Spud

I am going to try to get a paragraph or two up about each of the current crew.

This is Spud. The daughter of a neighbor of my parents found him last fall in a box outside of the daycare where she was working. After a couple of days she realized kittens are a lot of work and called to see if I would take him and get him big enough for the shelter. With everything she said, I was sure he was a bottle baby. Nope - ends up he was about 6 weeks old at the time.

I brought him home - at the same time I had Ivy and her mommy and sisters. My main concern was getting him FIV/FeLV tested. I managed to get a last minute appointment with Banfield. They took him in the back to draw blood and the vet came back out with this tiny red kitten in one hand and the test in the other and a concerned look on his face. I panicked - I was sure the test was positive. Nope - seems the test wasn't done yet but the vet wanted to know if I would be upset if the kitten was male, not female as I had told them (really, I hadn't looked too close). I told the vet I didn't care if the kitten was a puppy so long as the test was negative.

Turns out it was, and a year later, he is still living with me. He bonded with the group of kittens and when Ivy came back to stay, I couldn't part with him. You can't tell really well in the picture, but he is more red than brown and has the LONGEST fuzz coming out of his ears. He is OK with people, but very comfortable with the cats. In fact, I call him the "stalker boy" as he has no sense of personal space - if Tim or Tom lays down, he is right there - right up next to them. I have seen him pull the same move on Ivy who usually doesn't mind. Mozart and Maestro make him move or get up and leave.

Dazed & Confused

Daisy is one of the kittens that I took from the shelter. A friend is letting the momma cat take up one of their spaces at a local Petsmart in the hope she gets adopted soon. Aida's spay and dental went very well and her long term outlook is great.

Anyhow, Miss Daisy is trouble. Last night I got home and everyone met me at the door to the garage. I went upstairs and the kittens followed me to the bathroom for dinner (I am trying to feed them canned kitten food at least twice per day since they are now out and about 24/7). Only - no Daisy. Which is strange.

OK - the kittens were downstairs. So I go back downstairs and hear "meep meep meep" from behind the garage door. Yep - she went out as I came in. So I grabbed her and took her back upstairs for some dinner with her sisters.

But, it gets better. Later that night, I opened the fridge door to get something out and let it shut without checking first. Yep - about 10 second later "meep meep meep". I open the door and Daisy stuck her head out with this look on her face like "Why did you do that?" I have seen her launch herself into the fridge before and just this one time didn't look before shutting the door.

Note to self: make sure you know the location of all kittens before shutting any doors.

Ivy

So, this is the only other (permanent) girl in the house. Like everyone but Maestro, she was a foster failure (definition: came as a foster, failed to return). Her mommy was Harmony and she had 4 sisters: Iris, Daffodil, Rose & Lily. Believe it or not, Ivy was much smaller until last Christmas - apparently Santa left her about 5 pounds while I was out of town.

Anyhow, I love the girl, but she is going to be the only girl. She has....attitude. She is now a year old, spayed, short hair, torbie (a cross between a calico and a tabby - a brown tabby with orange spots). Her full name: Princess Ivy Crankypants. Nickname: Chunky Monkey

Let's put it this way - I can trim nails on every one but her. I took her with me to the shelter Saturday morning to get reinforcements. I held her and an adoption counselor got her nails. I then took her over to put her on the scale - over 10 pounds - and she screamed. I finally got her back in the carrier and she spent the next 20 minutes growling at everyone. In the car on the way home - she was rolling around being a flirt.

put up or shut up

I have been thinking about this a lot. I took that momma cat (still needs a home - she should be spayed next week) and kittens, I wonder if there isn't something more I can do. Some friends and I have talked about starting our own sanctuary. No way we have the money to buy land or anything, but I have been doing some research about getting a name registered and getting non-profit status. It seems hard, but not impossible. At least that was, we could take cats from the shelter, raise them up, get them well, whatever, and then post them on Petfinder or take them to events. Plus, we can take donations and accept adoption fees. The more I think about it, the more I think I have to do this. We wouldn't take cats from people - just cats from the shelter to alleviate space. I would love to get money, get some land and do it that way, but that may be more down the road. Right now I just think there is more I can be doing. It may not be the ultimate step, but at least it is a step in the right direction. And better to have tried and failed than not tried anything at all.

2 + 2 = oh geez....

So I moved Aida and the kittens to the kitchen on Saturday morning. I wanted to clean the bathroom and give the kittens a little more room to run around. Though I don't know why I bothered since they spent most of the day asleep in their bed.

However, Aida watched the crew check her out through the kitchen pass through and she figured it out. A couple of hours after moving everyone, I heard Spud hiss and looked down. Yep - Aida went sauntering by my chair...outside the kitchen. This wasn't really a trick I wanted her to learn. She spent most of the afternoon laying outside the gate - which of course drove the kittens nuts. They could see her, but couldn't get to her. A little hissing between her and Tommy & Spud, but nothing serious. Tim followed her down the hall and she must have felt cornered as she chased him back out, but other than that, nothing too bad.

Then there was this morning. I set up the gate like I have been doing for the past couple of weeks. I can leave the bathroom door open for them to have a little more space and some air. I turned around as I was getting ready to leave, and here she comes down the hall. Great - now she knows how to get OVER the gate too. I didn't want to lock her in the bathroom all day, so I can only hope things are OK when I get home.

marauding cacti

I spent some time last night laying on the floor of the bathroom entertaining the kittens. Minnie and Daisy spent the entire time running around and climbing all over me. Aida and I got to bond a little - she let me scratch her ears and rub on her a bit. At one point my hand was on the floor and she grabbed a finger with her teeth and then rubbed on me for some love. Mouse, as usual, was a little more timid. She and I played with fingers for a while until she warmed up. I would tap my fingers and she would bounce around and smack at them. She finally got into the game with her sisters. They were climbing up my arms and running all over me. My arms and legs look like I fell into a cactus. I was wearing shorts and a tank top - they would climb up and slide off mainly one shoulder, that that arm took the most damage. Baby toenails are dangerous.... Aida did get one in on Mouse. See, Mouse likes to run around and attack her mommy's tail. Mouse was bouncing around last night and Aida grabbed her by the tail. I had to laugh....

Aida & the girls

So I took in this mom and kittens from the humane society. They were part of a hoarding case and the mom needs some dental work that the shelter can't provide. So I "adopted" them and will find them all good homes when the kittens are big enough and mom has her dental.

Aida (mom) is about 18 months old. The kittens (from top to bottom) are Mouse, Daisy & Minnie. All dilute calicos like their mommie. Mouse is a scaredy cat but Minnie & Daisy are very outgoing and ready for action. Aida is shy but coming around to liking me. Being from a hoarding home, she is obviously undersocialized, but we are working on it. Once the girls are weaned, she will be spayed & get her dental - she will lose one tooth to a lesion and get the rest cleaned.

It is fun having them in the house. Aida, Tommy & Spud are hissy with each other, but we are working on it. Tommy and Spud are usually hissy with a new foster group, so I am not surprised. And Aida will need to learn to get along with everyone. Right now they are in the bathroom with my pen set up in front of the door - it gives them some air and extra space.

Fred's July adventure

This is my niece Lanah Rae (I call her Fred - and if you try to call her that, she will tell you that "only Aunt Jeanne can call me that"). She is 5 years old (we share a birthday). She spent the month of July staying with my parents (who live about 10 minutes from me - Lanah lives in Florida with her mom and dad [my younger brother]).

She had some adventures: Cedar Point and Put-in-Bay with Grandma and Grandpa, Columbus Zoo with Grandma and Aunt Jeanne. We had a tea party and she helped her Grandpa build her Barbies a beach cottage. She went to vacation bible school at Mom and Dad's church and took swimming lessons at the local pool (though she couldn't seem to remember what she had to do to pass the test when I asked her about it).

We weren't sure how she would do being away from her parents for a month. And she really did great. She called them daily, but didn't really ever seem too upset. She even told me she is looking forward to coming to visit next summer too.

Getting Started

Where to start....
The picture is from fall 2008. Since then, the big orange guy (Butterscotch) has crossed Rainbow Bridge and we have added Ivy and Spud. In order, it is Maestro, Mozart, Butterscotch, Tim and Tim (brothers).
Me? daughter, sister, aunt, sister-in-law, homeowner, animal shelter volunteer, bankruptcy paralegal, single lady, mid-30's
I have lived in MI, PA, OH and TX.
BA in Business 1995 from Grove City College (PA)