A BOXFUL OF KITTENS

Carole got wind of someone selling kittens very cheaply so, concerned about the potential poor quality of homes they might end up in,she bought the lot. All eight of them are in this cat carrier because, as it turned out, they were all a little loose, they were on their way to the vets, along with the rag doll cat (see previous post) which isn't in the box but does have cystitis. Here are some more photos of them.

There are also a few more cats and kittens ready for re-homing. All are used to being handled and the older ones are all socialised with other cats, dogs, people, and vacuum cleaners. The big cat in the photo below is not related to the kitten, appearances to the contrary.

 

This nervous but friendly young cat was almost put to sleep by the PDSA but Carole agreed to take her.

This is the other rag doll who is recovering from an operation on her ear as you can see. All she wanted to do when I was there was sleep. They are both about eleven years old, give or take.

And this pretty little girl is going to her new home on Saturday.

WHILE YOU'VE BEEN AWAY...

This is one of two rag dolls we've acquired this week. The other one is at the vets having an operation on one of her ears. This one is going tomorrow morning to get checked for cystitis. They aren't having a lot of luck.

It's been a quiet month which is why I haven't posted anything for a while. Almost no cats have been re-homed since the last post except for this cat which went on Monday. She's between 8 months and a year and was neutered last week. I brought a lady around my age to see Carole's cats and after a lot of thought chose this one. I'd have picked her as well as she absolutely loves people. When I took them back and was filling in an adoption form on the table, the cat jumped up on the table and rubbed against my face. She seemed relaxed in her new home almost as soon as she was out of the carrier. I'm sure they'll both be very happy.

Here's a couple of cute kittens wanting homes. Both are socialised with cats, dogs, and people.

Lastly, my perennial favourite, cats on a bed. These being my Daisy (with the pink nose) and Ted.

TOMMY AND THE GREYHOUNDS

I like that title. It could be the name of a pub-rock band (if such a thing still exists), or, and even more interesting to me as someone who's been known to write fiction, the title of a children's novel. In this case, however, it's a title which connects two different aspects of the animal rescuing business.

Here's Tommy.

Technically this isn't even rescuing as Tommy has a home. He's owned by a lady who's taken in him and a few other unwanted cats. She's of limited means and has no transport so, using the neutering vouchers provided to us by Cats Protection, Tommy is the latest of her cats I've taken to the vets to be neutered. He's actually the father of the fluffy young tabby whose photo was in a recent post.

I'd never seen him before when I went to pick him up and was expecting a rough tough old tom which, to be fair, is what he looks like. What you can't tell is that he's a very friendly and affectionate old tom who was more than happy for me to pick him up and stroke him. When I took him to Wendy's I asked if they could give him a good checking over and do anything that was necessary. Which they did, finding fleas and removing some tats in his fur. He also had the sniffles so Wendy kept him in for a couple of days to improve before going ahead with the operation. Wendy reckoned that he was even old than we expected, being around 15-16. Poor old soul, to go all those years and finally being debollocked as senior feline citizen. 

The greyhounds (which also includes lurchers, and salukis) are being looked after by a rescue charity based in Wingate, County Durham and we've recently been helping them by passing on stuff for their charity shop to them and also by supplying them with large tins of donated dog food I've collected from the food bins at our local Asda, Sainburys and Morrisons stores. Usually they come and collect it from our garage but last week their van was off the road so Susan and I drove down to drop it off. 

While I was their I took the opportunity to take some photos. They aren't all that good because I was using the camera in my phone which takes several seconds to actually take the photo and these dogs don't usually stay that still when they see someone. The rescue has a lot of these dogs and, appearances to the contrary, the environment they're in is comfortable and they are well looked after. Without exception every dog I met I was friendly and delighted at the prospect of contact with a human being, jumping up to lick my hands through the bars. I spent a few minutes in an outside pen with one and it leaped up and down, running away and then darting back to me, just wanting to play.

Most, if not all of these dogs, have been rescued when they've come to the end of their racing lives and they are the lucky ones. Many are either dumped or brutally killed because it's cheaper than taking them to a vet who may well be reluctant to put a healthy animal to sleep. Despite being big dogs they're surprisingly easy to keep and don't require much exercise because they aren't built for stamina. They are friendly and affectionate and no trouble at all, though I'd keep them well away from cats because they're trained to chase small animals.

Post Script.

Tommy & The Greyhounds self-produced CD Race For Your Lives is on sale at all their gigs and features standards such as (You Aint Nothin But A) Hound Dog, I'll Be Doggone, Walkin' The Dog, Salty Dog, Back Seat Of A Greyhound Bus, and many more.

Ian Williams new children's novel Tommy and the Greyhounds will be available some time in the future as Kindle e-book available from Amazon for an extremely reasonable price. In it, ten-year old Tommy and his father's pub-rock band The Greyhounds get involved with trying to stop a gang responsible for dog-fighting, badger-baiting, and racing fixing.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER KITTEN

Busy morning. 

After swimming it was up to Asda to empty the donated pet food bin and then on to Sainsbury's to do the same. Back at home I emptied the van, sorting the food in the process, getting it ready for Susan to do a tip run from the shop, though it ended up us doing it together. Then back to the shop to collect the kitten. 

His owner works at the old peoples home where Susan's mother resides hence the connection. He'd homed two of the litter, kept one, and passing the last on to us. Susan and I went home and let the kitten have the run of the living room while I went and loaded the van back up with cat food. By this time Susan wanted to keep the kitten but I insisted we keep to our agreement of no more kittens or cats. Nine is enough. The first photo is at our house. The second is at Carole's where the kitten has made a new friend. He's a lovely little thing, happy to be held, friendly and curious.

While at Carole's I took a few pictures of cats needing new homes.

The grey tabby was saved by us from being put to sleep because she, allegedly, attacked a baby. While we wouldn't re-home her where there are young children, Carole tells me she's a nice friendly cat which was certainly my experience of her this morning.

The long haired grey is young, recently neutered, and, again, very friendly if a little nervous when first approached.

The torty, again friendly, will be best off as the only cat in the house as Carole has had to put her in the cage because she wees and poos everywhere but the cat litter because she won't use a tray that's been used by other cats. This doesn't happen often with cats but often enough for it to be a recognised behavioral trait in some.

Woah! Four posts in five days. Picking up.

TUESDAY MORNING, 1st MAY

I'd had a bit of a restless night, not helped by Little Bob bouncing around at 3.30 and using me as a trampoline. I dozed intermittently and got up at 6.40 to clean three smelly cat litters, let out the cats who wanted to go, let in those who'd chosen to stay out all night, put food down for the lot of them, had my breakfast, made Susan a cup of tea and would then have normally left to go swimming but I said 'sod it' and went back to bed for an hour and a half.

When I finally got up I went to Asda to buy cat food for the rescued cats and while there got a call from Susan who'd said a lady had rang to ask why I hadn't picked up her cat an hour ago. Because I forgot was the simple answer. A little while later I picked up the cat -kitten really- and headed for Wendy's the vets and met a couple with their bonnie but past its best parrot.

And so to Carole's with the cat food. Once unloaded, I took a few photos of cats available for re-homing, took two cats with sniffles to see Wendy the vet, took them, loaded the van up with soiled bedding and used cat litter and took it all to the council tip. Here are some lovely cats in need of good homes.