recovery

Hello, Kitties

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We have not had an update on Cabbages recently, which means she has been doing well. The last news we had was posted here.

If you would like to contribute to our fundraiser to reimburse the cat lady for Cabbages’ vet bills, click on the button below, or click here. If you would like to read more about it, click here.

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The cold temperatures are hanging in there, but the outside cats seem to be doing quite well.

I often see them running around on the security camera live feed. I do wonder, though, about the times when I see half a dozen of them, all running back and forth on the driveway at the same time! 😀

Nosencrantz and Butterscotch remain in the sun room. Technically, we can let them out now, but with these temperatures and their shaved bellies, that wouldn’t happen, even if we weren’t considering bringing them indoors permanently. With Nosencrantz up for adoption, it would be just easier that way. Butterscotch… we’ll give it a try again. She came out when I set fresh food out for them, but didn’t really want attention, and kept moving away when I came near. Unlike Nosencrantz, who will happily accept being picked up and cuddled!

We’ve talked about bringing them in and have decided to wait until after the spice girls, Saffron and Turmeric, go. They are booked for their surgeries on Feb. 23. We drop them off in the morning, then the cat lady will pick them up in the afternoon, where they will be delivered to the fosters that are ready and waiting for them, to recover then be adopted out. With Cabbages unexpectedly leaving when she did, we now have 15 cats in the house. It’s probably not a good idea to make it 17, when two more are leaving in such a short time. I’m sure Nosencrantz will handle the transition just fine. Not so sure about Butterscotch.

It does mean we will be visiting them in the sun room as often as we can, and providing them with more toys to keep them happy.

Beep Beep looks like such a kitten in this photo!! Hard to believe she’s a minimum of 7 years old. It’s also hard to believe that such a tiny cat made such big babies. Cheddar and Layendecker, who are a couple of years apart in age, didn’t start big, but both grew into such hefty boys. They totally dwarf her. Even Big Rig is bigger than she is, though they are so much alike, I often get them mixed up. Only Saffron remains smaller, while Turmeric is almost caught up in size.

Beep Beep and Fenrir have recovered so well from surgery, I forget they even had it, until Beep Beep starts rolling and I see her belly.

Fenrir doesn’t roll like that. Ever. Checking her belly is a two person job.

I wonder how well Beep Beep and Butterscotch will remember each other, when we try bringing Butterscotch indoors? For all we know, Butterscotch is her mother. They’ve shared the parenting of litters every year we’ve been here, with Butterscotch more than happy to leave her babies with Beep Beep as much as she could. I’m sure they’ll remember each other at least a little bit, even if they haven’t seen each other in almost 2 years. Whether that means they’ll be friendly with each other or not, is anyone’s guess! 😀

The Re-Farmer

She let me take her picture!

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Butterscotch finally let me take her picture this evening.

I’m still blown away by how calm she is. I don’t now how much of that I can attribute to her recovering from surgery, or how much to having something removed that was likely causing her discomfort. It could well be both.

They need to stay indoors for at least 10-14 days. We’ll see how she does over time. We were thinking of bringing Nosencrantz into the house, after she’s been isolated a few days to make sure there are no ear mite or flea issues. The problem with that is, it would leave Butterscotch without feline company, and she got along with Nosencrantz more than a lot of the other cats.

We shall see how they progress, before we make any decisions.

The Re-Farmer

As set up as can be, and fundraiser update

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Well, we’ve been doing as much as we can in the sun room for now. It’s as ready as we’ll be able to get it, for Butterscotch and Nosencrantz’s recovery period.

We were able to tape up the wire on the old heated water bowl, so it can now be safely used again. The wire itself is not damaged; just the outside was cracked, right at the bowl. Thankfully, we’ve got a tape that can handle that tight of an area. If it hadn’t worked, we have a silicon sealant we would have used.

The main concern we have is with Butterscotch. We’ve used the sun room as a maternity ward before, for Butterscotch and Beep Beep to give birth in. Beep Beep handled it well, but Butterscotch tore her way through the old door’s screen to escape, no matter how many times we patched it up. She was more than content to leave Beep Beep to take care of both litters and probably wouldn’t have come back, if she hadn’t needed to nurse. She is not going to be happy in here. I do hope that, at least for the first day or two after surgery, she will be too drugged up to go too wild. It’s certainly going to make it interesting to go through here to get kibble and seed. Most likely, we’ll put a carrier in with her, and close her up until I’m done going in and out.

As we expect Butterscotch to basically tear the place apart while in there, my daughter and I bagged up the sunflowers heads, and they are now stored in the old kitchen. We’ve packed the top shelves against the window with as much gardening supplies as we could jam in, then made beds on the two bottom shelves. Then we tried to make the rest of the shelves and surfaces as impervious to destruction as we could.

I picked up a new litter pan for the sun room, since we’re using it for yard cat recovery so often. It’s set up under the swing bench. The heat bulb is ready to go, with scrap pieces of rigid insulation as walls, because there will be a cold draft from those windows, and more on the floor so they can eat and drink with their little toe beans kept off the cold concrete.

The plan is for Butterscotch and Nosencrantz to be brought in tomorrow, after we do the morning rounds. They have even been staying together when I put the kibble out, so they will be easy to catch at that time. They will have their own food and water until evening, at which point they will be put on a fast until after their surgery.

While organizing the space as best we could, one of the concerns is that, in her displeasure of being trapped in the sun room, Butterscotch might start attacking Nosencrantz. Since Butterscotch is not ever going to be an indoor cat and is not up for adoption, she has to stay in the sun room during recovery.

There is no such requirement for Nosencrantz. She will be adopted out. After they are fixed, vaccinated and de-wormed, and the non-adoptable indoor cats are done, we will start getting the adoptable indoor cats done near the end of February. We will bring them in to the vet in the morning, then the cat lady will pick them up in the evening and take them to the fosters for recovery before going to their forever homes. Then we will start working on getting the outside cats caught and done. They, too, will be taken to the vet in the morning, then the cat lady will pick them up in the evening.

It just doesn’t make sense to send Nosencrantz back outdoors after recovery, if we’re going to have to catch her again for the cat lady to take. Plus, if we bring her inside right after the surgery, there is no chance of Butterscotch going after her. This will also give us a chance to socialise her more, before the cat lady is ready to pick her up.

The next few months are going to be pretty cat crazy!

Speaking of the cat lady, I am incredibly thankful that there are already some fundraiser donations!! You can read about the fundraiser here or, if you wish, go directly to the donation page here. It just blows me away that she has been so willing to take on the expenses for Cabbages vet care, and going above and beyond in treating her. She even sent pictures (which I won’t ask permission to share right now; this fundraiser is a surprise, and I don’t want her to know about this blog, yet. 😀 ), and Cabbages was eating out of a bowl and looking so much more alert.

I have not heard any news today, yet, which tells me that the recovery continues. It’s still “no news is good news” right now. Cabbages is being lavished with care and attention, and I have full confidence and trust in the cat lady, to do what’s right by her, however things go.

I am so thankful that we were connected with her when we did. The timing was downright providential!

The Re-Farmer

So much Ginger!

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Ginger was playful this morning, and I was able to get a lot of pictures.

Some of them even turned out okay. 😉

Last night was the first night we did not close the outer cats out, and I’m happy to say there were no issues. I think he spent the night in his favorite spot in my closet. 😀

In the morning, though, he came out and demanded attention!

I was not the only source of that attention.

Turmeric decided to check out her cousin, and yes – grooming happened! Yay!

Turmeric is a couple of months older than him, yet he is so much bigger! Her sister, Saffron, is even smaller. At only about 9 or 10 months old, he’s already looking like he’s going to be a big, burly boy! Maybe not the big slab of meat Cheddar grew up to be, but certainly as big as Keith. We’ve already had times when we’ll look over to see an orange cat curled up and thinking, “Aw, Keith is so cute! … Hold on. That’s not Keith!”

His aunt came over to give him a sniff, but he was far more interested in tackling my hand and chewing on my thumb.

He’s actually quite good at “chewing” without actually biting.

He was quite enjoying the comfort of a bed for humans, rolling around all over the place while his Aunt Beep Beep watched over him. He’s already heavier than she is, but Beep Beep has always been a tiny one.

Ginger has been busy, claiming the house. He’s been going into the basement, where he has discovered the fantasy land of food bowls and litter boxes. 😀 He even joined the crowd when the girls gave them their wet cat food. He’d pretty much ignored the wet cat food we gave him when we first brought him into the sun room to await his surgery, but this time, he actually ate it. So far, I think the only place he hasn’t explored yet is the second floor.

The down side of his exploring is that he decided to jump up onto the dining table this morning. My daughter and I were nearby and managed to get him off without startling him too much, only for him to jump out of my daughter’s arms, back onto the table, skittering about, knocking over and breaking a large glass mug, before jumping down to the floor.

*sigh*

Ah, well. He’s still getting used to things.

We’re pretty blown away by how active and mobile he is. He has adjusted very well to the loss of the leg, and is doing pretty well adjusting to the indoor life, and all the new cats around him, too.

It’s very encouraging.

The Re-Farmer

There’s Ginger spice in the house!

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Ginger has had his first day in the house, and it’s been interesting!

The first thing he did was claim the cat bed on the bottom of my closet. It’s a favorite spot for quite a few cats, but it’s now all his!

Which seems to work out, since the other cats are far more interested in his box nest than him!

For the night, we closed him up with me and kept the other cats out. Which meant being awakened several times during the night, by cats scratching at my door! Usually, I’ve got at least half a dozen on the bed with me. 😉

Ginger has been boldly curious about the rest of the house, though definitely cautious around other cats. Being a yard cat, this translated to him being the aggressive one, growling at the other cats if they come too close. Which could be on the other side of the room, at times! Since he has only one front leg to defend himself, he’s taken to flinging himself onto the ground rolling onto his back, and using his one front leg to bat vaguely at any cat in reach. The other cats, meanwhile, are just curious and want to sniff him. So far, there hasn’t been any aggression from them, though some are certainly more laid back about him than others. I suspect it won’t be long before he joins the daily cat pile on my bed. 😀

I’m happy to see him already trying to explore the house. We’ve transitioned other yard cats that too far longer to get to that point! He was able to take the two steps between the old and new parts of the house without any problem. He has yet to discover the stairs to the second level or the basement, yet.

When he isn’t curled up in his new favorite corner, he is remarkably active and agile.

And yes, we did get him his own catnip mouse today. Which he did play with enthusiastically, until his sister, Cabbages, stole it from him! 😀

The loss of the leg is hardly slowing him down at all!

The Re-Farmer