kitten update

Millie is giving the kittens a little more independence. Mom thinks she is getting more comfortable and is therefore is sleeping more near them rather than sleeping in the box with them. Mom found a bigger box for the kittens. It is more about keeping them contained for the short term.

Millie was rescued and brought to us right away so mom had to take her last week to be tested and vaccinated. Waiting for that test seems to be a really long 10 minutes, but Millie's test came back... negative for FeLV and FIV. YAY!!!

Mom weighed everyone on Saturday....and TRIED to get good pictures of their faces

Versace 

male, orange tabby no white

weight: 8 7/8 ounces (current heavyweight)

 he had no interest in having his picture taken

Gucci

male, orange and white tabby

weight: 6 7/8 ounces (current lightweight)

this was when Millie decided to supervise

Part way into the picture taking, Millie came over to get in the way supervise

 

Chanel

female tuxedo, more black on her face

weight: 7 3/8 ounces

she now has one eyeball open

 

Dior 

female, tuxedo (more white on her face)

weight: 8 3/8 ounces

the sole hold out as of Sunday with no open eyeballs

 

Armani

male tuxedo

weight: 8 3/8 ounces

looking at him he looks smaller than his sisters

so his weight surprised mom

Random Fridays

Millicent (probably called Millie) and the kittens are doing well. Mom has to remember to check the web camera before leaving for work since she left in  hurry on Wednesday and then discovered the camera was off. (wish we knew what causes it to work well for a while and then turn off for no reason - the only reset is to turn the router off and on and obviously that only happens if mom is at home)

Even after a couple of days Millie was being a little growly with mom. Not around the kittens - she doesn't seem to mind if mom handles them though she will come over to check things out of mom picks one up and they howl. This is more when mom comes in and is petting her or trying to get her food ready....Millie will rub all over, let mom pet her and then seems to get overstimulated and a little growly. She has put her teeth on mom twice now - not breaking skin and not being aggressive - almost like she isn't sure what else to do. After talking it out with some foster friends, mom is putting rescue remedy in Millie's water and is going to find a toy that she likes to see if getting her to play some will work out the kinks. Certainly nothing to worry about, but mom wants to keep an eye on her behavior all the same.

 

boy, boy, girl, boy, girl

so far the only one with a definite name is Armani - he is the

tuxie boy with his arm over his sister in this picture

paws up

(this is the smaller orange boy in the top picture)

 

girl, boy, girl, boy

keep the foods coming lady

the two tuxie girls and their brother

They should be pretty easy to tell apart and mom will try to get good pictures of their faces over the weekend. One orange boy is solid, the other has some white on him (see the picture above). The tuxedo kittens all have different facial markings. It is just a case of getting them to hold still long enough for the camera to focus. MOL

Nothing too exciting this weekend. Mom did buy a new bed that will come next week so she is going to clean the bedroom well and try to catch all the fuzz bunnies under the bed (can't call them dust bunnies since they are mostly fur). Otherwise she will most likely be in the foster room with Millie and the kittens.

snoozing

(not sure how that is comfortable or how she is breathing)

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lining up kittens is like getting all your ducks in a row

good luck with that

Mom has been thinking about kitten names - especially since three of them are wearing formal wear. After wandering around google for a while (how did people name kittens before the internet??), she decided on famous designers: so - the girls will be Chanel and Dior, the male tuxedo will be Armani and the orange boys will be Gucci and Versace.  Subject to change of course.....but we think this may be it. 

BEHOLD

BEHOLD

Kittens.....

Momma cat

The momma cat was seen running around about a week ago....and then they found her again over the weekend. She had kittens in a window well - so NOT a good place. It is early kitten season here so the rescue had an open spot and we were in the running. (actually, mom did some running around for the rescue on Sunday and told the head lady she would take payment in kittens - MOL). Mom got a text Monday afternoon at work and they spent a couple of hours at the office in a crate before mom could get them home.

Mom was sitting at work and the name Millicent came to mind for the momma cat. Normally we don't use people names for kittens, but we have for momma cats before. Millicent is a beautiful tortie girl...we suspect not very old. Five kittens: 2 orange and 3 tuxedos. 3 boys, 2 girls (two of the tuxedos - both orange tabbys are boys) Which is a combination we don't think we have ever had before.

We were told they were born over the weekend, but their umbilical cords have fallen off and there was one open eyeball Monday night, so they are closer to about a week old and we are going to give them birthdays of 3/28/17.

Momma cat was pretty sweet Monday night, but it had been a long day for her and when mom went back in a second time to feed her again, Millicent hissed a couple of time, was a little growly and put her teeth on mom's hand. Mom didn't move and gently told Millie to let go and she would get some space. Millie let go without leaving a mark and mom left the foster room. She checked on them throughout the night and all was well.

Junior's Gotcha Day and a birthday

Happy 6th Gotcha Day to Junior!

Resident stalker, menace and plaything for Daiquiri.

He was a cute little bugger when mom got him.

(despite being annoyed at being caught)

Now he hangs around inside. Mom can't touch him...she finally got the v-e-t to stop sending us his annual "bring him in for shots" updates cause NO WAY is that going to happen. He annoys the living daylights out of Spud and Ivy, but adores Daiquiri. Mom truly does think that it isn't that he is trying to be annoying....he just communicates differently since he was outside on his own until mom trapped him when he was over 3 months old.

And.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR MOM

*check back tomorrow for a very special birthday present

weekend report

Pretty quiet weekend here. It has gotten a little chilly again, so no open windows. Mom went a little nuts on Friday and got groceries, vacuumed, and did laundry. It worked out since Tommy had a v-e-t appointment on Saturday morning and then she met a friend for brunch and then another friend for dinner.

 Daiquiri surprised mom the other night. Daiquiri is head shy (no idea why) and not a lap cat. However, she will get up on the bed. The other night mom lifted the covers and Daiq climbed under. This has never happened before. And....she let mom pet her all over while she curled up next to mom. Daiq spent about 15 minutes under there before taking off.

 

Spud does love that ladder

Tommy has been snotty for a while. He gave it to Mozart (snot - the gift that keeps on giving). Mo's cleared up after a quick vet visit. Tommy had been on a couple of meds but his didn't clear up as well. Mom has been checking out another v-e-t and so he went there on Saturday. He is on a new drug and mom says he already sounds a little less snotty. However what made her laugh is she thought he might have made a break for it and stayed with the new v-e-t. She called him handsome, admired his purr and gave let him smell some catnip essence. Love that boy, but he is easy. MOL

Random Fridays

We are back on kitten watch.

Roadrunner was adopted over the weekend!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And...mom spoke to one of the clerks at the store who said that Liberty and Freedom's dad was in buying something again and showed her a video of the girls playing - out in the living room of the house!! Mom did the happy dance right there....

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It is supposed to be nice here this weekend, so mom plans to do some cleaning and other stuff. We plan to make sure the windows are at least open a little bit and we get in some window whiffing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh - and we have to show this cute video. Norman is available for adoption and is currently in the partner store where mom cleans. He was found as a stray (hence the ear tip) along with another boy named Cliff (2 points if you get the reference) and the rescue is presuming they are brothers since they look very alike. However, Cliff tested FIV+ (see yesterday's rant) so he is now is the FIV room with the rescue. That being said, if people look at Norman, we are MORE than happy to tell them he has a brother looking for a home as well. (Cliff isn't in the store as two big boys in that cage would be tight quarters and we keep our FIV cats in their own space to reduce their stress).

FIV cats

**another rant from the mom

I've been watching Dr. Jeff on Animal Planet. I love that he works to make sure all pets get care and makes it affordable. I love that no pet leaves the clinic without being spayed or neutered.

The episode last week showed him helping a client with cats in her backyard and doing TNR. WOOHOO!! I got excited....

Then I got annoyed. One of the cats was friendly so they tested him and it came back positive for FIV (see more info here from Best Friends about FIV). There was a conversation about finding him a home or euthanizing him due to his FIV status.

I yelled at the TV that I would STOP WATCHING if they killed that cat. They decided to find him a home. OK....

Then Dr Jeff gets on and continues to refer to FIV as "feline aids" (which does these cats a serious disservice as people freak out when they hear the word "aids") and says the cat would have to live alone or in a house with other FIV+ cats.

OMG - you idiot!!! Unless the cat is aggressive and bites, studies have shown these FIV+ cats CAN live very well with other cats. He had a great platform and opportunity to spread positive information and SCREWED IT UP!!

Our friend JaneA Kelly wrote an article for Catster on this very thing. I love her opening lines:
"Today in News of the Obvious: FIV-positive cats can live with uninfected fellow felines and not transmit the virus. A veterinary study concludes this. Finally."

In July of last year, I wrote about the new FIV room our rescue put into our adoption center. We have done several adoptions from there since it opened. We always tell people to do introductions slowly but that these cats can live long healthy lives with other cats.

For Dr Suess Day this year I wrote about some of the cats in our FIV room.

Kevin Kyle was adopted shortly after that post was written

I guess what I am saying is this: for those on TV or social media or blogging or whatever....you have a responsibility to do the homework and GET IT RIGHT! Regardless of whether you want them to or not, people are listening and will take you at your word.

Dr Jeff - I will keep watching, but I am disappointed. And I'm tempted to print those articles and mail them to you.

PMT Photohunt

Mischievous 

Draw your own conclusions.....

off visiting

Mom went away this past weekend to visit family in Tennessee. Her dad's birthday was Friday so she went down to see everyone. They had a very nice visit and everyone went out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate.

our cousin Izzo

Grandma and Grandpa's house

Saturday afternoon they all took a drive and went to Gatlinburg and Sevierville. Those are the towns last summer that had the devastating forest fires. A lot of it is being rebuilt, but there was a lot of damage. Gatlinburg was full of tourists though and the main street seemed to be missed by the fire.

relaxing weekend

This is Ivy's new favorite spot

at the end of the hall where she can see 

both directions

Spud and Daiquiri snoozing

We hope you had a nice quiet and relaxing weekend. We certainly gave it our best try.

Mom was actually gone most of the weekend visiting family in Tennessee so it was even more quiet here with no kittens and no mom.

Random Fridays

We mentioned the new door that went in last weekend. It doesn't LOOK much different, but mom says it doesn't leak as much cold air and that the door guy fixed some other stuff too. Also, mom had him help her put the cabinet back and it is now right up next to the wall and gave the room another few inches on that wall.

With these monkeys gone, it will certainly be quiet around here. Though mom saw the head of the rescue on Monday at the clinic and was told that she would get a call when the next momma and kittens comes in to the shelter. We suspect it won't be too long.

Mom got home from the rescue adoption center Wednesday night after dropping of the kittens. About an hour later, she got a text from another volunteer that Coyote had been ADOPTED!! Young couple, one other cat....he will be a great fit.

food review #ChewyInfluencer

We received the product at no charge from Chewy.com. All opinions expressed are our own and are not influenced by receiving the product.

This month there was canned food from Taste of the Wild on the list and mom decided to try that. (the link leads to a 5.5 ounce can but we got 3 ounce cans) It is grain free which is what mom is trying to keep all us on.

Daiquiri heard the can open in the foster room and wanted in

the chunks are a decent size with a good amount of gravy

that said, if the kittens were any smaller, mom would have 

to mush up the chunks

starving kitten (not)

action shot

The kittens loved it. The first couple of times mom tried to get Mozart to eat it by himself in the bathroom. He licked off ALL the gravy. Fortunately the kittens don't care and were more than happy to play clean up crew for the house panther.

Then over the weekend mom knew we would have to be locked in the back bedroom so our sliding door could be replaced on Saturday. Mom split a can on Friday night and we all thought it was wonderful. She did it again on Saturday morning, and while we were all chowing down....she SHUT THE DOOR!! Dang...busted by the allure of canned food.

This does have a few weird vegetables and fruits in it, but they are pretty far down the list of ingredients. But all in all it seemed to be a hit here with everyone!

new guy

Last week we got a big box in the mail. Mom opened it up and it was a present to put in the foster kitten room from our Fairy Cat Mother.

cute isn't he?

"who is this strange new creature?"

Neither kitten was too sure about this guy. Mom only got the picture of Coyote by putting him there and clicking quickly. There were a couple of pictures of Roadrunner, but upon inspection, they were all blurry as mom must has screwed up something on the camera (go figure). So while the duck hasn't gotten much love from THIS pair of kittens, we hope he will from future kittens.

it's that time already

Well, it happens quickly when you get kittens that come to you almost weighing enough for surgery and just needed a little socialization.

Coyote and Roadrunner had their spay and neuter surgery yesterday. Mom likes them to come back to the house for a couple of days to recuperate. But they will be headed up to the rescue tomorrow. Because of the time of year, we know they will be adopted quickly since there really aren't any little kittens available.

first day at the foster home

more recent picture

They didn't change a whole lot during their stay in terms of appearance other than gaining a little weight. Coyote really was friendly from day one and just seemed to get friendlier as time went by. Roadrunner took a little more convincing, but she came around and now likes to be held (for a few minutes) and sit on mom's lap (but you have to catch Roadrunner first).

ADOPTED

Back in July of last year, we were asked to take a pair of shy kittens with colds. The lady who brought them to the rescue had named them and since it was the beginning of July, she picked Freedom and Liberty. Mom took of poll of our cat blogging friends and they were tagged the Patriot Kittens.

They gave mom a SERIOUS run for her money. They had to be medicated...and hated it. They needed to be socialized....and wanted nothing to do with it.

Mom pulled out all the tricks and while they certainly got better, they never really decided they like mom a whole lot. Which, she will tell you is fine. They don't have to like her, but they do have to learn to be social or they won't get adopted. After some work with them, it was decided they did need to be adopted as a bonded pair as Liberty is SO much shyer than her sister.

The kittens went up to a partner store....and were there for several months.

 

Well....about 10 days ago mom got a call and there was an application for the girls (there have been a couple of others but they both fell through for various reasons). Retired couple - own their home - no other pets. This could be the one. Mom called them that night and went over EVERYTHING - Liberty is super shy....they are sneezy.....etc. C and B asked lots of good questions and said they were ready to move forward. However, they were going to be gone all weekend. Mom agreed the girls could stay at the store, and last Monday night they went home. We didn't post right away to be sure the new family had time to see if it would work. B has been in to the store and told the clerks it is going well.

people really wrote that

**a post by the mom

The other night I was online roaming around and decided to search google for our rescue information. Of course there are reviews and I got sucked into reading them. I should know better.

A lot of them were good. Some may have had legitimate issues. Others need to get a life. After reading several and then getting frustrated and walking away from my phone, I decided something.

If a person gives a small non-profit a 1 star review for something that isn't related to the direct focus of the non-profit, that person should be required to volunteer a few hours (I vote a minimum of 5 hours) on that task to help out.

For example, one review said the place needed some "sprucing up". Great - grab a paint brush or window cleaner or a mop and make yourself useful. (in fact, the rescue has been very lucky in the last month and two groups from different companies have volunteered their time and the whole interior of the adoption center has been repainted)

Another review said that "no one returned my call promptly". OK - first please define promptly, as I am sure your definition is different from mine. Second, let me give you the access code to our voicemail system. Then you can spend several hours wading through several hundred voice mails: some demanding help we cannot or do not provide, some with information you can't understand, many demanding we pick up cats in their neighborhood (not our jobs), and so on. Then sort out the ones that are urgent, call those first and wade your way back through the rest. Oh - and remember that people will continue to call while you are working on the first batch.

I had a man confront me in one of our partner stores one day. He was upset that his elderly mother wanted to adopt a cat and we took 2 days (OMG!!) to check her application. And he is a lawyer (so?) and that seems ridiculous. I had had a long day that day and can now admit this guy got on my last nerve. I gave an apologetic look to the store manager and then let this guy have it. "We take our time to be sure the fit is right for the cat and the people. We are ALL volunteers and do this in addition to working and families and other responsibilities. And we check information since our first responsibility is to the SAFETY OF OUR CATS! I'm sorry she had to wait a couple of days but we want to be sure we are doing it right rather than doing it fast." And I walked away. (I tried to apologize to the manager later for getting into it with a customer and he laughed and said it was fine - he was glad I said something since he can't.)

There are days I seriously want to tell some people to PUT UP or SHUT UP. It is the same with trolls on the internet - it is all so very comfy and convenient to sit behind a keyboard and complain but annoying and hurtful to those of us that are actually out there and doing the work. Take THAT into consideration the next time you (*OK - not you our lovely readers, just the general you) want to complain about something.

Now that I have that out of my system, here's a gratuitous baby picture....guess who is going to be 1 year old the end of the month???