The orange is strong

 OK so we all hear the one about orange cats sharing one brain cell. Pretty sure Zep and Gelato have gotten out of line. Biscotti is pretty good but those other two....

Zeppolli

Gelato

Biscotti

Poor Tiramisu and Boba

Weekend report

 Well the weather was nice for a few days with the windows open. Mom says summer has arrived so the cold air machine is on and the windows are officially closed. 

The rescue has decided to start doing spay or neuter surgeries at 12 weeks. The kittens are a little bigger and it allows us to have the vet give their rabies vaccine before being adopted. 

Everyone is out during the day now. Zeppolli escaped over the air lock on Thursday night. He and Tiramisu both escaped during tge day on Friday. Saturday mom started letting them out during the day only. They will still sleep in the foster room. 

Fortunately they have each other so they are mostly leaving the adults alone. 

Tiramisu

Biscotti

Zeppolli

Gelato

Shenanigans

More Dessert

 We had visitors for a week. The shelter needed a pair of kittens to be fostered. They came in whike the vet was on vacation so it was literally just a week. The shelter named them Marge (tabby) and Homer (black). They are headed back today for surgery and adoption.

Since the dessert kittens are in the foster room, these two ended up in a playpen in the living room. Boba was confused:

The dessert kittens are doing well. Gelato got the clearance from the vet for vaccines and to be adopted. The rescue has decided to start holding kittens until 12 weeks to get a rabies vaccine at the time of surgery. 

So they will be here for a few more weeks. 

Quick update

 Boba is doing well. She seems to enjoy being out and about but also spent the weekend staring at the little kittens since the baby jail airlock was up and the foster room door open. 

The dessert kittens are doing well. Tiramisu and Zeppolli are almost to weight for surgery. Biscotti is running in 3rd and Gelato is way back at 1 pound 6 ounces (though for reference he weighed 1 pound 3 ounces a week ago). The head tilt seems the same but he is a happy boy and gets around well and loves to play with his siblings. Mom does wonder if it effected his hearing or response time cause he is a little slow to respond to noises sometimes. 

The boys are all friendly, Tiramisu still runs to avoid being caught but doesn't mind being held. 

The hot weather is back though so after a nice weekend with open windows and mom working on our balcony (hope she remembers to water those flowers), our windows are closed up and the cold air machine has been turned on.

Road trip and...

 Mom went to visit her family this past weekend. Since Gelato is on meds, she took him and not wanting him to be lonely, took Zeppolli too. They were pretty good on the car and also good in the play pen. 

The family, especially mom's niece (ie the kid) loved seeing them too. 

Gelato has a vet appointment tomorrow so hopefully an update on his head tilt and meds after that. But everyone is acting great and gaining weight so that is good news.

In other news, Boba is being spayed today and will then be available for adoption.

Plus Daiquiri and Chanel both have appointments for dental cleanings, so big vet week for several cats here.

Didnt need that

 Well the Italian dessert kittens are giving mom heartburn. Tiramisu - the only brown tabby and only girl - has been great. Couple days of goopy eyes but that cleared up pretty quickly. The main goal now is to get her more friendly.

Biscotti and Zeppolli are doing well. Biscotti got a bath last week and is holding a grudge about it. Zeppolli (he has the more visible white) is a typical orange - very friendly and outgoing. 

Gelato though. Geez he is giving mom a run for her money. Last Monday she fed them dinner and all was well. Two hours later he was barely able to stand and had a pretty serious head tilt. After a call to the rescue, they met up, had a chat and the head of the rescue took him to an urgent care vet. They diagnosed toxoplasmosis. He's 0n meds. The tilt is pretty noticible but he is doing really well. He's eating and actually playing with his sister.

Sort of sweet

 The Italian dessert kittens were kind of rough when they first got here. The only girl is Tiramisu and she's actually been great the entire time.

The boys had a tougher start. Fortunately sone meds and good food and they seem to be feeling better. Now on to stage 2 which is get them friendly. They weren't really handled much before they came here and it doesn't help that the first interaction with people was being medicated. 

Gelato is the darkest orange with no white. Lousy picture as he is friendly already and cones right over to mom.

Zeppolli (donut) is thinking about being friendly. He is very curious but also cautious. As you can see he is orange with a good amount of white.

Biscotti is pretty hesitant at the moment. He's got food on his face right now since mom wants to make everything positive for a while. He is orange and white with less white than Zeppolli.

-------------------------------

Boba is loose in the house and has been very good. Though the adult cats no doubt find her very pesky...she can be pushy and bitey and is very independent.

Kitten season is springing

 Mochi has been spayed and is at our partner store to be adopted. Paws crossed she doesn't have to wait too long.

  Boba is here with us for a few more weeks. Not quite big enough to be spayed yet. She is quite the handful as she is displaying some "single kitten" behaviors - mostly she is very bitey. 

  And we have a group of newbies. The rescue is working with a lady caring for cats in her neighborhood. The momma cat of these kittens is feral, so she will be spayed and released. These 4 have pretty gunky eyes and some other things going on so mom is keeping a close eye on them. One girl a brown tabby and 3 boys - all orange or orange and white. Mom is going with Italian desserts: Tiramisu for the girl, the boys: Gelato, Biscotti and Zeppole. 

Be flexible

 Part of fostering is being part of a supportive group and being flexible. 

Mochi and Boba came here Wednesday night. Both that night and Thursday, Mochi howled...all night. No one got much sleep.

Mom was talking to her friend Miss Heather and they discussed moving Mochi to her house. She has the ability to close off her bedroom to see if being with a person overnight would make a difference. 

Well turns out Mochi is most likely in heat. Ugh. But she is scheduled to be spayed on Thursday. We just have to survive that long. Haha

Boba is with us since it lets Mochi dry out from nursing. Boba is eating fine on her own. 

She is a little mouthy but is discovering that mom is good to sleep on. She is allowed out some during the day so the adults here will teach her some manners. 

First fosters of spring

 The rescue got a call about a momcat and single baby and we picked them up last night. 

Momma is medium hair, medium sized brown tabby - with thumbs (only in the front). Her kitten is about 5 weeks old, female (we think) and short hair brown and white tabby - no thumbs though. 

Mom is super friendly and the kitten should warm up pretty quickly too. The guy who found them has had them since the kitten was a couple days old, so we know there was just one.

Momma cat will be Mochi, the kitten Boba.

Of course mom also has the best built in toy ever:

vaccines and vet visits

 a blog post by the mom

I was messaging another cat mom and blogger the other day and she mentioned about getting her 15 year old cat in to the vet for a check up and vaccines. I mentioned that Ivy (who will be 15 years old this year) is no longer vaccinated. She said the vet was saying it needed to be done. 

I decided to do a little research and see what I could find out.

First let me say this - I am not a vet and I am NOT telling you to ignore your vet's advice. But I also do suggest all the time that you are allowed to ask questions (be kind and polite) about reasoning and care. 

Is something necessary? Is is required? Are there other options?

The last time Ivy was vaccinated was at age 12. Even then my vet asked why we were vaccinating a senior cat. I reminded her of the foster kitten situation and she agreed that due to risk it was worth doing it that time. At Ivy's last vet visit, we agreed that we would no longer vaccinate her. Keep in mind circumstances here: Ivy really doesn't like kittens so they don't spend a lot of time with her. I keep foster kittens quarantined when they are smaller and until after at least their first vaccine. I have had Ivy since she was 6 weeks old and I know her entire vaccine history. And regardless, Ivy will continue to have annual vet visits.

I did find an article written in 2021 by an RVT (see here) that basically says similar things to what I am saying above - a lot of it depends on circumstance. 

Here is something else to consider - there may be local or state laws your vet is required to comply with. This would ONLY apply to rabies vaccine not the FVRCP vaccine. So be sure to ask this as well. Some laws are written specifically for dogs and cats are not mentioned so be sure this is part of your conversation. 

For example, in my area here:

In accordance with Franklin county law, all dogs and cats are required to be vaccinated against the Rabies virus. Giving the vaccine is considered a medical procedure and only healthy pets should be vaccinated.

Read that again though - ONLY HEALTHY PETS. This can give your vet some leeway. In my case, is Ivy healthy? Sure, but she is also considered geriatric (when did that happen??) and that in itself can be considered a health issue. Plus if something were to happen, I am more than willing to pay for a titer test to check her rabies vaccine levels. And keep this in mind - I know her well enough to know she isn't really going to bite unless something terrible happens. Also she has about 3 teeth left. The risk level is pretty low. I also know that she has never once been exposed to rabies.

Where does that leave you? Having a vet you trust and you can talk to about these things. Have an honest conversation about your concerns and desires. Go over risks and precautions. 

Let me know what you think - do you still vaccinate your senior animals? Why or why not? 

Worked her too hard

 Mom had a guy over yesterday to replace the garbage disposal in the kitchen. Daiquiri, Junior and Goldfish disappeared. Ivy has it the "too old to care" stage of life so she was unimpressed. At one point it got loud and she went under mom's desk but otherwise napped.

Chanel of course had to supervise.

At one point she was in the kitchen about 3 feet away from the guy. Thank goodness for cat friendly handyman.

Then it got more exciting after he left when I guy showed up outside the building across from is. He had a ladder even.

Of course that is all hard work so she slept most of the afternoon. 

Be kind

                                          A post by the mom.

Yesterday the rescue community online learned that someone very invested in cat rescue took her own life. She had been struggling and now she's at peace.

Rescue is hard. Every day we are faced with health decisions, intake decisions, and angry people. Even if we have people on our lives who understand, it can be hard to reach out. "I don't want to burden them." "They have enough going on." The list continues...

Add in social media and it can be 1000 times harder. I've stepped up many times to shut down a troll. I've had others do it on my accounts for me. But I sincerely wish people could just stop and think for 2 seconds before hitting send. You don't know what else is going on for that person. 

During the year I was a foster coordinator, I caught flack from leaders and board members for not pushing fosters to do more. I pushed back hard. People are allowed to take breaks. They are allowed to decide what they can handle. And "no" is a complete sentence. 

I've been in rescue now for over 20 years. Now more than ever we need to nurture and encourage the next generations of rescuers. And we all need to stand together to help each other along the way. 

So here's what I'm asking:

Be kind

Ask for help if you need it

Be willing to help if you can

Stand up for others 

Know you are not alone 💜

Happy Birthday Chanel

 OK....it was yesterday. Mom got sidetracked. It happens.

Anyhow, happy 6th Birthday to our resident strange tuxedo girl (and her sister Cupcake who lives with our friend Miss Julie).

A friend was over the other evenjng and managed to get pictures of Chanel on the cat ladder in her favorite positions. Mom hasn't been successful since Chanel moves if mom gets close.

How is that comfortable

They say cats are liquid, but mom has to wonder if Chanel is boneless

Sleeping spots

 Everyone here has a spot or two they lay claim to during the day. 

Ivy can generally be found under the side table by one of the floor vents. After watching her do this consistantly for a while, mom put a bed under there for her.

Junior likes this bed between the sofa and the coffee table. He can sometimes be found in one of the cat tree cubbies, but this seems to be his spot for now.

Daiquiri will sometimes sleep in the living room but can most often be found on the bed. 

Chanel has claimed the taco truck. Either or it or in it, that seems to be her spot. She will occasionally sleep under mom's desk but not often since mom moves around a lot.

Goldfish can either be found on one particular level of the cat ladder or in the round Sleepypod.