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Saturday, February 22
I woke up this morning and told myself to get up out of bed cause I had to go feed kodi. Then I remembered. I really miss the way he smelled. and his tummy and his paws Friday, February 21
took Kodi to the vets this afternoon. I held him the whole way down, he cuddled into me. He seemed to be doing quite a bit better this morning and ate quite a bit, although he had two large lumps in his stomach area, and his good eye was becoming quite bloody. The vet took one look at him and came to the conclusion that I came to yesterday. She said there were things that we could do for him, but even if they worked, chances are that it wouldn't work for long and he'd soon be suffering again. As much as I didn't want to let him go, I had to. She took him and put a catheter in his arm. She asked if I wanted to be with him when they put him down, and I said yes... then I said no.. but I knew I had to. Years ago I was there for a stray I took in Melody, and Id never forgive myself if I wasn't there for him. We talked about a few other things (later) and then the time came. She was very good about keeping the catheter out of my line of site.it wasn't a pretty thing to see. I held and kissed his head, and patted his tummy (the best I could) while she injected him. a moment later he shuttered, and was gone. It was unbelievably hard to leave him there. We talked about the tests that were run on the other kitties. since both FIP and leukemia are both highly contagious, we took the other One tested positive for Leukemia - jack. Unfortunately, FIP is very hard to diagnose. The only test they have counts the titres in the cats blood. titres from my understanding are basically Now. Jack also has the issue of leukemia. This too might just be a false positive due to the exposure. Its a very very slim possibility. Right now everyone is healthy, and happy and that is what matters. The vet recommends we test them all again in six weeks to get a comparison level for their titres. Right now.. its cleaning and bleach time. Seems kinda silly since they already have it.. but .. this also appears to have put an end to my fostering days. this too is very distressing. Muffin is sitting on the cat tree being unbelievably cute.. and here comes Em. I think its time to get off line and spend some quality time with my kitties.
muffin decided I needed to wake up this morning before the sun came up and pay attention to her. She became my hat, my scarf, my back massuse.. she was quite insistant. It was sweet. Kodi is taking that long trip to the vet today. He's been isolated for a couple of weeks now, and no one seems to be missing him. I don't think his loss will really be felt in the kitty population.. however I have a feeling that my emotions are reaching the cats. First muffin, now Emerald is sitting on my lap. She doesn't like to do that when I don't have a quilt over my lap.. (great big kitty, tiny little feet - and she needs her claws clipped) Im doing my best not to break down and sob all day, but its very hard. I need to go in there and feed kodi. Part of my brain has been trying to tell me that he needs a collar too, which seems like a bit of a waste since... well.. but I think Im going to anyway. He had Em's old collar on for a while, and it looked so good on him. its got a safty latch on it, which em can easily undo when she scratches her neck... *reaches for tissue* sigh.. this is going to be one very very difficult day I was talking with Nancy at the shelter. She's the office manager. She was saying how its a difficult decision to come to - to put your pet to sleep. Actually, it was a pretty easy decision to come to. He's been beaten by this. Its distroying his quality of life, and in the end will make him very very miserable. I do not want that. But I will miss him terribly. I will miss the cat he would have become. If you have an unaltered animal living with you right now, I hate you. Because someone didn't pony up and take the responsiblity for their pet, this has happened. And sadly, Im not alone in this pain. Every day multitudes of kittens are put to sleep because they got such a bad start to life. Thursday, February 20
got this really lame toy from walmart tonight.. its a wind up fish.. looks like its supposed to flop over, but it so doesn't. However, Ollie has laid claim to it. He's standing over it growling at anyone who comes near it. Which of course means muffin wants to play with it.. which means he's getting possessive.. its cute.
looking at my webstats, I see a lot of people with kitty problems find my website when looking up their kitty problems.. I should do some sort of FAQ.. but if anyone sees this entry and wants to chat about kittens, feel free to contact me :) Kittyblog at webwmn.com
sigh.. Kodi didn't eat much at all this morning, and his tummy is quite hard. I spent some time massaging it.. but I don't know if it was of any help at all - except maybe to kod's spirits.... We have an appointment tomorrow morning at 9.. Wednesday, February 19
update: I got some iams kitten food for him this afternoon.. it took him a little bit to get up the energy to eat it.. but he ate it. Hubby thinks he's just being lazy as opposed to being too sick to do things. I think it might be part of it, but not all of it. Hey.. as long as he's eating - even if it is with some coaxing..
Kodi seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Yesterday I noticed you could feel his bones through his fur quite easily.. He also didn't seem to be eating as much. I made him up some kitty formula and fed that too him which he wasn't too happy about.. but I figured that was a good thing. That night he ate some more, but just wasn't himself. This morning more of the same. No kodi crying for attention.. he was slow to move from his spot to me. When I medicated his eyes he didn't fight me. The purr wasn't as loud. *wimper* Im going to put him on antibiotics twice a day again.. he always seems to do better with two doses instead of one. If he doesn't improve quickly I fear the end will be soon. Monday, February 17
we had a trip to the vets today. I LOVE the vets at the mann clinic.. however I HATE their facilities. They are small, cramped, and there is no where to sit down while you wait for the vet nor to hang your coat.. transporting five kitties and two people was a bit of a trip. we were going to all go in one car, but Emerald doesn't travel well. She HOWLS like your chopping off her foot with a nail file. I figured she's stress the other kitties out more, and thus stress her out even more.. so we took two cars. We all had some blood drawn. I went with Em out back because she has a heart condition that gets worse when she's stressed, and she gets stressed when she's away from me. (got documented proof) She did really well. I asked about her blood glucose. They did a test for that and they said her sugars were good, which was a relief. Everyone else went in by themselves. I was worried about ollie, as he tends to be a bad mr nasty pants.. but the vet said he did really well. The kittens ended up squirming more, and thus took a little longer. They couldn't get to Muffin's jugular, so they took it from her leg. Eli jerked right after they put the needle in and thus he bled all over himself. They had to draw blood from Jack's leg as well. The vet said they all look healthy which is good. all in all a very successful trip. I don't talk about Em very much. She came to us from a sister of a friend of my sister in law. she was ever so little when we got her.. she was a good kitty. She is now 12 years old. (can you say WOW). She does have a bit of a heart murmur. She was on a heart medication and some aspirin for a while, but being pilled twice a day was ruining her quality of life, and it was only going to increase her lifespan by a few years, so I figured Id rather have 5 years of quality life, instead of 10 years of never seeing her and having to drag her out from under the bed to pill her. not to mention the fact that the stress makes her heart murmur worse, so I figured removing the stress of the pilling was going to add a few years its self. A few years ago she started acting a little off. Peeing outside the box, limping a little. just generally looking very pathetic. We took her to the vets and found out she had diabetes. I was devastated. However being a diabetic cat is not really a bad thing. Twice a day she gets an injection of insulin when she eats. However, because of her personality quirks (hiding when people come over, not liking other animals, and stress making her unhealthy) it pretty much means I am stuck at home unable to travel while I have her. To me, this is not a bad thing. Im not the traveling type of person. However the strange thing about Em is now that we have more kittens (or maybe its just cause she's getting older) she's no longer hiding to save her life when someone comes into the house. in fact, she's coming right out to see them. Our friends came over with their new baby, and that kinda threw her for a loop. Not to mention the others.. was ever so sweet. pictures at www.webwmn.com/kittens/21703 the picture of eli with the baby comes with the cutest story. the baby had just peed and leaked all over his mom's favorite pj's for him. she was cooing at him that he was a bad boy while she was changing him. Eli sauntered up, sat down next to him and reached out his paw to tap his head.. as if to tell him he was a bad boy. It was so sweet and cute that we were laughing like fools. Sunday, February 16
well things are pretty much status quo over here.. Kodi is getting more vocal when he gets lonely. Its getting harder and harder to visit him as I am doing laundry all the freakin time.. so now Im trying to change into the clothes I wore in last time to see him (cause he is contagious, and I wouldn't want to bring the germs out to the others) so now I feel I have to change to go in and see him.. Its just hard. Which of course means I spend more time in there when I go in to visit.. which sometimes is a good thing, some times he just wants me to get off of his couch so he can sleep. Last night we took a nap together.. it was SOOO sweet. Im thinking I need to talk to the shelter about finding him a new home. *sigh* I am so going to miss him. Everyone else is doing really well. Eli is starting to act like ollie a little too much *rolls eyes* The fun story of the day today though is the bath. My hubby decided to take a bath (he's sick and didn't want to stand up for a shower) They were absolutely enthralled.. Kept standing up and putting their paws on the side of the tub to see what he was doing. at one point he had three kitties standing there looking at him. The first kitty I owned used to like to get up on the tub and stand on my knees when I took a bath. He didn't like water much, but I guess he figured if I was there, he was going to be too. Which is a little odd as he wasn't what you would call a people kitty. I miss him. He used to sleep in the small of my back (under the covers) and if you were quick enough to hold him and rub his chin, he'd sit there for hours.. he also loved to chase sticks.. small victories were turning into bigger ones when he disappered. We had to let him be an outdoor kitty, as he spent most of his life outside before we found him at the shelter. One day he didn't come home. He was still quite healthy, and quite young. He just picked the wrong fight apparently. An indoor kitty is a happy kitty. they do NOT need to go outside.. trust me on this one. (well unless of course they have spent most of their life outside.. then they climb your curtians and howl at you till you let them out) |
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