This morning, I received a phone call from a farmer’s wife. She was near hysterics. There was a wild cat in the barn and she thinks the cat killed her baby lambs! Her husband was going to put a bullet in the cat because not only was the cat a killer- it was wounded. I raced over and they let me in the dark barn. I could hear the cat moaning underneath a bench and I let my flashlight look for eye-shine. When I saw the shine-back I was surprised. it wasn’t green, it was blue!

Talking softly to the cat, I approached on my knees and using a towel, I carefully got it out from under the workbench and into the carrier. It wasn’t easy the kitty was flipping upside down and sideways. I saw the leg dangling but there wasn’t a way to lower the cat down into the carrier without bumping the leg. Snarling and spitting at me- the cat was finally captured. Turns out it is a Persian! A sooty white Persian with a broken leg and a microchip. Kitty has had surgery and the owners have been called but apparently they have been out of the country for some time and not due back until after the 1st. Kitty is being boarded and watched over carefully.

When I got back home, I was late in the  morning feed. When Pebbles came out to eat, I saw her eyes they were such a mess. I was able to trick her into going inside the carrier and I took her to the vet. She has been drinking a lot of water since she arrived here a few weeks ago but I see very little return in the litter boxes which worries me. We did a pre-op blood work- her liver and kidney values are normal range but she is showing highly anemic and dehydrated which doesn’t fit for a cat who is drinking four cups of water a day. The vet searched for a mass (fearing cancer) They gave her a long-acting antibiotic shot for her URI but said that in three weeks if her appetite doesn’t improve and she continues to empty the water bowl daily they would suspect she has cancer. They also said she is a old, old girl with only four teeth left in her mouth- three of which are rotten. We are going to give her three weeks, change her diet to AD and hope she improves, if not, we will let her go so she can travel out of pain. Although I had not that much trouble getting her into the carrier- they couldn’t get close to her without giving her sedation. She is still loopy so I am going to let her spend the night inside the carrier and let her back out in her cage in the morning.

When I was getting ready to just relax, the phone rings and a gal down the street who maintains a maintenance yard said there was a new kitten running around the yard and she couldn’t get close to it- but she was worried because the kitten was young and bone-skinny. Off I go again to find a really sweet looking tuxedo boy about 3 months old. He looked like he had never been introduced to food! Chris said he just showed up two weeks ago, but she couldn’t get close to him and had tried. Half an hour later, I scruffed the little boy and we put him into a live trap. Chris looked at me in amazement and said “How did you do that?”  I just smiled.  I took him to the vet, where they tested him and neutered him, de-wormed and de-flead him and battled his earmites. He is home now inside the cage on the back porch. He is a walking skeleton so I am feeding him bits at a time of AD. He is not feral- just unsocialized and he needs a name which will come to me soon. Right now he got neutered under the name of “Barn Cat.” I have been able to pet him without it going to war which is a relief. I told Chris I was keeping him because he would never survive being outside in these frigid temperatures. he is sleeping in a heated cat house right now and I blocked off the access to the outside catio for now. He needs to stay warm until he gains some weight-

It’s 7:00 p.m. right now and I am going to sit in my recliner, see how many kitties want to keep me company and fall asleep. Here’s hoping it doesn’t rain kitties today- although it did also rain gifts for kitties and for me from some of you so THANK YOU SO MUCH for the cat food, the catnip cat toys (my cats went nuts for these homemade bags) and the Universal Scanner so now when I find a stray- I can scan for the chip without going to the vet.

May you all have a safe, warm and lovely Merry Christmas- those of you brave enough to have Christmas trees in your homes please know that tinsel is toxic to kitties. They love to play with it- but eating it can be deadly.

God Bless You One and ALL