Leo of the Terrorist Kittens gets adopted...

Yes! An adoption! Leo is actually the shyest of the three when it comes to lap-sitting, but when strangers arrive to visit, he's the only one who comes right out to socialize. He is in a foster-to-adopt, so if his adopters find he is too shy, they can feel comfortable returning him.

I then moved Tinker and Owlie out to the cat facility, as there is an empty run suitable for two. I'm sure they are frightened at the change, but with the racetrack kittens now running around, it was just WAY too many cats in the house. And a dog, no less, even if she is cat-sized.

I love cats, but I like walk into a room and find a chair cat-free, as well, and not constantly hear the thunder of cats romping across the second floor. And my old guys will be so happy to have the activity level lowered, not to mention competition at the treat dish before bedtime.

All four of the racetrack kittens are doing well. The white boy, who is spoken for, seems to be the biggest, uses the cat box, but is still fixated on his bottle. I'd far rather have a bottle-spoiled kitten who uses the cat box, than a bowl feeder who doesn't. The gray kitten still is iffy about the cat box, but she's getting better.

OK, speaking of "cat-sized"...Molly the dog is asleep in a Siesta Bowl near my feet. I wish the camera was at hand, and I wasn't pinned in the chair by Ivan!

Nutro Cat Food Recall

You can check out the Blisstree.com kittyblog for more information.

Speaking of thunderstorms...

I was just out in the cat facilty when the heavens broke loose and the thunder rolled. Storm is terrified of...storms... This normally unpettable cat begs to be held when a storm breaks. So I went in the cat room and picked her up and cuddled her, then put her under a towel to hide. Then I heard two other cats yowling, and went out to find Sparkles, Dustin, and Perci all in nervous mode. You know Perci is nervous if SHE lets you pick her up and cuddle her. Interesting that it was all female cats, although Leo wasn't looking very pleased at all the noise.

Molly the dog just sat on the porch and watched the rain pour down. Nothing much concerns her, that's for sure.

Animal Shelter dog makeovers on the PF blog

Hey Nancy. You'll like this!

Is your dog afraid of thunderboomers?

Then go read this excellent article at Dolittler, including the comments. Heck, read it even if you don't have a storm-shy dog. It's fascinating.

Dirty kittens get cuter despite themselves

I've shipped two kittens off to Angie to bottle-feed. Four was too many for my busy morning, especially given how messy they are. Sticking a bottle in the mouth of a kitten who knows how to work one isn't too big a deal. But tacking on four kitten baths was just too much. I have taken to separating the two remaining kittens at night, with their own separate heating pads, to keep them from slurping all over one another by morning. The rest of the day I can keep them occupied together so they are either eating, exploring, or sleeping. They are both still stained from chewing on one another. I've never run into this before. I've certainly had kittens that have sucked on one another, but not ones that made such a mess.

If you read LOL Cats...

...then you've already seen this. But maybe you checked here first! I like the black cat at the end. Average cats who have smart cats as housemates always suffer for it. :)



And yes, I know this is cheating as far as "blogging once a day." But at least you know I'm thinking of you all!

Shop cat

This one is in no need of rescue. Except perhaps from boredom due to the antics of the strange woman making gestures trying to get him to look up. If I'd realized I was taking my own photo, too, I would have dressed nicer.




After I took the trash to the transfer station, I drove over to Owego to catch the antique/flea market sale, but I must have gotten the wrong day because the place was locked up. So I had lunch in Owego, picked up a few cards at The Hand Of Man, and took a short walk around downtown before coming home to mow, mow, mow.

New alarm clock and stinky kittens solved

I've been trying to figure out how to get myself up an hour earlier (groan). Now that there is a dog to walk, I need another hour before work. And sometimes I work before work.

A problem with "working from home" is that it is quite easy to just turn off the alarm and close your eyes for a little bit longer. When I absolutely have to get up (to catch a plane, trap some cats, get to the vet) I put the alarm clock across the room, so that hopefully by the time I reach it I've remembered that I actually do need to get up.

But doing that every day? Uck.

Well, I finally discovered which of the four kittens is the one who insists on sucking and sliming all the others. It's also that one that doesn't eat as well because (and please, if you are easily grossed out, don't read farther) he's filling up on pee and poop by stimulating the others and...well, you get the picture.

So I put the clear plastic tote in the playpen with a SnuggleSafe heater and separated him out after he has been fed and played with the others. No more sucking on his sibs while they are snoozing and when they wake up hungry.

And--surprise! No more wet kittens, and Little Mr. Messy is eating normal food like a champ. I try to put them all together as much as I can (they are together now), and Messy doesn't seem to be too distressed by the alone time. Hopefully he'll break himself of the slurping habit so they can all be back together again.

And the alarm clock? Well, a single hungry kitten makes a lot of noise at 5:30 am, let's just say. And while he may shut up for a few minutes at a time, there comes a point where he says "I want attention NOW" and the squeaking does not stop.

I'm up! I'm up!

Stinkiest. Kittens. Ever!

I have handraised a lot of kittens, and man, these kids STINK! First of all, they are a bit stupid. If you set them on the floor on a blanket, they don't stay on the blanket. They wander off onto the cold floor. Most wee kittens will stay put. Not these guys.

Secondly, they STINK! Yes, I realize I have used capital letters twice in the same post. It doesn't matter how much you stimulate them to pee, they pee more in their bedding. They never poop when stimulated. They ONLY poop on their bedding. They also suck on each other's fur so they are constantly wet. I had to move them out of their big plastic romper and put them in the playpen because the smell was awful in the confined space. The sucking is a bit improved since I gave them a piece of fur to play with. I may have to take a trip to the Salvation Army to buy an old fur coat for them to nuzzle in. I have given more kitten baths to these guys in less than a week than I normally give to a litter the entire time they are with me. White kittens especially have to stay clean or their fur will stain yellow. I can replace all of their bedding twice a day and walk into the room and it will still smell of urine. Man! I can't wait until they are old enough to use the litter box!

I'm sure Molly enjoys the various stinks. I sure don't!

Zuzu and Jasper cuddle. Adopter photo!

It's always a joy to get photos of Zuzu and Jasper, too. Everyone must be in a picture taking mood this week!

Jack and The Leewit check in

Oooooooo...counters allowed? You guys are SPOILED! Or perhaps we are just waiting for the wine to be poured?

Espie in her new home

Put down your drink, and swallow before viewing, to prevent computer damage.



Thanks, Donna. It practically killed me to have to wait until work was over to blog that.

Ben writes in!

Ben, happily adopted has sent us a one-year update! There must be something in the air, because we received THREE adopter updates yesterday, which I'll get posted.

Thanks, Elaine! Give him a hug for me, please?

Hi,
It's been a year since I came to live here, so I thought I would write a quick note to let you know how I'm doing.

The weather is getting warmer so I can spend more time on the porch bird watching and the fresh spring catnip is GREAT....

OH.... I have a new hobby...... mouse catching!!!!!! It's loads of fun.
I tried to wake my person up at 4 this morning to show her my latest catch, but she didn't understand what I wanted to talk about at that hour until she got up and almost stepped on it.

All in all, I am quite happy and doing well here.
Thanks again for all your care,
Ben

Rain gods smiled upon me today

Yesterday the little weather icon on wunderground.com showed dark clouds and lightning bolts for today. Thankfully, they were wrong. It was a warmish, breezy day, with alternating sun and clouds, and one small shower at around 3:00 pm. I spent the day pushing the lawn mower before certain sections grew too tall for the mower to handle.

At around 4:15 I bundled up Molly and headed into town to feed the Fast Food Ferals and maybe catch Nancy at The Grooming Room. When I stopped at the old feeding station (near the building that is about to be demolished, the furry tomcat was snoozing on top of the one remaining shelter. I called to him so as not to startle him and he didn't run when I brought a scoop of food to the feeding station.

Heck, I had a trap in the truck. Could I catch him now? He was far too friendly to stay out here. Soon major construction would be taking place. And he wasn't yet neutered. He had to be hungry, since it was likely he hadn't found the new feeding station. So I left him a few pieces of dry food while I went back to the truck.

Yes, indeed, he was hungry, because he didn't leave his kibble as I set the trap a mere four feet from him. Mmmmmm....wet food in the trap! He was in the trap chowing down before I'd walked more than forty feet away, and soon there was the satisfying thump of a falling trap door.

So it was late when I made it to The Grooming Room and it was locked up tight. With the dog and cat with me, and the sun dancing in and out of the clouds, it was not so safe to go shopping and leave them to the mercy of a fickle sun (oh, for a rainstorm now!) so I headed back home.




So he's snug in a cage now. I was able to stroke his nose. He hissed, but didn't move away or lash out. He has hard mats that are going to have to be shaved off when he goes in for his neuter. I'll make an appointment for him this week.

Pups gotta be walked, kits gotta be fed

Luckily, pups also enjoy driving, and Molly can go with me trapping and on errands until the weather gets too warm for her to sit with the air-conditioning off.



I don't think I've blogged the new truck signs. I have one for each side, and both together were only $35 at the NYS Wildlife Management Association conference at the end of February.



The kittens are eating well. Right now I'm letting them squeak themselves out before they get their last course. This is a very vocal quartet. Their eyes are just opening. I'll probably bring them out to wiggle around on the floor for a little bit and tank them up with a last bit of KMR for the evening.

Shifting the Fast Food Ferals

The lumber yard is being torn down and replaced with a store, so I've had to move the shelters and feeding station to the back side of the property. This meant getting permission from the adjacent landowner to cross their land to feed the cats. I got that on Thursday (Thanks,Kat!), so today I took a new clean feeding station over, and cleaned out one of the old shelters, added new straw, and moved it around to the back. We'll feed in both locations for a bit, so the cats discover the new feeding location before construction necessitates the removal of the other stations.

I've been meaning to get this done for weeks, so I'm glad that's off the list, finally.

I appear to be coming down with some sort of headache/icky stomach thing so this one project took all day. Sigh. Oh, well, I also bottle-fed the kittens and took care of the cats. But no mowing, no tilling, no weeding...

Of kittens and pups

I have a long list of things to get done this weekend, and luckily I got a chunk of them done yesterday.

I am neutering cats at a racing stable and have received nothing but enthusiastic cooperation from the staff and horse owners so far.



It is especially nice to have three men (so far) express serious concern about the welfare of the resident cats. So often it is stereotyped that only women cast more than a single glance at a cat. It was a gentleman who left a message on my phone about this pretty lady and her kits:



Mom cat ran away when I entered the stall. I kitten-napped the little ones and left an unset trap (back door removed) and some food for her. I did not set the trap, it being Kentucky Derby Day and the first day of racing at this track was due to begin in just a few hours. I'll return Sunday to try to catch her. The kittens have been great with a bottle and are tucked in here now.

One kitten already is spoken for by a gentleman at the track. He wanted a male white kitten, and lucky (for me!) one of the two white kittens was indeed male. He said he'd head home to check with his wife. :)

To learn about pups, you'll need to check out my personal blog after about 11:15 am. You can't read what I haven't written yet!

PostNote: Alley Cats and Angels has bottle-babies too!

Visiting Sylvester and Harley. Oh, yeah, and my sister

This has been "help the family week." I went over to my mom's to do some garden work, and to my sister Linda's to provide some assistance there. Turnabout is fair play, as they both have been worker bees for my cats in the past. Linda adopted two cats from me over the years: Harley (formerly Horton) and Sylvester.

Interestingly, Harley was raised from a little kitten, but is shy, and Sylvester was caught as a 10-12 week old feral, and is more outgoing with company--or at least, with me. So there are no photos of handsome black Harley, but Sylvester was happy to show off his fluffy self.




For those familiar with the crew here, Sylvie is Storm's brother.