Unexpected

 The girls head back to the shelter today. They've turned out to ge very sweet and we suspect they will get adopted quickly. They were out starting Thursday during the day only abd were mostly good- they refused to leave mom's desk alone. 

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Speaking of adoptions, all the hocus pocus girls are now adopted. Sarah took a little longer than her sisters, but that's OK.

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Over the weekend a friend asked if the rescue could take a kitten found by one of her coworkers.  The rescue said yes, so mompicked him up. She got a local vet to FIV/FeLV test him and he is negative. While at the vet, they noticed he is limping. As a precaution,  mom agreed to an xray. He has an old break that is healing but not correctly. And it is just above his knee joint in a growth plate. The rescue is going to have to decide the next step but either way he is being neutered today.

Meet Millshake. He's about 5 months old and loves people. He charmed everyone at the vet office. 

New kittens, new toys

 The hocus pocus girls went back to the shelter on Friday. Winifred was adopted that same day and the other 2 are still available. 

Since mom was there, she of course came back with more. These tortie girls are Jupiter, Mars and Mercury. They have kitty colds so will be here for about 10 days. 

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Mom also has been working on her Christmas shopping. 

She ordered some cat toys from Keep Up Creations as gifts and of course some for us.

They come vacuum packed. 

Great idea

Boba decided to "help" with unpacking and wrapping. Everything is also now hidden.

A little freedom

 If you missed it on social media,  the girls are back for a week. The shelter does a really good job trying to juggle intake, surgery dates, and adoption space. With the ringworm adding 5 weeks to their time in foster, it messed with the schedule. So to get space and also hit the outside 21 days on the ringworm test, the girls came back here. 

The girls are getting some time loose in the house. First time they spent hours investigating everything. 

The permanent residents are too sure, but that is typical for here.

Right now their tentative return date is Friday. 

Winifred

Sarah

Mary

Long weekend

 Well, some good news for the girls. No more meds for the ringworm. They are scheduled right now to go back to the shelter on Thursday for surgery. Not sure if they will go up for adoption after that or come back for final test results. But the shelter staff didn't see anything so hopefully they are clear. Turn mom will need to deep clean the room again. 

This hard been kind of hard in a different way since they are friendly but couldn't be handled much for risk of spreading ringworm. Ugh

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Over the weekend mom and a friend built a nes TV stand then mom built us a new cubby/window stand. Boba and Chanel were lots of help.

New one on the left

Right on is from Vesper 

The cat stand actually is now turned 90 degrees and mom left one side off the cubby. It wasn't very expensive and was pretty easy to put together.  

It's been checked out and mom is pretty happy with it. She's going to buy another for a different space and they have some other very nice pieces as well (find it here)

Boba has already managed to lose a spring toy under the TV stand. 

Another week

 The girls are looking better but still on meds and being lyme sulphur dipped. (For those not familiar, they are dipped in a dilution with water and allowed to dry. And they smell terrible until they dry - think rotten eggs times 100). Hopefully this will be the last week of dips. Meds  will be over shortly  too then just waiting for a negative test. 

Mary

Sarah and Winifred

Getting pictures is hard since mom isn't spending a lot of time with them to avoid spreading the ringworm spores.

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There has been some cursing here. Mom switched cell phone carriers and had to get a new phone. The switch wasn't terrible but she is still getting used to the new phone. 

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Boba remains quite the ham. She can be a bit much at times...she is pretty smart and gives mom a run for her money. 

For our US friends, have a nice holiday week.

Unexpected

 Well it turns out the girls have ringworm. They are on meds and have been Lyme sulphur dipped twice (once more tomorrow). And they are obviously quarantined in the foster room since its contagious. They are displeased....haha. The bath was bad (and stinky) but they really hate being pulled twice a day. 

Mary

Winifred

Sarah

But they get run of the foster room which is better than a cage for 3 weeks minimum. Though mom does wish Sarah would learn to stop yelling during work meetings.

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Speaking of work meetings, Boba has decided that is the best time to play her favorite game -fetch. She taught herself and mom is slowly working on targeting to get her to drop the ball in a better place than under the office chair. Despite given options, her favorite toy is a very beat up green foam soccer ball. Mom has thrown a couple of others, but that one is Boba's favorite (she will also chase a spring toy but that is down the hall not down the stairs). She starts the game 3-3 tines per day and will chase it several times. 

Hocus Pocus girls

 Mom picked up 3 kittens from the shelter last week. They are about 6 weeks old and needs to get a little bit bigger for surgery. They were treated at the shelter for a lot of fleas so they are free of those now.

But they had a lot of fleas dirt. Mom tried to comb them out but it wasn't working so they all got a bath on Sunday. Cats are normally self cleaning but it's better for their health to have the dirt gone. 

They do have some crusty scabs on their tails. The shelter vet took a look and the tuxedo is on meds for a wound on hers but they aren't sure what caused the scabs. Mom tried to get a better look but the girls don't want them messed with. So for now the shelter is saying let them heal up and see what happens. 

Winifred is the snowshoe, Sarah is the tabby and Mary is the tuxedo. Welcome girls

Ron the kitten

 We've had a kitten here for about a week getting over a kitty cold. He goes back to the shelter today. He's been fun and he is full of beans. He was pretty laid back the first couple of days and then started feeling better and got into everything. Even Boba wasn't sure what to do with him at times. He will be a great kittenfor an active family or with another young kitten. 

But he spent Sunday following the sun around the living room. 

Busy week

 Daiquiri, Ivy and Boba all had their annual vet visits. Daiquiri went last Monday by herself. She is ok at the vet but her singing tends to get Ivy upset so they don't go together anymore. 

This was Boba's first visit with our vet. She and Ivy went on Friday together. Ivy just got a checkup and a blood draw for a senior panel. Boba got the once over and her rabies vaccine. Mom wasn't sure how Biba would do and while she clearly didn't enjoy it, she wasn't bad. 

The kittens were spayed and neutered last Monday and are now available for adoption. They are a nice group of kittens. 

They can be pretty snuggly once they run around like lunatics and burn off some energy. They will go to the partner store when there is space but are having a good time here and are at least already on Petfinder. 

Happy duck

 Palermo loves that duck (the kittens gained some freedom during the day this weekend).

Until it was stolen

the old, the shy, the different #RememberMeThursday

 a post by the mom

This is the time of year when adoptions can slow for rescues and shelters. The Helen Woodward Foundation started Remember Me Thursday to shine a light on those animals still looking for their forever homes. 

Kittens tend to always be adopted quickly. But what about others? What about the non-kittens: the older ones, the shy ones, bonded pairs, differently abled? Often overlooked by most, especially if they aren't outgoing and trying to catch the attention of people walking through a shelter or adoption center.

After over 20 years in rescue, I can tell you one very important thing: the cats that have been at a shelter the longest or seem more shut down are the ones that need you the most. And once they are home and feeling secure, they are the ones that will be the most appreciative. I can't begin to tell you the number of times people have said they were glad to have taken a chance on the ones no one else were looking at and then realized how much love they received once the cat decompressed. It may not be a quick process but it is always worth it. For reference, the common belief it can take 3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to adjust to new routines and 3 months to really relax in their new home. And these are just suggestions - each cat is different. 

If you have the time and patience and right household, you will be rewarded so many times over. You can always search Petfinder for cats in your area. You can search by zip code and then narrow it down from there. 

Keep in mind - if you can't adopt, rescues always need other forms of help. Money donations are always welcome and most rescues have wish lists on amazon or chewy. The shelter where I volunteer is CHA Animal Shelter and their wishlist is here.

Just sharing pictures of available adoptables on social media helps. Please be sure to include a link to the rescue and the city and state where they are located. If you can, check if they do adoptions that are not local as every rescue has different requirements. 

Mostly be as supportive as you can. Give your time, your money, your voice. It all makes a difference.

Updates

 Sorry....mom has been slacking.

Apricot and Fog are at a partner store waiting to be adopted. Lychee is being spayed today.

The Italian city kittens are doing well. Palermo have mom a scare last week but 12 hours later was acting like nothing happened. 

Mom deep cleaned, disinfected and reset the foster room and they have been loving the space to run around and play.

Boba has jumped the gate a couple of times to check them out, but she is rude and growly so mom ends up kicking her out fairly quickly.

Everyone else is doing well. The weather cooled off some so we are enjoying open windows and fresh air.

Baby jail

 First, thank you for the kind words on social media. If you didn't see it, Mondavi of the Italian city kittens passed away on Wednesday.

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The other little kittens are still in the playpen. It will be a few more days before they get into the foster room. Movibg other kittens around and need to deep clean.

In the meantime, to give them more space, mom attached tespo panels. Asti climbed the playpen and escaped. 

After several attempts, mom couldn't get the top completely blocked off. 

But wait....what about the large crate? And why has THAT never occurred to get before.

And the kittens said: the crate is square, the playpen is round. We can escape. So much for baby jail 2.0

Ok....so now there is a panel in the far corner. Hopefully that works (don't hold your breath).

Weekend report

 Things are pretty good here. The weather is cooling at least a little bit so that leads to open windows (with our screen inserts to avoid accidents).

 The fruit girls are doing well. Fig and Apricot are ready to go and on Petfinder. Just need space in a store. Lychee is finally big enough she can be spayed when the rescue has a spot.

Fig (back) and Apricot

Daiq and a kitten looking for

leftovers from breakfast

Lychee

The little Italian city kittens are doing pretty good. Mom has changed their diet a couple of times hoping to get more calories in them. So far so good but mom still worries about them. They are being more active and playful so that's a good sign.

The hope is to move them maybe this week and give them a little more space.