AWOL?

Oh my, has it really been nearly a month since I blogged?

I have a number of excuses reasons for having been a little AWOL recently.

Firstly preparing for, and exhibiting my art work at,  Derbyshire Open Arts.  This year I took inspiration from my foster family and created a series of water colour illustrations.  I had a lot of fun planning, sketching and painting them.  I enjoyed talking to visitors about the stories behind them too.  I'm going to get my thinking cap on and create an original for the Sheffield Cats Shelter to use in a future raffle, so watch this space!

Here's my display at the event:-

Curious Cat Creative - exhibiting

The second excuse is; getting to grips with being a cat mummy to 9.....yes you read that correctly, 9.....  

As you know, Wendy sadly returned to the shelter at the end of last month. Thankfully there was quickly a happy ending for her as she has now been adopted :)  

The kittens stayed with me and had their final injections and were also neutered.  I liked to let them spend as much time as possible in our main room.  This gave them the chance for supervised mixing with my cats and also the oportunity to play on the big cat tree.  It became evident that little William was not fond of The Tribe. He saw no problem with trying to warn off a cat ten times his size!!

In return, The Tribe were not overly keen on him.  In contrast the girls were facinated by the big cats, especially Billy.  They watched him and tried to creep up close to get a sniff!

The girls move in....

The third thing to impact on me recently was poor Billy.  First he went lame on his front paw.  He held it right up away from the floor and was obviously in serious discomfort.  A visit to the vets was in order.  She had a good feel around to check for broken bones, but there was nothing obvious.  The next stage was an x-ray to rule out a fracture completely.  The x-ray proved inconclusive.  He was given pain killers and perscribed cage rest.  Billy was not happy.

Caged up Billy - taunted by kittens....

After a week we were back at the vets, Billy was still lame. This time she spotted something new. It turned out that he must have been bitten at the top of his leg, By now the swelling was starting to show and the vet spotted the wound.  In a way this was good news as this would be quicker to heal than a potential strain.

Once the wound opened up and the new medication got to work, the swelling receded and he was able to start bearing weight again. Two weeks of keeping him inside was a bit depressing for him, so I'm very glad it didn't have to go on for much longer.

It wasn't long, however until he was giving me cause to worry again.  This time it was when he failed to come home one Friday evening.  I'd seen him in the garden during the afternoon, but when it came to feeding time later on, he was nowhere to be seen. He was still missing on Saturday morning and we starting asking neighbours to check their sheds etc. By Sunday morning there was still nothing. We were really worried and had slept really badly.  Thankfully, our upset was short lived as Billy appeared on the front windowsill, as if nothing had happened, on the Sunday afternoon. Phew.


That weekend was extra hard as the kittens were due to go back to the Shelter the following week.  We had pretty much made our mind up to try and keep Whisper, the smallest who we have renamed Millie. With all the upset over Billy, I just didn't want to give the kittens up at all.  Unfortunately, there was no way I could keep William.  He didn't like my cats and in return they didn't like having him around.  Sadly I returned William to the Shelter and filled out my adoption papers for Whisper and Willow.

So now William waits at the Shelter for his forever home

And so to the Shelter, for the last few times I've been working in Infirmary. One week Emma's kittens were in there temporarily while she was working. When it was their turn for cleaning they took full advantage of the freedom.

Let me out!!

Her previous kittens Grace and Gabrielle were quickly adopted and itwasn't long before little George found his home too.

In infirmary this week, I met Bob and Dave!  Fab names for cats!

Bob

Bob was constantly trying to get hold of me, my cloth or my gloves through his bars.  He managed on several occasions!  Once out of his compartment he was loving and affectionate, a lovely cat who shouldn't take long to find a home.

Dave

Dave looked like he'd had a rough time, he had stiches at the top of his leg and there was a definate thinning of his fur on his back.  The good news is that he is already pre-adopted so, as soon as he's ready, he'll be off to a new home.

Two pregnant white cats were brought in last week and have now given birth.  One of the cats had a rough time and sadly not all the kittens survived. I was amazed by the eyes!  One blue and one green, such a stunning cat!

Mums and their kittens

What a beauty!

This Saturday the shelter are holding one of their yard sales, so if you're able, why not go and have a look what is on offer?  I can highly recommend the cakes! 

Right I'm off, I've got to get a new banner for this page......