I stayed home today from taking Mike to Portland so I could attack this house and get it clean. I was out on the patio looking out into the yard and thanking God for such a nice day and I see Bentley in the field trotting toward the house. He had this long thin big object in his mouth. At first, I thought it was some sort of a rope- but then he stopped and flung it high into the air and caught it. He was closer to the house by this time- middle of our backyard and I see this snake in his mouth! Holy smokes! It wasn’t a tiny snake either.

I ran outside and grabbed a small shovel and a deep bucket  (I hate snakes) he threw the snake up again- and missed it- and it bit him! He squealed- and backed away and I could see by this body language he was going in for the kill. I got there and picked the snake up with the shovel and dropped it into a bucket.

He was bleeding pretty badly and limping, so snake in a bucket and kitty in a towel went off to the vet. I looked at the snake and the pattern looked like a rattlesnake, but thankfully no rattle on the end of the tail. Turns out it was a gopher snake. They are aggressive but not venomous.

He will be okay- he got a shot and they cleaned his wound and said to keep him quiet for a few days- which will be impossible to do but I will try.

My cats have caught snakes before, but they were garter snakes nothing else. I was afraid it was some sort of exotic snake that escaped. I don’t do snakes. I did go to a local river park and release the snake off the trail far away from where the public likes to hang-out. It started to come after me when I shook it out of the bucket, but I stamped my feet and it took off into the underbrush.

Silly kitty! Gave me quite the scare!

Last night, Licorice who was laying in my lap, started to tremble and shake. Her temperature shot up in the OMG range and I had no other alternative after three hours of trying to lower her temp (unsuccessfully) to take her to the emergency clinic. She has a “fever of unknown origin” and this beautiful cat who went from spirited to vibrant is now listless and withdrawn and barely eating.

I had to give them $300.00 up front before they would even see her and this left our kitty short by $75.00. I am scrambling on all fronts trying to come up with the money to cover this and falling short. Sometimes, when these cats go into crisis, my brain just doesn’t think about the repercussions of what I am doing until it is to late. If anyone has $5.00 lying around gathering dust and can send it my way- I would be grateful. I will say the staff there went above and beyond in how they treated this black kitten. They have all they need on hand to handle any type of emergency and a beautiful facility to boot.

This morning when I picked Licorice up, she trembled in my lap all the way home. She’s not even a year old, she has already had a litter of kittens and they think the fever is because of an infection (not related to the recent spay). She is in a cage in the living room and seems to have no energy. Her fever went so high there was a fear she might not make it. But she is a fighter.

Thank you for listening

This morning, the rancher who just took 5 of my cats for his ranch called me and asked if I could spare one more? Could I? In a heartbeat for this paradise spot. I decided to give him Chances, the newest torbie.

He and his daughter live way up on the mountain virtually in the middle of nowhere. I was coming back from the adoption and I rounded a curve and saw this beautiful white great dane trotting down the road. No homes for miles. I pulled over, opened the door and whistled and this beauty comes romping over and licks me in the face- then he jumps into the truck!

He was a sorry mess-he was covered with sores, he had hives all over him, his penis looked red and swollen but he was a friendly boy (not neutered). I ran him to the vet, no chip he is about 5 years old and very friendly without any manners or obedience training.

I brought him home where he tried to chase two of the cats and mounted poor Brandy, so I apologized to him and took him to animal control. I don’t have the time he needs to be trained, while we look for his owner and if he isn’t neutered, it doesn’t speak well of his owner at all. Plus he needed immediate vet care which I can’t do. But he was so beautiful and friendly, I couldn’t just leave him there at the side of the road.

If you scroll down you will see him at the bottom

Both kitties went through their spay without an issue and are now back home. I find it interesting that a “rescuer” on the coast who wanted both “pregnant” cats, when I called her to arrange for a pick-up and told her that the cats weren’t pregnant any longer, she said she doesn’t want them now!

I was stunned and asked her why and she said without having the kittens to “sell” she doesn’t make any money! Turns out she pays herself a salary to run her non-profit and she uses the money she charges for kittens “because no one wants the older ones.” I almost told her she should be ashamed of herself- borderline kitty mill but I held my tongue. I checked and she is doing nothing wrong according to the law.

So the girls are here, they are sore and groggy but even not being pregnant, they are still very much wanted here. In case you wonder, I don’t pay myself a salary or my volunteers- George has now decided to volunteer for the rescue! I’m in it for the cats and if there ever is any money left over, it is tucked away for the next emergency. The problem is lately there has been to many emergencies!

My friend entered a photo of her recent Bridge baby Star in a local photo contest. If you could- would you vote for her?

Star in Autumn

She is done for with these kittens. Although still endowed with plenty of milk- last night, she threw up her paws and looked at me and said with her eyes: “I surrender!” Then she turned and hissed at her family, swiped at a couple of them. Her new home is above theirs in a comfy 4’x4′ cage we custom made for her on the fly, Thanks to George!

So now, I am the go-for girl. The bottle feeder, the stimulator, the cuddler. I just wish there weren’t so many of them! LOL  I made a big batch of kitten glop and we are good to go. Some of them are using the litterpan now (mom showed them how) but there are others who need assistance.

I’m hopefully going to take Jetta in this morning to have Steve take a look at her and tell me what if anything we might be /*ac77 (that is the queen herself walking across my keyboard) “You talkin about me Mom?”   I would like to know what we are facing with her mouth being so odd. She is sitting in my lap trying to get behind my computer (off limits to all cats) I’m also going to have to bring Kiab in to be spayed. One of her nipples has gotten a whole lot bigger in 24 hours. Maybe her bare nipples means that she is pregnant and not that she has babies already somewhere. Hard to say. It’s going to be a busy morning here. I will update about the vet visit when I am able to.

She is a beautiful kitty who only wants to be held. When we aren’t holding her, she cries until we do.

I just put her on the CATS Inc. facebook page. If anyone wants to add her to their page- please do. Not exactly sure what her abnormality is all about but it doesn’t seem to faze her in the least!

CATSInc.

Today, a friend of mine told me about this kitten running around a park near her home. She told me that this kitty has “two noses” and no home. She told me if I could take it in, she would help out as much as possible with her. She was concerned because the park is frequented by feral dogs. A two-nosed kitten? Never heard of such a thing, so I asked her to bring her to me.

She is so skinny, very friendly and at first I thought it was a cleft palate, but the roof of her mouth is solid. If it were a cleft palate, she would have a hole in the roof of her mouth just below her nose. She would be getting food into her nose when she eats- but she eats just fine.

I

She has a split down the center of the bridge of her nose. Her right nostril is bigger than her left and if you look inside, you see that she has three nostrils- not two. Her right nostril is separated in the center by another smaller wall of tissue creating three nostrils. Pretty astonishing.  She can eat and drink just fine-

Last night I got a call from a gentleman rancher who had adopted from me about 10 years ago. His cat just passed away from lymphoma (she was a nice tortie). He asked me to bring four cats over for his heated barn. He raises heifers on his 90 acre spread. I took over four of my best mousers and once he releases them from their large dog carriers in a week or two, they are going to be in heaven. I wanted to ask him to adopt me! LOL I would have taken more photos but my battery went dead.

I made sure to set them up nicely in these carriers but I know they are stressed out right now. Only three were eating when I left- Malcolm was hiding in the litterpan. But they are lucky kitties- their playground is huge!

We have a skunk that has been spraying the cat enclosure so the family came inside tonight. Aurora has enough to deal with without having to worry about a skunk who wants the food she smells inside the enclosure.