Mattie has taken a turn for the worst. She had only about a 24 hour reprieve from her vomiting, thanks to a shot of Serenia, but this morning when I went in there to feed, she had coated the floor with her emesis. 🙁

They are suspicious of a bacterial or parasitical infection so they are keeping her and the kittens until Monday to chase this. She has been getting regular fluids here- but she runs through them so fast. She had 200 ml at 8:00 last night, and this morning, she is once again super dehydrated. They did run an x-ray and other than a lot of gas in her colin and an empty stomach- nothing jumped out at them. They are waiting for a fecal from her- plus they want to see how quickly she vomits after eating.

Through  it all, she was the sweetest of kitties with them. As long as her kittens are close, she is temperament wise, loving and forgiving. Please send prayers that they find answers as to why she can’t keep nutrition down.

12:21 p.m.

The vet just called, they did a barium study and it revealed something stuck in the esophagus. The vet said it had the pattern of a herring bone. I don’t feed cats bones at all, and the vet said that it even could possibly be a snake? They are looking for the right tool that is long enough to reach down and take this item out, if not, they will put her under and open her up to take it out. Poor Mama kitty

Oh My Heavens! The vet just sent me this- this is what is inside her esophagus! No wonder she can’t keep anything down!

Yesterday, I saw Baker laying the grass and he just looked “off.” I couldn’t put my finger on it, just a feeling. I went over to him and he raised his head, but he didn’t move at all. I petted him and he meowed his hello to me. I thought maybe he was just taking advantage of the sunshine. Turns out he wasn’t.

Then today, around late afternoon, we receive a call from an elderly woman about a stray cat severely injured. She said she had gone online and gotten all the names of local rescues and called them all. No one had gotten back to her. She said she was panicked because this stray cat was so injured and he smelled horribly. Said his neck looked like it had been ripped open or something. She was in another town about 25 minutes away and she was crying. So off I went.

When I got there, she had put the stray into a carrier for me and when I went to lift off the towel, I reeled back. The stench of necrotic tissue was so strong. It is an older tomcat (shorthair tuxedo) I couldn’t really tell until I got him home, but he had been in a fight and a huge abscess had formed and split open from one ear to the next. His whole throat and neck was covered in wounds. Poor kitty-

Too late in the day to get him to my vet, and to take him to an ER you have to have $300.00 before you get to the door, so I laid a warm damp cloth gently on his neck to lift off any debris and crud. He didn’t tolerate that very well, so I finally just ended up spraying him with diluted Betadine, giving him an antibiotic, feeding him and giving him fluids. He will be at the vet first thing in the morning. Thankfully he isn’t feral. He only growled at me twice, so I gave him a pain pill and left him alone in the deck enclosure to decompress.

When I went back in the house, I had to feed the outside kitties, but I couldn’t find Baker. Unusual; because always at food times, he is inside the one enclosure waiting to eat. I called and called and nothing- everybody came but him.

Next to the feeding area, there is a covered cat condo. I happened to look over into the hole in the bottom and I saw him lying there. Then I saw the blood covering his rear legs! A lot of blood. You can reach into the top of this condo and remove cats, which is what I did. I picked him up, wrapped a towel around him and laid him on the couch. He tried to get up but his legs collapsed under him and he couldn’t move.:) It was 9:00 p.m. by this time, so I called another vet and he agreed to meet me at the clinic.

Turns out, Baker had been attacked by something. He had a 105.6 fever, his limbs were weak and he had lost a lot of blood. He was also leaking stool and bloody urine. He was a real mess. What the heck is attacking our cats all of a sudden? They have all gotten along until that new stray appeared recently, now they are getting torn up.

Baker is home after getting a pain shot, an anti-inflammatory shot, an antibiotic shot and his abscesses drained and left open. I had to chase the other cats out of the patio enclosure, because he is supposed to be quiet and to himself for at least 4 days. He can’t come in the house because he sprays like a firehose. That’s why he has never been successfully adopted out. Even neutered, he has sprayed ever since the operation.

I’m going to have to do something I detest and catch that tom with a catch pole. Nothing else seems to be working to get him captured. Our cats don’t deserve to be torn up like this- the wounds on both Baker and Pita are deep and infected.

Tomorrow is another day, when I will drop Glover in the morning to be evaluated and treated accordingly. I hope it isn’t as bad as it looks- but there is so much blood and tissue torn on this poor boy- in the photo below you can see the swelling on the one side of his face- the abscess is in the center of his neck and worked from one ear to the next. Never seen anything quite like it before. Just looking at it breaks my heart. He’s been a in pain for a long time.

12:40 SAD UPDATE- Glover could not withstand his injuries. He was put to sleep an hour ago. At least, now, he is out of pain. RIP Sweet Gent-

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