A (LUCKY) INJURED STRAY CAT

Now what was I saying in the previous post about nothing worth writing about at (relative) length?

Yesterday, Andrea got a call at the shop about a stray cat not too far away. A kindly soul had been feeding it but she was going on holiday and, although her daughter would still be feeding it, she was concerned about its long term fate. Andrea mentioned this to me on the phone when asking if I had any cat food for the pregnant cat and two kittens being kept temporarily at our shop(see previous post). As it happened I had a boot full of cat and dog food from the donations bin at the local Sainsburys so I got in the car and went down to drop it off. While there I called the lady and arranged to get the cat neutered and vaccinated (first flu jab) on Tuesday, cat being accommodating enough to let me, with a view to taking it to our re-homing centre after the second flu jab three weeks hence. The cat was, reportedly, very friendly and the lady would have taken it in except her cat didn't like it much.

So, okay.

This morning I was out and about collecting a packet from the parcel office, buying cat food at Sainsburys for Carole, dropping the food off at her place on the other side of the river and then down not quite to the sea front to pay a pet shop for the litter he takes to Carole's. I got home, had a coffee and compiled the last post. 

I'd just finished it when I got a call from the lady's daughter. The cat had turned up and was covered in blood. "I'm on my way," I said.

Thankfully it wasn't as bad as I'd feared, though it definitely needed treatment at the vets and it had been in a fight. It was friendly and, by sneaking up on it from behind, got it easily into my flip-top cat carrier and rang the vets. The young woman gave me an unexpected and much appreciated donation -especially when I didn't get offered a penny from someone whose lost cat I'd returned a few days ago- of £40.

Once at the vets, Wendy gave it a good checking over. It seemed healthy enough and was quite young -only 3-4 years old. She gave it anti-biotics and Stronghold (a flea/worming treatment). It was also mostly quite placid on the table and my impression is of a quite re-homeable cat. Here it is at the vets.

All that remained was to decide what to do with it. And what, dear reader, do you think I did?

Yes, sighs deeply, you are correct. I brought it home with me and put it in a cage in my bedroom for it to settle down.

No, I'm not going to foster any more cats. Oh no. Not me. Ever again. For definite.

Meanwhile here's a photo of Squeak and Arya my latest acquisitions together.

ARFON THE SIX MONTH OLD GINGER-WHITE KITTEN IS NO MORE

1.

His name has been changed to Squeak.

Arfon, as a name, was what I call a place-holder. I gave him the name on a short-term basis when I intended to re-home him, knowing his new owner would just change it anyway. Much to my surprise, that turned out to be me. As I wasn't all that keen on it anyway, I waited until something else cropped up and ended up calling him Squeak which is not the most original name for a cat. So, why? Because I'd be sitting here typing when I'd hear a squeak, look down, and see him at my feet wanting to jump on my knee and be cuddled. And there you go.

Except for some more photos of this totally delightful, playful, loveable, affectionate kitten-cat.

2.

This has been one of those weeks where I've been quite busy but there's nothing to write at any great length about. This is how the re-homing's been going.

Five cats and kittens have been adopted this week and we have several more solidly reserved and provisionally reserved. 16 have been adopted in total for August and there are still two days to go so we're having a good month. If you want to see the details check out this link to my list of cats/kittens adopted in 2014- http://catsrehomedarchiveanimalkrackers.blogspot.co.uk/

And, of course, there's the regular list of those available for adoption with photo and description at-

http://catsneedinghomessunderland.blogspot.co.uk/

3.

Very rarely, and only when we're absolutely desperate, do we temporarily house cats and kittens upstairs in our charity shop. Currently we have two kittens and one pregnant cat. As the kittens are old enough for adoption I doubt if they'll be there much longer. The photos below are courtesy of Lauren F to whom my thanks. The first is the adult followed by the kittens. (Like, duh!)

4.

This bit has nothing to do with cats but it's my blog, so there.

Went to my doctor's yesterday for a checkup and she told me I have the blood pressure of a young man's. She didn't specify whom.

Just had Sky removed and Virgin installed. This had the unexpected bonus of having my landline moved into the living room and right next to the tv with the clutter of cables in my lobby removed. Result!

For anyone into good music I'd like to recommend Lucy Ward and her second album-

She's an incredibly talented 24-year old folkie slash singer-songer writer with an amazing voice and a big personality. Check her out on You Tube. I'll be writing about her in more depth on my Freethinking blog sometime soon.

RABBITS IN MY GARDEN, CATS IN MY KITCHEN

The rabbits aren't mine, the seven cats are.

Five cats at our re-homing centre were reserved today. Two are going tomorrow, one later this week, and two in a fortnight. You can see which ones on the Cats & Kittens needing homes site (click on the link in the sidebar). Counting them the total number of cats and kittens re-homed this year is now-

88

YAY!

JUST BECAUSE I KNOW YOU LIKE PHOTOS OF TINY KITTENS

More of Maisie's kittens. No further comment needed.

ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN

Maisie's kittens take their first hesitant steps into the mysterious world of my conservatory.

Burberry and Jacket are brave and bold 24 day old kittens.

Cardigan is a scaredy kitten and ends up getting a helping hand out from me.

Burberry is still a little wary.

But I always thought that Jacket would be the bravest of them all.

Maisie keeps a close eye on them.

Sticking together.

Where did they go?

"NO GOOD DEED EVER GOES UNPUNISHED"

On my way home from the vets with a stray male cat I'd taken to be checked out and a female Animal Krackers had paid to be spayed for its special needs owner, I was driving round a roundabout, realised I was taking the wrong exit and, very stupidly, tried to change lanes resulting in grazing another car -if my reactions hadn't been as quick as they are, it could have been much worse but either way it's an insurance job. The result is not only dents to two cars but also to my confidence and a corresponding downer mood.

Don't have a photo of the spayed cat but I do have one of the stray. What happened there is that I got a call about a friendly cat which these people in a small block of flats had been feeding for a month. I went round to check it out to find a friendly fluffy black cat so I rang the vets and arranged to take it in in the afternoon when I picked up the spay. And that's what happened. Much to my surprise, the cat was microchipped and after a bit fannying around by the chipping company (there's a pun there) we got a number. The owner worked from 4 in the afternoon until 2 in the morning so I kept the cat at my place overnight.

Earlier that day, after my initial looking at the cat, I called in at fosterer Adele's (she lived close by) to see the other cat's kittens and Colin who she's also fostering.

Right. Time for photos. In order: the fluffy black cat, the kittens, Colin.

Adele has three people interested in the kittens so I've volunteered to call round when they visit as she hasn't done any adoptions before.

I dropped the black cat off this morning after it had spent the night hiding away from my others. His owner lived just round the corner from where it had been getting fed. With their permission, I gave his owner their details in case he wandered off again. Although they'd been feeding him for a month he'd only actually been missing for three days. Not long enough for his owner to be really worried, or to give Animal Krackers a donation.

For the last couple of days I and my next door neighbours have been having our gardens visited by two rabbits who live in the garden at the bottom of mine. I don't think their owner can have realised that they can escape their cage. This isn't a problem for us as we're all animal lovers but I am worried about wandering cats attacking them. For at least a couple of hours today, a fluffy and friendly black and white cat has been lying down at the bottom of my garden and I've been keeping an eye open in case he went for them which, thankfully, he hasn't and has now, presumably, gone home. So-

AND THE CATS KEEP A-COMING

When I saw Arfon the five month-old cat I fostered -incredibly only a week ago- washing Arya's face and ears, that decided it. He's not going anywhere. It hasn't hurt that after three days he stopped running away from me and started miaowing until I picked him up for a cuddle. Now, like Arya does, he'll climb on me while I'm sitting here typing and rub against my face. Plus I just love ginger cats.

He's definitely the last cat I'm adopting. Honest, really! No More! No More! No More!

(If there's a camera around, Aelfric wants to be in front of it.)

No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  No more!  

I mean it this time.

MAISIE'S KITTENS AT 18 DAYS

They're still in their basket but they've begun to take some slight interest in the world and to play with each other. So here they are. Top photo L-R: Burberry, Cardigan, and Jacket.

BETTER GREY/WHITE CAT PHOTOS

Like I said in yesterday's post, they've got to be homed together. Somebody is going to be a lucky owner.

Re-homed Hero today which takes the total cats and kittens re-homed this year to-

80

Arfon, the ginger-white kitten I'm fostering, gets friendlier by the day. I'll be sitting here typing when there's a high-pitched trill and he's suddenly on my knee and rubbing against my face.  Here's another photo of him.