IAN'S PERMANENT CREW

And there they are. From top to bottom, or left to right (same thing):  

Fifi, Rikki, Aelfric, Lily, and Emma. 

That is it. No more. I am having no more cats in this house. Well, except maybe the odd mother and tiny kittens in the conservatory, at a pinch, if it's desperate. But otherwise, no chance. I meant it. Seriously.

I had Rikki at the vets yesterday because it looked like the stitches in his eyes were coming loose. Wendy removed them easily enough resulting in an immediate improvement in his appearance. His eyes are still swollen but I expect that will change fairly soon. Here, have a closer look.

And while you're here, have a look at some other photos I took at the same time.

 

It's pretty clear that Rikki has settled in and that the other cats aren't bothered about him being here. He's not friends with them yet but he's only been in the house since last Thursday -five days in total- so he's still settling in. It may take a couple of months but I'll be surprised if he doesn't end up cuddling with the three on bed above. He's a nice quiet and affectionate cat and I'm very fond of him already.

As for Jeff's kittens, two are going tomorrow, another is reserved, which leaves only the black and white one from the other litter (see the Cats Needing Homes list for details). I had that one and his brother at the vets yesterday because their two homed brothers had been taken there by their new owner and diagnosed with worms. Although my two hadn't noticably suffered from diarrhea I thought it best to get them checked and Wendy prescribed a wormer for them, all of them which I'm currently giving them. Also gave Jeff a worming tablet to be on the safe side.

Talking of Jeff, the student I got her from still wants her when she's settled. I had expected to hear from her last week but didn't. If the student (now ex-student) changes her mind then I'll have to find a new home for her.

Unless I keep her.

What? I know what I said above but you don't know Jeff. She's a beautiful cat, seems okay with the others, and is very friendly. I'm not saying I will keep her but it's very tempting. I mean 5 cats, 6 cats, there's not much difference really. But I'm only keeping her as the last resort. Well, second resort to be accurate. See for yourself -a nice natured cat like this is hard to resist.

 

Well if you're going to be like that about it...

RIKKI, JEFF'S KITTENS, & ME

Rikki is proving to be a very loving cat. He seems to have down quickly to life in my bedroom. When I enter the room he gets up, comes to me and pretty much demands that I make a fuss of him. After initially curling up under a small stool or in a secluded corner, he now spends most of the time on my bed.

Yesterday I allowed a brief encounter with Aelfric resulting in a touching of noses for several seconds. Today the same thing happened only four times in the space of a minute or so. It's clear they're sizing each other up with the conclusion so far that the other isn't a threat. I took my camera upstairs and tried to repeat it to get a photo of the two together but Rikki stayed unmoving on the bed while Aelfric wandered round and Emma ate the rest of the sachet of food he'd left.

I'm cautiously hopeful that he'll be staying here.

As for the three I moved on to the re-homing centre, I've just received an email from one of our cat cuddlers who is very taken with all of them.

I'm trying to wean the kittens so that Jeff's milk will dry up and I can get her spayed. It's a gradual process involving letting Jeff out of the conservatory to spend more time in the living room but sooner or later she'll be howling to be let back in with her kittens. The kittens themselves, including the two newcomers, are all thriving on the variety of food I give them but still can't resist the occasional snack from Jeff and that includes the newcomers who are both well integrated with their roomies.

All are now keen to interact with me, in the conservatory at least. Outside in the living room they won't let me touch them but that's more a case of it being a different environment. I'm more than confident that their new owners -two are going to the same person next week leaving three still available- will find them sociable and playful.

Here's what they look like as of this afternoon, starting with Jeff on the settee in the living room, followed by one each of the newbies, and then a mix.

IT'S OFFICIAL: I'M A COMPLETE IDIOT

Of course you all knew that anyway, yeah, yeah, it's not news to anyone but me or rather not that I'd have admitted it but now I can't deny it any longer.

Let me tell you a story.

For the last day and a half I have been enjoying the sheer blissful of tranquillity of living in a house with only four cats who all get on together. I can wake up in bed and find at least three curled up next to me, all comfortable in each others' company. They have me to themselves (I'm not counting Jeff and her kittens in the conservatory) and aren't being terrorised by cats who don't like other cats. Wonderful.

Then this morning I went swimming as usual (well, as usual if I wake up in time or if I decide not to go back to bed, the latter happening on Tuesday). When I swim my mind wanders as I think about things like writing a blog post, doing a draft in my head, or reflecting on something else. Today my mind went to Rikki the cat who had to have an operation on his eyes because eyelid hairs were growing into the eyeball. Such a sad looking thing. I was due to take him to the vets again today but this time because he was losing patches of fur. His eyes still look messy but are healing well.

And I thought to myself (as opposed to thinking to someone else): maybe I could try fostering him and see how he gets on with my cats. He did come in with two others who have since been re-homed so might be quite sociable and mine want to be friends with newcomers. Then I thought about something else.

"It's stress," said Wendy the vet and asked if their was a socket in the pen so we could try Felway a herbal aromatic which had some success in calming cats. I rang Ferry Farm and Mark told me they could by using a long cable but there wasn't a socket as such.

"Oh socket," I said to Wendy, "I'll take him home and give him a try. He might be better in my house."

So I did and here he is on my bed. The Felway is plugged in next to it.

I'm quietly optimistic that this might just work.

And there you go. I just get the cat population down to what I wanted in my house and all is calm and I take in another bloody cat. Mind, he's on the fostering list. Anyone wants him they can have him.

Hello?

GOODBYE MUDDY AKA MONTY

Regular readers may remember the story of Muddy, an ailing elderly cat found sitting on a grass verge, who I took to the vets and fostered for a short while before, much to my surprise, finding him a new home and taking the new name of Monty. Now neither myself nor the new owners thought this weary battered but affectionate cat had a long life ahead of him. All the same it still felt upsetting when I received this email a couple of days ago-

Hi Ian

Just to let you know the sad news that Monty was put to sleep this morning due to kidney failure.

Thank you for letting me foster him for the short time we had together.

 

Victoria

To which all I can add are my thanks to Victoria and her partner for giving Monty the love and care he received from them for the last few weeks of his life and which made his passing so much easier. I wish he'd had longer.

**************************************************************************

I

I thought a similar situation might be arising with this one. Yesterday I got a call about a stray cat who'd been regularly fed by people in a quiet close at Silksworth. I went up, took one look him, and popped him in the basket. The people who'd contacted me were lucky as the 17 year old cat I'd more or less agreed to take in on Tuesday never arrived so I did have space, especially as three of my foster-cats had gone to the re-homing centre. I couldn't take him to the vets immediately as I had a committee meeting at 4.30 so I left him in the large cage.

When I got back some 90 minutes later he'd messily soiled the cat bed (see above) which I had to clean and put in the washer before I did anything else. Then off the to the vets.

Alas this isn't a story with a happy ending. Apart from a head covered in ticks, he had cat flu and at his age lacked the resources to fight it off. There were only two alternatives, neither pleasant: give him a booster shot and return him to where he came from to look after himself as I had no resources to cope with a cat in that condition; or to put him to sleep. You won't be surprised that Holly the vet and I decided the latter was the kindest option.

Can't win 'em all.
 

GOODBYE AND GOODBYE AND GOODBYE

I'll be honest, I live in a small house. The garden is about twice the size. Don't get me wrong though, I like living here. The location is convenient and the house being compact makes it relatively easy to keep clean. Well it would if I wasn't such an idle rude word and I didn't have so many cats which makes the house smell. I can only open my bedroom windows when the door is closed and all cats ejected because the windows open from the bottom up. The living room isn't too bad because the bay window is divided into three with the opening windows at the top of each panel. Even then I can only open them a little so as to deter a persistent cat from forcing the gap wider and getting out as happened once.

So I decided to be ruthless and reduce the number of cats I'm looking after, specifically those I'm fostering. Two were easy to decide upon. The first was Frank, the people-friendly but cat-bullying black and white two year old I took in three weeks ago. Then Gilgamesh the beautiful ocicat who likes people but was even worse with cats than Frank. Every cat is the house was afraid of him. And lastly I decided to let Aoife go. I've had her for fifteen months, her and her three adopted kittens and two of her own -all but one has either been adopted or is at our re-homing centre.  But it wasn't an easy decision as she's very loving but doesn't like other cats and I've been changing my mind constantly, but in the end...  In the end as of a few hours ago, all three have taken up residence at our re-homing centre at Ferry Farm kennels.

Now I'm reduced to Aelfric and Fifi, the first two cats I fostered here, who will never leave. I nearly sent Emma, a nine month old black and white, and Tilly, Aoife's fifteen month old grey daughter, to Ferry Farm together but they're both so affectionate and all four get on well together.

That still leaves Jeff and her kittens and the kittens I took in last week. Except that the student I got Jeff (as a stray) from has finished her course and is hoping to take Jeff home to Manchester. Three of the kittens have been re-homed and two are reserved to be collected in a week. So, not counting them, I'm down to a much more manageable four which will reduce the amount of time I spend cleaning the litter trays considerably as well as reducing the food bill. It also means that I can give more time and affection to the cats I do have. It feels almost like a holiday, except...

Except: I hate that word.

Except that I'm expecting a phone call any minute now about an abandoned 17 year old cat I've agreed to take in. And then there'll be the phone call about a cat that the circumstances are such that I can't help myself. And, and, and...

We really, really, really need more fosterers. Animal Krackers will pay any vets bills and help with the food so if you or someone you know... Get in touch, dammit!

JEFF'S KITTENS VS THE NEW KITTENS

Well, only two of the new kittens as I homed the grey and the white/black one  together this morning, leaving only the tabby and the black & white. This evening, just a few minutes ago, I put the two remaining in the conservatory with Jeff and her kittens. The newcomers are slightly larger than Jeff's brood but not by much

Apart from some minor sparring between two tabbies, it's mostly been a slightly wary curiosity. Jeff has had a good sniff at both and is currently sitting on the windowsill. New tabby is wandering around and the b/w one is sitting next to a seated tabby. 

I rather think it's going well and it means a bit less work for me. I think I'll leave them there.

CAT RESCUER OR CAT THIEF: THE SEQUEL.

Excuse the glib title, this post is anything but funny. Here's a quick recap of the original story.

I re-homed two cats with Person B. A few weeks later, Person A, a close relative rang me to state that B was an alcoholic and the cats weren't being properly cared for. Would we take them back? Yes and we did. A couple of days later Person B rang me to state that the cats were taken without B's permission, they hadn't been neglected, and B wanted them back. I looked into it, established that the cats seemed in good condition, decided that legally they had been stolen as I'd assumed A had permission to take them and duly returned the cats to B who seemed an intelligent rational person, B's home was clean and tidy, and the cats seemed happy to be back. If she did go on the odd bender, they seemed to be managing. End of story.

Alas, no.

Early this afternoon I got a call from Dawn at Ferry Farm who'd been contacted by B's distressed mother, gave me her number and I contacted her. B's mother stated in no uncertain terms that B was a serious alcoholic who could not manage the condition. B had recently come out of hospital after a stay for alcohol related illness but had gone back on a bender and B's mother was desperate to have the cats removed. She was also genuinely distraught at what B was doing to B's self.

I put the phone down, got in the car, calling in at our charity shop to recruit Susan Hardy for assistance as she's got exceptional people skills and I thought I might need her.

B's mother was delighted when we turned up at B's house, coincidentally at the same time as a friend of B's who been calling in to look after the cats and verified everything B's mother had said. The friend went into the house with Susan and myself but there was no sign of B. It reeked of alcohol. As I deliberately hadn't brought the cat carrier in with me lest it set B off, I popped back out to get it and found they'd meanwhile got hold of the cats.

Back outside we talked for a while and then Susan with me not far away as backup went into the bedroom and found B buried under bedclothes. She told B what was happening, telling her we were taking the cats to the vets but thought that B wasn't really taking anything in and we just left her. 

B's friend expressed an interest in cat cuddling so I took her through with me and the cats and gave her the chance to tell Mark and Dawn the full story which you aren't getting here as I've deliberately left out some details.   

So we're back where we started and I owe an apology to Person A, though he didn't give me the full details at the time. Basically I was fooled by someone who, when sober, is very personable but alas this is not that frequent with B who, if everything I've heard today is accurate, has a life-threatening condition. As things stand I am now satisfied that B is not a suitable person to look after cats, or even B's own self.

If any local cat rescuers are concerned that B might try and get cats from them then I will, and in the strictest confidence, supply the name and address.

4 LITTLE KITTENS DON'T NEED MITTENS AND NEVER WOULD. WHO COMES UP WITH THESE STUPID RHYMES?

Right, Old Grumpy's got that off his chest. Stupid rhymes and stupid titles like in da house make me think he should be quietly put out to pasture especially when he starts talking about himself in the third person. Jeez, man, he's turning seriously weird.

So I've had the four new kittens for about eighteen hours now and they seem to have stopped hissing at me. I can pick them up and they'll stay moderately still as I stroke them. They're still nervous and need to get used to me but I don't think it's going to be as hard as I once feared.

Here's a bunch of photos I took just a few minutes ago. You'll notice in some of them they've got new bedding -a covered in soft bed where they can huddle together and feel secure. I bought it while I was out shopping this morning.

Oh, and I've already had an expression of interest in the grey one so he's provisionally reserved. I'm not sure but I think they may all be boys.

4 LITTLE KITTENS HAVE LOST THEIR MITTENS

And I now have eight kittens in the house.Half an hour ago it was four and now it's eight.

They've been living with a deaf lady who hasn't been able to find homes for them. They are used to a very quiet house and just to her and a good neighbour and as a result are nervous. Not feral or anything like that, just a bit nervous. I've put them in a large cage for now so they can settle down in a new environment and hopefully, in a day or two, I might be able to put them in with Jeff and her kittens.

I have been able to pick them up and stroke them without any aggression or escape attempts so that's a good sign.

Here are some photos taken minutes ago. There'll be more to come over the next few days.

Post Script.

One quiet cat adopted from the re-homing centre this lunch time. First of the month, hopefully not the last.

GILGAMESH THE OCICAT IN DA HOUSE

Does anyone actually use the phrase 'in da house' anymore? I suspect not, though I wouldn't know. I've been out of touch with that sort of stuff since the 60's. Hell, I even use 'groovy' non-ironically. Actually that's not true. I used 'groovy' ironically even when it was non-ironical to use it way back then. Anyway, you can assume that my use of the post's title phrase is meant in a humourous context.

It also links a series of photos.

1. Susan Hardy (with Jeff) in da house.

2. Susan Hardy's feet (and a kitten) in da house.

3. A kitten (being investigated by Frank) in da house.

4. Gilgamesh in da house.

This afternoon, for the first time ever, Gilgamesh actually ventured downstairs which involved some growling and hissing at other cats and a brief mauling of Aelfric when he tried to get past him on his way back up the stairs.

I swear I will never use the stupid phrase in da house again and wish I hadn't this time. I'm going to be cringing every time I look at this post. Please accept my apologies and forgive my appalling lapse in judgment.

Thank you.