Yesterday, I got a call from a couple who had adopted three kittens earlier this year. Apparently (and it was hard to understand the woman because she was so upset) they have fallen on unexpected hard times and have to move from their home of 30 years. I asked if there were anyone else who could take Roscoe, Sophia and Magenta, but she said no and they have to vacate their home by tomorrow. She said it would be a “short-lived” stay but this isn’t my first rodeo so I told her she has to surrender the kittens to me or I won’t take them. It was a bit of a struggle for her to understand my reasons behind this request, but she said she had no other choice. I told her I wouldn’t go out of my way to find them a home, but if enough time passes that it becomes clear the “short-lived” homelessness is long enough to try and find them a better place, I would.

I feel sorry for this couple. They face the unknown with such trepidation. But the reality is that it could happen to any one of us at any time. I don’t want these kittens left behind to fend for themselves or worse so I will take them. I tell everyone who adopts from us that we will take the kittens or cats back at any time without question. The only problem is right now, space is on crunch mode.

Roscoe back then:

Sophia:

Magneto:

There will be no “shelter to the rescue” for these kittens. The shelters are unable to take the kittens not because they have the feline herpesvirus which can kill 50% of kittens affected with it, but they can’t take the kittens because of the ringworm. Ringworm is not fatal, it is persistent, highly contagious to cats, kittens, people, dogs and it can last as long as 5 months.

I did get some verbal help and the phone number of a vet in a neighboring town who is the leading vet when it comes to feline herpevirus. Of course right now, she is closed for the holidays but I hope to call her on Monday and see if she will see three of the kittens and work with us regarding payments to get these eyes on the road to healing.

I made an executive decision today about Badger’s eye. Her third eyelid is so swollen that when the eye is “opened” she is getting all sorts of debris in her eye. I have decided to stop trying to get the eye open and keep it sealed so further problems don’t occur. I’ve already seen that her eye is non-existent because of the corneal ulcer and now the blood clot. Poor baby girl. It may be the wrong decision for the experts but it feels like the right thing to do, especially when I just spent 20 minutes trying to get kitty litter out of her eyelid.

Hey Guys,

Apologies for not giving daily updates. Life is a bit hectic right now coupled with the fact that both Mike and I are quite ill. He has it worse than me, and I have been busy seeing to his needs as well as trying to get a handle on the aftermath of the feline herpesvirus. We have two kittens now in danger of possibly losing their eye. I am following the instructions for the antibiotic drops but the eyes look so angry. You would think they would have calmed down some. I think the problem is (and I am not a vet darn it!) 🙂 But the inner eyelid has swollen so closed that the antibiotic drops cannot make it down into the eye where they need to be. Pocket and Dickens are my biggest concern. Dickens has developed this spastic, raspy cough. They told me to put her on Robitttusen Jr but all that does or seems to is make her drool. She gets very little during the day and only twice a day but now she runs when she sees me coming because she knows it tastes awful and she doesn’t want any.

Pocket sleeps pretty much all day long hugging the heater. No fevers (thank YOU Lord) but very lethargic. She eats every three hours, baby food on a spoon. It is the only way I can get anything into her and by golly, she is as cute as can be even when she is cranky. The others are eating while discharging from nose and eyes (clear discharge yay!) We are currently going through 2 cases of canned food daily! And they are still growing. Many, many, oh so many thanks to those of you who sent us canned food recently! It was a true Christmas miracle when those packages started to arrive! Love and hugs to all!

I have heard from a shelter who is seeing if they can prepare to take all the babies at one time! This will be the third shelter who is trying to help, but it is a lot to ask of a facility despite how well-funded they are- to take 16 very sick kittens and nurse them back to health. In the meantime, I have been in touch with a few old friends from The Catwriters’ Association. Many of them dynamite feline vets. I have been told to nix the vaporizers and go to the cool air style vaporizers. They are spendy and off the budget right now. I was told to bring the sick kitties into the shower room each time I shower and just let them hang out. To wash my hands with Phisohex multiple times a day. To keep the water bowls- food bowls and bedding impeccably washed and cleaned and to be sure the litterpans are not contaminated. Funny thing- the vet told me feline herpesvirus carries through the air. It does but rarely- it is all these other aspects that circulate the virus.

Well, Mike is rousing so I need to go. I did manage to get a few extra hours of sleep this morning, but it was torture listening to Dickens and Pocket try to breathe. I will say that turning off the vaporizers last night, did make a bit of difference. Dickens is barely coughing this morning.

So just to recap-

Mike is sick, I am sick

We have 16 kitties in various stages of the feline herpevirus and the vaccines waiting patiently in the fridge although I was told, this isn’t always foolproof either!

We have two kitties Badger and Wink who might very likely have to have their eye removed

And a shelter working like the dickens to take all these sick kittens in one day.

See any need for prayer here? *G*

God Bless all of you and have a Blessed, and Merry Christmas!

Here are some of the kitties who are on the backend of the URI and can finally see out of both of their eyes-

Nickle:

Pippen:

Noggs:

Nemo:

Pocket:

Cuttles:

The others are still unable to open one or both of their eyes and we are just forging ahead like we know what we are doing!

Please add a prayer for Badger. He islong hair gray and white boy from the hoarder’s bunch. His eyes have been swollen shut since arriving here and when they finally did open- they didn’t look quite right. There was a cloudiness in the eyes and the pupils especially in his left eye- look non-existent. I took him into the vet today and it turns out that after the eyes were numbed and slowly forced open he has massive coronary ulcers in his eyes. He has a 60/40 chance of losing both eyes and a 90/20 chance of losing one eye. 🙁 He is on saline drops and special antibiotic drops every three hours around the clock- We should know in 7 days if these aggressive treatment will save his sight. The vet said he is not sure what sort of aggressive strain of the feline-herpevirus this group has but it is rather nasty to some of the kittens. I am to put the saline drops into his eyes first so that the eyes will open then once they are opened, I am to put the antibiotic drops into his eyes as well. I will follow it up with a teaspoon of baby food just so he does have something to look forward to. He has the potential to be such a beautiful, loving kitten.

Much like most of the country, the Pacific Northwest is being slammed with storms. Our rain was so hard last night that I heard something slamming itself against our security door. I had no idea what was going on- it was about 2:00 a.m. I opened the door to see Mooch, one of our true feral cats- huddling in the rain and wanting inside. I opened the door wider and he scrambled in along with a ton of leaves and wind and rain.

This morning, he has taken up vigil in one of the tunnels leading to the cat enclosure and is doing cat ambushes to any cat or kitten who dares to use that tunnel, Thankfully, we have two tunnels leading to the enclosure. This cat has never been indoors- never wanted to come indoors but 60mph winds must have changed his mind.

Also my bank called this morning on behalf of “giving back to those who give much” they have presented me with two big bags of cat food! I was blown away- the food is very much needed.

I do have calls in to the largest rescue facility in Oregon to ask them to please take these kittens and get them spayed/neutered healthy and into homes. I am waiting to hear back. I hope they will call me back. I thought with my heart instead of my head and brought all those sick babies here. Some are getting progressively healthier but others are still sick despite the drugs thrown their way. I just did a dump run to get rid of the soiled cat litter $165.00 for that disposal bill! 🙁  I didn’t think ahead on this at all. I pray they will call me back soon.

She arrived this morning having had the misfortune of getting caught in a trap laid out for a raccoon. She was left out in rain most of the night and the woman wanted to keep her in the trap until the 1st of Jan when she could afford to get her spayed!  No way, do you keep a kitten who I was told was feral (she is not). In a trap longer then 24 hours- 48 max- so off to MA’s house she went.

She has been tested, de-flead and dewormed and is currently in foster care. I have my hands full with all the kittens already here- but she is a cutie and I think she has a home after the first- but that is still being considered.

I am working on the donation thank you letters this weekend for 2015. IF you want an actual receipt (as well as the letter) please email me your physical address. My computer isn’t set up to send out copies of hard copy material. My email address is catsatrisk@comcast.net I will be sending out the letters via email unless a physical address is already provided.

I just did the year’s tally. We rescued 159 cats/kittens  Adopted out 95  Sent 40 to the bridge (some of those cats were already here) and only had one cat returned after an adoption. No wonder, I am so tired. 🙂

In the early part of January this year, I received a phone call from a gentleman named Brandon. He lived in Lebanon and he and his wife had found a young kitten, a tortoiseshell. They were unable to keep this kitten and they looked fruitlessly for a good home for her. I was their last resort- would I take her?

Knowing that torties are so hard to adopt, and having recently lost two torties myself, I told them I would meet them at Walmart and take the kitten. They were relieved and said that if life ever changed for them. They would be in touch, because they had both fallen in love with this almost hairless kitty.

That was the day that Molly came into our lives and a visit from a vet in Albany confirmed my suspicions as to why she was hairless. Someone had thrown battery acid on this beautiful girl! Mike and I decided to keep her and work on her skin problems. Using a combination of holistic measures and standard medicine, as Molly grew, her skin became less wrinkled and painful and her beautiful fur started filling in the bare spots. We loved this kitty and she took to sleeping with me at night in the crook of my arm and in the middle of the  night, I could plan on being bit (in love nibbles) if she woke up and wanted to be petted. Her worse vice was jumping on the counters and even the stove- causing me several moments of near panic when in one instance, the burner was on cooking soup. Her favorite food was potato chips- go figure and she loves crackers, popcorn and Cheetos. Silly kitty, picky about wet food but would gobble up Pringles in a second.

I took her three times out to houses of families interested in adopting her, but she was always overlooked. So we kept her and I kept praying I would find the perfect place for her.

Two days ago, I received a call from a gentleman who said his name was Brandon. He said his wife had seen Molly’s photo online and was she still available? I told him yes and we arranged to meet on the 12 of Dec at their home in Albany. I told him, as I told everyone else who calls us that just because I am bringing her, didn’t mean I was going to leave her. He said he understood.

This morning- I found a home for Raine and this home is wonderful! The couple, they are delightful, retired, live quietly out in the country without another pet and they saw her photo online and fell head-over-heels in love with her. Their home was immaculate- well-maintained and Raine went right up to the woman and let her pick her up. Of course by the time I left- she was hiding under the bed, but the couple understand that this will be temporary. But if she doesn’t work out- I will drive the 3 hours up there and fetch her back. I don’t think that is going to happen. But it was a 6 hour drive and when I got home, I was pretty tired. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed.

That’s when Mike said the gentleman named Brandon called several times and wanted to change the time of meeting with me and Molly. So, I called him and he asked me if we could actually meet at 8:00 p.m. tonight. I was dead-tired, but I am not in this for my enjoyment, I want these cats to find a good home- so I said I would meet them and off I went.

When I got there, he was waiting outside and something clicked in me, that I thought I knew him. We went upstairs to his apartment and his wife was waiting as well as a beautiful, sleek, healthy black kitty to greet us. Once Molly and I were in the bedroom with the couple, they explained they were the original couple who had rescued her almost a year ago!

I smiled, let Molly out of the carrier and she went right to them. She remembered their kindness and they were so overwhelmed to see her with hair and healthy I thought they might break down and cry. We had great conversation and when I left, Molly was on top of the bed- not under it!  Merry Christmas Molly, you have found your humans again- or rather, they found you. Turns out the woman had remembered me mentioning this blog and she kept tabs on my postings praying that Molly would still be available. They didn’t want to tell me over the phone who they were, because they felt I might not believe them as people now don’t trust their neighbors, let alone strangers they meet in the middle of the day at a WalMart Parking lot! I will sleep tonight- knowing that two cats who had a rough beginning are now being full-timed loved, cherished and cared for-

I did take pictures of the cats in their new homes and will post them tomorrow. Mike who is my photo/computer expert is sound asleep so the photos are still in my camera-

God Bless You All and Brandon, if you and yours are lurking- I just want to say that it has been a pleasure making your re- acquaintance tonight and I know that Molly will have a wonderful life with her new family.

Molly after months with us:

Molly adopted!

Carol and Raine- update- Raine is eating and drinking and coming out from under the bed. GREAT signs for her being in the home not quite 24 hours. They want to call her Clawdette- LOL

I will let her pictures speak for themselves 🙂

I will say now the Internet’s Grumpy cat has competition! Meet Smiley Cat! LOL