The little manx kitten who I had been PROMISED would have been immediately taken to the vet and seen- the sister of the three kitties already here has been put to sleep.

Something told me this morning to stop at the house where I got these kittens and find out the result of the vet visit and to my dismay, I see the woman on her front porch cuddling this kitten and the kitten is pooping all over her shirt.

As calmly as I could, and I was NOT calm, I went over and talked to the woman and asked her why she didn’t do as she promised she would? “Oh she is so cute, she is eating, and pooping and peeing, I just couldn’t let her go!”

I very not calmly started kicking myself in the ass for NOT taking this kitten from the woman in the FIRST place, I asked the woman to surrender this little girl to me so I could take her to the vet.

At first, she didn’t want to but when I pointed out that there was a huge load of poop looming out of that tiny rectum-she sighed and handed her over. I almost raced to the car and beat the speed limit getting to the vet- where Hope was examined and found to be structurally defected. Even her anal glands were not located in the right place and her little stub of a tail was broke as well. Her spine was out of alignment and she was clearly suffering. I kissed her tiny head and told her I was so sorry and we let her go.

What the hell? Was this person just going to stay on the porch with this dying kitten until it died in her arms? And why didn’t I insist on taking the kitten in the first place becoming more forceful as the woman kept assurring me over and over that as soon as I left she would take her in?

I’m sorry, I am just so angry and anger gave way to tears of despair on the ride home. I thank God that I listened to that small voice telling me to check up on the kitten’s progress or lack thereof- The woman seemed so sincere and I trusted her to do the right thing and the kitten had to suffer for it.

Light a candle in your window for Hope who is on her way to a much better place where stupid, ignorant people are not allowed to enter.

This is Fog and he is a year and a half old. He is an affectionate, loving and tolerant kitty and he went to his new home this morning! He is with my CPA- he will be the only cat in the house and will have two adults and one 8 year old boy to love him. They have a dog, but Fog adores dogs and their dog is used to cats so it all should be okay.

Brandi flushed out a cat this morning in the tall grasses of the field! The cat ran up a tree and so I hustled the two dogs into the house and went to get the cat. He is pitch black and skinny as a post, dehydrated and has an URI- only pure survival skills got this cat to the walnut tree. I have him in my last room he is probably about six or seven years old. He took so much sub cu fluids that I am now out! I haven’t seen this cat before and am grateful for Brandi finding him and alerting on him. She came back when I called her as I figured out she was chasing a cat- it happened so quick. Poor kitty is in bad shape but not from being chased by Brandi but from being neglected and put outside to survive.

These three arrived about ten minutes ago. One of the black boys has a severely broken tail and I am calling him Bentley. There is also a Manx-cross girl but she is at the vet because her rectum is really messed up. She may not survive- it looks like her tail is broken as well and she is leaking both stool and urine. 🙁 I will know tomorrow if she has made it through the night or not.

The Inn is full and this innkeeper is going to rest and watch America’s Got Talent in a few minutes and try to forget that it is kitten season and people are irresponsible and won’t neuter!

Ash

Meet Ashford, he has been here for a few months-dumped out at a friend’s home who literally lives in the middle of nowhere on a ranch in Eastern Oregon.

He was a tom, pretty beat up so he was vetted, neutered, tested, vaccinated and came back here to live with us. He wasn’t eating for the longest time, I would be assist- feeding him trying to encourage him to eat. Then he would decide to eat but sparingly. I took him to the vet several times, and all they could tell me was he is an old guy and I should continue to do the best I could for him.

I tried him in several different cages some outside some inside, but he still was unresponsive and his lack of appetitie alarmed me. Appetitie stimulants did nothing for him.

Yesterday, I decided to just go ahead and let him outside despite the dangers that lurk out there.

I sat down on the bottom stair, he was nestled in my arms and gently released my hold on him. He looked up at me as if to say “Really? I can go now?” Tears fell on his fur, but I nodded my agreement and he jumped off my lap and headed for the barn.

In a few moments, I followed him only to discover to my delight that he was eating out of the feral feeder. He now has made the upper hay loft his home and is eating well. His drooling has stopped and he no longer trembles.

His problem was not only old age, but also confinement. Sometimes kitties don’t want to live on carpet, get their water out of pet fountains and poop and pee in pans and containers. Sometimes, they would rather feel the grass beneath their paws have multiple escape routes planned should predators venture into their territory. Sometimes, but not always, what WE think is best for them is not in their best interest.

Years ago in the pet food aisle of PetSmart I ran into a gentleman and we got to talking. He was looking for a tuxedo boy to replace his kitty. His wife had passed away and the cat soon followed. He thinks he died from a broken heart.

We exchanged phone numbers and the next day he was here looking over my cats and adopted Tux- an older tuxedo kitty. This was over 15 years ago.

Mr. Ryan called last night and he laid Tux to rest a few weeks ago. (cancer). He wanted to know if I had a loving, older male tuxedo kitty to keep him company. I told him about Sylvester, took Sylvester over to his house and it was love at first sight!

When I left the house, Sylvester was lying on top of the couch as if he always lived there! Mr Ryan slipped me a few dollars so I was able to buy cat food and cat litter on the way home. Which is good because I was running really low.

So now, in the new enclosure, we have Willow, Toad and Sullivan three mackeral tabby kitties. Vaughn is wandering the house trying to pretend he is alpha (but Trump won’t let him be!)

I also have a new cat outside in the cat cage that is attached to the barn. Grayson came to us a few days ago and he had been grazed by a car. The cage he is in is roomy and full of straw. There is no break on the leg, it looks like he was just dragged. He got lucky the vet said.

On the doggy front- Brandi the new german shepherd’s urine results are in- she has a UTI and so she is on antibiotics. Once she is done with them, I will have to submit another urine sample for analysis to see if she is cleared up.

Everyone else is doing good, hunkering down for the upcoming storm. Thundershowers and high winds are predicted for later tonight.

I just want to say how grateful I am for those of you who read my blog and respond either privately or publicly. You seriously have kept me going on some really dark days of late- Mike still has two holes in his foot that are not healing and they want to send him back to the wound care clinic that put him in danger in the first place- over my dead body will that happen!

Took our new dog (we are now calling her Brandi) to the vet today because I had a few concerns. Her ear is inflamed and torn a bit- I was told by her previous owner that she got attacked by a pitbull mix. She has yet to breathe correctly- she pants like a steam engine. If you touch her skin, she comes unglued and starts itching like crazy. She eats like there is no tomorrow and she drinks more water than I have ever seen a dog drink. At night, she wakes me 4-5 times to go potty. I was thinking diabetes- the vet says he doesn’t think so, but he took a urine sample to send to the lab. The vet is thinking she has Cushings Disease.

Cushing Disease typically will show up on middle-aged spayed German Shepherds. The stomach becomes distended (almost pot-bellied in appearance). It occurs when there is to much cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands and it can be a sign of cancer. The cortisol regulates the blood sugar, stress, kidney and heart function. The dog will do rapid shedding and the skin will get bumpy like insect bites have occurred. Cushings Disease slowly poisons the dog and surgery needs to be performed in order to remove the tumor and give the dog some relief. After surgery, the dog will need meds for her entire life. If in her past she was put on steriods for an extended period of time, that too can cause Cushing’s Disease.

It doesn’t matter, we are head over heels in love with this beautiful girl and we will wait for the test results to come back and go from there. There is no way I am going to return her from where she came from- she didn’t have a very good life there I don’t think. When we got her, she had one of those nasty prong collars on and it was so tight Mike had to cut it off to remove it!

I walked with her back to the creek tonight after her vet visit and told her she did really great (except when I asked her to pee on command) she sort of flunked that part of the exam! I told her she was beautiful and she is in a safe place and no one will hurt her ever again. She lopped me in the face after we talked.

As soon as the test results are back, I will let you know the verdict- but after reading the brochure I got at the vet, I am reasonably sure my vet is right on the money. Her symptoms all point to Cushing’s-

Smuggle is such a funny boy. Every time I go to pet him, I can tell he enjoys it. He rolls over on his back, puts his paws straight in the air and begs for more. But he also swats because human touch is so alien to him. After our morning ritual of petting him and Secret, I will be walking out of the room when BAM out from under the bed, comes two mackeral tabby paws and they nail my ankles! This is a new behavior for him and I see his head poking out from under the bed looking quite pleased with himself.

I now have to give a wide berth around the edge of the bed (makes it exciting to make the bed in the morning) or he nails me. His body language shows me he isn’t angry- this is just a one-up-manship on his part. You dare to touch me- you pay woman! LOL

I just finished a book due to be released in October on National Feral Cat Day. It is called taming me- memoirs of a clever island cat by Cathy Unruh. I cannot recommend it highly enough- it is told through the eyes of kitten on the island and there is a cat hater, cat rescuers, cat saviors all rolled into the pages. It is compelling, sad, funny and highly rewarding to read. I will be putting a full book review on www.felinexpress.com in a few days. I just hope anyone reading this post will take the time to read this book.It gives you a realistic view of what outside kitties left alone and abandoned have to deal with.

So I blinked again and in disbelief read the ad on CL again; Female spayed German Shepherd free to a good home!” I clicked on the photo, yep that is a German Shepherd (so many people pass off mixed breeds as shepherds. I called the woman who laughed and said “I only put the ad up five minutes ago!”

I told her about my husband and his limitations and what I was looking for. The woman very quietly said; “Hon, this dog is service dog, a medic alert dog and she just needs to go to a new home as I am in training with another dog.”

We packed up the truck in 20 minutes and headed for Portland where the dog was located. It was love at first sight. Lyra is a dream- she can pull wheelchairs, open doors, if someone is going to faint, she will alert by pressing against their legs and moving them over to a bed or a chair!

She has been here not even 24 hours gets along famously with Dexter. She is a big girl for a female 144 pounds and she is curious about the cats but not aggressive. They have high-tailed it off to the cat enclosure except for two brave ones.

Lyra is an answered prayer and Mike loves her as do I. She slept with me last night on the bed, and when she as to go potty she jumps up and licks me in the face- LOL

Now speaking of prayers, I am getting ina few minutes a just days old kitten whose littermates have all died. The woman who has him was screaming and crying and ranting and she said she just didn’t think she could handle another death- so she is bringing him over. I will do all in my power to help save this little boy but with all the littermates dead- it doesn’t look good. BUT prayers work wonders so please start them flying!

Theyare settling down abit

These little ones came yesterday and two of them are always open-mouth panting. It is not that warm here. Nor do they have the high activity level of kittens their own age so I am worried. I need to get them to the vet to be checked out but as usual money is lacking for the necessary tests.

In the meantime, they are inside the new enclousure in the house. They are eating and drinking and using the litter pan. I have de-flead and de-wormed them but as you can tell by the photos, their tongues like to hang out of their mouth more than they should. They are nine weeks old and cute as bugs in a rug.

The other brother seems to have the same problem, the girl seems fine.