Update!

Sorry viewers!  There was a temporary suspension of the kitten cam.  My computer which had been having trouble in those final weeks finally crashed from a virus, then I had to convert the kitten room into a room for human rescues!  I was going to house a woman fleeing from an abusive boyfriend situation, though that ended up falling through (looong story there).  My house is currently up for sale so I had to end the kitten cam in Delray, but don't despair...we are going to set up the kitten cam at another location, with a foster that has even more kitties in their own structure, in the next couple of weeks. That foster does even more to rescue cats than I ever did, and its in a separate structure at a business where there will be an IT staff to keep it up and running better than I could.

Update on Momma!!  Momma got a farm to roam in! Just in the nick of time, when I needed to free up the room for the human rescue, a woman came through who had a farm in Loxahatchee where Momma could roam and hunt, but would still get fed regularly.  My friend Briana and I drove her up there, and we put her in a crate at first so that she could get acclimated to the place before getting released.  There are horses and chickens, and a lot of land for her to roam.  Hopefully she stays on the farm and doesn't run away.  She had a few opportunities to run away when she was at my house but did not take them, so I have hope.

Momma meeting her new caretaker

Briana, Momma's babies original rescuer

Me, so happy to not have to care for Momma anymore!

4 Very Different Girls Remain

Vinnie, our only boy, goes to a new home Friday, but the girls are still available.  Remember, they look a lot bigger on camera than they actually are.  Scale is very skewed in that little screen.

An overview: Spunky Siamese mix, all black Vera, devoted black Manx kittenVixen, the elegant gray ticked tabbyVictoria, and the melt-your-heart-adorable tortieViola are all available.  Put in your application, and come see them at Petco in Boynton on Sunday.
Also for adoption on Sunday, Tina and Gemma!! They are still so cute, so sweet, but not any closer to liking other cats.  Gemma chases my cat, Angel around, but she is pretty good with the dogs.  She lets them be, or if Chug the dog gets to close, she has batted him in the head without her claws.  I think he thought she was petting him, as he didn't really mind.  Those two, especially the lovely Gemma, follow me around the house.  She is a wonderful companion. 

And as always, Lucy the lap cat, a one year old all black sweety with a bad eye that doesn't bother her, but just looks funny.  She takes 24 hours to get used to any cat friendly dog.  Just 24 hours.  Its amazing. She's a bit of a diva at first with other cats, but accepts them once they play with her.  She's a ninja cuddler.  Before you realize it, she is in your lap, you are spooning her, or she has intertwined her body between your legs, arms, shoulders, head, etc, and is sleeping soundly.

Janie and Judd, the teddybear kittens

Janie and Judd are still available, and still adorable and so friendly. The stress of all the change and staying at Petco led them to get coccidia, common in shelter cats who get stressed, but that should go away on it's own. I'd like to have a foster to adopt situation to get them home for a week to let their tummies adjust then the new parents could finish the adoption and use the free vet visit to follow up. When I get to a normal computer I'll embed the video on the page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kvYsoASy2c&sns=em

Photos of the Kitten Cam Crew!

Slideshow of photos. I can't figure out how to make a separate public folder yet, so some old ones are in there.

This is Not a Kitten Toy

When Vera ran out of the room, she encountered this plastic airbag packing material I had just dropped. It was so much fun, thought the rest of them wowould enjoy some time with it. By the end it was almost fully deflated, making it easier to throw away, so the actually helped me out (though in the slowest way possible).

Frankie bullies Gemma

Gemma is so used to being picked on when she was living a life on her own, she is pretty afraid of others. Frankie wanted a friend, but now it seems she's annoyed that Gemma won't accept her, so she's becoming more forceful and insistent. The drama is ramping up!

Fender came back to us and Blondie made a friend

My very first litter of cats helping A Second Chance involved 4 orange/fawn tabby kitties and one little black orphan.  The leader of this pack was a cat named Fender, who got his name because he was found hanging from the fender of a volunteer's car, as if to say "take me home with you!!"  The volunteer looked around in the bushes and found the rest of his litter, 2 brothers and a sister, all orange-ish/fawn tabbies and so friendly. They all owed Fender for getting them saved and into loving homes. 

Fender was always the pack leader.  He was the most social, the bravest, the first to get chummy with my cat and dog of all his tabby bretheren.  But when the others all got homes immediately, Fender was left by himself.  When I had to leave him at PetSmart I was so sad and felt so bad that he would be lonely, on my next visit I brought Chug, my little dog, to come hang out with him and keep him company.  Fender ended up going home with one of the volunteers, who later fell out of favor with the organization, but we always assumed that the volunteer who was such a cat lover, would never do something so unfathomable as surrendering a cat to Animal Control.  Sure enough, today we got a call.  That person needed to move out of state and couldn't take 2 of of his 4 cats and instead of calling me or emailing me, knowing how much I cared for Fender, this person surrendered the cat.  Luckily his chip was registered to A Second Chance and today I held him in my arms welcoming him back. 

Fender is such a gentle, loving sweetheart.  He let me hold him for 20 minutes amongst the chaos of the adoption event. He seemed scared and a little in shock, but just as he was when he was a little darling at my home, he was as friendly and sweet as any cat you could meet.  To keep Blondie company, I put them both in a carrier while I cleaned out the display cage we use during events, then moved them to the big cage.   They did great together, as if they knew each other their whole lives.  We all couldn't believe how adorable it was when Blondie cuddled up with him like a big pillow.  This picture was taken less than an hour after them meeting for the very first time.  Not a single hiss or sign of displeasure uttered by either kitty.  I put a couple of the new kids in their too, and still, Fender was as sweet with three little ones as if he was their own daddy (though Fender is only one year old, he would have been a pretty young father).

I hope Fender gets a home asap.  Such a pretty cat with such a sweet disposition shouldn't have trouble being adopted, but I'll pull out all the stops to make sure he gets a good home soon. Fender is currently at Boynton Beach Petco if you would like to visit him.

Four new kittens available this weekend

Two boys and two girls, resting and recovering from surgery today. They passed my "put your face out and see if they come up to kiss you" test.  Very cute and spunky.  We haven't given them names yet, so the vet wrote numbers on their ears.

At the bottom of the photo is a stuffed bear toy. When these guys were rescued they were scared and wouldn't come out of their shell until they were given this bear, who took the place of their missing mother. Apparently their mother was black, because when I put my foster cat, Lucy, next to them and laid her on her back, all 4 immediately started making their way to her belly. Unfortunately Lucy was not interested in playing momma, but it was a fun experiment.

A recorded video of Gemma and the kids

Now that its time for Gemma to get her fur-ever home, I wanted to make some of her recorded videos easy to access. Here is one pre-Blondie and from before Dancer got adopted.

Miss Frankie the cat eats with her hands

Miss Frankie's Story

Miss Frankie Sinatra was named for her pretty blue eyes.  She was rescued by a woman who was rescuing cats in her home until her house caught fire.  It was a pretty serious fire and some cats showed signs of burns, and many were quite traumatized by the event.

Here is a video captured from the local news covering the story of these cats and their rescue and care with Dr Kristy Lund of Lund Animal Hospital.



Frankie came from this home but the woman who had her did not get to socialize her much, though Frankie herself is very well socialized with cats.  Frankie seeks out the companionship of other adult cats, even when those adult cats want nothing to do with her. On Monday night, Frankie took advantage of Gemma's sleepiness and went for a nap next to her.  It would have all been well and good, but Frankie could not resist reaching out to touch Gemma as if to say "Hi. Thanks for being my friend."  Gemma was not happy about that, but tolerated it...the first time.

Gemma expands her family again

Though Gemma slaps Blondie (white) around at times as she gets used to having a stranger play with her kittens (one her own and two she adopted), she has been seen grooming and napping with this newest kitten and showing real signs of acceptance.  Click on the picture for an even better view of her gorgeous eyes (Blondie's blues are pretty great, too)

Gemma getting comfortable with others

This was last night. Gemma, our young momma,has been scared and defensive around dogs, but she's really starting to relax.

Dancer will be at Petco on Sunday

Dancer's personality just continues to blossom.  After I picked him up from the vet on Friday post-surgery, I had to bring him back to my office.  Even when he was a little groggy, he was just the cutest little pistol, dancing around the office, going up to people he had never met before looking for attention, and playing with the puppy Lisa had brought to the office that day  (well, avoiding the puppy's curious determination to play with Dancer).

Dancer has a listing on A Second Chance's website now, and applications can be placed for him:
http://www.asecondchancerescue.org/animals/detail?AnimalID=3513462

To apply, read the adoption info and click on the link at the bottom of this page:
http://www.asecondchancerescue.org/info/adoption

Momma has her own aparment

Momma's Apartment Interior

"Momma" is the feral cat mother of the first kitten cam litter.  We got enough donations to treat her UTI and get her spayed and ear clipped so she can be set free to live the life of a free feral cat, but she went into heat after her kittens left so the surgery was put off until later.  Now that her constant meow's have calmed down I think its a good sign that she's past her "heat" cycle and it is safe to get her fixed, so she will be getting her surgery soon.  For now she is sharing space in the Studio, but keeps clear of Gemma and her babies by hanging out on the windowsill and the little apartment I made for her on a corner cabinet. This cabinet stretches from windowsill to windowsill, giving her easy access to the view but also letting her have her own food and water bowls and litter box, so she doesn't have to cause drama by coming down to the floor where Gemma will try and beat her up, fearing for the safety of her kittens.


Here are pictures of the little habitat I made for Momma.  I hung a sheet in front of the cabinet so she can have privacy, and the screen from the window that she destroyed, hangs down and peeks out from the corners of the sheet, so she can view what is going on in the room while giving her the feeling that she is totally hidden.


Getting her fixed is not going to be an easy task.  She is feral, feral, feral.  Any exposed skin I put near her would certainly be attacked as she does not trust humans, even ones that have been feeding her and keeping her safe for 3 months.  I'm going to have to get her in the carrier, which means I'll have to trap her.  Hard to trap a cat by luring them with food if there are other cats in the room that would take that food and foil your trap, so it will take some strategic thinking and moving the kittens and Gemma into another room while we attempt the capture.  I've caught her once before in a big crate by tying a string to the door and watching from the surveillance camera in the other room, but getting her in a smaller carrier will be tougher.

Here is a video from my last trapping attempt.  Her babies were getting surgery in the morning so I had to separate her from them so that she could not feed them during the night.



I'm not in a hurry to get her released, since she keeps to herself and doesn't bother the others.  Right now Florida is experiencing an extreme drought, so water is scarce so setting her free now would be unnecessary hardship.  I know she isn't happy about being cooped up and wants to be free again, but I will feel a little sad when she finally goes.  I want to keep her safe as long as I can, but eventually she will get back to the life of a wild, free roaming cat.  She always seemed pretty healthy and never showed signs of starvation like many other feral cats, so I will release her back where we found her, which seems to be full of food sources.

Bindy - the last of the 3 B kittens left

Bindy has been eating like a champ and is so much healthier looking now its hard to believe she's the same bony kitten found in the rain.  She still has green eyes, though they may still be changing as she's still so young (she's smaller than even Dancer), so its possible that the'll have a yellow rim with green in the center. She's a devoted sweetheart who loves attention and really likes dogs.  She's even been adapting well to the 2 adult cats in my home.

She'll be at Boynton Beach Petco on Sunday.  SE corner of Old Boynton Blvd and Congress.

Gemma and her Extended Family

Introducing Gemma, a very young gray/calico mother who had 4 kittens of her own, but as she was too young and the kittens were too malnourished, only one survived. Gemma previously went by the name Green Eyed Momma for her intense peridot green eyes, which I shortened to Gemma (jem-MA) and is a wonderful, outgoing and friendly cat who seems like she once belonged to a human who may have dropped her off when she got pregnant. Gemma's surviving kitten - who still needs a name - is a pretty brown calico/tortoiseshell. When the need arose to find a nursing mom for some other orphans from different litters, Gemma happily accepted them into her family.  Gemma is very protective of her kittens so hard to tell if she'll be ok with other cats after her babies are gone, but currently is not good with dogs.

Gemma's baby (no name yet) is a pretty tortie girl who is wide-eyed and boisterous.  She is the youngest of this extended family so gets beat up on a bit by her adopted siblings, though she holds her own, despite battling fluid in the lungs since birth.  We've taken her to the vet twice and her tests and X-rays all turned out fine.  The culprit is probably from aspirating during birth (Gemma may not have broken her from the sack fast enough) or possibly from drinking mom's milk.  The vet thinks she'll be fine, she just has to grow out of it as long as she's closely watched.

Dancer is the handsome striped tabby boy with white socks and a wide, slightly squished-in face. He has a strong, well built stocky little body and very expressive face. His strong stripes are very distinctive, but not nearly as much as his personality. Dancer is one of those no-fear cats who wants to play with everything and everyone he comes into contact with. I think he is trying to audition for a Friskies Kitten commercial, but he is also a sweet and cuddly lap kitty who mellows out when he can snuggle next to you or on your lap. He gets along very well with other cats and is quite tolerant of dogs.  He doesn't mind at all when a 100 lb German Shepherd comes up to give him a lick.  He comes out of the studio sometimes to play with Bindy, the black kitten from the last kitten-cam litter, whom is still available for adoption.

Tomi is the gray and white kitten who looks like Tom from Tom and Jerry. Its hard to tell right now if its a boy or girl yet, though I'm starting to lean towards girl. This kitten is part of a litter of 3 gray and gray/white kittens, with the other two being nursed by another adoptive mother at another foster's home. That momma cat also took on a couple litters that were not her own so we had to split up the gray ones to ease the burden on the two mothers. She is recovering from the sniffles but should be ready the second weekend in June.

Video: Playtime with Billy, Bindy and Bitsy

Adopting the Right Cat For You: Adopting a Cat? Read This!: Cats

Adopting the Right Cat For You: Adopting a Cat? Read This!: Cats

Adoption weekend success

Thanks to the kitten cam, the litter of cuties from the Palm Beach School for Autism all found loving homes without having to spend any time at the cattery or in cages. So happy about that! Nelly and Nike went to a home together, and Natalie and Neila each went to separate homes. Momma kitty will get her surgery soon. I had hoped the new kittens would have taken a liking to her and partaken of a little of her momma milk (nothing compares to momma's milk for nutrition and immune system boosts) but the new ones don't want much to do with her. They prefer the dogs. Oh well. I want to give momma a few days to get over her grief about losing her kittens before subjecting her to the trauma of going to the vet for surgery. Its not a fun outing for a friendly cat, but for a feral one who will fight it every step of the way, its downright traumatic.

A sneak preview of what is to come: By the end of the week another momma who has adopted kittens from 4 different litters may be arriving at the kitten studio. As long as we can get the adoptions done at as fast a pace as we did with the first 4 kittens, then we can really do a lot of good for a lot of kittens and cats. Kitten mania!

Introducing Bindy, Bitsy and Billy

Adoption weekend has been going well for the Pam Beach School for Autism kittens. Nelly and Nike went to a new home together (yay! I love when litter mates are adopted together!) and Neila goes to a great home tomorrow where she'll get lots of loving. Natalie, our medium long haired beauty is the last one of the first litter.

The new additions to the kitten room are three orphans rescued from the parking lot of CBS in Fort Lauderdale. They were rescued from a parking lot right before a severe thunderstorm would have surely killed them, and nursed back to health by several people, a caring person named Karen scraped together enough temporary fosters to keep them warm and bottle fed until another foster, Margee, could take them for a few weeks. Margee did an amazing job socializing these babies and now they are precious, cuddly little bundles of love who adore people. Margee's house also had dogs, so they are also dog friendly. Margee needs to get some medical care this coming week, so we did the kitten hand-off Friday night. They are about 7 weeks old so Billy, Bindy and Bitsy they should be with me now for another week or so to get a good, happy kittenhood before being split up. A good kittenhood makes for a happy cat. No one should ever adopt a kitten less than 8 weeks old unless its difficult circumstances and its the kitten's only shot at life (like at animal control).

Billy, Bindy, and Bitsy are very vocal! They didn't like the other kittens much and still growl and hiss at the momma cat, who I was hoping would nurse them a bit, but that doesn't seem like it is going to happen. I'll give it a couple more days and then get momma spayed and released. Thank you to those who donated! We have enough to spay her, and she's going on antibiotics for a possible UTI now that most of her nursing is done, but in case she adopts these guys, its worth it to leave her be a few more days. Nothing is better for a kitten than momma's milk.

Toilet training: Day 1

My CitiKitty toilet training seat came yesterday. I bought it while watching the company owner on the ABC show, Shark Tank, a week ago. That show is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows because it promotes smart people and smart business and the products are usually pretty brilliant. I'm determined to teach my own cat, Angel, and my one-eyed foster kitty, Lucy, to use the toilet, thus making cat ownership easier. I'm somewhat allergic to cats, and pretty allergic to cat litter, so this whole fostering thing isn't exactly something I'm genetically predisposed to do. Toilet training will help me, and most of all I think it will help Lucy get a home. She's a very sweet 10 month old cat, one that would have gotten adopted like her extremely outgoing siblings. I was there when Luke, Louie and Lea were adopted. Their personalities quickly won over anyone who gave them a chance as they were 11's on a 1-10 scale of friendliness. Lucy is the same way, but she had a very bad eye infection when she was young and it left her left eye scarred. She can still see out of it and probably doesn't even realize anything is different about her, but she isn't as attractive as other cats so its hard finding her a home. A toilet trained cat, though, should make up for any cosmetic shortcomings. For step one I put the flushable litter, "The World's Best Cat Litter" in the pan, put it on the toilet, and hoping they use it. I use that litter for the kittens, too, so I didn't have to buy any special kind. Now I watch and wait, ready to praise them when they use it. I'll post updates to tell you if it works.

All girls!

Even experienced animal rescuers can get the sex of a kitten wrong. We've got 4 little girls. So Nate is becoming Natalie and Niles is now Nelly. Fill out your app today!
http://www.asecondchancerescue.org/info/adoption

Kitties are at the vet

I hope I got their sex determinations right. Sometimes its easier to tell than others when they are that small. Dr. Fox of Riverbridge Animal Hospital will confirm that. Momma will get her surgery another day. Trying to do them all the same day and capturing the mom would have made the experience too stressful for all.

Btw, are you looking for a vet? Support vets who support rescue organizations!! The more involved they are with a rescue, the more experience they may have dealing with all kinds of crazy pet ailments, and it shows they care more about animals than just making money.

Twas the night before surgery...

The babies are all over 2 pounds, so its safe for them to get spayed and neutered so they can go to new homes. They can't eat the night before so I had to separate momma by trapping her in the crate. I used a string attached to the crate door and ran it out of the room, under the door, and far enough in the hallway so I could watch from the old school security camera I have set up to watch them without having to be online, hogging bandwidth. When she took the bait I pulled the string which shut the door. She'll be fine in there for tonight. She'll get her surgery later in the week then she'll get let go. I know she loves her kittens but does NOT like being held captive. Not the kind of cat that could be rehabilitated. She's a wild animal that will go back to the wild and do her job of keeping the rodent populations in Florida at bay.

Did you know that feral cats are a fantastic defense against rodents? As my friend, the owner of a prominent extermination company in West Palm Beach has told me, if you don't allow the feral cats to live in your neighborhood or around your restaurant, home, or shopping center, then you will undoubtedly have to pay someone like him big bucks to keep the rodent population under control. People have no idea how bad the rat and mouse populations are in this country, especially places with feral cat colonies, as the cats are out doing humans a valuable public service and keeping us from having to see how many creepy crawlies there are out there.

Video

This is from 5/14/2011 in the morning. They do some fun spins.

The Litter from the Palm Beach School For Autism

3 of 4 still available for adoption through A Second Chance Puppies and Kittens Rescue. (note they are not on the site yet as available as they have not had their surgeries). Should be available May 14-15, but reserve them now by filling out an application online)

Donations needed for the mother!

Network for Good

The mother is feral (very, very feral and not in the LEAST bit friendly) but she managed to have 4 amazing, cuddly, friendly, outgoing, and really beautiful kittens. As long as she continues lactating we may try and introduce some orphans to her to see if she accepts them, but if not then she will be spayed and released back to where she was familiar and comfortable. Donations to go towards the cost of her spaying can be made through Network for Good. Please mention "Momma Cat from Kitten Cam" in your designation description. The goal is to raise at least $75. Based on the frequency she is peeing I think she may have a UTI, so we may need more to treat her before let her go. We want to minimize her stress so we will vet her and take care of her issues all at the same time.

As a sponsor, we will send you photos and updates of the babies and how they are doing as we get them! Thanks for watching, sharing, following, donating, and getting the word out. The more viewers we get, the better chance we have of finding them a home asap!

New videos- Fun & Feisty

Recorded May 8, 2011

Live Kitten Cam!!

Live Kitten Cam got its own page!

The Kitten Cam Kittens:

4 DSH's rescued from the playground of the Palm Beach School For Autism. They were found when they were just 2 days old and were in such a dangerous spot that Animal Control was going to have to come get them, but a caring teacher worked to keep them safe from the kids, trap the mom and find a foster home. They surely would have been put down at ACC.

Natalie: (available) Female Domestic Medium Hair (DMH) Fluffy, black with some white on feet, neck and face. Fluffy fur is salt-and pepper (not true black).

Nike: (adopted) Female Domestic Short Hair (DSH) White & Black (mask and cape coloring) with black spot on her chin

Nelly: (adopted) Female Domestic Short Hair (DSH) White & Black (mask and cape coloring) white chin

Neila: (adopted but homed on Sunday) Female DSH Cream/ Seal Point coloring