Booney's a keeper....

Before and After (at 8 weeks, and today at 3 years)

Booney's no longer a foster because I wound up adopting him, in spite of my vow to never adopt again.

Booney, the "Boomerang Cat!"

Booney

Booney's the latest in the succession of foster cats to grace my home. He started out as Boo [see the beginning of my blog] but has had his name changed because our esteemed director says VOKRA's never had any luck with cats named Boo. Anyhow, bottom line: he was one of my first fosters, got adopted, but has since been returned. When she heard I was trying to find another name for him, friend and fellow "foster parent" Morgan called him the Boomerang Cat (which I thought was quite witty!). But he became Booney because it just kept coming out of my mouth in his first few days here. I actually named him Boone, formally, but I think Booney suits his personality a lot better.

Georgy Girl

With thanks to Ben Johnson Photography

Georgy came to me in September 2010, and stayed until she succumbed to cancer on July 29, 2012. She was an extraordinary personality and loved by everyone who met her.

"See you at the Rainbow Bridge, Georgy...."

[My friend, and fellow VOKRA foster, Lee wrote a wonderful tribute to Georgy. You can read it at Limited Vision: Saying Goodbye to Georgy Girl]

Four minis!

Maude

Algernon

Ned

Stuart

Today four 6-week-old kittens arrived from Smithers. Maria brought them to me and they're now installed in the bathtub with all mod cons. The Babine Animal Hospital examined them on April 28th and gave each a dose of Revolution. There are only four women looking after all the strays in Smithers, and when they get kittens they're flown down to VOKRA. Their mother was flown down as well, but the kittens have been eating solid food since they were trapped on the 28th. Mom was captured yesterday, I assume, and that's when the lot were shipped here. The mother's small and feral and currently with Maria, who says she expects she'll be able to domesticate her.

Maria sexed the babies for me and we have a long-haired grey-and-white female, short-haired grey & white male, long-haired orange male, and an all-grey long-haired male who's the feisty one - spits at me whenever I get close! I have to name them soon so I can keep track. And I rather thought Maria said there were two females so I guess I'll go back in a inspect them once more.... Nope, looks like there are 3 males and 1 female.

Maria gave each a Drontol dose before she left, and I'll give them two more over the next couple of weeks.

A new family

On April 26th Bodhi went home with his new mummy and daddy. Shelley and Nigel have a 3-year-old cat named Marvin who really wants a buddy to play with, so that's the plan for Bodhi. In addition, the family comes with two older females (Janga and Charlie) who're bonded and who are tolerant of young cats. They all live in a 3-storey townhouse, so lucky Bodhi will have stairs! I haven't had a home with stairs for over 30 years, and to my mind stairs are a kitty's dream: so many great adventures can be had galloping up and down stairs.

I have great hopes for Bodhi's life with Shelley et al., but I sure miss him. If they sent me emails about what he's doing and how he's feeling three times a day, I'd be happy as a clam. But like most of the rest of us, their lives don't revolve around correspondence so I wouldn't presume to ask them for that. That's one of the hardest things about fostering. You want to know how your wards are doing long after they've moved on to their forever homes, but you have to accept that they've got new lives and you're no longer part of them. You have to let go. All I can do is pray for little Bodhi....

He was the closest to adopting that I've come. I wrung my hands for a few days there, but finally decided that Shelley and Nigel were a God-send and very much my answer. I do believe he'll be happier with them than he would have been with me and Georgy, who spat and hissed at him no matter what he did. Bodhi's a kitty-friendly guy and he needs someone to play with.

So Georgy and I are on are own again. She's been super nice to me ever since, almost like she's saying "Thanks for ditching that awful boy - I'm so happy he's gone and I love you to pieces for getting rid of him!" ...Such an attitude - oy!

Now it would be so nice if I could foster a pair of small kittens to ease the transition....

Bodi is spelled "Bodhi!"

Bodhi was born to a feral mom, and I'm making his birthday October 2, 2011. He was fed by a woman near 54th & Kerr until Maria brought him in for neutering. He's very tame but shy. If I stroke his cheeks and scratch his neck he starts purring; if I keep talking to him and stroking gently, he'll roll over and expose his belly for rubbing. If he gets over-stimulated, or irritated by what I'm doing, he gently mouths my hand with his teeth, or clutches with his front paws, claws retracted. This strikes me as amazing for a cat born in the wild - where did he learn to be so gentle? It's like someone trained him. I suppose it's possible his siblings were smaller and he learned they'd only play with him if he was extra gentle. If I interact with him long enough, while sitting or kneeling on the floor, he'll put his front paws on my lap. I lifted him off the floor a bit once and held him for less than a minute, but he didn't seem to be very comfortable with that. Lots to learn about this little boy....

He's shown no sign of having a voice yet, but that may be because he's still nervous about where he is. Georgy wails and bellows regularly, so he may consider it prudent to not announce his presence to the scary banshee he hears! Today I'm going to leave the bathroom door open a crack to acclimatize him further to the rest of the apartment. So far when I open that door for longer than a second, he looks very alarmed - "big scary world out there!" I want to get some good photos of him - he's an extraordinarily gorgeous brown tabby with lots of white on him - and I can't do that with the bathroom lighting. It also doesn't help that his safety zone is behind the toilet, so he stays beside it most of the time. If I take a shot of him, it includes the toilet which doesn't do much for composition.

A gentle giant in the waterworks

Bodi's a gentle giant of a 6-month old kitten. He must weigh 20 pounds - i.e., his daddy must be some tom! More to come on this boy, plus a better photo, as soon as I'm able.

Today's been a day of kitty schmoozing, lazing around with Bodi while he gets more and more comfortable with me, and spending quality time with the GG (Georgy Girl) as she gets used to the smell of a big boy in the bathroom. I'd forgotten how good it feels to move at this pace....

Sprite

Sprite came here on January 24. She'd been rescued from a home where she'd been starved and neglected. She spent a couple of nights with me, before refusing food and having to go into the animal hospital for I/V.
I was told today that she'd died early this morning - she had been too far gone to help. This was a real heartbreaker. Rest in peace, little one....

My first ferals

Jasmine

Jasmine and Cheddar came to me in October 2010. Both were trapped as ferals by Maria. But Cheddar - or Cheezie, as he's affectionately called - took no time at all to climb on my lap and try to adopt me. He was 3 months and Jasmine was 4 months old. She took much longer to accept me and I got to practice my feral-domesticating skills for sometime with Jasmine.
Cheezie was adopted in November, but Jasmine was with me until January 2011 because she was so fearful with visitors. Unfortunately, her adoption didn't "take," and she was returned to me in August, along with another young cat named Nuka, who'd been adopted as a playmate for her.
Nuka ingratiated himself with visitors so well that he was snatched up at a Petsmart adoption event in November, leaving Jasmine behind again.
But she finally found her forever-people in January 2012, and she has since become a lapcat which was so wonderful to hear!

Cheezie

Nuka

The summer campers

Ashley and Skor came to stay with me in August 2010, while they're foster mum was on vacation.

Ashley

Skor

The beasties of July 2010

First there was Petey and Jasper. Then came Venture Cat, and close on her heels came Jayda. All four were adopted pretty quickly, with Jayda and Venture Cat going to the same home since they'd become great little playmates.

Petey

Jasper

Venture Cat

Jayda

Emma goes home

On June 25, 2010, Emma was adopted by a wonderful couple. She'd been with me some months, and if she'd been here much longer it would have been hard to let her go. Farewell, little beauty!

Nope! we're back in the bathroom...

Emma gets pretty anxious when she's out of the bathroom, so for the time being she's back there. I had Maria come and look carefully at her mouth and throat today, because she grunts and snuffles occasionally and I was concerned when I saw her pick up a crunchy then drop it and pick it up again. Plus she often swallows them whole, and she gulps when swallowing as well. The exam found nothing - her teeth and tongue look great. Maria said half a Thayer's Slippery Elm lozenge ground up and mixed with water was good for sore throats in cats, so I might try one and see how she does. I could also massage the sides of her nose in the sinus area - cats apparently like that and it could loosen up anything that may be left over from the terrible infection she had for 2 months. But everything looked fine on the surface, and I did see clear discharge the one time I observed Emma sneeze.

We've graduated to the bedroom!

Found out yesterday that Emma's 6 years old. She had dental work done in September last year at Killarney vet.
Last night for the first time I heard her lapping up water, which is a good thing considering she's only eating dry food. She seems to like the dry food I had left over from Peaches - I'd begged it from a neighbour (maybe Mariner?) and I'm not sure which one it is.
I've passed a bio and photos to Michele and Elizabeth so Emma can be posted on the website.

We live in the bathroom

Emma's a very needy little girl. It didn't take her long to latch onto me once I began scratching her neck and stroking her fur. It's hard for me to leave the bathroom because she's almost insatiable with her need for love, probably as a result of being sick and in isolation for so long. But on the other hand, when I tried carrying her into my bedroom this morning she quickly let me know that it was all too scary too soon. So back to the bathroom we went.

She wasn't pleased though when I took a shower this morning. "Thank God for this tube!" she says, because she spends most of her time lying in the carpetted hidey-hole that my dad created out of a cardboard construction tube.

She ate a number of TD crunchies that I hand fed her this morning; and just now she ate about a tablespoon of Whiskas dry. Maria had brought me about 6 bags of dry because she's a finicky eater, and she won't eat canned. I tried her with Wellness Chicken & Lobster last night, but she hadn't touched it by morning. When I watched her eat the TD I offered, I discovered she was actually swallowing most of them whole. That made me wonder about the condition of her teeth, but then I wondered about her age. My cats as they got older seemed to have trouble working wet food to the back of their mouths so could swallow. They often did better with crunchies, like their tongues and mouth could manipulate them better. And with Peaches in particular, she would chew the crunchies without any trouble; it just seemed as she turned her head from side to side, that she then had trouble manouvering the food to her throat. This is mysterious to me. No one's ever given me a satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon.

Regarding her appearance:
Emma is black with a pearly undercoat - the most remarkable hair ticking that I've ever seen. She alternately looks like she's rolled in talcum powder, or her fur's all mussed up, or she's got highlights in her fur. She also seems to have a perpetual frown on her face, because she has little furrows over her eyes - perhaps it's more of the pale undercoat showing through.

Here Beginneth a New Chapter

Emma

Emma arrived today, brought by Maria. She was abandoned at the SPCA by her people sometime ago, went to the barn and promptly got the mother of all cat-colds. She was sick for about 2 months, and after that was kept in a large wire kennel, at Lane Street, in order to protect her from anymore infections. Apparently she has no other disorders though and she's currently healthy.

Emma's charcoal/black with a white undercoat - very unusual. She has a chunky body shape with a broad forehead and somewhat pointed chin and golden eyes. Maria brought her special bedding and as I write (5:45 pm), she's snuggled down in the carpetted cat-tube in my bathtub.

We had a nice bonding session earlier (she arrived her at about 4:30) when I picked her up and held her while I scratched the sides of her face and neck. This was very well received - she loved it and was purring within minutes. So I think we're friends, even though her pupils are still very dilated. She's molting big-time too, because of the stress of the move, so I'll go in there and give her a good brushing soon. ...The brushing was the biggest hit of all - she got simply ecstatic and couldn't get enough of the slicker brush. I raked heaps and heaps off her - her coat's very dense, much like Tabitha's was - and the leavings were all pearly grey - no sign of black fur having come off.

Food:

Maria brought three stainless-steel bowls and many bags of food that Emma likes at various times. Unfortunately, she currently addicted to Temptations as one of her staples. We'll try to wean her off that at some point. I've put a bowl of Origen and one of PC (1 T. each), with one Temptation treat on top, plus a bowl of 2 T. TD in with her, and I'll record the quantity she eats. ...At 8:15 pm I put out 1 T. of canned Wellness Chicken & Lobster, just in case she can be tempted. She hasn't eaten yet, but I can hear she's now christening her litterbox.

ALL gone!

Stella was adopted on January 15, 2010.

Sunday, December 26, 2009

Stella was spayed this morning, and I picked her up at 4:30. I put pillows all around my bed, put a soft towel under the desk lamp and set a cozy, warm spot for her to recuperate. She was restless, though, coming out of the carrier as soon as I'd opened it (which I'd put under the desk close to the baseboard heater in case she wanted to stay there). She staggered around the bedroom, falling over and unable to maintain her balance most of the time. She finally settled on the bed under the lamp.

She urinated at 6:45; I'll wait until she's moving about better before I offer her food. There's water here next to her litterbox.

The vet had said that she was somewhere between 1 and 1-1/2 years old, no more. I've given Elizabeth a new writeup plus some better photos of her for the website.

December 22, 2009

Phoned Killarney Animal Hospital to see how Stella is. She's off in a quiet area, getting lots of attention, and she's not bellowing. But Jessie, the tech, said she expects Stella will be there for another 2 weeks - her uterus is still engorged with blood - now, how they know this I can't imagine! But better they err on the side of caution, instead of spaying her under extremely risky circumstances.

Saturday, December 19

Stella went into full-blown heat Wednesday night - now I remember what it's like! It's not just vocalizing but very loud bellowing plus a lot of extremely suggestive posturizing. She wasn't too bad Wednesday and Thursday nights, but she woke me off and on all through last night. I hope she'll settle down tonight, having been in heat 3 days.

Buster and Boo were adopted by a really nice couple yesterday. Thank God they went together!

I talked to Jessie at Killarney vet, and she said that a heat cycle for a female cat takes about a week to get fully going, then lasts a week in the full-blown phase, and then it's another week before everything settles down again. Omygosh!! Jessie said it could take less time if Stella was uncomfortable - i.e., no one petted or cuddled her and she was put in a cool room. I then decided to get Elizabeth's take on whether it was kinder for me to take Stella to the vet now, so that she'd be really uncomfortable for awhile and thereby get spayed sooner rather than later. Elizabeth said her opinion was that it would indeed be the kindest thing to do: Stella's clearly miserable and anything to get her out of this state in the shortest amount of time would be best for her. So off we went and Stella was left at the vet.