This morning, when I went to feed, I could see the growth on her rear had gotten bigger! I took her to my vet and it was determined (after an x-ray) that it was NOT a hernia, but an abscess! TYG! It has been ruptured, drained and I am stimulating her every few hours and keeping the area clean. She will be on amoxy for two weeks just because of the area the wound is in. How she got an abscess there, is anyone’s guess- but I know she feels so much better and now, so do I.

Yesterday, at 3:00 p.m. Huckles slipped away to meet Jesus. His battle for normal breath ceased. His lungs, full of liquid and putting enormous pressure on his tiny heart became weightless as he left us and became one of the brightest stars in the night sky. He took my heart with him when he left. All the challenges he faced, we faced together but his body was tired and it was time. It was actually past time and the angels called to him and he answered. It was over in a flash- and he was gone.

As rescuers, we do all we can to tend to the wee ones when they fall into our care. Sometimes, our best efforts are in vain- sometimes, they do make it.

I asked one of my dear friends, why she thought God always seemed to bring the most difficult of challenges before me when it comes to these just-borns. She replied” “Because in other hands, they would die.”

“Well, some die with me.” I countered to which she said, “Yes, some do, but they die better.”

He takes with him, a large part of my heart and I know he has met Mike and Jeremy and been reunited with Parker but it doesn’t make the grief hurt less,

This morning, I took Mini Moo and 21 Toes into the vet for their first visit. I had concerns with both kittens. Mini Moo’s rear end just looked misshapen and odd and she screamed bloody murder and would try to bite me every time I stimulated her. I could see a growth on the right side of her rectum and I was careful not to touch the area not knowing what it might be. Turns out, this little one has a hernia there- so instead of touching her rectum now to get her to poop, I will stimulate the tummy and hope that works instead. When she is old enough, they will do surgery on her- but for cripes sake, her eyes aren’t even opened yet!

With 21 Toes- the vet could give no reason why his stool looks like bile and why it smells so bad. But I had to wait in the lobby long enough (they worked me in) so I did feed them and as luck would have it, 21 left a sample of what I was talking about that I could show the vet. So I will continue with pre and probiotic powder and the benebac and hope it resolves soon.

I am exhausted beyond belief and the grief of recent losses cripples me, but I have two wee ones who need everything I know and all I can do to come out healthy on the other end. So I will continue, to do all I can to make that happen.

Yesterday, Mike’s final wishes were carried out and his ashes were scattered at Hidden Lake, Alaska by the family. Apparently, Hidden Lake was closed due to the Kenai fire which has been burning for over a month now, but my stepdaughter-Annette is very much like her Dad and she found a way to get in touch with the firemen and got permission to do the event if she promised to leave immediately after. Although, it was a smoky time, it was accomplished and now the family is together and on another Alaskan Adventure. My heart felt such a great release when I received the phone call that Mike is at peace now. He always loved that place and after our first date, we would return there multiple times for great fishing adventures of our own.

Mini-Moo, Huckles and Presto are all going strong. Although I have had one vet tell me not to worry about Huck’s inability to poop on his own, and that kittens his age don’t poop without help- I know this is wrong. Both Mini and Presto are pooping in their carrier almost daily. But, we don’t have the funds right now for me to take Huck to Corvallis to the Cat Clinic to find out the real answer, so my prayer is that he will soon develop to be stronger when it comes to passing waste. Time will tell. He is active, he is playing with me now when I take him out and he is biting me when I stimulate him. In a week, this is going to be painful because his teeth are just now coming in. LOL But he is such a beautiful boy, getting more stripes on his back and legs and where the bird pecked him, he will probably always have a dark spot on his hip from the injury.

Kota keeps trying to mother all the kittens and last night when I was feeding, he came up and started licking Huck’s bum. All of a sudden, I am getting peed on in a major way. He may not be able to poop on his own yet, but man can he pees like a fire hose! I had already done the stimulation prior to feeding- but Kota decided that helping out might be a good thing. LOL

I brought in a kiddie pool yesterday and turned it into a kitty bed. Huck and the babies met for the first time and it went okay. I stayed close because I was unsure what Huck might do to these tiny ones, but he allowed them to climb all over him while he just laid there, looking up at me as if to say: “Really Mom is this necessary?” Kota kept watch on all three of them as I cleaned out cages and made their beds more comfy.

A local lady sent me a snugglepuppy for the babies. The company was out of snuggle kitties, so she opted for snuggle puppy. The heart, the heat the presence of this stuffie has calmed the babies down immensely between feedings.

Chasing the Milk

21 Toes (aka Presto) and Mini Moo are now four days old. I am having a devil of a time to find feeding syringes that don’t stick after the first two feedings. The danger of having syringes that stick are two-fold. The kittens are sucking so hard with nothing coming in but air, so when I gently put my finger on the end of the syringe to help move it along- it is a high possibility that the syringe will move forward so quickly and aspirate the kitten that we are trying to save.

I have ordered new syringes but they got misdirected and now won’t be here until after the fourth. I have to be so careful “helping” them out.

Here they are- chasing the milk. I am almost out of KMR and in the local stores all I can find is puppy milk go figure. Can’t even find the right bottles to use so it is back to the syringes.

Fading Kitten Syndrome

Not much is really known about this sudden turn of events when a kitten, once active begins to slip away from the hands caring for it. Much like SID there is mystery surrounding the death.

Parker, the littlest Mack Tabby with 19 toes slipped away from us at 2:00 p.m. It started at feeding time, when I found him unresponsive, and oh so cold (even with three heat sources being used to keep the carrier warm. Thank you to those who donated and made that possible.

He was barely breathing, and I sat with him till his last breath arrived and he was gone. It took all of 5 minutes for this precious life to slip away.

Presto (or 21 toes) although he is still cold despite everything, he is also active and eating. He is getting into so many precarious situations. I have to really keep my mind sharp when I am interacting with him.

His latest antics was to get somehow hung up on the power cord of the heating pad. The cord is in the last corner of the back of the carrier and as snug as I could make it, but he still managed to get his head through the cord and get stuck. Had I not found him when I did, I suspect he would have joined his brother because he couldn’t move forward or back.

I took one of Kota’s stuffie bones and cable tied it to the cord to prevent this type of accident of happening again. I swear this kitten is going to give me a heart attack! But he is fine, and Minerva his sister- the calico mix is also hanging in there. Are they out of the woods? No, we haven’t even reached the first clearing yet- so prayers are welcomed.

As for Huckles, he now has pneumonia. His respiration rate this morning was 82 breaths a minute! It should be at best 32. I can see his lovely chest hitching up and down rapidly with is every movement and although on amoxy right now, they have added a second antibiotic to help prevent this from getting worse. I would ask God what indeed is coming next, but I would be afraid He might just show me.

Note to Self~

Don’t wear my Cat Lady Shirt during Kitten Season!
These little ones were abandoned by the queen. She was way too young to even have a litter to begin with. She roams in an industrial field with other feral cats. I happened by there and the manager told me that they were born this morning and mom is ignoring them.

If I had left them there, they would have died as there are Toms all over the place, plus although it is warm today, we have had some really hard drenching rains late at night Thunderstorms (quite scary)

If someone would be kind enough to send CATS $10.00 I will have enough in the kitty to go and get the right heating pad for this just-borns. Thank you

All three of these angels are polydactyls

Another Hurdle

It seems that this little boy’s troubles are not far behind him yet. His bloat is still present and troubling. He has now been diagnosed with congenital megaesophagus which is causing him to when he is crying, to bring up milky bubbles from below. This happens now when I poop him. He is unable to just move the waste along and he cries so frantically when I am stimulating him.

I was told to instead of stimulating him, just give him a bath and towel him dry vigorously to help move the poop through the chute. It has worked only a few times.
The congenital disease is widely seen in Siamese, and as I mentioned before Huckles is showing signs of being a beautiful flame-point. I am just trying to keep this stress point down when it comes to pooping him and it is a challenge to be sure. There is no cure right now, he is too little to even consider fixing him. His appetite is still good, he is not lethargic- in fact he is just the opposite. He just has had such a difficult beginning and keeps having all these problems pop up as the days go on. He is 12 days old today.

Also, this year, in honor of Jeremy’s birthday- I have planted a garden. We have five acres that I could plant but I don’t have a rototiller so I am planting in old bathtubs, wheelbarrows and along the fence line where the dirt is softer and easier to manipulate. Since I do not have a green thumb- if this garden thrives, it will be because Jeremy’s Spirit is interceding. I have been known to kill cactus and that is hard to do!

July 4th Mike’s ashes will be spread on Hidden Lake in Alaska with his kids, his ex-wife and his grandchildren present. I won’t be there. I don’t need to be. The kids wanted their dad’s marker to be close- so I chose to send Mike’s ashes to his oldest son in Alaska and let them take care of the details. The one thing that Mike wanted besides to be scattered where we had our first date, is for a poem I wrote to be recited while his ashes are being dispersed. I believe his daughter is going to share it with the group.

I’m going to just post it here- it is untitled. I wrote it after we discovered that we were falling in love with each other.

We’ve discovered this,
a wonderful place.
Where we share our dreams,
our goals to chase.

It’s a place of intimate secrets
Uncharted by no other man.
An Island for our thoughts and dreams,
a sharing of our plans.

You can’t get there in a rowboat,
an airplane or a car.
Perhaps on a magic carpet,
Or the tail of shooting star.

It’s a place that you can reach for,
Only with tender, loving care.
But, if you have never loved someone,
There’s no way to take you there.

Another Obstacle

Huck had to be rushed to the vet this morning and this time, they took x-rays. On the film, it looks like clouds forming around his digestive system and bowel. Four vets looked at it and were all perplexed as to what it is? The final consensus is that it is congenital and he might just be able to deal with it as he grows.

He had a really hard visit. He had the biggest enema a little kitten could get with no return. I can see the impaction as I try to poop him, but it is so large that it just won’t move. I have three days of his new diet KMR and MiraLAX and pumpkin, and if nothing moves, I am to bring him back.

This is so frustrating, because I see what is wrong, I just can’t fix it. I did ask them two questions- wasn’t the substance moving around inside of him just milk? They said no, milk does not look like that on film. You can see a tiny bit of gas in his system as well but nothing alarming. And was he in pain? They said he might be a bit uncomfortable, but he wasn’t in pain. I disagree now because he moaned non-stop for about an hour after we got home. I would moan too, if I had all the invasive procedures he got today.

No more vet visits, the stress alone could kill him. Just going to do the best I can and ask God to stay in control of all I do for him.

Huckles Update:

Huck isn’t doing as well as I wish he was. There was a return trip to the vet, where it was discovered that Huck (now a boy) I always get that wrong when they are so young! He lacks the ability to push his stool through successfully after each feeding. He has become blocked, and it has been necessary (and heart-breaking) to help him because it means a kitty enema.

Enemas on any cat is not easy of them, but for kittens, it is ten times worse. I was told if he doesn’t poop, don’t feed him! The bloat is out of control. He looks literally like you could put a pin in his belly and he would explode like a balloon. He is not even a week old! If we stopped feeding him, he would die. That’s not an option.

I sought out the advice of a feline specialist and it is her thinking that the Queen must have been FeLV positive and that is why the little ones are having these issues. It does not mean that Huck has FeLV, just for his entire life, he will be a special needs kitty when it comes to this pooping issue.

She suggests that besides the pumpkin that I am using, I am to add Miralx (just a tiny amount) to every feeding. She also believes that not feeding him is not an option but also an enema every feeding is a bit excessive. I tried to tell my vet that kittens (especially at this age) do not always poop after being fed. But some vets you can’t tell them everything and she wasn’t my regular vet,

So we are feeding Huck every two hours round- the- clock. Putting soothing ointment on his tormented behind. He will latch onto the bottle for only a few seconds then he will look elsewhere for food (my finger my hand the blanket) It really breaks my heart. I let him eat as much as he wants and even though it is very little- he is still here, active and fighting.

When I try to give him a bit more, he develops horrendous breathing issues that scares me to no end- so that stopped me from giving him more. The specialist said it is because of the bloat, the backed-up stool. He is to get one enema a day only if no poop appears.

Poor kitty, he did not ask for this life, but right now, this is what has been dealt to him. I still call him Huckles, but as he grows (and I pray he does) I will shorten it to Huck. I named him in honor of Huckleberry Finn a book one of my granddaughters is currently reading and pelting me with information about it. LOL I don’t think she wants to read the whole thing and she knows Gamma has read it several times over.

So please continue praying for this little boy who is showing all the signs of being a gorgeous flame-point Siamese if he can stay in the game. Pray for me too, no relief for me except on Friday during the food run. But I can handle it- what I can’t handle is watching this brave kitten struggle for breath during feeding times.

Last night, I dreamed that Mike and I went to the Fair. He had both legs, all his hair and was in good shape and we were having a ball. Then, we went into a haunted house and he vanished. In his stead, Kota was with me and together, we combed through the entire fairgrounds calling out to Mike. We went down tunnels, up ladders, down into holes rode all the rides, no Mike.

I woke up with Kota licking my face and I was crying and shouting “Michael where are you?”  This is the first bad dream I have had since his passing.

Had to run to the store and usually, just letting Kota into the carport with the car door open and telling him to “load up” works. Not this morning, instead, he ran around to the front of the truck and started whining. I followed him and that’s when I found the box. It looked like it had been stepped on and when I opened it, I found two-  days old kittens inside! No telling how long they had been there- when I picked them up, their bodies were so cold. The gray one had all his paws crossed and at first I thought he was gone, but then he moved. I tucked them into my bra and raced into the house. Felt like I had just put two ice cubes there!

They have wounds on them, I believe they have been pecked by birds. For the first feeding, I had to tube feed them as they were so cold, they could not even swallow. But at the second feeding, I was able to use the syringe because they had spent two hours in the warming cage.

I am calling the white one Huckles and the gray boy is Mohammed because he is fighter. I didn’t think he would survive to the second feeding but he is still here. He is still very cold, even after being exposed to gradual heat, but they have now both pooped and peed which is a good sign.

Are they out of the woods yet? Not by any stretch of the imagination, but they are noticeably stronger and Mohammed’s tremors have stopped for now. Their umbilical cords are still wet! I would like to find out who did this and partially stamp on them! I told God that I was going to take a year off rescuing kittens because without Mike’s help, it wasn’t going to be possible. Why am I left feeling that this dream I had was preparing me for this rescue?The Bible says:  “Through God ALL things are possible.” Please pray for these little ones now in my care.