CataBlog

Now that work isn't interferring with my blogging....

Two updates in two days! Not bad eh?

So, Angel went to her new home yesterday, and I homed Boy this afternoon. He's gone to live with a family with a cat friendly 5 yr old lad, which I think he'll thoroughly enjoy.

The woman who came in on friday night to see our cats and who fell in love with Toby has emailed to say she definately wants him, so he'll be going to his new home in a few weeks once they've shifted house and are ready to take him.

Took Blackie down to the vet this afternoon for a checkup after his tooth extraction and all's well there. Teeth and ears all looking good.

Actually not a lot else to report. Pretty quiet day really, with everyone gearing up for Christmas. I suspect the monday crew are going to spoil all the cats rotten tomorrow, which they thoroughly deserve of course.

I know, I know! I suck at updating this!

Once again my apologies for the length of time between posts. Tis the blasted season and all that ;o)

Anyhow, I've got some good news on our recent homings for you. First up, the lovely Dish, who's settling into his new home beautifully. His new sister Ruby isn't entirely sure about this yet, but they're getting on just fine which is the main thing. Here's the first update from his new people:

"Well Dish has settled in exceptionally well! He made himself right at home on day one and spent most of the night exploring our house. He's standing up well to his new big sister Ruby and they now have a healthy respect for each other which generally includes keeping their distance by at least a few feet.
They have touched noses several times now, which we consider a huge breakthrough!

Dish is an extremely affectionate soul who is charming all of our visitors but seems quite wary of visiting children, so he makes himself scarce by hiding in our clothes shelves and kitchen vege baskets!

He is certainly a welcome addition to our house, and although Ruby isn't quite fully convinced of that just yet, she is warming to the idea and is quite curious about her new flatmate!

Dish is snoozing on my lap as I type.
Attached are some photos of Dish and Ruby lazing about on the deck today and checking each other out."

And the latest update:

"Well, It's almost been two weeks since Dish entered our lives and it seems like he's always been part of the family. He's a gorgeous wee cat, who has become very special to both Doug and myself. He's asserted himself with Ms Ruby and lately Dish has been sleeping on our bed while Ruby has been sleeping in Dish's box!!
But that may have to change as Dish has a tendancy to decide that we can't sleep past 5am and out comes his hyper Attention Deficit Disorder as he leaps all over the bed, eager to play!

Ruby is still not so sure about her new little brother and growls now and again but she is gradually warming to him. Luckily he's not fazed at all but seems respectful of her much needed space. Dish isn't molting as much fur now, as we've been brushing him each night which he seems to love. He doesn't really venture outside unless we're sitting out on the deck, so is generally keen to use our house as a racecourse/adventure playground.

After a day of racing around through the cat tunnel and chasing christmas decorations around the floor, the young gingha is currently fast asleep in my bag!"

Sooty II has also settled nicely into his new home. He did give his new people a scare the third time they let him out, when he went for a very long exploration of his new territory. But he's happily coming and going, sleeping on the bed and is hardly nervous at all these days.

And finally Mr Tom is also doing just great in his new home. Seems the lad just loves to have his tummy rubbed, and spends a lot of time on his back with all 4 paws in the air allowing his new person to worship him.

Sooty the Scarf and Oliver will be going to their new home with one of our volunteers next weekend. Gotta say I'm going to miss spending time at the shelter with a little black cat wrapped around my neck, but so lovely that they're going to such a great new home.

Well, that's about it for now. Merry Christmas and all that festive stuff everyone. Let's hope 2007 is a great year for the CPL and all our cats, and that we finally get moved into our lovely new shelter!!

Sleep well little one

Dahlia had a lovely day out in the sun in the yard yesterday, pottering about with her mates. However today she really wasn't interested in food, and for the first time wouldn't purr when cuddled.

S took our wee love down to the vet tonight and the call was made to have her euthanised. We really didn't want to wait until wednesday when she was due to be reweighed, as it was pretty obvious that she'd lost rather than gained weight over the last week. And we really didn't want to wait until she lost so much condition that she became distressed. So we've done the last kind thing we can for her and let her go.

Rest in peace little Dahlia. We're all going to miss you so much.

I'd like to leave this with a photo I took of her in December 2003, when she was a stunning, almost normal sized cat.

Looking like it'll be time soon to say goodbye to our dear little Dahlia

Well, I guess all of you who work at the shelter have been wondering what's up with Dahlia. And you're not alone. She's lost a lot of weight (although she has been stable in that regard for quite a few months), and her monthly vet visits have failed to show the cause. Her kidneys and thyroid all check out fine, so that pretty much leaves us suspecting cancer. Last Sunday she weighed in at .4kg less than the previous month, which is a massive weight loss anyway, let alone for such a small cat. On vet advice we've had her in a cage this week to monitor her food and water intake. While she has been eating, it's pretty unlikely we're going to be able to reverse her decline.

So, a vet nurse will be visiting the shelter either tuesday or wednesday next week with a portable set of scales to reweigh her. If there's been a substantial weight increase, we'll assess from there, however if she's the same, or has lost further weight, then the decision at this week's committee meeting was to let her go in peace.

If this is the case, we'll let her out into the yard for a couple of days to be with her mates, then arrange for the vet to visit the shelter and put her to sleep in the company of her friends and the volunteers who love her.

I'll post here after the reweigh next week, and certainly endeavour to let everyone know so that those who want to have time to say goodbye to her. If she suddenly goes down hill and we have to make a more instant decision and get her down to the vet, then we will. However as long as she's comfortable and still eating and drinking, we'd like to take the opportunity to make it as peaceful and non-frightening for her as we can.

I really think we're looking at days rather than weeks, so those of you who do fortnightly shifts and aren't on til next weekend might like to take the opportunity to pop up to the shelter and say your goodbyes to our lovely little Dahlia.

Ok, in danger of starting to cry now, so I'll leave you with these links to a great bunch of photos of her taken by Reb earlier in the year.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpl-wellington/sets/72057594120716902/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpl-wellington/184655940/in/set-72057594141896840/