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.Pages
Monday, April 29, 2024
Monday, April 22, 2024
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.
Monday, April 15, 2024
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:
Monday, April 8, 2024
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.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
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)
Monday, March 25, 2024
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.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Hapoy Birthday Boba
The baby turns one today.
Hard to believe she used to be that little.
Boba is certainly one of a kind and keeps us all on our toes. She will snuggle with mom at night. Hates to have her nails trimmed. Taught herself to play fetch. Has figured out the food puzzle. And has opinions about EVERYTHING.
Happy birthday sweet girl.
Monday, March 4, 2024
Weekend report
Orange kitten report: of the 7, 2 of them have been adopted. Yay!!!
Valencia is healing up well and she and Cara will likely go to the partner store this week. Mom would like her wearing the cone for a few more days.
Monday, February 26, 2024
Oranges and food puzzles
The oranges were all spayed and neutered on Friday. Next step adoptions. We did get a couple kittens wrong: Seville is a girl and Cara is a boy so now maybe CC).
Tangelo and CCMom broke out the food puzzle again and this time Boba figured out all the doors that were closed (2 of them).
Chanel was a little more confused by the puzzle. She can get treats out of the open doors then relies in Boba to open the other doors. Which isn't exactly how it's supposed to work but points for figuring it out in her own way.
Monday, February 19, 2024
We are behind on updates
No little kittens yet, but a woman reached out to the rescue last week and the rescue took in 7 kittens about 4 months old. The rescuer said they came from a hoarding situation with lots of cats in a mobile home. She's working with the lady but for now this crew us out and safe.
Two girls and five boys. And they all look very much alike. Mom and her friend Heather are fostering so the kittens are divided 4 with her and 3 here. They are scheduled for surgery on Friday.
The kittens are named after oranges. The three here are:
Monday, January 29, 2024
Kitten update
Sally was spayed on Friday and is now available for adoption and at our partner store.
Lizzie, Lightening and Mater are being spayed and neutered today and will go to the store later this week.
Friday however, we had a little excitement. Mom was working at her desk and Boba was looking under the sofa and was being growled at. A tuxedo shot out and was slinking around the room. Mom muttered for Goldfish to get over herself.
And the she looked a little closer: turns out it wasn't Goldfish. Mater had snuck out of the room and was a little freaked out by the stalking tabby cat (Boba).
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
The adventure
A post by the mom
You were promised an adventure story - here goes:
On Saturday a post went up on Facebook about a woman in a domestic violence situation who was trying to leave but needed to know a mom and kittens were safe. If you know anything about DV situations, a lot of people won't leave because there are very few shelters that will take animals and they fear what will happen if they are left behind.
A friend asked if I could take them since I didn't have fosters at the time. While I always want to help, I do have limits and mine is there has to be some sort of rescue backup for vetting and adoption placement. That fell into place and I agreed to go pick them up and foster.
Now, here is where I will add a couple of caveats - first, we all should have asked a few more questions about "kittens" and the weather. We have gotten snow here in Ohio but it is clear where I live so I didn't really think about it. The woman did say maybe we should wait a few days, but that made me nervous. Also, this is not my first rodeo so while I agreed to go get them, I was taking someone with me.
We drove about an hour, found the turn off and realized we were driving onto a track of driveway not really a great road and there were no other tire tracks. But we had made it that far and decided to just finish up and not have to worry about trying to come back. We drove down the road, turned left onto what we thought was another drive way and ended up having to park a ways from the house since it was snow and I didn't want to risk getting stuck in their front yard.
My friend and I trekked to the house with the carriers I brought and the lady came to the door. We got 3 kittens into carriers (after realizing they were about 5 months old - so again, ask a few questions. we still would have taken them, but I would have brought bigger carriers) She had mom in a pop up crate and said we could just take that. But one kitten was loose in the house. She tried to get it and came back out and said she couldn't.
We weren't comfortable waiting around so headed back to the car. As we were loading up, she yelled she had the last one. We got that one safely in a carrier, wished her well and got in my car to head out.
We got almost back to the top of the hill when the front wheels lost traction and we started to spin. Back up and try again, to no avail. We did notice a slightly flatter line off to my left so we backed up and tried to make a run at that.
Nope - we ended up sliding sideways, perpendicular to the driveway and about a foot from a fairly large tree.
Meet Merritt - named after the towing company
We did pick up Chinese for dinner since it ended up being an entire afternoon adventure not just a couple of hours. This was one of the fortunes:
The kittens have settled in here. They are a little shy but fairly social. Mom is also social. There are 2 boys and 2 girls. Mom and the girls will be spayed on Friday, the boys neutered a little later when we can get appointments.
Either way, they are all safe and I hope the lady now feels she can get out and get somewhere safer. I don't know her circumstances and I wasn't going to ask. But I hope this little bit of kindness helped her.
Monday, January 22, 2024
Newbies
There is a longer story to this that mom will tell in a couple of days, but on Saturday we got some new recruits in the foster room. They are about 5 months old and a little scared but calm and we bet they adjust in now time. Meet the cars kittens:
Monday, January 15, 2024
Weekend report
First, thanks for your comments about Ivy. It never is easy no matter the circumstances.
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Update: Milkshake was adopted! Single guy in an apartment. No doubt Milkshake is loving having his own person.
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We've said it before, but Boba is super smart. And has all the opinions. Mom got a food puzzle and it going to see if that will keep her busy. It won't be left out - it will come out from time to time as a "new" toy.
First try was treats with all the doors open. They figured it out pretty quickly. So next step is close one or two doors.
But her favorite game is still fetch
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Princess Ivy Crankypants
born 8/1/08, gotcha day 12/16/08, passed away 1/9/24
Mom got home after Christmas and Ivy had some swelling around her neck. Our vet wasn't available so to be careful, she checked in with a local urgent care vet and they did an ultrasound and diagnosed lymphoma. They did suggest a lot of things, but based on Ivy's age, mom opted to get some meds on board and take her home.
We knew it was about buying time, but it turns out we only had a couple of weeks. Ivy stopped eating and just seem tired. Mom contacted our vet and was there with her for her last breath here.
Ivy was a foster fail - she came to us with her momma and 4 sisters.
She was the grand princess here for all 15 of her years. While she never tried to bite anyone, she was happy to growl at anyone who didn't make sure they respected her boundaries. She gave mom a run for her money when she was younger but mellowed with age. Though would still growl at the vet every time.
We miss you Ivy.....
Monday, January 8, 2024
Slower time of year
It being January in the mid west, it could be a while before we get foster kittens.
Mom is busy with work but thankfully from home so we get to see her a lot. She's also been doing some cleaning and organizing.
Mom says she doesn't have any big plans for the year yet but would like to see some of her cat lady friends she has been missing. Just have to figure that out.
We hope the best for your new year.
Monday, January 1, 2024
Another year
*a post by the mom
I try to sit down and do a year end review every year and it just didn't happen this time.
I do have some numbers:
33 total fosters this year.
18 females, 15 males.
All but 2 adopted by end of year
1 momma cat (Mochi)
1 death (Mondavi)
1 foster fail
I'm so thankful for everyone that has adopted, shared and supported this adventure.