Cat Tails

Cat Rescue Report

Neither Grady nor Prissy escaped tonight. For some reason they seemed very subdued.

Princess and Zeus were their usual selves, "abnormally loving," as Bigger Girl describes them.

She is not so nice about Mouse, the cat who had her first kittens before she was only 6 months old. Bigger Girl calls her a slut and a catnip head! Actually, she laughs when she says it, as Mouse is dainty and petite and was a good mama, and so very friendly and playful to everyone. Molly, her roomie, is the same, although thankfully she never had kittens.

Nacho still has that abrasion on his neck, but opening up a vitamin E capsule and putting the contents on it twice a day is working. It is healing well, and he and Kevynne are doing well.

We are concerned about Noonie and Sheba. Sheba is a nutcase, formerly in the room with Simba and Curly Sue, where none of them were happy. Sheba is still nutty, and she and Noonie had nothing in their litter box and showed no signs of having eaten. We will have to watch them, Noonie may need to be with a calmer cat, and Simba is way too high strung.

Let the bells ring out! Frieda purred for Little Girl! Maybe she is making progress, now that is two people she likes.

Dusty, on her shelf, was a love as usual. Corrie actually came out of hiding this week to be petted. She seems as sweet-natured as her two roomies, but Angel is taking some convincing. She doesn't attack or get physically aggressive, but she does hiss at Corrie on occasion. I think they will learn to get along -- probably just in time for one or more of them to be adopted.

Simba had his paws sticking out from under the door, trying so hard to get someone to come play with him. When Little Girl went in there to clean, he jumped on her back as she bent over to scoop the box. Amy says Simba is nuts, but I think he's no crazier than his roomie, Curly Sue. She is still messy. She loves shredding the cardboard from the cat claw sharpener and tossing litter everywhere, even spilling water if she can manage it. Maverick, who is new in that room, is more laid back. I hope he can calm things down a bit and not be driven to distraction by the other two.

JuJu was in her cage, hissing and mad as usual. We need to put her with Frieda, they could be (behaviorally) twins. My scratches that night were from JuJu.

Bart was in a cage, back from LuvAPet adoption center at the pet store for not eating. Some of them do not like strangers around all day long and react badly. His bowl was not overflowing, however, and he climbed into the empty litter box and scratched around after I finished cleaning his cage. While I cleaned, he didn't leave his regal cushion, and hissed at me for coming near him with the whisk broom as I swept out the bottom of his cage. Brooms are a real problem for some cats.

Ginny is also in a cage, back from LAP for "bad poop" as we euphemistically say. She was our only escapee for the evening, loving, playful, wanting to romp, and oh, my what is that in your litter box now? No, besides the stinky stuff. Ah, so that's where your toy went. She bats toys around her cage when she can't get people to play with her. Somebody please take her home and let her run.

Speaking of running, Phoenix is still not allowed to run or jump because of his broken leg. The poor little guy wants to so badly though, that it is hard not to give in and let him. He runs as much as the large carrier he is in lets him do, batting at toys, romping as much as he can, playing with people's hands whenever anyone touches him.

That is also going to be a problem. Kittens need other kittens to wrestle and bite and chew on, or they do it to the hands of the people handling them. This becomes a big deal once those teeth get big enough to hurt, especially as, by then, biting hands has become a habit. Yes, they can be trained out of it, but that can take time, and lots of adoptive families give up and return the kitten rather than go through all of that. This happens even when we explain, and instruct, and work with them.

He is also very lonely. It was heartbreaking to hear him crying for attention as we left.

Bonsai, Sudoku, Mulan, and Shogun are all overcoming their shyness, playing and having a ball with each other and anyone else who wants to join the fun. They are messy, because they play everywhere, including in the litter box. You can't blame them, the kitten cage is big and has multiple levels, but they need more space still.

Also, whoever had fed them that morning had taken their water bowl to rinse and refill, and must have gotten distracted because the bowl was still there by the sink. Those babies had gone all day with no water! When I put it back, they all took turns drinking continuously for several minutes. At least, instead of a cage card for each kitten separately, there was only one. It was labeled "Japanese babies," and so I only had to note the lack of water one time. Having to repeat the same condition on multiple cards gets to be a pill, although I do it when I have to.

Chyna had people in her office with her, so she was all business with me, just wanting her food now, thankyouverymuch. Once she has had her quota of attention, you better come through with the kibble.

Finally, my favorite, Rory. Last week I sneaked more food to him despite the "feed them only the amount listed" rule. Now, we may free feed him with abandon, and boy are we all! He is losing that gaunt look as he heals up and he will soon be scheduled for surgery and adoptable. That won't happen soon enough for me -- his litter box has that distinctive tom cat smell to it.

Amy was up there while we cleaned, and she let Rory out for exercise. It was beautiful to watch him walk a step or two, then stretch, then walk another couple of steps, and stretch the other way. Somebody is going to have a gorgeous guy when he gets adopted.

So, all shipshape, and no emergencies.


Today is

Act Like A Caveman Day

Commonwealth Constitution Day -- Puerto Rico

Culinarian's Day

Ebernoe Horn Festival -- Sussex, England

Festival of the Knee-Knockers -- Fairy Calendar

Furrinalia -- Ancient Etruscan Calendar (Furrina, goddess of the sacred grove and spring on Janniculum hill)

Guanacaste Day -- Costa Rica

Ilyap'a -- Ancient Inca Calendar (festival of the thunder god)

Independence Day -- Netherlands (declared this day in 1581)

Jekaba Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (Jacob's Day, start of the hay harvest)

Loiza Aldea Fiesta -- Puerto Rico (associated with the feast day of St. James)

National Day -- Galicia

National Hot Fudge Sundae Day

Parent's Day (4th Sunday)

Procession of the Penitents -- Veurne, Belgium (passion play dating back to the 15th century) (last Sunday of July)

Republic Day -- Tunisia

St. Christopher's Day (patron of travel, motorists, bachelors, bus drivers, ferryboat men, police, soldiers, skiers, truck drivers; against nightmares, tempests)

St. James' Day (The Apostle, brother of St. John and son of Zebedee, the first martyr, patron of furriers, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Spain, veterinarians and against arthritis, sometimes called Jacob, the Latinized version of his name)

Threading the Needle Day -- China (Chinese version of Valentine's Day, also called Double Seven Day or Qi Xi Festival)

Wan Khao Pansa -- Buddhist (beginning of their "lent")


Birthdays Today

Brad Renfro, 1982
Louise Brown, 1978
Matt LeBlanc, 1967
Walter Payton, 1954
Barbara Harris, 1935
Estelle Getty, 1923
Walter Brennan, 1894
Maxfield Parrish, 1870


Today in History

Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler, 285
Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops, 306
The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings, 864
Sebastián de Belalcázar, on his search for El Dorado, founds the city of Santiago de Cali, Colombia, 1536
Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, 1567
Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism, 1593
James VI of Scotland is crowned James I of England, bringing the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into personal union; political union would occur in later, 1603
Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México, 1693
British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians; thousands of Acadians are sent to the British Colonies in America, France and England, and some later move to Louisiana, while others resettle in New Brunswick, 1755
Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain), 1797
Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua, 1824
The first commercial use of an electric telegraph is successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone between Euston and Camden Town in London, 1837
The Japanese daimyo begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms, 1869
Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it, 1908
Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure, 1917
The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place, 1920
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established, 1925
At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team, 1946
Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51, 1956
The Republic of Tunisia proclaimed, 1957
Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born, 1978
Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948, 1994
K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first Dalit— formerly called "untouchable"— to hold this office, 1997
Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground, 2000
Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first woman president, 2007