Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes yesterday! I had a totally lazy day, caught up on my TV-watching, played several hundred games of Words with Friends, and did lots of kitten-snuggling. That’s the perfect day, if you ask me.
Suzy, the black cat (with a little white – I don’t think she was actually a Tuxie, I think she just had a few small bits of white on her, but to be honest I don’t remember and there aren’t any more pictures of her that I’m aware of – this was almost 40 years ago, when digital cameras didn’t exist. And if they did, they would have been the size of a Mack truck.) in the picture yesterday, who was my 6th birthday gift, ended up having a litter of kittens a few months later. One of those kittens was an orange tabby named Charlie, who kicked off my life-long love for orange tabbies. Suzy went to live elsewhere, and Charlie eventually ran away – again, almost 40 years ago. I don’t think there was such a thing as indoor cats back then, and we lived on Guam.
ANYway.
So, dropping Charlie and Patty off at Petsmart on Friday was SUPER fun, as it always is. Making it even worse was that they both seemed to sense that something was going on when I brought the carrier out a few hours before we left, and they were nervous and wouldn’t let me near them. I had to lure them into the guest bedroom and shut the door, then chase them down and put them in the carrier, and they both frantically tried to dig their way out of the carrier, and 93 times during the whole process I thought “Hey, 15 cats isn’t THAT many” and “They’ve fit in so well!”, but 15 cats IS too many for this house, and the fosters always fit in so well, and if I want to keep fostering (which I do), I’ve got to stop keeping cats even though I want to keep them all.
I mean, of course it’s hard and I hate it. I get all the fun stuff, the loving on the kittens, the sweet snuggling and purring, the way they give me the Eyes of Love, watching them go from scared, ratty little kittens to sweet, healthy, beautiful cats. What makes me think I get to skate through life without doing the hard stuff? After all, I’m taking them to a place where they are safe and well-fed, where they get attention, where someone will come along and fall in love with them and give them a forever home.
But, still. Not fun, y’know?
I got to Petsmart and got them set up in their cage and they did what kittens ALWAYS do, they went right into the litter box to hide. Oh, I hate that so much. I went to go do some errands and came back by Petsmart afterward to see how they were doing, and could see nothing but the tips of their ears in the litter box.
::sigh::
I got word from Lisa, who did adoptions on Saturday, that they hid in the litter box most of the day, but Charlie came out a few times on his own, and Lisa took Patty out of the litter box early in the day, and Patty stayed out for a while on her own. This is normal for kittens in the first few days after going to Petsmart, I know they’ll be fine.
Not a Pepper was adopted over the weekend, unfortunately. I’ll keep you informed on that front, you better believe.
I snapped a few pictures of Patty before we left for Petsmart.
Checking out a lady bug crawling across the floor.
“HI MISTER JAKE! HI! I LUB YOU!”
“THERE ROOM IN THERE FOR ME, JAKIE?”
I looked away for a moment, so I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I can tell that Patty’s giving Jake the “What’s YOUR problem??” look, so I imagine he told her to back off a bit.
The Sons are going to be neutered on Thursday! They’re thrilled, as I’m sure you can imagine.
“I don’t need to be tutored. I’m smart enough already.”
Jax always looks so happy. He flirts with his toys, I swear.
They always love this trackball so very much.
Sweet Tig.
Tig in the giant Croc slipper.
Tig in the sun.
Sweet Opie.
So, the boys are now getting more room to roam. We have a gate/ half-door across the end of the hallway so that they can go into the bathroom if they want to, and my room. After I’d first let them out and left them alone for a while, I went up to see how they were doing. They’d all gone back into the foster room to snooze. On the second day, they decided that my room was a pretty cool place to hang out, and that’s pretty much where they head now when I open their door.
They’ll get that amount of space for the next few days, and then on Friday I’ll let them out into the rest of the house.
Jake and Elwood can jump over the half-gate (or rather, they can jump to the top, pull themselves over, and jump down on the opposite side of the door), and they do that several times a day. The Sons are pretty familiar with them now, and Jake alternates between head-butting them, and showing them who the boss is. Over the weekend, Miz Poo wanted to go into my room (she likes to hang out in there), so I took her in with me. The tuxies ignored her, but Jax went all big and puffy and hissed at her a few times.
She wasn’t fazed in the least. Miz Poo has no use for kittens, and they don’t scare her. She just ignored Jax, but it was funny to watch him puff up.
Poor Tommy. Look how resigned he is. What you can’t tell from this picture is that Elwood was purring up a storm, and kneading. He sure does love his Tommy.
When I saw that Elwood had kicked his rear leg up on Tommy, I laughed and laughed.
Tommy finally got fed up, and Elwood was like “Wait! Where are you going?!”
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Previously
2011: Jake loves to hang out with the babies.
2010: The Cookies, then and now.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: “Valjean! At last, we see each other plain. M’sieur LeMeow, you’ll wear a doggie chaaaaaaaaaaaain!”
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
🙂
Wishing all the babies a speedy adoption with a perfect family!!!
Sixty years ago my parents were living on Guam with a cat named Charlie, a Siamese. They tried to give him to someone else but he walked the length of the island to get back to them. There may be a whole colony of jungle-dwelling cats named Charlie.
What is wrong with people? I would snap up Everett in a quick minute!
They’re at their limit, as I am!! 🙂
If I had a nickel for every time I thought about how I could get one of Robyn’s kitten from AL to MA over all the years I’ve followed her, I’d probably have $300.00 or so!!
But then I remember my lease and give a big, big sigh.
The Animal Rescue League in Boston had a big weekend last Sat. & Sun and adopted out 30 cats!! THIRTY!! Let’s hope the Petsmart in Huntsville (?) has a similar success this weekend and ALL the Peppers get homes!! W00t!!
🙂
I love following your kitties and their various love affairs!
good luck charlie and patty – may you find the best forever homes!
wow the sons have gotten so big already! poor wittle things, speedy recovery to you!
HA poor tommy — those pictures are great!
I’m sending happy, “come out of the litterbox” thoughts Charlie and Patty’s way! How were the older Peppers when you dropped by?
A puffy Jax would be too cute for words, so we need a picture! I love to go back and look at the pictures when the original Peppers first met Jake (“Stranger danger!!”). Their synchronized poofing still cracks me up!
Tommy is a love! I would want to use him as a pillow, too!
That first pic of Tommy and Elwood crack me up!! That’s not why I’m commenting though. I need some help from your fellow readers. My husband and I took in a cat from his parents’ neighbors, who’d lost their home, and also had a dog or two that thought she was a chew toy (I can even feel a scar on her thigh, poor thing.) She hid in the deepest recesses of our house for a month before she realized, “Hey! There’s no dogs here!!
Anyway, they also had her declawed, which is something I would never, ever do, and now I’m finding out firsthand why. I think she’s the one who’s been peeing outside the litter box. I can’t leave any kind of fabric on the couch, like a blanket or a sweater, or it will get peed on. We actually watched her walk straight up to the Christmas tree and squat and pee on the skirt. (Good thing it was just a piece of cheap green felt!) Now last night, someone peed on the fuzzy rug outside the litter box in her room.
We are assuming it’s been her, because we caught her most recently at it, and I’ve heard that declawed cats remember the pain from trying to use the box when they were first declawed, so it makes them litter-avoiders. She’s been fine for a while, but I’m thinking that cuz it’s been cold, her poor, sawed-off toesies are hurting.
I am taking her to the vet today to rule out anything medically wrong, but does anyone have any ideas about how to get her to use the box again? I’ve been using precious cat litter, switched about 6 months ago from Arm & hammer to cut down on the dust, I scoop every other day. The box in her room doesn’t get used too much, for some reason. (I say her room, it’s my husband’s office, but when we first got her, we kept her in that room to slowly introduce her to everyone else.)
I also think part of her problem is she is declawed in a house with 4 other cats who are not. They have staring/growling contests, and about once a week, I hear the screech of an angry cat. I think she feels unarmed in a land of fully armed strangers, and it makes her defensive.
My newest idea is to buy some catAttract litter, and shut her up in her room again for a week or two.
If I don’t find a solution, I’m gonna…I swear I’m gonna…keep cleaning up cat pee, cuz there’s nothing else really I can do, I’m not an animal abuser or a ‘drop them off at the pound at the first inconvenience’ person.
Beccity, I’m going to post your question in Friday’s entry and we’ll see if someone has some helpful advice for you!
Hi Beccity! You are wise to have a vet check her out. My cats are wonderful about the litterboxes unless they are sick. When they ‘miss’, I’m actually grateful since I know someone is sick. Figuring out which one is sick then becomes the problem, but my vet does 2-for-1 office vists, so sometimes I just bring them both in.
Keep in mind I have 4 litterboxes for 2 cats… The rule-of-thumb is 1 for each cat + 1, but my two cats needed 1 for each cat + 2. So adding more litterboxes / adding one more litterbox might be something to try.
When you introduced the rescued darling, did you introduce her slowly? If not, you may want to try again (if she checks out as healthy by the vet). Here’s a good source of information on introducing a new cat into a cat-occupied household. It may be worthwhile starting over — it’s totally up to you!
Also, for timid cats, having a safe place to go is important. Do your cats have cat trees or other ways to get above other cats? That can go a long way toward making them all calm down.
Does the new one have a special place of her own? In my household, the skitty kitty owns the bed and the more confident one respects that… so, when she’s feeling scared, she can go lie on the bed and calm down — and does!
Sometimes just adding a cat bed for the new cat in an unusual place – like on top of the washer or on a rack over your computur monitor – does the trick… sometimes it’s harder. Either way, it’s great that you are concerned about her and your other pets. Because of that caring, I know you’ll figure it all out and have a peaceful, cat-filled household again! Just keep trying new things and it’ll work out.
Good luck!!
🙂
Thank you for that, Doodle Bean. I’m going to post your answer under Beccity’s question in Friday’s entry; I think it’ll be handy info not only for her, but for other readers (who might not read the comments) too! 🙂
Here’s hoping that all the Peppers (Big & Little) find forever homes soon! Going to miss that fangy smile of Charlie’s and Miss Patty’s pretty eyes.
My first-ever foster, Dublin, went off to his forever home on Saturday. His story is here:
http://www.peppermintpig.org/Success-Stories.html
I’m assuming you can reassure me that one does eventually get over the “no one can take as good care of him as I did” feeling. And of course our rescue group has another (single) kitten that they would reeeallly like me to foster. We’ll see.
Check out these paws!
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/01/10/polydactyl-kittens-ned-and-fred_n_1195990.html#s599751
I need to get Moo a Tommy. He loves to cuddle, but Pimp will have none of it.
Good luck to the babies at Petsmart! I’m sure someone will scoop them up soon… You always make the best babies. 😉