Is that Alice Mo playing in the background on that “STILL not on the floor” picture? Does she enjoy playing even when kittens are around?
When the kittens play, Alice likes to watch, but she never joins in. Mostly she sits and glares with disapproval, and will swipe at the kittens if they get too close, but she certainly makes a point of being around when they play!
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Have the boys recovered from their cat show experience?
It took them about a day to get back to normal – they were all a bit needier on Monday, but as time passed they relaxed back into their usual personalities.
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So I’m curious how AJ and Creed made it known that they were not interested in being shown? Was it just that they got hissy? Or was it something more dramatic than that? Also, those cages for the show cats seemed awfully small if they had to be in them for the whole day….but maybe they were only in them for a brief period.
There was biting and swiping involved in AJ’s case – Susan got smacked several times. He’s a really good boy in his foster home and at the shelter, but I think all the activity was freaking him out.
Creed got bitey after a while, too, and there might have been some hissing. It’s a lot for a cat who hasn’t been through the whole show thing to put up with!
The cages in those pictures were the ring cages, so the cats were in them for only brief periods of time while they were waiting their turn with the judge. I canNOT believe I failed to get pictures of the enclosures the cats spent most of their time in – they were really nice, and some of them were beautifully decorated. And for the most part, the cats were being carried around and admired by everyone.
If you look in the background of this picture:
You’ll see the cages the cats spent most of their time in. And there were a LOT of these enclosures (which are bigger than they look) where the cats had beds and litter boxes and toys. It was fun to walk around and see the cats in their cages and enclosures. Most of the cats just took all the people in stride and weren’t stressed at all. Very neat!
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What kind of cat is the one in the last photo? I have never seen one like that before.
That’s a Bengal! Gorgeous, isn’t he?
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I love the compatibility chart, i spend hours analyzing it! Dunno if it’s a coincidence, but it seems your girls cats are way more anti-social than the boy cats. And poor Miz Poo, doesn’t like any of her roommates 😛
Oh, those girl cats have NO use for most of the other cats. They love Fred and I an awful lot, though. They’d probably ALL prefer to be only children cats.
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Does Angelo still suck on his toes?
He does, but not for long – his big ol’ belly kind of gets in the way!
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Last night, the Cheez Doodles went to Petsmart, and I brought Orlando (who was returned yesterday) home with me. He and Angelo will be occupying the foster room for a little while, at least until room opens up at Petsmart for them. Hopefully the weekend will be good to the Cheez Doodles, and I’ll be able to announce lots and lots of adoptions. And if Livia and Tricki could get themselves adopted, I’d be over the moon!
I have a ton of Cheez Doodles pics in the queue, so that’s who you’ll be seeing in next week’s posts.
The Cheez Doodles could not have been less scared when I put them into the cage at Petsmart – when I left, they were wandering around the cage, sniffing every inch of it, their tails straight up in the air. SO cute, those boys.
I love how Marshall’s back feet are up off the floor.
Grant the gorgeous.
Marshall likes to keep an eye on things.
As does Blaster.
All these boys have such pretty eyes.
“I feel like someone’s watching me.”
Gilbert playing, and Mooch in the background doing some kitty yoga.
I love it so when kittens stand up on two legs.
Chasing (and almost catching!) the laser light.
Flopping down for some rest time.
Mooch, goin’ climbing.
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Stefan keeps an eye on the garden.
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Previously
2013: “I love the smell of sisal in the morning.”
2012: He wants to be HELD, he wants to be PETTED, he wants to make biscuits in the AIR, and he wants it NOW.
2011: She’s a lovah, not a biter.
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: I love this goofy little cat.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Luckily his Zapping Collar o’ Doom is water resistant.
Are you ever concerned about who the cats get as adopters? I guess I’m not understanding why any of these babies would be returned. Do people not know what they’re getting into?! So many questions…
Yeah, of course I worry. The problem is that you can have a wonderful cat and a wonderful family, they can love each other at the adoption center, but then when they get home, it just doesn’t work – and you can’t know until it happens. Orlando was super personable and friendly at the adoption center and the family fell in love with him, but when they got him home, he spent all his time hiding and running from them. He was with them for almost a month, and they weren’t able to make inroads with him. He might need a quieter home, I don’t know. I’m glad they were willing to try and didn’t give up immediately, and also glad that they knew they could bring him back, and did.
So sorry to hear that things have been tough for Orlando. Perhaps the boy needs to be in a home with at least one more cat? The positive is that you’ll be doing all you can for him r&r-wise — that’s a huge thing.
I know that when we adopt out our cats/kittens we ask sooo many questions such as how many children and ages, do that have existing pets and if so, what kind. If a dog, does it chase squirrels (can be a sign of high prey drive), etc. We look for indoor only homes, if possible. We take the time to explain how to introduce cat to cat / cat to dog. We also tell them to put them in a spare bathroom or bedroom at first. Make it their “safe area” and prevent them from hiding to where you can’t touch them/interact with them. Then at the kitty’s speed, slowly introduce them to rest of the house (close off all bedroom doors, utility rooms, etc to make it smaller and slowly open up another room one at a time when kitty is relaxed with the current situation.) Sometimes it is just a bad match. I am always concerned about babies and toddlers. They are terribly strong for their size and can easily harm a cat/kitten.
Orlando’s “real” family is still out there looking for him. When they find him, it will have been worth the wait!!!
Apparently Orlando was great with the kids in the cat room at Petsmart – and the kids were really good with him – they spent a couple of hours there, and he kept coming back for petting. They did a great job of slowly introducing him to the new environment, did everything right, but it still didn’t work out. It’s really a leap of faith and though it doesn’t always work out, it’s kind of amazing how often it does!
That is just too bad! 🙁 They sound like good people….
So sorry Orlando was returned. Poor little man!!!
I volunteer for ACPS at all the Mega Adoption events. (Last one was July 18th – 20th and we adopted out 1165 dogs and cats!!!) It is held at the indoor facilities at our fairgrounds. It is huge! No matter how sweet and loving a kitty is, for some, those events are just completely overwhelming. The amount of people, the barking dogs, the noise…and thousands of people petting, touching, holding them etc. Even the most laid back can have their fill by the end of the three day event (or sooner).
AJ and Creed will get adopted, I have no doubt. Big events are not the platform for all kitties/doggies.
Thanks for volunteering at the Mega event. We had one in Indy on June 28-29. It was crazy successful. We volunteered and ended up getting adopted by our new marmy tabby Hamilton. I agree that big events are not for all kitties and doggies. I go to a cat show here every year and am amazed at how laid back the kitties are , even the cats that are there from shelters for adoption. I think a lot of that credit can go to the breeders and shelter personnel who know their animals so well and can tell who will not be able to tolerate a big event and lots of people. Nothing worse than having a sad stressed kitty trying to hide under the litterbox in an enclosure. On the other hand, the shows and events are great ways for someone who wants to adopt to look at a lot of kitties at one location and one stop shop if you will. We have had cats forever so we are fairly savvy with our ‘cat shopping’. We did not set out to adopt at the Mega event but knew Hamilton needed to be with us as soon as we met him. Instant Karma.
1165 adoptions is AWESOME!
It is….but then it also says how many “unwanted’ animals our community has…. 🙁
Poor Orlando – we hope that family doesn’t give up and tries another kitten. Sometimes it just isn’t the right match.
Good luck Doodles!!
I see my kittens returned from time to time. My Pie kittens – two were adopted by someone who then ended up joining the service a few months later… that one made me wonder.. and when I went to the shelter yesterday Whitley was back due to diarrhea. Apparently her new people intend to take her back once it is cleared up.. but I would NEVER bring a shelter animal back to the shelter for any reason (other than it wasn’t working out if given proper time like Orlando’s family did) Skippy was returned because he got a cold.. *shrug* people are weird..
They wanted Whitley only when everything was “perfect”. Hmmm…not good parents if you ask me.
Poor Orlando! I hope he finds a good match for him soon. And maybe the family who returned him needs to adopt a Cheez Doodle or two!
Also hoping for good matches for Angelo, Trickie, and Livia!
After I adopted Figaro, I had to go back to the shelter because they didn’t give me all of the paperwork for him that showed he’d been vaccinated and neutered. When I walked up to the desk, I said something about how I’d recently adopted a cat and they immediately jumped to the conclusion that I wanted to return him! I guess it must happen a lot… 🙁
I wonder if the nonplussed reaction of the Cheez Doodle boys was in part because they’d already done the cage thing for two days last weekend at the cat show? Maybe they think they’ll be coming home again a short while later??
It’s always so sad when an animal gets returned, but the silver lining is that at least they got returned to the shelter/rescue and didn’t get abandoned or pawned off to someone else.