LostWoods Blog

The newest addition to the family arrived yesterday afternoon — a 9 pound 1 ounce, highly anticipated baby boy. Merrick Conner is the son of my daughter Heather and her husband Patrick. I don’t have pictures yet. Don’t they know proud grandparents who live hundreds of miles away need pictures the second he’s born? Or at least within hours? I will post one or two here once I have some to share. I will be headed out to Oregon on Saturday morning to spend a week getting acquainted with the little man, as well as having some fun with my other grandson, Braysen.

(Photo added 05/01/2008)

In case you haven’t noticed — in case you’ve been waiting for me to tell you about them — I posted 11 1/2 week photos on Saturday. Then the Winter Gifts finally decided they would introduce themselves to the world yesterday, so their story is in the Cat Tails section: http://www.lostwoodswegies.com/cat_tails54.htm. They say they are sorry for being such delinquents. Sorta.

Tomorrow the little beasties go off to the vet for their second set of vaccinations. I can’t believe they will be 12 weeks old tomorrow! Izzy will be leaving in two weeks — just as soon as she gets her health cert, turns 14 weeks and the weather is acceptable. Her new mom and dad are so excited. Brenda and I need to decide when we’ll be able to meet up so Keona can go to Colorado. Yes, Brenda has decided Keona is her girl. Ohanna is going out west and I’ll deliver her in person to her new mom in Chehalis, WA in mid-June at a TICA show. Natane is still hoping someone will love her forever. In the meantime, we’ll continue to spoil her rotten. I should have time to take pictures of them after we get home, but I may wait until Thursday evening — especially since I just took new ones on Saturday.

Rand has a likely new home — a home that is willing to wait until I’m completely comfortable with allowing him to leave. I still worry about lingering issues from his ear infection. He still has his head tilt. I’ll get him neutered, wait for him to recover, then work out the details for his adoption if everything looks okay. Here’s a picture I took of him a week or so ago.

He has a wonderful coat — thick, plush, long, and so soft! I love touching it. His personality has just blossomed, too. He loves to sleep with us and in the middle of the night he’ll decide he is in dire need of loves. Then he walks around on the bed purring and trilling, with the occasional little meow mixed in. It’s cute — if a bit disruptive to our sleep. But he’s such a doll, who could be mad for long?

I have other news — non-cat news — that I’ll share tomorrow. I’m hoping to have a picture to accompany the news, but even if I don’t get one, I’ll share. Promise! A hint… I’ll be heading off to Oregon on Saturday to spend a week.

Most of today will be free for some sightseeing or shopping or a bit of both. Our ride to the airport leaves at 2:30 so I’m free until then. I don’t have a lot of room in my suitcase, so lots of shopping is out of the question — not to mention what it does to my budget. However, I can’t pass up the chance to visit a few stores that we don’t have in Helena in search of things I just have to have.

Yesterday we finished up about 5:00 p.m. I came back to the hotel, freshened up, and took the train to NJ to meet up with Barbara Chronakis, her husband George, and their beautiful cats — the wegies of Kashi Saga. I’d send you off to Barbara’s website to meet them, but as yet she doesn’t have a site. Hopefully that will soon be remedied as her cats are absolutely stunning. Barbara has been a NFC breeder for many years and was full of stories about the history of the cats here in the United States. She is also an avid pedigree tracker and knows a ton about the lines here in the U.S. especially — not just which cats are in the lines, but about the health issues that have occured in some of the lines. Our time together just flew by and I wish we were closer so we could have more enjoyable evenings (or weekends in the show hall) together.

Well, if I’m going to get anything more than packing done this morning, I need to make this short. I can’t wait to get home to see my babies. It was great to get my kitty fix and some cuddles from Barbara’s cats (they were sweet and friendly as well as beautiful) but it’s not the same as having my own cats around me, cuddled up to me when I sleep.

Oh, baby news… Heather still hasn’t delivered my new grandson. He’s not due until May 1st, but she and her midwife both were just sure he’d arrive early — especially since she’s been having contractions for several weeks and ended up in the hospital once, with both Heather and the staff thinking it was the real deal. But no. Not yet.

…or not so phun (fun)…

Greetings for sorta sunny Philadelphia. I’m waiting for a backup profile to regenerate so I can do a restore, so I thought I’d take a short mental health break and write in the blog. Much more fun than real work.

Our phun filled five day trip started out with omens of the doom to come. It snowed quite a bit on Saturday night, and we had light snow continuing on Sunday morning. Our flight was scheduled to leave Helena for Minneapolis (then on the Philadelphia) at 8:00 a.m. Unfortunately, both (yes, Helena’s airport is small enough that it has just two, count ‘em TWO) de-icing trucks broke down. We did not leave Helena until 10:30. Then we had to stop in Billings to refuel — something necessitated by a very full flight and the need to keep the fuel load light to get us over the mountains and out of the Helena Valley.

We landed in Billings, refueled, and were de-iced. Off we taxied to the run-up area where we sat waiting for Flight Operations to recalculate the weight and balance for our flight. Somehow they had lost our flight info… We sat there so long they sent us back to the terminal to be de-iced again. Finally we were back in the air on the way to Minneapolis. As you can guess, we missed our connection in MSP. Part of the group was rescheduled on a flight leaving MSP at 4:10, but some of us (me included) weren’t able to get a flight until 7:45. We finally made it to the hotel in Philadelphia just past midnight.

Yesterday morning we started all our work at about 9:45 a.m. (The mainframe and network staff started earlier, but without their parts working, I couldn’t do all that much.) We had a fairly decent day yesterday and miracle of miracles, we went back to the hotel around 8 p.m. Had dinner and a couple drinks, went to bed.

We started work again this morning about 8 and have had our ups and downs. We had hoped to have everything up and available for testing by late afternoon (like right about now) but one group will have to be rescheduled for morning, meaning we won’t be able to tear down until midday. But it’s still looking good for getting done at a decent time tomorrow — which means I’ll get to go to dinner with a local NFC breeder and get a kitty fix. It’s hard being away from cats completely for even one day, let alone several days. It’s just not right to go to sleep without a cat in my bed!

I haven’t posted a song of the day since Christmas time, but I’ll share a few that seem to be theme songs for recent days — two for the DR drill and one for NFCFA…

DR -

Sloop John B - Beach Boys (referring to our travel phun & games)

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beach+boys/sloop+john+b_20013644.html

M.T. A. - Kingston Trio (this relates to how we felt stuck on the planes, waiting and waiting for de-icing in both Helena and Billings)

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_kingston_trio/m_t_a.html

NFCFA

Whistling in the Dark - They Might Be Giants

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/they-might-be-giants/whistling-in-the-dark.html

Well, I suppose I ought to get back to work. My restore is nearing completion, at which time we may be ready to restore something else. Maybe.

I subscribe to a news alert through Google that sends me links to stories that contain Norwegian Forest Cat in the text. Sometimes the news links aren’t about “Norwegian Forest Cats” but often I get to read stories about NFCs at cat shows, etc. Today I received one that had information about an adult wegie available for adoption in Missouri. Sometimes shelters list cats that look like a pedigreed cat as that breed because it draws more interest from potential adopters but in this case, the three year old female had been given up by her family and when I looked at her pictures, she looks very much like Shira! She’s probably really, truly a Norwegian Forest Cat.

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10571320

She sounds like a wonderful girl, so if anyone out there is looking for an adult NFC to love, she might be the one for you.

As a whole, I don’t think too many pedigreed NFCs end up in shelters. Between screening new owners and the popularity of the breed — and relative rareness of the breed — most our babies go to forever homes where they are loved for their lifetimes. Plus, almost every breeder I know has a contract specifying that the owners notify the breeder if they have to give up a cat. It happens from time to time. People’s lives change — often outside of their control. Recently I’ve read several news articles on how home foreclosures are forcing people to abandon their animals or take them to shelters. But even when breeders request that owners let them know, people are sometimes embarrassed to have to give up a pet. They might have lost contact with the breeder or the breeder is no longer willing/able to take back the cat.

This is where breed rescue and a network of concerned people step in. NFCFA has recently named John Lloyd as our Rescue Coordinator and he’s done a wonderful job of matching up cats with new owners. The Regional Directors of NFCFA have also had the job of being a contact for rescues and helping to network available cats. Several of them have done awesome work, too. Others have stepped in to spring kitties from shelters and foster them. Others have provided transportation so a cat can go to his or her new owner. It takes all of us working together to bring a happy ending to these sad stories.  Feel free to share this link with anyone you think might be interested. Let’s find a home for Samantha.

I’ve posted ten week photos of the Winter Gifts to their page. I didn’t get it done last night — no good excuse, really. I wanted to relax and do nothing last night, while waiting for a phone call from my mother. My dad broke his hip on Tuesday afternoon and was taken by ambulance to the hospital about 2 1/2 hours away from where my parents live. They performed surgery yesterday afternoon to repair the damage and I was anxiously awaiting news of how things had gone. My dad is 86, with diabetes and heart problems, so any surgery is risky. I was relieved to hear it went well, with no complications during the procedure.

The kittens are doing great — getting so big and adventurous! Keona has springs for legs and is determined to be as good a jumper as her Uncle Spaz. They love sleeping in the “cave” on the couch. Ken put a fleece throw on the couch, then propped up a couple pillows and draped another throw over them so it makes a fabric cave. Sometimes they get to playing like mad and jump on the roof of the cave, causing it to collapse, but someone (usually Ken) fixes it so the cave is nearly always available for kitten naps. And he says he doesn’t like cats!

The other update to the website I made tonight was to the Kittens page. Yes, the beautiful Danica and the handsome McCoy are expecting babies next month. I’m very excited to see what these wonderful cats produce together. Unfortunately, I won’t get to see them growing up in person, so I’m going to have to rely on Sondra for pictures. Yes, I will be nagging.

Oh, and back to the subject of the night… late pictures… Next week I’ll be in Philadelphia from Sunday until late Thursday night. So Friday morning I hope to take pictures, before possibly leaving for Oregon for a week. My new grandson is due to make his appearance around May 1st, but he may arrive sooner. I will be going out to meet him in person and help Heather with Braysen for a week. Since I think two year olds are the most fun ever, I’m excited about that, too. But it does mean that two weeks in a row pictures will be late.

In case you haven’t already looked, nine week photos of the Winter Gifts are on the website. The home page has a litter shot of them and their litter page also has a new litter shot of them. What can I say? They were willing to be cute this week. In fact, they were all quite happy to pose and I was able to get several shots of each of them that I could send to prospective homes so they could get a good look at the babies.

Brenda is pretty certain that Keona is her baby — her foundation female for the RedCanyon cattery. Ohanna and Natane are being evaluated for show homes, too. Izzy has a wonderful home waiting for her where she’ll be a loved and spoiled pet. I can’t believe they will be leaving me in about five weeks. Time goes by way too fast!

Rangashrii asked about declawing and if all vets here in the U.S. perform the procedure. I think the answer is pretty much yes. It used to be when an appointment was made to have a cat spayed or neutered, some vet clinics would ask if the owner wanted the cat declawed at the same time. I think most have moved away from that, but they don’t refuse to declaw if the owner requests it.

First of all, let me say that I am opposed to declawing. My contract for kittens has a requirement that they won’t be declawed. There are a number of steps an owner can take to discourage inappropriate scratching and in nearly every case, you can train your cat to scratch where he or she is supposed to. You can’t train a cat not to scratch at all. And even the most well behaved cat will scratch if startled or frightened.

All that said, I’ll also go on record as being opposed to any legislation that would completely prohibit a vet from declawing a cat. I have two reasons for that. First, I have a strong belief that we as individuals, along with our animals’ veterinarians, have the right to make decisions about our animals. It is a part of the whole animal welfare versus animal rights issue. I am the animal’s owner, not it’s guardian. Fine line, but very important.

My second reason is that some people will have legitimate reasons for needing to have a cat declawed.  As I mentioned, cats will scratch at times, no matter how sweet and well behaved they are. If I have placed a kitten with a loving family and someone in that family becomes ill — immune compromised — and a cat scratch could be a serious health issue, they might face the extremely difficult choice of giving up a beloved companion or having the cat declawed. In a case like that I’d far rather see my kitten remain in a loving home and be declawed, than be sent to a shelter. At the same time, if someone tells me upfront that they will declaw a cat for some reason — no matter how legitimate — I’ll not place a kitten with them. I’ll suggest they adopt a cat from a shelter who has already been declawed. I don’t want my babies declawed if there is any possible way to avoid it.

Some years ago a man contacted me about a kitten for his wife. They apparently had plenty of money, as he offered to pay whatever I wanted for the “best” kitten I had. But… he wanted me to have my vet declaw the kitten before it went to them, because their home had many antique and expensive rugs and pieces of furniture. He emphatically told me the kitten MUST be declawed to prevent her from damaging these priceless possessions. I declined even his offer to pay me several times my normal price for a breeding cat (they didn’t want to breed her — just wanted a show/breeding quality cat) because I would not allow her to be declawed. I don’t know if this man ever found a NFC kitten for his wife, but he sure didn’t get one from me!

For anyone reading this who is wondering what the fuss is about declawing, I’ll close with a suggestion to spend some time at this website: www.stopdeclaw.com It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s full of useful information.

The kittens are learning to jump. Oh, they been doing little hops across the floor and little leaps up to the sides of furniture so they can climb on the bed or couch for some time now. But they are now practicing the teaser killing leaps that this breed is known for.

You did know that, right? Norwegian Forest Cats are jumpers. They are specially built to jump well, with those long back legs serving as built in springs and a long tail to add stability. It’s a distinct advantage to be able to jump high up a tree when being pursued through forest.

Over the years we’ve had a few cats who were even more accomplished jumpers, thus earning themselves the title of “amazing flying cat”. Brasen and Dilan (Spaz) have astounded visitors with their flips and leaps and untiring ability to kill teasers in mid air. But almost all of the other cats can surprise people with their jumping ability. Taiba and Basia love to chase the little red fairy and will jump four feet or more up the living room wall in their attempts to catch it. Bria used to hunt bugs by the patio door and one day I saw her jump (from a standing start) straight up to the top of the screen.

I use teasers with every litter, waving them in the air and moving them across the room to encourage the ktitens to practice their inate skills. Some kittens catch on sooner than others. Keona is that kitten in this litter. She loves to jump. She jumps for no reason at all, except that it’s fun. Yesterday morning I was playing with them before I left for work, luring them across the living room floor with a feather teaser. All four kittens were vying for the prize. I moved the teaser to the other side of Isadora and Keona jumped over her and across the floor by about a foot. It was a great leap for a little girl! Last night she was jumping around on our bed, in and out of the dad cave (the blankets, made into a little tent by Ken), over the top of the dad cave, into the fleecy bed on the foot of the bed, back out of the bed to pounce on my feet, back into the dad cave…

Tonight is photo night and I can’t think of anything right now that will distract me from getting pictures taken and added to the website. Then again, there’s always the chance that somebody (should we take bets on who that somebody will be?) won’t be in a cooperative mood. But I will do my best.

One last thing… a couple of years ago when we moved to Helena I wrote an article for the NFCFA Skogkatt newsletter about choosing a veterinarian. I’ll be creating a permanent page for the blog with that article (today, really!) The article is slanted to breeders who are looking for a new vet, but the information applies to pet owners as well.

Happy Monday! At least it’s almost over now. I finally — after some setbacks with a certain kitten refusing to pose — posted new pictures of the Winter Gifts to the website. Okay, I’ll admit it… I had pictures to post Friday night, but somehow the whole weekend got away from me (although I do have a clean cat room and laundry room) without me getting them posted. And in a couple days it will be time to post nine week photos. I shall try to be more timely with them.

I’ve been attempting to fix my Kitten Inquiry form. Sigh. I need to spend some time really working on it instead of bits of time here and there. It’s not just my site that is in need of a new form — Sondra still has Eden available, too, so it would be very nice if I’d get the inquiry form working. In the meantime, I’ve also posted new pics of Eden and Eris on the Rockatts site.

In NFCFA world, I’m happy to share the news that Heidi Herman (MacCha Skog) and Deb Hulsey (SassafrasKat) are both now full Breeder Members. I sponsored both Heidi and Deb and am thrilled they were advanced by the rest of the breeder membership. BTW, if you aren’t a regular visitor to their sites, Tyre and Bozi are the proud parents of another litter of kittens at the SassafrasKat cattery.

I know there was something else I’ve been planning to write about but my mind is a blank. It must be time to go to bed and rest up with hopes of a clear head tomorrow. Good night!

That’s right. Four. Not three.

The sex change fairy came to visit today. Or rather, she visited us while we were at the vet’s office this afternoon. I am so embarrassed! I hadn’t gotten the sex wrong on a kitten since Zara in the Wayfarers litter back in 2003, but I got Natane’s sex wrong. She is a girl. Definitely a girl. I hadn’t looked at her since she was a day old. I thought I had it right, why look any more. Well, obviously I should have had at least another look! Brenda thinks we should leave her name as is — Brenda says she always thought Natane (pronounce Na-TAH-nay) sounded girly anyway. So she will remain Natane Wynter.

Other than that little surprise, the visit went well. They had scheduled a full hour for our visit (unusual) so Dr Jennifer and I sat on the floor of the examining room and played with the kittens for awhile before getting down to business. All four babies were in fine form. Keona was showing off her jumping skills. Ohanna and Isadora were running around as fast as they could after the teasers. Natane chased them and when she’d get close, she’d stand up on her back legs and grab for it.

They were all very brave — not a peep out of them when they received their vaccinations. Dr Jennifer rewarded them with treats, which they were all more than happy to eat. She said that usually the cats that they examine are too stressed to eat treats, but not the babies. They gobbled! As usual, they were the hit of the office and one person offered to take them all home with her.

No pictures tonight — I’m letting them rest up from their adventure. Last I checked Keona and Ohanna were sleeping in the fleece bed in the living room, while Natane and Isadora were sleeping in the cat tree. I need to get a picture of Kefira nursing the babies on one of the upper cat tree perches. It looks very funny, if a bit scary. There’s barely enough room for her and when the babies decide to nurse, I keep thinking someone is going to fall sooner or later.

One more note… The NFC HCM Research Project Group has kicked off it’s Spring fundraising raffle. If you’d like to buy a ticket (or more than one) and possibly win a custom painting of your cat, visit www.nfchcm.com for all the details. The money raised goes for researching HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) in Norwegian Forest Cats.