Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

I have just looked at them again. I love Calvin.

Rabbit should have been called Bandit.
I'm sure there is raccoon in her bloodline.

Calvin is awesome!!!! He is always busy. He helps, he snoops, he is everywhere. He's a big love. He is the most direct with the dogs.

When I first saw Rabbit, I thought "he's a snowshoe" - snowshoe hare = Rabbit... But since there is longer hair in the family, I can't honestly say if he is actually ragdoll or snowshoe. I did think afterwards that Bandit would be a good name - I wouldn't be surprised if his new family renames him that.

Luke is also very charming. He is always willing to give you a kiss and some love. He's the bravest of the triplets.

Bo loves to play. He always has another kitten in his paws.

But Daisy is just a love. She is so sweet. If I didn't have the Twooney and picked one of these, it would be her. And I pretty much always prefer male cats. But she needs to be loved and cuddled with and there's nothing better than that. Unfortunately, Looney2 is the same and he is not going to share cuddle time.

I just noticed that Calvin has a double jointed tail. Normally a cat's tail is pretty stiff at the base and will only move side to side and from down to straight up. Calvin's tail will actually fold flat over his back.

I've only known one other cat who could do this.

How strange!
I used to know a lady who bred Persian and Manx cats. The Manx produced all kinds of tails but she said it was essential to keep the Stumpies as tail-less to tail-less produces lethal deformaties.

I had a litter of kittens once and one was tailless. The vet explained that often they would actually be missing the end bones of their spine and/or the spincter nerves - causing all sorts of problems. Mish Mish was fine and never had issues.

But years later, when I was doing rescue, some jerk (not the word I want to use) walked in to our adoptions with a box and said he just found this cat in the parking lot and if we didn't take it, he was going to dump him back in the parking lot. It was obvious the jerk was dumping HIS cat on us, but we weren't sure why.

I took the cat home. Gorgeous tabby manx. But he had the defect and he couldn't "pinch" his poop. So it would cake all over his rear end. When the jerk dumped him it was so bad he had maggots on his butt.

I kept him. Had to have containers of baby wipes everywhere so I could wipe his rear end every time he pooped. Sweetest cat in the world. All he wanted was to sit with you. I felt so sorry for him.

How sad. You were brave taking him in, not knowing how badly he was affected.

It was a lot of work. I had throw blankets over all the chairs and couch and beds so that I could easily wash up after him. I used dresser scarves on all tables, etc, for the same reason. But he was such a sweet cat, he made the extra work worthwhile.

Calvin says he'll ship himself to you and Tally.

Calvin has learned to ignore the dogs.


Except when he decides to touch noses with them (sorry, Tornado-dog interrupted the interaction as I took the photo):


Little Hobbes has decided he is not afraid of the dogs either - he just comes out and wants to walk around them. Unfortunately, he still looks like a small rat and Tornado-dog cannot be trusted with him.

Rabbit came for some play - I'm holding him from falling off head first


Panther is visiting with a fellow Amazonian


And Daisy REALLY likes the Big Cat cat tree


She seriously loves that tree. She goes straight for it as soon as the dogs go outside or upstairs. Can't find Daisy? Check the tree.

The triplets, Andrushka, and Panther are now officially in the system! So have to take SEVEN kittens to the neuter party meetup at 6 am...

Panther has decided that she likes to come and get a backrub but doesn't want to be held or to cuddle.

I wouldn't like to have an animal neutered so young, but given the guardianship skills of the average Joe or Josephine, I do realise that it just has to be.
I hope they find lovely new families soon.

Years ago the standard was 6 months for a female cat - so she'd get fixed right before she started breeding. And 7-9 months for male cats - that would usually get them right before they picked up bad habits.

Now, they will fix them as young as 8 weeks and 1 pound. It's the only way to ensure they don't breed while letting folks have those cute little kittens. The shelters and rescues had to find a way to offer young kittens so folks wouldn't go elsewhere and still guarantee they didn't send unfixed kittens out into the world. At one point, they gave spay/neuter certificates, but found that too many idiots had already tired of the kitten by the time it was ready to be fixed and dumped it.

I will say that in all my years of doing rescue, I've never seen a cat have issues due to early spay/neuter. My rescues who got fixed early were just as healthy as those who got fixed later.

That's good to know. It was always six months in my day but I did have one that got caught before her op! It is a hard life for un-neutered cats. They seem much happier and stay fitter for being neutered.
Quite different in dogs. I have only had one male castrated, (at 18 months), and wouldn't do it again without a good reason. Non-breeding bitches I had spayed after their second season. Breeding bitches were usually at about six - though there were several that I left entire for life. Dogs are much easier to supervise.

When I was a kid, we had a cat who hated everyone. One day, I called out "Mom! Look Carlotta likes me!" My Mom had her scheduled within seconds.

From what I've seen, England and the U.S. have a very different take on it. England seems to handle "management" of intact dogs much better than we do. For us, intact dogs running loose 24/7 is a huge issue. People just don't seem capable of supervising intact dogs. My neighbor had two intact male dogs and her son had an intact female. He brought her over while she was in heat promising to keep them apart. Yep. There were puppies.

For me, I've always fixed my dogs too. The youngest were Moose-dog at 8 weeks and Tornado-dog at 7 weeks. The oldest was a female shepherd at about 8 years*. The rest fell in line somewhere in between. Some were done by the shelter/rescue, some I did on my own. I've never had a bad experience with any of them having been fixed. My Dad always had a show dog, so there was always an unneutered male in the family. It just made sense to fix the rest so they could interact freely.

*Interesting side story on her. She had been found by a boarding kennel worker running loose with a broken rope around her neck after 4th of July. I ended up taking her. When she got spayed, the vet said her hips were the worst he had ever seen. Even when completely under anesthesia, her back legs stuck straight up in the air. Her hips were frozen solid, not even an inch of give to them.

Well, it happened. I've been providing updates of the kittens on the neighborhood app that I found them on.

The other day, I got a message on that app from a woman who is so impressed with how I "stepped up and took in those kittens". She needs some help. A 6 month old kitten just showed up on her neighbor's porch and it's very friendly. Could I take in this kitten as a foster? She'd get a coupon for a free spay for it. Her neighbor can't take it inside because she has a dog who just goes nuts towards cats. And she can't take it in because she has THREE cats already.

I politely explained that no, I cannot take their stray cat as I currently have two cats, a parrot, two large dogs (one of whom goes "nuts" around kittens), and ELEVEN kittens.

I gave her some advice on how to keep the dog and cat separated and/or introduce her cats to the kitten so they can bring the kitten inside. I gave her rescues that can help her place the kitten as long as she can foster it.

She comes back with one last plea that I can help find a place now for the kitten. She explains that her three cats actually "refuse to come indoors and so live in the garage". I replied "then it's really simple: bring the kitten into your house until you can find her a home."

I haven't heard anything since.

This is why I got out of rescue. The people who always want ME to take in another animal because "what's one more for you". The people who get on their high horse about loving animals and needing to do something but that something never consisting of actually inconveniencing themselves for the welfare of the animal. And they have no issue with laying a guilt trip on me to get me to take THEIR animal.

I had a co-worker who would repeatedly come to me to rescue stray dogs in the parking lot. I had five (four big) dogs in an 1100 sq foot house on a small city parcel - she had one dog in a big house on acreage. And yet, it was impossible for her to take any of these dogs into her home temporarily and so "you must take him". And then she'd have the nerve to tell me how to care for the dog and what sort of home the dog needed.

Arggggh. People irk me to no end.

Good for you for knowing your limits and holding your ground.

Among the many reasons I chose to not breed Akitas is I didn’t want to have to deal with taking a dog back that wasn’t working out for someone, or their life circumstances had changed.

By the way I’ve really enjoyed keeping up with the kittens and seeing their pictures.

Exactly what is happening to my friend in Bolivia. 'Oh they take dogs and kittens in - take them there'. Without any rescue organisations, they pay for the treatment and neutering too. Give me dogs and horses, 90% of people are impossible.

This is something that I've always done with my fosters - they come back to me. Whether or not I am working with a rescue, I always take the animal back. Fortunately, I inherited my Mom's ability to screen potential adopters and have very few returned. One dog, who I had sent out as a "two week trial" because I wasn't sure of the fit but knew it was a good home. The dog came back and got adopted out to the right home and I found a puppy that was a perfect match for the first home.

I've only had two cats come back in 30 years. One came back after several years. The other was my screw up - I adopted her out to a woman against my instincts. The cat suffered for it - absolutely terrified after one night in the home. I took her back and removed her from the rescue's system. I told the cat I failed her and I would spend the rest of her life making up for it.

@CaroleC I totally sympathise with your friend. It is really difficult dealing with so many idiots.

I'm glad you are enjoying the updates.

This morning, the dogs and I came downstairs so they could go out to potty. I opened the stairway door and Tornado-dog went to run to the back door. But he stopped dead. At the bottom of the stairs sat Punxsatawney. She is still the smallest of the bunch - still just under a pound. And she just stared at that wildebeest with no fear or concern. Poor Tornado-dog didn't know what to do - 60 times her weight and he wasn't going to mess with her. She's tough. I picked her up so he could go by.

Looney2 is now starting to interact with the kittens. He was batting at Gertie's tail when she wasn't watching.

YumYum has become a brat. She doesn't like her clavamox (the four little ones are back on it after their eye infections reappeared), so she hides behind the toilet where it's hard to grab her. When I do catch her, she fights against taking the med. I do wish they'd make beef flavored antibiotics - cats really don't like bubblegum flavor.

That's an odd flavour, even for children. It is difficult to dose cats when you live alone. Two people and a towel and it's over in no time - could you co-opt a neighbour?
I have started to do a little more walking to try and build a little more muscle, so on the days that I don't have a dog walker I like to take Tal to a fairly quiet spot, walk a mile or so then sit and let her sniff around on a long line. On Tuesday I was smiling at her as she played roly-poly and then slithered down a grass bank on her back a few times. Then I thought I noticed a smell and Yes, she was anointed with yellow poo!!
I had to tie her in the yard while I got the Mud Daddy loaded with dilute medicated shampoo - the first time I have used it but it did work pretty well once I realised how to use the pressure lock. Certainly easier than getting a stinky dog upstairs and into the bath.
Eddie won the Mud Daddy in an online trick competition. When the pandemic was on I taught him to take a hankie from my pocket and give it to me when I faked a sneeze. (A friend did say that a face mask might have been even better). Anyway he won a complete dog wash kit, which has been sitting in the shed up to this week. As long as the weather is OK I think I might have solved our dog bathing problem.
Picture of Tally just because.