I decided yesterday that worrying about rabies because of a skunk and a dead bat is probably a bit obsessive on my part. 🙂 So last night, I started to really explore Solo and her body and she came unglued every time I touched or came close to her rear end- so this  morning I have dropped her at the vet’s to have them look at her and determine what is wrong with her. It may be that she turned on the charm trying to get help as many cats have done in the past with me. They are aloof or unapproachable until they are so wounded or ill they know they can’t find help that way. I probably sound like a nut case to some people- but living out here in a rural area and finding a dead bat on my doorstep and having skunks running around- rabies is a concern. Solo is the only cat not vaccinated against this dreadful disease something I will ask the vet to correct very soon. Hopefully, Solo just has a bad bite wound on her back leg or rear of some other explanation for her out of the ordinary behavior.

George finished this afternoon and we had enough left over to insulate and frame in one wall as well as half of the back wall. We are well underway to having a safe and viable cat enclosure for the winter time.

We still have one side wall and the front and back to do- but we will just take it a day at a time and try to put enough money aside to finish this building as soon as possible. We still have to put up the trim inside because the building has settled and some of the boards don’t quite meet despite all of George’s efforts. He is a wonder and I am blessed that he has crossed paths with us-

Enjoy the photos-

I saw Dash, Chappy, Gadget, Poe and Turtle yesterday and also this morning. At least they didn’t bolt for the hills and are sticking close to home for now. I am leaving the door to their enclosure open and feeding inside of it, but I am also feeding them under the house. I don’t want them to go hungry while they decide what they are going to do. I was asked by a friend, why I don’t trap them. They won’t go in the traps, I already know this and I risk trapping the mom skunk and her 6 babies in the process. Something I would rather not do.

This morning when I went to feed, I had my orange feral cat come rushing up to me to say hello. It took me by surprise because this is a cat that has not let me even come close to her and has just been hanging out in the shadows. I bent down to pet her and the reaction I got was unsettling. Super affectionate to the point that I had to pick up a large stick and use it to herd her away from me. The flip in her personality is so quick that it could be an exposure to rabies. 🙁 I know if I call my vet, the only recourse he will take is to send her to her death- so I have her on quarantine in one of our largest cages in the barn. If I was working with her on a daily basis and she flipped like this, I would know it is because I had finally got her to trust people, but out of the blue like this- with a wild skunk that I am seeing earlier and earlier in the day- rabies has to at least be considered. There are two types of rabies, the furious form and the paralytic form. Quarantine is 45 days with her being vaccinated in 30 days if no other signs appear. I hope I am just being over-cautious and this little girl is just tired of hiding in the shadows. Time will tell- of course this is the only cat on the premises not vaccinated against rabies- couldn’t get close enough to her. So the countdown starts today. Never a dull moment around here it seems.

George is back to finish the roof. he is also going to make a sheltered feeder off the side of the house so I can feed the escapees in the rain without them getting wet. Pushing food under the house although it works for them- is a bit hard on this 60 year old back and legs!

Woke up to a kitty licking my face. I turned on the light and saw Bentley- one of my outside kitties perched on my chest! How did he get in here? With a sick feeling, I rushed outside to find the cat sanctuary door wide open and no evidence of the cats anywhere around. In my state of mind yesterday, I must have neglected to lock it when I left after the night feeding. Chapppy, Dash, Salem, Gadget, Gidget, Poe, Turtle-all of them gone.

For Dash and Chappy who have called this sanctuary home for their entire lives, they must be so scared to be on the outside. The only thing I could think to do was to block the tunnels leading into the house and leave the outside sanctuary door open, hoping they will come back before something bad happens to them. We are talking 19 year old cats. I have let my neighbors know of the jailbreak and just hope they come home to eat and stay warm. I would love for Bentley to be an inside kitty, but he is a survivor of distemper and has neurological issues that cause him to get aggressive with the other cats or with us- that and he sprays like a firehose.

It’s been a chaotic week. They have closed my mother’s bed with the death curtain yesterday and are giving her three days max before she is gone. The director told my sister (who is there now with her) that she has never seen anyone hang onto life so hard without eating enough to keep a bird alive. She is maybe drinking 4 inches of Boost in a 24 hr period. I thought I wouldn’t cry when I got word that her life was just about over. I thought wrong and now because I wasn’t focused-  I have 8 cats outside for the first time in their lives and no way to find them until they decide to be found.

I found myself yet again, having to say goodbye to a very old feline friend- Mercedes. We put her down early this morning and she went swiftly so she could get out of pain. After putting up all the money to get her teeth pulled and give her a chance at more living, we found ourselves instead with a kitty in incredible pain. In the middle of the night, she would wake us up screaming. She would be on the cat post and she was frantically clawing at her mouth. The first few times, I flew out of bed thinking she had a string or thread wrapped around her tongue, but that sadly was not the case. She had a whopping case of stomatitis which would require weekly trips at first to the vet for depo shots- then the possible full extraction of all her teeth if the steroids (after 6 weeks) didn’t work.

Did I want to put her through all that misery just because of how special she is?No, I did not and made the difficult decision to let her go. So fly now Missy Mercedes, you are free of pain and chasing all those heavenly mice to your ultimate satisfaction. We shall miss you- you had a good run of 14 years-

Thanks in large part to Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, our project is now underway to replace the roof of the stall enclosure, insulate the roof and put in a ceiling. Lowe’s made us a handsome offer for supplies once they saw  my wish list. Not only can I get the roof completely done, but I can also pay George up front to do the work and have a bit left to put on our now manageable $400.00 vet bill! I was so thrilled to find Lowe’s so cooperative toward our ultimate goal- Beats the competition telling us they will give us 10% off the total bill-

First order of business- go and fetch the supplies:

Next on the agenda- clear out the stall enclosure of all stored items:

One would think, ,I have too many cat carriers!

now the inside is almost empty, time for the roof to come off!

The man of the hour- here’s George!

So the project should be completed by Tuesday (according to George) We also had to destroy 5 yellow jacket nests- YUCK! One was the size of a basketball hanging under the eaves out of sight. Thank God George saw it before the wasps saw him-

Insulation going up!

I took her over to a friend of mine who takes great pictures of kitties which is hard to do. She is up for adoption this week- hoping I find the right home for her-

He wasn’t eating for them but the minute I got him  home, he inhaled a bowl of food then begged to go outside. He has so many stitches in him but it is a joy to watch him move because he does so easily and I can see that although he is in pain- it isn’t like the pain he was in. I missed him more than I thought I would and he about flew across the lobby when he saw me sitting there waiting for them to bring him out. They have him on three different pain pills and an antibiotic and I bought him one of those Kong soft collars to keep him from biting at his leg. The trimline I had is a bit ruined after Quincy decided to try and rub it off his neck so long ago after his surgery. This kong collar is inflatable so it also works as a pretty good pillow but I am not going to put it on him until night before we go to bed. I’m just so glad he is home and he made it through all that pain and emerged with a smile and a wag of his tail.

But this is Elliott. You can see the road rash on one of his back legs but it seemed like every time I clicked the camera- he would move his other damaged leg out of sight. he is turning out to be a real sweetheart though.