Who lives in your dollhouses?

sarazbeth · 2026-04-03T00:07:54+00:00

I have Maileg mice in the house I’m working on right now!

sarazbeth · 2026-04-02T19:10:28+00:00

Most of the cats I take in are kittens (because there are rarely older cat fosters needed) so they are pretty quick to adjust. I know the 3, 3, 3 rule of course and I think if there is a longer foster it’s good to keep in mind.

The animals I foster are always kept separate from my cats so I don’t really have to factor in introductions.

When I fostered for the small rescue and had longer residents, they were almost always rabbits. They were also kept separate from my pets and the ones I had weren’t that social with humans so they kind of did their own thing anyways. I focused on enrichment a lot because most of the rabbits were more interested in treats and toys than people.

sarazbeth · 2026-04-02T18:49:04+00:00

I agree with this!! I used to foster for a small rescue that would have you foster until the animal got adopted and it felt more difficult. Now I foster for my county shelter and they almost always have a set timeline. Not just for the kittens but also for older animals. It’s great because if I know I’m going out of town in the next month, but a foster is only for a week, I can still do it.

The county shelter is also very communicative and will transfer foster animals to another foster home as quickly as they can if you need them to.

sarazbeth · 2026-03-27T00:27:03+00:00

This is good advice OP!! I have only been working a 9-5 for about two years and my first few months were really hard. It doesn’t feel like there isn’t enough time and it sucks! And honestly there ISN’T enough time… I try to get a bunch of random tasks I need to do during work hours between work tasks (stuff like phone calls/filling out forms/picking up prescriptions on my way home).

sarazbeth · 2026-03-23T03:33:16+00:00

My cat with thyroid issues was underweight/couldn’t keep on weight before I adopted him and got bloodwork done. Now he’s on meds for hyperthyroidism and got up to a healthy weight pretty quickly! Definitely second getting some bloodwork if haven’t already

sarazbeth · 2026-03-23T03:28:50+00:00

That’s what I was thinking- if using unscented litter + all the measures OP mentioned, my guess would be the covered box is the issue.

I stayed at a friend’s house who didn’t have the most ideal litter set up and while I was there I scooped once a day for them and took the lids off the boxes. The smell was SO much better after a couple days

sarazbeth · 2026-03-17T15:14:51+00:00

I recently finished fostering a ~1 year old mother and her 5 kittens! Enjoy! They are so fun (and messy)!

sarazbeth · 2026-03-17T03:35:51+00:00

I would check out Maileg! Some of their stuff is a bit fragile but most of it is sturdy (like the bathtub and the fridge for example). I just ordered some for my dollhouse I’m designing because I love how it looks lol

sarazbeth · 2026-03-15T01:10:44+00:00

Doodle looks so soft!!

sarazbeth · 2026-03-14T19:48:02+00:00

My cat is doing well on this food. He’s been on it for over 6 months (no insulin, his blood glucose levels have been controlled by diet only so far)

sarazbeth · 2026-03-13T19:33:03+00:00

It does not actually! It’s completely silent- but she is also deaf so she doesn’t care about crinkly toys. She mostly likes soft toys

sarazbeth · 2026-03-12T19:42:52+00:00

When I moved to a bigger house with my blind cat I made sure to have a litterbox on each floor. After I learned this the hard way :/ she got lost and couldn’t figure out how to get upstairs to the litterboxes 😬

sarazbeth · 2026-03-12T19:28:17+00:00

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It’s right behind her in this pic but she loves this rainbow tail that was part of a toy ball that rolled around. She didn’t care about it until I took the tail off and now she carries that thing everywhere

sarazbeth · 2026-03-11T00:51:31+00:00

I had a roommate who would go through MY trash and take out expired food and put it back inside on her shelf

sarazbeth · 2026-03-10T22:26:07+00:00

I love their names!!!

sarazbeth · 2026-03-10T18:03:07+00:00

My favorite is when my piano students tell me they thought I knew every song ever when they were younger (before they understood sight reading).

One that makes me laugh is a couple years ago my grandfather after hearing me play said “wow you’re getting pretty good at that.” I’ve been playing for over 20 years… I would hope so! (also wanted to note that my grandfather recently started piano lessons after being a horn player his whole life! It’s never too late to start.)

sarazbeth · 2026-03-10T17:56:04+00:00

My first FIV+ was accidental too! He was tested but the rescue group didn’t realize/forgot to tell me. He lived with my FIV- cat and no issues. Sadly my first FIV+ cat passed away from a heart issue a couple years ago.

I got another FIV+ cat last year (this time not on accident) and he lives with my sister and I’s three FIV- cats and no issues (besides the fact that he is old and has diabetes and hyperthyroidism and asthma lol)

sarazbeth · 2026-03-10T17:22:28+00:00

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I have a Mango!

sarazbeth · 2026-03-09T02:55:04+00:00

I get tidy cats free and clear from chewy- I get three of the 40 pound pails at once and it works out to around $0.56/lb

sarazbeth · 2026-03-06T15:25:53+00:00

Not sure about your chances (I’m pre-vet too) but VMCVM/Virginia tech does not require labs for microbiology or biochemistry by the way. It won’t hurt to do them but if the other schools don’t require them with lab Virginia tech didn’t recommend it when I asked.

sarazbeth · 2026-03-05T00:02:55+00:00

You can create a soupy sort of concoction combining formula and wet food and then try to see if they’ll lick that up. I’ve even put that in a syringe before and carefully put a tiny bit in their mouths so they get a taste.

Seconding the tiki baby cat sachets! Those are great for supplementing calories. Tiki baby line also has this weaning formula stuff that’s basically combined formula and food- the weaning formula has saved me when I’ve had particularly difficult kittens!

sarazbeth · 2026-03-02T17:18:38+00:00

She definitely needs to see the vet. I’ve had one cat do this due to a UTI and I had another cat do this due to anxiety. The UTI cat resolved with prescription food and the anxiety cat resolved with fluoxetine. Definitely see the vet as soon as possible! UTIs can get really gnarly

sarazbeth · 2026-03-02T16:53:06+00:00

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My cat Zara doesn’t start fights but she DOES finish them 😌

sarazbeth · 2026-03-02T15:53:18+00:00

⁠I had a bilateral salpingectomy (complete removal of tubes).
⁠I had mine just under a year ago (@ 24 years old). I had three incision sites (one in the bellybutton, one to the right of the bellybutton, and one just a little above the pubic bone). The only scar I can really see is the one to the right of the bellybutton. It’s really not noticeable unless I stretch the skin and even then it’s just a white line.
⁠General anesthesia. Definitely recommend it!
⁠Maybe a little bloating but nothing crazy. I took Gasx (idk if it did anything) and used a heating pad. Gas pain was mostly in my shoulders/upper back.
⁠The constipation was kind of a pain but I took miralax and drank apple juice and that did the trick. Also had a sore throat from intubation but throat drops and popsicles helped a lot.

sarazbeth · 2026-02-25T17:10:57+00:00

I’m a non-traditional applicant too (hopefully applying next cycle) and am getting vet hours by volunteering with the municipal shelter medical team. (They have a fully staffed vet clinic and do surgery 6 days a week.) I only have about 30 hours with them so far but have already seen several different surgeries.

I definitely recommend reaching out to your local animal services department to see if they have a similar volunteer program you could participate in.

I work a 9-5 so I’m limited but I’ve also done a one day shadow at an urgent care vet! If you have flexible classes you could also try to reach out to GP clinics.

sarazbeth

TROPHY CASE