Today, an older cat originally designated for TNR found a FURRever home. The cat, once trapped, turned out to be a sweetheart more deserving of a lap than a life on the streets.
This 5-year-old orange love was named Sunny Side Up and was adopted by a couple who lives 2 hours away.
Zeus and Apollo will take over his crate at Chaar. It was hard to leave these kittens behind, but the teenager and I both hope they find families. And by going into the cage together, they shouldn’t be as frightened or abandoned.
I used all my word magic to write magical bios. I am so grateful to the good people at Chaar.
Please consider giving these kittens a home.
They started life so sick and wild, and now they are ready for a family.
I have to admit— I’m exhausted. I’ve been cleaning up after and playing with kittens for probably 3 hours this morning while spending another hour on laundry and 30 minutes on the kitchen and 15 minutes on the birds. (Though they cockatoo spent at least an hour on my shoulder.)
It’s cold and rainy and I just ate breakfast at 11:30. The teens are due home from school around 1 pm, at which point we are taking Zeus and Apollo, two of the three remaining foster kittens from the Greek Pride, to Chaar pet supply in Forks Township to live in one of their habitats for a while. And hopefully find a home.
Hermes and Apollo are both still skittish, but Apollo is definitely braver than Hermes. Apollo will sit with you— just don’t touch him! He won’t lash out on you but he will leave. And look at you like you are a presumptuous monster.
Hermes and Apollo
According to our foster godmother, Hades is doing well but still retains her feral instincts so transitioning her out of domestic life was the right call. We may get to see her in our cat-themed travels today.
The Greek Pride taught me a lot about the classic “nature vs nurture” debate. The Greek Pride has five members— Artemus, Hades, Zeus, Apollo and Hermes.
Artemus (then Artemis) came to us fully socialized. He found a wonderful family and became Artemus Gordon sidekick for a real life Jim West.
Zeus was the runt, but learned to play and frolick very quickly. Apollo and Hermes want to trust people but both became very sick and needed medicine to heal. They have bad associations with human hands and won’t let you touch them.
And then Hades… she’s the one that bit me and would walk right up as if interested in me and then run. Her behavior got increasingly aggressive instead of calmer.
Five very different cats, from the same litter, that were wired very differently. They had the same life circumstances but different outcomes.
Reminds me of some human families, including my own.
The teenager and I applied to be foster parents for feral kittens through Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab at the end of July.
We received our first litter July 31— a little faster than we expected. That litter was about 3 months old (the same age as our newest litter) and consisted of 5 spunky but sickly kittens. By August 2, I was in the hospital for a cat bite.
Trial by fire, I guess.
There was only one all black kitten in that litter of tabbies. Two were lovely silver tigers. Two were brown tabbies with lots of white.
Since we wanted to name them after Greek Gods, we quickly decided the black one, regardless of gender, would be Hades.
Hades had bad eye infections and bit me, piercing me with one tooth, while I was trying to give her meds. It was my first time in nearly a decade scruffing a kitten. I’m used to scruffing my 15 lb adult cats.
Hades never trusted people. She would never let me closer than 2 feet away. Yet, if I sat still she would come up to about 18 inches away from me and cock her head inquisitively.
Sometimes she slept in the top bunk with the other kittens, but most of the time she hid in the corner.
And then she got ringworm. We crated her to try and give her meds. She would not let us. And every day she got more aggressive.
So we talked to our FURR foster godmother. Together the three of us decided it was time to transition Hades to a barn cat.
Today we transferred Hades to godmother’s house where she will have her ringworm treated and continue the process to become a barn cat.
We all hope the open space is what she needs to be happy.
I am a big believer that things tend to sort themselves out and some things the universe takes care of.
Zeus and Apollo
I got up at 6:15 a.m., tending to my four cats; then I turned my attention to the four new 3-pound fosters in the Roman Pride, trapped by Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab.
They had did a number on the crate. I let them out to roam the small mud room while I prepped their breakfast and decided what to do. YouTube: Roaming Fosters
Today was the first Wilson Warrior home football game, and the teens had to hustle and bustle to get there. I did not get a ticket because of my commitment to get the Greeks to PetSmart for kitten adoption day.
I got the Roman kittens corralled into their crate and the teenager #1 situated their litter and gave some of them a little bath since they ended up sitting in poop.
Ah, the joys of babies.
By some miracle the teens got to the game on time dragging instruments, one gallon thermal jugs, masks, uniforms, lunches and goodness knows what else!
I came home and gulped down a quick cup of coffee with my neighbor before hanging kitten blankets on the laundry line (Hmmmm…. as a kitten foster for a non-profit does that make laundry and dishwashing expenses partially tax deductible?)
Ah, the joys of babies.
I went up to the teenager’s room to grab Zeus and Apollo of the Greek Pride and take them to PetSmart. (Video: Off to PetSmart)
Forget rodeos with bulls and cowboys, kitten wrangling should be a sport or at least count as aerobic exercise. Seriously, how many calories does that burn?
Ah, the joys of babies.
As I arrive, I get a text. No adoption fair today. But at the same time, a mom with the sweetest sleepy baby boy expressed disappointment that there are no kittens today.
I just happen to have two.
Within seconds, we are standing at register three cuddling Zeus. The woman I am speaking to wants a female kitten for her family as their large dog passed away I believe three months ago.
She starts to consider asking her husband to adopt both kittens. But she’s not sure it will fly. He comes in and holds Zeus. They both scritch scritch Apollo.
They take the information I share with them and I hope— pretty pretty please— that they consider Zeus or her and her brother.
If you are reading this lovely people with two sons…
In the end, you need to follow your instincts on what is best for your family but… if I can persuade you…
Four Reasons Why Two (Sibling) Kittens are Better Than One
They have never been an only cat. They only know life as part of their litter. They will cry less and the transition will be less frightening if they are together.
They entertain each other. Kittens can get bored and/or lonely, and if they have a sibling they will attack each other instead of your furniture or your houseplants.
They have a bond like human siblings that will entertain you. When they play it will be no holds barred. If one is sleeping, the other has no issue walking up and biting him in the butt just because. They sleep in a pile. Get enough kittens and you can’t tell where one starts and the next begins. They communicate with each other, which is heart warming.
If they look alike— and Zeus and Apollo have only minor differences— you can have fun confusing friends, family and neighbors.
And the football game…
I couldn’t go because I didn’t have a ticket, but I walked over and got really lame footage of the band playing Hail to the Warriors (Hail on YouTube) and the National Anthem (Star spangled banner on YouTube).
Today we made a very difficult decision regarding the fate of one of our Greek Pride kittens, that we are fostering for Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab.
Hades, the little black cat who bit me and sent me to the hospital, is inquisitive but hides most of the time. She now has caught ringworm from her brother Hermes, so we crated her.
Hades
Even in the crate, we can’t get the anti-fungal cream on her.
The complete opposite of her sister, Zeus (the runt!!) loves people and runs into any situation to protect her siblings.
With a heavy heart, the teenager (#1) called our FURR foster godmother and asked if she could help us determine if Hades behavior was based in fear or aggression.
Together we decided that Hades is a female cat who will always feel trapped and cornered in a home environment and would do better as a barn cat.
In more optimistic news, Zeus and Apollo will be returning to Petsmart this weekend for their second adoption fair and may head to an in-store habitat to increase their visibility.
And we’re working on teaching Hermes to cuddle. He’s been the sickest of this group so poor guy has spent most of his life getting scruffed and having medicine applied: first antibiotics and eye cream, then ringworm cream on muzzle and belly.
Timid but lovely Hermes
Onto the insane news, we got MORE kittens! This will be our second set, trapped this morning, and will be named after Roman Gods.
So today is going to be a hard day. Even though I put on my sparking eye shadow from Baby Bat Beauty and finished my look with some of my beauty products from Ipsy.
I’ll offer a review of those products in a future post.
Right now, I want to use this space to talk about our FURR foster kittens who will turn 6 months old in a couple weeks. (For more information on FURR, visit their web site Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab
We took two of them, Apollo and Zeus, to the adoption event at our local Petsmart.
Our godmother in the organization, I’m not sure how else to refer to the person we report to, introduced us as the new foster family that took a litter of five very difficult feral kittens to try and turn them around. And told the story of how I ended up in the hospital when Hades bit me. (This is the blog entry that starts to chronicle those events: The Unfortunate Cat Bite.)
I had asked Gayle to help me make a sign about Zeus’ personality as I knew she would be nervous and scared and not herself. And we included a QR code to load a playlist of YouTube videos of the whole litter playing.
The other members of the organization loved this.
And we even ran into my former work colleague Emery and her husband who adopted three cats from FURR.
Hermes has ringworm and we’d been medicating him— but now Hades has ringworm on her head so I’m not gonna lie I’m scared to catch her. Not for my own sake, but because Hermes has lost the ground he gained in trusting me because of his need for medication.
These kittens had some bad cat colds when we got them and to add ringworm to their other struggles seems so unfair.
The past few days have been a roller coaster. A cliche I know but the simplest way to describe life.
Something spooked the budgies at 5 a.m. this morning, which in turn spooked the cockatoo. I had not caged the cockatoo as we had a rough day yesterday and she was mad at me. So I turned the light on to soothe everyone and Nala (my Goffin) flew into my bed with me.
This blog will be mostly a random list of nice things with pictures and a review of McDonald’s spicy nuggets.
So let’s handle the review first.
Angel’s Review of McDonald’s spicynuggets
I like them. Very much. Good with a side of ranch.
For more on our trip to McDonald’s for Buy One Get One nuggets — with TWO teenagers— see our video on YouTube: Taste Test: Spicy Nugs
Onward…
MY teenager had her first day of Zoom classes as part of her hybrid public high school yesterday. Her friend, who will affectionately be “the second teenager” in this space, joined us.
After class, we visited our friends at Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab to get a large crate for our Greek Pride Foster Kittens so we could segregate Hermes as he has ringworm.
Our five kitten litter that we are fostering for Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab, that we named after Greek gods and nicknamed “the Greek Pride,” is approaching 5 months old.
Last photos I took of Artemus
Last photos I took of Artemus
Hermes
Apollo
Apollo, Hermes, (Not visible behind them is Hades) and Zeus
Artemis, now Artemus, was the most social and the most cuddly of the group. Today, he went home with his new family.
I’m glad it was a busy day, and I’m also glad Artemus’ sibling is a therapy cat with his own Facebook page because this allows me to keep up with Artemus’ adjustment to his new home.
Sketch & Artemus (Marshall on the stairs)
I even saw a video!
My heart started today with a touch of sadness so I’m glad I spent the day with people I enjoy.
Yesterday I took all the carrots we received during the summer food program and diced them in the Ninja.
Nan came over to work in the morning and eventually we plan to do a Mother Maiden Crone themed piece, discussing a multi-generational experience of the pandemic.
Nan and I sneaked to the drive through for cold beverages, but we only spent $2 and some change.
The teenager and I spent a lot of time cleaning so there may be a tidy home in our future.
The teenager’s father brought me my favorite chicken salad and not one but TWO quarts of half and half from Aldi.
My mother-in-law brought picnic leftovers.
My stepmom gave me fresh cantaloupe that she says is the best she ever had in her life.
The teenager and I started watching the documentary Pick of the Litter on Netflix.
As if this wasn’t enough joy for today, the teenager and I hung out with Darnell and Amber tonight— trading some of my unfiltered chicken stock (tomorrow I will strain it and bring him his official portion) for some leftover chili.
After some work (yes, even though it is a holiday), we had some raucous and fun conversation over margaritas and a home cooked meal.
And we all know how I appreciate a meal.
Tomorrow might be as zany as today, but I’m ready.
So, I have come to the conclusion that all I have to do is call Nan and ask, “Are you busy?” and she will grab her white cane and meet me by the door.
Unless NASA has something going on— like a hatch opening or a spacewalk or a launch or a capture.
Today the teenager got up early, at 8 a.m., which in teen time is somewhere between “I had no idea the sun came up this early” and “wow, I can eat breakfast at actual breakfast time.”
Speaking of breakfast, the foster kittens have learned the word “breakfast” and their little ears perk up when you say it.
The teen wanted to go to Petco and Dollar Tree, while Nan and I had our eye on a brief trip to Grocery Outlet to look for smoothies and lentil pasta. Their circular advertised Bird’s Eye steam-in-bag lentil pasta, which Nan and I both like, for 99 cents.
It normally runs $3-4 per bag.
As a blind person, Nan likes the fact that she can make lentil pasta without dealing with boiling water as one has to do with traditional pasta and it’s not a mushy mess of preservatives like canned pasta.
We were both disappointed to discover that they only had lentil/zucchini pasta with olive oil, as opposed to the “sauced” varieties.
But I get ahead of myself. As I mentioned yesterday (see Growing Up), the teenager is now driving. This trip with Nan— because of course she said yes she’d come— would be her first trip with the teen behind the wheel.
Yesterday, we not only drove several highways but I took her to Wendy’s to try the drive-through. She aced that.
We set a rendezvous time with Nan for 10 a.m. and head to the car with a sneak peak at the garden. My fancy little imported peppers have started to grow, and the massive pumpkin vine that originated in my compost heap has started to yield pumpkins not on the ground but on my fence.
Pumpkin
Peppers
Petco passed without incident and Grocery Outlet had minimum disruption as well. But the teenager found Maple Doughnuts (as a brand name) in an unlabeled decadent 12 pack that weighed at least four pounds for $1.99.
“Quality you can see since 1946,” I chuckled while reading that to Nan.
The plan quickly morphed into a trip for coffee at Dunkin’ and doughnuts from Grocery Outlet. The teenager helped us load up the car and she headed to the Dollar Tree and we contemplated beverages.
Except McDonald’s was closer and cheaper. By the time the teen returned we were still deciding because I had a coupon for “buy one milkshake and get one for a penny.” But we had doughnuts.
Nan wanted a chocolate shake but protested that she was pretty sure drinking milkshakes before 11 a.m. was frowned upon, in the same manner as day drinking.
I assured her it would be 11 by the time we received the milkshakes.
So I ordered one small chocolate and one medium strawberry milkshake and one large Diet Coke.
One of us had to pretend to be sensible.
10:35 a.m.
The drive thru is ridiculous. But that’s how it is now. The line at the McDonald’s is like a trip to the DMV whereas getting your learner’s permit at the DMV is relatively instantaneous. Another Covid-19 reality.
11 a.m. — to the minute— we receive the shakes. Nan and the teenager split a chocolate doughnut. I eat a cake doughnut with icing and crystallized sugar. And then a glazed donut with chocolate icing and a thick layer of maple icing.
A relaxed and joyful start to a sweet Saturday morning.
She probably is not familiar with the 1965 television series of the same name.
Well, Artemis’ new family wanted to meet him because of his name— you see, they were looking for a companion cat for their 2-year-old certified therapy/emotional support cat, Marshall, because Marshall has an older brother cat who doesn’t have the play drive to keep up.
And his new dad shares a name with Jim West, and I hope they don’t mind me sharing. So Artemis is now Artemus Gordon.
The new family leaves for vacation Monday so they finalized their adoption of Artemis now Artemus and we get to watch him for one more week!
We’re very happy Artemus will have a good home with some true cat people and kitty cat siblings!
Angel Ackerman 