A Moment of Silence, for the massacre of one feathered cat toy, which was gifted to Addie from Wilco Farm Stores!

RIP (Rest In Pieces) little buddy. it looks to me like you gave it your All!

I have a confession to make. The anniversary of Michael’s passing this year, proved to be quite exhausting for me. I didn’t expect it to, some years are easier than others. This year not so much. Did avoid the public humiliation part of it where I break down in the middle of a grocery store, or some other public place. It’s been five years since he’s left. He still larger than life in my heart.

So this morning, I overslept in a major way. When I went out to the main enclosure to feed and opened the door, I didn’t check to see where Bentley was located. He will at times just scoot out the door and takeoff. But he has outside privileges, he is the only one. he will generally spend about an hour outside and then come and get me and walk with me back to the enclosure.

So I opened the door, a streak, darted between my legs, taking off into the yard, Still groggy from sleep. It took a few minutes for my brain to register that. Wait a minute that’s not Bentley. That’s PITA. And no, she was not named after the bread! Lol ever since she’s been a kitten, she has been a handful.

Both her and Twist have been playing the “War Between the Wires” for years. For whatever reason, they do not get along. That is an understatement.Twist was by the barn, waiting for me to come and feed her. When PITA jumped her! The battle was on. On icy grounds with slippers on is not ideal when it comes to moving. Thankfully, my slippers have heavy treads on them and I was able to catch up to her and break the fight up. They both split apart Twist was limping, PITA was headed to the barn.

Thirty minutes later, I finally captured PITA and carried her back to the enclosure. I thank God that I caught her fairly easily compared to the last time she escaped. She’s only been out of the enclosure two times now. The first time she ran up a tree. That was fun trying to get her down off of there. So this time she upped the ante deciding to go after her number one inemesis and get into a fight.

In that moment when she was running full-tilt at Twist and they met in mid-air in fight-she did not lose one of her lives, but I sure felt like I did. I am still shaking, but I am so grateful that I caught her as quickly as I did. Oh, the joy of Rescue! LOL!

Now all that’s left is once Twist returns hopefully in a decompressed state to see if she is injured. I certainly hope not, Twist is full feral. I have never been able to get my hands on her since she first arrived.

Merry Christmas Everyone! God just delivered my Christmas present. I am so grateful.

A few days ago during a pretty hard rain, I discovered a cardboard box sitting outside my gate. I didn’t put the box there, apprehensively as I approached it. I was praying that if there were kittens inside that they were okay. Thankfully, the box was not sealed.  The box, although sopping wet was empty.

The next morning when I was feeding, I noticed four black kitties watching the  others eat. When I slowly went towards them, they ducked under the deck. I ended up getting more food and putting it on a tray and sliding the tray underneath the deck.

I’m not sure where they came from,  or who dumped them. I stuffed the underside of the deck with enough straw to keep them warm. So what I do know is now they are safe, they are warm, they are fed. I guess you could say they are home. I am naming them, Eenie, Meenie, Miny, and Moe. Sort of unisex names until I figure out who is female and who is male in the group.

I have heard some fighting going on, so suspect one or more is a Tom. The fighting is not severe enough to interfere, just growling, a lot of warnings, but no shrieking or evidence of anybody actually going into battle.

I’ve been feeling a bit punky lately. Laurel will pick-up on it first. I think she might take her cue from Kota   He seems to know before the pain hits that it’s coming. Once he’s been over to me to offer his comfort, Laurel will show up.

Just recently, Addie will also come to share my lap. It’s quite comforting to have these two lap-warmers on me. Although petting them is out of the question for now (sometimes my fingers don’t feel as if they belong to me anymore).

I’ve already turned down one corrective surgery the doctors want to do on me. Unfortunately, this time around, I don’t have that option. I think the worst part of the whole scenario is once they do the surgery, I will be unable to do much for 6 to 8 weeks. As happy as I am to have these kitties on my lap right now, post-surgery that will not be possible. I have to figure out how I’m going to manage keeping them out of the living room, kitchen and bathroom while I recover. I suppose I will cross that bridge when I get to it. For now I will just enjoy the harmony of having these two kitties getting along on my lap.

Ms. Addie is showing every indication of a bladder infection this morning. Frequent trips to the litter box, resulting in only pea-size drops of urine. She squats so long that I was able to slide a paper towel underneath her to see if she’s passing blood, which she is not. She is not dehydrated, but she’s also not drinking that much.

I called the vet, but they are only open half day and they are slammed busy. So I have confined her. I put her on Hills Science Diet Urinary Tract both dry and wet. I also used the antibiotic they gave me at the emergency room recently. Ground it down to a fine powder, called a friend of mine, who is a crack vet tech so she could help me figure out how many piles I needed to make of this wonder drug she told me 10 and to give Addie one portion of that 10th every 12 hours.

So Addie is in the cat room, she has three bowls of water. She loves to push ice cubes across the floor so there are a couple of ice cubes in one bowl. In the other bowl because she loves ping-pong balls are two ping-pong balls floating around I also rubbed a tiny bit of table salt on her gums to make her thirsty. We will see how she goes throughout the day and tomorrow. Hopefully, the infection will clear up quickly and I won’t have to add to my already large vet debt.

Update: 8:00 p.m.- Addie just peed. I couldn’t be more pleased with the way that this is turning out. Her peeing as much as she just did, confirms my suspicion that she had a bladder infection. It must’ve really hurt for her to pee, so now that it doesn’t hurt. Hopefully she will pee more. I will keep up with the antibiotics. if she keeps peeing in larger amounts, I will also stop putting salt on her gums. I’m just so relieved I couldn’t find any open wounds on her. Sometimes she will tussle with Aspen and Laurel, so this just confirms that her infection was internal.

“Crazy Cat Woman Smothered to Death by Beloved Cat!”

Last night during another frigidly cold 20° temperature drop. Our power went out. I was sitting in my chair when it happened. I grabbed the flashlights and made the rounds, looked outside and saw that my neighbors were also dark. They had been predicting black ice, so I assumed that some of the ice must have landed on the wires and caused a problem.

I was already wearing my hoodie. It’s oversized and it’s very comfortable and warm. I grabbed a couple blankets just in case it was going to be a long time without power. I settled back in my chair, Laurel jumped on my lap. She loves to snuggle on my shoulder. She gets highly indignant if she doesn’t get her way.

I was petting her and I noticed her ears were really cold. We don’t have central heating here so she must’ve been in the back room when the lights went out. I had my hood up over my head and she climbed up on my chest, went to snuggle on my shoulder, she changed direction heading for the inside of my hood. I tried to dislodge her. She was very close to choking me. My head and her body cannot fit inside my hoodie! It’s oversize, but not that oversized!

I finally was able to get her out of it. I placed her on my lap and before I knew it here she comes again and she’s trying to crawl back into my hoodi. We had a few minutes of tussling over this before she finally understood that this wasn’t going to happen. Mom needs to breathe. These cats are so funny. Their characters are coming out and they are both a delight and a challenge. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yesterday, I received a stern letter from the Health Department. It told me that I could not “euthanize, get rid of, or otherwise discard said cat: “Bently!” I had to quarantine Bentley for a period of ten days. After that they would be in touch with me regarding how he was doing.

This letter was generated, because I let my guard down. I got careless and for that carlessness, Bently bit me. He did not do it intentionally. He did not mean to cause me any harm. He did it because I was petting him while I was on the phone. He is pet- aggressive in a big way. When you start to pet him, he loves it. However, it over-stimulates him, and he will attack.

The bite ended up with me at Urgent Care the next morning. This was odd, because he did not break my skin. The bites did not bleed. It hurt like the devil when he attached to my arm, but when he finally released me, I could only see red spots where his teeth and claws had been. I just put cold water on it and went on with my day,

The next morning, my hand was swollen and quite painful. Again, no blood- it just hurt more than I thought it should. I also needed to update my tetanus. I knew before I left, that even though he wasn’t rabid, I would be required to quarantine him (Oregon has strict laws about this).

It ended up, that according to the doctor, Bently had punctured my knuckle. They gave me an updated tetanus shot that was fairly new on the market and stronger than the other pre-existing shot. They also gave me a new type of antibiotic to take. Ironically, afterward. I was sicker than a dog, not from his bite but from the injection and the antibiotic. I stopped the antibiotic the second day of taking it and just had to ride out the side effects of the Tdap injection. I still am unable to lift my left arm this morning past my waist. Bent bit me on the right hand/arm.

This is what happened because I didn’t follow my own rules with him that day. He jumps on my lap all the time to get petted. Long ago, I learned a painful lesson that I needed to let him decide it was time to jump down, and not encourage him to do so. The doctor at Urgent Care laughed when he first walked into the room and saw me.He said “So, you are here for another cat bite I bet?” This is the fourth time this year that he has treated me for cat bites. None of those bites were from Ben until now. I told the Dr. It’s an occupational hazard.

Here is Bently snoozing on my lap. Looks so peaceful, but looks can be deceiving! 🙂

Kota is in respiratory distress. I am sitting in the parking lot at the vets office right now with Kota. He started last night. His breathing became shallow and slow. On a normal dog their respirations should be 30 breaths per minute. The highest his breath got was 16 and the lowest was seven. That’s when he was at rest. When he’s active and walking around, his breaths increased to 55 breaths, per minute. Please say a prayer for this wonderful dog. I am so concerned and confused right now about what’s going on with him he was doing so well. But then all of a sudden he has plummeted. I know he’s in pain, because when he’s in pain, he will come to me and put his head between my legs and drop his head. That’s when I know that he needs comfort . He was doing this to me early in the a.m. Just pray for him please. I can’t take another hit on our vet bill. But he is my heart. Ever since Michael died he’s not left my side. He has saved my life twice, I really hope they find out what’s wrong with him finally and fix it. I hope I can return the favor and save him.

*******UPDATE*********

This morning, other than finding the regular things that are wrong with Kota- he checked out fine otherwise. After answering some tough questions from the vet, she informed me that the reason Kota is having breathing difficulties is because he is catching my stress. She said that we are both so entertwined and connected that he can smell my stress level rising even before I can realize that it is rising to the stratosphere. She’s giving me mild sedatives to give him which will help his breathing and his anxiety.

I was, I can’t even think of the word of how I felt when I realized that I was the reason that he was presenting with such symptoms. I thought when I rushed him to the vet this morning that he was having heart issues or fluid problems on his lungs. But he was just ianxious about me. I am going to try to keep my balance from here on in.

I am still missing Michael like crazy (although my primary care provider informed me a few weeks ago that I should’ve only grieved for Mike for a year.)I should be over it by now that is her diagnosis. Trust me I’m trying to be over it but I miss him like crazy. He was a big part of me for so long and not having him here is still extremely difficult. I don’t care what my doctor says about that.

So I left the vet office, feeling grateful for the diagnosis, but guilty for causing it. It was an expensive lesson that I won’t soon forget. Thank you to those who prayed, I was really concerned driving to the vet as well as very confused  after looking in all my books to see what he might have going on, he had none of the symptoms of anything such as poisoning, shock lung disease, or any respiratory illness, other than the fact that he was struggling to breathe.

Thank you for your prayers

This morning, at about 4 AM, I let Kota outside for his bathroom break. My outdoor lights were on, however, unless I go to the barn and switch on the main switch, all my property does not light up at the same time. Instead of going to his potty spot,  Kota vanished into the darkness.

This is not typical behavior for him. So I called him back, he returned immediately, but to my surprise he was not alone. He was accompanied by a fawn! He wasn’t attacking the baby, she was just coming with him out of the darkness. I quickly called him inside and grabbed my robe,  slippers and a flashlight. By the time I got back outside and had my wits about me, she was vanishing with mom across my pasture.

In a world that is seemingly feeling like it’s spiraling out of control, it was so calming to just have a moment of relief. To see two creatures, who normally would not get along very well, coexist, even just for a few seconds next to each other was like a breath of fresh air which I really needed especially right now.

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Last night without any invitation on my part, Addie jumped up on my lap. I quickly took a selfie. She looks quite proud of herself. It’s a slow process but she’s finding her way to totally trust me.

Addie has been here now just over 30 days. During the night, she is a bundle of energy. She races with the other cats up and down the stairs, they tumble down the hallway, scattering area rugs in their wake. This morning when I went into my office, I discovered that one of them (my money is on Aspen) she had opened my file drawers, and scattered all my files all over the floor. What a mess!

I have started doing a lot of interactive playtime with all of them right before bedtime. Sometimes it works, other times not so much. Addie has also decided that Kota’s bed is the best place in the house to sleep.

While she is on it, she will charge Kota if he tries to lay next to her. It’s the funniest thing to see this tiny little Torti kitty challenge this big black German Shepherd. So I thought well I’ll just go out to the barn and bring in his second bed so that he has a bed and she has a bed. That didn’t work so well!

She liked this one too! Silly kitty.

Monkey has been in his new home for over two weeks now. Last I heard, he’s fit in with the whole family, they love him a lot. He is the only kitty in the house. So I can imagine they treat him like the king. He believes he is! After he left, I could feel the whole house let out a big sigh. The balance returned between the three kitties, they were able to find their way with each other. Even though all three of them are female.

He was quite the instigator to a lot of the issues they were having. I did caution, the people that adopted him to not get another cat at least not right away. Monkey does not like to share his attention with another animal.

I’m almost finished with the book by Anne M. Martin – “Foods Pets Die For.” This has not been an easy read by any measure. It certainly has been eye-opening. She challenges the reader within her pages to be very careful and read all the print on all bags and cans of pet food. After I read the challenge, I took out my trusty magnifying glass and did just that. I was amazed to see that on the dry food, in really small print, there is a warning that says: “If you get any of this product on your hands, wash your hands immediately!” This is the food we are supposed to feed our beloved pets?

I would go into greater detail as to what she has discovered in her investigation of the pet food industry that falls into our dry and wet cat food and dog food. But I can’t because it just distresses me to no end. It is not a regulated industry. It is a self regulated, industry and all sorts of flotsam and jetsam end up in the mix. Dry food is the worst, but as a friend of mine recently pointed out to me, what can you do when you can only afford so much money to feed your pet. There’s little out there that is quality, and that includes the broader more expensive brands. Unfortunately, according to the author, even those expensive brands are not of good quality. Especially after a sell out, ingredients change. She does list nine ingredients to steer clear of: meat meal, meat and poultry byproducts,bonemeal, animal fat, or tallow,, copper, zinc, and iron. I just want to highly recommend that you pick up this book and take a look at it. It will make you more aware of what is going on with companies that we are supposed to trust.

I am anxiously waiting for Friday, hoping for the first time in many days that it won’t rain. They can’t dig a trench when it’s raining. Hopefully by the end of the day I will have actual water flowing through pipes instead of garden hoses into my house. They are also going to test the water to make sure that there’s nothing unhealthy lurking within. However, looking at the weather forecast for the week, it doesn’t look hopeful that it’s not going to rain.

Well, I need to run now, I hear noises from my office. I suspect that Aspen is up to her antics again, and my files are once again probably spread all over the floor. Kittens can’t live with them, can’t live without them! LOL!