Everyone is doing great

We have reached a pretty reasonable level of peace... and as I predicted, just in time for me to head back to Philly. Well, I still have about 2 weeks but it feels like no time at all.

I've discovered that a big way to avoid evening/early morning roughhousing is to ensure that my cats (basically ET) receive a big enough dinner so that they just slip into a food coma and sleep most of the night. This seems to work. Baby cat also has adjusted nicely and now spends all of the evening out from under the bed, usually sleeping up by my head for some reason, and other times lying on the bedside table. She's very good at growling to alert/wake us up when ET is starting to get some bad ideas and tries to come bother her!

Despite these successes I know that my cats (especially ET) can't wait to get back to Philly. While I wish the time never had to come, I'm at least glad to know that SOMEONE will be happy about our return.

Another positive to my return is that I'm going to foster again :) I'm not sure what situation would be best... it was pretty tough to have those short-term litters as I wasn't able to keep up with the cleaning as well as I should've been, and it was difficult to keep meeting new personalities. Having short term kitten stints definitely is the best way to make a difference, as it keeps open a "revolving door" but I'm thinking about a different situation now. For several months I've wanted to have a momma cat with babies. Right now I'm thinking I may get a mom with just one kitten. The tough part about that is that takes me "out of commission" to take in more animals for several weeks... but it would enable me to help out an incredibly high-risk population. Another thought is to just take in 2 tiny, maybe 4-week old kittens. We'll see!

Despite the looming start of MS-2, I am looking forward to getting back to Philly and getting myself settled. I think I developed a formula for my own success by the end of last year and I'm anxious to get started, and get it over with!

Below are some pics of the critchers over the past few weeks :)

Lacey passed out across my waist


ET and Lacey "snuggled up" on the bed


Baby snuggling up with me while I'm passed out and Shawn is playing the Sims!!


Shawn likes to play with the cats and sometimes he will "force interactions" by sticking ET and Lacey together... it often results in a very entertaining battle, haha. My cats are so tolerant :)

Diego Summer Update

It has been a while since I contacted Diego's new parents, so I sent them an email last night. I got an amazing reply, as I expected :)

"Diego is awesome and we love him more and more all the time. He's started fetching toys on our stairs! He's endlessly entertaining. He has so many little games he plays, like getting in a mood where he very gently wrestles with our hands, or playing with a penny or water bottle cap on the floor. He has a strip of paper he likes to carry from room to room for whatever reason. You know, logical cat games. It's so much fun!

He has a lot of nicknames. "Little Dickens," "Pajama Ninja," "Little Tiger," "Little Man," "Prowser," "Little Prince," "Jerk," things like that. He's got a mischievous streak with my boyfriend - he jumps up on his messy desk, makes eye contact with him, and then slowly bats small objects off one by one. It's hilarious. They are so cute together, my boyfriend is very fatherly with him and Diego seems to like confusing him. Diego definitely acts like I'm his mommy, follows me everywhere and always wants love and petting and he chirps and pyows at me much more, and he's more playful and silly and rammy with my boyfriend. And his parents consider themselves Diego's grandparents :) We take him to visit pretty often, and he loves it there, since their house is full of windows with birds and squirrels and chipmunks outside. We're about to go on a 3-week road trip, and he'll be staying with my boyfriend's parents then.

Everyone who meets Diego loves him. He's really such a great cat! So handsome and charming and fun :) And never any bad behavior habits besides teasing my boyfriend every once in a while. We can't even fathom how we got along without him anymore, he's such a vital part of our lives now. Thanks so much for introducing us!"

So, I'm thrilled. Diego sure won the jackpot. Below are some pictures of him that his parents included :)





(I love this one!)


I will update soon with new photos of my crew- we've gotten some great shots recently I just haven't remembered to upload them!

Summer is halfway over :(

I have been having such a wonderful time living in Boston and I can't believe the summer is nearly halfway over :(

I can tell you that both ET and Baby are ready for summer to be done. For the most part, tension has cooled in the apartment, but definitely is still there. Thankfully, Baby and Lacey are doing GREAT together, so Baby is getting a lot better in general with other cats. ET is doing a bit better with leaving her alone, but sometimes he does go after her. Lacey is just perfect, Shawn is trying to convince me to let her stay, but I told him that if I left her here that means I need to get another cat ;)

So, below are some photos from the recent weeks.

One of Shawn's and my projects is to build a cat tree. My mom works in retail and always tries to grab the old displays before they can be thrown out. A few months back she managed to grab 4 very nice, sturdy cubes. I haven't quite decided how I'm going to lay them out yet, but here is a photo of ET in one of the possible layouts.



We recently won several items from a local auction. Shawn really enjoys restoring furniture so he bought a very large lot of lots of miscellaneous hardware. We spent one morning photographing, bagging, and cataloging what he won for future use. Here is Lacey lending a helping hand.



Here is one of miss Baby sitting pretty! She's spending most of her time out from under the bed now. Here she is playing with a new catnip fish toy (thanks Mom!) in the "safe space" between the bed and the wall.



And even though ET is her arch enemy, Baby and I still make time for snuggles :)

Some pics

Below are a few photos taken since ET and Lacey moved in with Baby. Things are going better; all 3 cats have been out together for the past several days. There is still some hissing, but Baby is making moves out from under the bed, which is great. ET has his moments, but right now Shawn is playing with a ribbon toy with Baby and Lacey, and ET is passed out under the coffee table.

Lacey hanging out on the top of Shawn's desk


Baby hiding out under the desk!


The bathroom door, behind which ET spent the first several days


Baby in her favorite spot- the window!


Lacey being cute, laying inside one of the frames Shawn found while antiquing

MIA!

Ah! I have been seriously MIA.

Well, I finished first year, went on vacation with my boyfriend, Shawn to West Virginia (amazing!) and now I'm staying with him and his cat near Boston, MA.

There has been quite a bit of cat-related happenings, all unfolding in Shawn's studio apartment. Both ET and Shawn's cat, Baby, have pretty strong personalities. Despite the fact that they both met in Philly a few months ago and all went well, there has been quite a bit of clashing. Most recently, Baby and Lacey are well on the way to becoming friends, although Baby is learning how to play without getting all freaked out and hissing. Lacey is extremely non-reactive (in contrast to ET) so she is being a good, patient teacher. All are out together during the day but we usually have to do some form of separation at night, for ET and Baby will often scuffle which can result in great noise- not good at midnight! I think that as Baby gains more confidence with Lacey, she'll be better at handling ET. They really just all need to become more desensitized to each other.

We're also contemplating picking up a product called Feliway which contains relaxing pheromones for cats. I've read a lot of reviews on it, and many people swear by it for cat introductions. Maybe it'll level the playing field a bit.

We took some rather entertaining pics and I will upload them later.

Oh! I never did a formal post about her, but my cat Pen Pal Bailey was adopted sometime last week! It wasn't someone who emailed me, so I had no idea. I posted a Craigslist ad for her and got a quick message back from a fellow volunteer who let me know the good news. I confirmed it with the adoption staff- YAY! I wish I knew more about the family that adopted her, but I'm sure all is well. Below is a pic of the little lady at the shelter. She was so wiggly it was hard to take a pic of her without pinning her!

Done!

On a personal note, I finished my first year of medical school today :)

I sent an email a few days ago to check in with Diego's family. I of course don't want to bother them, but it had been about a week so I wanted to see how everything was going. Below is the reply I got!

"Diego is still perfect! No behavior issues at all :) After about the third day with him he started chirping and trilling when he comes up to us for petting or while he follows us around to see what we're doing, so he's actually pretty vocal! And he's sooo snuggly, and always curious and entertaining. He's really made our house feel complete. My boyfriend said he doesn't know how we got along so long without him, and I feel the same way. He's really a dream cat! We love him so much and we're so happy we found him!

I've attached my favorite picture of him in his favorite box :)"



I have been emailing back and forth with a woman about my new cat Pen Pal, Bailey, but she hasn't been replying fast enough so maybe she is busy, who knows!

The kittens are still a bit sneezy but they're being placed at a local adoption center (with meds!) tomorrow morning. Horray!!

ET + Lacey Photoshoot

I had a bit of free time (gasp!) this weekend, and the weather was beautiful which means open windows and occupied cats. I was able to snap a few nice shots of them, featured below. I'm interested in photography and definitely would love to take some classes in the future to really learn how to work with light :)











I was finally able to volunteer for a few hours at The Cube yesterday, and it was great to be back. We didn't have a ton of cats (~30 I think) but I imagine that is because there are now several other clinics operating in the city. As long as they are getting spayed/neutered, I don't care where they go! We did have one kitty come in that a local rescuer took in the night before when a house burned down. I'm not sure exactly how she got the cat, but she said that a firefighter pulled her out of the house and brought her to safety. She got a few hours of oxygen at the Cube but was having tremors and he balance was very off. I really hope she recovers... she is a calico like Lacey, and I have a soft spot for sick calicos ;)

There also was a huge (I think record-breaking) adoption event called "With Love- Super Adoption Day" sponsored by Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia held in the city yesterday. I didn't attend, but from what I've heard it was a great day with a fabulous turnout. I believe ACCT had 2 dogs adopted from the event and several more with serious interest in them. Hurray!



I had planned to go to an adoption event today at a local park with ACCT, but the weather is crummy so we canceled it :( The last one I was scheduled to go to was canceled as well, so I'm pretty bummed. Guess that just means I have the morning to study now... ugh! I am going to the shelter later this afternoon to walk a few dogs and attend a dog-handling seminar. While I'm pretty comfortable handling dogs, I definitely need to learn some training tips :)