I got a call to pick up the cats shortly before 11:30am. I was told they’d be in the room I dropped them off in, with post op care instructions. When I got there, I didn’t even see anyone! They had several other cats waiting for pick up, too, so they were really going through them, assembly-line style!
Normally, the cats would have stayed at the clinic for observation for several hours first, but that part was to be done at home. Today was just grab and go!
In the instructions, it was recommended to keep them in the carriers for a few hours, though the risk was from possible injury if they jumped down from somewhere. Since we are keeping them isolated in my room, we let them out right away, and will let them out into the rest of the house later on.
The carriers fit very well in the truck, and I didn’t even have to remove our emergency supplies or collection of hard sided grocery bags.
Once at home, Toni didn’t really want to leave her carrier at all! Even with kittens came in with her. In the end, she didn’t leave until David was allowed in the room, and he decided to go in. Not into the biggest carrier next to her that he could fit comfortably in. Nooo… He went into one of the smaller carriers and squeezed her right out!
She is now curled up on the heat vent.
They seem to be recovering very well! I’ve had to stop Mitzy and Clarence from licking their surgical site too much, but not often enough for it to be an issue. Most are being very playful right now. Oh!!! I just had to stop Shadow, who was on top of one of the soft sided carriers, clawing away at it. It turns out Tin Whistle is inside, jammed against the back where the door is still zipped closed and holding it up. These carriers collapse if their doors – one at each end – are zipped up. So basically, he had her trapped in there and was trying to get at her from outside, and she’s just staying hunkered down in the carrier, contentedly ignoring him. 😄
The good thing is, I am home to see my brother. My SIL has already let me know he has stopped at a hardware store along the way, and then coming over to see why we have a leak in the bathroom ceiling.
I have no idea what he would be picking up, if he hasn’t found the cause of the problem. Unless… Oh! I see him on the security camera. I’ll have to follow up on that later!
All six carriers fit nicely in the back of the truck’s cab.
I took it slower for the first part of the drive. The roads are good, but I was watching the ditches as much as the road. At one point, I saw what I first thought was a dog or coyote on the road, but it turned out to be a small deer, with another already crossed and in the opposite ditch. It was starting to get lighter, which has a lot to do with why I didn’t see what I think were grouse, until they burst into flight in all directions.
I was one of those directions. One of them flew right into me! I have no idea how badly hurt the bird was.
Once I was parked, I checked my grill. A tuft of downy feathers was the only sign.
I got to the clinic just before 7:30. They open at 8, so I had time to check the front of the truck and message the Cat Lady. Then I saw a light on in the clinic. They have a side door next to the main doors, that opens directly into an examination room. That was the drop off location for today, as the clinic itself is otherwise closed. This is all a volunteer thing, so that’s why it’s so cheap.
After the cats were processed and I paid for 2, I went to wait for the Cat Lady. In that time, at least another dozen cats were dropped off! I had a chance to talk to the vet, and she said they were booked for about 50. Hopefully, there will be no no-shows!
I found out from the Cat Lady that this clinic is the only one that still does days like this for cats. Two big clinics in the city stopped. Vets aren’t willing to volunteer for them!
Our cats were going to be done first, after I mentioned where I drive in from, so I am staying in town until they call. Today is Remembrance Day, though, so most places are closed, or don’t open until 1pm. I’m sitting in a Tim Hortons right now, after getting breakfast.
My brother is coming to our place after Remembrance Day services to check on a drip in our bathroom ceiling. I will probably miss seeing him.
Meanwhile, I am quite happy with the truck. The gravel roads are not plowed, and it handled it well. The van probably would have been okay, but I would not want to take my mother’s car through it. The snow would be dragging against the undercarriage.
If all goes well, my next post will be about cats recovering at home!
After doing my searches for cat carriers at our local Walmarts, Canadian Tires, and even Peavey Mart and Princess Auto – both places I have never been to, and would be very dangerous for me to go to with money! – I finally decided it was worth ordering a couple of those clearance soft sided carriers.
We are supposed to get a mix of rain and snow today, but not until later on. While doing my morning rounds, it was so nice out, I decided I should place the order and arrange a pick up, since I needed to go to the city, anyhow.
I’ve never ordered anything online from Walmart before, so I set up an account and selected two black soft sided carriers. The two together came out to just under $22, so quite a good price. I made sure to arrange pick up at the nearer Walmart in the smaller, closer city, instead of delivery. All throughout, I was reading that delivery would be November 24 – assuming they even delivered to our area in the first place. Pick up, however, was to be done before November 24. Since we needed them for November 11, delivery wasn’t an option, anyhow. Also, I figured picking it up meant no shipping costs.
Then I went through the checkout.
With shipping, handling and taxes, the total came out to just over $53.
Oh, and it wouldn’t be ready for pick up until November 24.
Seriously???
Okay, considering the clearance price, even with the insane extra costs, it would still be cheaper to get the carriers this way. I would have been okay with that. However, it wasn’t until the order was completed that I saw it made no difference in when they would be ready for pick up. Turns out this isn’t something you’d find in the physical stores at all, I guess – which is what I understood I was looking at. As near as I could tell, they’d be shipped from China!
I cancelled the order immediately.
I still needed to go to town, however, so I figured I’d give it a go. I did find a small, hard sided carrier for about $30 at Canadian Tire – and there was one listed as still in stock at my location.
I found it.
They did have some others, but they either had fancy features (the top slides off to uncover the animal, rather than trying to pull a nervous animal out the door) or were sizes more appropriate for a medium sized dog. Interestingly, the hard sided carriers were all quite a bit cheaper than comparable sizes of soft sided carriers.
At least I was able to get the one carrier, along with a couple of bags of litter pellets.
Then it was across the street to the Walmart – however, there is an actual pet store in that area, so I decided to stop there, first.
They did have a good selection of carriers, including basic, hard sided, cat sized ones. The price was a bit much, though. I decided I would try the Walmart first, and if I couldn’t find one there, I’d come back for it.
I didn’t need to do that.
According to the website, this location did not have this carrier in stock at all. Nor any of the others I saw! They even had the slide out carrier, just like I saw at Canadian Tire, for quite a bit cheaper.
This one, however, was basically $30 – and the last one in stock. The only other one in this size was the slide out version. All the others were much bigger.
So now, we have two new carriers. With the hard and soft sides ones we have at home, including the one donated by the cat lady, we have the 6 carriers we need to bring the cats to the clinic for their cheap spay and neuter day. Yay!!!
Of course, I also got other things we needed, and a few extra. I’ve decided on what I will do for this year’s hand made Christmas decorations, and picked up a couple of skeins of yarn. A bright red with a sparkling metallic silver strand, and white. I would have gotten other colours, but there weren’t a lot of option. I remember when Walmart would get all sorts of cool Christmassy yarns and other craft material every year, but that pretty much stopped. Even the sparkly yarn I got wasn’t a Christmas yarn, but regular inventory. I’m not about to drive to a Michaels in the city, just for that, though. When it comes to craft stores, Michaels is pretty much all we’ve got, here in Canada. I have no problem with them. In fact, I used to teach crochet at one of them, years before moving out here. I just wish there was some competition! The closest to it would be from the various dollar-type stores, and they’re not much competition at all.
I’ll have to go through my stash of yarn and see if I’ve got something I can use as a contrasting yarn, that isn’t too fancy. I’ve got some gorgeous yarns that would do, but my hands are so rough from yard work, I can’t do anything with them. They stick to my fingers and I keep yanking the loops right off my hook. So I stick to very plain, medium weight acrylic yarns for now.
Anyhow.
I just realized I’ll probably need to get more fibre fill, too. No hurry on that part, though. I still have some left.
After I loaded the truck, I took the time to message the Cat Lady and let her know we had the carriers, so she no longer needed to try and find any to loan to us. She told me that she would be able to meet me at the vet that day, as she had donations of wet cat food for us. !! So sweet!
Then she told me, she just had to call 911.
She had been driving with her daughter when she saw some men “slamming down” a dog. She pulled over and was basically told it was not her concern. So she drove around a corner to a safe place to pull over and call the police. She then went to message her husband, who was at a job site and would not hear a phone call. That was they only reason she happened to be on her phone and saw my message come in.
What on earth is wrong with people? Someone who would do that to a dog would very likely have no issues doing the same to a person, either. I’m glad she was able to find someplace safe to call the police from. Her poor daughter must have been so incredibly upset to see that.
On top of that, they’re having problems with selling their house, so they can move into the one they bought. People are having trouble getting financing, and deals are falling through. With all that stress in her life, I so appreciate that she still manages to think of us and help us with the cats. Getting burned by so many others that she’s tried to help makes me even more appreciative. I wouldn’t blame her at all if she just threw in the towel and dropped the rescue entirely. She is just so amazing! I’m so glad we connected with her.
While on the subject of cats, I’m glad our new lysine order finally came in. I discovered one potential problem with it, though. This lysine is more granular. What we were getting before was a super fine powder. I dose the cats by tossing the kibble with a scoop of lysine to coat. There’s only so much that will stick to the kibble, but I am watching to see if we’re loosing too much of it into the container, rather than onto the kibble. So far, it doesn’t seem to be any more than what I saw with the fine powder.
Some of the kittens are starting to get gooey eyes, so the lysine will be very helpful for that. One little black fluff ball, with a tiny white bib – slightly bigger and fluffier than its sibling, Soot Sprite – has had one eye getting gummed shut. This was one I’d been able to pet every now and then, so it was easier to catch and bring in for an eye wash. I did that again this morning, and this kitten now allows me to walk up to it, and even starts purring when I pick it up. It does NOT like the eye washing, but it’s discovering it likes cuddles and pets.
After unloading the truck at home, I made sure to feed the outside cats, so I could safely drive the truck away from the house. On returning to the house, the little puff ball let me pick it up again, so I tried to check.
I’m about 99% sure it’s male. It’s really hard to tell with the fluffy black fur!
There is another black puff ball from another litter. Slightly larger, slightly fluffier and with a larger white bib on its chest. It has had both eyes get gooey, and I was able to bring it in once to wash its eyes while my husband held it. It is definitely less friendly, though it will allow me to pet it, if it’s in the right mood. I can pick it up, but not for long. I tried, though, and took a look.
I’m about 90% sure this one is male, too, but it’s even harder to see with this one!
Why is it that only the males are letting us come close? I even got to pet Shop Towel (aka: Sad Face) again, today!
There is one very fluffy little tortie that I’ve managed to pet once in a while, but it is not friendly and more likely to run off. That one, we can be pretty sure is female, just because it’s a tortie, so I’m trying to focus on that one as much as I can.
She is not cooperative.
I also spotted a little grey tabby – another sibling to Soot Sprite and Tiny – with one stuck eye. Today, I managed to get hold of it and pick it up, but it did not like that at all, and broke free. I didn’t even get to apply the magic of ear skritches.
I did see the one calico we got this year, eating kibble next to Shop Towel. I managed to pet her back a couple of times before she ran away from the food. A first!
Now, if only we could get closer to the adult females. The only reason I know some of them are females is because they are either calicos, or they had litters this year and I saw them with their babies. One of them – a white female with black markings – is downright mean to all the cats, cattens and kittens. I don’t even remember which kittens were hers. She hates them all! I’d love to get hold of her and get her to a vet. I have strong suspicions about her behaviour. She may be in pain and lashing out. Given what has been found with some of the other females we’ve been able to get fixed, she may be another one with a twisted or otherwise damaged uterus.
Well, first we need to get the indoor kittens and Toni fixed, and hopefully adopted out soon. Then we can focus on the outside cats. That will be up to the Cat Lady and her rescue to arrange, and hopefully that vet will do another cheap spay and neuter days over the winter. I’d really love to get Shop Towel done! The males will be easy to catch and that will help, but for population control, we’ve really got to get those ladies done! If we can adopt out some of those really friendly males, I’m hoping we will have better luck socializing the females, without having one of the males barge their way in between, demanding pets.
One thing’s for sure. If we ever do manage to get Shop Towel, we’d have to use the big carrier. He wouldn’t fit in any of the other hard sided carriers, and would easily tear his way out of the soft sided carriers!
Speaking of carriers, time to go assemble the new ones and let the cats get used to them. They really enjoy going in them and having a nap!
I don’t mean this, though. THIS is totally worth it.
Tiny: The Beast
Totally.
What was NOT worth it, was a trip to the city.
We didn’t drive anywhere yesterday, but I was keeping on top of updates on road conditions, in a Facebook group dedicated to highway conditions in our area. It was warmer than today is expected to get, but we had “snow squall” warnings over the region, and winds were quite high at times. Lots of people were describing icy road conditions and advising people to stay home, if they could.
Today is working out to be a much more pleasant day. No wind to speak of, lots of sun, but our high is supposed to be only -3C/27F The question is, did the sand trucks get out?
The answer turned out to be, no.
I waited until late morning to head out, as even when it’s just below freezing, the paved roads tend to warm up more and melt.
Not today!
Where our gravel road reaches the highway, there is an exit lane on the other side into our little hamlet. Right away, I could see hints of what was to come, as the entire junction was sheer ice. There was a large truck pulling a trailer that I waited for, then I pulled onto the highway behind it.
The load on this trailer was an unusual shape. You know those trucks that are designed to haul windows? There’s a triangle shaped frame in the middle, and windows are loaded on either side, resting at an angle leaning towards the center? It was something like that, except much, much larger.
Along the highway, we were hitting alternate patches of sheer ice, and clear road. The curves were the worst, of course. As the truck was pulling out of a set of curves, there was a pair of vehicles on the side of the road ahead. There was no oncoming traffic, so the truck moved over the center line well ahead of these vehicles, to give them space, and I did the same. These were not vehicles in any sort of break down, but rather pulled over to do work of some kind. Once I cleared them and moved back into my lane, I barely started to accelerate again, and I could feel my back end start to fish tail! It was a quick recovery, but a bit of a surprise, since I didn’t think I was even on ice at the time.
It wasn’t much further when I saw the trailer ahead of me start fishtailing! I could see no reason for it, as the driver was clearly doing his best to drive to the conditions. My guess is, the load got hit with a gust of wind. Thankfully, I was making sure to keep quite a distance between us, because if I’d had to brake to avoid the truck, I would have gone skating, fancy new tires or not!
Thankfully, the big truck didn’t have to deal with that for much longer, and turned onto a gravel road soon after. By then, I’d already decided; it wasn’t worth driving all the way to the city. There is nothing essential we need to get there, and what we do need can wait a few days. I only continued far enough to reach an intersection, pulled over to message my family, then used the intersection to do a U turn and go back.
The north bound lane was even icier than the south bound lane. When I saw 4 deer running across the road, I was quite happy to have been driving slow and not at all needing to brake or avoid them.
I did decide to stop at the post office before going home, though. The exit and the section of road going through town was easily the iciest I saw the entire time. Since I was in the store to get to the post office, anyhow, I picked up one of their awesome hams as a treat for today.
As I was driving back to the junction, I found myself getting passed on the right, but a little utility vehicle! It was driving on the shoulder, which was clear gravel, unlike the paved road I was driving on, so that thing could easily go much faster, safely, than me! I was happy to be back on the gravel road, which was more snow than ice!
I’m glad we were able to do such a big trip last week!
On the way home from the post office, the computer display on the truck suddenly started telling me my left rear tire was low on air.
It isn’t.
I’ve got an appointment at the garage for tomorrow afternoon to get these codes and the tire monitoring system checked, out. With the tires, it’s the sensors/monitors that are the issue, not the tires themselves. The other codes could be a number of things, but since he’d serviced the truck from end to end himself, he knows it’s mechanically fine. The only thing he’s now second guessing himself over is whether he’d put in a new battery or not. He told me he did but, with it draining like it is, suddenly he’s not so sure! When he asked me if I noticed the brand on the battery, I told him I couldn’t see. I could barely see to attach the cables when I hooked up the charger. I’m too short! He got a laugh out of that, at least. 😁
Seriously, though. We’re going to need to get a step stool of some kind that we can keep in the truck at all times. I’ll need one just to check the oil!
So that means I won’t be going into the city tomorrow, either.
We’re supposed to reach highs above freezing, starting tomorrow and over the next few days – depending on what app we look at! That will clear the roads, at least. The way things are going, I won’t be able to get to the city until the end of the week. I got a call from my mother last night. It was a very strange call, where she complained about how terrible she was feeling, and how she’d called my brother (the on that lives more than an hour’s drive away) and he’s not calling back, etc. I called her out when she started saying terrible things about my brother for not being instantly at her beck and call, reminding her that I’m the one that’s the closest, so she should be calling me, first. Or, calling for an ambulance, if she was really feeling that bad. Oh, no… she doesn’t want to do that…
Then she started asking me what, of her things, I wanted, because she didn’t want her fighting over her stuff when she was gone. I told her, don’t worry about it. We won’t be fighting over her stuff. She was, however, making it like she was expecting to die because she had a headache and was feeling weak. ???
By the end of the call, when I finally got out of where her what she wanted, it came down to wanting someone to come visit. I told her I was going to the city today, and taking the truck to the garage tomorrow, so I could come over on Thursday – and she should be ready for a grocery shopping trip by then, too. She started saying she doesn’t need one, because she has milk now… *sigh* She has always had difficulty with planning ahead. I can’t even say if it’s gotten worse as she’s gotten older! So I’ll have to call her tomorrow and solidify my coming over.
She was sounding much better by the end of the call, too. After I got off the phone, I messaged my brother to let him know my mother was wanting him to call – and forewarning him that she was dragging up how he used to come out every week – and bring chicken! (the same chicken she now tells me not to bring her) – after work. I’ve reminded her, time and again, that he did that before we moved out here, so he had no choice. He made that trip every Friday for years, until we moved in and he no longer had to keep checking on the place.
I got a call from my brother later on. He’d gotten through to her and, after cutting off her immediate attempts to try and guilt trip him and make him feel bad, they actually had a very good conversation, and she was sounding quite well during their talk. So that worked out in the end.
Talking with my family about this, it’s really hard to not feel bitter about this whole thing with my mother. She’s expecting us to “be there” for her when she “needs us the most” – and by “we”, she really means my oldest brother. The thing is, she was pretty much never there for us. My family and I were out of province for most of the time, so we weren’t as affected by it. They would come out with their children to visit, and she’d leave, saying she would rather be “with her religious community”. She sure as heck wasn’t there when my brother needed her, and when my father needed her the most, she moved out and left him in the tender “mercies” of our vandal. So for her to now expect us to drop everything, ignore our own responsibilities, family and friends, and cater to her because she’s got a headache… Yeah. It gets hard, sometimes.
But I digress…
As I’m writing this, I’m also messaging with the Cat Lady. She’s dealing with their move, while also trying to work out getting those 6 spots for us for the cheap spay and neuter day. It looked like it would be only females, but the clinic recently posted an update, and they will do males – and will do trapped ferals where someone may not even know if they are male or female! We won’t be able to have kittens sharing a carrier, though, so she’s going to try to find a couple she can lend us (we have 4). The problem is, with the move, they are using their carriers to move their own cats. Most will be going into a kennel (the owner is a friend who is planning to shut down their kennel to appointments, to house most of their cats for a week), but some will be going to the new house earlier, while other will be staying in their old house until pretty much the last minute, depending on their various catonalities and medical needs.
However it works out, we’ll be getting 6 cats done on November 11, with the rescue paying for 4 of them, and us paying for 2 of them. I really want to get all the bigger kittens done. The females are getting old enough they could potentially go into their first heat, and the last thing we need is for that to happen with their intact brothers around! After that, we’ll still have the three littles, but they’re still way too small.
I headed out this evening to do my rounds, starting with feeding the outside cats, as usual.
One of the kittens from the youngest litter saw me and tried to run away, but something was very wrong.
It’s left front leg was backwards.
It was completely dislocated. I’ve never seen anything like it! It couldn’t move very fast, so I was able to pick it up and bring it inside, being very careful to avoid the injured shoulder – and teeth. It was not a happy camper!
After bringing the hard sided carriers in, we like to leave them out and open for the cats to go in and out of at will, so I quickly went and put the kitten in our carrier and closed the door. Then I went to phone the vet clinic.
They were closed, and the message said, for emergencies, to call a clinic in the city.
The other side of the city, it turns out.
I looked up other clinics, but it’s a holiday weekend here in Canada. Not only were there no clinics open, but none of them had emergency vets on call.
I did get through to the one in the city, and found out that there would be only 2 clinics in the entire province open right now.
I was messaging the Cat Lady at the same time, and she told me the same thing – adding that they are very expensive.
Getting the kitten to one of them would have been a 2 hour drive. Even for the closer one, because it’s in a very high traffic area.
Failing to find a clinic, I figured the least I could do was give the kitten some food. I went to get the carrier to bring it into the isolation ward, tried to pick it up and…
It was really, unexpectedly, heavy.
Our hard sided carrier as a door at the top – handiest thing ever!!! – so I took a look.
David and a kitten looked back at me!
Turns out David had been napping at the back of the carrier when I put the kitten in! I’m glad it was David, because he’s always been great with the kittens. I still had to take him out, though. 😄
Once the carrier was moved, I made sure to do the evening wet cat food for all the kittens, and Toni, to distract them away for the little one’s food bowl. I then opened the top of the carrier again, put in the food bowl and..
… the kitten practically crawled bodily into the container and began devouring its first taste of canned cat food.
Using both front legs.
I kept watch on the kitten for the next while, and sure enough; it’s shoulder was relocated again! It was moving its leg normally, and even putting weight on it.
After awhile, other kittens started jumping into the carrier from the top to check out the new addition. The kitten completely ignored them and kept eating.
I went and got a small water bowl for it, watched for a while longer, then headed back outside to finish my evening rounds – after updating the Cat Lady, of course!
While I was out, my husband checked on it, then messaged me to let me know that the kitten had gotten out of the cat carrier, through the top, and was busily hunting for more wet cat food! That it could climb out of the carrier through its top door told me more than anything else that the leg somehow managed to set itself and all is fine. The kitten might have some residual weakness and pain, so we’ll have to keep an eye on it.
Well… It looks like we have a new kitten in the house.
We were wanting to bring in the long haired kittens, anyhow, so they wouldn’t end up badly matted, like Decimus got.
The first picture in the above group is the other long haired kitten in this litter. The second photo is one of its black siblings that is slightly larger. The little tabby in the third photo is quite tiny, but there is a brown tabby among the litter that is even smaller. I didn’t see it to get a picture.
In the fourth photo, Octomom (aka: Slick) is nursing the other black kitten – and a couple of teenagers!
We reached 34C/93F today, and while it did cool down to 26C/79F when I first came in for the night, it is now almost 9:30pm, and the temperature has actually gone UP, to 27C/81F! So I made sure to water the garden while I was out. When I was done, I spotted the tiny black kitten in the last photo, in the water bowl shelter. Other kittens ran off, but this one just looked at me and hissed. I slowly reached in, and it actually let me pet it and scritch its ears! Once I straightened up again, it slunk out of the water bowl shelter, and I was able to get that last picture. This is the black kitten I’ve been able to catch and hold before, so it seems to not be as frightened by me anymore. Progress!
As for the little one indoors, we are leaving it to do its thing for now. It has access to food, water, litter boxes, and a whole pile of other kittens to cuddle. Who knows. Toni might even let it “nurse” on her along with the others, too!
Normally, I would not want to bring a kitten in that isn’t weaned unless we had a wet nurse, like we did with Ghosty and Question with Decimus, or if we could bottle feed it. As tiny as this kitten is, however, it seems to be really happy with solid food! The kittens in this litter are all quite different sizes.
I just went looking back to see when we first discovered them in the barrel, and that was in the middle of July. Which means the kittens are at least 6 weeks old right now!
So we now have another kitten in the house – one that is far more feral than any others we’ve brought in before – but thankfully, it doesn’t look like we’ll have a vet bill! At least nothing beyond a wellness check, if we feel it’s needed.
I am so thankful that shoulder was not broken. I have no idea what happened to pop it back in place, but I so glad it did!
With the increasing heat over the next while, and no rain in site, I made sure to water the garden beds this evening. While the sprinkler was going in the main garden area, I used a watering can and the rain barrel by the sun room to water the south garden beds. The barrel was no longer full, but with the potatoes harvested, and other beds not needing watering anymore, it was enough to water what needed it, and not be stretching to fill the can at the bottom of the barrel.
As I was going back and forth around the rain barrel and the old kitchen garden, I was keeping an eye out for the missing ladies. I didn’t see them (though I did get to catch and cuddle a tiny black kitten, who was not happy to be caught!), but I did see someone else on a path in the old kitchen garden. Later, it moved to the area by the back water tap, and I was able to get a better picture.
I don’t recognize this cat.
I keep wracking my brain, trying to remember if one of last year’s kittens had markings like this, and I just can’t. As far as I can tell, this is a stranger.
It was also making strange. It didn’t run off while I was around, but as soon as I seemed to go closer, it got up and moved away.
Along with the watering, I ended up picking a whole lot of tomatoes, including a couple of Black Beauties, though one had already fallen to the ground on its own. The Roma are really liking these temperatures. I had considered pulling the bush beans, but ended up picking some, instead. I did pull the peas, and just dropped them where they were growing. In the process, I found more volunteer tomatoes! There is a total of 8 there now. All but one of them would be Spoon tomatoes. One is growing where we had the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes growing last year, though it might be from the Mosaic Mix we had there the year before, at the same time we grew Spoon tomatoes for the first time.
While I was outside, I got a call from the Cat Lady. Which surprised the heck out of me, because she called my cell phone, and I actually got enough signal to have a conversation! Even with Wi-Fi calling, I usually either can’t make out most of the call, or it gets dropped.
She was about to go and pick up the ladies from the vet, and wanted to update me. The spays went well, but the vet was not happy with her. Apparently, Decimus was really engorged, which made the surgery more difficult and dangerous. It went well, but she’s going to need extra antibiotics, apparently. The vet thought that she had a litter of actively nursing kittens. When I dropped them off, I made a point of telling the person doing the intake that she had kittens that she was actively and aggressively weaning, and she was going to be very glad to not be nursing. Decimus had made no effort to come to her kittens all night, nor did she want to go in, in the morning. The last time she did, yesterday evening, just before we did the wet cat food, the kittens basically attacked her and knocked her to the ground, and she was hissing and batting at them. My daughter had to actually rescue Ghosty, who was in reach of Decimus’ teeth, because she kept trying to bite Ghosty’s face! Once I started doing the wet cat food, the kittens lost all interest in nursing.
The Cat Lady knew Decimus’ kittens were older and she wasn’t wanting to nurse them anymore, and tried to explain that to the vet, but I don’t think the vet believed her. The Cat Lady promised that the next batch would be all males!
The kitten was another one with issues. As an outside kitten, it was no surprise that she had ear mites, but apparently she had an ear infection of some kind, too. We saw no sign of a problem. She wasn’t even scratching at her ears. Apparently, when they tried to flush her ears, there was a lot of puss. !!! Also, she has weird ears.
In fact, the Cat Lady has been hearing that comment from various different vets in treating different cats from our place. They all have weird ears. It seems they are unusually narrow. One vet, while treating Augustus (who is doing great now, btw, and recovered well. Even Leo is getting over his pneumonia) had even said something about how the ears looked like the cats from [our hamlet], and wondered if they were related?
Probably.
In the past she’s taken the same cat from our place to several different vets in different town and, because the first one had commented about the weird ears, asked them to check the ears. They all said the same thing. The ears are weird!
I’m not sure what to make of that.
But it’s done. The three of them will stay with the Cat Lady for about a week before going to their new home. The lady that’s adopting them is still interested in having a 4th cat, and is considering taking Turmeric, too, after the first three are settled.
The kittens are doing just fine, too. Even they seem to be happier with no adult cats around; just TTT, who spends most of the day in her closet cave, sleeping.
Now, if only we could at least catch sight of Butterscotch, Nosencrantz and Marlee, that would make a very good end to our day!
Decimus, The Phantom and the kitten have been dropped off at the vet. They had to contact the Cat Lady for details, as I only knew about the spay, but not if they were getting anything else done, too. We did talk a bit about how the kitten might be too small to spay, but I had no idea what her actual weight was.
I didn’t get a chance to take photos. I put the wrong cat in the hard sided carrier. I thought The Phantom would have more issues, but nope. It was Decimus. Once in a soft sided carrier, she really tried to claw her way out, so it was a quick load into the car and off I went. I didn’t even stop to close the gate, and my daughter followed after me to take care of that for me.
It was a good thing I left early, because I drove right past the place. I knew I’d missed it, so I found a place to pull over and found it on the map. Turns out we’ve seen the place right from the road, but had no idea it was a vet clinic. We even somehow managed to miss seeing the great big sign in the yard in front of it! 😄
Once I was gone, my daughter brought the food bowls out again and took care of feeding the other cats, since the only way to maintain a fast for the three of them was to not have any food out at all for any of the cats.
Anyhow, the drop off went smoothly; even Decimus had calmed down by the time I got there. The Cat Lady has already picked up our carriers and will return them to us later. She’ll pick up the cats when they are done last this afternoon, though I’m not sure if they’re going straight to their new home for recovery, or if she’s taking them to her own home, first. I do know there is already a recovery and isolation area ready for them to stay at their new home for a couple of weeks, before they are allowed outside.
Speaking of outside, Phantom was really putting the cat proof screen to the test last night! She wanted outside so badly! But she also wanted love and cuddles. I think she’s going to be very happy in her new home, where she’ll be able to go in and out as she pleases, after her recovery period.
As for the cats that escaped out my window, there is still no sign of them. I’ll be heading outside fairly soon and hopefully I’ll see them at some point, but they weren’t around when my daughter fed them this morning. I even went out with a flash light last night before going to bed. Nothing.
So for now, I just have TTT and five kittens in my room with me. At this point, I don’t mind letting TTT go out and explore – she did that yesterday, and there were no issues. This morning, I caught her starting to dig around my pillow and got her off my bed before she could pee on it. Before I left, I scattered bins and packages and all sorts of things all over my bed to dissuade her from peeing on it.
It worked, but…
Yeah. There was a puddle on the puppy pad under my desk. Right next to the litter box with the new clay litter in it. She even dug around the puppy pad enough to pull it part way out from under the litter box. So now I’ve got two of the new larger size pads under there. One under the litter box and right against the wall. The other, partly under the litter box, but more in the area she seems to prefer to go on.
Of course, while I’m at my computer, she won’t go anywhere near it, but she won’t use any of the other litter boxes, either. I just don’t know what else I can do. After I caught her about to pee on my bed, I put her in a litter box, but she just wanted to get out of it. With other cats, I’ve caught them about to make a mess, picked them up and put them in a litter box, and they went right to using it. She holds it and waits for me to leave, instead.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
After dropping the cats off at the vet in the smaller, closer city, I headed to the larger city to meet a guy about some scaffolding. We’d arranged a location to meet, but just had to finalize a time. He wife was having a medical procedure done this morning, so it depended on how long it took for her to recover enough to be released That worked out, since we were meeting at an A&W parking lot, and I got there early enough to finally have breakfast!
When we finally met up, he brought the scaffolding out and set it up, right there. I even climbed up on it, and was quite happy with how well it held my weight (it’s rated for far heavier than I am, but still…) and how stable it was. It also folds up nice and compact, fitting easily into the back of my mother’s car.
As he was putting it in the car for me, he asked me about the hamlet I’m from, and how long I’d lived there. I explained I grew up there, but have been back for only a few years.
Then we had a small world moment. The neighbors that lived across the road from us when I was growing up here turned out to be his godparents! They passed on during the years we were away, and the property sold, and he only remembered that they lived down a gravel road from the highway. It was nice to connect through mutual contacts, though.
So I now have a small scaffolding set up.
That would have made cleaning the eaves on the garage much more secure! The cross pieces can also fit side by side for a wider platform, and it cost me less than half what it would have cost for a new one. I even have a couple of boards that are long enough to go under the legs at each end, should we want to use it on softer ground, though these are intended for indoor use. The girls want to paint the basement ceiling this winter, and this will make that job much easier, too.
Now that I’m looking at the picture as I write this, I can see that the frame doesn’t really have an upside down or right side up. It could be used either way. It would change the height of the steps slightly, which might be desirable, depending on the job.
I’m happy with it.
Oh, I almost forgot. It was really nice and cool this morning, and we had the most amazing ground fog! No chance of taking photos, though, as I had a panicking cat in the back of the car. As I was driving the cats in, I’d go through a few clear, sunny patches, then drive into a wall of fog. It was so gorgeous, though at one point I had to slow down. I could no longer see my usual landmarks, and I wanted to make sure I saw the stop sign at the highway before I drove right through the intersection! I haven’t seen fog like that since we lived on the West coast!
Now, it’s time to head outside and see what I can get done before it gets too hot, and hopefully spot the missing ladies. We’re looking at a high of 24C/75F, and it’s just supposed to get hotter. The forecast for the weekend is insane. Either Saturday or Sunday (currently, it’s saying Saturday) is supposed to hit at least 30C/86F. Last night, the girls saw forecasted highs for Saturday of 37C/99F!!! That has since dropped to 31C/88F or 33C/91F. The weather forecasters can’t make up their mind. Either way, I want to get as much done outside as I can, before things get hotter over the next few days!
TTT had her trip to the vet and, generally speaking, all is going well.
Here she is, ready to come out of the carrier in the examination room.
She was quite content in there and didn’t come out on her own at all. When the tech came in, I had to take her out!
The incision site is a sort of Y shape. She took the staples out of one section without any problems, but it looked as if there were some leaking at some point, and a few were harder to get out than others. As she went on, there was a section she decided the vet should see, so she moved to the other end. There, the skin was sort of folded and tucked in. She moved things around and started to take out staples, and there was more skin than expected, as well as some gunk. There was also a floppy area that looked like it might have fluid in it. Or just be floppy skin (I actually have similar under my arms, from when I had by breast reduction but elected not to pay extra for liposuction under the arms).
The vet did end up taking the rest of the staples out. She doesn’t usually do staples. She had considered removing more skin during the surgery, but decided to leave things a bit looser, and a bit more got tucked in with the staples than usual. The gunk was just that; stuff that normally would have sloughed off naturally from the skin, but couldn’t. The incisions looked really red as a result, but they were all closed up and healing well. Everything got a good cleaning, and she got a slow release antibiotic, just in case. What the incisions really need right now is air. However, just to be on the safe side – especially since she likes to lie on that incision site – we’ll be putting her back in the coat she was wearing when we brought her home.
I did get a chance to talk to the tech about her refusal to use the litter. After asking some questions about what we use for litter, she suggested we try using a clay litter instead of pellets, as it would be more like the dirt she’s used to. Though she has no problems using the puppy pads next to the litter box! I’m willing to try it. We might just use both and transition back to pellets over time.
Overall, though, she got a clean bill of health, and the vet is quite happy with how she is doing. We’re all quite amazed by how calm and accepting she is, considering she hardly had any direct human contact at all until just a couple of weeks ago. I held her while the staples were being removed, and she was trembling like crazy, but she didn’t try to run away, didn’t meow or complain, or anything like that. At most, she squirmed around a bit and the vet brought the V shaped bed to make it easier for her.
When she was put on the scale, she actually settled down and stayed there while the vet went out to get the injection!
As for the puffy spot, the vet tried to see if she could get fluid out of it, and got nothing, so it’s just a floppy bit.
This is her in the carrier, back in the car and ready to go home. She was completely calm and quiet for the entire drive, and didn’t complain until I took her out of the car and carried her to the house. Once inside, she stopped complaining.
I’ve started to put the word out that she’s available for adoption, once she’s healed up. I figure another 2 weeks to keep an eye on her and the surgical site. She has certainly adapted to her situation really well!
The kittens are now at adoptable ages, so I’ve taken some new photos to pass on to the Cat Lady. All be putting the word out myself, but she has a lot more resources than I do.
Snarly Marlee will be very happy once the kittens are gone! TTT, too, though they don’t interact much and keep their distance. When it comes to the kittens, though, all she has to do is see them from across the room, and she starts growling and snarling at them.
Just hearing a noise behind me. It’s Nosencrantz.
I’d really like to know why Nosencrantz has suddenly taken to using the kitten sized litter pan all the time now, instead of the adult sized litter boxes!!!!
Things went as good as they could, for the most part. Everything from the car’s oil change being under budget, and not needing any other work, to news that the cat’s amputation went well, to being able to getting the shopping we needed to do (especially stocking up on kibble!), and finally picking up prescription refills on the way home, things went well. Once things were put away, the girls and I separated the baby jail cage in my room into two pieces so we could get it out the door. We even managed to do it without the kittens getting out!
My younger daughter and I put the cage together again in a corner I prepped in the sun room. Since we wanted her kittens to be able to get to mama, we made sure the 2″ square wire sections were at floor level. We also made sure the “door” was facing the half with the cubes, so we could more easily access the bottom cubes for the new litter pan and food/water bowl that I picked up today.
We had it assembled, but I had to leave before it was done, to pick up the cat. One of the things my daughter did was cut one wire out in a section under the “door”, so there could be no chance of a kitten getting stuck. We’re rather paranoid about that, after what happened to Pointy Baby. She added towels, blankets and a mat for bedding, as well as the prepared litter pan and added food and water to the new bowl.
Meanwhile, I headed off to the vet. My daughter had already made a $400 down payment towards the surgery; they won’t do surgery without one. The total bill was $1140. I had to go into our vehicle down payment fund to cover it. Thankfully, my older daughter will be able to cover it. It will just take a few days for the transfer to go through. At least she’s getting steady commissions.
After paying the bill, someone came over to explain the medications and which ones we could be giving tonight, etc. Knowing she was a yard cat, they also gave her a slow release antibiotic. I asked about the meds and nursing. That should be find, but they had a coat on her that completely covers her belly, so we’d have to take that off. Without it, we’d have be keep a close eye on whether she scratches or licks at the incision.
That done, she took the carrier and loaded Two Toes up. She was complaining a bit, but was generally quiet for the trip home.
I got her into the cage, and she was not at all happy. She kept going around and even jumped up into the second level cubes, then back down again. She did find the food and water and ate hungrily – her eating is something else we need to keep an eye on, in case she starts throwing up. I did get to pet her a bit, but she was really wanting out of the cage.
Then, much to my shock, she managed to shove her head through the 2″ openings!
The last thing we want is for her head to get stuck, so I popped into the old kitchen to grab a carboard box to line the walls with.
Which was when I heard a suspicious noise.
I came into the sun room and found the cage door closed, but the cage was empty.
Then I saw her outside the sun room doors!
For a post opp cat that’s down a leg, she’s fast!
She also would NOT go back towards the sun room, no matter how much I tried to circle around to get her go that way.
She was twisting around to bight at the ties on the coat, and later she was trying to get the IV bandage off. Then she went through the window to under the storage house.
There’s just no way to get her there.
So I went back to the sun room and lined the lower half of the cage, with the larger openings, with cardboard on the inside. I did cut away the opening intended for the kittens to get in and out. One low enough to the floor that I would hope mama couldn’t get through.
Once that was secure (I hope!) I put fresh kibble out for the yard cats, making sure to make lots of noise as I dropped the food onto the metal kibble trays. Some of the yard cats came around – I even saw Junk Pile at the food bowl by the grape vines – but no Two Toes.
I went inside for a while, then headed back out, and there she was, on the cat house. When she saw me, she jumped down, then went inside the cat house. I’ve left her there for now, since it is a far better place for her to hide than under the storage house.
At this point, I’m not sure what to do. I’m hoping we can catch her tonight and give her her meds. If not, the girls will have to keep trying, tomorrow, while I’m taking my mother to visit my brother. At the very least, we need to get that bandage and coat off. The bandage, because it’s quite tight. At least it’s one of those types that stick to themselves, so she had a chance of getting it off herself. The coat, because she needs to nurse. While other mothers might be willing to nurse her babies, if she doesn’t nurse herself, she might get mastitis.
I never in my wildest dreams though she could get out of that cage.
Oh, and on top of all this, it’s been raining steadily all day. The cats are all sheltering from the rain, which will make it even harder to get a hold of her. It seems to have finally stopped, now, so when I’m done this, I’ll pop outside and see if I can catch her.
Meanwhile, the Cat Lady is coming by tomorrow to pick up the sick outside kitty. I won’t be there, but the girls will take care of things. Hopefully, she’ll remember to drop off the trap, too. She’s had a really terrible day today, in several areas, so the fact that she’s going to be able to come out here at all is something I appreciate so much.
On top of all this, I forgot to call my mother’s pharmacy. I’ll have to do that tomorrow morning.
My daughter and I loaded Leyendecker up and took him to the vet, today. I wasn’t able to get a picture, so here’s one from last year.
This is from when we were taking him to the vet and found out he was blocked.
He is too big for that carrier! The carrier can be opened from the top, where the handle it. Seeing my daughter carry him to the car, I could see the top door bending from his weight! Once we got to the clinic, I carried the box with both arms, rather than the handle.
Once he was in the carrier, he started howling and yelling and wailing! I heard sounds coming from that cat I’ve never heard before! We even popped up the back seats (I’ve had them flat, so I can put my mother’s walker in the back without having to fold it) so that the carrier could be in one seat, and my daughter in the other, trying to comfort him. He yelled the entire way. Even as I was carrying him into the clinic, he was wailing.
That’s one way to get right into an examination room, even though we were half an hour early!
So it’s not good news, but not really bad news.
Also, that boy did NOT want to give a urine sample, and he’s so big – just under 22 pounds! – they couldn’t take a sample from him via a needle directly into his bladder. We could see in the ultrasound that things were cloudy. He even conveniently tried to pee while lying in the V shaped pillow on his back, and we could see the muscled contract, cloudiness going through his urethra – then going back into his bladder!
They were able to collect barely enough urine from him to get it tested. There were the expected high readings due to stress – and he was massively stressed out! – and some bacteria. Not that it was a clean sample, since she literally collected it as he leaked. When he was blocked before, one thing they did NOT find were crystals. This time, he did have crystals in his urine.
Crap.
But, he is still able to urinate, if uncomfortably and all over the house, so we caught it in time.
He’s now on the same medical regime he came home with last time, after he’d had his hospital stay. Onsior for cats, an anti-inflammatory, Clavaseptin, an antibiotic, and Prazosin, a smooth muscle relaxant. He’ll be taking half pills twice a day for 10 days, then once a day for another 10 days, with just one of the medications. We got extra of the Prazosin, just in case he needs it for longer.
We also picked up some anti UTI cat food. A 2.72kg (about 6 pounds) bag cost over $50. It actually cost more than 20 doses of Prazosin. We’d had some before, but he didn’t like it, and the cost was prohibitive. We tried a different brand that we hope he’ll like better.
The problem is going to be the food. We normally just have food available for the cats to eat at their leisure. For most of the cats, this is not a problem. Leyendecker, however, is going to have to be fed separately, which means we can’t have other cat food around all the time.
So from now one, we’re going to be feeding the cats – and giving Leyendecker his meds – at 8am and 8pm, with a third feeding (no meds for Leyendecker this time) at 2pm. With his special dry cat food, he’s supposed to get 1 1/2 cups a day, so half a cup each feeding. We’ll give him some of the wet cat food, which we do every evening, as well, but it’s never a large amount.
It was also recommended to try giving him cranberry juice, to increase the acidity of his urine. How, we’re not sure. The vet only knew of one person who gave it to their dog to successfully treat a UTI. It won’t harm the cats, so we could try adding it to their water fountain, but more likely we will get some cranberry supplements and add the powder to his food.
We’ll figure it out.
Meanwhile, we are now $345 and change poorer. It meant going into the money we were setting aside for a downpayment on a new van.
*sigh*
It could have been worse.
Ah, I hear the girls coming down the stairs. Time for the evening medications and feeding!
The Re-Farmer 