daily dose of dogs (aka cats with your coffee)

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.

 

Clover

Last week I re-introduced you to Pippin.  He was one of three kittens who came to Winnie’s Wish with their mother (Momma Monday).   Pippin’s two siblings are Pipes and Clover.  Pipes has a home (smile), and Clover lives with Pippin and Monday.   This family came here in August of 2015.  Monday, Clover, and Pippin remain close.  Clover was virtually untouchable at one time, but she lets me pet her now.  As I said last week about Pippin, Clover enjoys my company, the company of the other cats in her room, and the family ties she shares with Momma Monday and Pippin.

Here is Clover.  The first picture is of her when she was just a baby.

 

 

 

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

See you next week.

 

Pippin

It all started in August of 2015.  My mom told me a sad story about a skinny tortie cat that grabbed a piece of bread that fell off of her bird feeder and ate it as fast as she could.  Later Mom reported to me that she saw the tortie cat crossing the road in the neighborhood with three little kittens following her.  It took the entire month of August that year to trap mom and all three kittens.  But we did it.  It was quite an ordeal but so satisfying.  When I finally got all of the family back together, the kittens ran to mom and nursed from her (even though they were too old to still be doing that).  Momma Monday was a good mom cat.  And she still is.  Monday and two of her three offspring live together in one of the rooms of the cathouse.  And she still grooms them.  They often cozy up next to her and she always welcomes them.  The three kittens were Pippin, Pipes, and Clover.  Pipes moved into our house because he was a “Lewis-faced” cat (you might remember about my love for “Lewis-faced” cats).  But also – he nearly died when he had only been here a short while.  After that, I couldn’t let him go.  So he became one of our own family members.  Pippin and Clover were never friendly enough to be adopted.  I had hope for them when they were very young, but they grew into adults who would have been quite the challenge for an adopter.  Of course none of that matters now.  Momma Monday, Pippin, and Clover will live out their lives here at Winnie’s Wish.  They are very happy kitties.  They enjoy my company, the company of the other cats in their room, and the family ties they share with each other.

If you haven’t read about (or need a refresher concerning ) the month of rescue that ended with mom cat and kittens safely here at Winnie’s Wish, you can go to Archives and select August of 2015.

Here is Pippin.  The first picture is of him when he was just a baby.

 

 

 

 

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

See you next week.

 

Gandolf

Gandolf arrived in 2016 very close in time to when Winter (highlighted last week) arrived.  Oddly, they were colored nearly the same – white and tabby, with those colors in nearly the exact same locations.  And even odder than that – they are best friends.  They did not come from the same location so they definitely aren’t related, but they were certainly attracted to each other and continue to be best friends.

Gandolf was actually first seen eating out of our dumpster.  Unlike Winter (who entered the trap the first time we set it), Galdolf took a while to catch.  When I finally had him, I was able to look him over.  He was extremely afraid so I wasn’t able to touch him right away.  He was dirty and looked thin.  But I didn’t know just how thin until I was able to run my hand down his back.  Because his fur was thick and he had those big tom cheeks, I was surprised to find that his shoulder blades, backbone, and hips were prominent.   There was no telling how long he had been starving – obviously, enough to be eating out of a dumpster.  Gandolf definitely made up for lost (eating) time – he is a nice “full” cat now.

Gandolf was very slow to come around, but he always let me pet him.  He didn’t like it much at first, but he allowed it.  Over quite a period of time, Gandolf began to want my attention.  But it was so hard for him.  He would try to stay in place as I approached him, but he often took off at the last minute.  Well, NO MORE.   Gandolf lives in the same room as Smokey.  Remember Smokey is an attention hog.  So I always have to go to Smokey first.  But Gandolf is always waiting for his turn.  He wants me to pet him and love-talk to him, but his favorite thing is a belly rub.  No matter what surface he is on when I approach, he ends up on his back, showing that soft pink belly for me to pet.  

Here he is. (The last two pictures show that Winter is usually close by.)

 

 

 

 

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

See you next week.

 

Winter

Today let me get back to Winnie’s Wish Sanctuary and the wonderful cats who live here.  I started 2019 by telling you that I wanted to highlight each Wisher individually to reacquaint you with these darlings.  So far I’ve blogged about Smokey, Snowflake, Slate, Finnick, Prim, and Rocky.  Prim and Rocky are two of the three Untouchables here.  Today I’ll write about that third Wisher who loves her environment, her cat friends, her life . . .  but does NOT want to be bothered by a human.

Winter was a skinny stray cat who showed up on my mother-in-law’s front porch.   It was January 2016; the day I set the trap for her, the weather was predicted to get really ugly.  I knew it sometimes takes days, even weeks, to trap a stray or feral cat.  But Winter went into the trap on that very first day.  As my daughters and I were driving back home with her, sleet started hitting the windshield.  Winter would be safe and warm and cozy that night instead of out in the elements.  It was a good feeling.

Right away it became apparent that Winter was definitely feral.   She was not the feral type (like I’ve had only a couple of times in all of these years) who beats themselves nearly to death in a cage.  But she did not want to be touched.  She didn’t even want to be looked at.  Winter eventually moved into one of the cat rooms in the cathouse.  She gets along marvelously with her “roommates.”  One of those kitties is her best friend.  That best friend is Gandolf.  Oddly, he and Winter are colored up almost identically.  They are often together, but especially if they are sleeping.  Cute!   To this day, when I am their room, Winter freezes and looks away from me.  And if I get too close when I’m moving around in the room, she jumps down from whatever perch she’s on and heads for the little door to the outside enclosed deck.  She really prefers for me to keep my distance.  That’s fine with me.  She is warm, safe, spayed, and happy with her friends and her life.  I don’t need any more than that.

 

 

 

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

 

Last week I mentioned that Andrea (Celestial Kitties) announced a “supplies drive” birthday bash for me (my birthday was at the end of May).  Well, more Wish List gifts arrived this past week.

 

Katie Isabella and Mom Carole – THANK YOU.

 

Turtle Lover (aka Cindyann) – THANK YOU.

(Here is the first picture I tried to take of Turtle Lover’s gift.  My Enoch jumped right up into the picture.

 

silly boy

 

 

Andrea said she couldn’t ask people to send gifts if she didn’t participate herself.

 

Andrea and Greg – THANK YOU.

 

Maria – THANK YOU.

 

And Ginny – THANK YOU.

 

There have been no new additions at Wild Angels (thank goodness).  All of the little creatures are doing well!  See you next week.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – They Keep Coming

Two more abandoned baby raccoons have found their way to Wild Angels.  I believe the last count on this blog was six.  Now there are eight.   A friend of Older Daughter’s had a friend who found a tiny baby raccoon (eyes still closed) in a park.  At this age it should not have been outside of the den.   Then just a few days ago, Older got a call about a raccoon in someone’s back yard that could barely hold its head up.  When Older received this one, it was nearly beyond saving - severely dehydrated and extremely skinny.  You might remember two individual babies and a group of four that I reported on previously.  Here are all of the raccoons at Wild Angels at this time.  (Unfortunately, my pictures are a little behind real time.  They have all been upgraded to much larger enclosures since these pictures were taken, and they are all a little bigger.)

 

first of the season, so tiny when it came in

 

the second, playing with a toy

 

four little monkeys – at feeding time

 

came in eyes still closed

 

the skinny dehydrated one

 

I said in a previous post that it has been a particularly raccoon-y baby season.  But you might remember that there was also a tiny opossum and a bird.  Birds grow SO fast that they become adults practically overnight.  The bird did great, moved to an outside enclosure, and has just been released.  Now take a look at this CUTE little opossum in his new roomy cage.

 

 

I mentioned at the end of yesterday’s post that I had quite a story for you today.  I was lucky enough to witness this firsthand.  Do you remember the four fawns Older had last summer?

 

 

All four survived and were moved to an outdoor enclosure.  They continued to thrive and were eventually released.  There were three boys and one girl.  Older would talk about them sometimes – how it was so rare to have all of them survive, and how she wished she knew how they were doing. 

I was at Older’s house a couple of weeks ago.  We were about to take a walk.  We stepped out Older’s front door, and Older exclaimed – There’s a very young deer at the edge of my yard!  It was just stepping out of the deep grass in the field.  Older called out and the deer stopped in its tracks.  I immediately realized that Older thought maybe this was one of hers.  I was expecting the deer to bolt away, but it took a few steps IN OLDER’S DIRECTION.  Older started walking toward the deer.  It was still quite a distance away.  As she walked toward the deer, talking softly to it, the deer kept coming towards Older Daughter.  I stayed back, knowing that my presence would scare the deer away.   My mouth dropped open (and stayed that way) as I watched what happened next.  Three more deer stepped out of the tall grass into the yard – three boys and a girl.  They walked cautiously towards Older Daughter.  I only had my phone on me, but I snatched it out and snapped several pictures.  Most of those pictures didn’t turn out.  But take a look at this.

 

 

I eased down onto Older’s front porch and watched in amazement.  The four deer gathered around Older Daughter.  Something spooked them and two darted away.  Then the other two followed.  They disappeared into the field.  They were completely hidden – as if they weren’t there at all. (The field grass at this time of year is very tall.)  As Older started walking back in my direction, I ran out to meet her.  My heart was racing; she said hers was too.  Older said it made her SO happy to know that they were all still doing well and that they were still together.  This is one of the few rewards Older gets (and deserves) for all of her hard work. 

What an experience!!

 

See you next week.

 

Homes Needed

Hi Fellow Animal-Lovers!  Today I’m going to stray (pun intended) from my current mission of highlighting the Winnie’s Wish kitties.  I need to get the word out about my current group of fosters.  I know that most of the readers of this blog live far from where I am.  But I want to put this current group of foster kittens & one adult on my blog just in case there is someone out there reading who is close enough to adopt one of these precious souls. 

Sabrina is a solid black, long-haired beauty who is everything anyone would ever want in a cat.  She is sweet & loving, young & playful.  And did I mention beautiful?  The problem with Sabrina is that she does not care much for other cats.  The best home for her would be one with no other cats.  I am critically aware that this makes placing her extremely difficult.  But I won’t know until I try.  If you or someone you know could offer Sabrina her perfect Forever Home, please contact me.  One of my email addresses is not currently working.  So please use this one -   chrystaldparker11@gmail.com

 

 

 

And as you ALL know – it’s Kitten Season.  I am currently fostering three precious little babies.  The solid black one is Peep.  The tuxedo is Branson.  And the little gray-&-white is Scamp.  All three are males.  All three play continuously.  All three are healthy.  Peep and Branson LOVE human attention, but Scamp needs someone who will work with him some.  He backs away when I reach for him, but once I have him and start petting him, he purrs.   Take a look at this handsome group.

 

 

 

 

 

Cute beyond cute.

 

Andrea (Celestial Kitties) put the word out about my birthday being at the end of May.  She asked folks to send gifts to Winnie’s Wish. 

 

Timmy Tomcat and Family – THANK YOU.

 

And June – THANK YOU for your Paypal gift.

 

See you tomorrow for a Wildlife Wednesday – and WHAT a story I have to tell!