The medicines that will cure the remaining kittens here of this friggin feline herpes virus has been ordered. It will be here on the second. The bad part is the meds are expensive and there isn’t enough money in the kitty to cover it. We need $391.80 for the meds. Please if you can help- I beg you please do. These kittens are so sick and not getting better. Because there are so many kittens sick as well as 5 of our resident kitties we have to have a large amount of the medicines. That’s my New Year’s prayer that we can somehow come up with the money. If not, the vet will just keep the medicine for the clinic.

The three new arrivals are quite the surprise. They are all three at a little of a year old HUGE. I mean by all accounts HUGE. Vet records presented show that blood work and thyroid panels are normal. I can deal with the huge part, it is the aggression that surprised me. Cagney attacked me, and if you have never been attacked by a 20 pound cat count yourself lucky!She was out for blood and It was MY blood on her mind. I can understand growling and swatting as being a part of an unsettled cat whose life has been majorly disrupted. But this was different. This was terrifying for me- and I don’t terrify easily. She was actually stalking me like prey. 🙁 What the devil?)

I managed to box her into a corner cubicle where books are stored. I ended up propping a cat carrier in front of the cube  he was in so if she went anywhere, it would be inside the carrier. She was also in such a high state of distress that she was trying to get her two littermates! I did not want or need another emergency vet visit so what I ended up doing was bracing the back of the carrier with our dresser. I then tipped over the cubicle and poured a bit of ice cold water on her exposed back. She leaped into the cat carrier. I then had to move the dresser back a bit, tipped the carrier up and slammed the door on her furry ass and put her in the introduction cage to chill for a bit. It was a bit of an intense moment.

I will treat her (for now) as feral. I do know that when cats lives become disrupted some of them just can’t deal. I sense a VERY spoiled and pampered cat who misses her humans immensely. I called the number the lady left for me to get in touch with them- and it came up as being disconnected. I called the second number and left a message. It is all I can do for now.

The other two are okay. Sophie is as loving as when she left and Roscoe growls but he doesn’t stalk and attack. It was a moment in a day that was blessed which brought me back to the reality of rescue. You never know what to expect. I did not get bit- but boy my heart was racing and in the end, I was shaking inside. Mike said it was like being stalked by a tiger.

One of the local shelters called out of the blue this morning and said they can now take 6 of the sickest kittens (try saying that five times fast!) 🙂 I took over Pocket, Dickens, Nemo,Noggs, Brumbles and Lionel. They will also take two of my healthy older cats tomorrow! I am relinquishing Gypsy the older calico “boarded” cat as well as Bria a mack tabby female. Tears of relief were shed on the ride home. I was so worried that Pocket and Dickens would not make it. They go see the eye specialist tomorrow morning. They did say they will stay in touch with me about the kittens’ outcomes and if Pocket and Dickens can’t get the hang of using the litterpan, they will re-adopt them back to us. Not many people are kind to cats who poop out of the pans or understand why- with those two- we are looking at genetic reasons why-

Yesterday, I got a call from a couple who had adopted three kittens earlier this year. Apparently (and it was hard to understand the woman because she was so upset) they have fallen on unexpected hard times and have to move from their home of 30 years. I asked if there were anyone else who could take Roscoe, Sophia and Magenta, but she said no and they have to vacate their home by tomorrow. She said it would be a “short-lived” stay but this isn’t my first rodeo so I told her she has to surrender the kittens to me or I won’t take them. It was a bit of a struggle for her to understand my reasons behind this request, but she said she had no other choice. I told her I wouldn’t go out of my way to find them a home, but if enough time passes that it becomes clear the “short-lived” homelessness is long enough to try and find them a better place, I would.

I feel sorry for this couple. They face the unknown with such trepidation. But the reality is that it could happen to any one of us at any time. I don’t want these kittens left behind to fend for themselves or worse so I will take them. I tell everyone who adopts from us that we will take the kittens or cats back at any time without question. The only problem is right now, space is on crunch mode.

Roscoe back then:

Sophia:

Magneto:

There will be no “shelter to the rescue” for these kittens. The shelters are unable to take the kittens not because they have the feline herpesvirus which can kill 50% of kittens affected with it, but they can’t take the kittens because of the ringworm. Ringworm is not fatal, it is persistent, highly contagious to cats, kittens, people, dogs and it can last as long as 5 months.

I did get some verbal help and the phone number of a vet in a neighboring town who is the leading vet when it comes to feline herpevirus. Of course right now, she is closed for the holidays but I hope to call her on Monday and see if she will see three of the kittens and work with us regarding payments to get these eyes on the road to healing.

I made an executive decision today about Badger’s eye. Her third eyelid is so swollen that when the eye is “opened” she is getting all sorts of debris in her eye. I have decided to stop trying to get the eye open and keep it sealed so further problems don’t occur. I’ve already seen that her eye is non-existent because of the corneal ulcer and now the blood clot. Poor baby girl. It may be the wrong decision for the experts but it feels like the right thing to do, especially when I just spent 20 minutes trying to get kitty litter out of her eyelid.

Hey Guys,

Apologies for not giving daily updates. Life is a bit hectic right now coupled with the fact that both Mike and I are quite ill. He has it worse than me, and I have been busy seeing to his needs as well as trying to get a handle on the aftermath of the feline herpesvirus. We have two kittens now in danger of possibly losing their eye. I am following the instructions for the antibiotic drops but the eyes look so angry. You would think they would have calmed down some. I think the problem is (and I am not a vet darn it!) 🙂 But the inner eyelid has swollen so closed that the antibiotic drops cannot make it down into the eye where they need to be. Pocket and Dickens are my biggest concern. Dickens has developed this spastic, raspy cough. They told me to put her on Robitttusen Jr but all that does or seems to is make her drool. She gets very little during the day and only twice a day but now she runs when she sees me coming because she knows it tastes awful and she doesn’t want any.

Pocket sleeps pretty much all day long hugging the heater. No fevers (thank YOU Lord) but very lethargic. She eats every three hours, baby food on a spoon. It is the only way I can get anything into her and by golly, she is as cute as can be even when she is cranky. The others are eating while discharging from nose and eyes (clear discharge yay!) We are currently going through 2 cases of canned food daily! And they are still growing. Many, many, oh so many thanks to those of you who sent us canned food recently! It was a true Christmas miracle when those packages started to arrive! Love and hugs to all!

I have heard from a shelter who is seeing if they can prepare to take all the babies at one time! This will be the third shelter who is trying to help, but it is a lot to ask of a facility despite how well-funded they are- to take 16 very sick kittens and nurse them back to health. In the meantime, I have been in touch with a few old friends from The Catwriters’ Association. Many of them dynamite feline vets. I have been told to nix the vaporizers and go to the cool air style vaporizers. They are spendy and off the budget right now. I was told to bring the sick kitties into the shower room each time I shower and just let them hang out. To wash my hands with Phisohex multiple times a day. To keep the water bowls- food bowls and bedding impeccably washed and cleaned and to be sure the litterpans are not contaminated. Funny thing- the vet told me feline herpesvirus carries through the air. It does but rarely- it is all these other aspects that circulate the virus.

Well, Mike is rousing so I need to go. I did manage to get a few extra hours of sleep this morning, but it was torture listening to Dickens and Pocket try to breathe. I will say that turning off the vaporizers last night, did make a bit of difference. Dickens is barely coughing this morning.

So just to recap-

Mike is sick, I am sick

We have 16 kitties in various stages of the feline herpevirus and the vaccines waiting patiently in the fridge although I was told, this isn’t always foolproof either!

We have two kitties Badger and Wink who might very likely have to have their eye removed

And a shelter working like the dickens to take all these sick kittens in one day.

See any need for prayer here? *G*

God Bless all of you and have a Blessed, and Merry Christmas!

Here are some of the kitties who are on the backend of the URI and can finally see out of both of their eyes-

Nickle:

Pippen:

Noggs:

Nemo:

Pocket:

Cuttles:

The others are still unable to open one or both of their eyes and we are just forging ahead like we know what we are doing!

Please add a prayer for Badger. He islong hair gray and white boy from the hoarder’s bunch. His eyes have been swollen shut since arriving here and when they finally did open- they didn’t look quite right. There was a cloudiness in the eyes and the pupils especially in his left eye- look non-existent. I took him into the vet today and it turns out that after the eyes were numbed and slowly forced open he has massive coronary ulcers in his eyes. He has a 60/40 chance of losing both eyes and a 90/20 chance of losing one eye. 🙁 He is on saline drops and special antibiotic drops every three hours around the clock- We should know in 7 days if these aggressive treatment will save his sight. The vet said he is not sure what sort of aggressive strain of the feline-herpevirus this group has but it is rather nasty to some of the kittens. I am to put the saline drops into his eyes first so that the eyes will open then once they are opened, I am to put the antibiotic drops into his eyes as well. I will follow it up with a teaspoon of baby food just so he does have something to look forward to. He has the potential to be such a beautiful, loving kitten.

Much like most of the country, the Pacific Northwest is being slammed with storms. Our rain was so hard last night that I heard something slamming itself against our security door. I had no idea what was going on- it was about 2:00 a.m. I opened the door to see Mooch, one of our true feral cats- huddling in the rain and wanting inside. I opened the door wider and he scrambled in along with a ton of leaves and wind and rain.

This morning, he has taken up vigil in one of the tunnels leading to the cat enclosure and is doing cat ambushes to any cat or kitten who dares to use that tunnel, Thankfully, we have two tunnels leading to the enclosure. This cat has never been indoors- never wanted to come indoors but 60mph winds must have changed his mind.

Also my bank called this morning on behalf of “giving back to those who give much” they have presented me with two big bags of cat food! I was blown away- the food is very much needed.

I do have calls in to the largest rescue facility in Oregon to ask them to please take these kittens and get them spayed/neutered healthy and into homes. I am waiting to hear back. I hope they will call me back. I thought with my heart instead of my head and brought all those sick babies here. Some are getting progressively healthier but others are still sick despite the drugs thrown their way. I just did a dump run to get rid of the soiled cat litter $165.00 for that disposal bill! 🙁  I didn’t think ahead on this at all. I pray they will call me back soon.

She arrived this morning having had the misfortune of getting caught in a trap laid out for a raccoon. She was left out in rain most of the night and the woman wanted to keep her in the trap until the 1st of Jan when she could afford to get her spayed!  No way, do you keep a kitten who I was told was feral (she is not). In a trap longer then 24 hours- 48 max- so off to MA’s house she went.

She has been tested, de-flead and dewormed and is currently in foster care. I have my hands full with all the kittens already here- but she is a cutie and I think she has a home after the first- but that is still being considered.