Ginger is telling me something

Victoria

This Tuesday's visit was a bit more calm than last Monday's visit.  No drama queens, though I did socialize with a few of the crabby ones.  I took Victoria, Blackie, and Roxanne out for a bit.  All are queen growlers.  Blackie will growl and hiss when I walk by her cage.  She will let me pick her up and hold her at least now. Victoria, a bi-color cat that was found as a kitten, has grown up in the shelter, unfortunately.  She lets out a quiet, raspy whining sound when I pick her up, it is so sad sounding.  Hopefully, she will get used to getting out of the cage, so that when someone wants to adopt, she would be easier to get out.

Roxanne

Roxanne is a real work too. She chews through any documents hanging on her cage, paper and plastic alike.  She is not too difficult to get out, but in the play room, she just sits and growls at everything. Once I can get these cats to play, I know I will have accomplished a good deal!

Next, the FIV's were meowing me out of the shelter. They know its playtime.  Things were pretty normal, except I couldn't get Oliver out of his cage as usual.  He had a hideous cone on his neck, similar to what Thomas has to wear.  He just didn't look good. I fear for him.  I will have to be more creative to get him out next time.

All the cats were active, and Tahlullah was a wild diva, keeping up with the best of them, chasing balls and laser beams.  Loverboy started punching Thomas and by the time I caught them, Thomas was on his back getting whacked by Loverboy!  I adore Loverboy, I just wish he wouldn't bully the other cats, and Thomas is down already for the count, with that cone on his neck!  

Ginger

All the cats get sad when I have to return them to their cages, you can see their expressions drop.  When I put Ginger back to his cage, he bit my glove again, and would not let it go.  This makes me think he does not want me to leave?  I have to wonder if it is his way of physically trying to communicate with me, "not to leave." It is heartbreaking.

A Drama Queen

Last Monday's visit, Snowflake gave me much grief trying to get her back into her cage. She has to be the worst cat for socialization!  I know none of the cats are too eager to go back to their cages, but this girl put up such a drama: letting out blood-curdling screams, biting, clawing and growling wildly at me when I tried to coax her back to her cage.  The joke is, later I saw a couple of ten year old girls petting her in her cage as if there was nothing at all the matter!  She lets them pet her, but me, she beats up.  Well, she won't be getting let out again by me anytime soon! (nor anyone else most likely after that incident)

I wanted to get Snowflake back to her cage so I could start walking the FIV's.  I started with Ginger  as he is used to coming out of his cage, onto a perch and letting me snap a harness on him.  He is so gigantic, this helps as it hurts my shoulder to lift him!  He is eager to get out of the cage even if it means a harness. So we went to the window perch so he could look out for a bit. He is ok with it.  He was casually lounging looking out the window when an older man came up to us.  We were talking about how the cats like the fresh air.  He mentioned he had ~7 acres where the cats could roam.  Sounds like a good idea until he mentioned that there are strays there and he doesn't mind if they reproduce as he likes kittens!  *Sigh* everything the shelter is trying to prevent. Why is he here? Doesn't he have enough cats? As much as I want Ginger to get adopted, this guy isn't making the cut! I can't believe someone would actually come in a shelter and say things like that! Besides, Ginger has to be isolated from other non-FIV+ cats. Well, I politely removed us from the window perch and walked Ginger in the auditorium.  Though it was more like a lay-in.  Its more like I have to push and prod him to walk. After ~ 15 minutes of trying, I gave up and carried all of him to his cage. He bit my glove and wouldn't let go of it, when I dumped him in the cage!  Is he trying to tell me something?

The rest of the FIVs were behaved as usual for their play time, minus of course, Miss Ellie, who was still in clinic for an infection.  I asked a staff member to let me see her, and with a little bit of finagling, I got to see her. 
I acted excited to see her,
      "Hi Miss Ellie, your my baby, you missed play time today!"  
To my very big surprise, she reached her paw through the cage to touch me! This coming from a cat that has more than once sliced me up and hissed at me!  I was touched. Never in my life would I have thought she would warm up to me.  On that note, I felt that all my efforts with these cats ARE making a difference.

A new Cat

I took out a new black cat today, Donavan. He was very friendly and active.  He would find a home with his personality, just that he's black and it will be harder just on coloring to place him. The shelter has over 25 black cats as it is.  Looks like his tail was amputated and now he has to wear that hideous cone until its healed.

Donavan

Next, I got Blackie out; she growled at me as usual, but she will sit nicely on one's lap forever if you have that long!  I just hope one day that she will play for me, as that would show great progress in socialization!

Of the fivs+ I got out Alvin, Ginger, Thomas, Loverboy, and Little One. Tallulah is too social for the first bunch and would get swatted for sure. Oliver wouldn't come out of his cage, and Miss Ellie was in ISO with a respiratory infection.

It seemed like there were fights galore and all I was doing was breaking up cats sparring. Ginger is a real work, and not only huge but a huge bully on top of it, seemed like I was always pulling him off of a cat. Loverboy has to be followed around too. He would punch Thomas in his face, strategically going right in the center of that hideous cone with his paw, repeatedly! Like Thomas is doing anything to cause this or defend himself. So I had to keep Thomas on my right, and he liked that and started purring!  Next, Alvin probably tired of hiding from the bullies and climbed on my lap and went to sleep.  Loverboy was on the perch below Thomas and kept chewing on my gloved hand!  I really adore Loverboy, but I wish he wouldn't bully the other cats.

Ginger ran and played for the first time, however. I made him get up this play session and wouldn't let him sit in the basket. The cats seemed to let him have the floor to himself, or maybe they didn't want to get attacked!

Time flies when your having fun.  Three hours seemed to go by in a heartbeat, and I didn't get to socialize all the cats I would like to!  I always make time at the end to make sure my special cats have comfy bedding.  I had to hunt down something softer for Alvin, which he always likes, he started kneading it with his paws. I found a nice bed for Blackie with tall, padded sides, even though she was growling at me the whole time.  I thought she would like that so she can hide from everyone.  I'd like to think if someone shows her a little kindness, maybe she will ease up and tolerate her stay at the shelter.