Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Kitten Chaos & Calamity

Greetings dear friends & readers
It has been rather a stressful kinda week here at My Threadbear Life .............
(warning photo heavy post - go grab a cuppa or a stronger tipple perhaps !!!)

Some despicable person dumped a very young mother cat & her 5 baby kittens at our depot yard while it was closed for the festive period.
The first indication I had of this was when the skinny, starving Mum began turning up on our lawn at nights, wild eyed & hungry. 
I fed her, thinking to myself "I am not quite sure that she actually is feral"
When the staff at the depot yard came back to work on Monday, they found 5 small balls of fluff tucked under a broken roller door at the rear of the building
Without thinking, they handled & cuddled the kittens .... that night the Mum moved them all ................. to under my house of course !!!!
The kittens found a small gap at the base of my house & came tumbling out .  .  .
Goodness me ............ how did that happen ???!!!
5 hungry wee souls .   .  .

Now I confess I have a bit of a wee problem .  .  .  whenever I come across anything abandoned like this .  .  .  .  I just want to keep them all, feed them,love them & give them a home.  My head goes foggy & my reasoning flies out the window .  .  . The Mr tells me that my eyes actually glaze over !!!
During the course of the week I was lucky enough to find homes for all the kittens
(believe me - this was down to sheer luck & Not down to good management !!!)

This just left Mum  .  .  .  .

.  .  .  . who begun to let me pat her as her hunger & malnourishment decreased a little .  .  .
However - the day the last of her kittens went away, she became distraught, & cried & howled under the house for 2 days. Meanwhile I was inside the house crying & howling myself !!!!
Eventually The Mr took her into town to our Animal Care Centre & gave them a generous donation to have her speyed & find her a good home with someone (who won't abandon her)

Right in the midst of all that stress .... there was one ray of sunshine. 
My friend Sue came over for a visit from the city.
Sue was the exact person you need in a situation like this ... not only is she friendly & cheerful, but also very confident as she has fostered kittens for the S.P.C.A herself.
And Sue came bearing gifts . . .
.  .  . wonderful Op Shop treasures that she knew I would Love !!

Not only that, Sue took one of the kittens home with her .   .   .  my favourite one actually, the polydactyl one with 
the extra toes
And very proud of his extra toe too !!!!!  Click on the photo if you want to enlarge it.
You can read Sue's post about her visit Here & see the ummm - "rather stressful & difficult" life little ToeBee is leading - I have pinched borrowed a couple of Sue's photos below
Thank you SO much Sue for all your help & encouragement with the kitten fiasco !!


ToeBee with Sue's older cat Big

So the 3 kittens below all went to their separate homes on the same day 

This just left the ginger & the black male kittens remaining.
I was worried about one going & the other being left behind so it was nothing short of a miracle when the girl came to collect the ginger boy, she agreed to take his brother too!!

This is why I had hoped they would be kept together .  .  .
Bless their precious wee souls.
Enough kitten overload for one day ???!!!

Hence there has been not alot achieved at Threadbear this past week.  As my sewing machine has gone in for a long overdue service, it was hand sewing projects only.
I noticed the glass dish containing the wool blanket lavender hearts in my Cottage was empty .  .  .

.  .  . as well as there being no mothball sachets remaining.
I was able to rectify both these this week as I had some muslin bags already sewn up, just needing to be filled.
You can find the recipe for the mothball sachets Here if you should want to make some up yourself)

Way back early last year when we did our lounge extension, we were left with one end of a set of french doors spare.
I masked up 3 of the panes & painted them black "diesel" - but then never did anything further with them.
Our extension ended up having one long expanse of wall with no windows in it .... this was partly our choice & partly due to the fact the we (me) could find nothing we could agree on.
I decided to use this false window to break up the bare expanse of wall.
My son screwed it to the weatherboards for me & we dragged my old concrete washing machine tubs along underneath the "window".
I then filled the tubs with red & white geraniums !!!
Yes I know !!!   Yes I did say white !!!
They just grew pink for some unknown reason !!!
In hindsight I am pleased we didnt put a window in this wall - it keeps the room nice & cool & also gives me more wall space to hang things on.
Thank you for staying with me through this lengthy ramble dear friends
I shall leave you with these pics of Miss Pippi "paying me back" for entertaining the idea of possibly adding more cats to our home !!!!!
How dare I ???!!!
She has taken up sleeping in my lovely Tilda lined suitcase as retribution !!
Take that you terrible Mother you !!!!!!!!!

Go give those furry friends a gentle pat & tell them you love them
With much love & friendship to you all,
Julie, Blackie & Miss Pippi x0x0x0x0

29 comments:

  1. Oh my sweet loving friend of all things furry and abandoned.........I think it's time I came and threw myself under your house! These cats know where love lives! Sooooo very pleased for your sanity you found homes for them all. Pippi does look rather........pissed off doesn't she? She will get over it. Gorgeous 'window'........and black too, yes I am liking the 'white' flowers!

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  2. What beautiful little kitties, it's hard to believe how callous some people can be. I would have been alongside you howling with the mother cat, thank goodness it was your home she picked. Beautiful hearts and I love the 'window' xx

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  3. Oh boy Miss Pippi knows how to tell you, that you are in trouble!! Some people have no heart when it comes to animals, none what so ever!! How hard is it to go to the RSPCA or a vet??? Getting a head of steam up here!! They were very lucky to choose your house to come to, and you are a wonderful person for looking after them Julie. Love what you have done with the window, the geraniums make a great splash of colour!!

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  4. Very hard to give those kitties up I should think! I am just going over to read your friend Sue's post about Toebee now! Your washing machine tubs look beautiful (didn't know that there was anything inside a washing machine that could be recycled like this!

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  5. Oh those kittens are just too adorable! I hear you on letting go of them Im EXACTLY the same. I want to keep ALL the stray animals in town! LOL.

    Needless to say I dont get too. But there may be another little furry bundle coming to live with us next week. ;)

    Your geraniums and frame look great! Such a hardy, pretty plant!

    xx

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    1. Thanks so much Emma for leaving me this lovely comment. I could quite easily turn into "crazy cat lady" I am sure :-)

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  6. This is my third visit to your post Julie!
    I can just about see the screen to leave a
    comment now! Oh! My goodness!
    After your e~mail last week telling me of
    your experience...I was looking forward to
    some photos! Their absolutely lovely, though
    the story began sadly, it all turned out o.k.
    I will move this post to my 'pussy~cat' folder
    later, with some of yours l already have...Bless!
    And, over all l think you've done the right thing!
    Bless you to! And, as for Pippi, l think she's made
    her point...HeHe! By the way...Where's Blackie, has'nt
    left home has he...!!! :0). (((Hugs))) and XXX's ALL
    round!

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  7. Bless your beautiful kind soul Julie! I hope that they receive lots of kitty love from their forever homes. Love your upcycling and the geraniums look wonderful! Pippa certainly showed you lol!

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  8. When we visited the Florida Keys a few years ago, we visited the museum which is Ernest Hemmingway's house there and he famously was given a cat with an extra toe. There are still cats bred on the property that have extra toes, over fifty years later.

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  9. I am so happy there is a wonderful ending to this story. What sweet kittens. If I lived near you I would have taken a few off your hands. What a sweetie you are, Julie! I am quite sure Pippi wouldn't want to share you with any other fur babies. Love your op shop gifts and the window looks wonderful hanging on the wall. Love your geraniums; they look perfect in front of the window.

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  10. Oh my they are cute. Lovely deed finding all homes.

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  11. Hi Julie, I don't know how people can do things like dumping animals, makes me so mad, how adorable they all are, so glad you could find homes for them. Love, love, love your false window, looks great with your concrete wash tub, that brings back memories of our old wash house lol. your woolen hearts are so lovely Julie. Bye for now. Chris xoxo.

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    1. Thanks Chris - I know ... it breaks my heart when they dump animals!!! Some cruel folk out there.

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  12. Julie, There can never, ever, ever be kitten overload, bless you for taking care of them all. Pippi looks adorable all cuddled up in that pretty suitcase. xx

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  13. I can just picture them 'tumbling out'. :)Thank you from another cat lover for helping out this little family. The mother did look too young to have babies but obviously did a good job caring for them. Bless her. I hope she finds a loving home very quickly. I have to say that if this happened to me it would have been the mom that would have stayed. I always feel so sorry for the homeless adults. And I have NO will power. :-b Hugs to Pippi who remains a happy cat, indeed.

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  14. Oh, I don't know how someone could abandon those adorable babies! You're such a wonderful person for caring about them and finding homes. I adore all the images, and your own Miss Pippi is simply adorable! I had to give Nala lots of cuddles after reading this ♥ I really love what you've done with the window frame and geraniums are among my favourite flowers. They remind me of my grandmother. Have a lovely day, Julie x

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    1. Thankyou Yvonne - you will be pleased to read that Miss Pippi has "moved on" from the Tilda suitcase now & has her nose firmly "back in position" !!!!

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  15. Aww I would find it hard giving up such cuties... I really don't know how people can dump their animals.
    Pleased to hear they all have a new home to go to.

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  16. Naughty Miss Pippi!! She so had her nose out of joint the day I visited you. ToeBee has taken over our house and our hearts, so thank you!!! Hey loving the black window, you have such a knack for seeing the possibilities in anything.

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  17. Honestly Julie....I would love to thrash some people. I don't get how people
    can just dump animals, it makes me sick. So glad it has all turned out good for
    them all and hope that karma visits the sick people/person responsible for dumping
    them. Cheers for Sue as well.

    I love your pretty hearts and sachets, you're very creative. I hope your week stays
    positive and only nice things happen for you. xxx

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  18. loved the kitten overload, (could look at kitties all day) was all teary eyed too! who dumps cats these days with all the animal shelters & RSPCA ready to take any unwanted? so glad they survived, mother kitty sounded very frightened, i hope she found a good home too.
    a very good post
    thanx for sharing

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  19. Gosh, that is horrid that they just dumped them like that. Sure took a turn for the better that they were at your place! I agree with Selina why dump them when you can take them to the SPCA. They are beautiful and I can see from Toebee's 'tough' life that things will work out for all of them! The window looks great in black against the house wall. I have got a couple of frames like that and I was thinking maybe to put a quilt behind or some photo's. Great op shop treasures and love the super little hearts. Ha..ha.. Pippi makes me laugh - yep, she sure is ticked off that other cats came to play when she knows she should be your only focus! So sleeping in your beautiful suitcase until further notice I reckon!.

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  20. omg Julie thats terrible ,so glad you found homes for them,i dont understand peoples thinking sometimes.

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  21. Thank you so much for this lovely post! My adult daughter and I are trying hard to figure out how to live in Trumpland USA, and need to see such love and beauty. We each had a male cat we dearly loved, mine a tuxedo cat named Loki, and hers a ginger boy named Bailey. When they were kittens, we lived 3 doors down from each other, and the boys were best of friends. Sadly, Bailey died too young, but Loki lived a long and apparently happy life. When I showed her your picture of the two kittens, we immediately decided they were Loki and Bailey on another spin of the karmic wheel. Such a moment of brightness at this somewhat dark time in the US! Thanks again, Kate in Oregon

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    1. Hello Kate, Thanks for leaving me your lovely comment. I must admit I have been thinking about you all in the USA & wondering how scarey it must be now with all the changes happening. My thoughts are with you & I am so glad my post bought you some brightness. Those two kitten brothers were just inseparable, I was so pleased when the girl decided to take them both. I have had reports back that they are thriving so lets just imagine that they ARE in fact your Bailey & Loki :-) Take care Kate & thanks again for stopping by. Julie x x

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  22. Bless you for your kind heart. Why oh why, won't folks spay and neuter their pets?
    I trust that momma kitty finds a home where she is happy and loved.

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  23. You are such a kind soul Julie.

    What a lovely story with a good ending for those kitties. They are just so cute and I was ever so happy to hear you found homes for them all. There are some irresponsible people in the world. But lucky for those cuties that they turned up on your doorstep and not some one else's. Otherwise the outcome for them might not have been so good.

    Loving your beautiful craft work as usual, you inspire me to be more creative :)

    Oh dear, Miss Pippi has her nose out of joint and boy are you going to pay!

    Blessings,

    xTania

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  24. Hi Julie, so glad I discovered this post that I had missed - so pleased you were able to rehome all the kittens - and their mum - how cruel some people are to dump animals like this! I know how distressed you would have been but how lucky the wee critters were that they were dumped near you! I love your 'new wall' - what a great result - and good to have the wall space inside - we have windows everywhere which sometimes I think are too much of a good thing!

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