Well things are not going as planned in the Animal House. I brought home a pregnant female flame point Siamese cat on Sunday so she could give birth in foster rather than the shelter. Unfortunately, she was an outdoor cat before she was surrendered to the shelter and she got frightened on the way into the house. She managed to break open the carrier she was in and bolted into the neighborhood.
Somehow she was strong enough to actually bend the door latch away from the carrier so when I set it down to unlock the door to the house she bolted and was gone before I turned back to pick up the carrier. So I spent quite a bit of Sunday evening searching the neighborhood for her with no luck.
Yesterday I got some humane traps from the shelter and have been setting them in my front and back yard. So far I have caught (and released) one really annoyed neighborhood cat and had an intelligent animal eat the food out of the trap in the backyard twice without getting caught in it.
Wish me luck that my missing foster turns up real soon and is either still pregnant or has her babies in tow.
3/30/10
3/27/10
Four down one to go
Of my recent litter of five, four are now in forever homes. Nora, Ranger, Riley and Panda have gone in to be spayed and neutered and have already been adopted. They went in on Wednesday for surgery. When I went back on Friday for a check up on my other fosters, everyone except Riley had already gone to forever homes. Riley was adopted thought and just not being picked up until Saturday. It was great news, but not surprising because there are no kittens in the shelter at this time of the year.
Their brother Neko, the kitten with a problem leg, was seen by the vet on Friday and is doing really well. He will need to stay on his medication for another two weeks and he has some muscle atrophy that he will have to work on. Muscle atrophy is muscle weakness that is caused when a muscle is not used for a while due to illness or injury. His muscle will get stronger the more he uses it, so it is just a matter of time. This is all great news because he was so sick and was in danger of not surviving when he first showed symptoms. Now he is full of life and personality. I do not know how much longer he will be with me in foster. The foster coordinator, vets and shelter manager will have to talk about him and decide if he will stay with me until he is completely better or if he will go up for adoption so that he can be living with his forever family while his leg gets stronger.
Monkey and Tiana are doing well too. Although I did confirm at their check-up on Friday that Tiana is a boy, not a girl, so we are going to have to talk about a name change for him. They are socializing well, but are very afraid of strangers and children, which is normal for kittens like them. They will probably go in for surgery in the next week of so, and come back to me to recover and then soon go up for adoption. I am very glad that everyone is doing well.
Their brother Neko, the kitten with a problem leg, was seen by the vet on Friday and is doing really well. He will need to stay on his medication for another two weeks and he has some muscle atrophy that he will have to work on. Muscle atrophy is muscle weakness that is caused when a muscle is not used for a while due to illness or injury. His muscle will get stronger the more he uses it, so it is just a matter of time. This is all great news because he was so sick and was in danger of not surviving when he first showed symptoms. Now he is full of life and personality. I do not know how much longer he will be with me in foster. The foster coordinator, vets and shelter manager will have to talk about him and decide if he will stay with me until he is completely better or if he will go up for adoption so that he can be living with his forever family while his leg gets stronger.
Monkey and Tiana are doing well too. Although I did confirm at their check-up on Friday that Tiana is a boy, not a girl, so we are going to have to talk about a name change for him. They are socializing well, but are very afraid of strangers and children, which is normal for kittens like them. They will probably go in for surgery in the next week of so, and come back to me to recover and then soon go up for adoption. I am very glad that everyone is doing well.
3/23/10
Time Flies - Happy Birthday Doyle
My baby Doyle is one year old today. For those of you who are new to this blog, Doyle was a kitten from my second foster mom cat, Muffin. He is also my first (but probably not last) foster failure. I could not bear to let him go and he is still with me now and celebrating his first birthday.
It is somewhat unusual to know the exact birth date of a cat or kitten you rescue from the shelter, but Doyle's mom was surrendered pregnant and gave birth in the shelter so we know what day his birthday is. He and his brother Domino, along with their mom came home to me for foster when the boys were only three days old. It amazes me how much he has grown in the relatively short span of time that has passed. It also amazes me how much he has stayed the same. He is still the same sweet, loving, tolerant, beautiful boy he was when I decided to adopt him at 8 weeks.
Of course, he is not very happy with me at the moment because we just got back from his check up and he did NOT like driving in the rain. He also out grew his carrier in the six months since his last vet visit. Thankfully, he checked out OK and is nice and healthy. I told the vet that I wanted to be sure that I was not over feeding him so he would not get fat now that he was basically full grown. (He is a big boy). She said that since appears to be part Maine Coon, he might still grow a little bit more and that I was feeding him just fine since he was nice and lean.
Lean! Twelve pounds is lean! Just how big is he going to get? ;o)
Anyway, no matter his size, I love him to death. Even when he gets nervous at the vet and tries to curl up on my chest and hide like he did when he was a baby. Of course, breathing becomes an issue then, but hey, you do what you gotta do to make your baby feel safe right?
In honor of his first birthday, here are some of my favorite shots of him:
It is somewhat unusual to know the exact birth date of a cat or kitten you rescue from the shelter, but Doyle's mom was surrendered pregnant and gave birth in the shelter so we know what day his birthday is. He and his brother Domino, along with their mom came home to me for foster when the boys were only three days old. It amazes me how much he has grown in the relatively short span of time that has passed. It also amazes me how much he has stayed the same. He is still the same sweet, loving, tolerant, beautiful boy he was when I decided to adopt him at 8 weeks.
Of course, he is not very happy with me at the moment because we just got back from his check up and he did NOT like driving in the rain. He also out grew his carrier in the six months since his last vet visit. Thankfully, he checked out OK and is nice and healthy. I told the vet that I wanted to be sure that I was not over feeding him so he would not get fat now that he was basically full grown. (He is a big boy). She said that since appears to be part Maine Coon, he might still grow a little bit more and that I was feeding him just fine since he was nice and lean.
Lean! Twelve pounds is lean! Just how big is he going to get? ;o)
Anyway, no matter his size, I love him to death. Even when he gets nervous at the vet and tries to curl up on my chest and hide like he did when he was a baby. Of course, breathing becomes an issue then, but hey, you do what you gotta do to make your baby feel safe right?
In honor of his first birthday, here are some of my favorite shots of him:
3/15/10
Limping Along
Neko is improving slowly now that we know what is actually going on and he is on the right medication. He saw the vet again on Monday and the improvement in the swelling was promising.
He is now allowed to stay just in the bathroom rather than locked up in a crate all the time. He is also allowed outside the bathroom to roam the house in short intervals of time as long as there are no other kittens loose. If there are other kittens around he wants to jump and play with them and that is not good for him just yet.
He is trying to use the leg more and more each day. He puts it down and tries to walk on it, although it is still too weak to hold all his weight. But I have hopes that it will continue to improve as the days go one.
His siblings, Nora, Ranger, Riley and Panda are all almost big enough and old enough to go back to the shelter and be adopted out soon. Although Panda, being the runt is still the smallest and may have to stick around with us a little while longer than the rest of them. All of them miss Neko and meow at the door to the bathroom trying to get me to let him out, but I just can't let them play because Neko can not resist jumping and wrestling with them.
When ever they go up for adoption, they will all find homes in a heart beat. Not only are they adorable and really fun to play with, there are also not a lot of kittens to be found at this time of year.
He is now allowed to stay just in the bathroom rather than locked up in a crate all the time. He is also allowed outside the bathroom to roam the house in short intervals of time as long as there are no other kittens loose. If there are other kittens around he wants to jump and play with them and that is not good for him just yet.
He is trying to use the leg more and more each day. He puts it down and tries to walk on it, although it is still too weak to hold all his weight. But I have hopes that it will continue to improve as the days go one.
His siblings, Nora, Ranger, Riley and Panda are all almost big enough and old enough to go back to the shelter and be adopted out soon. Although Panda, being the runt is still the smallest and may have to stick around with us a little while longer than the rest of them. All of them miss Neko and meow at the door to the bathroom trying to get me to let him out, but I just can't let them play because Neko can not resist jumping and wrestling with them.
When ever they go up for adoption, they will all find homes in a heart beat. Not only are they adorable and really fun to play with, there are also not a lot of kittens to be found at this time of year.
3/11/10
Poor Neko :o(
This is Neko. He is one of the 5 young kittens I brought home recently. Last Thursday I went down to the foster room around 5 pm to give the kittens their dinner and noticed that Neko seemed unsteady when he was in the litter box. When he crawled out of the litter box I saw that he was not using his right hind leg at all and that the leg was swollen to about two times its normal size. I immediately scooped him up and called the shelter foster coordinator to let her know I was on my way in with Neko. I was very concerned that he had somehow broken his leg.
The foster coordinator and the vet of staff and the time looked at his leg, but we were not really sure what had happened. It was obviously painful to the touch and to use even though he had been fine at about 2pm that same day. The vet prescribed pain medication for the next three days and told me to keep him confined to a cat carrier in the hopes that the swelling would go down. So I took him home with the instructions that if he got any worse at all, or the swelling did not improve over the next few days, to bring him right back in for an x-ray.
I brought him back the next day because it was Friday and there was no improvement. Both the foster coordinator and I were concerned about waiting any longer for x-rays. The vet on staff that day agreed and I took him to a local animal hospital for x-rays. As our vet had thought, the leg was not broken. She was concerned that what he had was a septic joint, so she sedated him and withdrew fluid from the swollen leg to send out for testing. He was also put on multiple antibiotics.
Saturday morning I woke up and got ready to head to the shelter to do an orientation for a new foster family. After checking on Neko, I called in to the shelter and said I was bringing him with me, because I was not comfortable leaving him home alone. His paw was now swollen three times its normal size and I wanted him where I could check on him throughout the day. And it was a good thing I did because midway through the day, he started shaking and breathing hard and stopped eating. We tried to drain the fluid from the foot, but nothing came out. We gave him fluids to help with the fever and the shelter manager called the vet on call who said to give him a shot of prednisone which thankfully seemed to help somewhat.
By Sunday morning the foot was no smaller, but he appeared to be feeling better and acting more normal and was eating again. He still needed to stay in his carrier though. (Just an FYI, a Siamese kitten unhappily confined to a small cat carrier equals sleepless meow filled nights for his foster mom). He went with me to the shelter again that day since I had another orientation to do. Everyone checked on him throughout the day. We repeated the fluids to control the temp again. He appeared in good spirits, but had no improvement in the swelling. The shelter manager told me to bring him back first thing in the morning on Monday to be re-examined by the vet even though they were doing a feral cat spay clinic that day and were not doing exam appointments. He felt that it could not wait until the next day.
The vet looked at him again on Monday and decided to repeat the prednisone shot since it seemed to be helping, at least until the results of the joint tap came back. He continued to feel good and want out of the crate for the next two days. The swelling even seemed to go down just a little bit. And I was so happy because I was really concerned I was going to lose him over the weekend.
Yesterday, the results of the joint tap came back and it turns out that he has a bacterial infection in his leg. His medication has been changed to a different antibiotic and he will be weaned off the prednisone over the next few days. The vet told me that we will probably not be able to figure out how he got this infection. The most likely reason is that he was bitten by one of his litter mates during play, but she had not found a puncture or bite wound when she examined him. So we may never know how this happened, but at least we know what is wrong and how to treat it.
He will been seen by the vet again tomorrow as a follow up to be sure that he is continuing to improve. And hopefully as time goes on he will start to move the leg and regain function. I am just glad that he is feeling well and wanting to run and jump and play even if I can not let him.
So that was my week. How was yours?
Oh, and somewhere during this stressful week, I brought home two new semi-social foster kittens (Yes I know I am crazy). They are named Spider Monkey (just Monkey in our house because Paige does not like spiders) and Tiana (after Tatiana from Disney's Princess and the Frog). They are cute but scared. I will have more on them later, but for now I think I need a nap.
3/4/10
The kittens are coming, the kittens are coming!
That's right folks, kitten season is bearing down on us with alarming speed. If you haven't done so yet, please get your pets spayed or neutered right away since breeding season is upon us. Even though it is still cold out, the shelter is starting to take in quite a few pregnant cats and even some young kittens. I know of at least two foster homes that have just recently had a mother cat give birth, the shelter has a dog that just had puppies and I myself currently have 5 kittens that are about 7 weeks old right now. And boy are they cute!
I took these kittens home the first week in February. They were born to a feral mother and caught by a good Samaritan who brought them to us. That person also arranged for a feral cat rescue to trap, spay and release the mom cat to avoid any more kittens in the future. Since they were so young, they needed to learn to eat solid food which they have done, although they are quite messy about it. I have one girl and four boys and they are all part Siamese. There colorings are black, black and white, and cream colored with chocolate points. There names are Ranger, Riley, Panda, Neko, and Nora.
Of course, we apparently can't have a foster without at least some drama and this litter is no exception. This time it was our fault and an accident. Riley, one of the black and white kittens is very social and wants to be with you at all times. Unfortunately, this led to him jumping up underneath my roommate as she was sitting down. So Riley got sat on. I rushed him right to the shelter because he appeared to be bleeding from the mouth and I was concerned about internal injuries. Thankfully, it turns out it was most likely a bloody nose and other than being sore for a day or two he had no lasting effects from being sat on. (Except for getting the nickname of "Splat" from my roommate's husband).
So here are our current babies:
This is Riley right after he came back from the shelter to get checked out after being sat on. Doesn't he look so small? But don't let this picture fool you. Once he recovered from this incident, he became a high energy, feisty kitten who is in to every thing.
This is Neko. He climbed into Paige's dollhouse one day and sat down like he was coming over for tea. He is one of the most timid of the kittens. He tends to hang back and let the more outgoing ones check things out before he ventures near. He is also the most vocal, with the typical Siamese meow.
This is Nora. She is the only girl in the group and she likes to sit in my laundry basket. She may be the only girl, but she is a tough chick who definitely holds her own with her brothers. She, like Neko, has kept her blue eyes as she has gotten older and looks very Siamese.
This is Panda. He is the smallest of the group and very clingy. He is at the top of a cat climbing tower in my room in this picture. Even though he is the smallest, he was one of the first to figure out how to get down from the climbing tree because as soon as a person comes in the room, he wants to rush down to climb on the person and either sit on their lap or on their shoulder. He also needs lost of cuddles and foster "mom cat" attention.
The other kitten is named Ranger. He is often off on his own and is the bravest in the bunch. When the other four were just deciding if it was safe to step out of the room they spent the first week in, Ranger was already off exploring the bottom floor of the house. He seems to have no fear, gets into everything and seems to be able to handle himself in most situations. And for those of you who are fans, he is named after a character in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. The Ranger from the books is the mystery man, always dressed in black, often off on his own and eating healthy food while everyone else is eating junk. My Ranger is all black, often off on his own, does not sit still long enough to get a picture that is more than just a blur of long black hair and eats the healthy dry kibble while all the others chow on the high calorie wet food. He is a bit of a bad boy, but does like to cuddle from time to time and I must admit I have a bit of a soft spot for my little bad boy (and the Ranger from the books too)!
And for those of you who are wondering, so far so good with Hope's relaunch into her forever home. She is eating this time and slowly adjusting. I will keep my fingers crossed that her good luck continues. Here she is right before she left for her second attempt at moving to her forever home.
I took these kittens home the first week in February. They were born to a feral mother and caught by a good Samaritan who brought them to us. That person also arranged for a feral cat rescue to trap, spay and release the mom cat to avoid any more kittens in the future. Since they were so young, they needed to learn to eat solid food which they have done, although they are quite messy about it. I have one girl and four boys and they are all part Siamese. There colorings are black, black and white, and cream colored with chocolate points. There names are Ranger, Riley, Panda, Neko, and Nora.
Of course, we apparently can't have a foster without at least some drama and this litter is no exception. This time it was our fault and an accident. Riley, one of the black and white kittens is very social and wants to be with you at all times. Unfortunately, this led to him jumping up underneath my roommate as she was sitting down. So Riley got sat on. I rushed him right to the shelter because he appeared to be bleeding from the mouth and I was concerned about internal injuries. Thankfully, it turns out it was most likely a bloody nose and other than being sore for a day or two he had no lasting effects from being sat on. (Except for getting the nickname of "Splat" from my roommate's husband).
So here are our current babies:
This is Riley right after he came back from the shelter to get checked out after being sat on. Doesn't he look so small? But don't let this picture fool you. Once he recovered from this incident, he became a high energy, feisty kitten who is in to every thing.
This is Neko. He climbed into Paige's dollhouse one day and sat down like he was coming over for tea. He is one of the most timid of the kittens. He tends to hang back and let the more outgoing ones check things out before he ventures near. He is also the most vocal, with the typical Siamese meow.
This is Nora. She is the only girl in the group and she likes to sit in my laundry basket. She may be the only girl, but she is a tough chick who definitely holds her own with her brothers. She, like Neko, has kept her blue eyes as she has gotten older and looks very Siamese.
This is Panda. He is the smallest of the group and very clingy. He is at the top of a cat climbing tower in my room in this picture. Even though he is the smallest, he was one of the first to figure out how to get down from the climbing tree because as soon as a person comes in the room, he wants to rush down to climb on the person and either sit on their lap or on their shoulder. He also needs lost of cuddles and foster "mom cat" attention.
The other kitten is named Ranger. He is often off on his own and is the bravest in the bunch. When the other four were just deciding if it was safe to step out of the room they spent the first week in, Ranger was already off exploring the bottom floor of the house. He seems to have no fear, gets into everything and seems to be able to handle himself in most situations. And for those of you who are fans, he is named after a character in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. The Ranger from the books is the mystery man, always dressed in black, often off on his own and eating healthy food while everyone else is eating junk. My Ranger is all black, often off on his own, does not sit still long enough to get a picture that is more than just a blur of long black hair and eats the healthy dry kibble while all the others chow on the high calorie wet food. He is a bit of a bad boy, but does like to cuddle from time to time and I must admit I have a bit of a soft spot for my little bad boy (and the Ranger from the books too)!
And for those of you who are wondering, so far so good with Hope's relaunch into her forever home. She is eating this time and slowly adjusting. I will keep my fingers crossed that her good luck continues. Here she is right before she left for her second attempt at moving to her forever home.
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