Mealtime-Soffit, Cricket (formerly Eave) and Gimble

Me with Soffit

Another shot of Soffit’s adorable patterned face

Meet and greet with Cricket

Gimble- note the positions of the ears-Clearly, not in a relaxed state at the moment. Not surprisingly they haven’t even been here three days.

MudBug and Cricket

With the final name change- Muddy is now MudBug-It has always been my experience that they name themselves. I was tempted to call him Mudster. (A play on Monster) because of his aggressive streak. But I also believe if you name a kitten, a negative name, they just grow into their name over time.

MudBug  is clearly a strong Alpha. He bit me this morning on my finger when I picked him up to flea-treat him. One growl was the only warning before he was latched onto my finger. (I am thankful that I recently got my tetanus updated.) His other aggressive tendencies include being the first one at the food bowl.

It’s quite interesting during feeding time because I can have the first bowl dished out. They all run to the bowl. He’s there first. All of them try to cram their head into a very small feeding bowl. What MudBug does then is he shakes his head back-and-forth so aggressively that all of them go tumbling.

I’ve had to adjust my feeding pattern and bring in the already loaded bowls on a tray and put them all down in a circle close enough together so they can feel each other around. They still run to the first bowl but at least if they run to the other bowls ithey won’t be empty. It’s  hard to figure out who’s getting how much food.they all get 1 tablespoon of this wonderful canned kitten food  3 times a day. I found this food at the local Wilco store the foodhas 89% protein! They desperately need that protein right now in their life stage The food is Open Farm kitten food-Chicken and salmon. They are large cans for $2.99 apiece.Yikes!

MudBug will immediately turn fun wrestling into a rumble in the jungle. Dropping a towel on the aggressively fighting kittens startles them apart. No one gets hurt, including me.

Although at this point in my life, these beautiful kittens are a bit of a hardship for me. I also cherish the fact that they are here. They are my therapists. Last night when I was sitting with them quietly just observing. Gimble was behind the drape and Asphalt was in front of the drape. They were chasing each other-one behind and one in front and it looked like a double shadow and they were going back-and-forth and back-and-forth it was hysterical. Of course I didn’t have my cell phone within reach and by the time I grabbed it they quit. That would’ve been a cute video.

Gimble’s talent lies in swan-diving into the water bowls. He and my bath towels are becoming fast friends. although I can multitask it’s hard to carry your cell phone and fill up water bowls at the same time. But in a few days, I hope to get lucky.

Speaking of three days, it only took the kittens 4 1/2 hours to discover and learn that the litter boxes are the best place to potty and poop. That’s pretty good for their age.

It will probably surprise no one reading this (except myself).That I am now in my cat room surrounded by major cuteness! (as you can probably tell by the photos).

When I learned the other day that the people whose roof they landed on, were not able to bring them inside for the Winter and had also planned to shore up all the openings under the house (where the kittens could actually stay warm.) I grew concerned. Their plan instead involved keeping them outside in wooden three-sided shelters on sawdust. Not providing them with straw, which would have provided the kittens with insulation  (sawdust is not insulated.)

I knew that even though the dog kennel they were staying in was huge and one side was protected by a fence and the other side was protected by the side of the house. It wouldn’t be enough for these kittens to be able to survive. Especially so since their mom would not be there to show them how to stay warm and safe.

I went home and prayed about it. I argued with myself, I wrote down the pros and cons. But I knew in my heart that these kittens were in for a very rough couple of months just to survive.

I returned to their house and offered to take the kittens and foster them until they are either adopted out or the weather got better. (Essentially until Spring) .

I know, I know, I’m nuts. But I have been in the game long enough to know what happens when well intentioned people try to do something which is out of their comfort zone or where they lack some common sense, especially when dealing with newly- born kittens.. If I had left them there, not many of them would survive. I did not want to wear that weight the rest of my life.

After I loaded the babies into a container. I stopped at Rustic Cuts to show the ladies my new arrivals. They are always telling people about my operation. I’ve gotten cat posts, cat food, cat litter, and money from their clients. I wanted them to take photos of the kitties and show them to their clients to see if they could help me find good homes.

Well, that short visit almost resulted in two instant adoptions. No home visit needed because I knew the people well. But unfortunately, the wives could not sway their husbands. So the kittens came back home with me. Before I left, both women confided-they were going to work on their men!

Right now, all the kittens “look” female.. They all look female at this age and their sex doesn’t appear until one to two weeks after their eye color changes. They have had a big day. Mama went in this morning and got spayed and she goes to her new home tomorrow. They have been uprooted from the place they have been for a little over a month. Now they have been introduced to the cat room, where they will be well-cared for spay, and neutered when they’re old enough. They will be warm and safe.

They spent about two hours hiding underneath the couch. I just wanted them to decompress so I left them completely alone except for providing them food, litter and water. I sat in there with them reading out-loud softly, getting them used to my smell and my voice. They finally came out and enjoyed a rousing game of tag. They also showed me that they have pretty bad stool right now. It’s not the right color, it smells to high heaven. I am taking a fecal and one kitten into the vet in the morning. Soffit the dark gray kitty started crashing about an hour ago. I gave her fluids, I put rubbing alcohol on her ears and her paws because she was running a fever. She sat in my lap for quite a while before she finally settled down. I’ve seen two of the other kittens having the same issue with their stool. The color is really offputting and concerning. I’m hoping it’s worms or food-related. The family was feeding them Fancy Feast Adult which is way too rich for baby kitties. So that may be why their stool smells so bad. Their stomachs can’t handle this. I made Kitty Glop for them instead.

Now they are all sleeping. Even Soffit when I took her off my lap and put her on the ground, she went over  to Mudslide (Muddy) and settled down.

They all have names now: Soffit, is the gray one, Muddy is the long-haired black, Eave is the darker Mackeral Tabby, the lighter Mackerel Tabby is Gimble.
Amur is the second black kitty- Amur could be Muddy’s twin excet for the shorter hair. They have all used the litter box. Most of them were using the floor. However, one of my many  tricks at least was successful-It only took them about two hours for Gimble  to understand that their litter pan is where they need to go potty. While Gimble was using the litterpan- three more kitties joined him. (I have found that the best litterpan for a litter of kittens is a drain pan for under the water heaters. I just put a piece of duct tape over the hole to plug it. The sides are low enough where the kitties can get into them easily. They can all fit at one time and it’s easier for them to handle then the regular litter pans.

Now it is nice and peaceful in here with everyone sleeping. So I will end with this note. If anybody would like to send me kitten, food, wet, or dry I wouldn’t be mad at it. My last donation I got, which was yesterday (before I even knew I was going to have these kittens here). I spent it all on cat litter.. (I won’t get paid for another two weeks.)

My heart is lighter tonight than it was last night, thinking about these kitties trying to survive the winters that we have here and failing through no fault of their own.

They are now up for adoption. Because I am not in control of how they’re being kept. I’m hoping they will go to new homes quickly. She has them in a warm area, but they will still be outside and we’re going to get bitterly cold soon. Unfortunately, they are not big enough yet to be spayed. They will spay at 2 pounds currently they are under that weight. anyone living in the Willamette Valley if you’re interested in adopting one of them or two of them. Please let me know.

I

there are two more but she couldn’t get a very good picture of them Due to the bad weather, we’re having. Once the rain stops, she will try again. Mom has been adopted.

“Up on the housetops Kitties eat-

We filled their bellies with nice warm treats-

Gave them a place to keep them dry

They were discovered when Mama cried”

Mama Kitty and her family are doing fine. They are all tucked in and warm and comfortable and no, they are not here! I believe I’ve already found a home for mom. She’s very young, way too young to have six kittens! But she’s definitely not feral probably just a cat that got dumped.

“Merry Christmas to All-

May we All stay at peace with each other”

I just wanted to thank the person who recently sent me two cases of Fancy Feast. They arrived at a time when I was so low on food for the kitties, I was worried I wouldn’t make it till payday (which is this Wednesday).

The reason I found myself financially challenged is my brakes went out on my car about four days ago. Thank the Lord I did not hit anybody as I managed to navigate across four lanes of heavy traffic during quitting time in Sweet Home.

I do not remember anything other than feeling the brakes going out. (Which confuses me because I just had the brakes completely replaced three years ago.) By the grace of God, I managed to make it to a field where I knew there were potholes. It was those holes that stopped my truck. But how I managed to get there it just is a big blur or a blank period of time.

Thank God, I didn’t cause injury to anyone but myself. It also has caused some behavior issues with Kota. He is not injured physically, but mentally he is a bit altered. My vet believes that he’s just picking up on my discomfort right now. I have a small amount of damage to my right lung. (It is not life-threatening.) I am on couch arrest for a week. I have to go back in 10 days to have another series of x-rays. So breathing right now is a bit of a challenge because it hurts to inhale.

Having my truck towed to a repair shop, they did not find anything wrong with my brakes? The mechanic said he rode the vehicle hard trying to get the brakes to not respond.

The medication the doctor put me on was more than a little spendy even with insurance. Plus the brake flush they did. I have to admit that I am a bit hesitant to drive my truck right now.

So again, thank you to the angel who sent that package my way. It will enable me to get through till payday when I can buy more cat food and cat litter for the Kitties.

Merry Christmas to All- Stay Safe

He is not making it easy for me though. He will get close, but will not come any closer. I swear he glares at my traps. I think he’s trap savvy. He showed up right after the Jamboree ended a few months ago. If anything is driving him closer to me it’s this freezing cold weather we’ve been experiencing for the last couple of days.

Michelle, if you are still checking in on my blog, if you would be so kind to go to the Facebook page for lost and found pets of Sweet Home and see if you see him on the pages I would appreciate that. I have a feeling he’s owned by someone back on either Liberty Road or Liberty Lane.

Unlike most strays that show up on my property, this guy is in pretty good shape. I did try to reach out and touch him and he ended up biting me so that ended that quest. But if you do see him on the pages, let me know and I will write up a post and see if I can get it up there. I just don’t do social media anymore.

As I’ve mentioned, it’s been very cold here. I have piled up the straw and the kitties are digging in. Right now we’re fighting icy fog which is no fun to drive in. Makes me feel like we are back in Alaska. Speaking of Alaska, I am still missing my Alaska Sourdough Man- 10 December will make six years since he’s been gone.

Bentley will be going to the vet in a few hours from now for his first bloodwork following his hyperthyroidism diagnosis. I’m hoping that his levels will go down. I certainly pray they don’t go up. It was fairly easy to give him his pill until yesterday. Once he catches onto the program, he tries to switch it up. He cannot be an uncomplicated cat. That has never been his MO.

Bartholomew is showing clear signs that he wants to be Alpha. He is a stocky little kitty. Lots of muscles on this little guy. His favorite hobby is to try and trip me when I am feeding. I told him this morning that mom doesn’t need help tripping. She’s doing a pretty good job of it herself! I just have to be really focused on what he’s doing while I’m feeding. His running in and out between my feet does complicate matters.

He also doesn’t like Kota-He is the only one of my rescues that does not like Kota. He has tried to attack him a couple of times and now Kota is watching him closely as well.

I am doing all I can to prevent a confrontation between him and Bentley. Bentley is still showing signs of unpredictable  aggressiveness.That could be either the hyperthyroidism or one of the side effects to the medication he’s on. Interesting that the medication that’s supposed to calm him down, may instead be making it worse. I suppose when the bloodwork comes back, we will know.

I heard from my friend from the coast who took the mom and the seven kittens. They have all been placed in loving homes after all being spayed and neutered and tested and vaccinated. What a relief! I knew they would go quickly. They were absolutely a gorgeous family.

I hope everyone is staying happy, staying loved and staying safe during this holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, I am praying for real peace on earth to descend on all of us. Everybody just needs to quit fighting. Both here and abroad.

I just got the call! His T4 has gone from 9.6 to 7.4! So the medication is working. It’s still on the high side, but the fact that it’s coming down is very encouraging.

Peace to All-

I know because of the emails I’m receiving, some of you are worried about me and my health. I finally have my answers. After I had my colonoscopy a few days ago,  I suffered a pretty bizarre setback after I awoke from the Twilight Sleep. They gave me a shot of tramadol, which did not take the pain away, I was then taken to the emergency room and put through a range of tests.

I am relieved to know what’s going on with me. Why the devil I keep falling all the time. Also thankful that all the “doom and gloom guesses” that they were throwing my way were not accurate. Grateful to know the reasons behind my inability to pick up 20 pound bags of cat food, cat litter. Why I can’t even open up can of cat food anymore without assistance. Even explaining why it is so arduous for me now to scoop litter boxes. In other words why I can no longer Rescue actively.

My final diagnosis is; I have severe bilateral right hip and right shoulder osteoarthritis with multiple osteophytes. It is not curable, it is treatable to a certain extent. One radiologist wrote that i have osteoarthritis in unexpected places.

The surgeon is recommending a reverse right shoulder replacement as well as a right hip replacement. (I have politely declined both surgeries). I will do all that I can to  manage the pain. I’m thankful that all the specialists and all the tests and everything else which has consumed my time and thoughts is over. They initially thought I might have MS, then it was an auto- immune disease, then speculation it might be colon cancer- It was quite a long journey to reach this point.

Bentley is doing better. He is finally returning to his hyper-aggressive self. I am now just pilling him bare-fingered. (Thankfully, my tetanus shot is up-to-date.) So far, he has not bit me. I think my process using spray cheese and just wiping the cheese with the pill on the top of the roof of his mouth is working better than trying to get it down his throat. He goes in for a re-check next week, so we will see what his bloodwork has to say about how successful this is for him.

Now if you will excuse me, It has been an exhaustive two days and I just got back from the ER. There’s a pillow in the other room with my name on it. It’s waiting for me.

Happy Veterans Day to All who Served so nobly as well as their families. May God protect us all

We have been making headway with his medication. It’s come to the point now where I have to just pill him bare-handed. He’s caught on quite quickly that when I give him just a little bit of food in a saucer, he knows there’s a pill in there.  I was getting encouraged about his progress but last night we suffered a set-back. At 2 AM I heard a catfight. By the time I got outside, I realized that when I had gone in earlier to feed everybody, he had slipped out! One of my outdoor lights had been malfunctioning. I didn’t notice that he had darted out.

Unfortunately , we also recently have had a beat-up ol tomcat show up. This boy is hammered; torn ear flaps, scarred face among other battle scars but that doesn’t stop him from being aggressive. I put his age out of probably around 14 years old. He met up with Bentley and he beat the pound out of him.  By the time I got my robe and slippers on and got outside. They both were in a full roll! The noise was terrifying. Bentley is not up to his good weight yet. I finally got them apart. When I looked at Bentley, I knew that I couldn’t do anything for him. It wasn’t that kind of damage.

I had to take him to an after-hours vet. They determined that he’s extremely bruised and swollen. His abdomen especially was affected. I paid the bill. Which made me gasp. But I paid it and then when I got home and had decompressed with Bentley. I went and did my numbers and realized that was $26 short and in danger of going NSF.

if anyone is reading this and they have a little extra money, could you please send it my way? I’ve tried everything I can think of right now, but things are lean right here for me. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot of money but when you factor in  I’m currently feeding 22 cats- money doesn’t last very long.

I can certainly tell that Bentley is feeling quite poorly.  He did eat a little bit this morning. They want me to confine him for two weeks. However, I don’t need to confine him. He has confined himself. He has been in his cage with the door open ever since I brought him home he’s not moving much. I keep repeatedly going out there, looking for any type of heat coming off of him. They shaved him, but they couldn’t find any bite wounds. But bite wounds don’t show up right away. And they didn’t shave all of him because of the weather. So far, I haven’t found any wounds on him. I think it was just the fact that he’s so thin, and the Tom is so much bigger than he is, he just did not have a chance to get an upper hand

Please, if someone can help me cover this cost I would appreciate it. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot of money but right now for me it is.

Last night coming home from town, on the road two houses before my house, I saw “Mama” and two of her kittens on the road! Now they are resting in peace in the forest behind my home. It has been raining fairly hard and digging in the dirt right now would not work.

I feel like I failed her. I tried everything I could do-all my tricks, but while I was trying all these tricks I had no idea she was pregnant.

Now there’s a new challenge in town. Well, actually not in town. But back by my creek. There is a mom she’s black-and-white long-haired very skinny. I can only see her through my binoculars. She will not let me get close to her. Even though her kittens look to be 6-7 weeks old, she’s still in high protection mode.

Now I am taxed with trying to figure out how I’m going to build something for them to keep them out of the weather. They are not even approaching the house or the barn. Whatever I build would have to be put into the orchard so they would also have the added protection of the bushes and the trees. I have a deal with a local lumberyard where they give me scrap lumber for coin. The guys love cats. But I don’t have any money at all right now. I need baby kitten, food, both canned and dry. Both for the kittens and the mom. I need cat milk for mom. And I need to build a structure that will have to blend in, so that idiot with an itchy trigger finger won’t notice them. I so want to call him more than an idiot!

On a better note , as of Friday, my vet is completely paid off. I thank  those of you who helped me in that endeavor. I never thought I would see the day. It’s such a relief, but it also left me with very little reserve for the month. I certainly wasn’t expecting a mama cat with seven babies to show up on my property .

As a disclaimer, even though my donation button has verbiage that says I am nonprofit, as soon as I can figure out how to remove that verbiage I will.. But I am (as of the end of October) no longer an active nonprofit. That does not mean that I can suddenly ignore this new family, who is in danger from all sorts of human as well as animal predators. They also are in danger of not making it through a very bad winter. So if you can help, please do. Also understand that even five dollars can help st this point.

His work still continues-and now, so will I. Trusting  that He will provide the way forward.

Although this might look like two desks stacked together, The top portion is actually the start of the new mama and her kittens comfort station for winter time. The plan is to get a pallet. Cut the pallet down to size. Put in the floor, the walls, and two escape hatches. One wall will be on hinges, so that I can swing it open if need be. It will then be covered with a tarp. A good Samaritan helped me figure out how to get the roof slanted. This is all stuff that Michael could do in a heartbeat. So I was grateful for this gentleman. I had to make it small, to make it any larger would call attention to it. This is the farthest I can go with it for now. The walls will also be insulated.

She would’ve turned eight years old this year. She never saw it coming.( Thank God for that). Had I been outside at the time and I had seen it coming, someone would have to be nice enough to scrape up bail money for me because I would’ve pounded the person who did this to her.

She didn’t deserve it. She never hurt or threatened anyone except all the mice in my field, and all the mice two doors down that live in the grainery. I know those neighbors will be sad when she no longer shows up to rid their granary of mice. Her sister Poe is still looking for her. I still look for her too- even though I’m the one that found her. I still resist accepting that she is gone.

I called the authorities, even though I knew it was a lost cause. I was right, they don’t care. In our county, you can kill cats and dogs as long as you don’t live in town. The only reason I was told that they investigate it is because firearms are not allowed to be discharged in town.

So my little black hunter Is gone, In all the years that I’ve had her, the only one she ever has really trusted was Kota. They were buds. Now she’s joining Michael and Jeremy plus all of her feline friends that have passed before her.

She will be missed sy hrr unexpected end. Apparently, she was in the wrong place,which allowed this to happen to her. All because someone wanted to use her for target practice.

The yard seems as empty as my heart feels right now.