Random Fridays

all girl meeting - you not invited

(no idea where Ivy was at this moment)

Chanel always looks skeptical and Goldfish always looks kind of shocked

Goldfish continues to come out of her shell. She has taken to sleeping on the bed at night - problem is of course that she turns up and mom is asleep so they tend to startle each other occasionally. Goldfish has also taken to sitting on a scratcher that is behind mom's favorite chair. Mom will talk to Goldfish, tip her head back to look at her and occasionally get bold and touch a Goldfish toe.

Next step will come this weekend. Mom is going to try sitting on the floor and seeing how close Goldfish will come for treats. Wish her luck.

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Mom took Chanel out last weekend for Christmas pictures. Because mom was in a hurry, she didn't read the descriptions very closely and realized at the last minute that this session would have Santa. She was supposed to meet some friends and their dog so she went ahead and packed up Chanel on Saturday. Chanel doesn't mind meeting new people but she isn't a big fan of being held - even by mom (although she has more than once let the vet pick her up and flip her over which mom just finds weird). Anyhow....mom got Chanel out of her carrier and let her check out the store. First step was trying to get back IN the carrier which wasn't happening. Then mom had her sit at Santa's feet and eventually put her up on his lap. She never struggled and with the help of some bells, they got these pictures (this is the same photographer who took last year's Christmas pictures - he is amazing):

about that time

**as a side note, both foster room cameras seem to be working again. apparently the technology fairy came to visit us (and no - that would NOT be mom)

Balashi and Peroni

she looks like she has that "enforcer" expression doesn't she?

Poor Guinness - he is so adorable and outgoing and sweet

and always looks so concerned

that Peroni - always someplace else to be when the camera appears

What? it's a selfie

finally holding still (sort of)

Balashi certainly has some fabulous stripes

It is about that time. Everyone is over 2 pounds and it would be nice to find them homes before Christmas (because what family doesn't need a new baby that will climb their Christmas tree?). With it being late in the year, they may be the smallest kittens available, so they will hopefully go quickly. Balashi may freak out at first at the adoption center but we suspect Peroni and Guinness will be fine.

That said...if you are near central Ohio and are interested, let us know now and we can hook you up. All three are very sweet and people oriented.

weekend report

Mom wanted to do something for the rescue for December. She thought about it and decided maybe a treat bag for each adopted cat would be a nice touch. She got some decorations as well. Luckily for the cats, our Aunt Dee and Miss Patty came to the rescue and with their help mom and a couple of other volunteers were able to put together 150 bags with toys and treats for each adopted cat. THANK YOU ladies!!!

Mom was talking last week to another volunteer about kittens. This other volunteer is in charge of one of the partner stores - one that is actually closer to our house. She cleared it with the director of the rescue and mom took Marzen and Kilkenny to the store on Friday night. They were kind of scared and hid right away. Sadly, mom checked on them on Saturday and they were still hiding. Hopefully a couple more days and they will come out and let people see them more.

This is one of Goldfish's favorite places to sleep. Though if you look closely, her tail is still curled under some. Mom says it takes everything she has some times not to sneak over and touch Goldfish's tail.

While Goldfish is getting better at coming up at night while mom is in bed, she hasn't come back up on to mom's lap since that last time. Goldfish is still skittish but doing much better. As opposed to Junior, she doesn't run if mom gets up and walks through the living room. Of course, if mom HAD to catch her, that would take some serious effort, but for now mom is focusing on their bond while mom is in bed.

Random Fridays

We hope all of our US friends had a good turkey day yesterday. Since mom stayed home, she made chili....which we are led to believe is not traditional. MOL

all five kittens - though not a great picture

all packed up and ready for shipping

Goldfish is just learning about this Amazon thing and is

amazed at the things you can buy online

A friend sent us some things and the one box didn't make it out of the living room. It has been occupied by every one of the girls at one point or another. So far Daiquiri hasn't started shredding it yet either, so it can stay until the destruction princess does some damage.

Mom hasn't seen Allie our feral girl in a few days. But she did see a brown tabby come out of the garage Monday night when she was coming home. She is going to give him/her a few days to get comfortable and then set the trap to get the cat fixed. 

kittens

Balashi would like to know why you look funny

Peroni says: no Marzen, this are my box

again with the tail

(Marzen and Guinness)

nicely done boys

(Guinness and Marzen)

Marzen practices his supermodel pose

poor Peroni - the only girl in a group of boy cats

(don't believe her for a second - she starts it half the time)

tails - the ultimate cat toy

Well, there may be space at one of our partner stores, so Kilkenny and Marzen may be headed out this weekend. Wish them luck and cross your fingers for quick adoptions.

Goldfish occasionally goes in to visit the kittens (OK - let's be honest...she is after the canned food). However, it is interesting getting her back out - mom can't stand there with the door open or other kittens will get out. Goldfish hesitates to go out the door anyhow since mom is standing right there. Instead, she plays with the kittens for a while and then climbs one of the doors, gets to the top and jumps to the floor on the other side. This of course means that the little kittens throw themselves at the screen door trying to figure out how Goldfish escaped.

weekend report

Almost a family portrait - Guinness decided he wanted to be somewhere else. From left to right: Peroni, Kilkenny, Balashi and Marzen.

Mom attached our Sheer Fun for Cats toy to a table by the window. Daiquiri likes to sleep on the bottom shelf behind the sheer. We are pretty sure she thinks she is invisible. Goldfish likes to hide under that bottom shelf when she gets scared by something.

 

a girl and her scratcher

It is a short week here in the US with Thanksgiving on Thursday. Mom is staying home again so we will have four days with her. She said she will be doing some paperwork for the rescue as well, so we will have to do our best to distract her.

Nothing too exciting here over the weekend. The kittens are on meds for a cold but mom is hoping at least the bigger boys are feeling better by the end of the week.

Random Fridays

Balashi sees what you did there

this was mostly just a fuzzy picture of Kilkenny

until mom realized who lurked in the background (Marzen)

no idea why Guinness always looks so concerned

ok - maybe not ALWAYS

the bigger boys - Kilkenny and Marzen

Well, the kittens will be here for a little while longer. Marzen and Kilkenny are both available for adoption and on the website. However...everyone has a cold. It started with runny eyes and now everyone is sneezing and on meds. We caught it early enough that there isn't much snot and everyone is still eating like heathens, but they can't be neutered or go back to the adoption center in this state.

Goldfish continues to make some progress - even if it is baby steps. She was up on the bed a couple of times this week while mom was reading. Of course, she was all lovey one night and then the next morning gave mom the airplanes ears of annoyance. She hasn't gotten back on mom's lap since that first time, but she did park herself on the blanket on the floor last weekend when mom was watching TV.

Goldfish and Chanel

no idea how that is comfortable Miss Goldfish

It is a joy to watch Chanel and Goldfish interact. It is like Chanel got her own mini-me. They are having a blast. The other nice thing is that Goldfish seems to be taking more of her cues from Chanel now and is a little less jumpy - sometimes. haha

Chanel certainly does love that kitten:

Fortunately for everyone else here, these two having such a good relationship means that they tend to leave the older girls alone. Chanel still will try to be all lovey with Daiquiri - who puts up with it for a short period of time and then tells Chanel to take a hike. Ivy will put up with the full body rub from either girl and maybe a little laying next to each other. But thankfully with them being so close in age, they tend to keep each other busy.

Oh - and Goldfish found Chanel's peep toy the other day too:

weekend report

 

Sapporo

Guess who got adopted and went home on Saturday??

 

Kilkenny

 

Marzen

Well, the first of our boys were adopted. Once Kilkenny and Sapporo were neutered, mom got them up on the website (which loads out to several different adoption sites) to let people know they were available. Considering how sick they had been, mom was reluctant to send them right back to the adoption center.

An application came through online and mom met a couple on Saturday and sent Sapporo home with them. They have our information, so hopefully we will get updates.

Marzen is doing very well after his neuter. The nice part about young males is that they really have no idea anything had been done to them and recover very quickly.

Next step is to take them up to the adoption center. Marzen is online but they really will get adopted faster if people can see them in person.
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Also, November is Adopt A Senior Pet month. Mom wanted to do something to bring attention to it when people came into the adoption center so with the help of a friend, she had a banner made for the front window:

Random Fridays

Balashi is going for the cute award...and OMG is his fur soft

the tiny mighty Peroni

poor Marzen....he always looks so concerned

(also, he was neutered yesterday, so he is ready to go)

Guinness wants mom to STOP with the pictures

OMG - there are BIRDS outside the window!!!

Goldfish on top, Chanel in the middle, Junior on the table

tails - best cat toy ever

Peroni is playing with Guinness' tail while Sapporo is playing with hers

the picture must also be a weird angle cause Sapporo is MUCH bigger than Peroni

OK - so mom thought she fixed the Nest camera. Only....not so much. She thinks maybe it is a link thingie....but she has tried erasing the code and replacing it and that doesn't work either. Surprise, surprise, mom is in over her head. Sorry about that.....

Comfort Zone [sponsored]

Mom had a chance to meet the makers of Comfort Zone when she was at Blog Paws in Kansas City. They actually sponsored a breakfast to talk about their product and mom took Chanel. After the food was served, a marketing person started to talk and suddenly Chanel decided she needed to be ON the table expressing her opinion about everything. 

We've never tried a diffuser like this in the house before, though we have certainly heard about them and actually seen them in other cat houses as well as at vet offices. Mom has been interested to give them a try but never actually did anything about it. So when Comfort Zone offered to send us some to try and review, mom was on board.
           **disclaimer: we got the diffusers at no charge to us in exchange for a free review. While we didn't pay for anything, receiving the product in no way affected our opinions. Everything here is our own opinion of the product (well ok - mom's opinion).

We put two of them up in the house. One of them in the kitten room (you can see it below behind Saporro) and the other in a main corner of the house. At that corner, the tile is the kitchen and the hall behind Ivy leads back to the bedrooms. The main space you see is the living room. The back bedroom is where the cat stuff is located and the water dishes are in the kitchen. This makes for a major traffic area.

As we have said before, Ivy and Junior have a rather tense relationship - he stalks her and she hates him with a passion. Mom is hoping the diffuser at the corner will help with anyone being stuck there.

The one in the foster room was mainly for Goldfish. The minute we got the box (about a month ago), mom put one in the foster room with her. As most of you know, Goldfish has been a work in progress. Mom would be able to touch her, but then have to do something (like medicate her or grab her to take her to get spayed) and all that trust would go out the window.

The nice part with two of them up now is that Goldfish still gets the exposure while leaving one in with the kittens to help with any stress there.

Mom knows this isn't a miracle product, but after a month, she will say that she is seeing Ivy be a little calmer, Junior be a little less jumpy...and Goldfish getting more relaxed. All things considered, we will count that as a success.

Thanks to Comfort Zone for allowing us to try their product. They make the calming formula and have now branched out to a multi-cat formula as well.

kittens at play

Everything is a toy....

That box is very popular. Balashi likes to hide in it, but he isn't the only one. 

 Kilkenny has found it too. The expression on Marzen's face is hilarious - like he just can't believe that idiot he has to claim as his brother.

 Kilkenny realized he could go trick or treating as a box of canned food, unfortunately it is past the holiday. Sorry buddy.

 Mom has learned to leave her phone face down when she is in the kitten room to avoid anyone waking it up and placing weird phone calls. However, she has a ring on the back of her phone and the kittens discovered it over the weekend. Marzen even tried to pick it up by the ring and carry it away.

 

Sapporo was leaning against mom's leg.

It made mom laugh as this is how Chanel sits too.

 

This our box lady - go away.