Hocus Pocus girls

 Mom picked up 3 kittens from the shelter last week. They are about 6 weeks old and needs to get a little bit bigger for surgery. They were treated at the shelter for a lot of fleas so they are free of those now.

But they had a lot of fleas dirt. Mom tried to comb them out but it wasn't working so they all got a bath on Sunday. Cats are normally self cleaning but it's better for their health to have the dirt gone. 

They do have some crusty scabs on their tails. The shelter vet took a look and the tuxedo is on meds for a wound on hers but they aren't sure what caused the scabs. Mom tried to get a better look but the girls don't want them messed with. So for now the shelter is saying let them heal up and see what happens. 

Winifred is the snowshoe, Sarah is the tabby and Mary is the tuxedo. Welcome girls

Ron the kitten

 We've had a kitten here for about a week getting over a kitty cold. He goes back to the shelter today. He's been fun and he is full of beans. He was pretty laid back the first couple of days and then started feeling better and got into everything. Even Boba wasn't sure what to do with him at times. He will be a great kittenfor an active family or with another young kitten. 

But he spent Sunday following the sun around the living room. 

Busy week

 Daiquiri, Ivy and Boba all had their annual vet visits. Daiquiri went last Monday by herself. She is ok at the vet but her singing tends to get Ivy upset so they don't go together anymore. 

This was Boba's first visit with our vet. She and Ivy went on Friday together. Ivy just got a checkup and a blood draw for a senior panel. Boba got the once over and her rabies vaccine. Mom wasn't sure how Biba would do and while she clearly didn't enjoy it, she wasn't bad. 

The kittens were spayed and neutered last Monday and are now available for adoption. They are a nice group of kittens. 

They can be pretty snuggly once they run around like lunatics and burn off some energy. They will go to the partner store when there is space but are having a good time here and are at least already on Petfinder. 

Happy duck

 Palermo loves that duck (the kittens gained some freedom during the day this weekend).

Until it was stolen

the old, the shy, the different #RememberMeThursday

 a post by the mom

This is the time of year when adoptions can slow for rescues and shelters. The Helen Woodward Foundation started Remember Me Thursday to shine a light on those animals still looking for their forever homes. 

Kittens tend to always be adopted quickly. But what about others? What about the non-kittens: the older ones, the shy ones, bonded pairs, differently abled? Often overlooked by most, especially if they aren't outgoing and trying to catch the attention of people walking through a shelter or adoption center.

After over 20 years in rescue, I can tell you one very important thing: the cats that have been at a shelter the longest or seem more shut down are the ones that need you the most. And once they are home and feeling secure, they are the ones that will be the most appreciative. I can't begin to tell you the number of times people have said they were glad to have taken a chance on the ones no one else were looking at and then realized how much love they received once the cat decompressed. It may not be a quick process but it is always worth it. For reference, the common belief it can take 3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to adjust to new routines and 3 months to really relax in their new home. And these are just suggestions - each cat is different. 

If you have the time and patience and right household, you will be rewarded so many times over. You can always search Petfinder for cats in your area. You can search by zip code and then narrow it down from there. 

Keep in mind - if you can't adopt, rescues always need other forms of help. Money donations are always welcome and most rescues have wish lists on amazon or chewy. The shelter where I volunteer is CHA Animal Shelter and their wishlist is here.

Just sharing pictures of available adoptables on social media helps. Please be sure to include a link to the rescue and the city and state where they are located. If you can, check if they do adoptions that are not local as every rescue has different requirements. 

Mostly be as supportive as you can. Give your time, your money, your voice. It all makes a difference.

Updates

 Sorry....mom has been slacking.

Apricot and Fog are at a partner store waiting to be adopted. Lychee is being spayed today.

The Italian city kittens are doing well. Palermo have mom a scare last week but 12 hours later was acting like nothing happened. 

Mom deep cleaned, disinfected and reset the foster room and they have been loving the space to run around and play.

Boba has jumped the gate a couple of times to check them out, but she is rude and growly so mom ends up kicking her out fairly quickly.

Everyone else is doing well. The weather cooled off some so we are enjoying open windows and fresh air.

Baby jail

 First, thank you for the kind words on social media. If you didn't see it, Mondavi of the Italian city kittens passed away on Wednesday.

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The other little kittens are still in the playpen. It will be a few more days before they get into the foster room. Movibg other kittens around and need to deep clean.

In the meantime, to give them more space, mom attached tespo panels. Asti climbed the playpen and escaped. 

After several attempts, mom couldn't get the top completely blocked off. 

But wait....what about the large crate? And why has THAT never occurred to get before.

And the kittens said: the crate is square, the playpen is round. We can escape. So much for baby jail 2.0

Ok....so now there is a panel in the far corner. Hopefully that works (don't hold your breath).

Weekend report

 Things are pretty good here. The weather is cooling at least a little bit so that leads to open windows (with our screen inserts to avoid accidents).

 The fruit girls are doing well. Fig and Apricot are ready to go and on Petfinder. Just need space in a store. Lychee is finally big enough she can be spayed when the rescue has a spot.

Fig (back) and Apricot

Daiq and a kitten looking for

leftovers from breakfast

Lychee

The little Italian city kittens are doing pretty good. Mom has changed their diet a couple of times hoping to get more calories in them. So far so good but mom still worries about them. They are being more active and playful so that's a good sign.

The hope is to move them maybe this week and give them a little more space. 

Names and things

 

Boba

Boba-saurus

Boba Tea Rex

Fig and Apricot are going to be spayed today. Lychee took longer to gain weight so she'll go in a couple of weeks. The girls will come back for a few days then go to a partner store for adoption.

Mom put a poll up on Instagram & Facebook (make sure to follow us) asking for help naming the new little kittens. They are now 5ish weeks old. They are eating on their own but they are very messy and only interested in canned food so far so it gets everywhere. 

Normally we would try to leave kittens with their mom. But this entire colony, though they have a caregiver, is in rough shape. Their mom and her sister are both trap savvy and hard to catch. But their mom was looking very thin so a decision was made to pull the kittens and the rescue did manage to trap her so she is now spayed. Her sister is next on the list and then there will only be a couple boys left as far as we know.

Since we know they are related to the Italian dessert kittens, we decided to go with Italian cities. (Yes they need another bath - but they are also little and messy so that stay clean for about 90 seconds).

Asti

Tortie girl

Palermo

Orange and white boy

Mondavi

Darker orange boy

Parma

Lighter orange boy

They are currently in the play pen but will hopefully get an upgrade when the girls go to the store. 

Blink and it repeats

 The rescue has been trying to help a lady with outdoor cats at her home. A lot of the adultshabe been caught but not all of them yet. Some of trap savvy which makes it hard. This is the spot where the Italian dessert kittens came from.

Well their mom and her sister hadn't yet been caught. The rescue discovered that they both had another litter of kittens. One of the adults has been caught and is being spayed today. Those kittens are now here with us. They keep trying for the other mom. 

These kittens aren't quite as sick as the other kittens. But they do have crusty eyes. Their mom is pretty skinny but hopefully can now focus on caring for herself.

Meet the newbies: 3 boys and 1 girl. Still working on a name theme. They all weigh about a pound which is pretty good. Just need to keep an eye on their eyes and weight.

Thank goodness for the air lock

 The fruit girls are enjoying being in the foster room. Mostly. They give mom a hard time in the mornings and demand freedom. To which mom says: not a chance. While it's nice the are people friendly, it makes it difficult to work. They get some time out in the evenings though and they spent most of the with house privileges. 

Thankfully they aren't quite tall enough to get over the gate so the inside door can be open without escapees.

Katie asked about their whiskers - they are starting to grow back and in fact Fig has a couple that have grown out. 

Fig

Apricot

Apricot & Lychee

The girls do love those squeeze up treats

Switch back

 Mario and Luigi go back to the shelter today. They are doing very well and will hopefully get adopted quickly.

That means the girls will go back into the foster room which we are sure they will enjoy. They have been getting time out loose in the house, but they make work harder for mom so it will be nice for them to have more space during the day when they get a time out. 

Lychee

Fig

Apricot

They are all very sweet though Fig is the more independent of the three. They love toys and seem to be having fun with Boba though she can be a little rough on them (not intentionally - she's just bigger and plays hard).

Attack of Boba-saurus Rex

Still need to get some weight on them before surgery so they will be here for a little bit longer.

Weekend report

 Its been a week.

A good friend of mom's had a tornado hit her house so she's been supporting her from a distance as things settle in. She and her cats are ok but the rest is going to take time to fix.

We got a couple of older kittens from the shelter for a couple of weeks as they recover from colds. They are in the foster room since they are bigger. Meet Luigi (white markings) and Mario (all brown).

The little girls moved to a play pen in the living room since they are smaller. 

Someone asked on our last post about their whiskers. They ate like people hair or finger nails. They will grow out and then grown more. They already are a little bit longer.

Mom spent Saturday working on her desk area.

Sunday she let the little girls out to play. They had a good time running around. Though not too sure how they felt about being chased by Boba.

She found the open door.

Not sure she would be happy if it 

was zipped shut though. Haha

New kittens

 Gelato and Biscotti are at a partner store waiting (impatiently no doubt) for their family to show up. We will keep you posted.

In the meantime, the rescue did a little shuffling so we have kittens here that were bottle fed and then with another foster and are now here. There are actually 4 siblings, but their brother is being adopted by a good friend of the head of the rescue so he is living with them.

Fig

Apricot

Lychee

Meet the fruit girls. They are all very sweet and very playful. Mom did notice that all of them are missing their whiskers. After some investigation, turns out their brother has all of his whiskers. So we know who the viewer was in the family. Haha

Lychee is about 6 ounces lighter than her sisters. Most fosters with any experience will tell you there is always that one that has to be different. Mom is keeping an eye on their weights but she is acting normal so no worries. 

Boba has been in to play with them but is going to get herself banned if she doesn't start being a little more gentle. She is bigger and plays harder and we don't think she realizes it.