The addition is done!

Wow! The long awaited dream is accomplished. Cantoncat said, "When we dream alone, it is only a dream. When we dream with others, it is the beginning of reality." We now have our reality! We still have things to do to finish up the rooms (putting in supplies, etc.) but we love it! Many thanks to all of you for your support. We are saving every extra penny we get to help pay for this addition now. Remember to mark your calendars for July 24th, Sunday from 1:00 to 4:00 on the web-cam. We have baskets of items that will be up for auction flowing out of the house! So many things. We also have some awesome "big ticket items". We'll fill you in on all the details in the coming weeks. Little Bitzy has had a set-back. Her front little paw is so swollen again. We had taken away one of the antibiotics (due to one of the side effects being a suppressed appetite) but she's back on both antibiotics now. We'll monitor her weight closely. New kitten Dovey is coming along. We're holding her a lot to help her know that people are good, and she was seen playing with Tweeny and Athena this morning! We will have BOXES to open this evening! Always fun and exciting. Right now the 3 crypto-kittens are duking it out together; running, belly kicking and of course meowing loudly like they always do! Telo is draped over Iowa, sleeping, covering Iowa's head completely! Bumblebee is keeping up playing with the bigger kitties. Paddy Purr gave a few kitties a bath this morning. The kitties and cats have been given a really fun new toy that will be given to them tonight! Come join the fun on the web-cam!

-Jacci

Manon

3 Adoptions!

It arrived! Our check from Petfinder's for coming in first in the state of Ohio on the Animal Rescue Site Shelter Challenge! So thankful for this check. $700 will go towards the new construction and $300 will go into the general fund (getting low, need to replenish!). Thanks for all those votes that made it possible. We had 3 adoptions yesterday. Always the best part of a day when we can get cats into wonderful homes. ROTELLE & SALIMA went to the same home. I think the new family loved them before they even got in the car! TINKERBELL also went to her new home and she was definitely purring all the way out the door. Little Bitzy, bl/wh Persian baby is now 15 days old. She's doing much better and her leg/foot is almost normal looking now. We took in a new kitten-about 9 weeks old. Her name is Dovey and she is a grey/cream torti. She's had a rough young life already. Her tail is shortened and a rear leg is gone from knee down. Will have Dr. Cindy take a look at her today. She also has an umbilical hernia which will be repaired when she is spayed. She's a shy girl, but I saw her playing today! We have her in Dodger's Pen with Tweeny & Athena so she is calmer and has company. Many thanks to give. Thanks to John M. from Indiana for the donation. Also thanks to Mamie4--she sent pictures of the quilt she made for the catathon--it's absolutely beautiful. Mitty sent some Temptation treats which they all love and a big roll of brown paper wrap. That way when we get low on the UPS package wrapping, we'll have some in reserve. One of their favorite "toys"! Thanks to for Elaine & Willis Quayside for the Whiskas Purrfectly Chicken packs--definitely a favorite no matter what the age of the cats. Thanks too to Catlvr14 who sent a bunch of great things. She sent an assortment of items that we can add to the baskets for the Catathon which will increase their value. Also things were included for the cats here at the Rescue Center. It's so humbling to have all this support. YOU all are what makes this Rescue Center possible. We have a possible few more adoptions yet this week! The cats spent 4-5 hours yesterday out on the outdoor enclosure. Racer applied the 4th and last coat of sealer on the new floor. A busy day ahead!

Athena

Two Adoptions!

Our little Cadigan was just adopted this morning. She's such a sweet kitten and her new mama already loves her. She'll be able to spend the entire weekend with Cadigan to get to know her. We also have Tibby, Gibbs and Orzo on hold. We have special visitors--web-cam friends! Pjpanda and her friend's 2 daughters. We love visitors. Good money news yesterday! Janet & Steve Baden, Mary2u and Mercury Cleaners each donated $250 for the building fund! The "long cat" thermometer will be updated with the new total soon! Petra and her mother from Germany has donated funds to cover the new desk and chair that will be in the new Welcome Room! Lynn Smith sent another donation for the Catathon, a beautiful pewter cat pin; she also sent a gift card from Meijers. Zander has been grooming the kittens, especially Iowa. Joseph is laying on the floor with his back legs all stretched out behind him. Merci has been coming out and playing with the kittens more. Missa loves to lay in the window sill in hopes of catching the birds. Nova was seen sprinting at high speed, zooming from the office clear to the other side. Our oldsters- Putter, Ada Jane and Magentta are doing great.

-Jacci

Update: Zander was just adopted!

-Kurt

Josephine

A new old name

We have a name for the new in-take room! First, I want to thank everyone for all your suggestions--they were each and everyone meaningful and appreciated. I love it when I ask for suggestions or help, and you all pitch in with answers. The new name for the in-take room is........Mewcomer's Room. Some of you may recognize that name. This is actually the name that was chosen for our 4th rescue room years ago, but has since been used as our storage/dog room. The name is short, meaningful and easily remembered. Someone suggested since that name isn't right for that room anymore, we move it to the new in-take room. So, that's what we've done! The room where everyone will enter is called the Welcome Room. Won't be long until this entire new addition will be used! We received boxes yesterday. Mary2u and Quayside sent quite a few cases of can food for both the kittens and adults. Thanks Mary and Quay, we do indeed use a lot of this food! A big thanks to Clarice G. (baxter bailley) who sent 4 big boxes of litter. The Fresh Step is a good litter, plus it has the paw points that we collect for free litter, plus it arrived with lots of brown packing paper which the kittens love. The 2 new returnees, Joseph & Josephine are out now during the day and sleep in their room for night time. They are adjusting just fine. Today we have another organizational meeting for the Catathon.

-Jacci

T-SHIRT UPDATE: We have found a new printer for the t-shirts. I will be getting in touch with all of you that pre-ordered, since we are going to do the pre-orders a little different this time. I am going to pick 8-10 colors in which you can pre-order. We will be ordering a stock of t-shirts to be sold at fundraisers and here at the rescue center but we will only carry those in 3 colors. So unless you want Oxford, Khaki, or Light Blue, be sure to pre-order! I will announce the colors that will be available later today or tomorrow.

-Kurt

"What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?" -Joe

Done with painting!

I have hopes that the new addition will be done this week! Thanks to Racer, Connie K., Curt and Caryn --the painting is done and the floor is now ready for the sealer! All 3 rooms will be wonderful. The intake room (will be named soon) will help prevent incoming germs being spread. The Welcome Room will be used for people bringing in new arrivals. paperwork can be done in this room and the volunteers can also have a table to eat lunches or to take a break. The bathroom...well, that is a really welcome room! Now visitors can use this bathroom instead of going into the house. We're all very excited about this addition! We took in 2 cats that needed to be returned. They are 2 Himalayans, a sister/brother combo. They originally arrived here at the rescue center 6/2009 and were adopted within a month. This same family had them almost 2 years, and with much sadness, had to return them due to new severe allergies. This family took great care of them--not a mat on them and their fur coat in great condition. Both are happy cats and are adjusting being back fairly quickly. They will be out and about soon. Thanks to the family for returning them to the rescue center--this is what we want to have happen if ANY FFRC cat can no longer be kept. The other new kitten, Bumblebee, is doing great. We're supplementing her with formula syringe feedings. The 3 crypto kittens (Diffie, Babbage & Turing) are also doing great. We now have 2 kittens on hold--Orzo and Tibby. Both will be staying until vacation and/or moving date is done.

-Jacci

Bumblebee!

Almost done painting!

Progress continues on the new addition. The walls are now done inside. Doors are up but need painted. Cabinets, toilet, sinks will be going in soon. It looks so bright and clean. Thanks to Racer, Connie K and Curt for all their help painting yesterday. We got a lot done and hopefully will get all the painting done this weekend. We're also working hard on the Catathon. Things are coming together for this HUGE event. Remember to mark your calendars for July 24th from 1:00 to 4:00, right here on our web-cam! This event is our big fundraiser for the new addition and should be fun to watch. All is fine here. The kittens and cats are all so healthy, energetic and just plain sweet! Have a possible adoption today. Have a few kittens that people have inquired about also. We received a wonderful gift to the rescue center from Quayside. It's a Cuisinart hand mixer. We will use this for all the mixing that we do when we make up the kitten's baby formula "concoction"! This will help immensely with the stirring process. Thank you Quayside! Thanks too to Susan G. for your fun gift to the cats--6 organic catnip banana toys. They love them! The catnip in these bananas are super strong smelling, which the cats love. Because of the big painting job last night, we did not get the new boxes opened. So...tonight we will open BOXES! We have 4 boxes that arrived from PETCO. We'll open these between 4:00-5:00 this afternoon. Putter loves his new cushy from JLA, he seems to know that it's his. Kurt William is becoming a desk cat, he's here with me now, just waiting to be petted again. Farrah is doing fine after her seizure the other day. Zander has captured all of our hearts. He purrs just by looking at him. Emaline has become a babysitter to some of the kittens. Bumble Bee, Turing, Babbage & Diffie are all out and about now--makes for a lot of kittens in constant motion!

Dorri-Lynn says "Don't forget, us big kitties need homes too!"

More kittens ready for a home!

We were able to get 6 more kittens spayed/neutered yesterday! The boys that were done were: Couscous, Diffie, Turing & Babbage. The girls were Rotelle and Zita. They all did fine and were running around last night playing hard. The 3 new black/whites are very much wanting to come out of their pen and play. I keep telling them they will join the kitty herd very soon. They are so active. We had boxes too! Thanks to Quayside for the Whiskas Tender Bites Variety Packs. ALL the cats and kittens love these. This really helps with our supplies. Thanks also to Oskarsophie for the Bellyrubs Bonito treats, KMR and the Turbo Scratcher Toy. That's so great about the turbo toy. Someone had just given us the scratcher pads that go in those toys as extras. We had had a turbo toy previously, but it had finally broke and was thrown away. So...now we have another turbo toy and extra scratchers to go with it! Thanks to Quayside and Oskarsophie for your donations. Thanks too to Thomas P. for the poptops you sent. I will give them to Kellen for when she goes back to the CHOPS hospital in September. If anyone else has any poptops you'd like to send, Kellen would love it. She gives them to the Ronald McDonald House. They use it as a fundraiser. The couple that has Orzo on hold has been here several times to visit him. His pick up won't be until first of July. The construction continues: eve spouts and gutters were put up yesterday. I can't wait for the inside walls to be done! Right now Couscous is sleeping beside Georgia with his arm over her back--so sweet. Asha is totally involved with the kittens, she seems to love them. Cadigan and Danell seem to be good friends. County is healing nicely-putting a bit of weight on that leg. He seems like a very laid back boy.

-Jacci