Weekly Instagram/Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr Roundup.
From Callie: Just wanted to give you an update on kittens formerly known as Pablo and Diego! Pablo now goes by Rocky and Diego now goes by Flint (we use nature names with our cats… Stone, Birch, Coal, Cotton, River, you get the idea lol). They are doing wonderfully! Flint has completely come out of his shell already and comes to us and allows all kinds of hugs and kisses. Rocky is still a little hesitant, but warms up quickly! We have “opened the door” with a gate to allow everyone to meet safely. I will send more pics once they’ve adjusted more. (Thanks, Callie!)
Update on Fizzgig (formerly Alejandro) and Taco (formerly Javier) – The boys are doing great and all three (fizzgig, taco and [their new big brother] sir felix) shared a treat today (at arm’s length but we’re getting there)! (Thanks, Sara!)
Carmelita update, courtesy of Marilynn! Carmelita made it home in Texas at 2:35 am. It was a loooong day! She wanted to ride in our arms the whole way but we are the adults and she is a three pound ball of fluff so she rode in our arms all the way. She mostly slept and gave us kisses but would get restless and insistent and we’d pull over and let her use the portable litter box. Such a wonderful baby girl.
We planned some segregation, but she’s apparently in charge of us so the introduction was basically walking in the door and setting her down near the litter box. She was semi floofed and growling but then chasing the boys up and down the stairs. She hasn’t met the doggies yet, but I’m not worried, she is the bravest, craziest, well adjusted kitten I’ve ever known. Seven hours of sleep for me, she has made friends with her brothers and is running all over at a half floof. Life is good!
Update! From Callie: Flint [formerly Diego] is an absolute love; wants to be held and loved on, curious, and fearless. Rocky [formerly Pablo] is such a talker; wants to be petted, but not held. Not to worry, we just force our love and let him be. Lol. They have full range of entire house and chase each other throughout! Thanks again for trusting us with them.
I do believe that Fizzgig (formerly Alejandro) and Taco (formerly Javier) are adjusting well, don’t you? 😻 (Thanks Sara!)
Go to bed, innernets. You’re going to need your rest to deal with this kinda cute.
Innernets, give a hearty howdy-do to our latest fosters, who entered the Love & Hisses program yesterday morning. The story is thusly, for those of you who don’t read the blog: Mama Bunny was trapped, starving and desperate, on April 11th. She was horribly matted and had a terrible wound under her chin (caused by her digging to release some of the matting there). When Michelle and Brittany started to shave her, it was discovered she was possibly pregnant, and Bunny confirmed that about 10 minutes later by producing her first kitten. In short order, she gave birth to 6 kittens. Unfortunately one kitten only made it a few days, and another (Peter Cottontail) passed away the night before last. Bunny and her remaining 4 kittens – who I will introduce one by one in upcoming posts – came to us yesterday and are chilling in the foster room.
You will see that Bunny is wearing a wrap around her neck, and you will see a horrible, scabby-looking wound under her chin. You’re going to have to trust me when I say it looks SO much better than it did, we’re treating it, and it’s healing. Also, she looks like she might be spotted or have some weird coloring, but she’s a black and white tuxie who is growing out her fur after being shaved.
You will see that Bunny has the MOST baleful glare, but that’s just her face – in truth she is a sweetheart who will climb right into your lap with very little hesitation.
Bunny’s kittens are 4 1/2 weeks old and leaving the crate whenever the heck they want, and that’s just fine. Bunny’s an attentive mama, and there’s nothing in the foster room that will hurt them. They return to the crate to sleep and hang out and nurse.
A group of wild rabbits is known by a few different names, including the most perfect name of all – a Fluffle. These guys will be collectively be known as The Fluffles.
Lola Bunny isn’t angry; she just wishes you’d learn to make better choices.
Say hello to Lola Bunny, who is a dilute calico with the most delightful line of peachy-pink spots down her spine. She’s a confident kitten who likes to explore, ain’t skeered of no humans, and enjoys a good long slurp at the milk bar. She (and her siblings) are 4 1/2 weeks old and I suspect she’s going to be long-haired, though I can’t swear to it.
Honey Bunny has perfectly applied makeup – check out those orange highlights at the corners of her eyes! – and she’s thinking about starting up her own makeup YouTube channel so she can bring in the big bucks.
Say hello to Honey Bunny, who is a a little tortie girl. She’s a little less confident than her sister Lola, but once she’s sussed out the situation and decided there are no threats, she’ll stomp into the fray and kick some butt. She (and her siblings) are 4 1/2 weeks old and I am pretty sure she’s going to be long-haired, though I can’t swear to it.
Benjamin Bunny is going to start his own blog, and he’s going to write about the weird lady who won’t stop petting him. (He looks kinda scared here, but I assure you he was NOT.)
Say hello to sweet little house panther Benjamin Bunny. He is the thoughtful observer of the litter (every litter has one!) who will sit back and see how things go before he decides whether to join in or stomp away to nap on his own. I haven’t weighed the kittens yet, but I can tell you he’s the biggest of the litter. I don’t think he’s going to be long-haired, I think he’ll be a sleek house panther, and I also think he’s going to be a great big lovebug.
It’s rare that a kitten can make his bid for being Da Baybee known so quickly, but the Fluffles were in the house for abouuuut 10 minutes before Bugs spoke up.
Say hello to gray and white tuxie boy Bugs Bunny, who has something to say, somewhere to go, and doesn’t hesitate for one minute to stomp out of the crate and look for his mama. He’s got the sweetest little voice, and doesn’t exactly howl or meow (he’s still pretty young, after all), he kind of peeps. (I’m working on getting that on video.)
I wish this picture was clearer, but here we have Mama Bunny draped across my lap. She looks ticked off, but I assure you – she was happy there as long as I kept petting her! She’s a sweetheart. (I mean, she has her hormonal moments, but who among us can claim otherwise?)
Good night innernets. (Bugs’s face, Lola’s butt, and a little of Honey (far left) and Benjamin.)
Here’s a look at the peachy-pink dots on Lola’s back. It’s like a boop-trail leading from her tail to her forehead!
Back in 2012 when we were fostering for Challenger’s House, we fostered a mother cat – Brandywine – and her 5 boys, all named after types of tomatoes. One of them, Mr. Stripey, was originally adopted with his brother Sungold, but they were returned a year later and stayed at Challenger’s House for about a year. Sungold passed away unexpectedly in the fall of 2014, and a few months later Kathy adopted Mr. Stripey and took him home to be buddies with Reacher (who was one of our fosters in 2010.) Here he is (he’s now Gladstone) today (he’s the orange cat.)
Kathy says: Happy Birthday, Gladstone! I’m a little late – his birthday is estimated to be May 10, 2012. So he’s now a spritely eight years old. He was known as Mr. Stripey, one of a kitter known as The Maters, with his foster parents Fred and Robyn Anderson. We adopted him in 2015 and called him Gladstone Cairy (after our dearly departed friend, Joe Gladstone Cairy), then just Cairy, and finally, Gladstone. He’s a total lovah! He’s gotten on great with all our other dogs and cats.
He was especially sweet, snuggly company to Rosie when she was dying of cancer. He has the funniest habit of settling in for a snuggle, then shooting his right arm out straight. Even Reacher snuggles with him. Gladstone gave us a scare last year, and nearly died. He was in ICU at Cat Haven for several days. But he came back around from whatever was making his liver act up, and has been in good health since. We love you, Gladstone!
Happy birthday, Gladstone! (And thanks for letting me share, Kathy!)
Bugs climbed right into my lap, he did. Look at that smug little face!
Seriously, is Benjamin the cutest little house panther you’ve ever seen, with that serious face? (Caveat: I am partial to house panthers and swear each one is the cutest one ever.)
Look at Carmelita with her brothers Lenny and Joe! Marilynn reports that they LOVE their little sister and they run around all night making the cutest sounds. How adorable is that? (Thanks Marilynn!!!)
YouTube link
In the vein of Throw Back Thursday, let’s throw it allll the way back to last Friday night (has it really only been a week??) when Carmelita was an only kitten after her brothers were all adopted. She gave us one last skitter, awwww. (Pardon the background noise; I was brushing my teeth.)
Good night innernets. (Lola Bunny)
Bugs is havin’ a think.
Judging by the wavy fur on her chest and that floofy tail, I’m going to revise my opinion and say that I am certain Honey will be a floofy cat when she’s all grown up.
YouTube link
Bugs tried to follow Fred out the door and then came back to home base (“home base” being Bunny) and all the other kittens were kind of milling around.
“That’s her, Mama! That’s the weird lady who kept kissing me!”
“You stay here, Lola. I’ll take care of HER.”
It’s a rough life ain’t it, Bugs?
That look of adoration Benjamin is giving his mama just kills me dead. 😻
Good night innernets. (Permanent resident Alice Mo the calico.)
“Good morning, will the milk bar be available soon, lady?” The milk bar’s got a mind of her own, kids. I’m sure she’ll be along soon.
Honey went strolling right on through the scratcher, and Bunny said “Well I don’t like the looks of THAT.”
YouTube link
Most people know this, but not everyone does – before kittens are litter box trained, their mother stimulates them to urinate or defecate by licking their back end, and then she consumes the output (were you eating lunch?) While this sounds really gross to us as humans, the taste doesn’t appear to bother mother cats, even the picky ones who won’t touch cat food unless it meets their exacting standards. (When we had Daddy cat Charles with us last year with the Half Pints litter, he was perfectly happy to pitch in on pottying the kittens.)
Incoming Lola!
Bunny’s the first mama I’ve had in a while who doesn’t try to use the little litter boxes (she’s got a much bigger one across the room with clumping litter in it.) She does, however, climb into the little boxes and coax the kittens in. Then when they’re in the box, she walks away. Sometimes they stay and pee, but more often they just follow her out. They’ll get the hang of it eventually; they always do!
“Watching you, lady.” Benjamin is always keeping his eyes on the goings-on. (If you look carefully, you’ll see that he’s got a Bugs shadow.)
Honey will sleep like an angel on her Benjamin bed (Benjamin will sleep like an angel under his Honey blanket.) Good night, innernets.
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Previously
2019: Good ol’ feather lips (Almanzo).
2018: “Come here, innernets, I gots a knuckle sammich for you.”
2017: “SIR, I AM NOT FOOLING WITH YOU. YOU NEEDS TO VACATE THE PREMISES.”
2016: Art was all ::FLOOF::
2015: Sleepy Sunday.
2014: Dennis needs a home!
2013: He is just. So. FLOOFY.
2012: Look at my vacation pics Thursday!
2011: “HI MAMA!”
2010: Apparently Corbett WANTED to get down, but Stinkerbelle was sitting there glaring at him, and he was too skeered.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: “I CAN BE A GIRL!” I said.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Okay, how many feet long IS Bunny’s tail??? Seriously, I can’t remember a cat in your house, foster OR permanent, with a tail like that!!! She does look like she’s going to be a very purty girl once she gets all the fur issues worked out; I LOVE her white moostache!!! (Let’s face it, not many gals can pull off that kind of look. 😉 )
Do you love the foster updates. So glad Gladstone has a great life and is so loving. Thank you so much for the update Kathy!
Oh, I love to see and read about how happy and well-adjusted your fosters are in their new homes!!!
Hello, little Fluffles! You guys sure are cute, and your Mama is very pretty too.
As others have noted, Bunny seems to have unusually long and splendid eyebrows/antenna. I got to wondering what her reception distance was, thinking it might be as far as Radio Moscow. I did some investigation, and was amazed to find it went even further, as evidenced by the transmission I intercepted and translated below:
To: Headquarters, Research Vessel faEVITH* (*no translation available)
From: Agent dvf1asfd65G*
Status Update: Infiltration progressing splendidly. Was able to remove landing navigation device shortly after landing with only minor damage to exoskeleton. Additional damage to “fur” during transporter process conveniently confused humans into thinking I was a “stray.” Search for sustenance lead to immediate “capture” as planned. While the two humans were busy removing damaged “fur”, I expelled the larvae operatives. Sadly, 2 did not survive the journey. We may need to further narrow acceptable vaas* wave limits.
It appears that the coloring choices were appropriate. It is good that FSEWRO;v’s* proposal for a larvae with green stripes was overruled. Since arriving at my current location I have taken the time to hack into the primitive communication systems available here, and while our intelligence gathering was correct in choosing this species to imitate, as it clearly dominates the entire “internet” (which the humans foolishly think is the pinnacle of communications),the feline species has relatively bland coloring options. Please tell the planning team to discontinue the neon operative options.
At almost 5 weeks into the exploration phase, this planet seems quite suitable for further occupation. The humans seem completely enamored of myself and the larvae operatives, and have been very easy to train to provide food. A small engine noise is all it takes to receive food, toys and a “petting” behavior, which is quite pleasant. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to train the humans to assist in cleaning up the larvae’s digestive output, so perhaps they are not as intelligent as originally hoped. This particular location seems to be excellent for infiltration of further operatives, as these humans actually habitually pass their non-permanent-resident felines to other locations on purpose and have become quite successful in this practice. My only remaining concern is the existence of said “permanent residents,” and whether my disguise will pass muster once I come into contact with them.
My final note is that, as an additional concern about the relative intelligence of the human species, while I and the other operatives clearly meet the specifications of the feline species, these particular humans have named us as lapins. I am uncertain as to the source of this confusion.