On March 9th, Morgan aka “Brother” arrived with the other of Karen’s cats. Told at the time that the all black cat was a male and “untouchable.” I put him in with four of her other cats in the stall enclosure. He scrambled out of the trap and onto the rafters and stayed up there for weeks. I was worried about him, his eyes looked wonky (for want of another word) I finally gained his trust enough to corner and capture him and take him to the vet.

Turned out “Brother” was a female so we named her Morgan. It was suspected she had an impacted scent gland behind her eyes which was causing her strange appearance. We put her on meds and I took her home and deposited her into my introduction cage so I could medicate her easily. I have been working with her slowly since and have discovered she loves butt rubs and gentle ear massages. This morning, I let her out to join general population.

Here she was when she first arrived:

And here she is this morning, on top of the Intro cage. She is still on her guard but my hope is now that she can move around with the others, she will gradually learn that no one here will harm her and we can continue to work on her socialization

Her bloodwork came back as so excellent my vet was amazed and said he wished all his senior clients had the same results! As for the vomiting and being a slut for wet food he said we could treat her for Inflammatory Bowel Disease which means prednisone or a cortisone shot. Both of these would be so stressful for her- and I am not willing to gamble like that with her. So I have her up for adoption (or foster) as a special-needs kitty who needs a hypo-allergenic diet. The food is out of reach financially for our sanctuary, plus she hates to be confined no matter how big the cage might be.

I also did a shout-out to her former owners to see if they might wish to reconsider and take her back.

This morning when I went to my car, I looked out in the road and I saw an animal on the highway. My heart in my throat, I walked closer and at first, it looked like a calico cat. I don’t have an outdoor calico barn cat, so I got closer and realized the poor thing was a fox. I fetched a blanket and went out and carried it to the other side of the highway and laid it in the ditch.

So sad, these beautiful forest creatures who have had to adapt to urban life finding themselves a victim of a hit-and-run. He was a full-size red fox but he had been gone for quite awhile. I just couldn’t leave him on the road to be a road trophy for some of these yahoos to hit repeatedly. I called ODOT but they won’t come and pick him up for at least a week, which I find puzzling because one of their stations is 3 miles down the road from us.

At any rate, I gave him what dignity I could. Here is Ms. Glory Bee- let’s hope I can find a home (that is less than 10 minutes from here LOL) she can go to.

This morning, both Glory Bee and Mason went to the vet’s. Glory has been exhibiting a larger-than-life appetite recently for wet food. To the point that she runs the other cats off their dishes with lots of formidable growls and finishes their share. I tried isolating her in one of the cages, and well, my neighbor called twenty minutes later wanting to know if we were skinning a cat! She was THAT loud in her protests. More alarming to me is the sudden pouchiness of her belly. One side is larger than the other bringing up the possibility of the dreaded FIP. If I try to pick her up (something she usually loves) she turns around and bites me till I put her down. So off to the vet we went.

We talked about the “C” word, but there is only one cancer that exists in the feline world that causes cats to HAVE a big appetite and it is quite rare. Don’t even ask me how to spell it, because I can’t even pronounce it but it has to do with their thyroid gland. He stuck a needle in her belly but there was no fluid- the pouch he feels is somehow connected so it isn’t fluid but something else. Based on her recent history and his findings, I opted for the full blood panel to be run on her in order to get some answers. She very kindly left a large fecal sample in her carrier on the way to the vet (PHEW!) I couldn’t let the windows down because Mason was along for the ride and I didn’t want him to get cold. Mason went for his first distemper shot.

It will be a few days before the results are back, but it was acknowledged that yes, there is something wrong with Glory, just no idea what.

I got home and was standing at the kitchen window to tackle the morning dishes and I looked outside and saw an orange kitty in the yard. At first I thought Charity had gotten out of her cage, but when I did a double take, I saw the unmistakeable smushed in nose of a Persian.

Grabbing a can of cat food, I went outside and as I got closer, he got so aggressive, backing into the blackberry bushes and lunging forward. He is just really scared or he’s a feral Persian which are two words that should never be connected. Kojo came by to see what all the fuss was about, and he lunged at her then vanished into the brush.

I have set up my trap right now with the door open 24/7 and when he comes back and go inside, I will pull the string, remove the stick propping open the trap and catch him. I am sure based on his behavior that he is a tomcat. I will also search and look and talk to others to see if they might have him as a pet, but I am the only one within 3 miles of here that even thinks kindly of cats. He’s pretty, he’s scared and I hope to capture him soon.

I don’t know about you but I think he is looking mighty comfortable on that couch! LOL

He looks ancient this black boy. One would think in seeing him that he could barely move, but now when I go out to the enclosure he no longer hides. I have to watch him carefully because his strikes are quick and precise. Even while dishing out food for Matilda, Sawyer and Blake, Skeets will strike out at the hand that feeds everyone.

His tail is missing a lot of hair and his back legs are also hairless. I so want to just scoop him up and get him to the vet but as most of my fingers now sport Garfield Bandaids- it is prudent to wait a bit until he trusts me. I suspect his aggression is born of pain and nothing else but he leaves traps alone after being forced to spend over three weeks inside of one while Karen vacillated between surrendering him to me or keeping him herself. At least, he is neutered.

I am hoping by the end of next week, I will be able to capture him and get him in to be seen. Time will tell-

For a just hours old kitten found on a farm in Missouri and who didn’t even make it through the night. Not named but very much loved for a brief second and that is the second that mattered most.

This was waiting in my in bin this morning:Winston is sleeping in a small bedroom along with his new mom and an electric fan (because she keeps the door closed when she sleeps).He has three new dog friends, a papillion a pomeranian and a pug

We all love dogs more than people. He’s getting used to the little dogs and loves the fan. He’s been giving kisses and already had a car ride.
We will send pictures.
Thanks so much.
Mel

Although Winston is everything I ever wanted in a dog and then some, he has been placed into another home tonight. The woman just lost her Aussie of 14 years to cancer and was looking for another pardner to run with. She runs 15 miles every day. He would love that! Her land is completely fenced (ours is not and he has been on the road already). She also recently lost her husband and needs Winston to deal with the loss. It was a no-brainer. she is why Winston has come through my hands.

Winston’s energy is over-the-top. At another time in my life, he would be no problem to deal with- long walks, runs, hikes biking. But my world has changed drastically in the last seven years and I am pretty much a homebody now. It is not fair to Winston to ask him to just sit around the house most of the day and go for an hour walk and be happy. We bonded and I love him, but I love him enough to understand he was not meant to be here. He was just meant to visit for a week. He is in the home he needs to be in now. I hope he won’t miss me as much as I will miss him and transfers all that furry love over to his new momma soon.

The isolation cage was proving to small for Mason, so today, we built him an isolation box. 3’x4′ and 2′ off the ground. He is now on solid food- I am feeding him a combination of canned kitten food/canned pumpkin and forte flora thrown in. His teeth are coming in and he has chewed through 3 nipples so far so it was time to graduate him. He is doing well- here are some photos for ya’ll to enjoy!

In his box, he has a litterpan with the world’s best cat litter in it. I use the small throw-away aluminum cake pans you can buy at any grocery store. You get 4 for under $2.00. He has two pans right now at his disposal. No pun intended

Winston has been settling in without to many issues. Thankfully, this dog has a low prey drive. He watches the barn cats run, but I can break the stare of his simply by calling his name. We had a scare with him yesterday, he got out of the house and out in the road, but thankfully, the motorist swerved to miss him and I was able to get him out of the road without him becoming injured. It’s clear he has had little interaction with others, he has no manners (obedience-wise) I will start clicker training him tomorrow. He’s smart, he’ll catch on quickly I think.

A friend of mine who rescues dogs, donated one of her kennels for him when she heard his story. Here he is with B-Dog. They are only in there when I am outside feeding and can’t watch him. I didn’t think it fair to let Brandy have free range while he was stuck in there and they get along quite well-