Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

Not that long. By 6 months at the latest. But we want her to be well over 3 pounds. Just don't want to trigger a relapse while she's still underweight.

Gertie's adopters had both been thinking of getting a kitten but didn't say anything to each other. When they visited the adoption center and saw Gertie they realized they both wanted her. It was meant to be.

Punx loves her big sister Looney3. Yesterday, Looney2 bit her tail (he was playing with it) and she yelled at him and tried to slap him. She's a bit hesitant with Looney1 because he got grumpy with all the kittens around. But they are all fine with her. And she can hold her own. Everyone knows when she is unhappy - grrrrrrrrr.

I think it's Loonies. Two loonies make a twooney. I currently have a Looney and a Twooney. I may end up with two Twoonies.

I rearranged my living room for the winter. I moved my couch up against the wall (it was previously set in from the wall). Tornado-dog isn't crawling under it to sulk in this position.

And that has apparently made it more fun for Loonies 2, 3 and 4 to climb up inside and poke at Tornado-dog and me through the back of the couch...

Looney2 had already freaked out Cat-dog by doing that - Cat-dog won't get on the couch if anyone is home. I think she connected his poking her to my sitting on the couch.

Now Tornado-dog has jumped off the couch startled twice because the couch keeps poking him.

I blame Looney2 for this. He really enjoys messing with that dog.

I have a sad update. Gertie suddenly failed in her new home. They got her to the vet's but they couldn't save her. It was likely FIP.

Punx has been doing well, but is still extremely small for her age. None of us feel comfortable getting her spayed, etc, at this time, but as she's 5 months old, we are getting to the "gotta do it" stage.

So Punx has been pulled from the system and is officially my cat. She'll go in for a checkup with my vet and we will come up with a plan to get her fixed and her vaccines that will be best for her. Getting her fixed by my vet will eliminate the stressful hour long drive to and from, and will provide more one on one attention during the recovery. I know what to watch for and have the supplies to help her through any downturn, so her best chance of survival is with me. And it's not fair to an adopter to say "she may fail, we don't know why".

She is doing great otherwise. She yells when I hold her, she slaps her big brothers, and she spends half the night racing in the hallway and stairs with her sister. On rare occasions, she graces me with cuddle time on the bed.



Right now she is in the top nest of the cat tree in the living room.


That's a favorite spot. She can see everything going on, the beast can't reach her, and I have to strain to pet her (which she wants as long as I'm uncomfortable in the effort).

How sad. Poor pretty Gertie. I hope the other kittens are doing well. It is likely that these litters were inbred and some of kits may have inherited weakened immune systems.
Considering that you didn't originally intend to keep one, this must have been a heartbreaking project. I hope you get repaid in love.

Thanks. I think the older ones were in better shape all around. The four little ones had a rougher start of it.

Gertie was the second smallest. In hindsight, I wonder if she and Punx were a different litter than Hobbes and Duchess. That could explain the size difference as they grew, and if their mom was younger and less experienced and more inbred herself, that could have put them at a bigger disadvantage with weakened immune systems, etc. And it still isn't known exactly why one cat develops FIP and another doesn't.

Just now, I heard purring. I reached over to find Punx cuddling on the blanket next to me. To be honest with myself, I was in love with Punx before we had gotten home that first day. I just didn't admit I wanted to keep her until the others had homes and I wouldn't be playing favorites by doing so. We'll just take each day as it comes.

Tornado-dog is being cute again. On the table by the door, there are a few werther's caramels. Tornado-dog put his feet up and was snooping. I told him no he couldn't have one. So he sat politely and stared at me.

Yes, he and his sister each got a candy.

Of course he had to try that technique a second and third time. As those didn't work, he is now sulking on the couch.

They love butter rum lifesavers too.

They refused the carrots I offered them. Even ate around them in their dinner.

They are so quick at latching on to the tricks that work for them. Cute.

They certainly are. And tomorrow, he'll try it again.

Today, Punx had a vet appointment. The dogs came along for the ride and got a cup of whipped cream from Starbuck's on the way home - they were both very happy.

The doctor saw Punx and was amazed at how much she has improved. The last time she saw her Punx was under a pound and emaciated. Today Punx was 3.06lbs and lanky but not scrawny. Her coat got many compliments - it is extremely soft and shiny. She was surprised when I said I didn't brush her ever.

We discussed vaccinations and spay. We agreed on a slow and steady course:

Today she got her 1st FVRCP vaccination. Next month, she'll get the 2nd and her rabies. January she'll get her 1st FeLV vaccine. And February she'll get her 2nd FeLV and spayed and microchipped. After each visit, I'll keep close watch and if anything seems off, we'll put everything on hold.

Punx was a trooper through it all. Everybody was in love with her. Even the tech who is usually pretty reserved said "she needed an extra cuddle because she's so cute". The counter staff and a customer gushed over her as I paid.

The doctor says she's doing great. She is small but not unnaturally so. She has her adult teeth and her adult canines are just starting to erupt. She said Punx will always be a petite cat.

On the way home, she relieved her stress by cuddling with her blankie. She's now sleeping in her cat tree happy as a clam.

That's great progress, and it's nice that they all have ended up being so responsive to people.
Your caution is understandable - I would be too, given her backstory.

The folks with the rescue were very cautious too. We're all afraid of triggering something.

The funny part of that is every time I take Punx out, she comes home more outgoing and social than before. I really don't know if she likes visiting with people or if she's so grateful to come home.

Today was Tornado-dog's third birthday. We cuddled. He barked at the Amazon man. He annoyed his cat, Looney1. He played with his birthday hedgehog.

This morning, Punx, Panther and Looney2 were chasing each other through the upstairs. Afterwards Looney1 gave Looney2 a face wash while the girls watched on. Panther gave me a couple moments of photo op time while she watched the birds.

Nice picture of her.
A couple of peculiar posts on here today. They look like partial copies of much earlier posts. Someone could be struggling to post - or just messing about. (The highlighted text is about tires/tyres). Decided to ignore.

I lover her face. It's so perfectly structured.

I've noticed from various forums, that spammers will make weird mistakes in their first couple posts to see if anyone is paying attention. If no one is, they start with their spamming.

On one forum, a spammer would make a well thought out lengthy post that was perfectly reasonable. Then they would immediately quote their post to say "thanks in advance". But with that second post, they would add an advertising link in the text of the quoted post. It slipped by for a long time before we figured out what was going on and called them out on it.

I did report the poster here who has been posting to the Welcome to Breedia announcement thread to advertise - twice now.

I don't know whether we have any mods at the moment. Responses are few and far between.

As no one believes that Punx yells at me all the time, the other night I decided to record it. So I picked her up with the phone recording.

Tonight, she declared that my doing so broke our agreement that if she doesn't hide from me, I won't pick her up willy nilly - she hid from me instead of letting me bring her upstairs. When she finally came upstairs, I picked her up to discuss things. She became very angry with me. So angry that Looney2 came over to see what was wrong. He stood next to me on the bench where I was sitting and leaned over to see Punx. When he saw that she was mad at being held, he bit my arm to tell me to put her down. I did. She moved away and he went to her to make sure she was OK.

I then called him to me and told him that he is the best big brother EVER and gave him cuddles and a tummy rub.

Oh dear. I hope Punx forgives you soon. It sounds as if the cat pride would be prepared to gang up against you.

Looney2 certainly has made himself theking of the pride.

I will say that he was very gentle and methodical about it. Just enough pressue to make his point, but not enough to actually hurt me.

Every night, everyone comes upstairs for bed. I feed the cats in their room and visit with them a bit while the dogs wait in the bedroom. Unfortunately, Tornado-dog has decided that I spend too much time with the cats nd he wants his bedtime cookie NOW. So he will bark nonstop until I come in to give the dogs their cookies. Nonstop. Nagging at me. And heaven forbid I have to go back downstairs for something.

Last night, I took a different route. I first gave the dogs their cookies and then fed and visited with the cats. Not a peep out of Tornado-dog. I even went back downstairs and hewas quiet. When I came back in the bedroom, he was sitting in front of the cupboard politely waiting for a second cookie.

Tonight it was the same.

Who has trained who? He and Cat-dog now get two cookies at night.

Meanwhile, Panther is growing into a gorgeous cat. She loves her dayroom - she and Looney1 are sleeping in there every day. Punx is doing great. She gets spayed on the 30th. She is known as the Mongoose because she poofs out her tail straight up like Rikki Tikki Tavi when something catches her attention. Both girls love getting neck scratches.