Cute Photo

I don't often see my foster Mamas feeding their offspring, as my foster Mamas are usually feral and won't nurse in front of me. Last night I saw CallaLily, dwarfed by her kittens. Not all of them could even take any nourishment from her now that they're 8 weeks old. There's just no room for all five of them!

The kittens are eating solid food, but I guess old habits die hard. In a few days, Mama is going to be spayed and the lunch bar will be closed! Calli needs a break. She's quite thin and I can tell she's tired. She's been an awesome Mama, but this Mama needs time to regain her strength so she'll be ready for a forever home soon.

Sunshine & Shamus no longer have to worry about being eaten up by fleas and can finally get a good night's sleep. Now if I would stop drinking tea, maybe I would, too.

Thank you for all your suggestions for names for the kitties! If I didn't choose yours, don't fret. I'll have more kittens in a few weeks! Lots of chances for names!

Here's the new crew:

Malibu, Nova and Felixia are back at ANC HQ waiting to find their forever homes. Fe is doing much better now that she's had a good course of antibiotics and is beginning to put on some weight. Nova, we hope, will be adopted soon. Malibu has continued to come out of his shell and is a very loving kitty. He's getting rather big and we're a bit worried we won't find him a home soon. Seems the younger kittens go first. Isn't that often the case?

As for my own cats, poor Gracie STILL battles miliary dermatitis. Her flare ups are still bad, still constant. She's still getting bi monthly shots and occasional baths (but I should give her more). It's been almost a year since this started and I have little hope we will ever find a cure for her. It's very sad. I fear my last options are either to put her on steroids, which I've avoided at all cost, or try to re-home her, which would make me feel like a failure. She may be unhappy with all the other cats here, but she was fine for years, then suddenly broke out. My thought is that it can't be the other cats bothering her, then...but...then what is causing her allergic reactions?

Bob has been doing fairly well, though I'm starting to worry about him He's not eating as well as he did...is it his sense of smell starting to go? He's vomited a small amount of water the past two mornings. I fear pancreatitis flare ups with him!

Nicky still has problems being constipated and he seems a bit down. We've been giving him stool softeners, but not enough. Gotta ramp up on that. I think this cat has a funny metabolism. First he would get urinary blockages up from his food and that meant lots of ER trips. He's not blocked any more, but now his colon is getting packed up. I can't figure out what is the culprit. The other cats don't suffer with this problem-even Nicky's own sister.

All the other buggers are doing fine. Some times I forget they're all getting older. How is it that Nick and Nora are 9 now? Spencer is about 7 and no one knows how old Bob is, but it's easily over 10. Where did the time go?

The foster kittens and Cali, the mama are doing better this morning. Everyone ate their breakfast and started to play right away. No litter pan accidents, thank goodness and their overall condition seems much improved.

No names picked out for the kittens yet. Will work on that today. Thanks for all the suggestions!

If you recall, a few weeks ago, I wrote a few post about Zabby, an injured 8 month old kitten at Henry Co. facing a dismal, if any, future.

Thanks to the generosity, kindness and hard work of many people, instead of being euthanized, Zabby was not only pulled from the Kill shelter, but vetted so her paw could heal while she was in the mandatory two week quarantine period. She was transported to Catnip Cottage in South Carolina, to live until she was adopted. In fact she wasn't at Catnip Cottage for very long at all. She was so sweet and well adjusted that she was immediately added to an Adoption Event. That very day, a lovely couple adopted her, who felt they were ready for a new kitty, as their's had died 6 months previous at the age of 18.

Congratulations, Zabby!

I REALLY ENJOY GOOD NEWS, FOLLOWED BY MORE GOOD NEWS!

Thanks to your donations, all the mamas, below, had their combo tests and test came back NEGATIVE, meaning they are CLEARED for fostering/quarantine for a bit less than two weeks and then on to their new foster or forever homes! THESE CATS ARE NO LONGER AT RISK OF BEING EUTHANIZED!

Huggy Mama is cleared and ready for her bright future!

Kate + 8 are cleared and ready for their bright future!

Cali Mama is cleared and ready for her bright future!

Last Chance Mama, not pictured here, but below a few posts down, will be getting her combo test on Tuesday. Please think good thoughts for her!

I'm SO GLAD to be able to bring you ALL GOOD NEWS! We can now feel comfortable breathing both IN and OUT (until Tuesday! ACK!).

Big News! Time to do the HAPPY DANCE!

Huggy Mama is OUT of Henry Co. and on to her temp. foster home. Instead of going to Indiana, she is coming right HERE to Covered in Cat Hair HQ for fostering until she and the babies find a forever home!

Dilute Calico Mama is OUT of Henry Co. and also on her way to a temp. boarding facility where she will be out of harm's way until she can go to her foster placement!

And this my friends, this is my great joy...this mama and her babies were going to be put down today, but at the very last minute we got a SUPER GENEROUS OFFER from one of our very own, beloved Covered in Cat Hair members, Jennifer, who is graciously opening her home to these at high risk foster babies! (Apparently, Jennifer just picked out names for them, not being able to wait for them to arrive!) This morning, Barb did her magic and I made a tearful call to Robin at Henry County to ask if these guys were still available (ALIVE) and she said YES. Once I found out, we got the balls rolling and Mama will be out TOMORROW.

And yes, I will put out ONE MORE request to bring in some funds to help cover the costs for this mama and her babies, but then I will shut up for awhile. Once we have a widget set up for their donations, I will post it and if you can help, super great. If not, then just send them your love. They need that, too!

And our spare, orphan was adopted by the woman who dropped her off a few days ago. We didn't raise funds for this little one, so no harm done and we are very happy she's off to a good home!

And believe it or not, Barb and Judy have managed to rescue even MORE cats than I have photographs of! I am SO SO HAPPY that all of you pitched in, gave up money during a friggen' recession, and sent so much love and support-well THANK YOU isn't enough, but that's what I got!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP!

We've got MORE to rescue, so let's get to it!

Poopie thing I have to add: I hate to worry alone, so you should all remember that ALL these mamas MUST TEST NEGATIVE FOR FELINE LEUKEMIA AND FIV or ELSE I am gonna CRY and they are gonna have to be PTS. I'm sorry to rain on the parade, but we got them this far...hopefully this is just the beginning of their journey to their forever homes.

Kate + 8 have been removed from Henry Co. and are off to their next stop, where they can live for the next two weeks while they are in quarantine and before they are moved off to foster care. Please think good thoughts for the kitties as Mama has to have a "combo" test which will test her for Feline Leukemia and FIV. It could be sad news if Mama has Feline Leukemia, but for now, let us focus on one phase of this journey being accomplished.

Kate + 8 are out of the KILL SHELTER!

Thank you very much Barbara at WCR for doing all the paperwork, making the calls and finding a safe haven for all these kitties, Judy with Kat5 for finding transport and boarding and Bobby for kindly transporting the kitties OUT of Henry Co., as well as all the other folks I have not met yet, who are part of this hopeful story!

Two weeks ago, Tweetie went to visit Sockington & Pennycat and has yet to return. I've checked in on him quite a few times and each time he tells me he's enjoying himself and that Food Lady and Fatty, err...Mr. Scott are very nice to him, too.

He's not quite sure what to make of the pale lady cat. She gives off a funny vibe, so he's staying clear. Mr. Sockington seems strangely familiar and it's comforting to spend time with him now that "Socks" isn't hissing so often. It's also delightful to have lots more space where he can run. Living in the bathroom was getting boring. One can only play with the faucet and flush the toilet so many times.

There's still no final word on whether or not Tweetie will become a permanent member, and highest ranking, but shortest, Officer in the Sock Army, but seeing this video, gave me the feeling that things are, at least, going fairly well.

A frame showing Tweetie in his first Supporting Role, from the newly released Socksamillion video, celebrating Socks's One Millionth Follower on Twitter (though now he's at 1.03 mil). Go Socks! You can see the rest, HERE. Tweetie's getting so BIG!

I'm very proud of Tweetie and I'm glad I worked so hard to give him every chance to break the desire to return to his feral roots...and glad I had the backing from my Director to do so. It was a long, scary journey, but now looking back, things fell into place just perfectly-as perhaps they were meant to all along?

This is my artist's interpretation showing Tweetie with Sockington. Some day I hope they'll really sit for a portrait together. Thank you to Jason Scott for allowing me to use the photo of Socks.

Will Tweetie find his forever home with Socks & Penny? Even if he doesn't, he's had a Hell of a run; the support and love of new friends from all over the world and more than a moment in the spotlight. It's far more than most (former!) feral kittens could ever dream for, but in this little kitten's case, he hit the jackpot and I couldn't have asked for a happier ending.

I'm sure Tweetie's story will continue on through his updates on Twitter; both as a spokescat for The Animal Center and also as his sly, devilish, no-holds-barred self. It's time for me to re-focus my efforts. I have more kittens to rescue; some from death row at kill shelters in the south, some from just down the street. Wherever they come from, be assured there'll be more stories like Tweetie's, filled with challenges, heartbreak and joy. I hope you'll keep visiting, Covered in Cat Hair and join me as I continue that journey learning the ropes of being a Cat Rescuer and try to maintain my sanity living with seven (and more) cats.

I promise to catch everyone up on Henry Co. Kitties. Many of them got the funding they needed and are poised to be rescued. Final paperwork and details still need to be worked out. Not all the kitties are going to be rescued, but a good, big number of them are. I don't like to say-"not all" but no matter how many we pull, there will always be some left behind.

I hate it and so do all the folks involved with this...there aren't enough people to do what is needed. There aren't enough foster homes...etc...we're doing our best and then some.

My little foster, Felixia, who just weighs 2.5lbs at 10 weeks, fell ill last night and was lame on her back right leg this morning. She visited with Dr. Larry a little while ago, who gave her an exam and tried to get some x-rays of her leg but she was in too much pain to allow much of that. We saw most of her leg and it looked good, just not her hip. She has a bit of a temp (104) and he suspects an abscess is brewing so she'll be on Clavamox for 10 days. Hope that does the trick or she goes back for a good look at her hip---which would require a tiny bit of sedation first.

And...super Deb found flea dirt on her so she and the two other fosters just got Advantage treatments and I just had to clean out their room and have fun with flea spray. Hope nothing is brewing in there. I never had a problem with fleas before, but it's gonna happen sooner or later so I better get used to dealing with it.

More soon, I promise and I hope to have FINAL "time to celebrate" news on some of the Henry Co. Cats. Your donations amaze and delight me to no end. You guys KICK ASS and I love you for it!