I'm having a quiet day today as I have to stay to await the delivery from Amazon of my new 42inch full HD LG TV which I will then transfer to my new house which will be legally mine sometime in the next few hours. The house (soon not to be known as Cat Rescue Central, though that's what it'll effectively be) needs some work doing to to it (though it's in excellent condition) so I probably won't be moving in until the New Year. I'll be doing some of the work myself -basically wallpaper removing because I can't really do anything else being completely useless at anything which requires practical skills- when I can fit it in between running around after cats and other cat-related activities, plus the need for around an hour or so's afternoon nap. So I'm going to make the most of today as it will be the last quiet one have for some time.
Tuesday was busyish but not on cat-related activities.
Wednesday morning was fun. For starters the weather decided it was going to snow, intermittently but often heavy. The ground was also rock hard and icy. Great driving weather, though having a heavy van was better than a car for traction.
My first call was at a fosterer's to pick up five cats to take to King's Road Vets (where we take all our cats and can't praise the staff too highly) for their first vaccinations. The second is in three weeks and then they can go to the re-homing centre.
Basically our fosterer had, with the best of intentions, taken in too many cats with the result that they began to show stress-induced behaviour -specifically not using the litter trays for the toilet. Two of them showed even more stress in the surgery by going berserk with the resultant spilling of blood, some of it from Louise, the vet who works part-time there, but most of it mine. One of the cats caught me so deep in the base of my right thumb that blood pulsed from it. I swear I must have lost nearly a pint before getting the bleeding under control. Or maybe it was several mls, I get easily confused when I'm bleeding to death.
So, back with the cats where I then picked up the one cat which had been vaccinated and which was a bugger to get in the carrier. After that, to pick up another cat for the re-homing centre. This turned out to be a sweet-natured stump-tailed female tabby about 8 years old. And here they are in their new temporary home. The ginger cat, now imaginatively named Ginger, was absolutely terrified but Jay the tabby was fine.
By this time it was around 11.45, snowing heavily and I was tired and heading for home and driving down a major road when the phone rang. Carole. I couldn't talk at that moment but I pulled in as soon as I could. Turned out a mother cat and her four two-week old kittens desperately needed re-homing. Fortunately, the place was only about half a mile back the way I came and I found it easily. Cat and kittens secured and off to Carole's on the other side of the river. When I got there I learned I had to take them to a fosterer's at Hylton Castle a mile down the road. I didn't need to consult the A-Z for the address because it was only a few doors away from the (now-closed) library which I was in charge of for three years. A three minute drive took ten (both ways) because of road works, grumble, grumble.
Here's mother cat and, just for luck, another young ginger boy at Carole's who wants a new home.
Thursday (yesterday) was even busier.
I spent the morning driving around on icy roads as I criss-crossed the city doing some of my own shopping, picking up four 30-litre sacks of litter (which involved me reversing backwards up an icy bank), and emptying the food-donation bins from Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons. The donated food I then had to take home, sorting the dog from the cat food. Susan also decided to take the opportunity for use to sort out and tidy the garage, which also involved a trip to the shop with stuff she was clearing out. Normally, that done, I'd go straight over to Carole's with the cat food. But not today.
Today, Nisha of BSkyB's news website was calling in the afternoon to do a video report on our shiny new cat re-homing centre. Nisha is the young lady who did an excellent piece on our kitten crisis earlier this year, a story which got picked up by The Mail Online.
I got to Carole's and unloaded the litter and food just before Nisha arrived. She did some filming at Carole's and then, on my suggestion, we called in at King's Road Vets where Nisha did a video interview with Wendy. I'd bigged up (is this still current slang?) Wendy and her veterinary practice to Nisha (also a genuine cat lover) who was delighted to find out I wasn't exaggerating and she liked Wendy a great deal (but then, who doesn't?). Here's a photo of the two of them.
And then, under grey skies, finally, to the cat re-homing centre. Dawn was on her way out and Mark was too busy to do anything other than switch the lights on. I showed Nisha around and introduced her to the various cats which had mostly settled down in their new (temporary) home. I did some pieces to camera, covering topics we'd discussed, and made a stumbling hesitant job of it, though Nisha said she was pleased. (She's a nice young woman who probably says that to everyone.)
Anyway, the piece will probably not appear until after Christmas and Nisha will let me know when. I'll post the link to it as soon as I find out.
And in between starting and finishing this post, I've learned that I am now the legal owner of my new house.
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