Last night, I spent the night with my Mr. Fiesty, My Chappy boy. In his good days, I could not get close to him except to flea-treat and remove mats once a month. Sometimes, late at night, he would come and visit me. If I was in my chair he would bump the side of the chair so my arm would drop and he could get his “pets” He loved Elevator Butt!

But I could never pick him up- just scruff and snatch as Mike called it- to put him into a small cage designed to medicate cats only. I remember one night during a thunderstorm, I felt a cat jump on my bed and I put my hand out only to encounter a matt! It was Chappy- once he knew he had been busted, he jumped down. Chappy and Dash (mother and son) were our in-house ferals) even though we got them at a young age- they wanted to be left alone and so I did. (Which I will never do again) I will socialize to the fullest extent all house ferals.  But that’s how they lived here until that day about 8-9 months ago when the door to the enclosure wasn’t latched properly and all 7 cats escaped. All are back now- except Dash.

He vanished and I searched but not luck. Saturday when I was going out to feed, I saw him lying on the grass! I had to do a double take because he and Dash favor each other- but it was Chappy. I walked up to him knowing full well he would flee, and he laid there just looking at me. So I bent down and just talked to him. I could see the closer I crawled that he was bone skinny, matted, dirty just a mess.

I picked him up! It was raining so I took my coat off and I wrapped him up (no resistance) and ran him into the house and put him in the bedroom. I gave him fluids immediately, offered food, got my clippers started removing the mats on his back legs and noticed a matt covering his rectum! Carefully, I removed the mat and explosive diarrhea was my reward! LOL and ICK!

He was refusing food, so I bathed him, put some flea treatment on him, pushed fluids and pushed some more and Sunday morning met my after hour vet at his clinic.

At first Chappy responded to the fluids, the nutrical, the forced feedings. He was on Amoxy and just TLC. Monday night, he plummeted- and he went fast. Nothing was staying in or down and it went EVERYWHERE! I stayed the night (not sleeping) with him and pushed fluids to replace all he was losing. I prayed a lot because I knew he was suffering. All night, laying in the crook of my arm he would continuously meow softly all night. I kept rubbing him and telling him I was gonna get him help. Just hang on Chappy, I kept whispering to him. “Hang on Little Man.” I knew I had to get to the vet first thing and then I remembered I had told Meowvillage I would be up there at 8. They were taking Delilah and Ashley for me. That offer doesn’t come often from other rescue groups and I didn’t want to lose the spot.

So although is was early morning. I texted Kathy and told her what was going on and asked her if I could come earlier? She said come on down! I was out the door in 5 minutes. I met her and found her to be a wonderful, warm giving loving lady. She just let Delilah and Ashley loose in the house with her other cats (I met 9) and we chatted a bit and I left.

Grabbed Mr. Chappy made a quick call to the vet and we were on our way.

Deep in my heart, I knew that he wasn’t going to come home. I have been in this game a very long time- and I run a transit station for these cats and kittens. Sometimes their journey with us is long- Chappy’s lasted 14 years. I thought he was around 11 until I pulled his file. I got him, his mom and four other littermates, ironically 14 years ago from the same vet who would give Chappy his final time of peace.

When Ben walked in and saw Chappy, he asked me: “Is that the same kitty I saw Sunday?” I told him Yes .

We gently turned him over and he was full of fluid! He was so full he gurgled! I looked at Ben with my heart sinking and said “FIP?”
Ben nodded. “Probably.” Ben grabbed a syringe and attempted to drain fluid from the abdomen- but only air and a bit of blood came out. He tried 3 times- and not one complaint from Chappy.

He wanted to do bloodwork, but we opted for x-rays instead.
I could see it on his face when he came in with the film on his I-POD (boy times have changed!) I couldn’t even make heads or tails at what I was looking at- that’s the mess that Chappy’s internal  organs were. Ben explained. Chappy had a mass in his colon- but beyond that, his insides were just a mess.  He had a mass in his kidney (might be a kidney stone?)  and his stomach was completely full of fluid. I kind of lost it and blurted out- I pushed all that fluid into him?”

Ben looked at me and said “Mary Anne, you didn’t do this. He’s been this way for quite awhile. This kitty is in deep ca-ca.” He started telling me that if they could surgically repair all that was so wrong- there was a strong chance that once they got in there, they’d find they couldn’t do anything and that Chappy might not survive surgery either way. In his words it would be a lot of money spent on a cat with a poor chance of surviving the procedure.

Chappy was on my lap at this point, and I took my hand and cupped his head.Chappy’s head curled into my hand he gently licked my palm one time. He was saying “Good-bye I love you mom.” I bent down and kissed his forehead and told him fiercely that I have loved him his entire life.

Chappy was ready, even before they pushed the plunger he was gone. Not even halfway to the mark and his vein collapsed. He’s had maybe 10 drops of the stuff and he was gone. Yes. he was ready to go and I wasn’t ready to think that yet. Ben checked him pronounced him gone and I questioned him because there was still a whole lot of that juice left in that syringe. But Ben said, yes, he listened for a long time- Chappy was gone.

I brought him home and laid him out so his mom could say goodbye and went back to the garden and dug a hole right next to Turner. After this rainstorm ends, I will buy some trilliums and plant them all around.

Not a lot of pictures of Mr. Feral, but the first photo is him and his family right after we got them healthy. His mom is the one with the white mark over her mouth (hence the name Dash) She would also earn that nickname by dashing out of a room the very minute someone arrived. Chappy is the one lying down with the white chin.

Here are some photos of Chappy during his stay with us-

He had gotten into a fight and had to be caged while he was medicated. THAT was fun!

Wow, I just looked through my entire picture file and there are a lot of photos but only three of Chappy- speaks to how elusive he really was for fourteen years!

Goodbye my feisty boy. Thank you for returning to us and allowing me to have that final moment with you. Despite your feralness-and because of it! I loved you deeply~

It is days like today, when I wish I had stayed with my job in Corporate America and not gone into full-time rescue.

With a heavy heart, I decided to put Benson to sleep this morning. I’m not a fan of watching a cat suffer, especially one as beautiful as he is. His pillow feet began to spread to his other pads and he couldn’t walk without crying. Although he has tested FIV negative in the past- all of his symptoms now- the pillow feet, the stomatitis point to the fact that he is an AIDS kitty. His kidney values came back and they were way out of wack.

He is not the type of kitty who adapts to changing situations as he has shown me in the past. I couldn’t in good faith put him into the FIV Facility in Portland. He would have never made it. One thing AIDS does is when the host is stressed, the disease is rampaging. In the past, even when I would put him into another room as I was cleaning the one he was in- he would be sick with a URI that was out of control. Putting him back in the room he was accustomed to, he would heal- no vet visit – just keeping the status quo. That was quite a learning curve for me- it took four times before I caught on that he didn’t need to get to the vet, he just needed to go back where he was accustomed to.Pilling him was a nightmare- quite honestly, Benson is a kitten who never should have been born. I will miss him- but I am so glad he is no longer suffering. He was 9 months old.

I had to take him in this morning to the after hours vet. They determined that although he has no muscle mass on his body, and no fat either- his heart is strong, his lungs sound good. Dr. Braat said all he needs is some “Mary Anne Magic” and he should come back to us. I hope he is right. They put him on amoxy, I am to push force feedings and fluids and try to remove as many mats as I can without stressing him out. (Thank God for seam rippers!) My friend Kim came over and she held and snuggled him as I worked on his mats. We got all the ones on his chest and back and sides, and I will be working to remove the ones on  his belly and under his legs. For a boy who was fully feral- he is so sapped of strength that he doesn’t have it in him to show any attitude. I am also giving him mineral oil because I am sure he is full of hairballs. I hope he comes back to us soon.

Dumbledore still hasn’t eaten. His immune system is shot due to all the sudden and extreme changes he has gone through. His eye is now constantly dripping. I had to go in and remove the cat bed and swap it out with a cat carrier just in case he has to go to the vet in the next few days. He is an impressive growler, but he didn’t rush me or try to attack me so that is a big plus in my book. I have a lot of worry in my heart right now for these two beautiful cats.

This is Dumbles short for Dumbledore. He is a long-hair gray polydactyl that was trapped under a porn shop. He ate a full can of food this morning and growled at me! He is doing much better.

The other kitty also trapped under the porn shop is named Fletcher- both kitties are long-hairs. Both unsocialized NOT feral

This morning, on my way to feed a feral cat colony, I saw in the highway this shape- it looked like a rock. I wondered what a weird shaped rock was doing in the road and as I got closer the rock moved! It was 8:00 a.m. and there was traffic (not heavy) so I pulled over and darted out into the road and picked up this tiny  turtle! Thank God it wasn’t a snapping one!

It didn’t seem to be injured, so I took it over to a friend of mine and we decided to release it out into a local lake near her home. We were having a really bad storm and the lake was so choppy but this little guy- he couldn’t get in the water fast enough! I was just glad I noticed him and he hadn’t been hit by a car or had any wounds on him. This lake has a lot of turtles so hopefully, he will find a mate and live a happy life of 20 plus years!

Also, thanks to a friend of mine who runs www.felinefurniture.com (who by the way is also selling his business now) Scott designed a special outdoor cat house with doors that opened, but once the cat got inside, he couldn’t get out. There is wire on the side of the cat house so you can see who is in there and also to provide air for the trapped kitty. The only way the kitty can be let out- is by someone human. I trapped Chappy! Finally! it worked as soon as I put the house out by the enclosure. Chappy went in- and he was trapped.

I took him in the bedroom and just wanted to cry. He is bone skinny. He’s been outside I think about 8 months since the escape. He smells terribly, he was horribly matted (he’s part Persian) He hissed and growled at me at first, but he was so dehydrated and worn out I was able to work on a few mats with a seam ripper. I also gave him 180 ml of fluids- gave him a B-12 shot, force fed him some AD and started him on Clinedrops (he has a wound on his belly). I have done all I can to get him comfortable and come Monday, I will once again be at the vet. I’m so tired of being at the vet all the time- our bill now sits at $800.00. I was trying to keep ahead of it this year, but then we had all these really bad cases come through.  But he needs to be seen. When I pet him, all I feel is his backbone and mats. I will just have to work on the mats slowly over the next day working as he can handle it. He is growling at me and swearing but has not tried to bite me. I think he is just too depleted.

I was once again at the vet’s this morning. This time with Odie and Benson- both of them fighting injuries to their front legs. Odie’s turned out to be a deep bite wound probably inflicted by the feral tomcat let loose on our property and one that is allergic to traps! 🙁

Benson wasn’t so fortunate. After observing him for months alternately going lame on his front left leg, and after being dragged to the vet several times to see if he would walk for them and show them his pain- I took him in this morning with every intention of having them do films on his shoulder and get to the bottom of his lameness. The newest vet in the clinic- she saw us (I really like her) she has infinite patience with scared kitties feral and otherwise. Odie who last time he was there had to be muzzled and he still managed to bite a tech- had all sorts of warning flags on his chart. After talking to me about how he behaves, the vet decided to opt for wrapping him in a warm towel, working slowly and carefully and he was a champ. I couldn’t be more proud of him!

With Benson, it turned out not to be a fracture, or a sprain or a dislocated shoulder. This sweet year old Siamese has pillow foot which is extremely rare in cats- but he has it on three of his pads. 🙁  This disease is an auto-immune disease that causes the pads of the feet to become spongy and squishy and they will break open and bleed. It is extremely painful and they don’t know what causes it. We gave him a pain shot, a shot of depo-medrin and a shot of covinia and an anti inflammatory. Unfortunately, this disease is a precursor to stomatitis and early kidney failure. He’s only a year old!

I pray the steroid shot kicks in and he can at least have a few more years with us without suffering any other repercussions for this dreadful disease.

Along with a garbage bag of recycled soda cans. They just lifted it out of the carport! I am heartsick because it is only one of two top-loaders that I had. I love the top loaders when you are dealing with the feral cats. It’s just so much easier to put them in through the top then in the side door. 🙁 Well I need to call the sheriff and report it I suppose. Although I am sure they have other pressing matters to attend to. Dang it all anyway!

Here they are, now without Mom. I am going to pick them up ASAP as the vet wants them to be with someone all the time (now that Sarah is gone). I hope to get them into foster care immediately. But if not, they will stay here.

I just gave permission for Sarah to be put to sleep. The last two options we tried 2 injections of B-12 and the appetite stimulant did not work. Sweet Kitty who deserved so much better was just put to sleep and is now out of her pain and confusion and her altered state of mind. We will never really know what claimed her- but her babies are doing okay for now and I hope that continues

Here is Sarah looking slightly more than hammered. She had just been given a face bath because she had been licking up some tuna juice and fell asleep in the plate. 🙁  You can tell there just isn’t something right about this beautiful girl. Again we are going to do a B-12 shot and an appetite stimulant if those fail- Sarah will go to the Bridge. 🙁

Here are her babies

Bless her heart- she WANTS to be a good mom!

Right when I was getting ready to jump into my jammies and call it a day- the phone rings. It’s the Sweet Home Police Department telling me of a call they just got about a cat hit by car and stuck on fence! The location was 10 minutes from my home so off I flew.

When I got there the witnesses had taken the cat off the fence and laid him in a field. I gently picked him up and saw that he was barely breathing- both back legs were broke. They said that is what caught in the fence after he was flung off the road. 🙁 I called my vet and off I went to see if we could save this boy. he started having seizures 15 minutes into the drive, but he was still alive when the vet got there.

But we were too late. He was too broken and damaged to be put back together so we stamped his Bridge Pass. At least he didn’t die on the road- the person who ran him over didn’t stop- but two other cars did- so he at least gained death with dignity. He looked from all appearances like a stray or someone’s cat who didn’t care about him. He was neutered but he was covered in fleas. I wanted him to be okay, I wanted him to live- but it was not meant to be. I think I have enough in the overflow of the donations to cover the bloodwork and this unexpected late night call/euthanasia which was $130.00

Goodbye Sweet Boy who has no name. I was going to call you Brash because that is how you looked even in your agony. I am glad I got the call about you. I’m sorry it was to late to save you-