Random Friday

Junior likes to sleep IN the house

Chanel decided she could do one better and 

sleep UNDER the house

Just the girls hanging around

Ivy, Chanel and Daiquiri

Goldfish

skeptical - very very skeptical

Mom has no idea what she is going to do with this girl. She has been able to touch her a couple of times, but she still flinches and run. Oh - and Goldfish has a new hobby....hanging by the door to the foster room and making like she wants to escape. Mom is contemplating putting her in our trap next week and dropping her off to be spayed and making sure she gets an ear tip (and microchip just in case). The thing mom worries about is that Goldfish has now been inside so long that could she really be safely released?? Mom is going to have to talk to the head of the rescue and make some decisions.

Mom has been very grateful for our foster web cams (there are tabs at the top of the website you can click on to see what is happening at any given moment). After last week, she says it has been a huge relief to be able to check in - especially if she can catch all the kittens playing. 

Remember Me Thursday

Thanks to Lola the Rescued Cat and Three Chatty Cats for hosting the blog hop.

#RememberMeThursday was started in 2013 to shine a light on pets in shelters needing homes. While the numbers are not as bad as they used to be, reports state that almost 3 million adoptable pets lose their lives every year in shelters....just because they can't find a home. 

While some promote adoption - and we are certainly in favor of that - we want to talk about spay and neuter. While adoptions reduce numbers, the sheer number of animals coming INTO shelters needs to be brought down. Spay/Neuter is the best way to do that....

Meet the momma cats of 2018:

Carling is a 5 year old calico

*she is looking for her forever home

Delphi is a 1 year old dilute tortoiseshell

*she is looking for her forever home

Cardamom is a 1 year old tuxedo

*she has already been adopted

These are just the moms of this year - between them they had 16 kittens. We don't know if Cardamom and Delphi have had previous litters...though it is possible. We HAVE to presume that Carling has had many previous litters. Just those numbers alone are scary. Now imagine they hadn't come into rescue. Three of the 16 kittens were girls. Those plus the moms continue to reproduce. Suddenly it goes from scary to staggering. Plus 2 single kittens with no moms - so who knows where they are and if they are going to be spayed.

Some of our 2017 numbers to consider:

• 10 kittens with no mom that was brought in
• 5 mom cats fostered
• 16 kittens between 5 moms

There are things you can do: 

1. Get involved with a local rescue. If they don't have an onsite clinic, we bet they would love offers to help transport animals back and forth for surgery. 
2. Spread the word - you can search "low cost spay" on any search engine or the ASPCA has a searchable database. 
3. Try some TNR - there is nothing more satisfying that hearing a door snap shut and knowing that you are helping control the local population. Keep talking about it - spread the word in your town and on social media.
4. Support your local rescue with donations - we bet they have a wish list on their website.

We are making a difference....let's keep up the good work.

weekend and kitten report

 

Ivy, Chanel and Daiquiri

 The girls and Junior spent the weekend lazing around the house. The heat broke Friday night and it was in the 60s (F) here over the weekend. Lovely sleeping weather for us and for mom.

Mom and Chanel got a chance to go out Saturday and met up with an online friend who also fosters Fellmeth's Fosters. Miss L and Mr C were on vacation in our area. Everyone met up for coffee and a quick tour of the rescue's facility. (you always know great rescue people when they are excited to see other rescue set ups)

 

Kilkenny and Sapporo

*you gotta watch that tuxedo guy - he's a little food possessive

 

Peroni

*mom needs to remember to get her picture with an "object" for size

 

Marzen and Kilkenny

*mom saw this from the kitchen. 

they are just ridiculously cute

Thanks for the condolences last week. It was hard for us and other fosters we know, including Miss Connie and some others from Instagram, that had some losses last week too, so it was hard all around.

Fortunately, the four other kittens and Goldfish are doing well. Peroni is still tiny but everyone is eating really well and gaining weight. In fact, they have gone through a case of small cans in about 6 days. Yikes!! But mom says she will get more food if it means they gain weight and get better.

Marzen, Peroni and Sapporo are all very friendly. Kilkenny is a little shy but doing better. Mom has been able to touch Goldfish a couple of times but she is still very skittish.

Random Friday

Harp

Kiri (the tuxedo)

We have some sad news....starting Tuesday night, the kittens REALLY weren't feeling well. When mom got up Wednesday morning, she found that Harp had died overnight. The kittens all started on new medications and got fluids on Wednesday, but unfortunately Kiri died sometime early Thursday morning. 

We hate giving you all bad news....but if you could, please take a second to send some purrs and prayers for the rest of the kittens. Sapporo is very thin and Peroni is just so dang tiny. Kilkenny and Marzen seem OK, but then again so did Harp.

Whatever is going around doesn't seem to be bothering Goldfish and thankfully the kittens have been kept separate so no adults here are at risk. 

Kilkenny 

he is still a little unsure about the mom

Sapporo

Goldfish - being very skeptical (as always)

*on a side note, Carling it doing well at the store. The manager even said she is chatty with the public and was great with some kids that had come in to visit.

There was a lot of banging around here on Wednesday. Mom had to have our front door replaced - it leaked air and wouldn't open correctly (you basically had to body slam it to get it to open or shut). A nice man came and replaced it and the new one works great. But he sure made some serious noise. The permanent cats got locked in the back bedroom of course.

paper bag

cat in a bag (Marzen)

carefully inspecting the alien object

giving it a taste - just in case

Mom took a paper bag into the kitten room over the weekend. They checked it out, but have been less than impressed over the last few days. Mom actually had to put Marzen in the bag to get that first picture. Apparently these kittens missed the "playing with bags" gene.

The kittens still have some intestinal issues (let's just leave it at that) and are on meds. Mom also found some flea dirt on one of them, so everyone got flea treated last night...even Goldfish. Mom had the meds in her pocket and snuck up on Goldfish while she was eating.

Hopefully once their meds are done and the fleas are dead, the kittens will start being more and more playful. They are obviously pretty tiny for their ages but then again Carling is pretty little and was supporting 6 kittens, so it is to be expected. The upside is that with the exception of Kilkenny, the little kittens are pretty friendly and seek attention. Harp will kind of sneak around but doesn't mind being held. Kilkenny can be held, but you do have to actually catch him first.

weekend report

The hots came back here this weekend.  Dang it. Mom had to shut the windows and the air thingie got turned back on too. Mom says that Mother Nature must have forgotten to change her calendar to September.

 Goldfish loves to sit on this birdhouse. We think she feels safer up there. You can see the towel is still stuffed behind it to keep her from completely hiding.

Chanel had been sleeping in the Sleepypod all curled up and then came out and sprawled on the floor. Check out her crossed back feet. Mom was hoping to get her out this weekend, but with it being STILL hot, that didn't happen.

Carling has gone to one of the rescue's partner stores - luckily the one where mom cleans. Hopefully she will adjust quickly and her forever family will find her soon too.

Random Fridays

Kilkenny

Harp and Peroni

Carling is doing much better being NOT with the kittens. In fact, she would like out of the crate thank-you-very-much (yeah...that isn't going to happen).

Thanks for the feedback on Monday's post. Especially this time of year it can be frustrating. We wish we had a magic wand for Goldfish, but no such luck. There were a couple of suggestions:
1. Keep her completely separate from the other cats in the house and completely dependent on mom. Unfortunately the only place that would be possible would be the bathroom and there are too many places for her to hide or get into trouble.

2. Find a no other cat foster home short term. Unfortunately again, this just isn't possible. Due to a second wave of young kittens, our foster homes are full. Plus they all have pets of their own.

Hopefully the little ones can show her that being friendly is a good thing and that will rub off on her. For now mom will keep trying to make friends. 

kitten update

Marzen - our brown tabby boy

Sapporo - he has longer white socks on his back legs

the orange collection

Peroni (our only girl) is eating

Harp is the one on the bottom with more white

Kilkenny is the one with more orange

Kiri - notice the french manicure on his back toes

Mom mentioned the names to a friend the other day who pointed out that it might be funnier to name the orange/ginger kittens after the Irish beers. Ummm...yep. So, since mom has just started using names anyhow, she switched the oranges and tuxedos. The orange boys are pretty easy to tell apart immediately. The tuxedo boys take a second as their faces are very similar.

Peroni and Kiri are by far the friendliest of the kittens. Kilkenny and Sapporo are coming around. Harp and Marzen are playing hard to get for the moment.

Carling is actually doing better in the crate. She is much calmer and friendlier. Mom got her in yesterday to the clinic to get her spayed. The clinic thinks she is about 5 years old and she weighed 5.5 pounds. The good news is her life gets better from here.

So, for now it is all about spending time with the little kittens and get them friendly and bigger. They are doing pretty well otherwise. The two tiniest - Peroni and Kiri are screamers though which is fairly funny.

We do have weights:
Peroni 13 3/8 ounces
Kiri 14 3/8 ounces
Sapporo 1 pound 5 3/4 ounces
Harp 1 pound 1 3/4 ounces
Kilkenny 1 pound 8 ounces
Marzen 1 pound 3 7/8 ounces

weekend report

**a post from the mom

This is one of those weekends when I wonder if I know what I am doing and if I am doing this right (or should be doing it).

A friend had taken Goldfish about a week ago to help me run a social experiment - see if a change of environment would help her adjustment or social skills. She did....OK. However, she is still growling and scared and will not come forward seeking attention. My friend was headed out of town so I ended up picking her back up on Saturday morning. She put herself in a corner and hissed and spit at me and I had to put a towel over her head to catch her again. It's so frustrating. The problem is if we can't get her social, what are her options?

I ended up setting up a big crate to see if having her in a limited space would force her to interact. She growled at first and then got flirty with Daiquiri and Chanel.

However, things kind of imploded later that night. Carling (the momma cat) figured out how to climb one of the cabinets in the foster room....and escaped. She cornered Chanel and was pretty ornery about it. Thankfully Chanel is so laid back that I was able to grab Carling. The problem is that if Carling could get out, I had to have another solution. She was still be pretty aggressive with the kittens as well.

I made a decision - I pulled Goldfish out of the crate and put Carling in it. Carling was pretty upset overnight, but she had dialed it back overnight. But there is no way I am going to let her out of the crate. I am going to call the clinic today and see about at least getting her into get her spayed. Hopefully it is a hormone thing....

The good news is after 24 hours in the crate, she is MUCH calmer. She does a little growling at Ivy and Daiquiri when they walk by the crate but nothing serious at all.

Here is the other problem - Goldfish is now in the foster room with the beer kittens. She isn't being overly polite either....she is considerably bigger and is kind of pushy. On to of that, a couple of the kittens are pretty friendly and the rest are a little jumpy. Having a growly mom and now a growly kitten isn't helping get them friendly.

It is just frustrating....I don't have an answer as to what to do about any of them and I don't know what the solution is to "fix" them. I'll move forward and figure it out, but it has been a long couple of days.

Random Fridays

In case you missed the announcement on social media on Tuesday,

this little booger went home with his new mom. Concats Annatto!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

places to go, things to do

OK - so it LOOKS like he is coming right toward you

In fact, he was backing away from the camera 

killing it with the cute

So....names. This gets harder all the time as mom keeps trying to be creative. However, she wandered around the internets and decided on beer from around the world. Meet the #worldbeerkittens

Mom will be Carling (England)

Our girl kitten will be Peroni (Italy)

Tuxedo boys will be Harp and Kilkenny (Ireland)

Brown tabby boy will be Marzen (Germany)

Orange tabby boys will be Sapporo and Kiri (Japan)

The kittens are all pretty friendly. Marzen is a little shyer than the rest. And Miss Peroni took herself on a tour of the condo the other night when mom opened the door to go into the foster room. Just marched down the hall right past Daiquiri and Chanel - tail straight up in the air all self confident. Mom is going to try to remember to break out the scale this weekend to get some weights. She is curious how much the little girl weighs and the differences between the boys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have a safe weekend and be sure to get in an extra nap. 

kittens

the one in the scratcher is the only girl - and the runt

the tuxedo boys and the brown tabby boy in the back

*if you look close, their markings are similar but one

has "bigger" white marks than the other

running over their sister for a snack

the other orange and white boy

*looks like he is telling the bear secrets

Mom has to be honest here....the momma cat of this crew is giving her heartburn. Momma cat is better than she was Saturday, but still weirdly growly. She finally let the kittens nurse on Sunday. Yesterday when mom was in there she wanted some attention though wasn't seeking it out. She nursed the kittens and even chirped at them to get their attention. Mom left and about 30 minutes later the momma cat was growling at them again.

Mom looked at the pet store yesterday when she was cleaning, but the only diffuser they had was for marking, so she is going to have to look around. For now at least she isn't hurting the kittens and is letting them nurse, so we are willing to put up with her weirdness. Plus as mom says, us permanent cats don't seem too concerned about the momma cat's racket in there, so that makes it a little easier.

Mom is having problems picking names for this crew too. She thought she had a theme but isn't committed to it. With a mom, 5 boys and 1 girl, it's a little hard.

The kittens are fairly friendly. The orange boy with more white and the brown tabby are jumpier than the others, but they are fairly curious and will come over and check mom out. Fortunately we will have them for a while so mom has time to get them all friendly and sweet. 

change of plans

Our rescue is up to its eyes in cats, so a flyer went out on Friday about a sale over the weekend. Based on that, mom knew it was time for Annatto to go back. As she was thinking on Friday, she thought about taking Soda back as well. The more mom thought about it, the more she realized that taking him back wasn't freaking her out. So it was a good decision.

Since the foster room was going to be empty (Goldfish is participating in an experiment to test her social skills), the rescue sent mom home with a mom and 6 kittens that had been left late one night in a carrier outside the rescue.

Momma cat is a calico and her tail is about 3/4 length of normal. She is giving off mixed signals and mom isn't sure quite what to do with her. She is very growly and has made some very "pissed off cat" noises and has smacked the kittens. We suspect is is partly hormones and partly lots of change and partly she may be able to smell Soda in the room. By the time we are typing this, the family has been here about 24 hours. The momma cat has settled some, but not much. Though she has calmed down enough to nurse the kittens. Fortunately the kittens are about 5 weeks old so they are eating on their own.

Mom did a quick check and it appears we have 5 boys and 1 girl. Mom is going to have to work on a theme for this group. There is 1 brown and white tabby, 2 tuxedos (because of course....hahaha), and 3 orange and white tabbys. The girl is one of the orange tabbys and the smallest of the group. In fact, the others have eyes that have changed from blue but she still has a ring on the outside of her eyes.

The kittens are pretty jumpy too but even in 24 hours have come around pretty quickly.