Sunday, October 27, 2013

Passion: Morning at the Cat House

This morning with the kittens and juveniles, was great.  I took an article to read with my coffee as I held the lap junkies, but that was dumb.  Watching the kids play is really the best spiritual start to the day.  I got a donated toy from AFCH about two weeks ago and the kids love it.  It is a box with 9 round holes in the top and three along each side.  Drop the toys in and watch the kids fish them out.  Faith, however, also likes to drop toys in and then fish them out.  This morning she had a crinkly ball in her mouth.  She raced over to the box with it and dropped it in.  She then climbed on top of the box and went fishing for it. They got a crinkly bag at the same time and they also love that. 
Dori is now much more tame and comfortable around me.  She hasn't jumped into my lap yet, but she lets me lift her onto my lap and then purrs and purrs as I stroke and rub her. She even looks up expectantly when I stop petting for a minute.  She supervises litter cleaning, and waits until everyone else has chowed down on wet food before she goes over to eat.  This morning she wrestled with Joy and played tag with Hope and Faith while I was there.
Sweety, as usual was watching my cleaning from a condo, but rushed over the moment I plunked down in my chair and reached up, begging to be lifted to my lap.  She needs a person more than playmates or toys, although  she does engage with both sometimes when I'm observing, and may do so more when I am not there.
Tabeto is the other love bug. He loves my lap, but lets sweety and Faith share it with him.  Yesterday, I had him and Dori and Sweety and Faith all pig piled no the lap for a few minutes.  It is hard to leave when that is occurring. 
Then it is home to Winnie the Pooh and Dinah.  They get early mornings and late evenings with me.  Winnie starts her nap time about 11, unless I want to work or play at my desk and then she rushes over to interfere.  She comes when she is called albeit without haste.  I was able to shape this behavior with the use of greenies and petting.    

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Passions

I have very few "Peeves" these days, and I attribute that to yoga nidra.  I am passionate about life.  I love my avocation.  This morning I got to experience Dori, coming to me and letting me pick her up and hold her in my lap.  She purred and purred.  She is not as loud as Tabeto or Sweety yet but she has come so far in her domestication that it is awesome.
I am taking a holiday from taking any of the kitties in to be on display for adoption today at Petco.  A holiday means I will have more time for them and for my own rec pursuits.,  The symphony is on the agenda today. 

At the cat house, I will get a new photo of Sweety  Then I can write a blurb on her and post her before and now photos. 

Peeves

Solicitation calls. "Unavailable"  or various places in CA without messages and availability of an automated way to shut them down.  They always come at meal times, or while I am cooking.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Wonderful Winnie the Pooh

 
More fabulous shots of Winnie 
 

The above picture is Winnie dozing on the morning I was sent to Petco to adopt her.
 This is Winnie playing reclining  nude  a la Botticelli?
 This is how Winnie loiters around while waiting for the laser light to emerge from the drawer.  Standing on the netbook usually gets my attention.
This is Winnie meticulously grooming.

Winnie the Pooh aka Winni

Winnie the Pooh is my very own adoptee from Animal Friends Connection.  Winnie came to me for observation and treatment of her second bout of diarrhea.  She also had bouts of flatulence that could clear the room!  She is well now and seldom has gas attacks either.  She consoled me following  the death of my 15 year old, Scruffy, and I knew she was taking me on, when she wrote to the staff at AFCHS giving her consent to adoption and sent me to Petco one Saturday to sign adoption documents while she dozed at home.  She was born in May 2012, came to me from the sanctuary in November, and was adopted in January 2013.  She has thrived!  She was never "tiny  or frail" even during her terrible episode of diarrhea.  At adoption she weighed in at 10.9 pounds and now weighs 12.2 pounds!  She loves to play laser light, and walks back and forth in front of me on my desk until I open the desk drawer.  She knows that is where the red spot lives and she immediately jumps to the floor to begin the chase and pounce game. She tolerates other fosters, (especially likes the black kittens), and tries to get Dinah,  the senior queen in the house, and Mika, the dog, to play when there are no kittens available. She loves to curl up on my body in the evening and it does take the whole body to hold her large body.  She really is not fat: she is just a very large, big boned  girl!


This is Winnie with one of her favorite foster kitties, Winchester, who has found his forever home. Winchester owes his purrfect socialization to Winnie the Pooh!

Work site

Nice photo of the display cages at Petco, where I work each Tuesday and Thursday morning. I get to meet the coolest cats here!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Passions day

Wednesday is my "free day".  I like to plan a walk with Mika, yoga and then whatever strikes my fancy.  Today I have a nagging "got-ta".  I promised Marian I would write a brief "Happy Tail" about Winnie (the Poo), the foster that I adopted.  I need a picture of her and I together.  Easier said than done!  She is a busy girl, especially when I am involved with the computer, at my desk or if I handle the camera.  Right now she is bird watching beside me while I type. I am hoping Ron or Ashley F can capture us together on a good hair day, for me.  She seldom has bad hair days. Here is a good picture of her by herself.
Notice that she is at the CATO site with me.  She is a libertarian cat, although she doesn't want her food subsidy cut off!  She believes in purrsonal liberty and small government.  When I adopted her she weighed about 10.9 pounds.  I have not weighed her recently but I know she has not shrunk. She is my first tabby.  I have had a tuxedo, a Siamese, a Siamese mix a black long hair, a muted calico, a black short hair (Dinah), still with me and they all have had very distinct personalities.  Now that I am fostering, I am beginning to note the common behavioral characteristics within these breeds and mixes as well as the variances in temperament and behavior between breeds. It is fun to be a modified animal ecologist.  I say modified beause real ecologists don't get to intervene.  I get to intervene. I get  to detect and remedy health problems, and do some behavior shaping, which of course takes me back to my graduate school roots.   

Monday, October 21, 2013

More tales from the Cat House

When 5 of the current menagerie went to Petsmart for two  weeks on the adoption circuit, I took the opportunity to have the floor in the cat room painted,  The room had previously been carpeted but the indoor outdoor carpet was removed about 3 years ago and since the room was unused I had done nothing with the floor.  Now it is a beautiful barn red and has two very nice area rugs for warmth and ambiance.  Every cat house should have ambiance. 

This photo shows Joy on top of Hope on one of the area rugs.
While the paint was drying, Dori,and the 3 little kittens lived in the guest house bathroom, pretty cramped quarters comparatively speaking.  They survived it though and I think it brought Dori and I closer together figuratively and literally.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Passion

I have been consumed by my passion, as evidenced by my failure to blog, for several months.  I am a volunteer for Animal Friends Connection Humane Society.  I started out simply cleaning cages at Petco for those kitties on display for adoption.  I  have expanded into foster care of kittens, primarily, and now have my own "Cat House" where I have raised and nurtured and socialized about 25 kitties so far.  I still have 6, but all the rest have found wonderful "purrmanent" homes. My most recent girls, Faith, Hope and Joy will be spayed and ready for adoption after October 29. My juvenile, Dori, who was a captured feral and along with her brothers and sisters have been in foster care for socialization training with both other cats and people, is also progressing.  She went to Petco with the other girls on Saturday for showing and did very well.  She came home and has continued to warm up to me.  She is really good with the smaller girls.  Her favorite playmate, Mouth, got adopted and she misses him.  I have only one boy at this time, Tabito.  He is the lucky male in the house full of girls, but alas alack, he was neutered long ago.  He is very loving and fond of all his little playmates.  He protects Miss Sweety who after having a rough start, is growing nicely and is the most beautiful medium length smoky haired girl.  She is a lap junkie, and monopolizes my lap whenever she can.
I will tell my brief tales of the others and attach photos as I go.
Hopefully I can be more consistent in my posting. 
Here is a photo of Dori with Faith on the table at the "Cat House"