Meet Hibiscus and Rooibos

I took on two new kittens recently, another set needing a little time at kitty boot camp for the unsocial..

Hibiscus:

Both were scared when they first came here, but Hibiscus came out of her shell faster. She still doesn't like it when someone enters the room but she is pretty quick to come out - especially if there is play involved. If you are near her and slowly reach out for attention she'll rub all over you and has climbed into my lap several times.  Don't let this prim exterior fool you, she is anything but proper and loves a good romp after a toy and climbing into your lap to be a lover of pets.

Rooibos:

Rooibos has issues. If you look at him the wrong way he wants to hide. He only looks the way he does in the photo because the camera was too weird and he wasn't sure if he should run or not.  He is starting to gain enough confidence to hiss at me if I am trying to touch him, but not so much that I have to worry about him lashing out at all. If I can get him in my lap - and he'll only get there if I put him there - I can get him purring after a few minutes. Hibiscus has climbed up on top of him to say "oh dude, you should just love this"

It has taken way too long for him to let his guard down long enough to play. Today was the first day he really let go and went after the toy, which was so incredibly nice to see. Once he realized what was going on he became more reserved again, but I hope after a few more days he won't need the convincing to play. When he does let himself forget to be fearful, he is actually quite a goofy kitten, it is absolutely adorable.

They are doing very well outside of the fear. Hibiscus had a bit of Calicivirus which caused a few blisters on her tongue but a few days of antibiotics and those cleared right up. Litterbox habits have been great and they are eating very well. I have taken up their dry food so they get really hungry by the time I come down hoping that will spur them to tell me what for and to hurry the food along.. which I am sure will be coming any day now.  I always forget how much dry food contributes to a full litter box because when I took it up after a couple of days the usage dropped dramatically. It is so nice to not have so much waste.

They are both already neutered and ready to go, just need to find them a nice home (or two) from someone willing to travel to the Rutland VT area to adopt them.

Bowie and Crema are up for adoption

As you might have guessed by the lack of blog posts, caring for these two were difficult for me. There was a whole host of reasons; some big and some small.

I enjoyed every minute I spent being hated on by this girl

I can guess you can imagine how much I regret not being able to actually hug her or kiss her, but I did many times in my dreams. I sat in front of her and I talked to her about it and pictured it in my mind, but each time I did I got all mushy and my energy levels changed and in the end, all I succeeded in doing was freaking her out. I did my best to stop doing that but I am guessing you can imagine that was hard.



I will admit I spent a lot of time thinking about one set of fosters that I wasn't able to keep. If you haven't been with us long, meet Mia and Prince Charming. It was 2004 and I was in no position to keep another kitten at the time ad I so very much wanted to keep them both.. I mean seriously...

And while I am down four cats from my height of owning eight, I am not comfortable adding two cats to my household at this time. It would be nice, for sure. and I bet seeing Skippy love all over me and my husband might have helped them realize that not all hands are bad.

We have made huge progress with them. They went from completely cowering and unable to eat in my presence other than a small amount of spam that I bribed them within the beginning - that only worked when they were very hungry - from being able to eat in front of me, play in front of me and even be able to be closer to me. The boy climbed in my lap to play, he even flomped up against my leg a couple of times. If I groveled, and gave the right signals and went slow I could reach out and pet him and scratch his chest and his ears. From there I was able to pat behind his head. As long as I stayed above his shoulder blades he was fine. If I touched his back I received a major hissing and he immediately put an end to contact. He likes it, he just needs someone who doesn't come with the urgent need to get him to come around sooner rather than later and that will happen by being adopted.

The Girl is a tougher nut. The few times I was able to scratch her chin I could tell she clearly liked it but her fear of hands was overwhelming..

Both have an extreme fear of towels being held up by a human. One time I simply picked up a sheet and they both had a pretty extreme reaction to it, so I did my best to do it in a way that was not "coming at them" to try to desensitize them of it. Unfortunately, using a towel was the ONLY way to get them in the carrier to go back to the shelter. I was hoping I could use it to direct them to run into the carrier since I had hidden every other place for them to hide, but it backfired on me and they both stood their ground and hissed at me pretty fiercely. So, I then picked up the carrier and put it in front of them and thankfully each one decided to enter in it on their own power. It took all of three minutes to get them in and we were on our way.

I wanted to send along a few things to keep some continuity in their lives. I sent along the giraffe bed that I have had for a few years because it was immediately her safe space (see above). She spent quite a bit of time in the bed and I figured that she would appreciate having it with her.  I couldn't send the cat tree that The Boy spent most of his time in, but I did want to send along their favorite toy. .. which sadly was my favorite toy..

So I am totally going to have to get some more, especially after giving Cabana his favorite toy to take home with him, because I am out of wand toys now. (and if you want to donate I stuck them on my Amazon wish list) (mailing address if you choose not to use Amazon is 10 Willis Ave, #554 Grantham, NH 03753)

And while I hate the idea of returning them not perfectly tamed and I really hate the idea of not having found a home for them. There was a potential one for The Girl but not being handleable totally put a kibosh on it as it would require her flying and there is no way it would be safe for her to be removed from a carrier to be checked in not to mention the change of her never being a lap cat - it is a possibility depending on how bad her PTSD is - so that fell through. But I am going to hold on to what happened with a set of fosters in 2015. They were not 100% friendly either, but being in the shelter and seeing all the people and being exposed to all of the shelter noises (and being fed hot dogs) really helped pull them out of their shell.. I know the shelter has their best interests at heart, they will be fine.

If you are interested in adopting them, you can check out their listings on the shelter's website. My foster coordinator has told me that she will email me when they are adopted.

I will miss them terribly, I already do, but hopefully, there will be new kitties soon..

The owner of that foot

I know I know, I am so mean. if you happen to follow me on Instagram, you would have already met the newcomers.

I agreed to take on a couple of three-month-old feral kittens. They are really weird in how they communicate because their eyes say "snuggle me and tell me I am safe" but their body language and their reactions say "STAY AWAY FROM ME WITH YOUR GRABBY HANDS YOU WEIRD LADY YOU!!"

I did find that they like spam, so I am trying to show them I am a good thing with it. On a very superficial level, it works, but up until Wednesday they were stuck in this cage and I had to "loom over them to offer it to them so it was really hard.  They are now in the kitten room bathroom and I am hoping that giving them a little space will help. It is absolutely going to take some time.  Hopefully, paws crossed, I am able to reach them sooner rather than later.

Because I am having a very hard time resisting those "snuggle me" eyes..

Wordless Wednesday

Updates on "Chester" and "NoSocks"

I know I know, it has been a while since I have given you an update and I am sorry. A lot has been going on over here and I have been less than motivated to blog.

For the most part, their time with me was pretty uneventful until last week when Chester ended up lame. We do not know why. The speculation is that his brother chewed on his leg a little too hard, which is totally possible.

We put him on antibiotics and after a couple of days, he was back to 85-90% of normal function. He still holds it up a bit and he might run a little wonky from time to time, but he is healing nicely.

We ended up renaming NoSocks to Nero. I was not using that name anyway. I was calling him dude or buddy, or not really using a name at all. While NoSocks is a cute name, I can't imagine saying no to a kitty over and over for no particular reason.  The rescue he is being cared for put up a name that kitty post and that one seemed to fit him best.

Chester also earned himself a new name. He was seen online by someone who was just about to need a new kitty in her life so she reached out to me about adopting him. I connected her to the rescue and she will be taking Chester home this weekend and shall be calling him Kevin. I totally approve. And while it is always nice when kitties go home in pairs, I am not 100% sure that Kevin and Nero should be life long buddies (see above) and I really approve of the situation Kevin will find himself in.. I mean just look at this..