Monday, November 26, 2018

Cyber Monday sale on The Michaela and her Minions Calendar


If you have been waiting for a good sale on the calendar, Lulu.com is offering 35% off if you use the code CM35



I have the Michaela and her Minions Calendar currently listed at $14.99 and shipping is $3.99.

I have been asked to identify the kittens for each month. I am sorry I didn't think to photoshop identifiers on each of them.


January: Michaela


February: Zelda


March: Zena


April: Zoey


May: Brutus


June: Zena, Brutus, Zoey, Zelda


July: Marshmallow


August: Graham


September George


October: S'more


November: Doughboy


December: Georgie, Marshmallow, S'more, Doughboy


Thursday, November 22, 2018

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

A Darcy Update


You have to forgive the quality of the photos. To say she doesn't make it easy is an understatement.


Darcy spends her time in the cage. I have seen her come out to eat but as soon as she sees me she darts right back in the cage. I am trying to earn her trust by providing good things when I show up. Only problem is that those good things are generally not placed in the cage. There isn't much proof that I'm the one providing the 'good things'

If I have time, I try to lift the sheet up and let her 'spend time with me' but I can tell she is very nervous. She often balls herself up in a corner when I do this. I don't like having her so fearful so I don't do this a lot. Sometimes I crawl in the cage with her, no easy task, and talk softly to her and pet her, but again, this is hard on her. I'm in a weird position, I take up most of the cage, etc.

I have tried putting the food bowl in there with her and if I get it right back to her face she'll start eating, which is a huge sign of trust in a fearful cat.  I've started pulling the bowl forward to see if I can get her to move towards the front of the cage, and I can get her to do that too, but only so far.

Then the other day I thought I'd try something..


Yup, I got her to eat from my hand. I have to say I give this cat way more trust than I should for such a timid and fearful cat. I know full well if she wanted to she could do some serious damage to me, especially when I am kissing her forehead.. (but more on that later)

During the video, she was sitting on the top shelf. I was able to use the food to entice her down to the first shelf (see above) and then to the ground level. I was trying to remain calm but inside I was doing the crazy crazy happy dance.

Then..


and then.


She was only three feet out, the other back leg was safely tucked away in the cage.  I pushed it just a little bit more and she retreated to the cage.. Ah well, you win some you lose some..

Every few days I pull Darcy out of the cage to be able to put my hands on her. I do my best to do a once over without being horribly intrusive. I spend time cooing at her and telling her she is safe and scratching her ears and chin and kissing her forehead. I know she just wants back in the cage.. but she is putting up with me for longer and longer periods of time. I am doing my best not to push too far..

I do believe she will come around eventually and make someone a great companion for a calm quiet house, but I am pretty sure that is far more time than I am going to have with her.

But let's hope I am wrong.

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Onyx and her kittens



Onyx is doing very well. She is still protective of her kitties but she is now starting to think about expanding her territory.  I've been leaving the door open to the kitten room to get some cool air in there (the furnace is off the kitten room so it is a little warmer than the rest of the house) and she has started jumping over the baby gate to explore.

The kittens still aren't eating without assistance. I put food in their mouth and they love it and will then try it out of the bowl, but the next time they don't understand why I put a bowl down *shrug* they will get it eventually.

There has been a bit of goopienss to their eyes but it disappears almost as soon as it pops up.. (I see a little goop, I clean it off, check the eye, it looks fine, no more goop for a day or two) they are still active and happy and gaining weight so I'm not worrying about it yet.  Their stools are soft too, but I'm sure they will firm up once they get dewormed..

Speaking of worms, this isn't one..

click to biggify

I walked into the kitten room and this was right by the entrance.. I have to say I initially thought it was a tapeworm.. Okay, fine, I hoped it was a tapeworm because those are easy enough to deal with. The fact that a garden snake found its way into my house is enough to give me the willies, much like the mouse last year. I have to say that Onyx received a lot of praise for this one..

Onyx's kittens don't venture to the side of the room where the door is, so I know they didn't have anything to do with it, although part of me wonders how the whole series of events went..

Speaking of the kittens..


They are doing well. They are having a little bit of an issue using the box, but they are going on the pee pad that I put down so I am not going to complain. Their personalities are still forming. They still hide when I walk in the room but come out pretty quickly.

Ren
Romy
Milo
Kreb

Monday, November 19, 2018

Checking in with Darcy and her Darlings



Darcy still thinks I am kind of suspicious and is just waiting for me to do something to prove her right. The other day she came out of the cage while the bathroom door was open to eat something and I didn't realize so when I walked into the bathroom to get some water for Onyx she freaked and bolted back to the cage.

I know she isn't going to get used to me hiding in the cage covered by a sheet, so I have been pushing and pushing, trying to get her to realize that while I am an intrusion I am not a harm or a risk and that being scratched behind the ears is pretty nice. The other day I lifted the sheet so she had nowhere to hide in the cage so she had to look out at the world. Often I'll climb in the cage and pat her and she just balls her self up and endures it.

Food helps. When she is hungry she will come forward to get some food. I tried hand feeding her and that wasn't easy going but eventually, she started taking food from me. Yesterday I got her to come down to the bottom level to eat while the sheet was up and in full view of me, which was a major accomplishment. I doubt we'll be snuggling any time soon, but it made me happy.

Her kittens are doing very well. Onyx still doesn't like them and growls and hisses at them when she goes to investigate them. I am doing my best do desensitize her to their presence so that she will stop being so upset by them. I open the door to the bathroom and the kittens come bounding out and investigating the areas of the room that Onyx doesn't hang out in. I've probably got another week before they are too bored with the bathroom and start becoming destructive because they have no way to burn off their kitteny energy... but things are still working well so I'm just going to hope for the best.

Wyatt is becoming an absolute goofball. He was throwing himself down on my lap and showing off his belly yesterday. He is a bit of a ham.


Spottacus is also a bit of a ham. If I am cooing over Wyatt or Zephy he will come over and park himself nearby to soak up some attention.


Zephy is still forming her personality. She is beyond cute and I just can't capture her cartoon-like nature in a photo. She does toddle over to see me when I enter the room and likes sitting on my feet but she's not really a fan of my covering her with kisses.. we are totally working on that - well I am anyway


Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Adopting "Tails from the Foster Kittens" kittens



Occasionally the convergence of a reader of the blog wanting and available to adopt a kitten happens while I have kittens and contacts are made (aka email me or message me) that there is interest and arrangements are made and poof, adoptions happen.

In the past, I have fostered for open admission shelters who adopted out on a first come first served basis so connecting someone up with a kitten they like was pretty easy. We would work it out that the new owners show up on the day of adoptions when I am returning the kittens and the shelters were always happy to have me bring adoptors along with the kittens.

Now that I am fostering for NH Kittens things are going to work a little differently.  They have a waiting list of people wanting to adopt kittens so they run a little different. If you find yourself in a position to adopt one of my kittens I would recommend you fill out an adoption application and make note that you are interested in adopting one of the kittens seen on my blog.

Because they are not an open admission shelter they have a list of policies that not every shelter has. The fee as of the date of this post is $120 per kitten but like most rescues, it includes a whole host of vetting prior to the adoption such as Spay/neuter Rabies vaccine (if over 12 weeks old), FVRCP vaccine, Ringworm culture (negative), FeLV/FIV test (negative), Multiple dewormings, Flea treatment, Fecal exam (negative), Microchip, and a Health certificate.


On top of that, all TFK kittens come with weeks of socialization at Casa de Gato and the love and training from myself and the CatMan which is priceless..

So, if you find yourself wanting to adopt, let me know and I will do my best to walk you through the process from my end..

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Darcy's Darlings are five weeks old


Zephyrine is totally judging my photography skills..

Zephyrine

Photographing these kittens is a little harder since they are in a bathroom. There is no good place to set up a nice background to take their photos on and the lighting is horrible. I ended up rearranging the cage after doing this so there is a little more open floor space for them to run around.


I'm afraid that Darcy's unwillingness to be around me is rubbing off on the kittens so I am doing my best to be a 'good thing'. I've been trying to share the joys of canned food with them. They all like the taste, only Spottacus was able to make the connection to the food outside of his mouth with the yummy taste that was in his mouth. 

Spottacus
They still aren't all that interest in object play, but they might not like the toys I have for them in there. I'll have to bring some new ones in there and see what happens.

Wyatt

Zephyrine
Zephy still has watery eyes. I keep looking for signs of URI, but she has none. No idea what her issue is but I'm keeping an eye on her - and she totally is judging me for it..

Tune in tomorrow for a discussion if you think you might want to adopt one of my foster kitties.. 

Monday, November 12, 2018

#TeamOnyx is now four weeks old



Milo, Ren, Romy, and Kreb are doing well. They are fat and happy kittens that are starting to investigate the world and are just starting to interact with toys. Milo and Kreb have a bit of a belly waddle going on which is super cute. The excess skin was impeeding Milo's ability to get up on his back feet and I was worried that he might have "swimmers syndrome" but as soon as I mentioned I was a bit concerned to the rescue, he got up on his back feet the next morning. He's still not perfect, but he is improving.


Onyx is doing well. I have a hard time not calling her Michaela as she shares a lot of the same traits and personality quirks. Onyx isn't comfortable picking up the kittens like Michaela. Onyx gets a little nervous when the kittens are out of the nest like Michaela and she loves to play like Michaela and also gives up quickly when a kitten is nearby.. like Michaela.. Unlike Michaela, Onyx has a little kink in her tail, and I think it is just a little bit shorter than it 'should be'.  Onyx also has no idea canned food is food, so she is on a dry food diet only..


Milo is still learning where to place his feet. This photo is kind of deceiving as he has never looked this grown up in person.


Kreb is going to be a really cool cat when he grows up, I can see it in his personality, but right now he is still not sure of my grabby hands so he's a little leery of me.


Romy is in love with the CatMan.. but then what girl kitty isn't? She is a total sweetheart and is a bit smaller than her brothers at this point.


Ren is going to be hard to tell apart from Spottacus when they are finally introduced... well when they are free running in the room.  I introduced Spottacus to Onyx's kittens yesterday and Spottacus was quite unsure of what to do.. Onyx took one look at him and took two sniffs and then went off to count kittens.. it was amusing. She will go over to the bathroom door when I leave it open and look in and no longer hisses, which is encouraging, but if Darcy won't come down and introduce herself I am unsure of how to proceed.  I took a nap in the kitten room this weekend, leaving the door open and the lights off and nothing happened.

I would leave the door open and leave but the bedroom is on the top floor and the kitten room is in the basement so I know I would not hear a squabble if one came up *shrug* I am really unsure how to proceed at this point, but I'll keep leaving the door open and hopefully the kittens will make it easy on me. If not, we might have to visit one of the mothers going up for adoption while the other stays behind to do the remaining few weeks of care - but that several weeks from even being a consideration. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Ren goes on an adventure #teamOnyx


I am going on an adventure! - Ren

It is a big world out there, but I'm ready -Ren

There are large swaths of land to cover, but I'm ready.. 

I mean look how far I've come already!!

Dude, you haven't gone that far - Onyx

Then I'll just go over here, this is far, right mom?? Right?? -Ren


_________________

Just a reminder about the Michaela and her Minions Calendar.
They are currently having a sale of 15% off until Nov 8th, use the code "FIFTEEN"

Monday, November 5, 2018

Onyx's Objects of Affection - naming day #teamOnyx


Just a reminder about the Michaela and her Minions Calendar.
They are currently having a sale of 15% off until Nov 8th, use the code "FIFTEEN"
--------------


Naming kittens is not easy.. Someone suggested that I use gemstone names for Onyx's kittens but I have done that in the past, and I wasn't ready to revisit it. A couple of these names popped up while I was watching Flashdance (MAN Kevin Bacon was young!!), one was a reader suggestion and one came from a clip on the morning news (the entertainment segment). So, without further ado..

Ren


Ren is just loving the camera these days. I have been getting some really great videos for my facebook page.

Milo


Milo is incredibly laid back. You pick him up and he just hangs out, it is adorable. He is solid black but he has a tinge of gray in some of the photos for some reason.

Kreb


Kreb has always been the most "vocal" hissing at me whenever I show up to visit them. He is starting to realize I am not a threat but there are still times that he will. The camera is also loving him quite a bit.

Romy


Romy had a white locket on her chest and a spot on her belly. She is also pretty laid back and she has a nice pudgy belly that I can't stop kissing.

I attempted to take some holiday shots so I can get some Christmas/Holiday cards out this year. I'd share the outtakes with you, but I have a feeling I'd get virtual rotten eggs thrown at my blog..  I'll probably share them when I announce sign-ups for cards. 
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