Purrfection (same play on words on a different version of the word? Just I just did that!)

Anyways we shall skip over talking about the titles lack of originality and move on to new and exciting things. So today was more of the same boring stuff (you see what I just did there) in all seriousness though today we saw the kittens take even more steps to being good little kittens that will let us hold them. Every time we came into the room today they were out in the open and even now as I sit in the room with them they are playing around me albeit not near me. We also had Kaylee spend some time in the room today and she loved them even if they were not sure about her. We made sure to take all the kittens over and Kaylee gave them a bath and as soon as we stopped petting hem they ran for their lives! We also made sure to hold and pet all of them for some period of time and again they purred but this time they were less cautious about it and much louder. They are coming along slowly but surely and maybe tomorrow we will let a couple of more cats in to spend time with them. We are living the closet door open tonight so that they and the adults can get use to each other. Now for pictures!

The last picture is my mom walking into the room and them getting very scared. I can't believe I have updated this blog everyday. I will leave you with my other blog and a picture of Harley Tuna.

Purrfect day (yes mom I hear you groaning from the title)

Today we finally let the kittens out. This was all preceded by the fact that we had to make it impossible for them to go underneath my parents king sized bed. This was done by remaking a box of wood that were previously under their bed. Luckily my dad and I had some help....

Kaylee even held up a side for us

What a great cat right? Kaylee then decided it would be better just to watch over us.

 
Anyways despite Kaylees best efforts to have all our attention all the time we finally got the box made and their bed back together. So now its time to see what the kittens would do if they are allowed out in the room so we opened the bottom and left the room. When I came back Oreo had gotten out and climbed the outside of the crate and found a nice play to lay down.

Where were the other two you may ask?

ThatThats right still in the crate. So I left again and a couple of hours later my mother and I went in to talk to all three of them. So my mom took Moony and I took Ty. After a couple of minutes my mom turns to me and informs me that Moony is purring, arrrrrrrrrrrrrrg another kitten purring and still the none of them had done that for me yet. Not even a minute later I hear something from my lap. TY WAS PURRING!!!! I felt so validated. Yes I realize that its probably not the best to seek validation from a kitten but hey my future therapist needs something to start on right? So my mom left a little while after and I found Oreo and started his socialization time. After a few minutes Oreo was also purring. This is the first time we know for sure that all three of them had purred and its amazing to think three weeks ago they didn't even let me pet them. I then spent three hours playing a old video game and letting the kittens see me (yes maybe it was more for the video game but what else am I suppose to do in NM?) More time with the kittens tomorrow and hopefully more purrs. Maybe we will also try them with some of the cats around our house? who knows.

Rabie cats!

So today we got the results of the stool sample we left with the vet yesterday, the results were negative for worms but neither us or the vet really believed that so we are going again and medicating them anyways. Makes me wonder why we had to take in the stool sample but whatever no harm done. Now the pills we had to give them were HUGE especially compared to my kittens tiny little mouths. The good news? We only had to give them half a pill each and then nothing till three weeks down the road. I felt so bad but my kittens are strong and took the pills like champs. I know its only been one day since I put the frontline on them but they were so much healthier today. Their coats were nicer than they were and they seemed so happy not to be eaten alive by fleas. They were in very rotten moods today though. might be in part because of the shot they got yesterday. Maybe it was because now that they are flea free we are not only leaving the closet door open but also the room door so that hey can get use to the other cats. I did hold and talk to all three of them today and I got the picture of Oreos tail so if you have suggestions for another name let me know.

 Tiberius

 Moony

 Oreos tail

Oreo

We also decided we should frontline the other cats in the house so as to stop any further fleas spreading through our cat population. Most of the cats though not extremely happy with us just kind of hissed and ran away. It however had a much different affect on Kaylee, usually one of the more quite and laid back cats not only hissed but would try and bite us. When we finally let her go she ran away from us for a while and now the really odd part starting attacking every other cat that passed her. This ended up with a room full of cats all looking like they are going to attack each other. There were more cat fights in an hour than I have seen the entire time I have been home. I wasn't sure if I gave them frontline or rabies.

Kaylee in her angry state.

I haven't mentioned my dogs much on this blog but thats mostly cause the cats do much funnier or note worthy things. Our chocolate lab Hershey woke up and was very obviously sick all over himself. This led to us having to take him to a pet store and clean him ourselves. It was a fun day with that but he seems very tired and wasn't his usual happy self.  Once we got him cleaned and dried he spent the rest of the day just lying down and relaxing. My poor baby puppy. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for him and the kittens (and my rabies infected cat)

Healthy healthy kittens!

So first two things I will just get out of the way real fast. 1) my mom informed me that maybe the picture of Kaylee at the end of yesterdays entry was a little out of place and people might not understand why it was there. Simple answer? it was cute and I love my KK (Kaylee Kitty). 2) All three kittens are healthy (all male) kittens. The vet weighed them at almost 3 pounds each! (wow I wasn't even sure if they were 2 pounds!) And we got frontline so that we can start killing those fleas. My mother and I share the same views on fleas and ticks. The only reason for them is population control and they gross us out. Seriously every time I hold them I feel like I'm crawling with fleas for the next 20 minutes. Gross. Okay back from the gross rant, (still thinking about it and having my skin crawl!) the vet also said they were approximately 3 months old. The official record has the kittens names as Oreo (surprise) Tiberius (Another surprise, though there was this fun moment with the receptionist when my mom walked off. As you can tell from my blog I'm not the worlds strongest speller so we both were trying for about a minute to figure out how to spell the kittens name. Anyways his nickname is no longer Tabby but Ty.) and the black one is Moony (check your Harry Potter lore)

Back at home and upset at us. We made it up to them with some Ham baby food. They really don't care that we are Jewish. Very cat like. Oreo was currently getting fed at the time of this picture which should explain his absences.

One little thing I will try to get a picture of tomorrow is Oreo's tale. Its the only reason I'm not stuck on that name is because of his tail. You will see tomorrow!

Now I know these are more random cats but they are pretty pictures so enjoy!

 Kaylee enjoying the day.

 Parker the thief who stole the dog treats from their crates after my mother put them in.

 Tuna (or Harley)

Picky picky kittens

This morning my mother informed me that she had fed the kittens with left over food and there was on obvious level of interest from the kittens. Thats right the kittens who less than three weeks ago were happy for any food out there are now being picky about food. I wasn't sure if I should believe her or not but when Oreo actually refused to even eat a little but of the beef this morning I was a believer. In a funny way its such a good sign that they are now being picky with their food because now they aren't worried about if/when they will eat again. Now even Moony only hisses and will just sit in our hands eating without making that many attempts at escaping.

Not much else to say on the kittens. They will be going to the vet tomorrow so hopefully we will get good news soon. I'm very proud of how fast they are feeling better about being with us and even starting to trust us a little tiny winy percent. More tomorrow I promise. Random thought, if the company of who makes Oreo's sees me saying Oreo so much do I have to pay them or should I just say now that its a trademarked thing?

Uh Oh Oreo!

Today was a continuation of the success we have been having with the kittens. All three sit on our laps now and eat the baby food that is presented to them. Also as of today both Oreo and Tiberius have purred while in our hands. They are all still scared which is to be expect with kittens who were feral less than two weeks ago. Slowly but surely though they are coming around. I usually spend most of my day in the room with them and  they have obviously become more and more comfortable every day. They started cleaning themselves and playing with each other well they know I'm watching. Oreo keeps getting his claw stuck in one of the covers to the shelf his brothers are lying on and I run into the closet yelling "Uh Oh Oreo" (hence the title of the blog entry and yes I realize its a horrible joke but I'm usually tired when I write these) The funniest moment though must have been when I saw Moony (the black one) walking away and Oreo playing with his tail. Not far behind Tiberius was chasing Oreo's tail and as I stood up I saw Moony heading towards Tiberius's tail. A chain of kittens playing with each others tails, it was soooooooo cute!

The three brothers in their crate!

Last night we were doing baby food and socializing with the kittens. We started with Moony  and after we were done with the food I was holding him and the lights went out. This resulted in me with a kitten in the pitch black and my mom leaving the room to see if the circuit breaker had shorted out. A few minutes later the lights and fans all came back on at the same time and since I was lying down with Moony i had a very scared kitten on my chest. Oy but at least it had past right? So we take out Tiberius and did the same deal. Once again when we were done with the food the lights turned off again. Again scared kitten this time though as soon as the lights came back on we tossed the kitten in the crate and Oreo didn't get any time with us. This turned out to be smart since then the lights went out for almost two hours. Nice family bonding time since we had two flashlights for five people. After about 20 minutes we had found candles and were all set to go to sleep. On the bright side I did get a few photos for my other blog!

No rants today, too tired. 

Candyland!

The kittens get better with everyday that passes. We barely have to use the falconers gloves that were protecting us from scratches and bites. Black one even lets us pick him up with little to no fight. Today we had another kitten get out of our hands and run around the room. Its first stop, or so we thought, was under the bed. So here we go again, call everyone in and move the bed, but this time to find out that he wasn't under there. So now I get on my stomach again and look under everything only to have him be the last place a looked (funny how that happens) So he was under the dresser, as I reached in he ran away faster than I could move, so the search is on again. He had run to a corner where there was a cat hiding spot so he was easy to catch after that.

All the kittens are now use to my mother and myself and after we take them to the vet on Thursday to deal with fleas and worms we will maybe start letting them into a small controlled room so that they can get use to more and more. We might have found the name for MET, Tiberius maybe? Let me know your thoughts.

I have spent the last few days trying to catch up on Breaking Bad as fast as possible. I love it cause there is no good guys and the writers seem to 1) hate their characters and 2) they don't seem to believe in happy endings which I have believed is the downfall of American media. hopefully they can keep it up and leave me on my toes which very few shows do.

As for the title of this entry I have been playing a lot of Candyland this past two days with the three year old that lives in our house. She always seems able to win somehow.

Escape from the humans!

Today we tried something new with the Kittens, we tried having them all out at the same time. The first time we tried it we had three people and it was very successful all the kittens just sat on our lap and no one needed a towel. They are also all eating the baby food which appears to be crack for them now. The second time we had two people which meant one person had to hold on to two kittens while the other person held the third. This was working out fine and the kittens appeared to be happy so both of us let our guards down just the slightest bit. Like good cats/kittens MET (new name for tabby will cover that in a minute) felt us relax and ran into the bathroom. Then after she was recovered she got unto one of the bookshelves making a lot of noise and effectively scaring the black kitten who I was holding. The black kitten then decided that he should also attempt a escape as well. This included clawing my collarbone. Anyways in all the confusion and getting Black and MET back in the cage Oreo escaped and got under my mothers bed.

I spent time on my stomach trying to get him out without removing the mattress. Oreo decided that Shadow our older feral kitten was the best hiding spot. She did not seem to mind much until we tried to scare him out. Now the fun starts. The plan included four people to move her king sized bed and box springs. So after we scared the crap out of Shadow we finally got Oreo out from under the bed to under my moms headstand. Oreo was back in the cage after another five minutes of me being on my stomach. So yay!

Now to the name MET. My mom and I were equally disappointed when all our kittens turn out to be male. Tabby who was named Tabatha has sent us on a "whats a male name that Tabby can be short for?" search. So today because we have been trying to get use to the fact that she is in fact a he we called him MET or Male Equivalent of Tabatha.

I have been informed today that sometimes my brain comes up with stuff to right a little two fast for my fingers to type them correctly. While I will try my best to cut down on some of these mistakes in the future. Also if a sentence doesn't make sense or appears out of order I will ask you all to pretend that its Yoda talking and try to move things in the sentence around to help you understand it better.

(Yes I made a couple of spelling errors on purpose. Its called comedy look it up.)

Fleas!

Kittens are adapting to house life very well. My mother and I can now pet two of them in the crate with only a limited amount of hissing and spitting. I have to admit that before I got them back to NM I was very worried about all three kittens and their futures. I knew they would be taken cared off but I was worried about how they would react to being around humans. Today I was able to have the towel looser on them and petted more of their bodies. Also black kitten finally ate some baby food from us, also new name ideas for him include: Serious (as in black) Remus or Lupin or Mooney. If you don't understand any of those names you might want to wiki Harry Potter. Also I am now is a search for a new name for Tabatha who despite what I thought is in fact a male kitten.

I spent a lot of time growing up at book stores so today was a very sad day for me. Borders is going out of business like most book stores, its only a matter of time before all Barnes and Nobles close. I enjoyed being able to sit down and read through books to see if it would be something I might enjoy, or being surrounded by people who shared the love of written word and enjoyed talking about books and suggesting books. Hopefully they won't all go out of business but I'm not holding my breath.

Today also marks the day that I kind of sort of start the next part of my journey to Veterinarian school. Unlike Med and Law school there is no test set aside for Vet school, I do however have to take the GRE. I hope I can take it in January during my winter break. Having looked over what the GRE covers it basically looks like the SATs for undergraduates in college. I have a rant about the SATs but that will be for another day I think.

Other than that another early morning for me. Also anyone who also followed my other blog I will probably update it either tomorrow or later this week.

HIPPY BATHDAY!!!!

We will get to the title of the post in a second. Usually I would say most days I start at 10:45 AM would not end up being a extremely busy day, today however was. I almost immediately went out to get the kittens more things (I.E. Kitten food, an actual litter box, toys and something to scratch that is not my hand) Today even though I have held Oreo a couple of times was the first time I held all three kittens. Tabby and black kitten (maybe bear? Neo? Vader?) were both held with a towel around them a couple of times today. The last time the towel was a little looser and they seemed o be more relaxed. I also had two kittens, Tabby and Oreo, eat baby food off of my hand still working on bear/neo/vader to eat from the spoon but I know have new found hope for all three of them. Also Oreo was on my lap and seemed to be very relaxed, in fact four people held him today.

Also a glamor shot of him from yesterdays trip:

And him and his siblings getting use to their new home:

We also found out that not surprisingly they all have fleas but since we don't know their age its almost impossible for us to do anything about them until next week.

I also promised pictures of all the kittens from last summer. Anyone who hasn't seen them I have an album on facebook dedicated to them so check it out.

My KK (use to be Kaylee Kitten but obviously now Kaylee Kitty)

Parker with her odd meow

 Our Sophie

 Puck

 Oz (not owned by my family)

 Sheila (also not owned by us)

And our Tunapiglet (or as everyone else who is no fun calls her Harley)

Other than that I took some fun shots with my camera today.

Ah so you want to know about Hippy Bathday? Its my sisters birthday today so we went out to get the candles you can spell "happy birthday" with. I decided it was boring so one of my brothers my mother and I decided to jumble of the letters. Honorable mention to Hippy Barday.

Don't believe me?

Other than that I think Puck explained how I felt most of the day.

Less pictures tomorrow I promise!

12 hours and a destroyed FedEx truck later

Early morning. 5:10 AM to be exact. Got the kittens in the car and drove for 12 hours straight. All was fine for the most part till we got about 100 miles into New Mexico then everything just stopped. Turns out a FedEx truck and crashed about 5 miles down the road and so they were cleaning up I-40. I then had the fun job of putting together a crate that was just a little smaller than the room it is currently occupying. In the end however we have all three kittens in the crate and relaxing from a long day. Kittens were quite for most of the drive other than Oreo popping his head up until my mother scared him by making eye contact then was not seen from again.

I think tomorrow just has a lot of R and R involved but I promise pictures of the kittens new living situation and last summers kittens all grown up.

I just realized this will be the kittens first night inside so we will see how much sleep I/they get. On the agenda till bed: Red Dwarf and Clash of Kings

Long day, forcast for tomorrow not much better

Today started early and ended late, tomorrow will probably be the same. I woke up and almost immediately made my way through LA traffic to LAX. I get on the 405 it backs up so I get off, Sepulveda a couple miles don backs up so I try to get back on the 405 but the entrance is closed. Once I finally do it starts to clog up a little bit but never really backs up badly. Once I actually got to LAX it wasn't that bad. My mother and I got lunch then made trips around LA to pick up all necessary things for traveling with three small kittens. I'm still not sure the age but my mom said they looked younger than she thought.



Tomorrow includes a 12 hour trip from here to Albuquerque. I knew this day was coming but now that its not that far away I'm really not excited. It will be nice to have the kittens in the house and away from Mama. Oreo remains the only one that will let me pet and hold him but hopefully sometime next week I will hold Tabby and black one.

I did finish A Game of Thrones last night and I can't praise it enough. Even if you watched the show there is more in the books that they couldn't find time for. George R. R. Martin seems to understand all the characters to the point that he give each narrators throughout the story a unique feel and personality. Over 800 pages and I was never bored, in fact I'm very excited for Clash of Kings the sequel. If you haven't read it yet I can't recommend it enough. 

Tomorrow, tomorrow.

Well we are officially just a day away from the kittens being in New Mexico. This turns out to be perfect timing since mama cat is less and less afraid of me everyday. I don't know how many of you have done rescue before, but for feral kittens Oreo has made a huge step. He ate in front of me, TWICE! I know this sounds like the smallest of victories but its huge, it means he really has started to trust me. The other two aren't doing so well so I'm very much looking forward to having help with them.

Nothing much going on today. Shelter (returning crate and trap) reading (less than 50 pages left of a Game of Thrones!) and Red Sox/Video games which I have paired together since I listen to the games. My mom will be landing in LA at 11 AM tomorrow and then we will have some shopping to do. Can say I really have a rant today but I started another British comedy called Red Dwarf, it has potential.

Sorry for the short post today, just a lazy day all around. Started well I actually got nine hours of sleep. If you need your fill of kittens go here. My kitten (from last summer) Kaylee is on there so please if she pops up vote for her!

Three days to go (and rant about British turned American shows)

Not much going on today. I woke up and felt like a car had hit my head. I think it might have something to do with my Insomnia. I have had Insomnia for a while I don't think its ever acted up for a two plus months. I'm going to bed at four AM and waking up constantly before just waking up around eleven. I have been feeling it more and more the past couple of days. Hopefully I can get everything back to normal when I go home.

The only real updates on the kittens are 1) Black and white is named Oreo (and male) and 2) Oreo has let me hold him twice, never struggling or biting. Mama cat was hanging around all day and even came up to me while I was feeding the babies to hiss and spit at me. The kittens also hiss more when mama is around. I don't think I could wait much longer to get them home, they need to get away from mama. I'm very much looking forward to getting them home in three days. I'm just not sure they can wait much longer.

Random rant is on British TV shows that America decides need an American version of. I have been watching the British sit com Coupling, very funny show, for those of you with netflix you can check it out as a watch instantly. My mother confirmed my belief that there was an American version of the show as well, me being the curious guy I am decided to Youtube it last night before bed. They basically took the same script but somehow ruined it. The British actors had better timing and even from the first episode just seemed to understand their characters better. Now this is not to say that no British turned American show is good. I find The Office a fun show. It did take a little while to get there but I think the biggest difference was that it wasn't a carbon copy, they changed it, they didn't keep the same characters. I think for the most part though unless you can make it your own TV networks should leave British shows alone, its not like its in a different language or anything. Rant over.

Red Sox game didn't take five hours today so that was nice.

Visit from family members

Nothing really knew to say about the kittens. Mama cat was all over our garage today, pulling down the blanket on the kittens crate and sitting on top of the crate. The kittens have slowed down on how fast and much they eat which I'm sure is a sign that they are not 1) dying of hunger and 2) worried about where/when they will next have food. Black and white continues to be the bravest and let me pet her and scratch her ears and chin.

My dad and uncle who were in LA for the week came to visit me before they left tonight. It was nice to catch up with my uncle who I hadn't seen in a while and learn about the college/gap year plans of my cousin who is a senior in high school. We visited my college and went to dinner so not really a busy day.

Soccer is boring. That was out of the blue I know but I tried to watch and be interested in the world cup (both men and womens) and I just can't understand it. I feel like they are kicking the ball between the half line for 90 + minutes and randomly get near the goal. In fact when my mom texted me about the first goal my response was "and now nothing else will happen for the nest 25 minutes" and I truly believed that. Now it didn't turn out that way but I must say I much prefer just checking the score after than watching it live. And one last thought, they sure are close for those penalty kicks at the end. I think it would be better if they backed them up a little make it more interesting.

Of course I can't really complain about nothing going on in sports since I have been watching a Red Sox game that is 0-0 in the 11th. Oh well.

UPDATE: Its now 9:21 and its still 0-0 in the 12th. Oy.

UPDATE: 10:14 its the 15th. Where has my night gone?

UPDATE: 10:55 Finally game over Red Sox won 1-0. I had so many plans for tonight.

Relaxing day

In the true spirit of Shabbat I took it easy today. It started last night with just reading my book A Game of Thrones which I would suggest to any of you who haven't read it yet. Also I watched Harry Potter 7 part 1 I could go on a rant here about Harry Potter but I will leave it be. Woke up and turned the Red Sox game on and turned my nerd on for three hours well playing an old video game (Its odd to say that PS1 games are old because it doesn't feel that long ago)

I left the kittens alone for the most part, I fed them and would make sure to pet them everytime. I also went out to just talk to them a couple of times so that they get use to my voice, I did however get a few pictures of them for all of you!

The black and white one is the only one who doesn't run away ever.

Other than that I, like most people in LA this weekend, am staying in the house. I did see that because there are so few cars on the highways that there was a high speed car chase. I thought movie car chases were boring. Maybe it will stay this clear and I can see my father and uncle who are in LA for the weekend but leaving tomorrow.

I just started the Muppet movie and I am slowly realizing that the Muppets are so good because they did what Pixar did years before them. They focused a movie on good story and characters well making it enjoyable for both children and adults alike. I'm very excited to see the new Muppet movie that will be coming out soon.

And so we begin

I know know when I will be taking the kittens home to New Mexico. My mother will be flying in on Wednesday and I leave on Thursday. After talking to my roommate/best friend he and I agreed that the sooner I get the kittens out of the garage and into a house the better. We also talked about moving the kittens into the bigger cage today. This did in fact turned out to be what we did but more on that in a moment.


Today I woke up with a package on my doorstep. My mom had bought and overnighted the first three Muppet movies. I had asked her to send me any free copies she might have in the house because I just remember whenever I had a hard time growing up she would play one of the movies for me. I then went out to feed the kittens and noticed that there were more and more flies everyday and that it was getting ridiculous. I took out their litter box and replaced it in the hope that it would help.

I went to the animal shelter for the first time since Monday today. (By the way if any of you want to know more about the shelter I volunteer at you can google them Pet Orphans of Southern California) I went to the catery and saw a cat that had been adopted over the weekend. I don't know the story but here is my best guess. People thought that they could adopt the cutest cat and everything will be perfect, cat does something wrong and they return her immediately. I wish people actually were willing to commit before taking a cat home and when one thing goes wrong they just turn and dump them. She looked supremely depressed. People can be such fucking idiots when it comes to animals.

I didn't stay there long but as I was leaving I bumped into the person who runs the shelter. She has been talking me through most of the whole process of catching mama cat and kittens so she of coursed asked me how it was going. I was very glad to be able to tell her I had all three, two more people who worked at the shelter walked pass and asked if I was Nathan with the kittens. I guess my name has gotten around. I don't think I understand how great it would be to talk to people who had been what I'm going through and people I could ask questions to and they would actually know the answers.

When I got home I noticed the kittens were still surrounded by flies. I asked my roommate (not the best friend one) to help me make the crate which he did. I then asked the other roommate for help at some point with moving them over. A couple of hours later he came to my room and said he was ready to move them. As we open the crate they have inhabited for a couple of days black cat and Tabby (short for Tabatha) ran out. (luckily I always close the garage door) I moved black and what over and as a picked her up I noticed she wasn't scratching or biting me so I petted her quickly. The flies had definitely  seen her as an all you can eat buffet. I felt so bad for her but no time had to catch the other two. My roommate found Tabby and I quickly picked her up and moved her into the crate (again no hissing biting or scratching so I petted her as well) didn't take long to find little black one (who turned out to be the only one to hiss but no bites or scratches!!!!) and put him in with his siblings. They freaked out because the cage was more open so I called my mother who has all the answers and she said to cover part of their crate. I did and they calmed down. Now for the gross part of cleaning the crate they have been using for three days now. I threw away most of the stuff at the bottom and hosed down the inside.

I took a much needed shower after this whole process and realized for the first time in a long time I actually felt excited/like it was shabbat. I could rest and just relax for a while. No more moving the kittens. Just enjoy some baseball, books and kittens. And then after that I only have a few days till I go home and have help taking care of the kittens. For the rest of the night I see Muppets and dinner with both roommates in the cards. I plan on just taking it easy.

PS I know I said I would have pictures but the kittens were freaked out so I slipped them some wet food and I'm going to let them get use to their surroundings. I will for sure get a picture tomorrow.

Now the hard (maybe fun) stuff begins

"I still don't have her. She runs and hisses more than the other two combined. I am growing increasingly worried that I won't be able to catch her. I know everyone is going to tell me two of three is great and I can't help them all. That's not sitting well with me. I had her in my hands. I let her go. She should be with her siblings now. I know I should be happy and focusing on the two kittens and not the one but part of me (maybe I got this from you idk where else I would) feels like I should have been able to do more or hold on for two more seconds. Even if those two end up living 15 years with you and get fat because they have no worries I am worried I will always wonder what I more I could have done. What I could have done differently. In the past I could say there was something out of my control wither it be your house or the last say being someone else's call, but this time I don't get that safety net. I'm the one who started it. I'm the one who got the supplies. I'm the one who caught mama cat and most importantly I was the one who let tabby go. No one else has been involved in the decision making. This was my first attempt at something this big on my own with little to no support from the people around me. Or people who are literally telling me I can't do things that would make my life just a little easier. What happens if I can't even socialize the two I have? I feel so stupid I'm getting this upset over a kitten. There are thousands out there just like them. What if I had waited a little longer? Or done something sooner? "


This was a letter I sent my mom at 1:30 in the morning right before I went to bed. At 4:30 my roommate woke up and texted me (we both had only a few hours of sleep that night and went to bed early which is why things happen at 4:30) We went out to the garage and finally caught the Tabby girl without much damage (just a few new bite marks but nothing horrible). This by no mean negates the email, I realized that the email describes what the blog is about more than anything I have written so far, me figuring out what I'm doing now that I'm living out in the world without the safety net of my parents (or the program I was on in Israel for the year) I also learned a little about actual animal rescue but luckily I don't have to learn about "not saving them all" for a while longer.


Today I finally let Mama cat go today, she is happy to be out but still hangs around the kittens. I don't know how long it will take for her to lose some attachment for her kittens now that she is spayed but until then I will leave water and food out for her during the day. The kittens themselves are becoming more and more use to the crate they live in but I decided that it was a little small so I went out to buy a new one with multiple levels and more room for the kittens and the stuff they require (i.e. litter box, food and water) as well as giving them space to do kitten things.

So now part two of the plan starts. Two days where I sit in the garage and talk to the kittens, vocally not with petting and such. After those two days I hope to move them over to the other crate. This at least will give me something to do over the weekend and Carmageddon (for those of you who don't know the 405 is being shut down and we all know about LA drivers already)


A kid who lives next door came over to ask if we saw his kitten, I became extremely worried that he considered one of mine his kitten. which makes it much better that in a week or two my mother will come out and help me get the kittens back to NM where I can further socialize them. This couldn't work out better, I think support from people I'm in the same house as (though again I must thank my roommate for helping me catch two of them)


Tonight I'm going to ran out and grab some baby food for the kittens. I have never understood why kittens/cats are so obsessed with it but they can't get enough from my experience. I will probably get a picture of the kittens in their currently cage and what the new cage will look like.

Two down, one to go

Those of you who have followed since the beginning of this blog you might notice that I have changed the title. This I thought described mt life a lot better than the other title.

So as most can tell from the previous post I make plans and then other things happen. I went into the garage to put a Tupperware container in so I could give the kitten I had caught water. I closed the garage door so if the kitten got out of the crate I wouldn't completely lose him/her. After successfully putting the new water bowl in I noticed the black kitten was in there with me, when he noticed me he ran to the garage door and started climbing the door. One he got above my head (I'm about 5" 10) he fell off. As I reached down to grab him I remembered the cat bites and scratches and I hesitated just for a split second, just long enough for black one to come to his senses and run away. I decided to leave him alone and shut the garage door so I could try again today.  As I go to open the garage door I realize the kitten has locked the door AND that for some reason I didn't take my cell phone, this led me to banging on the garage door for a couple of minutes before one of my roommates finally heard me.  

I went to the grocery store last night to pick up some paper plates to feed my newly caught kitten on, as I pulled in I noticed the little black one was in the garage so my roommate (I have two so this is not the one I mentioned yesterday) and I quietly moved in and closed the door. After some running (mostly by both kittens that weren't in the crate already) and trying to catch one in a blanket. As my roommate was focused on Tabby girl, who I was staying away from so as not to have another set of clothing peed on, I noticed that the black kitten was climbing up my garage door, again, in fear that he would take another long fall I quickly reach out and catch him. I started with a pet then grabbed him by the stomach. Much better than both of his/her siblings in not biting me. So now I have two kittens and just one to go.

I was also suppose to let mama cat go today, but I ran with my roommate to San Bernardino for a good chunk of the day. When I came back my roommate and I decided that the Tabby girl might run away if we let the mama cat go since she seemed to be sticking close cause of mama. After a long moral debate with myself I decided that it was probably best to keep her for one more day. It turned out to be the right decision but I didn't know at the time, I don't want to keep her for too long because she is feral, but also every time I had given her water she had flipped the container over and of course the obvious reason of the trap not being very big and the cat like all animals needs to do certain things. After another long conversation with my mom she helped me realize the kittens should be priority and that if mama cat had news paper (which she does) that at least she can cover things and not be sitting in them.  It turns out that my landlord is coming over tomorrow to close off all entrances to under our house so cats can't get under there anymore so I'm glad I have mama cat so I can make sure she isn't under there when they do this. I have never been around people who hate cats to this extent in my life.

Just so everyone knows I will be letting her go tomorrow, even if Tabby is still loose I can't keep mama for too long. I also successfully fed both her and kittens without getting hurt and very limited hissing (all from mama) the kittens have calmed down so hopefully in a day or two I might be able to talk to them. Every cat I have captured has been fed and has water.

I know that the kittens are the priority and that in the end almost every decision I have made is the right ones. I know that cats don't have the emotional ties we have to things, and even though things happen to them they can live on and not remember. I put human emotions to them even though I know I shouldn't. I keep thinking back to the day I took mama cat over to the shelter and walking outside with her in the cage and her kittens surrounding her. I shouldn't let this things get to me because I know they are different. I know all these things but for some reason I'm having a hard time internalizing it.

I'm going to try and catch Tabby girl tonight, I hope I can get her. If not I'm worried that I will not be able to. But I'm also worried because these kittens need to be socialized as soon as possible.

I will let you all know tomorrow.

Where do I start?

For those who don't know me, I'm 21 and I am about to enter my Junior year of college as a Bio Ethics major (don't ask I don't know) in the hopes of become a veterinarian. I'm not the best at punctuation and spelling things right so I'm sorry in advance. 

A lot has happened this summer, I moved out of my parents house to LA for school, me and my long time girlfriend broke up, I have had several job interviews to no avail and I started volunteering at an animal shelter five days a week for an hour and a half a day. Long story short my summer has been stressful and boring.

About a two weeks ago, much to one of my roommates displeasure I noticed that I had what I thought at the time was a kitten living outside. I knew she was too old for socializing but I decided to feed her (and probably a few of the neighborhood cats) It wasn't long before I noticed that she was not the kitten but the mom cat. Thats right she had three little kittens, one black and white, one completely black and one tabby girl (more on that later) that looks exactly like her mother.

Since I work at a shelter I asked them for their help as I upped what I was feeding the mom and kittens. They were out of cat traps but would let me know as soon as they got them in. Finally on Friday they emailed me to let me know that they had three traps in and I could have one and they would also give me a cage to hold the kittens in since they had no room for them and there is still hope for socializing them.

I then had to convince my roommates to let me have them in the house for a short period of time before I could get them back to my family in NM. To do this I had to email other shelters to see if they had room this led to a very confusing email that contained this paragraph:

"Tell your room mates that they should be thinking about something else other than ME ME ME and grow up to the reality of the change change change America voted in to office a couple of years ago. We got our CHANGE and soon they may be homeless and jobless as well.

Hang in as kitten season will soon pass and people will be looking to adopt and take the older ones. That is if there are any people left  in California and especially L.A. that have a job.

God Bless you for your caring, not all that common these days."

I repeat all I asked was if they had room for three kittens.

Anyways the sane people that emailed me back said that they did not have room and would not have room probably for months. This all helped me finally convince my roommates to let me have them in my room. Great plan? Done deal? time to relax till I get them? Enter landlord.

Now I don't have a copy of my lease but I could have sworn that I was allowed to have animals with a small deposit. Nope. One of my roommates told him about the plan and he had a bad experience in the past with cats and flees. I talked to him for about ten minutes but he did not see why they had to be inside, but he would let me use to garage. Alright not the best plan but you have to roll with the punches. 

Finally I got the cat trap on Monday (yesterday) and I set it up. I'm hoping to get the kittens then the mom since I had to get the mom spayed. Less than 20 minutes after I put the trap out I went out to show my roommate how it works, who is in the trap? Mom. The cats much like my landlord don't care about my plans. Oh well, I ran her over to the shelter which sent me to a vet to get her spayed this morning. 

I ran to target this morning to get all the supplies needed to have the kittens live in the garage (litter box, litter, toys, towels, a tower fan and light bulbs) Then I ran over to the vet to pick up the mama cat who is to stay in the trap until tomorrow morning. Okay so I set up the kittens living cage and think I will wait till tomorrow to try and catch them (by now I should know I shouldn't have plans) As I returned from the gym the black and white kitten was in the garage and ran to the back so I rushed inside and shut the door. The kitten trying to get out (having never been close to a human) it freaked when it saw me. I quickly grabbed it, it got a few bites on me before I could grab the scruff of its neck and relax it. I quickly tossed it into the cage that was set up for it and its siblings. 

Thinking I was done for the day I went inside put a band aid on my bite marks. I then thought about how the kittens usually hang out in my friends car so I opened the engine to see if they were there. The tabby girl was in fact sitting right on the engine. She ran to the garage so I thought it would be the same as her sibling. This time the kitten didn't relax when I grab the scruff of her neck but in fact peed on me (this was in fact when I noticed she was in fact a girl) and bit me before I let her go. So now I'm definitely done for the day and will just wait till tomorrow when I get the trap back, with my current track record I will probably just end up catching the mom four times.

I then realized I had zero idea how to actually socialize a cat that has never been near humans before. Luckily I know how to use google and found some websites. I found one I think fits the best and will thus try my best to follow it. This is the sad part, because the kittens are so scared of me I won't be able to take pictures of them because I don't think it will do much more than freak them out. I will try to take pictures of the shelters kittens and publish them here. 

So now you might be asking why I decided I wanted to put this in blog form. Basically I'm doing this by myself, my mother has been helpful but there is very little she can do from a couple of states away. I want a place to discuss what I'm doing and just vent over whats going on in my life. I'm worried because I don't think I will ever know if catching the kittens is the best thing to do. I guess I can only hope for the best. This whole process will probably take six weeks or more. If you want to read what the plan is go here I will probably blog everyday, after the whole process I might decide to continue this blog, we will see.

 mom

 Black and white (before capture)

 Black

If you click you can see tabby girl in the back round.