Boo is one of the senior cats rescued early this year. She is pitch black, her eyes are a mess and will continue to be a mess for the rest of her life due to the neglect she suffered. She is so loving and has gone from being a cat completely out of reach (hiding in the rafters) to head-bumping and rubbing on me every time I go into the stall enclosure. Last night, I noticed her mouth was bleeding which caused me concern. I bundled her up and took her to the vet this morning.

She needs to have all her teeth pulled. Her gums are inflamed and eating is painful for her. They gave me an estimate of $492.39 which should cover the dental exam, pain meds, IV’s she will need and because it is dental work and she is so old, they want to do pre-op blood work to be sure it’s safe to do the procedure. I am once again asking for help. I was able to get the vet bill down to $200.00 thanks to recent donations, but this procedure will bump it back up into the $700.00 range.

I looked at this beautiful blackness and told the vet we would go ahead and do the procedure. There is only vet that does dentals so she has been scheduled for the 20th. I know this is going to be so hard and painful for her- but her mouth is really a mess. Until that time, she will get all her food pureed and they put her on pain meds as well. God Bless this kitty- had she had a normal life with someone who cared about her- all of this would be unnecessary.

This is one of the blogs I follow-

Opinionator

Here are two of the four porch kitties that arrived recently. The boy, the cow kitty who I finally decided to name Dickens has been confined for three days after escaping from me earlier. He is not happy and cries non-stop all day and all night in confinement. I tell him he is lucky to be confined in such an elegant cage. It is huge when you think of how some cats are housed in shelters and it has an outside patio to go along with it. He is not impressed and just keeps crying. Today is his last day in captivity. He gets neutered tomorrow and then he will be returned to the group of girls he came in with. He acts feral (hissing growling showing his teeth ears flat) but it is all bluff. When I begin to pet him, he can’t get enough lovin.

Sleep is difficult for me right now. Thinking about this kitten, plus the high heat wave sweeping through at the moment doesn’t give me much relief. Last night I spent the majority of the night visiting the cats in the enclosures. It was cooler out there and GiGi the boarder seemed to be begging me to stay with her. Her owner hasn’t come to see her for about a month now. The last time she was here, GiGi spent more time at my side than her. I think the gal got her feelings hurt, for I’ve not seen her since. Supposedly on the 9th of August, she is going to come and pick up her cat and take her home. I hope that happens. If not, I will merge GiGi into the house so she can have companionship.

I am a librarians daughter and I do a lot of reading. I prefer books over Kindle (call me old-fashioned) I just finished reading one of my favorite author’s (Dean Koontz) book Fear Nothing There is one passage that jumped out of me and applies to my life today. I will share it now:

“We are an arrogant species, full of terrible potential, but we also have the great capacity for love, joy, friendship, generosity, kindness, faith and hope.”

My hope is more of us can find the good in others then be confronted with the bad. My hope is that in the near future, the efforts of CATS Inc., and their volunteers will no longer be needed and we can shut our doors with a smile. That’s my hope, the world will walk kinder, pay it forward and live peacefully with all species.

I went outside this morning when the sun woke up, and the cats came running. Gump prefers to stay outside unless I am going somewhere in the car, then he jumps in and wants to go with me! He is fearless and I am glad he wasn’t de-clawed and de-fanged so he could continue to live. Malcolm one of the cats from the hoarder will now allow me to pet his beautiful black belly without fear of reprisal. Turner my oldest outside kitty (she will be 13 this year) was waiting for her turn in the petting zone. Boo (another of Karen’s cats) sits quietly on the sidelines. She will wait until I am walking and then she will do her ritual and weave in and out of my ankles as I walk making it difficult for me not to stumble. I smile when I look at these beautiful cats and this dries the tears on my face which seems to be appearing more at the moment. I know that stepping out of the shadows and challenging abusers puts them and me at high risk. But the risk is worth it if someone who is a danger to himself and others is pulled out of society and put somewhere to receive help.

Those are my thoughts this morning before I wake up Mike and get his breakfast. For those of you who have asked about him- here is his update. His legs still look like a mess. They will never be normal in color again. They are not healing from the inside, but they aren’t swelling either. They are being wrapped once a week in Portland by the experts and three different types of compression are being applied to the legs. He has a total of ten ulcers on his legs now that were uncovered after the laser removed all the crust and dead skin. He is being watched carefully and he was told he should NEVER get out of bed, but if he does it for only 15 minutes at a time and not for half a day. He’s not that good about following those instructions but he does try.

The last time he was in the hospital, his kids came to visit. The boys pretty much cornered me and told me that they would make me an offer. They would tear down our existing home and build on the back of the property a one-story home that was handicapped equipped. They would pay for it all on one condition. I had to stop rescuing cats! I had to concentrate on their dad and that was the deal. I was raw from emotions and bone tired and stressed to the max. I took a deep breath and told them that I appreciated the offer but had to say no. I think they were quite surprised and one said something to me that caused me to burst out crying and run out of the yard. They meant well but it was to overwhelming.

When Mike got out of the hospital and then the nursing home, I finally told him about that conversation. He was angry at first that they would ask such a thing but he promised not to talk to them about it. They meant well, they just didn’t understand. These cats are my ministry and missions are never easy. I am a firm believer that Mike’s cat Taylor has kept him interested in living much more than I ever could. She is so spoiled by him, it makes me grin.

Okay I am rambling now so need to go. Don’t know what’s in store for me today only know that God has given me strong shoes to get through it all. NONE of you know how awesome I think ALL of you are. How you help me on really bad days and how you validate me in so many different ways. So I am telling all of you now from deep within my heart- “THANK YOU!”

That best describes the reaction to my post yesterday, although privately, I have been contacted by many demanding I do something. Know this, I am on it- trying to find out more information about the previous owners who for whatever reason took out their misery on this kitten. I will do all I can to bring them to justice, but I can’t go to the police until I have more of the pieces. I’m not sitting on this- this kept me awake all night and in tears into the morning and more will be shed for this innocent one in the weeks/months to come. This was not a case of a kitten being hit by a car and all injuries sustained at once. This diabolical plotting to break bones and cause this kitten great pain. If this person has done this to a kitten- WHAT is he doing to the people in his immediate circle? I say he, because experience has shown me time and again that most horrendous cases of abuse are done by males. Women also will abuse cats/kittens but they are more subtle about it. This is rage, pure unadulterated rage. I will quote my feline specialist who I shared this kitten’s story with yesterday:

“There isn’t a hell bad enough or deep enough for a person who would deliberately injure a cat. I sincerely hope they find the worst of the worst there.”

On the Gypsy front, she is home and nothing was found to be wrong with her. She has changed though and this morning she bit me. She is pooping outside the litterpan and I suspect that someone mishandled her and although nothing physical happened to her (that can be found) mentally something happened. No one is talking- so I will just keep working with her and see if I can integrate her back into the household at some point.

So please don’t think that I sit on my hands when it comes to abuse and neglect. That is so far from the truth about what we stand for here. All I know at this point is that the kitten was abandoned over a week ago when the people moved out of the residence. I’m glad they left him behind and that he was found and brought to me. His pain is over now- now it is time for Justice.

I have been to the police. They have promised me to take all the information I gave them and chase this next week. This weekend is out (It’s the Oregon Jamboree) the insanity of country western fans drunk on their butts is going to keep them very busy. This town is crazy right now. The only parking lot not full in town belongs to the police- imagine that! The detective knew of me (not sure if that is good or bad) but he said I did a good thing in reporting this and they will find out what happened. The story I got from the woman who originally found this kitten doesn’t add up. The neighbor told her the kitten had got hit by a car two weeks ago (he didn’t see it) he was just repeating what he had been told. IF this kitten had gotten hit so recently, there would have patches of fur missing- plus if a small kitten gets hit by a car and breaks a leg, a pelvis, all the ribs, and the jaw do you think it could get up and keep moving? Doubtful the kitten had no open wounds on it at all. Let’s see what the law can do here-