I still haven’t removed Fiona’s food bowls or Donovan’s pad behind the heater. I know the sweet ones are gone but I just can’t bring myself to remove these last traces of such extraordinary cats. McGee slept with me last night, on my chest. This is a new behavior for him, his brother Donovan is the one who was the chest sleeper.

I know in the past I have made reference to The Black Plague- the endless amount of black kittens who were always seen as “unadoptable.” I grew so tired of people on the phone, or here at the house, looking at these sweet kittens then turning to me and saying “But don’t you have them in any other color?” Don’t they know that black is the primary color of all the colors?

So after months of hearing this, I decided to try and make them colorful to see if I could adopt them out. So, how can I do this? I would never paint a cat, because, I just never would (the other cats would laugh at them!) I debated painting a flower on their ear in nail polish until I read that nail polish is highly toxic to cats- so that was out.

I was shopping at WalMart and of course haunting the pet aisle and I saw these tiny dog clothes marked down in price. They were for the pocket pets marked XS. Colorful and vibrant, they stood out from all the rest, so I bought a few and brought them home.

It took a lot of patience, quick food bribes and lightning hands to not get scratched! But I managed to get the black kitties used to wearing their new threads while they were eating (distraction is always good). Then it was “photo op” day for America’s Favorite Top Models- once they had been photographed, I took the clothes right off them and got them back to their natural state.

I posted the photos in the adoption ads and these kittens went flying out the door! I am still simply amazed how quickly everyone found loving homes! I did tell the new owners that under no circumstances should they continue to dress up these kittens-that it was simply an marketing stunt!

I’ve heard back from the families and they are all so thrilled with their new black kitties! One woman confessed to me that if she goes out and adopts another kitten or a cat it will be black! So Yay for the team and I am passing on my tip to all of you who might be struggling to get black kitties adopted out. Again, don’t just put the clothes on and expect kitty to accept them-if you took a picture of the early wardrobe change it wouldn’t be pretty! But patience and using food as a motivator, they learn to accept their new wardrobe long enough to get a photo out there.

And don’t use doll clothes- let them have some dignity! Some of the dog clothes out there are mighty cute almost as cute as black kitties themselves!

Sometime early this morning, McKenzie gave birth to three kittens! Mom and babies are doing fine. Thankfully, she has gained weight, although I will be supplementing her babies with bottle feeding to take the strain off her. We have a white, black and orange family now.

She is a very protective mother, even charging me when I went looking for her this morning. She gave birth inside my canning closet. The only thing I could take a photo of was the top of the other cupboard! LOL

I will amp up her feeding times and her food now, giving her canned food, dry cat food, dry kitten food and KMR. Waiting for the stores to open and praying they aren’t out of kitten formula because I am.

My group knows that Donovan is gone and they are all acting strangely this morning. McGee, Don’s brother is going around the house softly crying. I know he is looking for his buddy. I know I miss him and like Fiona’s food bowls, I just can’t seem to remove the sheepskin pad behind the heater where Donovan slept most of the time these past few weeks.

Donovan has passed away, his temperature spiked up so high and so quickly, I don’t think he had a chance. I talked to the feline specialist afterward and she believes it was either spinal meningitis, or a virulent strain of calicivirus. Donovan, I am so sorry- I thought you were doing better. When I told Vicki how quick he left us, she said his heart must have just given up.

This month, there will be ONE lucky person who will win a Kitty Kubby-hole from felinefurniture.com!

This snug kitty kave is done in stylin leopard print! As before the only qualification is to leave a comment on this blog sometime this month. Last month’s winner was Webthistle and she was just shipped the Nekoflies cat toy.

Good luck and happy commenting! 🙂

Hey guys, I have a new advertiser here 911Friends. Do me a favor and take a look at the website. Although it is a dog product, I have to tell you the blinking lights make GREAT cat toys so tell your friends please.

Thanks for your kind words and support of my work with these cats. It is so appreciated-

I am scattered this morning, emotionally drained and lost on a sea of despair. Some people would shake me and say “For Pete’s Sake MA- it was ONLY a cat!” But those are the people I have little time for- the ones who think that a cat is an object, something to be thought about casually if at all. Trivial, some would say- a cat doesn’t matter- but they would be wrong.

Fiona did not have an easy life. I can’t imagine what it was like for that terrified kitten to be stuck inside a birdcage outside on the porch for days and nights on end. Did the bird hoarder even bother to cover the cage at night? I don’t know but from what I was told when the kitten was rescued- the cage was in a hideous state. It took no less than 7 gentle, warm baths for this cat’s true calico pattern to emerge. She was rescued in 2004 and stayed with one rescuer until 2006 when she arrived here.

Fiona was a character. She never could eat anything on the floor and even her litter pan was elevated. We have an old shower stall stored out in the porch and her food and water and litter pan were on top of that stall. Eight feet up a definite bother for me as I am not eight feet tall- but she seemed to prefer that, perhaps because her early home hung so high in the air. The first rescuer when she called me about Fiona was fit to be tied- “The darn cat won’t eat- poops all over the floor- I don’t want her anymore come and get her!” No, I have no kind thoughts about this “rescuer” anymore.

It took me a few days of watching her to figure her out. She simply liked heights although she was not an Alpha kitty. If Riley or Norton even dared to approach her, she would roll over on her back in a submissive position as if to say “I give up.”

Once I elevated her food, water and litter pans her anxiety lessened.

She knew when I was having bad days just as I knew when she was having one of her moments. We were entwined somehow, interconnected and she would crawl on my lap and purr away my worries or nuzzle my neck and show me that all would be okay.

Then the vigourous head-shaking began and I explored her ears along with the vet, looking for ear mites, yeast infection, spider bites. Nothing ever came of that search. Instead, after a few days after one visit tiny red blisters seemed to appear out of nowhere, marching across the ridge of her ear. Worried, I watched them, washed them off put soothing lotion on them. This seemed to anger them and they got bigger and more threatening. Another trip to the vet and a biopsy revealed she had squamous cell carcinoma. Plans were made to remove them before they spread. Before they spread? I wondered remembering how quickly two lesions turned into several and the head shaking increased to almost a frantic pace.

After surgery and she was home, she laid in my lap spent and exhausted and puzzled as to what happened. The vet said he was crossing his fingers- he too was exhausted, it was a long surgery for all of us.

Three years passed and daily checks of her ears showed no blisters or abnormalities. Just as I was starting to breathe again- she came to me one night crying. She was tipping her head and scratching madly at her ear. My heart sank and I grabbed the flashlight only to see the lesions were back.

Calling my vet, he said, let’s just wait a bit. I had lost a few recently and he was reluctant for me to go through the process. He was also hoping that I wouldn’t have to.

But this morning, as the fluid that takes life and brings peace found its way into her veins- I held her and I cried. Her passing was gentle- her ears still angry over the war waged on them stopped bleeding and her heart was stilled.

She is a bird again- she has flown up to heaven on calico wings.

As I wept, I wondered why I love these cats so? They depend on us for so much and yet, that just makes most of fall even deeper into love and respect. It’s a symbiotic relationship. We both need each other and I adored her.

So I have lost my calico anchor, my smile in the morning as she greeted me first thing for her favorite place to sleep was on my pillow. I still haven’t taken down her food bowl and water dish. I usher cats through life and often this place turns into a transit station where they rest between their final destination. I know she is gone, but my arms won’t raise high enough above my head to remove the final traces of this kitty born in a bird cage-perhaps in time…

My boy is home although they wanted to keep him. I can just hear Donovan’s thought process as I pass his cage where he is confined right now. (It’s a big cage though)….

“Thanks Mom, there I was lying on my sheepskin rug behind the heater, when you lifted me up and stuck me inside that darn cat carrier. I knew something was up, but I was trapped so what could I do? Then you took me on a really long drive- why did you drive so slowly Mom? Were you prolonging the agony?

We get to the scary place and there is a pit bull in the lobby looking at me like I was lunch! Thank God you understood my fear and you not only turned my carrier around so the dog couldn’t contemplate how many ways to eat a cat, but you also took off your jacket and covered me up. I appreciated that!

I saw the vet, and yeah you were right, he has kind hands- but then he stuck me three times! And really, did they have to do that to my rump? I mean how rude!

Then you put me on the floor and tried to get me to walk. I tried to walk, really I did, but my legs just don’t move right now. So then I get stuck again with a big needle and put back into that darn cat carrier and another really loooong slow drive home- and now I am stuck in the bedroom in a cage! And you say you love me! HUMP!”

The vet suspects Donovan has a bone infection although there is no visible bite wound and my cats don’t fight- so I have no idea if that is right. By the time I got to the vet, he was so worked up his 103.6 temp went up to 105! But he is eating and drinking- there is no third eyelid and his paws were cool, so the vet is puzzled.

He was given a pain shot, and an antibiotic shot and he is to start antibiotics tomorrow. If his fever isn’t down by noon tomorrow, I am to bring him back immediately for a “sleep-over.”

I am grateful that they got him in today and didn’t even raise an eyebrow when I gave them yet another post-dated check to add to the pile. I know that Donovan feels betrayed because he is in the cage, but I need to keep him away from the heater where he has been sleeping for the last two weeks.

Poor kitty- those eyes that follow me when I am in the room, they make me feel like a criminal- I had to put him behind bars! I drove slow because it was snowing. The flakes are so big and it was hard to see. But try telling Donovan that!

Well, regardless of the struggle it migh incur, I have made an appointment with my vet for 2:30 today for Donovan. I am not sure what is going on with him- if it might be the calicivirus or an injury. But he has been so inactive today laying on the same spot behind the heater without even opening his eyes. To say I am surpremely worried is an understatement. I go in at 2:30 and will update if they find what is wrong with him. Asking for prayers please-

Around these parts, people refer to me as “The Crazy Cat Lady of Linn County.” I suppose should you wish to step into my shoes for 24 hours (watch out for the hairballs though) you might agree. After all, what would possess anyone to open up their heart and home to upwards of thirty stray cats at a time?

Before you pick up the phone and call 1-800-EnoughWithTheCatsAlready let me assure you that you will never see me on an episode of Extreme Hoarders. My visitors’ biggest challenges when they stop by isn’t circumnavigating huge piles of rubbish in the house, but rather being careful not to step on a paw or tail of the welcoming committee at the door.

The majority of my indoor clowder is deemed “unadoptable” by the masses. Unadoptable referring to their color (they are all black kitties). I don’t buy into the myth that black cats are bad luck. I consider it my good fortune to have them share my life.

People ask me how I do it. How do I manage to live with so many felines? How do I manage my time, and the most popular question- “How many litter pans do I have anyway?”

It might surprise you to know that as far as regular litter pans go- I have none. I find them unacceptable for anything larger than a kitten, and because kittens don’t stay kitten-sized all their lives, I rarely buy an average litter pan.
Instead, I haunt the local thrift stores and bring back big plastic containers, thrashed coolers, even baby bathtubs. You can get them all at a decent price and if you make friends with the people who run the thrift shop, you might even get a few for just a donation!

A few years ago my readers on my website www.felinexpress.com challenged me to test out cat litters. I put each brand through my test kitties paces. Few litters measured up, being just average. But again, I don’t buy the cat litter available in the grocery stores or pet supply warehouses. They are to expensive and Phew! Scented! My kitties turn up their nose at most scented brands.

I use Stall Dry- It neutralizes the ammonia smell fairly quickly. I can get a 40 lb. bag for under $13.00. I use 5 bags a month. It has diatomaceous earth mixed in with it which also helps to cut down on the fleas in the cat enclosure.It is non-toxic and non-caustic and other than being heavy to lug up the stairs- I have encountered no problems with it.

It is certified organic so it won’t harm land fills.
So in answer to the question about how many litter pans do I have? That would be zero, but I do have 35 other litter containers ranging from kiddy pools, to Rubbermaid containers and old beat up coolers.

Over the last week, I have become increasingly worried about Donovan. At first, he couldn’t walk on his front leg, then on his rear leg. Then he was fine- a few days later, he was limping on his rear leg again and spending the day laying behind the heater (which I am at the point of calling sick bay) because it seems like when the cats don’t feel well, they end up back there on the sheepskin rug.

I took him in to the vet, but as usual, he was so pumped up on adrenelaine that all he wanted to do was run around the room on all four legs! The vet saw no need to run films and sent me home.

I need to take him back and get some xrays on his back legs to see what is going on. This morning, he is again lying behind the heater and when I move him and try to get him to walk- he just doesn’t want to move much. I need to win the lottery seriously and build a special room here for cats who aren’t doing well. My vet calls it NDW (Not Doing Well) but a place that is quiet, warm and away from the foot traffic where they can just relax. Right now my rooms are full of cats- I have McKenzie in the one room upstairs, the ragdolls in the room across the hall- and 3 new kittens in the third room upstairs. Downstairs in the bedroom I have two new arrivals and there is no way I would put Donovan into the Intro cage in the Enclosure- it is way to cold outside and this kitty needs warmth.

So I am in a holding pattern for now and hoping this anti-inflammatory the vet gave me will kick in soon and Donovan will feel better. If only they could talk!