Gump should be called Grump. He bit me at the vet’s, I think it was related to the pain he is in. His temperature was 98.6! Great for humans, not so for kitties. His gums are pink and happy, he has stool in his colon, he was bright and alert and the vet is as stumped as I am. They gave him a shot for pain- seems his tummy is quite sore when you palpate it. They will also deworm him and start him on kitty antacid (sulcrafate). He is in isolation and if he hasn’t eaten by tomorrow, the vet will call me and we will discuss other options; blood work, x-rays or other diagnostic tests. The vet is leaning toward either a gastric ulcer, stress or pancreatitis. I hope it is nothing serious. He is a sweet boy even though he bit me. Will let you know how it goes with him as soon as I know something-

At the vet

It’s the home health care nurse and Mike picks up the phone. We were told yesterday at OHSU that they are using a new wrap on Mike’s legs and it only comes off during his once a week visits with them. No more daily bandage changes (yeah!) No need for a home health care nurse to come here either. Mike had called them to let them know they didn’t need to visit us every few days as planned. The nurse was apologetic (on the phone) she said the powers to be had told her to call us and see if they can come out five more times “for their billing!” They have only been out here once to interview us and check out Mike’s leg. Medicare won’t pay for one visit, they will pay for five visits.

Mike told her he didn’t wish to add to the medicare fraud that is so rampant and for now, they just needed to stay home. Am I stunned? No, I have seen so much medicare overbilling and waste since he has been diagnosed with Diabetes. It just makes me sad that the level of care depends on how much money the billing department can gather.

Gump (aka Franklin) is going to have to go the vet in the morning. He has stopped eating and drinking on his own, but he will eat and drink if I feed him. He does not have diarrhea, stool is formed- he was vomiting bile, now he is vomiting blood? He has been vaccinated and is up-to-date on his shots so I am uncertain what is wrong with him? He started acting strange a few days ago- but no fever even though his ears were hot. I don’t know what this is or where it came from. I caught him a few days ago (before he started acting strange) He had a huge spider in his mouth (ugh) it was still alive and I grabbed a washcloth and took it away from him. I checked his mouth and body for bites but didn’t see any. The spider was just pure black as big as a wolf spider, but they are fuzzy bodied and this one was smooth (and no it wasn’t a black widow) So was the spider toxic? I don’t know, I didn’t save it- it went swimming down the drain. I don’t know what is wrong with him so I am Gump-stumped.

Huge dark swirling clouds are forming overhead and quarter size hail is falling! The winds are clocked at 35 mph and they are saying turn off all electrical equipment and head to a low level of our home. I hope my barn cats will duck under the house that’s about as low as it gets. Drenching rain is to follow YIKES!

Here is Matilda with her “new” mama

Matilda adopted!

Ms Mayb is now in her forever home and good thing because four more kittens have arrived “magically” at our sanctuary! They are negative on the tests and right now they are hiding under the furniture. I would guess they are about 2 months old. There is a torbie, a tortie, a cow kitty and a mackerel tabby. Mason is now in the house with the others- he went on an adoption run earlier, but the home wasn’t suitable for such a rowdy kitten. Hopefully soon, a home will open up for him as well. I know he will miss Mayb a lot.

Well that was short-lived. Pat called me and she had a bad asthma attack when Maybelline slept with her. She said she could keep her as long as she could train Maybelline to sleep inside the carrier at night! That’s what dogs enjoy, not cats. So I went to fetch this beautiful girl back home.

There is now a dedication to Tania on my website. Last night, I went to an old forum where we first met and read some of our earlier posts to each other and to other cat lovers. I was thinking back to the time we would hang out and drink coffee, munch donuts and try to figure out how to make www.kitten-rescue.com a better website. I am grateful to have known her, wish that I had actually met her in real life and I know that she was responsible for years for saving so many Australian kittens found out in the bush. I shall miss her.

One of Karen’s senior kitties is now in a loving home. The elderly woman wanted a cat that just wanted to lay on her lap and that is Matilda. They are both in their senior years and Matilda was deprived of so much love for over ten years. I hope now that Greta will make up for that with her. They can now enjoy the rest of their lives together and it is a match made in heaven for sure.

Here he is- beautiful and at this moment in his life, highly unpredictable

Franklin

Another photo

Decided because he is such an odd-colored cat, I will give him a unique name and instead of Franklin, I will call him Gump.

Maybelline and Mason are now neutered and back home. I felt bad that I couldn’t arrange for anyone to pick them up yesterday so they spent yet another day at the vet’s. But I hear they were quite entertaining and charming to their hosts so that is a good thing. Vet bill now sits at $600.00

Teo was never brought in for his procedure and life goes on.

Franklin the new kitty is now in the house. He is a passive-aggressive kitten so I will need to work carefully with him. He will be sitting on your lap and suddenly explode and lunge for your neck or chest. There is intent in his lunging, he is not playing. Something bad happened to this kitten before he came here and I need to figure it out or he will be on the unadoptable list. And, he is to cute for school! So hopefully, we can figure this out.

Mike is home and already wanting to get out of bed which he knows he can’t do. His instructions are that he is to dangle his feet maybe 15 minutes at a time, then it is back to bed with his legs raised higher than his heart. He has already been up for an hour and I am tired of nagging him about it. I am so done with this. It is his legs and his decision. If he wants to defy the orders and do what he wants to do- then he will suffer the consequences. My mom said it’s a man thing. She said Daddy was just like that too. I rest my case. 🙁