Ava....

I got a text yesterday from my friend Nancy. "Ava is gone. Her back legs gave out"

It hasn't even been two weeks since the diagnosis of lymphoma.  And a week before that she was fine and happy and her daddy gave her a bath and didn't feel any lumps.

We here at Random Felines are sending our love to Nancy and Steve and Douglas the rescue cat.  You were well loved Ava and will be missed.

Thankful Thursday

Pecan, Pistachio, Hazel & Walnut

We, the gang of 4, are thankful that the hots are taking a break here and the foster mom lady leaves the screen door open so we can smell the flowers and try to catch those bugs!

wordless wednesday

Scafflaw Week

Our buddy Fin at Housecat Confidential has started this and we MUST participate.  We have been up to no good for a very long time and find that one week may not be enough.  Plus we have gotten the foster kittens in on the act.

Everyone on the couch

Wally on the counter

Spud on the dining room table

Tommy on the dining room table
(Tommy says if mom uses it for storage then we can sit on it)

Pistachio in the kitchen sink

Tim on the end table

Prayers please....

We need to be thinking about Douglas' family.  His goggie Ava has some lumps and her mom and dad just found more and it is lymphoma.  With steriods the vet says maybe 30-60 days.  Ava is 6 years old....this is her with her dad in their favorite chair - Douglas jumped up after Ava did.  We love you Ava!!! (and Nancy & Steve & Douglas)

Round one - me; Round two - Junior

So he was fine Wednesday night out of the bathroom for about an hour. I even got to trim his front nails (which ended up coming in handy last night).

Anyhow, yesterday, I dropped the nuts off for surgery but they ended up getting bumped for some emergencies, so they will go back later. After picking them up, I got home and decided to try round two with Junior (I gotta change that name soon or it is going to stick). I wrapped him in his towel and went out to sit with him and watch everyone. Pecan hissed a little at him and Pistachio again had a hissy fit. He went nose to nose with Maestro and Tommy. Fine with Maestro but hissed a little at Tommy - which Tommy graciously ignored.

Well, I think I might have pushed him too far. At about the 90 minute mark, he got curious and was sitting on my lap watching the kittens. Something startled him and he took off. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to catch him. Around the condo...I was hoping he would duck into the bathroom and I would be able to shut the door, but no such luck. He went into the kitchen and in my overconfidence, I tried to grab him. Bad idea - he scratched me and bit my wrist. Entirely my fault. Then under the sofa. I managed to get him out and he went down the stairs to the front door. I took the towel and followed him. He was in the corner and I could tell he was freaked out. I tossed the towel over his head and he burrowed further underneath. We went back upstairs and back into the bathroom. I sat with him for a few minutes and he relaxed and was purring and looking at me with those cute baby eyes. <>

So, I have to remind myself to take it slowly. It is hard looking at the well adjusted foster kittens. But I have had them since they were 6 weeks old. They may be the same age as Junior, but he doesn't have the same solid background.

Keep your fingers crossed. He has potential. I just have to give him time.

Pecan says: "I don't want to sleep by myself"

sleepin' with Ivy

sleepin' with Tim

Junior...

OK, so the name isn't great, but he needed one yesterday at the clinic.  And he looks a lot like his daddy (who we still have to catch and get neutered).

Anyhow, all the tests came back negative!!  Yeah - now we can work on getting him socialized and find him a forever home.  He is very sweet - pick him up and he purrs and has started to knead on me.  He even climbs up from my lap to my chest and will head butt my chin.

He isn't convinced that coming to me is a good idea yet.  And he is still spending lots of time hiding in the carrier, but that is about to come to and end...I need the carrier back.  :)  So, he will have his own space in the bathroom for now and slowly meet the rest of the crew to see how things go.

The fosters get spayed/neutered on Thursday and then come back to the house for 4-5 days to recover.

We caught us a kitten....

Well, our neighbor put out the cat trap again last night.  And caught one of the older kittens!!  I went over and picked him up.  I am going to get him neutered and try to socialize him.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Carol saw the other cat that we thought was pregnant - and she is skinny, so we now suspect she had her kittens.  So we are going to hold up trapping until they get a chance to get a little older. (or if we can find them)  Which leaves the black cat (that might already be fixed) and the big orange boy.

Gotta come up with a name for the new guy.  I will be working with him right now, and once he is tested and recovered from surgery, I will start SLOWLY introducing him into the house and the kitty crew.  He seems freaked out, but not wild.  I know he came out of the carrier last night as things were knocked over in the bathroom, but he was back in the carrier this morning when I went in to get ready for work.  I can pet him but he won't look at me.  For now, I am OK with that.

Satisfaction

We have some community cats in our condo neighborhood (I don't really like the term feral since it freaks people out and doesn't always apply - Best Friends has started using this new term and I like it better).

Anyhow, a note was in the last newsletter asking for help for some TNR (trap neuter release).  I contacted another woman named Carol, and we set a trap I borrowed from my dad.  Monday morning we caught our first cat.  She apparently has been pretty friendly with some of the neighbors and one woman stepped up and offered to adopt her!  Chatty Cathy went to Stephanie's house last night and I got a call that said she is already adjusting very well.  She had to have been a pet that lost her home.  Well, now she is spayed and will be spoiled rotten.

I never thought it would be this satisfying - this is my first foray into TNR.  We are going to keep at it until we catch them all.... one big tomcat, a couple more girls and some juvenile kittens.

frustration...

I won't go into details, but I am no longer with the rescue organization I joined over 7 years ago.  After some thought I have found a group closer to my house.

Here is the frustration part: with some many organizations working toward what I would think would be a common goal of less lives lost in shelters due to overpopulation, why are so many groups badmouthing other groups???  I refuse to go there, which is why the circumstances of my change aren't going up here.  My family and my friends know what happened, and that is enough for me.  But over the weekend, I ran into a friend from another group and she starts (without knowing my decision about where to go next) about the group I intend to join.  It bugs me....  I think for me it is all about this adage: if you don't have anything nice to day, don't say anything at all.

That being said, I have to post a huge THANK YOU to my friends and especially my parents.  This change has been hard on me and they have been so supportive.  I remember when I first decided to get into animal rescue, my Dad (who is so NOT a cat person) made the comment that I was going to end up with a ton of cats and he thought this was a bad idea.  He has come a long way since then, though he will never be a cat person.  Last week when all this happened, he and my Mom were upset about everything.  There is a fund raiser this week for the former group and they are not attending.  I didn't ask - in fact I told them that I support the reason for the fund raiser and while I wouldn't be there it was fine.  Nope - they are supporting me and that is all there is to it.  I know in part it is a "parent thing" but it makes me feel good.

Chloe update

Unfortunately, her first adoption didn't work out so well. When she was returned, a spot opened up at Petsmart and I was able to take her up there.

In the meantime, I had emailed the family that adopted Minuet and Nocturne and let them know since they had asked about her.

Good news!! Chloe went home with her name family on Sunday. The neice of the woman who adopted Min & Noc went to Petsmart and saw Chloe and fell in love with her. She has two other adult cats and thinks it will be a good match. Plus I got to hear more about the adventures of the kids. Chloe seemed very relaxed with all of them and I am thrilled!

nap attack

Mozart and Ivy say it is better to sleep with someone than sleep alone.
Or in Ivy's case ON someone.

Wednesday at the zoo with Fred

No, her name really isn't Fred. That is just what I call her. This is Lanah - my 6 yr old niece. I took Wednesday off from work and she and I and Grandma spent the day at the Columbus Zoo. We have new polar bears here - a pair of sisters. They are a lot of fun to watch.

We also saw the baby elephant and discovered there is new baby gorilla - she was playing with her keeper and all my pictures have a glare from the glass.

It was hot and humid but fun to spend the day.

Minuet & Nocturne update...

I also got a recent email from the family that adopted Minuet and Nocturne (yep - Noc will spend the rest of his life being tormented by his sister).

Thank you so much for the pictures, gifts, and background of Nocturne and Minuet. You did a wonderful job of socializing these two beautiful little darlings. I am very glad they were able to spend their first days and weeks with a loving, caring, foster mom. I was curious about whether or not you have a dog. We have an 8 year old german shepard, and minuet fell in love with him after a day of her observing him. She is all over him. He is not quite sure what to think of this yet, but she is gaining his trust everyday. For some reason both kittens have no fear or any qualms about cuddling with him. We are being careful though. He is a very big dog, and even though he is very kind by nature, we are being careful with that.

It meant a great deal to us that you sent are darlings off with a little background info., and we have never before adopted a pet at a shelter. It was quite a different experience for our family. We can not thank you enough for taking such good care of them. We are sending you some current pics of them at their new home. I am so glad there are people in the world that care about the welfare of these defensless animals. We promise to love and care for them all of their days.

Requiem update...

I got an email from Requiem's new family when they got their care package:

Thank you for Requiem’s package. Very thoughtful. I especially appreciate the photos and the confirmation of his birth date.

You’ll be happy to know he is healthy, happy and growing like a weed. He passed his first vet’s checkup with flying colors.

As you indicated, he is very playful and loves terrorizing the toy mice. He’s playing with one that you sent as I write.

He so rarely sits still, it’s been difficult to get a good photo, but a couple are attached.

Support HSDC

Kroger is offering $150,000 to shelters across the US. Delaware County Humane Society (Delaware County Ohio http://www.hsdcohio.org/) is one of them. If you click here: http://petloversvote.com/Pages/Vote.aspx then they get a vote everyday and could win the top prize of $50,000. Right now they are in second place.

They are messing with me....

Those little foster kittens had this all planned out - I am convinced of it. They were due to be vaccinated on 7/17/10. I made the appointment on Thursday. Got home after walking dogs at the shelter and Pecan's green eye goop was back and all four kittens sneezed at least once in the next hour. I don't know how they know, but they did.

So, I had a plan. I took them in and mentioned to Debbie (our processing tech) about my fear of them breaking with URI (upper respiratory - kitty cold) while on the floor. Since the surgery schedule is a week or so out, I suggested putting them on the schedule for next week and then I would bring them back next Saturday. That was they would have the weekend to be adopted but not be on the floor so long that the stress would make them sick. She said it sounded good.

I grabbed Pecan and put her on the scale. And the plan went right out the window. See, surgery is based on weight in kittens. They have to be at least 2.25 pounds (I prefer to get them a little bigger if I can). Pecan now? 1.87 pounds. Pistachio? 2.17 pounds. So much for that. Hazel was big enough. Walnut was WAY big enough (2.7 pounds). As Debbie asked if I wanted to leave the boy, he sneezed on her. The vet was walking by, took a look at him and declared 14 days of antibiotics.

Yep - so much for that plan....

In other news, I discovered Chloe (the momma cat from the last group) was returned. They said she needed too much attention and was crying all night to go outside. Funny, I never had that problem. She is understandably upset by the change and let me know when I went to check on her yesterday. Fortunately, one of our cats living at Petsmart is being adopted tonight and I am going to take her up there to fill that spot.

latest foster pics...

Right now, the kittens are scheduled to go back to the shelter on Saturday, so they would be available for adoption over the weekend, though they can't go home until they are spayed/neutered. They have been a blast. I was determined to get more pictures - especially of Wally since he is harder to get as he is all black. Here are some of the shots:

Pistachio
Wally

Hazel

Pecan

WWF - Cat style

Tim & Tom have a nightly routine. They start grooming, then the wrestling starts. Then they break - tails waving as they prepare for round two. Someone pounces, and the game is back on. It eventually breaks again and there is some mutually grooming until one of them walks away. I had been thinking about it and trying to remember to grab my camera. I was in luck last night. The fosters are due to go back on Saturday, so I was trying to get some more pictures. I was sitting in my chair with Wally and Pecan on my lap when the nightly match broke out. Here is the match....or at least round 2.