cat adoption

Three kitties gone, three still missing, and we have scaffolding!

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Well, it’s done.

Decimus, The Phantom and the kitten have been dropped off at the vet. They had to contact the Cat Lady for details, as I only knew about the spay, but not if they were getting anything else done, too. We did talk a bit about how the kitten might be too small to spay, but I had no idea what her actual weight was.

I didn’t get a chance to take photos. I put the wrong cat in the hard sided carrier. I thought The Phantom would have more issues, but nope. It was Decimus. Once in a soft sided carrier, she really tried to claw her way out, so it was a quick load into the car and off I went. I didn’t even stop to close the gate, and my daughter followed after me to take care of that for me.

It was a good thing I left early, because I drove right past the place. I knew I’d missed it, so I found a place to pull over and found it on the map. Turns out we’ve seen the place right from the road, but had no idea it was a vet clinic. We even somehow managed to miss seeing the great big sign in the yard in front of it! 😄

Once I was gone, my daughter brought the food bowls out again and took care of feeding the other cats, since the only way to maintain a fast for the three of them was to not have any food out at all for any of the cats.

Anyhow, the drop off went smoothly; even Decimus had calmed down by the time I got there. The Cat Lady has already picked up our carriers and will return them to us later. She’ll pick up the cats when they are done last this afternoon, though I’m not sure if they’re going straight to their new home for recovery, or if she’s taking them to her own home, first. I do know there is already a recovery and isolation area ready for them to stay at their new home for a couple of weeks, before they are allowed outside.

Speaking of outside, Phantom was really putting the cat proof screen to the test last night! She wanted outside so badly! But she also wanted love and cuddles. I think she’s going to be very happy in her new home, where she’ll be able to go in and out as she pleases, after her recovery period.

As for the cats that escaped out my window, there is still no sign of them. I’ll be heading outside fairly soon and hopefully I’ll see them at some point, but they weren’t around when my daughter fed them this morning. I even went out with a flash light last night before going to bed. Nothing.

So for now, I just have TTT and five kittens in my room with me. At this point, I don’t mind letting TTT go out and explore – she did that yesterday, and there were no issues. This morning, I caught her starting to dig around my pillow and got her off my bed before she could pee on it. Before I left, I scattered bins and packages and all sorts of things all over my bed to dissuade her from peeing on it.

It worked, but…

Yeah. There was a puddle on the puppy pad under my desk. Right next to the litter box with the new clay litter in it. She even dug around the puppy pad enough to pull it part way out from under the litter box. So now I’ve got two of the new larger size pads under there. One under the litter box and right against the wall. The other, partly under the litter box, but more in the area she seems to prefer to go on.

Of course, while I’m at my computer, she won’t go anywhere near it, but she won’t use any of the other litter boxes, either. I just don’t know what else I can do. After I caught her about to pee on my bed, I put her in a litter box, but she just wanted to get out of it. With other cats, I’ve caught them about to make a mess, picked them up and put them in a litter box, and they went right to using it. She holds it and waits for me to leave, instead.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After dropping the cats off at the vet in the smaller, closer city, I headed to the larger city to meet a guy about some scaffolding. We’d arranged a location to meet, but just had to finalize a time. He wife was having a medical procedure done this morning, so it depended on how long it took for her to recover enough to be released That worked out, since we were meeting at an A&W parking lot, and I got there early enough to finally have breakfast!

When we finally met up, he brought the scaffolding out and set it up, right there. I even climbed up on it, and was quite happy with how well it held my weight (it’s rated for far heavier than I am, but still…) and how stable it was. It also folds up nice and compact, fitting easily into the back of my mother’s car.

As he was putting it in the car for me, he asked me about the hamlet I’m from, and how long I’d lived there. I explained I grew up there, but have been back for only a few years.

Then we had a small world moment. The neighbors that lived across the road from us when I was growing up here turned out to be his godparents! They passed on during the years we were away, and the property sold, and he only remembered that they lived down a gravel road from the highway. It was nice to connect through mutual contacts, though.

So I now have a small scaffolding set up.

That would have made cleaning the eaves on the garage much more secure! The cross pieces can also fit side by side for a wider platform, and it cost me less than half what it would have cost for a new one. I even have a couple of boards that are long enough to go under the legs at each end, should we want to use it on softer ground, though these are intended for indoor use. The girls want to paint the basement ceiling this winter, and this will make that job much easier, too.

Now that I’m looking at the picture as I write this, I can see that the frame doesn’t really have an upside down or right side up. It could be used either way. It would change the height of the steps slightly, which might be desirable, depending on the job.

I’m happy with it.

Oh, I almost forgot. It was really nice and cool this morning, and we had the most amazing ground fog! No chance of taking photos, though, as I had a panicking cat in the back of the car. As I was driving the cats in, I’d go through a few clear, sunny patches, then drive into a wall of fog. It was so gorgeous, though at one point I had to slow down. I could no longer see my usual landmarks, and I wanted to make sure I saw the stop sign at the highway before I drove right through the intersection! I haven’t seen fog like that since we lived on the West coast!

Now, it’s time to head outside and see what I can get done before it gets too hot, and hopefully spot the missing ladies. We’re looking at a high of 24C/75F, and it’s just supposed to get hotter. The forecast for the weekend is insane. Either Saturday or Sunday (currently, it’s saying Saturday) is supposed to hit at least 30C/86F. Last night, the girls saw forecasted highs for Saturday of 37C/99F!!! That has since dropped to 31C/88F or 33C/91F. The weather forecasters can’t make up their mind. Either way, I want to get as much done outside as I can, before things get hotter over the next few days!

The Re-Farmer.

Morning harvest, and kitty status

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First, the good stuff.

This was this morning’s harvest.

Just tomatoes, almost all Romas, and a few patty pan squash, but it was still quite a haul.

The other good stuff is that the kitten I brought in yesterday did just fine, overnight. It was running around and playing with the other kittens when I came into my room this morning.

Which leads me to the not so good stuff.

I had to sleep on the couch last night.

I thought we had been doing well, but in the space of just a few minutes, my nice, clear, dry bed suddenly had a massive puddle in the middle. Not only was it large enough that I couldn’t even sleep on another part of the bed, even though it’s a king size, but it was in a spot that didn’t have any puppy pads under the sheets to protect the mattress.

The girls helped me juggle kittens and strip the bed, but as I soaked up as much as I could with more puppy pads, they were the ones that suggested I sleep on the couch. After getting it as dry as we could, we took off the mattress protector, too, and got everything in the laundry. We laid out more puppy pads, absorbent side down, then carefully covered them with a blanket to keep them in place. Then I left the room with the window fan going on maximum.

I did not get much sleep last night, though I have to admit, it was rather nice sleeping in the cat free zone. I was awakened early by cat arguments. Having had just a couple of hours of sleep, I got up long enough to feed all the cats, inside and out, before going back to bed on the couch.

While doing the feeding in my room, the bed was clear and nothing was destroyed, so I was very encouraged. So I went back to the couch and managed to get almost a couple more hours of sleep.

When I came back to my room, I found a “gift” on my bed. On the blanket, next to the towel I laid out under the kibble bowls while dividing up the wet cat food.

At least it was easy to clean up, but really??? There are so many litter boxes, but noooooo. Gotta use my bed!

Then I sat on the side of the bed to take my supplements, only to discover a wet spot with my butt. The colour and fuzziness of the blanket had hidden it. At least that was on top of a puppy pad!

I am getting so very frustrated.

I did get a chance to chat with the Cat Lady a bit, letting her know that the kitten did well inside. As long as the kitten is about 3 pounds, they will spay her, and I think she’s pretty close to that. With her being inside and getting regular wet and dry cat food, I don’t think it will be an issue by the time of the appointment.

No sign of Phantom this morning, though. We’re already discussing options, if she doesn’t show up in time. I’ll simply grab one of the friendly males. I wouldn’t be able to grab any of the other females. They’re not socialized enough.

Oh, just heard from the Cat Lady again. She says she will drop a trap off for us, tomorrow. If we can snag any of the moms with older kittens that would be good. Still, it would be ideal of Phantom comes back and we grab her.

In other cat related things…

This is the kitten we thought was female that turned out to be male.

What is it all the friendly ones are male? It was the same thing last year. The females are almost universally standoffish, while the males have been more easily socialized and love attention.

Then there are those that are just plain feral. Not semi-feral. Just feral. Like this one.

I spotted this one when I finally got out to do my morning rounds. Brussel’s kittens seem to have moved into the garage, more or less. This is the shier one, and the first time I’ve been able to get a good look at him/her. I had to move slow and zoom right in to get a picture, so it’s not a good image at all. What unique face markings!

I’ve seen its orange and white sibling closer to the house. I think I even saw it in the kibble house. This one, however, stays around the garage, and that’s it. I didn’t top up the food in the bowl I set up in the garage this morning, though. Hopefully, this one will get hungry enough to brave coming to the house. I also saw Octomom’s littles. Not all of them, but they seem to have taken up residence – at least for part of the day – under the cat house.

While doing my rounds this morning, I was pleased to find just one fallen branch. We had more rain and high winds last night, but it seems that weird climate bubble we have over us has protected us. The winds did knock quite a few crab apples off the trees, though. This morning, on one of my local gardening groups, several people mentioned their gardens were completely destroyed. One posted a photo of her crab apple tree, its apples knocked to the ground and lying next to hail almost as big as the apples! So far that I’ve seen, she was the only one that also reported damage to her home. Just a broken window, thankfully.

Today should be quite a bit more pleasant. I plan to be doing stuff indoors, though. Specifically, making tomato sauce. Lack of sleep is catching up to me, though, and I’m dropping off as I type this. I think I will try napping again. I think I can squeeze into the dry corner of my bed around the kittens. I’m afraid that if I try napping on the couch again, I’ll come back to more puddles or piles!

The tomato sauce can wait a couple of hours. I’m all out of energy drinks, and feel like I’m about to drop right on my keyboard!

The Re-Farmer

Some good news… with a bit of a snag

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Well, I did end up going to town today with one of my daughters, with some of their own shopping to do. We got home just in time for a brief thunderstorm to pass over us. We’re still getting rain, off and on.

Meanwhile, I was chatting with the Cat Lady, as she passed things on to me once they were arranged. The woman who was looking for mousers was very excited that we had cats we could send her way soon. Three of them – Decimus, The Phantom and one of the older kittens; a black and white we’ve been able to socialize quite well.

We now have an appointment to have all three of them spayed. I will drop them off on the morning of the 30th, and the Cat Lady will take things from there.

So once we were home, I did the evening cat feeding and went looking. Still no sign of The Phantom, but the black and white kitten was lounging on one of the “beds” we have for them in the sun room.

I was going to bring her in but, just to be on the safe side, I checked.

Oh, dear.

There was too much movement, but I was pretty sure those were testicles.

I ended up getting my daughter to help. I held the kitten while she checked. Sure enough, she turned out to be a he!

There was another kitten, a grey and white tabby, we’ve been able to socialize quite a bit, so we snagged that one to double check, too. Confirmed female.

So I brought that one in.

The problem is, she’s too young to be spayed.

This is her with Tweedle Dee. There’s almost no difference in size!

She was pretty nervous about being inside, but I did the evening wet cat food feeding, and she was more than happy to have her very first taste of it! The other kittens were quick to check her out and wanted to play with her until the food came out. Once everyone was done eating, she explored a bit, and is now hiding under one of my shelves. Every now and then, a kitten will go over and try to play with her.

The adult cats don’t seem to have even noticed there’s an extra kitten in the room.

I spent some time outside, playing with the few kittens that will allow it – all confirmed males. With the other kittens, I just can’t get close. As for the adult cats, the only ones I’ve had any luck touching are Junk Pile and Caramel, both of whom look pregnant, and Beep Bop, who hasn’t weaned her nurslings yet – and her nurslings include Caramel’s three. It would be ideal to grab Adam and Brussel, who have the oldest litters. Adam is one of the creche mothers, content to nurse any kitten. Brussel won’t let anyone near her.

There is Broccoli, a calico. When she’s eating on the cat house roof, she will sometimes let me pet her, but usually not. She would be an ideal candidate. She is the mother of the calicos, Brussel and Sprout – Sprout is even shier than Brussel – and Phantom, the tortie. They all need to be spayed, but only Phantom is friendly. We’d definitely have to trap Brussel and Sprout. Possibly Broccoli, too.

*sigh*

Well, we still have some time. At the very least, I hope The Phantom comes back soon! I’ve updated the Cat Lady, but she hasn’t seen my messages yet, so we’ll see what she has to say. They may be able to take the kitten anyhow, and have it spayed later. It’s just that she made appointments for spays for 3 cats. We might bring TTT in for a spay, instead, though she will likely come back home later, even though she’s on the adoption list.

Speaking of TTT, I haven’t been able to get her into her coat, but I did get to look at her incision this morning. She’s going to have one heckuva scar in one part of the incision, I think. It’s still very red, but it’s staying closed. She has been spending most of her time in the closet cave, so it’s not being stressed at all, and air is the best thing for it right now.

Oh, my goodness! Things were very quiet behind me, so I took a look. Decimus’ kittens and Ghosty are all asleep together on my bed, Butterscotch sleeping beside them, but I can see the new kitten has settled on another makeshift cat bed on top of a bin, and looks like she’s taking a nap, too!

I hope this works out.

The Re-Farmer

Morning harvest, and some kitty progress

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We had a really solid rain yesterday – enough to fill the rain barrel by the sun room to overflowing before I got the diverter on. It looks like we got more rain last night, too. The ground was still nice and damp in the garden beds this morning.

I got barely a handful of green and yellow beans this morning, and there aren’t many little ones developing, so those are almost done for the season. I got quite a few Romas, but only a couple of Indigo Blues. I haven’t harvested any Spoon tomatoes for a while, so there were some to grab this morning. We don’t have many plants, so this isn’t too bad.

Depending on what weather app I look at, we’re supposed to reach 26C/79F or 27C/81F today. I’ve got one app saying we’re just going to be cloudy, while another is warning of thunderstorms tonight. When I checked last night, the thunderstorm warning had been for this afternoon. We we’ll see what actually happens.

I chatted with the Cat Lady last night. Decimus is more than ready to stop nursing (though she’s on the bed nursing, as I write this!), and The Phantom has been really friendly again, so I let her know. She’s going to call the lady that wants the 4 females, 2 at a time, and then call a vet to arrange spays. I will be bringing the cats in, then she’ll take it from there.

Of course, The Phantom was nowhere to be seen, this morning. The next time we see her, we’re going to have to either find a way to keep her in the sun room, or bring her indoors until it’s time to take them in for spay and adoption.

I also sent new photos of the kittens for her to send out among her contacts for adoption. Hopefully, that will result in some new homes for the babies soon.

Today is looking like it’s going to be a fairly quiet day. I’m expecting a call from someone that’s selling some small scaffolding today, but I don’t have to drive anywhere to do errands or anything like that. Of course, now that I know I’m home, the heat is back. At least it’s supposed to cool down again tomorrow. From the looks of the long range forecast, there rest of August, and all through September, looks really good. We have lots of work to do outside, and I just haven’t been able to get to it. I’m also going to be down a body soon. My younger daughter is going to be house sitting for my brother while they are away for their anniversary trip. She’s going to be so spoiled, having a cat free house all to herself, and be both on an acreage, and have a fairly large town and easy bike ride away. Heck, if her hips start giving her grief again, they even have a scooter for when my mother visits that she can drive, instead!

I think she’ll enjoy the respite! 😁

The Re-Farmer

One step forward…

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… one step back, shuffle to the left, take another step forward and do-see-do!

Ugh.

What a day yesterday was!

But first, let us appreciate this handsome boy.

Gooby followed me out to the gate while I was doing my morning rounds. This little boy LOVES attention and wants to be held.

Nothing like having a cat claw its way up your leg, while you’re trying to switch the memory card out of a trail cam!

Once in my arms, he happily burrowed into my neck and violently started licking my nose.

He has a thing about noses!

As I was heading back inside after my rounds, I was greeted by this.

Walnut’s siblings and cousins, minus one. The three smaller ones (two in front, one in the back) are siblings. The three larger are from a slightly older litter, as is the one that was elsewhere when I took this photo. The one with the orange head is called Pinky. His fur is an unusual combination of orange and grey that sometimes makes him look pink! The little one in the back has spots that are almost completely black, rather than the grey tabby markings the others have.

Walnut, meanwhile, did get spayed yesterday and, while it took a long time for her to wake up, is doing very well. Walnut and the bitties are all getting treated for ear mites, and getting medications to treat upper respiratory infections. Itty Bitty Bobby was found to have some fluid in his lungs, but Sprite has just “uncomplicated” URI.

Oh, and guess what?

They all already have homes waiting for them!

Walnut will be going to a household that has one cat – a rescue the Cat Lady placed awhile ago. The bitties will stay together, going to a home with an older couple, and first time cat owners! They’re going to be hooked on cats with those two. 😊

Tissue, on the other hand…

I’m still waiting for word on whether or not she’s been caught. They found no sign of her. The garage is being renovated, so there’s not a lot in there, but they even opened up the drywall, looking for her. Nothing. Not even a peep. There’s no possibility that she got outside, as there was no access to outdoors. They did finally open the garage doors, with the workers all standing there, to back the car out (after checking to make sure she wasn’t in the engine block) and look again. Nothing.

It’s a heated garage, and they set a trap up. Hopefully, they will find her today, but I’ve not heard anything yet. Once they have her, they will leave her in the trap, and we will meet in town. We will take her back, trap and all, and hang on to the trap until we connect again. The vet, meanwhile, as offered a free spay near the end of February, but if we want to get Tissue done, we will have to take her to and from the vet ourselves.

Honestly, at this point, I’m not worried about getting her fixed. Clearly, she is not adoptable, and I just don’t want to put her through that again. She will stay with us, indoors, permanently.

As for her escape, they are utterly amazed. We knew Tissue was a burly girl, but they were astonished by how strong she is. She was in a hard sided carrier that they’ve used to transport ferals. They’ve never had a cat break out of it before. The Cat Lady had set the carrier down to open her car door when it “jumped” and Tissue was gone. The door was torn off and the carrier broken apart.

The Cat Lady is just beside herself with worry over Tissue. They’ve all been looking for her, off and on, all day yesterday. All they could do in the end was set the trap and leave it. At least they can look into the garage from inside the house, through a window, and check regularly.

For now, it’s just a waiting game.

While that was going on, we heard from the financing company about our application for the replacement vehicle. Since my husband is the one with the income, we were doing this all in his name. He got an email from them, saying it was tentatively approved. They just needed some banking information to confirm our income on the application, an ID such as a driver’s license, health care card or passport, and a few other little details confirmed.

Well, my husband doesn’t drive anymore, and we never got his driver’s license transferred after the move. The one time he went in to try, they wouldn’t do it, because his name on his old license didn’t perfectly match his birth certificate. In my husband’s family, no one uses their first name. Tradition is, everyone has three given names, and uses their second name. This was a bit of an issue when he was in the military, but all they did was reverse his first and second names on some paperwork. Everywhere else, he just used his second name and surname. Well, that’s not okay here anymore, and after much painful waiting, he was finally told he needed to change his legal name to…. His legal name. We did eventually contact the ombudsman who confirmed my husband only needed to have at least two bills or bank statements with his full legal name on it, and he could get his license. By then, however, he was in no condition to go physically go back and go through the process. Not even to just get a photo ID.

Well, it turned out the bank the financing company works with wanted a driver’s license or passport – our health care cards don’t have photos on them. He has neither.

So we had to transfer the application to my name. The financial information didn’t change, since it’s household income and we’re working with a joint account, however they not only needed my driver’s license, but the banking information we sent needed to have my name on it. Which doesn’t show up on the paperwork unless I selected the print option, with letter head. We’ve been sending in phone scans of the required documents, which does make things easier.

It took a few tries to get something legible but, by then, it was late in the evening. On top of that, yesterday was a statutory holiday, which meant few staff and everything was slower. Which is understandable. We’ll find out today whether the application, under my name, is approved.

Oh, one of the things that they needed to know is what “company” I worked for. Which confused me until she mentioned that we said we had a custodial arrangement, leaving us with no rent or mortgage payments. She thought that meant we were the custodians of a building, like an apartment building or something, owned by a company. So I explained that, and now my brother’s name is on the paperwork as the company/owner we have an arrangement with. They don’t need to contact him. They just needed something on the paperwork. I also explained to her that I can’t have my own income, because anything I earn would be deducted from my husband’s disability payments. That cleared up some confusion on her part.

Meanwhile, a daughter and I went out and emptied the van of our belongings, then put the set of all-season tires in the back. We won’t need them anymore, and with dozens of tires scattered around the farm already, I didn’t want to add to the piles! If the approval goes through, I can just grab the van and go, and come back with the replacement vehicle.

If it doesn’t go through, well… we’ll just put the stuff we need back, and keep going as is.

I’m really trying not to get my hopes up about getting this vehicle. True, we’d do better with a truck or van but, my goodness, even a 2013 Escape will be the most luxurious vehicle we’ve ever owned if we get it! We’ve never had a vehicle newer than our 2007 Grand Caravan, and that was quite a few years old when we got it.

Well, we shall see how it goes.

Hopefully, we’ll get all sorts of good news today, both about the vehicle, and Tissue!

The Re-Farmer

So far, so good!

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Well, we had our first night with Marlee!

I made sure to have as few cats as possible in my room overnight, so I could leave the baby jail open, and Marlee could come out any time she felt comfortable. That meant Nozencrantz and Butterscotch, who simply won’t leave, Big Rig, who wants to leave, but we’re keeping her isolated for a while longer as she recovers from surgery, and Marlee.

This morning, she was not in the cage. I eventually found her, peeking at me from under my vanity – then she came out for pets! Which is really funny because she’ll be enjoying pets, but if she so much as hears another cat moving, she would hiss and growl – while still demanding pets! After a while, she seemed to be trying to get at her food bowl inside the baby jail, from outside, so I put her in and she enthusiastically ate and drank. For a cat that has known hunger for the past couple of years, I fully expect her to be taking many opportunities to eat!

What I can’t tell is if she has used a litter box. The one in the cage looked unused, but there are two others that should could have used. Or, she might have used some corner of my room that I haven’t found, yet! The cat lady uses stove pellets for litter, too, so I know she is at least used to that.

I made sure to update the cat lady about how the night went, and they are SO happy with how Marlee has been doing. Her husband was saying, cats know when they are home! I hope that’s how Marlee feels, because after all she’s been through, she deserves a soft and comfortable life indoors, with lots of love! The only issue we might have is with the other cats. Unlike Nosencrantz, however, I’m sure Marlee will handle potential conflict better, and not collapse into a ball of panic and anxiety, like Nosencrantz sometimes does.

So that’s good news!

I did get a daughter to stay in my room and supervise while I did the morning rounds, just in case. Cheddar forced his way into the room as I was leaving, but this is Cheddar. He accepts all cats. Marlee hisses at him, and he’s completely oblivious. If any cats gets through to her, I’m betting it’ll be Cheddar. Even Nosencrantz and Butterscotch like Cheddar!

The outside cats were completely out of water in both heated water bowls this morning! The heated bowl that isn’t working and has been sitting in the sun room, full of ice, has been melting, though, so they do still have access to water. Once I got their food and warm water out, I got one of the big cans of donated wet cat food and emptied into a bowl, then broke it into much. I didn’t think of it until later, but I should have mixed in some lysine while I was at it.

After that, it was a race. There were kittens in the sun room, so I gave them a few spoonfuls, dropped spoonfuls in front of the cats in the shelf shelter, then quickly started dropping spoonfuls across the roof of the cat house, where most of the big cats were still eating.

By then, I had the attention of the kittens that hide under the cat house, so I quickly dropped some food for them before adding to the trays in the kibble house and under the water shelter. By then, all the cats were pretty excited about this whole wet cat food nothing – it’s the first time most of them have ever had any – so I was able to dump the bowl onto the tray inside the cat house entry, for the bitties.

Then, as I was starting to leave, I saw a little face poking out from under the cat house, near the counterweight. I hadn’t left any wet food there! So I started scraping the bowl and managed to leave a bit for that one, too.

I had considered using more than one can; they’re big cans, but that’s a lot of cats. In the end, I decided I’ll just do it again when I feed them in the late afternoon. The main thing is to get it to the bitties. What I’m spreading out for the older cats is a distraction. A treat, not a feeding.

That done, I finished off my morning rounds, and as I came back into the sun room, I found this adorable trio.

That’s Pointy Baby on the left, Pinky in the middle and Gooby on the right.

It’s funny how they like to sit on the board the heat bulb’s fixture is attached to! I’ve got it on the top shelf, so cats can sit under it on the bottom shelf for warmth, without any chance of them touching the bulb. It might be a bit too high for the warmth, but I do see kittens under there every now and then.

Today, I finally have a day where I don’t have to go anywhere. Now that the morning rounds are done, I am seriously considering pain killering up and going back to bed! I can finally have a day of rest – until I have to go out again, tomorrow, and get my mother’s car to the garage for a much needed oil change. Thankfully, it’s supposed to be just below freezing tomorrow, so I will be able to walk around town while I wait and do a few errands.

I think a day spent at home and loving on a traumatized cat, is a good plan!

The Re-Farmer

Our new addition, and some sad news

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First of all, allow me to introduce to you our new addition.

Hello, Marlee!

The poor cat lady was in tears as she passed Marlee on to us. We’ve since been chatting about her history, and my heart just breaks for her. She wasn’t physically abused, quite traumatized. Abandoned by her owners, she watched as her stuff – her cat tower, her litter boxes, everything – was thrown away after her owners kicked her outside. The new owners were “not cat people”, and would chase her away from the drier vent she was trying to keep warm under with a broom. A 90 yr old neighbour with cancer fed her every day for 2 years, before she finally called for help, fearing that no one else would take over if she died. The cat lady trapped her, but was turned away by rescues and vets repeatedly, until her own vet was finally willing to look at her. She was deemed “semi-feral” and would never be a “good” cat. They recommended euthanizing her.

The cat lady kept her, but it was 2 months before she would allow any pets, and she never settled in. She was clearly miserable. When passing Marlee on to us, she said she feared the cat would think she was being abandoned again, but at least she would be safer, outdoors with us on the farm.

Well, we’ll see about that.

When I got home, my brother was here, so after unloading the van, the girls took over while I stayed outside to help him.

Yeah. That’s Marlee, accepting scritches. My daughter had poked her fingers through the baby jail walls. Marlee came right over and head bumped her. So my daughter worked her way to reaching in and petting her, and Marlee was just loving it! She loves head scritches (which make her drool like crazy!), and accepts belly and side pets, but doesn’t like her tail or back touched. She was eating well, too. We’ve got Big Rig in my office/bedroom, too, where she will likely stay while recovering from surgery, and Big Rig is being less friendly than Marlee!

When I told the cat lady about it, she was amazed, and then shared the rest of Marlee’s background story. As she described the people moving out, and the neighbours feeding the abandoned cat, I was picturing some typical urban neighbourhood.

Nope.

That house sold for over a million dollars. And her owners got a house in Toronto, which has some of the most expensive housing in the Canada.

Clearly, lack of funds had nothing to do with the cat being abandoned!

One thing is for sure. We’re going to do everything we can to help this lady settle in to a safe and comfortable forever home. Yes, we still have lots of cats, inside and out, that need to be adopted out, but this one is going to stay.

Which reminds me…

Plushy and Princess (who now have new names) were supposed to go to one family, but two neighbouring households. Well, the two of them get along so well, the family decided not to separate them. They will be in one household, and Grandma will just have to walk over to visit her cat! 😄

On a related note…

When I came out to do my morning rounds, the first thing I saw when I stepped outside was a tiny little tuxedo running around! He quickly dashed under the cat house.

He was a hungry little one! (I’m just using the generic “he” – we have no idea if it’s male or female).

Later on, I spotted the tabby.

Usually, I just see his mostly white face. This is the first time I’ve had a decent look at the markings on the rest of him.

Well. Part of the rest of him.

After I came back from getting Big Rig and Marlee, I spotted the tuxedo again, running around, going in and out of the sun room, and exploring.

Here was have one of the littles, next to one of the oldest kittens!

With all the commotion while the roofers were working, I hardly saw the bitties at all, but I still wasn’t seeing the orange one. This concerned me, so I spent some time trying to see into the cat house, until I spotted what looked like orange fur. One of my daughters was able to come out to give me a hand with opening the cat house to check.

Sadly, the little orange bitty was dead. It’s eyes were crusted shut, and its nose covered with dried mucus. From the looks of it, other cats had been snuggled up to him. It’s possible he had been smothered, or it was a combination of respiratory illness and smothering. It definitely wasn’t the cold. This one did seem smaller and weaker compared to its siblings, so I can’t say I’m surprised, but it was very saddening. We even had someone wanting to adopt him.

As for the other two, we’ve had no luck socializing. I was actually able to catch the tuxedo, but he was NOT happy with that, and I ended up bleeding quite a bit for my efforts! Which, unfortunately, has probably set back our efforts to socialize them.

The cat lady passed on some food donations, including large cans of wet cat food. Tomorrow morning, I think I’ll dump a can into a bowl, break it apart, then spread spoon fulls out all over, making sure the bigger cats are busy with eating before making sure the bitties get their share.

Along with the food donations, she also passed on a couple of cat caves and a bunch of treats, too! She has been able to help us out with the cats so much, we’re more than happy doing what we can to help her back, by taking in Marlee (who I can hear growling at other cats behind me right now, from the safety of her cage). We just did the evening wet cat food feeding in my office, and she was quite happy while she was eating, at least! The grey lady needs some more TLC, I think. 😊

The Re-Farmer

Just too much cute!

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Before I headed out to help my mother with errands, one of my daughters came over to do bitty baby supervisor duty while I was gone.

Bitty was curled up on my bed, napping at the time. My daughter had had a sleepless night, so she took advantage of the situation.

Bitty responded by being even cuter, and took advantage of having a warm human to cuddle up against!

Later on, I got a message from my daughter saying that he was twitching and making nursing motions in his sleep!

We reached a high of 0C/32F today, though as I write this, we’ve started to cool down a bit. It’s still sunny and feels warm out there, and things are melting in various places. A perfect day to help my mother with errands. I’m happy to say she is well stocked up on quite a few things now. Especially the heavier things, like laundry detergent, or bags of potatoes, that she can get while I’m there with her car to help.

It’s also a perfect day to do a burn. Just before I headed home, one of my daughters got the fire pit going. There is a branch pile near the fire pit that we we’ve been adding to faster than we’ve been able to use it up – it’s separate from the logs we use when doing a cookout, and just getting too big. So the girls are planning to get as much of that cleaned up as they can. Now that I’m home and on supervisor duty (Butterscotch really, really does not like Bitty, but Bitty really, really wants to cuddle her!), they are both outside and tending the fire pit.

This is what I found when I came back into the room.

I mean, can he get any cuter? 😄😄😄

He really, really likes that hat! Gosh, he’s so tiny. And most of that is fluff. He’s actually smaller than he looks.

I’m going to miss him when the cat lady picks him up!

Butterscotch and Nosencrantz, however, will be very happy to see him gone! 😂

The Re-Farmer

A double whammy of good news!

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The cat lady contacted me last night. After finding homes for the two bitty babies we found in the field, she now has someone who wants to adopt the last surviving bitty!!

Which meant, of course, that we had to bring him inside as quickly as we could. I wasn’t able to do that last night, as it was too dark to see, so we left it until this morning.

When I first topped up the kibble and water bowls, I couldn’t see him anywhere, but I’ve often seen him out after I’ve finished my rounds, so did those. Making my way back around to the kibble house, I was greeted by an orange tabby.

It wasn’t Rolando Moon.

Nutmeg is back!!

At least I assume it’s Nutmeg. I suppose it could be Toesencrantz, but I was able to pet him, and Toezencrantz was never socialized.

The kibble was already mostly gone in most of the trays, so I topped a couple of them to make sure Nutmeg got a good meal. He wasn’t too friendly with the other cats, but food was a higher priority for him! He looks really healthy, though. Usually, when the wayward males come back for the winter, they look like pretty starved.

Then, I spotted the bitty baby! He had finally emerged from the cat house, so I snagged him.

He’s now in my office/bedroom with me, and has had his first meal of wet cat food. As I write this, he is exploring the room, climbing things – especially the little cat tree we have in here – and checking things out.

Cheddar and Leyendecker were immediately curious about him and followed him around, sniffing. Bitty sniffed right back and there was lots of purring.

Butterscotch and Nosencrantz are not too sure of things. Butterscotch is perched in the window sill, and I’ve heard her growling at him. Nosencrantz is on her top shelf by the ceiling, watching him from above, looking shocked, but has not tried to come down.

And I just had to pause typing the above because he climbed up onto my desk. Now he’s climbing the shelf to Nosencrantz, but he’s too small to get very far.

I think I’m going to be very busy supervising a baby today!

The Re-Farmer

Cat, and Cat Lady update

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I’ve had no end of internet troubles this morning, so it has taken me quite a while to finally settle down and write. The troubles were only with my desktop and, oddly, my phone. Sometimes, I’d still be able to connect to the local wi-fi, but couldn’t access the internet. No one else in the household had issues. It took a few restarts and troubleshoots, but I finally have internet again.

I was in contact with the Cat Lady today. She sent me another precious photo of Cabbages.

Now that she’s all healthy again, Cabbages still has no time for anyone in their household other than their daughter. She’d gone for a sleepover, and Cabbages cried at her bedroom door all night!

We confirmed the surgery date for Turmeric this Wednesday, and she will come back to us for recovery. She has some rescues that will soon be going to their forever homes, including a pair of rescues that will be going to some newlyweds! :-) Which means they’ll soon be able to take another of ours, soon. The next one will be going to her place, and will be spayed with her personal vet, who is able to give them a steep discount.

Which is a good time to put up a reminder that we still have the fundraiser going to help cover her out-of-pocket costs towards saving Cabbages’ life. While her new cat rescue is getting donations, much of it is still being funded by her husband, so every little bit will help. Click here if you would like to contribute to the fundraiser.

She will also be helping us adopt Nosencrantz out.

As Nosencrantz is now spayed and indoors, she is not as high on the priority list for adoption just now. I think, after Turmeric is done, Tissue will be next.

Eventually, we’ll get to the outside cats, including this lady.

This is Ghost Baby!!! She must have been incredibly hungry, because this is the closest she’s come to anyone before. Usually, she just disappears as soon as she sees us, or if we move even vaguely in her direction.

We’re just going to go on the assumption that she’s pregnant right now. Which might explain why she is hungry enough to chance coming within a couple of feet of me, to eat!

It would be pretty awesome if we could socialize her at least a little bit.

The Re-Farmer