Awards Time!

Me at my retirement show in October

Glitter here again. My human is just too humble sometimes. I think maybe it is an Iowa thing. We don’t usually like to crow about achievements or make a big deal out of things.

Yep, today was the first snow of the season!

But this time I think she’s gone too far. On Saturday she came home with a box that had a really hard rock-like thing in it. She called it a “trophy” and said it came from the Cat Writers’ Association.

From what I understand this is a really big deal. Kinda like those regional awards we cats win. Maybe even bigger! So finally she has a trophy to put on the shelf with all of ours. Why in the world didn’t she post it right away?

B.W. Huckleberry checking it out

So I’ve decided to do it for her. She won the Pro Plan Pedigreed Cats Award for her article in Cats US entitled “Harder Than It Looks”. Here’s the description of the requirements for the award:

“Pro Plan® Pedigreed Cats Award, sponsored by Purina, is presented to the writer or creator of the best entry of the year that focuses on cat breeds, pedigreed cats, and professional breeder issues including (but not limited to) health, care, nutrition, and showing cats.” (from the CWA contest rules)

B.W. still checking

In this article she described the work that goes into developing and maintaining a cattery. Sometimes I think our house should be called a cattery and all these other brats kept in cages. It would make my life a lot easier. I wouldn’t have to go around slapping sense into those other twits.

Here's what Mulberry Spot thought of the award (he always thinks he should be the center of attention):

Anyway, since today (11-11-2013) is the human’s 3^rd Blog-iversary this is a well-timed award. I think we should celebrate all night long – but first I have to lock the other cats in the bathroom.

Kittens finding homes

Now comes the hard part: the part where losses tear at my heart.

Effie before kittens

If you need to catch up to this story you may read my previous posts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

All they needed was socialization with other people. That soon came in the form of potential adopters coming to see their favorite babies. First came the retired professor to see Tinkerbell. I had been sending her pictures for several weeks so she’d grown quite enamored with all of the girls. I let her see the room where the kittens lived then I moved them out to the living room where she could interact with them away from the worried mothers.

One of the few pictures I have of Tinkerbell

The most difficult part for me came when she begged to be able to take her kitten home right away. I explained that I wouldn’t let them go until they were properly socialized and had received at least one vaccination. She was just so eager to have her new baby at home. I told her that I might be willing to bring the kitten to her when she was 10 weeks old although I would prefer to wait until 12 weeks. She seemed reluctantly satisfied.

Very rare Trinket picture

I watched as she nearly melted holding and calming the tiny red girl. Her son had fallen in love with Taylor though. After her visit she told me that they wanted both girls. I promised myself that, except for Spotty and B.W., all of the other kittens had to go to other homes – no matter how hard it was. So I had to be happy that another kitten found a home. Before long, the professor contacted me again to say that they’d decided they wanted all three of the younger females! She and her son decided that Taylor, Tinkerbell and Trinket made a great “Charmed” set. Their names became Phoebe, Paige and Piper.

The three Charmed Ones

Tortie’s new family came to meet her one sunny afternoon. They already had one cat, Freya, but wanted a companion for her. The young man wanted a tortoiseshell so I was thrilled when I saw the skittish girl curl up in his lap and calm right down. I didn’t want to intrude on their time with Tortie so I took the opportunity to bring out Spotty and B.W.  I spent the time working with them around the visitors in hopes it would help to socialize them.

Tortie

I could tell that Tortie had found a perfect home. She’d never warmed up to me, a devoted, lifelong cat lover, yet there she was sitting quite comfortably in a stranger’s lap. She belonged to this couple, even before they’d met. All it took was a picture and they knew it – now she knew it too.

During this time I also had to make sure my own family of cats got enough attention. Effie, my 16-year old ex-feral cat was ailing from diabetes. We never could get her completely regulated then she slowly stopped eating. My big mistake was in giving her her insulin before feeding her. You should always feed first then give the appropriate insulin so that they don’t go into insulin shock if they don’t eat. Well, that one horrible day Effie came in to eat with the rest of the cats so I went ahead and gave her the insulin then put out their food.

My last moments with Effie

No matter what I did Effie would not eat and she went downhill very quickly. She was already weak from her recent lack of interest in food but now that she hadn’t eaten anything at all the insulin was plaguing her body. I rushed her into Dr. Tammy but I was afraid it was too late. They did all they could for her during that day but in the end I brought her home in a last ditch effort to calm her down and hopefully bring her around. Unfortunately it didn’t work. She had regular seizures all night long. I sat with her through the night attempting to calm her seizures but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. She was too far gone. First thing that morning I had to let her go.

I spent much of the rest of the day in the kitten room watching them gambol about but I think they knew something was wrong. They worked off their energy for a bit then, as I curled up on the floor they all came over to lie with me. It was a precious moment filled with tears.

How could you not love this face?

Even more special was the fact that Scotty cuddled up to me as close as he could possibly be. He burrowed into my arms and purred and purred. I knew he was a special kitten from the first time I took him from his cage but I already had a home for him. At that moment I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

When his person came over to see him for the first time in person I tried convincing her to take one of the remaining red tabby boys instead. She didn’t want a red tabby, she wanted Scotty. I remembered that at first she had mentioned how cute the black and white boys were so I then offered to give up B.W. if she would leave Scotty with me. Still she wanted Scotty, even more so after holding him.

Scotty kisses

I kept my promise to give away any kitten that had a home and let her have Scotty. But I spent those last couple of weeks absolutely spoiling him. I really loved that kitten but I could tell that she did too. After all I still had four more kittens, two more than I’d planned to keep.

Tweety and Trucker, the leftovers

I could have done more to find homes for the red tabbies. I could have pushed more people at work to look at them, I could have advertised. But after losing Effie and giving up Scotty I just didn’t have the will to lose any more. The four kittens soon became Mulberry Spot, B.W. Huckleberry, Gooseberry (Trucker) and Strawberry (Tweet).

Next time I’ll tell you how the adoptions went. I tell you now, though, that all of those kittens went to exactly the right homes. They are where they were meant to be.

What a bunch of hams!

B.W.

Kittens grow so fast, before you know it they’re moving out, going to college and starting a family………….no, no, wrong story! They do grow too fast though. It seemed like they grew to be completely different kittens during the time I was at work during the day. I kept snapping pictures until I realized I was missing out on my time with them.

Soon I managed to arrange my time so that I could enjoy their antics and take pictures for posterity. And these kittens were extremely cooperative.

Scotty

Tortie fell asleep under her cage

Taylor the glamor girl

Garage sales provided me with plenty of “stuff” to use in my photo sessions and the kittens posed like professionals. But not all of my shots were purposely posed with objects in the scene for kittens to interact with. I hung a sheet up across a shelving unit so that I would have a decent background and I just started clicking. I caught them playing with each other, with toys and even with the sheet itself.

Trucker at his cutest

Also during this time the cooperative, though still quite wild, mothers began coming out of their cages. They’d spent so much time in the cages that they had come to think of the cages as their homes. So when it came time for the kittens to go back to the cages to eat and sleep, the mothers did the same. That way everyone got some exercise and a chance to get away from each other.

Spotty getting the best of Scotty, as usual

Various cliques soon developed. The dominant clique consisted of brothers Spot, B.W. and Scotty but they were joined off and on by Trucker and Taylor. The younger kittens just couldn’t keep up with the older boys though so each evening Trucker would leave the group and get me to play with him. Then Taylor did the same but she eventually rejoined the boys just as Scotty left the other two. I don’t think Scotty liked the rougher play that developed through the evenings.

Scotty tuckered out

At this age, kittens tend to fall asleep very easily, sometimes right in the middle of their playing. I saw it many times. Two kittens would be wrestling then suddenly their heads droop and they are asleep. Other times a kitten would come over to sleep in my lap or struggle to get back to their nest to nuzzle at their moms.

Sadly this was also a period when prospective adopters came to see “their” kittens. I’d gone through this before but unfortunately for the previous kittens, I learned as I progressed from litter to litter. In ’94 I took in a large group of feral kittens, rehabilitated them and found them homes by inviting folks in to pick out their favorites. I did go so far as to have them fill out an application but I didn’t check them out or verify any of the information. Afterward I regretted that decision because I had no idea where those kittens went nor how they did in their new homes. The kittens that remained in the room after each adoption also suffered. They saw strangers come into their safe zone and when they left another kitten disappeared. By the time the last kitten was adopted he was extremely upset with the presence of his strangers.

The next litter of kittens didn’t go through that stress and I knew exactly where the adopted one ended up. Yes, out of five kittens four stayed with me. Fuzzball was the only one I didn’t bond with but a good friend of mine wanted him. Interestingly he was the only one I couldn’t find a permanent name for either. The ones that stayed were Mewdy Blue, Question, Sky Voice and Bluebird.

Tweety, always the quiet one

I had a couple of other disheartening experiences that formed my new plan. Little Boy went to a nice woman who seemed to genuinely love him but a very short time later she showed up at my door saying he bit her. You see, Little Boy had a habit of giving little love bites that might be misconstrued as aggression but he was never an aggressive cat. So he came to live with me. Then a family with a couple of teenage daughters adopted Lady Butterfly. A couple of weeks later I got a call that Lady was not fitting into their family, that she was hiding in the closet and wouldn’t come out. She is a very affectionate cat who loves people of all ages as well as dogs so that didn’t make any sense to me. She came back to me and quickly became not only a show cat but also a popular pet therapy cat. She is nearly unflappable.

With those experiences behind me I knew from the start that I had to do better with these litters. I researched contracts used by cat breeders and came up with my own. I devised a plan to find the new families for these kittens. Instead of advertising in the usual sense, I spread the word around my place of business (the College of Veterinary Medicine) figuring that I would find more fitting adopters. In addition I checked their references (their veterinarians) and I delivered the kittens to their homes so that I knew the situation the kittens would be living in.

Even with all this, things don’t always go as planned. I’ll tell you more about the separations next time.

Kittens in a bigger world

Scotty preparing to leave the nest

Now, where was I? Ah, yes, the kittens were just looking to escape their cages. The first step was to get out of their “nests” which were low-sided boxes lined with towels. I set up new boxes to act as their temporary playrooms and that’s just how they used them. For the reluctant ones I used a toy, foil strands attached to a plastic wand, to attract their attention. Although they weren’t quite coordinated yet, they still had the drive to play.

At first they just watched the toy, enthralled. Eventually they’d stumble out of their boxes and into their playrooms. By this time they had also begun to play with each other, really a sight to behold. They were hilarious, tumbling about unable and not caring to maintain their upright positions.

Family Squabbles

Scotty and Tortie/Gaia

This period in any kitten’s life is crucial to developing their social skills. They learn how hard to bite without hurting by biting their littermates until they scream. One screams and walks away thus ending the play session. Playing also helps them develop their motor skills and get them ready for hunting – whether or not they’ll need that skill. For housecats it is also the time to learn how to interact with humans. They are able to see the person who goes with the voice they’ve been hearing and learn whether to trust her or not.

Some of the kittens were just too curious to remain in their cage once they left the nest. Sparks’ kittens were first, of course, even going so far as to investigate the other cage. B.W. came first choosing to investigate my feet and legs over anything else. Then Spotty followed finding the other litter to be a real curiosity. Finally Trinket, from Tourmalina’s litter just couldn’t stand it any longer. She just had to figure out what these other furry creatures were so she slipped out of her nest.

Scotty on my lap

Soon all of the kittens were out and about interacting and learning how to climb, burrow, play, and eat. I could tell right away which kittens were going to be the most social. Trucker preferred to climb and perch on my feet to playing with the others while Scotty much preferred to cuddle up on my lap. Taylor also preferred my company but she usually fought with the big boys first then enticed me to play with her. When Trucker tired of perching on my foot he’d sneak around behind me and climb up my back. Soon Scotty followed his example. That’s when they all learned about toenail clippers!

Tortie the bully and Tinkerbell

Now, I could very easily have fallen in love with any of the red tabbies, especially Trucker and his antics, but I fought to remain objective about them. You see, my best show cat, Misha Baryshnikat, was a red tabby. He was one of those “special” cats that took a part of my heart when he left for the Rainbow Bridge. I feared that I would always compare other red tabbies to him giving them very little chance to fill those paws. Sometimes, though, you realize you have no control over what happens.

I was quickly falling in love with Taylor and Scotty, however. Obviously Scotty was doing his best to further this by cuddling with me and falling asleep on my lap or in my arms every time I sat down in the room. Taylor was just becoming a beautiful little girl and I admired her toughness when playing with the older kittens. She was undaunted by anything they did to her. Those piercingly deep blue eyes just drew me in. Her lengthening fur, so creamy and soft didn’t hurt. Also, she was the only female to warm up to me. As I mentioned Tortie and I just didn’t seem to have any connection at all even though I love torties. Trinket was an independent girl from the start and Tinkerbell remained skittish. Since Tinkerbell already had a likely home, I hoped she’d calm down eventually.

Taylor

You might wonder what the mother cats were up to during this time. Well, we developed a routine that seemed to suit them just fine. When the kittens first came out of the cages each day I’d clean out the cages and the litterpans, change their water and put in new food. The mother cats remained in the cages as far away from me as possible but never offering to attack me. Sparks would sometimes hiss at me but that’s as far as it ever got. They seemed to trust me to a point but I could never try to touch them. They weren’t and still aren’t willing to go that far.

As the kittens grew into their second month I began taking photos with random objects and even hung a sheet up as a background.  They were all very cooperative with that, as you will see next time.

Tourmalina and her litter

Kittens with personalities

B.W., Spot, Tortie, Scotty

Sparks with Tortie and Spot

Ever conscious that all kittens need early socialization to help them learn how to function in a world filled with humans I regularly visited the kittens from day one. At first I just talked to them so they’d recognize my voice later but when I judged that the mothers would allow it I reached in and touched them several times a day. I never trusted the mothers. Instead I fashioned a shield of sorts out of a box. I left the bottom and one side open and lowered the open bottom over the kittens blocking mamma kitty from my hand. The only time the mothers had any complaint about this method was when I started to pick up the kittens and they would “mew”.

Even before their eyes opened the kittens were developing unique personalities. Taylor, for instance, hissed every time she heard my voice. When I touched her she even spat at me – before her eyes were open! Scotty was the most outgoing of his litter coming forward on his own toward my voice.

Taylor-terror

When it came time for their eyes to open it seemed like it happened in an instant. First I noticed Spotty’s eyes, just a slit but opening just the same. Next came B.W. and Scotty. Gaia was a little harder to tell because she liked to hide in her mother’s fur. As soon as their eyes were completely opened Tourmalina’s kittens eyes seemed to just pop open. And Taylor’s tirades continued.

Scotty's temporarily folded ear

This is when the names started coming. First it was Spotty and B.W., obvious names for black and white kittens. They were only temporary names, after all. Taylor’s name just came to me. I guess it was that mysterious connection again. I kept calling her Taylor Dane for some reason. When Scotty’s ears suddenly folded one day, he had his name, a nod to the Scottish Fold breed.

His tortoiseshell sister already had a home waiting for her so I didn’t even bother giving her a very imaginative name. I simply called her Tortie. She and I never did really have any type of a connection at all. Perhaps it was because we both knew where she would be going. My home was simply a kind of kindergarten for her.

Trucker's first venture out of the nest

It wasn’t long after their eyes opened that they started leaving the nest. One of the red tabbies came barreling out of his nest but then turned around and slipped back in. He wasn’t quite that brave yet. But a short time later he did it again. This time he came all the way to the door of the cage. He was truckin’ so I called him Trucker. Trinket, the brown-patched tabby, was next. She meandered about the cage and found the water bowl. She wasn’t interested in me at all. Taylor took charge and quickly came out of the cage toward me. She climbed up on my legs and made herself at home telling me all about her day. She was a talker just like a Siamese but with long hair.

The other two red tabbies weren’t interested in anything outside their nest. Finally I decided to pull them out myself and get them introduced to being held. One turned out to be a female, a surprise since most red tabbies are male. I thought Tinkerbell would suit her. Then, since all of the others in that litter had names starting with “Ts” I stuck the last red tabby with the moniker of Tweety Pie. I hoped that he turned out to be a sweetie. I received an email from a retired English professor (ironically one of my instructors from the past) that she wanted a red tabby female, so Tinkerbell was tentatively spoken for.

Soon the room was full of kitten bodies that at first stumbled about investigating their world. They quickly developed their sense of balance and made the room their own. Meanwhile the mother cats grew accustomed to the regular routine and gave me no trouble. As I cleaned their litter pans they stayed at the opposite end of the cage. When I fed them they waited until the cage door was closed to attack the food. We had a great arrangement.

Next time I’ll tell you what it was like to have 9 kittens running around a single small room and two wild mothers who cooperated while retaining their wildness. For now just remember that if you have kittens that need homes:

1.     Socialize them early

2.     Begin looking for homes as soon as possible

3.     Use photos – they really influence the soft-hearted

Outgrowing the nest

Kittens, kittens, kittens......................and kittens

Tourmalina

Sparks

 In addition to the senior citizens in my household I also have the two feral cats, Sparks and Tourmalina (somewhere around 5-6 years old), and four of their progeny (now almost 4 years old). How did this happen? I ask myself that question every day.

Beauty Queen Ozma

It started one winter night when I spied a young tortoiseshell cat (Tourmalina) outside my garage. I had just lost my sweet Ozma rather suddenly in dramatic, heart-breaking fashion. This new girl was strangely colored. Ozma was also a tortoiseshell but she had a gold splash on her face mostly on one side. The new girl had a gold splash on the opposite side. It was spooky.

Then I started noticing other cats showing up, four total. Even though I couldn’t get close to any of them I could tell that two were females and two were males. The females were this tortoiseshell and a calico (Sparks) and the black and white bicolored males were “well developed” and obviously boys. I also noticed that one of my neighbors had started putting food out on her stoop.

I’ve worked with feral cats before and hated the thought that these cats might start their own colony at any time so I determined to do the right thing. Eventually I caught all of the cats using a humane trap. The males I had neutered, vaccinated and then released them again. I had no intention of keeping any of them (famous last words, right?). Unfortunately the females were already pregnant. After much consternation I decided to let them have their kittens and find homes for them afterward. I would then have the females spayed, vaccinated and release them too.

Sparks was first. I set up a large cage with all the accouterments and waited only a day before she gave birth. The very first kitten came out head first, his black nose shining amid the rest of his white coat. Before she’d even cleaned him up completely I knew I’d be keeping him (Mulberry Spot). I really didn’t need any more cats, what was I thinking???

Sparks and her brood, 4 days old

The second kitten was another black and white. How could I pass up a pair like that? Of course I kept him too (B.W. Huckleberry). The third and fourth kittens came out rather quickly so I’m not sure which was first but one was a tortoiseshell (Gaia) and the other was a brown mackerel tabby and white (Scotty/Toby, I’ll explain later). I gave Sparks a day to recover then I started spending a lot of time in the room with them, talking to them and eventually petting the kittens all in an effort to make sure they would be socialized from the start.

Next came Tourmalina. She was the last to step into my trap at a time when I’d almost given up hope of ever catching her. Luckily I had one more cage though I had to run out and buy the supplies to make a floor for it. Like Sparks, Tourmalina took only a day or two before she too gave birth. It was quite a sight; this little ex-bedroom had become a temporary cattery for two wild cats. The two cages were large enough that they took up most of the space in the room.

Tourmalina's brood, 1 day old

Tourmalina’s litter began with what appeared to be a white kitten (Taylor) but right from the start I didn’t believe it would be white. I grew up with Siamese cats and knew that they started out white/cream but then in a week or more their points slowly fade in. I can’t tell you why but I was sure that’s what would happen with this kitten. She was followed by one red tabby, then two and finally a third red tabby (Strawberry, Gooseberry and Tinkerbell). I thought she was done so I moved over to Sparks’ kittens to take more pictures and give Tourmalina some privacy to clean up her babies. But when I glanced back her way I saw another kitten; a brown patched tabby (Trinket). Don’t ask me why, I just knew she would be patched even though none of her cream/red coloring was showing yet. I just seemed to have some sort of connection with those kittens.

Most importantly I immediately went online and spread the word to everyone I knew as well as on the website at work that I had kittens that needed homes in a few weeks. I am proud to say I had several homes lined up for some of the kittens before their eyes were even open.

I spent the next many weeks getting to know the kittens and their mothers and enjoying the time I had with them. I just figured that I might never again have kittens in my life so I might as well have as much fun with these babies as I could. Even more fun was the fact that I had my first digital camera during this time so I snapped zillions of pictures as they were born and as they grew.

Mulberry Spot

I’ll tell you more about the kittens in another post. Stay tuned to meet the berries!