This kitten was born with contracture. Both of her front legs are bent backward at the elbows. I have encouraged the owner to take the kitten to the vet because this baby can be saved and have a pretty decent life if it intervention is done quickly. Kitty will go to the vet tomorrow! YAY!

I thought Mike was having a stroke. He was confused, muddled, didn’t know my name or who I was when I told him. He had for the last two days been fighting chills, sweats, fevers, projectile vomiting and I told him yesterday he was going to the hospital with me. Those were fighting words and it got ugly, so stupid me dropped the subject. He started feeling better toward mid-afternoon and I was hopeful the worse had passed.

This morning when I came in from feeding, I found him in his chair his teeth chattering, his words slurred. I took his temp 102.8 and just told him that I was done playing games and he was going to the hospital now! His response was to vomit all over me (not on purpose though). I told him to get in his wheelchair, but he couldn’t move. He was pale, clammy hands, sweaty brow- I’m thinking what the hell is going on here? I took his blood sugar it was good- not low or to high. I called his best friend to come over NOW and get him in the truck for me and then we were on our way to OHSU

Once there they determined he had heart issues, but it wasn’t a stroke. He also has a UTI and for those who don’t know in the elderly, this can cause all those symptoms and then they are okay and then are back to the episodes of chills, shakes, fevers, confusion and then fine again. They did a lot of tests on him and are keeping him for evaluation and further testing. I left at midnight and they still hadn’t found him a room yet.

On the way home, traveling the old highway and not the interstate, I got behind two cars who were also stuck behind this huge machine. It was taking up most of the lane and some of the oncoming lane as well. I thought it might be a front loader holding onto a few crushed cars or something. The first car decided to pass and when he moved over to pass this huge behemoth of a machine, the operator decided to be cute and moved over to block the car! I was hoping it might be because the operator didn’t see the car, but now after everything that happened, I don’t think that was a case. But this car was a compact and it finally just zoomed past. Second car same thing- tried to pace, got blocked and then tried again until finally found an opening and sped off into the night. That left me behind this machine and I noticed he was having problems staying in the lane so much so that the oncoming traffic was pulling over and stopping until it went by.

I’m going 10 miles an hour on a 55mph road and saying some rude words to myself but knowing with MIke’s truck I don’t dare even try to pass.It would never have worked. So I just stayed behind it. We got into silverton and there is a section of town that goes up a steep hill. When we got before the hill, I saw all these cop cars on the street- I have gone this way hundreds of times and maybe seen two or three cops during the trip, but suddenly it looked like a major bust was going down. Behind me a cop hit his blue lights, and I was getting ready to pull over when he shot past me and wedged in, in front of me and behind the machine. We were at the base of the hill at this time. I slowed down because I don’t want a ticket and I noticed another car behind me, not a police car, but the other cop cars were coming up fast. All of a sudden, I heard this huge screech and looked up. The machine had reached the bottom of the hill and in trying to go up it- couldn’t do it- too much weight. It started reversing fast and slipping down the hill- the cop in front of me hit his lights and started to reverse faster. But the idiot behind me didn’t give me any room to get out of the way, so I was stuck. The cop realized my predicament and reversed around me- by this time, the machine was on the other side of the street slamming into parked cars, I heard this huge BOOM and I just floored it and got out of dodge. I just missed being hit by something this operator hit. The cop literally saved my life. I figured with 52 cops right there in the thick of it, they really didn’t need a witness and besides I had bottle babies at home to tend to. I did stop a few miles down the road and shook as hard as Mike did when he couldn’t get out of his chair.

Tonight before I go to bed, my prayer will be- God can we not have another day of close calls like that for quite awhile?

I am rushing him to the hosptiat right now more later

and you have some to spare- could someone help me come up with $20.00? I get into these rescues so far and concentrate so hard on the state of the kittens that I forget to also keep my records of my spending accurate. I’m in a bit of spot at the moment and could really use some help here. What happened is lack of sleep has caught up with me and I forgot to write down a check I wrote for a cool air vaporizer and they ain’t cheap!

Thank you so very much for the help! You have kept us out of the NSF zone. I am so humbled that you believe in what we are doing here, and I learned a valuable lesson in all of this. Write everything down!

Would like you to meet- Lionel, Linus and Star the last of the litter infected with the mutated strain of the feline herpesvirus.

Fed and happy for now 🙂

On the way home from picking up the donated food, I stopped at the house where One-Eyed is living. As I pulled up, the new owner opened the door and darned if One-Eyed didn’t come running out and leaped right on my chest! I held him and snuggled him and his fur was a good receptacle for the leftover tears of the last few days. He looks wonderful! He is fattening up but not to much, his fur is no longer oily and matted, and he just looks like the happiest one-eyed kitty on the planet!  I needed that hug so much and the confirmation that we do good work even when sometimes things don’t go as planned.

At the 8:00 feeding last night, I picked up Schroder from the kitty pile only to discover to my dismay that he was dead! No warning- three hours prior, this orange boy was full of life and then he wasn’t. He had just passed because he was still warm and it is a mystery now if the other three will survive. Perhaps this is more than just the feline herpesvirus. Only time will tell. We are doing all we can for the remaining litter which consists of the female tortie: Star, and two orange boys, the runt Linus and the older, stronger Lionel. I thought if we would have lost any more of them it would have been Linus. Mike was really upset and wanting me to supply answers as to why Schroeder left us- I have no clue- that is why they call this fading kitten syndrome.

At 3:15 a.m. Murdoch temporarily stopped breathing. We brought him back with warming fluids, coffee shots and prayer. Between the two of us- we cuddled with him all night as he struggled to breathe. He could not or would not eat anything except after the warming fluids were administered, he did manage 2 ml of formula. But then he collapsed again. His breathing was labor intensive and I sat with him in the bathroom periodically with the shower running full heat. Not even the vaporizer gave him any relief.

At 8:00 this morning, we were at the vet’s office where it was determined his lungs were full of liquid and his days were numbered unless we could come up with the funds to transfer him to OSU Vet School where they would put him in an oxygen tank and administer fluids, antibiotics and pain killers for the duration of the viruses run. We are unfortunately not set up to have the funds available to go to these measures and because he was clearly suffering- we put him to sleep. On a flood of tears, this little black kitten who should have never been born was taken out of his torment. At least now, he can breathe, he can see and he can have the best that heaven has to offer him.

The other littermates are showing signs of being infected. My hope is the clavamox and other measures will stop this virus from also taking either their life, or their eyes.

This is Murdoch and he is one of the litter of bottle babies here. Since arriving here, his eye has been swollen and no amount of antibiotics or eye compresses was allowing the eye to open so the pus could drain. We were thinking it was conjuctivitess but normally that entails both eyes. He has been extremely lethargic for the last few days and yesterday his temperature plummeted to 93.4! I rushed him to the vet this morning where they examined him and told me that he is in pretty poor shape and his eye needs to be removed! The cornea has dissolved and the pupil has imploded and no pus was inside the socket just what the vet termed “A gruesome mess.”

He is only 7 weeks old and they want him on antibotics until Friday the day of the surgery. 🙁 The cost of this surgery will be around $700.00 on such a small kitten they have to be so careful on so many levels. CATS Inc., currently has in the Kitty-$304.63 if you can help us by sending us anything- we would welcome the gift with open arms. I am having deja vu here and wondering if One-Eyed Jack had a paw in this arrival here?

Here is Murdoch after the vet put numbing drops in his eye.

My initial thought when I saw the apple box on our front porch was “Oh wow! Who sent us some apples?” But when Quincy raced up to the box and started whining- I knew it just wasn’t apples. Instead, two new black kittens have now been taken to the vet, tested, dewormed and deflead. Because I am bottle feeding 8 right now, when I got back and settled down with the first wave of kittens, I asked my husband: “tell me again why I do this?” He replied: “Because your heart has a tail and it purrs.” That made me smile and I am still smiling. The new arrivals presented with slight fevers but suspect it is stress-induced from being stuffed into an apple box. They are on amoxy anyway and there is one boy and one girl about 2 months old.

And here are the bottle babies: Lionel, Linus, Schroeder, Treasure and Embers all from one litter-

And here is the second litter-