no really.. this time they are gone

and no, I'm not happy about it. I brought them in on Saturday morning, and a couple of people showed interest, but when I explained their issues, they went in search of other kitties. One couple showed up, said they were looking for two long haired kitties. I pointed out Sam and Char, and explained their issues. They went looking around and came back. They asked some more questions and wanted to hold them. I asked about a filled out application (cause you have to fill one out to hold the animals) and they said they had one on file. I gave them Char, and went and got it. Well, it turns out it was the couple from the last adoption I was a little freaked out. They were thinking declaw, and from the attitude from before, I didn't think it would be a match. I explained that these two kitties should not be declawed (yes, I'm against it totally but in certain instances, I would have to be insistent. Declawing can make a cat more fearful. Not to say it WILL make them so, but I have seen too much circumstantial evidence to not believe it can) She seemed okay with them being left intact. They left to think about it, and I was relieved. Right at the very end of the day, they came back. They asked all the right questions and seemed open to dealing with them, so I couldn't find a reason to object - as much as I wanted to. I just hope and pray they are okay. I gave them my email address. I hope they email me to tell me everything is okay. I doubt they would even if it was.

I would love to check up on them, but what on earth would I do if I found out they had them declawed. it would be too late, and I'm sure they would not like the results and would either throw them out or return them to the shelter... and I am certain it would damage them beyond all hope.

arrrrgh.

I know I can't save them all, but the ones that need saving the most are the ones that I care about the most. Its a shame they never came to fully trusting their surroundings. I can only hope that I am completely wrong in my worry and that they are fine.

but listen to me. Even if I had found the PERFECT home for them, I'd still be worrying.

bah humbug!

Tweedle made me take pictures of her to give to her daddy so he would have them at work, and while I was trying to take picture of her I got this. I also tried to take some of Sam and Char, and as usual, black kitties do not photograph well. Thank goodness for digital cameras.

Speaking of digital photos. I just found out that I can upload my photos to walmart.com and have them printed at my local walmart. Okay, honestly, I knew about this for a while, but this is the first time I did it, and I must say I love it!! I sat in my comfy chair, picked the photos I wanted to print, uploaded them, cropped them, submitted my order - they even gave me 10 free prints!! I walked in, they gave me my prints, while all the other people were standing in line at the photo kiosks.. Yup.. I'll be doing this a lot more often now.. I hated trying to find media to load my pictures on to bring.. and I don't even feel guilty sending just one picture in. :)

Apparently, I didn't blog that Sam and Char were having major bouts of URI at the shelter.. so much so they retested them for FELV. They are negative but unadoptable looking as they did. So I brought them home for an extended period of time. (yea) I just now have to find someone in New England who wants to adopt a nice little black kitty or two. Sam and Char are now starting to play with one another which is nice... but it does mean that the room isn't as neat as it once was. Oh well. It took them a while to adjust to being back here, but last night the hubby got both of them on his lap and they both gave him their bellies to rub :) (yes, I am jealous!) Char seems to be totally secure now, with Sam figuring it out after a few minutes, but if you leave and come back it starts all over. *shrug*

I did go on Sunday to adopt Tucker the bunny. He was finally adopted out on Saturday. Yea for him, boo hoo for me. There was another bunny there who was cute (almost a torti or brindle coloring) and sorta friendly, but when I put him down in the cage he bit at the bars and dug at the floor. Not quite the bunny I want. *sigh* well one of these days I'll find the right bunny.

keyboard hairballs

I got some canned air to clean out the DVD player that can't seem to recognize when there is a DVD in it.. and I thought I'd blow my keyboard as well.. WOH.. you should have SEEN the fur that came out of it. There is still a bunch more in there that I can't get out.. I'm thinking of taking the keyboard apart to clean it right.

Sam and Char are back.. Over in the craft room again. They were really sick when I went and saw them yesterday, today they look pretty darn good. They were all scared of me again.. *sigh* Poor things. The woman at the shelter told me there was a woman who was looking to adopt them, and was going to let them outside. Can you say IDIOT! I'm sorry, but two little scared kittens would NOT do well outside at all.. or maybe they would, but they wouldn't ever come home, that is for sure. I mean they barely come to the food when I put it down now.

On a personal note.. I'm FINALLY getting to some of the boxes down stairs. I have determined I need to purchase yet another piece of furniture. A nice big hutch and buffet to store the kitchen stuff that I don't want to get rid of but that I don't use all the time. I also need a place to store some craft stuff, but that I have still in a box. There is actually a nice buffet at work that someone sold the hutch to, so I might be able to get that for a song.. Hopefully.

 I broke a nail while cleaning *boo* but I did find some interesting things. *yea* Sadly a lot of it is going to the trash or good will *boo* but I'm going to see if my girlfriend needs any of it before it goes *yea*

I am pretty sure I'm going to get a rabbit this Sunday. Going to take the hubby down and cuddle some. Not sure why I'm taking him since he really couldn't care less.. Not a big bunny fan.. I hope that getting him right before the holiday and our big Christmas open house (on Thursday Taz, in case you haven't gotten your invite yet) isn't a bad idea..

Okay then

My co-worker decided she really wasn't ready for a kitten (did I blog that I was pushing Sam on her pretty bad?) so now I REALLY want her. I'm pushing it off as much as I can, but I've pretty much determined that if she is still there I'm taking her. Then I saw an image that looked like her at theanimalrescue.com site

it seems to be saying, yes, go get her.

Then there is Jack. Since Sam went back, he's been a total PITA. I don't think he misses her.. I think though he's annoyed that I'm going to bring home "another one" and is grumpy. I made an announcement last night, that if anyone wanted me to adopt her, to come lay on my chest. Em did, but she would no matter what. Muffin did too. NO ONE else came near me all night. I think their vote is no.. but I miss her terribly.

I think if she's been adopted I'm going to ask to call them to check up on her. The shelter does that in general.. I don't think they'll mind if I do it (as long as it is done right obviously)

I'm also pretty sure I'm going to adopt Tucker the bunny too. Going to talk to them about him as well.

Jack's trip to "Nana's"

My mother and father invited us over for dinner on Sunday.. We went but I wasn't trusting Jack home alone, since he now thinks if he knocks things off counters he'll get treats, so he came with us. I put the jingle bells back on him, and off we went. He was a little freaked out on the car ride over, but not bad. He was a good boy while visiting, although he spent most of the day behind her couches. The ride home was much more fun though. For some reason it seemed like he liked looking at all the brightly lit houses. It was like riding around with a little kid. Of course the gas station held just as much fascination for him as the holiday lights, but it was still fun to pretend he was enjoying the holiday... specially with his bells on.

I was thinking that maybe he had learned his lesson. I gave him the "cold shoulder" treatment for 24 hours, then the trip to Nana's, but I just found him up on the counter again. I'd scream at him more to stay off, but he doesn't care, and it just freaks Em right out.

Sam is currently up for adoption. No, I have run right out and adopted her. One of the women at work was thinking slightly toward a cat (she has a dog and a bird) I'm going to go talk to her about Sam, and hopefully I can get her to do it.

Sam and Santa

I went to the shelter open house today... it was interesting. I had told myself all week if Sam was still available for adoption she was coming home with me. I went and looked at the kittens and she wasn't there.. which was a good thing. But then I went into the back treatment room.. and low and behold, there she was. She and Char had apparently gotten very sick again. So much so that they scared the staff enough to get a second FELV/FIV test. (which was negative)

Sam looked perfect, but Char still looked like his eyes hurt.

But since she wasn't "available" I felt I couldn't adopt her.

But I so wanted to. Was going to bring her home and name her Veronica.. (maybe)

*sigh*

Tucker the bunny is still at the shelter too. No idea why. He's an amazing rabbit. He's a lop though.. I've never been a fan of lops. I can't have a bunny.. (I so miss mine though) there is no place for him here, and I am allergic to rabbits.. (I so want him though)

So anyway.. back to the subject line.. When it died down a little, I brought Sam out from the back and had her picture taken with Santa. Sadly it's one of those instant pictures and not digital, so I can't share with you.. but she did so well. She's so good with crowds and dogs.. But the camera (and kids) freak her right out.

arrgh

As of Saturday

Sam and Char were still both at the shelter. Char's eyes were totally disgusting. That boy needs to learn to deal with stress.

I've made a decree that if Sam is still there on Saturday the 10th, I'm adopting her. No one knows this but you and me, shhhhh don't tell the hubby.

We put up the Christmas tree on Saturday night. Last year we found a prelit fake tree on sale for so cheap we couldn't pass it up. We have had 15 real trees now, and the needles and the trees that die before Christmas are getting a little old. The tree is amazing.. looks really good, and it very well lit. So much so we put on half the ornaments we usually do because we decorated with the lights on and it looked fuller faster. Ollie, who has seen 7 trees, and who absolutely LOVES them seemed confused by the fact that it didn't smell right, and there was no water to sneak out of the base. Emmy who has seen 15 of them didn't care at all.

Speaking of Emmy. She seemed more hungry than usual lately (which is saying something) so I weighed her. She's down to 15 lbs. I started worrying about thyroid, and got scared that I would have to do even MORE pills (she is on herbs for her diabetes and cosequin for her joints) Well for the fun of it I took a BG reading, and it was 58!! I gave her another snack (cause it should be around 100 and has typically been around 300) and took a reading at 8 when we gave her dinner. The reading then was 294. (okay, so I over snacked her) I took another reading this morning before breakfast and it was 158!!!!! can you say WOW!! We've cut back on her insulin, and I'm going to take another reading tonight. Yes yes yes, just one reading isn't the best idea, but when you know it is typically double what it is, you know you are on the right track. She HATES bleeding for me, thank goodness for the freestyle flash!! oh I highly recommend that glucometer for cat testing.. it requires so little blood, that I can get readings with out really having to traumatized my kitty who hates to bleed. If these amazing readings keep up, I can probably take her off insulin, which would be great because they stopped making the stuff she is on, and I don't want to go through the agony of getting her regulated on something else..

On the home front, I had a bad thing happen to me over the weekend. We went to see Harry Potter on friday at a theatre that also serves food. I had a turkey burger, which I get all the time (in fact I had one the night before when I went to see "Walk the Line") and the first bite into it I bit down on a piece of bone and cracked my tooth. can we say OUCH!! (Id bold and increase the font on that, but I think you get the picture) Anyway, I had to suffer all weekend eating on only one side of my mouth. Saturday morning I was grumpy and in a bit of pain, when Jack walked up me, and put his nose to the side of my face right where my tooth was broken, then he laid his head right there. I don't care why he did it. I LOVED it (again with the bold and the font) I was able to get to the dentist today and he fixed me right up.. but boy do I hate novocane.

I actually cried

I brought Sam and Char back to the shelter today. It was soooo hard to do. When I left the shelter I actually cried.

This fostering is getting harder and harder. Too bad it's even harder to stop. When I was in there they had a small little kitten that I almost took. Somehow I stood by my stance of not taking any for a few more weeks.(don't ask me how on earth I did that)

I hope they find wonderfully perfect for them homes.

Matching colds

Well, Sam broke with an all out cold. Snot from nose, mouth breathing, coughing. Poor thing. She didn't want to eat Thursday, so I gave her a smidge of decongestant, and forced some KMR in her. Thursday PM she ate. She ate yesterday AM, but looked miserable, and yesterday PM she was all congested again. Coughing up phlegm. She looked like I felt. I have had congestion in my chest for about a week and can't seem to get rid of it - no matter how much Mucinex I take. I gave her a smidge more decongestant, which is incredibly hard to get out of those tiny tiny red pills.

Emmy is currently begging for my attention. She's so silly. almost 15 yrs old and she still has kitten eyes.

I had a dream about Leo and Marie last night. I dreamed that the couple that adopted them actually adopted them for my sister and her family. I miss them terribly. The people that adopted them named them Hunter and Lilly (in case I didn't tell you that already) and told me they would send me pictures, but they haven't. Didn't even respond to the email I sent them.

Although - I did just find out that my host company was sold and didn't tell me. I'm all of a sudden getting spam I shouldn't be, and getting a ton of returned emails that I didn't send. It's very bizarre. I wrote to the company and haven't heard back from them but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt since it is thanksgiving. Come Monday I'm going to give it another shot - but not before taking a copy of my site.

and speaking of odd spam... I have a universal mailbox.. this means I can use any address I want. Well, I created a few that I was sure was going to get spammed, and they did.. so I put filters on for those particular email address. Now all of a sudden I,m getting emails to four of those filtered addresses, and I can't figure out for the life of me why I,m getting them.

Oh no.. I waited too long. Em found a way on to the keyboard and is licking my hand.. HELP! :) and now Ollie is in front of the screen. I guess they want breakfast.

Guess who is back

Thursday I went to the shelter to visit sam and char, and their eyes were just horrid, so I was asked to take them back.. okay, who am I kidding, I almost kidnapped them to come back :)

They are in my upstairs craft room which used to be the kitten room before we had the kitten room. They are very skittish still. doing okay if you are able to get your hands on them, but that isn't always easy. I brought them in here for a while and thought we were making progress until one of them tried to climb up on the desk and missed. Haven't seen them since. :( I wish I could convince them that the world isn't out to get them. Kinda hard though when it really seems like it is.

adoption day

Well, I took everyone down to the shelter today for adoption. They weren't ready for me, but I was not going to take them back, cause if they didn't go today, they wouldn't go until December, and that wasn't fair to them.

Leo and Marie went first. Originally there was a couple who wanted to adopt Marie only, but I had decided they needed to go together, and fortunately the shelter stands behind that. The woman didn't want to hear that they would be happier together, only that she (the woman) would be happiest with Marie. She left in a huff. A little while later a very nice couple came in with their two boys. After Leo's reaction to my nephew, I knew he'd love having a couple of boys to play with. I couldn't be happier with them. They were very considerate to the boys feelings, to my feelings and to what was best for the kittens. I'm thrilled.

A woman and her daughters came and looked at the black ones. It looks like they are going to end up with Yoda. She has to run it by her husband. I'm not 100% thrilled with this one, since the woman asked for a discount after I already explained to her what a deal adopting was. But I had joked if she took all three there was probably a deal to be made since there are so many cats at the shelter.

I feel bad leaving Char and Sam there, but what can I do? As I said, I can't keep them all.

and the kids invade

My sister has two boys, age 7 and 2. Ben (the elder) wanted to come over and see the kittens, so I had them over today. The kittens had NO idea what to make of the kids.. they were loud, and unpredictable, and weird.. (lol) the boy wanted to play with the toys more than the kittens. Ben wanted to play with the kittens, but he was unsure. It was so sweet. the boy gave all the toys to the mom cat, who sat on the ottoman completely unfazed by the boy's screaming and throwing of things. Leo loved it.. he went right up to the boy and tried to play with him, it was SO cute.

I'm trying to get them up for adoption tomorrow. the shelter is resisting as they have too many kittens still, and the woman who normally works with me on this is on vacation. I don't know what to do.

Caption Contest

Can you name these emotions?

oh darn..

Well the black kitties were supposed to go up for adoption today, but I forgot to call the shelter to remind them, and thus they weren't ready for us, so they are back home.. and very glad to be so too - although that might have something to do with the fact that I hadn't fed them breakfast.. (silly me, but I like them to be hungry so the new owners can feed them and start them off with a good thing at the new home)

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I was so sad bringing them in, and I am happy to have them back. I have no idea when they are going to get back for adoption now. I was hoping to do it while they were small. there are so many cats at the shelter right now it's sad. I couldn't help but think it might have been best if they had euthanized the black kittens along with the mom. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they didn't. Yoda has turned into an amazingly loving kitten, and Char is pretty awesome too, and if we find the right home for Sam, she'll make someone very happy.. but then so would any of the other two hundred cats they have there now..

I can't keep them all, I can't keep them all, I can't keep them all..

Tweedle on my lap

So I'm here in the computer room cleaning and straightening.. and Twee came in and pushed me back on my chair and climbed up on my lap and is trying to take a nap.. (but I won't let her cause I keep typing)

One new thing about the kittens. While showing off Yoda's amazingly beautiful scar, I noticed she has a duplicate nipple. Two where only one should be. I am so going to have to try to get a picture of that.

I also need to post pictures in general..

neutering day

Char, Sam, and Yoda went in yesterday to get neutered. They did really really well. When I brought them in there wasn't a hiss to be had. Talking with the girls, Sam hissed a little bit, but nothing too excessive. I was so sure that it would have thrown them all back into scared little kitties, but it didn't. They are now back home, safe and snug in their little cage.

Dr. B did the surgery. Yoda has the SMALLEST incision I have ever seen. It looks like another one of her nipples. He is amazing. Sam's is nice and small too, but twice the size of Yoda's.

I let them all run around for a bit this morning, and Leo started attacking my ankles.. that boy is fierce (no.. not really. he's freakin adorable Now if he was only a belly slut, there would be no stopping me from keeping him)

dare I say it?

Na.. I really don't. but I have been going through quite a bit of food. Mom is now having eye issues... I was hoping she wouldn't come down with anything, but seeing how she is still so thin and not eating, I guess it was inevitable.

I'm going to try to schedual neutering this week for the black set.

Cautious optimism

Well, I wouldn't let myself worry too much, but it seems I can't totally enjoy the positive side of getting better either. Looks like they are both on the road to recovery. Mom, however, is STILL not eating well. I can't for the life of me figure out why. she's getting thinner and thinner.

Marie and I had a nice talk this morning. I gave her her antibiotics, and she totally flipped out on me. all limbs flailing, like I had just put the most disgusting thing in her mouth ever (I tried to come up with an analogy like liver in a child's mouth, but I couldn't think of a thing that would totally disgust a cat to taste - no wait.. medicine. lol) I let her go so she could calm down, then I picked her up again, and looked into her very pathetic eyes (pleading with me not to do that ever again) and explained to her that while she was not eating, I was going to have to put yucky things and food into her. She didn't look happy about it, but when I went down tonight, the food was gone. Now Leo is eating, so I couldn't be sure, but then I put more food down and she started chowing. (*silent YEA!!*) She ate about half a fancy feast can, then she wanted to play. She played for two hours till I packed them back up in their cages, and she went to eat more food (YEA!!!) Both Marie and Leo's nose look horrible, but I have to take my victories where I can get them.

Yoda, Charlemagne, and Sam are doing very well. Sam and Char like to fall asleep on humans. I have yet to see Yoda sleep. I swear she has a motor in her that is loud as a boat, and keeps her going 24/7... man she's cute. I need to call and get them set up with their neutering. This is going to be hard on them.

daily update

Yeah yeah yeah.. Your probably sick and tired of these posts.. but I like to keep track of issues. Char only wanted to cuddle today. He ate, he seems fine, but excessive cuddling always makes me suspicious. However Marie and Leo do not want to cuddle. They are sick and tired of the medication. Marie fought ever morsel of food this morning. Might be because I started out with some vit C, which was very bitter. Hopefully. Leo didn't want to be locked back in the cage, he was having a ton of fun playing. If it weren't for the fever, Id have no idea anything was wrong with him. He has a few bites of food.. not eating very heartily, but he's chubby and looks in good health.

And you thought Ty Pennington was hot

I was with the kittens the other day and we turned on extreme makeover - home edition. Yoda ran up to the screen and pawed at Ty's face. it was SOOOO cute. I wished I had had the camera, but then I remembered that even if I did, she wouldn't have stayed there long enough for me to get a picture. Although I'm not sure what kind of taste she has, cause she did the same thing to wrestling the other day.

I was concerned for Sam's health on Sunday. She climbed up on the loveseat with me and laid down on my foot. This was a big deal for her. I gently picked her up and put her on my chest. She shivered for a bit, then settled down. She was quite warm. Her ears and nose weren't, but her core body temp was. I thought I should bring her to the vet on Monday, but with my work day, it was going to be next to impossible. Monday morning when I went to collect her, she was bright eyed and chipper and ate very well. Did Monday night too. Oh well. Guess I was overreacting, again.

Char likes to climb up to the top of the two story cat condo I have and chase his tail. It's so funny. Occasionally his tail has hung over the side, and he has fallen off trying to get it.

Leo had a small issue last night. I noticed a huge poop ball stuck to his butt. I tried to take it off, but it was soft and mushy and he didn't like it, so up he came to get a bath. He took that like a trooper. He is SOOO cute.. it hurts. I'm just glad he's not an uber lover kitty, cause then I'd want to keep him.

On a slightly off topic subject, I have had some issues at work. An older gentleman (I don't even know if I can use the word gentleman with him) has been a constant pain. I work in the office of a selling environment. The sellers sell, and the office people process the paperwork. He refuses to even pretend he can do anything other than get people to commit to buy. I am sure he could if he took the energy make sure his sales were completed properly - like all the other sales associates, but he plays the "old" card too many times. I'm sorry, but if you are too feeble minded to complete your sales, you are too feeble to work. period. I do my best to work with him and be professional about it, but after the 10th time in a row correcting him for the same issue, it gets to you. Well, this guy was talking about getting the office girls a gift. He mentioned to me a steak dinner. I joked that the only thing I'm interested in is kitty litter. I figured a big heavy present would be something he wouldn't do. He said he would do that, and I told him point blank not to. He again said he would buy me litter, and again I told him not to, and if he really wanted to do something for me to donate to a local shelter. He went on to talk about a kitty he once had, and how he loved it very much, but it had gotten old so he took it out back and shot it. I told him to not talk to me about such things (I mean COME ON!!) and he continued to try to justify the situation and I again told him to stop talking about it, asking him what if he had missed. Well, he didn't stop, and I walked away. Well later he asked me if I was working on Monday so he could bring me litter, and I again told him not to. Yup. He brought me litter. Took it and put it right by my car. I told him I would not take it. He got very flustered. He left the litter by my car. One after another the sales associates came up to me and asked me about the litter, and if I might want help putting it in my car cause it was going to rain. I explained that I was not going to be forced into taking something I asked not to be given. I'm glad the staff seemed to support me on this, and not try to guilt me into taking it. (even though I know they knew I wasn't going to take it when they asked if I needed help putting it in my car) One of them moved it away from my car and put it near the front entrance, where it sat all day - in the rain. I felt guilty for not taking something that could benefit the kittens, but I know that the giver would have been self-satisfied if I had taken it. He left at 5. I left at 6. the litter was still sitting outside the building.

It is still bothering me.