Changes

 Let's see..... So this happened:

There are actually 6 (!!) kittens plus mom. They are all, imcluding mom, very tiny. But looking at teeth and eye color, we guess maybe 6 weeks old. "Found" somewhere and surrendered.

However, to make this work, we had to do the kitten shuffle. Aoili was ready to go so she is up at the adoption center. Another foster took Cameron and Harissa. The Beans are still here. Mom had put Chutney is with them but she broke out last night. The saucy girls and Cameron are scheduled for surgery next week so they will be available shortly after that. 

And for those of you wondering, no-no bad kitten finally has a name. 

Baloo

From the bumbling bear in The Jungle Book

(OK so some of you were told something different but this just happened 

and mom likes it better)

Updates

 We got some updates....we thought we would share.

What is that? You heard there is something new in the house? You want to see them? OK fine...

Saturday morning, mom got a message from Miss Bernadette who write and does amazing art over at Portraits of Animals and is also very much involved in rescue in her hometown. 

Someone from near us had reached out to a friend if hers and needed help. They had found a pair of TINY kittens and weren't equipped to take care of them. 

Working together, the rescue here agreed to take them and mom picked them up Saturday night. They were found in a spot that made it pretty clear they were dumped though the lady that found them will continue to look for a mom or other kittens. 

Their teeth are just coming in. So maybe just 4 weeks old. But they are eating canned food fortunately so that's helpful. For now they are in a crate in the living room.

So cute. No idea if they have baby fuzz or if they are going to be long haired. Mom put a hesting pad in there to keep them warm. 

Oh and names: meet the Muffins - Cranberry and Blueberry. 

Reload

 With the happy kittens adopted and Huzzah back at the rescue, the foster room was empty and clean.

Well we can't have that, so mom mentioned Wednesday night that we were ready for more kittens. We help other rescues when we can and on Tuesday we took in some cats and kittens from a rescue in Texas. 

This group is 1 male and 3 females. They are also a hot mess. The rescue in Texas had them in their care for over a month. They came in underweight, with parasites and also had mange (which is a mite that attacks the skin, especially in animals that are in poor condition). The kittens were treated before transport, but they look rough. Underweight, small for their age and seriously flaky skin. Hopefully with some good nutrition and time they will be back in good shape and ready for new homes. They are a little reserved when mom is in the room, but it has been a tough few days for them so it isn't too surprising. Mom can hear them playing while she works though so she knows they are out and checking out the room. They are all black and white - two more with tuxedo markings than the other two.

It is an unfortunate lesson that is learned the hard way - late season kittens are usually in much worse shape. But no matter their past, they were rescued and are now here and getting back in good shape. 

Mom thinks she has a name plan...just wants to take a couple of days to see if they stick.

New kittens

Mom had sort of been on the hunt for additional kittens for a little while. Gargoyle needs some friends and Dragon just doesn't feel well enough yet to put up with her shenanigans.

Wednesday night mom was volunteering for her shift at the rescue. The director walked by and said "would you like more monkey?". Well of course.....

Mom cat is feral and has been spayed and returned to her territory. They were hanging out at a muffler shop. Since they are joining the #mythicalkittens group, they got appropriate names. They just came into the rescue yesterday and a little worse for wear. They have big bellies so most likely worms as they are also thin around the ribs. They are acting mostly scared though not "feral" - just freaked out (go figured - caught, caged, transported, then released into a completely strange place). 

Wyvern

brown tabby and probably long haired

not sure about gender yet

Selkie

short haired and a boy

Dragon

her poor nose....

Mom doesn't think she cares so much about new kittens

Gargoyle

yes - getting a picture of that kitten is a pain

oh hey look - she can sit still (for about .2 seconds)

The kittens tested negative and have had a vaccine and started dewormer medication. Since we know their tests are negative, mom put them into the foster room. Dragon was more interested in dinner being served (OK - we are glad she is eating, but it is funny). Gargoyle on the other hand was TOTALLY offended at new kittens being in HER room. She growled, hissed and raised the paw of doom (can you really call it that if she weighs less than 2 pounds?) and generally acted like a bad hostess.

Mom gave the kittens overnight and Thursday morning to settle into the house. She is spending Thursday afternoon with them to help them settle and try to comb out Wyvern. The faster they get used to mom, the faster they will get all lovey and be ready to get adopted. They aren't 2 pounds yet so we have some time. 

Random Fridays

At the event last weekend, one of our favorite photographers David Brown was there taking pictures for rescues and adopters (he has taken several of Chanel that we have posted before). Mom took over Cipher, Roomba and Fate for pictures. As always, they are awesome:

Cipher

Fate

aka danger nugget

Roomba

(she looks like she is in training for the next serial killer movie)

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Also, since this is the time of year when we are up to our ears at the rescue with mom cats and kittens, but also with single kittens, mom took in another single and she is in the foster room with Fate and Mopar.

Meet Lane. She was left at one of our rescue's partner stores in a carrier all by herself....no note, no nothing. She has been tested (negative) and vaccinated and met the boys on Tuesday. They spent a good deal of time getting up in her personal space and she spent that same time telling them to get lost. She is a little bit smaller than Fate and Mopar but definitely holding her own.

where did those come from??

Before anyone even asks:
No - they are NOT in with Bissell and her kittens
No  - they will more than likely not meet Bissell and her kittens

Why not?
  1. these kittens are older and on a different vaccination schedule
  2. these kittens have runny eyes and the little ones should not be exposed to that
  3. no one has ANY idea how Bissell would react and mom would never risk these kittens (or herself) to an angry momma cat

Here's the story....mom got a text from our vet tech friend Miss A. A client of theirs had a cat who got pregnant and she needed to find homes for the kittens. She agreed to turn the boys over to us, her sister is taking the one girl, and mom will be spayed.

They are all black (mostly - a little bit of white on the underside of two of them) and all male. They tested negative for FeLV and FIV. They are 7 weeks old today but very small for their ages. Thankfully they are SUPER friendly. Unfortunately they are nearly impossible to tell apart. MOL

Miss A put vet wrap on two of them when they were being tested so she could tell them apart. Since it doesn't stick to the kittens and is stretchy, mom is leaving it on for now.

Mom did put up the play pen as a barrier into the hall and gave them some room to bounce around with her sitting there. Since Bissell is in the foster room, these guys are in the bathroom. As mom sat there, the girls all wandered around. Ivy really doesn't care, Daiquiri and Chanel hissed at them, and Goldfish really wasn't sure what to think. 

Names have not been specifically assigned, but we have picked them out. Meet: Cipher, Enigma and Puzzle. AKA the #decoderkittens

Meet the kittens

milk bar time with momma

even at this age they are squirmy and make it hard to get pictures

our big headed girl

Actually, mom weighed them on Tuesday and they are all about the same weight, but that one girl sure does LOOK like she has a big head (especially compared to her brother).

Momma cat was tested on Tuesday (in case you missed it on facebook) and is negative for FIV and FeLV so that is good news. She actually was very well behaved for the blood draw as well.

That said, she is still VERY nervous. She was found outside, spent a couple of days with another volunteer and moved in with us on Sunday. No telling how long she was on the streets by herself, but at least a few days defending her kittens. While she isn't charging the door to get out of the kitten room, she sensed Chanel on the other side of the doors on Wednesday morning and charged AT the doors to make her back up.

Also - she has smacked mom a few times. It seems to be is mom's hands move too fast or in a certain manner. But that momma cat has a hair trigger going from "pet me" to "I slap you" in 0.25 seconds. For now mom is giving her lots of space and moving very slowly in the foster room while keeping her hands low and close to her body.

And now.....the moment you have been waiting for....the names:
   Momma cat shall be Bissell
   black female is Roomba
   tabby female (she has white toes and belly) is Dyson
   tabby male is Hoover

Get it??? Vacuum cleaner kittens......  (yes - mom cracks herself up)

**on a side note, mom checked the web cam yesterday and no momma cat, no kittens. WHAT?? She went back and checked motion controlled pictures and it looks like Bissell moved the kittens into one of the storage bins in the Ikea cabinet. just great.....

the cliff hanger

Friday we left with you a teaser....

Our plan last week was to have Saporro and Kilkenny neutered (that happened) and then go up to the adoption center. That part didn't happen. Mom checked everyone on Friday afternoon and Kilkenny's one eye was weepy and red. Which means everyone probably has been exposed to something - if the boys went up to the adoption center, they would be back pretty quickly due to illness. Better to keep them here and have them get over it.

However, rather than leave Peroni and Marzen by themselves, mom was talking to another set of volunteers and they talked about mom taking their bottle baby. They got a call over a month ago to get a tiny kitten in danger. They took him and he is now about 5 weeks old. Like most bottle babies, he now needs to be with other kittens to learn how to "cat". In the meantime, someone brought in a single 5 week old kitten they found in a parking lot. Mom agreed to take both boys.

Meet:

 

Balashi (Aruba beer) - our parking lot baby

 

Guinness - the bottle baby

Guinness has NO capacity to stand still. Unless he is sleeping, he is on the run. He is doing pretty well with the other kittens but LOVES mom as like with most bottle babies, he is very people centered.

 

Balashi is kind of shy. If you follow us on social media, he was the boy on Friday that was hiding behind the bird house. Fortunately it only took a couple of days for him to come down and hang out with the other kittens. He is ok with being handled (though he was hissy that first day). He is definitely shyer than the other kittens though.

So the plan was to let Goldfish out into the house and then be down to 4 kittens in the kitten room. Of course, no one actually pays any attention to mom's plans, so Goldfish won't come out of the foster room and that has us at 7 kittens in there. Marzen has had a few days of being grumpy about the new comers, but has gotten over himself. Goldfish is being very good with the babies.

Oh....and the couple that raised Guinness sent him to us with his blanket. He likes it....a lot

kittens

the one in the scratcher is the only girl - and the runt

the tuxedo boys and the brown tabby boy in the back

*if you look close, their markings are similar but one

has "bigger" white marks than the other

running over their sister for a snack

the other orange and white boy

*looks like he is telling the bear secrets

Mom has to be honest here....the momma cat of this crew is giving her heartburn. Momma cat is better than she was Saturday, but still weirdly growly. She finally let the kittens nurse on Sunday. Yesterday when mom was in there she wanted some attention though wasn't seeking it out. She nursed the kittens and even chirped at them to get their attention. Mom left and about 30 minutes later the momma cat was growling at them again.

Mom looked at the pet store yesterday when she was cleaning, but the only diffuser they had was for marking, so she is going to have to look around. For now at least she isn't hurting the kittens and is letting them nurse, so we are willing to put up with her weirdness. Plus as mom says, us permanent cats don't seem too concerned about the momma cat's racket in there, so that makes it a little easier.

Mom is having problems picking names for this crew too. She thought she had a theme but isn't committed to it. With a mom, 5 boys and 1 girl, it's a little hard.

The kittens are fairly friendly. The orange boy with more white and the brown tabby are jumpier than the others, but they are fairly curious and will come over and check mom out. Fortunately we will have them for a while so mom has time to get them all friendly and sweet. 

change of plans

Our rescue is up to its eyes in cats, so a flyer went out on Friday about a sale over the weekend. Based on that, mom knew it was time for Annatto to go back. As she was thinking on Friday, she thought about taking Soda back as well. The more mom thought about it, the more she realized that taking him back wasn't freaking her out. So it was a good decision.

Since the foster room was going to be empty (Goldfish is participating in an experiment to test her social skills), the rescue sent mom home with a mom and 6 kittens that had been left late one night in a carrier outside the rescue.

Momma cat is a calico and her tail is about 3/4 length of normal. She is giving off mixed signals and mom isn't sure quite what to do with her. She is very growly and has made some very "pissed off cat" noises and has smacked the kittens. We suspect is is partly hormones and partly lots of change and partly she may be able to smell Soda in the room. By the time we are typing this, the family has been here about 24 hours. The momma cat has settled some, but not much. Though she has calmed down enough to nurse the kittens. Fortunately the kittens are about 5 weeks old so they are eating on their own.

Mom did a quick check and it appears we have 5 boys and 1 girl. Mom is going to have to work on a theme for this group. There is 1 brown and white tabby, 2 tuxedos (because of course....hahaha), and 3 orange and white tabbys. The girl is one of the orange tabbys and the smallest of the group. In fact, the others have eyes that have changed from blue but she still has a ring on the outside of her eyes.

The kittens are pretty jumpy too but even in 24 hours have come around pretty quickly.

Random Fridays

At the adoption event last Sunday, mom was stopped by a nice young couple. Come to find out, there are Rooney's (now Ragnar) mom and dad. He is doing great and is the baby of the family. His mom says he will follow her around and if she sits down even for a second, he is on her lap on his back with his big bunny feet up in the air. The continue to work with him on a leash and harness. PLUS - his mom has started volunteering every other week at Colony Cats (where Rooney was adopted from).

~~~~~~~~
    Some of you have already seen this - possibly twice. Mom the techno-dork strikes again (though she swears she fixed it....both times).

~~~~~~~~
Since we are sure you didn't get NEARLY enough tuxedo goodness last summer.....we introduce this new family:

 

Mom cat - she is very skinny but very sweet

 

5 kittens - 2 black, 3 tuxedo. 3 boys, 2 girls.

(mom didn't write down who was who, so more on that next week)

 

checking out the new place

They were found under a deck. We don't think the mom cat is very old. Mom picked them up Wednesday when she went to check on the Greek kittens at the adoption center (they are doing fine - but no adoptions yet). She cleaned the foster room and let them loose. The momma cat stretched out and then picked a spot for a nap. The kittens all did their stretchy yoga poses and checked out the entire room. One of the black kittens even purred at mom. YAY!!

However, the momma cat threw up several times Wednesday night. She is super skinny and we suspect that new food and stress just didn't agree with her. Mom gave her a dewormer and hopefully that will help as well. Nothing overnight, so we are hoping the momma cat is back on track and feeling better. The kittens were eating kibble yesterday so at least she isn't their sole source of food. They are super cute and fat and healthy which is good as well.

No names yet....suggestions on a good theme always welcome. (just no people names....not our thing)
    we are thinking another spice group - maybe all "c" names: Cardamom, Caraway, Chicory, Chive, Cilantro, Clove, Coriander

incoming

The rescue took in a mom plus 5 kittens found under someone's deck. Everyone looks great and mom is a nice girl.....

Lark and the songbirds

When mom dropped off Bacall, she spoke to the head rescue lady about the little kittens that are close to being ready to go. That being the case, mom offered to take any group available.

Turns out a guy came in last week with a box with mom and 7 kittens. He had gone to a rural shelter (the same one that saved Panache) and they are still full dealing with that hoarding case. They called the rescue and got the ok to send him to our center. He was a jerk and kept slamming the box around until it was taken away from him.

The kittens

Momma cat - Lark

The guy claims the kittens were dropped off, but they and mom are super friendly and social. Lark was pretty stressed, so another volunteer took 4 of the larger kittens to her house. We now have mom plus three. They are about 6 weeks old but pretty little and need to put on some weight.

Our friend named her group after songbirds....these kittens are VERY chirpy. Mom decided to use the same thing. Momma cat is Lark, the gray tabby is a girl named Starling, the oranges are both boys...the darker is Kestrel, the lighter is Grackle.

Panache

Panache (per the Merriam Webster dictionary): dash or flamboyance in style or action

OK - so we may have to see if she lives up to her name, but the story behind it is interesting.

Mom ran up to the adoption center Sunday to see if the design kittens had been adopted. Everyone was gone from the adoption side, so she wandered through the intake side (and found Chanel who is currently in with the rat pack kittens and being sneezy) and saw a mom with tiny kittens. The head of the rescue said no one had stepped up to take her and mom offered - that family needed to be somewhere quiet.

She got them home and then got a text from the head of the rescue saying mom cat had been tested (negative for FeLV and FIV) and was on doxy for upper respiratory and needed two more doses of panacur for intestinal issues. Mom texted back that we have a supply of both of those. Except her phone auto corrected to say we have "panache and foxy". This of course cracked her up and then lended itself to a good name for mom. The babies are so very tiny that mom will hold off on names for them until she knows gender (though if you would like to make suggestions, we are all for it).

Their back story: there was a hoarding case discovered in a nearby county with over 100 cats in a house. Our rescue stepped up and offered to take 20 cats - we suggested female so we could get them in and spayed faster than the humane society handling the case. That was on Friday. That night, Panache gave birth to her 3 kittens. One other of the 20 turned out to be a neutered male cat (oops - haha). From the sounds of it, the situation was VERY bad and most of the cats weren't healthy - upper respiratory issues, eye issues, etc. There is nothing on the humane society's facebook page and it didn't make the news so mom is relying on second hand information.

Panache is doing....OK. She isn't eating a lot though the babies are doing well. Mom combed her out and got lots of scabs off of her neck. It breaks mom's heart that Panache flinches every time mom reaches out near her head but Panache does seem to enjoy the petting once it starts. But she is fine with the petting and loved the comb. As for kittens, mom thinks the brown tabby is a girl and the black and the black and white brown tabby and white (looks like we are going to break the tuxedo streak) are both males.

well look at that

Mom went up to the rescue's adoption center on Saturday to get some pictures for a different blog post. She wandered through the intake side and then the adoption side and then headed home.

About 90 minutes later, her phone went off with a text "2 7 week old kittens. want them?" ummm - duh. :)  Mom headed right over and came home with these two:

They were kind of chatty on the ride home and freaked out when they were set loose in the foster room. The orange one is a boy and the brown is a girl. Definitely need some work on their social skills, though the boy is friendlier than his sister.

Here's the thing: apparently someone saw an online ad (you know those listings) for kittens being sold as...snake food. Yes - we are appalled that this is even a thing. But this is not the first group of kittens that the rescue has taken from ads like this. Maybe they are just saying that to get someone to feel sorry, but we aren't sure. Anyhow, some nice people "answered" the ad and took the kittens then asked the rescue to take them. Of course they did and now the kittens are safe with us. Serious or not, mom and her friends agree that the people placing the ad suck.

After some time, mom decided on names.....the orange boy is Coyote, his sister is Roadrunner. Meet the #looneykittens

While her brother has decided mom isn't so bad, Roadrunner is pretty sure mom is scary and avoids her for the moment. However, they are out and playing and having a good time - mostly when mom is not in there.

Yes....someone knows they are in there. No...he isn't allowed to play with them. 

Mom picked them up within an hour of them arriving at the rescue. They were dewormed and got flea meds and their first vaccine, but they need to be tested.