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Friday, October 28
So im here in the computer room cleaning and straightening.. and twee came in and pushed me back on my chair and climbed up on my lap and is trying to take a nap.. (but I won't let her cause I keep typing)
One new thing about the kittens. While showing off Yoda's amazingly beautiful scar, I noticed she has a duplicate nipple. Two where only one should be. I am so going to have to try to get a picture of that. I also need to post pictures in general..
I just read this and tears came to my eyes. I know stories like this are written to generate sympathy, but I know all too well that this is a tame story.
I also recently read Fur Person by May Sarton. She actually lives near me... go figure.. but again, the story made me cry. It wasn't supposed to. It was supposed to be a happy story about a stray that finds a home, but he starts out as a stray.. Im way too sappy sometimes.. I just wish I could do more.. Sadly all I can do is implore you to get on the spay/neuter bandwagon. Get your pets altered. If you can't afford it, ask for help. There a large number of programs out there to help you. If your pets are, make sure the pets in your area are. If they are, donate money to the programs out there to help people who feel they can't afford it. (but then again, I am of the annoyingly close minded view if you can't afford to have your pet altered, you can't afford to take care of it, and you certainly can't afford to take care of the offspring) I was once so poor we ended up living with the inlaws.. but the cats were always taken care of. and if I couldn't have, it would have broken my heart, but I would have found them a home where they could have been. There are billions of homeless cats out there. Please don't add to the problem. Don't buy, adopt. Don't litter, Neuter hum.. should probably get off my soap box now hun? Sorry. But cats are still considered disposable.. and it breaks my heart. Thursday, October 27
Char, Sam, and Yoda went in yesterday to get neutered. They did really really well. When I brought them in there wasn't a hiss to be had. Talking with the girls, Sam hissed a little bit, but nothing too excessive. I was so sure that it would have thrown them all back into scared little kitties, but it didn't. They are now back home, safe and snug in their little cage.
Dr. Brion did the surgery. Yoda has the SMALLEST incision I have ever seen. It looks like another one of her nipples. He is amazing. Sam's is nice and small too, but twice the size of yoda's. I let them all run around for a bit this morning, and Leo started attacking my ankles.. that boy is fierce (no.. not really. he's freakin adorable Now if he was only a belly slut, there would be no stopping me from keeping him) Wednesday, October 26
Ok.. so I took my kitty posts off my personal blog so I could not overwhelm that with kitty stories, and then I found I was running out of personal stuff to blog about. Now I do it so rarely that it seems pointless to keep it up. But now Im in a quandry about life, that I felt I needed to 'vent' if you will, some place that has visitors and can tell me if Im being silly.
Ok. So as you gentle readers know I was let go from working at the vet this past Jan. In April I got a job with a furniture company. The company is insane. (no really.. it is) but my new boss is really nice and very sweet, and she has been very good to me considering the rotating schedual and the hours she needs staffing. HOWEVER.. I recently asked if I could use a floating holiday (I get four) so I could get the day after Thanksgiving off. She said that if I didn't work the day before and after I wouldn't get paid. I didn't push it. The schedual just came out for November (can you believe it?!?!) and she gave one of the other girls in the office the day before AND the day after off. She gave the other girl the day before it off. Now I had asked for it, and I have to work the day before AND the day after!! We had also been getting friendly, so I invited her out for a day of shopping, suggesting if she gave us both the same day off we could go. She said it was a good idea, but looking at the schedual, I don't see that happening. Now maybe she forgot, but I don't know. Im just feeling cut out from everything at work, under appreciated, and stuck working some pretty lousy hours. Now I was so frustrated with the company (did I mention they are insane) that I sent out a resume to another vet in town. I have an interview on Tuesday. Its way less hours, .. yes way less, and way less money - like four dollars an hour less - and there is no promise that this boss isn't going to be insane either (from what Ive heard a lot of vets are) and I would have to work EVERY saturday. I don't like the idea of the hours, or the pay cut, but the subsidised health care for the fur kids (if she does that) is important, and getting away from the current insane company, and working with animals again are all on the plus side. Then again, if I can just hold out till May, I SHOULD be able to go and work for Dr. Brion, but that isn't set in stone either. I could hold out and he might realize he doesn't have the resources for a while longer. I could switch jobs now and then quit in may - like that would look good on a resume, but then again with any luck I'll be with brion till forever ends.. arrrrgh. I haven't even been offered a job and I don't know what to do. Tuesday, October 25
Na.. I really don't. but I have been going through quite a bit of food. Mom is now having eye issues... I was hoping she wouldn't come down with anything, but seeing how she is still so thin and not eating, I guess it was inevitable.
Im going to try to schedual neutering this week for the black set. Sunday, October 23
Well, she's been with us for over a year.. it was about time. So I finally created a page for Twee. See the dots across the top.. she's the last one.
Thursday, October 20
Well I wouldn't let myself worry too much, but it seems I can't totally enjoy the positive side of getting better either. Looks like they are both on the road to recovery. Mom however is STILL not eating well. I can't for the life of me figure out why. she's getting thinner and thinner.
Marie and I had a nice talk this morning. I gave her her antibiotics, and she totally flipped out on me. all limbs flailing, like I had just put the most disgusting thing in her mouth ever (I tried to come up with an analogy like liver in a child's mouth, but I couldn't think of a thing that would totally disgust a cat to taste - no wait.. medicine. lol) I let her go so she could calm down, then I picked her up again, and looked into her very pathetic eyes (pleading with me not to do that ever again) and explained to her that while she was not eating, I was going to have to put yucky things and food into her. She didn't look happy about it, but when I went down tonight, the food was gone. Now Leo is eating, so I couldn't be sure, but then I put more food down and she started chowing. (*silent YEA!!*) She ate about half a fancy feast can, then she wanted to play. She played for two hours till I packed them back up in their cages, and she went to eat more food (YEA!!!) Both her and Leo's nose look horrible, but I have to take my victories where I can get them. Yoda, Charlemagne, and Sam are doing very well. Sam and Char like to fall asleep on humans. I have yet to see Yoda sleep. I swear she has a motor in her that is loud as a boat, and keeps her going 24/7... man she's cute. I need to call and get them set up with their neutering. This is going to be hard on them. Wednesday, October 19
Leo's fever seems to be gone, and he's eating. Marie has a fever of 103.4 and still is not eating, but is playing and is fighting me tooth and nail when being fed. Hum.. dare I say this is just about over? na... don't want to tempt the fates.
Monday, October 17
Yea yea yea.. Your probably sick and tired of these posts.. but I like to keep track of issues. Char only wanted to cuddle today. He ate, he seems fine, but excessive cuddling always makes me suspicious. However Marie and Leo do not want to cuddle. They are sick and tired of the medication. I gave them another 1/8 of a baby asprin to try to help with the fever. *crosses fingers this does it* Marie fought ever morsle of food this morning. Might be because I started out with some vit C, which was very bitter. Hopefully. Leo didn't want to be locked back in the cage, he was having a ton of fun playing. If it weren't for the fever, Id have no idea anything was wrong with him. He has a few bites of food.. not eating very heartily, but he's cubby and looks in good health.
Sunday, October 16
Well Marie has taken a turn for the worse. Doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to play. Mom still isn't a big eater, and she had a VERY stinky poop this morning so I took it in for testing, and they have coccidia. An intestinal parasite that will make them feel kinda lousy, but really isn't anything to do with the fever. They are now starting on Albon.
Leo has been back to his ol self, playing and nibbling a bit. I was so thrilled this morning, I didn't want to interrupt his play to take his temp. I just took it a few minutes ago, and its 104.5 So its back up. Fever of unknown origin.. Please no. This has to be something else.. it just has to be. At the shelter I looked for mom's history. They were found abandoned in an apartment. Not a promise they wont have exposure issues, but at least they weren't in a dumpster. Its been three days since they got some asprin, I think Im going to try one more dose of that and see what happens. *crosses fingers and sends out prayers* I do have some cute pictures of them to share.. will have to get them off my camera and post them. Saturday, October 15
Well this morning Leo's temp was 103. He nosed the food, but I don't think he ate any. Tonight I went down and he started playing. Its reserved, but he was into it. I fed him about 24cc's of food, and he fell asleep on me it was so cute. Then when I put him away, he started eating. YEA!!!
We had sleepy time as well. I had Leo, Yoda and Sam on me. The hubster had Char on him. Marie who is still not feeling very well - only got 20 cc's of food in her and when cleaning off her nose I made it bleed and it became uber sensitive - was sleeping in the cat condo. I reached down and patted Sam in her sleep, and she STARTED TO PURR!!! Yes.. that's right.. PURR! I was joking with the hubby earlier that Yoda had both her and Sam's purr, but she found it. It was such a gift. Im still not 100% convinced that they are going to be fine. When their temp returns to normal (101) for a couple of days and they start eating to sustain themselves, THEN I'll relax. Friday, October 14
It didn't beep, so it is probably higher than that, but it is still high. I can't get the fever to come down. Dr. Brion said something yesterday that I did not want him to say "fever of unknown origin". This is almost synonomous with FIP. My heart screamed out that he is suffering from the calcivirus and while he might not be stuffy, that is the problem. His sister has a fever too, and she's blowing snot bubbles out her nose. Well tonight both of them had blood droplets coming out of their nose. Not a big concern for kittens that have suffered from URI for an extended period of time, cause the sneezing and excessive phlegm will cause the irritation and cause a bit of blood. However, I have not heard him sneeze in days.
I am scared to pieces. In Kodi's final days, something caused his eyes to fill with blood and he too had blood droplets coming out of his nose. But then again, Eli also had a high fever, and nose blood, and he came out of it. I can only take comfort in the fact that he is showing some interest in eating, and playing. Not that Kodi didn't. I have to force myself not to see FIP... (of course if it is there is nothing that will touch it... best I can do for him is to make him comfortable for as long as I can) Im going to have the hubby call the shelter and try to get some history on the mom. If she came from a home prior to this, I'll feel a lot better. Ten bucks to two though... Well lets just cross those bridges when we get to it. Thursday, October 13
Ok.. I took his temp again tonight and it was 104. I think it was a smidge higher, but he pulled away. He still doesn't want to put weight on his front paws. I called the shelter yet again, and this time they told me I could bring him in. And guess what.. Zithro and fluids.. hum.. funny how that works out. The dr said he could do a bunch of other things, but knowing how the shelter is right now - financially strapped because of the rescue dogs from katrinia - we are going to wait and see what happens with the stronger antibiotic.
He's still not interested in eating, and he is still extremely uncomfortable, but he did show signs of wanting to play. Got to take my good signs where I can. The black ones need to be weighed again. I swear they gained half a pound overnight!! Will probably go in for neutering next week if the dr's give them the ok.
This is really bizarre. He is a bit more alert, just a bit. But his front legs both hurt him. He stood up when I came in the room, then he just stood up on his back legs... refused to put his front legs down. Picking him up the normal way of hand under the front legs caused him to cry out. He took his feeding ok, struggled only a bit at the temp taking 105.4 I don't know what to do! I have to go to work until four pm. The vet doesn't close until 6 tonight, but that isnt' a whole heck of a lot of time to get him there.
Wednesday, October 12
I took leo's temp myself a few minutes ago.. and he didn't mind a bit.. which means you KNOW he isn't feeling well. 105.7 by my thermometer. Does that mean it came down? I don't know. For the fun of it I took his sister's temp.. 103.5 I called the shelter back. I asked specifically about zithromax, and was told that it would not bring the temp down. Im not happy about that. I'll keep him on the clav for another day and see what happens. I tried to feed him, which he fought. Good sign, but annoying. Afterward he started to clean up his bib, another good sign.. I left a little a/d out for them. I know they wont eat it, but ya never know.
Last night leo seemed a bit off. I didn't worry TOO much about it, I thought he might have just been in the middle of a sleep cycle when we woke him up. He was shivering, but that isn't uncommon with kittens you wake up out of a cozy nap. But it was a bit more than that. This morning he still seemed very off, so I held him for a bit, which he let me do - which was off - and then he decided he wanted to get down. He jumped from the sofa to the floor, a matter of a foot and a half - a small matter for him.. well he cried out and held up one foot. I went over to him, and he didn't seem to be injured, just sore. I put him back down and he had a bit of trouble walking, and then layed right down. I picked him up again, put him down again, same results. I called the shelter. They didn't want me to bring him in to the vet, they wanted to see him. They took his temp - which was off the charts, stopped at 106.4 where the theometer stopped. He has been on clindamyacin for the calcivirus, so now they want him on clavamox, which I have never been a big fan of for kittens unless its an abcess. I brought him home, and called the vets to see what they would recommend. They recommended zithromax and fluids... which the shelter failed to mention (thinking about it, fluids would be a very good idea) Now Im in a quandry.. I don't want the shelter to think I don't trust them, but I don't trust them!! arrgh. My friend at the vet said to give him a few hours, then call the shelter back and ask about the fluids and what not. I know zithromax is quite expensive, but it works!! why make the poor little guy suffer. He is sooo cute.. I bet I could get some good pictures of him like this :)
I just have to wonder,, what kind of training has the girl at the shelter had.. Tuesday, October 11
I was with the kittens the other day and we turned on extreme makeover - home edition. Yoda ran up to the screen and pawed at Ty's face. it was SOOOO cute. I wished I had had the camera, but then I remembered that even if I did, she wouldn't have stayed there long enough for me to get a picture. Although Im not sure what kind of taste she has, cause she did the same thing to wrestling the other day.
I was concerned for Sam's health sunday. She climbed up on the loveseat with me and laid down on my foot. Which was a big deal for her. I gently picked her up and put her on my chest. She shivered for a bit, then settled down. She was quite warm. Her ears and nose weren't, but her core body temp was. I thought I should bring her into the vet on monday, but with my work day it was going to be next to impossible. Monday morning when I went to collect her, she was bright eyed and chipper, and ate very well. Did monday night too. Oh well. Guess I was over reacting again. Char likes to climb up to the top of the two story cat condo I have, and chase his tail. Its so funny. Occasionally his tail has hung over the side, and he has fallen off trying to get it. Leo had a small issue last night. I noticed a huge poop ball stuck to his butt. I tried to take it off, but it was soft and mushy and he didn't like it, so up he came to get a bath. He took that like a trooper. He is SOOO cute.. it hurts. Im just glad he's not an uber lover kitty, cause then Id want to keep him. On a slightly off topic subject, I have had some issues at work. An older gentleman (I don't even know if I can use the word gentleman with him) has been a constant pain. I work in the office of a selling environment. The sellers sell, and the office people process the paperwork. He refuses to even pretend he can do anything other than get people to commit to buy. I am sure he could if he took the energy make sure his sales were completed properly - like all the other sales associates, but he plays the "old" card too many times. Im sorry, but if you are too feeble minded to complete your sales, you are too feeble to work. period. I do my best to work with him and be professional about it, but after the 10th time in a row correcting him for the same issue, it gets to you. Well this guy was talking about getting the office girls a gift. He mentioned to me a steak dinner. I joked that the only thing Im interested in is kitty litter. I figured a big heavy present would be something he wouldn't do. He said he would do that, and I told him point blank not to. He again said he would buy me litter, and again I told him not to, and if he really wanted to do something for me to donate to a local shelter. He went on to talk about a kitty he once had, and how he loved it very much, but it had gotten old so he took it out back and shot it. I told him to not talk to me about such things (I mean COME ON!!) and he continued to try to justify the situation and I again told him to stop talking about it, asking him what if he had missed. Well he didn't stop, and I walked away. Well later he asked me if I was working on monday so he could bring me litter, and I again told him not to. Yup. He brought me litter. Took it and put it right by my car. I told him I would not take it. He got very flustered. He left the litter by my car. One after another the sales associates came up to me and asked me about the litter, and if I might want help putting it in my car cause it was going to rain. I explained that I was not going to be forced into taking something I asked not to be given. Im glad the staff seemed to support me on this, and not try to guilt me into taking it. (even though I know they knew I wasn't going to take it when they asked if I needed help putting it in my car) One of them moved it away from my car, and put it near the front entrance, where it sat all day - in the rain. I felt guilty for not taking something that could benefit the kittens, but I know that the giver would have been self satisfied if I had taken it. He left at 5. I left at 6. the litter was still sitting outside the building. It is still bothering me. Saturday, October 8
Everyone is back to normal around here.. well as normal as normal can be for 12 cats in one house. Now don't laugh, as you should know, only six live here full time!! :)
I went in for a check up with Jack Twee and Emmy. Em comes with me every time I go in for an exam cause frankly she's old, she' diabetic, and she has a heart condition. It was time for Jack and twee's vaccines. Jack got a general check up again cause of the blockage. Dr. Brion said that Jack (I was going to just type HE but I thought better of it) had a very small penis. I was told Eli did too, and I can't help but wonder if it is because they were neutered so young. Ollie was neutered at 6 months, So was Emmy (yes, she is a boy, long story) and the rest are girls. Anyway.. not that it matters as long as I keep them on the right food so they don't produce crystals. Dr. Brion said that Twee should probably not have all her vaccines at the same time due to her medical issues. So she needs to go back. The blacks are doing very well. I sat with them last night, and I hugged Sam to me. She didn't want to be there, so I let her go, talking to her the whole time, promising her that it was ok to like to be patted, and promising her I wouldn't hurt her, and that it was ok. I kissed her several times since she just sat on the edge of the couch. I continued to try to convince her that I was ok, and after a few more minutes of kissing and soft talking, she climbed back on my chest and fell asleep. It was SOOOOO rewarding. The big question is, will she do it again. Probably not, but seeing where she came from, and the major trust issues she has, I was so happy. Char and Yoda have so gotten over the loss of their mom and the beginnings of their lives, but Sam really hasn't. She's still reserved and easily spooked. This does not bode well for what is coming up. I might get them neutered then bring them home for another week, just so they don't go up for adoption right afterwards and totally undo all the work Ive done. Mom and her kits are doing well. She's still VERY skinny, and an exceptionally picky eater, but she is eating... sometimes eating everything to the bowl. Leo is a huge fat puff ball. He is a laugh riot and I love him dearly. Marie is still the prim and proper little lady, until she gets into a wrestling match with someone. They all have stinky and loose stools, so Im giving dewormer again. The shelter mentioned they had a problem with coccida again, so Im afraid Im going to have to do albon if it doesn't clear up soon. Its not that the kitties mind taking it, its just that they are already on clindamyacin (SP??) for the calcivirus. Speaking of which, Im wondering if I shouldn't take a break for a bit and get that out of the kitten room. I can bleach till the cows come home, Im still going to miss something, and I think it takes six weeks to dissipate. The season SHOULD be coming to an end soon. Usually may to december. This year it was late june before the kittens started showing up... however once september hit they were overwhelmed. I think it is because the idiots out there with unneutered cats found homes for their spring babies, and now are sick of dealing with pregnant cats so they are giving them up. Oh how I hate people!! |
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