We are very pleased that, once again, our enclosure is full. Spike and Charlie arrived today with a teary but absolutely lovely owner who sadly lost everything in the recent floods. Having been moved a lot from their lovely acreage home where they loved to explore and play, they are understandably very anxious in their new home.
Spike has already put our netting and the enclosure build to the test climbing all the way to the top and trying to get out through the ceiling! He will need lots of activities and some high shelves to sit on up the top to make up for not having his huge yard to explore.
It is going to take some time before Spike and Charlie settle enough to have pictures taken and we will not take photos without their owners permission but they are gorgeous kittys and we are happy to have them.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Ready... Set... Clean!
There is an aspect of fostering that many don't think about very often - the cleaning! It's not like our own cats, when we can clean something when it gets dirty, and they fit in with our everyday house cleaning (or lack thereof!). Each time we prepare for new foster cats or kittens, the enclosure and its contents need to be thoroughly disinfected, sterilised, anti-bacteriaised (yes I made that up) and washed to within an inch of their life. Floors are swept and mopped, toys cleaned with anti-bacterial wipes, beds and blankets washed and all food & water containers thoroughly sterilised.
The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, we want our new charges to be as comfortable and worry-free as possible. We have housed special needs (poorly socialised) cats before and know just how important it is for them to feel safe and secure before any socialisation can even begin. The last thing they need is a lingering smell of all the cats gone before them. The next two cats will be our 17th and 18th so you can imagine how daunting the smell of that many other animals would be!!
The second reason for all the cleaning is the health of the new foster cats or kittens. Stress can cause all sorts of physical symptoms in a cat, and we need to be absolutely sure that if anything arises, it is related to the cat itself, and not a dirty environment, or something they picked up from the previous batch of fosters.
Of course, it's all very quickly forgotten when the new cutie-pies arrive and we become smitten all over again. Next post will, I am sure, contain lots of cute photos and cooing over how wonderful the new pair are. Can't wait!
The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, we want our new charges to be as comfortable and worry-free as possible. We have housed special needs (poorly socialised) cats before and know just how important it is for them to feel safe and secure before any socialisation can even begin. The last thing they need is a lingering smell of all the cats gone before them. The next two cats will be our 17th and 18th so you can imagine how daunting the smell of that many other animals would be!!
The second reason for all the cleaning is the health of the new foster cats or kittens. Stress can cause all sorts of physical symptoms in a cat, and we need to be absolutely sure that if anything arises, it is related to the cat itself, and not a dirty environment, or something they picked up from the previous batch of fosters.
Of course, it's all very quickly forgotten when the new cutie-pies arrive and we become smitten all over again. Next post will, I am sure, contain lots of cute photos and cooing over how wonderful the new pair are. Can't wait!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
New bailment cats on the way
A brief update - we're expecting the arrival on Tuesday/Wednesday of next week of two bailment cats from the AWL who we'll be fostering for an Ipswich family who got wiped out by the flood. They could and probably will be around for a few months.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Girl Power & Forever Homes
Well after much concern for the wellbeing of Cookie & Spot during the floods in Queensland, I have realised they have been on the Animal Welfare League of Queensland website for a week! Given that they are actually both girls (ok so I didn't look too hard), their names were changed, a
nd the picture of Cookie (er... jems?? Cookie is definately better!) wasn't up until today, I hadn't realised it was them but here it is... my er... girls! Now in their forever homes (actually adopted just a day after they left us). Yay!!
Now we await the phone call for the next needy bundle of fur. We are actually quite surprised at not getting a call since the floods have displaced so many animals. I don't really want to think about what this means in terms of the survival of cats in the floods. We are not used to being without the foster cats now, as we usually drop one lot off and pick up another. Watch this spot for the next installment.
nd the picture of Cookie (er... jems?? Cookie is definately better!) wasn't up until today, I hadn't realised it was them but here it is... my er... girls! Now in their forever homes (actually adopted just a day after they left us). Yay!!
Tabby Domestic Short Hair Female 11 Weeks Jems was surrendered |  |
Jems 831099  |
Black Domestic Short Hair Female 11 Weeks Jen was surrendered |
Now we await the phone call for the next needy bundle of fur. We are actually quite surprised at not getting a call since the floods have displaced so many animals. I don't really want to think about what this means in terms of the survival of cats in the floods. We are not used to being without the foster cats now, as we usually drop one lot off and pick up another. Watch this spot for the next installment.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
When perma-cats become refugee poultry
Well... It's been an interesting last couple of days. On Monday, I flew down to Melbourne for a business trip at zero-dark thirty, and Spot and Cookie were returned to the Animal Welfare League at Ipswich for desexing and transfer to the rehoming centre at Coombabah. Also on Monday, Toowoomba got completely pwn3d by epic flash flooding.
By Tuesday, I was still in Melbourne and the flood was heading for Ipswich, where we live. Our street was on a list of streets published by the city council as being potentially affected by the flood. The Ipswich motorway was cut in several places but the trains were still running, so I was able to get a train to Ipswich and walk home. Arbie had been packing and preparing to evacuate most of the day, so we loaded up the car (including our cats) and left. Plan A was to head to her brother's place but the roads were impassable, so we went with Plan B and spent the night at the evacuation centre at the Ipswich show grounds.
We can't say enough good things about the planning, organisation, and execution at the evacuation centre. While other evacuation centres in Brisbane and apparently Logan were turning away pets, at the Ipswich show grounds the council's animal welfare people had evacuated the pound to the show grounds, and they were using the greyhound accommodation and other animal pavilions for housing displaced animals. Our cats spent the night in cages in the poultry pavilion while we attempted to get some sleep upstairs.
By 5pm on Wednesday the floods had peaked at a level lower than what was projected so we found a route back to home via Eastern Heights (to avoid the CBD, which was flooded, and other low-lying areas which may have been flooded) and found that our street was unaffected by the floods. We went back to the show grounds, notified the appropriate authorities, grabbed the cats and headed home.
Unfortunately, a lot of other people haven't been so lucky...
By Tuesday, I was still in Melbourne and the flood was heading for Ipswich, where we live. Our street was on a list of streets published by the city council as being potentially affected by the flood. The Ipswich motorway was cut in several places but the trains were still running, so I was able to get a train to Ipswich and walk home. Arbie had been packing and preparing to evacuate most of the day, so we loaded up the car (including our cats) and left. Plan A was to head to her brother's place but the roads were impassable, so we went with Plan B and spent the night at the evacuation centre at the Ipswich show grounds.
We can't say enough good things about the planning, organisation, and execution at the evacuation centre. While other evacuation centres in Brisbane and apparently Logan were turning away pets, at the Ipswich show grounds the council's animal welfare people had evacuated the pound to the show grounds, and they were using the greyhound accommodation and other animal pavilions for housing displaced animals. Our cats spent the night in cages in the poultry pavilion while we attempted to get some sleep upstairs.
By 5pm on Wednesday the floods had peaked at a level lower than what was projected so we found a route back to home via Eastern Heights (to avoid the CBD, which was flooded, and other low-lying areas which may have been flooded) and found that our street was unaffected by the floods. We went back to the show grounds, notified the appropriate authorities, grabbed the cats and headed home.
Unfortunately, a lot of other people haven't been so lucky...
Sunday, January 9, 2011
More cute photos, turned up to 11
Because the Committee will be returning to the AWL on Monday (and I'll be in Melbourne and won't be able to say goodbye to them, boo!) we had another photo shoot with the boys this afternoon, and I'm very happy with the results! Photos by yours truly, photoshopping by arbie.
Click for larger versions
Click for larger versions
Friday, January 7, 2011
Adoption Update
Just a very quick post to say that we've had a lucky few extra nights with our little ones but they are now scheduled in for their venture into the big wide world.
Cookie & Spot will be taken for desexing on Monday morning at the Ipswich Animal Welfare League vet clinic which is who we are fostering them for. From there, the Coombabah rehoming centre for the Animal Welfare League had agreed to use their rehoming facilities for them. They are lucky little fellows as the Coombabah rehoming centre is a brilliant place and treats all their charges with extra special care.
I will be calling Coombabah tomorrow and letting the fostering centre know we will have a free enclosure as of Monday morning so watch this space for an update.
Cookie & Spot will be taken for desexing on Monday morning at the Ipswich Animal Welfare League vet clinic which is who we are fostering them for. From there, the Coombabah rehoming centre for the Animal Welfare League had agreed to use their rehoming facilities for them. They are lucky little fellows as the Coombabah rehoming centre is a brilliant place and treats all their charges with extra special care.
I will be calling Coombabah tomorrow and letting the fostering centre know we will have a free enclosure as of Monday morning so watch this space for an update.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Look Out World... Here We Come!
We have just weighed Cookie and Spot and were pleasantly surprised to see that they had put on even more weight than estimated in the last 5 weeks. This means they are well and truly ready for desexing and finding their forever homes.
While it's a little sad that this could be our last night with the boys, it's very exciting to have 2 more successful fosters on our hands (bringing the total to 14).
Here are the antics of the lads being weighed and enjoying some cuddles afterwards:
While it's a little sad that this could be our last night with the boys, it's very exciting to have 2 more successful fosters on our hands (bringing the total to 14).
Here are the antics of the lads being weighed and enjoying some cuddles afterwards:
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New toys for xmas
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)