Robin Olson's blog

I haven't socialized super-fractious kittens very often and Candy certainly is going to be among one of the toughest nuts to crack. It appears she has never been handled, given that she growls, spits, stomps and hisses if I get near her. She's still very young. Her back legs are still weak. She's very small. I would think she's no more than five weeks old.

I did some reading and there is the thought that it might take a week or two before she will come around. At this point, I would be surprised if it were that short of a period, BUT...Candy already has made some changes in just barely a day.

Yesterday, Candy ate some chicken baby food off a tiny spoon that was attached to a long stick. It was touch and go, but once she realized what was in the spoon, she ate, hissed a bit, ate, then started to meow LOUDLY. It was very clear that she is quite distressed and most likely, calling to her Mother. I took it as a good sign that she was meowing and eating in front of me, but of course I was sad, too. She must be going through Hell right now. She's alone, scared, wants to feed off her Mama. I can't comfort her. All I can do is hope she will find the courage to become to trust me and then I can give her all the love and comfort she so desires.

Last night I fed Candy more special treats. She has water and dry food all day, but she only gets the good stuff when I'm in the room. She kept crying and crying. Blitzen sits outside her door and cries when I'm in the room with Candy-which makes Candy cry even more.

The poor little baby.

This morning Candy hissed a tiny bit, but was fairly relaxed when I entered her room. I brought some raw food with me and she devoured it. I got her to come right up to the front of the crate, but she let me know she was not ready for any sort of interaction with me. At one point, she walked right up to the front of the crate, crying for her mama. She saw the door was open. I sat next to the crate with my hand on the door. I thought she was going to charge me to get out. The little bugger scared ME! She didn't attack, just gave me a warning hiss and returned to her corner.

She also used the litter pan in front of me, so that was good, too. I saw her step on her poop though, and there was nothing I could do to help her get clean. If I tried to wash her, she'd completely flip out. She wasn't in bad shape at all, so I opted to leave her be. It's too important for her to know me as something good. I have to wait.

A few folks made comments about the BIG scary brush that's visible in some of the photos. I've left it sit in the cage so Candy is used to seeing it. The goal will be to pet her with it before I ever touch her. Using a brush is safe for everyone and it may encourage Candy to come out of her shell. Yes, the brush is big, but it was the best I could find that had soft bristles and was small! So there.

The TV is on. The volume is turned low. Candy has the afternoon to rest and relax and I'll continue with socializing her again later. For inspiration, I will think back on my own cat, Cricket, who was MUCH older-maybe 6 months old, when I started working with him. I can rub his belly now and he's a big love-muffin. Will I ever see this with Candy?

I have to have faith that one day it will happen.

So you can't get your cat into the cat carrier when it's time to go to the Vet, but maybe if you leave your cat carrier out with the door open, the cats will come up with another use for what was once their fear locker.

Petunia, below and Blitzen obove, for once are in close proximity without any conflict.

Introducing, the Stackable Cat Hotel!

Reminds me of those Capsule hotels in Japan, sans the TVs and clean linens.

I am SO excited and delighted to see my little (well, not so little any more), foster, Tweetie doing well and finding a happy home with Sockington, who truly IS the most Famous Cat on the Internet.

Congrats to Jason Scott (sorry, I can't call you, Fatty) and Food Lady, Pennycat and of course SOCKS for reaching 1.5 MILLION followers on Twitter!

I LOVE this video! Jason Scott makes great use of Sockington's fame by sending a message to everyone-GET INVOLVED when you see an animal on the street who needs your help. ADOPT a SHELTER CAT or DOG! It's great. Thank you, Jason! Your heart is as big as the world!

Here's the video! Enjoy!

Sockington 1.5 Million Movie from Jason Scott on Vimeo.

Yesterday I was asked to take a fractious feral kitten in to foster to see if I could socialize her. I was told to think “Tweetie” as far as her friendliness factor was concerned. If you recall, Tweetie was a fear-biter and it was fairly certain he would have to be released back to the woods if I couldn't socialize him. It's one thing to take a kitten into foster and get it ready for a family, but when it's nasty to start with there's the added pressure of trying to get a good result, but not having much time to do it in.

Here's Candytuft. Okay, where is she?

Last month I attended the NEFHS Conference where I learned about a new program being developed that quickly turns kittens around from being nasty to nice. It's called ”Fearful 2 Friendly”

What's amazing about this program is that within a few HOURS you can turn a kitten around IF you follow their rules. Okay, so I took one class. I didn't buy their DVD (because if you read my previous post about it you know that there were some “creative”-aka, annoying problems with the soundtrack that caused me to think twice about PAYING to hear it all over again).

I decided I'd give it a try from memory. Basically, you lock the kitten up, alone. Don't give it anywhere to hide. Then, SLOWLY take a step towards the cage and wait until the cat shows you a sign that is positive. Maybe it blinks or puts its' head down or even doesn't hiss or flick the tail. Any small sign, then leave the room. This is what the cat wants but you only do it when the cat is doing a behavior that is POSITIVE. It's like playing “red light, green light.” If the cat hisses you wait until it stops and does a good behavior.

Oh, there she is! What a cutie. Too bad she hates my guts right now. I'm going to put her in the dog crate. She will not like this, but so be it.

After awhile you end up getting closer to the cage and the cat does NOT react. If it does you have to take some steps back and re-apporach the cage. In time you'll touch the cage. If that works, then leave again. Keep leaving after each progress and positive reaction from the cat. Eventually you'll be able to open the crate without any reaction.

The big kicker is to use a brush at the end of a pole that's about 12-18 inches long. Let the cat warm up to the brush FIRST. The first time you touch the cat, it should be with the brush. The kittens seem to react very passionately about being touched that way. Once you get them going, it's easy to sneak your hand in there, but this is based on a vertical cage (so you can access it at your full height standing). My dog crate is on the floor and not sure I will be able to get in the cage without freaking out the kitten.

Bottom line-you don't want to grab the kitten or use food as bait to build confidence. You train the cat that you will do what it wants when it does positive things, not hiss or growl and such.

Candytuft is the name of a flower! Who knew? Not me. She's adorable as can be. I want to give her a big kiss, but I want to keep my lips so I'll wait and hope that some day I will be able to tell you about how I can hold her and pet her and give her all the love she wants.

So today I began. I got as far as to touch the cage and she did well overall. I only had to re-start once. Blitzen keeps trying to get into the room with me, so I have to lock him up while I do the training. Since it's just the first day, I'll give it another try tomorrow. Candy just got here and I don't want to overdo it. I feel silly taking a step, waiting, getting the result, then leaving the room. I count out 30 to 60 seconds and I go back in and do it again. I sure hope this works because I feel like Candy is wondering what the heck this silly human is up to.

Good question. Not sure I know the answer.

Thank You to everyone who so graciously posted the information about Oscar & Henry, the two boys who need to be re-homed now that their Soldier-Mama is being transferred. I've been in touch with their foster Mom and she is really hopeful we can find them a great home. She's allergic to the kitties, but wants to help them out. How gracious is that?

Anyway, thank you ALL for your help. I'll let you know when we get some good news on the boys!

Can you Help a Soldier out?

These two super sweet, 18 month old brothers are best friends, but sadly their mama is a soldier and is going to be transferred a lot in the next few years and she just can't keep her boys any longer.

Both cats have tested negative for Feline Leukemia and FIV. They have good litter box manners, are neutered and are up to date on their shots. We're asking that these two cats STAY together as it just wouldn't be right to separate these loving boys.

If you dream of having two cats who get along, these are your boys! The cats come with their litter box, cat carriers and their toys, too.

The cats are located in DERBY, CONNECTICUT in foster care, but their foster mom is allergic to them so the sooner we get them homes, the better!

If you can help a Soldier and save two kitties lives, please Contact: Christa 203-751-7523

If you aren't ready to adopt new kitties, would you please help me spread the word? Thank you!

Blitzen's been looking to make friends with the other cats. He's had some success-roughousing with Spencer is a favorite pastime. Nicky gets head licks and wrestling time, too. The girls aren't too receptive of little Blitz, but last night he walked over to Gracie and gave her head a lick-to which she responded by tipping her head down to allow him better access to her. A VERY nice sign, indeed.

This weekend, Blitz decided to go for a nap attempt with Bob. Bob sleeps with Nick and Nora from time to time, but that's about it. It was great he didn't mind having Blitzen share his afternoon nap.

As you can see, Blitzen is growing up. He's up to 7 lbs now!

Seeing this just filled my heart with joy. I hope these two become good friends. I know Blitzen can be annoying. Bob doesn't appreciate the little guy's high energy. Looks like all is well once Blitzen gets tired.

Back massage, sir?

Sweet dreams, boys.

Understanding what results to expect when utilizing Homeopathy, is definitely something I'm learning. It's different from seeing Dr. Larry. With him, I would expect him to prescribe a shot or pill, etc., then within a specific amount of time, I'd expect results. I'd also end up effecting Gracie in ways none of us would intend. For instance, if I'd caved in and told Dr. Larry to give her steroids, she's be looking very nice right now, but internally, I would have done damage to her that might not manifest right away. They call steroids “the silver bullet” for a good reason. They work great for lots of reasons, but there's a price to pay, which includes potentially causing a whole slew of immune related problems and worse, which end up shortening the life span of the cat. For a geriatric cat in poor health, steroids can give them comfort and help them find their appetite during their final days. In a young cat, I would avoid it if at all possible. Each situation is different and you need to discuss using steroids on your cat with your Vet.

I just got back from visiting Dr. Hermans. We had a good conversation, then she examined Gracie. Firstly, Gracie's nasty self-mutilation IS HEALING NICELY! I was only able to apply some calendula based first aid cream to her twice, along with some bitter apple around the site of the injury. Since she was healing with little help from me, that's actually a good sign that she's STOPPED chewing on herself.

We also discussed diet. Gracie may not be tolerating the food I changed the cats over to. They all go crazy eating it, but Gracie wants it too and she can't have it so she won't eat or she'll wait and try to get some scraps off another plate. This doesn't work since there usually are NO scraps left. Now I've been given the OK to open up the choices of food I give her, which should help inspire her to eat more consistently. Juggling what to feed 8 cats is a pain in the ass. Dr. H said there is “no such thing as feeding all cats in a multi-cat household, the same food.” It's a “Holy Grail” that can't be reached if your cats are of such varying ages and from different backgrounds. Gee, I didn't have enough to feel bad about! Ugh.

So back to the food drawing board. Hopefully, I will get this figured out. The math involved in all of this “how many ozs of food/how many lbs of cat” is driving me nuts. We have a bit over 100 lbs of cat, but each one gets a different amount of food. I can't feed them all the same amount because it's too costly and I don't want the cats to get fat.

We spoke, again, about re-homing Gracie. Dr. Larry feels it's time for me to do that and Dr. H says, “No. Not right now.” The problem here is my expectations, more than anything else. I'm used to a quick fix. Homeopathy doesn't work quickly-espeically for something like dermatitis. It's going to be up and down over a long period of time. There are no guarantees, either. This may not work, but we haven't given it long enough and Dr. H does see signs that Gracie IS responding to treatment. If she was in bad shape, she'd have kept on chewing her leg. She may have had a flare up. Hard to say. I can't imagine finding a home for her with no other cats or dogs, where the new owner would not give her steroids for her skin or who would feed raw and follow her health needs. It's just not going to happen. Crossing fingers: I will get her back in good shape one day and prove Dr. Larry wrong. Gracie can stay here and be happy AND healthy!

Bottom line is that I need to give Gracie more alone time-which I've been doing the past few nights and we're going to adjust the treatment she's getting and give that to her more often and she how she does. She won't be getting acupuncture just yet. Apparently it does not go well with Homeopathy! We can only do one thing at a time. Who knew?

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful suggestions. I've done so much for Gracie, some times I forget what's gone on.

To answer some of your comments-

Gracie IS on a Bach Flower Essence combo and has been on it for a few months now.

Last night when I saw her injury, it looked BETTER than it had at the Vet's office. She also relaxed the second I put the first aid salve with Calendula (rec'd by my homeopathic Vet) on it. We had a very nice quiet snuggle last night and for the first time in a very long time, I opened up the foster room and let her hang out in there. She seemed to enjoy herself and was relaxed and purring (and drooling on me).

As for fostering, I need to keep doing it. I need to do it because it keeps a smile on my face when I battle depression every day and I need to do it because I can't face knowing all those kittens are being put down, when I have space in my house and know how to care for them...BUT Gracie's well being is very important-of course.

Also, I haven't had foster here since March and as it looks right now, I won't be getting any any time soon. I'm going to talk to my Vets about this. The theory for me is-if she was OK with them before, she should be OK with them again, but...that is a guess.

Lastly, I agree that with homeopathy, what is occurring now could be a GOOD sign and a sign that the worst of it is about to be over and the true healing can begin. I won't know this, of course, until a lot more time has passed and I can look back and either smack myself in the head for waiting to bring out the big guns (steroids) or jump for joy that this difficult time was just the harbinger of better ones yet to come and that I've finally found the answer to help Gracie recover.

...crossing fingers....time to go smooch Gracie.

There were a lot of questions and comments regarding how I was treating Gracie and even some suggestions that I was being cruel to her to not load her up with steroids and antibiotics when we discovered she had self-mutiliated.

This is what I've done so far for Gracie:

• Gave her two shots of Depo (Steroids) two months apart. Boy did that work great, but...will give her diabetes and shorten her life span.

• HESKA blood test and complete blood panel. Indicated she was allergic to dust mites and beef. Pulled beef from her diet. Can't do much about dust mites. Blood work initially indicated Bartonella so she was on big time antibiotics for 4 weeks. Otherwise her blood test results were "that of a 2 year old cat". Gracie is 9.

• Treated Gracie with hyposensitization therapy for about 8 months. Did not help.

• Boarded Gracie at Vet for a week to see if being out of dusty home environment and away from other cats would calm her skin down. She had daily soothing baths. Improved slightly, but ultimately did nothing.

• Took her to see Dr. Rhodes, a noted Dermatologist in New Jersey. Put her on anti-organ rejection meds that were supposed to prevent her skin from reacting to whatever was irritating her. Did not work.

• Put her on anti-anxiety meds. Turned into a lifeless zombie. Was very tough to get hold of her every day to medicate her because she has been a high strung cat since the first day I took her into foster care. Had to stop trial. Don't believe it would have helped and she certainly seemed unhappy.

• Changed her diet from grain-free canned to raw. Saw some improvement.

• Began homeopathic treatment. Saw more improvement, but 2 weeks ago either slight tweak to diet or treatment caused her to get worse for awhile. Changed diet back, skin is slightly improving.

I'm sure there was more, but that's all I can think of for now.

Next steps. Homeopath on Tuesday. Gave her soothing balms last night and apple bitter around the unbroken skin to keep her off the area. Early June or sooner, I hope, she will be taken to get acupuncture, which is supposed to act the same way anti-anxiety meds work. She should become calmer.

Her home environment is very quiet. She has her own place in our bedroom where she and Petunia can sleep side by side by a window and relax in the sunshine. They don't get bothered for most of the day. It's not perfect and there are some conflicts with the other cats, but those instances are generally short-lived.

Initially, this problem was the result of over-medicating Gracie. She had an ear infection (antibiotics), a URI , Bartonella (antibiotics), a dental (more antibiotics?) in a short period of time. No wonder her immune system blew up. We didn't find the ear infection until the dental was done and about that time I started doing Bartonella testing on the cats so it was just a coincidence we discovered she was positive for it.

So what I'm trying to say is...I have ALWAYS done whatever I feel will give Gracie the most comfort and the best results and for anyone to think differently of that-well...then it's my fault for not describing it more clearly OR they can come here and meet Gracie and see how well she is cared for and how much she is loved. Gracie may suffer or feel discomfort, but my hope is that it is not constant. I do as much as I can to keep her feeling good without heavy duty meds. This WILL END and I WILL FIND A CURE for her. It's just taking for friggen' EVER!