This morning, I had the pleasure of meeting Jewel and her two daughters, Reese and Corbi. I have been on a lot of adoption visits and you just get a sense of the family when you walk through the door. I found my first impression of this family to be warm and welcoming.

It was a distracting visit, because I had the three bottle babies with me. I couldn’t leave them at home, Mike is not able to care for them, so I took them with me. When I asked and received permission from the mom to bottle feed the little ones- the girls eyes just lit up! What a surprise for them. Of course, the youngest wanted Mom to adopt the bottle baby, and as carefully and gently as I could, I told her the amount of effort that is needed to keep one so young healthy and living. Then, I let out the two kittens; Jazz and Serena, and I think the bottle babies got forgotten fairly fast!

I was talking to the mom, trying to make sure that EVERYONE was on board with the adoption, and she told me about the “preparation and research’ her girls had done before even looking for kittens on the Internet. I asked to see this “report” and was brought this composition notebook where they had written everything needed to keep a young kitty healthy and happy. It was done in long-hand, and have to say, I am quite impressed. These two kitties are set for life! There were pages of information from everythng from what to feed, to what type of cat bed the kittens might need.
I wish every family entered into this type of relationship the same way!

So there are now 5 kitties in new homes, I started with 13, lost three, adopted 5 and now have 6 more- you do the math, I am to exhausted! 🙂

The one Lowe’s employee interested in Serena and wanting to swap her for an ac, turned out to go nowhere fast, so I kept taking calls on Serena until Jewel called me. I knew in the initial phone call this was a visit I needed to keep.

Flanigan has been adopted out to a lovely lady who lives out in the country. She has two cats, and older boy 17 and a 7 month old scottish-fold-maine coon mix CUTE!!! Home is purrfect for cats- Flanigan caught her eye online and her heart immediately! YAY!

But just got a call two batches of bottle babies left in a local park! I am on my way to see what is going on…sigh.. and I am out of KMR too- hate kitten season- but love the kittens so I guess, I just pay for my sins.

Turns out two litters were found in the grasses. One litter is 2 weeks old, the other is 4 weeks old. The kittens are beautiful and on the way to the vet- I know, what a surprise! 🙂

First litter

one of the older kittens

Yesterday, I took in three kittens to be spayed. I had a kitty adoption in Crow, Oregon, so I took the two kittens with me. The adoption was a success, but only for Solo, Serena although they wanted her – they said no. Which means in my mind anyway, they are responsible owners. On the way home, I passed a Lowes and we are redoing the roof on the little cat porch so I stopped to see about prices. It was so hot, I knew I couldn’t leave Serena in the car (even though I did find shade) so I just wrapped her up in little sheet and carried her in the store. I was so careful about hanging on her, scruffing her neck the whole time, and talking to her gently. She did really good through the parking lot.

I get inside and ask for directions to the tool department. Everyone is staring at me and oohing and ahhing about Serena. An elderly couple come over and the woman asks if she can pet Serena. I told her of course. We talked and they wanted to know what in the world I was doing with such a cute kitten, so I told them. They followed me around, discussing whether their siberian at home would accept a baby kitten- but finally decided it wouldn’t work. The woman came over, asked if she could hug Serena, I told her sure- go for it!
She hugged her, applauded my efforts and pressed a bill in my hand before they left (turned out to be $50.00)

While I was looking for an adapter for Mike’s drill- one of the employees came up squealing “You have a kitten!’ Yep, I said, I did. She asked to hold her, and I hesitated. I didn’t want to lose her and spend till midnight chasing her around Lowes! But something in this woman’s eyes made me change my mind and I handed her over. Serena melted into this woman’s arms. Now Serena is very personable, but this was different. She acted like she belonged to this girl! It must have been kismet because I will be going back tomorrow afternoon to the woman’s home because her family wants to adopt Serena!

I finally got Serena back and made my way out of the store. I was stroking her and telling her how lucky she was to be such a good kitty and she may have even scored a home! We got to the car without incident and we were sliding in, when the door was flung from my hands! I looked up in surprise to see this woman. She said she was sorry but she had heard me mumbling by the air conditioners (I was checking prices) and they were to high- plus the units were so much larger than we need. OUr window is only 28″x28” in the cat room. She said when I dropped off Serena tomorrow, she has a new air conditioner that size that she wishes to donate to CATS Inc.,! YAY!!!

Ok I get home and I think I mentioned a few days ago that Axle came in after missing 5 days and he was walking wonky? i thought he might have gotten hit by a car, so I picked him up and put him in a large cage, but when I went to put food into the cage, he got out and scrambled upstairs. I followed him, but couldn’t find him and finally gave up.

I went looking for him when I got home because he hadn’t appeared at the food trays. I found him in the attic in a corner just laying there still. I went to pick him up and as I cupped my arm around his rear, my arm was soaked! I looked and I had blood all over my arm and running down my jeans. I panicked, something I don’t usually do and rushed him to the vet. Axle has been shot in the right rear leg. It was a small caliber no bone splintering (thank God) so he will keep his leg. In his absence, it had become infected and so now he is home, with an open wound and a drain. He is on pain meds and antibiotic and he is out in the small enclosure with access to the outside being shut off for him. I find it quite a coincidence that the new neighbor moved in three days ago, telling everyone beforehand he would shoot any cat in his yard, and Axle comes home with a perfect round hole in his leg! I called the sheriff but unless there are witnesses or the bullet is lodged inside- there is no proof. I didn’t have the exra $ needed for x-rays plus the vet said that the bullet may have exited or if it was a bee bee it wouldn’t show on the films.

The good news is that he keeps his leg, and hopefully the infection and pain will subside for him soon. The bad news is I have a mad desire to load my shotgun and shoot someone in the foot! I won’t but I have thought about it! Axle has changed in a dramatic way from this. My hope is that after the pain goes away and he can walk better, he will return to his old loving self. Time will tell

This morning, sweet Solo went to the home she was destined to be in. The couple they flipped for her right away and they are well-established in their home. They have a beautiful place out in the country. Four magnificent, friendly cats: a calico, a himalayan, snowshoe and ragdoll but they saw Solo online and fell in love with her.

I took her sister with me, at this age (8 weeks) in the car they travel better in pairs. I pay for that on the way home as the sibling yowls to the stars “Why didn’t they take me too?” They actually wanted both of the girls, but Solo had already stole their hearts.

When I backed out of their driveway, I had a big grin on my face and was able to tell God “We did good here!”

Here is sweet Solo:

Solo

They must be thrilled they just sent this!

Solo

Usually I have to beg for photos! 🙂

I went upstairs about an hour ago to check on Victannie. He was lying on the floor near the door-stiff as a board and gurgling. 🙁 I grabbed the phone and called my feline specialist (I love this woman) she allows me to interrupt her day or night and never complains. I told her I thought Vic was dying and could I bring him over so she could put him out of his misery. 🙁 She said okay-

I didn’t have the heart to put him in a carrier, just laid him in a big tub, covered him with a light blanket and took him over. He didn’t move the entire ride which greatly concerned me.

When he got to Vicki’s he perked up a bit and she told me after she examined him that he probably did have a stroke-which would go along with either hypertension, or kidney failure- but that it didn’t seem to have any long-lasting effects. She did tell me something that had escaped my vet’s notice as well as my own that he is blind! That’s why sometimes he lays in one spot with his eyes wide open. I was so concentrated on his dang fleas and skinniness that I didn’t figure it out either. But it makes sense now, how he drinks more water than he eats wet food (the pet fountain pump is pretty noisy) why he only uses one of 7 litterpans and doesn’t move about to freely.

She said that usually when they are so susceptible to fleas there is a secondary issue- disease or something that is weakened them to that state, but based on what she saw and how he acted with me- she wouldn’t give up on him yet! YAY!!! So in a few days, I will take him back to the vet to have them get a blood pressure do a hemocrit, and hopefully get enough blood to run a panel. She is thinking possibly kidney issues at work here or even possibly cancer. If he doesn’t gain any weight in 2 weeks- she would say reasonably strong- cancer.

So we are home again and I apologized for putting him upstairs.It is so hot up there even with all the fans running, but it is the quietest of the house and it is supposed to be cooler with a cold front coming in. I am so relieved he isn’t suffering. I have known Vicki a long time and she would never allow him to suffer. So I remain hopefully optimistic that we can get some answers soon as to what is going on with this handsome kid. I had to smile, she examined him inside the tub I brought and I had my hand in front of his nose- he was headbumping and rubbing me and she said “See he is telling you, you aren’t done with him yet!”

I sit here trying to absorb what happened earlier today. He had a bad bout of diarrhea and I had no choice but to bathe him. I have a basin that I put on a chair in the shower and I bathe kitties that way. He just laid in the water and didn’t move. I had to hold his head up, or he would have just dropped it into the suds. The water was blood red and he was bathed several times. I was wondering if I was just bathing a cat who doesn’t want to live, but then just when that thought entered my head, he bent over and repeatedly headbumped my hand. I don’t know who got wetter in this bathe- him or my face. I was crying so hard by the time I was done, I could hardly see.

He laid on the rug with warm towels over him as I combed him dry and also used the blow dryer on him. He didn’t move an inch. I am not kidding when I say this boy is depleted.

I have to go and comb him out again, because he is still wet on his legs (where there is little hair) and his belly (again no hair) so it is a careful assignment.

I feel like I am breaking apart here. I have several kitty crisis going on, and my cat project with Victannie, the spays and neuters and just the worry of finding homes for all these beautiful kittens. For some reason, working with Victannie is so hard because I wonder if I am doing the right thing? I think a lot of it is related to my Dad’s passing and just the great sorrow I feel at the loss of such a special man. I know he is whispering in my ear and telling me I am doing all I can, but when Vic goes flat- that doesn’t mean much. I have NEVER bathed a cat that didn’t move a muscle before. 🙁

And yet, three hours after his bath and recovery and a bit to eat- here he is:
As you can see, he has a hard time right now just sitting upright.

Vic

He is still alive and again, I wonder if perhaps Cyclone had a paw in this golden-fighter making it to our front door? I literally left him in tears at 1:00 a.m. as he laid motionless in the same spot that claimed him after an exhausting vet visit. I told God if He did wish to take him from us, to do it quickly and peacefully. Then I went downstairs to try and sleep.

I avoided going upstairs in the morning. There has been so much death recently, I didn’t know if I could bear yet another loss. As I rounded the corner to the room and looked inside, to my surprise, I see a bright-eyed golden kitty sitting there watching me as if to say; “What the devil took you so long?” I wanted to shriek with joy and grab him up and hug him hard, but instead, I went into the room quietly and we began what will be our daily ritual of cremes, ointments, pills, and supplements.

He ate two jars of baby food and demanded more. I was glad to hear he does have a “voice”albeit a weak one. On his own, he made it to the water fountain and drank! The litterpan had been used overnight, both solids and liquids and my heart rejoiced scooping out those treasures!

Although he was brought to the point of starvation and blood loss, this tough ol senior is not done in life yet and I am grateful.

Poor old guy, he is so tapped out. He has been lying in one spot since returning from the vet. He didn’t hardly move when I gave him his pills and supplements. One thing the vet said that concerned him was when they drew blood for testing, the blood was really dilute. Hoping- once again that it is because of the fleas and not anything else.

A shave was needed to determine the sex of this kitty. Turns out, my first instinct was correct and she is a he, so back to the name of Victannie. $212.46 later it has been determined that he has a heart murmur, terrible gingivitis, flea dirt galore,UTI, URI, and parasites. He is anemic, dehydrated, depleted and plumb worn out but OMHeavens! What a lover! We are giving him time, groceries and prayers and hope that the ONLY thing wrong with him is fleas and parasites. He is 7 pounds! We tested him for everything under the sun and he came up negative! YAY! So now he is upstairs and I have 6 fans blowing, but it is still 80 degrees up there. It it the only place I have left that will give him solitude so he can regather himself. He needs lots of groceries, supplements and TLC They put him on Simplicef tabs, B-12, Pet Tinc and ordered me just to love him- LIKE that is hard? LOL

Serena had a big cyst on her ovary but did fine in the spay and she is in a cage in the front room. Rosco is bouncing off the walls, doesn’t miss his balls at all apparently and all cats are where they should be now-

God is smiling on me today. Not only did He allow Marigold to live through the night, but he managed to find a spot for me with my vet today at 3:00. I was at the counter checking in Serena and Rosco for a neuter and begging the girls to get me in with Steve. They were telling me they absolutely couldn’t do that and I would have to drop off Marigold and they would see if Steve had time to see her. I didn’t want to do that because if she isn’t going to be here, I want to be with her to the end. While I was standing there filling out the paperwork, their phone rang and it was a cancellation! YAY! So at 3:00 today- Marigold will be seen. Jedi got a reprieve on the spay as she is still to small but Serena had come along for the ride and she was big enough.

When I got home, I took my flea comb and went upstairs to groom Marigold if she will let me. Because of her depleted state, I only wanted the flea comb as they are so gentle for the cats.

I sat down next to where she was laying on the floor and started gently to comb her. Before I knew it-she was in my lap! What a heartbreaker she is! I got her as tidied up as I could and she was lousy with fleas (dead ones thank God as I advantaged her last night) and flea eggs. She didn’t want to get out of my lap- so I bribed her with food. She has the displaced pigment of a senior kitty- BUT it may just be that neglect, stress and malnutrition has contributed to that. Her teeth are yellow,but again- neglect and stress can cause that. I will wait and see what the vet says about her- but I am praying she will come back home with me- because, I have a confession to make here: she has already found a place in my heart.