we're back

Thank you so very much for all your support over the last month. It has been hard here but we are slowly finding a new normal. The girls are slowly taking over the house and making it their own. Junior seems to enjoy the antics of Daiquiri and Chanel. Spud is still his nervous self.

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We thought we would start of the week with some good news.

MILLIE GOT ADOPTED!!

She had been at a partner store for quite a while. Mom just wasn't sure how she would be with other cats - her interaction here had always been with her kitten present.

A nice young couple came in and filled out an application. They have other cats but the mom works at a vet office. Our mom decided to give them a chance....better to try and fail then not give Millie a chance at a home.

Normally adoptions are done and that is it - though the rescue will always take their animals back. However, mom gave them a break and this was done on a trial basis.

Millie gave them a run, but they love her. She is growly with the other cats in the house and has gone after one of them....but everything they told mom said it sounds fear based. They are going to try some calming treats and talk to their vet about maybe low dose medication. Remember that Millie was a stray for we don't know how long and no doubt that has encased certain ideas about other cats in her head. For now they are working with her and keeping her on a schedule while still slowly doing introductions. They love her and are committed to her. She even has a new name: Petra.

the lady cats

Right now there are 3 beautiful lady cats at the partner store where mom cleans.

Millie is the momma cat to the design kittens. Can you believe she hasn't been adopted yet?? What is up with that? She is very sweet though needs to be in a home without little kids since she does like to give love nips.

 

someone was not so interested in having her picture taken

Quinn is about 4 years old and very sweet. She would love a quiet home where she can lounge around and be treated like a princess.

Cyndi was found as a stray. She gave birth at the rescue but none of the kitten survived. However, she stepped up and helped raise some orphaned kittens. She is about 2 years old and very lovey (she was fostered by a friend of mom's).

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Panache will head up to another partner store on Thursday. Her dental surgery went well and while she did have to have 3 extractions, mom was expecting more so that was good news.

need to learn to wait

Mom says she needs to learn to wait on making those adoption announcements.....

Millie was returned Monday night. (and if we see nasty comments about the adopter, they will be deleted). The family was first time cat owners and took Millie and another adult male. Well, Millie started out hiding, came out hissing and eventually took to stalking Calvin (the other cat). Mom gave them introduction advice and even got them to a local vet (where she knows one of the techs) but it wasn't working out. Rather than stress the family and both cats, mom met them at the partner store and set Millie back up. She may just have to be one of those cats that need a home of her own. We do know that she will need an experienced owner willing to give her time and put up with her tortie-tude. While we are sorry it didn't work out, we have a little more insight into her personality.

momma and her girls

Millie is a very good momma, but as the kittens are now 7 weeks old, she is finding them a little less amusing. She tends to get up and try to find somewhere else to take a nap if they won't leave her alone.

Dior, Millie and Chanel

Chanel and her momma

intruder alert

Well, there was a minor incident last Friday night that we thought we would share. Before we get into the details, let us just say that everyone is fine....

momma cat

Millie is fairly protective of her kittens. Not from our mom - that is fine. But if she hears something on the other side of the doors, she is VERY alert (see above) and in fact has been known to growl at us on occasion through the doors. She will also lay right next to the sliding door and right in front of the entrance to the foster room and stare at the crack where the screen door hits the wall. But...she doesn't charge the door or try to get out so that is fine. Thankfully she will also back up when mom opens the door and sticks her foot in Millie's way.

Now, most of us have a healthy fear of are well trained to ignore momma cats. We had one a few years ago that charged out of the bathroom several times and caught Tim, Mozart and Ivy before mom sent her back to the humane society to be spayed and adopted (the kittens were weaned thankfully).

However, Daiquiri has never experienced a momma cat in full protection mode and therefore keeps pushing the boundaries. Daiquiri is mainly the one on the other side of the door or up on the shelves.

Friday night, mom went out with a friend, came home, took care of all of us, watched some TV, read some and went to bed about 11pm. A few minutes after it was dark, she heard a cat scream from the other side of the condo. She was sure that it was us, so she got up to check. Nope.... but another scream led her to the foster space. Where she found that Daiquiri had managed (somehow) to get into the room and Millie was protecting her kittens.

Mom cracked the foster room door open and thankfully Daiquiri knows her name - mom yelled and Daiq headed for the door and made her escape (and went straight under the bed). Millie was ALL puffed up....as were the kittens....but everyone in there looked fine. Mom wasn't about to go in there and risk annoying Millie, so she went to check on Daiquiri. After about 15 minutes, Daiq finally came out from under the bed and mom was able to at least get a good look at her. With her being mostly white, mom was able to see there wasn't any blood. (and has since grabbed her and run her hands over Daiq to be sure she didn't miss anything) However - there were bits of Daiquiri fuzz all over the foster room.

Hopefully Daiquiri learned her lesson and will NOT try that again.

Mom isn't sure how Daiquiri got into the room. The only options are over the doors (see above) or through the pass through from the kitchen (see below).

While mom has never seen Daiquiri on the counters, she suspects it was the pass through. That being the case, she is going to have to find a better way to block the opening while still being able to see through....

kitten update

Millie is giving the kittens a little more independence. Mom thinks she is getting more comfortable and is therefore is sleeping more near them rather than sleeping in the box with them. Mom found a bigger box for the kittens. It is more about keeping them contained for the short term.

Millie was rescued and brought to us right away so mom had to take her last week to be tested and vaccinated. Waiting for that test seems to be a really long 10 minutes, but Millie's test came back... negative for FeLV and FIV. YAY!!!

Mom weighed everyone on Saturday....and TRIED to get good pictures of their faces

Versace 

male, orange tabby no white

weight: 8 7/8 ounces (current heavyweight)

 he had no interest in having his picture taken

Gucci

male, orange and white tabby

weight: 6 7/8 ounces (current lightweight)

this was when Millie decided to supervise

Part way into the picture taking, Millie came over to get in the way supervise

 

Chanel

female tuxedo, more black on her face

weight: 7 3/8 ounces

she now has one eyeball open

 

Dior 

female, tuxedo (more white on her face)

weight: 8 3/8 ounces

the sole hold out as of Sunday with no open eyeballs

 

Armani

male tuxedo

weight: 8 3/8 ounces

looking at him he looks smaller than his sisters

so his weight surprised mom

Random Fridays

Millicent (probably called Millie) and the kittens are doing well. Mom has to remember to check the web camera before leaving for work since she left in  hurry on Wednesday and then discovered the camera was off. (wish we knew what causes it to work well for a while and then turn off for no reason - the only reset is to turn the router off and on and obviously that only happens if mom is at home)

Even after a couple of days Millie was being a little growly with mom. Not around the kittens - she doesn't seem to mind if mom handles them though she will come over to check things out of mom picks one up and they howl. This is more when mom comes in and is petting her or trying to get her food ready....Millie will rub all over, let mom pet her and then seems to get overstimulated and a little growly. She has put her teeth on mom twice now - not breaking skin and not being aggressive - almost like she isn't sure what else to do. After talking it out with some foster friends, mom is putting rescue remedy in Millie's water and is going to find a toy that she likes to see if getting her to play some will work out the kinks. Certainly nothing to worry about, but mom wants to keep an eye on her behavior all the same.

 

boy, boy, girl, boy, girl

so far the only one with a definite name is Armani - he is the

tuxie boy with his arm over his sister in this picture

paws up

(this is the smaller orange boy in the top picture)

 

girl, boy, girl, boy

keep the foods coming lady

the two tuxie girls and their brother

They should be pretty easy to tell apart and mom will try to get good pictures of their faces over the weekend. One orange boy is solid, the other has some white on him (see the picture above). The tuxedo kittens all have different facial markings. It is just a case of getting them to hold still long enough for the camera to focus. MOL

Nothing too exciting this weekend. Mom did buy a new bed that will come next week so she is going to clean the bedroom well and try to catch all the fuzz bunnies under the bed (can't call them dust bunnies since they are mostly fur). Otherwise she will most likely be in the foster room with Millie and the kittens.

BEHOLD

BEHOLD

Kittens.....

Momma cat

The momma cat was seen running around about a week ago....and then they found her again over the weekend. She had kittens in a window well - so NOT a good place. It is early kitten season here so the rescue had an open spot and we were in the running. (actually, mom did some running around for the rescue on Sunday and told the head lady she would take payment in kittens - MOL). Mom got a text Monday afternoon at work and they spent a couple of hours at the office in a crate before mom could get them home.

Mom was sitting at work and the name Millicent came to mind for the momma cat. Normally we don't use people names for kittens, but we have for momma cats before. Millicent is a beautiful tortie girl...we suspect not very old. Five kittens: 2 orange and 3 tuxedos. 3 boys, 2 girls (two of the tuxedos - both orange tabbys are boys) Which is a combination we don't think we have ever had before.

We were told they were born over the weekend, but their umbilical cords have fallen off and there was one open eyeball Monday night, so they are closer to about a week old and we are going to give them birthdays of 3/28/17.

Momma cat was pretty sweet Monday night, but it had been a long day for her and when mom went back in a second time to feed her again, Millicent hissed a couple of time, was a little growly and put her teeth on mom's hand. Mom didn't move and gently told Millie to let go and she would get some space. Millie let go without leaving a mark and mom left the foster room. She checked on them throughout the night and all was well.