Random Fridays

We have some sad news that some of you have already seen on Facebook. Mom was gone from Sunday to Wednesday for the holiday. She got a call Tuesday morning from the pet sitter that Weaver has passed away over night. She was so very tiny but we had high hopes for her. The pet sitters are very experienced and said that everyone seemed fine Monday night. Sigourney seems to be OK and we will try to get her spayed next week.

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We have a new website to tell you about. Miss Julie - mom to Cupcake and aunt to Chanel - started a new site called Cats Going Places to talk about city cats and their adventures. Plus questions we all get and equipment we use. Mom and Chanel are contributors. If you have a Cat Going Places, join us on facebook, twitter and instagram using #CatsGoingPlaces
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Speaking of going places, mom had plans to take Chanel out this weekend, but DANG it is cold here. So maybe, maybe not....

Mom will be spending the weekend getting the final kinks worked out of the database for the rescue as well as our year end review (hopefully up Monday and Tuesday of next week).

Have a safe and happy new year celebration. And be sure to scope out your safe spot for all the fireworks.

almost wordless Wednesday

this is for me right??

Secret Paws

Every year Miss Paula from Sweet Purrfections takes cat bloggers who want to participate and pairs them up. We got our box last week and since mom will be gone for Christmas, we got to open our box early.

It came from Wally, Ernie and Zoey and their mom from The Island Cats.

 

box inspector #1

 

box inspector #2

 

oooo.....springs, my favorites!!

 

They are nice - they sent a stocking for

Allie with canned food and treats.

Thanks for our presents!! Mom got something nice too - chocolate and cat magnets. The magnets are on the fridge and the chocolates are already gone. MOL

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Random Fridays

More good news:

Bristol - ADOPTED

Amarillo - ADOPTED

Not together and both will be single kittens. Mom did laugh wondering how long it will take for Bristol's new family to regret that decision. hahaha

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Some cat got her nails trimmed last weekend and then spent

time giving mom THIS look.

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Mom got our Secret Paws package wrapped up and sent last week. She said something about it going over the ocean....we hope it gets there in time (since planning ahead wasn't mom's thing this year).

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For as much time as Daiquiri spent growling at Chanel when she first came back, she now spends just as much time giving the kid a good bath.

A couple of Chanel things: the v-e-t asked on Tuesday if mom has seen any changes in Chanel. Nope. Her recovery time seems to be a little bit better, but then again she got up on the chair the other day, gave mom a good head butt...and fell off the chair. 

Oh - and she has discovered that she likes sleeping UNDER the covers at night with mom. She will come out now and then but spends the majority of the time under the comforter, on top of the blankets. 

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So far Ivy has gotten her meds every some days and her ear is looking better. Mom did laugh and say that the v-e-t may have asked the wrong question though. Dr F asked if mom can medicate Ivy. Sure. The better question is - can mom CATCH Ivy to medicate her.  MOL

kitten update

Mom weighed her last night and she is up to 1 and 1/2 pounds. Who knows when that little bugger will get spayed at this rate.  hahaha

She is having a good time playing in the foster room and hanging out with her momma. Both of them are super friendly.

smug cat is smug

wordless Wednesday

grumpy watermelon

Last week mom noticed that Ivy had some crusty scabs in her left ear. Mom tried to get a look at it but Ivy was NOT cooperating. Since she puts up a good fight and really doesn't have a scruff to grab, mom called the v-e-t and made an appointment for Monday morning.

Now, catching the grumpy watermelon is an event. If she even SUSPECTS anything, she disappears. Mom put the carrier out on Sunday afternoon and ignored Ivy for most of the weekend unless Ivy sought her out for attention.

 

Come Monday morning, mom went about her business and then at the last possible minute grabbed Ivy from the house and put her in the carrier.

She did some talking in the car but no real singing. She is a screamer at the v-e-t office however and got louder as time went on. Dr F cleaned out her ear but didn't find anything definitive. Mom brought her home with meds for the next week (wish mom luck) and plans to recheck in about 10 days to make sure it isn't a polyp in Ivy's ear.

As an added bonus, they did trim her nails.....

Oh - and the watermelon thing...mom jokingly calls Ivy the "watermelon" based on her circumference. The v-e-t weight her and she comes in at 12 pounds 5 ounces.

She's nuts

she's cute but she seems to have an unlimited amount of energy. She sleeps during the day, but if Mom is in there, Weaver is on the go!!

Random Fridays

Looks like everyone has their plans laid out for the weekend. Mom says it sounds good to her.

Sigourney and Weaver are doing well. You need to be sure to check the Foster Kitten Cam and see what they are up to. If Weaver is awake, she is usually running around like a nut.

adoption news

On Sunday, this one went home:

Marfa

And on Tuesday, this one went home:

Shiner

Honestly, not on a bet would mom have guessed that Marfa would have been the first to be adopted.

Nothing yet on Bristol and Amarillo....cross your paws. There was a nice lady looking at them on Wednesday and mom got to talk to her.

video Wednesday

FREEDOM

and of course then this happened

Earlier this fall a homeless woman came into the spay/neuter clinic that the rescue uses. She had a mom cat with 5 kittens. Mom was VERY underweight and the clinic called our rescue to help. Unfortunately all but one kitten did not survive and this little girl was supplemented for weeks to keep her alive. Mom was nursing but didn't have the resources to provide everything the kitten needed.

 

pretty momma cat

Mom fell in love with this pair over a period of time and would love on them when she went through the intake part of the rescue. With the Texas kittens back at the rescue, mom asked to take this pair. She brought them home on Wednesday. The mom cat enjoyed stretching out and the kitten ran around in circles for about 15 minutes.

Mom cat is very tiny and we suspect she is pretty young. The kitten is 8 weeks old (as of 12/11) and SO tiny at 1 pound 3 ounces. The joke is she will be 6 months old before she can be spayed.

Meet Sigourney (mom) and Weaver (kitten).

Let's try this again

By Friday, the Texas kittens were running around like nuts....no sneezing, no drooling, no nothing. But...they were taking up mom space and Chanel was acting more and more unhappy about it. That said, mom took Chanel out on Saturday and then asked if the Texas kittens could come back to the adoption center on Sunday. Mom got them up there just as the center opened and they are set up in a wire cat tower all together. When mom left, Marfa was toward the back but everyone else was acting curious and checking things out. Mom gave their background to a couple of volunteers. As of this writing, no news on adoptions, but we hope they go quickly (and in pairs).

Random Fridays

We have Christmas cards....lots of Christmas cards. MOL If you would like one from us this year - no obligation - send us your address here and we will send you a card. (and delete your information)

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Seriously - how can you not love that face??

Nothing too exciting this weekend. Mom is still working on the database for the rescue - which is taking a lot of her time so we apologize for not visiting and commenting much lately. She also wants to make sure Chanel gets a chance to get out of the house this weekend. It didn't happen last weekend and mom wants to keep her in practice.

Well, color us surprised about the Texas kittens being out overnight. Mom posted on Instagram on Wednesday evening that she was giving it 50/50 odds that anyone would get any sleep. Well...they were curious about the bedroom and did some investigating (the bedroom door is closed during the day), jumped on the bed, and checked out the dressers. But once the lights went out, they settled down and spent most of the night curled up right next to mom. So sweet (though hard to turn over).

that was NOT the plan

We have Christmas cards....lots of Christmas cards. MOL If you would like one from us this year - no obligation - send us your address here and we will send you a card. (and delete your information)
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The intention was to take the Texas kittens up to the adoption center Tuesday night to find them their forever homes for Christmas. However, Amarillo started drooling over the weekend and by Tuesday night there was various sneezing. Under the category of "better safe than sorry", they are back with us for a few days on meds.

And of course....they figured out how to get out of the foster room. Mom didn't witness the ACTUAL escape, but Wednesday morning they were all out playing in the living room when mom came out to get ready for work. Mom walked into the living room to see three of them sitting there - all with this "We have no idea what happened" expression. sigh..... She cracked the door into the foster room, but we suspect there may not be much action on the web cam.

hooligans - all of them

adopted

ADOPTED

Our Blueberry boy went home last night - along with a new sibling to play with.

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We have Christmas cards....lots of Christmas cards. MOL If you would like one from us this year - no obligation - send us your address here and we will send you a card. (and delete your information)

adoption events

We have Christmas cards....lots of Christmas cards. MOL If you would like one from us this year - no obligation - send us your address here and we will send you a card. (and delete your information)
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The Texas kittens went out both Saturday and Sunday to adoption events. No applications though. They were fairly nervous on Saturday but by Sunday had relaxed.

 

Shiner

 

Bristol - what a poser

 

Marfa

smooshed behind her siblings

 

Shiner and Bristol

They will go up to the adoption center today. Hopefully they will adjust pretty quickly and get adopted quickly too. We would love to see them go in pairs...heaven knows Bristol at least will need someone to keep him company (out of trouble).

back story on the Texas kittens

While mom had the kittens out on Saturday, she decided to reach out to their original rescue organization and give them an update. The kittens came from Wharton County SPOT in Texas.

 the area after the flooding

 Amelia - mom cat to the kittens. We think the paperwork got separated during transport as Amelia wasn't with the kittens and neither mom or the rescue knew Amelia is the kittens' mom until we got the email from the rescue with more information.

The kittens in a crate on the front porch.

Mom was going to give you their story, but decided to just let Christine tell it to you in her own words:

Our community was devastated by catastrophic flooding. It was unprecedented and caught many county residents off guard, necessitating rescues by boat in the pitch dark/middle of the night. Some were alerted to the situation by their dogs - who ran off due to the water quickly rushing in.

We were contacted during the flooding by someone with a contact with Alley Cat Allies. As a result, we were able to transfer 24 cats/kittens to Austin Pets Alive when the water receded - these were cats/kittens already in our care or at the two municipal shelters. Alley Cat Allies also awarded us an emergency grant which then allowed us to help more cats/kittens. This was a godsend because many of our Board members/fosters/donors were affected by the flooding and are now focused on getting their lives back on track. Many community members and some businesses are living in travel trailers on their property while renovations to their homes/businesses are being done.

About 3 weeks after the flood waters receded, we received a call from a woman who's home was flooded. A stray cat had made her way to her porch with her four kittens during the flood. I went to meet with her and assess the situation (were they healthy, friendly). It can be tricky with outdoor cats with our limited resources. It costs us about $200/cat for vaccinations, exam, and other expenses.

The other positive was that Colony Cats had already agreed to take in more kittens/cats from us and we had transport scheduled the following week. As a foster-based rescue, we are challenged with having enough folks to care for cats until we can either get them adopted or transferred. And transfers are tricky because the ground transport group we use for dogs has a driver that is allergic to cats. We have found a different transporter who transported the cats to you both time, but it isn't cheap - about $700/trip. The grant helped fund the two trips.

The kittens were adorable and she had already caught them in a milk crate; I was able to handle them. The momma cat was approachable and Mary's daughter was able to catch her and get her in a kennel. I thought it best they come into SPOT's care while they were all "caught." They hung out in our office for a week until we were able to transport them to you.
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We are VERY grateful to the lady who found Amelia and her kittens and to SPOT for taking them in knowing they had a safe place to go. Thanks also to Alley Cat Allies for grants to help with transport costs. It really does take a village to help save animals.

The kittens are all safe and healthy and will be at our adoption center starting tomorrow looking for forever homes. Amelia was spayed and is in our intake department getting over a cold. Mom got a good look at her on Sunday and she is very cute and looks very much like her kittens. Once she is over her cold she will go back out to the adoption floor.

Normally we ask for your support for our rescue. But...in this season of giving if you are so moved, we would be grateful if you decided to give a little to SPOT to help them rebuild.