I get so endlessly tired of people taking my work and using my words to build up their webpages. I guess they don’t even take into account that it is stealing. Even if the article, story, poem what-have-you appears on the Internet, it DOES NOT give anyone the right to take that author’s work and place it on their website.

Google Alert has notified me that one website is using over a dozen of my articles to start their own site. I contacted the webmaster via email and requested that the articles be taken off at once. So far, I have heard nothing back from them. The site is pretty rinky-dink so suspect a child might be involved in the construction of it and it is swimming with Google ads. It just makes me tired to have done all this work and research, crafted some good articles only to have them be pirated copyright or not.

Meet Kingston, he had the unfortunate experience of meeting a feral dog and still lives to tell the tale. He has been at the vet for four days. He has a swollen throat and neck, wounds on his back and rump, and he is scared to death. I have him on fluids and antibiotics. He is upstairs in the cat room right now getting used to the room and the new smells and sounds. So far, he hasn’t uttered a sound, but just stares at me pretty intently when I enter the room. Poor kitty. I was told he was a Ragamuffin, but I highly doubt he is.

I wasn’t going to attend the Cat Writers’ Convention this year even though I wanted to. The money that I make on my articles all go towards the animals and money is fairly limited. I talked with my Dad the other day and he was kind enough to send me the money just for the conference! I booked my tickets and reserved my room and in three weeks I leave! I can’t wait to go. My parents said the money is a Christmas present early.

Mike told me to write down my routine with the animals before I leave. He has no idea how much work it takes to keep these guys happy. He is about to find out though.

Charlie and the other kitties are doing good. I have a few mouth ulcers to deal with as well as nasal ulcers thanks to the calicivirus that has invaded our space. But overall, they are doing well

Charlie, bless his pea-pickin heart has brought in several viruses to the household. I now have 5 kittens in various stages of the feline herpesvirus and the calicivirus. There are mouth and nasal ulcers so the kittens are all sequestered upstairs where they are medicated in various ways about five times a day. I have a chart on the door so that I don’t medicate the same kitten twice.

Charlie now named Hurricane Charlie is a little fireball of activity! He is scooting around the room, chasing balls and other kittens. His swelling is gone, his gurgling is non existant and his open mouth breathing only occurs when I have to scruff him which is sadly necessary in order to medicate him. he does not look like the same kitten that arrived here!

From the photo you can see the swirl in his coat which has glossed up nicely! That swirl looks like a hurricane with an eye in the middle. That is why we now call him Hurricane Charlie, that and his activity level which is almost destructive at times! I am happy he managed to overcome all that was wrong with him. I don’t believe I am going to go for any more tests with him, he has had enough stress to last a lifetime- which I hope he does!

I am pleased to say that Charlie is not open mouth breathing any longer! He is still gurgling a bit and still coughing a tiny bit but today he was so active in his room with his new toys it made my heart soar.

Right now my dirty kitchen is calling my name so I need to go. But wanted to write that Charlie is doing pretty darn good. One of the vets who has seen him will be at the house on Saturday to check on him! Apparently, she lives just a few miles down the road from me so she is checking on him at no charge.

What a long appointment we had this morning, but they were very thorough and very kind to him.

Charlie has a bad strain of several viruses- rhinotracheitis, herpes and the calicivirus, He doesn’t have ulcers on his tongue or his upper mouth, but rather in his throat! This is causing a severe case of what they just called sore-throat-itis, causing him to open mouth breathe, and also why he can’t eat certain foods. The food scratches his throat going down. It explains the gurgeling purr he has, and why his lymph nodes and throat are swollen. He even has tonsilitis- which is odd because Gaye recently informed me that cats have tonsils. I had no idea! I was thrown off the track because the last time I dealt with herpes virus many years ago, there was the typical runny nose, runny eyes that he doesn’t have. The reason he doesn’t have this is because he is so blocked up with infection that nothing can move past the swollen tissue.

The air accumulating inside of him is because he open mouth breathes- the bubbles are causing stress on his heart and lungs and putting him into pain.

They believe he is worth fighting for, so he is yes, still with us, and will remain here. They gave me Buprenix for pain he gets this every 12 hours, it will take about 45 minutes from dosing to kick in. He is also on Zithromax on a pretty rigid scheduled amount until he has had 8 doses. He also is taking sulcrafate as a coating agent to help his throat. I am to give him Lysine daily 250 mg a day. He is contagious to the other kitties, so I barricaded the bottom of the door with a piece of drywall (from our collapsed bedroom roof) so that the remaining fosters don’t catch it from him. I need to get them vaccinated against it. He may shed the virus over time and just be a carrier, but right now he is actively shedding the virus in the litter pans and the food and water bowls, so he is isolated.

Now for the bad news: In order to explore his heart, liver, lung damage that shows up a bit on the x-ray, they want to schedule an ultra-sound for him. They don’t do that in the clinic, they refer out to the vet schools. It would cost me another $380.00 to have this procedure done. They also want me to buy a nebulizer which is prohibitively expensive as well. But they say that Charlie will be long-term care for quite awhile and on medication most of his life. I am going to continue to use the vaporizer because it seems to help.

It’s ironic really, I just got through paying off the outstanding vet bill owed- and now, just on one little tiny orange kitty, I owe over what I just paid off! But there is something about charlie, I can’t put my finger on it, I can’t even explain it adequately, but something about him that grabs my heart.

They want to see him on Monday to see if the pain medication needs to be upped or continued. Typically for this clinic, re-checks are not at no charge. Although I can appreciate all they do for these cats, I can’t help but wish they would work with me to make payments instead of wanting it all up front.

We have an appointment with a feline specialist tomorrow morning at 8:30 Hopefully some answers will be coming my way afterwards.

After last night being so rocky, first thing this morning, I took Charlie into the vet’s office where they worked us in. I talked with Dr. Walker at great length about Charlie’s hitching breath, his open-mouth breathing which could indicate a heart murmur or heart problem. His passage of worms (still) the dry hacking cough that infrequently occurs and his wet almost gargly(is that a word) sounding purr.

We talked about what we might be facing with him and how best to discover what we are up against. It was decided to run a set of x-rays and see if his esophagus was constricted, what his lungs look like, and how his stomach and bowel look.

It wasn’t good. Charlie has an abnormally swollen heart that instead of sitting erect, it is sloped and tipped to one side. He has a bubbles of air floating in his esophagus, a big bubble of air in his stomach that impedes looking at the contents of his stomach, and air in his bowel as well.

Dr. Walker was kind enough to tell me what all this means. She said that most of it boils down to poor nutrition when he was born, damage from the roundworms and hookworms and tapes. She seemed encouraged that he has gained 3 pounds- that he was active during the exam and that he doesn’t seem to want to give up the ship quite yet.

We had a long conversation, and at the end of it, looking at the x-rays and watching Charlie struggle to breathe- I was at the point of asking her to go ahead and tuck him in with the angels. Before I opened my mouth, he was lying on the exam table, my arm was next to him. He suddenly grabbed on to my hand, dug his claws in, slid across the table and glommed unto my arm. He looked me square in the face and I swear he said “I am NOT ready to give up yet, don’t you dare give up on me!” So, I said nothing.

We have changed his treatment program. He got a shot to try and move some of the air through his system. He is now on Clavamox and Sucalfrate. I will move him into the cat room so he can be by himself. I will be running the vaporizer all the time for him to make breathing easier, and turn the heater on at night when it starts getting colder.

The vet and I decided that if he doesn’t turn around in 3 days, then chances are, he isn’t going to and living will become more of struggle for him. If this happens, she has kindly said she will tuck him in herself and not charge me for the service.

He is an orange fighter this boy- let’s hope that during the three-day mark he can overcome all that has been done to him and be a healthier, happier kitty.

Charlie started getting dehydrated yesterday evening. I gave him fluids and it didn’t seem to matter much. I waited for the bubble to vanish and gave him more, but he was still dehydrated. His third eyelid is creeping over on his good eye indicating either dehydration or fever or both. He has a fever. He stopped eating last night and instead of playing with the other kittens, he went and hid in the carrier (another indication he has the feel-bads). He seems to be having problems swallowing, his breath is hitchy, his good eye dull. He is gulping and gurgling again.

I separated him from the rest of the group and put him back in the cat room. I set up the vaporizer and small heater and heating pad for him. I gave him some babyfood which I was grateful he tried to eat.

I am going to take him back to the vet first thing in the morning. His erratic breathing worries me, his lack of energy concerns me. I’ve been up and down with him all night and now it is 4:00 a.m. and I am beat. I have done all I can do, if he is slipping from us, then perhaps God wants to tuck him in with the angels. I will know more after the vet visit and will log in afterwards.

Received another kitten and she is a sweetie! We are calling her Panic, because she certainly is one! She has taken a shine to Charlie and they cuddle together. I take that as a sign that she needs to stay with him. She is so tiny. Found in the pouring rain hiding under a bush. Here she is: