But have the little “hellions” as Doodle Bean (who I seem to follow around the blog world) called them, had their “little operations”? How did I miss that? Really? Hmm…must be geting old.
Yep, they were spayed (Ciara) and neutered (the rest) on June 2nd. Challenger’s House doesn’t adopt out kittens unless they’ve been spayed and neutered and are up to date on their shots!
I’m starting to think Clove is a “hidden” Cali-tabby but can’t be sure just from photos. Of course, since she’s not ever going to be a Mommy Cat, this doesn’t matter the way it would as it does when cat breeding. Then you hope to be able to predict if the Mother has “the red gene” or not; but even then sometimes you don’t know.
and
On the calitabby – the real test is not to look at the background hairs, but at hairs of a stripe. These will be all black all over for a brown tabby, or will be two shades on a calitabby.
Okay, I FINALLY picked Clove up last night and took a closer look at her brown-or-are-they-orange? spots. The hairs on her orange / brown stripes are two colors. So this means she’s a “hidden” calitabby?
Love the pic of the black kitten jumping for the feather toy! Expecially the face of the orange tabby. She looks like she is cheering him on and in awe!
and
Every time you post a picture of the black kitten with the crossed paws in mid-leap I start humming a chorus of Kung Fu Fighting! Oh the concentration on that little face!
I should have mentioned (and maybe have mentioned in the past, I don’t remember) that that picture? This picture right here:
That black kitten is our very own Tommy. And on the ground cheering him on are Sugarbutt, and their sister “Little Cal”!
Are you ever tempted to get Gracie & George severe summer trims for the heat? I can’t recall any pic’s with extreme haircuts but that doesn’t mean anything.
We’ve talked about it, and in fact last year we went to Petsmart and bought a trimmer that the guy working there assured us would be strong enough to deal with their coat. It didn’t trim worth a damn, and we ended up returning it. Fred called around to groomers in the area, and was quoted a price of $150 PER DOG, which just isn’t going to happen. What we do now is brush them regularly, and then a couple of times during the summer Fred goes out there with the brush and a bottle of dog shampoo and really concentrates on getting them wet and clean, and uses the brush to get out as much undercoat as he can. It actually makes a big difference!
If you don’t read the Love & Hisses Facebook page (and why NOT?), you won’t have seen the post from Wednesday night where I announced that as there’s room for Maggie at Petsmart, she’ll also be going later today. Ciara is still a bit under the weather, so she’ll stay here at least through the weekend.
It’s going to be awfully quiet around here without Maggie and the boys! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they go in pairs. Preferably this weekend. PREFERABLY tonight, but I know that’s probably a little much to ask.
“I am NOT faking it. Stop looking at me like that.”
Cilantro and Fergus Simon, flirting.
Siesta time for Macushla, on the kitchen floor.
Macushla watching the big cats run around in the back yard.
Smug Miss Cori.
Declan and Cillian, snoozing on my desk.
“What?”
You can’t really tell from this picture, but Macushla has a bit more of the ear floof than the other cats do.
I love Fergus Simon’s spotted belly.
Fergus Simon learned a new trick. O joy.
Fred has taken a shine to Cillian. He calls him “Simba” and talks about how beautiful he is.
I have a bunch more McMao pics on my hard drive, so will likely be sharing those through all of next week!
Your weekly reminder: Corbie is beautiful. That is all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2010: The Bookworms (Bolitar, to be exact!)
2009: Fighting amongst the shoes.
2008: “You want a piece of ME? Because I will mess you UP.”
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: I sure do love these kitties, and MAN am I going to miss them when they’re gone.
On the ‘hidden’ calitabby – the fact that you can see both colors makes her a non hidden one. Basically on a girl cat, different regions of the body select at random to be orange or black. In theory, all the regions could choose the same color like flipping a bunch of coins and getting all heades or all tails. Such a case would be a hidden tortie or calitabby, since you could only tell if she had kittens and had both orange boys and black boys. (Male cats get their orange gene from the mom only, since the Y comed from dad).
Corbie IS beautiful…
Better becareful else Cillian will become a resident housecat! LOL
A lot of my friends get those plastic kiddie pools and fill them with water for their dogs to cool off in. Just a thought! 🙂
LOL sorry, didn’t realize that I’d echoed you there with the whole “just a thought” line. 🙂
Re the doggies. We have 4 dogs and two of them are long haired, we found a great way to get their grooming done at an affordable price. I’m not sure if there’s anything like that in your area but we found the local tech school where they teach dog grooming classes and we’d get all 4 done at once for less than $50 total! They only asked for $30, but they’d always did such a great job that we’d give $50. 🙂 Just a thought.
Whoever gets the divine Maggie or any of her supremely well-adjusted brood is the luckiest person going. Godspeed, McMaos, and here’s to a swift recovery for Ciara. I’ll miss the McMaos like mad — and aren’t they getting more beautiful by the day (cf. Macushla in profile)? Corbie would have had some serious competition had they stuck around much longer.
Petition signed. It’s probably fortunate that I have never caught anyone in the middle of abusing an animal like that. It would be hard not to hospitalize that person,and I’d probably end up doing jail time.
That “flying” picture of Tommy is so cool. Reminds me of my girl, Mooch (RIP), who would frequently jump past my shoulders (I’m 6’2″) to snatch the feather toy out of the air.
Only if you could get the bat out of my hands whilst I was pummeling those people myself!!!
You need to keep an eye on Fred. The way he’s talking about Cillian like he’s getting too attached.
What kind of LUNATIC beats a kitten and encourages their children to do the same? People (although this b***h is not human, clearly) can sometimes really DISGUST me. And even worse, her relatives were supporting this behavior??? I think all people who abuse animals (and children) should be secluded on their own special island where they (after being sterilized) can all beat each other senseless and die off.
I so hope the McMaos are adopted in pairs, or a set of 3, with Maggie included. Although I’m sure Maggie would do just fine on her own or in a house with other adult kittehs.
That pic of Sugarbutt cheering on Tommy is a HOOT! LOL
Ditto…glad the Facebook page was linked, I could NOT have read the full story! Just love my cats too much (and the youngest was a rescue from some hoodlum boys who were tossing her back and forth AND slam-dunking her!! UGH)and cannot understand how people can do stuff like this to animals or each other…that island is perfect!
Ditto to the McMaos and all!
Who’s that gorgeous tabby in the last picture? Not seen him before! :-p
Actually, you should never shave double coated dogs. They’re coats are designed to protect them from the sun. Shaving them off can do permanent damage, the coat won’t grow back the same.
Oh that is so true!!! And it helps keep them cool!
Well, we did shave our elderly elk hound when she reached her last Summer, but we had a warm one and she was utterly miserable. As soon as her double-coat was shaved off, she got lively and active again; but by that point she spent a lot of time indoors or sleeping the shade.
As Oldcat says, Clove is no longer a “hidden” Cali-tabby but just a very “obscured” one, that’s not a cat breeding term, I just made it up. But before I wondered if she was hidden because I thought I saw orange reflections in her mostly brown fur, but obvious it was actual orange furs mixed in with the brown ones.
I love multi-colored cats of all types, and now I love little Clove even more, though her two sisters are also real winners in the looks department.
Thanks for publicizing the Dexter petition, Robyn! I hope the alleged perp is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!
As for Maggie and the McMaos, I truly hope they end up in the best homes possible. Maggie is a great mom and deserves a soft, warm pillow and tons of stinky goodness for the rest of her life.
Like everyone else, I love the ‘Kung Fu’ photo of Tommy and Sugarbutt. It’s right up there with the shot of the pink boa on top of one of the McMaos head!
As for that brown tabby in the last photo – he’s surely the most gorgeous cat I’ve ever seen! Who is he?!?!? Why have you kept him from us?!?!?!?
Thanks again!
Oh, y’know. Just some ordinary cat who wandered up. 😀
Oh. my. gosh. How come I did not know how beautiful Corbie is! Why oh why haven’t you told us! Why are you keeping this a secret? Are you afraid one of us will come down there a steal him away! Well..the cats (he he 🙂 ) out the bag now! You will just have to snuggle him forever to keep someone else from taking him..although I’m sure you do that already!
Petition is signed..good thing I live so far away from this person 🙁 Sometimes the things that try to pass themselves off as humans should just crawl back under the rock from whence they came. This makes me very angry!
Am hoping good things happen and the McMaos and Maggie are adopted quickly! And sending lots of hugs to Ciara to get well soon!
When the kitties are put up for adoption is there any background information on when/where they came from? I’m sure if potential adopters saw how they are raised with you, people would be doing cartwheels into Petsmart to adopt a Robyn/Fred kitty!
I actually included a note with the baggie of toys and the picture disc directing adopters to Love & Hisses – but there’s not really anything on the description board. It was noted that they were fostered from birth (well, before birth!), though.
Am I the only one saddened by the lack of Finnegan pictures. I loveLOVE his pretty little face. Can we have more Finn pics?
OoopS meant to say please! Please?
Well, you can have the ones that I managed to get before I took them to Petsmart this morning. I’m sure there are some. 🙂 The only reason there aren’t more Finnegan pictures in existence is because he was usually sitting in my lap when I was taking them. SUCH a sweet boy!
First of all, I love your blog. Thank you so much for all the work you put into it. I can’t have kittens because my husband is allergic, so I live through yours. 🙂
I just wanted to comment on this:
Are you ever tempted to get Gracie & George severe summer trims for the heat? I can’t recall any pic’s with extreme haircuts but that doesn’t mean anything.
This is generally a bad idea for double coated dogs. I have a sheltie and if you get them “summer trims” (as some may advise at Petsmart) they are much more likely to get sunburned. Also, their hair grows back more knotted and coarse, and thicker, which can cause mats and discomfort for the dog. The best way to prepare a double coated dog for summer is to shave or trim their belly and feet a bit since dogs release heat through there. I also thin out her hair in some places. Usually if you see a “cropped” Sheltie, it is a rescue because its owners didn’t know how to deal with the coat. I’m not 100% sure of the coat texture of a GP, but if it’s like other herding dogs, shaving or severely trimming is a bad idea.
Then I guess it’s a good thing that the groomers charge so much. I guess they ultimately did us a favor!
I will say that I would have expected them to be far more miserable in this heat than they are. They stay cool under the coop during the hottest part of the day, but the rest of the time, they’re still out there cavorting. Just watching them makes me hot!
Best of luck, adoptable McMaos! I had kind of hoped Maggie would get some time to recover and eat a lot before going out…but hopefully she’ll get a chance in her new home. Wish I could take her.
I feel like I’m going to throw up after hearing about that woman and the kitten abuse. I signed the petition and passed it on FB but what I’d really like to do is kill the woman and her offspring.
I know the odds are that Maggie will do just fine wherever she lands, but I’ve been harboring the hope that she would get adopeted with at least one of her babies… how great would that be?!
Well in any case, I’ve absolutely loved watching the McMaos grow up!!! Lovely mama and lovely babies…!!
As for the Florida case — it’s so sad and awful, I’m trying not to think about it too much 🙁 Let’s hope that justice is served, but also that there might be a true change of heart on the part of this woman (and her kids)… I feel so bad for those kids especially! Who knows how often they’ve been exposed to this kind of behavior?
I’ve just been reading up on poor Dexter! 🙁 Oh dear.
Awwww Maggie – super wonderful Maggie!!! Awwww I hope she gets adopted asap! Hugs to her!
Yay for the ever so adorable McMaos and Spice Girls!Awwwwwwwwwwww – such great pics!!!!
Now I knew I forgot something this week.. oh yes, now I remember! Corbie is beautiful. Yay! Take care
x
I had heard about Dexter, but didn’t know his name or that the clinic helping him has a Facebook page. THANK YOU for sharing that!
And I bet Maggie finds a home just as fast as the kittens. What a sweet girl for someone!
I love the picture of Macushla looking out the window, no doubt wishing that he was a big boy kitty himself!
dear Corbie is such a handsome guy…love seeing photos of him outside…
Maggie and the McMaos have been a treat to watch…especially with the Spice Girls piled on! thanks for being such a wonderful foster mom and sharing their lives with us…
Gladly signed the petition. Several years ago we were able to pass new laws here in Kansas that made animal abuse such as this a felony. The sad part is that a little dog named Magnum had to die a horribly painful death to make it happen. I hope these so-called ‘people’ are prosecuted & that the laws down there have some teeth in them.
This was especially sad for me because little Dexter looks exactly like my wonderful 6 yr old tux Bucky did at that age. Could easily be his twin.
Love your blog & thanks for all you do for the animals.
Smug Miss Cori again looks like Smug Miss Alice. 😡
eek! I didn’t mean for that emote! It was supposed to be : x…. like a kiss.
Ha – I don’t know, I like that one!
I think a kiss is this one… :*
Hmm. Or maybe not. 🙂