Spay neuter oops

 All 5 kittens had their surgeries yesterday. 

Turns out mom may need remedial kitten classes. Buster and Mike....are both girls. Oops. 

Everyone is doing well. Gnocchi and Rigatoni will head up to the adoption center. Mike and Chickpea are both on meds for upper respiratory stuff. Buster will go online but hang here for a little bit. 

And yeah gonna have to fix the names.

Also....pictures of wobbly kittens are hard

Goofy boy

Someone suggested #saucygirls yesterday for the kittens. I may go with #saucygirlkittens just to be safe from the weirdos on social media.

 Gordon went to be neutered yesterday. Mom isn't sure what it is about the combination of meds this vet uses but every kitten cones back very HIGH.

Mom tried to leave him in the carrier for a while but got tired of the pitiful howling. Her first words were "stay off the stairs".

He did come back with meds for a kitty cold so he's here for a little bit longer. 

Oh....and he weighs 4 pounds!!

Took a couple of days

 Cats and kittens react differently to surgery and the vet. Most times the fosters come back after surgery and are a little hung over but no real issues. 

This crew came home Friday night and were all pretty unhappy about everything. After a couple of hours mom put Hurray in one Kasa cube and Yahoo in the other. The hope was that would sleep it off.

Not so much. Yahoo was better on Saturday. Yippee was fine but very confused about why everyone was hissing and growling at her. Hurray and Huzzah were still pretty mad. It might have helped if we had somewhere Huzzah could have been on her own but we don't have a good space for that.

Fortunately Huzzah seemed to remember the Ikea storage cubes, so she pulled out a drawer and hid in there. 

Hurray was better by Sunday. The kittens were all playing and being themselves. Huzzah was fine unless the kittens got up in her space. 

They are all online and were featured on the rescue's Facebook page. Hopefully everyone will have approved applications by the time they go to the adoption center on Wednesday.

Cuties

The kittens are probably about 10ish weeks old now. New weights as of last night: Kettle 2 pounds 5 ounces; Spatula 2 pounds 2 ounces; Whisk 1 pound 14 ounces (so close).

Ree is just so super sweet. Mom can cut her nails and hold her like a baby. In fact the only time we've seen her get wound up was when Daiquiri broke in the other day looking for canned food. Space...fine, kittens...whatever, canned food...get out!

The kittens are doing great. Super sweet, playful and outgoing. Kettle is our go with the flow guy. Whisk is our mastermind. Spatula....well as least he's cute. Hahaha

Need to get surgery dates set for everyone but the little one.

Greek kittens - this is it

 

The ever lovely and very friendly Delphi

She is scheduled to be spayed on 5/28

We would love if someone was interested before then though

 

Veria

She is super spunky and delightful

 

Sparta

The certified goober of the family

He goes to his new home on Saturday with a big sister cat,

a dog, and 2 kids

 

Argos

He is constantly on the go and looking for things to do

 

Olympia

She was shy at first but now loves attention

She will be going home with her new mom on Sunday

Well, the kittens are all at the clinic for surgery. They have to weigh 2 pounds and apparently Veria barely made it, but she was just over. Pick up is after 5pm tonight and then they are ready to go.

random Fridays

Quick note - we finally remembered to ask and....the momma to the tree kittens was also an orange tabby. (explains a few things)

no, they aren't melting - the air conditioner is on  MOL

Hemlock has a skeptical

Juniper sees what you are doing there

Birch and Sumac

Notice the three girls in a row - the markings on their faces actually makes it pretty easy to tell them apart. The boys....not so much. Mom can do it (mostly) in person, but pictures throw here. She knows it is Birch in the above picture because she remembers taking it (and the other two were climbing on her).

The boys should be at the clinic today being neutered and the girls are scheduled for next Wednesday. There is a big event in our area on Saturday sponsored by NBC stations called "Clear the Shelters" and if the boys get done, mom will take them up there. The hitch is the clinic....the one where they are scheduled is very weird about runny noses and if they see any little thing, they won't do it. Mom is begging the boys not to sneeze on anyone.
   *side note - the boys are being neutered today. The "shiny new" vet came out and tried to give mom the snot lecture, but mom said "surgery or not?". The vet said they could do it (blah blah blah) and mom left the boys. They really did look fine this morning, mom thinks this shiny new vet is just seriously over cautious.

Also, if you follow our instagram or facebook page, you will have noticed a couple of new tiny fuzzy faces. More on them next week. 

National Spay Neuter Month

Just in time for the impending kitten season, we want to talk about National Spay Neuter Month.

the snack kittens from March 2013

Did you know that since we started fostering, we have had 245 mom cats and kittens come through this house?? Pretty amazing....

Did you know that mom says as much as she loves fostering kittens (no matter how hard it can be sometimes), we would love to be put out of business? Too many companion animals lose their lives in shelters every year due to lack of space and available homes. This isn't the fault of shelters....this, at least as far as we are concerned, is due to people not being responsible and getting their pets spayed or neutered.

We've heard it all:

• it's too expensive - search "low cost spay neuter" for your city and see what comes back
• my pet doesn't go outside - until the one time they do and either come back pregnant or get another loose animal pregnant.
• my kids should see the "miracle of birth" - birth is messy...if they want to see it check you tube
• I can find homes for these kittens/puppies - ok, what about the ones currently sitting in a shelter that need homes too

And on and on..... but honestly, there is no excuse. Altered pets live longer healthier lives. They are less likely to stray and get into fights.

Best Friends started their Fix at Four campaign to help raise awareness. And many communities now have outreach programs like the Lucy Pet Foundation in LA that help by bringing surgical buses into communities that need help. And we talk all the time about TNR and the benefits to ferals.

So help us spread the word....fix'em - for the benefit of all of us.

Surgery day

Well the kittens went off yesterday for surgery. Everyone made weight.

However, a certain ninja didn't get spayed. One of the vets we use is mobile. She is set up for spay/neuter and vaccines but nothing else. She thinks Avignon has a hernia and so we are going to get her spayed at another clinic that can fix the hernia at the same time. Mom has a call in to get that done asap. Makes us wonder if that isn't the cause of the limp.

Everyone else recovered well and now we get ready for the next step.

so this happened

Or more to the point, didn't happen:

The vet at the spay/neuter clinic got a better look at Acorn's eye after mom dropped her off. The vet was concerned about the "vascular nature" of her eye and said to use a different drop for a few days and delay surgery.

So after spending the day at the clinic, she came back here Friday afternoon and will be around for a little while. Mom is hoping to get everything cleared up and get her spayed before Christmas so she has a good chance of going home.


The little kittens have been spending some time outside their room. Two of them have figured out how to get over the gate, so mom just moved it and they get time out to run around and are then put back for a time as well.

Plus there was that football game late Saturday night that kept mom up until midnight. At least those green guys won.

Random Fridays

Thanks for the support about Cinnamon....it is hard losing them.
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About the Wordless Wednesday pics....Topeka actually is in all three pictures. Thankfully mom had her camera right there and managed to get the shots....the legs were a classic moment.

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Reno, Topeka and Anise all had their spay/neuter surgery on Wednesday. And all spent Wednesday evening passed out around the house. Mom picked them up mid afternoon and locked them in the bathroom until she got home and then let them out. Once out, they all picked a spot and went back to sleep. Topeka's spot was on mom.... such a tough job she has.

Nashville was very bored that evening...no one wanted to play with him except Daiquiri and he isn't quite so sure what to think about her. He spent a lot of time running around in circles trying to entertain himself.

Nashville has a gooped up eye so he will be around a little bit. There is an adoption event tomorrow that mom will take the other three too and then they will go up to the adoption center presuming there is space.
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If you didn't see it, our Morocco momma cat was adopted Wednesday night!!! Nice family and they have renamed her Maru. They do have another cat so there will be an introduction period. And....the new mom brought her sister and she adopted a cat from the rescue as well. WOOHOO!!

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Daiquiri had a sad Sunday night. Normally our foster kittens are put in their own space at night...allows them to have kitten food and also allows the rest of us to sleep in peace. However, if we have a kitten for a while that is a little older, they are allowed out 24/7. Think Jake and Elwood, Uncle Bill, and now London. It is a pretty short list actually.

Anyhow, as mom would be getting ready for bed at night, Daiquiri and London would chase each other around the bedroom - under the bed, under the dresser, under the night stand and around and around.

London went home Sunday morning. And Sunday night, Daiq came into the bedroom and went....under the bed, under the night stand and then under the dresser. Mom wondered what she was doing, then it dawned on her....Daiq was looking for London. OMC!!! So mom stroked Daiq and tried to explain the boy went to his forever home. She hasn't done it since so maybe she realizes he isn't here anymore. Poor kitt.....
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We still got the hots, so we are enjoying the cold air vents for a while longer. It is a holiday weekend here in the US, so we will be off until Tuesday (unless mom feels motivated, but don't count on it - MOL). Have a safe and relaxing weekend!!

Random Fridays

Nashville went yesterday to be neutered. Mom will be taking him and London to an adoption event on Sunday. Wish them luck!!  The girls weren't big enough for surgery yet and Reno has the snot (apparently a gift from London).
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Mom got the laptop back yesterday. All files intact so we should be up and running on schedule next week. Seems it wasn't a hardware issue (thank cod) but some malware and virus issues. Mom is going to make sure that she is running some super virus scans from now on along with backing everything up.
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Last week when the Tabbies of Trout Towne won our blogoversary give away, they emailed us and said they have plenty of things and would like to donate their prize to another shelter or foster. We gave it some thought.....  our friends over at Love and Hisses have had a miserable 2015 with personal losses. We decided to put a bunch of stuff into a box and send it to Challenger's House which is where the fosters at LH come from. Thanks for all the comments....we know that the cats and kittens will appreciate the treats and toys.
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weekend report

Starting Friday afternoon, mom released the spice kittens. Which means we are now officially outnumbered... for those of you keeping track, that is 8 KITTENS running around here. HALP!!  :) Normally we don't have quite that many around (unless it was a BIG family) but London can't seem to shake the snot and the TNR kittens were an add on (by the way - mom 'fessed up to the rescue lady that we had them and her response was an eyeroll and "I knew" oh well....so much for that - at least mom isn't in trouble).

Surprisingly, all the kittens integrated very well. There was some minor name calling and the TNR kittens still howl like brats when they are playing, but otherwise there was lots of running around and toys flying and then piles of snoozing kittens. The spice kittens seem to be doing well...we aren't entirely sure what was causing their issues, but the meds and some Forti Flora seems to be helping.

London, Tamarind and Tumeric were all neutered on Sunday. A local mobile clinic was out and did surgery on 35 cats for our rescue!!  London appears (again and again and again) to be a little snotty, but when there is space the other two boys will go to the adoption center. The girls and the TNR kittens aren't quite big enough yet.

mom didn't realize how funny this picture

appeared until she got it up here....

left to right:

London, Tumeric, Tamarind and Cinnamon

Nashville always appears baffled for some reason

(that's Uncle Tim he's next to)

Mom drove a bloodhound transport on Saturday morning. Since her next stop was an adoption event, the 3 boys went with her. Ginger the hound didn't even seem to realize the kittens were in the car (and it wasn't like they were quiet or anything).

After laundry, some cleaning and running around, mom took Sunday afternoon to relax and even got in a nap with Topeka, Anise and Cinnamon snoozing with her.

Random Fridays

Our friend Miss Connie wanted to know why if we had London, we didn't name the other meezer kitten France....yes, she went there.....

Ummmm - cause France is a country not a city.....MOL

The city kittens are doing better. They are cleaned up a bunch, though now both of the meezer boys are snotty. The three kittens are all on meds...Cairo has a runny eye. Morocco has gotten out of being medicated cause mom says she is a wench about it and mom doesn't want to be a blood donor. MOL  As for telling the meezers apart, one is slightly bigger than the other, but mom hasn't had much time to spend trying to sort it out. We suspect they will end up wearing collars.....or with initials in their ears.

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Taquito ended up at the v-e-t yesterday. Mom is keeping the fiesta kittens in the play pen at night. After the conference she was reminded that sleeping with kittens doesn't always result in sleep. Anyhow, she let them out Wednesday morning and Taquito was limping - not putting one back foot down. Mom took a look and there wasn't anything evident. As of yesterday morning, she really wasn't using it.

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Adoption event on Sunday. No one from here will be going. Mom called to make the spay/neuter appointments for the biggest of the fiesta kittens and they can't get in until next Wednesday.

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Could we ask for some purrs too please??  Our former foster kitten Ike (Clementine) was diagnosed with HCM. They are just a year old and their mom is pretty upset. (our mom is too)

sigh....

Well, we are officially kitten-less. The head of the rescue spoke to mom on Saturday and said Fanta was GOING TO BE NEUTERED. Mom took him to work with her yesterday morning and the rescue lady picked him up and took him to the clinic and was going to give them what-for. After that, he will head to the adoption center and we don't doubt he will get adopted pretty quickly.

However, if you need a kitten fix, there is a momma cat about to pop over at Love and Hisses and the momma cat at Tails from the Foster Kittens has 5 new babies you can see.

And besides, we suspect it won't be long before we are back in business.

Thankful Thursday

Today mom says she is kind of thankful that Strawberry is going to be spayed tomorrow and then will go up to the adoption center. MOL  Strawberry is getting a little....feisty. haha She is already on petfinder and Colony's website (in case you or someone you know is looking for a nice medium hair gray lady cat).

Honestly, she is probably going to be thankful to get away from Fanta....

Oh - and on that note, it is still gonna be a couple of weeks that Fanta is here. Oh joy....cause that boy is BORED by himself and apparently Daiquiri isn't supplying enough entertainment for him.

It is that time

Breaking news: 8:24am somewhere in Ohio......
   Strawberry was still nursing the kittens so mom left her at home and she will get spayed next week (or so).

   In other breaking news, mom sucks at sexing kittens. MOL  Turns out we don't have one boy and two girls.....we have 3 BOYS!! Lucky for mom the names still work.

  Pick up is tonight after 5pm.
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The time has come....Strawberry and her kittens will be dropped off this morning (about 8am) at the clinic to be spayed and neutered. Normally momma cats stick around for a little bit after kittens leave to "dry out" but Strawberry, despite being harassed by her kittens, is done nursing, so she will go as well.

Hopefully it will all go well. Mom has an adoption event scheduled for Saturday so they will go with her to that and hopefully we can get them homes quick. They are just a nice group of kittens and Strawberry is sweet and relaxed.

Those kittens sure are bitey though.....

spay, neuter, Lucy, and kittens

Got your attention didn't we???

If you haven't heard about the Kitten Bowl airing on February 1 on the Hallmark Channel, you are missing out. Last year was MUCH more fun to watch than any football game out there. And this year promises to be just as much fun.

But....how about sharing a message at the same time??  The Lucy Pet Foundation is running an ad during the Kitten Bowl promoting spay and neuter. And all the stars are rescues!!!  Even better....

Get a load of those linebackers....

Now you KNOW we are on board with that message. They will be using the hashtag #DogsVsCats during the game. The commercial was directed by Sam Nicholson - apparently he is famous for this show about zoomies zombies (he directs the Walking Dead). 

#TeamCat

And here are some other things to think about:

• Lucy Pet Foundation's groundbreaking #DogsVsCats football game commercial airing on Super Bowl Sunday, will feature the most high-tech CGI ever done using animals.

• The Director of the commercial is Sam Nicholson, one of Hollywood's most acclaimed visual effects Wizards, known best for Heroes, 24, The Walking Dead and Star Trek I.  

• The commercial will draw attention to the 80,000 pets euthanized each week in shelters across the US, due to overpopulation.

• Lucy Pet Foundation has a multi-targeted solution to pet overpopulation:
• Free and Low Cost Mobile Spay and Neuter Clinics across the country (eventually all free!)
• Education
• Grooming and training of shelter pets to make them more adoptable
• Working to enact legislation benefiting pets, including banning gas chambers at shelter

Besides - cute animals, kittens playing football, rescue, a great message....does it get any better than that??

We of course will be rooting for Rickey in the commercial.

Want to learn more - head over to read a message from the president of the Lucy Pet Foundation Joey Herrick
And you can learn more about THE Lucy by reading her rescue story here

**disclaimer: This post was brought to you in an effort to raise awareness about Lucy Pet Foundation's upcoming ethical pet population campaign. Lucy Pet Foundation provided all images and information about the commercial, and will be entering our site into a drawing for a chance to win $500 towards a 501c3 rescue of our choice! If you are a blogger interested in spreading the word about this campaign, while also enjoying the chance to earn a donation for your favorite rescue, contact bloggers@lucypetfoundation.org and request more information!

National Feral Cat Day

When mom starting volunteering for our local humane society, she had no idea about feral cats or TNR or anything like that.

Fast forward to today and she volunteers with a local group that started out doing TNR and remains firmly committed to that as their primary objective.  And in that time mom has helped TNR 9 cats on her own and with the help of a neighbor and picked up 12 kittens that have been fostered and adopted since then. (including our Junior boy)  We are also lucky that we have a local low cost spay/neuter clinic that is feral friendly - they will take cats in live traps and do surgery same day.

Alley Cat Allies started National Feral Cat Day in 2001 to help promote education. This is the most important thing we can do. No matter what you hear in the news and from some other groups, feral cats are not the bad guys of nature. Human beings attempted to domesticate cats and then failed them (in our opinion). And TNR works....since mom started in our neighborhood, we had a stable population and NO NEW KITTENS in 2 years. Taking a feral cat to a "shelter" is simply a death sentence....

Also, check out the No Kill Revolution information on the Best Friends website.

What can you do?

Find a local TNR group and offer to help....most need volunteers to feed colonies or pick up and drop off cats in traps for surgery. Or donate...they need money for food and for live traps. Want to donate a trap to them directly? Check your local farm store (we know Tractor Supply has them) or online (we found one at amazon).

Promote spay and neuter. And remind people that seeing a "stray cat" is not something to be ignored. Take a stand. And please don't think that doing nothing solves the problem. While these cats can care for themselves, human kindness in the manner of food and shelter goes a long way. And about shelters: Alley Cat Allies has a great guide you can use

It can be hard but rewarding. Mom says that if you do this long enough, there is little more satisfying than coming up to a trap you have set and finding a cat in it (not as satisfying to find a raccoon or opposum that you just have to convince to get back OUT of the trap - MOL). And check for the ear tip...that is a sign that your "stray cat" is actually part of a colony that has already been spayed or neutered.

Allie snoopervising the rebuilding of the neighbor's balcony 

Allie likes to hang around - waiting for mom

to get a move on in the mornings so Allie can get

in the garage for her breakfast.

 She would be killed in a shelter...and deserves better than that.

Which is why we provide her food and a place to live and our protection.

And remember too - Coral and her siblings were born to a
feral mom who has now been spayed and released.

random Fridays

Cattime.com posted 20 cat facts to share with your kids....it was interesting and mom printed it off to send to the kid.
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Saturday is another adoption event. Mom will be taking Ash and the girls. Calvin and Winston are just too danged snotty. And then up to the adoption center.....

Thanks for all the suggestions from yesterday. Mom is gonna have to do some looking around - and then find a handy man. :)
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Coral and Quartz are right now at the clinic being spayed and mom will pick them up after work. Jet was WAY too snotty to have surgery.