Zoe pix!!!

Imagine my delight upon opening my email today and finding these two pictures from V! My little fuzzy baby has gotten bigger, and she looks so happy and healthy!

Oh! And apparently she and Wembley (the family's large dog) are now playing with each other! And she's busily investigating the pet bird-- Zoe apparently seems very disgruntled that there is a bird living in her house!

I'm so happy that this little baby is so happy!!

Gandolf Needs Your Help

So... Remember me saying that DNL kept pulling me aside to show me how skinny Gandolf is? (Not that she calls him Gandolf, but you know what I mean.) Well, I hadn't seen him in a few days, but it turns out that's because he's been hanging out one block of buildings down, where my neighbor (the one who called me about Bozo/Waffles)) lives, and is feeding him wet food. She called to ask about him (She thought at first it was Walsingham.) I said that I knew about his plight but couldn't get anywhere near him. She said she'd keep an eye on him and keep me up to date.


Tonight she's called to say that while he's still skittish, he comes up to her and lets her pet him. (This was a message she left.) This means that he's friendly enough to go to the vet and get checked out. I'm ... really quite nervous about this, knowing that both FIV and FeLV run in the colony, and if the vets test him for those and he has either then the only real answer is to put him to sleep, which sucks. But there's no way to treat a cat who is semi-feral, and I certainly can't bring him in with my cats, or ask my neighbor to do that with her cats. (She had to put James to sleep a bit ago, because his kidneys had failed, but she still has two others.)

But, it's even more unfair to not take him to a vet if we can, especially if the answer is something treatable like worms. (That's a best case scenario, of course, but that's a single pill and poof, he'd be better in a few days.) He's eating, eating constantly in fact, and the neighbor says he's getting a bit of a belly.

Anyway, looks like there's a vet trip in the future, and where there's a vet trip, there's a vet bill. I know times are tight for everyone but feel free to hit the donation button on the left if you have a few extra dollars. Or take a look at my Etsy site, should you be in the market for handspun yarn.
(pictures are from earlier-- I don't have more recent ones, unfortunately.)

EDIT TO ADD: Just talked to the Neighbor. He lets her pet him when he's eating, but is still, understandably skittish. The plan is that she'll keep feeding him through the weekend (and being there with him and getting him used to her/people.) Then we'll chat again on Sunday to see 1) how he's doing and 2) make a plan for taking him to the vet (she doesn't drive, so that's on me.) It could be that he just doesn't know how to survive out there, that he was obviously a family pet and dropped off, but since he's been eating a lot-- here and at the Neighbor's, I fear it's something more than that. So, even if you can't donate to defray the vet cost, please keep Gandolf (or Skinny Kitty, as the Neighbor calls him!) in your thoughts.

Kitty Toys for a Good Cause

I have never seen cats clamor for toys the way they do for Madame Morgana's Sovereign Catnip Mice. I know a lot of cats-- my own, my friends', random strangers', and none of them have disliked these mice, and all of them have gone bananas for them. Seriously, it's the most fun a cat can have-- and they're a heck of a lot of fun for the humans watching, too!

So why am I mentioning them here? Well, not only are they awesome, but Lizbet is having a special on them-- 5 for the price of 4, and free shipping!! It doesn't get any better than that.

But wait! There's more! Not only do you receive the most amazing catnip mice known to mankind-- a perfect (purrfect?) holiday gift for anyone with a cat, but! 20% of the sales goes to non-kill cat shelters! It does *not* get any better than this!

To see the current offer and how to order, go here.

For more information in general, go here.

Good News for Beatrice!

Miss Bea still looks pretty pathetic in the above picture, but there's actually quite a lot of good news about the widdle fuzzy. Her mom called me yesterday to tell me how good her wound is looking (which is to say, how healed.) So that's the immediate good news. (Especially for her mom because, as you can see in the picture, they had to put her in a hard plastic cone in order to keep her from licking, which meant a lot of middle-of-the-night bumps in the face by a certain kitten seeking attention.)

The even better news? While at the vet having her wound looked at, Miss Bea also got her snap test for Feline Leukemia-- and it came back NEGATIVE. Wooot!!! Hurrah!!

Poor widdle Baby B

Poor little Beatrice's tummy is still all red and oozy. She seemed to have basically managed to pull all of her stitches out (before they went to the vet yesterday) her mom reported. She's still acting her normal-Beatrice self, but now she has to wear the dreaded collar.

The Ferals

Police at my door yesterday (this time they were the ones stealing my license plate) necessitated that I get up far earlier than I wanted to on a Saturday, but it did mean that when I looked outside from my balcony I discovered Walsingham (the pictures were all blurry of him, though) and Agatha hanging out in the shade.

Then, later in the day, Little Grey And Amaranth posed for a few shots. The cooler weather has been helping me to spy more kitties.


Later still, at a grocery store 2 blocks away, I spied this little guy. He's definitely not tame (he ran from me.) I had stopped, thinking it might be Gremlin, but he's definitely not. He's pretty young looking, too. He seems to be living under the building before which he's standing in the picture (I saw him go into a hole beside it.) I'm obviously not looking for another project, but I'll be keeping an eye out over there, to see if it's a colony or a single cat or what's going on.

Kittens Update

Okay, firstly, Miss Bea, of whom I will hopefully have a picture in the next day or so. She went through her surgery just fine on Thursday, as I mentioned before, and came home and was acting normal (well, normal for her) by Friday. (She was a bit wobbly still, on Thursday.) I can verify her normal behavior because I was over at her house, and even though I was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, she still hissed at me (and my stuffed big bad wolf.)

But alas, I got a call today from Miss Bea's mom. Her incision was red and oozy, and so they were off to the vet. The vet said, 'Yep, it's infected.' Apparently Baby B licked it, and kitty mouths are dirty. The wound has been cleaned, and Miss Bea now has a cone-collar, antibiotics for twice a day, and has to have her wound cleaned daily, as well as pain-killers if necessary. Poor thing. But through it all she was eating/drinking normally and playing, so I have every faith that she'll recover very quickly. Still, think good thoughts for the little one.

There's no actually Malcolm news, other than that he's doing fine, but upon plugging in my camera I found some pictures that I had never posted that I thought I'd share. This first one is from the day Malcolm moved to his new home. He's hiding under a couch. The next one, of a tabby cat you haven't seen before, is Malcolm's new brother Fritz. Fritz and Malcolm are getting along now, everybody sleeping on the same bed. His new family has apparently managed to dissuade Mal from sucking on fingers any more, which I think is a bit sad, but Mal is still happily kneading at things and purring and trying to sleep on people's faces, so that's all right then.

The last picture of is again of Malcolm, from about 2 weeks ago. I went over to pick up the crate in which I had delivered him. He was immediately frightened of me, and I get the impression that he reacts to everyone but his family that way now. I found him hiding in the bathroom and scooped him up (poor thing) and got a tiny bit of loving in. Then he hid under the bed and his new-dad didn't mind me snapping this picture of Malcolm hiding there. As you can see, he's still a very handsome fellow. What you can't see is that he is getting bigger, and starting to grow into his tail. I'm hoping his family will send me some pictures.

I get more stories about Miss Zoe than I do about Malcolm. Her household's current fear is that when it comes time for Zoe to move to CA with V's middle-daughter, V's older-daughter isn't going to allow it. Zoe has 100% adopted the older daughter, spending most of her time in that room, sleeping on her bed and following her around when she's home.

Wembley, the large family dog, stayed nervous around Zoe for a while-- at one point apparently she'd stolen his bed, sitting right in the middle of it, and he wouldn't reclaim it. He's make wide circles around her whenever he needed to pass by, too. One morning V saw Zoe steal a large piece of dog food from Wembley's bowl (the pieces are about as big as Zoe's head!) and Wembley went to V with a look as if to say, "But mom! You yell at me if I steal from the kitty dishes, aren't you going to do something about this?!"

More recently, with the gradual (very gradual) shift to cooler weather here in AZ, V had her kitchen door partly open so that Wembley could go in and out. She'd thought that Zoe was in with her daughter but looked up to see Zoe sitting outside. She called Zoe! and Wembley went outside and herded Zoe back indoors!! How incredibly cools is that?

Beatrice's Surgery & Ferals Update

Okay, that title makes it sounds like something was wrong with Beatrice, but no. Today she was just off to Altered Tails for the routine spaying. (Don't forget, you can donate to Altered Tails, to make a difference in the lives of animals, both with and without human families.)

I got a call from Bea's mom while they were on the way home. Bea was very unhappy and confused when she was left. She's now groggy but awake. Confused enough, though, that she pooed in her carrier-- ahh, the fun parts of pet ownership!

Enjoy these pictures from just a few days ago. Her tummy is probably mostly spot-less now, though, 'cause they'd have had to shave her. Poor polka-dots, but they'll grow back. :)

Feral Spotting: Despite not posting much, I have been keeping an eye out for our ferals. They eat a *ton*, so even when I don't see them, I know someone's eating!

Yesterday, however, I had a really pleasant surprise-- in the morning I saw Cyrano, not a usual occurrence. Even better in the evening I saw Agatha!! I hadn't seen her in probably a good 2 months-- not since I was with my neighbor trying to rescue James from the drainage tunnel back in August, I think. I'd seen Walsingham around a bit, and they had previously almost always been together, so it worried me that I wasn't seeing her. But there she was!

Cats I see on a pretty much daily basis: Bessie, Little Grey, Mistoffolees, Gandolf (still thin, but still eating and here), Amaranth, Daphne

Cats I see fairly regularly: Daisy, Pigpen, Aloysius, Walsingham

Cats I see rarely: Cyrano, Moo-Cow Kitty #4, Agatha, Athos

Cats who are currently MIA: Gremlin (not seen since July), Barnaby (not seen for about 6 weeks), Creamsicle (not seen in about 4 weeks.)

Mario was spotted by someone else recently, but I only 1/2 consider him part of the Colony. (Hen mostly gets his food and love from neighbors farther south of my particular building.
And he's not feral.)

Obviously I worry about the cats I don't see much, but I should also point out that lately I'm not beating the bushes looking for them-- not because I don't want to but because this semester is kicking my butt. ARG. This is definitely my hardest semester of grad school thus far (and the economic worries, and fear of loss of funding, is not helping!!) So bear with me and we can hope that when classes end, and then when my schedule radically changes in the Spring, things will be different.

(Of course, the best time to see the ferals is in the wee hours of the morning, as I discovered last week when one day, at 6:30 am I had a cranky policeman at my door, informing me that my license plate was found a few towns over, and that the plate on my car was from a different town still. Cue me standing out in the chilly morning in just my pjs and robe, and several cranky cats wondering why there were so many people around, making them nervous about eating their breakfasts!)

Maolcolm's New Home (and other updates)

(Pictures to be added upon finding my wayward camera.)

So, almost two weeks ago now, I loaded wee Malcolm into a cat carrier and took him to his new home. He cried the whole time we were in the car, and I tried to talk to him about his loving new family, but he would have none of it. Just, "Mew! Mew, mew, meeeeeewwww. Mew. Mew. Mew."

Thankfully, it's a short drive.

So we arrived. As with Zoe, we left Mal in his carrier for a while, to see if the resident cat, a wonderful boy named Fritz, was interested. He pretty much wasn't. Unlike Arwen and Zoe, Fritz didn't go up to the crate, just watched warily.

Eventually I let Mal out, and like Zoe, he didn't actually want out. He stayed in the carrier until I actually removed him. But once I did that, he was pretty happy to (carefully) explore. Weirdly, he just ignored Fritz mostly, he sniffed him, then kept going. He was scared, clearly, belly low to the ground, but interested.

After about 10 minutes of this, Fritz got annoyed and growled a bit.

Malcolm just kept exploring. He learned about stairs and was shown to the litterbox, and the bedroom, and all the space he didn't get to have when living in my bedroom.

When I left, Malcolm was still exploring and Fritz was still growling, but not too much.

Since then things have only gotten better over there. I've heard that Fritz isn't completely adjusted (he doesn't sleep on the bed any more, but the assumption is that he will again eventually.) The two cats play a little, although Fritz, a long time only cat, is a little confused by it.

Fritz's favorite thing is his tent-- his people use a blanket and some pillows to build him a fort on the couch, and Fritz will happily sit inside it for aaaaages. And now he lets Malcolm join him!!

So, the kitties are adjusting and happy. Malcolm continues to try to sleep on people's heads. And he continues to suck on people's fingers, and generally seems to be a happy boy. I got to see a couple of pictures of him on Saturday and he is, indeed, getting bigger-- his tail is sooper long and his legs are long.

As for Miss Zoe, she is also doing very well. She has her family's dog (a chow, lab, retriever mix) completely afraid of her, thinking she's a big fierce tiger. She follows the oldest daughter around, skittering after her when she calls, "C'mon Zo-Zo!" I think this is absolutely fabulously cute!!

Beatrice hates me. I saw her on Sunday, and previously last Saturday, and both times she spent the whole time growling and hissing at me, and even striking at me (with claws) if I came close enough. Yesterday I left her alone, but she actually stalked up to me and batted at me. The theory is that she smells other cats on me and she has become fiercely territorial, but I think it might be more than that. Oddly, her mother gave her a bath yesterday evening, after I left, and it made her completely calm, and afterwards she snuggled into a towel and her mom's arms.

It doesn't matter how many cats and kittens I meet, help raise or whatever, I will never understand them.

(My own spooky kitty, who generally doesn't like people and doesn't care to be touched, gave me kisses and let me pet her a bunch on Saturday. I figure that was her birthday present to me, as I turned 29. She hasn't let me pet her since, of course... heh.)

A Good Day for Moo-Cow Kitties

I was just out getting my mail and spotted 3 out of 4 moo-cows. And I saw a 4th earlier today.

I saw Cyrano earlier today, which was great as I hadn't seen him in a while. (Generally speaking, Bessie is the only Moo-Cow you can count on seeing around here.) Then when walking back from the mailroom I spotted a kitty in the bushes. I stopped to chat with him and realized it was dapper Aloysius. Then at the food dish (which I had just refilled moments before, although DNL had left food out earlier) I spotted Bessie and Athos!! I hadn't seen Athos in a long time-- as long as it's been since seeing Cyrano, actually.

Walsingham (Little Orange) has become a staple again, but I'm worried about Agatha (Little Crooked) having not seen her in a long time. But, as evidenced by the return of the Mysterious Moo-Cows, you never know.

I had also just commented on how long it's been since I'd seen Daisy, and then I saw her yesterday.

So now I'm going to comment on how long it's been since I've seen Gremlin and Barnaby (Splotch) and, as mentioned, Agatha.

Weirdly, I haven't seen Creamsicle in a few days, but hopefully that's just because I haven't been out much.

Amaranth, Pigpen, Little Grey Girl, Bessie, and Gandolf are the ones currently most likely to be spotted.

DNL is still very worried about Gandolf. She called me over on Friday ('causing me to trip down the stairs and twist my ankle so that it is still not recovered) to tell me about it. She thinks he has worms because he eats but gains no weight. I asked her what she wanted me to do about it, frankly, because he's feral. I cannot catch him without sitting out all night long and catching eleventy-billion other cats first, and that's only if we don't feed them for two days, which alway upsets DNL. So...?

Man, that sounds hard-hearted of me. I want to help Gandolf. Of course I do. And if it were something as simple as worms (but you tell me how I'm going to get a ~!@# fecal sample from a feral cat) then it could be treated in one dose. But if it's something more significant-- diabetes? FIV? FeLV? It's not like I can just give him a pill once a day when I can't get more than 5 feet away from him. I do the best I can.

...

In happier news, the best I can includes finding Malcolm a home. As of today it is official that his new people's land-people said yes. He's going to his new home tomorrow evening. I will, of course, miss him. That should frankly go without saying. But he's been pining for Zoe (or at least companionship) since Friday and it's driving me a bit nuts. He'll be happier with his new people and their other cat (Fritz!) And my cats will be happier, too!!!