She is slowly losing the ability to walk straight and she keeps shaking her head- not a good sign. I put the other, smaller female in with her and put the boys in their own cage as well, so everyone has company. I guess I am hoping that the current signs might be one of stress and being isolated and not as a result of the fall, but who am I kidding? She is eating okay and passing some stool and peeing but she doesn’t want me to put her down when I am holding her. I find it hard not to hang on to her. If I could take her to work with me, I would. I may do that on sunday in a pouch around my neck.

The other kittens are doing good. I just wish I weren’t so dead tired.

What happened today is entirely my fault. I could try and excuse it and offer up the reasons behind this happening, but that would be a cop-out. I was tired, I lost track of what I was doing and kitten was injured.

It was runt who somehow managed to push open the rather large door of the dog crate I am using for a kitty bed. I did not latch the door, I just propped it shut while I was feeding. I was called away and when I came back and stepped into the room, I saw Runt laying on the floor on his right side. He was not moving. The carrier door was open and he had gotten out and fell a distance of 5.5′. 🙁

I carefully scooped him up, he was cold to the touch (he fell on bare wood not carpet) He was breathing funny and there were bubbles coming from his nose and mouth. Now- I panicked. I grabbed a towel, tossed it in the microwave to warm up and called the vet. In minutes, I was on my way with Runt in my lap still wrapped in the warming towel and still not responsive.

About 10 minutes before we got to the vet. Runt began to stir and started to cry faintly. he was having problems moving, so at the next stop light, I took a small sip of my now cooled exotic coffee and transferred just a bit into his mouth. By the time we arrived to the vet, he was more responsive.

The vet said three things can happen here:
1. He can have no residual effects of the fall.
2. He could go to sleep tonight and not wake up
3. He can start to have seizures and if that happens, the vet will euthanize him.

I am supposed to keep a close eye on him for the next couple of days and call the vet if there is a problem.

I hope God will forgive me for my carelessness. I hope I can forgive me as well.

My ex husband just called me to let me know that he will have open heart surgery tomorrow morning. He will go in at 6:00 a.m. and isn’t expected to be out till after four. He will be unconscious for three days. He sounded scared and this man is never scared, at least, not the 6’5″ biker dude I once knew and yes, loved.

he said that if he doesn’t have the surgery they told him he would die, if he does have it, he may die as well. I will lift him in my prayers. He has had a hard life- growing up with a full blown alcholic mother who was married and divorced nine times. He lived hard, loved to party and now he is paying a high price for that party card.

I just cleared off the dresser in the bedroom and set one of my large carriers on top. I started the heating pad to warm up the new digs for the kittens. My back is getting old and bending and stooping for this old lady becomes difficult, so I wanted to make it a bit easier. As I worked, I remembered wistfully back to the day I started first rescuing (i was in my 20’s) and everything seemed so easier back then. I am grateful God has only placed four kittens in my care at the moment versus six or eight.

This morning, I enlisted Mike’s help in bottle feeding and it became painfully clear, that for now, he can’t help me. I am going to have to enlist the aid of friends in the area on days where I work longer than 4 hour shifts. The kittens can go that long without food, but not any longer than that. Mike’s fingers no longer respond to his commands and he couldn’t hold the bottle. He also had problems holding the squirming kitten so much that I ended up taking the kitten from him before the kitten came to harm. The kitten was fine thankfully but Mike got mad when I told him he almost hurt her. I know his anger comes from the inability to do anything and the frustration of that and not at me. It was just sad.

All four kittens are doing good. I never breathe a true sigh of relief until they reach 8 weeks old because so much can happen. In their new carrier, the heat rises to help keep them warm and now I have to be careful I don’t make them to warm.

At the first feeding this morning the runt took over 3/4 of the bottle! Now that is good sign. Their purr motors are engaged now when they are nursing and a few will still try and spit and hiss at me. It’s so funny to see feralness in ones so young. I hate that I had to put them back to bed, but I have a gazillion things to do today.

With limited sleep (I got about 2 hours last night) I had to go to work for a full day. My friend Hailey took the kittens and bottlefed them for me and after work, I went and picked them up.

They are doing well. Someone emailed me and asked me how I fed these young ones. I kneel on the floor near the box, and wrap one kitten in a towel (like a burrito with the head sticking out). Then, I prop the kitten against my stomach so it is sitting up (prevents aspiration) I feed them one at a time and if after they are done sucking on the bottle, they start sucking on the towel, I feed them more. You know they are done when the milk runs out of their mouth in small bubbles. But sometimes, if you pause a few minutes and let their tummy rest, they will take more. They are currently taking about a teaspoon of formula in one sitting.

Once they are done eating, I unwrap the lower part of the towel and expose their bums. Using cotton balls and tepid water, I stimulate them while they are still in the sitting position and catch the waste in another towel. Then I clean them up and put them in their bed.

I know you can’t really see them that well but I can’t seem to get larger photos to load on my blog right now. They are somewhat feral, they hiss and spit and huff which I find quite cute.

A local clinic just called and a woman has found 3 two week old kittens in her backyard. She wants to bring them to the clinic to be euthanized! I told the gal to give the woman my phone number and have her call me instead. I can’t imagine someone wanting abandoned kittens killed versus saved. 🙁

The kittens are here at the house and there are four of them, not three. They are a cross between mackeral tabbies and torties. At their first feeding, the boys fought the nipple. I tried using a new product I recently received- a critter litter titter- but they really didn’t take on to that either. I managed to feed each one using a small feeding syringe as they are really young (about a week and a half old) to know how to suck a nipple. A queen’s teat is another story, but I am fresh out of queens.

There are (I think) three boys and one girl. Stimulation produced only urine no stool but there is no telling how long it has been till they have eaten.

My two adorable Mackeral Tabbies with white points are now in a new home. I know this home well as it belongs to a former vet tech. She has a great passion for Mackeral Tabbies (and who can blame her) She has been eyeing these kittens since they arrived, she helped me when Cyrus was so ill to administer his meds- and she has been a great support system since I met her.

She is in the process of building her own cat enclosure which I am proud to say my husband has had a hand in helping with. It is not entirely built yet, but close to launching.

Cyrus is such a strong alpha that he and Hurricane Charlie (my smallest and most alpha of my group) started clashing.

The fights frightened me- going airborne just as two tomcats would during mating season. If you have never seen this aerial display of cat aggression, count yourself lucky. It is terrifying to watch and listen to and sometimes what is left in the wake is pretty ugly.

These confrontations (there were four of them) weren’t a matter of two tough guys bluffing. There was deadly intent behind them- it was truly a fight to gain dominance here. Charlie may be small but he has lived through neglect and abuse that forms him into a formidable opponent. There is no way these two cats (even though they both are neutered) could peacefully co-exist in the same environment.

I wondered, because when Cyrus arrived and couldn’t be neutered right away due to health issues, he was the first tomcat I have ever witnessed who would sexually relieve himself on objects. Not humping a furry slipper or doing the normal thing toms who have previously mated do, but rather just doing it different. I’m trying to be delicate here on a sensitive subject for some. I believe I knew then that I had a contender for the throne. I did not realize that the battle he would wage would be so deadly.

The fights lasted just seconds but seemed to go on longer. They would happen immediately when the door was opened and Cyrus would slip out. In the last few days, he was so determined to get to Charlie, that he would launch himself starting at the corner of the room and run full tilt to the screen door- jump on it claws out in the middle of the screen, climb down and do it all again until finally the latch broke.

I love this kitten. His favorite trick was to jump into my arms when I made a cradle, crawl up to my shoulder and wrap himself around my neck. He would stay there as I did the dishes, walked around the house..etc..It was clear he was claiming me and telling the others I was his. Charlie didn’t like that-I was his first.

This gal also took Phoebe. She flipped for Phoebe the minute she arrived here and so two of my beautiful mackeral tabbies now have a loving home.

i will miss both of them, Cyrus the most- but Charlie was here first and he is my $2,000.00 free kitten. Mike calls him our Bionic Baby! LOL He stays-

I was not surprised to find out that when Cyrus got to his new place and was released, he showed no interest in the other mackeral tabbies already there. There is less activity for him there (our place can get pretty chaotic at times. He is laid-back and already bonding with a 6 year old boy. Plus, her Alphas are submissive Alphas. There will be no wars in her home. Ten minutes after Cyrus left, I felt the entire house just breathe a sigh of relief.

I am pleased to let you know that I have been asked to assist in helping people with stray and feral cat questions on a new website soon to be launched, backed by the Cat Fancier’s Association.

When sending in my first article about what to do with a stray kitten you see in your yard, I suggested to the woman in charge of the website the possibility of adding a feature (once a month) that showcases not a pedigreed cat, but a stray.

The idea has been embraced and so I am asking my readers if you have a stray cat story that is exceptional (and yes, I know that ALL stray cats are exceptional) but if you have one that truly has given you different gifts, or made you appreciate your life when you didn’t before. Please contact me through this blog and let me share the story with the new audience.

I am thrilled to be a part of this project and once the website launches, I will provide the address. It is parked right at the moment.

This one is more cut and dried. For Frontline for Extra Large Dogs (80- 132 pounds) use 0.5 mL on all ADULT cats. For kittens (under a year old) call your vet for the proper dosage.