When the turkey started baking, the kitties began to gather. I had to bat away impatient paws when I opened the oven door to baste the turkey. Toasted kitty paws were NOT on the menu.

They circled, they cajoled, they begged and Sullivan kept sitting up his haunches begging for at least a taste. It was just a small turkey so later, I cooked down the bones and stripped down the meat and gave the kitties a taste of thanksgiving. They loved it- the unseasoned broth will be frozen for later use.

Mike had a minor accident and bled all over the bathroom. Scared me to death to see all that blood but all that happened is he forgot to change the pulse on the showerhead to a lighter spray when he used it on his legs. The heavy pulse tore open his fragile skin. I finally got the bleeding stopped and he of course refused to go to the ER.

Cyclone is gaining good weight and doing well. he loves turkey too. Roosevelt is coming out from under the futon but his sister Jordan the Siamese mix is still shy and not willing to show more than her tail. I hear them playing when I am downstairs and when I go to check them, there are paperbook books all over the floor so they are being kittens.

Glory is slowly coming out of the bedroom but her and Tandem have words and she quickly wants back into the safety of the room.

Well there are litterboxes waiting to be scooped and kitties waiting to be fed and life does indeed go on-

No matter the heartache, the disappointment the anger or any other emotion, life continues on.

God is in the details and last night, I met up with a lady who just wanted to talk to me about cats. Seems her uncle was passionate about feral cats would trap and neuter them and release them on his substantial ranch up in the hills. He has passed away and she has been left with all his homemade traps he used to capture the cats others dumped on him. Well, guess who has those traps now? And they work!

To say they are primitive would be putting it mildly, but I can see where they were put together with great love and care. They are essentially a three-sided wooden box of various shapes with a sliding trap door. The trigger is attached by a simple cable, he has drilled a hole in the framework of the opening, you thread the cable through the hole, this props open the door until a creature steps on the trigger, then the trigger flattens and door closes. he has put several plastic faceplates in the boxes on the top (for your viewing pleasure) and holes in the sides big enough to pass air through.

I was dubious, but I set out one trap last night and in the matter of 20 minutes I captured Chappy! He had escaped when we had that freak windstorm that blew open the door. I had been so worried about him as we are having some really nasty storms right now and he isn’t an outside kitty.

Last night, after his capture, he kept me awake all night! he would stand on his hind legs and reach for my chest, when I would go to pick him up- he would back down. Up down, up down we played the game all night. It was like he was saying- “I am home Mom and thank you but you still can’t touch me yet!”

So everyone is accounted for now and the storm rages on. Right now the sky above our home is so black it could be the middle of the night.

Kira has found a home, my vet will spay this sweet kitten next week and she will go to be with Julia and her family on Thursday a week after the holidays. We love this kitty with all our heart and I am so glad I was able to find her a forever home. She deserves it! I have started asking potential adopters if they have a facebook page. If they share their page, I check it out to see what type of person they really are to take ownership of such a precious creature as a cat. Julia’s pages were full of photos of her last cat (15 year old mackeral tabby) she recently lost her to cancer.

I am also working on a deal with a local shopkeeper to keep one cat in his shop as a potential candidate for adoption. The deal is that I will make up a sign with a photo of the kitty and then talk about all the characteristics this cat or kitten has. The cat will be free-roaming the shop (and it is a busy one) if someone is interested in adopting, I will be called and go over and interview the potential adopter. Then a home visit and if successful, kitty will have a new home and another cat will go into the shop.

I will have to be there twice a day to feed and care for the litter pans but that is fine with me. There are no other cats there, and the man just loves cats and wants to help out. He has to clear it with his wife first so here is hoping. He is waiting until after the holidays to talk to her about it. Fingers crossed and prayers flying that this will work-

They placed him on the table and Dr. Steve carefully withdrew fluid from his abdomen. The fluid was indeed yellow in color, there was no blood showing so trauma was ruled out. They spun the fluid on a refractor and came up with a 8 protein count. It was indeed effusive FIP.

We discussed options but in the end, decided based on the overall condition of his body, his inability now to eat, the fever and the constant crying he did all night that the kindest thing to do was let him go. At 2:46 (I had gotten an earlier appointment based on his temp flaring up) sweet Fog’s spirit went soaring into the clouds heaven bound.

I couldn’t stay. I generally do stay for the final goodbye, but this one was special and I just couldn’t see staying. I knew they would take him immediately from the room and he would go into a tech’s arms where he would be loved on while his leg was shaved for the final solution.

I bent down to kiss him goodbye and his brilliant blue eyes looked up at me. I sense that God communicates to me through my animals and I felt the words in my heart. Fog was saying it was okay that I left. He knows he is going to a better place where he will meet my son and other glorious people and he will never hurt again.

I felt like a coward leaving and now I feel like all I want to do is throw up. I will miss him so much and I am grateful that he blessed my life even if it was only for such a short time.

When I got home, Mike told me at the time that Fog was being let go, Brandy just exploded into a barrage of barking and running around the house. In just a few minutes, she settled at Mike’s feet and was quiet. Mike believes Fog passed by to say “It’s really okay Mom, I know you did your best.”

The Power of Love
The Fog Fund raised $632.23

THANK YOU to all of you who sent in your dollars

Last night he slept better, but he has developed a bit of a fever 103. He is picking at his food and has retreated into one of the carriers in the bedroom. He cries softly when I enter the room and doesn’t seem to want to come out today to see me. I just scratched him under the chin and promised him tomorrow we will hopefully have answers as to what is going on. I’ve read everything I can get my hands on regarding FIP and since he isn’t taking any medication, I don’t know if he is in a remission or what is going on? I just will have to wait until Steve sees him and gives me his assessment.

Sometime in the night, Sullivan ripped out a claw on his front paw! So looks like I will be taking two cats to the vet tomorrow instead of one. He won’t let me see the injury- tries to bite me when I go to look. I wrapped it up and put him in a trimline collar, but he is just a young kitty and he has already gotten out of the collar twice and pulled the bandage off- never a dull moment-

My plan tomorrow is to ask my vet to do an aspiration of Fog’s belly and see what he pulls out of it. After discussing with him all the ramifciations surrounding this cat, we will proceed with the next step. I am just not sure what that next step is going to be- x-rays- blood work? ultra sound? Whatever my vet recommends I will follow. I will fill everyone in as soon as the appointment is over. I just ask for your prayers that he doesn’t have FIP and he can be saved-for he is very much worth saving-

We spent a restless night he and I in the bedroom. It is clear to me that this cat now has early signs of PTSD. It is also evident in watching his body language and how anxious he got after dark that what happened to him, was done in the dead of night. We slept with the light on finally so Fog could sleep.

This cat will NOT stop eating! I was told he hadn’t been eating, so I suspect now that he knows he is safe, he is making up for lost time. He slept near me last night but not on me as he used to when he was here before.

His body condition is a bit bizarre, he has this swollen belly, but his back bone, butt bone and head bone are all protruding. He has lost all fat and muscle and that could just be his survival mode kicking in- when a cat doesn’t eat for x amount of days, the body starts feeding on itself essentially. But the good news is he has his appetite back so feline hepatic lipidosis is at least out of the picture!

If anyone reading this can donate even just one dollar towards Fog that would be wonderful. I have an appointment at 3:00 Monday and Monday can’t get here quick enough. If he was in dire straights, I would be driving him to the ER clinic, but he is eating, drinking and pooping so at least that part of him works!

Thank you for reading this and thank you for caring. Fog needs to know that not all humans are bad and he is still a bit upset with me for putting him in that home in the first place- 🙁

A few days ago, I received a phone call from a lady I adopted a cat out to. Fog is a two-year old beautiful Siamese mix and this family had adopted him. The family consists of a husband and wife and an eight year old boy.

Diane said when I picked up the phone; “I have bad news for you- is this a good time to tell you?”
My heart sank but I told her to go ahead and talk to me.

She told me that Fog had recently stopped eating and his belly had gotten very swollen. He was lying around the house all day hardly moving, so they took him to the vet. The vet took one look at him and diagnosed him with FIP and to confirm this, he took a needle and aspirated some fluid from the belly, and the fluid was yellow.

Diane and her husband were told that Fog had wet FIP and only three weeks to live- max! Did I want to come over and say goodbye to him?

I told Diane that there is no definitive test for FIP- they can really only determine that after a death but that the yellow fluid was not a good sign. I asked her if Fog had any symptoms besides not eating and just lying around, and she said no. I told her I would be right over.

When Fog saw me walk into the living room, he all but leapt on my lap! He had been lying on the couch and he head bumped me and purred and curled into my lap deep. I was in tears, but I was looking for the signs; the fevers, the third eyelid coming over, the stinky butt, anything- but he looked fine except he had lost a lot of weight and his belly was swollen.

I stayed for awhile and asked her as delicately as possible if it was possible that someone had hurt Fog? Maybe the dog, maybe the son? But she said no. I told her I wasn’t a vet and I didn’t play one on the Internet, but that he didn’t have any of the symptoms of FIP. She asked me about the yellow fluid and I told her it is possible they nicked his bladder when they did the aspiration. I told her I would stay in touch.

This morning she called me and asked me to stop by. We sat on the floor and Fog came right over to me and wanted in my lap. He DID NOT look sick. He still hadn’t eaten much and she was concerned.

Again we talked for awhile and she finally told me that she had discovered her son had been hurting Fog! Apparently, he has been watching YOUTube videos of people hurting cats and kittens and doing what he sees to Fog!

I have no idea what Fog has been through, but he is HOME now and he is eating like he has a hole in his stomach! I will be taking him to the vet on either Monday or Tuesday and getting x-rays run to see what type of damage has been done to this sweet boy.

I feel so bad that I betrayed this sweet boy. I would have never put him in harm’s way. I took him out of an abusive home!

Glory is now upstairs and Fog is in our bedroom and IF he has FIP I will eat my words. I just gave him some powdered deer velvet and some arnica montana for his bruising.

We sat together quite awhile, he was snuggled deep into me and I cried and told him how sorry I am for his ordeal. I told him I will not adopt him out again and he can stay with us forever.

I don’t know how I will swing the upcoming vet visit, but I want to know how injured he is.
Such a sweet boy and now he is home-forever

This was Fog right before we adopted him out, right now, his condition rivals that of Cyclone. 🙁

Mike is done with the radiation treatments and he has a few burns and these really strange skin eruptions now- but he isn’t letting it get him down. Throughout the 52 treatments, he had been trying to go to the shop in the mornings and working on a special knife. He finished it a few days ago and it is beautiful (but perhaps I am prejudiced). It is a bowie knife with walrus ivory and mammoth tooth handle, nickel guard and tip and he actually sold it last night to a collector in Anchorage! I am so thrilled for him, it is the first time I have seen him smile in a long time-

This afternoon, I was catching a catnap on the couch when Willow came flying into the room and landed on my chest waking me. She was a mess! Soaked to the skin, mud on her paws? My brain was trying to process this when it dawned on me, she had been outside- YIKES! I scrambled into my boots- we had heavy winds earlier and I go flying out to the porch to find the door wide open and cats everywhere in the yard.

I called to them and only a few responded, the others slid under the house or took off into the woods. Double YIKES!

Three hours and 6 traps later, I have captured all the escapees except four. I am sad, because two are semi feral and I doubt they will be ever be captured. They are both senior kitties and we are entering some wild weather and cold temperatures. They have been with us over eight years and I have just let them be who they are and not pushed to socialize them because both spray. They generally stayed in the enclosure only coming in late at night and now they are outside. The other two are trap savvy so I need my drop trap back to capture them.

I am thankful the other cats went into the traps because otherwise my neighbors would be upset with the sudden cat population. We braced the door, MIke has promised to fix it tomorrow- it broke in the windstorm.

Today, India and Scully were spayed and vaccinated. They are now ready for adoption. I know it is a slim if best chance of India getting adopted- being a pure black kitten, but Scully has a good chance being that she is pure gray and a long-hair. These are the two of the four kittens who were poisoned early on.

The newest mackeral girl I am calling Glory as she has a glorious patterned coat. I took her in in the hopes that she was micro-chipped (nope) and also got her tested. She tested negative. Here she is in all her Glory…

She is very friendly but very nervous and doesn’t sit well for a photo. I will be bringing her into the bedroom in a few days after the girls recover from their spay and go back out into general population.

The two kittens upstairs, the mackeral tabby and the Siamese mix are still hiding from me. I see glimpses of them when I go to feed, but the food is being eaten, the pet fountain has run dry twice and the litter pan has activity so I just let them hide. They need to know this place is safe-

After over a year of a dispute with an internet company- I now have a new donation button! YAY! It took quite awhile to resolve the issue- but now at least, I am legit on paper as a 501(c)3

I also have another new cat- she is quite young and she just walked in the door this morning. She is a mackeral tabby and she is upstairs and friendly. I will take her to the vet tomorrow when I drop off India and Scully for their spays and get her checked out and scanned for a microchip. She has a beautiful patterned coat so I am hoping someone loved her enough to tag her as theirs.