Part of rescue is getting out to adoption events. This past weekend a local Subaru dealer sponsored a #More2Love event with several groups coming into their dealership. The weather was miserable but thankfully there was space inside for us to set up since we brought kittens.
At most of these events, we don't do adoptions. We will take applications, but since we check several things we generally don't send them home same day anyhow. Mom says these events are mostly to get our name out there and raise awareness.
Mom took Kilkenny and Sapporo since they are the two that are neutered. She took along Peroni since - let's be honest - she knows how to bring the cute. (BTW - mom weighed her on Sunday and Peroni weighed 1 pound 15 ounces....at 3 months old)
The kittens weren't very impressed, but then again, kittens are generally impressed by being stuck in a carrier and then into a crate at a strange location with loud noises.
This is Doug. He is about 6 months old and another volunteer picked him up from one of our partner stores and brought him over. He is super sweet and did great out on a leash and harness. He loves to snuggle and didn't even mind when a dog decided to clean his ears. Doug has been at the store for 2 months now and we have NO idea why he hasn't been adopted yet.
We mentioned on Monday that mom was gone last weekend. She took 4 days and spent some time with some friends out west. They had a wonderful time together - sightseeing, shopping, eating and talking.
Rumor has it she may have kissed this cat....
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Goldfish has been loose in the house now since Monday. She is doing very well with Chanel. Ivy ignores her and Daiquiri hisses at her - so about normal around here. Mom does think that Daiquiri may be enjoying Chanel getting run over by Goldfish however....something about karma.
Wednesday afternoon something very interesting happened. Mom wasn't feeling good so she stayed home from work. She had noticed a few times that Goldfish seems to like to nap in the chair that mom uses when she is home. Well....mom was sitting there with a blanket on her lap (it is chilly here) and the next thing she knew, Goldfish jumped up and sat on her lap. Mom didn't even breathe. And then....Goldfish curled up and snoozed. Mom did pet her a few times...very slowly. No idea how long it would have lasted, but a truck in the parking lot made a big noise and Goldfish got startled and took off for a safe space.
And unless you think she is "cured" - mom accidentally cornered her in the kitchen later that day and Goldfish bounced off the cabinets and ran out of the room like she was on fire. Oh well....mom is willing to take whatever progress she can get from that kitten.
We really have no idea why mom makes plans. Things rarely work out like she plans.
She was out of town last weekend and wanted to wait to release Goldfish into the house until this coming weekend so she would be around. However, Goldfish had other ideas and kept launching herself at the doors blocking off the foster kitten room. Finally by Monday night mom decided it wasn't worth waiting. She fed the little kittens and moved the door enough to let Goldfish run into the living room.
Chanel was pretty interested in this new tuxedo cat. Goldfish ran around the living room trying to figure everything out. She went around a few times....then got distracted by a toy. Mom actually felt better when Goldfish stopped to play as she knew that Goldfish wasn't just frantically running around.
Junior hasn't had much contact with Goldfish yet. The other girls seems to not be quite sure what to do with her. Chanel is pretty fascinated and the two of them seem to be having a good time running around the condo. Hopefully Goldfish can use Chanel as an example of how things work around here and will get her to warm up to mom.
Also, we think she may do this just to tease the other cats since no one else has mastered this particular maneuver.
a girl and her spring toy
We were abandoned. Have no fear though - mom got home yesterday and the nice ladies from the pet sitting service come over a couple of times per day to make sure we are taken care of with food and water. We would say with attention too, but Daiquiri and Junior both hide and Ivy sits several feet away from them and just glares. Thank goodness for Chanel and the kittens or those ladies wouldn't get ANY kitty love here.
Hello? Internets peoples? It is I, Guinness. You may kiss the nose.
Saporro would prefer you not kiss him
Marzen would prefer you make some other kittens disappear
Goldfish just sits and judges
Mom had to laugh the other night. Daiquiri was chasing one of her favorite spring toys up and down the hall in a lively game of fetch. Chanel of course had to "help" and the toy disappeared. As mom watched, Chanel sat on the floor, shifting her weight back and forth, licking a back foot and looking generally uncomfortable. Just as mom was about to get up to check her out, Chanel stood up and....revealed she had been sitting on the spring.
Kilkenny looks like he doesn't approve of Guinness
but...that is just his eye bothering him. MOL
so cute....and judgy (Goldfish)
how YOU doing? (Peroni)
a good spot to supervise - and knock things off the shelf (Marzen)
that trackball is a very favorite toy among every group we have
Remarkably, everyone is getting along fairly well. It isn't uncommon for mom to check the camera during the day and see at least a couple of kittens piled up taking naps together.
Balashi could use some purrs...mom notice on Monday that he was drooling some and that can be a sign of a virus. She took him to the rescue to be looked over and the head of the rescue decided to keep him a couple of days just to minimize exposing his cooties to the other kittens (really that ship has sailed, but keeping him separate also allows us to be sure he is eating and doing better). We should get him back soon.
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
Not only do the kittens have a paper bag, but we do too. However....it appears that Ivy didn't get the memo about what you should be doing with the bag. This is her favorite use.
Peroni spends a lot of time being shocked and amazed. She also spends a great deal of time plotting how to get out of the kitten room. Mom has a routine now - bend down, ease open the door, grab the tiny kitten, tell Goldfish to back up, enter the room, let go of the tiny squirming kitten.
Kilkenny and Sapporo were neutered yesterday. Marzen is technically big enough, but had a goopy eye and mom just doesn't have the patience to argue with the clinic. Besides, since the two boys are ready to go, they will head up to the adoption center and mom didn't want to have to listen to Peroni's version of the "I am very lonely" song from the foster room.
Mom also got Goldfish caught Thursday morning so she went to be spayed as well. Mom dropped her off that evening and Goldfish will move on to her next adventure.
Which it turns out is living here. Mom dropped her off at the clinic and spent all day considering the options. By the pick up time, mom decided Goldfish had spent the vast majority of her life here. So now she can stay.
Oh....and we have a surprise for you next week. Stay tuned.
Mom put a paper bag in the kitten room a while ago. At first everyone was afraid of it. Now they love it - especially Marzen and Sapporo. Of course, as with all things and kittens, the bag has now seen better days and mom may have to get them a new one.
he is cute and he knows it
Today we have two videos - these two monkeys were just having so much fun with that bag.
The hots came back over the weekend. It was in the mid-80s all weekend so mom closed the windows again and turned the air conditioner back on (while muttering some choice words about mother nature). It is supposed to be warm for the first part of the week then rumor has it we may get some fall weather again.
Marzen (above) and Saporro (below) are both sweet boys. They are curious and can be loved on until they decide they have other things to do in the room.
Kilkenny is a tougher nut to crack. He prefers to sit across the room and yet mom will grab him and love on him and he purrs. It may be time to break out some baby food or something as a bribe.
The boys are around 2 pounds but with the health issues they had, mom is holding off a couple of more weeks before getting them neutered.
Miss tiny Peroni continues to be her outgoing social self. Mom has taken her a couple of places to visit people. They love her even though her curiosity is overwhelming and she constantly makes it clear she has places to go and things to check out.
poor Marzen - he is pretty friendly but the camera freaks him out
still working on getting Kilkenny to ask for pets,
but he doesn't mind it if you grab him
Saporro is a sweet boy
Just realized no Peroni picture...huh.
The kittens continue to do well. Mom doesn't have big plans for the weekend except for a few hours of yelling at the football games on Saturday. Otherwise she plan to spend some time with the kittens. The big annual fundraiser for the rescue is on Sunday and mom plans to go to that, but otherwise it should be fairly quiet around here. Mom did say that Chanel needs an outing, so maybe a coffee run.
they like to be UP on the Kitty Kasa in the foster room
Marzen is pretty sure there is some cat UP there
and on the other side of the door
poor Peroni - everything is UP when you are tiny
Goldfish likes to be up on the cabinet
Goldfish is a whole other matter. As mom told the head of the rescue, Goldfish isn't getting better, she is just getting older. Mom can pet her maybe twice WHILE she is eating and then no more. If she isn't eating, there is no touching. Mom says we need another house feral (Junior) like we need a hole in our heads. The plan for now is to catch Goldfish one morning (haha), put her in the live trap, get her spayed and microchipped and ear tipped (just in case) and then the head of the rescue is going to take her. Miss M lives further out and away from traffic in case Goldfish gets out of her house. Goldfish has been attempting to get out of the foster room and that makes mom nervous enough. Honestly, we had better hopes for her and feel bad that her options are limited now that she has been living in a house for so long. But if she can't adjust to people, she isn't adoptable. Mom feels like she has failed, though if there is blame to go around it is the person that never got the momma cat spayed.
Junior was acting as guardian of the hallway. It never ends well as Ivy will have to walk past him and name calling will ensue.
It was a supremely lazy weekend around here. Mom spent Saturday getting stuff down around the condo and spent Sunday doing....nothing!!! Chanel thought that was a great idea.
If mom would have realized how much time kittens would spend BEHIND the bird house, she would have put it up there differently. Goldfish likes to sleep up there but the little kittens tend to run up there to hide if something startles them. The trash truck, mom throwing a box down the steps, the vacuum cleaner....if it is scary, the birdhouse is the place to be.
Mom was trying to get pictures....Peroni was NOT helping. That camera strap is fascinating. Mom hasn't weighed the boys, but she did weigh Peroni on Friday. She weighs....just over a pound. No doubt she lost some weigh while all of them were sick, but she is still about half the size of the boys.
Ivy has gotten much friendlier with the weather change and decided she sometimes wants to be a lap cat....
32 seconds with Ivy
