What a “quack up!”

First off, thanks to all of you who have been donating your points to CATS Inc., I have been informed that Fresh Steps is doing a split giveaway. If you have 25 points and you want to mention CATS Inc., in the sweepstakes, we are eligible for the sweepstakes currently running. $10,000 (which would allow us to cat proof our acres with a cat proof fence!) Anyway, they say that $5,000 is for the person who entered and $5,000.00 is for the shelter of their choice.

The link they gave me to post on social media et al doesn’t seem to be working at the moment, so I just thought I would mention it here. I did manage to enter one time- but again it is a drawing so who knows who will win. Fresh Step calls it the 10K split contest. 25 points gets you an entry into it- if you so desire to do this for us.

Today we find out when Mike’s surgery is to be scheduled (if they can even do it for him) It is all dependent on what the ultra sound of his leg looks like. I will know by tonight and tomorrow the rest of the kittens in the bedroom will travel to their new place MeowVillage where I understand there are several foster families waiting in the wings to take these darlings and care for them. All have made it to the almost 2 month mark and Draco has stopped having seizures. We did find out that the seizures were from a passel of round worms and not the meth exposure! That’s how wormy this baby was-

Polliwog, the kitty with the dislocated toe is doing great now. Those young growth plates heal extremely well on their own and she is running and playing along with all the other kittens as if she never fell in the first place.

Grumpy Gretel still has hardened milk sacs. I have her on warm compresses and an antibiotic so she won’t get mastitis, but she is uncomfortable to say the least. Her belly is so bruised that massaging her teats is out of the question- she will bite me every time. I’ve decided to do the warm damp compresses while she is eating and I put the microwave into her cat enclosure so heat is closer. I wrap the towel around her belly and hold it there while she eats. I know if feels good on her- but again, I need to massage the teats and dispel the milk and she won’t allow that without getting snarky with me.

Here is Templeton, the brown kitten that Grumpy Greta tried to ditch in the weeds. He found his way onto a neighbors porch near where the family was originally found.

Mike goes in for an ablation this week so I put out an SOS to local rescues to see if any of them could help me lighten the kitten load here. Thank God that one shelter just took 5 kittens and Meowvillage is going to take the other nine. I could not find anyone willing to watch 14 kittens for two days as we go through this next medical journey. Imagine that? LOL

I did tell Meowvillage that once this surgery is behind us and Mike has recovered, I would be happy to help them with their feral cat load. I just can’t do it right now. I told them “I’m in your back pocket, just don’t pull me out until July. ” God Bless these people, both are full up with kittens but recognize that we really need the help. The shelter has 195 kittens in foster care right now and Meowvillage has 125!

Yesterday, I stopped by another rescuer’s home and we were just chatting a bit before getting on with our day. In a covered cage, I hear all this squawling and screaming and found out that three tiny kittens had been delivered to her a few days prior. Much like Pinkerton and Silverton, these kittens also had been attacked by field rats. One had already passed. The screaming grew louder and it is not in my DNA to ignore the screams of the babies, so I asked if I could hold one and try to nurse them. Apparently, they were hard to nurse, fighting the bottle and once you tried to feed them- poop just poured out the poor bums.

I was holding this little boy not even two weeks old and sure enough, when he tried to eat- it just instantly came out the other end. The gal told me that the kittens were screaming non-stop and she was so tired, she needed some sleep. That’s when I suggested we try letting Grumpy Gretel nurse them. If they had an intolerance to the formula or any dairy products, then Gretel seemed to be the answer. After all, she had accepted ALL the kittens currently under our care here at the house (14 in total). The gal gratefully accepted my offer and off I went.

I noticed, when I put them in the truck, that although they were both on top of a heating disc in a heavily blanketed carrier, both kittens were cold. I rushed them home, temped them 89 degrees! I called my vet and switched my Cooper dog appointment of the day to a 2 critically ill kitten appointment. Then I took them over to Gretel’s cage.

I had them cuddled in my hands and I told her: “Gretel, I know you have been through a lot, but I really need your help. These babies, their mom was poisoned and they are so hungry but nothing fed to them, stays with them. Please, help me one more time and take these babies under your care.” Then taking a deep breath and praying- I slid them into her.

She instantly went for the kill! She was not kidding. She was not going to have anything to do with these two precious babies. I got her away from them, checked for damage, there was none. How she showed me these babies were in greater danger than originally thought is she dove for their throats. She was going to carry them off and finish the job (that’s how smart this snowshoe is!) I just kept the babies warm, snuggled and tried to feed them- switching from KMR to goat’s milk- but it didn’t matter. They screamed and pooed the entire time. I couldn’t wait till that vet appointment.

Off to the vet we went where it was decided that because of the age, the severity of the low temp that wasn’t coming up and other factors (such a mom who was poisoned by rat poison) the wounds etc.. that the best thing to do was just let them go. So 45 minutes after they were presented to us, they were gone. No more pain, no more trauma, on to a better life where they will thrive and be all they should have been.

I asked my vet if I made the right choice? We could have gone with a feeding tube or something- but he just looked at me and told me that he had no problem with complying with my wishes, And he gives every cat or kitten who has a chance, a chance to live. So I knew that Gretel was right- she wanted these babies out of pain and she was going to do the job for us. Like I said the smartest cat I have had in a very long time.

Rest in Peace Badger, and Franklin- two kittens who really never stood a chance at a normal life.

yesterday, a good friend called me and said she had a dilemma. For a few days now near her home by the river, she has noticed this Siamese mix and her 5 babies by her home. The other day, Midge said, Mom took one of the babies and when she came back (hours later) she was alone. She laid down quickly with the remaining kittens, but then left again with another kitten- she had been gone 5 hours!

Midge said she was sorry to call me- she knows we are up to our arms in kittens, but she had no other recourse. I went over and picked up the three babies- they almost inhaled the first bottle of milk, they are starving.

I got up early this morning and went back over to the place she had left the kittens hoping to find her looking for them. Turns out, she had come back again and been coaxed inside a cat carrier and was waiting for me! My friend,Midge, she rocks!

When I got her back and put her with her babies, the mystery was solved. if she is 8 months old, I will be surprised and she has NO milk! none,but her family was happy to see her and so was I. Now she is in a cage with her family  in our front room. She is doing a lot of growling- but she is not feral. She has been dumped. She is bone skinny and inhaled 2 cans of food in under 8 minutes!

I am calling her Smidge in honor of the lady who first spotted her. She threw two boys and one girls- two Siamese babies and one black one. Their names are Silverton, Pinkerton and Grace.

When I brought mom back from the vet, it was clear to me in re-introducing the kittens to her, they are not her kittens. The fact that she was growling and hissing and swatting at them is normal, because they no longer smell like the kittens she remembers- but there was no recognition of any of them for her. Usually, there is a mad dash for mom’s belly as they recognize that although she might smell a bit off- “Mom is home!” None of that occurred so knowing she might have kittens somewhere, I took her back to the farm where she was found.

Upon her release, she did a mad dash for the barn. I followed her and watched her climb the ladder to the loft and then heard the mewing of babies. She has five kittens up there.

While I was there, another long-haired black kitty showed up and if she is 7 months old I would be surprised. She is heavy with milk and I suspect she is the mom to the 8 in the bedroom. They said they have been unable to catch her- so come Tuesday, I will drop off a kitten trap and see if they can catch her that way.

The kittens are rebounding slowly. An accumulation of fluids, Karo Syrup a recent deworming and there is less sleeping now and more interaction. Thankfully, I have found a shelter that if the kittens test negative, they can take them all in a week! I have no problem rescuing these tiny kittens, but I really don’t want to keep them. I will take them in on Tuesday for evaluation and have one black kitty tested and one tuxedo because based on weight and character, it looks like mom was taken by more than one tom.

I decided since I got them so close to Memorial Day to base that on my naming process- either military terms- or famous vets who have given their all for their country. Seems to be the right thing to do. The recent deworming has resulted in blood showing up in the litterpans so although they didn’t have any fleas on them- they do have worms. Mom did a glorious job of eating all the fleas off these babies when she cared for them.

-Enjoy the Photos- it’s a Kitty Explosion- along with my apologies, I thought I had the food on my wish list? I see it there- apparently no one else does.

There I was, nice sunny afternoon curled up in my chair outside trying to rest and “Brring…bring…” phone rings. Farmer has a cat caught in a trap since early this morning- can I take the cat?

I do a mental count of the cats here- I have one free cage, okay, I will take the cat,  because who knows how long the cat will stay in the trap waiting to find someone willing to accept a feral cat. The farm is about 10 minutes from my vet, so I ask the farmer if he minds taking the cat straight to the vet for evaluation and I will take it from there. No problem- off they go.

I settle back, breathe try to relax- phone rings again- this time, it’s the vet’s office: Uh Mary Anne, the cat is lactating!” Uh oh- I ask to speak to the farmer and he gets on the phone, and while I am explaining to him that he needs to take mom back home and let her go because we do not know how many kittens she has, where they are, or how old they are- they may not survive without her. He’s reluctant to do that. He doesn’t want any more cats on his property and people dump them there all the time. Then his cell phone rings and it’s his wife. She informs him that right after they left- 8 kittens came scampering out from under the barn and they were playing out in the sun!

Great news on my end, I ask him to have his wife collect all the babies, get the mom spayed- she will give milk after 30 hours. I will come and collect the babies, and fetch mom in the morning and reunite the family when it is safe to do so.

So right now, I have 10 kittens inside the bedroom- and after dividing up the donated kitten food of last week with my 5 foster families- I have 1 case of kitten food, and one bag of dry kitten chow to feed this kitten explosion! LOL  If anyone can send IAMS canned and dry Kitten or Fancy Feast canned  Kitten or Purina Kitten Chow it is desperately needed! We have 5 females- and 5 males. Three which are black, one a beautiful charcoal gray stripey girl- and six tuxedos.

I have to admit that I was concerned when they first came here because although they look fat and healthy- they were all just lying around doing nothing which is not common for 4 week old babies. But at the 2 a.m. feeding, more of them are coming around and moving about and playing with each other. I have given all them a mixture of KMR, B-12- mashed chicken livers  and baby food with Karo Syrup (doesn’t that sound just yummy?) LOL  They are starting to come out of their shell and they are absolutely adorable little monsters prepared to eat us out of house and home! LOL  Eight in one litter and the two meth babies now reside in the bedroom.

My volunteer photographer is coming over at 10 to take photos which I will post as soon as I receive them. I don’t know what’s more daunting right now- figuring out how I am going to feed them all- or figuring out 8 more names for these beauties! 🙂 Although Mom might want her babies back, it is all dependent on her- how feral she really is (and I suspect she is not) I think what happened is this farm is off a main road but tucked back into trees and someone just dumped the whole family on these people. These kittens are NOT feral. They are balanced, fat and they look healthy. Mom was tested, she is negative. Mom is also black-

But these kittens won’t smell the same to mom- plus there are two that don’t belong in the litter and that means that if mom gets aggressive or ignores them all, we won’t be able to put mom with her babies which would be a shame.

If anyone is doing the math- we now have 28 kittens rescued right now in need of homes- Six have been “pre-adopted”  The other kittens will cycle out of foster care in about 4 weeks time. YIKES!  That’s a lot of kittens for so early in the season. The bright spot is that out of the ten, there are only two that are still truly bottle babies.

This morning, I was able to finally pick Chessa up and not have to sacrifice one of my kneecaps in the process!  I think she is starting to trust me- Glory Hallelujah!

A series of unfortunate incidences has left Mr. Magoo loose and running on our property which is unfortunate as his corneas are ulcerated. I was carrying him inside the cat carrier to the cage, and he was coming out of sedation. He is a very stout kitty and he was moving around a lot when the handle broke, the carrier crashes to the ground, the door flies open and off he flew! He is now under the house with the other cats and I have set up the traps but not confident that he will go into one of them. I will probably just end up trapping Bentley who can’t say no to any cat food no matter where it is!  I am sad and concerned not only because of the possibility of this cat going blind, but while he was sedated, I asked them to please put a pheromone collar on him which they did. These collars are NOT breakaways. Not safe for outdoor cats to wear collars that aren’t breakaway.

Not sure what is going to happen though I am grateful that the carrier broke on my property and not near the vet’s office where all he had to do was dart into a busy street and have it end badly. I’ve been out several times looking for him with no luck- he is dust in the wind. 🙁