Kittens is Cats

Hiatus

2010-10-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

I hope someone has noticed this ceased being updated. I'm afraid that's likely to stay the situation for a while.

Jon & Kat now have a new baby. The end of pregnancy was a bit rough (not horrible, but Kat wasn't comfortable sitting at the keyboard, which is why this wasn't posted then) and now we're trying to learn this entire parenting thing. It would be easier if a full night's sleep was an option.

We do expect to go back to fostering, but we aren't sure how quickly. It will probably be at least a couple months and then on a limited basis--preferences for adult cats with URIs rather than large litters of tiny kittens!

Thank you to everyone who has been reading our attempt at blogging, and when we do start taking cats in again I will post again. Until then we'll stop by the humane society and socialize cats from time to time--I encourage you to do the same.

I leave you with a picture from a little bit ago. Kittens thought it was great that Kat was pregnant--they fit on her belly and it was nice and warm!

Bieber & Binx

2010-08-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

Two little kittens moved into the cat room. The black & white one is Bieber, the all black is Binx. I'm not sure where their names came from, but they are funny and seem to match the kittens.

They like people and in the morning acted as if they'd NEVER had any attention, falling over themselves to get to us. Which isn't really a figure of speech--they aren't the most graceful kittens we've seen, especially for being 3 months. They seem to realize this, and haven't tried any acrobatic stunts or fancy climbing (yet).

Thy were up for adoption for a little while, but Binx was barely picking at his food and lost enough weight they decided to send him into foster care. Bieber came along for the ride--it does make our lives much easier if the young kitten has another young kitten to play with. The shelter is so full of kittens right now that it was probably easier to send the entire cage worth anyway. (If you want to see a kitten in a hammock you should stop by the shelter. One of the cages in the hallway has a hammock and often ferrets, but right now there are kittens and one was hanging out in the hammock when we picked these two up).

Their appetite has dramatically improved--at least "picking" is not how I'd describe what they do to wet food, especially when they then howl at me for more. We've seen them eating dry food as well. So hopefully they'll be fat and happy kittens again soon.

Mountains for adoptions

2010-07-18T17:23:00.001-07:00

Everest and Kea are back at the society. They, and the rest of their litter, are up for adoption now. We wondered if they were part of a larger litter and after spotting the rest of the mountain-based names on the society's adoption page, the question was answered. Kea's picture was hard to snap since she isn't fond of being held. She likes people and is fine being near them on the futon, but doesn't like being picked up. Jon had to sit down instead of holding her up, and then she finally looked at the camera...before jumping off to go play. Kittens!

We did have some good news--all the last litter of kittens have been adopted. Yay! So the only foster of ours left (other than these two who just went up) is Josie. A sweet cat, but she does nip, unfortunately.

If you are thinking about adopting a cat or kitten, the society currently has LOTS to pick from. Stop by!

Personalities

2010-07-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Kittens are doing well. Everest is over 1000 grams and Kea is over 900. I expect they'll be fine for going back on Sunday, though I'm hoping she has some good gains to put her well over 2lbs by then.

Their personalities are very distinct. Everest is well described as a bold kitten. He explores, he runs up and howls for attention, he checks out any new item on the floor to see if it can be used as a toy and shows no fear.

Kea never quite seems to know exactly what is going on and is therefore usually hesitant. She touches new items from as far away as possible and gingerly. She watches new people coming in and considers. She is as likely to run away as towards you.

They do both enjoy play fighting with each other. It's their most common activity. Kea isn't hesitant about attacking her brother, but fortunately neither of them show any inclination to bite us.

Kea & Everest arrive!

2010-07-05T20:32:00.001-07:00

Two new kittens have come to visit! Everest is the tabby and Kea is the half tabby, half white. Her coloration is fascinating.

They have a ways to go to grow into their names. They are supposedly 3 months old but are a bit under 2 lbs, so we are trying to fatten them up so they can be spayed and neutered.

They love to play with each other and are quite friendly after settling into the kitten room. We did notice a sore on the side of Kea's mouth and have mailed the humane society to ask about it. It doesn't seem to slow her down in eating or bother her at all.

They also both eat dry food. Hooray! We are giving them wet as well to encourage weight gain, but if they are eating dry on their own I don't have to mix the dry in with the wet.

That's about it for now. So far, they've just been cute, adorable, slightly small kittens.

Twilight of the Twilights

2010-06-16T10:02:00.001-07:00

All kittens are back at CCHS and up for adoption. Looking at their available pages they apparently had several litters come back at once.

Jacob the exploratory and noisy.

Esme needs a lot of attention. She won't ask for it, but she was much calmer and a better kitten when she was getting lots of attention both with a toy and from people.

Edward the kitten who loves to sniff toes and people.

Bella who is simply adorably fluffy. Not the brightest of the kittens, but has excellent balance and usually near the middle of what's going on.

Alice who is very sweet, but I'd avoid putting her in a high stress house. She has more problems with stress than the other kittens do.

Busy weekend

2010-06-13T18:10:00.001-07:00

It's been a tiring weekend for the kittens. A friend of ours was visiting and elected to sleep in the cat room. They thought it was great--both overnight and the futon being down with a pillow on it during the day! He also ran them a lot, so they spent a lot of the time sleeping when they had the chance!

He's much more up for being kitten furniture than we are. He couldn't quite get a third one on his back without starting a scuffle, though--which since we hadn't clipped their claws in a while got them summarily back on the floor!

We did clip their claws again. They put up with it, but it is definitely a two person job. Their climbing our jeans was much more comfortable afterwards. It doesn't seem to slow them down at all for running or jumping, but it does cut back a little bit on the scratching and is much more comfortable for the humans.

Today we picked peas before the rain, and set the empty pea pods in the kitten room. Jon's parent's cat loves to chew on pea pods. The kittens didn't do that, but Edward did pull them one by one out, and Alice managed to dump a bunch at once--then they all had new toys to bat around.

They're all well over 2lbs at this point. They'll be heading back tomorrow morning to the shelter and we expect them to stay. An adorable litter!

Kitten adventure!

2010-06-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

The kittens had an adventure. We put the kitten-sized harness on them and hooked up a leash, then took them for a walk around our living room. Since they'd been trying to escape down there anyway we thought we'd let them explore in a more controlled manner.

There was much fun and the kittens took to the harness fairly well. With kittens we do have to keep the leash behind their head or they think it's a string to attack! Jacob was a bit unsure of the entire thing, but the harness is a little small for him--he's a lanky cat which not all harnesses take into account.

We didn't take them outside for multiple reasons. We didn't carefully fit the harness to each cat so were not confident they couldn't get out of it. We (and CCHS) firmly believe cats are indoor pets and should not be roaming around outside unsupervised. Since we don't know if their new homes will want to take the cat out on a leash, we don't introduce them to the outdoors other than through a window.

If you do want your cat outside at times, it IS possible to train most cats to a leash. Then they can go outside safely and without bothering the rest of the neighborhood. Most of the dangers to a cat outside are eliminated when you are around--you aren't going to let them eat a dead bird or run in front of that car. They also won't eat the songbirds your neighbor has worked hard to attract to their yard. A friend also just moved into a house where there was a large cage in the back with climbing trees and sunning space for their cats, and a cat-door from inside to get to it. I've never seen one before, but the cats probably loved it!

Anyway, look, kitten on a leash!

Out! Out! Out! say the kittens...

2010-06-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

Kittens are doing well. They are running amok, but did take a few minutes out to snuggle with Jon. A couple of them are over 2 lbs and the rest are very close. They have consistently been gaining weight for the last few days. They are still basically refusing to eat dry food out of the bowl, but they eat what I mix in with the wet--at this point I'm mixing in about the same amount of dry as there is wet. I have started a second water bowl also because they are drinking it so fast.

They decided the kitten room is old hat and they want something new. Trying to bring food in yesterday I had to chase 6 kittens down the hall (yes, we only have 5.) So far this morning there have been 2 escapees. I put the baby gate up, which usually slows them down enough we can get in and out....one only got partway away after that. The next few days are going to be interesting!

Unfortunately, their litter box problems haven't cleared up. We're running 3 little boxes--which might be low for 5 cats but for 5 kittens it's at least one over. Since they all have to be cleaned every day this is taking a lot more time than normal. Until they get their problems worked out, though, they make such a mess of the box they need all 3 to be comfortable going overnight. Poor Esme is really having a rough time of it.

Sometimes kittens just have diarrhea for no apparent reason. It eventually goes away. For everyone involved's sake, we hope that happens soon.

Twilight litter

2010-06-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I've mentioned them and talked about them, but here they are one by one. They are doing better--they have started an upward trend in weight gain even if it's not as consistent as I'd like. They are still making an utter mess of the litter box, unfortunately. We have an antibiotic to give them. The lab says sometimes the biology of the gut gets out of whack, but otherwise they're running out of ideas other than time to fix it. Since they seem to be overall going up in weight it isn't as large a concern as it was. We still need to get them actually healthy, but they are growing again.

Bella: Long haired gray. Very much a fluffball.

Jacob: Shorted haired black. Very active, very vocal.

Esme: Short haired tabby. Has been lethargic recently. Likes to lay atop things.

Alice: Long haired tabby. She was one of the hissers when we first got them but has turned into a very sweet kitten.

Edward: Long haired black. Loves people.

Twilight saga

2010-06-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

It's been an exciting weekend for the kittens. We took them in on Saturday afternoon for treatment for the most common cause of diarrhea. Their weight loss had slowed by Sunday but not stopped and the litter box was getting worse. The fecal sample also came back negative, but we made an appointment for Tuesday morning since the problem was clearly still going on.

Monday just confirmed they still had something wrong. The diarrhea started showing blood as well (kittens are cute...a lot of caring for them isn't!). I fed them extra food in the afternoon, which is why some of them didn't lose a lot of weight that evening since they were still trying to digest it. That night we did spot something moving in the litter box--ah-ha, worms of some type.

Some types of worms they'd already had the first treatment for, since it's done automatically. The second half of the treatment isn't due until tomorrow. We were supposed to take them in on Thursday, but since we were in this morning we have the doses sitting on the counter and will give them ourselves. They hadn't been treated for tapeworms because they'd shown no sign of fleas. However, tapeworms are notorious for not showing up in fecal samples, and fit the symptoms. So, they got shots for those today.

The CCHS's lab's opinion is they've been treated for about all the parasites that would be causing the problem, so hopefully the next couple days the kittens will recover. They'll be happier and so will we--healthy kittens cause less of a icky mess of the room, though they do tend to knock stuff around more.

On the bright side, all the kittens like people and run over to say "hi" to anyone who comes in their room. They didn't mind the nearly 1 year old that hung out for a while either. They all like climbing on people, most don't mind being picked up. We're still working on Alice and Esme to be calmer about being held; they put up with it but we'd like them to be more relaxed and calm. They are making good progress!

Kittens of the Twilight

2010-05-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

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!)

CCHS Giant Garage sale - Donations now, sale next weekend

2010-05-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

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

Kittens Available

2010-05-03T19:49:00.001-07:00

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.

Busy days with many people

2010-05-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Om-nom-nom

2010-04-29T06:36:00.001-07:00

Kittens are gaining weight nicely. They are all over 2lbs. Our usual goal is over 1000 grams (2.2lbs) since they often loose a little when they go back to the society and we don't want them dropping below 2lbs. 1000 is also a nice round number to aim for, since we actually measure their weight in grams and not pounds.

Three of this litter are there handily, and Lily probably is since now--she was 996 last night before we put out wet food.

They are not picky eaters. They eat any of the wet food I put out and I'm having to watch the dry food bowl carefully since they keep eating it empty. Lily especially seems to eat a lot of dry--which is probably why she's gaining faster than the rest, she just started smaller.

They share the wet food nicely with each other; to argue about it would require stopping eating!

Recovery = energy

2010-04-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

The kittens are recovering nicely. They have adjusted to the room and the meds are working as they have a lot of spunk and energy (when they aren't sleeping). They're also eating better--the first night they didn't eat much wet food when I put it out but now they are demolishing the plate and also eating quite a bit of dry food. Their weights have started going up rapidly; barring any unexpected issues, they will be back at the society this weekend ready for spay/neuter and adoption.

They got a lot of outside air this weekend. We didn't take them out, and in fact had the window in the kitten room closed most the time to help keep it warm. However, for most of the weekend we had no front door. We made sure the kitten area was well secure--one getting loose in the house is bad enough, we had visions of them loose in the yard! Fortunately, no escapees and we have a new door installed.

	Lily: The only female. She mews sadly until you sit where she can climb on you. She just finished drinking when we picked her up for the picture. She's the smallest by a little bit.
	Jackson: The easy to tell apart kitten. He's the only kitten who isn't thrilled by people. He isn't afraid of us, but he doesn't seem interested in interacting either. We're working on convincing him people are good things and he should come say hi when they come in the room. He does like to chase his own tail and caught a spider the other day.
	Chester is the lightest (by a little bit) coloring of the kittens. He's also the most rambunctious and hasn't seen a tail he didn't want to chase. He's getting a lot of lessons from his littermates in bite inhibition when they howl after he grabs their tail. He just loves to play.
	Jamal is a cuddler. His eyes are looking better after a few days on medication and he joins the rest of the litter in racing about crazily. He likes people, and his purr is impressively loud.

KITTENS!

2010-04-22T14:56:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize it had been over a month since we posted. That's because it's been over a month since we had a foster. While it makes the blog a bit slow, it's a good thing overall since it means CCHS hasn't had too many sick cats.

However, it's kitten season, and so it was just a matter of time.It's been a long time since we've had little kittens so we were pleased to get the mail. They came into the society very recently at 8 weeks old--old enough to be adoptable, but a couple were a bit under the 2lbs needed for spay/neutering so they are in foster for a week or so to bulk them up.

That's what we knew yesterday afternoon--we thought we were just getting four kittens with the normal dietary supplement med who just needed some time. Their full exam this morning turned up other problems--one kitten has an eye infection, they all have congestion and diarrhea. So we're home with 3 bottles of liquid and one cream. I'm not surprised they are congested--picking them up they don't feel like they've been cleaning themselves, which we see a lot with stuffy cats.

Jackson is the black and white kitten with Jamal who has the eye problem. The pair of oranges are Lily (the only female) and Chester. We took the collar off Jackson since we can easily ID him and he was scratching at it a lot. The orange kittens will keep their collars until (if) we can spot coloring differences that are easy to spot.

While they've spent most of the day asleep we do know somethings about them already. Lily is adventuresome and has no fear. She was first out of the crate and went exploring and is already studying the door. The others seem a bit more reserved, but they all like people--at least I had them all trying to sleep on me at one point and when they were meowing at Jon for attention whenever they woke up.

Chili!

2010-03-15T14:41:00.001-07:00

So even for me this has been remiss in posting. Chili went back to the shelter on Saturday, and stayed. I didn't get a farewell picture, partially because we expected him to come back with us for another couple days.

His cold cleared up quickly. His eye got better then plateaued. Wed morning we discovered he'd eaten the extra-long tail off a toy mouse. Well, the tail was half the length it was, and we never did find the string, so we assume he ate it. Between the two, we figured he'd stick around.

However, since he was showing no signs of distress in the litter box from the string, and his URI was cleared up, they decided to keep him at the shelter. They were going to change treatments for his eye to try and clear the last bit up. Since that's a lot less contagious across cages than a URI they decided to keep him at the shelter. I notice he's up for adoption today. Hooray!

Chili is a lap cat. He loves people, but may be a bit shy at first in a new area. After he adjusts to his surroundings he loves all people whether he's met them before or not. We had a network technician out (another reason my posts have been limited--we *think* it's fixed now, but we'll see) and several friends over and he was thrilled.

If you sit down, he's likely to crawl in your lap. Yes, he's a 9 month kitten. He's still a lap cat who PURRs. If he isn't purring give him any attention and he will be. He purrs and purrs and purrs and purrs. It's rather impressive. He does enjoy playing and does tear around the room from time to time, but mainly--he's the boneless cat from Charlie Brown. Lays on the floor hoping you'll pick him up so he doesn't have to actually get up to get in your lap!

Adorably sweet and cuddly kitten--now available!

Meet Chili!

2010-03-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Meet Chili! He's a 9 month old kitten with a cold. His sneezes are most impressive! He also has some goop in his eyes--the solution to which is medical goop in his eyes.

Surprisingly, he's still quite soft. Usually cats with colds end up with dirty fur, but he's really nice to pet.

He came out of the crate shortly after we came home yesterday evening, walked around the room once, then went back in his crate for the next few hours, just staring at us from in it. We ate dinner then coaxed him out. He promptly started purring and was very friendly and affectionate.

He's a self-started, in that he's been playing with toys on his own. He doesn't seem to have the energy to do so very long and is sleeping most of the time. We'll see how he changes a he gets healthy!

Bethany available

2010-02-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

Bethany went back to the shelter yesterday. She's up above her 2 lb weight so she can be safely spayed soon. She's available for adoption and is one of the few small kittens right now (though I'm sure more will be coming--spring approaches).

She is not a very cuddly kitten; she prefers to play. She will, however, curl up and sleep with you when she's tired. She dearly loves toys on the end of strings, but do not let her have them without supervision. She also likes balls. Oh, and she is absolutely fascinated watching video games. She can track the human figures running around on screen.

A very sweet kitten, looking for her forever home! Stop by and say hello!

Bethany's toys

2010-02-13T06:23:00.000-08:00

Bethany loves toys. She especially loves them if there is a human on the other end. She's learning to enjoy being pet, but she'd really rather play. Her favorite toy is a small stuffed bird with a bell on the end of a bungee string attached to a stick. She'll play with balls and boxes and boxes with stuff in them and Mr. Dot, but she loves that bird.

The bird is also an excellent example of a toy that is good for supervised play only . When we get tired of swinging it around we set it up to hang off a table so she can keep playing with it. Yesterday Jon heard her noise change to a repetitive mewling he hadn't heard from her before. Turning around he discovered she had somehow wrapped the string around her belly, then around her neck....then the stretchy string retracted and she was suspended mostly off the ground. Fortunately the loop around her belly was taking the weight.

He quickly unwound her and she's fine, but if he hadn't been around that could have been unpleasant. It's an excellent toy--I highly suggest whoever adopts her get a toy with a bell on a string--but it's a toy to be played with with humans around only. Leave her the balls for solo play.

Bethany arrives!

2010-02-10T18:42:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since we had any little kittens. Usually they come in groups, but Bethany is all by herself. She is 2 months and was 2 lbs (the magic age/weight at which kittens can be spayed and go up for adoption) but she started loosing weight when she was separated from her mother. So we have her to plump her back up again.

She was treated for fleas before we got her and it seems to have worked, as we've seen no fleas. We also found ringworms in her fecal sample, but since incoming cats are treated for them as a matter of course and the ones we found were dead, she didn't have to go back for treatment. Which we were glad of because the snow is quite deep!

We were told she was "lonely" and that's a good description. She howls if we're not in the room and it's very pathetic. She doesn't demand all our attention if we're with her--she will play on her own and go exploring--but she gets quite upset about being alone. She has a huge range of vocalizations as well. Every time we come in she seems to have a new one. She isn't the most intelligent kitten we've had, but she's lots of fun.

She'll be with us probably until Sunday, assuming she regains her weight.

The first evening she was here I was tired and took a nap on the sofa. She'd had a hard day and curled up and napped with me. It wasn't til the next day we were both awake enough for me to get an alert picture.

Dr. Stone farewell, Josie wants to say hello

2010-02-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

We went out to the shelter on Friday evening for a farewell party for the shelter's vet. She will be missed. The shelter is taking applications for her replacement, so if you know someone looking for a vet position please send them to cuhumane.org. While there we walked around and played with the cats.

Josie is still there, to our surprise. She's just as sweet and funny as ever. We took her into the Getting Acquainted room to play with her and all she wanted to do was sit on my lap. Well, "sit" is maybe not the right term--she can't sit still when you pet her but shifts and walks in circles and rubs her face on your hand. She does look a little funny--she's a small cat with a small head but the rest of her is round. She's on a restricted diet because she's round, but she's a very cheerful sphere if someone is petting her.

This week (Feb 8th - 14th) the Society has tagged some animals with red hearts or red bandanna and those animals are half the normal adoption fee. I believe Josie has a heart on her cage, so go say hi!

Roscoe - Follow up, adopted!

2010-01-29T17:36:00.000-08:00

It was pointed out to me I forgot to blog Roscoe! He actually went in a day early because of gunk in his ear, and since the URI was clear they kept him. The ear infection was easily treated there. So, we don't have the traditional final picture, but here are some others.

I see today on the web site he's been adopted. Hooray! Darth Vader was also adopted. Sweet Josie is still looking for her forever home, though.

Roscoe Arrives!

2010-01-17T11:09:00.001-08:00

Meet Roscoe! He arrived late on Thursday. He does have brilliant blue eyes, but the Illini orange is due to the camera flash. He's 11lbs, very solidly built, but has hints of Siamese coloring. He's a nice cream color with the ears a little darker. Adorable face.

As most of our fosters, he has a cold. A nasty one. Thus, he was choking from time to time, very cuddly, and very energetic. I thought he was an older cat from his behavior, but he's actually only a year--the lethargy is almost certainly due to being sick. Much like humans when they aren't feeling well.

He likes being under things--he lays under the edge of the couch and under the desk. He's not hiding and he was happy coming out to see a variety of guests on Thursday not long after he came, but he seems to prefer something above his head.

Darth Vader is available

2009-12-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

Darth Vader went back to the society yesterday and when last we saw him was in one of the crates in the far back room. So, if you've ever wanted your own little Sith Lord, here's your chance!

He is still nippy, but in ways that are very easy to work around. If you want to stop petting him, set him off your lap. If he reaches out with his paws towards your hand and opens his mouth--remove your hand from his head area. He isn't the fastest kitten and gives plenty of warning before nipping. (I am using nip, and not bite, intentionally. He doesn't break skin or bite hard, so bite seems a bit much). He has no front claws so his paws are safe.

He likes pouncing, so with a cardboard box it's easy to play with him without you having to move much. Dangle the toy on one side of the box, wait for him to pounce. When he backs off, move the toy to the other side of the box. He can ignore a toy until it goes out of sight!

He is a kitten so be prepared for exploration. He doesn't make a lot of noise vocally, and he is VERY quiet when moving around.

Now at CCHS!

(While we were dropping him off we went and said hello to Richard as well, who is still available. He's in one of the communal cat rooms and would love attention as well.)

Vader Update

2009-12-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I've learned several things about this kitten.

He's very affectionate. He often curls up in my lap after play.

He purrs a LOT and loudly. I was sitting on the sofa and he was underneath and I realized I could hear him. He purrs when playing, he purrs when being pet.

He is a pouncer, not a chaser. Usually if you have a toy on a string you can drag it along the ground and the cat will chase it. Not Vader. He hunkers down. When it stops moving his butt wiggles then he run-pounces it. If it goes behind a box out of sight this also induces the pounce.

He is still nipping. If we stop petting him (or don't start) and he wants petting he'll nip. If we are petting him or have our hands near when he wants to play he'll nip. He doesn't bite hard; I don't think he's broken skin yet. It does hurt, but he isn't trying to hurt, he's trying to play and doesn't yet understand humans don't play that way.

We can basically recognize when he is going to nip, and the hard part now is not simply avoiding the situations.

For example, if he was my cat, I'd just make sure to set him off my lap if I wanted to stop petting him, thus avoiding the issue of getting nipped at when I stop. However, that doesn't teach him not to nip, which is what we are trying to teach him so he has a better chance at being adopted. Thus, if I get tired of petting him, I stop. Then I wait and see if he's going to nip or not.

If he's clearly wanting to play I don't try to make him sit and be calm. He's a kitten! We start with play and wearing him out. Now that we've got the toys & figured out how to get him moving he is better behaved. He plays for a while then quits and often comes and sits on my lap. he's less likely to nip at our hands now that he's got the right type toys. He still does, but not as much.

He is, other than the nipping, a delightful kitten. He plays, he comes running to greet us, he purrs a lot, and he leaves Jon mostly alone when on the computer. He also has a hilarious butt wiggle right before pouncing.

No, it is NOT cute.

2009-12-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

Darth Vader is a good example of why little kittens need to be raised properly. We think (though we can't prove, as we don't know his history), his raising had one big mistake.

It's "cute" when a 1 month old kitten tries to bite when playing. It's "cute" to wiggle fingers and watch a 2 month old kitten try and pounce on them.

It ceases very rapidly to be cute when that little tiny kitten becomes an adult, or even an 8 month old kitten with full sized teeth. It becomes harder to correct the older the cat becomes and can make them unadoptable.

Vader is a playful kitten. Unfortunately, he wants to play with our hands--mainly trying to pounce and bite them. This is not appropriate behavior, period. Fortunately, he seems to be careful and doesn't bite hard. Since he does seem to distinguish humans from other things he bites, we are hoping he's still young enough we can teach him proper behavior.

The basic theory is two fold. We stop playing with him and hiss at him if he tries to bite us, and we try to wear him out playing with proper toys.

He was not impressed with the balls or box with holes & toys inside. All our mice were long since headless, so we stopped by the society today to pick up a variety of toys. We now have a couple sticks with toys on string, a mouse, and a couple stuffed animals.

We're finding he's not quite sure what to do with the toys. I'm not sure how much experience he has with them. He bats a little bit at the toys, and watches any of them that are moving, but I almost feel like we're teaching him how to play with toys. Which, we might be, I suppose. We also propped one of the string toys up so it dangles in the room to encourage him when we aren't involved.

I hope we can shift him from biting us to biting toys. He is otherwise a very sweet kitten--and has an impressively loud purr that goes off a lot.

Darth Vader arrives!

2009-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we picked up a small 8 month kitten named Darth Vader. All black, of course. He sounds a bit like Darth Vader, I admit, but we're hoping that clears up as his recovers from his cold.

Playful, curious, like most kittens. He'll be getting wet food along with his dry to help keep him hydrated. Otherwise, the usual two medicines. The society warned us he was quite playful, so we'll see. He's still exploring and settling into the cat room.

Darth Vader will be with us until next weekend. More details about him once he's been here a bit longer.

Richard Available

2009-12-10T06:03:00.001-08:00

Richard passed his exam and is available at CCHS.

He's a good cat. He doesn't play much with people (string, etc), but happily plays by himself as long as the people retrieve his ping pong balls from wherever he got them stuck. He enjoys attention but mainly just wants people nearby. He's happy to just nap in the same room as people, but does not like being stuck in another room. He will howl if he's stuck away from people, but tends not to ask for attention (just takes it with a purr if you give it).

He didn't seem to be much of a jumper. He liked being brushed and it made him much softer as well. A good cat for someone who wants a companion without constant demands on attention.

Available now!

Boo & Simba - found a home!

2009-12-03T06:13:00.001-08:00

Hooray! We just got the word that Boo & Simba have been adopted to a wonderful home. I'm so glad they are going to stay together. Congrats to whoever adopted them--you have two great cats to enjoy.

Richard's Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

Has it really been a week since Thanksgiving? Richard has really come a long way. At the end of last week he had finally reached the de-congesting stage of healing and kept choking himself on his own drainage. This was the state when we reached the 30th, supposedly the day he was getting off the meds and going back. He didn't--he'll be here until sometime this weekend.

He's doing much better finally. His breathing is clearing, he's actually able to purr again. He's also discovered energy. He loves ping pong balls! Chases them all around the room. We have to dig them out from behind the crate and behind the desk frequently!

Here are pictures of Richard's Thanksgiving. Like most of us, he ate to much, watched some ball, then slept!

Richard's Visitors

2009-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

Richard has calmed down considerably. It seems he just needed a couple days to adjust to new surroundings and has shed most of his scardy-catness. He's still a bit suspicious of new people, but warms up quickly.

Today he hid from the cable internet repairman who was checking equipment in the cat room, but only for a few minutes. When family descended he started to run from the first person, but we shook the treat container and he came right out and stayed out. He was fine as the rest of the family showed up and they all came in to see him.

He likes people in the room. He likes attention but he's content to just lay on the sofa or the table behind it as long as people are in the room. If we aren't he's usually by the door of the room waiting for us, howling from time to time.

He spends a lot of time laying on the table next to the window. Today he had a visitor looking back in at him!

Richard Arrives

2009-11-21T18:31:00.001-08:00

It was starting to look like we'd be cat-free for Thanksgiving, but nope! Richard came to visit us for the next week and a half.

He's a big cat at 12 lbs, and he's simply large, not round. He's 5 years old, has a cold, and has conjunctivitis in both eyes. This means he has crusting around his eyes and gets goop in his eyes along with the dual meds for the URI.

We also may have some behavioral work to do with him. He came out of his crate straight under the bed and stayed there for a couple hours until we pulled him out. He calmed down as he held him, but if either of us stood up or moved he was back under the bed.

It's now been about 10 hours since we brought him home. He is out from under the bed and in fact sits at the door and howls if we aren't in the cat room. When we come to the door he still skitters backwards and is very nervous as long as we are standing up. The sofa seems to be a "safe place", though, and he happily takes petting there and will head-bump you very solidly. If someone appears at the door or walks in he still hunkers down and debates fleeing. He is calmer if we are sitting, either on the sofa or the floor.

We'll see if he just needs time to adjust to a new place, to new people, or if we need to actively work with him about his being a scaredy cat. We'll have guests over Thanksgiving, so we'll get to see how he does with new people and how long it takes him to warm up to new people.

The first picture I took when he was hiding behind the sofa. The second he was out and about. I think he used to be fed off a saucer, though--I carry the medicine into the cat room on a saucer and he charged over and jumped up trying to see what was on it. Very unexpected given his other behavior, but hopeful.

I think the medicine was a letdown from what he wanted, but he took his meds in a very civilized manner.

Boo & Simba - Available!

2009-11-15T19:32:00.001-08:00

Boo and Simba are back at the humane society, ready for adoption. We can give these two our whole-hearted approval. They are wonderful, well raised cats.

They get along wonderfully and would be a good choice for someone looking for two cats. No worry about potential incompatibilities. They are people-cats, and are friendly with strangers. The mild spookiness to noise I mentioned early on disappeared after a couple days; they just had to adjust to the house-noises and they were fine.

They are fine with being picked up. Some people (including Kat) think this is a vital thing to teach cats. These purr in your arms.

I highly suggest you own a laser pointer and be willing to use it with these cats. They will play with each other, but human involvement is needed to make sure they get their exercise (and they will whine until you play with them).

Also, you must have a house where cats being up is not a problem. Simba will find a way up, and Boo can get there if he wants to. They will be up. They also currently knock stuff down, but that may fade as they get older and more graceful (no promises!)

In short--a great pair of compatible very friendly people kittens who should grow into delightful cats. Available now!

Boo and Simba & Mr. Dot

2009-11-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

This is evening for Boo and Simba with us. They are doing just fine, and are full of energy. We ran the laser pointer around to give them some exercise and wear them out a bit!

As you can see, Mr. Dot spends some time on the ceiling. They pace it around the room. It also lives in the cat tree, and Boo especially is convinced he can find Mr. Dot when he goes "home".

Boo & Simba pictures

2009-11-11T19:11:00.001-08:00

(please excuse the mess on the floor. As they like to jump up places...they also knock things down from places.)

Boo and Simba - massive update

2009-11-11T19:04:00.000-08:00

Boo & Simba finished their sequence of meds yesterday. Usually they'd have been back at the shelter then, but because of scheduling difficulties we have them until Saturday. Their eyes are clear, their nose is clear, and we are all glad to be done with the nasty tasting medicine.

We're not sorry. These guys are really sweet and excellent cats. Whoever raised them as young kittens did a very good job.

We had a lot of people over Thursday night and Sunday and there were many comments about how friendly the cats were. Boo just walks up and flops on the ground belly up for petting. Simba comes over and just purrs.

They get along very well. The short time when Boo was feeling better and Simba wasn't was touchy, as Boo would try to play and Simba wasn't interested. Now that both are feeling better they do play with each other from time to time. They also lay on laps together (and walk over each other on laps) and often eat at the same time.

They are very malleable. We pick them up, flip them over, they mostly don't care. Just purr away that we're holding them. There has been questions if Boo has bones as he rolls over on someone's lap and half falls off, and doesn't care.

Simba has taken to sitting between Jon's arms while he works on the computer. He actually just lays there, so it works out well.

Mr. Dot (the laser pointer) continues to have much interest. They will chase him longer than we are willing to run him. They show no interest in balls or the dangly toys. They sometimes poke at toys in a box, but not usually if there are people around. We just find it drug around the room in the morning.

Simba likes heights. He is often in the window or the upper bunk. Boo is less entranced by heights, but has an impressive jump if he wants to.

That's the current situation. One more post coming, with pictures.

We're Back!

2009-11-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long delay. Combination of technical and social issues that resulted in lack of posting. I will not go into details, since I doubt most folks care, but I think we're back. No video capability still, but text & still pictures.

Smarts, non-smarts, and teeth

2009-11-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

So, Simba seems to be a fairly smart cat.

The laser pointer, aka Mr. Dot "lives" in the cat tree. It always starts from there and ends there. Both kittens enjoy chasing Mr. Dot.

Yesterday Simba started standing by the hole in the cat tree and howling, then looking at us, then howling. Mr. Dot came out to play.

On the other hand, this is the same kitten who seems to think he can outrun the bad taste in his mouth. I give him his meds and he takes off at full speed around the room. Every time.

Yesterday morning we found what we thought was a blood spot on Boo's back. We could find no wound on him or Simba and neither seemed injured or in discomfort. Talking to the Humane Society lab we think what happened was Simba lost a baby tooth, possibly when either licking or wrestling with Boo. They are the right age for it.

Their eyes are clearing up. Their purrs are also getting less rough as their lungs clear. They purr a lot so this has been easy to follow!

2009-11-04T06:24:00.001-08:00

These two are people-cats!

Boo and Simba arrive!

2009-11-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

Two new fosters! Six month old kittens--we are not sure if they are littermates or not, the society just said they were friends.

As with most of our fosters, they have a cold. There is also a bit of discharge from the eyes, but not too bad. No separate treatment for the eyes--just the usual dual medications for the URI.

Simba is the small orange kitten. Boo is the larger white one.

Observations so far? They are very soft. They are quite playful. They are skittish about noises--opening the door to the cat room has them backing up and when I came home the front door sent them under the bed. They like people. Boo likes his belly rubbed. Both are amenable to being picked up.

We clipped Simba's nails. Boo's were already clipped, but Simba's were quite sharp. We noticed he stopped trying to scratch everything once they were clipped as well. This is a common change.

Very sweet kittens so far. The next week should be fun.

Why do we foster?

2009-10-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

Why do we foster? Especially since we have no pets, we find people are often surprised when they learn we foster.

There are several reasons, but they can be boiled down to two:

1) Jon is a cat person.

2) Kat is allergic to cats.

Jon was quite sad about being unable to have a cat as a pet, but admitted the reasonableness of Kat's stance that she didn't want to be sick all the time. Many years of allergy shots means Kat can visit Jon's parents for a weekend (have had cats for decades) without major problems, but not much longer. Both of us expected to have pets, but it just didn't really work out.

A good friend who volunteered at the shelter suggested the foster program. It was an excellent suggestion.

Jon gets a cat. The cat stays in one room of the house so Kat can get away from them if she's feeling sniffly. We had been concerned the allergens would fill the house anyway, but it doesn't seem to be the case. For the adults, they go back about the time Kat starts having problems being in the cat room. Kittens are less allergenic, so their sticking around longer is fine. There are some fosters Kat has to limit her time in the cat room by the end of the week. We can take a break between cats to let her allergies calm down again.

In many ways the fact we have no pet makes fostering easier. We don't have to deal with jealousy, splitting our time, or, most importantly, keeping pets separate from our fosters. That's both the rules and safer for both fosters & pets. We also admit it's nice to not have to worry about a pet if we go on a trip.

It's a volunteer arrangement that works well. We get to help the animals, have fluffballs around frequently, Kat stays healthy. We have a big smile every time we find out our fosters have found forever homes.

Good News! Tiny Tiffany & Fauna are adopted!

2009-10-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

Tiny Tiffany has been adopted! Tiny Tiffany is still on the web site with a heart by her name. Fauna is not pictured, so we hope/assume she has also been adopted, but too long ago to stil be pictured. We were unexpectedly sans net access last week so we didn't see it.

Josie is still available. If anyone is looking for a very sweet cat you should go visit her.

Short hiatus

2009-10-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Jon and Kat will be taking a break from fostering. At least a week and a half.

Normally, we take a week off between cats--more if the shelter doesn't have a cat who needs fostering. It lets us clean the room, clean the supplies, recover, have a few calm mornings, Jon to not have to defend his cereal, etc.

This time will be at least a week and a half because we are having minor repair work done on the house next week and the cats would be in the way, and probably wouldn't like the noise anyway. That's why Tiny Tiffany and Fauna would have gone back Sunday if they hadn't had to go back earlier.

When we have cats, my plan is to try and post every other day. When we don't, I'll try to post once a week, talking about different aspects of fostering.

If you have any questions or anything you'd like me to talk about during the off-weeks (or the on-weeks), leave me a comment!

Tiny Tiffany & Fauna return to shelter

2009-10-14T10:58:00.001-07:00

We dropped the two kittens off at the shelter this morning.

Tiny Tiffany, unsurprisingly, has developed a URI. This was expected. She was, however, starting to sound like Fauna. Not as continuously bad, but she was wheezing off and on. We were also wrong on Fauna's breathing improving. She was slightly better in the morning, but by evening she was just as bad as when she arrived. Steam wasn't having much of an effect.

Then last night Fauna managed to re-injure her spay incision. She did not pull it open, thankfully, but she did create a second wound--we don't know if she popped a blister, wore the skin, or what exactly. The actual incision is looking a bit better, but still has a lot of healing to do. She was also very uncooperative on letting us look at it.

Several of these meant they had to go back for a check by the shelter, and they stayed. The shelter will care for them for now, and they will probably go back into foster soon. Hopefully the foster-crunch will have eased by then. The shelter has a spate of cats with URIs and are short on foster families.

If you are interested in fostering, we urge you to go make an appointment. Most fosters are more straightforward and simple than these two (as shown by the last two we blogged about). I do not suggest Fauna & Tiny Tiffany for first time fosters (beyond having multiple things wrong they are also rather difficult to medicate), but the other URI cats are probably more straightforward.

(As a comparison, our usual morning foster routine is get up, pat cat on head, give cat medicine, cat sulks, give cat food, clean litter box. Done. Less than 10 minutes once you get the hang of it. Depending on how long you pat the cat on the head.)

The morning routine

2009-10-13T11:11:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share with you the "routine" in the mornings for Fauna & Tiffany. Evenings are similar. These two are more involved than most, because of the steam treatment and hot water bottle.

Get up. Open the door to the cat room, pat the kittens on the head.

Put Fauna in her crate, Jon takes her into the bathroom and sets her on the counter while he showers. The steam helps her to breath better.

Meanwhile, Kat gets out the laser pointer and runs Tiffany around until she's looking tired. Kittens are fun to play with--they haven't yet figured out the idea of watching and waiting, they just chase. We are worried about running Fauna too hard while she's having trouble breathing so we give Tiffany a good workout while Fauna's not there, and keep play a bit calmer the rest of the day.

After Tiffany is tired, Kat gets a hot water bottle into the bathroom. She takes Fauna out of her crate and holds her with the hot water bottle against her spay surgery incision.

Ten minutes later Kat puts Fauna back in her crate and leaves her in the still steamy bathroom for a bit more steam treatment. She preps the medicine for the two kittens--who get different dosages. (I'm guessing because they have different weights, but I don't know for sure).

Tiffany gets her meds. She runs off in a corner and sulks.

Fauna is brought back to the cat room, gets her meds. She also runs off and sulks.

As a reward for putting up with the meds (if only because they aren't given a choice) the two get wet food. (Ok, actually it's because they are sick kittens, and Fauna at least probably can't smell the dry food. It does get them out of their sulking.) Dry food and water are also refilled/refreshed.

Tiffany eats. We're a bit concerned about Fauna who seems to have problems lowering her head. We're going to try setting the food up on a box closer to head height this evening.

Jon cleans the litter box, and the kittens morning routine is finished.

Tiny Tiffany and Fauna Arrive

2009-10-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

We had expected to take a couple weeks off from fostering. I had been planning some general foster information posts, but those will have to wait. The shelter had quite a few felines all come up with URIs at once and not enough foster space, so we agreed to take this pair for the week.

They are 6 month old kittens. At that age they are still behaving like kittens but are starting to grow into looking like adult cats.

Tiny Tiffany, who is almost all black but for a few stray white hairs on her chest, is basically healthy. She's being treated and watched because her littermate/cage mate has a bad URI so chances are she does too, just not showing symptoms yet. She is very exploratory, heading out of the crate quickly, onto the futon and soon after up to the top bunk to peer down at us.

Fauna, also basically black but with some tan mottling on the lower chin, is having a rough time. She has a very bad URI, bad enough she's often breathing through her mouth and sounds like she's snoring when she tries to use her nose. On top of that her spay site is swollen and her eyes have discharge. She is a sad little kitten. She came out of the crate, looked around, the curled up in a little ball on the futon. She climbed on Kat's lap when she sat nearby, but in general is just looking pathetically out at us.

We will be monitoring Fauna closely. If she doesn't show clear improvement in the next two days she'll have to go back to the society for more treatment.

Barring that, these kittens will be with us until Sunday.

(While we were at the shelter we said "hi" to Josie. She was glad to see us, but would love it if someone would come take her out of her crate and cuddle her.)

Josie - Available!

2009-10-09T06:19:00.000-07:00

Josie is back at the humane society. She passed her physical and is now available for adoption. You can see her online at cuhumane.org or at the humane society in person.

Josie is a cuddle-cat who likes playing with string from time to time. If you want a cat you can sit with and pet, she's a good one. She's talkative with a lot of different vocalizations. She's also quite polite--Jon ate breakfast in the cat room and she never tried to bother his cereal. While she did jump on the sofa she showed no inclination to jumping anywhere else (such as the desk, the top of the cat tree, etc). She is tolerant of being picked up and held, but it did take Kat a few tries to learn how she is comfortable being held.

A very sweet lap-cat.

Josie Collage

2009-10-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

We are reaching the point where there is little change. Josie is healthy, she's cuddly. She will play with a string, as long as someone is dangling it over her head (or across her tail--she goes after it really emphatically if it's on her tail.)

Her vocalizations have expanded. She has always been a talkative cat but she's started trilling and being a lot more expressive since she stopped being congested.

She is always adorably cute when she sleeps. Sometimes it's in the cat tree from earlier, sometimes it's on her back on the sofa looking like a fluffy sausage with curled up paws, sometimes it's curled in a little ball.

We have an appointment to return her to the shelter on Thursday. I will be a bit sad to see this friendly cat go, but I hope she finds her forever home soon.

I took quite a few pictures this weekend. Watch for one more post before she heads back.

Josie--Clips and String

2009-10-02T19:57:00.001-07:00

We noticed when Josie would knit while sitting on our laps her claws were getting quite sharp. So tonight we clipped her front claws. It went really easily. Jon held her on his lap laying along one leg and pet her and Kat clipped. He only had to scruff her briefly for one dew claw. Very simple, and we're a lot more comfortable with her on our laps now. It's normally not a difficult procedure, but usually Jon does have to scruff the cat to make them stay still.

I tied her mouse to a string so I could more easily throw it to try and get her to play (having gotten quite tired of getting up to retrieve it). She managed to pull the mouse off the end--and proceeded to play with the string. She won't always play, but fairly frequently. It's fun to watch her bat at it above her head.

I had an email complaining there were no new pictures of Josie. Here you are! Pictures of her and her new toy. You can also see the black patch on her belly.

Josie Remains

2009-09-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

We took Josie back to CCHS for her checkup. Usually after a 7-10 days a URI cat will be healthy and stay to be put up for adoption. As we expected, Josie is an exception and wasn't quite ready. Her lungs were still sounding off to the examiner, and that combined with her still sounding flemmy off and on while here meant the society decided to leave her in foster for another week to be sure she was healthy. This is both for her sake--she will recover faster the lower stress situation of a foster home--and for the sake of keeping the rest of the cats at the shelter from catching the cold!

While there, she had her ears cleaned. One of them especially had waxy buildup, the other wasn't so bad. She was not impressed with the procedure, but her ears look much better now!

She's gained a little weight--from just under to just over 12lbs. It was decided to leave her at the same amount of food anyway since she's still sick and it's more important to let her fight that off than slim her down right now. The extra weight on her joints (one of the reasons for concern of overweight pets) is lower priority than the cold. We'll continue trying to get her to exercise, but she is a very sweet lap cat, not a playing cat.

So, long story short--there will be more Josie pictures and reports for the next week!

Josie video

2009-09-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here's Josie. It isn't the most action-packed video, but it's a sweet cat being herself--a lap cat. The mic on my camera isn't good enough to pick up her quiet purring but she was for most of the video.

She's starting to run away when I come in with the medicine--usually a sign of improvement! (and intelligence, since she doesn't run away when I'm not carrying it).

The antibiotic is still being hard on her system. Because she's had the runs so bad from the meds we've started checking her frequently for dehydration--basically picking up a bit of skin and seeing if it returns to normal quickly. I am pleased to report she's fine, but we will continue to monitor her.

She's still fighting congestion on and off, which surprises me. We'll see on Wed, but I think there is a chance she'll come back home with us for a few more days.

Josie's Favorite Spot

2009-09-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

Being home during the day we've discovered where she hides all day.

We have a scratching post that sits atop a hollow column. The bottom has a single entrance hole. Josie curls herself up inside and naps during the day. It's adorable.

If we throw the toy mouse she'll chase it and play with it for a bit. No interest in any other toy we've tried, so I guess she's a one-toy cat. She's eating more. She's still eating less than her allowance but since she's getting healthier and more active we need to start watching to make sure we don't feed her too much. She's as talkative as ever and still loves to sit in laps.

Josie's eventful day

2009-09-25T08:48:00.001-07:00

Thursday was an eventful day on the foster front.

Partway through the day Josie had diarrhea so we had to grab a sample and take it over to the society for analysis. It is probably just because of the antibiotics--not a common side effect in our experience, but not unheard of either. Worth checking, not worth being too worried about. She seems otherwise fine. Still has episodes of being snotty, but definately fewer of them.

We then had a group of folks over in the evening and Josie got lots of attention. She was oh so happy to have so many people willing to pet her. She wasn't sure what to do when people were sitting far apart from each other--she'd stay by one person then wander off and meow at another.

We even had her chase a toy mouse. Not very long but it's the first interest she's shown in any toy.

The end of the evening was my discovering I'd left the antibiotics on the counter after her morning dose. It is supposed to be refrigerated. So Jon went by this morning to pick up some replacement. Unfortunate, but at least there wasn't too much in the bottle. He can go say 'hi' to Tinkerbell while he's there--the only foster of ours still at the shelter.

Josie update

2009-09-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

Josie is very friendly. She's also skittish, especially about loud noises. If she's in my lap (which, if I am sitting she probably is) and I sneeze, she runs.

We were hoping to get her to play some, to help with the being overweight. We haven't found a toy yet which interests here--string, laser pointer, toy mouse, balls with bells--the most reaction has been a single paw bat at the mouse. She does run away after I give her her medicine, but not very far and she's easy to tempt back.

All is not lost, though. She's the most active lap cat I've seen. She wants to be in your lap. Except she rarely sits still when she's there. She waves her head around and arches and walks in a circle and so forth. So apparently the way to make the cat move is to sit down and pet her. Strange, but works!

Her cold is getting better. She's still congested, but is starting to sound clearer.

She purrs very easily. I'll try to grab a video over the next couple days of her lap antics and her purr. Tomorrow we have guests so she'll be introduced to quite a few people.Until then, here's a couple cute cat pictures.

Josie Arrives

2009-09-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Josie is a sweet black and white short haired cat with a cold. She should be a small cat, and in build she is--she's significantly smaller framed than Sealy Booth and she has tiny little paws. She's also heavier than he was giving her a roundish shape. So in addition to giving her the URI meds we also have to measure her food so she doesn't eat too much.

They caught the URI early so she is only mildly congested, so she shouldn't need wet food. Given one goal is to help her lose weight this is good. We picked her up right after they realized she was sick so Josie will be here for the full round of medicine--the next 10-14 days.

She's a little cautious. She does throw caution to the wind if there is a lap available. She's also a talker--we can hear her meowing down the hallway if we aren't in the cat room paying attention to her.

Sealy goes home, Josie arrives!

2009-09-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

We took Sealy Booth back to the shelter today. He passed his exam with flying colors and we found out some good news--he's already been adopted. Apparently him becoming healthy was all that was between him and his forever home.

While there, we found out they had just had another cat diagnosed with a URI and wanted to send her into foster. So we picked Josie up and brought her home. We had to leave her in the crate long enough to vacuum and she had no bowls for a little bit while we cleaned them, but she's now settled into the cat room. More info and pictures tomorrow--Sealy gets the picture today.

Face pets, please..

2009-09-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is a picture I had given up every getting. We've had that pipe-cleaning-looking-device for over a year and a half now and the entirety of the interaction cats have had with it is: ignore, bite, or (in the case of one kitten somehow) stand on top of.

Sealy knew what it was for immediately. If we aren't petting his face or running the laser pointer he's often rubbing his face on it. Hooray! It's nice to see something finally work.

We've had a lot of guests the last few days and Sealy has gotten attention from a variety of different adults. I am pleased to report he likes all of them. This is a very sweet cat.

No more wet food

2009-09-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sealy marked another step in being healthy yesterday. We stopped giving him wet food.

When a cat is congested it doesn't smell as well. Being unable to smell food can result in a cat not eating, so for the very congested cats we give them some wet food to make sure they eat.

In Sealy's case, it turned out to be an unfounded fear. Even when he sounded like he was breathing underwater his appetite for dry food was just fine. Not that he didn't appreciate the wet food--especially since I gave it to him right after the nasty tasting medicine--but he probably didn't need it.

We finished off the opened can, but since he was both getting better and having no issues eating, we stopped the wet food. There is no reason to give him all the extra calories or spend the extra money on wet food when the cat does not need it.

Sealy goes back to the shelter on Sunday for a checkup. I expect him to stay since he seems to be healthy again. Look for one more post (and I will have a picture for it) then.

Sometimes, improvement is clear

2009-09-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

Most cats we foster with URIs are about the same through the entire time in behavior. Most are also mild URIs.

Others are more dramatic as medicine and time do their magic. Sealy had a nasty cold when he came, and it's quite clear he's feeling better. He's stopped sounding like he's breathing water when he purrs. He's found his energy. He runs about. He wants to play. It's a lot harder to tire him out with the laser pointer. He's ready to go again much sooner.

He's still very friendly and will sit and cuddle, but play time has had to be added into the mix as well. He's also started vocalizing more. His meows are still quiet, but they are more frequent.

It's nice to have clear feedback that he's feeling better.

Laser pointer fun

2009-09-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

Sealy has adjusted well to his surroundings. He lurks near the door perking up if we come by--we might come in and pay attention to him!

He's not so happy about being put in his carrying box once a day to sit on the counter while we shower. The steam helps clear his congestion and he does sound better at the end--his mournful meows go from stuffed up to clear by the end of the shower.

We discovered he is a cat who likes laser pointers. He wasn't very interested in string, but the laser pointer dot--that's worth chasing!

Sealy Booth arrives

2009-09-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we picked up a large black cat named Sealy Booth. He has what the vet calls an Upper Respiratory Infection (or URI) and what the rest of us call a cold. A pretty bad one, too; he sneezes and is very flemmy. URIs involve two types of medicine twice a day for at least a week--one of them cats universally agree tastes horrible!

This is an incredibly friendly cat. Most cats when we open the crate on arrival wander about. Some come out quickly, some cautiously. Some explore rapidly, some carefully, some hide under the futon for a while. Sealy looked around perfunctorily....then started head butting our hands until we pet him.

Welcome!

2009-09-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our foster blog! We foster adult cats and kittens from the Champaign County Humane Society. We've had just shy of 40 felines (1-8 at a time) sharing our house for anywhere from a week to seven. We tend to have adults with URIs (aka, colds), moms with kittens, or kittens old enough to be away from mom.

We started this blog for several reasons. pupsispups.blogspot.com, run by another CCHS foster, has proven to be very popular and there was a desire for a one from the cat side of things. We also wanted to give people a window into what's involved with fostering and introduce some of the wonderful animals at CCHS to a wider world. We also hope it will help our fosters go to their forever homes as fast as possible!

Please enjoy! If there is anything you want to see or know, drop us a comment or email. The email is the name of the blog (no spaces) @gmail.com.