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Saturday, November 30
Well.. we called the vet this morning, Melvin still isn't eating, so they want to keep him till monday. :( But Im assuming that means he tested negitive, cause if he were positive (for lukemia) they wouldn't be treating him any more. I sent the hubby down to feed the other kittens last night. This morning when I went to go feed them they were STARVED cause they had turned over their left overs and couldn't find them under the bowl. Also the dry food bowl was empty. Bugsy looked a LOT better. By the time I got to him to give him his meds, his eyes were watering a little, but he did look good. He also took his meds pretty well. Only one more day of deworming. Scooter's foot pads have gone from pink to blanched, and she wasn't eating vigorously.. although with me in the room she is usually over stimulated. I will need to take down some formula to supplement them. Since I rely on the donations given to the shelter to feed them, they don't get kitten food, and usually there isn't enough nutrition in cat food for them. White kitties with pink paws show the lack of nutrition faster than others.
Friday, November 29
Melvin is sick. really sick. Last night he was very aloof. I figured it was just the noise and excitement of the day, but this morning he was most definately ill. I called the shelter and they recommended bringing him to their vet, so I did. He had a fever of 106, so they are keeping him the night. When I found him this morning his nose was caked in snot so bad that it covered both his nostrils. I tried to get him to eat, but he totally wasn't interested, so I took him upstairs and cleaned his nose off the best I could. He didn't like that one bit (think raw "cold" nose). when i got his nasal passages open, the snot just RAN out... he sneezed a couple of times coating everything, and one of his eyes started getting a little cloudy. It was weeping badly the night before so I put some ointment in it. sigh. He looked HORRIBLE this morning. by the time I got to the vet (cause they couldn't take me till a little later on in the day) he looked horrible again, and had gotten snot all over his tail, and two of his feet. I felt sooo bad. I brought bugsy too. he's the only other one that's been suffering so long, and I wanted the vet to take a peek at him, and to give her some idea of what he looked like yesterday, and cause bugsy seemed to have worms, from what I could tell with my limited experience
the vet agreed.. his abdomen is distended, and feels rope-y so he's back on .. on.. shoot.. I can't remember the name of it.. I'll remember hte minute the post is done.. lol.. well its standard deworming meds for kittens. He's also got a more powerful antibiotic which is good. He also has ear mites.. so we revolution-ed him. Antibiotics for two weeks or till its gone, which ever is later, and deworming meds for two more days. She took a look at melvin. He was 2.1lbs.. which is a big weight drop from a few weeks ago when he was 2.5lbs. that worried me. Then the snot thing, then the vet took his temp, and it was 106.. (ave is 101). she didn't want to let him go home with such a high fever, so they are keeping him till the morning, to cool him down with fluids and alcohol on his pads. also going to test him for lukemia, and start on antibiotics. they will call me in the morning to update. *says little prayer* the four of them were tested for lukemia a few weeks ago and were negitive, and I believe they got something to help protect them, but they are still vulnerable. Melvin spent the most time with the kits, sleeping with them, mothering them it was really quite cute. *sigh* on a different note. I found a website of a woman in canada that fosters. One of the cats she kept looks JUST like jenna.. :) she's a very talented painter, and also a red head ;). fluffytails.ca http://www.geocities.com/myfosterkittens/six/tn_p8140016.jpg Thursday, November 28
posting in this blog has become kinda hard. Although since the last one I no longer have to look at the picture when I come here.. sigh.
Anyway. I didn't take them in to be tested. I can wait. Either they are sick and I'll loose them, or they wont be. But Id rather put off the loosing part till after the new year... although I suppose there is something to be said for putting your mind at ease, but they look healthy (well more in a minute) and so Im keeping them here. I moved them downstairs, where the kits weren't. Its chilly down there... I don't think the builder put enough insulation over there.. anyway.. a day or so after they moved down there the case of earmites that I ghought I would never get rid of pretty much cleared up. There is still a bit of debris in their ears, but one good cleaning should fix that right up. There was that incident with scooter, but in the morning she was clammoring for food, so I was instantly relieved. The newest thing for me to fixate on is that fact that melvin seems to be loosing a bit of weight. I scooped the box last night and found what appeared to be blood. It was hard to be sure though. Every one else seems beyond fine, so I put melvin in the cage by himself with a fresh litter pan. I checked his sample in the morning, and besides being a little soft, it seemed fine. he's still not eating much, and he and izzy seem to have lost the pinkness in the tongue and the pads of their feet. That happens when they aren't getting enough nutrition. I gave them one of the two cans of high quality kitten food I was able to scrounge at the shelter when I went in on tuesday. He seemed to like that a lot, but still didn't eat a whole heck of a lot of it. Guess Im just compairing them to Em who eats .. and eats.. :) So I brought a few choice cuts of left over turkey down to them. they seemed to like that quite a lot, except bugsy who would have rathered played. He's such a cutie. Im not spending a lot of time with them, and I feel bad about that... part of me wont let me spend a lot of time though.. guess we are back to that whole they could die thing. sigh. No one in my family knows about the loss. I don't think my family could grasp what it meant to me. I just hold on to the fact that I know they had a great life. *must let this go and not think of it again* Sunday, November 24
well.. *sigh* this is hard. Ok.. we have to quarenteen the older kittens and mom for six weeks starting last monday.. so at least they will be here for christmas. :) we moved them down stairs into the future master bedroom suite. Its a little chilly down there, but they seem to be coping just fine. in fact their ears have cleared up considerably. I don't spend nearly enough time with them, but I think that's more of an emotional thing than a they are downstairs and I never go down there and there's no chairs or tv down there thing.
Last night however I paniced something feirce. I was late in feeding them, it was about midnight, an I decided to medicate them first (they are still on antibiotics for their URI) then feed them. Everyone ate but Scooter. She just sat there sniffing at the food and then walked away. She did have a small lick at the empty can, but soon gave that up too. Wasn't even interested in playing with her favorite toy. You know, it really will distroy me if these guys have to be put to sleep. Fortunately this morning she was eating just fine. She still wasn't interested in her toy, but she played with my toes and a few other attacks on things. I still think Im going to insist they test mom early.. like this week. She was living with the kits for the whole time, and was cleaning them up when they couldn't go on their own. But I think I'll wait till after monday. Hubby wants to bring them back and have someone else foster them during the next five weeks, but I don't think I could handle that either. Tuesday, November 19
Im still kinda a mess, but I figure now is a good a time as any. So Andrew didn't eat on Sunday night or monday morning. Nor was he interested in food on monday night. I was getting concerned but I knew I was bringing them into the shelter today for their check up anyway, so I didn't do much more than force some more food into him. Monday morning his stomach felt like he had eaten, just not when I was around, but by monday night he seemed weak. Tuesday morning he seemed very weak and thin. He was having a hard time holding his head upright... just seemed to tilt to one side. I fed him, and he decided he wanted to jump down. I put him on the ground and he toddled off to the litter box. He seemed a little drunk. So I quickly medicated everyone except him and ran down to the shelter. They didn't like the way he was acting either so I left his sisters there while I took him to the vet. We had to wait a while, and Andrew decided to go to sleep.. and didn't I start to panic.. I kept telling him that he could not die. After loosing his sister I didn't think I could handle it. The vet took a look at him and thought it might be lukemia, but thought it was a little late for it to be showing up. They started thinking it might just be an inner ear thing, and started tossing around the word treatment. I was starting to hope, when someone from the shelter called to tell them that his sisters tested positive, and pretty much that was that. I broke down in the vets office. I hugged andrew tight and eventually let him back into the carrier and back to the shelter we went. Kirsten gave me a big hug when I got there, and I broke down all over again. I know this was an emotional moment, but I didn't want to make the shelter workers feel any worse than they already did.
Andrew's sisters were still there in the carrier, so I put him back in with them and gave them all one last cuddle and hug and kissed their tummies before leaving. Im not quite sure how I got myself out of there. Nor how I got home. I guess a lot of avoiding my feelings and denial. Since the kits lived with the kittens, there is a chance they were infected. I need to keep them for six more weeks incase, which is the incubation period. *prays they weren't.. I have no idea how Id survive loosing them all* Monday, November 18
Ive got a kitten on my shoulder *grin* the three tiger kits "escaped" out of the kitten room tonight. Galatea tried to climb into the oven tonight.. guess she liked the smell of our dinner. Andrew decided he wanted to sit with me. he was on my lap for a while, but quickly climbed up onto my shoulder. I pulled him off and cuddled him a little, but he climbed right back up there. and I think this is the most adorable thing any kitten has done so far..
Andrew didn't eat last night either. I forced some more food down him. Wasn't interested this morning either. Was weezing up a storm. I piled him on the couch with some other kittens and went to exercise. I figured Id take him in the bathroom with me when I took a shower cause I take REALLY hot showers and they create a lot of steam... so I went and got him, and he seemed to not be weezing so much, but away we went anyway. He wanted to sit on the shower's edge and see what I was doing. He was amazed.. that I would voluntarily get into water.. When I got out he was purring like a fool.. sounded better, so hopefully that did him some good. I'll check in on them a little later... and if he sounds better I wont worry so much. They are going in tomorrow for their first round of shots and what not.
Last night we were watching tv in bed, and EVERYONE was in the bed.. they were being as adorably evil as kittenly possible. You probably dont understand just how evil these kitties are. they are cute yes. but Ive had cute kittens before. These guys have kittenie wiles.. and they use them to their full advantage. Now we want to keep bugsy, scooter AND melvin. Sunday, November 17
I woke up at three am last night/this morning. when I got back into bed bugsy was sitting there waiting for me. I picked him up and cuddled him to my chin. He just sat there and purred. Then melvin and scooter joined the cuddle fest. it was so sweet. Then of course the morning time came and the bed once again became a giant cat toy.. *rolls eyes*
the elders except scooter have ear mites. Im doing my best to keep their ears clean, but the mites make dirt faster than I can clean it - or so it seams - and the kittens really don't like it. I can't blame them. I remember when I was little and my mom would clean out my ears, I hated it. Looks like they have worn themselves out again. *looks around for izzy* ok. .if she's behind me, where's bugsy.. *looks under monitor* hey.. there he is.. on the back of the table. they wre running around like fools this morning. I swore one of them was just about to climb the curtians. Andrew aka snotboy didn't eat this morning. Just sat in my arms shivering. I forced a little something into him,and he ate it, which is good.. I think I should check on him again and if he hasn't eaten on his own make up some formula for him. *crosses fingers* Friday, November 15
I told my hubby that I didn't have a name for goldie's sister, he suggested muffin. I tried it this morning and she gave me the most disgusted look.. it was a riot
I think Ive come up with names for them.. but Im missing one.. It started when I started calling the little black one little miss. So I thought Id call them all after the movie Bicentennial Man. But no one lists the other daughter's name.. hum..
male tiger: Andrew girl tiger (aka goldie): galatea girl tiger: girl black: little miss girl black: portia I'll have to check and see if it is playing sometime soon.
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