Just for a few days

 We have some older boy kittens in the foster room for a few days getting over colds. They are about 4 months old and wild! All gray too so they are wearing collars to keep them straight.

The shelter names all the kittens so don't blame mom for this: King Arthut, Lancelot and... Little John. (Someone got their English folklore confused)

They got some freedom this weekend but never settled down and were into EVERYTHING so back to the foster room.

Boba was clearly confused by nit only bigger kittens, but also not really sure exactly how many there were on the loose.

Pumpkin is doing very well. She eating great, doing all the normal kitten things. And her lungs work great! (Have we mentioned she's loud?)

Hot...so hot

 OK maybe not as hot as some areas, but we  mid-westerners don't do constant 90s. Blech

Chanel melted

Pumpkin is doing well. She is growing and has lots of opinions. Her journey is just starting but she's going strong. 

Mom went shopping for a new plant. The local shop was great and recommended a plant called a Hoya that hopefully mom won't kill. Pet friendly but it is hanging from the ceiling in the foster room so out of reach just in case. 

New kitten

 First: to no one's surprise, Cinderella was adopted pretty quickly on Friday. It looks like Bibbidi was adopted on Saturday. 

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If you follow us on social media, you know we took in a kitten on July 4th. A lady reached out to various rescues about a special needs kitten. (also previous posts say"he" turns out mom is out of practice and the kitten is a girl)

Now, right off the bat mom isn't in many "rescue" groups or anything similar online because it's hard to see all the "need help" posts and not be able to do anything (or, let's be honest, occasionally smack people).

This one was different. Our friend Miss H sent a video to mom and this isn't something she does. One look and mom is like ok, I'm in. The contact was through a local rescue who knew the adoption process would be more difficult. They use a partnership with a large pet store, and it just creates problems putting certain cats or kittens in that environment. 

H and mom picked up the baby on Thursday. Mom cat has a spay appointment as do the other kittens. But the lady has limited funds and was getting a lot of push (even from a vet) to euthanize the kitten due to "quality of life". 

So meet Pumpkin. The lady's grandkid named her so we are keeping it. She has a vet appointment later today but mom is 95% sure it is CH. She's pretty wobbly but also 6 weeks old, so it's a weird combination of coordination and just learning to get around. She is eating on her own and using the litter box. Mom says she is a tiny velociraptor. She is very vocal and bitey when she eats. Mom either holds her around the middle or just let's her do it herself. Cause if your fingers are too close, you are fair game.

Someone is VERY interested 

Mom is trying if Boba has ever seen this playpen. Maybe?? The top is unzipped during the day since there is about zero risk of Pumpkin escaping. But Boba, despite growling at her the first day, is sort of more curious now.

Freedom

 The kittens went in Friday for vaccines and weight check. They are all looking good so the plan is for them to go back to the shelter on Wednesday and then be available for adoption on Friday (since Thursday is a holiday here)

Since they are vaccinated and been here long enough, they got their freedom on Saturday. They are allowed out during the day but sleep in the foster room at night. 

Not sure why the best sleeping spot

is under the desk and chair

Nothing brings them together like snacks

Asleep on the arm of the sofa

Yes, she did fall off but onto the sofa 

Slightly terrible picture but still funny

Bobbidi was on the back of the sofa and

Boba jumped toward her

Intruder alert

 The kittens had a bit of a stomach bug last week but after a vet check amd some meds they are feeling (and eating) much better. Of course after 5 days of meds they also think mom is evil, so more bribery will commence.

In the meantime, mom went out on our balcony on Sunday morning to water her plants:

Boba of course followed but when mom didn't let her outside, she decided to sit and watch the kittens. Boba was very polite. The kittens were unamused. 

Playtime

 Check out those tails

Someone finds them exhausting 

New kittens

 First an update:

Buckeye was adopted within a couple of days-no big surprised. Gillig missed up her spay incision so she had to have that fixed but should be cone free and ready for adoption this week. Mom was most worried and Phantom, but turns out once he decided to be friendly, he was committed. Mom got to see him Thursday and he was adopted over the weekend.  

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Thursday night at the shelter, someone left a litter of kittens outside in a carrier. We don't have all the details, but mom got a good loom at them and set them up. Once they were vet checked on Friday, we were able to foster them and they will be here about 3 weeks. 4 kittens total, 3 girls and 1 boy.

Cinderella- girl, tabby/siamese mix

Bibbidi-girl, tabby (on the left), 

bigger than her sister

Bobbidi-girl, tabby, smaller

Boo-boy, gray with a tail light

Boo such shyer than his sisters but it shouldn't take him too long to come around.

Quick turn around

 Well the kittens are scheduled to go to the shelter tomorrow for spay and neuter and then to the adoption floor.  They have been a good group of kittens. Mom didn't have any big plans for the long weekend so they were allowed freedom from the foster room during the day (and back in at night). 

They were mostly respectful of the adults, though Buckeye got popped by Daiquiri after bouncing on her tail for the third time. 

Phantom

Sweet but a little shy

Buckeye

Playful and always under foot

Gilly

Loves toys and is learning to snuggle

Happy duck for Phantom to take a nap and all was right with the world.

After a few months off, mom wasn't sure what Boba would think about little kittens (even the kittens we had this winter were older than these). She was....ok. She did want to play with them but would hiss if they got too much in her face. 

Honestly, mom is OK with her and Daiq giving the kittens instructions on behaving since they didn't have a mom here to teach them the cat rules. 

Kittens are exhausting

Yes, maybe and mostly no

 Well some progress has been made.

Mom tried setting up the airlock for the kittens this morning. Unfortunately Gilly (black female) managed to escape so that didn't last very long.

Buckeye is proving to be super sweet and loves attention. He comes up to mom right away and even chirps for attention during the day. Gonna be fuzzy and loves churu.

Gilly (mom is calling her that) is the maybe. She will run at first and then seems to have an "aha" moment and remember she likes people. She will purr when she's held so clearly she's decided to be friends. 

And then there is this little monkey. Phantom is still being tough. Fortunately it's mainly hissing and running away. He doesn't fight once he's caught and will allow himself to be held for a little bit. He does love churu so that is helping. Mom is also giving them canned food but only when she is in there and they have to come close to her to get it. We bet a few more days and he will be fine.

We haz kittens

 Meet Buckeye (male gray tabby), Phantom (male brown tabby) and Gillig (female black). They come in with the names so we have no idea about that last one.

They are about 7 week old but need some serious socialization.  Phantom in particular is very sure he is not to be touched. They came to us yesterday, so mom will give them a day then start working with them. They are pretty relaxed in the foster room - they are eating and playing so that's good.

Step one - trim the murder mittens. 

Weekend report

 Well spring has arrived. Or maybe we are skipping spring and heading straight into summer. Depends on the day it seems. But the windows are open and we are enjoying the fresh air.

Boba, Junior, Chanel and Goldfish. 

Daiquiri was in the bedroom.

Our irises are starting to bloom.

And of course Boba shenanigans 

Rescue stuff

 Still no kittens. But it's still April, although mom is developing a twitch. 

As an update we are just fostering and mom is volunteering with the shelter. She had some personal issues with the small rescue and decided it was time to move on. 

Speaking of rescue though, there is a bird rescue in MI that got some attention over the last few days. Everything is  summorized here. But essentially, she got an inquiry asking to come to their location to view the birds, though their policy is you have to apply and be approved first.

A lot of small rescues will do this as it cuts down on wasted time for volunteers. And there are people out there that do treat shelters like a petting zoo where they can just come and hang out. For larger groups and facilities that may be fine, but it's very hard on small rescues.

Anyhow, the guy got mad and the director decided she had enough and replied with quite the email calling him out. He of course had to respond and she decided to post it to their Facebook page. They are now over $30k in donations, which is amazing.  But more than that, I hope this is a window into how small rescues operate and how your "one request" is just one more than on top of so many other things. 

So...hang with us while we wait for kittens. And please be kind to your local rescue staff and volunteers. 

Nothing exciting

 Still no kitten here. Mom knows it should be soon but she is getting twitchy.

In the meantime, mom did buy a new mattress that was delivered on Thursday.  She managed to get everyone except Goldfish into the back bedroom. It would have been fine except mom realized at one point the front door had been left open. When the guys left, there was no sign of Goldfish and mom started to panic a little. Finally Goldfish squirmed out from under the sofa. Scary...

It's nice here so we do have open windows with the screen inserts in to keep everyone safe.

Boba and Chanel also got some time with the puzzle toy:

Harness training

 Mom would like to get Boba trained to wear a harness and go outside. Miss Emily at  Kitty Cat Go is a trained behaviorist and offered an online course. 

Mom is put a harness on kittens before and also on Chanel. Boba though is a tough nut. She has lots of opinions and things need to be her idea. So to get some tips and trick and also support Miss Emily, she signed up.

That said, mom admits she hasn't been as on the ball with training as she should be. Thankfully Boba is food motivated.

After a few introduction steps, mom got the harness on:

After a few more tries, mom moved to a new plan and bought a different harness. The one above needs Boba to put her legs through and secures on top. 

The new one sits on her back and velcros under her neck and stomach. She still needs more time to get used to it, but at least mom doesn't have to wrestle her to get it on. 

Happy Birthday Chanel

 

Dior, momma Millie and Chanel

Hard to believe this was just over 7 years ago. You can see more baby pictures here

Chanel had her annual vet check on Monday. She is healthy, doing well and weighs about 11 pounds.

Chanel sent her sisters Cupcake (fka Dior) a card and some treats.

Looks like Cupcake approves (and has no intention of sharing with Newton).

Happy birthday girls (and your brothers)

Weekend report

 Mom spent this weekend out of town with her family. 4 of the 6 of them have a birthday within 12 of each other do she wrntvto celebrate. 

Mom & the kid (her niece) actually share a birthday. The kid asked Mom if she wanted to get a matching tattoo. Friday night they went and did this:

The daisy is the flower if April. 

Saturday was lunch and presents and pie and basketball. 

We were glad she got home safe to us though. Ms Ingrid and Mr Morgan came to take care of us and they are great. But it's nice to have mom back. 

It's especially gard on Boba we think. She cane after mom started working from home so she used to her being here all the time.