Five for Friday (plus a couple extra...)

We packed up the troop and headed to the vet on Thursday for 6 check-ups plus vaccinations and one upper respiratory re-check.  All seven fosters, four carriers, one foster mom... surprisingly, we all survived the loading, the drive, the check-ups, the nail trims, the shots, the re-loading, and the drive home (although Peeps was not at ALL sure he would survive the wait in the Starbucks drive-thru lane on the way home).

The girls spent the rest of the day looking like this:

And this:

And this:

The boys were just a bit more willing to pose for you.

Woodward

Woodward just oozes sophistication, doesn't he?

Cooper

Cooper prefers to model blankets and stare at the inside of his eyelids,

but he really does love you... promise.

Rocky

Rocky looks a bit dusty, but his undercoat is actually gray (look at the tail for his remarkable shading!)  He's kind of a mix of brothers Bentley and Hudson.

Peeps

He's sexy and he knows it.

And Lincoln

(Who made the most of his moment in the spotlight)

Work it, Lincoln.

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Health Update

First the weights:

Willie Rae          3 lbs, 5 oz

Peeps                5 lbs, 2 oz

Rocky               5 lbs, 10 oz

Cooper              5 lbs, 14 oz

Lincoln              5 lbs, 14 oz

Woodward         6 lbs, 1 oz

Abby                 6 lbs, 1 oz

(Yes, 4-month-old Woodward is the same size as 7-month-old Abby)

Now the eyes:

A few of the boys have had a bit of a goopy eye since before their move to Teeny Tiny Tabby Town.  Peeps, Cooper, and Lincoln are on eye drops for the next week or so while it clears up.  In the meantime, Peeps is perfecting the pirate look as seen above ;-)

Abby's eyes present a bit more of a problem.  You know that we've ridden the upper respiratory roller coaster with our Abby in the past few months.  Her symptoms have always included a leaky, watery, matted right eye... which we always attributed to the respiratory infection.  The vet decided to take a swab from her eye and nose yesterday and, upon closer examination of the eye, made a discovery.  Abby has an adhesion of the inner two eyelids... meaning they are fused together.  Her tears cannot drain normally to the ducts, so they weep down the nose instead.  So...

Our sweet girl will need surgery to separate the eyelids and a recuperation period here with us before she is available for adoption again.  We don't have a date set yet.  She's back on Baytril for the sneezing for the next ten days.  We will probably let her finish the course before sending her back to the vet.  Our rescue director Paula will take care of the actual scheduling and I'll keep you posted.

Apparently, Abby's eyes work plenty well enough to do this:

Yep, she's skinning the toy mice pretty regularly.

I sure hope she's passing down the skill to Willie Rae in their cuddle puddle sessions.

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The Weekend

Woodward will be leaving us tomorrow.  We met his new mom and dad Thursday night.  They are lovely people who just adopted another (slightly younger) kitten and decided that their new baby needed a big brother.  I'll get lots more pictures of him before he goes.

I'll be starting a round of Tree-Defender on Sunday.  The boys are safely tucked into the foster room and shouldn't be a problem.  We shall see what trouble Abby and Willie Rae can create.

"Tree? Did you say Tree?  Funny you should fail to mention being worried about the trouble that Norman could cause.  Because the Lady has no clue what Norman would do to a tree either."

The rest of my weekend will be spent learning how to use my new fancy camera (my birthday-slash-Christmas gift this year).  Hopefully I will learn enough to bring you in focus photos on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

PS--- There were questions about our new blog for the rescue yesterday.  The link is permanently over in my Blog List on the right as "Futures 4 Felines".  Or you could just click here.  For the time being, it will only be updated on Mondays with our featured pet listings and event updates but (hopefully) we will get more posts in the works soon.

Trouble on Thursday

You thought "Trouble on Tuesday" was bad?

You ain't seen nothing yet...

Foster mom Jackie sent these pictures of her charges enjoying the start of the holiday season.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Cats in every tree.

"You want Buttercup OUT of the tree?  But it's the best toy EVER!!!!!"

"You go away now.  Buttercup is playing 'mountain lion in the tree' and you're cramping his style."

(Look at Mr. Mountain Lion's ears glow!)

"You can make Buttercup come down, but you can't make Buttercup be good."

(As an aside, I looked at this picture a dozen times before I noticed the second kitten!)

"You weren't saving this flower for anything, were you?  WHAT?  Butterfinger has one, too!"

"TATTLETALE... Buttercup had better sleep with one eye open."

"Please notice that Bear, the black kitten, did not engage in such naughty activities.

Santa will still come for Bear... right?"

I hear Jackie's tree came down already.

Not sure if she took it down or if the kittens did it.

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And Speaking of Trouble...

"You may peel Willie Rae a grape..."

"Yep, yep... Put it right in here!"

"HEY!  WHERE'S MY GRAPE?!?!"

She just might get one this morning.  Someone has found her motor.

She's purring... and purring... and purring (Hooray!)

And speaking of more trouble...

SOMEONE is becoming the front-runner as the trouble maker of the front foster room.

Don't let that wide-eyed innocent look fool you.

Peeps is trouble with a capital T.

And for the real Trouble on Thursday?

A trip to the vet with 7 kittens.

I'm thinking 4 carriers ought to do it.

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I'm learning more about blogging while I build the new blog for the rescue.  While I'm learning, I may experiment here and there with font and color.  Holly caught me at it yesterday while going back and forth between "artsy" and "readable".  Don't worry... I'll always pick readable, even if I put the settings to "artsy" for a while (and I'll generally mess around with settings in the evenings when there are fewer of you around).  I really do like the yellow more than the old green, though.  That will probably stick around.

As always, I value your input.  Feel free to tell me what you like and what you don't.  It honestly helps me learn more in order to find solutions.

What's Up, Woodward?

"What's up, Woodward?"

 "Oh, nothing much..."

"Just sitting here looking handsome."

Woodward is the big fluffy teddy bear of the foster room.  He's quiet and gentle and sweet.  He wears four white mittens on his gigantic paws, just like each of his four brothers.  I wouldn't call him a brown tabby, he's more of a golden brown in color.  Quite possibly the handsomest man-cat in the room, there's no wonder why we're meeting up with a potential family this week.

"Handsomest?  But what about Lincoln?  And when will it be Lincoln's day on the blog?  There's no day of the week that starts with 'L'."

"You just hold your horses and wait your turn.  Today is Wednesday, which starts with W, which means WOODWARD."

Very soon, Lincoln.  Very soon we will have a special day dedicated to the handsomest tabby and white dude in the room.  (And yes, that's you!)

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 Sweet baby Willie Rae, just innocently hanging out in the sunbeam.

Not doing anything at all...

"Tag!"

"Hey!  Why are you attacking me?  Willie Rae is just a sweet little innocent bay-beeeeeeeee!"

"Sucker."

"Willie Rae MESS YOU UP!!!!!"

Both Abby and Willie Rae are adjusting to being singletons and are finding comfort in each other.  Abby is becoming more independent, able to spend more time on her own but still finding time to demand hugs and snuggles.  Willie Rae has become much more interested in people.  She isn't nearly as timid as she once was and doesn't flinch around people anymore.  She is definitely a lap kitten (As in... If I'm making a lap, she's in it.)  She sleeps with me at night and needs to know where I am at all times.  Abby has filled in as a surrogate mama at times, letting her snuggle up when I can't.  Now if only Abby would teach her how to purr....

(I know she can purr.  I've heard it a time or two.  Willie Rae just isn't a regular purr-er.  Feels strange...)

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Our rescue has a new blog (which may have a familiar writing style to you).  We will be featuring a different kitty every week along with sharing information about current events.  Our very first Pet of the Week is our very own Henry

If you have friends, family members, or acquaintances in Michigan, please consider sharing our boy.  It's breaking my heart to see him waiting so long for his forever home.

Trouble on Tuesday

They look peaceful, don't they? Looks can sometimes be deceiving.

Okay, okay... ABBY is peaceful. Willie Rae? Maybe not so much.

Exhibit A:

The noises in the video were produced by one, not-quite-three-pound baby girl.

They had nothing to do with the dog and everything to do with wanting a feather teaser all to herself... brat.

Exhibit B:

Our Miss Willie Rae is growing into her Torbie Tude.
The best toys are hers... and she will growl at you before you even think about touching them.
The foster room is hers... and she will hiss at the boys for being on the other side of the glass.
The stairs are hers... and she will growl at Mr. Simba if he wants to walk past her on them.

And then she turns into a snuggle bug of epic proportions.
My lap is rarely empty, which is an awesome thing... especially in December.

I love her more every single day... Torbie Tude and all.

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We're still working on getting to know the boys.
I can tell you this much, though...

Peeps is the man on a mission, always into everything.
Rocky is Mr. Relaxation, that boy can nap in any position at any time.
Lincoln is the worried, sensitive statesman who just wants a quick snuggle.
Woodward is a big fluffy teddy bear of a kitten who is as quiet as a mouse.
And Cooper?
Cooper lives to hibernate, under the blankets and under the furniture,
except when he's not.

Exhibit C:

I'll have more photos of the boys tomorrow.

Why I Do This

How can I let them go?  How can I raise them and give them away?  

How can I watch them practically from birth...

and opening their eyes for the first time...

and watch them master their world in wide-eyed wonder...

and then kiss them goodbye and send them on their way??

This would be the reason why.

I received this photo from Clay's new mama Amy on Saturday.  Look at the smiles (on both of them!)  Our boy goes by the name Casper now.  Here is the update that came alone with the picture:

"He's made himself at home here, especially in everyone's laps!  I'm so happy that he has joined our family, there's never a dull moment in the house!  He truly has been a perfect fit for my silly family.  I can't tell you how nice it is to hear giggles from all 5 of my kids whenever they are playing with him.  My 21 and 18 yr olds actually sit on the couch with me now (if Casper's around)! lol"

How could I give him up?  How could I not???  Casper (or Cats purr, as he's known at home) is clearly where he belongs.  

My eyes?  A bit leaky right now, but it's a happy leak.

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The Weekend Report

Abby remains behind for another week.  Our girl's wheezing and sneezing kicked in again on Friday (I know...), so we're hanging onto her and heading to the vet to find out what is wrong.

But...

Mother Jefferson has left the building.  She moved out of the house and into the cat condos at Petco to await her forever home.  I'll miss her sweet snuggly self, but I am a bit relieved to not have to mediate between her and my boys.  Mama was accepting of Abby, but never did adjust to those boy kitties looking at her babies.  They had a part to play in this... after the first butt-kicking that each received from this fierce mama, they hissed, growled, and yowled at her every time they saw her.  So tiny little 7 1/2 pound Mama needed to show them who was boss.

My favorite Mama the Marauder story (sorry, no pictures)... Imagine Simba sitting at the bottom of the stairs when Mother Jefferson saunters by.  He hisses.  She chases.  He ends up on the top bunk in my son's room cowering while Mama swings through the air on the comforter like Tarzan and howling at him.  I plucked her off and, before we even left the room, she started up her purr motor like nothing had ever happened.

Look out Petco kitties.  Your boss has just arrived.

Willie Rae attended adoption hours on Saturday, but was most definitely NOT happy to be there.  She hissed at the other kittens.  She growled at the barking dogs.  She pitched a fit when we put her in a Santa costume.  She glared when we put a holiday collar on her.  She hid out under the blankets for the remainder of the afternoon.  Good thing nobody (and I mean nobody) was visiting Petco with the idea of adopting a kitten.  I brought her home, where she climbed in my lap and purred herself to sleep... brat.

Apparently our teeny tiny torbie has a bit of a 'tude (and might think she is already home and I should just leave her there).

And..... The boys have arrived.

You'll remember that our Adams kittens were merely five of a litter of thirteen kittens.  Most of the remaining kittens have lived with Paula since they were one week old.  At four months old, they are (mostly) still with her and with their mama, getting WAY too attached and still nursing(!).  Mama needs a break and needs to be spayed (and have time to recover).  So five brothers came to live with us on Sunday.  Introducing....

Cooper

Peeps McQueen

IROC (who we will be calling Rocky)

Lincoln

and Woodward

The boys will be living in the front room while Abby and Willie Rae take over the main house.  And now we try to figure out where to put the Christmas tree next weekend ;-)

We're stepping slightly out of presidential order for our boys' last name.  They are related to our Adams kittens but far enough removed from them, having neither been raised with them not in residence in the same season of the year.  As a result, I decided not to make them part of our "Adams family".  It was suggested to me by the wonderful Catherine on Facebook that there were TWO Adams presidents.  So, we've jumped over Madison and Monroe for the time being and named this particular branch of the Adams family tree the Quincy-Adams family (hyphen intentionally inserted where it does not exist in history).

Our next little family will be the Madisons.

And I was starting to worry about having enough kittens to photograph during the holidays...