Yesterday, I received a text from a good friend of mine. It contained a link to a FB page. All Doris said was “I know you aren’t actively rescuing now but this one needs you.”

I went to the link and saw that just down the way from me a kitten/cat had been found. The person who found it was highly allergic to cats and couldn’t even have it around. The photo, the cat looked hammered. I could tell by the body language, this cat’s ninth life was slipping away. I answered the call and we went straight to the vet.

This kitty was as stiff as a board inside the carrier. She was a dilute calico long-haired, a real beauty. I could hear her ragged breathing next to me, and my foot went a little harder on the gas.

If she was feral, she was to sick to care. All I heard during the exams were a couple of growls. First we drew blood to see where the kidneys were. Blood work, surprisingly was good- elevated in spots that would explain her condition (horrible) and her stress level. She was rail skinny, she was sub-normal temp 92.3 when you put her on the ground, she would circle and fall over. It was hard to watch. We had pulled some pretty large waxballs out of her ears and she wanted to badly to scratch her ears, but she was so weak her leg would not make it to her head and she would fall over.

So now the discussion- what to do? I wanted her tested, so she came out negative! YAY Vet said, take her home, feed her, keep her warm TLC.

She hadn’t eaten for me, so I asked if they would feed her to see if she would eat? They brought in a bit of food and she scarfed it up- then threw it right up. Didn’t hesitate, just gave it right back up to us. That’s when I asked my vet, please run a film.  She would tell me later: “Good call, Mary Anne.”

Turns out, Peaches had a diafragmented hernia. Her intestines were exploding into her stomach and her lung was collapsed. I said a sad goodbye to her 15 minutes later. Before she left, she got kissed on her head, I stroked her beautiful face and told her I loved her. She was gone before the plunger hit home. Her leaving so suddenly put a big dent in my heart, and another hit on the vet we were trying so hard to pay down. But, even though our meeting was brief, I am grateful to have met her.

This morning, I received a very weak meow from Ms. Molly! I wanted to dance on the stars when I heard her squeak at me! As much as in the past, I wanted her to find her mute button- since she talked all the time- I was afraid that she would never speak again.

She is not eating with much gusto. I watch her when I put the food down. Force feeding was not successful. Even though she was weak and hungry she was ready to battle me every time. But she is eating. I can’t say that she is back 100% yet, but I think we are at about 80% there.

She is hiding under the futon upstairs, during the day and at night she might come down about 2:00 a.m. to join me before I feed. If Kota is on the bed, he has learned quickly that she will run at him hissing and swatting until he gets down! She may be five pounds to his 95 pounds but it is clear who is the heavyweight around here! LOL  All I can say is “Welcome Back Ms. Molly!”

Eleven days ago in the middle of the night, Molly was sleeping next to me soundly, when Kota decided to leap on the bed and he landed smack on top of her!  I woke up to a piercing, horrific meow for help that was squelched by the weight of the dog on top of the kitty. By the time I got my bearings and turned on the light, Kota was back by the door looking ashamed of himself and Molly was flat on the bed. I gently picked her up, she was so flat, I was afraid she was gone. I put her on the floor and carefully sat down next to her as I could see, although her breathing was shallow, she was breathing. She could only take two steps towards me at a time, before she collapsed. She would then raise her head and look at me and try to get up and fail. I spent the rest of the night with her on the floor and rushed her to the vet in the morning.

Initially, they did not find anything alarming that jumped out at them during the exam. I was given pain meds to rub on her ears and they gave her an anti inflammatory shot. I wanted them to do films and bloodwork, but it wasn’t my normal vet. They did not see a need to add to my  bill. So we went home.

Molly never stabilized and she started eating air. (I don’t know how else to explain it.) She started gradually hiding from me in the house. Which, she is a lap kitty and if my lap is available,  she is on it. She is also a very talkative little girl. She tells me constantly about her day, she yells at me should I take to long to feed her. She never stops talking to me until she is lying on my lap. In the last two days she has been as quiet as a pet rock. 🙁 She also quit eating)

When she started chewing air, what I mean by this, is that she would be sitting on the floor,  she would stretch her neck out in front of her at an odd angle. Then she would tilt her head to the side and started gnawing on the air. The sound she was making, quite bizarre, so I called my vet and told them what was happening and they told me to drop her off! Even though they aren’t doing drop offs yet.

I just got her back home and the news is not good. Since her last visit she has lost 4 pounds! They did a lot of tests on her- some of them they ran twice, (but only charged for running the results once). She is highly anemic, dehydrated and they suspect she has a bleed. The only problem is they can’t find it, so they can’t really help her. I was told the only way they can find the bleed is with an MRI which is a treatment they do not provide. The place that does this is 2 hours away in Salem. An MRI is $1200 and that does not include the anesthesia. Molly would be put under general anesthesia and with neurological issues like she is displaying, this is high risk.

So, I am just going to let her decompress, she went through a lot this morning. They finally did sedate her so they could get good films of her head, neck and back. Right now, she is so upset with me that I can’t even sit on the bed with her. She is so stressed out. They also diagnosed her with PTSD from the incident and she is wearing a pheremone collar now.

If anyone has a few dollars laying around, we could sure use it to cover this new expense. So Yes, I am asking for donations. Here is a copy of the bill so you can see this is on the level. Thank you for anything you can send. I will update as I can, but it is uncertain what is going to happen in the next few days. I might be offline as she is needing a lot of TLC including force feeding as she cannot swallow right. But they ran tubes down her throat- did bloodwork, x-rays and chem studies (in case she was accidently poisoned). I am freaking out inside, I just lost Mike, I do not want to lose this precious kitty as well, although it looks like maybe I might.

I meant to update this two days ago when His Royal Blackness made a very unexpected return! When I saw him (I had given him up for lost) I did a double-take. Was it really  him? After all, black cats are hard to distinguish from each other unless you really know them. I’ve never had a problem in identifying my black cats, but this was definitely him. HRB is cross-eyed (as this boy appeared. He also has a slight white patch underneath his chin. Yes, this handsome black boy had returned and he was not limping, his breathing was slow and regular. He vanished June 25. When he disappeared, so did part of my heart. He may be full feral, but he is still greatly loved here.

I believe what might have happened, is he just went to ground, fell asleep and because black cats possess the highest immune systems of any of the strays, he regenerated instead of dying. So thrilled to see him. I wanted to run up and hug him but failing that, I settled into a lounge chair and just quietly sat, watching him.

He was outside of the shop and pretty soon the other cats came out. Instead of him getting all puffy and ticked off, I watched in amazement as the waltzed up to each of the six cats and rubbed his signature on each one of them! They were friends now. In my heart I knew, he has finally found a home.

Before his disappearance, if I made any sort of a move toward him, he would hiss and bare his teeth at me before fleeing. I had to feed the clowder, so I just started popping cans open. HRB started towards me- then he stopped and just watched.

Making sure that I did not even look in his direction, I eased out of my chair and walked over the feral feeder dished out the food and then sat back down. He went into the cat door of the shop, stuck his head out the entrance and waited. This game of chess was on. It was my move next.

Every part of me was screaming to just walk over to him and see if I could inspect him. The old Mary Anne would have done that, but his actions prior to all of this showed me he is a cat who wants to live his life on his terms, not necessarily on mine. I just got up and started into the house. I turned around to see what he did. Would he vanish again or would he stay? He came out of the shop and jumped on to the feeder table. I could see a great deal of missing hair on his once-injured leg. There was no pronounced limp. His sides were not heaving up and down. Despite being so injured, giving my vet the hardest time of his career (my vet’s words not mine!) He was fine! As I went into the house, I sent a prayer skyward thanking God for returning him back to a place that will love him (from a social distance) for the rest of his life. I believe he has perhaps seven lives left?

He is still here. He will come out when I am outside now. He will not approach me, but he does not flee when he sees me. I have seen him in the last few days, from my bay window more than I did before. This morning, when I just went out to feed, he came completely out of the shop and meowed at me! He started towards me. Just like Twist, I could sense that he really wanted to be petted. Twist is also black and she is a mere slip of kitty now four years old. But due to inbreeding, her growth was stunted and she looks more as if she is 6 months old size-wise. I know both kitties want the connection with me. I also know from my many years of working and watching strays that if I do approach them and “try” to make them like me, all the effort put in to bring about trust, that WILL vanish.

In his absence, I beat the bushes down looking for him. Every morning with dread in my heart, I would go to the edge of the driveway and scan the highway to see if he fell victim to a car. I searched, I put up posters, called the vets and other cat people in the area and finally decided that he had gone to the Bridge and I needed to move on. Thankfully, this was not the case. He is home and I will continue to take my cues from him and perhaps in the future, I will be able to send you a photo of him on my lap. That’s the plan folks, but I am working on his time clock and it could take weeks, months, even years or not happen at all. My friend Haley told me the other day, I should change his name to His Royal Miracle! LOL  I like his Royal Blackness so much better.

There is so much going on right now beyond my front door. So much hate and discontent and killings. What started as a protest has now turned into a revolution in some parts of our nation.There are people acting feral, they are acting rabid. All of it is very confusing and scary. The virus is still here. It is not a hoax. But in this home, when if comes to HRB? Black Lives do matter. 🙂 ALL Life matters whether it has two feet or four. Especially this black life!:)

On the pet food front, it is pretty dismal. I wish that they would just call me before I leave and tell me if the food is there or not. I have been there faithfully or had someone to stand in for me, every Friday without fail. If I drive to Albany which is 45 minutes from here, when I get home, I am crippled up for 3 days. It is disheartening to show up and be told, “There is nothing here for you!” They don’t even say they are sorry. I just drive away empty. I am now buying cat food and paying the vet bill out of my household expenses. My cats will eat before I do. I am becoming very fond of PBJ’s and am so grateful that a Good Samaritan has gifted me with nine months of food for me. I can see God’s plan in all of this- so it balances out. Call it Faith (which I do) call it Kismet, call it whatever you want, but we are still afloat. All cats are healthy and happy and life moves on.

Yesterday, I decided to tackle Mike’s lumber pile. It has been sitting unused now over 15 years, covered in tarps. It was quite the mess. But I started removing the years of lawn debris that covered the tarps (8 in total!) When I got to the very last tarp and finally pulled it off- I saw this mass of shredded plastic shopping bags. They were constructed along with twigs and leaves into a large nest! There was a mama possum and five babies! I screamed because they startled me, mama raised her head, showed me her pearly whites and vanished underneath the pile with her babies. Guess she though playing possum wouldn’t work for this situation! LOL  She had dug a huge hole in the ground at the front of the lumber stack and lined it with her finds. She must have gone into the shop to get the plastic bags, she shredded each bag into long strips for insulation and had quite the cozy nest!

What I ended up doing- as all the lumber was not salvageable. I just restacked it. Over the nest, I placed just the top of a large plastic dog crate (to give her added protection should she return) Then I just covered it with one tarp and let it be. If she wants that as her home, I have no problem with her plans. I did also leave her a large amount of dry kitty food as an apology for interrupting her family time.