injured cats

Daily Ginger baby update

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Heeeeerrrrreee’s Ginger!

Ginger does love to roll around! He doesn’t seem to mind a bit of spilled water in the way, either. :-D He was quite happy to let me pet him, as I went in and out to feed his brothers.

Nutmeg actually let me touch him this morning, and even skritch his head a bit – but not until there was food in the bowl!

Gosh, Creamsicle Jr. looks ornery! :-D

Even their calico cousin came by for eats.

Would you call that a calico? I don’t know. I am fascinated by the fact that the patches of both grey and orange fur have tabby stripes in them.

With the high winds we had in previous days, I actually shifted the kibble house to have the back facing south, instead of being at an angle to the cat’s house. We had so much wind from the south east, it was actually blowing around the smaller kibble bowls. I had it an an angle because I wanted the space in front of the entry to the cat’s house more open, but the whole point of it is for the cats to be sheltered while they ate, and that wasn’t happening!

Ginger actually let me pick him up and cuddle with him after I fed his brothers and cousin. I even tucked him into my coat, though it wasn’t anywhere near chilly enough for it. He was a bit restless in my arms shifting about until he was curled up on my chest, with his head hanging down. It made it easier to give him head skritches, which he really, really liked.

Then he started licking my hands! He went into full grooming mode. Apparently, my fingers and wrists in particular, are very tasty. :-D

What a sweetie!

I think I spent about half an hour, cuddling with him before I had to head out again, and he was quite happy with the attention. He was also up to jumping down himself when I stood up, rather than waiting for me to put him down.

Day after tomorrow, and he’s at the vet to get the sutures removed. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Ginger spice update

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Before I update on how Ginger is doing today, I just wanted to quickly add that the fire that happened last night remained under control, and all is quiet – though there were certainly a lot of files to check out on the trail cams this morning! The fire trucks went past our driveway, lights flashing, but we heard no sirens at all at that time. We still don’t know what caught fire. The local news included stories of several grass fires, including one where a home was lost and 20 others evacuated, but these were all in the southern end of our province and nowhere near us. I hope to find out more, just to be assured that no one was hurt.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled spice boy update!

Ginger really was a bit spicy this morning! He was quite active, watching at the window, ducking under the swing bench, checking out the fresh food and water, and generally making it hard to get hold of! He finally flopped down on my feet and start rolling, and I was finally able to pick him up.

He was also eyeballing the door while I went in and out to feed the outside critters! As I headed out with kibble for the outside cats, Butterscotch dashed into the sun room. Which I was okay with. I figured a visit from his mom would not be a problem! She doesn’t like being indoors, though, so she was ready to dash back out as soon as the door was open again. :-D

It was nice and cozy in the sun room, so no tucking into the coat this morning. :-) He wouldn’t settle down, though, and I got only a brief snuggle in before he jumped down again.

Once on the floor, he couldn’t make up his mind if he wanted to keep rolling around, or to tackle the toes of my shoes! :-D

His surgical site is looking pretty good. He still has a couple of tender looking spots, but they seem to be lessening.

He’s got 2 more nights of his pain medications left, I believe, which means he’ll be out of them before he’s back at the vet to get the sutures removed. Hopefully, he will not need them anymore. He’s been remarkably tolerant in being given the medication, but we’ll be happy to not have to put him through that anymore!

Transitioning him from a room all to himself, into a house full of cats is going to be interesting.

:-)

The Re-Farmer

Ginger roll

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Ginger wasn’t sure if he was happy to see me this morning.

Until I refilled his food and water bowls. ;-)

Then he was just rolling around, luxuriously. While giving me death glares! :-D

At least it gave me a chance to look at his surgical site. There’s still a touch of pink in the areas that had looked irritated before, but they are improving. The few times we’ve seen him start to scratch himself, he stops right away. As if he started to scratch a normal itch, but stopped when he scratched the tender areas instead. That has been a relief.

After topping up his food and water, I took care of the outside critter feeding. I’d mostly closed the inner door into the sun room while going out to the kibble house, but got a surprise when I opened the outer door to return to the sun room. The little bugger had squeezed his way in between the doors and almost escaped! It took some quick foot work to block him from running outside. He wants to join his brothers! After his attempt was foiled, he settled for sitting at the window and watching until I was done and could stay with him for a bit. He was hesitant to let me pick him up, since that usually means we’d soon be trying to shove a pill into his mouth, but he did let me, and we sat for a while with him in half in my coat for cuddles. There are no more morning medications for him now, so it was just uninterrupted cuddle time! :-)

Four more days until it’s back to the vet and the sutures are removed!

The Re-Farmer

Ginger baby update – a bit late!

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Well, I certainly got distracted today. For some reason, I thought I’d already written this post this morning! While fiddling with the computer to try and see things on my monitor without the magenta and neon green all over the place, I found I hadn’t even uploaded the photos!

So, here is today’s very late update on Ginger!

It was a cold night last night, but he was toasty and warm in his favourite spot!

The outside cats were very happy to have their very empty bowls refilled!

And for the warm water.

It was -15C/5F at the time I headed out, with a wind chill in the -20sC-4F. It had gotten cold enough that even Ginger’s water bowl started to get a bit slushy, being as far away from the heater bulb as it is.

By the time I finished taking care of the outside critters, he was out of his warm spot and allowed me to pick him up for cuddles today. This time, I remembered to unzip my parka a bit before picking him up…

… which allowed me to tuck him half into my coat while we sat and cuddled. :-)

I think he liked that!

We stayed like this for about half an hour, before my daughter came with the last of his morning pills. He’ll only have a single evening pill for a while longer. We’ll know how much longer, after he sees the vet to get the sutures removed on Monday.

Ginger may have been toasty warm, but after sitting in the sun room at 0C/32F for so long, I was the one starting to get pretty chilled! So we tucked him back into his warm bed, and I quickly finished my outside rounds before making a quick trip into town to get water refills, and the last few things needed for our Easter basket. The day warmed up quite a bit, and when I checked the sun room in the afternoon, it was almost 20C/68F! What a difference! We’re going to stay warm from now one, so we’ll have to make sure things don’t over heat for him in there, during the day.

Less than a week, and we should be able to bring him in to join the other kitties. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Ginger and the outside cats.

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That title sounds like the name of a bad 80’s band. :-D

So the weather system swept in yesterday evening, and continues on today. We have had a little snow, and the temperature as I write this is still at -11C/12F, with a wind chill of -21C/-6F.

I’ve written before about the curious phenomenon of weather systems somehow missing us so often. We’ll get all sorts of forecasts for storms, etc., only for them not to hit us, or we just catch the edges of them. I’ve speculated that there is something about our geography that pushes the systems away. The systems pass to the south of us, most of the time. More rarely, they pass to the north of us.

Last night, while checking the weather radar, I could see it. There was rain passing over our region, with the colour codes denoting that it was quite heavy rain, with severe conditions in spots.

Except over us.

The rain actually formed a sort of horse shoe shape, and we were in the open space in the middle! We had had a small amount of rain, but that was it. While all around us, people were getting heavy rains, we had open skies. It was so wild to actually see that on the weather radar!

Once the rains past through, there was another system of snow that passed through during the night. We had a couple of centimeters (about an inch) by morning. What we still have now is the high winds.

Creamsicle Jr. was smart.

When I come out in the mornings and he’s in the cat’s house, he usually runs out and away. Not this morning! He stayed right were it was warm and cozy, and watched me as I refreshed the heated water bowl, just outside this window. He didn’t come out until there was kibble to be had. :-D

The other cats came running, braving the winds while I dashed into the sun room to get some kibble for them.

Junk Pile cat, who can be seen peeking around the side, had been tucked under the kibble house, on the sheet of insulation I put under there, when I first came out. I am so glad we were able to build this for the outside cats! The winds were swirling around from all directions, but at least inside the kibble house, they were sheltered while they ate!

Ginger, meanwhile, was watching them from the sun room.

He did NOT want to come to me this morning!

He looks like he’s all curled up for a nap in this photo, but in reality, he was rolling around in front of the window.

Since he wouldn’t let me pick him up for cuddles, I grabbed feed for the birds and deer to quickly take care of that.

By the time I was returning from putting the feed out, I found Creamsicle Jr. back in the cat house (you can see him licking his chops! LOL) with Junk Pile for company. Nutmeg stayed outside to run around and play in the snow. :-)

Ginger wanted to join him!!

When I came back into the sun room, he still wouldn’t let me pick him up. Eventually, my daughter was able to get him, and I gave him his morning medication, then we checked his sutures. There are still those spots that look a little raw, but they are not getting any worse.

I had to take him from my daughter in order for us to check him out, and he was content to stay in my arms, so I sat with him to cuddle for a while.

We stayed like this for a good long time before he finally had enough and went to his bed.

His warming mat was turned on, and he took full advantage of having it, and the heater bulb above!

It might be cold and blustery outside, but the sun room is warm, he’s got his own heat sources, and is doing just fine!

But he still wants to join his brothers outside sometimes! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Ginger baby update, and getting settled in

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This is how I found Ginger this morning. :-)

The warming pad has been added to his favourite spot under the heater bulb, so the Ginger baby can be warm from above and below!

When I finished putting getting food for the outside critters, he had come out, so I picked him up and sat on the swing bench with him.

He stayed like this almost the entire time, as we waited for my daughter to come in with his morning medication. He didn’t even purr, but just sat silently, only making a noise when he saw one of the outside cats go by.

He was so calm and settled that when my daughter came in with his pill, he barely even moved as she gave it to him! Then he let her cat him and cuddle him, while I went back out to finish my rounds.

His wounds are looking good overall, but there was one spot of rawness between two stitches we’ll have to keep an eye on.

Once my rounds were done, I quickly headed out to get more cat food and litter. While I was gone, the vet called to arrange removing the sutures. He’s now booked for Monday afternoon. I’m surprised they’re open on Easter Monday! I imagine they’re still doing a lot of catch up with having to refuse/delay so many treatments with the restrictions.

We’re keeping an eye on the forecasts, and it’s looking like the expected snow is going to hit us tonight, instead of tomorrow night. We’re supposed to reach 13C/55F this afternoon, then drop to -10C/14F overnight. The southern parts of the province are expected to be hit harder than we are, but we will still be getting rain, then snow, along with high winds, with blowing snow through most of tomorrow.

The gusts of high winds are already hitting us now, and some areas are under high wind alerts. We’re 8C/46F as I write this, with the wind chill supposedly putting us at 5C/41F, but it felt a lot colder while I was out in it!

Ginger, however is snug as a bug in his “isolation ward”. After his sutures are out, we should be able to introduce him to the rest of the house, and his expanded feline family!

I’m glad I was able to head out today to stock up on cat supplies. We won’t do our full city shopping trip until after Easter. Until then, we’re all settling in for what should be the gasp of winter. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Sunday Ginger

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With the days getting longer, I’ve been pushing to get my morning rounds done earlier in the day. (Not easy for this night owl!)

Ginger was a bit slow for the early start this morning!

He was all curled up in his favourite spot under the heater bulb, looking all groggy at me. :-D

I actually did get a better picture of him, but this one had a tongue blep, and I can’t resist a tongue blep picture! :-D

My husband had already topped up Ginger’s food bowl, but the outside cats had nothing left in their bowls, so they were quite happy for the earlier feeding!

When I came back to get the feed for the birds and deer, Ginger had come out of his warm spot.

He did not look at all happy about that! :-D (The wet under him is from a spill while I changed his water, and not … something else.)

He is developing a permanently angry looking expression on his face. In fact, as he gets older, he looks more and more like Rolando Moon. Big, burly and mean looking. :-D

Well, I imagine I’d be looking ticked off if I woke up one day to find part of my body missing, too! ;-)

I took advantage of the situation, picked him up and sat on the swing bench for some cuddles.

He’s not too impressed with the phone camera!

He settled right in, though, so I stayed and cuddled him until my daughter came over with his morning medication. Thankfully, I was dressed for it, this time. ;-)

Sitting at the window like this, we would sometimes see one of the outside cats go by, and that would get him all perked up. I’m not sure right now it he is wanting to go outside, or wanting the company of other cats. I did bring his sister, Cabbages, in for a visit later on. It didn’t accomplish much. Cabbages wanted to explore and, other than a few passing sniffs, ignored her brother. He wasn’t too happy, though, and hid under my husband’s walker and yelled at her if she got too close. Just a quick little meow that was almost like a barking noise! Which she ignored as she kept on going. :-D

Looking at the long range forecast, we are going to have a really nice day tomorrow, then temperatures are going to plummet as we get what will probably be our last blowout of the winter in a couple of days. Our area is supposed to get between 5-10cm of snow (about 2-4 inches). Right on the day we would normally do our big shopping trip in the city! We are still well stocked for ourselves, but will need to get more cat food and litter, so I am planning to go to the smaller city to pick those up tomorrow.

Which reminds me; PayPal has finally released the donation they’d put a hold on. Thanks to the generosity of those who helped pay for Ginger’s surgery, we don’t have to wait until after the predicted storm to stock up on cat supplies!

Ginger, meanwhile, will be safe and warm in the sun room when the weather turns. He was supposed to go back to the vet after 2 weeks to get the sutures removed, but none of us thought ahead enough to realize that fell on Easter Sunday, so we will look at bringing him in on the Tuesday after.

Your daily Ginger!

/ Re-Farmer / 10 Comments

Another Ginger update!

Oh, and the outside cats, too. :-D

He’s still doing very well. Last night, my husband spent some time in the sun room to keep him company. I think it’s the first time he’s seen my husband! He did allow for some scritches, but did not otherwise come close. Plus, he really likes his spot under the heater bulb.

This morning, he was quite active, and my daughters had to keep him away from the door when I had to head out to feed the outside critters. He wanted outside again!

We also turned the new warming mat on, with an hour on the timer. It’s been positioned so he can sit on it while eating, so even after it turns itself off, he has a nice, soft butt warmer. ;-)

Through much of the winter, there was a lot of kibble left in the bowls outside when I came out to refill them in the morning. So much so that, some days, I didn’t add any more at all.

No longer! For the past few days, I’ve been finding the containers completely empty. Not a crumb left! When I come out the door in the morning, the cats come running from all over, eager for food. Even the heated water bowl was completely dry this morning!

Judging from the smell I’ve noticed some mornings, I suspect we have some stripy “kitties” showing up at night, having a snack. Since adding that board across the front of the kibble house to keep the containers from being knocked out, they have a harder time getting at the kibble, but they still manage. I’ve stopped adding kibble to the bowl just inside the entry into the cat house, until we have a chance to open it up and tidy things. The container in there is upside down, with cat mats bunched up on top. This morning, I found one of those mats outside the entry. I think it got pulled out while critters were digging around in the entry, trying to find every last bit of kibble that was spilled onto the floor!

The outside cats are seeming more skittish than usual. Not even Butterscotch would come near me, and when I get too close to the kibble house, they’d all bolt. Only Rolando Moon would let me touch her this morning, and that was only because she thought I was bringing out food! Creamsicle Jr. (in the above photo) has become more skittish for some time. Which I’m sad about, because we had been able to at least touch and pet him, once in a rare while, over the summer.

The mostly white cat in the above photo has always been skittish, though. Nothing has changed, there!

Rosencrantz looked like she was stalking her baby! :-D

It was good to see as many of the outside cats as I did, but there are some missing faces still, and I am starting to think they won’t be coming around anymore. :-(

That’s just how it goes on the farm, and we’ve had many cats simply stop coming round in the years we’ve been here – Beep Beep, Butterscotch and Rolando Moon are the only ones left among those that were here when we moved in, and they were all among the cats my late father took care of. The males, in particular, disappear faster as they range further out. I can hope that they’ve settled in on another farm somewhere, but … well. That’s not very likely. At least the females tend to stay where they know there are safe places to have kittens and there’s a reliable source of food. They let the boys all come to the yard to see them, rather than going further afield themselves. ;-)

Another reason to turn Ginger snap into an indoor cat!

The Re-Farmer

A Ginger warmer!

/ Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

After a very frustrating morning (which I will write about later) I was cheered by the wonderful and kind gift for Ginger that arrived in the mail today, from a very awesome friend.

It was a Ginger warmer!

It’s “Great for you provides safe warming comfort zone!”

Love it!

And it’s cover is soooo soft!

Of course, we had to bring it to Ginger, right away!

He was in what seems to be his favorite spot, draped over a bar under the heater bulb.

He had zero interest in moving out of that spot! Not even for scritches. He just lolled about, luxuriating over that bar under the blanket. It’s part of the greenhouse frame we’re using to hold the ceramic heat bulb in place.

I wonder if the bar provides some sort of relief? I recall one of the things my husband was put on during physiotherapy was a long padded bar he was supposed to keep lined up with his spine while lying on it. It did help. Considering how often we find him (meaning Ginger, not my husband) draped over it like this, I suspect it does provide some sort of comfort.

The new heat pad was set to its second lowest heat setting, for 90 minutes. We’ll keep an eye through the bathroom window to see how he responds to it. The good thing is, since the cat’s house outside is not plugged in through the sun room, we have a spare plug, and can use both this and the bulb heater at the same time.

A thought occurred to me as I was looking at his wound and, in particular, at the discoloration. It might not be a discoloration at all. His fur is starting to grow back. It’s more likely a stripe of darker orange fur!

He’s such a sweet boy. I’m so thankful that he’s doing so well.

The Re-Farmer

Ginger update: morning cuddles

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The Ginger bug is learning to enjoy us humans!

After we gave him his morning medications, my daughter held him while I checked the incisions. While giving him his medications last night, one of my daughters noticed a discoloration, but he would not let her take a closer look. He was more cooperative, this morning. It looks like there may have been some fluid that leaked and got smeared on his skin. I’m only guessing, because there was no sign of swelling or leaking in the wounds at all. Just the stain on his skin.

Then my daughter sat and cuddled him, so he wouldn’t make a dash for the door while I went in and out with food for the cats, birds and deer outside.

Ginger is still not happy with getting his medications. He, of course, resists opening his mouth and tries to spit out the pills. When using the syringe to give him the liquid medication, he tries to chew on it. It’s a good thing they gave us two, because he bit a hole in the first one! Still, he’s actually really good about taking them, even if he doesn’t like it.

Ginger baby is being a good boy, and handling things very well.

The Re-Farmer