She has come home!!

Poor kitty, she looks like a burn victim! But she is home where she belongs on a special diet and some meds. Aurora got into the room accidentally this afternoon and she went right to this kitten and started feeding her! I went to take Pumpkin from her and Aurora told me to back off by growling at me. Her milk is good and it has dropped again and she has decided she  knows how to take care of pumpkin better than any ol human. Interestingly, she is NOT allowing the other kittens to nurse her, just Pumpkin

There is a fear that she might have an auto-immune skin disease called pemphigus. It can come about due to a bad viral infection. If the lesions start to increase or get weepy- we will be forced to do a biopsy to see if this is the problem. I am hoping the lesions stay the size they are- she doesn’t need the added stress of a return vet visit and then be put under when she is in such a weakened state.

 

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Also just designed this donation box to put in a local feed store. I wanted it to stand out from the others there- but then I wonder if I went out of the box a bit to far? The beads spell out Please Donate.

 

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Still in Isolation

Pumpkin is finally eating on her own, but her face is still quite swollen and she is painful to the touch. They are feeding her a combination of clincare and AD and they are feeding her every two hours. I guess she went home with one of the vets so they could continue the feedings. But, they don’t want her to come home yet as she is still quite sickly and frail. I am supposed to call back at noon to talk to my vet about what he wants to do for this sweet little kitten. Please continue to pray for her- she is a small but powerful warrior this one is-

Jetta Update

Spoke with Sarah last night and she told me that this cat is absolutely incredible. She will follow Sarah around the house like a dog. Sit on her lap whenever Sarah sits down and sleep under her chin each night. I have to wonder if maybe this means something more than just devotion as animals sense things about people. I know Sarah comes in contact with a lot of sick people in her job- I’m just saying. Some of our cats come here and go off and become missionaries of sorts.

But for now, they both are falling deeply attached to each other and I couldn’t be happier.

On another adoption note- Sunday is doing well in her home. She is alone most of the day because her owner works at a bank, but her owner’s best friend comes in and visits and plays with her at least for a few hours so she isn’t suffering from lack of attention or love.

Jordan and Darby are doing  pretty well. They are eating, drinking and using the litterpans but they pretty much are confined to one room at the moment as furniture is being moved around as Barbara settles into her new home. At times even after the rescue, Jordan will hide her head under a blanket in the closet if Barbara walks into the room unexpectedly. It is going to take time for these two cats to understand they are in a good place. It is my hope that Barbara is the right person who will figure this out and back off and just leave them alone until they do. Barbara asked me why if Jordan came on her lap after that first incident, she doesn’t return to it now? I don’t have an answer, just a theory. Perhaps it was just Jordan’s way of saying thanks and testing the water to see what would happen if she did get up on a lap. I don’t know, this cat has been through so much. I just hope this is her last stop for a forever home.

Pumpkin’s Vet Visit

She has been getting progressively worse. Overnight, her hair fell off her face and her cheeks and eyes became quite edemic. I took her into the vet this afternoon and the vet scared me- he was palpating her back end and I saw his face fall a million miles. I didn’t even want to ask him what it was he was feeling, but I did and he said he didn’t know, but it was “something that shouldn’t be there” and it was the size of a tennis ball. He guided my fingers, and I too felt this lump in her belly. I asked if it was her bladder (I didn’t know) but he said it wasn’t the right size, nor in the right place. We laid her down on the table and suddenly all this urine started pouring out of her! It WAS her bladder after all- thank god!

 

He is really concerned over the fact that the bladder was so full and again not in the right place. According to him, for her age, her bladder is three times the size it should be. He was also alarmed at the edema on her face and he tested her for demedex mange but that’s not it. he also ruled out ringworm on her. She barely glowed under the special lamp. Then he said it might be strangles (but I thought puppies were the only ones who got strangles?)

She is at the vet until Wednesday for observation and treatment. He wants to use some special drops for the edema- C-fer something or other? Sorry, but I have been up nights worrying about this little one and my brain is fried. I will find a way to pay for the additional care for her. Because for us, she is more than worth it!  I also emailed our feline specialist to fill her in. She saw Pumpkin over a week ago, but since then Pumpkin has slid steadily downhill quite rapidly.

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Sunday update

Been busy with a sudden epidemic of ringworm in the kittens. Ten of the twelve are now covered with ringworm and they have been dipped and treated and I will continue to treat them with Lotrimin and triple antibiotic creams until this is gone. We’ve not had ringworm in over 20 years and poor Glacie is so covered with it that we’ve had to shave most of her hair off her body!

This morning, I took Jordan and Darby over to their hopefully forever home. Barbara instantly fell in love with both of these cats and of course Jordan went and hid in a kitchen cupboard. Instead of getting upset, Barbara crawled into the cupboard and removed all the pots and pans and put in food, water and a litter pan! Darby ran into the bathroom and hid behind the counter and Barbara assured me that she has the patience of Job and it didn’t matter how long they were going to hide from her, she wasn’t going to give up on them! She has 7 rescued sheep on her farm and a Pomeranian who hid from her for 3 months under the bed only coming out to go potty outside twice a day.

I was home about an hour when I got a call from Barbara and she said she had an update for me. I told her, I hoped it was a good update because Jordan’s track record is pretty dismal when it comes to taking her to a new place.

Barbara said that after I left, she went back in the kitchen to see how Jordan was doing and Jordan was gone! The house is fairly small and empty as she is moving into it- and so there weren’t a lot of places that Jordan could hide. Barbara finally found her inside the wall inside the cupboard. Apparently, there was a slit in the boards that Jordan pushed on and she was caught in the walls.

This 61 year old disabled woman, grabbed her hammer and claw and crawled into that cupboard and released Jordan from her trap. Then she sealed up the hole! She was exhausted and so she went over to her couch and fell asleep and when she woke up, Jordan was sleeping on her lap! Barbara said that Jordan hasn’t left her side since!

Darby is in the bedroom- he is hiding inside of a box- but he is a shy boy, and he too needs time.  I guess Jordan figured if this woman could get her out of such a tight spot she must be a-ok!

Pumpkin has relapsed and it looks like a return trip to the vet will be happening tomorrow. But all in all, a pretty good day with a double adoption!

One of Mike’s caregivers just adopted Jetta!

When Sarah came into the house (first time here) to care for Mike’s legs- Jetta honed in on her and wrapped herself around Sarah’s legs and proceeded to let me know in small ways that Sarah was “hers.” They both fell madly in love with each other and when Sarah left, she was toting Jetta along in a borrowed carrier.

Jetta is friendly to most people, but not like this. Her actions with Sarah were completely different with how she acts with others. I haven’t seen Sarah’s house, but I felt comfortable enough to just let Jetta go on to a new life that she seemed to want. Mike is pouting, Jetta sleeps under his beard at night. But as I pointed out- we did want to keep her but it just isn’t feasible. This house can get quite chaotic at times and now Jetta will have a life with two people who will love her and care for her till the end of days.

I did check out the car though- newer model Mazda in immaculate condition. I don’t feel this is going to be a mistake. It’s a big leap of faith guided by trust in God.

Pumpkin Update

Although her eyes are still pretty swollen and sore, she is eating on her own now and a bit more lively than before today. She passed a ton of tapes yesterday after I dewormed her. I thought that might be the issue as Aurora was crawling with fleas.I gave her just a smidgeon of a piece of droncit and hoped for the best.

She doesn’t appear to want the baby food any more, so I fed her some sheba canned food and she loved it! There isn’t much of a selection of kitten food (canned) locally around here so I decided to just take them off the kitten food for now- some weren’t even eating it anyway and just put them on regular cat food. They are all still getting pet tinc and supplements along with their meals.

Went and picked up our donated food today. Lots of dry food coming in, plenty of cat litter, but no canned food at the moment. Praying that will change soon.

Gotta go, the kitten room needs to be cleaned in the worst way. I was gone for three hours and they weren’t happy about it and told me so by destroying the room. LOL

Sunday has a new home

She has been adopted by a lovely 22 year old woman and will be the only pet in the home. I was grateful for this adoption because the wee ones look at her as being their mom and were getting a bit aggressive trying to suckle this beautiful orange girl. She was very tolerant of it- until her spay- then of course it all changed.

Here she is in her new home just checking things out:

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She hid behind the chest for about two hours then came out and spent some lap time with her new mom. Emily is thrilled with her. It was a great match-up arranged by one of the vet techs at the clinic I go to.

The Learning Process

Rescuing these wee ones is always a learning process for me. I embrace each moment spent with these kittens and celebrate when they find homes. Sunday just went to a new home and I think I might have finally located the perfect place for Jordan.

Took Pumpkin to see the feline specialist this morning. Pumpkin has small ulcers on her tongue which indicates a secondary infection. She has a bad case of conjunctivitis and if she starts circling, falling and drooling again, she could have a problem with her liver development where the shunt gets blocked up and toxins build in her blood and system. I am hoping not, as I started treating her with small amounts of Karo clear syrup and believe she was hyperglycemic.

I was told that all I am doing seems to be working and she should be just fine provided neurological signs don’t suddenly appear again. Praying and hoping she hangs in there with us until we can bring her fully to health and get her to finally play with all her brothers and sisters again.

 

Here she is feeling pretty poorly

 

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In comparison, her sister Spice is doing just fine!

 

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God gave me a miracle this morning-

I spent the better part of the night (at least till 2:00 a.m. with pumpkin snuggled deep in my chest while I tried to sleep in the chair. I left her at 2:00 and went to bed, praying that God would keep her with us if it be His will. I woke at 7:00 and went into the room and she came out to greet me! I poured out the warm formula in waiting bowls and she went to one and started to lap it up! This is a first for her. She generally stays tucked into a corner trembling, until I pick her up and hand-feed her. She is always hungry which is a good sign. I think she has tapeworms. Aurora was full of fleas and they don’t give baby kittens droncit until they are 8 weeks old. I think, although the roundworms are gone, she is still dealing with tapes. I’m hoping this morning with our feline specialist, that we can find an appropriate dose for her. Her eyes are still swollen shut and her fur feels oily. All signs of some sort of bug/bacteria inside of her.

We’ve treated her with amoxy, forte flora, homemade pediaylyte- the type you buy in the stores has way to many minerals for a little kitty to handle. I am also giving her a bit of laxatone to move things along.

I will take this small miracle and thank you all for your prayers. These little ones are so dependent on us to do the right thing. If you could add to your prayers that I do all the right things for her and not bring her into harm- I would so appreciate it.