It’s been a mega stressful week this week. Elsa started her time here as a rather timid and hissy cat a couple of months ago, but settled and was a lovely attentive mum to her four little boys.

E Team 9 days old

She’s been a really good mum, but in the last week or so it’s all got a bit much for her. Between caring for her kits, looking to defend them from the other cats she can smell (though wouldn’t actually be allowed anywhere near her and her little ones) in the vicinity, and hormones ebbing and flowing (she’s mostly likely coming into season again already) it’s just overwhelming, and she’s started attacking her little ones. There are always going to be some scraps and frayed tempers at this stage … sharp toothed kittens, x4, still wanting to breastfeed … most mums would lash out, and being in rescue cooped up in one room isn’t ideal … though it is better than trying to protect kittens living out in the open, unfed and at risk from foxes etc.

Unfortunately its gone beyond the usual slap around the head for nipping her, playing with her tail, or not keeping still whilst she’s washing them. Elsa has been really kicking her kits, and hard … sometimes quite unprovoked … and pursuing them when they run away from her. After discussion with our vets we’ve concluded that she needs to be separated from them … and just given some supervised contact time.

On one level that’s seems fine … the kittens are safe, Elsa has some space.  On another level, the question as to be asked “what space?”, and “how will she and the kittens cope?”

The answers are:

a) The space she’s got is the room we’d been using to keep Shadow and/or the I Team separate from our adult residents (and me) overnight so we could have a little peace to sleep.   So now these three older kittens are free-range  day and night, chasing each other, diving on the bed, and generally bothering me and the residents.  No sleep and that’s affecting my day job 😦

b) Elsa isn’t coping well with it.  Although she clearly didn’t want to be with her kits, being away from them, but within smell and sound range, is not good either.  She howls 80% of the night and rips at her bedroom door and the laminate.

c) The kittens are kind of coping.  They were quite subdued whilst she was sharing a room with them, but have started to come out of themselves a little now.  It’s been a steep learning curve with the weaning though

We’ve had bottles of kitten formula, kitten formula with baby rice, formula with mashed up cat food, and chicken slices. All with variable results.

I find it amusing that the above has become one of the most regular greetings from people both socially and at work.

The answer is “YES! … kind of”  As of a couple of weekends ago, the little J Team went off to their new homes – here they are settling in

jasmine & joseph

jacob & joshua

Shadow had moved into Maya & Gertie’s room when they moved out, but once the J Team left went into their bedroom, and then Elsa and the E Team moved into what had become Shadow’s room … and then finally we had our bedroom back.

I say “kind of” because of course its not actually “my” bed … This fact is pointed out to me frequently at 3am by a multitude of starfish shaped cats, sleeping at right angles to each other. Apparently its “our” bed, but since they spend more time in it than I could possibly commit to, then really its “their” bed.

This fact was played out today when I wanted to change the bedding.  Being a fair and reasonable human being, I tagged them all in a facebook post, alerting them to the fact that the bedding would need to be removed at some point in the next few hours and could they please MOVE!

Honey refused, despite the pillows being taken away, and the wash basket waiting for the duvet cover.  Jango  on the other hand reluctantly agreed to shift, but removed himself to sleep half way down the stairs making the rest of the cleaning operation rather awkward.

I checked back every half hour or so, waiting for Honey to move.  Eventually she did …. However, she’d been replaced by an immovable Jango.

This isn’t entirely unusual. What made me laugh though was that he was just as reluctant to move when I started remaking the bed.

Even to the point of sitting tight whilst I tucked the sheet in …

Things got more interesting when Shadow bounced in – I’m hoping it works to follow the link

At this point … the point a few seconds after the end of the above clip .. Jango slumped out from under the sheet and slunk off downstairs. Shadow however continued to help with “Project: bedding change”

There hasn’t been much time to update the blog recently … its been a bit crazy here. First the gorgeous Elsa had her kittens:

elsa with new borns

Quite a blur of ginger gorgeousness. It’s going to take a while before we can easily identify them each individually … though they are all different versions of ginger. It’s like Elsa only had one crayon to use whilst colouring them in … but has managed, using light and shade, to make each one beautifully and perfectly different.

E Team 9 days old

We’re full and over full of course … However a couple of Sunday mornings ago, as I was dozing off for a nap after a bad night on the couch, facebook pinged asking if we could take two young kittens with no mummy. Within 30 minutes I was in the car going to collect them … from the other side of Doncaster.  Things with rescue tend to happen quickly … but when its kittens who aren’t weaned and have no mummy it has to happen even faster … faster than I can logically think about where we can put them…. but hey ho ….. 

My mind going ten to the dozen about how to manage regular bottles once back at work the following day,  I was hugely relieved once I saw them, to realise that they were old enough to be eating a bit for themselves and wouldn’t need to be coming to work with me all week!  Still very needy and clingy and wanting milk though …

I can’t help but envy/admire Elsa and the ease with which she seems to manage her babies.  A snuggle, a purrrrrrrrrrrrrr, a swift lick and all seems to be well.  Meanwhile we’re boiling endless water to sterilise bottles and make up feeds, having the washing machine on almost constantly to deal with little furry accidents, and facing the challenge of kitten bathing.

Sadly little Indie (and his brother to a slightly lesser extent) were so horribly stinky that we had to brave the bath. I got it all prepared and braced myself for low flying kittens. Put Indie in the kitchen sink in warm water … fulling expecting all hell to break loose …… but he just stood there. I wet his fur, lathered him in shampoo …. and he stood there. I scrubbed a bit and then rinsed him off …… and he stood there. I picked him out, toweled him .. and he stood there. I started to blow dry him … his coat puffed out like a dandelion head … but he just stood there.

towel

and then blow dry

His brother Inky was more or less as good …but wasn’t so keen to pose for photos

A couple of weekends ago I was really excited about the prospect of sleeping my in own bed again.  You may remember I lost rights to my bedroom when we took in the D Team a couple of months ago.  Two of the B Team had gone to their new home the weekend previously …. and very happy they were too

Then on the Saturday I took the three other B kittens to their new home ….. I do hope their mummy realises what treble trouble is going to be like

button buzz and boo

On Sunday morning I prepared to take mummy Betty to her lovely new home, happily running through in my head the order I’d do things in to get the B Team’s old room cleaned, move the D Team into there out of my bedroom, clean up my bedroom and get settled back in my own bed by the evening.    Taking Betty to her new home went to plan … here she is blissed out with her new found freedom from motherhood, an hour or two after arriving in her new home.

The rest of the plan was … not so good.   As I was setting off to take Bet to her new home an email arrived about a mum and kits.  I’d heard about them earlier in the week, offered help, but not got a reply, so thought they were sorted.   They weren’t 😦    So after Betty was settled in her new place I came home, cleaned her room and went to collect the people who became the J Team.

They settled into what was the B Team’s room ……  the D Team stayed put in my bedroom …… and of course I stayed put on the sofa.  Not to worry though because the following weekend mum and one of the D Team kits were off to their new home, so maybe then we could manage the other D Team kits downstairs and I could have my bed.   We already had Shadow staying downstairs with the residents so it could be a bit of a grouchy squash.  Um ….. did I mention Shadow before?  She arrived on her own a few days before the J Team.   She’s no trouble at all so long as you have nerves of steel and don’t value your curtains.

Anyway …. back to the story.   It kind of got better because the other two D kittens had an offer of a lovely home and last Saturday was filled with taking the D Team to their 3 different homes.

Sunday was all about cleaning …. and blessedly reacquainting with our bed

It was comfy, it was blissful ..

It lasted three days … or rather nights ….

Then on Wednesday we had a call from the vets.   There was a very pregnant cat, obviously stray, not micro chippped, very desperate for a safe place to have her babies.   Scrambled home from work, dismantled bedroom and remade bed on sofa, bedroom turned into mother and baby unit, and then went to collect Elsa. (*mega thanks to aunty Jenny for helping with the quick turnaround)

Some people would say I’m crazy … giving up my bed for stray cats and their babies.  It’s true I lose a lot of sleep by not having my bed.     It’s not easy sharing a narrow sofa with all the resident cats

some of

the many people

who share the sofa

My thought is that I could never sleep knowing that there’s a cat out there giving birth in a field, that I could have helped, if only I hadn’t been so precious about my bed.

 TwistedWhiskers

Bringing you all the latest mews from 8 Lives Cat Rescue
Summer 2015

Welcome to our Summer newsletter.  Time flies when we look at the year in quarters, despite seeming to stand still at the time.  All the lovely cats we were anxious to find homes for in our last news letter have found super homes, including our beloved Jack.  Here he is, with his cold and miserable allotment exchanged for his new best friend’s princess pink bedroom.

One born every minute – three tails of un planned pregnancies

Our saddest tail this quarter in some ways is Maya.  She arrived with us, very pregnant, very poorly, and very very scared.  Our vets worked hard to find a way of treating her without harming her babies.  Sadly the babes were born  premature and Maya wouldn’t even look at them.  One died at birth, however little Max put up a fight and we tried to hand rear him.  Sadly he was just too tiny, and too premmy, and broke our hearts a few days later.

maya feeling poorly

tiny max with his teddy

Thankfully things have improved for Maya … she’s well again.   Her illness seems to have been nothing serious as such, just years of pregnancies and inadequate care.  She’s slowly gone from strength to strength … her health improving and then her confidence.  It’s a slow process, she’s clearly had a horrid experience of humans in the past.  We’re slowly getting there  … there’s a sense now that she sees humans as having the potential to be good.

looking for me for her supper

more confident

We’re hoping someone with a love and understanding of cats will offer her a forever home, someone able to let her grow her confidence at her own pace.  We’re sure she has the potential to be a lovely companion for someone.  She may never be a lap cat, but she’s full of character … and a real little sweetie.

Things were very much better for Betty.  Although she also found herself pregnant and homeless, she landed on the home of a couple of lovely young women who have done their absolute best for her.   Here she is, hanging on to their door, asking for help.

determined to get herself a home

They found her a space here in rescue where she could safely have her kits.  We’re pretty sure they’re her first litter …… unlike Maya, she’s only a very young cat.   She got into rescue 10 days  before her kits were born, had some good food and a safe space to have them.  Although rather bemused by what was happening with the birth and arrival of kittens, Betty quickly got her head around it and has made a lovely job of raising her little ones.  We’re delighted that she’s now going back to the women who found her for a furever home.

Daisy’s experience was somewhere in between Maya’s nightmare and Betty’s lucky escape.  Another youngster, barely more than a kitten herself, she ended up pregnant and giving birth in a shed.   She and her kits were discovered a few weeks later by a curious dog and his concerned human.

Daisy in her shed

with kittens

We didn’t have any space here really, but went out to scan her just to see if she was microchipped, which not surprisingly she wasn’t. It’s one (not entirely easy) thing, to reply to an email requesting help, and say “I’m sorry .. we’re full”. It’s quite another to see a young mum and three kittens in a shed, at risk of foxes, further pregnancy, and simply of boxes falling on them, and say no. So of course they came home with us. In a crate in the lounge because there was nowhere else .. they refused to eat or use the litter tray for 24 hours.    The only option was to move out of my bedroom, move the D Team in there, and sleep on the sofa.

This seems to have worked well for them …. though its been a bit tricky for me and the residents who normally like to share my bed.

And then there’s our little miracle – Gertie 

Gertie was a bit of a surprise arrival.  I was at work and a friend messaged me to say she’d been to visit her cat who was an inpatient at her vets.  Whilst there she’d seen Gertie who had been brought in as a poorly stray a week ago, and now her time was up.  Unclaimed and blind, Gertie was to be put to sleep.   I tried to ignore it and think of something else … focus on work ….. but it was hopeless … I couldn’t concentrate with the idea of  a cat we may be able to save, dying because no one could be bothered.  Somewhat recklessly I agreed to collect her from the vet on the way home from work, and then spent the gaps between appointments frantically googling for info about how to care for a blind cat.

I was stunned by how beautiful she was when I picked her up, and relieved by how easily she managed to find her food and litter tray once we got home. The next day we went off to our own vet for a check up. Gertie walked around in circles in the surgery and then crashed into the wall. However, Claire, our lovely vet, said she thought it could be high blood pressure causing her illness and blindness, and that if treated she may regain her sight. Our vets are fab and I trust their judgment …. but really?! Nevertheless Gertie stayed overnight and through next day having her bp checked, was diagnosed with hypertension … and sent home with medication. Within a couple of days there was a huge difference … her pupils were responding to light and she was no longer walking into things.

Gertie is looking for an indoor home with humans who will snugggggle her lots and help make up for the horrid time she’s had so far in life.

2016 Calendar

Some of you will already have seen our lovely 2016 calendar … put together through help from our local photography group and some excellent photographers from our adoptive families, and a wonderful local business who have funded the printing of them.   Each month features one of our gorgeous 8 Lives cats:  there’s some of our permanent residents, plus Jak, Domino, Sugar, Jack,  Molly, Dorothy, Dave and Ralph and supporting photos of Alfie & Aslan, Lenny & Lily etc.   Please buy or more .. for stocking fillers at Christmas?  Help us to keep our funds at a level where we’re able to help the more needy cats like Gertie as well as some of the more average guests 🙂