Since I have been able to find time to blog. The playpen kitties all went to the same loving home, and I couldn’t be more thrilled! The woman lives alone and recently lost her 16 year old to cancer. She only wanted one kitten initially, but when she and her friends came here to see the cats and kittens, she fell in love with all three of them. She took them home and I have had regular updates about their progress. I was calling them Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but she has renamed them. I guess she isn’t a rock fan! But thankfully, she is a kitten fan and the kittens are thriving under her love and attention.

I have a new addition which is partly why I haven’t had time to write. He is aptly named Lazarus because he has come back from the dead several times. He is a small orange boy, who is loaded with ringworm and he has what my vet calls sympathtic overload. Basically, if he overeats- he collapses. When I first found him, he was by all appearances dead- but warming towels a vigourous rubdown and some espresso brought him back. Then after a few days of being here in our home, his appetite became voracious. He polished off two full bottles then stumbled over to the corner, his rear legs collapsed and he fell into a heap! I rushed over picked him up, warmed him next to my heart, gave him some Karo syrup, rubbed him all over (so much for the ringworm threat) and then called a fellow rescuer who suggested that I give him some benedryl which I did. About ten minutes later, he was bright and alert- and I was mighty confused. The next day, we visited the vet who did some testing and determined he had sympathetic overload which is a neurological problem.

Laz graduated off the bottle just the other day and is now eating a homemade gruel that also has benebac in it and he is doing just fine. He still lights up like a Christmas tree when the black light is shone on him, the ringworm is on his face, paws, tail, neck, back and testicles- poor kitty. Mike said we don’t need a Christmas tree this year as long as Laz glows in the dark!

We alos had a new puppy arrive and my ever-loving only German Shepherd dogs husband, flipped for this tiny pocket pet! Minute is part silky terrier, border terrier and chihuahua (sorry I can’t spell right now) and she loved Mike from the get-go. She was smaller than Laz but she would snuggle in on MIke’s chest and bury her head in his beard and she was great comfort to him. But we are a farm family and her running under Racer’s feet and showing no fear for the tractor when it was running showed both of us that even though we loved her- she was more than likely going to get killed if she stayed here. She now has a wonderful home with a lovely young lady who carries her everywhere in her purse. I never thought I would have a dog that you had to put sweaters on- but she was a puppy mill rescue and she just didn’t have adequate body weight. She would follow me out the backyard and when she got into the tall grass, she would just shake from the cold.

I’ve also been trapping a colony of ferals. There were *supposed* to have been forty in this colony, but I believe the numbers were exaggerated. Managed to trap 12 with five already ear-tipped- but if there are thirty cats in this area, there was little evidence of those numbers.

Mike is doing better- they finally decided his wound can close and although he still can’t walk across the room without experiencing shortness of breath, he is finally able to get his shoe on for the first time in four months!

They cut my hours back at work with apologies, but the store is losing business due to the economic state that is presently gripping the nation. I generally now only work the weekends and nothing else. Everyone is scared and most are struggling to make ends meet. I find for the first time feeling regretful that so many cats occupy our home- but their needs come first.

I have found a home for Mercedes and Madison. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, they will leave next week. Now I am exhausted and tomorrow (today) is going to be a long one. We have to drive over 35 miles to take the trapped kitties in to be fixed. Time to say Goodnight now————