tabby Tuesday

**sorry this is late - the mom forgot to set the time to post yesterday

Mom is kind of fascinated by our stripes. And especially by those on Tommy and Daiquiri. The white parts make the stripes more interesting as far as she is concerned.

And of course the toes.... all of Daiquiri's back toes are pink, but some of her front toes are black. Cool....

weekend report

Good news!!!

Amaryllis was adopted on Saturday.

Concats to our only momma cat of the year (so far). Mom got to finalize the adoption and Amaryllis has a nice mom and dad and a younger kitty brother.
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The kittens found the pink cube and the games began...

Freedom is now coming up to mom for affection. The two tabby are still pretty skittish. And Juniper appears to be snot free, so mom will be calling to get the appointment to get her spayed.

Random Fridays

There was an email that went out from the rescue on Tuesday that there was an overflow of snotty kittens with colds that could use some time in foster care. Mom stopped that evening after work to check on the tree kittens (who are doing well) and picked up a pair of kittens to bring home.

Some people and rescues don't mix litters. We do it with certain precautions....in this case, the kittens that mom brought home were already tested negative (the patriot kittens were tested before they came here too) and vaccinated.

Mom picked up and black and white male kitten and a brown tabby male kitten. The tabby is Melbourne. Mom didn't realize the tuxedo's card didn't have his name on it until she got home. And with no microchip number on his card mom can't figure out his actual name. She will have to get him scanned when he goes back to make sure his info is updated.

the unknown black and white kitten

he is SUPER friendly and outgoing

though he escaped the foster room last night,

ran into Ivy and freaked himself out

Melbourne

a little freaked out but not too bad

Freedom

slowly coming around

if mom has a treat or a toy, she is OK

Liberty

still a big NO on the voluntary touching

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We still got the hots and humids here. No real plans for the weekend. Mom plans to work with the kittens. The patriot kittens and one of the newer ones (the tabby) are a bit skittish. Mom took bonito flakes in there the other night and got a big NOPE from most of them. Freedom came over and ate some and let mom touch her a little but still runs. The new tuxedo boy couldn't be friendlier. Mom sat on the floor Wednesday night and he crawled in her lap and then up to perch on her shoulders. MOL

John commented yesterday that it must be hard this year without Tim to help with kittens. And it really has been....the older cats will tolerate kittens to a certain degree. Daiquiri likes going in the room, but she acts like a big kitten herself and plays more than helps mom socialize (maybe one day Daiquiri will grow up - or not...hahaha). Tim was willing to sit with mom and just let the kittens come to him which made mom less scary. We seem to have a greater number of hissy kittens this year and his calming presence is missed (and not just on the kitten raising front).

a birthday and a gotcha day

Well, once again, the mom can't be relied on to get the dates right.

A certain torbie princess turned 8 YEARS OLD on Monday......

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY IVY!!!

And a certain head mancat is celebrating 11 years gotcha years here....

Happy Gotcha Day Tommy!!

We are missing Tim today a little bit more than normal since it is his gotcha day too. We hope he is getting extra treats and some nip over The Bridge

Maestro up in the corner, Tommy and Tim

not so wordless Wednesday

all your toys belong to me

**Juniper is out and about all the time now. She will go into the foster space with mom to check on the kittens, but comes right back out with mom as well - and fortunately goes in and out the actual door - which is better than climbing the doors to get out. She is having a great time playing and is just wonderfully sweet. A few more days of medication for her cold and she can be spayed and is ready to go. If you know anyone looking for a super sweet, outgoing tortie, let us know. After being out and on her own for about 5 days now, she has discovered the bed. She doesn't spend all night sleeping with mom, but she likes to come visit right after the light goes out and before the alarm goes off.

a little ticked off

**a post by the mom

First - a disclaimer: this is not written on behalf of the rescue. I don't speak for them ... I speak for me and this is what I saw and experienced.

Saturday was an adoption event sponsored by a large pet food company that has a manufacturing plant in our area (Mars/Pedigree - there, I said it). About 10 rescues are invited each year. Normally it is held outside but since rain was predicted, they cleared some warehouse space and it was inside - which enabled us to bring kittens (something we don't normally do to outside events when it is HOT!).

Before I get to what happened, let me give you an idea of what my day was like...just so you can have the entire picture. And keep in mind that we are ALL volunteers and most of us have full time jobs in addition to doing events like this.

My Saturday went like this: get up and take care of my crew and the foster kittens. Get my things together for the event and run out the door around 9:15am - grabbing a fast food sandwich on the way since lunch was going to be snacks at best. Drive 20 minutes - which took more than 40 minutes due to an accident in front of me. Pick up kittens for the event and drive another 20 minutes to the event site. Unload and get set up - crate and supplies for the kittens, paperwork and help the other volunteers with our table. The actual event was 12-5pm. Spend the day talking to people, handing out information, some sales, no adoptions (OK - well, one adoption, but it was to a volunteer). Take down everything, reload the car, take the kittens back to the adoption center and get them set up for the night. I managed to get home about 6:30pm. Feed my crew and the fosters, clean litter boxes, shower (did I mention it is hot and humid here?) and then stare at the fridge hoping for some inspiration for dinner (there wasn't much in there...I think I ended up having cheese and crackers).

I don't want that to sound like a complaint.... I don't mind doing events, but they do suck up an entire day. I like talking to the public about our rescue and our animals. However, events aren't just the time we are at a location....it is the set up and tear down and travel time as well.

Here is what got me steamed however:
As we were setting up, a lady walked by with a lovely male Great Dane. That was NOT NEUTERED!!! We kind of blinked and were all "seriously??" Another volunteer took information about low cost neutering to the woman and was told (loudly and rudely) that the dog was being bred, the lady was making good money and in fact she had another woman with her who had bought one of the puppies.

EXCUSE ME?????

Now, this pet food company can sell their product to anyone and everyone - that is part of being in business. And if their employees choose to be backyard breeders, we can't stop them.

BUT - if you invite rescues.....that are all volunteers and work on shoe string budgets.....to a RESCUE ADOPTION EVENT....your employee should NOT be bringing her unneutered dog with her and bragging about breeding him. And then being rude to rescue volunteers who actually say something to her!!

I know one of the volunteers that was the contact for this event said something to one of the organizers, but I have no idea what was said to her in return. And to add insult to injury, as we were all loading up to leave, one rescue had an entire palate of dog food loaded into one of their trucks, while a volunteer of ours was told there was a "three bag limit of food donations" (though we did end up getting more than that). O!M!G!

Hey - maybe it was an oversight. Maybe it won't happen again. Maybe we got bad information about the donation amounts. But the whole thing left a definite sour taste for our group.....

weekend update

We got the hot and the unholy humids here. Mom stayed inside most of Sunday doing household stuff.

Mom got some pictures of the 4 tree kittens before they left for the adoption center. As of Saturday, no one had been adopted yet. Don't know what people are waiting for when it comes to them.

Mom was worried about them up there, but stopped on Friday before coming home after work. The boys were doing well and of course Alder was all "pet me pet me". Hemlock was in the tower hammock with Alder and Sumac. She still flinches a little when mom touched her, but no hissing or running. Mom does think it would be best if she goes to a quiet home - preferably with another kitten that is bold and outgoing.

Juniper and the patriot kittens are doing well. Juniper is out all the time - primarily to keep her from climbing the door to get out. Liberty and Freedom are pretty snotty. And honestly, they are kind of hissy. So imagine their joy at being chased around and medicate twice per day....  MOL

There was a big adoption event on Saturday. The rescue took 3 kittens and several dogs. One of the kittens was adopted. Total adoptions for the day was 70. Not bad...though mom has more to say about that tomorrow.

Random Fridays

Juniper is sticking around for a few days to completely get over her cold. The boys got the OK from the vet, so mom took them up to the adoption center on Wednesday. Mom also got a text from the rescue about Hemlock and Sumac being pretty wild after their spay surgery on Monday, so the plan is to put them all together and hopefully the boys being there will help the girls adjust to a new environment. They have come a long way from how scared they were when they first came here, but they are certainly not bomb proof and will need some time to adjust to new situations. (that is where mom got the idea for the post for yesterday - anger torties and torbies - MOL)

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If you have been watching the camera during the last few days, you will notice the doors looked different. Alder and Juniper have figured out they can climb the door (that is the next project....) and escape. Liberty and Freedom are still in the tower, so no worries there. Birch just sits inside the foster room and howls cause he can't get out and there is no one in there with him.

Mom figured in an effort to save the screens, she would just leave the door open during the day (they seem to stay put at night). As mom watched the camera from work on Wednesday, she saw Mozart, Daiquiri and Junior all wander in and out. Too funny.....

However, with the boys going back to the adoption center on Wednesday, mom moved the tower back out and let Liberty and Freedom have the room. Juniper isn't sure if she wants in or out but is mostly out.

throwback Thursday

There are some things going on with the tree kittens that we will talk about tomorrow, but it got mom thinking about an Ivy story that makes her laugh (it shouldn't but it does). After some checking, she realized she never shared it on the blog (since Ivy was adopted before we started this), so for today's post, we are telling on the princess....

Ivy is the one in the middle

Ivy came to our house as a foster kitten with her sisters and her mom. When they were ready to go back to be adopted, mom decided (for reasons she still couldn't explain to you) to bring Ivy back home and make her a permanent resident. (this is when mom was still with the humane society....way back when)

When Ivy got to be about 6 months old, mom noticed a bump on her abdomen that was squishy. She asked the vet at the humane society to check it out and they decided it was an abdominal hernia - her internal spay site must have come open. So they agreed to do the hernia surgery and fix it since they had done her spay.

Mom dropped Ivy off one morning and then came that evening to check on her. As the story was retold, the vet students interning there tried to check her prior to surgery and came back out saying they couldn't touch her. Seems she then had to be caught in a net to be knocked out as she was one angry torbie. (and bear in mind that she was about half the size she is now....)

When mom stopped to check on her, Ivy was in the back of the cage, hissing, growling and all sorts of ticked off. Everyone agreed to just leave her for 24 hours and mom would return the next day to pick her up and take her home.

Day two mom stopped back after work and Ivy was still in the back of the cage cursing at anyone who came too close. Except mom had to get her to take her home..... what to do???

Mom screwed up her courage, tucked her fingers into her hand and stuck her fist in the cage for Ivy to smell. Sniff....sniff sniff..... And mom swears you could see something click on in Ivy's head....she climbed up mom's arm and perched on her shoulder (she was obviously MUCH small then - MOL). The other two people standing there - including the vet - were shocked. But Ivy knew her momma.....  Mom grabbed her quick and put her in the carrier before she could change her mind about being held.

don't even THINK about scritching that belly

And too this day, Ivy is NOT a happy girl about getting her nails done or going to the vet or any other such nonsense.

one word Wednesday

skeptical

patriot kittens

Last Thursday mom stopped at the adoption center to get some things and saw a pair of cuties that needed to go into foster. Since the boys were going for surgery on Friday and the girls were planned to go this week, mom said she would take the little ones. A lady had found them and said she would foster them for the rescue, but called back after 24 hours and requested that she be able to bring them in to the rescue. They tested negative and have had their first shots. They are a little jumpy and hissy but we suspect they will get over that pretty quick.

Mom set up the tower in the living room and that is where the new girls are staying. The lady who found them named them Liberty (brown tabby) and Freedom (brown and white tabby). Mom couldn't come up with a good hashtag for instagram and facebook, so she asked other bloggers for suggestions and Miss Jenny from As the World Purrs suggested the patriot kittens.

Daiquiri isn't too sure about the newcomers

Freedom

check out Daiquiri in the gingerbread house

she thinks no one sees her in there

Liberty and Freedom

For now they are going to stay in the tower. They are pretty little and they don't like being caught, so this gives mom a better chance to get her hands on them.

However, with Cedar being adopted and Sumac and Hemlock staying at the adoption center after being spayed yesterday, mom is thinking maybe rolling the tower into the foster room.

Oh and speaking of the foster room, mom checked the camera a few times yesterday and didn't see any kittens. She knows Alder can get OVER the doors (yep - up, onto a shelf, onto a chair and then out). She didn't think Birch or Juniper could do it, but apparently everyone has made a break for freedom. Ugh....
    **edit - as of this morning, if you check the webcam, the door to the foster room is actually propped open. The patriot kittens are still in the tower, but as mom was leaving for work Juniper got stuck on the top of the doors and Birch was howling and it just seemed an easier (and safer) solution to leave the doors open. Keep an eye out - you may catch a permanent resident on camera. MOL

weekend report

Junior was keeping an eye on things this weekend. Alder has discovered he can climb OVER the doors and get out of the foster space - he lands on some shelves then jumps on the chair. So far he is the only one and he does seem to stay in there overnight, but mom suspects unless he goes to the adoption center soon, she is going to be sleeping with an orange kitten some night.

Saturday was an event sponsored by NBC/Telemundo called Clear the Shelters. There were 35 adoptions from Colony Cats (our rescue) and there were 5 local rescues participating and 190 adoptions total in central Ohio from those 5 rescues. The last report we heard was 45,060 total adoptions nationwide.

The thing is, adoption fees were requested to be lowered - but the fees were not subsidized like they are for some events. Which means that rescues involved in this event, even if they did lots of adoptions, took a beating on adoption fees and lost money. If ever you have considered donating, now would be a good time.

There were some concerns that mom saw online about people coming out just for the reduced fees. And while mom did hear some people say that, the adoption process for our rescue doesn't change...we still check people out and still will say no. A good number of people knew the event was coming and had filled out applications in advance so they came in pre-approved and just had to finalize adoptions.

Cedar was adopted along with another kitten from the rescue (Link was a short hair orange and white tabby). The family has a 1 year old female cat at home (we bet SHE was surprised) and 3 kids. He turned on the charm and the mom of the family couldn't resist him.

Alder and Birch came back home with mom after the event and then went to another one on Sunday at the store where mom cleans for our remote adoption kitties.

Otherwise, it was HOT and HUMID here....yuck. Fortunately we have a/c and that kept it cool inside.

Sumac and Hemlock were dropped off this morning for their spay surgeries. Juniper was acting kind of snotty, so she will be sticking around for a few days.

Have a great week....drink lots of water, stay out of the heat as much as you can, leave water out for the animals, and please check on your neighbors.

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. 

shelter tour

Mom loves seeing other shelters and how they do things. Being in rescue, you can never stop learning and sharing. The more we all know, the more lives we can save. Miss Connie fosters for the Animal Welfare Society in Maine. A nice lady met mom and the other cat ladies on Tuesday morning and took them for a tour.

This cabin is set back almost to the woods. It houses their feral colony and is also used as an introduction space if they take in a feral cat that cannot be returned to it's former location for what ever reason. If you look closely to the left, there are cat trees made of wood that gives the cats something to play with.

This girl sat by the corner and watched everyone - until they got too close and then she took off. They have a black cat that comes out to greet transport vans. 

A donor wanted to do something for the shelter in memory of their cat. Seems their cat loved their patio and so the money they donated went to create a catio type window outside of the cat rooms.

Inside there are a couple of rooms with cages for new intakes, cats with medical issues or those cats that do not get along in a group setting. There are then 3 open space rooms. One closed off, and the other divided by a sliding door that can be opened or closed depending on the space needs. There are steps to upper walk ways and nice big windows.

There is also a separate building with its own catio for their barn cats - those cats that aren't really feral but may do best as working cats.

They also have a huge fenced in back yard space for the dogs. They try to make sure each dog gets outside for enrichment and play dates each day.

A few interesting things mom learned:
 - They have a partnership with a local pet store that takes all their small animal surrenders and adopts them out from the store.
 - They have a fund set up to help with spay/neuter across Maine. The hope is to get into areas that need help based on income and help those that need it. From what mom understands, it is set up on a certificate basis and then participating vet information is given to those who request certificates.
 - Because their adoption rates are so good, they are able to import animals (mostly dogs) from the south and get them adopted out relatively quickly.

They are working on expanding their medical space to include more impact on spay/neuter but to also provide everyday medical care to pets based on a sliding income scale....trying to keep pets with their owners by reducing costs.

We certainly wish them the best of luck on all their endeavors.