We’re building up to having some work done on the house, and last week were given a start date for late February.  Very sensibly we immediately declared that there would be no further arrivals until the work was finished.    Half an hour later we were making arrangements to  pick up Jensen.    He’s an older kitten who had been rescued from someone who wasn’t caring for him months ago .. but dogs and a new human baby whom Jensen was over enthusiastic about meant that he was in trouble again.   Nothing really that he was doing wrong, just no respecter of anyone’s personal space.

jensen before rescue

Yet another Leeds based cat, though thankfully this time his family were happy to meet me part way. Woolley Edge Services on the M1 seemed a good half way point … though not exactly ideal as I waited on Northbound while Jensen waited at Southbound. He was in the most amazing packaging …. a crisp box with all his worldly possessions strapped to it.

It was ingenious and creative …. but in the interests of safety we had a bit of a back seat manoeuvre to transfer him to a proper carrier that could be hooked up to the seat belt.

Although he’d been a confident kit in his previous home, he was shaken up by the change and quite overwhelmed by all the other cats here.  He ran off to hide and we spent several hours poking around the hidden dark corners of the house with a torch looking for him.   Eventually it was Flipper who sniffed him out, wedged behind the cabinet that the printer stands on.

Each day since then, things have got a bit better. By Sunday he was hiding on the window sill behind the curtain, where he could peek out and see what was going on. By Tuesday he’d staked out the conservatory as his domain, still hiding behind plant pots, but amenable to coming out for treats and had started playing a little with Rufus. On Wednesday he came into the lounge looking at the TV and happy to settle near the toys, so long as no one moved.

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On Friday I started to be able to coax him to come to me, and he’d have lots of enthusiastic strokes, but still would scuttle away shortly after. He was playing more with Rufus who is very confident so I hoped they’d have some kitten to kitten chats. It looked hopeful as rather than hiding, I’d walk into a room and he’d be lounging in a hammock or comfy bed, though he’d soon move when he saw me.  He’d come to eat with the other cats at meal times, and  was clearly interested in me …. sneaking a look at me when he thought I hadn’t noticed.

So this afternoon it was disappointing to find he seemed to have hidden again. To be fair though … I’d been quite caught up in “tail 2” ….. and had had the vacuum cleaner out.   However this evening it was like a switch had been flicked.   I sat in the chair and he came running to climb on my lap.  I tentatively stroked him, not wanting to scare him.  He threw himself at me wanting all the cuddles and snuggles he could get ….. at least a weeks worth to make up for having lost bless him.

Caturday x

We were lucky enough to find Mike & Milo and Ivy & Robyn new homes immediately after Xmas … well we found the homes before Xmas but they didn’t go until after all the upheaval of festivities was over.  I’ve always liked to see myself as someone who doesn’t stereotype according to gender.   However, the two girls climbed out of their carriers and immediately set about chewing the house plants … and then disappearing behind / under the kitchen units …. and then switched their interest to the Xmas tree.   Milo & Mike on the other hand, came out their carriers, had a potter around, found the food, and then a comfy spot to snuggle down and snooze.

milo & mike

robyn & ivy

By the time it came to photos they all look innocent as doves, and all of them very happy in their new homes.

Rob & Ivy leaving meant that Tomte could move upstairs into their bedroom rather than being stuck in a crate in the conservatory. That was the start of him settling and feeling much happier.

Once he could stretch his legs he made it clear that his main interest was having cuddles. He was a big hit with the vet nurses when he went to be neutered ….. and loved having them all doting on him.

In fact he’s becoming a real snuggle bug

Once the lads had gone Daisy Mae was able to come out of her crate and have the back bedroom to herself.   So she’s also stopped hissing and grumbling about “the youth of today”.     She’s  shown herself to be an adorable little cat too  …  still very playful … she’s only 8! (despite her having been under threat of PTS because she was ‘old’ and homeless)  …….  and loving cuddles.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Dot & Bessie are moving into a happy furever life. Being kittens they’ve had many more adoption enquiries than Tom & Daisy. This evening they’ve sealed a deal with a lovely little family. Well done girls! The future looks bright x

Is it really  Christmas time again?   It hardly seems like 5 kittens since last Christmas!   Just to get us in the spirit …… here’s some of the lovely photos we had from our ex lodgers last Christmas.

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It’s so lovely to see them all settled and happy in their new homes

We also have a couple of cats who’s Xmas wish has come true

Nellie and Puddy both spent quite a while here waiting for a new home and were mentioned in the Autumn newsletter.  Delighted to say that they have both now found lovely homes.  I’m especially pleased for Puddy as he ended up spending more than seven months with us before he’s found his purrfect home.

nellie supervising signing her adoption forms

puddy guarding his tree

Latest tails

We have a very  recent short sad tail of tiny Lucy who came into rescue a couple of weekends ago.  She’d been found outdoors alone in the dark on the Friday night.  We heard about her on Saturday afternoon and rushed her to the vets.  We hoped she was just in shock and dehydrated but over the weekend it became clear she was much more poorly.   Vets confirmed on Monday that she had some serious brain damage and had to be put to sleep.  It’s the first time in the history of our rescue that we’ve had to have a cat put to sleep.

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So the following Saturday when we heard about Dayzee, a healthy cat scheduled to be put to sleep on the Sunday simply because she had nowhere to go … we leapt into action again and up to Pudsey to collect her.  Nothing would bring tiny Lucy back but somehow if we could save Dayzee it could sort of balance things a bit.   She wasn’t at all grateful for her last minute reprieve 😉    She sang very loudly along to Classic fm’s carols from Winchester in the car, so loudly in fact that I missed directions from the Sat Nav and ended up stuck in heavy traffic somewhere near Leeds city centre.   Her response to that was to pooh copiously and odorously and then grind it into the mesh of the carrier and her hands and feet.  After a stressful journey and a bath she’s now settling in and showing a much more loveable side to her character.

on arrival and not at her happiest

Our other happy tail is that little baby Rufus … the kitten we hand reared this year …. has become a permanent resident here. 1’ve been tempted many many times to adopt various cats that we’ve had here in rescue …. but since Flipper in 2012 I’ve managed to resist. He’s the first kitten I’ve hand reared (with lots of help from his aunty Jenny & uncle Rog of course) and that’s created an even more powerful attachment. Perhaps if his sister Rosy had survived it would have been different, and they would have gone to a new home together. Perhaps if I’d not been under lots of pressure from friends to keep him, I may have let him go. It is what it is though and I love him.

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Merry Xmas to all our cat loving friends

and lots of purrs in 2017

There was something about Saturday, I knew something was going to happen.  Really it started on Friday when I impulsively bought a spare wheat heat bag ….. or maybe on Thursday when I tidied the cat medicine and health care cupboard and sorted out the feeding bottles.   Mostly Saturday had been about cleaning but somehow with phone close and a sense of being on stand by.  Part of me told myself I was just being fanciful and a bit dramatic, while another part has learned through experience to trust these intuitions.

At 14:52 the message I’d been ‘expecting’ pinged through from one of my rescue friends in another part of the country.  A small kitten had been found outside alone the day before, and taken in but was clearly unwell.  She was only about 15 minutes drive from me.   By 15:08 we had consent from the finder to sign her over to rescue, had an address and I was on my way, complete with heated wheat bag in the carrier to keep her warm.  By 15:47 I was at the vets with her.

Lucy on way to vets

She clearly wasn’t ok, but an examination showed no inflated temperature, heart and lungs apparently fine though quite dehydrated. She explained very loudly and clearly to the vet just how much she didn’t want sub cutaneous fluids.

So we came home and set about sorting the little soul out. She was pretty grubby round her face and her eyes and because she wasn’t able to lift her body properly when she’d wee’d she’d just been lying in it.

grubby x

There was a bit of a dilemma as to whether bath or feed came first. From a purely selfish point of view, I didn’t want to cuddle and feed a stinky kitten. I half persuaded myself she’d feed more happily if she was clean but then decided that the bottle had to come first.

she fed well at first

down to the last drop

It wasn’t easy to get her latched on to the bottle, and she didn’t have a very strong suck, but she made her way through a bottle, and then a bit more. It looked hopeful. Then we started on the bath.

bath

and getting dry

She was good in the bath …. too good ….. it rang a faint alarm bell. She was very sleepy afterwards but flopped wherever I put her, limbs flailing around … another alarm bell. I picked her up to give the next feed, popped her down whilst I sorted the bottle … she scuttled a few feet into a corner, head down. More alarm bells. Picked her up and she fed slowly again. Something about her eyes though ….. she’s utterly beautiful …… but something not right …. but she’s been out all night and cold and dehydrated ….. so ……. hopefully …….

She refused her bedtime bottle, so I tried with the syringe but only got a little milk into her.  I slept downstairs on the floor next to her bed.   Hoping all the time that she’d become more lively having had some food.   Didn’t really sleep.  Somewhere in the middle of the night I woke hearing her screaming.  She appeared to have grabbed the corner of the crate tray in her teeth and scrabbling with her arms and legs and though she couldn’t get free.  Half asleep I unhooked her and put her back in bed.

Still on the roller coaster she has her bottle as normal in the morning, but then refuses the next.  Conscious of the risk of her becoming dehydrated again and consequently more reluctant to feed I keep trying without much success.  At lunch time I go to take Tibby to her new home, spend a little time helping her to settle and then race back to Lucy.    Now very anxious about her not taking more fluid in it becomes more tense.  I use the syringe to force milk in, drop by drop, checking each time that she swallows.    We spend an exhausting afternoon with her on my lap, syringe by my side, trying each time she was a bit more alert to get a little milk down her.

poorly

In the evening aunty Jenny came over and took her home with her as I was at work on Monday. She messaged to say that Lucy had had a bottle of milk and was having lots of cuddles

It was looking hopeful again.

Then another message to say that Lucy had had a fit. She’d been walking round in circles, pressing her head against objects and then after the fit very floppy. …. but sleeping peacefully. Discussion about whether to go to out of hours vets, whether they could do anything, whether they might just put her to sleep without consideration, whether Lucy might just die quietly without intervention. So painful. Messages in the morning about her having an appointment with our own vet, more discussion, and then the message we were expecting and dreading …..

“she’s gone”

The symptoms and a second vet examination showed she had brain damage,  most probably as a result of liver shunt which tends to show itself at her age.   It was too late to be able to be sorted out and the kindest thing was to let her go.

Whatever her experience was before she came to us …… something must have been ok for her to have survived and grown to this stage …. and something must have gone terribly wrong for her to be found abandoned out in the cold on Friday …….  we can at least know that she was very loved and cared for in the last couple of days of her life.

Rest in Peace baby Lucy

Now the bottle neck has eased, we’re settling into a phase of integrating older kittens.   I think its something about the time of year (though also about our limited capacity) but this time of year has often for us been about helping kittens for whom things haven’t worked out first time around.

So we started, as in our previous post, settling Holly  in with Rufus and our  other residents.  Somehow, somewhere, she’d survived birth and being weaned, only to end up lost and alone at about 8 weeks old.  Rufus, our lone hand rear kitten, was utterly delighted and overly excited to welcome her.  It’s a bit odd to think of our tiny baby as the “older kitten” but he’s her senior by almost half her life time.  He plays rough sometimes, but she runs back to him to play some more, and then they end up flopped in a heap together.

Rufus & Holly

Humbug’s arrival was interesting, as well as being very hissy/growly. He’s not quite, but almost, twice as old as Rufus …. though he’s small for his age. It’s been fascinating to watch him find his place with Rufy and Holly.

first attempt to play together

He’s gradually making a relationship with each of them. Although he’s bigger, and rougher, they both chase after him to play some more. What I find really interesting is that although when he first arrived he gobbled his food almost before it hit the dish, and still does to some extent, he doesn’t fight the other cats for their food.

Humbug and Holly having supper

In the space of a week he’s gone from needing to be in a crate and covered over to calm him from hissing and growling ….. to just mixing in with the others.

so different now

Brilliant …. sorted …… except this Thursday … a week on from Humby’s arrival ……. Ivy and Robyn came into rescue. They’re a little younger than Humbug, but a bit bigger …. and hissy ….. at least Ivy is ….. Robyn would like to be friends I think. Their mum went into hospital and isn’t going to be able to care for them. Just like Humbug was when he arrived, they’re sweet, but freaked out.

Ivy & Robyn arrive

Déja vu anyone?

Now its Humbug who is waiting to make friends and welcome them. Little Robyn is the most confident, snuggling on my lap and climbing up to the window to see Humbug.

humbug meets robyn

Ivy is a loving little soul too ….. I’m sure of it …… she’s just going to take a few days longer to settle.

You know those times on the motorway where everything grinds to a halt?  You shuffle along nose to tail, wondering what dreadful accident lies ahead ……… and then suddenly, as if by magic, traffic is flowing freely again … no sign of debris in the road, no blue lights, not even a traffic cone to hint at the cause of your delay?  Well that’s how rescue has been for the last week or so.

nellie waiting

puddy fed up waiting

After months of Nellie & Puddy waiting for new homes, being unable to take any other cats in, and desperately hoping that they may find something before Xmas …. all our wishes came true last weekend.  On Saturday a lovely woman came to meet Nellie and fell in love.  On Sunday a wonderful couple came to meet Mr Puddy.  They’d had their eye on him for a few weeks but were moving house and hadn’t wanted to start the adoption process earlier in case he could find another home sooner.  He was a bit dismissive of them first.  He’s seen a lot of visitors, but no who’s wanted him.  Once he twigged what was happening he got very excited, running from one to the other, just to check they were the right ones for him.

We’ve not wasted any time making use of the space.  Last Saturday morning we went up to Leeds to pick up baby Holly who was found dumped at a garden centre that night when it snowed.   A friend had kept her safe for a few days until we could get up there.  If I’m honest, I’d been keen to have another kitten around here so that Rufus had a play mate.  The big cats have been grouchy when he’s wanted to play at pouncing on tails, and have looked at him as though he’s mad when he’s suggested they play at racing up the curtains.

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I said yes to Holly before either of the adults had been reserved as I knew we’d squeeze her in fine downstairs with the resident cats.  I’ve lost count of how many other cats I’ve had to say “no” to taking in whilst Puddy and Nellie and have monopolised the rescue rooms.   As Puddy’s adoptive parents drove away on Sunday afternoon my phone pinged.  An email about Tibby – an S8 cat.   There was a complicated history of house moves but it boiled down to her having preferred her neighbours to her own family, and when her family moved house she made her way back to the neighbours.    There were various to-ings and fro-ings and it came to a crisis when the neighbours had to move and couldn’t take her with them, and her family had got another cat and didn’t want her back.

nellie signing her adoption forms

So we took Nellie to her new home on Tuesday teatime and went straight from there to collect Tibby.  Tricky logistics of starting cleaning the room as Nellie was packing to move out, and then the last bit of  cleaning whilst Tibby sat in the car waiting to check in.   She’s a little nervous but a very sweet girl.

waiting in the car

checking out the new place

We’ve had to say “no” to a good few more adult cats unfortunately as there won’t be a single room available until Mr Puddy moves.  However, we did agree to take in Humbug who is an older kitten.  He has an early history that would give a psychotherapist a field day:  mother was a dumped pet cat, father feral, Humbug found in a bucket behind a shed with sadly deceased siblings around him.  Thankfully he found his way into the care of a kind young woman who has done her best to help him settle into her family ……. but her animal family are refusing to agree to the adoption.  It’s a sad little story as the gorgeous little Humbug approaches dog and cat to make friends and they don’t want to know.

humbug arrives

To be honest he’s been a bit of a bug here so far …. lots of grumblings and growlings and Bah Humbugs.  Deep down I’m convinced he’s a great guy though.   He’s been very loving with me  ……. but not surprisingly wary of the other cats here.   Once he realises that they’re essentially nice fur people I’m sure he’ll be fine.