This morning in the space of 20  minutes, we received frantic phone calls about an abandoned car filled with cats and kittens at a local park. Apparently the car had been seen there consecutive days and the callers were quite concerned, so I grabbed my stuff and flew out there.

The windows of the car were down and inside were four kittens and a mom who if she is 8 months old, I would be surprised. She’s in rough shape. Also inside the car were two young males, one neutered, one not. Well “Not” is spending the night at the vet and will be neutered in the morning. The orange boy is out in the main enclosure all by himself and mom and the kittens are in the bedroom. None of them are doing great- they are super skinny, full of parasites and fleas. Mom is matted to beat heck. She has no milk- zippo and hasn’t had in quite awhile. The mom and babies have the calici virus- each baby only has one functioning eye right now. We are soaking the eyes and applying ointment when the eye even shows a slight hole. The kittens’ eyes are still blue and when I got them out of the car it was 87 degrees outside!  They are not eating like I had hoped they would- they took a little bit- each weighs just under 7 ounces.  I can’t post pictures because my emails are still hosed up- but I will ask for prayers for these 7 kitties and also if you have a few dollars lying around- they would help on the vet bill I am still trying to whittle down. I wasn’t about to leave them there, they were not in a good place at the time.

After over eight years of chasing open ulcers on Mike’s remaining leg, he has finally been discharged from wound care and home health! His leg will never be “normal” but the discoloration on it currently no longer shows the angry red and purple color that had so many concerned for years. It is still red but his swelling is under control and his new skin is coming in over old wounds! He does still bleed when he takes a shower. Even using the gentle button on the shower massager can cause his leg to bleed, but it is old, dry skin that is peeling off and underneath, there is new skin showing.

They are working on making him a new prosthetic. medicare requires one to jump through multiple hoops and paperwork to get this process going once again- plus we encountered the company working with us building this leg, undergoing their own personal upheavals, finally selling out and being taken over by another company who then bowed out and re-sold the whole thing- so who knows when his leg will be ready. But for now, his leg is doing well and I am sure if he could, he would be doing a happy dance!

On a private note something in my computer has caused all my emails to vanish so if you are privately sending me messages, forgive me if I do not answer. I am in the process of trying to get this fixed.

This morning, when I went to feed outside, I noticed one of the skunks acting funny in front of the hay barn. She was low to the ground and digging but not in the way they normally do (they eat a lot of insects that they find underground) This was a frantic digging in the grass, not the dirt.

Then she would lay on top of whatever she dug up, wrap her paws around the whole bundle and scooting backward, disappear under the hay barn! I’m thinking “What in the world?”

So I got closer and stopped when she came back out and went further into the grass and started digging for several minutes then scooting backward, under the barn she went. Duh! She’s building a nest! The little stinker is pregnant.

Makes sense now, for the past few weeks, I have been hearing the skunks fighting under the house. If you have never heard a skunk being angry, bless your stars, because one thing they do when they are pissed off at whatever- is they stink bomb the area. Unfortunately these fights were under our living room floor. Thank God for Vicks VapoRub keeps the stink at bay. They weren’t fighting, they were mating. I wondered, because the chittering and chattering were unlike any I have heard before. More intense and angry and well, just different in the sounds. Maybe I should of put on some Frank Sinatra to set the mood? LOL

So now we are going to have baby skunks again and ticked off neighbors that I won’t trap them and get them out of here. Been there, done that, all I did was trap my outdoor clowder. The neighbors want me to also stop feeding the cats at night, which I won’t do as well. We have a dozen cats wandering the place at night, most I never see until well after midnight. I am not going to stop feeding them just to appease the neighbors. What I am going to do is stock up on Vapo-Rub!

Speaking of feeding, we are down on our canned food if someone is in the giving spirit today and wants to help. After I post this, I am going to update our wishlist.

I have been feeding this lovely kitty for over eight years now. She initially would only show up at night, a ghost of a kitty in the shadows. I didn’t even know for certain until yesterday, what sex she was at the time. She would never even let me get close. There is a woman who lives back behind our creek right off Liberty Road who routinely feeds strays and I assumed she belonged there. But she kept becoming a regular here in the yard and at the feeders, so I had no clue where she came from.

She is a beautiful long-haired black and white kitty- more of a cow kitty than a tuxedo. She favors wet food over dry but that’s about all I could tell you about her.

Last night, I was late in feeding the strays by the shop, so I didn’t get out there until midnight. I was dumping wet food onto the trays when I felt a bump against my ankles. I thought it might be Bentley who often follows me on my rounds so I went to pet the ankle bumper and it turned out to be Mystic. I was amazed that she allowed me to touch her- and as I stroked and lifted her tail- I found that she is indeed a girl- so thankfully, she has been spayed. We had a few moments of petting before she scampered away. Felt like an early birthday gift (my birthday is tomorrow) Best present ever!  Of course this morning, when I went out to feed, she steered clear of me. Two steps forward, three steps back.

Previously, in my blog, I mentioned that behind the scenes it was getting quite stressful for us. For a recap- we discovered that we had a leak in our house, but because this house was built in the 30’s. The people before us instead of taking up old tile when they put down new, they just layered the stuff on top of each other. When it got down to it, there were five layers of tile down on our floors and the water was leaking under the third layer! So we didn’t notice it right away.

When we finally noticed the water, it was on our living room carpet, right at the edge of the kitchen. Initially, I thought Kota had slipped up and peed there, so I just sprayed, blotted it up, dried it up and thought how strange, because he doesn’t pee in the house. But the stain was too big to be a cat pee stain, unless said kitty was in full renal failure.

The next morning, there it was again! So I did the same thing, only this time, I did the sniff test and it didn’t smell like pee. It smelled like mildew! I mentioned it to Mike, and he suggested that I put a board over it to see what happens. So I did, and when we removed the board the following morning (after I had cleaned up the stain) there it was again. Very puzzling, so I called the plumber.

The plumber came and located four small leaks way in the back of the kitchen sink and fixed them. then he went away. But the next morning, the stain was back again so he came back and this time, he found a leak in the bathroom sink pipes and fixed those. But these were such small leaks. It didn’t make sense to me that they would cause that much water to appear. I was right, and the following morning the stain appeared again this time wetter and bigger.

One more time, the plumber was called and I was pretty upset. He isn’t cheap labor and he was missing something I was pretty sure. He finally took the front panel off our dishwasher and he couldn’t see under it- but I could hear water running, so he stuck his cell phone under there to video it- and it was running like a small brook! He pulled the dishwasher out and fixed that leak. He felt responsible (or so he said) so that visit cost us nothing. I showed him the bathroom where the floor was starting to buckle. I had already torn up the layers of tile in the kitchen and hallway, but the tile in the bathroom, when I started to tear that up- it was full of dry rot.  This flood had been happening a long time apparently by the look of things.

I quizzed him about the possibility of the shower or the toilet also leaking and he assured me that the way the floor was “behaving” this couldn’t be happening. He did check the floor and said it was “dry” and “nothing to worry about.” Then he left and since that time (it has been a month) the floor has continued to buckle and cause concern.

So then we called the contractors and they came, and they looked, and they went under the house, and they promised to get back to us. No one ever did. It was frustrating to say the least. We had a dozen men come here to look at the job.

Last Monday, a guy came out from another area and he was really nice, he looked at the “job” said he would work out an estimate and “be in touch.” Before he left, I cornered him and just asked him why no one was getting back with us on this? It was getting to the point where I was afraid Mike was going to crash through the floor in his wheelchair! He looked at me and said “Ms Miller, I will be honest with you, the job is too small. No one wants it, including me!” Then he left.

Meanwhile, our floor is getting worse and in our good days, Mike and I could have fixed this ourselves in a heartbeat. So yesterday, I went to a lumber yard where the guys know me quite well. (They give me discounts on lumber when we are working with the cat buildings). I was pretty stressed and started telling them my story and I couldn’t hold it together any longer, I just had a meltdown right there in front of God and everyone..

One of the guys handed me a slip of paper that had two numbers and two names on it and said- “Call these numbers, one of them will help you. I swear it.”

I went back to the truck, got myself under control and called the first number which was answered by a human and not a machine. Instead of being told that he was slammed busy and couldn’t even come for weeks to look at the job, he instead told me that he would meet me at the house in 20 minutes with his brother, and we would go from there! I drove home, but I have to say, I was skeptical he would show up.

Well he did show up, and told us the job was going to be a bugger because of the dry rot and  water damage. He would have to gut the entire bathroom as the shower and the sink were now sinking down. Plus there was a leak in the ceiling that was also old (he pulled some ceiling tiles down) and when he told us how much this gutting would cost, our hearts sank. We didn’t  have that kind of money, not even close.

His brother went outside, he made one phone call and came back in and told us that it would be okay. It was all “handled” someone had made arrangements to donate all the material needed for the job, and he and his brother are not going to charge us for their labor! I was flabbergasted! I kept expecting them to say it was all a joke, and walk away like the dozens before them had- but they are on the level. It is not going to cost us a dime and while they are fixing and finding the leak (they suspect the shower is leaking) they are also going to widen the door so that Mike can at least get his wheelchair somewhat in the bathroom instead of just in the hallway. The doorway should be 32-34 wide and it is only 20.

I’d gotten the point where I had just given up believing in people anymore. I wasn’t sleeping much worrying about this situation and other financial concerns. I just wanted our bathroom to be safe to use and no one seemed to want to touch it at any price. Now, these guys are going to donate their time and effort and a home improvement store will be donating the material needed to make our life here so much easier and I am floored! (no pun intended).

They have three jobs they are working right now, but when those are done- we are next in line to have a new, functional bathroom! This is such a random act of kindness for us and we will be paying it forward in the near future.As for Mike and I, we are doing a happy dance (although his looks a bit funny being performed in a wheelchair!) 🙂

Bent just returned from his recheck on his stomatitis. It has not resolved itself completely , but it is a tad bit better since his last depo shot, so he got another one. The vet said that the pain level is down in his mouth as well and there are only two lesions in the back of his mouth instead of seven. I am hoping that the second shot will take hold and he will be good to go with only taking oral prednisone here at home. He huddled in my lap the entire time- poor scared boy. He’s not crying anymore when he eats and the vet was on-board with the slippery elm bark mixture he is getting five times a day. (Thanks again Pat!)

I wish we could resolve this vet bill- but as Mike likes to say: “If wishes were fishes, the creeks would be full!”  Right now, our creek is just trickling along. There were a few comments made about the $900.00 still owing. I am doing the best I can.

They will call me in three weeks to see how Bent is doing and go from there. I know how he shows pain, so I will be on guard against him losing a lot of weight suddenly, pawing at his mouth, or crying when he eats. I also will pray he doesn’t get that skanky brown drool that Shimmer got which is a sign of more severe lesions forming in his mouth. I was given some Advant-guard which is basically a probiotic for the mouth. I am to give him this four times a day and not worry if he swallows it or spits it out. It just has to get in his mouth to do its work.

For now, he is home. Of course in true cat fashion,  he serenaded me the entire ride up and back to the vet’s office.

First thing Bentley did when I brought him home was dart outside and hide in the pine limbs that came down in the storm last night! I think he is hoping I wouldn’t notice his handsomeness among the branches.

She finishes her medicine today and she is doing so much better now. She is miserable being confined, so we talked it over and decided when she gets her last dose of antibiotics that we will just open the door and let her back outside. Her feline buddies have been clustered around the catio when she is out there and keeping her confined could mean that she could slip back into sickness just from the stress. She will live out her life on her terms and not ours. Some cats are just that way.

I have managed to establish a bond with her which I hope will continue after she is released. Time will tell.

This girl has been with  us a long time- she has lived under the house for over ten years following being dumped here in a canvas bag on our porch. I took her in, got her spayed and when I came home with her, she managed to escape the carrier and duck under our home. Never been able to successfully capture her until Friday night. She didn’t look right and wasn’t eating and was matted to beat heck!

As you can tell, she is partly Persian. It took us about three hours to remove all the intrusive mats on her:

Knowing that the clippers would get hot if we used them and I risked cutting her with scissors to remove this, we opted to use a seam ripper to take out these mats. It works great, and once you loosen up the root of the mat, you can easily just pull the whole thing up without injury to the cat.

She has been to the vet. She weighs 19 pounds, he puts her age over 20 and except for a lot of constipation and parasites, an URI and a small conjuctivitus battle, she is doing good. She did really well at the vet- although her hiss can be quite intimidating! Someone who I rescued a few cats from in the past was over at the clinic when I was there and she put some money down on our account! After bloodwork, exam, x-rays and medicine we only owe $38.00 on the bill. I was so grateful beyond words. Allura is on vera-flux for four more days and was given an enema and some Profender. Hopefully in a few days, she will start eating on her own and I can integrate her into the house with the others.

I won the battle of the bloodwork and it came back, that in addition to all of her other problems, Shimmer’s kidneys were also shutting down. We decided ending her pain was the only humane way to help her out.

In celebration of her life with us- here are just a few of the hundreds that did make it despite early trauma, abuse, neglect. I hope you enjoy the photos below:

Madison

Hurricane Charlie before

Hurricane Charlie after

Bibbens

Darby

Dickens (the kitty with the missing femur)

Bram (thrown on the freeway) before

Bram (after)

Jazzy and Serena (left in a box in a local park)

Glade and River (left by the river to die)

So today, in honor of Shimmer, a kitten found in a wild patch of blackberry bushes with her brother and mom, we choose to honor her by remembering those who did survive the ordeal of being abandoned or being victims of abuse or neglect living on in this world.

I also wanted to share a recent moment with Shimmer that was nothing short of a miracle.

We had just returned from the last vet visit, and she was so stressed, she retreated to the bathroom and laid down behind the toilet. She didn’t move all that day or the night, so the next morning, I went in and just sat down on the floor and talked to her. I knew, being with her 24/7, that something more than what we were seeing was going on with her. I told her to hang in there and as soon as possible, her pain would end.

In the five years that we have had her, Shimmer has never sought out either one of our laps. If we even DARED to put her on our lap, she let us know by teeth and claw this was not a GOOD idea. She preferred to remain by herself in the bedroom or in a cabinet alongside the stairwell converted into a cat bed. Medicating her was almost impossible.

I had gone to sit on my recliner after talking to her, when suddenly, I see her coming into the room. She headed straight for my recliner and jumped on my lap! She had this really nasty sticky brown drool dribbling out her mouth but I didn’t care. She was on my lap, head-bumping, purring, kneading me. She stayed on my lap for five hours. I ignored the dirty dishes needing my attention, the rug needing to be vacuumed, the needs of my bladder. Not until Mike asked about  dinner, did I even move as Shim and I shared this final moment together.

After I got up, she went back to the bathroom and laid down behind the toilet, staying there until the vet called with the results. I will hold this challenging girl  strong in my heart and she will be missed. RIP my girl.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so at this point, I will just stop typing and say: “Enjoy Pita, settled at last!”