Once again, I had to take Pidge back to the vets. This time, they kept him for three days and it turns out that he has suffered soft tissue damage from his last injury. His urine is so full of blood that they have increased his pain meds and put on board another anti-inflammatory to help with the pain. He is also on a new diet of Hills C/D care both dry and wet.

As of yesterday, he has quit vocalizing as much as before so I am hoping the pain he feels when he tries to urinate is on the run. No pun intended. I have to feed all three of them the prescription diet, but since Baker is also in kidney failure, the new food should help him as well. We had just gotten our vet bill under control- but that rug has slipped out from under us and we are once again looking at a vet bill that almost tops $1,000.00 They did a lot for Pidge in the days they had him. I just pray it makes a difference for him to get out of pain.

The burn kitties are slowly relaxing a bit. I have had to change up the routine for them as Molly is still resistant to them being here. During the day, she will refuse to come in the house and spends the majority of time on the heated arm chair in the carport. At night, she will come in and I close off the kittens into the bedroom/patio area and let Molly have the front half of the house all to herself. It’s not ideal, but until she can adjust to them being here without bluff charging them, it will have to do.

Yesterday, I took a deep breath and opened up the doors to the kitchen and the bedroom so the kittens could start exploring their world finally. There have been some pretty substantial hissing and growling from Molly (to which the kittens don’t respond except to run away). She hasn’t charged the two interlopers or shown any signs of going to battle. Her ears aren’t back, her gaze does not narrow at the sight of them. Her tail will twitch and it is kept low, but not tucked into her legs. So these are all good signs. I shut the kittens up at night in the bedroom/patio but during the day they are busy finding out more about this house and all the hidden places they can go. I do have her on a pheremone  collar which is helping a bit.

I dodged a bullet with my lawnmower. After being told by two different corporations that I will likely need to buy a new engine, a friend of mine told me about a smaller outfit who keeps their estimates honest and their prices fair. One to the mechanics came out last week and fixed my riding lawnmower for $10.00! Turns out the O ring by the oil dipstick had corroded and it was simply a matter of sealing the leak with silicone gel. I was grateful because once again, we need to stock up on canned cat food. It doesn’t last long around here, and it got me to thinking about approaching one of the major cat food companies with an idea I had. If they go for it, and I hope they do, it will greatly benefit the small mom & pop rescues- not the bigger ones with all the political clout and money behind them, but places such as mine where we are mindfully trying to get the biggest bang for any buck that is sent our way. i think it is a great idea, and if they do accept it, you will be the first to know what the idea that came to me after I washed out the cans of cat food for recycling purposes. Wish me luck!

Well I hear some pretty active growling going on upstairs. I am trying to act like this introduction is no big deal, but to Molly, who has been Queen B around here way to long, it is a very big deal to her. I have dark blankets ready and stacked in corners if there happens to be a war. Anytime two or more cats are fighting, the best way to stop them is to drop a dark colored blanket on top of them. This startles them apart and you use the blanket to herd them away from each other. This way you don’t get attacked with their stress level is out of control. You put one into a room with food and water and you leave the cat in there until it has calmed down and has eaten and is grooming itself. That my friends is the tip of the week, 🙂

Last weekend, I had to rush Pigeon to the vet as he was unable to pee. I was so worried that he was blocked, but the vet said the films showed him a smaller than normal bladder that was half full. He did not see any crystals or stones and so the final diagnosis was an  idiopathic UTI.

He could find no reason for the inability to pee, so we just covered all the bases. I put Pigeon on a pheromone collar, he is on an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and pain meds. He was peeing by Monday but I was told to keep him on the medication until it is all gone. I’m, just grateful that he didn’t have a real blockage. I’m trying to hard to keep the vet debt low, but right now it is at $1,000.00  🙁

I think it is stress that caused this problem for Pidge. He has been pacing the enclosure similar to how a lion paces in his cage. Although the enclosure is huge, Pigeon is used to being free to roam the property and he misses his freedom. I looked into getting him a cat wheel- my goodness those are so expensive! Almost $300.00 I have talked to several people who own one and they say they work to relieve anxiety and stress and also helps when the cat is obese. Pigeon is a large Maine Coon mix but he is also fatter than usual because he no longer is allowed to freely roam. I thought when I got my stimulus, I would get the wheel, but in the meantime, my riding lawnmower has broken down and my priority is to get this fixed. The shop that can fix it is 7 weeks behind in repairs because of Covid- so my pastures are going to be quite lush before my Hustler gets fixed. They haven’t seen the machine yet, but based on what I told them, it looks like I might need a new motor. I hope not, but that is what two shops told me after I showed them a picture of the leak and told them it was dead. My neighbors get upset when I don’t cut my pastures because the long grass entices wildlife: deer, skunks, coons, possums, porcupines. Ideally, I would love to plow up all the grass and plant wildflowers. So far, I haven’t been able to do this. But that is the long-term dream.

The burn kitties have been here now for 17 days. They are slowly beginning to adjust again to us. I wish Molly was more accepting, but I now call her Miss Hiss because that is what she does every time she sees them through the screen. it will take time and patience, but it will happen that she will allow them into her domain. I am not pushing her though. She still needs time.