Blogs

Last month I wrote about Orange Cat (aka, OC). OC was abandoned at my Vet's office. He was in a carrier, with a note attached. The heartbreaking note plead for someone to take care of "Scotch" or "help him go to heaven" if they couldn't do anything to help him. OC had two self-inflicted bloody wounds on his back from chewing at himself. Whether it was due to allergies or stress or both, no one knew. There were no medical records provided with OC, just a note with his name.

Thankfully, OC was in good hands. He is so affectionate and sweet, we all joined together to try to find him a home. Most of us have too many kitties already and with his mysterious condition-OC would be harder to place since he'd be considered "special needs."

Apparently, someone fell in love with OC. The perfect new Mom for him, too!

I couldn't make this announcement until everyone was certain that this was a good fit and the time is up-OC has his much needed home! He'll get all the best care in the world, along with the love he most certainly deserves. One of the Vet's adopted him! Now OC lives with Dr. Michelle, other cats and some goggies, too! He seems to get along well with everyone!

OC won't be seeing the inside of a cage any time soon, unless he goes to work with his new "Mom!"

OC also got a new name, to honor the start of his new life.

I'm pleased to introduce you to, Dewey!

...um...NOT!

Nicky makes it look so elegant, yet you know he has to be uncomfortable!

Believe it or not, the cat bed right next to Nicky and Bob Dole is EMPTY.

It's been almost EIGHT months since Gracie had her first breakout of Milliary Dermatitis (Rash, for gosh sakes!).

The intensity of the breakout has waxed and waned, depending on if she had steroids or a bath or neither. She's on a single source protein diet now, which ALL the cats want to eat, but at $45 a case, they ain't gonna get it! She is supposed to get a bath every other day. She also just got up to Shot #11 of her Allergy Treatment, which means she can go up to three weeks before her next shot.

All this adds up to a lot of nothin.' My poor dear Gracie is still ravaged by blubous crusts. She's still itchy. If I can bathe her every day or two she DOES seem to get better. The problem-she's been handled too much and messed with too much. There is no trick I can play on her to get her to come to me. She's so freaked out that today was the first time I touched her in over a WEEK because I had her trapped in a cat carrier! Being skittish has made it nearly impossible for me to help her any further.

Her suffering is my suffering. Every time I see her scratch, I feel bad. I called Dr. Larry and spoke with Super Deb, first, then Dr. Larry. We all agreed that it might help to have Gracie live at his Clinic for the next week, at least. There, Gracie will have little to do, other than relax, get pets from the staff and a bath, once every day. They'll rotate which shampoo they use, some antibiotic and some steroid based products.

"Oooo! A TWO room apartment! How chic!

The hope is that away from most dust mite allergens and with a daily bath, it will give Gracie a chance to overcome her rash. If we keep her there longer, perhaps she can get to a point where her immune system can handle coming back home.

Gracie checks out her new digs at Spa Larry

But the jury is out on if she can ever live without being on steroids to keep her comfortable. I realize the question will be how to measure her quality of a shortened, but more comfortable life versus the quantity of years she would live, albeit uncomfortably, without the drugs. I'm not ready to make that choice for her.

P.S. No, that's a TOY mouse.

Spencer had some special visitors today and apparently all the attention he got wore him out. I've NEVER seen him fall asleep, belly up and paws out, ever. It was SO tempting to rub his belly but we all resisted. This is one happy cat!

I'm so behind in posting! Lots of things are going on in Catland.

Firstly, my latest fosters have been challenging, to say the least! I forgot to mention, in my previous post, that the day I got them, was the same day a dear anipal of mine on Twitter passed away. In honor of this kitty, OscartheCat, our new foster is named: Oscar the Kitten! His sister is Chloe. I just hope our Oscar lives up to his namesake's good reputation as being a very fine feline.

The kittens were really getting fractious-worse, instead of better. I pulled their food and only fed them if they came to me and sat near me to eat. I locked them back up into their huge dog crate, with litter pan and water and cat bed and a cover over the whole thing. Our Director told me it would "calm their minds" being in a smaller space, instead of being loose in the room. She was right on. Once they were locked up, they calmed down.

While I got both of them to eat and play, Oscar seemed shyer, but of the two, he would let me give him a few pets and not be too bothered by it. It was so frustrating to not be able to handle the kittens, but I had to let them come to me.

Thursday I brought the kittens to be spayed/neutered. I found out they both weigh 2.25 lbs-which would put them at about 8-9 weeks old. I correctly sexed them, so at least I don't have to change their names. Their tests came back negative, but Chloe did have a weak positive for Feline Leukemia. We ran a more sensitive test and it came back negative-thank goodness!

I was surprised to find out that Oscar couldn't have his surgery because his lil' boy beans didn't descend yet, so we gotta wait another week. Chloe had her spay surgery and was kept over night.

One night was all it took. Oscar blossomed last night. Not only did he let me pet him, he seemed to like it! I was also able to coax him to sit on my lap, where he stayed for over an hour, purring LOUDLY the whole time. I wanted to CRY, but I didn't dare scare Oscar, so I held it back. I was so glad to see this improvement and his sweet nature was simply effervescent.

This was taken at about 1:30AM, a few minutes after Oscar hit my lap. He looks nervous, but you'll see he looks more relaxed in later photos.

I didn't want to leave him. Last night felt like going on a date with someone you really like and finding out they like you, too!

This morning, Oscar was even more friendly and relaxed. yay!

He's such a cutie!

It was remarkable to see how quickly Oscar's behavior changed. Was it because he was alone? Probably, but he was showing signs of coming around with his sister here. I guess I'll see what happens when she returns from her surgery. Hmmm...

All I wanted was a big litter of lovely furballs who I could spend hours with playing and petting. Instead, I get two fractious feral kittens who hate my guts.

Oscar and Chloe first arrived on Saturday. It was a last minute rescue. A very nice man and his wife found a large number of random stray kittens. Seems their neighborhood is rife with ferals. Even though he lives outside of our normal area of rescue we decided we could help out. Between a small group of fosters, we took in 13 kittens.

Three kittens were "spoken for" by some of the neighbors, who offered to help out and the rest were divided up between the foster folks. I was supposed to get five kittens, but the three that were spoken for were part of my group, so I only took two.

They're both beautiful tabbies with a strong "M" on their forehead. One of them, who I believe is a male, has a mackerel pattern in his coat. Their eyes have turned to green, so they must be over 6 weeks old. I think they're more like 8 weeks-the tipping point of where socializing becomes difficult.

We'll it's difficult. The first night I thought the kittens were going to be ok. They were nervous, but I was able to play with them as long as they stayed together inside a covered cat bed. They let me hold them and pet them, but no purring and they didn't relax much.

The next day was bad. It was like there were new kittens in the dog crate. They were hissing and ran off. It was clear they were in worse shape than I first thought. My second thought was that they were screwed because I don't have a lot of time to socialize them and if I don't get them to turn fast, they will go back outdoors-which I cannot bear. They won't make it because we don't know where they came from and they can't live on their own if we don't have a feeder for them. They just can't.

What's worse is that Oscar sits on the window sill and CRIES his heart out for his Mother. He doesn't know where she went to and he doesn't know she'll never hear his calls again. I hate this.

I feel a lot of pressure to turn them around, but I don't have the time to be patient. I pulled their food and only feed them when I'm in the room and they come to me to be fed. It's going badly. Oscar barely eats. Chloe will eat, but tonight, neither of them would take a bite. I can't do this for too long, but I have to try to get them to trust me, but the problem with time limits is I have to push them, then they revert, IF they made any progress at all.

I already know they're doomed. Either that or the Director will pull one of the kittens to force them into isolation to see if that will do the trick. I'm for it. Thing is, if it doesn't work, they will just get booted out once they are sterilized and get their shots.

Yeah, this is fun.

:-(

This...er...THESE just in!

More soon. Oooooo...kittens...yay!