This morning an officer called me from another county. She had been on a call and found a mom and two kittens in the building. The building is slated to be demolished next week and she had no idea what to do with the “feral cat and kittens.”  I said we would take them.

They are getting ready to go to the vet in about 20 minutes. They are no feral- just scared, hungry and sick. Mom has a fever of 103.7 and I gave her fluids. The babies are a little warm but not alarming. They are beautiful! Mom is a cow kitty and her two little ones consist of a calico and a male Siamese. No names yet- just want to get them to the vet and find out why mom is spiking a temp. I was concerned when I picked them up- they were inside a carrier and I went to support the bottom with my hand because it was so heavy and that’s when I felt the heat. I knew we were in trouble then and I raced home to get them someplace cooler where we could care for them. Also mom is pregnant- her babies are probably 4 months old I am guessing.

I will post pictures later and give an update when I get back from the vet. I am just taking them with me along with Cooper who is scheduled to get his stitches out today. YAY! Then he can go back to being a more active dog rather than having to stay inside all the time and take it easy.

They are staying at the vet- both the kittens will be spayed tomorrow as well as the queen who is indeed pregnant. Beautiful family- hoping one of the vet techs fall in love with the Siamese boy and takes him  home.

That’s the name I gave to the new baby, but sadly he won’t be around to grow into it. he died early this morning at the ER Vet where I rushed him to yesterday after he was struggling to breathe. They believe he had pneumonia and it was to hard on his heart to continue the struggle. 🙁  RIP Little One- you were loved a lot in a very little time frame.

she has soft tissue damage to her back legs. Not sure what happened but she has been given a depo shot and they flea treated her as well because she has an allergy to the fleas.

When I got home, this was waiting for me on the porch! Thankfully, it is only 78 degrees today- any hotter- this little boy wouldn’t have probably made it. He was inside a shoebox. 🙁 Mike was home but he said no one rang the bell-

Kitty is quite weak and crawling with fleas- this is him after his bath.

I decided yesterday that worrying about rabies because of a skunk and a dead bat is probably a bit obsessive on my part. 🙂 So last night, I started to really explore Solo and her body and she came unglued every time I touched or came close to her rear end- so this  morning I have dropped her at the vet’s to have them look at her and determine what is wrong with her. It may be that she turned on the charm trying to get help as many cats have done in the past with me. They are aloof or unapproachable until they are so wounded or ill they know they can’t find help that way. I probably sound like a nut case to some people- but living out here in a rural area and finding a dead bat on my doorstep and having skunks running around- rabies is a concern. Solo is the only cat not vaccinated against this dreadful disease something I will ask the vet to correct very soon. Hopefully, Solo just has a bad bite wound on her back leg or rear of some other explanation for her out of the ordinary behavior.

George finished this afternoon and we had enough left over to insulate and frame in one wall as well as half of the back wall. We are well underway to having a safe and viable cat enclosure for the winter time.

We still have one side wall and the front and back to do- but we will just take it a day at a time and try to put enough money aside to finish this building as soon as possible. We still have to put up the trim inside because the building has settled and some of the boards don’t quite meet despite all of George’s efforts. He is a wonder and I am blessed that he has crossed paths with us-

Enjoy the photos-

I saw Dash, Chappy, Gadget, Poe and Turtle yesterday and also this morning. At least they didn’t bolt for the hills and are sticking close to home for now. I am leaving the door to their enclosure open and feeding inside of it, but I am also feeding them under the house. I don’t want them to go hungry while they decide what they are going to do. I was asked by a friend, why I don’t trap them. They won’t go in the traps, I already know this and I risk trapping the mom skunk and her 6 babies in the process. Something I would rather not do.

This morning when I went to feed, I had my orange feral cat come rushing up to me to say hello. It took me by surprise because this is a cat that has not let me even come close to her and has just been hanging out in the shadows. I bent down to pet her and the reaction I got was unsettling. Super affectionate to the point that I had to pick up a large stick and use it to herd her away from me. The flip in her personality is so quick that it could be an exposure to rabies. 🙁 I know if I call my vet, the only recourse he will take is to send her to her death- so I have her on quarantine in one of our largest cages in the barn. If I was working with her on a daily basis and she flipped like this, I would know it is because I had finally got her to trust people, but out of the blue like this- with a wild skunk that I am seeing earlier and earlier in the day- rabies has to at least be considered. There are two types of rabies, the furious form and the paralytic form. Quarantine is 45 days with her being vaccinated in 30 days if no other signs appear. I hope I am just being over-cautious and this little girl is just tired of hiding in the shadows. Time will tell- of course this is the only cat on the premises not vaccinated against rabies- couldn’t get close enough to her. So the countdown starts today. Never a dull moment around here it seems.

George is back to finish the roof. he is also going to make a sheltered feeder off the side of the house so I can feed the escapees in the rain without them getting wet. Pushing food under the house although it works for them- is a bit hard on this 60 year old back and legs!

Woke up to a kitty licking my face. I turned on the light and saw Bentley- one of my outside kitties perched on my chest! How did he get in here? With a sick feeling, I rushed outside to find the cat sanctuary door wide open and no evidence of the cats anywhere around. In my state of mind yesterday, I must have neglected to lock it when I left after the night feeding. Chapppy, Dash, Salem, Gadget, Gidget, Poe, Turtle-all of them gone.

For Dash and Chappy who have called this sanctuary home for their entire lives, they must be so scared to be on the outside. The only thing I could think to do was to block the tunnels leading into the house and leave the outside sanctuary door open, hoping they will come back before something bad happens to them. We are talking 19 year old cats. I have let my neighbors know of the jailbreak and just hope they come home to eat and stay warm. I would love for Bentley to be an inside kitty, but he is a survivor of distemper and has neurological issues that cause him to get aggressive with the other cats or with us- that and he sprays like a firehose.

It’s been a chaotic week. They have closed my mother’s bed with the death curtain yesterday and are giving her three days max before she is gone. The director told my sister (who is there now with her) that she has never seen anyone hang onto life so hard without eating enough to keep a bird alive. She is maybe drinking 4 inches of Boost in a 24 hr period. I thought I wouldn’t cry when I got word that her life was just about over. I thought wrong and now because I wasn’t focused-  I have 8 cats outside for the first time in their lives and no way to find them until they decide to be found.

I found myself yet again, having to say goodbye to a very old feline friend- Mercedes. We put her down early this morning and she went swiftly so she could get out of pain. After putting up all the money to get her teeth pulled and give her a chance at more living, we found ourselves instead with a kitty in incredible pain. In the middle of the night, she would wake us up screaming. She would be on the cat post and she was frantically clawing at her mouth. The first few times, I flew out of bed thinking she had a string or thread wrapped around her tongue, but that sadly was not the case. She had a whopping case of stomatitis which would require weekly trips at first to the vet for depo shots- then the possible full extraction of all her teeth if the steroids (after 6 weeks) didn’t work.

Did I want to put her through all that misery just because of how special she is?No, I did not and made the difficult decision to let her go. So fly now Missy Mercedes, you are free of pain and chasing all those heavenly mice to your ultimate satisfaction. We shall miss you- you had a good run of 14 years-

Thanks in large part to Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, our project is now underway to replace the roof of the stall enclosure, insulate the roof and put in a ceiling. Lowe’s made us a handsome offer for supplies once they saw  my wish list. Not only can I get the roof completely done, but I can also pay George up front to do the work and have a bit left to put on our now manageable $400.00 vet bill! I was so thrilled to find Lowe’s so cooperative toward our ultimate goal- Beats the competition telling us they will give us 10% off the total bill-

First order of business- go and fetch the supplies:

Next on the agenda- clear out the stall enclosure of all stored items:

One would think, ,I have too many cat carriers!

now the inside is almost empty, time for the roof to come off!

The man of the hour- here’s George!

So the project should be completed by Tuesday (according to George) We also had to destroy 5 yellow jacket nests- YUCK! One was the size of a basketball hanging under the eaves out of sight. Thank God George saw it before the wasps saw him-

Insulation going up!

I took her over to a friend of mine who takes great pictures of kitties which is hard to do. She is up for adoption this week- hoping I find the right home for her-