A sea of orange

 We suddenly have a lot of orange arpund here.

Junior of course. One of our permanent residents.

Garibaldi

5 months old, super sweet

Ready to be adopted

Harvey Wallbanger

5 months old

A little shy but ready for a patient home

Pinon

3 months old

Curious and ready for adoption

Laredo

5 weeks old

Still has some growing to do but 

more attitude than he can handle

happy gotcha day

HAPPY 8th Gotcha Day Junior

weekend report

Junior was acting as guardian of the hallway. It never ends well as Ivy will have to walk past him and name calling will ensue. 

It was a supremely lazy weekend around here. Mom spent Saturday getting stuff down around the condo and spent Sunday doing....nothing!!! Chanel thought that was a great idea.

If mom would have realized how much time kittens would spend BEHIND the bird house, she would have put it up there differently. Goldfish likes to sleep up there but the little kittens tend to run up there to hide if something startles them. The trash truck, mom throwing a box down the steps, the vacuum cleaner....if it is scary, the birdhouse is the place to be.

Mom was trying to get pictures....Peroni was NOT helping. That camera strap is fascinating. Mom hasn't weighed the boys, but she did weigh Peroni on Friday. She weighs....just over a pound. No doubt she lost some weigh while all of them were sick, but she is still about half the size of the boys.

Ivy has gotten much friendlier with the weather change and decided she sometimes wants to be a lap cat....
32 seconds with Ivy

Living with a semi feral cat

**a post by the mom

First a little background. Eight years ago now, a neighbor and I spotted some kittens and decided to do some TNR in our neighborhood. The first set of kittens were smaller and socialized really well and were adopted through a local shelter. Shortly after that we caught a slightly older kitten.

Once we had him, I didn't have the heart to let him go back outside. Unfortunately, he was about 3 months old which is about the outside edge of being able to socialize kittens. I will also say that I didn't know as much then as I do now. The downside to my decision is that I have what I term a "semi-feral" cat living in my house. He has been here since we caught him. He has been seen by a vet twice since I can't catch him easily or without stressing him out. He lives a good life and is good with kittens and the other cats that live here (mostly - he has some stalker tendencies with Ivy). But he won't come near me. Recently he has gotten up on the bed every once in a while at night when I am reading and will lay at the very edge, but that is as close as he is willing to get. But if I move - he is gone.

Don't get me wrong - I am a proponent of annual check ups for all pets. However, in Junior's case, it is more stressful to try catch him. However, a few months ago I noticed he seemed to be having some mouth pain when he yawned or ate something. I had to decide....let it go and hope it wasn't serious and knowing he was uncomfortable, or set an appointment for a dental and catch him.

 

Busted and headed to the vet

I am very lucky that the tech at my vet's office is also a friend. We talked about it a couple of times and I set an appointment.

However, how do you catch a cat that is afraid of people? I went through a couple of plans in my head. The other thing we had spoken about was trying to get gabapentin into him before bringing him to the office. After some thought, I decided to try to live trap him in one of the bedrooms. I could mix the meds in the food and have a safe way to move him. Plus once we got to the vet, the trap could be set up on one end to be able to sedate him with an injection.

Junior had other plans. Tuesday morning I locked the girls in the back bedroom, herded him into my bedroom and set the trap. After over an hour....nothing. I was now down to 45 minutes before I had to be to the vet. I moved the trap to the bathroom. However, once he got out the bedroom (and I shut the door behind him to limit his space), he freaked out. He bounced around the living room and would not head where I wanted him to go. I knew if I didn't catch him, he wasn't getting to the vet and moreover it would be months before I would even be able to try this again.

Finally he wedged himself behind a pillow on the sofa. It was now or never. I put one of the soft carriers on the chair and grabbed a towel. I threw it over him and wrapped him as much as I could then shoved him into the carrier. It wasn't elegant, but it seemed to work. I locked the zippers on the carrier, threw a towel over the top of the carrier and headed off.

The nice part about the mesh on the carrier is they were able to sedate him by injection right through the mesh - I hadn't thought about that but it was brilliant. He finally dozed off and they got him set up for surgery. I did get a chance to pet him a little and also get a look at his teeth.

I will admit, I did fear that we would find something really bad....up to a possible mass in his mouth. They clipped his nails and he had a full bloodwork panel done along with getting a rabies shot. The bloodwork came back excellent. However, he ended up losing 9 teeth. They could have done more but wanted to not take everything now. I joked with the tech that with a 3 years rabies shot, we would be back then.

The only thing that overcomes ignorance is education. I've learned a lot in 8 years. Would I make the same decision today that I made then? I honestly don't know. While he may be afraid of people, showing his feral birth, I know he has lived a much safer life inside. Right now, he seems to be doing OK. There has been canned food left out and while I think Daiquiri is eating most of it, he is eating. He REALLY does dislike me now though - I so much as breathe in his direction and he disappears. Hopefully that will taper off (or at least back to his normal) after a while.

Junior and Allie

Junior has been having some mouth issues recently and mom has decided it is time to suck it up and get him to the v-e-t. For those who haven't followed us for very long, Junior was caught in a live trap as a kitten and mom thought she could bring him around as tame. Ummmm.....not so much. He is what mom calls our house-feral. He likes the other cats, mom - not so much. However, it isn't OK that he is hurting, so an appointment has been made for July 11. Now mom just has to figure out how to catch him. Without many options, she is planning to put gabapentin in some canned food and put that in our live trap and put the trap and Junior (hopefully) in the back bedroom. From there she and our favorite vet tech will knock him out and then they will do a blood draw and check his teeth and go from there. Since they do surgery on Tuesdays, the plan is to clean or do extractions or whatever needs to be done. And since he hasn't been to the vet in....a very long time...they will give him the once over and update his vaccines as well.

What mom didn't realize until she was giving the vet his information is exactly how old he is now. She estimates his birthday as May 2010 - which makes him 8 years old. Mom was SURE he was more than a year younger than Ivy.

What makes it more interesting is that Allie was trapped and spayed in June 2012 and the vets guessed her age at about 2 years old. If that is actually the case, she and Junior could actually be related. Mom just never put it together until recently. Weird right???

Mom actually saw Allie Wednesday morning. Mom was leaving for work and refilled the bowls and Allie stuck her head in the garage around the back of the car. For being almost 8 years old, she looks pretty good. Mom would like to try to get her inside, but goes back and forth with the idea. She is thinking later this fall when we don't have kittens - just set up the big crate in the foster room and see if Allie adjusts. If not, mom can let her back out. Since we already have Junior the house-feral, mom doesn't mind if Allie isn't friendly. Mom just wants Allie to be OK with being inside and not freak out. That way she can spend her senior years safe.

Just One Day

Every year organizations take a stand and put down their needles....it is about saving move lives and not taking them. We certainly hope that one day the US and worldwide animals in shelters will not be at risk in shelters just for time or other reasons. Unfortunately we aren't there yet. So Just One Day has asked organizations to take one day and focus their efforts more on adoptions. Last year certain shelters actually were able to clear out their cages.

We are lucky that the rescue we are with is considered no kill. However, we also live in a large city where the humane society is the only open admissions location for cats. They are not no kill and animals, particularly cats, are at serious risk when they are taken there. Neo natal kittens, shy cats, mildly ill cats...all at risk. If our Junior had been taken there when mom first trapped him, he would not have come out of the shelter alive....he would have been deemed not adoptable based on his temperament.

If you are able, PLEASE support your local rescue. If you are not in a position to adopt, donations are always welcome.

Meet and Greet - Junior

Mom thought she would take time this week to talk about each of us for those who are new to the blog.

Junior was a rescue as mom started doing TNR in our neighborhood with another lady. Junior was about 3 months old when he was trapped.

He is now pretty much our house feral - he is good with the other cats (mostly - he does like to stalk Ivy a little bit) but not so people friendly.

excuse me sir

Junior just recently rediscovered the hammock we have. Not really sure why it falls out of favor sometimes....maybe it needs a relocation plan.

Anyhow, he spent some time in it on Saturday and of course someone else found this to be fascinating. Though to be honest, the most fascinating part was his tail hanging over the side and twitching around.

almost got it

excuse me kid - are you touching ME?

yep - just a little closer

Fortunately for Junior, Chanel tends to have a short attention span. Daiquiri walked by and stepped on a toy in passing. The bell rang and Chanel was off to check it out. 

the log cabin

Every year Target (no affiliation or sponsorship - we bought our own house) has a new house for sale. They started out pretty basic and just for Christmas but have expanded from there. Mom wasn't planning to buy one this year, but we have trashed all the others and it does get used, so she broke down and got us the log cabin (apparently there is also a sky chalet, but this was all that was available at the store she where she was shopping).

doing it weird

So far everyone has had a chance and it is usually occupied. Chanel was actually the last one to get the right to use it...stay tuned to tomorrow to see her opposition.

nip head

Mom broke out some of the good catnip the other day. Seems Junior enjoyed himself....

One word Wednesday

Snoozing

weekend report

The rat pack kittens are mostly doing better. A couple of them have some eye issues that are being treated and will hopefully clear up quickly. Mom is going to weigh them all tomorrow and see how close we are to surgery dates. There is an adoption event at a partner store next Saturday (they are reopening after renovations) and some of them will attend that.

They are a super sweet bunch of kittens. Mom walks into the foster room and they run over for attention. When she sits down there are kittens in her lap looking for love and climbing all over her.

We hope you had a peaceful weekend. We know that there are going to be lots of fireworks in the coming days in the US....PLEASE be considerate of your neighbors and pets. Not everyone enjoys the loud noises.

Wordless Wednesday

Random Fridays

Oops - mom forgot that Junior's birthday was on Wednesday. HAPPY 7th Birthday!!

By the way, mom would like to know how the heck it has been 7 years!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have contestants for the Blog Paws trip. Right now mom is sure she is taking Gucci and Armani, and is leaning toward including Dior.

Gucci was so excited he fell asleep

Dior is stunned that she made the list

Armani knew he was in all along.

Here's the deciding factors: they have to be outgoing and people friendly. They have to be pretty calm about weird things going on. They have to like to be picked up and carried around.

Gucci and Armani have this in spades....they are the first to jump on mom for attention. They do get squirmy being held, but all kittens do. However, they don't immediately fight to get down.

Dior is a little behind them. She comes over for attention and likes it but seems to sometimes have better things to do.

Chanel is a little skittish and shy right now. Mom is concerned travel and being around crowds would freak her out.

As for this hairy orange monster:

Versace

the kitten about to be renamed "ouch dammit"

He's a biter.....and he has no remorse or shame. He will let you hold him but he has much more interesting things to do somewhere else thank-you-very-much. He comes right over for attention and love, but just is WAY more trouble than anyone needs in a hotel room. Seriously.... And did we mention he bites???

Why 3 kittens? It actually works out....if mom takes one out of the room, there is still a pair to keep each other company. Mom feels bad if she takes one and they don't have a friend in the room or if she takes 2 and one spends time alone when the other is out of the room. She took 3 kittens to Nashville and it seemed to work out very well. Plus, if she gets one that absolutely freaks out being in a crowd due to noise or whatever, she has other options.

Junior's Gotcha Day and a birthday

Happy 6th Gotcha Day to Junior!

Resident stalker, menace and plaything for Daiquiri.

He was a cute little bugger when mom got him.

(despite being annoyed at being caught)

Now he hangs around inside. Mom can't touch him...she finally got the v-e-t to stop sending us his annual "bring him in for shots" updates cause NO WAY is that going to happen. He annoys the living daylights out of Spud and Ivy, but adores Daiquiri. Mom truly does think that it isn't that he is trying to be annoying....he just communicates differently since he was outside on his own until mom trapped him when he was over 3 months old.

And.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR MOM

*check back tomorrow for a very special birthday present

prepare for the end

No.....not that end....

The end of times....

If you have followed our blog for any period of time, you know that Junior, Ivy and Spud do not get along. It is tolerance on a good day and there are others when there is chasing and name calling.

Ivy loves to snooze in the house. Junior likes the spot next to it where he can sleep on the blanket and get his buns warmed by the floor vent.

Well the end of last week mom look over and this was happening. And not just for a couple of minutes. They both slept there for about 30 minutes. It has happened a couple of times as well. Of course, if you look close you can see the expression of "drop dead" on Ivy's face - right before she got up and left.

Don't get us wrong - these two will probably never be friends. But some peaceful co-existance....mom says she will take that.

We hope you had some of the nice weather we had this weekend. Not too much sun on Sunday, but it was nice and warm (especially for February). Our basketball team lost. And some serious snoozing.

random Fridays

Once again, not much going on here this weekend. Supposed to be chilly and maybe some snow on Sunday. ewwww

Mom has the foster room cleaned and set up (mostly). Our fairy catmother (Izzy's mom) sent us a jumbo sized cat litter mat and mom has to get that put in. Otherwise, we are just waiting for kittens. Cassis has her spay surgery on Wednesday. The norm about here is to bring them back to the house for a couple of days to recover. However, the 11th and 12th are an adoption event weekend at one of our partner stores, so mom will hang on to her and take her and Dandelion to the event that weekend.

a snoozing Junior

this is why most pictures of Daiquiri are of her sleeping

she hears the camera (or the phone) and has to come check it out

if you believe that is the face of innocence, 

you would be very wrong  HAHAHA

We are almost a week in on the meds for Dandelion. Not noticing much of a change but mom's heard that it can take the full round to make a difference. Of course, he is making it a huge THING in the morning to be pilled. At night mom has more time to sneak up on him and catch him laying down. However, first thing in the morning, he is on the run, places to go and says NO THANKS to the pill. In reality, he is good about taking it, but bad about being caught. MOL

Kiss a Ginger Day

We have a ginger cat who lives here.....but there will be NO kissing Junior....

However, we have had some adorable gingers in the past year that were VERY kissable.

two of the flower kittens were gingers

Barney and Fanta from Best Friends

3 of the 6 tree kittens (the boys) were gingers

Hey - did we tell you about Alder?? He was fostered by another volunteer when he went to the adoption center and then got a cold. Well....Miss K fell in love and adopted him. She and mom are friends on facebook so mom gets to see him (now Jojo) from time to time. Miss K fosters and Jojo is helping to raise foster kittens with her. aww.....

Monroe

Waffles the rescue

And hey - speaking of Waffles the rescue....mom saw a post on Colony Cats facebook page from the end of December from the family that adopted him and he is doing great!!! Woohoo!!!