Thursday, December 6, 2007

The cats go to new homes

I love all animals, but I am allergic to cats. I had Harley and Eliot because of a family member who got Harley and could not take care of her. I got Eliot from the shelter to be a companion to Harley. Lately living with them had become very uncomfortable. I was zonked on Benedryl most of the time.

I waited until the right people came along to place them in new homes. Harley is living with another cat named Bugs. She is fitting in very nicely.

Eliot went to a lady who fell in love with her from her picture. I turns out that Eliot likes children since she has chosen the son as her favorite.

I am so happy they have new homes. I didn't brush them or hold them like a good cat mommy should. They each live in homes where cats are properly appreciated.

We do have another cat in residence temporarily. His name is What, as in "that is not what I sent you to Walmart to get" and that is exactly how he got his name. My daughter-in-law's parents have sold their house and are living in a horse trailer/camper. It's a little small for both their dog, Reuben and the cat. So Mr. What will be staying with us for a while. He spends most of his time in my son's office/studio. It makes him feel safe from all of the wild dogs. My son put up a window shelf for What and I loaded the bird feeder on the front porch. What spends a lot of time bird watching now.

A couple of the girls are in heat


We are hobby breeders and are excited when we have a dog ready for breeding. First was Kitty Cat, but she is only 8 months old and it is too soon for her. Then Raina showed signs. She will be going to Dahlonega the week of Christmas to meet her mate. When she returns home hopefully she will be pregnant. The puppies would be due in late Febrary. I am very excited.

I enjoyed caring for her last litter and have been having "puppy fever". We are expecting Hamburger and Mim to come into heat too. When one female starts, the others follow shortly after.

I will have to be making a lot of puppy soup in March when the babies start on semi-solid food. I let the puppies run loose in my bedroom. It means a lot of newspaper on the floor, but it is so much fun to be raising puppies. I cried when the last puppy left the last time.

I put a lot of time into the puppies and can't help getting attached to them. I am not allowed to name them, so I give them nicknames. The Yorkie puppies get colored neckbands at birth so we can tell them apart. By the time they are 8 weeks old they look different and have personalities. The colored neckbands allow me to give the new owners a history in pictures of their puppy from birth. I wish I had that for Raina. I expect the Bostons and Cavalier puppies to look different at birth unlike the Yorkies. I will still use the neckbands. It just the systems analyst in me that needs that. I'm excited.