They are keeping her one more day. Her temp keeps spiking and the last film still shows the suspicious mass in her belly. She was tested for all the nasties and came up negative for those (thank you God) so I have no idea what is wrong with her and apparently neither do the vets.

They ran the film and found a suspicious mass in her stomach, her stomach totally empty and her colon full of gassy fluid. They are now running a barium study and so she is staying overnight. She also spiked a fever of 103.4 so something is definitely wrong with her.

All this couldn’t hit at the worse times, but I guess that is just the way of it around here.

I am waiting for the vet to call regarding the study and I will update as soon as I know more. I suspect they are going to have to do surgery to find out what the mass is that is causing her so much pain. I warned them about her pain level being to the point of her attacking me when I touch her now. I don’t want these good vets to get bit like I was earlier today. I know her aggression is pain-driven. I may just have to surrender her to the clinic as her surgery is going to be costly. But, I will cross that bridge when I come to it and not until then-

7:10 p.m.- the vet just called and there is indeed a suspicious shadow on the films. He wants to keep her overnight and repeat the films in the morning. I asked if she was eating anything and he said no- 🙁

She is not eating. I can’t get her to take anything. Not human food, not raw food, nothing. Dry has been tried, all the canned food I can get that is available and still she isn’t eating a thing.

I watch her in the room and she walks funny. I suspect, she is injured in her back legs. Because as she walks, she periodically stretches her back legs together to often to not indicate a problem. I couldn’t take her in today because I had to work. I will call on Monday and see if the vet will recheck her. I think I will ask for films of her back and her legs to see if this is why she isn’t eating and why she is so grumpy.

She climbed on my lap earlier today and I was using MaryJean Ballner’s massage tips on her, but when I got to her rear legs, she became quite agitated and growly. Even using the lightest touch of the palm of my hand, she turned around and swatted me good with her claws extended and her ears flat. So I think I am on the money that she has either been kicked, hit, or she has fallen from a great height and is in pain.

Guess I will know on Monday.

Work was difficult tonight. I had one of those nights when everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I am opeing tomorrow so I will be in extra early to do the books and try to figure out the errors. the new girl was short by quite a bit so we need to figure out what happened and fix it before Monday.

Maybe on Monday, everything will be fixed- including Hope’s hunger strike. I am force-feeding her and she hates it with a passion. 🙁

The vet has no clue why Hope is not eating. She checked out negative for any of the nasty diseases and she was very loving and personable with the vet. He gave me some valium for her as valium in cats is an appetite stimulant and said if she isn’t eating by Saturday to bring her back.

Hoping to stimulate her prey instinct, I gave her about twenty minutes with the crew before shooing all the residents out of her room so she could have it to herself. She has several choices of food upstairs and I will leave her be for now and check in with her in the morning.

A & E runs a program called Hoarders late at night here. When I can’t sleep, I watch this program partly from fascination but also from dread. When they spotlight a home of a cat hoarder, I sometimes wonder if I fall into that category? My house is by no means clean- it is messy but liveable. I don’t have litter all over my rug, but I have a lot of cats and litter pans to qualify. I sometimes think my home might be showcased in the future, especially during feeding time when so many cats are around that it is hard for me to find a piece of tile to walk on without trodding on a paw or a tail.

This morning, I watched Animal Cops Philadelphia, and I wept along with other rescuers as they swept through a “No Kill” Shelter, only to discover over 150 sick and dying (or dead) cats in the basement. One poor boy had so much drainage coming from his eyes that he now is blind for life. I watched them carry off the cats in garbage bags, and try to save the hundreds that were so ill and I knew that although my heart is soft when it comes to these wonderful animals- I am not a hoarder, I am not evil and my cats don’t suffer nor will they ever if I have something to say about it.

Hope still isn’t eating. She is loving and headbumping me, allowing me to pet her, but she won’t eat. One session of force-feeding babyfood and water produced a cat ready for battle and a lot of frothing and foaming at the mouth. I have never seen anything like it and she will be going to the vet at 4:00 today. I have tried all my tricks to get her to eat and she wants no part of any of it. Not the KFC not the wet food that is mixed with a bit of catnip to stimulate an appetite. She is dehydrated but she is using the litter pan so she is at least drinking water. I am stymied why she isn’t eating so hopefully, the vet can shine a light on to the reasons why.

She is not black, she is a beautiful mackeral tabby. I do not know why the people who “found” her told me she was black.

She is quite young, she is very shy and very cat aggressive. I called the people back who gave her to us last night. This time, I spoke to the wife. She informs me that they have had her for five months! Her husband told Mike they just “found” her wandering around the campground. She has not eaten (I suspect she must be ill) or she couldn’t tolerate their orange male any longer (he is a bully) which is why they gave her up. But at any rate, she is upstairs hiding under the futon. That futon has offered many a scared kitty refuge from the craziness that occurs in this home at times.

She arrived late last night, and she is skinnier than she should be. I dewormed her and de-flead her. I also just gave her an appetite stimulant because I need her to eat. If she doesn’t respond to the medication by tomorrow night, then I will take her to the vet for a check-up.

I am calling her Hope in the hopes that I can find her a good, loving home and I hope she isn’t bringing in anything nasty with her right now. These people who “found” her did this to me sometime ago with Charlie and 24 hours later we were $1,000.00 invested in this “found” kitty. So I smell a rat. There is no reason for her to be so rail skinny. The wife says she only eats Kit -N-Kaboodle (ugh) Mike has gone to the store for me to get some. I am sick with a cold today and trying very hard to doctor it without it going into bronchitis again.

I have put my kittens up for adoption on Craigslist. The ad has been up about 20 days. It is amazing to me that the people answering the ad considers $20.00 an outrageous fee for a socialized, litter pan trained, dog and cat friendly, vaccinated and neutered kitten!

I told one person (kindly) that if she can’t afford $20.00 for a kitten, then she can ill-afford to be any type of pet owner…

That must not have gone over well because since that email, she has unleased the emails of hell to my inbox! I finally had to block her as her language and her tone grew uglier with each email.

I am very glad that she wouldn’t fill out my “stoopid adobtion form!” Nor would she pay anything towards a “kidden she cold git free!”

I feel sorry for her that she is so full of hate toward a nameless stranger who is simply trying to find good homes for these babies. It must just consume her days as she typically was shooting over ten emails to me on an hourly basis. Now that I have blocked her, I wonder if she has beat her husband up the side of the head with a frying pan, or kicked the dog? She says she has no children (thank God!)

So the black ones are here, they are safe and cavorting about my ankles and feet. Frasier still likes to box, Sharky still loves to bite and there is a new black kitten in the mix and one more on its way soon. Maybe I should just give in to the darkness and call UNCLE! LOL

These kittens are so special and sweet and loving that it boggles my mind when people tell me they want a kitten of color. Last time I looked in a box of crayons- black was a color!

Last night on the way home from work, I saw the true feral cat. In the narrows on a curve, I was driving so slow because of the rain and low cloud cover- a cougar jumped over the guardrail through the mist and landed a short distance from my car. There was no traffic, so I stopped and he was illuminated with my brights. I watched him trot across the road and vanish into the woods on the other side. I have seen so many deer down from the hills right now as it is hunting season. I suspect, he is following his food source and went down to the Santiam River for a drink. He was absolutely gorgeous and I was grateful that no cars were on the road at that time of night, except for mine.

Even after finding homes for four of the original black kittens, due to certain circumstances, I now have eight black kittens living with us. I can’t tell them apart yet, so none have names and it is quite confusing because the latest rescue has bad ear mites in one ear and needs meds. I don’t have him isolated as the rooms are occupied with ringworm kittens so he is in general population and finding him is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Eight black kittens, what was I thinking? Plus Nikki called me tonight. She is an elderly woman who adopted Sonic and Soot two black kittens years ago. Nikki has been told she hasn’t long to live and she is stressing about the two cats. Her family will only take her bird, so Sonic and Soot would be carted off to the shelter or tossed outside.

I told Nikki I would take both cats back and she was so relieved. She said she hasn’t traveled to the place where she can let them go yet, but she will be sure should something happen to her that they go back to me. I am such a wuss…

Christmas is coming and it is time to reconnect with old friends. Molly one of my best buds and I talked today for what seemed like hours. We’ve known each other since 1975 and we had a lot of laughs about old times today. I miss her bunches!

It is warming up here now- 12 degrees tonight! The barn cats are still indoors and though this is causing some territorial wars to occur- for the most part everyone is getting along. there is supposed to be freezing rain tomorrow night (of course, because i have to work) followed by a bit of a warming trend and snow. I would welcome snow right now as it would warm up considerably. I lose count of how many kitties cuddle under my quilt with me at night. Mike says I don’t need another blanket for warmth, because I am surrounded by fur!

I found out the other day that frozen poop just doesn’t scoop! I went into the cat enclosure to clean out the trays after not being out there for a few days due to the cold. I broke two scoops trying to clean out the waste until I just finally said forget it- if it is frozen at least it has no odor! Who knew that kitty litter could freeze?

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What a sight to behold this morning when I woke up. My swinging Christmas tree, partially still swinging from its steady perch on high was holding ground (barely). Pine needles strewn all over the carpet and kittens playing in the needles as exuberantly as my grandchildren jump into a pile of leaves in the fall!

I quickly detached the remaining claws of curious kittens still clinging to the remaining limbs, cirque dul soleil performers would be so proud! Hauling out the Dyson caused the kitty acrobats to scatter to the high winds.

The tree has been hauled off now and the Noble Fir has been replaced by Noble Fur critters who seem quite pleased with their early morning performances.

Ode to our Christmas Tree (with apologies to Trad, Farian, Frank..)

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree- yesterday you arrived intact.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree- how did you survive the midnight attack?

The kittens found you in the night, tore you apart with great delight.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, it was a playful kitten act

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your limbs are strewn upon the rug.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, it was the work of kitty thugs!

But now we haul you to the dump, and leave you in a frozen lump.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, I?m sorry you were kitty-mugged.

-MA-