Saturday / Sunday

I left you yesterday with the kittens back in their cage and everyone a little stressed out.  When I went back into the kitten room that night for dinner there was vomit all over the room.  Six to eight piles of bile.. It was more than a little disconcerting .. especially since I had no idea who did it.  They were small enough they could have been Ella..

I put down food, and shortly there after Elsa vomited.  So now we know

It was late in the day so the shelter was closed. I had no idea what was going on, but Elsa was interested in food, she was playing with Ella and she didn't seem in any more distress than she had been prior to the kittens showing up, so I left her for the night.

The kittens were very happy to get more food.  They are little more than fur and bones.  I've seen worse, but that doesn't make this any better.  To tame ferals, I usually make food the reward, but being so thin it felt almost cruel to withhold any food from them, so I gave them a great big bowl of dry, some water and more canned food than they should have been able to eat.  They were also covered in flea dirt.  Cuddling them I tried to dislodge as much as I could - I even found a tick.. eww.  I hate ticks.  They had been treated and the fleas I pulled off them were dead, but the tick's legs were moving after I dislodged him.  The food helped them forget the incidents of the afternoon, and we were pretty much back to square one - which I was thankful for.

So I went back down Saturday morning, and there were more piles of vomit around the room.  Not as much, but some.

well remember this picture?

I had bought a box of small garbage bags to scoop litter into since I ran out of grocery bags.  With the garbage bags came a pack of twist ties.  I didn't see them until I had gone through about half of the box, and when I did I put them in the draw that I keep the food in.  Well a few days later I found a majority of the pack on the floor and someone had been having their way with them.  I picked up all I could find and threw them away.  Well two days later I found a few more.    Then this..

and then the vomiting and the grumpiness.. In my wildest fears I assumed she ate a twist tie, so I called the shelter to report the vomiting and the fact that it was possible.  I don't know she ate one, there is no way to find out.. Well the shelter has a clinic and the vet was in so they had me bring her in.  She was examined and nothing major happened.. They wanted to keep her a while and see if she ate and pooped.. I was out of the house most of the day and when I got home there was a call from the shelter manager.

Being as Elsa is a "rambunctious" cat, there is a serious fear about putting her up for adoption.  She can't go into a community room where kids show up all the time, because I can't say she won't go after them.  The other option is to put her in a cage, which does not go over well with her at all.  And with possible medical issues and looking at having to invest more in a cat that currently has no prospects at all, well a discussion had to be had.

I figured this discussion was going to have to happen at some point.  I keep working with Elsa, but each time I try I see her skin ripple down her back and watch her get over stimulated each and every time.  Is there a home for Elsa?  I have no doubt that there are some people out there who would appreciate her unchecked reactions, but it is a very very limited pool, and finding them without being able to properly house her.. well lets just say it is sad, and it makes me want to work with her more... but facing possible surgery and that expense and what not.. I was resigning myself to the fact that this might have been the best possible way for my psyche to handle all of this.  

So Sunday morning I went in to face the music.  I was preparing myself to say goodbye.

Then there was this..

I want out!!

No vomiting, active, vocal, looking like herself, and trying to get that kitten to play with her.  I talked to a staff member and they said she seemed to be fine.  I was told the manager wasn't going to be in until Tuesday so I was able to take her home and continue to monitor her.

Yup, I adore this little kitten.  I am assuming he is a boy, simply because he is orange.  Silly I know because I've fostered my own share of female orange kittens.  O.. M... C.. this kitten was obnoxiously friendly.  One of those kittens that could be turned away for being TOO friendly and purring TOO loud.. I can't tell you how badly I wanted to stick him in my pocket and bring him home to help everyone understand what a friendly cat is.. :)

Sadly Niki was STILL at the shelter when I went in on Sunday.  Paws crossed she has a home now.  The shelter even has reduced their fees because they still have a slew of kittens and are full up with cats..   Even our shelter who has awesome adoption rates is struggling.  This is when those people who say a no kill nation is actually an option across the nation right now and they actually believe that pet overpopulation is a myth drive me up the wall.  but that is another post..

Anyway.  The reunion was interesting.  Elsa seemed a little annoyed when she got home.  She ate, she inspected every ounce of the room.  She shunned Ella for about an hour.. She ignored the orphans.. she growled and made unhappy vocal noises.. was she unhappy or were these HER happy noises?? I have no idea.

Once she settled down, I let the boy out for a bit.  He and Ella played.  Elsa got in on it a little.  She played very nicely, groomed him a little, but mostly stayed out of things.  After a while I thought it was time to put him away, and I was able to heard him into an area where I could easily get him to minimize the stress of my trying to get him.  I gave him a snuggle and a few kisses and put him back in the cage.

so at this point we are in a holding pattern and hoping for the best..

and then there were..

Well we had a pretty event filled weekend.

Friday I went to the shelter to pick up some more shredded food for Elsa.  But not the chunked food, or the shredded by that OTHER company, the RIGHT shredded foods or she won't eat.  While I was there one of the staff members mentioned to me they had some not so social kittens in the back that could use my touch.

I went to go see them.  They were hunkered in the back of the cage trying to be invisible and I so needed to help them.  And Ella so very much needed a sibling or three, so I agreed to take them.

Elsa has always seemed very interested in The Crew.. never aggressive or upset when they sit in the window, so I figured it would just be a matter of time before everyone could be fully integrated.  I'm not a huge fan of doing this, mixing litters, but sometimes the benefit does outweigh the risk.  The risk being that even though they were all tested for disease, they could still be harboring something or have something they can't test for. Sadly it has happened to me in the past, so I know how real the risk is.  The benefit would be better socialization of the new three kittens, a better mannered Ella, and very possibly new communication skills for Elsa.  So home they came.

a positive first step

Well look at that, they are all out at the front of the carrier.. pretty impressive for kittens that just a few minutes ago wanted to be invisible..   I cleaned out the cage and reset it for kittens..

What's this??  What's that??  OMC FOOD!!!

Hey, what are you?? 

Momma Momma.. LOOK!!

Why hello you three

Why are you locked up??

I must say overall I was very impressed with the way the intros went.  I brought home that little carpeted cubbie for them incase Elsa got annoyed, but she was so open and accepting of them, and they were so open and accepting of her, that I decided to speed up intros.  I sat by the cage and opened the door.  The boy (gray and white) is the most outgoing and the least fearful of me.  He flinches a little when I go to pick him up in the cage, but loves being patted and having the base of his tail scratched.  The girls were much more leery of me and prefered that I not deal with them at all, but I was able to get them to eat, and I was able to touch them and hold them until they relaxed, so I let them explore the litter box area.  Elsa came over and groomed them and things were going so well.  I knew it was going to be a bit of a risk letting them have full run of the room, but at some point you do have to trust a feral kitten to come near you on their own (well with the help of a fishing pole toy... or food)

What's with the flashy box

That gray kitten in the far left side is a photo

You so need to be licked.. 

lick lick lick

What about me??

ooh, what is so interesting?

a twist tie - more on this later

Hi pretty girl

Handsome boy

and this is where it starts to go down hill... 

Shortly after that last picture was taken Elsa started growling and vocalizing in a not quite so happy way.  Since she doesn't like being restrained, and the kittens don't want me coming right at them to pick them up I was at a bit of a loss what to do.  Finally Elsa came out and I was able to get my hands on her and I locked her away in a carrier.  This was NOT what she wanted, and she kept trying to break out by pawing at the door and turning herself upside down.. This of course freaked out the kittens and getting them was nearly impossible.  I ended up trying to grab the fluffy girl and she turned on me and it got bad.. but in the end everyone was fine and where they should be.  I left the room so everyone could calm down.

continued tomorrow...

Saturday Squee part two

so Ella has the cutest markings on her foot..

Ella invents a sibling

There is a serious problem for kittens who are born without siblings.  They don't have anyone with which to learn what is appropriate play.  They tend to be overly aggressive and lack boundaries   Ella has two strikes against her because her mom is overly aggressive and lacks boundaries as well, so it these types of behaviors seem more appropriate to her.

So we are reintroducing the hand monster which is not afraid to do things to her she doesn't much like (but that doesn't hurt) so she can learn that when she cries out "no" that play stops.  Foot monster, however, is her favorite adversary.  It moves slowly across the floor, it is kitten sized and it rears up for combat.. It is her new favorite playmate, much in a way a sibling would be..

and fortunately it does occasionally win the wrestling match - which helps her learn humility.. or at least how to lose gracefully.. or at least how to lose... OK fine, she runs away when she doesn't get her way.. which frankly is not a bad thing..  because she very well could turn more aggressive and work at trying to hurt me into submission.. (little does she know she can do that by being so darn cute)

In the last three photos she is completely off the floor hanging off my foot.

Blogoversary comment-a-thon update

Well it has been two weeks since I started my little comment-a-thon for my blogoversary, and as of right now I've gotten 53 comments on the original post and a total of 260 comments for a total donation of $65! (come on, we can do better than that!!)

So for one more week I'll keep adding up comments and sometime on the 9th I'll make another announcement about the final total.

There has been another wonderful development.

Javi from Chewy.com reached out to me regarding my website and he mentioned that they have a great program for animal shelters and rescues.  I thanked him for his kind words about my blog and mentioned the less than impressive response I got from Chewy.com when I contacted them about my comment-a-thon.  It wasn't that they weren't happy to have me buy food from them, but they just didn't seem all that excited nor overly interested in helping.  Well Javi was surprised by this and offered to make a contribution on my behalf to the shelter and contacted them yesterday about sending them some canned food directly to them!!  isn't that awesome!?!

I've asked the shelter to send me pictures when it arrives..

I can tell you the food is going to be really appreciated, and I personally thank them, and Javi,  for doing this.