Addie & Aspen in a rare moment of harmony

This morning when I woke up, I realized that once again, I was running low on cat food. Thankfully a donation had recently arrived, so I went over to the store to buy what I could to keep the kitties going until payday.

There was an elderly gentleman by the cat food. he was picking up individual cans of cat food, examining them and putting them down while shaking his head. He looked so perplexed, I asked him if I could help him with anything?

Turns out he just had a stray show up and he wasn’t sure which food would work for this boy. I went over to where he was standing, picked up several different kinds of canned food. Told him that the best thing to do is to feed him a little bit at a time out of a can until the cat lets him know what kind he likes.

I explained to him that he would be wise to stay away from beef of any kind. Not feed consistently fish, but mix it up a bit with chicken and fish. He told me I sounded so knowledgeable and asked me why I knew so much? I told him what I do for a living and how many cats we had in the sanctuaries. I showed him some pictures of the rescues, then turned my attention turn back to trying to find a case of cat food that I could actually afford. The prices locally around here are totally out of control.

I was looking at the selections, the prices, and mumbling to myself. I picked up a case, but found I didn’t have quite enough to cover it so I put it back and started putting individual cans into the cart. He  questioned why if I had so many cats, why didn’t I buy the cases? I explained to him that since Covid hit donations have dwindled. Most of the cat food that I buy now comes out of my check.  I just have to be careful because at the end of the day there isn’t enough money to go around..

He gave me an encouraging smile. As he walked away passing my cart, his hand passed over my purse which was sitting on top of the cart. Then he just left.

Curious, I went over to and I looked inside the side pocket that was opened. There was $100 bill inside! I ran after him, (I confess I was crying). I asked him if I could give him a hug. I gave him a great big hug and I told him he has no idea what he just did for me and my cats. He just smiled, hugged me again. Then he just left.

Today is our wedding anniversary. Still not easy to get through some of these anniversaries. It was a somber morning for me when I woke up, until this guardian angel, this kindly old man, reached out and touched me deeply.

After lots of fits and starts, the cat enclosure was finally tarped over late yesterday. Just in time too- the weather we are having here right now is wild. What looks like sunlight coming in the back of the enclosure is actually the tarp. We attached the roofing tarp firmly to the sides of the roof. But on the back we also brought it down so we could attach it to the tarp that was already covering the backend. (That’s where all the wicked wind comes in).Now I will find out pretty quickly (especially after next week where it’s predicted we’re going to have a whole week of heavy rain) whether or not it’s going to stop the water from getting inside .

Last week when I returned from town after doing errands, I noticed that Aspen was acting a bit off. She was hunkered down by the heater. Her rear end was in the air, but her tail was tucked.  It was a posture I’ve never seen on her before. I watched her and Addie came in the room. For the first time since they’ve been together, Aspen actually attacked Addie full throttle. Hurrying to intervene, I picked up my jacket and set it over Aspen. I scooped her up in my arms,  she was growling at me . This was not like her at all. They must’ve tangled when I was away.

On that assumption, I put Addie in the cat room and gave both kitties timeout for a while, just to cool down. Addie seemed fine with the encounter, I could find no wounds or bites on her at all. Aspen had withdrawn. She was hiding and try as I might, I could not find her.

Chow time came and went, no Aspen. I did a search for her and found her hiding in the closet. She was in a laundry basket. When I approached her, she growled I ended up letting Addie out of the cat room and confining Aspen inside instead.

This was four days ago. Aspen was not eating, she was not pooping, she was peeing, so she was drinking. I was monitoring her food. She would eat maybe two pieces of kibble, and then go lay down. I examined her for bites, she had no fever. she just didn’t want to eat.

I figured out what happened after this morning. I moved a pile of boxes in the spare room, behind the boxes was a small pile of half-eaten rubber bands.  (The only place I keep rubber bands is in the spare room in the desk.)  She must have gotten up there at night and opened the drawer. Unlike her sister, who had a fascination with plastic, based on the pile, I found Aspen’s fascination is with rubber bands.

She is on the mend now. Thanks to a lot of mineral oil which I tried to carefully syringe in her mouth. She had a nice visit with the litter box with good results. Afterwards, she  went over to her food bowl for the first time on her own. She actually ate the food like she enjoyed it. She is hopefully on the mend. I will continue to give her small doses of mineral oil to see if more rubber will pass.

Right now, I am happy to report that she is nestled in my lap purring. She has fallen asleep. This is right after her, and Addie were racing up and down the stairs and down the hallways. I thank God, she was not blocked, or that a rubber band had somehow constricted around her tongue. Being able to put the pieces together and figure out a solution has stopped her from experiencing more  discomfort as well as a trip to the vet.

Here she is on my lap. Yes, I know her fur looks oily, that was my fault. Some of the mineral oil did not go into her mouth. Some of it actually went all over.

She passed her test with flying colors. She was found to be heavily infested with parasites. Those have been dealt with. In a few days she will be treated for her flea infestation. She is now safely inside with her new mom, and they couldn’t be more thrilled with each other! She was great on the ride to the vet not one peep out of her, but the minute she went through that front door at the clinic she just let loose. You would’ve thought she was being tortured the way she was crying. But there was a very nervous German Shepherd in the vicinity, and I think she was pulling from his negative energy. One more stray safely rescued and in a loving home. Good day for all.

This is my fire kitty Magoo. He was just groomed and unlike his sister he loves any type of comb or brush on him. Thankfully, even though he has long hair, he doesn’t matt very much. He was more nervous about the kitties scratching at the door of the bathroom. I tried to get a good shot of him, this is the best I could do. He is a beautiful flame-point I think back to how he was when he first arrived, he has come such a long way. We both have.

This year I find that we are $50 shy of reaching our nonprofit registration.  If anyone could reach out us send whatever they can, to help reach our goal we would greatly appreciate it. The money may dwindle from time-to-time, but our work continues, regardless.

Case in point- This is Little Mew- she has shown up recently. When she first arrived, which was about two weeks ago, she was bone skinny. Now she is putting on more weight than she should. I’m going to catch her tomorrow and take her in and get her tested. My fear is she has wet FIP. She is so sweet, she has a tattoo on her belly so she’s not pregnant. That weight gain so quickly has us very concerned. You can just see it in her eyes that she has “The Feel Bads.”

This morning, I finally was able to pet Ashley for the first time in months. As I was petting her, my fingers could feel so many mats all over her body. A few days ago I had a feeling that something wasn’t right with her. She does generally come out to see me when I’m feeding or visiting  within the enclosure. But lately, she’s been virtually nonexistent.

Following my instincts, I placed the top loading cat carrier underneath the feeding platform with the top open. As I was petting her, I gently scuffed her lifted her up into my arms and put her inside the carrier. I carried her inside and put the carrier in the bathroom turned the light off and just let her decompress.

Knowing that her grooming sessions are always so stressful for her, I wasn’t sure I was up to the task. Due to my recent injury during the ice storm, the doctors are now telling me that not only do I need a right shoulder replacement, but I also now need a left shoulder replacement. They’ve scheduled a test for early May to determine the extent of the damage. Regardless of how my arms are not working at the moment, I knew I had to get those mats out of her.

Surprisingly, she did not growl, swat or bite me. I wish I could say that she didn’t poop all over everything including me. That’s just the reaction she gets when she gets handled and brushed. I apologized to her for not being able to do it as I had promised her last year. We had started out on a good note, I was able to brush her almost daily. But then I got injured and re-injured. So all that stopped.

it took two hours just to remove the mats that were under her chin, on her head, by her ears. She has a lot more of mats to remove. I worked slow and methodical. We took a lot of breaks in between everything. Afterword I put her in the introduction cage, knowing full well that I would not get close to her for at least a few months after that grooming session. It may be that she will hide inside the insulated straw covered box for awhile. She has to come out sometime. Next time she does, I will again scoop her up and put her inside the carrier and take her inside to the bathroom, to try to finish what I started.

To be so terrified of a human, during a grooming and de-matting session just breaks my heart. She’s such a beautiful kitty and she would’ve made someone a lovely companion if I could’ve just broken through her trust barrier, and shown her that all humans are not bad.

Perhaps, during the next grooming session, she will at least not poop all over herself, me and the room. That would be absolutely wonderful, because it would tell me that I finally broke through. She is finally ready to trust someone.

We did all that we could to get the required amount needed to cover the roof of the cat enclosure before the storm hits. However, we are still $30 shy of making it before the next storm hits. If anyone can help out, please do. The rain that’s coming inside the enclosure during these bizarre storms is really concerning.