I just went in to do the night feed for the kittens and I could NOT tell the difference between Pumpkin and her sister Autumn! Both kitties are wide-eyed and bushy-tailed and it is glorious (to say the least) to see Pumpkin’s eyes. Her swelling is down substantially. She still has patches of missing fur and some reddened skin- but not like before. Hopefully, the swelling will stay down from here on in and we can just concentrate on bumping up her immune system. She’s running all over the room looking things over and investigating everything. It’s a wonder to behold!

I am pleased to say that she has gained 15 ounces since she was weighed three days ago.

Here she is getting some  much-needed comfort from Aurora. It is interesting to see that when Aurora is with Pumpkin, all the other kittens now stay far away. I guess Mom effectively drove home the message that Pumpkin needs her special love and when they are together, the rest of the kittens should not trespass or else!

Pumpkin

Here are some of her other babies that she has helped me with tremendously.

After being told that Pumpkin is quite likely going to go blind, I have been on the hunt to find food to fortify her. She is now eating 3 jars of baby food at every meal, but face it – baby food doesn’t have all she needs as an auto-immune kitten. I have found a new canned food at the local feed store. I bought only five cans of it as The Kitty is once again tapped. She LOVES it! She was fighting for her place at the plate to eat it. She has not been willing to eat anything other than AD and Baby food for days now- but I have run out of both at the moment.

The food is Dave’s naturally healthy food Tuna and Salmon in Aspic. I think the smell is as attractive to this kitten as the taste. I just wish I could have bought more than 5 cans of this. I did put it on our wish list  a few moments ago (hint hint). *G*

It just warms my heart to find a food that is made for cats that she likes. Usually at feeding time, she either sleeps or just hangs back from the meals being presented. I have to hand feed her and she was losing weight the other day.

The AD is so rich (and expensive) not good for a daily diet.  I did check my donation box on the way out- nothing there but my seed money, 🙁

“He’s wild, he should have never been adopted!” That’s what I was told this morning from the woman who adopted both Jordan and Darby recently. I was stunned, Darby isn’t wild! He’s shy, he scares easily but he is not a feral cat. But last night, he got into her glass cupboard and went nuts and knocked every glass on the floor and busted them. Sounds to me like something scared him, perhaps that horrendous thunderstorm that passed through here late might have something to do with it?

At any rate, Darby is back here at the sanctuary and this wild boy just finished sitting on my lap for a bit before he headed out to the enclosure to say hello to some old friends. Barbara said as far she is concerned, Jordan has a home for life, but Darby shouldn’t have been part of the deal because he is wild. Related to Dennis the Menance is what she said.

I checked to be sure he didn’t get cut and I don’t see any wounds on him. I am sorry she lost all her glassware and I told her that. Sometimes kittens just react- but they do so for a reason.

I just took the above photo a few minutes ago- how “wild” does this boy look? And the flash in his eyes  doesn’t count!

Darby

I felt sorry for Cooper for about a half a second!

Trip to McDonald’s

Poor kitty, she looks like a burn victim! But she is home where she belongs on a special diet and some meds. Aurora got into the room accidentally this afternoon and she went right to this kitten and started feeding her! I went to take Pumpkin from her and Aurora told me to back off by growling at me. Her milk is good and it has dropped again and she has decided she  knows how to take care of pumpkin better than any ol human. Interestingly, she is NOT allowing the other kittens to nurse her, just Pumpkin

There is a fear that she might have an auto-immune skin disease called pemphigus. It can come about due to a bad viral infection. If the lesions start to increase or get weepy- we will be forced to do a biopsy to see if this is the problem. I am hoping the lesions stay the size they are- she doesn’t need the added stress of a return vet visit and then be put under when she is in such a weakened state.

Also just designed this donation box to put in a local feed store. I wanted it to stand out from the others there- but then I wonder if I went out of the box a bit to far? The beads spell out Please Donate.

Pumpkin is finally eating on her own, but her face is still quite swollen and she is painful to the touch. They are feeding her a combination of clincare and AD and they are feeding her every two hours. I guess she went home with one of the vets so they could continue the feedings. But, they don’t want her to come home yet as she is still quite sickly and frail. I am supposed to call back at noon to talk to my vet about what he wants to do for this sweet little kitten. Please continue to pray for her- she is a small but powerful warrior this one is-

Spoke with Sarah last night and she told me that this cat is absolutely incredible. She will follow Sarah around the house like a dog. Sit on her lap whenever Sarah sits down and sleep under her chin each night. I have to wonder if maybe this means something more than just devotion as animals sense things about people. I know Sarah comes in contact with a lot of sick people in her job- I’m just saying. Some of our cats come here and go off and become missionaries of sorts.

But for now, they both are falling deeply attached to each other and I couldn’t be happier.

On another adoption note- Sunday is doing well in her home. She is alone most of the day because her owner works at a bank, but her owner’s best friend comes in and visits and plays with her at least for a few hours so she isn’t suffering from lack of attention or love.

Jordan and Darby are doing  pretty well. They are eating, drinking and using the litterpans but they pretty much are confined to one room at the moment as furniture is being moved around as Barbara settles into her new home. At times even after the rescue, Jordan will hide her head under a blanket in the closet if Barbara walks into the room unexpectedly. It is going to take time for these two cats to understand they are in a good place. It is my hope that Barbara is the right person who will figure this out and back off and just leave them alone until they do. Barbara asked me why if Jordan came on her lap after that first incident, she doesn’t return to it now? I don’t have an answer, just a theory. Perhaps it was just Jordan’s way of saying thanks and testing the water to see what would happen if she did get up on a lap. I don’t know, this cat has been through so much. I just hope this is her last stop for a forever home.

She has been getting progressively worse. Overnight, her hair fell off her face and her cheeks and eyes became quite edemic. I took her into the vet this afternoon and the vet scared me- he was palpating her back end and I saw his face fall a million miles. I didn’t even want to ask him what it was he was feeling, but I did and he said he didn’t know, but it was “something that shouldn’t be there” and it was the size of a tennis ball. He guided my fingers, and I too felt this lump in her belly. I asked if it was her bladder (I didn’t know) but he said it wasn’t the right size, nor in the right place. We laid her down on the table and suddenly all this urine started pouring out of her! It WAS her bladder after all- thank god!

He is really concerned over the fact that the bladder was so full and again not in the right place. According to him, for her age, her bladder is three times the size it should be. He was also alarmed at the edema on her face and he tested her for demedex mange but that’s not it. he also ruled out ringworm on her. She barely glowed under the special lamp. Then he said it might be strangles (but I thought puppies were the only ones who got strangles?)

She is at the vet until Wednesday for observation and treatment. He wants to use some special drops for the edema- C-fer something or other? Sorry, but I have been up nights worrying about this little one and my brain is fried. I will find a way to pay for the additional care for her. Because for us, she is more than worth it!  I also emailed our feline specialist to fill her in. She saw Pumpkin over a week ago, but since then Pumpkin has slid steadily downhill quite rapidly.

Been busy with a sudden epidemic of ringworm in the kittens. Ten of the twelve are now covered with ringworm and they have been dipped and treated and I will continue to treat them with Lotrimin and triple antibiotic creams until this is gone. We’ve not had ringworm in over 20 years and poor Glacie is so covered with it that we’ve had to shave most of her hair off her body!

This morning, I took Jordan and Darby over to their hopefully forever home. Barbara instantly fell in love with both of these cats and of course Jordan went and hid in a kitchen cupboard. Instead of getting upset, Barbara crawled into the cupboard and removed all the pots and pans and put in food, water and a litter pan! Darby ran into the bathroom and hid behind the counter and Barbara assured me that she has the patience of Job and it didn’t matter how long they were going to hide from her, she wasn’t going to give up on them! She has 7 rescued sheep on her farm and a Pomeranian who hid from her for 3 months under the bed only coming out to go potty outside twice a day.

I was home about an hour when I got a call from Barbara and she said she had an update for me. I told her, I hoped it was a good update because Jordan’s track record is pretty dismal when it comes to taking her to a new place.

Barbara said that after I left, she went back in the kitchen to see how Jordan was doing and Jordan was gone! The house is fairly small and empty as she is moving into it- and so there weren’t a lot of places that Jordan could hide. Barbara finally found her inside the wall inside the cupboard. Apparently, there was a slit in the boards that Jordan pushed on and she was caught in the walls.

This 61 year old disabled woman, grabbed her hammer and claw and crawled into that cupboard and released Jordan from her trap. Then she sealed up the hole! She was exhausted and so she went over to her couch and fell asleep and when she woke up, Jordan was sleeping on her lap! Barbara said that Jordan hasn’t left her side since!

Darby is in the bedroom- he is hiding inside of a box- but he is a shy boy, and he too needs time.  I guess Jordan figured if this woman could get her out of such a tight spot she must be a-ok!

Pumpkin has relapsed and it looks like a return trip to the vet will be happening tomorrow. But all in all, a pretty good day with a double adoption!