Friday, December 31, 2010

Seven Cats Fixed Today

Below are the six Scio cats fixed today. The second photo is the only one of the six I know the sex of for sure. She's a girl. Among the other five are four boys and another girl.





This is the Hill St. male fixed today.

Seven more cats were fixed today thanks to Poppa Inc. Six came from Scio, in a contact off craisglist. They caught their own cats, all but one male, who eluded capture.

I felt guilty delivering to the vet as I did. I picked them up on the way from the folks, but on the ride down with them or up with me, they peed/pooped their carriers. I had no newspaper or paper towels along to change out the paper and clean their cages before taking them in. So I felt bad about that. I don't like doing that to a clinic.

The seventh cat fixed today was a big male from Hill street and the brother of another big male fixed last week or the week before. I believe all cats are now fixed in that little pod of cats that included three big males, a female and her one male kitten. With those three major males fixed, that neighborhood should be quieter.

One street away, directly across from the back of this house, I had taken in to be fixed a stray female teenager some people found walking up the street. And directly behind that house on the next street, I helped an old woman catch three teen boys, born to a stray tame mother she had already taken to be fixed.

She had described a big tabby on white male hanging out and a big white male too. Well, those boys were two of the ones fixed in this last effort two blocks away. In all, I've helped catch or take in nine cats to be fixed from that small area.

Six were fixed using Poppa Inc. funds. The three teen boys the old woman feeds, she paid for those to be fixed out of her pocket, being close to 90, on a fixed income, and ultra responsible. The abandoned mother cat had showed up with her kittens only a few weeks before. That's an amazing and smart woman. After I showed her how to trap, she also did the trapping. Boy, puts most of the young people I meet to complete shame.

The cats today were five males and two females.

In other news, I called to see how Shaggy was doing, and he came down with a horrible cold the day after he went to his new home, today!! I am embarrassed, but he had no sign of it yesterday, no eye drainage, no sneezing, nothing. I suppose he was about to come down with it, and the stress of change really let it all out. I will watch his brothers especially and the others. So far so good.

The only one with any drainage currently is Miss Daisy, who has had eye drainage since her dental procedure and she is so darn hard to medicate. I have to trick her into looking up, then drip the drops into her eyes. Dex got over her cold. And nobody else here has even been sneezing. I better get the antibiotics ready!

I keep watching Rainy, Forest's sister, still confined to the bathroom, for any sign of a bloated belly. Probably I watch her too closely, feel her belly, eye her carefully and suspiciously.

I know they say FIP isn't contagious, but that it outbreaks far more in shelters where litterboxes are shared. That is the way it is spread, they say, the enteric corona virus that precedes FIP. I don't understand it.

Forest never shared a litterbox with anyone but Turbo for a short time, and Rainy and Zuli. I soak their litterbox in clorox once weekly for an hour. I soak all the litterboxes and scoops weekly in clorox water.

I also was advised once by a vet that spraying the bottoms of the litterboxes and the litter scoops with PAM will help keep poop from sticking and therefore not as likely to remain and contaminate litter with viruses and bacteria, once scooped so I do this now too.

Well, I hope I'm not about to have a huge cold outbreak again here. They get over them though, like kids.

Here are recent photos of some of the cats here.Starry, Nemo's sis.
Starr, Teddy's sis.
Fantasia.
Echo.
Echo.

It's almost midnight and people are shooting off guns or firecrackers or both, scaring the cats. Whatever. This being Albany, people will probably celebrate by setting houses on fire. We have too many god damned arsonists in this town.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Goodbye Turbo!



Turbo also left today. He went to a home outside Creswell. Those folks also had adopted before from me. Actually it was from a one time fosterer, who fostered three berry vine kittens, found in rural Corvallis. They adopted one of the two males from Ann, the fosterer, who quit fostering after those three. She had named him Berry, although now his name is Magoo.

Now, Turbo will join Magoo, two dogs, and one other older cat. These are great people, too.

Turbo got lucky! So did I. Two adoptions in one day!

Shaggy Gets a Home




I was called this morning by a woman who adopted three cats from me about four years ago, including two of Cattyhop's siblings. Her roommate wanted to adopt a cat, she said, and could they come over.

These are great people and of course I wanted them to come over.

Shaggy just went home with his new owner! She couldn't decide between Dickens or Shaggy and finally settled on Shaggy, one of Sage's four boys.

Good luck, Shaggy!

In other news, Dex is still among the living and has been eating small amounts. I gave her over 500 cc of sub cu fluids yesterday and 200 so far today.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Kidney Failure in Cats

I've been reading up on kidney failure. There are usually no symptoms until end stage, which can precipitate suddenly, because a cat can function just fine on kidneys working only at 30%. But if a cat gets sick, and loses fluids through a cold, stressing the kidneys, the cats goes suddenly into end stage, which is what has happened to Dex.

There is no cure. Dex's BUN readings are so high, I doubt she will make it long.

Diets for CRF usually are low protein, low sodium and include fermentable fiber. The problem is the kidneys regulate potassium and phosphorus. Cats in renal failure can have too much or too little potassium, usually the latter, and high phosphorus levels, which is in most common meats in cat food. The least objective protein, I read on one site, is egg whites.

Dex is beyond all this. She won't eat and probably will not survive more than a few days, if that. I read there is no real suffering in end stage renal failure, just feeling ill, maybe nauseated.

Her vomiting foamy white liquid, as she did for three days prior to yesterday, is another sign of renal failure. I did not know that but now I do.

One of those two things, potassium or phosphorus, can't remember which now, regulate calicium or something. Anyhow, the bones, in renal failure, get sucked of their calcium, to keep blood levels up, when something is too low. (I'm fuzzy over what I just read) I feel Dex has had that happen, as her bones suddenly do not feel like they carry the density they did even as recently as two weeks ago.

Contributing factors to renal failure in cats are: dental disease, high blood pressure, high sodium intake, genetics, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, (common in older cats and now linked, or thought to be, in some cases, to eating too much mercury containing fish), and there were some other causes listed.

Old age was also listed as a factor.

Four Cats Fixed Yesterday

Besides taking up Dex yesterday, four more cats were fixed. Three came from Lebanon, all from the Attic Cats Colony, and the fourth was an Albany girl.Miss Kitty, Albany female fixed yesterday.
Two former Attic Cat bottles babes, now tame, both black and a feral gray tabby tux male kitten, caught by the caretaker earlier this week.These two girls were two of five bottle babes born to a black mother cat in an attic. The caretakers had them confined, all but one, whom I caught with a net, that is. Poppa's president took the other three from that litter, plus five others, and the caretakers' grand daughter adopted these two, one medium hair, one short hair, both girls.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Never Ending Rain

The rain has been pouring down here for what seems like days. It is never ending. The drive to the clinic was a nightmare. People speed even when it is completely unsafe to do so and their behavior puts others in danger. And they tailgate too.

It was difficult to see driving, with water everywhere, coming down and being blown up in mists by car and truck tires. The drive became surreal this evening in the dark. Still the speeders, roaring by at 80 plus mph, weaving in and out with outraged looks. What idiots.

My backyard standing water flood zone is close to flooding the garage. I don't want to even look under the house. So I won't. Water everywhere. As it came down today in sheets I could imagine people desperate to find high ground to stand on, with water everywhere else, as far as the eye could see.

I'm cranky tonight. The stress over Dex has gotten to me. My younger brother and his family were to fly off to a wedding today, back east. They're not staying long. Maybe it was yesterday they left. Or even the day before.

I wonder if they even made it, with storms back there backing up flight traffic nationwide. My brother got sick, came down with a terrible cold. He was trying to beat it, so he could enjoy his small vacation. He doesn't get to go off like this by plane very often, almost never, even if its for a very short time. I felt bad for him, catching a cold at the wrong time, a bad cold sounded like.

I guess I'm also upset over the woman killing all her cats like that, not really trying to place them, knowing for so long she'd be moving, letting it slide and the cost to those cats. Guess it is unfathomable to me, that kind of procrastination. She let them breed to begin with. Over half were not even a year old yet, off spring of a mother cat, now dead too.

I just want to sob tonight, like the heavens are sobbing, with the rain pouring out of the crying sky.

Maybe the sky is crying over those cats. If there is a god, the sadness of this world must get to such a force. You make something, and it turns out trashy and cruel, what do you do? You cry or you get angry or both.

I bet a lot of parents cry over how their kids turn out. Maybe they don't. Maybe the parents of theives, molestors, spouse and kid beaters and killers are just like them.

Dex is a sweetheart. She's had a good fun loving life since she came to me.

We all die in the end.

The sun was out there shining today if you could possibly see it, which we couldn't here, through all the damn rain and clouds. It was still there, shining away, unnoticed.

You just have to know its there, and look up, through the pounding rain, and smile.

This universe is terribly huge and black and empty. Don't think too much about that.

Dex

Update: So Dex is in kidney failure. The two tests done, on BUN and Creatine were unmistakable, but they ran them twice, not charging me for the second time. She might not live 48 hours, the vet said. Then again, she might live for months. I brought her home. I love her.

.........

So, the pus and blood from Dex's mouth is from mouth ulcers, one under her tongue, two at the back of her throat. She had some bad teeth, the little ones up front. She is dehydrated. They pulled the four loose teeth although two just fell out.

They gave her a long term antibiotic injection and are doing two screens to see if she is in kidney failure. The differential diagnoses are: calici, kidney failure or stomatitis.

I thought of a fourth after I hung up and called back asking they check her lower jaw, to be sure it isn't broken. Trauma to front teeth, some ulcers, she could have fallen, just like Electra did, bammed her lower jaw and had it pop apart, knocked those little front teeth loose and bitten her tongue in the process. I don't think that is what happened, but while she is still under anesthesia, I wanted them to check, since you can't tell if it's loose, that front joint, unless they're out.

Electra quit eating and drinking and lost weight when she broke her lower jaw. She had dirt ground into her chin. I thought it was flea dirt, with my bad eyes, but she had fallen out in the cat yard, grounding out in the dirt with her lower jaw.

She didn't break teeth or bite her tongue, but that could have happened. Anyhow, I doubt that is what is wrong with Dex. I also asked if, instead of calici, it could be chlamydia.

The vet is going to look that up to see if the ulcers might be consistent with chlamydia. She's an old cat and I do worry she's going into kidney failure.

But all this was rather sudden onset. She sleeps next to me and I've usually got an arm around or across her. I began to notice weight loss about two weeks ago. I think it's far more likely this is all related to whatever virus or bacteria she's got going.

The bill will be very high. But she's alive.

I keep thinking I should fliter all the water here. Somebody in Lebanon had a cat with recurring stomatitis and mouth issues, and healed the cat by eliminating chlorinated drinking water. Whenever the cat drank chlorinated water again, the stomatitis would come back.

You get old, shit happens. Whether you be cat or human.

Not much any of us can do about it.

Nowhere Cats of Albany

I know a woman who takes care of strays in Albany. She and her husband divorced however. She'd taken a job in WA D.C. and her husband has now left the Albany house. She is back briefly in Albany, to get the house ready to sell, and care for all those cats, about 25, some of whom I took in to be fixed, but she now lives officially in WA state. She won't abandon those cats and is working to find them homes.

However, her neighbor was foreclosed upon. She has ten inside cats. She did not find them homes, and the house was just bought at auction. The cats will be euthanized today or tomorrow, the neighbor just told me.

I think she called thinking I'd have a last second solution. I don't. I wish I did. I've not seen any ads for the cats. I asked why she hasn't been trying hard to find them homes. "Denial," the neighbor thinks. She thinks she thought til the end she could take them with her to wherever she is going.

I can't take in ten adult cats. She calls seven of them kittens, the neighbor tells me, although they are almost a year old. I guess Heartland agreed to take in one. That's something because they officially don't take in Linn County cats. Safehaven couldn't take in any of them.

The neighbor called, very sad for those walking dead cats, next door. The cats don't know they're about to die.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Dex is in Trouble






I thought it was just a cold that had her down looking a little over a week ago, sneezing, and then some snot and a lot of snarfling. The other cats had gotten colds and gotten over them. But then three days ago, the snot turned green and I began her on antibiotics. She was losing weight, had stopped eating, and was coughing up just foamy white liquid.

I began her on sub cu fluids, and some food by mouth with a syringe. Then, this a.m., suddenly, mid morning, right before Matilda's adopter arrived, sudden massive drainage of pus some of it bloody, from her mouth. It's quite possible an abscess broke open. I hope that's what happened, because there are worse things it could be. She's going to the vet tomorrow of course.

She is exceedingly defensive of the right side of her mouth.

I hope I don't lose her.

Goodbye Matilda

Matilda left this morning to her new home. As I carried her out to the car in her new owner's carrier she frantically scratched at the front. The guilt set in.

Seems like a great home, retired couple, lots of room, indoor only, probably a pampered cat she'll be. I always worry and feel guilty.

She occupied my spare bedroom for the last couple of days in preparation, much to the chagrine of the other cats here who were ousted, creating some havoc.

I trimmed the long hair beneath her tail. I cleaned her ears and wormed her and fussed over her.

She's a middle aged girl now, so it was spectacular to find her a home, but it is more traumatic on older cats to leave. She has stayed to herself, spending most of her time in the cat yard and garage room to avoid my drama kings and queens, and attention whores and hissy spitties in the house.

Zach immediately latched onto new blood entering our abode, like the attention seeker he is. "Look at me. I am the best," he seemed to say as he pushed in front of Matilda's new woman imapatiently. He barged through her legs into the spare bedroom and there flopped aside Matilda. "I'm the one. I'm beautiful," he tried to say, with his obvious aggressive charm.

She said, "Is Zach up for adoption?"

"Why yes," I said perhaps too eagerly, "he is. But, he wouldn't be happy as an only cat. He likes the kittens, especially those two girls," and I flung my hand out to point out The Quirkies, who darted into view right on cue.

She was set on Matilda, the quiet fluffy girl from Lebanon, left behind, like so many are, by the flit brains who live there by the score.

Matilda has gone through too much and for her to have a chance at attention, being made over, and loved, that is awesome. I took the chance because the woman seems like a spectacular candidate, a lovely soul, a perfect match.

I met Matilda after an old woman, very eccentric, wrote a letter to the Corvallis paper, pleading for help with strays she fed. The Corvallis paper editor forwarded me the letter and asked if I could possibly help. I went over intending to only get them fixed. The woman's house was a slum, and also crammed wall to wall and ceiling to floor with junk and possessions. The manager/owner routinely changes her name, unofficially, to avoid, well I don't know what and don't want to know.

A Christian neighbor who plays in a church band had offered to kill the cats with a shovel. Another young man wandered in wanting to kill them also, for sport. The old woman was beside herself in worry and rightfully so, but she was kind of hard to deal with herself. I finally stuffed all 12 into my car. Good thing, too. The old woman died a year later.

There's not much most people care about, and a little stray huddled on a porch isn't high pri for most of the "Me" people, bent on feeding their sorrows and addictions, defending their helplessness, and who cannot see their salvation might lie in just the opposite, looking outside of themselves and their needs.

I found homes for most of the 12 after they were fixed but stalled out on Matilda, Tugs and Mums. Tugs and Mums are still here. Matilda just left for her next stage in life. I hope it works out for her and her new people. It can take some adjustment time and I do love finding more mature people who understand that.

If it doesn't work, she'll be back and that's just fine. I hope it does work out though. She wanted the love, you see, and the attention whores here, make it harder on the quieter cats to get what they want.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Matilda Leaving Tomorrow


I don't know if I mentioned I had an adoption interest in Matilda. They love her looks and Norwegian Forest cat backgrounding. They don't mind she might be shy of them at first either.

They're a retired couple and really nice. They'll be driving over tomorrow.

It's been a blessing to find really great patient mature people for Stinod and now Matilda. Both girls really wanted lots of human attention. Both stayed to themselves mostly in the cat yard and garage room to avoid the trouble makers, the bullies, the attention whores, and the hyper energetic teens inside.

And it's them, like a miracle, for whom I've had the recent adoption contacts.

It is so nice to get adoptors who have attention spans and character.

My own cat, Dex, who is elderly, came down with a cold. Many cats did here and all are now over it except Dex, who suffers from chronic herpes, which can inflame the lungs, scar them and make it difficult to get over a cold.

She has struggled the last week. She's on antibiotics, sub qu fluids and goes into the steam room twice a day. This week, tomorrow or Tuesday, she will be off to the vet. Being elderly alone makes it tough to get over some things. Having had chronic herpes outbreaks for over a decade only makes matters worse. She's a tough old gal.

I met her first at the home of a Corvallis woman with over 120 cats. She had rescued her somewhere in Dallas. She then moved to Fall City when the city of Corvallis told her to give up her cats or leave with them. She left with all of them. A young couple I did not know, living in very rural Philomath organized a rescue of some 60 of her cats, when she again found herself without a home, after eviction in Fall City. They knew her some how from way back.

However, that young couple were bogus rescuers and were not paying their landlord rent, and left Dex behind when they very suddenly decided to vamoos the property they had "squatted" upon.

I had become aware of their characters, was concerned they would leave animals behind, and drove out there to check. They had come back for some of their things. Dex had been closed inside the house for three days without food and water, they said. They had found her hiding beneath the water heater and slipped a rope around her neck in a slip knot and drug her out. That's when I walked in, to that scene--them pulling on that rope, her at the other end of it, choking to death and desperate.

I didn't say anything except "She's coming with me."

I picked her up, put her in a carrier, and left. She's been with me ever since as one of mine. She is to this day terrified of being in a room with a closed door.

I stopped next door, and tried to get the landlords' brother, who happens to be an animal control officer, to get them charged with neglect, abandonment and animal abuse. I wanted to show him the wound on Dex's neck, from those people dragging her with the rope. Instead, he made a noxious comment about my car. I'd just got the Scion. I drove off in disgust.

That couple also left mounds upon mounds of trash behind. They left chickens behind locked in a coop, only one of whom was still alive, when I was told about it, went up and put the survivor, a rooster, into a carrier and took him home. He was a really happy rooster. The Farm Sanctuary took him in. They left their own cat behind too. I wandered those forests up there for two days trying to find him and in the end, concluded a predator killed him.

The couple tried to make it up to me later, left me a pallet of broken bag cat food and litter, which I appreciated. They were young, had had hard lives already themselves, and you make lots of mistakes along the road, I know. I hope they're doing ok, wherever they ended up. Last I heard, they were living somewhere in the Portland area.

These poor cats go through so many horrors.

Isn't This Just Fricking Pathetic?

Forgetting how their countrymen starve and freeze and their nation is a wreck, in sheeplike duty to a pampered sheltered wealthy leader, these N. Korean soldiers stand like machines, like brainless zombies, like beaten dogs, pounding their chests about mercilessly firing artillery at S. Korea and their desire to fight more.

Singing a military song together. Wow. Communism is great, isn't it? You have so many choices of what to do with your life. Let's see, suffer endless starvation, gather leftover coal fallen off trucks to keep warm, or become a machine part, allowed no independent action or thought, in a war machine there only to glorify some fat little strange leader with many issues. Don't you just love communism!!!! No, I don't.

Here's a clip out of the unbelievably pathetic story of N. Korean soldiers proud to kill:

"A soldier whose uniform was full of military decorations expressed his loyalty to Kim Jong Il.

"Facing the enemy's provocation, we shouted, 'Let's dedicate our lives to fighting the enemy and giving them a merciless death for our dear leader and supreme military commander,'" Kim Kyong Su said.

Their speeches constantly drew applause from the audience — mostly uniformed soldiers who spoke separately and vowed to get tougher with South Korea. They all later sang a military song together"

Merry Day After Christmas Everybody

I hope everybody had a great Christmas!

I did.

I had news the day after Forest died that Hummel, one of the 8 kittens from the Attic Cats colony outside Lebanon tested positive for Leukemia. She was the loner kitten, the caretakers called her, and they were not sure who her mother was and claimed he siblings had been killed by their own dogs, when small. They caught her coming out of their attic and caged her.

She went with seven others, including two bottle babes born to a black female, up to Poppa Inc's president. A woman in a trailer park then fostered them until they came down with colds and K retrieved them. They have been on antibiotics and were to be spayed last Friday. However, the vet thought they should all have ten more days on clavimox. HOwever, all were tested. All tested negative except Hummel, who has been seperated from the rest since arriving, since she did not seem particularly attached to them.

Whether it was a false positive, which are common, or not, I haven't heard anything more except for she was positive in a blood test. They were going to spin the blood and test the serum, a much more accurate test for antibodies formed in the blood to combat the Felk virus.

Feline Leukemia is a sexually transmitted disease for the most part, although it is also spread in fighting and from mother to kittens. Casual contact spread can happen although I've never seen it spread in this fashion. It is easier spread than FIV.

My opinion of Felk changed when I trapped a large Harrisburg colony of about 70 cats. When some came up Felk positive, a woman with a scientific mind and desire for knowledge on this disease, paid for the rest to be tested. Of 70 cats living side by side, eating and drinking and sleeping together, grooming each other, sometimes fighting and breeding (until they were all fixed), 11 tested positive and all right down family lines--mothers and their offspring and two big males.

The most common outward signs of Felk are adult cats who look like teenagers (small and immature in size and growth), white gums, from the anemia it causes, and chronic diarrhea. If a positive cat is inadvertantly spayed, without testing, what I've seen is the immune depression caused by the spay, kills them from the Felk within a few months. The most common tumors I've seen post spay in a positive cat, reported by caregivers, as causing death, were intraocular tumors.

Harrisburg is a Felk hotspot just as Adair is a FIV hotspot. Monroe has also seen large numbers of Felk positive cats. Heartland I believe used to map the locations of Felk and FIV positive cats that ended up there. It's good to know where the hotspots are. They also coincide with areas where spay neuter rates are low.

Hummel appears more healthy than the other seven, had not caught the cold they had. The news was devastating to K, but, she hopes The House of Dreams might take her, if she is actually positive.

So, the second test, just found out, came back negative. So the company who does the blood serum tests, Idex, wants her tested again, for their own research on the accuracy of their tests compared to the snap tests or something. It will be negative. There are too many bad snap test results out there producing false positives.

Just as I was writing this about Hummel, who calls up here, but the daughter of the Attic Cats colony older couple. She says her father trapped another in the barn, but didn't mention it to anyone and fed the teen in the trap for two days before mentioning it to his wife, who made him bring the trapped teen into the utility room where it got loose.

So I was going to go out and net the teen and bring it here, get it fixed, before taking it back, but I guess the woman is worn out and emotional, from Christmas and doing so much over the holidays, needs to sleep and I'll get the kitten tomorrow, from her daughter. The daughter's adult daughter has two of the bottle babes, both girls, who now need fixed also.

Some colonies get fixed over time, as the caretakers can deal with it and this is going to be one of those colonies, I think. The daughter isn't going to help them in the trapping, and I feel for that older couple, and would like to get out there, when they're up to it, and get it done once and for all.

Speaking of which, I saw Twister when I was up there getting my carrier. Twister is from over on Clover Ridge and tested FIV positive. That was a few years back, almost four years back. He doesn't look at all like a positive cat either. Keni doesn't think he ever was. We're going to try to get him retested too. I think they shouldn't charge the massive fees when a test is bad and produces a false positive. I wonder if there are just as many false negatives. I wonder if the tests are any good at all sometimes.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Best Christmas Ever!

I had the best Christmas Eve ever I think. Jim and Jane from Corvallis, who adopted Whisper Willow from Spicer Drive and two of Mom of Machi's girls, from the Lebanon trailer park, arrived with cat food this morning. They also brought some other food, like spaghetti sauce and noodles, chips, dried mangos, some socks, and some sandals, the Velcro fastening kind Jane got for herself but they didn't work for her. They sure work for me.

I wore them then, to the movie they took me to, in Corvallis. True Grit. It was a great remake of the old classic. Jeff Bridges was born to play Rooster Cogburn, the grumpy soggy old curmudgeon bounty hunter.

It was really a warm feeling, just to be invited, included, to go with someone, to a movie. It was wonderful.

They returned me to Albany. I had chores to run. I had received a notice of a package at the Post Office. I went down, only to find it had closed today at noon.

After all this, as if this wasn't a great enough day already, I had a party to attend. The Mormon sisters called me last night to invite me to their home. I've always called them that, the Mormon sisters, and they don't seem to mind. They're Mormons and they're sisters, so the nickname works.

I know the Mormon sisters from way back, all through cats, first in Jefferson, then in two different Albany houses where they lived. They own a house now. I love those sisters like my own family even though we really don't see one another often. In fact, it's been a long time since we spent much time conversing and when we do, most of the time it's laughing and joking.

Tonight was no different. Lots of laughing. Another of their sisters was there, with her husband and one son, now a dentist. And their mother was there. We had a blast, ate some great food, potato tortillas, but there's a Swedish name for them, which I cannot remember. Luftsa? Probably not.

I conked out quickly, being worn out, from yesterday's trauma and my cold, while the rest put on hats that play Christmas carols while the pointed top dances around. I was groggy with sleep, flopped over on the couch with the pleasant background of family chatter, of who did this or went there, of recalling memories of Christmas past and old movies watched.

Later, once awake again, I put on one of these dancing singing Santa hats myself, to much laughter. They had party glasses, made of paper, each with different lenses, the sisters got once, some time ago, at Jerrys. The glasses, when you put them on and look through the plastic lens, turn lights into, for one thing, snowmen. Another pair turned any lights into angels with trumpets. There were six different pair to try on.

We were going to play games too, but I was about to drop on my feet. They even had a gift sack for me, full of such things as a Hostess Lemon Fruit Pie, a Mountain House freeze dried ice cream bar and Bacon flavored tooth picks! I'm going to put that freeze dried ice cream bar under the seat of my car (in case of emergency). Ha! I told the sisters they should become party planners.

I had a great Christmas Eve. I've had a great Christmas. I've got a few lights up. I have my card pole again. I love this time of year.

I am now set for shoes. Thanks to a complete stranger who sent me an e-certificate from Zappos. I tried several pair, of varying sizes. Some were too small, some too big. Then I got this pair of very wonderful boot shoes, like hiking tennis shoes, sort of. Beautiful and well made. I kept them here trying them out, not sure if they would work or not and now I've settled into them and love them and they like my feet too. They're unbelievable! It's great to have a pair of shoes that fit and are in good shape.

Not only that, but an old friend, one I haven't seen in years, who adopted Samson from me, years ago, sent me a box of goodies, including some slippers that are so cozy to my feet. Samson is no longer with her. She split with her man and her man took Samson with him, because he loved Samson, a handsome Siamese. Samson was one of 27 cats I removed from a horrid trailer in Lebanon. There were piles of cat shit three feet deep in places, and just going into that trailer would make ones face start to sting from ammonia. One night, before I had to have surgery on my abdomen, for large cysts, and it was unknown if they were cancer or not, I went over there and shoveled out the largest pile of cat shit, encasing the legs of chairs and the wires of a stereo blasting Christian rock music. The trailer's occupant, a seriously mentally ill man, stood behind me, not helping, but preaching the word of god. I knew nobody else was going to do that for him, and I was worried I might have cancer or die in surgery, so this was the time to get that done.

It was worth it. I burned my clothes and shoes afterwards. Later, the Mormon sisters became inexplicitly linked to the nurse who adopted Samson. They had moved to Albany and wanted me to come see a stray they were feeding. Low and behold it was Shyly, another of the Lebanon collector cats, a hairy shy sweet Himilayan female. She was adopted, once out of that trailer, to a young couple, who lived next door. Only then, the Mormon sisters didn't live next to the young couple. They lived in Jefferson. But then moved to Albany.

The young couple got divorced and abandoned Shyly. The new neighbors, the Mormon sisters, took to feeding her. I took Shyly back in. Later on, she got a home in Arizona but I had no way to get her there. Samson's owner, the nurse, had a father living in Arizona she was about to visit. She volunteered to transport Shyly, in style, in the cabin, to her new Arizona home. Sometimes things seem like more than coincidence. Samson and Shyly are old cats now.

That nurse and I became friends. So now, this Christmas, she sent me slippers for my feet.

And I have the Jane sandals now too, that are super! I love them.

I'm set for shoes, and all, ultimately, because of cats. How's that for a story!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

R.I.P. Forest is Gone

Forest's insides were a mess. Her intestines were knotted together in adhesions, the vet said. When touched, the outer layers would crack and the rest was mush. Forest had FIP.

FIP results from a mutated corona virus. The disease is still a mystery since most cats shed the corona virus but never get symptoms of FIP.

Forest had the wet form.

Whether her siblings will or won't come down with it, there is no way to know. Some think there is a genetic component to susceptibility to the mutated corona.

The vet read all sorts of things, after I asked him if I should keep them seperate as they have been, or how long if they might come down with it, until they would. In the end, he said, there's nothing you can do to protect them or to even know if they will or won't, except just keep the stress low for the cats. There's nothing else you can do. It's a big mystery. One cat will get it while one who has shared space, grooming, food and water, won't get it.

He lamented there's no way to really test for FIP and it causes severe suffering, like Forest went through and you never really know it's FIP and that a cats insides are falling apart. He also said he sees so many kittens and cats die of pancreatitis, like Toby did, and wonders why and wishes that could be tested for or prevented too since it too is so painful on little kittens.

I had a hard day.

If this news wasn't enough, while I awaited news on Forest at the rest area, my car failed to restart, battery drained for some reason. I'd had the lights on, but only for twenty minutes or so.

Finally, a guy comes by. I have the hood up and am cleaning the battery terminals, which did have some corrosive buildup. He is a mechanic travelling down from Seattle to Eugene for Christmas and had jumper cables and like an angel. The rest area, where I was at, was actually vacant of other vehicles and I was not sure exacly what I was going to do. I'd called my Albany tow truck friends, who of course couldn't come that far, and my brother, on his way to central Oregon for Christmas. They could only offer advice and hope I found a way out of my broken car dilemma.

After the young good samaritan jump started my car, I then had the battery fully charged at Les Schwab in Wilsonville, and they did not charge me to do it. I hope the charge holds. It's been chirping badly every morning.

The nice guy who jumped my car said I should have two different pulleys and the alternator belt changed. One pulley is called the tension pulley and I cannot remember the name of the other one. They were shrieking and chirping there at the rest area, just after I got it started.

I thought Forest would be Felk positive from the beginning. Something about her eyes, like they'd roll up, the pupils, or to the side, almost independently of each other. They had a glazed look, like the pupil seemed distant inside or something. I think I have a picture I took of her when she first came her that sort of shows what I mean about the eyes. I have associated that look with Felk, but she tested negative. I do have the photo. See what I mean about her eyes.

I loved Forest. I knew from the start she was struggling. She just pounced on food like she was starving to death. Yet she did not play like her siblings, and had a hoarse meow. She never grew much while her siblings did. Last night with that massive belly bulging and her in obvious pain, I laid with her. If I'd had the money, I would have taken her to be euthanized at an emergency clinic but I didn't have the cash on hand. I thought it would turn out to be a twisted or telescoped intestine. Although she struggled here, she was never sick. She did not have diarrhea. She did not have eye drainage or sneezing. I had always thought with FIP, a cat or kitten first had enteritis, exhibited in diarrhea.

However, in thinking back, I believe she had some very blackish loose stools, which can mean intestinal bleeding. I am also concerned about one sibling, her sister, who had the same look to her when she came, the same eyes, something about them. She will not be leaving isolation and my eyes on her now. But she is growing, her hair is returning from the ringworm. She has normal stools and no bloated out belly. At least, not now.

I washed everything again. Soaked food and water dishes in clorox. Litterbox and litter scoop too. I know what they say but I can't help myself. I changed all their bedding and washed the old in hot water with clorox added. I can't stop thinking about what if the other two kittens get it. Or even Zuli, the Siamese, from the same place, who has been in there with them. I can't stop thinking that and horribly little Forest suffered.

I think about her eyes, how I know deep down from the start there was something wrong with her because of her eyes. And I think if a necropsy was done, it would show eye involvement in some way and maybe just maybe that would be the key to finding a test or some sign, by looking in the eyes.

And what if it's also related somehow to fungi? Can fungi combine with viruses or mutate them?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Forest's Future

Tonight Forest has blue on the inside of her rectum. I thought "I wonder if it's getting no blood, like twisted off somewhere." But, when I searched that symptom online the only suggestion that came up was prolapsed rectum, which is likely what I'm seeing, but it is only slight.

The number one cause for that in kittens is straining due to parasites.

Back to square one. She isn't eating now she is so bloated out. She still has no temperature.

I don't why if it is parasites the normal strongid and droncit aren't killing the worms.

I've also been giving her catlax and butter because I could feel a massive amount of stool in her, even through all that fluid buildup. Last night, she pooped out like a little log! I mean it was huge, for a kitten and I think there's lots more where that came from.

I keep wondering if she's terribly backed up, from eating so much so fast all the time.

She is returning to the vet tomorrow. She was going today but I way overslept.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Five Cats Fixed Today

Five cats were fixed today, courtesy of Poppa Inc. Three were from Albany and two were from Lebanon. Two were girls and three were boys.

This adult manx female, Tuesday, has had many litters. Now this Albany female is fixed.
Tofuy, tabby on white male kitten from Albany fixed today.
Bully, a black on white male kitten, fixed today from Albany.
This black male hails from Lebanon and was fixed today.
This calico from Lebanon was also fixed today.

While the cats were being fixed, I went to Keni's to pick up my carrier. She has had it since the woman who took in the Stayton trailer park sick kitten took her from me in my carrier. Later she took the carrier to Keni's and I had not been able to connect to pick it up until today. Cassie, the trailer park kitten, found in Aumsville on cemetery road, fortunately before the tornado hit there, is doing just fine.

She asked me to take photos of the Lebanon attic cat colony kittens, about to be fixed, for the website of the adoption group she works with. They had been fostered by someone at a trailer park for Keni, by someone there she'd helped with cats. Then they had to come back and they were sick, so they had to get over colds before they could be fixed. There were 8 kittens I took up when Keni offered, from the Attic Cat Lebanon colony. Six of those 8 are females. Three of them were just bottle babes. Like Tiny, a slightly ugly bottle babe (see photo I took of her just after rescue, below).


Now look at her photo taken today:

Then there was the kitten they called Possum, below, a photo I took when I took her in, and immediately up to Portland:
And here she is now:

This is a huge cat rescued in Vernonia. Keni is keeping him. He is huge. She named him Vernon. He's also a gentle giant.


Nickel, the declawed starving male found in the Stayton trailer park, still ravenously consuming any food put in front of him, but doing very very well.
Another of the Attic Cat Lebanon bottle babe girls, now grown into a big kitten, to be spayed tomorrow. This girl is so super tame she wants to be in your arms constantly. She's a lover!

This is Charlie, one of the three Attic Cat kitten boys.

Monday, December 20, 2010

More Fallout from Paper Mill Closure

Click the post title to read about the Millersburg store closing. I liked that store. I liked stopping in there, on my way or way back from wherever. The employees were friendly and the store had a neighborly charm to it.

Guess it had to close after the paper mill got closed. I think the paper mill got bought so the company who bought it could close it. That's just my feeling. I don't really know. The store business was mostly mill employees.

I get nervous sometimes if I think about how bad the Oregon economy is. On 60 Minutes last night one segment interviewed governors and somebody in government in Illinois. He called their state the dead beat state because those owed by the state for services rendered often don't get paid for a long long time.

Another lady whistle blew on 60 Minutes last night a warning on the municipal and state bond market, that it is going to crash within a year and to watch out.

However, the companies that rate securities say the municipal and state bonds are just fine as investments and perfectly sound. They're the same ratings companies who grade A rated those crappy bundled mortgages so I don't believe a word they say.

Most of the segment was governors talking about public employee unions and pensions being outrageous and what to do about it. They interviewed that NJ governor, who is trying to get on top of their deficit.

I get nervous to think about it, hearing the bad news all over the world. I think about how hard my brothers struggle to find and keep work now. Then I think about how resilient humans have been in our evolement. We'll make it through.

We're living in on the edge financial times. Save your money, is all I can say, and hope for the best.

Name This Kitten





Scraggles used to be his name. I gave him that name because he was so pathetic and scraggley with ringworm when he came here. But it no longer suits him at all.

He needs a new name. Suggestions?

Sick

I came down with an extreme cold two days ago. It was not sudden onset. I could feel it coming, and I could feel the sting of something going on in my lower sinuses, through the roof of my mouth. Before that, even my upper teeth hurt and I had strange aches and pains throughout my body.

I haven't had a cold in a long time. I'd forgotten the pre symptoms. Yesterday, I was miserable, head stuffed up, facial nerves inflamed and painful from open mouth breathing, dripping nose, sneezing. I used my neti pot repeatedly and resorted to NyQuil for sleep last night. I got so cold during the day, then I'd be too warm.

I've been worried about Forest. She wants to live. I remembered how she trembled so, when I took her to the vet last week. She was so scared. I took her out of the carrier to hold her and reassure her. I don't want her to die.

I sat with her in the bathroom late into last night. She laid on my lap, belly up, happy as a clam to be cuddled so. She is over her ringworm. So is Scraggles who will be renamed soon, and so is Zuli. I think Rainy is too, but needs to grow her hair back to look like the sweet little girl she is inside.

I have decided Forest will be spayed. If her problem is a heart so bad she can't pump blood back up from her extremeties, she will die under anesthesia. If her belly is full of blood, from a ruptured vessel, I'll hope they can find it and cauterize it off and I'll pay for that some way. If they think the fluid in her belly is consistent with FIP fluid, I'll ask they euthanize her under anesthesia, so she'll never wake up.

I have an adoption interest in Matilda, clear from the coast, and am crossing my fingers. Matilda would love a home. I am concerned she might behave too shy at first, since I don't get many humans in here to interact. I told them that. If they want to work with her, and she comes around quickly, that'd be great. If they don't, well, I understand that too. She's a gorgeous cat. Lots of hair, that's for sure.

Stinod is doing ok in her new home. They said the first night, they heard some bumping around, like she was feeling out the room she was in. She hides a lot, they said, but comes out to be brushed and rolls around in ecstasy when they brush her. I am so happy about her getting such a good home.

Forest Getting Worse

Forest's belly is getting bigger and bigger. She will die a horrible death if it isn't drained or if she isn't euthanized. I do not know why fluid is building like that. She could have a ruptured blood vessel. FIP maybe. Could be heart is worse than thought. Maybe her bladder or kidneys aren't functioning right. Is a blockage cutting off something, rupturing something?

I don't think it is parasites, but I tape wormed her tonight with a different tape wormer, just in case. I have to take her to the vet again. She's so uncomfortable I can barely even stand to watch her.

However, I had other kittens, full of round worms, who looked just like that too. One of them was Shaulin. She looked full term pregnant. Took her belly two months to recede.

She acts horribly hungry all the time, just jumps on food, which is consistent with worms. Her backbone is prominent like she is absorbing no nutrients and her belly just hangs off her backbone, huge. I have never seen anything like this, which makes me worry about FIP because I've never encountered a wet FIP cat or kitten yet. You would think I would have by now, but I haven't. You would think if she has wet FIP, as a tiny kitten, she'd be dead by now too.

I'm taking her in. I'm going to tell them to spay her and while she's open to find out what the fuck that fluid is. FIP fluid is thick and yellowish I'm told and stinky and they'd know. If she's leaking blood from some ruptured blood vessel, maybe they could find that and cauterize it. I've had kittens I took to the vet for people with abdomens full of blood from just the wrong fall, and a blood vessel ruptured. Her heart murmur is either causing this fluid buildup or because of it. All that pressure against the heart from that belly has to be hard on it.

But there's the second thing, her enormous insatiable appetite and prominent backbone--she's absorbing nothing! That takes me right back to thinking parasites are eating her food and they're parasites normal wormer isn't killing. She's frantic for food. What if I withheld food. If she has parasites, I'm withholding their food too. You know what that means. They'll jump on wormer like a starved college student on a pizza and maybe it'd be more effective.

Either way, she's going to the vet tomorrow. She's going to die from all that gut pressure on her heart.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

New York City Shelters Atrocious. Cash Flushed ASPCA sits a Few Blocks from Atrocious High Kill Shelter

People are up in arms over it, and should be. The ASPCA does I don't know what, actually, except rake in millions by sending out poignant fundraising letters. Just like the HSUS. And just like the HSUS, their CEO and many managers rake in huge salaries. Meanwhile, a public animal control shelter nearby kills healthy animals by the dead animal bucket load, claims a budget shortfall and they're all doing shit at their jobs. None of them are working for the animals proactively, by going out and preventing unwanted animals to begin with. Get off your fucking butts, New Yorkers, and think progressively. Think like Poppa Inc. thinks. Prevent these unwanted animals from ever being born in the first place, to suffer so and die.

And ASPCA, shame on you for your greed and uselessness.

One of the e-mail forwards is below:

Many of you are having trouble getting through

to the ASPCA. Use this number or email.

Ed will get the message.


Media Inquiries:
(212) 876-7700, ext. 4655, press@aspca.org


____________________________________________________

ASPCA Revenue $127,871,245*
NYCACC Budget Gap $1.5,000,000

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

Allegations of animal abuse video at New York Animal Control shelters here.


ASPCA I ask you to close the

NYCACC budget gap now or get out of NYC!



How is it possible that in the richest city in the world, the richest Humane Society in the world (ASPCA) can take in an INCREDIBLE $127,871,245* in one year and not bail out the ACC????

How is it possible that the ASPCA – headquartered mere blocks from the largest kill shelter east of the Rockies – where the atrocities exposed in these videos exist daily – can not come up with the mere $1.5 million needed to close the budget gap!

Investigatioin video into euthanasia at NYC shelters here.

ASPCA I ask you to close the ACC budget cut
now or get out of NYC!

If you agree with me call or email the ASPCA now!
Call Ed Sayers, CEO of the ASPCA ($473,988 yearly salary**) now and tell him:

CLOSE THE NYCACC BUDGET GAP NOW OR GET OUT OF NYC!

In NYC: (212) 876-7700
development@aspca.org

CROSS POST TO THE WORLD!


*American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Income Statement (FYE 12/2008)
Revenue


Primary Revenue--$123,692,752
Other Revenue--$4,178,493
Total Revenue--$127,871,245

Expenses
Program Expenses---$72,512,134
Administrative Expenses--$1,972,838
Fundraising Expenses--$19,179,510

Total Functional Expenses--$93,664,482
Payments to Affiliates==$0

Excess (or Deficit) for the year--$34,206,763
Net Assets--$119,207,201
**Leadership (FYE 12/2008)
Name
Title
Compensation
% of Expenses
Edwin J. Sayres--President
$473,998
0.50%

BLOCKS FROM the ASPCA THIS GOES ON DAILY AT ANIMAL CARE AND CONTROL.

The ASPCA spends $19 million and some on fund raising each year, while spending $72 million or so on programs, whatever those are. I will try to find out if they have any useful programs that directly help animals. Of course, ultimate blame lies with idiots who get pets and don't take care of them, including getting them fixed.

Here is one pathetic statistic off their website:

"ASPCA Onyx and Breezy Shefts Adoption Center
Thousands of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens are adopted out each year from the ASPCA’s Onyx and Breezy Shefts Adoption Center, named in memory of two Labrador retrievers owned by Mark and Wanda Shefts. One of the hallmarks of our New York City headquarters, the 12,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art adoption center was renovated and expanded in 2006. It is now capable of housing more than 300 cats and dogs in accommodations designed for their “creature comfort.” Through the ASPCA’s adoption services, 3,267 dogs and cats found new homes in 2008, a 20-percent increase over 2007"

By contrast, last year, OR Humane adopted out 10,000 dogs and cats. By contrast, they have 300 dogs and cats, I have 46 here. Keni, Poppa's president, generally has between 60 and 75, about 3/4 of which are fosters and constantly changing as she adopts them out through two different adoption groups she works with. That's one person, with no income but part time landscaping, mind you. And those cats are in pristine conditions, no whiff of a smell in her house.

I am sick of incompetence and wasteful uses of money by greedy lazy people without any larger vision.

The news report states its the unfunded rescues finding the animals on death row homes.

Two Great Corvallis Businesses

Click the post title to go to Kid Puzzles website. This is a south Corvallis husband and wife business. They create beautiful wood puzzles, some 3D and sell them all over the country. There is an article in the local paper about them and their lifestyle. They hit the festival circuit during the summer, to sell their product and combine their trips with passions like camping and kayaking.

I visited another great Corvallis business and I don't know the name of it. They make shoes, flat soled shoes, like the Barefoot Runner, out of basic ingredients, like rubber and leather. I was at the business which is down across from the Beanery on 2nd street because Stinod's adoptor was filling in there, for the holiday peak season. She had bought Stinod a cat bed that they had then slept with, to get their smells on it, then I picked it up and brought it here, so she could get used to their smell, before she went to them.

I didn't go on a tour because they were very busy, but it looked like Santa's workshop and the workers, I swear, they all looked like elves, with their hair pulled back and their aprons and the general pleasant attitude that permeated the air.

I can buy leather there for the shoes I intend to make for myself.

I never did return those Columbia sportswear boots/outdoor shoes I got on Zappos with the e-certificate a stranger sent me. I keep wearing them around here, and thinking to myself, "I think these will work out for me." And I think they will. I still have plenty of time to return them if I decide they will hurt my feet.

I like going barefoot like I said and only wear shoes if I have to. It is generally talked about, the bad sizing out there now, but the big shoe companies do not react to customer babble about the bad manner in which shoes now are sized to sell. Are they deaf?

Everyone I've talked to who has owned a pair of Keen shoes likes them, but they change their sizes too, and suddenly, a style that fit you well will no longer fit. Keen shoes are better built to fit a foot, I think. They just don't make them long and narrow to fit my own feet anymore. Sad. I love Keens.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

What Am I Doing Christmas?

Nothing.

One brother and part of his family are renting a condo in central Oregon. I am not invited.

The other brother is very vague about what he is doing, and brief and won't answer if I call.

I began guilt calling him. I call him, but I don't leave a message, to see if he'll ever respond. It's been a very long time since I talked to that brother. Sometimes I get very short e-mail replies, like maybe six word responses. My other brother said to guilt call him four times in a row, like something is terribly wrong, and maybe he would answer, but I didn't have the minutes to do that. Otherwise, I would have.

And what about him, going off to some condo for Christmas, not inviting his dear sister? That should provoke guilt but he feels none. Something wrong there.

So it will be once again yours truely and the cats here for Christmas. Who needs the angst of trying to force a family to include me? Not me.

My brothers are very busy people and probably would cancel Christmas if they could. I know other people who would do so in a second if allowed. One in particular left me a message, saying, with attitude, in the message "You know this is my favorite time of year...." Hahaha. She didn't say why she was trying to get ahold of me, but I had an inkling.

I left her a message back, saying "I do not want you to have another heart attack. Do not think for a minute we need to do something because I'm alone, it's Christmas, that whole pile of holiday guilt trip shit. We'll do something in say February!" I wasn't really joking. I meant it. She gets too stressed at Christmas, trying to do it all for everyone. What fun is that?

I know retailers depend on the whole Christmas commercialism thing. But I think it kills the joy, brings on the guilt, drives families apart, and gives people heart attacks and long lasting debt.

I say, Don't waste time in frantic buying of things people don't need or want-- enjoy one another instead. It would make Christmas something to look forward to. Lights, decorations and get togethers, now that's a merry christmas.

At least it is to me.

If I could give my brothers anything, I would give them three days of just plain old relaxation...some movies, some books, some hot chocolate, maybe drugged with something, so they would just sleep away three whole days and end up happy, rested and refreshed. That's what I'd like to give them.

If I could give something to Poppa Inc.'s president, it would be money on her vet's account, to pay for visits for the rescues that need things there. Then I would give her homes for most of her fosters, and I would give her a years supply of cat food and cat litter and that would be a very fine gift for her.

Let's see, for Jeanne in Baltimore, if I could give her anything, hmmmm, to be honest, I don't know her well enough to say, but, how about a college scholarship for her son, a year of rent, free power for a year, and SAGE!!!!!!, delivered by me. And then, while there, she could take me on an all expenses paid by I don't know who, tour of Baltimore. I would stay in a motel, which would be paid for by Oprah Winfrey for some reason, so there would be no conflicts over the shower or sleeping schedules or whatever.

If I could give Joy something, it would be to pay off her dogs vet bill, a permanent trip back to Germany for her neighbor, fixing for all the cats she cares for and a years supply of cat and dog food, to ease her expenses.

For Jenny in Nebraska, also spays and neuters for the cats she cares for and that her mother cares for and at her workplace, which we would accomplish secretly in the dark for purposes of job security. Then, I would grant her a house of her own in which to live and unlimited telephone coverage for the nation for all long distance calls she wants to place.

For Kate and Ned, a home of their own, and a trust fund, so Kate, Ned too, never have to work again. Space for all the animals they can muster, including Tiny Tim's offshoots here: Meesa and the Quirkies, Echo and Fantasia. And a travel fund, so I can visit them down in sunny HB.

For Midori, my saintly WA friend, a place in heaven because she deserves it, animal heaven that is. And, vet care for all her rescues, and a mansion with all bills paid including property taxes forever. I am getting more and more grandeous in my gift wishes, aren't I, and maybe I should call it quits.

Stinod Gets a Home



Stinod has a home. She left not long ago. Can you believe that? My heart is happy. I am hopeful again. To get even one home, that was a huge boost to my soul.

Stinod didn't have much of a life here, because she lived in the garage room and cat yard to avoid my bitch cats with issues. Now she'll get the attention she's wanted. I realized how much she has wanted that last night, with her in the spare bedroom. She quickly memorized the bedroom layout then followed my around crying for attention. I'm happy she'll get more now.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Stinod is Leaving Me Tomorrow



Here she is tonight, above, in the cat bed her new owners bought for her. They slept with it, and now she is getting used to it, which took about five minutes or less. She's slightly oversized for it, but she really really likes it and doesn't want to leave it.

I have her in the cage, because the bathroom is occupied by ringworm kitties, although thankfully, only Rainy now has ringworm that blacklights.

And thankfully, I don't have ringworm. I checked the spots with a blacklight and they're not ringworm. When I put my glasses on, I see they're tiny scratches, probably incurred with cats jockeying for position at night while I sleep. I sleep really sound. I didn't used to.

I have no trouble falling asleep. In fact, if I try to read before going to sleep, I'm out like a light within a page or two.

I am so happy Stinod is going to get attention and have a more cushy life with more love. I hope it works out, but if it doesn't, she can come back.

Hairy, the massive feral from Heartland, who was trapped over off Country Club drive, and already had an eartip, comes and goes from the large cage he has occupied, but only during the day. I don't let him free roam the cat yard at night only because he is so massive he could do any of my cats very serious damage, if a confrontation happened. When I rattle the garage room door, he bolts right back into the big fiberglass double cage and into his carrier, for the night. Other cats go up into the cage, when he is in it, and so far, so good.

But, because of his size, I'm glad Stinod is leaving. He might not understand her disability and lash out if she ran into him or knock her off a shelf if in a rush. I feel much better about Stinod's safety, with Hairy out there, who is about four times the size now of any of my own cats. The rest can move out of his way. The girls take nothing off anybody and intimidate with a look or withholding affection. But my bigger boys, Comet and Sam, who like to consider another male a challenger, want him not to be nice, they may have to learn the hard way with Hairy, if they mess with him. NOthing so far though, no confrontations, and he's been coming and going as he pleases dawn to dark for months now.

Hairy is only locked up at night. He expects that, is ready when its time, and also expects the dish of wet food he gets when the door closes at night.

I'll miss Stinod. Shady, her best friend here, no doubt will also. But Shady comes inside for the winter and Stinod is almost alone out in the cat yard. She also likes Angel, but Button is sort of a trouble maker, mischief maker is more like it. She and her sister also come in for the winter. Angel slips in at night, too, during the winter.

Dashing

 Got a message this morning.  Was I even really awake yet?   The weather has been really winterish, with winds, pouring rain, cold, even thu...