Please adopt Chanel

Our last remaining design kitten still hasn't been adopted.

She is on the rescue's website, so she can be seen on various rescue sites as well. She is at the adoption center but caught a cold being in the "teenage" kitten room. Mom wonders if the stress of being up there isn't helping her.

We are asking if you all would be willing to share her on facebook and/or twitter for us. Mom says if you or anyone you know is interested, email us at randomfelines@hotmail.com for more information and adoption information. Mom says she is willing to drive a couple of hours if someone nearby is looking for a super sweet, confident, outgoing tuxedo kitten.

Random Fridays

It was pointed out to us in the comments yesterday that it was our Blogoversary (oops). 9 years of posting about the permanent residents and foster kittens. Thanks as always for coming along for the ride.

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Do you recognize this cat??

This is Miss Katie Isabella. Mom got to spend some time with her mom when she was visiting her parents in Tennessee. Miss Katie came out for a few minutes when she discovered mom brought treats.

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Check out the sign mom hung on one of the doors to the foster room. Mudpie's mom lives in the land of no retail shopping and asked if someone would be willing to pick up a couple of things at a home store. Since there is one right near mom's office, she volunteered. And of course picked up a couple of things for herself. Including this sign.... Mo approves (though he wishes there was no "S" on the word cat)  (fyi - the chain you see isn't attached to the sign or the holder - it goes to the light in the background that is hidden behind the sign - nice picture taking skills mom)
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Bacall is trying to figure out the phone

Mom has to leave it upside down or some kitten will 

inevitably slide across it and turn it on

(that ring is from Triple-T Studios)

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Guess what??? A certain one-eyed kitten was adopted on Wednesday. Mom wasn't at the adoption center, but a friend of hers was and mom got a text. A family that adopted from the rescue before came in specifically looking for a black kitten since they know they don't get adopted as quickly. Strangely, there are no black kittens at the adoption center at the moment. (weird right?) Miss Amanda pointed them over to the boys in their tower and they fell in love with Romero.

Romero - ADOPTED

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Harlow was spayed on Wednesday and Rooney got his stitches out and the cone off. The clinic said Rooney was a serious ham all day at the clinic - we have no doubt he was BORED out of his mind and enjoying having the cone off.

Mom has an adoption event tomorrow morning and will be taking those two. From there they will head up to the adoption center. When mom gets home she will figure out how to rearrange everyone else.

Harlow and Bacall

We just have to say right off the bat that this has been a fabulous group of kittens. OK - they have been snotty and had eyeball issues and given mom some heartburn. But....they are lovey and purry and outgoing and never met a stranger. They have wonderful personalities and will make great additions to any family.

Harlow was spayed on Wednesday. Bacall has some on again/off again snot and mom didn't want to deal with the clinic, so she is on hold for right now. However, the girls are hilarious together and have such similar markings that mom thought she would give them a day to themselves on the blog.

Bacall

Bacall in action sliding over Harlow's head

Harlow in purple (front) and Bacall in red (back)

wordless Wednesday (mostly)

*ok - that last one makes mom laugh like crazy. Poor Rooney, cone on, zipper showing.... hahaha

meet up

Yesterday we showed you pictures of Panache and the kittens in a crate in the living room. However, before mom decided to move them, she opened up the big exercise pen and used it to block off space in the hallway and sat down to spend some time with this group.

Godzilla had to come check things out

(she kept trying to climb over to mooch kitten food visit)

mom spent more time making Daiquiri stay down than anything else.

Daiquiri and Mallard checking each other out

Mom wasn't sure what Panache would do about seeing Daiquiri.

Obviously she has know about the cats on the other side of the door, 

but she hasn't seen one in person. Thankfully she was so very good.

She came out, sniffed some and went back in for a nap.

Check out how much Mallard looks like her momma.

Ivy coming to check things out. 

The kittens were curious and no one pulled out their stranger danger suits.

Foxy isn't too sure about things but still curious

"come closer"

Hey look - Fish finally ventured out.

She is definitely the shyest of the kittens and it took her 

a little longer to decide she wanted to see what was happening in the hall.

Mozart comes to check out the kittens

After a while of this it become more evident that the bathroom wasn't working. While the floor space is a little more in the bathroom, they are trying harder to escape. Hopefully within the next couple of days we can work something else out. 

weekend report

We had nice cool weather here so there were open windows. Supposed to be warmer by the middle of the week though, so back to the cold air being on and windows closed.

No adoptions over the weekend. However the volunteers are getting so they ALL know the boys. They are wild and crazy. Hopefully this week.

Pretty momma cat Panache

Rooney 

stitches come out Wednesday

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Mom wanted to see what would happen and also get the bathroom back, so she moved Panache and the kittens into the crate still set up in the living room. Panache is SO laid back - nothing fazes her and she is fine with the racket around here and the cats looking into the crate.

Daiquiri is obviously the most curious.

Mom doesn't want to mix these guys in with the rat pack kittens. They are too much bigger and Bacall has some unresolved respiratory issues. Plus Rooney is a bit of a hazard to himself and others with that cone on right now. MOL

Random Fridays

Mom took Flynn, Bogart and Romero up to the adoption center last night. She got the OK to move a few kittens around so the boys could be in the same tower together. Then she tried to get good pictures of their faces to put online. Some kittens were more cooperative than others. 

Flynn

This boy is a lover. He will launch himself at people to get attention.

Romero

Don't let the missing eye fool you, he is looking for adventure.

Bogart

He is charming but is going to need a sibling or friend to wear him out.

In the meantime, it was cooler outside last night and it supposed to not get so hot for a couple of days around here. Mom opened the windows and put in the screen inserts. She was hoping to be able to leave the screen door in the foster room open and did so about 3 inches. It was just enough that Bacall could squeeze through....

Mom shut the door before she left for work.

Have a wonderful weekend....stay safe, stay cool and enjoy yourselves.

Random phone pictures

Bear with us...mom is having a weird week. MOL So enjoy some pictures off of her phone. Most may have shown up on our facebook page but we don't know how many people see that as well as check here.

Foxy: sad kitten is sad

Mom visited her parents last weekend

This is their wine cellar/tornado shelter

(grandpa makes his own wine now)

can you spot the hummingbird?

a kid and her dog

Romero (front) & Rooney (back)

Bogart and Flynn were both neutered yesterday!! Mom plans to take them to the adoption center tonight and take Romero along with them. If you know anyone in central Ohio who is looking for some very nice tuxedo boys, let us know now. 

HAPPY Birthday Ivy!!

Can you believe mom forgot???  

OK - she was out of town all weekend, but still....

HAPPY 9th Birthday Princess!!

let's talk about FIV (again)

*a post by the mom

A woman posted in a closed cat group on facebook that she and a friend had found some kittens in a barn. The friend took them as fosters and when they were big enough took them to a vet to be tested and neutered. The test came back positive for FIV and the vet put them all down (I refuse to call that euthanasia - which translates to "good death" when there is nothing good about it). The woman posted about this and said she wanted to be mad at the vet. We all agreed that she was right - be mad at the vet.

It did get me thinking though....how is it with all the information out there that vets are still doing this? I quizzed a registered vet tech friend and Julie from Sometimes Cats Herd You asked her vet the same questions. My friend Andrea graduated in 1998 and the vet around 2010.

1. How did they cover FIV in school?
        A: I graduated tech school in 1998 so it was still a taboo disease then. Basically they told us that if a cat had FIV he should be kept as any only cat or only with other FIV+ cats. It was acceptable practice,  almost expected, to euthanize positive cats. They also made it sound like they would develop all kinds of illness and disease and never be normal.

      V: When Julie asked about how they cover FIV in vet school, she (the vet) said "they don't, really".

2. Have attitudes changed since you graduated?
     A: Attitudes have definitely changed. I would like believe the vast majority of vets and shelter/rescue personnel have come to the realization that as FIV+ positive cats can live harmoniously with FIV- cats. The only true concern would be if the positive cat would be they type inclined to truly bite another cat, whether it be during play or if they were fighting among themselves in the home. Unfortunately I know that there are still uneducated vets out there who recommend euthanasia.

     V: She says that attitudes have definitely changed since she was in vet school, and that it seems to her that a lot of vets know that FIV+ cats are OK living in homes where they're able to get vet care promptly if they catch anything. She also said one of her cats is FIV+ and lives with her other cats just fine. She actually came back in the room afterward with another thought that a lot of vets choose not to test for FIV any more. 

3. What is you office policy for a healthy FIV cat if someone came in and asked for euthansia?
    A: Whole Pet Wellness Center would not euthanize an otherwise healthy FIV+ cat. We have a veterinary assistant who runs a small rescue and if she had space for an adult cat at the time we could see about placing the cat with them. More than likely we would just educate the owner and hopefully they would keep the cat themselves. We do not perform convenience euthanasia for any reason. 

    V: If someone brought an otherwise FIV+ cat in to be euthanized, she said that's too broad a question to have a policy. She reiterated that cats can live in homes and with other cats and have long, quality lives. She also reiterated what she said before that she considers herd immunity with ferals, especially with males likely to fight and spread the disease further in a colony. So that's really a case-by-case thing, but of course they don't like to euthanize healthy cats if it's avoidable. 

4. What about continuing education?
   A: Honestly, I haven't seen any CE on FIV ever. I haven't specifically been looking, but I usually read through the MWVC schedule pretty thoroughly every year. That's a sad realization. 

    V:  She said that the problem with continuing education is that there's relatively little new information about FIV. Not enough for a 50 minute lecture, "And CE is expensive. We want to come out of a CE session with something we can use."


I also asked Andrea about false positives when testing. She wasn't sure and then an article popped up in her facebook feed that you can check out from dvm 360. Julie's vet said the snap test can have false positives and "when in doubt, retest".

What I find interesting is that both the vet and Andrea have FIV+ cats. (Andrea's cat Badger is on facebook)

What I personally find so frustrating is that with ALL the information out there, vets and the public still have this overwhelmingly negative view of FIV. I guess the best I can do is keep writing and asking you to share and keep talking about it. 

a new house

Our friend Miss Kelly (the local one) bought a house on sale last winter for us. Mom finally hooked up with her and brought this home. Mozart of course was the first man inside followed by Tommy and then Spud.

random Fridays

Just to keep mom guessing, Panache has decided that the dry food for the kittens is better than the canned (she wouldn't touch it when she first came here). However, mom has seen Mallard and Foxy eating on their own, so progress is being made.

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Thanks for all the comments on Millie. Mom knew from her being here that she might be a tough nut. However, we wanted to give her and the family a chance. Now we know more about how she is going to do and that her adjustment may just take a little more time that the "average" cat. She is sweet though and hopefully an experienced person will be along to be her "one and only".

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Daiquiri wishes you a safe and cooler weekend. The nights have been a little cooler here this week but we don't get a decent breeze in the condo so mom has left the windows closed with the a/c on.
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lazy bunch of monkeys
(clockwise from the front: Rooney (pre-surgery), Bogart (red collar),
Harlow, Flynn (green collar at 12 o'clock) and Bacall)

not a great picture of Rooney as it was taken through the screen, 

but the look on his face made mom laugh

Bacall

her ears aren't REALLY that big - bad camera perspective

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We posted last week on facebook/instagram about a tragic camper accident. There were no witnesses and no one is talking. The foster kittens Asked Max on Monday about getting the camper replaced using the mom's insurance. He said it was unlikely to happen.

Chanel hasn't been adopted from the center yet, but she is in the older kitten room and thankfully is out and about playing and meeting people. Paws crossed maybe this weekend. 

Rat Pack kittens

YAY!!! Romero got his stitches out and the cone off yesterday!!

Harlow

Bogart is going to charm the socks right off of some family. He went with mom to an event on Sunday and did hang toward the back of the cage for part of it, but like his siblings is all lovey when you hold him.

There was a plan for Wednesday. Mom was going to drop Bacall off at the adoption center to go to a mobile vet to be spayed. Harlow was looking much better (her one eye is scarred from the infection but not as bad as the boys), so mom asked if there was a spot for her to go as well. That was all set in place so mom planned to drop the girls off on her way to work.

The second part of Wednesday morning was to take Romero along with Flynn and Bogart to the low cost clinic. Romero needs his eye checked and the stitches removed and Flynn and Bogart were scheduled to be neutered.

Unfortunately, Rooney's eye got worse Tuesday night, so after a couple of texts back and forth, mom took him instead of Flynn and Bogart. And of course, to keep it complicated, mom got a text from the rescue in the afternoon that the mobile vet refused to spay the girls stated they are "snotty". Mom says they looked fine to her when she was packing them up. argh....

Rooney

the new conehead in town

Mom put Rooney and Romero in the crate together. She's hoping having some company will be good for both of them. Romero could go back in the foster room but a few days without playing too rough won't be a bad thing.