Poor Cotton, I am sure she is wondering what in the world is going on with this stoopid human who keeps picking on her. I had to give her a pain pill this morning, and yes, my fingers are still intact but barely! LOL

Afterward, she retreated into the cat condo (bottom level) where she growled so loud the whole cat tree shook!

I am going to see several families this evening who are interested in her-hopefully one of them will work out and she will be able to finally have everything she has been lacking until now-

Cotton and Cooper (Ms. Hiss’s only boy) are getting spayed today. This leaves me with five more spays to do- The kittens are getting braver and coming out to see me now when I go upstairs. It is time to take the mom out of the room- the only problem is with this cold, nasty weather- I don’t have a good place to put her. The intro cage even with the heated cat bed gets way to cold at night. So for now, the family is still together.

This sweet Persian with such sinus challenges has been adopted out to lovely family. The kids are older and the mom loves Persians and has owned them in the past. They were thrilled to see this petite Persian in their home, and I was pleased to leave her there to receive all that love and attention!

The two Persians and Cyclone went to the vet today. The “kittens” turned out to be adults- about 2-3 yrs old. They tested negative for the nasty diseases. It was confirmed one has been spayed- the black girl who I now am calling Embers and the other girl Cotton has not been spayed. My work with Cotton paid off, she was very calm although she kept growling, she did not strike out and injure anyone. The vet confirmed my fears- they both have such extreme structure issues on their noses that they aren’t even a candidate for the surgery to correct them because their noses are to tiny.

Cyclone is still at the vet, somehow he tore his eye. Because he lives apart from the others, I am not sure what happened- suspect maybe McGee got close enough to stick her claw through the wire and snag him. I hope to hear from the vet soon to find out what is going on with Cy’s eye- it was pretty ugly this morning.

Had hoped to start the New Year’s off without a vet visit- LOL I should have known.

It is so cold here- 21 degrees and supposed to get colder tonight- kitties are all in the house except for two barn kitties who never come in- and they are puffed up like a poison toad.

Ms. Autumn is a force to be reckoned with! So tiny yet so quick to strike out and nail me! LOL

Last night we clipped more of Glory’s mats off her bum and tail. This morning, we tackled her belly and she was so matted poor girl. one of the mats when we finally released it (under her back leg) had started a skin infection where the mat was rubbing her. I put some ointment on her and cuddled with her. I told her I was sorry that I know it wasn’t the best experience for her to have those removed-but she would be better off today as she will be able to move better.

They are not eating and checking with the previous owner, I found out what they were feeding and I do happen to have a bag of 9-Lives adult here, so will mix it with the Blue Basic here and see what happens. They will go to the vet tomorrow. Glory has been spayed- Autumn has not. I did calculations last night-I have seven spays to do in January before I can set about finding all the kittens good, loving homes. The Cyclone Project will need to be put on hold for now as the spays are more important.

These kittens are so beautiful- tomorrow I will find out if Glory is sick or if it is just the extreme structure she will have to deal with for the rest of her life.

Meet the two newest kittens here at the sanctuary: Autumn and Glory. Glory is a major stuffed up black persian kitty and she was so matted- poor girl. I tried to not shave her down, but the mats were so thick, I had little choice. It’s hard to figure out if she is fighting a URI or is just the victim of extreme structure. Her snuffed in nose, you can barely see and she has major problems breathing.

Until I get her to the vet- I have the vaporizer going full steam ahead- They are both pretty scared right now and missing mom.
Here they are:

It is 10:30 p.m. and I never thought I would utter these words. “I just got attacked by a Persian kitten and it was an unprovoked attack.” Persian kittens don’t attack people- but Autumn does (apparently) she tore quite a chunk out of my hand when I put the baby food down for them to eat. 🙁 How sad for her to be so scared when she is in a safe place.

Ms. Hiss illustrates perfectly how cats need and crave routine. Any changes in her room or her day throws her into complete chaos. It doesn’t matter if I leave a door open that was normally closed, or if I change out the throw on the futon- whatever I do, I am learning she takes it so hard. She is still in hiding from me cleaning the room yesterday. I had to change out the throw cover and I put in some new litter pans and she won’t even come near me. When I took her the vet, it took her days to trust me again, which is understandable because she was spayed- but to react to doors being opened or closed, or anything new brought into her room is a bit excessive.

Hopefully in a few days, she will calm down and come out and visit with me again.

The problem is this- he fights. Whatever happened to him in his absence, it had to be pretty substantial because he has what I refer to as a hair trigger. Most strays, if they are going to fight-there are early warnings. Tail tucked, body low to the ground, ears back, eyes narrowed, growls, hisses- something. With him- there is nothing. He comes in fast and quick and strikes. He means what he says and if you don’t listen and back away he will hurt you.If you are a cat, I suspect he would really hurt you.

Mike and I put our heads together and came up with a plan- but we need help with a few dollars if you feel the tug to do so.

His enclosure has a two entrances, one goes to the house, the other is outside. We are going to build a mini-deck/enclosure for him off the screen door. We have a 4 foot overhang from the roof that provide the roof for this man cave- LOL We will run 2×4’s as support for the structure and put the deck on stilts as our septic pipes run right underneath that door back under the house. We will screen it with pet proof screening so the bugs, the other cats and predators won’t be able to get to him, nor he to them if he wants to hang out all night.

I worry that if I just let him outside to be himself, two things will happen- my vet bill will climb higher than it needs to be 🙂 Or he will get killed. If he gave a warning, the other cats and myself would be prepared- but he doesn’t he just attacks. With me he will now attack me when my back is turned to him and all this is such NEW behavior for him. I don’t know what happened to him and suspect if I did, I would probably be in jail right now. Hopefully this solution will allow him to relax, catch some sun and air and still feel he is king of the world without turning into a dictator.

Cyclone has recovered but his personality has changed. He is pacing the enclosure restlessly, similar to how tigers who are cage stressed will do at zoo’s. It isn’t that he is squished into a cage or kennel, his enclosure is large, with a high roof. It has large beams, catwalks and other things to keep him off the ground if he desires. After his last attack on me a few days ago, I started opening the screen door of his enclosure and letting him out. He would go out in the morning and be in by 4:00 like clockwork. I know I take great risk in letting him out- but his anxeity lessened. The day I didn’t open the door for him to go out, he again attacked me that evening. He’s telling me to let him go. His attacks have intention- it is not play. He shredded my ankle and not with his claws!

I let him out yesterday in the morning and this time he didn’t return until this morning. I could hear him challenging the other cats all night. They were underneath the house and their growls and hisses and warnings were unsettling. He will challenge any male cat neutered or otherwise which is why (unlike before) he can’t come into the main group.

So he is back now- but he is pacing and when I brought him food he swiped at me. I have a decision to make and it isn’t going to be easy to do. I have to decide if I want him inside and miserable or if I allow him to go outside, am I prepared for him to once again vanish? I know most people would say they would keep him inside without question, but I am not most people. I have a lot of praying to do- he is an old boy who should have been neutered at 5 months not 3-4 years. His ways are set and I don’t think they are subject to change.

Three Persians will be arriving on Monday. One is chocolate brown, the other two are gray and white. They are two years old and not spayed. One is the mother of the other two and they are were taken from someone who says she is a breeder- but they are timid, frightened and do a lot of hiding- which if you know the breed, they do not do.

I will have to put them upstairs in the room across the hall from Miss Hiss and her kittens and hope Miss Hiss doesn’t go ballistic as she is still super-protective of her family. I have four hopeful adoptions after the holidays are over so it will be crunched roomwise until then. But the alternative for these three are not good- they would be put outside and if you know the breed, you know that they don’t belong outside unless it is safe, fully cat fenced and they have access to being inside whenever they want to.

I first rescued a “feral” cat who turned out to be a Persian and what a cat he turned out to be. You can read about him by clicking the link below: But I warn you, you need a cup of coffee, a few donuts, your sleeping bag and some no-doz! It’s a loooong posting. But photos speak louder than words- the first post shows him as I found him- the last post shows him loved and cared for in his new home!

Starlight