Friday, February 26, 2021

Kitten report

 Well...30 days out and the fungus is ongoing. So plan B is the meds which we just started. So frustrating.

Have to say, these are some of the happiest kittens. They love to play and constantly purr. 



And she LOVES to play with the boy....



Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Interesting

 For those of you who have been on this journey with us, you know Goldfish is our skittish child. 


Well she has one eye that is a little runny. And then she had this crusty eye booger. Hmmm

Well mom grabbed her the other day and wiped it out. Happily, Goldfish backed up but then...came right back over for pets. 

Yay for small positive steps.


Monday, February 22, 2021

Kitten report

 The muffins continue to do well. There are very vocal complaints twice per day for canned food. Down to a couple of spots from the ringworm hopefully only a couple of more weeks. 




Thursday, February 18, 2021

Tailspring

 *this is a sponsored post 

all opinions expressed are my own

I don't raise bottle babies. I have done it once and baby sat for a weekend. It is HARD!! I have all the respect in the world for those fosters that take bottle babies and raise them. They are so fragile and it can be seriously heartbreaking. Those fosters pull out all the stops to save these tiny lives and are always looking for new resources to help them. 

Right now there are two main brands of replacement milk out there being used to bottle feed tiny kittens and puppies. There is a new brand coming out from Tailspring that is available on their website and Amazon. The main difference in this new product is it is goat milk based. They have learned that goat milk is easier for small puppies and kittens to digest and therefore can cause less side effects. They are a division of a larger company that sells products for people as well.

What struck me right off the bat was the difference in the ingredient list. Tailspring has so many less additives. They are using human grade ingredients and trying to keep their product as clean as they possibly can for the animals they serve. 

I did get a sample of the Tailspring kitten formula from the company.


This will be great to keep on hand for future kittens. While I don't take bottle babies, I have had some I want to supplement. It comes in cans that need to be used within 72 hours once opened. The powder will stay good and once opened will keep for 3 months in the fridge. That would totally get me through most of kitten season here in the mid west. 

I admit, this will be added to my supply closet. I try to keep something on hand "just in case". I priced out the difference between this and KMR (which most rescues use) and it is $5 more - which isn't bad when you consider it doesn't have all the additives. 

They don't recommend this for adults except maybe as the occasional treat due to the added lactose. Kittens can process it up to a certain age, but then lose that ability and cannot process the lactose. 

I wish I had known about this when I first got the muffin kittens - it would have been a much better thing to use to supplement Cranberry when he was so tiny. 

Thanks to Tailspring for the samples, supporting rescue and coming out with a product to help those tiny babies that need the most.

Monday, February 15, 2021

Geez it's cold

 It has been FRIGID here for over a week. Supposed to stay cold for a least another week with maybe 4 to 8 inches of snow this week.

Mom always worries about our feral girl Allie but even more so now. So she went out and ordered a heated cat house that can be plugged in to be put in the garage.

It's made by K&H and made to be outside. It seems pretty sturdy though mom used several HBO words getting it zipped together. It does have a clear flap in the front that mom wonders if she is going to have to remove. 

Since mom isn't leaving the house every day, she doesn't always see Allie. But the food is being eaten and she did see Allie on Friday and she looks ok. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mom spent part of Saturday on the road going another bloodhound. Someone got Hank as a puppy and he spent most of his life on a chain. We this weekend he got a serious upgrade and is heading to NJ to be a search and rescue dog.




Wednesday, February 10, 2021

New toy

 Well things are pretty much the same around here.

Quick note: it is really really cold here. Mom worries a lot about our feral girl Allie. The food in the garage hadn't been touched on Monday and mom was freaking out. But mom ran put quick last night and Allie had eaten and actually was in the garage. Sigh....





Monday, February 8, 2021

A weird day in rescue

 *a post from the mom

For anyone in rescue, you know it can be a total up and down adventure.

Friday was totally one of those days. The alarm went off and when I turned it off I discovered a text from another volunteer that the family that adopted Annatto who was here as a foster in August 2017. For new readers, he was surrendered to a local vet. When they tested him they discovered he was FIV+ and sent him to rescue. Of course Colony Cats believes FIV+ and negative cats can live together, so I took him to foster and introduced him to the spice kittens and when they were adopted, he met Goldfish.

Well his name is now Roe and his family adores him. 



So that's a pretty great way to start the morning. 

However, later that morning I got a text from the director of the rescue. I had done an adoption on Wednesday to a family of two cats - one went home and the other we kept back when we realized she had a big bump over her spay incision. She was seen by the vet the next day. Friday morning the volunteers came in and found she had passed away over night. She was 3 years old and super sweet. I had to call the family who was waiting for an update on when they could take her home only to have to tell them that she had died. (before you judge, I offered to contact them since I had met them all on Wednesday) Fortunately the family was very understanding and will be coming in next week to see if they meet another cat to adopt.


Thursday, February 4, 2021

So much for that

 Baby jail 2.0 lasted a week. It appears Miss Blueberry has enough upper paw strength to grab the top rail and pull herself up. Cranberry is appalled of course.



Monday, February 1, 2021

All the swear words

 Ivy was supposed to be getting ear drops once a day for 2 weeks. Mom was sneaking up on her while canned food snacks were served. Good news - it worked. Bad news - only for a week. That said, her ears do look better. 


In other news, Blueberry discovered on Saturday that she could climb the pen used as baby jail. Dang it. However, mom had ordered the taller Tespo panels. Now they are zip ties to the inside and the kittens are once again trapped.

However.....the swear words really came into play on Friday. Mom was on a call and had Blueberry out on her lap. There was something on a back foot and mom figured it was litter. It was not....it was a scab that came off revealing: a ringworm lesion. ALL the swear words. As we say, it's not fatal unless the animal is in a high kill shelter (most won't treat due to the time it takes), it's just annoying. It can be passed to people so they stay in our intake department or the foster home until it clears up. Stupid fungus

Now, it will clear up but they are here for the duration (probably another 30 days). Not that we don't enjoy having them here, but dang.