I've been getting pictures of my last four fosters to be adopted, and I'm loving them to bits. I thought I would share them with you.
Issac Arnold and Smedley still continue to do well in their new home. I adore them just as much today as I did the day they walked out the door. Thank you Anne for continuing to share photos of them with me.
Perkins is doing wonderfully in his new home. There was issue originally with their resident cat Tigger not really liking this new little interloper.. but as you can see they are getting along very well.
Penelope Possum is doing wonderfully in her new house as well. She has a brother who is also black and white who she likes to pounce on... as well as a dog who appears to adore her. She is so full of purr and cuddle they are having a hard time getting good photos of her :) I love it.
I want to start off by thanking everyone who shared Issac Arnold and Smedley in an attempts to help find them a home. It was a direct result of one of those shares that connected them to Anne. Anne fell in love and the rest, as the old saying goes, is history.
She needed to make her home ready for two young rambunctious kittens so I got to hold on to them for a wee bit longer and I was OK with that. What is not to love about two kittens with motor engine purrs who adore sitting on a person... I spent as much time with them as I could to soak up all they had to offer and sadly, as a result, some of my other obligations became a bit neglected, but I do think it was worth it. :)
Anne came up from Connecticut to Maine a nearly 3-hour drive to adopt them. She asked me if they passed and I would let her adopt, to which I said anyone who is willing to drive three hours to adopt (and pay the adoption fee) kittens was head and shoulders ahead in my book.. not to mention special needs kittens - which these two definitely are with their food restrictions..
It was rather an interesting experience because even when I opened the door, as I invited her and her mother to meet them before going to adopt them, I had this feeling I had met her before. That feeling only grew as we spent time together. Even her mother gave me the feeling we had known each other for quite some time.
The boys weren't immediately drawn to them, but they very quickly got used to them and in no short order were crawling into Anne's lap and rubbing against Janet's ankles. Decisions were confirmed and we packed up the boys and brought them over to the shelter to make it official.
Yes, I sobbed on the way over there.. and yes I sobbed on the way home, but I KNOW it was the right thing.. It took no time at all for the boys to acclimate to their new homes (see above) and absolutely everybody is smitten with everybody else.
Fortunately, I had a great distraction when I got home. The fluffkins needed to get out of the bathroom so I took them down to the kitten room and they initially freaked out and then calmed right down.
They were so happy to have room to run and run they did and did not stop. I was fearful of the two not pictured above would hide under the couch and I'd never see them again so we blocked it off.. someone wasn't happy with that..
I have a will, I will FIND a way..
Little Miss Blue-eye has an odd issue going on. The fur under her chin is matting daily. I comb it out and smooth it down and the next time I go in it is all matted up again. In getting the mats taken care of her little neck is going bald.. I have a feeling it is from poor nutrition prior to coming here, but I can't know that. She is a little thin and a little boney so it makes sense. I'm just hoping that once all of her fur starts growing back in she doesn't have this issue. Fortunately, she doesn't mind being groomed at all.
It looks like two of our little fluffkins have already found themselves a home. So more adoption stories will be forthcoming in the coming weeks..
I would like to start out by wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving. Since the internet is global I know that not everyone who reads this is celebrating, but there is never a bad time to give thanks, so hopefully you will take a moment to remember to be thankful for something.
What I am thankful for is you. Yes, you, the you who would sit and read a cat blog. You who would right a cat blog. You who comment and tell me my kittens are cute, and complement me on the amazing job I do with kittens and call me names that make me blush like a blessing or an angel. Fostering and volunteering at the shelter puts me in touch with the worst of humanity when it comes to animals.. I see things and hear things that make my toes curl and just make me hate people.. Being reminded daily that there are people who do not see what I do as a waste or stupid helps me do what I do.. so yes, every day you show up and comment you are making a difference in a kitten's life.. It may seem trivial, but trust me there are days when I am pretty sure I can't go on save for the fact that I know there are cat people out there..
So..
Thank you!!
and I'm also thankful for the following..
Jack
Muffin
Eli
Twee (aka Tweedle)
Kit (aka Daddy's Girl)
Fleurp
Skippy
The boys,
because seriously.. they are awesome..
The Fluffkits..
who all came out to eat when I was laying right next to the food dish
and a husband who sees value in spending time rubbing a Jack Belly..
I have a very full weekend ahead of me, hopefully I'll have time to share with you all before Monday, but I'm not going to stress over it if I don't..
So, for some reason I have been mental lately.. Kind of like my keyboard not typing the T key all the time.. I just have been trying to do too many things at once, forgetting things, and being horribly distracted.
I have a couple of huge projects at work going on, and frankly they are taking way too long because I keep getting distracted..
Today was no exception, and after work I had an errand to run after work and I was out way too late meandering through the store because I was distracted..
I got home and had to feed the kittens. The fluffs are halfway into me, and I think we made progress with The Lion and The Melody Lookalike. Then I went down to see ... The Boys..
HEY!! GET IN HERE WOMAN!!
Is she coming in here or what??
I brought my dinner (and my husband) down with me. He snuck in while I was taking photos, and I snuck in while they were sniffing his ankles.. (The boys are so ready to go to their forever home, that they are willing to break out of the Kitten Room to find it - which btw, if everything goes according to plan will be on Friday)
So I walk in and see they have knocked their water over and it is all over the floor, including getting Happy Bear all wet. I called them names and told them I didn't like them any more, and proceeded to wipe it up, and they proceeded to 'help' which means getting their paws all wet and wondering why their paws are wet..
Give me that pizza.. I couldn't for several reasons (onions, their digestive systems) so I had to keep plopping them on the floor. DH tried to keep my dinner kitten free and was having a hard time. As soon as he put one kitten on the floor two would be on my lap (and yes, there was only two of them)
By the time I finished my dinner they were frustrated and had gone to the other side of the room to sit quietly and look freakingly adorable (nope, no picture sorry) and look at us with sad eyes.. Issac Arnold cried out sadly and I told him to come to me.. he looked at me questioningly and I said yes, come here you cute boy, and he jumped down in my general direction.
My husband was floored, he didn't think kittens would come if you called, especially with out food.. but then Issac Arnold got distracted by a toy and stopped.. His view of the world was restored.. to which I laughed and called him again once. Issac Arnold looked up and came running to me. Smed looked at us and wondered what was going on. I told my husband to watch and I called him and Smed came running over and spent the next half hour rubbing his face all over my face /nose / neck.. Issac Arnold started to groom DH.. we had a nice little love fest.
Part of the adoption fee for cats at the shelter is that they come vaccinated. The shelter does the FVRC vaccine and the vet does the rabies (per the fact that it is required by law). I'm pretty adept at giving vaccines so I'm happy to give the booster at the house when it comes due (and if I think of it) so they don't get so many vaccines at once and on a day of surgery as well.
The virus and the sterile water to mix it with
and the two pipettes for delivery
Mixed
Issac Arnold had absolutely no problem with this.
He is such an easy going kitten
Smedley on the other hand, said NO THANK YOU LADY!!
and nearly fell off the scratching post.
Issac Arnold just wanted more attention
Now as you may know from reading my blog I'm not the biggest fan of vaccines because I do not believe that benefits outweigh the risks in every situation. There are many many side effects to vaccines including "VAS" which is vaccine associated sarcoma - a cancer that ended up taking the life of my kitty Ollie. It is a very very invasive cancer and very hard to treat and contain. It can be done, but you need to be very aggressive. I belong to a online group of people who have had a kitty who had VAS, and many are very active and this is their cause. They spend time reading and researching and in more than one case suing the manufactures trying to get them to take responsibility for this and make vets warn people of the risks - how many of you got vaccines for your kitties and were never warned about VAS?.
Well one member of the group learned about nasal vaccines she asked about them. I mentioned my vet cautioned against them because if they were going to get cancer from the vaccine you wouldn't want it in the nasal cavity to which "Mick & The Boys" replied
I had that same concern for a long time. I first heard of the Heska nasal vaccine back when I first joined this group twelve years ago, and it's taken me from then 'til now to get it for my kitty Boy
In that twelve years we haven't had any cases of nasal cancer that could be associated with the nasal vaccine, and the vets at the clinic say that they've never heard or read of one either. So I've finally concluded that it's probably pretty safe. Even after twelve years I don't feel certain that it's completely safe. I don't think there will ever be a feline vaccine that's 100% safe.
Which I find all so very fascinating.. so I thought I would share with you.
Kitties!! Do you find yourself constantly harassed by the Pawpurrazzi?? Do you wish you could take a nap with out hearing the annoying click click in your face or stretch out your toes with out direction and lenses all up in your business??
Well I have just the solution to your problems.. Guaranteed to get the pesky Pawpurrazzi off your back for years to come..
This is a once in a life time offer.. how could you possibly refuse??
Also good for substitutions when you are sick and tired of being kissed and cuddled as these two can not get enough of it.. You can also count on them to beg for extra treats and food so you can indulge with out looking like a gluten.. They also purr nearly continually if anyone is in need of purr therapy..
This unique opportunity is a limited one time offer. Act now and this could all be yours!! This offer runs out on Thursday. Arrangements absolutely can and will be made if you would like to take advantage of this offer.. I am actually heading to Kansas in a couple of weeks and they can easily come on the plane with me if anyone in the area would like to adopt them..
Just when I thought there was no hope of getting them on commercial foods, a ray of light appeared in the form of a nice looking tootsie in the box. Then another and another..
Yup, we are awesome and we know it!
I am going to introduce them to shredded food next, then dry food.. and if all goes well I'll be returning them to the shelter for adoption since no one has stepped up saying they want these two boys. I very much hope they will adopt them out together. I can not bear the thought of them being separated.
So, we have come to the point in this set of fosters that I was not looking forward to. The girls were doing so well and hit size a while back so it really was time to get them to the shelter to find their forever homes. I brought them in yesterday. The staff ooohed and aaahed over them, how good they looked, how pretty they were.. and there was a bit of discussion about just how BIG they were. Both were around three and a half pounds (they should be brought back at two pounds). Oddly enough Mishka who I have always considered the smallest of the bunched weighed more than Verona who I always considered larger. Ah well.. I guess her bones were heavier. So now they are now at the shelter waiting for their forever home/s.
I bought some cat toys from Frieda at the cat show this past weekend. The cat show was a bit of a disappointment in that there were only a few retailers of merchandise. One being outdoor cat enclosures, another being hand made cat trees and the third being Frieda. I got a few photos, I might turn it into a blog post if anyone is interested.
As you can see, the toys were a huge hit!!
So now we are on a quest to get the boys on conventional food. I have a few things to try. They had one meal of canned food last night and this morning their stool was large and soft, so it is not looking good. I fear very much these two will have to be raw fed. I know I should not fear this, as I believe anyone who is willing to take on kitty with a special needs diet to be a class of super adopters that I hope every kitten gets adopted into, but it is about me.. I do not want to be the "crazy raw feeding" foster home that seemingly has a never ending supply of kittens that can't eat anything but raw food..
But in the end, I will do what is right for these two (and no, it is NOT adopting them myself even though I REALLY REALLY want to in a 'lets not take reality into play here' sort of way. Smed is needy.. he demands a lot of attention and that would not go over very well with my own needy kitties. They already think I don't give them nearly enough time.
So if you are willing to feed raw food, and you might like a kitty that will buff your face with his cheek and ask that you kiss him until your lips fall off, I so have the kitten for you.. If you want one stocky boy with a round ping pong ball shaped head who likes attention and loves licking toes, I so have the kitten for you.. and if you want them both I will love you forever..
So, in the past I've extolled the virtues of feeding a raw diet to your kitty. Often I hear, but it is expensive, I can not afford to feed my cat raw..
I totally understand that, I do. I've been homeless so I have run almost all of the gambit of the financial situations people can be in (I'm still waiting for the wealthy part.. if anyone has a couple of million to spare to help me achieve that, I'm game! )
I also understand change in and of itself can be expensive. A lot of cats will not transition off their food due to the simple fact that they are cats and it is in their nature. If they have been eating just one food or one type of food their whole life, getting them to try something else can be very very difficult. But I implore you to all try it for the simple fact that one day you might NEED to change your cat's diet (be it on to raw, or something else for some reason we can't even think of yet) and if you are left with a stubborn cat who refuses to eat anything but what they have been eating you might be in a life or death situation.
So anyway.. price..
I ran out of raw food the other day and ran down to my local pet store and purchased not only a 5lb container of raw food, but four packages of dehydrated food so The Crew would have something for dinner. I picked up four packages of Stella & Chewy individual servings. I knew this was not going to be a full dinner for seven cats but I had something else at home to complete the meal. Each package was $1.89 and was designed to be equivalent to one 3 oz can of food.
Now I highly highly doubt that you feed $2.00 cans of food to your kitty. A prescription can of cat food can run you almost $2.00 but those generally are 5-6 oz cans so it is per day.. a good quality canned food can run $1.50 a can, Fancy Feast is $0.58 per can so $1.16 per day and your generic Walmart brand of cat food works out to $0.44 a 5.5 oz can.. Non generic store brand cat food works out to about $0.50 a 5.5 oz can.. The general consensus is that canned food fed cats eat between 5-6 oz of food per day
Dry food? The general consensus on feeding a dry food is 1/2 to 1 cup per day. I would imagine the higher quality 'grain free' dry foods would be fed at the lower amounts while your general store brand cat foods would be at the higher amount.. but for the sake of this post not being a mile long lets just go with a cup. A three pound bag of food holds 12 cups. Now we all know you can buy a bag 3lb of food for under $5 which works out to $0.42 a day a 3lb bag of grain free food can be $12 which is a dollar a day (and it goes up from there)
Raw? I bought one five pound container of raw food at my local store. They come in 2, 5 and 10lb containers. The larger the container the smaller the per serving price and if I buy a case at a time I get a further discount. I thaw it out, and I feed my cats. I store the remainder in the fridge and it keeps for just shy of a week (I can make it last a whole week but it starts to smell a little stronger than I would like. My cats still eat it just fine and have never had an issue when the food sits around) If we thaw out more than we will feed in a week we will often refreeze it in smaller containers. My big strong strapping kitties eat 2-3 ounces of raw per meal and we feed twice a day. That five pound chub of food cost me $12 which works out to $0.15 per ounce or $0.60 to .90 per day.
(btw, all prices are based on buying in bulk.. 24 cans at a time, 3lbs of dry food, etc)
I can bring that price down even further if I make my own food. Granted to do so you need a grinder (actually you don't need a grinder as a lot of people feed their cats what is called 'frankenprey' but often getting an adult cat on to non ground raw food is a bit more complicated so that would be information for another post) Buying chicken thighs, livers, eggs and a few supplements often means you can feed for .09 or .10 an ounce, bringing the cost to $0.36 - 0.60 per day..
Now, admittedly feeding generic food is cheaper, but in our own diet eating a continual diet of McDonald's food is cheaper than what we generally eat, but we generally do not do that because it is not healthy. We eat not only to feed ourselves for the day, but to sustain our body over our lifetime. Eating species appropriate foods and avoiding overly refined and over processed foods keeps us healthy and helps us avoid heath issues such as diabetes, kidney disease, and to some extent cancer. This is no less true for our own cats. Removing the grains, and the fruits and vegetables from our cat's diet improves their health dramatically and often helps the cat lose weight while actually eating better more nutritious food. (and then there is the reduced litter box odor, reduced litter use, reduced waste of cans etc)
and I am not the only one to think so.. Check out this page..
And according to the kittens.. raw is much more fun!
The first video is 6 minutes of four kittens eating 25 chicken hearts..
The second video is Smedley trying to eat his..
