This morning, we took Brook to the river. This time I was prepared and had my shorts and sandals on. We tied a large clothesline to her leash and I brought one of her balls that floats.

That water is cold! My legs turned to ice while I was in there, but she had a ball (no pun intended). I kept her out of the deeper water where the current could have knocked her under. She was only there for 15 minutes, in the water for about 10. I am hoping the cold water will also serve to effectively ice her legs- I know they iced mine! Brrr!

We got home and she has been sleeping since. She snores! LOL Right now, Barnum is sharing her cage and they are snuggled together like two peas in a pod.

I received permission from the vet to up the dose of Trammadol to 4 every 8 hours if needed. Poor girl- she should have never gotten to this state.

I had replied to the previous owner a few days ago and it wasn’t the nicest email I have ever sent, but it wasn’t rude (ok, the first one was rude- but I deleted that one) and sent another.

He calls at 6:00 in the MORNING crying about “how much they love this dog!” They didn’t notice she was in pain- and the few times she went to a vet- they were told that it was normal hip dysplasia. I don’t know, so much of what he has already told me just doesn’t add up. All I know is that she is hopefully in a better place now with us. He kept sobbing about how much he misses her (he is 50 years old) and really, she has not shown any indication that she misses anyone. No whimpering at night, no scratching at the door. Mike said that when they drove away, she climbed into the front seat of the truck and put her head on his lap. We’ve had dogs in the past that howled, paced, looked out the window- shown some indication that they were going to miss the person or people behind them. Not her- and she has bonded with me like nothing I have ever seen before. When I come home from work late at night, she is waiting at the door to give my arm a big wet kiss.

It is becoming apparent that it really hurts Brook to walk. Yesterday, we walked to the creek twice and at the end of the day, she couldn’t move. I had to give her an extra pain pill- so this morning, I took her down to the boat ramp and she went for a bit of swim.

It was just a whim, so I wasn’t prepared. Ended up taking my shoes and socks off and rolling up my jeans to join her. I should have worn my shorts- but at any rate, she did really well and she wanted to go out into the really deep water but I wouldn’t let her.

It is interesting to me that since Brook has arrived, although initially, all the cats fled in terror at a mountain invading their home- there has been none of the usual spitting and hissing and posturing when they do meet. Barnum seems completely over the top in love with this big lug of a dog. This morning, when I took Brook back to the creek, my little orange kitty scooted out of the house and followed us- all the way back and all the way up the house.

The vet said that Brook needs to work with resistance to her legs, so I took her through the tall grasses. It tired me out! She is showing a slight limp- we did two laps around the pasture at a slow walk- Barnum had a blast leaping through the tall grasses and chasing bugs. I think I am more tired than Brook is right now.

Mike has to have eye surgery this morning, so Brook is going to go. Because she can’t jump we will be taking my car. Brook is going to fill up the whole back seat!

Brook has been with us less than three days. This morning, concerned with her severe limping and not getting anything but vague answers from her last owner- I took her to see my vet.

She was perfectly behaved during the visit and they really did put her through the wringer. It was determined that she has what is the equivalent of two blown kneecaps! The operation can be done at OSU for a whopping $3,000.00 per knee! Holy smokes!

After the visit, I set down with my vet to discuss the reality of the situation. There is no way in the world we can come up with that type of money (and don’t worry) I am not turning this into a fundraiser plea. I am just sorting through everything.

It puzzles me that no one who was with her before noticed her severe limping and did something about it- because had they done so, it would have cost a few hundred dollars and she would have been spared…months…years of pain.

So they put her on Trammadol (low dosage at first) I am going to start doing physical therapy with her nightly (bicycle movements) on her back legs. I will take her to lake and the river- the goal is to get her to eventually swim and strengthen the weakness of her back legs- and the Good Lord willing, I will also be able to get some weight off her. Then we will see what happens. She weighed in at 115 pounds, she should be about 75-80. I can walk her but only on level land, so walks in the forest right now are out because in order to get to my trails- there is a bit of a hill to climb.

Mike was really mad (as was I) when the final verdict was presented. He wanted to take her right back to the previous owners, but I stopped him. After all, they didn’t do right by her before, so why put her back in that situation? It just angers me that they let her be in pain because she is sweetness personified.

I guess bottom line- be mindful of answering Craiglist ads. There is nothing free about a “free dog” and she has to have at least a chance of being painfree and happy. If I can get enough weight off her- there is a second surgery available that my own vet can do, but it won’t cure the problem- it will give her a few years of mobility (sort of like why people have to have their knees replaced after a few years.

Poor Brook, and wouldn’t you know it, when I got home from the vet, I had an email from one of the previous owners telling me how much they love this dog. I am afraid to say that my return reply to her wasn’t very supportive to her feelings. Most everything they told us about Brook is turning out to be a lie. The vet clinic has never heard of her, and the rabies tag she wore around her neck, when traced back- is registered to a 14 year old Lhapsa Apsa (or however you spell it!)

Just say some prayers for this sweet girl and I will keep you informed of our progress. I think she isn’t the only one who is going to lose weight in the future! Here she is in our field.

Mike and I have been discussing for weeks how wrong it feels not to have a dog here. Since we met over 27 years ago, we have always had a dog in our lives. I decided to just start looking at CL to see if I could find a dog that would fit with our family. Boy what a mistake that was! There are so many kittens and cats on the list along with dogs, geese, guinea pigs, you name it. I have been contacting some owners with dogs of interest and I found myself appalled at how many of those owners don’t neuter!

Because there are times when Mike will fall or stumble and be unable to get up, I started looking at the larger breeds- the ones with strength. In the last few days, I found an ad and when I sent off the email, I got an immediate answer. Most people were dragging their feet answering my inquiries.

Mike took a drive this morning and brought home with him this free dog. She is wonderful! She is six years old and a cross between a yellow lab and a Great Pyrenees. She is extremely overweight but hey, that just makes her fit with us more! LOL We are calling her Brook- her other name didn’t fit. She is smart and has killer blue icy eyes and she is a kind soul. Her tail has been going 90mph since she arrived.

The cats are getting a bit braver, most of them scattered to the winds the minute she set one paw in the house. But although she looks at them a bit intently, she doesn’t show any type of aggression or prey tendencies. She is so heavy over 100 pounds that she can’t hardly walk. I believe we all need each other.

I would like you meet Brook- our new companion- After all the death and sickness here, it is so sweet to be able to throw my arms around this gentle giant and hug a furry neck- It normally would be furrier, but they shave her in the summer. oh and she is spayed!

I feel a great peace about stopping the active part of rescuing. I am turning back to my book in progress and will be working on that, blogging and taking care of my crew.

Axle and Tandem are both healthy, loving kittens. Tandem doesn’t run in terror from me any longer, thinking in her tiny head “Oh no here comes the Human Pill Pusher-RUN!” She will cuddle around my feet when I am barefoot, and although I don’t make it a habit of picking the kittens up, they no longer struggle when I do. They have come a long way since they first arrived.

Someone emailed me and asked me would I take these two kittens had I known about the mutated virus. My answer is Yes, I would have. But I would certainly have been more diligent in keeping them in isolation longer and making sure they didn’t connect with any other kitten.

Now the last thing left for these two is to be neutered. Because of all the recent euthanizations and the surgery for Baker- things are tight. I need to make one last plea to cat lovers out there. I need to raise $40.00 that won’t be coming out of our household budget to buy two spay and neuter certificates and get these babies fixed. They will be then be spending their lives here with us and the crew- and I will care for them to the best of my ability.

If you feel in your heart that you wish to make a small donation- there is a donation button at
Kitten-Rescue. Doesn’t sound like a lot of money, I know, but for me at this point in my life, it might as well be a small fortune. The vouchers run out quick so I am hoping my plea reaches out and some of you might be inclined to pitch in for these last two kittens welfare.

Starlight is being showcased on a new website backed by the Cat Fancier’s Association.

You can see this “feral” kitty’s story here:

Starlight

Last night at work, Mike called and he was very apologetic. Phoebe, our door dasher had gotten out and Mike couldn’t catch her to bring her back. There was nothing I could do from work so I told him not to worry about it. Phoebe should be fine and I would find her when I got home.

I did my kitty call out the window and I heard her faintly crying. I called again, heard her cry but it wasn’t getting closer and my heart started to sink. What had happened to her?

Grabbing a flashlight, I went outside and started calling again and listening. I finally found her up the apple tree by the enclosure. She was quite high and to scared to come down. Not knowing if there was a coon nearby that might have run her up that tree, I started to get nervous. It was after midnight not a good time to be prowling around.

The extension ladder went up pretty quickly, but she wouldn’t use it to climb down. Part of the problem arising when people try to “get rid” of kittens early and separate them from mom, the kitten loses learning valuable training skills. One of those skills is that mom hasn’t shown the kitten that yes, you go up a tree headfirst, but you come down butt-first. I have noticed that in the last few years with the big push to bring all cats indoors (which I agree with by the way) even the moms don’t know that this is the proper way for a cat to climb up and down a tree. This means that most cats once they are in the tree, simply do not know how to get down without scaring themselves.

I finally got ahold of Phoebe and scruffed her and on the way down, she panicked and started clawing me. I was about 6 feet from the ground and going to fall off the ladder, so I had no choice but to drop her. She is fine- but I am going to have to pull out all my tricks to get her to stop dashing out the door.

Phoebe was owned by someone who is mentally challenged and abusive towards kittens. She is not all there to begin with- I suspect she has been thumped several times. Dropping her six feet was the least of her trauma but I felt guilty all the same. Even though she could survive that fall better than I could.

This morning, she is distant with me, but playing with the others so she is fine.

Mine are crowded at my feet- all of them. They woke me up about twenty minutes ago. I had fallen asleep on the couch. Something kept nudging my legs and when I finally opened my eyes and turned on the light, there was a carpet of cats below me. They were just staring intently at me, some were growling, a few were pacing restlessly on the sidelines. I felt like I had fallen down the rabbit hole and landed in a Stephen King thriller.

I listened for any unusual sounds, we do get coyotes close to the house because of the creek at the back of the pasture. I heard nothing but the distant swish of occassional traffic.

As I got to my feet, the cat sea parted and let me pass. I checked each room of the house, turning on lights and wishing we still had a dog around. Nothing….but the cats were clearly unsettled.

I flipped on the front porch light and not brave enough to open the door, I peered out the peephole…nothing…

Hmm- check of the food bowls revealed that the cats still had food available- besides not even my cats would all congregrate like this to wake me, I don’t make it a habit of starving them.

Mike was sleeping like a log, so I got dressed, grabbed a flashlight and stepped outside.

At this time of year, it isn’t pitch black here but I wasn’t going to venture out into the pastures looking for trouble. I started in the front yard and just began seeing what might have set them off. On the road into our home, I noticed fresh tire marks in the dirt, not made by our vehicles. I flipped on the garage light and grabbed a baseball bat just in case.

Our chest freezer stood wide open. I know I shut it, because I always shut it. When I looked inside, I was dismayed to discover that all the meat I recently purchased had been taken along with the halibut and crab my stepson recently sent us from Alaska! All of it gone! They left the vegetables though.

I am just stunned- who would do this? Who would take it upon themselves to rob a freezer of some poor schumk who is just trying to get along in this world? It just stunned me and I knew I couldn’t call the police. This is the end of the Jamboree weekend, I doubt they would do anything other than laugh to hear someone stole roasts, hamburger and seafood from our freezer!

Riley, my big ol barn cat came in through the cat door and I looked at him and said-“I hope you at least bit them!” His reply was to walk up and headbump my legs. I think that means the thiefs got away with no major injuries!