I guess you could say, her story begins right here although she is over 9 years old. I found her laying under the feral feeders and not recognizing her as one of the many strays that come here, I slowly approached to introduce myself.

She hissed twice at me. With great difficulty, this lovely tuxedo long-hair got to her feet to try and walk away and promptly fell over! I could see her back leg. It was hanging in the wind and twisted beyond measure!

Quick call to the vet and we were on our way. I didn’t and don’t have money for gas (I need $20.00 badly ASAP) But, I took her anyway.

The vet said the break was beyond fixing. Said at her joint it looked like someone hit an egg with a hammer! The two options were euthanasia or amputation. They will amputate tomorrow morning.

After having all these kitten emergencies and keeping the vet bill current. CATS Inc., is broke. We need at least $500.00 to cover this amputation. This kitty didn’t ask for this to happen. She has to have been in incredible pain after whatever happened to her occurred. I think she is in the zone now, where she has traveled past pain. They are so stoic. It is not in their nature to give away how much they hurt when they are sick or injured.

If you can help in anyway, please do. Here are some photos of Bella and her x-rays. Pretty sobering if you look at them closely.

Finally, all the kittens have transitioned off of the bottle and are now eating solid foods. They seem to prefer ProPlan Kitten food by Purina. We have four cans left and not enough in the Kitty to get anymore right now. I am crushing down the kitten chow so they don’t choke on it and giving them the dry food as well as a dish of KMR on the side. For some reason when I mix the KMR and the dry food together, they won’t touch it. Minnie seems to have the most attachment to the bottle. When I go in there, she will promptly climb up my leg, snuggle down in my arms and suckle my arm as if to say “Hey Mom, where is my bottle?”

They are doing well. Aurora is like the energizer bunny though- as I said before. She just never stops. All three of them are love-bunnies each with their own unique purrsonality.

I have to keep putting them out in the main enclosure so when the contractors come in- I have done a major clean of the bedroom (removing litter boxes, condos, kitten toys, water and food bowls. It’s getting to be where I have it down to a system now as long as I get 24 hrs notice someone is coming by, I can be prepared. It’s the ones who just drop by that irk me.

The kittens seem to a bit scared of the big enclosure. I’m sure the barking, yapping dog next door doesn’t help, nor does the occasional visits from curious outside kitties wanting to see the newcomers. I don’t keep them out there very long- and Aurora has become quite adept in finding lots of hidey holes to dig in to. She scared me the other day, it took me four hours to find her! She had gotten back between the pile of litter bags and fell asleep in her new dark cave. I had to move over 20 bags of litter to find her. Silly girl, giving mom a heart attack!

I just wanted to check in and let you know that the kittens are doing well. We had a bit of a scare with Aurora a few weeks ago, her back legs were collapsing underneath her periodically. At first, I thought it might be kitty play, but it got worse so the vets thought it might be FIP. That’s such a scary thing to be told with a young kitten, because there is no true test for it, and there is no cure. Her lifeline was shortened to about 16 weeks.

In the past, this disease has been diagnosed with other kittens who have been here-and turned out to be incorrect, so I wanted to just wait before just putting her down. This was the first time that dry FIP was in the picture- usually it would be the wet where there would be pockets of fluid forming in the chest and abdomen. This time, that was not the case.

There is an amazing invention out that you can now order through Amazon called a Pet Therapy Pet Loop. Initially it was designed for vets to use in case of inflammation and other issues that arise in dogs and cats. I have one of those, so I decided to use it and by golly- it worked! I would just turn it on, lay it on her rear legs and because she wasn’t able to walk properly, she did manage to stay still long enough to have this done. Normally, this kitten is a whirling dervish. She never stops. After three treatments, her legs started working again and I guess she is trying to catch up for lost time, because I swear, this baby never sleeps! She is just on the other two all the time- or running non-stop throughout the room. It’s a joy to see.

There are going to be major changes here soon. My house is going to be repaired and trust me, there are a lot of repairs to make. I qualified for a special government program and I am getting a new roof, new windows, doors, the flooring that I ripped up after our flood will now be replaced, stairs repaired, electrical finished. All the stuff that Mike left unfinished during our initial remodel will be done. We had every intention and the means behind it to turn this into a nice place. House was built in 1943, but then he got sick, and then he got sicker and all good intentions went down the drain.

The loan is at 0% interest no penalties and doesn’t come due until either I sell the house or I pass away. My rafters in the bedroom look like toothpicks due to the dry rot. (The initial roof put on 10 years ago, was done incorrectly and the roof has been sweating ever since and the sweat moving slowly) Wasn’t discovered until the 5 day snow storm (not normal for Oregon) and my roof started leaking like a sieve in the bedroom. I pulled down the ceiling tiles and was dismayed to see what was above me.

I’ve had contractors coming, electricians and roofers stopping by, it’s been nuts, but I am so excited because this house is badly in need of repair. I have to keep moving the kittens out of the bedroom so they don’t get stepped on- they love exploring the main cat enclosure- but are very glad to get back “home” and snuggle down with each other.

Yesterday was a rough day for me. It was a year ago yesterday that I signed the consent for the “routine procedure” that ultimately cost Mike his life. I was having such a bad time of it, I called my youngest stepson and was talking with him about it. He listened to me blubber, then he said gently “Mary Anne, I think you are being too hard on yourself. It’s not your fault that Dad died. That guilt does not deserve to be on your shoulders.” I thought about it and he is right. I did what the doctors told me was the “right” thing to do- but the right thing went so wrong and that isn’t on me. it’s on them.

This morning, Aurora’s eye completely opened and as I was putting ointment inside, I saw this dark spot on her inner eyelid. Turns out there was a dead flea in her eye! 🙁 The cloudiness had turned into some sort of lump in the middle of her eye, so back she went to the vet for another look-see. Also her rectum was starting to prolapse (like she needs another issue). Turns out she has an ulcer in her one eye, so they gave me different eye ointment and also changed her diet to help with her pooping issues. Poor kitty, she can’t seem to catch a break. She went immediately upon returning home, to “Ned’s” waiting claws and promptly fell asleep. Let’s hope the next visit in a week for a re-check will come with better news. She did test negative for the combo-test so that was good to hear.

Aurora has been to the vet and she exhausted herself throughout the visit. She found refuge with “Ned” the Lobster and also on the chest of a kindly stranger as we were checking out. She has major issues with her eyes including cloudiness to her lens of her eye that keeps swelling shut. We have special meds to give her, a special diet to keep her on because of the Giardia and keep giving her fluids when she becomes dehydrated. I need to buy a pet fountain tomorrow, mine are all dead in the water (no pun intended)

Molly was a total surprise. We were able to handle her without sedation! She got a bit grumpy when her hair was being plucked out of the wounds. She was not bitten by an animal- she had foxtails that had somehow gotten embedded in her fur and worked their way down into her skin and into her body. I am to keep her on the antibiotic and put some antibiotic ointment into the wounds twice a day. That’s going to be quite the challenge! I think she was just so painful that she accepted everything that was done to her without turning into the cat who guards the gates of Hell. LOL I was quite relieved and proud of her.

Aurora is responding to her TLC treatment, the warming fluids, the mashed baked chicken livers to help her anemia and the meds. Here are some photos of her talent (interior decorating). At first I thought she was only playing, but I think she was tired of this cat bed collapsing on her, so she made it into a couch! LOL And people say cats are dumb!

I hope these photos work- the new upgrade on this blog has me puzzled as to how to do this anymore. Sorry about the sideways view- just pretend you just had a glass of wine and the world looks tipsy right now!

This morning, I discovered that sweet Molly has been injured. I think the injury is to her right front leg, but she is also favoring her left leg and I am not sure. I can’t get close to her. She turned into a hissing, spitting, biting, clawing monster when I tried to pick her up. I had to get my cat net to catch her. I put her in the patio cage and she will go with me in the morning to the vet when I take Aurora in.

She is not my vet’s favorite patient. He calls her vicious and when she is injured, that label fits her perfectly. I will have to pull food from her at 9:00 tonight because they will have to fully sedate her in order to find out what happened to her.

I am asking if you have a few dollars lying around collecting dust, would you send them this way? This visit is going to be costly because they will need to use gas first to get her quiet before fully putting her out. Right now The Kitty has $16.00 in it and this visit is likely to be a few hundred before they are done. I do see several abscesses forming right underneath both of her legs- so whatever got her was big and merciless. I’m just glad she survived the attack and hope that when tomorrow morning arrives, she doesn’t take anything out on the vet, on me, or the vet techs.

We received this “lil mouse” yesterday. Apparently, she was found a week ago by a well-intentioned woman in bushes near the road. The woman took her home, but was clueless about how bad off this kitten really was and just fed her. No attempt to remove the hundred of fleas on her, no attempt to take her to the vet to find out why she was so emaciated. I got the call and went to help and ended up with yet another kitten who was desperate for help.

We are calling her Aurora- she has a protracted rectum- which I worked on gently yesterday and she is now able to pass watery stool. She was given fluids throughout the night, they were warming fluids because her temp was 94.2 F. It is now 100 F.

Yesterday, I decided to turn half of the bedroom over to the babies. They were currently inside a kiddie pool in the daytime- of course there was no water inside! Just lots of comfy blankets, stuffies and toys. But they were trying to jump out over the side, so I kitty-proofed part of the bedroom and turned them loose.

They will still be separated at night because of suckling issues, but I think in the daytime with all the added space- suckling won’t be much of an issue. I will keep a sharp eye out though just in case.

Enjoy these photos of their first moments of freedom:

Yesterday, I had to separate the two babies because of suckling issues. I hated to do it, because they need each other’s company for the comfort alone, but Mini developed another small abscess on her rear, and I didn’t know why.

I took them out of the carrier and put them into an open space so I could just watch them. Although, they had just eaten, as soon as the lights went dim- 21 Toes started suckling on Mini. I didn’t want to just put them into individual carriers and isolate both of them, so I tore apart a large dog carrier and upended on side. I made a screened wooden frame to fit right in the middle and secured that with cable ties so it wouldn’t fall over on the babies.

21 Toes is in one side, and Mini the other, They can smell each other, see each other and they sleep sort of hugging the screen next to each other. Not an ideal situation for either one of them, but early suckling is quite dangerous for kittens.

21 Toes aka Presto- is a lot larger than her sister and a bit of a bully now that I can see them in the open and observe their behavior. I also felt bad because yesterday, I had to run out and do some errands and I got caught in an accident scene. I was waiting on the road for over an hour before being allowed through and when I finally got home, I had missed two feedings. They about took my fingers off when I fed them! LOL That’ll teach me.

Pigeon has adopted them (sort of) He will come in when they are squealing their discontent at being stimulated and gently lick their face and ears and neck to soothe them. Although part of me wonders if he is just tired of the high-pitched fits they present when they poop and it makes Pigeon’s ears hurt. Whatever the reason, I welcome the help anywhere I can get it.