A trip to the shelter

The shelter was having Reiki today for staff and volunteers.  A local practitioner is a supporter of the shelter and they've done this before.  Considering how much stress I've been under I gave them a call yesterday to see if they had any additional openings, and they did.  So I signed myself up for one and went down.

Now I "know" what Reiki is, but I've never had a session.  I also haven't done anything like this at the shelter so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  They had me lay on the table while three of them laid their hands on me.  It was really rather interesting, as I seemed to be able to feel what they were trying to do and I seemed to feel that I had some serious road blocks that weren't quite ready to be let go of yet.. All in all a very interesting experience and I say if you get the chance, you should try it.

but.. being that this is a cat blog.. you didn't come here to read about me being blocked..

Hello, my name is Reiko!  I'm a handsome 6 year old  mandcat
and I'm FIV+

Reiko is a stunner!  He's got beautiful blue eyes (his ears were a little dirty but he didn't want me looking at that) and man this guy had so much attitude it nearly slayed me..

PAT ME!!

Next to Reiko was Krista, a three year old little girl that apparently needs to gain some serious weight. There is a card on her cage asking for her to be over fed.

She has a nice red blaze on the top of her head too.. it was hard to get a picture of her because she wouldn't sit still, and I didn't try to hard because right next door was...

I hung out with Charlotte for a few minutes while I waited for my appointment time.  She was a little hesitant about coming to the front of the cage, but I did my best to entice her and make it worth her while.  She finally climbed down from the karanda bed and I was able to give her some scritches and kisses.  But then it was my time, so I shut the cage door, promising to come back.

On the way to where they were having the sessions, I saw Gigi..

I can not believe she is still there.  Now if you remember, she was given the name "Little Cat" and the shelter won't change it.  I keep telling them, change her name to Gigi and she'll go home in an instant.  Change it to Lady Gigi and you'll probably have someone give you a $100 donation.   Gigi is a character, she'll let you hold her but she makes it obvious it isn't her first choice.  She'll let you snuggle her and kiss her, but she's just an 'old skinny black and white cat" with a silly name.. so no one really gives her a chance.

After my session I went back to see Charlotte.

I did my best to entice her to reach through the bars.  If you talk to people who adopt from shelters, they often tell you their cat reached out and grabbed them... so, anything to help our little girl get attention (Yes, I have tried teaching Gigi that, she says it is beneath her to preform.. she wants someone who appreciates her as is) It took Charlotte a few minutes to figure out what I wanted, but I say she succeeded very well - wouldn't you?

Apparently Reiko wasn't all that impressed with my teaching :)  I took Charlotte out of the cage and let her snuggle with me, rubbing her face all over mine. Oddly enough it almost seems if her fur finally decided to grow back.. *rolls eyes* why am I not surprised.

This is Harley.. he's a seven and a half yr old mancat.. just LOOK at those thumbs in that first photo.. sadly someone felt those feet needed to have their claws removed..  *shrug* Hopefully his new people show up soon..

Down at the far end from Charlotte is Chandler.  This boy is breaking my heart.  I have shared him with you before (the kitty with the cast on his leg) and because he is diabetic he is still there.  His cast is off but apparently he's a little depressed.

I patted him and GOBS of loose fur came off him. I am not in a position to take him right now, but he is still weighing on me pretty heavily.  I have a feeling he'll be in the kitten room come the weekend..  His back leg is still pretty wobbly, and it looked a little thin to me in the half second or two he let me see it.

*sigh*

Wouldn't it be great if we could save them all, that there were homes that were willing to take a plain ol black and white cat, or a diabetic kitty,  or a big hunk o love FIV kitty.. with out them having to sit at the shelter for months or years waiting..

Yeah, it really would.. 

Kitten Watch 2014

Graphic courtesy of Rene @ ATC

Kitten Watch 2014 has begun..

I brought Charlotte in to the shelter this morning. It hurt in more ways then one (that girl needs her nails trimmed) She was super snuggly this morning (probably to make up for the "I'm so not going to snuggle you" of last night) and she was doing her best to rub all over my face.

As much as I hate 'putting her thought this', it is a short bit of inconvenience so she can find her forever home where she can get all the love and play time she can handle.  Best wishes sweet one.. (and bring Gigi home with you.. I can NOT believe that girl is still there!!)

and we now wait for what comes next...

Charlotte the amazing..

Checking out the area the dog hangs out

Charlotte checking out the copier

Walking across the room

Yup I so own this place!

Is this all you've got?

What's on the other side of this door?

Well maybe outside can wait.. 

Charlotte has been on the shelter website for several weeks now 'available for adoption' but with out a single request for more information. Considering how fearful Charlotte was when she showed up, I was afraid to just drop her off at the shelter to be adopted thinking she would totally revert to being afraid. I thought I would try to take her in to work and see how she reacted there. I totally expected her to completely freak out which is why I took her on the weekend.  I figured if it went badly I could pack her right up and bring her home.

She did so amazingly well that at this point I'm pretty much being selfish by not bringing her in. I should have simply driven there afterwards and dropped her off. Then I should have arranged something afterwards.  Even now that little angel (or devil) on my shoulder is chiding me for not having emailed the shelter to see if they have room for her (of course they do, this is the slow season) and make plans to get her in there..

I know that until I do the shelter won't call me to take kittens (not that they have any to give at this point... there have only been a few and they generally go home with staff at this time of year because they get kitten fever too) so it will be soon.. but not today.. maybe tomorrow..

btw, someone asked about her coat.. it is still being weird..

There are a few more patches starting to grow in, her belly is doing slightly better.. I had realized that where her fur was growing back on her flank is where I put coconut oil to help her incision heal. So I dug out the remainder of that coconut oil that I had brought down and put some on her and had planned to use the rest of it over the next few days. Charlotte had other plans though and simply ate the oil right out of the shallow dish I had it in. She is the first cat out of 20 or so that I've offered it to that actually ate it

Oh Charlotte, what have you been up to?

Charlotte's new toy

Charlotte is one odd little duck.. She doesn't much like playing with balls or mice (she'll play with mice when I'm not around) tending to prefer the fishing pole toy.  So one day she was bored with that so I used the stick end to try to push the ball in the turbo track to entice her into playing with that and she fell in LOVE with playing with the stick..

No idea why she loved this so much, but she does, mewing when I take it away from her or stop playing..

Charlotte's glamour shots

Does this kitten take a bad photo??

She has been on the shelter website for a week with no takers.  I didn't want to bring her in because I was a little afraid for her since she has been on the verge of a cold since she got here.. but she really really needs a home of her own and I need her to move on since I'm still devoting most of my time to Jack.  She is such a doll, someone is going to be very lucky when they finally figure out that she's the one.

Charlotte in a basket

Kittens in a basket, is there anything more iconic?

Charlotte and her coat of many colors

Why hello there beautiful girl, would you mind showing us your little nekkid back?

As you can see, we still seem to have an odd pattern to the regrowth of her fur.  A lot of the 'guard hairs' are coming in on the nekkid areas, which you can see a little better on the bottom photo on the right side.

I have to say it can be mighty odd watching a cat regrow fur that has been shaved off.  I've seen and heard of several cats (our little Lion from a previous litter included) that when the fur of a shaved area grew back it grew back gray or white. This, however, is the first time I think I've seen it grow back like this..

Wordless Wednesday - Playtime with Charlotte

Toesday with Charlotte

Since it is Toesday, I thought I would clean my toesies.. 

I have to get them nice and clean

So I can go play!

Charlotte is still here

I heard from Shelley, and last I heard she was going to 'let me know' but at this point I haven't heard back, so I am going to start making arrangements with the shelter to try to find her a home. Not sure if I'll just bring her in, or send them a picture or two to use on their Facebook page in order to keep her stress level down.  I am hoping for the later because she has been sniffling since she started the antibiotic she was given to aid in the healing when she got out of surgery.  Since I had to take her off the antibiotic due to some pretty severe diarrhea, I never did put her back on it for the sniffles.  I tried silver (which is antibacterial) I've given her vitamin c and probiotics, I've given her lactoferrin, and still she is just a little sniffly.  Nothing made it better, it never got any worse. *shrug* Either she's got a cold and she just needs to get into a home and settle down to get rid of it (which is what I'm leaning to because a couple of my cats have developed weepy eyes in the past week) or she has allergies and hopefully getting into a home and settled down will help..

I've got pictures that will last the week.. Hopefully I end up with new kittens before I run out. I do know that one of the other foster homes in the area has a cat that just gave birth to three, so maybe if I bug them daily I'll get the next set that needs fostering :)

Charlotte's vet report

Sadly I didn't get to talk to the vet, but that's OK. Whomever she saw took an xray and everything looked fine, so they think that it is the soft tissue damage on her back that is throwing off her gait some how. Not really sure that is the only thing going on with her, but since her xray looked clean, I'm going with this is an issue she's just going to have to deal with, and hopefully in time as she gets used to the way her body works now (with said soft tissue damage) things will be much better.

Doesn't really explain what happened on Friday, but some of that might have been my being over protective.. (who me?? really??)  I think it is best if she is adopted by someone who has carpet through out their house - which I do not.

So now I just need to connect up with this Shelley person I've been told is smitten with her and see if it is a love match..

While I was at the shelter a woman came in with a mother cat and kittens.  The Spay/Neuter Clinic has a deal going on if you surrender a mother's kittens you get the mother cat spayed for free. They brought in a gaggle of little orange kittens... oh be still my heart.  Sadly (for me) they were all of size to be neutered and go up for adoption, so they won't be stopping by at Casa de Gato to hang out with Happy Bear.. but I'm sure there will be someone in that room soon enough.. Although currently Charlotte is still there and lovin it.

Let's Play!