I am exhausted and will update tomorrow but tonight two more black kitties found a wonderful forever home! Taxi and Tandy now have two people to love them

Fiona, my sweet calico girl who was kept in a small birdcage over three years of her life and thrown kibble and birdseed when the owner thought about it- is now fighting cancer again. This cancer is a nasty one, squamous cell carcinoma. She had a few months after she arrived, the lesions cut off her earlobe in a surgery where I prayed for her every minute, and she is now 3 years cancer free- until this morning when petting her, I discovered the first lesion on her ear tip and the growth inside her ear.

I know from working with Twirl and Sundancer that when this cancer comes back- it does so with a vengance and it takes no prisoners. Typical in white kitties or kitties with light ear, this cancer takes hold quickly and destroys all in its path. I will soon have to bid this gentle soul a goodbye- but for now as it is only one small lesion, I am holding my breath and making a vet appointment. She did beat it for three years so maybe there is a chance she can beat it again-

Early in the morning before the house is awake, I sneak upstairs- ok well sneak isn’t really the word here. I try to sneak upstairs, but three or four black kitties seem to always accompany me. After doing a strange sort of kitty waltz around then in a very narrow space, I slip into the girls room to say good morning.

Normally, Gretel is hiding behind the dark sheet I have draped over a counter. She has all the comforts in the little cubicle she hides in and until this morning, she would wait for me to lift the curtain before crawling out from under the cat bed in the corner. They she will watch me closely as she eats the food offered. But this morning, as I lifted the sheet, I felt a head bump on my hand and she was waiting for me.

She came over to me and nudged me and insisted I pet her and so I laid down on the ground and we had quite the petting fest! It has started my day with a smile.

This morning, I went upstairs to work with the “Terrified Trio.” I am reading to them daily, Grey Matters (more about that later) and I am now at the point that Gretel will come out of hiding to lay near me and listen to adventures of Dulcie. I have playing upstairs the CD Harp of Hope which is already helping these cats to relax.

Afterward, I came downstairs to decompress and turned on TV only to be slammed in the face with the latest Doritos commercial that shows a dog burying something in the garden. You think at first it is a bone, until the camera pans down and you see a cat collar in the mound. The husband is nearby in the yard working and goes to stop the dog and is bribed by a bag of Doritos to keep his silence!

I am so baffled that a product as popular as Doritos has to resort to such tactics to sell a bag of chips? Maybe, I should invite some of their marketing team over to witness first-hand what happens to cats when they are victims of cruelty by the hands of people. This ad in my opinion propagates this type of behavior. I will no longer be buying any Frito-Lays product and I have been a fan of theirs for a very long time. But the insanity needs to stop and people need to see commercials where cats are treated with respect and not disdain.

Just an update, I did find out that this ad came from someone else as Doritos had a contest for a new ad.The winner got a huge prize I am told of a million dollars! The ad was voted on- unclear who voted for it. But still, to show this type of disdain for a cat is criminal. They already have a hard enough time surviving in this world- why add to that struggle?

Tonight, Mike had an order of chicken mcnuggets sitting on his table. He was nearby in his chair close enough to snack on the finger food if he was hungry. Hook came into the room and when I saw this black kitty making his entrance, I announced to Mike; “Incoming!” Mike replied that he was aware of Hook and was watching his dinner “like a hawk.”

About a minute later, Hook streaks by with a Mcnugget in his mouth! I laughed and told Mike that Hook had hooked another tasty morsel and had taken a chicken mcnugget. “No he didn’t” Mike said. “I have been here all the time watching him!” I just laughed, but Mike insisted- telling me the boxes of mcnuggets were still closed and he never saw Hook take anything.

A few minutes later, here comes Hook sneaking past towards Mike’s stash. Sure enough within seconds Hook again streaks by with another mcnugget.

Mike swore I must be mistaken. The boxes were closed and all his dinner was still intact….oh wait a minute? He had counted his stash and came up with two missing! LOL This sneaky blackness is so fast- you have no idea when he is going to strike. The other night, I was eating barbecue chicken and I had cut some of the meat off the bone. I didn’t see him enter the room, I didn’t see him creep up the chair and I didn’t see him until after his claw hooked a piece of meat and he took off! Bad Kitty! LOL I did have to chase him later because he took a whole wing off the plate and I can’t have my cats have cooked bones.

There’s a lady interested in adopting him and I have been very forthcoming about his habits. She thinks it is charming that he does this. I wonder what she will think when her food starts disappearing off her plate if the adoption goes through?

Ever since her spay, she has been going steadily downhill. Her right eye shows the upper eyelid flipped over and they have done several things with her to correct it, if that were all that was wrong with her, I would be able to work it out, but she has stopped eating and is now vomitting almost pure blood.

I am taking her in this morning and don’t believe she will be returning to the home and the people she has grown to love. She has been sleeping almost nonstop for several days behind the heater and yesterday, her littermate tried to attack her- another red flag to me that something is dreadfully wrong.

This is when the balance shifts and I am left with the decision of what to do. I see her as miserable despite repeated vet visits to get her comfortable. I want her misery to end for she is a special girl who deserves peace.

It is a part of rescue I abhor when I have to end a life before it has really began. She deserved so much better than she got, and I will miss this spot of black plagueness in the home for a long time. But there are just some things that you can’t come back from and sadly, I think this little girl is fading slowly, inch by inch, day by day.

I am back now and she is gone. I talked to vet at length about this kitten and I am thankful that she listened and respected my wishes. I suspect because of the broken tail that she was injured in some way and whatever happened to her was missed. I don’t know but I do know she was fading away- not interacting with the group, sleeping almost the entire day behind the heater which is always going non-stop these days as Mike is always so cold.

This was a new vet who saw her, but after I told her what had been going on, she agreed that putting her down was probably wise. Quince went so fast. They put the needle in, I saw the blood return and she was gone before they even pushed the plunger. Whatever was wrong with her, she couldn’t escape from and I have no doubt that as the days passed had I not taken her in- she would have sunk farther and farther away from her world. I couldn’t really afford to do this, but in the same breath, I couldn’t afford not to.

For those of you who won the bids congrats!

Here is what I need-

When you send in payment through Paypal to the address knifemaster (at) comcast (dot) net PLEASE put what item you bid on- not just the item # but the item itself.

Include your shipping address and if you are overseas, please send a bit extra to help for shipping especially on the larger items.

If this information is missing it will delay getting your items out to you.

With everything going on here at the house, I didn’t even write down the item number or what the item was this time around- so I need to know what the item is you bid on not just the item number-

2/10/12 Update

So far I have shipped the following items that were at my home:

Urban Tails to Donna
Pink Soft sided Cat Carrier to Lisa
Citypet unit to Joan
Two gift books to Sherri

I have been informed the feral cat house has been shipped to Christine by the manufacturer

The manufacturer of the pet beacons has been notified to ship the beacons to Cara, Laura, Steven and Christine

On the jewelry- Item # 15,16, 17 and 19 have been paid and the donor notified.

I am currently working with James who ordered a sheath to go with his knife so his order is still pending.

I am going to go through all the paypal notifications later tonight when my brain is clearer and make any adjustments to this list that needs to be made. But so far, this is what I have-

Thanks again

Today, Donovan went to what I hope will be his forever home. His new mom Tracee seemed to understand that he was probably going to hide for at least a week or more until he adjusts. She promised to set up a strict feeding and care schedule and follow it while just ignoring him until he was ready to come out. She will call me if he goes on a hunger strike. It’s a great home, he has a new big family and he is the only cat there. But it broke my heart to leave him because he crawled under the computer and was crying softly when I took my leave. 🙁 I wish I could explain to them that although I love them bunches they are so much better off in homes without kitty chaos then they are with me. My fingers are crossed and my knees bent in prayer that he doesn’t go on a hunger strike and not adjust over time.

Update: After a few emails and some phone calls, Donovan is back home and in his stead in the new home are two of the black kitties; Toby and Tucker. Donovan apparently was miserable last night, so much so that the gal’s twins started to cry and so did she not knowing what to do. So first thing this morning, I put two crates on the floor and took the first two cats who darted in with me to fetch Donovan.

When I arrived, I called out to Donovan who answered me and soon showed himself for only the second time. I picked him up, gave him a gentle hug and put him in a carrier- then I let Tucker and Toby out.

They immediately jumped on the bed laid down, rolled over on their tummy as if to say “Here we are, aren’t we cute?” The family was enchanted and instead of adopting one kittten, they have adopted two.

Donovan has not left my side- so for now he is off the adoption list. It will take a special person to accept him and work with him slowly letting him find his own place in another home- but apparently he doesn’t wish to leave yet…

Mike has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will have a biopsy on Thursday. If it is as feared for the levels are high, I will be driving him five times a week for treatment into Corvallis which is about an hour away. As Donovan is one of his lap kitties at night, perhaps it is a good thing that Donnie is back home-

The winner for January is Random Felines. She will receive Darlene Arden’s excellent book The Complete Cat’s Meow-

For this month’s contest the winner will receive Nekoflies–

the very best in cat and kitten entertainment and a toy I have not seen one cat turn up his head and ignore-

Again, the rules are simple, leave a comment on the blog sometime this month and you are eligible for the drawing. There will be one winner drawn at the end of the month-

I heard the noise over the rain early this morning. A kind of thunk then a slide and a thump. I got off the couch and opened up the door peering up I saw nothing on the roof, only black clouds overhead. As I went to shut the door, that’s when I noticed the box on the porch. It had been shoved into the bushes and I almost missed it due to such a grey day.

With a sinking feeling, I bent down and lifted the lid. Instantly the kittens inside began mewing and scrabbling up the box trying to get out! I quickly closed the lid and shuttled the box quickly upstairs to the kitten room.

As I opened up the box, 6 black kittens tumbled out- FREEDOM!

They are thin and flea ridden, they just went to the vet and were dewormed and deflead…sigh Why can’t people just spay and neuter? Saves a lot of heartache all the way around!

Thankfully, I am still getting hits on my ads and people are contacting me about my kittens. I wonder if one of those contacts “blessed” me with these black beauties? The woman last night on the phone sounded quite strange and said she wasn’t looking to adopt a kitten but to get rid of several- and now, here we go- six more babies. They are about 12 weeks old- and of course pitch black which means adoptability in this neck of the woods is going to be difficult. Looks like they will join the black plague here at home!

At least they aren’t feral!