Well, Magda got out of the isolation shelter again. Poor Grink was all alone in there. I decided to catch Kohl and put her in with The Grink for company.
It wasn’t until after I got back from running errands, late enough to do the evening feeding, that we were able to grab Magda and medicate her ears. We put her back into the isolation shelter after that, then dosed The Grink’s ears.
Kohl, seemed to want out, but not too desperately. Since she might be in there, with the heat lamp, for a couple of weeks, we figured this would be a good time to bring out the clippers and give her a hair cut. She is almost solid with mats, and it must be quite uncomfortable. I know there’s at least one patch on her tail that is burrs stuck in her fur.
Unfortunately, by the time we got the clippers out for what would be their first use, she made her way into the bottom of the isolation shelter, settled on the box nest, and completely ignored us as we tried to convincer to come come to us!
We finally have up.
We went inside and did David, instead.
David wasn’t as bad as Kohl, but we’ve been using a mat cutting comb on him, whenever we could. He really hates being combed or brushed, though, so he still had mats in various areas we haven’t been able to get at.
David did NOT like getting his hair cut. My daughter and I would work at one of us holding him while the other trimmed, then trading off when he got too squirmy. We had to stop a couple of times to just let him have a break and destress a bit – and to clean up the piles of hair.
That is one very fluffy cat!
We got most of him shaved now. Almost, but not quite, a lion’s mane style. It’s a bit of a mess in places, but the mats are gone, and that’s the important part.
He is most displeased with us.
He did finally allow much husband to cuddled him and keep him warm for a bit, though.
I’m hoping to get a picture at some point, but that might take a while. 😄
Meanwhile, the littles in the sun room are getting so very active!!!
The black and white one has climbed out of the cat cave, several times. The calico has been climbing the opening, and there have been a few times I’ve seen her basically dangling from the top. Even their adopted sibling is squirming and worming around.
At one point, my daughter walked past and heard a squeaking noise. She looked over and found the black and white with its front legs outside the cat cave, looking at her and “yelling”. It didn’t stop until she reached in and started petting him! Brussel has been leaving the sun room more often, and for longer times, so we’ve had more opportunity to pick up and cuddle the babies while she’s gone. After taking the last picture, with the black and white one outside the cat cave, I reached in to pick him up, cuddled him a moment, then put him back into the cat cave. Brussel was in there that time, and she was most displeased with me!
In other things…
It looks like we lost our window of opportunity. Slick no longer looks pregnant. I saw Sprout today, which I haven’t for a day or two, and she is looking less round, too. There wasn’t a chance we would have gotten her this time, though. I do wish we’d gotten Slick, though. Well, we just have to concentrate on catching some of the others. At this point, it’s probably a matter of bringing in any cat we can trap, male or female, though if we trap one of the mamas that just gave birth, we’ll have to let them go. The vet won’t spay them while they are lactating. The problem is, with the more feral ones, chances are we won’t be able to tell until the vet actually sees it.
Well, it is what it is. We do the best we can.
Hopefully, Magda will stay in the isolation shelter this time, and get some rest and recovery – and wet cat food! She did get at some of it before The Grink and Kohl ate it all, so maybe she’ll make the association between staying in the isolation shelter and getting extra tasty food, and not having to fight off a dozen other cats for it! 😁
I definitely over did it yesterday, and was in major pain this morning, so we just took care of the cats, and then I went back to bed. Taking care of Magda’s and The Grink’s ears went much better than expected.
The first image above was taken right after treating their ears. Since they are in the isolation shelter, they get treated with wet cat food, which The Grink has been enjoying, but Magda seems to be ingnoring.
Then I went out through the sun room to go to the post office, and spotted a very scrabbly looking cat on a cat bed.
It was Magda!
Since getting spayed, she has developed the runs and is looking very messy.
On checking the isolation shelter, I found a corner of the sliding window by the foot bowl was pushed out of its track at the top. I popped it back in place, then got Magda and put her back. After closing the window up again, I noticed it was bowed outwards slightly, so I took it out completely, flipped it so it was bowing the other way, then put it back. I thought that would do the trick.
Then I went inside to change my shirt. Magda left a mess on me while I was carrying her.
By the time I changed and came back out, I checked on the isolation shelter and found the window partly open! Magda figured out how to slide it open from the inside!
The Grink was just sitting there, looking at me. She had no interest in leaving, but she did really want attention!
I don’t like that The Grink is in there alone. We’ll have to find a way to secure the window before we put Magda back, though. When I came home from the post office, I found her snuggling with Syndol. Later on, while my daughter and I were going through the garden areas, she kept following us, when she needs to be resting and recovering!
In the first photo, Caramel, in the bed she moved her kittens to, had them completely hidden. I did manage to get a picture of her babies while she was out, though. They are getting very active! With the sides of this bed being so much higher, I could just see their heads bobbing around.
Brussel’s babies are getting downright rambunctious, but they still aren’t quite climbing completely out of the cat cave. They’ll dangle a leg out, or stick their heads through the opening, but so far, that’s it.
When we noticed that Brussel was out, my daughter and I took advantage to take the babies out and snuggle them. I got some pictures, though it was really hard to get good ones. Caramel’s baby’s eyes are opening now, and it seems more active than its siblings in the cat house.
We also had a chance to look at what seemed to be a wound on the black and white kitten’s back leg. With my daughter holding him, I could get a closer look, and it does just look like missing fur. My theory remains; some wet cat food dripped onto him and mama was too aggressive in cleaning it off!
So far, all seems to be well, though I was not seeing any cats going to the food bowl inside the trap today. It may simply have been too windy, even though it’s mostly sheltered by the catio. If we’re after Slick of Adam, though, we’re unlikely to catch either of them in that location. Any female we manage to get will be good, though. We’ll have to figure something out.
The first two images in the slideshow above were taken before they went into the clinic.
Then there were some of the wounds I got from trying to get the others. I couldn’t find the scratch and bite proof gloves last night. *sigh*
The next two images were taken right after I loaded them into the truck to bring them home. We were told to leave them in the carriers for another 2 hours. The driving time was almost half of that. In the end, we put them into the prepared isolation shelters, as we knew they would be much more comfortable and relaxed in there. They both practically live in there already. They also got some wet cat food, which they were very enthusiastic about. Just a small can between them (we got some donated wet cat food that were in cans about half the size of what we use for the indoor cats), since they were still recovering from surgery. The last image if of them enjoying the wet cat food. Later, they were just as enthusiastic about the kibble.
I was pretty unhappy about not getting the pregnant cats we were shooting for. The Cat Lady met me at the clinic, and we talked about the possibility of bringing one of the mamas in on short notice, if we can trap one. We now have a protocol. If we do manage to catch one, we can give the clinic a call to see if they’ve had a cancellation or an open space the next day. If so, we would leave her in the trap overnight (good time for a fast), then bring her in the next day. The trap is pretty big, so we could potentially keep a feral cat in there for a couple of days but, if it would take longer, we’d have to let them out and try again.
The littles did have ear mites, as expected. Magda had one ear that was quite bad and likely infected. They sent us home with some medication to give to both of them. Into their ears, once a day, until we run out.
It’s a good thing they’ll be in the isolation shelter for two weeks, but it’s not going to be easy to do their ears every day! I’ve made arrangements with my daughters for one or the other to join me when I do my rounds in the morning, to help dose their ears.
I’m sure they’ll enjoy not having ear mites for a while, but these are yard cats. They’re going to get ear mites again, eventually. There’s nothing we can do about that, as long as they are outside.
After I left, my younger daughter finished feeding the outside cats, including giving Brussel her wet cat food inside her cat cave, and a squeeze treat later on. Brussel did growl and her and swipe when my daughter pulled her hand away with the empty tube, but the swipe had no claws.
I got some photos of Brussel and her babies later on.
You can just barely see Caramel’s baby’s head in her fur!
In the next photo, you can see that Caramel has moved her babies – to one of the new cat beds! A much cozier cat bed. You can just barely see kitten fur on and around her back leg.
While waiting for the cats to be done, I basically hung out around the nearby Walmart. My older daughter sent me some funds and a shopping list. I also found a pair of jeans to replace the ones I tore while at my mother’s, yesterday. I didn’t try them one, so I hope they fit! I was looking for the same style as the ones I was replacing, but apparently, Walmart no longer carries that style. I bought the closest I could find. They are currently being used as a bed by Peanut Butter Cup. Before her, David was using them as a bed. They are certainly getting broken in. Just not by me! 😄
I also went to a nearby Dollarama and ended up getting some things for the garden that I’ll write about in a separate post. Then I realized I’d forgotten something on my daughter’s list, so it was back to the Walmart. Once that was done, I settled into the truck and had a nap. I slept remarkably well, too! Even with some very strange dreams that woke me up feeling very confused. 😄 Eventually, I drove across the street to the Canadian Tire, where I found a few other things I’ll include in my next post. While I was there, I got a call from the vet clinic, telling me when the ladies would be ready for pick up. I had time to finish at the Canadian Tire and got there a bit early. They brought the ladies out anyhow, along with the medication and giving me more detailed instructions on measuring the dose with the syringe that’ll be used to apply it into their ears.
The ladies were pretty active at the time, and not happy about being in the carriers. Otherwise, they apparently behaved really well and didn’t give them a hard time when it came to being handled. During the drive, they quieted down, though, and rested the entire way.
They will now be in the isolation shelter for 2 weeks, so we can let them out on the 29th. They’ll be quite content together in there. Other cats, however, are already trying to get into the shelter to join them! Quite a few use the isolation shelter regularly, and stay there all night. They’re going to have to make do with the sun room for a while, instead!
Meanwhile, we’ve set the trap up next to the catio, open but not set. We want the cats to get used to it being there. I’ve got a food and water bowl in there, but it’s a bit too big. It sits on top of the tripper mechanism. I’ve already seen several cats going in to eat. We’ll have to find smaller containers to use in there for bait before we set it. We’ll probably catch all sorts of different cats we don’t need to take to the vet. I just hope they don’t start avoiding it once they realize the door can close them in. There isn’t a lot of choice in the matter, though!
So that’s how it went with the cats. Once I got home, it was such a gorgeous day, I was able to get lots of garden stuff done!
The first two images above are from a poplar branch. I don’t think I ever noticed before that they get catkins like pussy willows do! So we have signs of spring, even as winter is trying to hang on as long as possible!
The last photo is the covered bed in the old kitchen garden. As I was out there, it was about -1C/30F. In both the covered bed and the portable greenhouse, the thermometers were reading about 0C/32F Not much difference – even in the portable greenhouse, after adding the water filled garbage can as a heat sink. I don’t think the water has in there long enough to get completely warmed up, yet.
On the schedule for today was to head to my mother’s to take her to her doctor’s appointment in the early afternoon. I still had plenty of time, as I was sitting down with my breakfast after doing my morning rounds.
Then the phone rang.
It was home care.
No one was available to do my mother’s morning meds. She’s scheduled to get them done, along with extra time to help her get dressed, if she needs it, empty her commode or even heat something up for her breakfast, at 8:55
It was almost 8:30 when I got the call.
*sigh*
So I quickly called my mom to let her know that I would be heading over as soon as I finished breakfast. My mother kept trying to keep me on the phone as she complained about my having to come out for this and I kept having to cut her off and repeat that I needed to eat and run, and we could talk when I got there. After the third or fourth time, she finally let me go! 😄
When the home care aids do her med assist, they have a folder that’s kept in her lock box where they sign off for the day’s visit and make extra notes, if needed. So when I do the med assist instead, I write up the time and date, saying that I did her meds, and include any other notes that might be necessary. So I knew what time I got there to give her her meds. It was exactly 9:15 by her clock, so only about 20 minutes late.
What I noticed as I was getting her meds out was a bubble in her pack that should have been empty, but wasn’t. Her previous Friday morning pills were still there. So I asked her about it.
She told me that she had taken her meds herself, from one of the extra bubble packs on her fridge, that morning.
!!!!
I was sure I’d pushed them far enough back that she couldn’t reach them! I don’t know how she got them down!
I told her, that was NOT a good thing to do. Apparently, the home care aid agreed, because my mom told me she put the rest of the packs into the lock box. Between the bubble packs, their folder, the blood work requisition forms, and other items in there, having an entire month’s worth of packs in there is tight, even with a lock box as large as this one. That’s why I hadn’t put them all in there myself, when I brought her refills home.
*sigh*
After giving her her meds, I did a few other little things for her, like emptying the commode and taking care of her garbage. My brother had recently visited her and brought a few grocery items she’s always running out of, but when we spoke on the phone last night, I told her to see if she needed anything else and to make a list. She did need a few things, and we still had plenty of time, so we went over the list and then I did her grocery shopping for her.
After that was done, we still had time to visit.
If you could call it that.
She spent a whole lot of time criticizing me for not being dressed “presentable” enough (while I was there, I accidentally tore my jeans), and for having messy hair (my hair was braided and I had hat head), and I should have short hair like she does. In the past, these are criticisms that would have caused me to have all sorts of issues, but I am well past that point in my life now. I call her out on this stuff, now. She doesn’t really get it. She feels completely entitled to say stuff like to about and to, anyone and everyone. Even complete strangers! Then starts going on about how people who aren’t “presentable” are uncivilized, etc.
She totally doesn’t get the double standard and hypocrisy she’s displaying!
Then she brought up the Easter baskets; I’d picked up a paska at the grocery store for her own basket. She remembered that we do Easter baskets, too, and bless them ourselves. She suggested that I bring our basket to her place on the Saturday before Easter, then she and I could go across the street to her church to have them blessed together.
I told her, the last time I brought our Easter basket to be blessed with her, she gave me a hard time about having a bad basket.
Oh, she said. That’s because it was so huge. Would you like me to give you an Easter basket?
I told her, we have all kinds of baskets of all sizes.
She told me I should just bring a small one. Just a little one…
I told her, our basket is the right size for our family.
Now, part of the reason for the size of basket we use is that we spread everything out so nothing is completely buried, rather than jamming everything on top of everything else. We also do things like have our ham on a small plate, have oil (we’ll be having truffle infused olive oil this year) and vinegar in little jars, salt in one of the many pinch pots I collect, a bowl with olives, another with butter, etc. The containers take up a fair bit of space. Plus, of course, we like to lay it out to make a pretty display. So there is actually not a particularly huge amount in the basket. But, it’s the size of the basket that bothers my mother, and people will think bad things if they see such a big basket getting blessed in church…
Never mind that I’ve seen people bring in even bigger baskets than any of ours to be blessed!
Anyhow, when she kept going on about how we should have a small basket like hers, I told her, THAT is why we don’t bring the basket in for blessing with her. She then started saying that maybe I could have a less hard heart, just for her…
…
I pointed out, she is the one that has the hard heart with this! She totally does not understand that she is the biggest reason we don’t go to church right now. We’ve tried going to some of the local churches, including the RC Church I grew up going to, and I was saddened to see how … wordly… they had become. My mother’s church is the only one that seems to remain true, so even though I’m Orthodox Lutheran now, the RC church by her place is the one church I would be going to.
Just not with my mother. I did try to, and she made it quite clear that she did not think I was good enough. I don’t put up with that.
I so miss the church we went to before moving out here!
But I digress!
My mother ended up wanting us to leave even earlier than I’d planned. That did give me time to stop at a gas station, and at a post office in the town my mother’s appointment was in (she believes the staff at her local post office steals her mail. Especially her mail to Poland). We still got there an hour early.
I did have some issues with my mother trying to drive from the passenger seat! Like telling me which way I could go to leave a parking spot and not understanding why I wasn’t driving, when I hadn’t even finished putting on my seatbelt yet. The direction she was telling me I should drive would have had me popping a curb and driving over concrete. Or insisting I undo her seatbelt for her, while I was backing up into the loading zone at her place, so I could have the space to help her out of the truck. It’s been a long time since she’s done stuff like this.
As for the appointment, it did go well, overall. She did dive into something completely new – though she says it’s been an issue for at least a year (???) – before we finally got to talking about her hospital stay and the results of her last two blood tests to monitor her kidney function.
Her kidneys are fine.
My mother was written up for some X-rays, which we could do right after the appointment, and some blood work, which required fasting, so that will have to wait. Since we’ll be doing her next kidney monitoring bloodwork in the first week of May, it can actually wait until then and she can do both in one trip.
While all this was going on, I got a message from my husband. The tax preparer had called and our files were ready to pick up. So, once I got my mother home and her new lab requisition form tucked into the lock box with the monthly ones, I had to dash off. From my mother’s place, it was about a 450 minute drive to get to the tax preparer’s office in the town North of us. After signing what I had to sign and paying for the job, I had to grab the form my husband needed to sign, drive home, get him to sign it, and drive back again! We could actually have brought it back another day, but I wanted to just get it done.
On the plus side, by the time I got home, the snow had stopped (when we were driving to my mother’s appointment, we drove into much heavier snow) and was even all melted away. Which is fine. A little more moisture is not a bad thing. We’re not getting anything close to the spring flooding we’ve had in the past. The old basement floor is completely dry, and the sump pump hasn’t gone off even once. Which means we could actually do with more moisture! It’s getting into fire season.
As I was driving home with the form for my husband to sign, I could see smoke to the west of our place. I figured someone was doing a controlled burn, though it was a windy day for it.
When I was driving home later on, on the last few miles of gravel road, I found myself behind a fire truck with its lights flashing. Maybe half a mile from our turn off, I saw more flashing lights behind me, and pulled over for the second fire truck to go by. Both continued on past our turn off. I could no longer see smoke, but somewhere near by is a fire big enough to require at least two trucks! (There could have been more that went by before I was there to see them.) There’s nothing on the live fire maps, though, so it isn’t a forest or wild fire.
Something to be aware of, with everything drying up so quickly.
Anyhow.
Today ended up having a lot more going on than expected. For now, I’ve got some cat carriers to prep and in the morning, we need to try and snag 3 pregnant females for the vet.
Caramel frequently leaves her little grublings, and whenever I’m able to check, they are like this. All curled up around each other, snoozing!
If you click through to the next image and video, you’ll see their sibling is a lot more active!
That panting sort of noise you’re hearing from Brussel is her expecting me to give her another squeeze treat! I had already given her her evening feeding, and I only give the squeeze treat in the morning, last thing before I go inside (all the other cats are gone by then).
It took some doing, but I was able to get a good photo of Frank.
I actually don’t know if Frank is male or female; he won’t let me touch him, but he just moves out of reach, rather than run away, like the more feral ones.
When I told my daughter I was calling him Frank because of his blue eyes, she didn’t get it. I told her, you know… Ol’ Blue Eyes.
She had no idea what I was talking about.
I told her, Frank Sinatra… Ol’ Blue Eyes… You know?
Well, she knew who Frank Sinatra was, but it turns out the only images she’d ever seen of him were sepia tone photos. She had no idea he had striking blue eyes.
I had a rough night last night and my balance wasn’t very good, so I asked one of my daughters to accompany me while I was doing my morning rounds. My daughter popped out ahead with the warm water for the cats while I was getting the kibble ready when I heard her saying something about Brussel and the kittens.
When I first looked over, I was quite alarmed. I had not been able to straighten up the cat cave, so it was still on its side – but now it was half crushed and Brussel was sitting on top of it, looking at me! My first thought was that the kittens were still inside, being smothered.
I was wrong, of course. They were on top of the flattened side of the cave with Brussel.
All three of them.
That’s what my daughter was trying to point out to me. Caramel’s first kitten was still with Brussel and nursing!
I tried to get a picture, but this was the best I could get.
That little calico is resting her chin on her new sibling while she’s nursing. I think this kitten is a tortie; if so, it’s a female.
So it seems that when Caramel jumped into the cat cave with Brussel and my daughter moved her baby in with them, Caramel just left her baby to Brussel’s mothering. When I saw Caramel the next morning, she still looked pregnant, but not when I got home, which is when I spotted the two in the sun room.
I’ve heard that cats can do that sort of thing, but for there to be such a long time between births is pretty amazing. It’s unlikely she had them somewhere else then brought them over, or she would have brought her first kitten over, too. It would have been much closer and easier to bring to the cat house.
Caramel is also much more comfortable leaving her babies while she goes outside – unlike Brussel who barely leaves them to get some kibble, water and do her business.
Here, you can see Caramel milling around with the boys. It took a bit, but I was able to pet her – until one of the males pushed his way in between, demanding I pet him, instead!
When we peeked through the window, we could see the kittens curled up around each other, sleeping.
The down side of Caramel being in the cat house is, there’s no way I can give her wet cat food or squeeze treats like I can with Brussel. Caramel, at least, already allows us to sometimes pet her. Unlike Brussel, who actually seems to be getting more aggressive, not less, even as she accepts the food and treats.
We had another surprise this morning that was a bit more perplexing.
This is the side of the water bowl shelter. Somehow, one of the boards got loose! It may not even had been doing by a cat, but a racoon or skunk. Well. Maybe not a skunk. Nothing was knocked about inside, so I don’t think it got pushed out during a cat fight. It was just nailed in, so we’ll dig out the drill and use screws to secure it, later on.
My daughter and I checked out a few areas while we were out and about. The garden beds in the main garden area are almost completely uncovered now. With today’s high expected to be 17C/63F, the rest of the ice and snow should soon be gone. We can start doing some clean up and remove the mulch on the winter sown beds. I remembered to tuck one of the thermometers under the plastic covered bed. It should be interesting to see what it’s at, when we remove the cover to remove the mulch this afternoon. With the cover on, it’s entirely possible the soil below is already thawed out.
But not yet. I got another Charlie horse during the night, and my leg still feels unstable, though it was the mildest Charlie horse I’ve ever had. I’m going to try and get a bit more recovery time. Today is Saturday, which means the dump is open longer hours, so a dump run is also on my to-do list today. We’ll also need to get the isolation shelter prepared to hold three adult females for 2 weeks. We’ll be moving one of the box nests back into the bottom, after it’s cleaned out as best we can, and the litter box prepared.
I look forward to when we can roll that isolation shelter out, open it all up and give it a good cleaning! I’m glad the cats are enjoying it, but they do make a mess of things. 😄
Things are going to be busy for the next while. Lots of driving around to do, on top of the usual spring clean up.
I’m looking forward to it, but I really need to remember that I’m a lot more broken now, than when we first moved out here!
I’m also falling asleep at my keyboard.
*sigh*
Time to try lying down and hopefully get some real sleep for an hour or two.
Or, more accurately, the sound of ice crackling under their weight as they walked across it!
They were very curious about it, too.
While giving the yard cats their morning feeding, I kept and eye out for Caramel – and saw her. Quite a bit, in fact. She was dashing from kibble tray to kibble tray, both in the sun room and out. I looked all over, including with Brussel, through the cat house windows, and even the two old dog houses by the outhouse, with straw bedding inside. No sign of her kitten, yet there was mom, hanging around the house!
Still looking pregnant, too.
I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
I headed out early enough to do the Walmart part of my shopping before I was supposed to meet with the Cat Lady. I got a couple of big bags of cat food, which were the most expensive items of the day. I also picked up a couple of 2kg (about 4 1/2 pounds) bags of Yukon Gold seed potatoes. Maybe I’m jumping the gun, but I didn’t want to wait too long with those. We’re already almost half way through April! I got a few other little things, but didn’t want to stay in the store for long. Once the truck was loaded, I moved it to where the Cat Lady and I were to meet, next to the Dollarama, and waited.
Along with some wet cat food and treat donations, she had three lovely cat beds to pass on. These were their own cat beds that none of their cats use anymore. !!! I was more than happy to accept their rejects. 😄
While going through a big bag of canned cat food to sort out the stuff for us, we got to talking about The Wolfman and his allergy to poultry. She scored canned cat food without any chicken in it, which is remarkably hard to find. She was telling me how, before they knew he was allergic to chicken, he was basically going bald. Which is so strange, because he showed no signs of an allergy until after he’d lived with them for some time. He even lost the fur on his magnificent flag of a tail. It’s all grown back now, but they have to be super careful about keeping him away from chicken. He’s a thief and would eat an entire roasted chicken before it had time to cool off!
As we were chatting about him, she told me about some vet visits they’d had with him, trying to figure out what was going on, and that at one point, she’d requested X-rays. The only reason we were able to catch The Wolfman and bring him indoors was because one of his front legs was wildly dislocated, flipped over backwards. She remembered when it happened, as we had asked her for advice. It was a long weekend and all the vet clinics were closed. She told us of two that she knew of that were open, in our entire province, and they were all hours away.
Then his leg popped back into place on its own. It happened some time during the night, so we have no idea how that happened.
Well, it turns out there is some permanent damage to that shoulder, including arthritis. The Cat Lady said they do see him sometimes favouring that shoulder. The vet, on looking at the X-rays, was apparently shocked, saying that leg had to have been flipped right around (it was), and couldn’t believe that it was able to pop back into place on its own. It never did completely return into its proper position, though. The vet, however, said that when a dislocation is this bad, the usual result is amputation! There’s a blood vessel that gets pinched, cutting off the blood supply to the leg completely and basically killing it. How that didn’t happen, they couldn’t figure out. As The Wolfman gets older, the shoulder will probably bother him more but, right now, his recovery from that injury a mystery to them.
They have a few cats from us that are like that. Button surviving is a mystery. The kitten we never named that turned out to be Down’s is another mystery survivor. Then there’s Cabbages, of course. The very first sick kitty they took from us and ended up keeping permanently!
Once we were done transferring stuff between vehicles, we headed into the Dollarama. I was specifically looking for a new dial-type thermometer to put into the portable greenhouse. The only one I could find was more of a decor item and not a dial type. I was also going to pick some some cat deterrent strips that are meant for garden beds. I was planning to use them in areas in the house that cats keep insisting in getting into, no matter how we try to stop them. There are none of those to be had at all.
I did pick up a few other small items, then headed back to the Walmart. It took some searching, but I did find the type of thermometer I was looking for. Next to the extension cords, of all things!
From there, it was time to head home. By the time everything was unloaded, it was pretty much time to feed the yard cats again; hopefully, it was early enough for the cats to finish eating before the skunks and racoons showed up!
I saw Caramel again, and even Brussel was outside, though she was quick to dash back into the cat cave with her babies. When Caramel jumped into it with them, it got knocked onto its side, and Brussel hasn’t been out of it long enough for me to fix it. She is still quite aggressive towards me, even as I give her her wet cat food, or her morning squeeze treat.
With Caramel hanging around, it seemed to me she wasn’t quite so … round, anymore. More saggy and floppy than round. She also kept going in and out of the cat house.
That first picture is the best I could get through the glare and dirt of the window, but there are two kittens in that cat bed! This is the cat bed that’s closer to the smaller window, not the one we found the dead kitten in, yesterday. There’s the dark kitten we saw before, now with an orange tabby, and they were very squirmy!
When I looked in again later, Caramel was there, and she was not happy to see me! She even hissed at me through the window.
The floor in the cat house currently has some high density foam mats on it that I found in the barn; with the heat bulb in there, I didn’t want to use straw. There were just a couple of cat beds at the windows, and a blanket, though the blanket was all bunched up by the wall opposite the windows.
I decided that two of the donated cat beds would go into the cat house. Later on, while Caramel out of the cat house, one of my daughters helped me lift the roof just long enough to lay down the two beds and close it again. Hopefully, some of the other mamas might decide to have their babies in there, too, which will make it easier to socialize, or at least trap them, later.
Speaking of which…
The Cat Lady confirmed our getting three females done on Tuesday. The vet specifically asked us to bring in any pregnant ones. She then suggesting doing a group of males next month, then younger females. I told her we could do that – the males are the friendly ones, so getting several males will be easy – but said I was afraid that if we waited too long with the younger females, they’ll end up either pregnant, or they’re already pregnant and would have babies by then. In the end, the vet will do whatever we can catch and bring in.
Getting the cats spayed is one thing. This clinic is giving her amazing prices for that. The problem is, these being yard cats, they tend to have other problems. Ear mites are pretty much expected, but if the ear mites are really bad, the ears get infected. Then there’s infections for injuries, etc. The last batch of cats she helped get done, from the town my mother is in, had infections so bad, the clinic said they ethically couldn’t release one cat without treatment. These were yard cats, though, not pets. The person who has been feeding them said she wasn’t going to pay for extra treatment, since this was basically a trap, spay/neuter, release. They’re going to get ear mites again, get infections again, and are just as likely to simply disappear. So the Cat Lady was in a pickle and had to pay for the antibiotics – which, it turns out, costs more than a spay! – just to be able to get the cat released from the vet!
Dealing with stuff like this is why she was having a hard time booking our yard cats in, but with mamas starting to give birth, she talked to the vet and they were willing to fit some in.
Needless to say, we’re going to try extra hard to get the cats we’ve been asked to get, but when it comes to the females, we don’t have much control of the situation. As for the two mamas, they will be booked in 10 weeks, when their babies are weaned and their milk has dried up.
The first image is little Magda. She’s one of the ones that is so small, she hasn’t gone into heat yet, probably because she’s not healthy enough. But if she does get pregnant, I doubt she would survive. She is, however, very socialized and would be easy to get to a vet.
The next image is Rolando Moon, enjoying a nap. This Grand Old Lady was fixed by one of my brothers, as we were in the process of moving here. We were told she was the last of the females that needed to be fixed. Which turned out to be wrong, and here we are…
In the next photo is an incredibly scraggly cat that’s been showing up. I’m not sure if she’s one of ours (she’s not at all socialized, so I’m assuming it’s a she. 😄). I don’t know what’s going on with her neck fur, but it looks like it’s been worn right off!
Next is a very pregnant Slick, aka: Octomom. She had a litter of 8 kittens, two summers ago. She has been allowing me to pet her while eating on the cat house roof, which is a HUGE improvement – normally, we couldn’t get close to her, never mind pet her – so I’m really hoping we can catch her for the vet on Tuesday – and that she doesn’t have her kittens before then!! She is so very round.
The last photo is of a big boy that’s been hanging around off and on. I’m not sure if he’s one of ours returned, or if he’s from a neighbouring farm. I’m assuming it’s a male based on his size, more than anything else. We haven’t been able to get close enough to see.
I am so thankful for the Cat Lady and her rescue. They have been helping us with the cats, too much! It’s not easy for them at all, with so few people willing to adopt these days, full shelters everywhere, and donations trying up. We are certainly not the only ones trying to care for colonies this large, or even larger. Cats being dumped being a huge part of the problem, too.
This afternoon, I headed out to drop our tax stuff off at the preparers, late enough that when I got back, I immediately started feeding the outside cats.
When I feed them in the mornings, I try to see into the cat house, but at that time of day, there is a lot of reflection. Plus, they get pretty dirty on the inside. Yesterday, I could see there was… something… in the cat bed next to the larger window. So while feeding the cats this afternoon, I made a point of trying to see what it was.
It was a dead kitten.
*sigh*
The cat house roof needs two people to open it, so once the cats finished eating the kibble on the roof, my daughter came out to help me open it. The counterweight is supported by two milk crates. The bottom one is embedded in ice, so we couldn’t move it. My daughter, however, was able to hold up the roof for me while I got the kitten out (there was just the one) and wrapped it in paper towel.
As I was going back and forth, however, I noticed Caramel in the larger cat bed on the bottom of the shelf shelter. I don’t usually see her there.
And was that a squeak I heard?
After we finished with the cat house roof and I set the little body in the branch pile for later cremation (the ground it still too frozen to bury anything), I went past the shelf shelter and heard it again.
There was just one kitten, but she was clearly still in labour, so while my daughter went inside, I hung around. I did ask her to bring a cat bed from my room that the cats don’t like to use. I set it up in the cube of the cat cage next to Brussel – with her growling at me the whole time – but I wasn’t sure how that would work out. It is meant to be drawn closed at the top with a rope, but it always collapsed, so we folded the sides down to turn it into a big bowl. We used it with Decimus and her kittens that way, but that was when the cat cage was in my bedroom. In the sun room, it’s a lot more open. Plus, the sides tend to collapse. Still, I thought it was worth a try.
I kept checking on Caramel, and even tried to pet her. Much to my surprise, she not only let me pet her without trying to bite my hand, but when I moved away to switch hands or adjust my position, she actually reached out to grab my hand, trying to pull it back for more pets!
After a while, I figured it might be better to just try and take the entire bed, with mama and baby, into the cat cage. I took the other cat bed out and, with the help of a daughter tried to move the big cat bed with Caramel.
Caramel, of course, got off, but we put it with the baby into the cat cave. It started crying for Mom loudly, and it wasn’t long before Caramel started coming back into the sun room.
Then we heard a cat fight in the outer yard, so I went to check on that, while my daughter monitored things through the old kitchen door.
By the time I came back, Caramel was in the cat cage – and in the cat cave with Brussel! Caramel’s baby, however, was still in the other cube, on the cat bed.
So my daughter moved the baby over, and things became quiet again.
There’s no way this was going to work out, though. I was hoping Caramel would still use the other, larger cat bed. Especially since she was clearly still in labour. There just isn’t enough room in there for them.
Okay, as I was writing this, I had the live stream for the critter cam going and saw a couple of skunks. I went to chase them out, then checked on the mamas. I could only see Brussel and her babies. I could see no sign of Caramel and her baby.
Except…
I have the live stream up right now and Caramel is in the sun room. I see her milling about, eating a bit, milling around some more. Now I’m wondering if maybe her baby is still in there with Brussel, but I just couldn’t see?
Oh, Caramel just left the sun room. You’d think she’d be staying close to her own baby, and with how actively she was still milling around, I don’t think she’s still in labour.
I’m at a loss.
While all this was going on, I updated the Cat Lady. She was very apologetic. She’s been trying to get us in for spays and neuters for weeks. We’re not the only ones she’s helping, though, and donations only go so far. I told her about the dead kitten, too, which I’m pretty sure was a stillbirth. We have no way of knowing which cat that was from.
After much messaging back and forth with the Cat Lady, she now has us booked for next week. We’re shooting to bring in 3 pregnant females. It won’t be easy, but that’s the goal. She wants to get us for 2 more younger females and a male in May. I don’t know how she managed to get us in so quickly for 3 pregnant females!
She and I will also be meeting up tomorrow. She has some donations of canned cat food for us. That will be a big help!
In the middle of all this messaging back and forth, I finally was able to get to that drain pipe in the basement. I ran the big auger bit through and, while I did hit a spot where there was definitely something hard on the inside of the pipe, I was able to get past it easily. I was even able to get through the bend under the bathroom and push through quite a bit further. I did this several times. There wasn’t anywhere near as much gunk stuck to the auger parts as there was before.
I think it might actually be safe to hook up the washing machine drain again!
Once I got someone to run water to test for leaks and everything was cleaned up and put away, the only thing I wanted to do was take a shower!
I most definitely needed to use my husband’s bath chair, though. I even made sure to take pain killers before I started.
We can test the washing machine tomorrow.
I must say, nothing about today has been at all like I expected it to be! 😄
I couldn’t see any fresh growth on the sea buckthorn, mulberry or Liberty apple tree, but they all seem to have survived the winter. There’s still too much snow covering the ground to know if the snow crocuses or grape hyacinth are starting to come up. The saffron crocuses seem to be okay – something was digging around them and in the mulch around the Liberty apply tree, and some of the saffron crocuses got buried. Whatever did the digging – likely a skunk – clearly wasn’t after the bulbs, but probably found some insects or grubs to snack on. I haven’t seen any sign of tulips, yet. This section is now free of snow, so we should be seeing them pop through the mulch soon enough.
There were plenty of hungry kitties when I did the morning feeding, and some of them were still hanging around, looking for pets, as I was heading back to the house.
She really likes to lick my hands. The poor thing’s fur is so badly matted, and there are even burrs now stuck in her tail. At least she is socialized enough that, once things are warm enough, we should be able to use the new clippers to cut them off. Some of the other puffy cats, like Patience, are friendly, but getting any burrs or mats cut out might be too much for them.
Oh, dear. It just occurred to me.
I didn’t see Adam this morning. At all.
Which means she probably found some hiding place in the outer yard to have her litter. It would have been good if she’d used the sun room, but she doesn’t really go in there often at all. Even the cat house would have been good but, while there are cat beds at the windows in there, we had to take out the remains of boxes that had been in there, so there are no longer any more enclosed “nests” in that mamas have used in the past. Any time a cat has had a litter in there, though, they tended to disappear within days. I think it’s just too busy and active with other cats and they are quick to move their babies elsewhere.
If all goes well, I might be meeting up with the Cat Lady tomorrow. She has a whole bunch of wet cat food donations for us, and she said something about having more cat beds as well. We shall see. Tomorrow is looking to be a really nice day, too. Today’s high is supposed to be 8C/46F, but we’re supposed to reach highs of 16C/61F over the next two days! Even the overnight lows are supposed to stay above freezing for those two nights. We might be able to start removing the mulch from some of the winter sown beds, so the soil beneath can thaw out faster. If the long range forecast is to be trusted, we might even be able to sow cold tolerant things early. I’ll have to go through my bin of seeds for direct sowing and go through the most cold tolerant varieties to decide while ones can be planted first. At the very least, the peas will be able to go in, and we have two varieties of sugar snaps, and one variety of shelling peas we can plant as soon as the soil is workable. Those would be going into the main garden beds, though, and those are still covered in snow.
I noticed as she went past me to return to her babies that there was a wad of fur hanging off her hip. It looks like a mat was coming off. After giving her some wet cat food, I tried petting her babies. They were okay with it, though Mama snarled. I then tried to touch her hip to feel what was going on. I couldn’t feel anything that could have been an injury, but she did NOT like being touched and all out attacked my hand. It makes me think that her undercoat is getting pretty matted, and she might be in pain from it. Unfortunately, she’s still too feral for us to be able to check her out or help her with it. I’d hoped, with her in the cat cave with her babies, and getting special food and treats, she would start to become more socialized but, in the last few days, she seems to be getting more snarly and agitated, not less.
Well, we do the best we can for her. It’s not like we have any other options right now!
The Re-Farmer 