mom got to thinking

Which, really, is sometimes not a good thing. However, in this case, she got curious about our foster list. So she went through and pulled some numbers that we hope you find interesting.

Through the end of December 2013 (so Cumin is not included), we have had 190 fosters total. As of August 2013, we have been fostering for 7 years.

sorry Cumin - you go in next year's numbers

Here is how that breaks down:
14 momma cats, 176 kittens

93 males, 97 females  (mom admits she thought there were actually more boys than that)

colors:
brown tabby - 44 (we believe that)
black - 23 (we thought this number would be higher)
gray tabby - 22 (that surprised us)
black/white - 12
brown tabby & white - 12
gray - 11
calico/dilute calico - 11
torbie - 9 (honestly, Ivy and her sisters bumped this group up)
gray/white - 8
orange tabby - 8 (we thought this would be higher too)
siamese/snowshoe mixes - 7
white - 7 (those neighborhood feral kittens pushed this number up)
orange/white tabby - 6
buff tabby - 5
tortie/dilute tortie - 5

Oh, and this list doesn't include Tim and Tom - since they were before we were "official" fosters, and it doesn't include Spud since he never actually was with a group....and never left.

And speaking of never leaving, there were these three foster "failures" - and Tim and Tom technically count in this group too....

 Junior

Ivy 

Mozart

Mom figures she could have broken it down more, but since her spreadsheet is set up a certain way, she can make it do things and she is having to manually count....  MOL

Opt to Adopt

Most of you know our friend Miss Chrystal from Daily Dose of Dogs. She has the two cat houses and they are FULL UP!!!  And kitten season isn't that far away (hard to believe considering the temperature outside, but still.....)

Anyhow, if you or anyone you know has even been thinking about adding a kitty (or two or more) to their lives, PLEASE considering looking here or pointing them in this direction. 

You can see all the kitties on her blog, or you can find them on the Petfinder page for Winnie's Wish.

Slate

 Smokey

Toast

These three boys have grown up in the cat houses. They are currently the youngest there - but will be a year old in March. Don't you agree that the best first birthday would be spent in their forever homes. You can read about them here.

And as we say, don't let distance scare you off....we have transported to Canada, Pennsylvania, Georgia and even California.

Weekend report

 

Last week, mom's sister-in-law called asking about breeds of kittens. Seems that, despite saying they would wait until spring, they ended up at the local humane society and kind of fell in love with the guy pictured above. The kid named him Scooby Doo...  so far he is confined to the adult bathroom. Their other kitty Boots isn't a fan. The polar bear (the dog) came in and barked at him...which the baby ignored. The shelter said he is a Maine Coon mix (we buy that) and that he is two months old (not buying that, mom thinks closer to 3 months old based on the picture).

 

Mom did her first transport of 2014 on Saturday. Dolly had been running around loose in a county south of us. It isn't a great county for dogs, but the animal control office is very good about trying to get dogs into rescue. Dolly actually had to be trapped and the officers knew she wouldn't do well in a shelter environment so they contacted rescue. She has been in foster for over a month - she was supposed to move in December but with bad weather and the holidays it didn't happen. So they moved her Saturday. They say she is a basset hound mix - mom thinks mixed with maybe border collie. She was super sweet and a great traveler, though very scared about the "great" outdoors and the leash.

 

Mom took Cumin and Amelia to Petco on Sunday for an adoption event. Still no applications on Chex or Licorice. The clerks at the store say people are looking and they have given out some applications, but nothing has come back so far. Amelia doesn't mind the events - she finds the exact center of the cage and takes a nap (cause in the center no little sticky fingers can reach her). Cumin was really not so sure about the whole idea. He spent most of his time backing up from people.

Mom let him out of the play pen on Sunday. She had him in her arms and he settled for a few minutes and then climbed on the back of her chair to check out Tim. From there he slunk around the edges of the room and found his spot under the sofa. Mom had to flip the sofa up to get him out (and found several cat toys). So, no freedom for a while for him.

It is really freakin cold here.....we are huddling near the vents. Mom didn't see Allie this morning and is worried about her. Please stay warm and take care of your neighbors and furry creatures.

Random Fridays

We hope that the start of 2014 has been good for all of you.

Mom spent most of Wednesday yelling at the football guys on TV.

We are still checking out the new guy.

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There is an adoption event at Petco this weekend, so mom will pack up the kittens and take them up there on Sunday. Mom would leave Amelia and Saffron, but she is hoping they will help socialize Cumin and she says they are 100% not snotty....and she knows leaving up there will no doubt make the snot come back.
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This is how we plan to spend the weekend.

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Amelia and Saffron were having a good time the other day with the blue trackball:

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We got an award from Playful Kitty.

 There are some rules involved and well....we are bad with rules. :)  However, you are supposed to list 11 things about yourself. Since we normally talk about US, we thought maybe we would give that part to mom.  MOL  You are supposed to nominate 10 blogs to give it to...we don't know how has had it or not, but feel free to take it.  Take it away mom.

1. My younger brother and I were both adopted as infants...so no, we aren't actually related.
2. I am allergic to cats. And so many other things that I take a pill and deal with it. LOL
3. I have a BA in Business from Grove City College in Grove City PA.
4. I went to law school for a year after college and discovered I didn't want to be a lawyer.
5. So I got my paralegal certification and now work as a bankruptcy paralegal.
6. I hate doing housework....dishes, vacuuming, laundry, all of it.
7. When the cats say I am a techno-dork, they aren't kidding. I really don't have many skills.
8. I have a serious milk chocolate addiction. Don't like dark chocolate except peppermint patties.
9. I love to read - mostly mysteries and fantasy.
10. I hate to fly....if I can drive, I would much rather do it.
11. I don't do very well in crowds - which is why I took Triscuit to Blog Paws as an ice breaker.

a good start

Well, Milano went home with her new family on Tuesday. We aren't sure how she is going to do in a home with 4 kind of wild kids, but mom says the dad of the family seems to have a clue and hopefully Milano will have all the time she needs to adjust.

Chex is up at Petco along with Licorice. Mom says that she gets told that people are in and keep looking at them, but mom says she refuses to get excited until she gets a good application.


And in true tradition, mom stopped at the adoption center for the rescue to drop off paperwork and came home with a kitten....

Cute little booger isn't he??  Miss Mona from the rescue had him at her house but he was by himself so mom offered to bring him here. He needs to be socialized a little and get big enough to be neutered. So far he is living in the playpen. He seems to want to come out to play but mom wants to give him some time to check everything out around here. Since he came in and Saffron is still here, mom decided to call him Cumin.

Another kitten has fallen to the charms of Uncle Tim.

We bet by this weekend he will be out and running around with everyone. Amelia has checked him out and doesn't seem to notice. Saffron came up and sniffed him and then hissed at him. Mom makes sure he has toys in there and she is getting him out lots to hold him and let us all check him out.

A year in review (part 2)

July:
With Killian getting adopted and the rest of the beer kittens up at Petco, mom felt the need to bring home more kittens: Sorcha, Sebastian, Sierra and Screech

And then Licorice arrived....that has been an adventure (and she is STILL waiting for her forever home).

Our wordless Wednesday posts were dedicated to one of us per week. Most of July was taken up trying to determine what was up with Licorice, getting her healthy and less itchy.

August:
Sierra and Sebastian got adopted. And of course mom brought home more kittens - Hobbes and Mandy.

We celebrated our 4th blogoversary.

Busch and Miller were adopted together. We helped a former adopter rescue a kitten named Mitts. And Jake and Elwood came to the house as fosters.

September:
Stella was adopted!!!  And the pilot kittens - Goose, Maverick and Amelia (the Dust Bunny) joined us as fosters.

Mitts got adopted!!

Licorice finally was spayed, got her teeth cleaned and went up to Petco.

Spud and Ivy turned 5 years old and Maestro turned 19 years old!!

Elwood got to meow like a space-pirate.  MOL

And mom had an adventure with Junior that she could have done without.

October:
Tim and Tom turned 10 years old!

And we celebrated National Feral Cat Day. Especially our girl Allie.

Our cousin Max crossed the Rainbow Bridge. And Jake and Elwood got adopted.

And Basil and Saffron joined us as fosters.

November:
Oliver went to Petco, came here (in October), gave everyone the snot and then got adopted.

Rosie came to join Basil, Saffron and Amelia.

And Chex and Milano were returned due to medical issues with their family.

December:
Amelia finally got big enough and without snot to be spayed. Basil went with and was neutered.

Mom broke out some Christmas stuff....and made some of us wear it.

Basil got adopted. Maverick got adopted. Milano moved up to Petco. It was a wild weekend. :)

We got a special Catmas present from mom.

We participated in the Secret Paws gift exchange.

Rosie got adopted.

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It has been quite a year. The blogging community has lost several members - you can see them here at the blog Our Rainbow Friends.  We have taken in fosters, and some were not strong enough to survive, but we know that part of fostering isn't always the good things but sometimes being there to help those that need us - even if it is help crossing the Bridge.

We have taken in 39 fosters this year. We have had some great adoptions. Mom has helped transport 20 dogs.

We wish you a wonderful, healthy and happy 2014!!  We can't wait to see what comes.

A year in review......

January:
We started the year off telling you about the adoption of Bourbon and Moonshine. Amazing that it has been a year already.

 We had a few short timers come and go into foster, including Nurdle:

 Tim lost all his teefs but the front ones.

And then the arrival of Mist and the pepper boys:

February:
Mom bought the playpen and put it to use with the pepper boys at Petco.

We posted about the sweet kittens that went up for adoption at Petco for Valentines.

Mist and the pepper boys got adopted!!!

March:
The Brat Cat (aka Emma...the longest running foster ever) was finally spayed and went to Petco...and had an accident and managed to get adopted!!

And then we got a new family - Cookie and the snack kittens: 

 

April:
Most of April was spent getting the snack kittens bigger. They cracked us up most of the time.

no idea what Cheeto is laughing about

They went on their first adventure to an adoption event.  And then we picked up Frito.

Mom got new (more) ink.

And some of the snack kittens got adopted!!

May:
We took in another new family - Rapunzel and her kittens from the shelter. This ended up being a fiasco and the end of mom fostering for the shelter any more.

Mom went to Blog Paws in Virginia - and took Triscuit with her. They met lots of blogging friends.

The rest of the snack kittens were spayed/neutered and adopted. And so was their mom Cookie.

We had our first return from doing adoptions at the Petco store. Opal was returned...fortunately she was adopted pretty quickly as well.

And the beer kittens came to us as fosters from the rescue:

June:
Mom continued to have issues with the space kittens.

And the beer kittens got their freedom.

Triscuit got adopted!!! Despite the bowl on her head....MOL

And we got updates on Whiskey/Tucker and Bourbon and Moonshine/Gray Goose and they celebrated their first birthdays!!!!

And then mom hit the end of her patience with the shelter about the space kittens.


Tune in tomorrow for the second half of the year (we split it in half or this post would have gone on forever).

the holly-days....

Mom made it back from Tennessee. She said it is nice to see family but it is nice to get home too. We are behind on blogging and commenting....she didn't take the laptop. We are trying to catch up.  :)

A bit of business first: The Swiss Cats asked about Petco. It is a national chain of pet stores. They don't sell animals (other than fish and mice) and have cages set up for local rescues. We have several stores....the applications are reviewed by the rescue volunteers and the adoptions are through the rescue not the store. :)

And we just realized we forgot to tell you news from before Christmas....Rosemary got ADOPTED!! She was adopted by a mom and daughter. They have a 4 year old kitty. We will let you know if we get updates!

We had a pretty quiet Christmas. The pet sitter came and went and otherwise it was just us. We were happy to see mom get home.

the kid playing with cousin Boots

once everybody gets up, the kid sorts out the presents

 opening presents

we were kind of surprised Boots stuck around like that

no, the polar bear is not supposed to be sleeping on the bed

progress at Grandma and Grandpa's house

The stone on the outside it up. Some of the siding is up. There is primer on the walls inside and the tile guy was at work. The floors had started to go down but the discovered a problem with the way they line up, so they are going to have to pull up what was put down and then do it slower to check all the joints. They will start again on Monday and see how it goes....hopefully it won't slow everything down too much as they can't put in cabinets or anything else without the floors down.