday. Mom weighed Coyote shortly after they got here and he was already 2 pounds, so they should be good to go. Surgery is scheduled for March 20th and then they will go up to the adoption center. There haven't been many kittens this age and size available since Christmas, so they will go pretty quickly. We would love to see them go together, but either way, they will make great companions (though Roadrunner may take a few days to decide the change is worth it).

go ahead - he will let you kiss him

Mom says we are headed into something called "March Madness" again, so there will be lots of basketball on around here. Everyone here is doing well. Tommy is much less snotty, so whatever he had must have just taken longer to go away.

There were some strange men that came over on Monday. Mom says the sliding door (in the foster room) needs to be replaced cause it is sucking heat and may have a leak. The guys were very nice and admired the kittens. Mozart of course was the only one that came out and he gave their bags a VERY minute inspection. They were very nice about it. The new door has been ordered and mom saws we will get locked up in the back bedroom when they come to install it. 

play time with the looney kittens

They tend to play more when mom isn't in the foster room. When she is in there, Coyote is looking for love and attention and Roadrunner is split between not wanting too much attention and enjoying some anyhow.

Roadrunner is getting better at being held. Mom still has to catch her, but Roadrunner will put up with it for at least a few minutes. Coyote on the other hand is that traditional orange boy...all up in your face.

that trackball is still as popular as ever

hiding inside the scratcher....she thinks she is invisible

there is something in there isn't there?

all kinds of NOPE

you gonna kiss me weird lady?

The good news is (cross your fingers, knock on wood, etc) that the web camera seems to be working better. There is a tab at the top of the page that will show you what they are up to (we will give you a hint - mostly napping)

video Wednesday

intruder alert

Since the looney kittens have tested negative and been vaccinated, mom decided that madam curious (aka Daiquiri) could come in for a visit....she won't be back. She ate their food, stole a toy and growled at them. RUDE

what is this??

may I boop your nose madam?

how about a sniff?

eep!!!

though her brother now seems interested

Roadrunner was the first to decide that the big girl kitty was not to be messed with. Coyote sniffed her, decided she wasn't that interesting and moved on.

In other news, Roadrunner has now decided that mom isn't going to eat her. Coyote has been SUPER friendly from day one coming over and asking for attention (which makes getting his picture a royal pain). Roadrunner, true to her name, would take off if mom moved or tried to pick her up. However, over the weekend she allowed mom to grab her and love on her...and was relaxing and enjoying it as well. She still won't come over and ASK for attention, but we suspect it is only a matter of time.