Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Far too much time has gone by since I posted an update on our foster/feral cats and kittens, or our resident critters as a matter of fact. These are tails I weave daily via my social media feeds if you have a craving for critter pics and updates.

Our foster kittens – Susie Myerson, Maisel, and Sophie Lennon – have done well. They gained weight, cat skillz, and a lot of curiosity about the world. Susie is in an adoptive home where she is thriving with her two new moms and a big cat sister that doesn’t hiss at her. Maisel and Lennon are still with us. They are also ready for a permanent loving home. They still need to refine socialization skills, but they love interacting with people and are getting used to our resident critters. We think they’d do better together because they get distraught when separated, but if they went into homes with other cats to engage – that might work as well. Maisel and Lennon are not yet listed, but you can find general Pittsburgh C.A.T. adoption information and fill out an application at this link.

They are both super cute and sweet. Are you looking for a kitten or kittens? We’d love if someone we knew was inspired to add this cute duo to your household.

Our feral cats – Mx. Pajamas and Oksana – are holding down the fort. The resources we added to our feral setup seems to be making a big difference. We have several insulated cat beds, a heating pad inside a travel kennel, a heated water bowl, and a feeding station. So they have options to stay warm and dry. They still wander to God knows where in the neighborhood, but often tend to hover around our backyard.

Our temporary feral colony is an interesting story. The regular caretakers asked us to fill in for them through April. The colony started with three cats, only two of whom were visiting consistently after being TNRd. I went faithfully every day without seeing any cats, but finding empty food bowls and signs they were using the shelters. Once they figured out my routine, the cats made some appearances. A week ago, two new-to-us cats appeared. The next day, a third new cat appeared so our grand total is now six. They have been inhaling the food. Two of the younger kittens race around me in what appears to be a fun exciting game, but the experienced cat ladies told us this is just desperate hunger.

Several kind neighbors chipped in to send a few extra bags of dry and wet food to help this crew. We are grateful for that support. You can visit our cat wishlist if you like and help us help them.

The household critters are doing okay. We had a bout of upper respiratory crud in October and another week or so in January. They are generally healthy, but it does mean the foster cats have to be quarantined during that time period.

The big news here is that we’ve introduced Mamma Mia and Maylee to the household. We started months ago by opening their door when I went to scoop litter or tidy up and allowing the kittens to swarm in with their charming non-threatening curiosity. Then we had the mobil veterinarian come in to net them, update vaccines, and do what cursory exam he could manage. We learned that they both weight 11.5 pounds, more than twice their original scrawny sizes.

After they had a few days to recover from that trauma, we began opening their door for increasing periods of time so they could come and go. Eventually, Mamma Mia began wandering out a bit until she disappeared one day out of the range of the nanny cam. Then Maylee left and went into the attic. That led to a solid week of trying to track them – Mamma Mia went into the basement, then under the sofa, the into the second bedroom, then into our bedroom, and finally she joined Maylee in the attic. They both come down into the second bedroom several times each day, slowly expanding their territory. Our big kittens go upstairs all of the time.

So that’s been stressful, especially when we lost track of them, but has been working out rather well in the longrun. No major skirmishes, general good health, everyone is eating, etc.

So we have our second bedroom back. We are going to install a futon and take back a little of our space. But we also plan to put a portable playpen in there to be able to continue to socializing kittens.

Then, there’s Ana, our dog. We learned just this past week that Ana is almost 90% deaf so that’s an adjustment. She’s also dealing with a soft tissue injury in her back so she’s on bedrest. We have to leash her each time she goes into the yard and limit her dalllying. That’s exhausting and it has only been 12 hours. 6.5 days to go. Ana also recently had dental surgery. She doesn’t love the kittens, but now that we realize she can’t hear them approaching – we can intervene more effectively.

If you’d like to follow along, this is our public Facebook album for our #PghCatLadies adventures.

This is the album for the current crop of foster kittens – the Sheffield Trio.

Again, the link for Pittsburgh C.A.T. 

And here’s our Facebook group for Northside Cat Ladies

You can also follow along on Twitter @Pghlesbian24 and Instagration @Pghlesbian