Saturday 24 November 2012

ANIMAL KRACKERS' CHRISTMAS BAZAAR

Which is a lot better than that horrible word 'fayre'.

Held, as usual, in St.Aidan's church hall, Grangetown, it was a big success. So a big thank you to all the volunteers who helped get everything together, staffed the various stalls, provided refreshments, and did all the other things that needed to be done. Also a big thank you to everyone who came and spent money. Extra thanks to Steven, a  church volunteer who organises the hall.

Not as many photos as I'd like because some of them turned out crap; that is, grainy rather than sharp -I'll put one in as an example. First off, your humble blogger who sat next to the door for nearly two hours taking in the admission money. I'm quite happy sitting down and having people give money to me. An ideal job in fact. Except I didn't get to keep the cash.


 Ann Steabler, always busy behind the scenes of the shop.



The ladies of the refreshments

Lyn (right), one of our cat fosterers

Big Ian, Master of the Tombola

 Mark & Dawn of Ferryfarm Kennels who are hosting our cat re-homing centre







Last, but definitely not least, Sue Hardy who is the glue that holds Animal Krackers together and the engine that keeps us all going.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

ANIMAL KRACKERS CAT RE-HOMING CENTRE IS NEARLY HERE





 Above are a few of the units which have been fitted with cat furniture. There is a separate sleeping compartment at the back which will, sometime, have some form of heating in it for the colder months.

We hope to start bringing in cats early next week and have ten ready to come to their new (and hopefully temporary) home.

More details (I hope) next week.




By the way, does anyone want a guinea pig or four? We have some in our shop. Personally I don't understand their appeal. All they do is scuttle around and squeak, especially when you try and touch them. And cuddling a rabbit is far more soothing.




Heavens, no cat photo. Okay, this is Sippy whose real, Greek, name is unpronounceable. He's currently living above the shop and could well be our first re-homing centre resident.


Friday 9 November 2012

THE BIG BALD BLACK CAT

Not been too well over the last four weeks. Started off with bursitis -agonising pain in the elbow which didn't get properly diagnosed for five days, but when I did get them the antibiotics cleared it up pretty quickly. Then I got a cold which went onto my chest which has left me coughing up -no, I won't go there- for the last two weeks and leaving me feeling generally pretty ropy. Not enough to keep me from cat activities but definitely away from the gym. So this is another bits and pieces type of post.

First-

1. The Big Black Cat.

There's a lot of background to this story but because I don't want to identify the person involved I'm going to have to keep it vague. Suffice to say that there's a person who took elderly cats off our hands and when she went abroad last year, Andrea of Animal Krackers took a week each to look after the four cats in her house. Then recently we heard that she'd been taken into hospital so I went to take care of the cats, going in the morning and teatime to feed them and do what was necessary to the cat litter. This time, however, there were only two and I noticed immediately that one of them, despite being on medication, had a condition which had seriously deteriorated.





I took these photos at Wendy's (our regular vet) with my phone hence the poor quality where he was diagnosed with a flea allergy and he was covered in them. You can't tell but he has one green eye and one brown and he's also very friendly. 

The afternoon after I took him to the vet I called round and found another gentleman arriving to feed the cats. We were both surprised but, as he just lived locally, we agreed he'd keep doing in and I'd provide food and litter as neccessary. Which was fine. A few days later he called me to tell me the owner was back but that she was moving. Next day I called round to check on the cats to find someone else there -but no owner- boxing up stuff for her. There was no sign of the other cat either. Next morning I came back again to find no-one there, everything boxed up, and just big baldy in residence. I don't even know if he'd been fed.

Enough was enough. I rang Carole who agreed to take him so I took him and he's now being looked after.

2. Animal Krackers Cat Re-homing Centre.

I haven't written much about this for a while because I've got sick of promises unfulfilled and constant put-offs. But now, only three months late, we should be starting to take in cats by the end of next week. But only believe that when I publish photos here of cats in residence and don't hold your breath.

Meanwhile, here are some crappy pictures I took last week. They were taken when I brought a van full of cat furniture to be stored on site.






3. Two Kittens.

Got a call this morning. A dad had just got two 8-week old kittens for his children who screamed the place down in fear when they saw them. He was really upset about having to re-home them but it just hadn't worked out. I called Carole who I knew would take them in  and went round to pick them up. By the time I'd got to Carole's she already had a home for them. She'd just received a call from a lady who sounded -and proved to be- very nice. I spoke to Carole a minute ago to confirm they had been re-homed and they had.

If only it was always that easy.

Here they are.




4. Three kittens.

I don't know much about these except that Carole took them in last week and immediately got them to Wendy's for treatment. They're a little wild but are being tamed down by Carole's grand daughter.