Saturday, May 29, 2010

Kittens of the Twilight



We took a break from helping set up the CCHS garage sale (Going on today! Bag sale at 3:00. So much stuff!) a couple days ago to go pick up kittens. Posting about them had to wait until the setup was done!

Here are Edward, Jacob, Bella, Alice, and Esme. We have them because they were under 2lbs and were hissy at the society.

They were very skittish when we got them and stayed that way most of the first day. I think the spots on the carpet were scaring Esme at one point. While it took until the next day, they did finally relax in the kitten room and are now running about like mad kitties chasing balls.

I think the hissiness was merely because the humane society was a very new location with lots of strange things and beings and they were in a cage. Since they've relaxed and taken ownership of the room they've mobbed every person that has come in to visit and are purring easier and easier.

We'll probably be back at the society shortly, though--they are losing weight and have diarrhea. The latter causes the former and isn't uncommon among kittens, but we'll pick up some meds to fix it so they can go back to getting bigger!

(Bella is demonstrating what kittens think the self-petter is for. That and chewing on... I picked that up at the Garage Sale a year or so ago. This year's new toy is a bag of mice and another tree-like scratcher that I'll show a kitten atop soon. There are still plenty of cat toys left, both big and small, if you need one!)

Friday, May 21, 2010

CCHS Giant Garage sale - Donations now, sale next weekend



No fosters right now--it's been a slow spring. I'm hoping this means more people are spaying & neutering their animals. As much as I enjoy fostering kittens, this would be a good thing!

However, today I wanted to talk about the upcoming Champaign County Humane Society Giant Garage Sale next weekend. It's held at Kessler Hall in the fairgrounds north of Carle in Urbana.

Donations are accepted this weekend (Saturday, May 22: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday, May 23: noon – 3 p.m. No drop-offs will be accepted after 3 p.m. Sunday, May 23. Please see: http://www.cuhumane.org/events/gs/index.html for what is and is not wanted.)

The sale is Memorial Day weekend (Friday, May 28 - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., $2 donation until 3pm. Saturday, May 29- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m, $3 bag sale starts at 3pm).

This sale really deserves the title Giant. It FILLS Kessler Hall and spills out into the surrounding grassy area. The days between drop offs and the sale are needed to get everything organized and priced. If you want it, there's a good chance you can find it!

Volunteers are welcome. Help unload cars this weekend, sort books by genres, price housewares (put out priced housewares), sort donations into the proper areas, cleaning check people out, etc. This is the largest single need for volunteers the shelter has during the year. It's also just a lot of fun.

Take a look at the pictures from last year to get a feel for the variety of items available then come on out!

Pictures from last year: http://www.cuhumane.org/events/gs/GS2009/index.html
More info on the sale (including maps & volunteering): http://www.cuhumane.org/events/gs/index.html

Monday, May 3, 2010

Kittens Available



The four kittens are back at the society and up for adoption. They are easily large enough for spaying/neutering which will happen shortly then they just need their forever home.

I leave you with a picture of Lily, who found a nice warm place to curl up while Jon was sitting at the computer. She was purring away until she dozed off.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Busy days with many people



After having half a dozen people or so come in on Saturday to play with them, the kittens were quite tired. So was one of our friends who usually works night shift, but got up early (for him) to come see a guest from out of town. He laid down to take a nap and three of the kittens joined him.

The kittens have behaved basically the same with all of the guests--Chester climbs all over said guest (including trying to go up the inside of a pants leg at one point), Jamal purrs very loudly, Lily wanders over to say 'hi' by squeaking, and Jackson watches from a little ways away.

We even had a slightly under a year baby come see the kittens. The kittens were not quite sure what to do with the baby, staying a couple feet away and watching this new introduction intently. Chester eventually sniffed the baby's feet and the others decided the baby wasn't that interesting and went back to chasing balls around the room. The baby does have a happy noise that resembles a hiss, and Jackson was not pleased when she happied at him (he hissed while backing up--we picked him up and pet him for a bit and put him back down and there were no more problems). The other kittens just cocked their head at the strange noise. If you have a young child, Chester is probably the best choice. If you have a baby/toddler, I'd strongly suggest a CAT instead of a kitten. For children, the oranges should be fine, and Jackson would be fine with a quieter child.