Home sweet home

Nice to be home. The kitties missed me of course. The neighbour took wonderful care of them as usual, even buying me glasses to replace one she broke. She didn't really have to. There are more even at the other house plus stuff I still have not unpacked. The cats seem to like the enclosure. No responses yet on my cats up for adoption. Mocha is also responding well to her medications. She is on antibiotics and metacam. I am not sure why the other vet, only prescribed steroids :(

an honourable mention

R.I.P. to my three furbabies who crossed the bridge here at Poland. I miss you very much and wish things had been different. But I promise you though, your crossing to the rainbow bridge will not be in vain. I am going to adopt out as many kitties from the cat house that I can, so that they will get all the love and affection they deserve. Meowmy wishes she could still take care of all of you, but Grandpa is sick and needs all my attention. You will not be forgotten Fredo, Tippy and Wiley. I will love and remember you always.

a day in the cat house

The cats seem to be happy in the cat house now that one of the enclosures are installed and Joe put in these led stick lights I bought from Costco, they can be turned on or off by remote control. I went in again, did the litters and fed them their wet food. They sure love their wet food.

Poland house

my new home in Poland

for some reason, i can't upload another picture. Have been living here since October. It's a wonderful home with a history. Used to be the old Warsaw hotel. Bought a schoolhouse shed to give the kitties their own space. Yesterday we finally attached one of the enclosures and the kitties are happy for the fresh air and explore their surrounding. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't permitted us to be able to install the other enclosures as there is too much hard snow and ice surrounding the bottom of the shed. It's a work in progress and I am also having to find homes for most of the kitties. Having my father living with me full time and has dementia, it is difficult as I am spread thin. Will post again later

long time gone.....

It's been awhile since I have posted. This is a picture of my home in Campbellford. I am planning on selling it by Spring. I have relocated to a new home in Poland, Ontario. Alot has happened since I bought the house in Campbellford. I lost 3 cats shortly after moving, my Jack, Cassidy and Blackie. I brought my Father to live with me and my sister is now living with her boyfriend in Campbellford and sadly we are estranged.

R.I.P. My Sweet Chelsea

I was at the vets today. Had to take my poor Chelsea to be put to sleep. I knew she was really sick and hoped it was her teeth or a upper respiratory but sadly my Chelsea had mammary and oral cancer. She was feral. She would not allow me to get close. I had hoped she and her children would come around but unfortunately they remained feral. Zeus her son is semi feral, as he will not let me touch him but he no longer runs away from me in fear like he used to. He does not always keep his distance but his momma never came around. She was 7 years old at the time that I rescued her. She, her daughter Velvet and her son Zeus, were living in the ravine behind a house a few streets over from me. The Lady who owned the house with her husband, was dying of cancer and could no longer take care of them. A friend of mine and I went over there for a few nights until we had successfully trapped all and took them to be spayed and neutered. Unfortunately,some females who are spayed late in life, having gone through many heat cycles before being spayed, can develop mammary cancer. Her tumour was quite large and it must have caused her alot of pain. I just wish she had not been feral and I was able to notice she was sick earlier. But Chelsea was 11 years old, she had 4 years with me and my zoo, alot longer than she would have lasted outdoors. It just saddens me every time I lose one. Especially when I never really got a chance to know her and named her after one of my favourite Bon Jovi songs, Midnight in Chelsea.

R.I.P. my sweet Chelsea. You are on the wings of angels now. I will never forget you.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” ― Lewis Carroll

so true. Sometimes you wake up and feel undecided about what you want to do and sponteneity usually works for me. I love to travel and explore new places and not knowing where I am and finding an interesting place can be very exciting. Not always knowing where you are and where you want to go does not have to be scary. Having everything mapped out for you is not always a good thing. Routine kind of sucks the life of things sometimes. I find my life too routine at best and love to mix things up.

meow for now....

Snappy tom litter

the new litter that I am using in the new litter boxes in the den seem to be working. All the cats are using the boxes and not the floor. It really is a good litter. They are crystal type balls and it was easy to scoop out the poop and the urine just dissolves. i guess the cats using the den were too lazy to go to the alcove or they just don't like the feline fresh I use in the other boxes. Some cats are finicky that way I guess.

I also got a bunch of donated cat food from my friend at Global so I have more than enough now to feed my not so little feline zoo. It really helps. The food is actually quite good too. I lucked out this time. It's food by fromm and you can actually see the big chunks of chicken they use with a thick brothy sauce. cats love to lick off the broth and leave a few bits if chicken in the bowl. But I leave it out for awhile and the chicken eventually gets eaten. Too bad Jack does not like canned cat food as I am sure it is quite tasty. he likes his chicken cooked and then I add the addlife powder from wysong along with his viokase. He has chronic pancreatitis and his system is unable to process the food normally, so the viokase helps his system along.

The enclosure is still a big hit. I scooped out the litter box and it was quite full. some of the cats, like Angus have learned how to get back up through the enclosure. The other cats don't seem curious enough yet but Sam, one of my colony rescues loves to lie in the enclosure near the bathroom. I just need to put a climber or a step ladder in the bathroom to make it easier for Jack or the other upstairs kitties to get into the enclosure. It is a small bathroom and my gets around in a walker so I have to be careful about what I put in there, does not obstruct her in any way.

Tomorrow, Kris from cat's den is coming back to put an enclosure off the kitchen porch. that will be great for the kities like Beauty, Smokey and Sawyer. To encourage them to use the enclosure and not be outside. It will be secure enough that when we open the kitchen door we no longer have to worry about cat's escaping.

anyway, that's all for now....

How many is too many?

Whose to say how many cats is too many? When my eyes linger to the left of my bed while I am laying under my soft sheets and new duvet cover I recently bought on ebay, and see all the cats snoozing away, inevitably covering my bed in fur, i don't care. I love my cats. Wish I had less than what I have? I don't know. It's a hard thing to answer knowing where these kitties came from and wonder what their fate would have been, had I not been there to intervene. My most recent rescues were kittens, now adults, were found under a pile of wood in my neighbours backyard. Others I rescued from a junkyard, the momma kitty seeking refuge in an old range rover with her kittens. Others I rescued from horrible hoarding situations, some from my backyard and the rest from a neighbour up the street who just dumped them on me. When I see them all curled up against each other or wrapped with each other or enjoying the new enclosure I built or climbing the new all in one activity centre I bought at the pet show, I am glad I chose to be their meowmy. Even after money I have spent at the vets, money I have spent on food, on having to get a pricey new vacuum cleaner or a carpet cleaner, it is worth it. The only down side is that a few of them still do not have the best litter box habits, meaning they do not use one, but considering the amount of cats I have, it is to be expected I guess. There will always be messes to be cleaned up after, but that is a choice I made and as long as I have the right tools and product, I do okay.

And the number one reason I am glad I rescued these cats and that I am their meowmy and zookeeper, is when my cat Chance finally came back to my bed to cuddle. He was holding out on me for awhile to be with a momma feral cat Gigi, for reasons I don't really understand, but she is an awesome momma. That story is for another day.

Meow for now.....

A real gale force running through here

It is a real windy night. It's amazing how the weather can change on a dime here. I just never get used to it. I had to take out some recycling and bags of litter for the Thursday pickup. We could barely walk in the hallway with all the bags filling the floor of the hallway. I also had to run some errands today and the weather was real nice that I only wore a long sleeve tshirt over a short sleeve one, But now there is such a strong wind blowing threw our driveway, it does not seem believable that it just turned so suddenly. I got my mom's meds, some groceries and pet food. I was loaded up on my scooter and bags kept dropping off as I was trying to get home. But I finally did. The social worker came by too, thankfully she had the monthly cheque in hand. It will help defray against the cost of the groceries, meds and the pet food. Mostly.

I wish I could get a Dyson. Every time the commercial comes on. Maybe I will. I don't know. On Consumer report, the hoover seemed to fair better. But the Dyson is famous for not losing suction that with all these cats in my home, it is real tempting.

I am also excited about the cat enclosure getting installed on Wednesday. I hope between now and then, my mom will be okay and she does not have to go back to the hospital if her leg does not heal up properly.

Anyway, I am going to tuck in now with my new library books. Most of them Cookbooks, but one a mystery and the other a cat behaviour book.

Meow for now....

Bissell Pro 2x clean shot did not disappoint.

I finally used the Bissell pro 2x cleanshot that I bought at Costco. I took out even the most stubborn stains with the hand tools. No wasting of cleaning solution as it has a seperate tank. I went through the bottle of cleaning solution plus a big bottle of Zep carpet cleaning solution that I bought at home depot. It really performed well and I was very happy. I have a wall to wall in my very large bedroom. It is a bit of work having to refill the solution and pour out the dirty water and refill the hot water but it is amzing how much dirty wwater there was. Since it has a seperate tank for the clean water, it worked out really well. I hope to use it on my mom's carpet upstairs. Now I am debating about getting the Dyson animal as the hoover windtunnel upright right now seems to be gettng tired and the bissell picked up alot of hair that the vacuum cleaner did not.

Anyway, I am happy with the results and will probably give my carpet a good cleaning at least once a month. With a large multiple cat household it is really hard to stay ahead. It also works on floors so I would like to see how the Bissell cleans my ceramic tiles, the grout really can get dirty.

Meow for now....

a treasure trove of books I found at the value village

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”

― Charles W. Eliot


Yesterday I took a quick trip to the value village near my home. I always find some great books at bargain prices. They are always in good condition. I love to read of course and add them to my library so when I run out of library books to read, I read from my own collection. I really should go through my books and give away the ones I have read and do not plan on reading again to make room for the new additions.

The titles I found are:

The Lake of Dead Languages, Carol Goodman
The Murder Room, PD James
Vets Almighty, James Herriot
Drowning Ruth, Christina Schwarz
Love in the time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I have already started reading the Lake of Dead Languages. It seems really good so far.

Meow for now...

Snappy Tom, the new flavour for my kitties triple mix

At the All About Pets show on Friday, I bought 4 small bags of the new dry food Snappy Tom. It has these little fish shaped kibble inside and it smells good. I got a bag in my last donation and wanted to buy some when I had a chance. The cats all gather around when I lug their big bags of cat food to refill the food bins. Dry food here last 6 days approximately, sometimes more, sometimes less, but usually six days. I use Chicken soup for the cat lover's soul and Taste of the Wild, which I found out is also made by Diamond foods. They also make/distribute the feline fresh litter line I use. I normally do not putt all my eggs in one basket with regards to product line, but they are a good food and litter. Then I add the choice kitty mix from Petvalu. That is my triple mix but this time I added the snappy tom. The kitties still had food from when I refilled their bowls before I went to sleep, so I just topped it up. The way they gather around food bowls or watch while I am filling the bins, it's like they are starving. Cinnamon even likes grabbing a helping right out of the bin. Just climbs right in.

I just heard the roar of thunder. No more sunny days. Rain and now I have to go and let a few of the cats in. I have 3 that like to go out. They do not stray far. They just stay in the backyard and come when I call them back in. I made sure to microchip and collar them anyway. Smokey Joe is much happier and he loves to cuddle on me when I am outside having my coffee and cigarette.

All the cats are safely inside now. Beauty, Smokey Joe and Sawyer. The Satellite even went on the fritz and now it's okay. I guess it was the thunder.

My mom is sleeping upstairs, after I made her coffee, egg and toast. She is in palliative care at home and my sister and I are the primary caregivers. Her Brother and his friend are probably now in the air on the way back to Spain. They spent about 6 days here and now my mother is missing him, maybe that is why she was in a bad mood again this manner.

Now that I have done the litter boxes, refilled the dry food and let the cats in, I am going to watch the rest of Fringe, which I am woefully behind and then get a few episodes in of CSI. I am just dead tired from taking my uncle around yesterday and with the rain I can't take out my scooter anyway.

Meow for now.

Dirt begone!

When you have a not so feline zoo how do you keep it clean? What kind of products do you use? Do you buy biodegradable, organic or just the regular cleaning stuff. When you have little paws who live, eat, walk, sleep close to the ground like they do, you need to make sure it is safe. I try to buy petsafe products but I also need to use stuff that best economizes my time and budget. I buy what's on sale and buy it in bulk so it lasts awhile. Rather than use a mop, I use the swiffer wetjet. They say it is safe as it dries very quickly. I just find it too useful to ignore. I realize I am adding more garbage since they are disposable pads but they do their job. I don't have to worry about running out of washable pads like I do with my steamer or using dirty water like with a mop and pail. I don't have the luxury of a laundry sink so I would have to dump my dirty water down the bathtub and then have to washout the bathtub each time. So what is worse, wasting water or having more garbage? I recycle just about everything, compost just about everything and use natural pine litter which is biodegradable. It flushes but given that I have had plumbing problems in the past due to roots in my pipes from the neighbouring trees, I could no longer afford our toilet clogging up. So I take out my litter with the compost and no more worries.
I have started using natural and biodegradeable washing detergent and use products like Method for my cleaning supplies. But one day I will have to get rid of my wall to wall carpet in my room. All the other rooms in my home are vinyl tile or ceramic tile. Having so many cats in my home, given it is a rescue and sanctuary has it's challenges. There is always hairballs, some cats not using the litterbox for their poos and pees and dry food that scatters on the floor. Keeping the litterboxes clean is also a challenge since I am not the only one doing them. There is an art to doing the litterboxes and no-one is ever going to do them the same way. But I like to remove every little lump and clump so that it looks like a fresh new box.

But the best cleaner by far is a mixture of white vinegar, water and baking soda and by far the cheapest. It's all purpose and can be used on floors, counters, appliances, wherever your four legged friends like to walk or jump on.

anyway, today is laundry and cleaning day so I need to get cracking.

Meow for now....

Do your cats love to climb the walls?

then this is perfect!! If they ship to Canada I would love to get one. I still have a few more doors I can hang it from. Just got back from the pet store. The owners were kind enough to donate some more food for my Not so little feline zoo rescues. My cats at feeding time, act like they have not eaten. They sure love their canned food. The donated stuff is the real deal too, Felidae, lots of it.

Meow for now.....

One4pets All-in-One Portable Cat Activity Tower is a welcome addition for my feline rescues

At the One4Pets exhibit at the All About Pets show at the International Centre in Mississauga I bought the All-in-One Portable Cat Activity Tower and it's a hit!!!

My cats really like it and it was not hard to assemble. It saves on floor space and is much sturdier and nicer than the one made by kittywalk systems. I decided to try this activity tower instead of buying a climber as I am lacking in floor space. Kitties love to hide so it is perfect. Even my Starbuck who is shy to come out at the best of times, I found him hiding out in the tower.

Check out this activity centre and other neat stuff at http://www.one4pets.com/portable-cat-activity-tower/

Today I walked some of the cats and they found a friend

I got back awhile ago from going grocery shopping and stocked up on pet food. My uncle is coming this Friday from Spain and my Sister and are are going to the All About Pets show so it will be a busy weekend. Also this weekend is Easter so the stores will be shuttered Friday and Sunday. I now have enough food for at least a month I think. I buy these bags of Kitty mix from petvalu that I mix in with their regular dry food and it makes the food last longer. Petvalu repackages broken bags of dry food from the warehouse and resells them under the kitty mix bags. The choice mix is the best one as it has the premium blends. The regular kitty mix I use to feed the outdoor cats. I also still have soem donated dry food so the kitties in the backyard will have enough for a long while.

Last night I started to orgamize my wardrobbe. the thing is huge and fits lots of stuff. I put some stuff in baskets, some stuff to hang and bought some hooks to hang stuff on the doors like my bathrobe and stuff. I just love have the extra space!

I also saw a white kitty this morning, when I took food for the outdoors cats out to the shed I bought for them a few years ago. The white cat had tabby markings but was mostly creamy white with blues so it most likely a purebreed, proably siamese or maybe a short snowshoe? I am not like an expert on purebreeds.

When I got home, some of the cats wanted to go on a walkabout. The neighbour's son's Girlfriend was out friend with her new dog, Elvis, a 3 month old part yorkie and terrier. A real sweetie, the only cat that actually tolerated Elvis was Jack. Check out the video I uploaded to Youtube.

meow for now.....

Today has been a good day

I finally got my wardrobe from Ikea built!!!

I bought it awhile ago when I went to buy a chaise for my mom's room so I could sleep nights with or just spend time with her. I found everything on sale, including the Wardrobe. It is called Kullen and it is such a relief to finally have more closet space without being a built in. It was regular $200.00 but I found it for $50.00 in the as is section. A friend of mine was helping me build it awhile ago but we made a mistake and had to undo everything. She left shortly after and did not offer to return. I guess she was embarrassed. I really don't know. Anyway I had almost given up hope that it would be built. Normally I can do these things myself, since I built an armoir for the kitchen several years ago and some bookcases and a TV stand since then. But I have just been too tired and busy taking care of my mom. Then another friend recommended the brother of someone we know. They also do cat rescue. He's known to do good work and helps those of us in need. Anyway, he came this morning and left just before 3pm and he did a terrific job. I am so happy and excited to finally have this wardrobe. The $83.00 I paid him to build it was more than worth it. Tomorrow I am planning to get some wallpaper to line the shelves and the back and then I will begin filling it.

The next good thing that happened today was my mom coming home. The Doctor said she was doing much better and could come home. After my friend left, I proceeded to make dinner for tonight, it is the second night of Passover, took a shower and then went to pick up my mom from the hospital with my Brother.

Tomorrow is shopping day and need to get the house and back and front yard ready for when my uncle and his friend come from Spain on Friday.

Meow for now.....

Walmart isn't just for shopping anymore,,,,

One of the members of one of my cat groups on Yahoo came home with a 2 day old kitten after a trip to Walmart for groceries. A lady in front of her was holding the wee one in a towel while she was going through the check out line. The lady had told that her dog had brought it home and she couldn't find the mom. She asked if she had ever raised newborns, "No". My friend wished her good luck, that it was lots of work and hard to keep alive. She asked if she had and her reply was yes and that if she could please take it... she had a bottle and formula. Her husband would probably kill her but she said okay and that she would be together with the 9 rescues she already had at home.

The Kitten is now 4 days old. She is real cute, a tortie and once at home realized she is a Manx(tailless). Feedings are every two hours for the next week at least. So will be getting up every 2 hours for least a week now. Awesome isn't it? Anyway here are a few pictures....

any ideas on a name........