daily dose of dogs (aka cats with your coffee)

Four Friends

In June, I did a Wildlife Wednesday post that included a joyous story about Older Daughter’s four fawns that she raised this year.  They were successfully released.  Then one day in May all four walked out of the field into the edge of her yard.  It was so touching.  We see lots of deer out here in the country where we live.  From a distance there is no way to know if any of these might be one of the four Wild Angels.  There’s also no way to know if the four have stayed together or set out on their own.   But a couple of weeks ago, Older stepped out of her house, and all four of her babies (now beautiful young adults) were standing at the edge of her yard.  This is the kind of thing that brings a smile . . .  a gigantic smile.

 

See you next week.

Halo

Halo came to Winnie’s Wish in the Summer of 2011 as one of fifteen cats and kittens from the same location.  I won’t retell that story, but if you haven’t read it or have forgotten that group (the largest group I’ve ever taken in all at once), you can read it by clicking here:  Rescue – Fifteen Cats and Kittens.

This group became known as the Fantastic Fifteen.  Halo was one of this group.  (She is the only one from the group still here.)   She was a young mom kitty at the time, probably a couple of years old (no way to know for sure).  So she is at least 10 years old now but could be older.  She has been adopted from Winnie’s Wish twice, but is back here to stay now.  I won’t put her through any more big changes.  She will live out her remaining years right here.

Halo was extremely shy when she came here.  She never did get completely over that.  She is still shy today but SO sweet.  The problem with Halo is that lots of things scare her.  When she was returned the second time, I tried moving her into a dog-run-converted-to-kitty-condo.  But she was so afraid that she stopped eating.  I kept her there anyway, thinking that after a few days she would start eating out of compelling desire for food.  But she did not.  And on the fifth day I moved her back to the cathouse.  I have two enclosures in the cathouse.  The larger one in the third room was occupied by Fannie.  So Halo moved into the small one in the middle room.  She settled in and started eating immediately.  Her life in that enclosure, however, made me sad to the point of tears.  What kind of life was that – in a small enclosure day in and day out.

 

 

I wanted to try her again  (I’d tried this before her second adoption) out with the other cats in the room.  But Halo is so timid and so fearful that she does nothing but hide when she is out in the population.  In the middle room, she lives under the couch – not coming out to eat, drink, or use the litter box.  In the third room, where there is no couch, she goes onto the outside deck and never comes back in – not to eat, drink, or use the litter box.  So I knew I had to move her into the bigger enclosure even though Fannie was living there at the time.  Since Halo could NOT live in one of the kitty condos in my kennel, I decided to try Fannie there.  It took a while, but Fannie adjusted and is now VERY happy with her new digs.  Halo moved into the large enclosure in the third room of the cathouse where she finally feels safe and seems to be happy.  I still brainstorm on a regular basis to come up with an even more perfect arrangement for Halo.  The best I can tell myself is that she is safe and healthy and that she feels protected and knows I love her.

 

 

Halo -  Winnie’s Wisher since 2011.  When you support Winnie’s Wish, you’re helping to take care of Halo.  When you care about Winnie’s Wish, you care about Halo.

 

Before I end this post, let me send out some thanks.  Usually, I do my thank yous without further comment.  But today, let me just say this to all of you who continue to help with the cats of Winnie’s Wish – It is WONDERFUL to have your help.  Transitioning to 100% sanctuary has not changed the costs here at all.  It’s the same amount of space to heat and cool, same amount of food, litter, flea prevention, vaccinations, cleaning supplies, etc.   So THANK YOU to all of you who continue to help these Wisher sweethearts.

 

Andrea – THANK YOU.

 

Heather – THANK YOU.

 

And Ginny – THANK YOU.  (Wild Angels thanks you, too.)

 

Speaking of Wild Angels, I have only one picture to post tomorrow.  There are no new stories to tell as Older has fewer and fewer in her care this time of year.  But she did send me a picture that is pretty great.  See you then.

 

 

 

My computer died. So I'm trying to compose this blog post on my phone which is very difficult for me. I hope to be back next week.

Bunny

Last week I highlighted Kizzie – a bobtail, tabby, one-eyed Wisher who showed up here in 2014.  He was an older, feral kitten who literally showed up at the front door of the cathouse.   He was the first.  There were three more to come after him.  I eventually put together what I believed was the family connection.  Kizzie and Bunny were littermates.  Yardley and Nisha were mom and aunt, respectively.  Luckily, Yardley and Nisha were adopted (together) and continue to live The Good Life.  Kizzie and Bunny will continue to live their lives here at Winnie’s Wish.

I reminded you last week of how completely strange Kizzie’s coming truly was.  Of course at the time, I assumed that he was the only one.   Then Yardley showed up.  Then Bunny.  And what a story it was.  (You can read it by clicking here – Another Kismet.)   An excerpt from that post will serve as a reminder of how Bunny joined the ranks of the Wishers:

What happened next is just as unbelievable as discovering Kismet (Kizzie) right underneath the front step to the cathouse.  If I was reading this somewhere else, I’m not sure I would even believe the next part of the story.  Which is why I am THRILLED that I got a picture when I did.  There’s no denying it.  I have the proof.

About mid-morning, I stepped out the back door and took a quick peek through my binoculars at my empty trap.  I went down the steps, started a conversation with Arnold the Pig, and was about to step through a gate and head to the kennel when I stopped dead in my tracks.  I sucked in my breath so hard it made Arnold squeal at me.  I wasn’t seeing things.  It was true.  There was the white cat.  Sitting ON the front step to the cathouse!   I turned directly around, heart pounding, and went for my camera.  I knew my evidence would probably be gone by the time I could get back out, but nope - there it was.  My hands were practically shaking as I fumbled for my zoom.

Bunny is a bobtail just like Kizzie.  This brother and sister pair remain close.  They live in a room together with four other cats.  Those six get along great.  Bunny lets me pet her and hold her for a few minutes at a time.  I do love my Bunny.

Here are some pictures of Bunny.  The first one is right after she got here (skinny and sickly – she ended up hospitalized not long after).  I’m ending the post with a couple more pictures of Kizzie.  This is because I couldn’t help but get tickled by some of the comments on last week’s post about what a chubby boy the Kizmet is.  Well, here’s the weird part about that.  Kizzie is only chubby in the winter.  Every year he slims down in the spring and fattens up in the fall.  The pictures in last week’s post were of Kizzie last winter.  The pictures I’ve included today show his slimmer summer physique.  Bunny tends to do this a bit, too, but not nearly so noticeably as does Kizzie.

 

Bunny, with mom Yardley

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bunny -  Winnie’s Wisher since 2014.  When you support Winnie’s Wish, you’re helping to take care of Bunny.  When you care about Winnie’s Wish, you care about Bunny.

See you next week.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Raccoon Life

At this time of year, Older Daughter is releasing the last of her wildlife babies.  They have been in outdoor enclosures, and she has given them everything she can to assure their successful return to the wild.  Older often sees her wildlife babies (now on the road to becoming adults) out in their natural habitat.  It’s a nice reward for all her hard work.  This time, it was me who got to experience that joy.  I’ve been lucky enough to see some of Older’s raccoons living life as happy, healthy, wild raccoons.  First, Husband and I were walking and exploring at the river (about a mile from our house).  I saw the raccoons playing on a driftwood pile and hoped my phone camera would be enough to zoom in and get some pictures.

 

 

Then, I was at Older Daughter’s house doing a favor for her.  I walked over to a tree at the edge of her property because there was quite a commotion up in the branches.  As it turns out, it was two raccoons playing.  They froze when they saw me. 

 

 

As I walked back to Older’s house, I passed by a den where a mother groundhog had raised her family back in the Spring.  Out popped a little head.  I still had my phone out after taking the picture of the two in the tree.  So I quickly snapped this, before it disappeared into the underground den.

 

 

What a joy to witness the success of Older Daughter’s hard hard work.  Raccoon Life in the wild – nice!

See you next week.

 

Kizzie

Back to the sanctuary kitties of Winnie’s Wish!

The highlighted Wisher of the day is Kizzie.  He became a Wisher almost exactly five years ago.  His given name was Kizmet because it means fate or fortune (I will remind you of why he received that name).  But he quickly became Kizzie and that’s the name he comes to and goes by.  Here is how he got his name.  (excerpt from the 2014 post, which you can read by clicking here) 

Last week, on Wednesday, there was an “occurrence” here that was initially horrifying.  My dogs let me know that something was happening in the area between my house and the “shelter area.”  I was creeping down the gravel walkway trying to discover if a rabbit or some other little creature was in the blackberry bushes.  What I discovered instead was one of my Winnie’s Wishers sitting underneath the front step to the cathouse.  I was frozen there staring at this tabby face with my mind racing.  Only a few seconds went by, but it was plenty of time for me to flash through the pictures of full-on calamity.  If one cat was out, they could all be out.  I went nearly dizzy thinking about all of these Wishers having scattered into the dense West Woods.  Frozen there, I stared at the cat under the step.  It’s an enclosed wooden step, so quite dark under there even though it was a bright sunny day.  The face was looking up at me but was hard to see as my eyes tried to adjust to the dark area.   My brain finally told me to squat down and call to whoever this was.   Even though a lot of my Wishers are easily spooked, I had to hope this one would just come to me.  The barking of the dogs had to be scaring him/her.  I was emerging from the shock and beginning to devise a plan while trying to identify which of my tabbies this was.  I bent down and said my first Kitty, Kitty.  Just in the moment when I was questioning the identity of this hard-to-see-under-the-dark-step cat, it turned to bolt away from me.     And there was the second wave of shock.  NO TAIL.  Wait.  WHAT?!  There are no tabby bobtail Wishers.  WHO WAS THIS?!

Now a new flood of thoughts poured all over me.  There was no tail.  This was NOT a Winnie’s Wisher.  Thoughts were competing with each other.  So I haven’t lost a cathouse full of kitties, long gone into the deep West Woods.  Relief.   But here’s a cat.  SERIOUSLY???  Under the front step of my CATHOUSE???  What are the chances that a cat would COME TO THE FRONT DOOR OF MY WINNIE’S WISH SHELTER?!?  This was what the dogs saw.  They certainly aren’t used to seeing a cat scooting around outside.  Bobtail.  Crazy.  Must Think. 

And that was my introduction to Kizzie.  You can see all of the pictures of his sweet little kitten self by clicking on the link at the start of this post.  But here is one of those pictures.

 

 

The story only got crazier as the days went by, but I’ll save some of that for when I write about Kizzie’s sister Bunny.  They are still friends and live in a room together with four other cats.  Those six get along marvelously.  Kizzie lets me pet him and I can even hold him for a few minutes before he starts to get ancy.  I love my Kizzie Cat.  And he loves me.

 

 

 

Kizzie with sister Bunny

 

Kizzie -  Winnie’s Wisher since 2014.  When you support Winnie’s Wish, you’re helping to take care of Kizzie.  When you care about Winnie’s Wish, you care about Kizzie.

See you tomorrow for an update on Wild Angels.

 

Boy Blue

Last week I re-introduced you to Winnie’s Wisher Binks.  He and two brothers and their mom came to Winnie’s Wish in 2016.  Mom Betty Lou was adopted as was one of the boys – Bobo.   Binks and brother Boy Blue are permanent residents here.  These two are very close; I often find them sleeping together.  Like his brother Binks, Boy Blue lets me pet him (and seems to enjoy it), but he doesn’t like to be picked up.  These two boys get along with all of the cats in their room and they are safe, healthy, and NOT living as feral cats out in the world – suffering and contributing to the overpopulation.  Here is Boy Blue.  The first picture is from when he first came here.

 

Baby Boy Blue, with (now adopted) brother Bobo

 

 

 

Curled up with brother Binks

Boy Blue -  Winnie’s Wisher since 2016.  When you support Winnie’s Wish, you’re helping to take care of Blue.  When you care about Winnie’s Wish, you care about Boy Blue.

 

Before I close, take a look at this.  Andrea (Celestial Kitties) and husband Greg sent this to Winnie’s Wish.

 

Andrea and Greg – THANK YOU.

 

And Ginny – THANK YOU from Winnie's Wish and from Wild Angels.

 

I won’t be blogging for a short bit.  I’ll see you back here mid-August when I will continue to write about the permanent Wishers living out their lives here.  And by that time I’m sure I’ll need to do an update on the wildlife at Wild Angels.  See you then.

 

Binks

I continue to re-acquaint you with the residents of the Winnie's Wish Sanctuary for Cats.  If you look down the sidebar, you will see a cat named BoBo and a cat named Betty Lou.  They are two of a family of four who came to Winnie’s Wish in March of 2016.  Their rescue story can be read by going to Archives, March 2016 and then scroll to March 9 & 10.  There was a handicapped mom cat and three juveniles who were sheltering in my mother-in-law’s garage.  When my MIL still lived there, I trapped many a cat and kitten in and around her home.  When I got all four of this family, I discovered that mom cat (Betty Lou) was friendly.  She was adopted.  And as is so often the case with a litter of kittens born “in the wild,” two were feral; one was tame-able.  That “one” was Bobo and he was adopted, too.  He is living The Good Life with a wonderful family who continues to support Winnie’s Wish.  The two feral kitties have been here since their rescue.  They are very close.  I find them sleeping together regularly.  Those two are Binks and Boy Blue.  Today is Binks’ day to be highlighted.  The first picture is when he had only been here for a very short time.

Binks lets me pet him and doesn't run from me.  But he doesn't want to be picked up.  He loves his brother (BoyBlue) and he gets along with all of the cats in his room.  He is a happy cat living a contented, safe, healthy life.  I'm glad he's here.

 

 

 

Binks, with brother Boy Blue

 

Binks -  Winnie’s Wisher since 2016.  When you support Winnie’s Wish, you’re helping to take care of Binks.  When you care about Winnie’s Wish, you care about Binks.

See you next week.

 

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Update

You remember there are LOTS of baby raccoons at Wild Angels.  And for some reason, this year, there had only been one little opossum.  Here is an update in pictures.  Some of the raccoons have just moved into an outdoor enclosure; the younger group is still inside.  The opossum continues to thrive.  Here he is on the shoulder of a 14-year-old volunteer.  Then there are pictures of the raccoons enjoying their outdoor enclosure, followed by a picture of the slightly younger raccoons who are still inside at this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There had been no new babies at Wild Angels for a few weeks.  Then over the weekend, there were suddenly four new babies.  A tiny baby field mouse with an injury on its back, a baby opossum that someone found in their garage, and two more baby opossums rescued from their dead mother’s pouch.  The first baby opossum (found in a garage) was a mystery.  This baby would have still been in mom’s pouch, but there was no dead mother and not a single other baby.  The next two opossums are at Wild Angels because yet another wonderful person checked a dead mom’s pouch instead of riding on by.  The mom was clearly dead and there were dead babies scattered around.  She checked inside the pouch and there were two babies still alive. 

 

It's hard to see the injury in this picture.

 

 

First baby opossum

 

Next two opossums

 

 

All together in the incubator

 

Life at Older Daughter’s wildlife rehab operation.     See you next week.

 

Momma Monday

Over the last couple of weeks I have re-introduced you to two of a family of four felines who came to Winnie’s Wish in 2015.  Their rescue story plays out over many blog posts which you can access in Archives:  August 2015.  There was a mom cat (Momma Monday) and three kittens – Pippin, Clover, and Pipes.  Pipes is one of our own now.  He is a “Lewis-faced” kitty (which caused me to immediately fall in love with him) AND he almost died here as a kitten.  When he lived, that was it.  I couldn’t let him go.  Pippin and Clover and their mom (Monday) live together in one of the rooms of the cathouse.  I’ve had family members come in together before and some stay close.  But I’ve never seen any three biological family members as close as these three.  Monday still grooms Pippin and Clover (even though Pippin is much bigger than she is now – see picture).  I very often find all three sleeping together and eating together. 

Monday is the ONE cat here at Winnie’s Wish who is completely adoptable.  But when I transitioned from a shelter to a sanctuary, I decided to keep Monday here.  She is happy and seems to love Pippin and Clover so much.  She might have gotten more human attention if she had been adopted into a home of her own, but I don’t think she could have been much happier than she is here.  I pour attention onto her when I’m in her room (because she lets me – smile), and she enjoys all of the cats in that room, especially her Pippin and Clover. 

 

 

Pipes

 

Pippin and Clover

 

Pippin and Momma Monday

 

 

 

 Monday -  Winnie’s Wisher since 2015.  When you support Winnie’s Wish, you’re helping to take care of Monday.  When you care about Winnie’s Wish, you care about Momma Monday.

 

Stop back by tomorrow for a Wildlife Wednesday.  It’s about time for an update, and there are new babies, too.