Shellybabe, the last (6th) chick hatched with a funny crook in it's neck. It's not eating much and seems sick. It's under a heat lamp in my bathroom with water and room to run around. I'm thinking it's going to either die peacefully or be a runt that I keep as my favorite pet. Poor little thing. There is no way to give it to mommy hen and the others. My hen is a great mother. And she knows how to count. When she was distracted I scooped up one baby and a few moments later she started counting, noticed one was missing and went nuts until I put the little one back down. I find that freaking amazing. Meanwhile, they are putting up with a zillion teenaged boys on a skate ramp only feet away from the henhouse. Hopefully chickens don't need peace and quiet.

Thanks again all. I think she may associate hands with the gloves they used to pick her up with. They showed them to me and they were pretty scary looking to me let alone poor Sasha. C3D: I stopped at Petco after I got off work last night and bought a spray bottle of Comfort Zone. OMG. It works too good!!! I only used two sprays and sprayed my hands hoping it would help. She was sniffing the air like a bunny rabbit. Then she started yawning, and yawning, and yawning........after about ten yawns she curled up and went to sleep. I couldn't get her to play after that. Maybe I should have only used one spray. I sat with her for 1/2 hour singing Jingle Bells while she slept. She seems to calm down when I sing to her. Then I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. I jumped and she woke up. There was a spider crawling up the wall about a foot away from my head. I had the kitty toy laser pointer with me and pointed to the spider with it. Forget our lessons. She was climbing the wall trying to get the spider. She crawled across my lap, but as soon as I moved my hand slightly she ran behind the toilet again. I left her with the spider and told her it better be gone when I returned (I hate spiders). It was gone when I went back. That toy kitty glove is a great idea. I will pick one up when I go shopping this weekend. My original plan was to have her stay in my bedroom, but I thought we could be more up close and personal in a smaller area so I housed her in the bathroom. Since the bathroom is off my bedroom I had planned on giving her the bedroom and bathroom for a while. Then hopefully the rest of the house at a later date. I have a kitty condo in front of the window in my bedroom that will be a change of pace for her. Of course it will be off limits then to Willow, McLovin and Boa. But they can have the sunroom. I just don't want to make the mistake of giving her too much room too soon and undoing the progress we have made over the last two weeks. Jenny

Sassy is a great beauty, and it wouldn't surprise me if someone has taken her in, whether or not they realized that she already had a home. And I think that the chances are that she is being loved and well-cared for. Cats also know how to find warm sheltered places to sleep, and so on, and Sassy's coat should keep her pretty comfortable. That said, I know I would be a mess if one of my cats disappeared like that! It would be unbearable, so I really sympathize with you. I have had 15 cats in my life and it has been my experience that they generally know where their home is and will hang around near it, even if they haven't been out before. But a female in heat...now a cat in that condition might roam farther, unless a Tom scents her and shows up on the doorstep, so to speak. Spaying will lessen or even remove a cat's desire to roam. Cats, unlike people, are stimulated to ovulate by mating, so if a Tom was hanging around, Sassy should have gotten pregnant pretty quickly, and her "heat" would end shortly thereafter (I forget if it is a matter of hours or a day or two.), and she should have come to her senses and tried to find her way home. It is true that she might get confused by a lot of apartments all looking similar, so by all means do leave familiar-smelling things in your yard. Once, when we were about to move from Japan to the States, I had to give two cats away to a friend, who foolishly just put them on collars and leashes the first day, in an area where they could get outdoors. Well, within hours they had both slipped the collars and disappeared. She called me and I rushed to her house, which was a 29-minute train ride and 15-minute walk away. You can imagine how churned up inside I was, the whole way there. We went around her neighborhood calling the cats' names, but nothing happened. Her family let me sleep that night in a little detached room in their garden. Before I went to bed, one of the cats came to the door of that room and cried to come in, and the other came round, crying at the door in the middle of the night, so we got them both back. In the end, they were left free to come and go at their new home, and they never got "lost" again, but this shows that cats can remember their way around, even in an unfamiliar place. I would expect that Sassy did not stray very far in the beginning, but probably some kind person picked her up and is caring for her. She may get loose from them someday and find her way home. I would not give up on walking around from time to time, calling her name. I agree with what others have said about the fence. If Sassy couldn't get under or through it, she could still have gotten over it. It is amazing how high a cat can jump, especially if the fence is a bit rough and she can get a bit of extra boost by putting her claws against it near the top. Our two cats have been microchipped. They hardly seemed to feel it at all. Vets usually use a sensor to check for microchips on stray cats people bring in, and a number of lost cats are recovered, thanks to that. The sensor actually reads and displays the number on the chip. Having your pet microchipped gives you a lot of peace of mind. Here's hoping you find your girl! Meanwhile, Lucky Girl is lovely, too, and I know she is in good hands with you until her owner can be found, or even if he/she cannot be found.

Thanks for all the kind words. Sasha is doing wonderfully and has already captured all of our hearts. She is a very mellow, calm and sweet-natured little girl. Her breeder, my friend, called me last night to see if we were going to keep her, as another person wanted her. YES we want her! THIS is her forever home! She follows me around like a little lamb and is always ready to cuddle. DD, DH and I are making sure, though, that Chloe and Ronin are getting equal cuddle time so as not to fan the jealousy flames. Here's a pic DD took of Sasha and Chloe last night. One on each sofa in our living room just relaxing and enjoying. Thanks again for welcoming our new little fur kid. As I said, her show days are over and now is the start of her life as a beloved member of a family. Our family. Lynn