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Sunday, May 30
I was cuddling with Emmy, and I could smell old stale urine. I was afraid she had gone under the bed, as I had smelled it in there before.. but then I got closer and realized SHE smelled bad. I had been saying for months she needed a bath.. so today she got one.. and she was NOT happy about it. She's in the living room licking herself dry. Eli and Jack are quite stunned by the turn of events, and almost seem afraid to get near her, lest they get wet too.
The kittens seem to be coming around. Nutrical is a good thing. I fed them science diet kitten the other day, and they completely turned their nose up at it. Why is it that the "experts" in cats (science diet & Iams) can't make an edible kitten food?!?!? Friday, May 28
I went in to feed the non growing three, and all three were sitting at the top of the cage.. when I opened it up to pat them, Tanya didn't run away!! yea!! There is hope for her yet.
Now if I can just get Hannah to eat something. Ok.. well only if I can get hannah to eat a little more. She is STILL only 2 lbs.. it doesn't seem possible. I have to wonder if there is something wrong with her.. but she's active and friendly, and not vomiting.. so *shrug* I guess Im going to have to stop by the shelter and get some nutrical.. Hopefully that will help. Tuesday, May 25
I left the kittens out in the kitten room today for some exercise.. and there has been some very loud noises coming from there. Loose kittens are kittens in trouble. Well one particularly loud noise, and I went to investigate. Seems they knocked a lamp off the table. No biggie.. nothing broken, nothing damaged... so I left it on the floor. Well about 10 minutes later I open the door to feed them, and the lamp is running to the other side of the room. Ok.. officially it was being dragged. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they would have interest in playing with the lamp, until upon closer investigation I find that a fuzzy mouse with a string is wrapped around it. The 2lb kitten dragged a table lamp across the room.. it was a riot. I had to share.
Monday, May 24
a bit of background history for those of you who are new to this blog.
Last year I fostered a group of kittens. One I fell in love with.. I had already said I was not going to adopt any more after Jack.. so in order to not adopt him, I said that I couldn't keep Kodi with out keeping Muffin and Eli. Well we ended up keeping them all. Unfortunately Kodi became very ill. The doctors decided that he had FIP, and in the end, we did what was best for Kodi, and we euthanized him. It was a very hard day. Compounded by the doctors who suggested we bring in the rest of the gang for testing. I was told they all showed positive for FIP. I was told that just because they had it, didn't mean they were going to come down with it. We retested in six weeks, and every ones titers went up. The doctors told me that it was an active infection, and to keep an eye on them. Well to this day not one of them (ok well Eli, but he's a different story) has gotten sick at all, and I recently had three of them retested, two have "negative" titers, and one has been reduced four fold to a barely positive status. Again, for those dear readers who aren't privy to my rantings about the FIP test, Just so you know, I NOW find them to be unreliable and irresponsible. The test simply checks for the presence of the corona virus. FIP is a mutated form of it. Well in my research, I have come across a number of conflicting pieces of information about FIP. The doctors at the clinic told me that it is airborne. Articles on the web say it is not. The doctors at the clinic say it is transmittable.. articles on the web say it is not. I tend to take information found on the web with a grain of salt, because I can't verify the authors. Unless I get it from a known source, I never feel completely comfortable with it. Well the other day I got my new issue of Cat Fancy (July 2004) and in it, is a very informative article on FIP. Unfortunately it didn't cover one of my most burning questions. Is it airborne? Dr. Plotnick DMV wrote it, and I found his email address on the web. I wrote him to ask. He replied that it is not airborne, and it can not be transmitted by people who come in contact with a cat that has it. Didn't I break down and cry! It is so good to have official confirmation that the kittens that have come through my household were not exposed, and that the two known cases of it did not get it here. Thursday, May 20
Hubby has gone out of town to go to a concert w/ his brother. I don't realize how much I take for granted that he does when he goes away.. Actually that's not really true. Im really aware of what he does for me and I do appreciate it. but he is the one that normally feeds the resident five.. and medicates Emmy with her insulin. I couldn't for the life of me remember what we are giving her for units of insulin. I 95% certain its 6 units. the 5% is really that annoying lingering doubt of not having done something in a really long time. *shrug* oh well. At least he'll be home on saturday.. Maybe I'll be lucky and not have to scoop the boxes between now and then lol.
the fosters are doing well. Ive started them on another round of nemex to deworm them again.. hoping that is the reason they aren't eating real well. *crosses fingers* I had another group in the past that wasn't eating well, and I took them to work to be looked at, and wouldn't you know they were eating, so the vet said they were fine.. But they still weren't eating well at all, so I had the hubby take them to a different vet, they dewormed them again, and poof, they started eating like piggies... sooo.. if past experience has taught me anything, its to try the obvious before looking for the obscure. and of course, there is the old adage.. when in doubt - deworm!
Yesterday at work, a woman came in doing her best to carry a cat and bring in her young child. The cat had been hit by a car in front of her house, and someone was kind enough to stop to tell her. Turned out the cat was hers. She was quite upset and covered in blood. This isn't the first hit by car pet we've gotten in the past few weeks. We've had a couple of others, some made it. Some did not. Its so difficult to see them come in. We recently had to work very hard to save a cat named Fluerf. He was the sweetest thing. He got it full blown in the face. He ended up with wires in his jaw, and his owner had to hand feed him. It was so heart breaking to see him, but its always nice to hear he's doing better.
Recently a friend of mine's sister lost her cat to a car. She remembered him: Dayo would help us when we were packing, by jumping into the active luggage, or box and sitting there royally like he was the most important thing we could take with us. If anything was important, thats where he would be. He would nonchalantly sit on your book, or your playing cards, or your homework, to the delight of the kids I took care of afterschool who agreed that they certainly couldn't disturb the cat just to do their homework. Except newspapers. These he would run underneath thinking he was hidden even though the lumpy newspaper you used to be reading would now be wiggling with a black tail and white edged nose sticking out. All the time at work I ask owners of new cats if they are going to keep them indoors. All too often I get the reply of "Im going to try". I hate that answer. I have five cats, not one of them show any interest in going outside. In fact, the other day the door wasn't shut properly, and blew open after we went to bed. The kitties were sitting right by the door looking around.(but didn't I panic until they were all accounted for) Indoor cats are purfectly happy. People try to say it isn't natural, or that cats are happier if they go out. Equate it to you living in a very small apartment being perfectly safe, or a huge mansion that has dangers that could easily kill you. If you didn't know about the dangers, you'd pick the mansion too. Unfortunately you can't explain to cats that by going outside they are risking their lives.. so yes.. cats that have gone out and know what fun things there are to do outside are going to want to continue to go.. but if you could explain to them the real risks, I doubt one of them would continue to want to go (ok.. so yes.. like humans Im sure there are cats out there that would.. but go with me on this analogy) So please.. consider the joys of the litterbox to give your kitty the safest longest life possible.  Wednesday, May 19
So.. I help organize the kitten shower, help produce it, help working at it, see the wonderful results it produces.. but yet when i call up the shelter and ask them to send over kitten food for the kittens I have, I get .. cat food. *rolls eyes* Well that's ok.. maybe they'll actually eat this stuff. They are refusing to eat and put on any weight. I sent for more dewormer too.. hoping that is the problem. *crosses fingers* These kittens need to go back so I can get some friendly, cuddle in your face, lick your fingers kittens. Its hard when the kittens have no use for you... well that's not completely true.. Im the big huge human that comes and puts the food that they don't hardly eat in front of them. I was laying down on the floor in there in an attempt to be less threatening. I got one of them to chew on my foot. lol. Oh the things that are big achievements when you foster kittens.. beautiful poop and a chewed on foot.
I miss the days of being covered in kittens. Thursday, May 13
Well I brought home a box of kitten chow, and that was the end of any interacting with the kittens. They were chowing away on it alright :)
I can also tell they are getting to be about ready to go back. I was saying the other day how good they were when left to roam in the bathroom they are now in.. well yesterday I noticed they took all the toilet paper off the roll, they knocked over a basket of stuff, and they even started attacking the rubber duckie..
Im getting perplexed. I have three 2 lb kittens.. they should be eating up a storm, but they really aren't. combined, they won't eat the 5 oz of food I give them.. its more like 3 or 4. (I feed them twice a day.. so they are probably getting 2-3 oz a food a day.. ) Not nearly enough for growing kittens. Last night I had given them the fish food they scoffed while they were at the clinic. Hannah took two bites and started covering it up and walked away. And the food from that morning was still half eaten. I was starting to consider deworming them again.. but I saw a jar of veal baby food, and decided to try that. Well that was a HUGE hit. Even got Tanya to lick it off my fingers.
So Im going to head over to the shelter today and see if I can pick up something that might be more to their liking. Im going to pump,*clap* them up! Sunday, May 9
The kitten shower was a lot of fun. I rushed over to it after work, absolutely starving. There was a ton of good food and I ate way too much. We got a pretty good showing of people. I was surprised there weren't more people there who wanted to talk about kittens, but oh well, you can't have everything. We got over 2000 lbs of donations.. Mostly in litter and dry food, but that is nothing to complain about. We even had one girl scout troop donate their cookie money to make a donation of 478 lbs of stuff. We were so impressed with them. We were glad they ended up winning a trip to the local radio station. Liz from the radio was a very good host. I was impressed with her. I was afraid I wasn't going to be, but she was very warm, and open, and when I walked up to a group of people she was talking with she stood back to make room for me in the group.
We only got 28 names in the name the kitten game, but that is $28 we didn't have before.. so again, Im not going to complain, and I think the kitties got some cute names out of it... was a completely random drawing as well :) Yes.. I was hoping for more.. but I have to remember it was mother's day weekend (lets hope we don't make that mistake again) and there were a number of off site locations to make donations, and another shower at the children's museum in Portland.. So I am happy with how it went. on a side note.. it is a year since the first birth of kittens at my home.. the group with Ms. Piggy, Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, and the famous Peanut. I have gotten the most amazing picture of Peanut aka Treads. I am most thankful that his new (and Gonzo aka Miles) parents keep in touch with me.   Thursday, May 6
Tomorrow morning, the kittens are going to be live on the radio.. yes.. I too wondered how well kittens would translate to radio.. but they do have an adorable squeek, so hopefully it will go well. I think they are going more for the "gush factor" getting the hosts to gush all over the kittens. They are going to promote the kitten shower on WMGX 93.1. I actually have the morning off, so Im going to take the kittens myself.. so there is a slim chance i'll be on the radio. I'll bring the cam and take picts.
Monday, May 3
Ok.. how many times have I used that title?? But this story is a doozie. I put my computer in the room with the kittens, so they can spend some more time out of the cage, and because this is where Im going to put the computer once the kitten room is created. Anyway.. they are running around being silly, then all of a sudden one of them starts crying as if stuck. It was coming from the closet, so I peeked in to find out what was going on.. Im looking all over the floor and couldn't find him.. so I start to fear that he climbed up inside the few dresses hanging in the closet, figuring it could take a while to actually find him hanging either in or out of one of the dresses.. well come to find out he made it all the way up to the hangers.. and couldn't figure out how to get down..
now say it with me... silly kitten!! Sunday, May 2 |
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