Robin Olson's blog

Am I right or what?!

Yesterday I decided to let Gabby out of the big dog crate. Part of my reasoning was that there was no way I was going to be able to get close to the kittens while she was still in the crate. She's very hissy and after almost two weeks here, she's no calmer. I also think it's unkind to keep her confined to a small space. She needs to be able to stretch her legs, sharpen her claws, destroy the room...I mean, be able to look out the window.

This afternoon, I found Gabby on top of the dog crate, not too happy to see me. I just talked to her and acted nonchalant. She didn't move. No surprise. I wanted to sit on the floor, near the opening to the dog crate so I could finally handle the kittens. I was grateful Gabby didn't attack me while I was sitting there, messing around with her offspring. I kept thinking that my 30th High School Reunion is on Saturday and I don't want to go to it if my face is full of bloody scratches.

That said, might make for some interesting conversation.

Here's the view from inside the dog crate. Gabby has the craziest markings on her legs! They're beautiful! Too bad she'd rather rip my hand off then let me pet her.

I got to handle the babies! They are so sweet. Just barely 3 weeks old! They do drunk-walk and don't hiss at me! I "think" I have two girls and a boy. The kittens, above are named: Sprinkles and Twinkles.

Here's Pixie.

They're sooooo cute! I'm soooo happy to FINALLY be able to hold them, even if it's only for a few moments. So, here we begin. Another group of kittens. Another attempt to properly socialize them, so they'll be great adoption candidates and a happy, confident member of their new families-to-be.

Yesterday we did our third run for The National Brittany Rescue NBRAN and New England Brittany Rescue NEBR. Even though we don't know much about dogs and are both allergic, what the heck! We love these guys! Plus, we were not taking my car, so any puking would be done in Sam's. Woohoo! I mean, oh, well it would be terrible if that happened to someone else's car, of course.

Our passenger's were Cole, left and Bria, right, as well as Toby, who rode shotgun and napped most of the trip.

These dogs all got along great. None of them wore an annoying e-collar and Cole was the only one who wanted to eat anything loose in the trunk, including a roll of paper towels and a big plastic water dish. Of course, I stopped her before anything bad happened, but now we have some tokens of their travels with us in the form of teeth marks.

The drive was fairly uneventful, other than a sudden heavy downpour which slightly woke up the dogs. Yeah right. They slept through it all. None of the dogs barfed, pooped or peed in the car. They didn't even make a sound. Are these real dogs?

I must say I was very impressed. It was a restful trip for everyone, other than Sam, who had to drive in the crappy Father's Day traffic. I was happy to be in the back seat with the dogs, so I could take photos and pet them as much as they wanted.

The pick up and hand offs went swimmingly well. While we waited in Danbury for our passengers, we saw another car pull up with a dog in it! A woman got out of her car and a second woman got out of another car. They both began to talk and pet the dog. We realized they were doing a transport, too, since the woman who came with the dog, didn't leave with it. Pier One must be a hot spot for transports. Sam said it was like a great cruising spot for dogs.

Good luck, pups! I hope you'll all be happy in your new homes. It was a pleasure!

To see more photos of the dogs, you can visit my Flickr page.

Socks the Kitty.

I guess I got a bit cocky, there. After finding out that Gabby was trying to bust out of the dog crate, I thought I had her all set up to be comfortable, but I was wrong. I heard yet another racket coming from upstairs in her room and after going to investigate, I saw what looked like Gabby stuck under the cat carrier that was leashed to the dog crate. Ugh.

I grabbed a broom to move the carrier out of her way and it lightly touched her side. She FLIPPED out and RAN AT ME, so I backed away from the open dog crate and let her run free in the room. She quickly disappeared into a time continuum of some sort because I couldn't find her even though I've fairly well cat proofed the small spaces. I remained calm, if embarrassed, and used the time to clean out the dog crate and have a few seconds holding each of the kittens. They ALL hissed at me, but I didn't care. They're so soft and cute. It was nice to hold them. I *think* I have two girls and a boy, but I'm not positive and I didn't want to handle them for too long.

I called our Director and confessed my foolishness. She told me the kittens would be moved and I might as well just get used to not seeing any of them. But wait, I really closed off all the tough places to hide! Maybe it would be fine? No way, I was assured, would this mama go back into the crate.

I accepted the guilt of being stupid and set up my pet cam to try to catch what she was doing. I was worried she'd stop feeding the kittens.

I got one shot of her outside the crate, looking in. I got lucky because I went to see a crappy movie (Land of the Lost) and while we were out, Gabby went back into the crate to care for her offspring. When I got home, I found her nursing them, so I quietly closed the dog crate door and covered it back up. For that, I'm very grateful.

All is well. For now!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Hoo-rah and Woo Hoo!

Chloe (left) and Oscar (right) are adopted! They were adopted last night by a newlywed couple! The kittens will enjoy their forever home together!

Congratulations! Have a wonderful life, babies! I'm very happy for you both!

Ah ha! Mama-Gabby IS taking good care of her babies. I'm not really surprised, but it's nice to see her nursing. I set up my handy pet cam to record a photo every 5 minutes. Here, you can see Gabby relaxed, instead of hunched up in fear (which is how I usually see her)

Now I must give a shout-out to a few people who've kindly suggested a few things I can do to help Gabby relax and how I should continue on with fostering her. As you can see in the photos, her cat carrier is back in the big dog crate. I removed it because she just hid behind it and it took up a lot of space. Now I find out, it's a MUST for feral fostering.

Trapper Jeanne sent me a link to an article on Neighborhood Cats about how to properly set up a foster situation for Ferals. This article doesn't add any info. for feral MAMAs, but even with this, it's going to help. The one key thing I learned was to keep her confined for two to three weeks, until she settles down. I've been driving our Director nuts, asking her question after question about if I should keep her locked up or not. I want her to be able to stretch her legs, sharpen her claws, but she's been SO destructive from inside the crate, I wonder what she'll do outside of it.

This morning she'd managed to reach out from the crate and pull about 10 books off the nearby bookshelf! Maybe she just wanted to read?

Even as I write this, I can hear her banging around on the crate. What IS she doing? Yeah, trying to escape. She is really banging on that crate. Holy mackerel!

I'll take a deep breath and try to ignore her for a bit. I may put the camera back up to try to get another photo. Until then, THNAK YOU to Monica, Jeanne and Julie for putting up with me and for your helpful suggestions!

After what seemed as an endless trial lasting many weeks, today the Town of Newtown's Board of Selectmen came to the decision to re-instate Carolee Mason into her job as Animal Control Officer. Considering their options were to re-instate or leave the termination, as is and face, and most likely lose, a wrongful termination lawsuit, they chose the wisest route. This way everyone wins-except for one group, who I can't say much about. All I can say is the good people stood tall and the folks with ulterior motives were "put down," so to speak. Carolee isn't off the hook. She'll have to work hard to impress her superiors and keep her job, but with the support of the animal activists in town and her friends and family, she'll be off to a good start!

The reality sinks in...the trial is over and Carolee has her job back!

Congratulations Carolee!

If you'd like to read more about Carolee's trial, visit The Newtown Bee

I set up the pet cam to aim into the dog crate so I could see what Gabby was doing. She's been destroying the inside of the crate, knocking over the water, making an enormous mess. I took her water away and only put it out for about an hour-then everything gets wrecked. I've got wet food out so she won't dehydrate, but she's driving me nuts!

Must try again to see if I can capture her in the act!