what you need - a post by the mom

Daiquiri checking out what mom is posting on Twitter

I have a confession to make. This isn't easy to admit and it won't be easy to read. But here goes:

I didn't want to keep Daiquiri.

There, I said it.

Now, let me back up....and I will warn you, this is a long post.

When I first started to foster, I made a commitment, both to myself and to the cats and kittens I fostered. I would always be there for them. I have been lucky in that not many have been returned (at least that I know of). Chex and Milano came back, and they stayed with me until I could get them adopted again. And there have been foster failures along the way (a foster failure for those new to this is: fostered, failed to return - also known as adopted by the foster family). In fact, now that I think about it, technically everyone here is a foster failure. :)

Last year was hard. Maestro died in May from cancer at 19 years old. I had kittens at the time....and Coral ended up working her way into my heart. So she stayed. And then she got so sick and died from FIP at 6 months old in October. I wasn't ready. While Maestro leaving was hard, it was expected and I had time to prepare. Coral was so young and it took everything I had to admit that I couldn't fix her and had to let her go. And to be honest, I still have problems seeing her picture.

At that same time, Daiquiri was tested and came back faintly FeLV positive. I could have moved her to another foster home, but committed to her and rearranged some things at the house. By the time we got the weird test results, and then the final test results, she was over 5 months old and had been here since she was about 3 weeks old. I was afraid she wouldn't get adopted as a teenager. And honestly, as much as I wouldn't commit my heart, I knew on some level that she was staying.

But I wasn't ready. Daiquiri is the POLAR opposite of Coral. While she is slowly beginning to appreciate a good cuddle, it is by far not her favorite thing. Coral on the other hand was always in my lap. Even when she was feeling good, she would play but then when it was time for a nap, she was with me. Daiquiri will happily nap by herself or with Tim. Yes, she decidedly loves Tim more than she loves me. haha

I thought long and hard. I knew I couldn't give her up. But I also knew I had to make some changes to ME in order to be fair to HER. I just didn't know where to start or what to do.

Fortunately, this was right about the time of the last painting session, and I met up with my friend Kelly. Sitting at a table painting for 6 hours, you talk about all sorts of things. And Daiquiri and Coral were among the topics. I hadn't spoken about it to anyone at that point. I wasn't even sure I could get the words together, no less finding someone who wasn't going to judge me and take it all the wrong way. Kelly was a saint!

6 hours of painting and lots of revelations

And putting it out there helped.

The other thing that helped....getting Mae West adopted. I know, sounds strange. But the woman who adopted her was asking me - how do you choose? And after walking her through the process, it made me think.

Miss Mae West

Over that next weekend, I came to a few realizations:

1. Sometimes you don't choose. Sometimes it happens. I was prepared to keep the numbers at 6 after losing Coral. Apparently, my plans were ignored. And I had to accept that.

2. Maybe what I thought I wanted, wasn't in fact what I needed. And it certainly wasn't what that household needed. See, for those of you who have followed for a while, you know about Junior and Ivy and Spud. They have a....hate-hate relationship. However, Daiquiri LOVES Junior. She doesn't know his background - he has always just been her dorky older brother. While Spud and Ivy think Junior is weird and annoying, Daiquiri just sees Junior. And heavens she plays with him to no end. Surprisingly, it has made a difference....while he doesn't entirely leave the other two alone, and while the other two still take him at face value and find him annoying, having someone else to chase around who loves the game is much more fun. And a tired Junior is a very good thing.

In fact, the other evening, Daiquiri was down in the entry way to the condo, singing about something (or testing the acoustics - who knows with that girl). Junior looked over the edge, then snuck down the stairs. A couple of minutes later.....pounding herds of elephants up the steps and down the hall...Junior in the lead with Daiquiri hot on his tail!!!

3. I needed to let go. Losing Maestro was hard. Losing Coral broke my heart. But trying to force Daiquiri into a mold where she was never going to fit wasn't fair to her....or to me. I had to learn to love her for who she is....a nutty loveable goofy kitten.

Now if I could only get her to like me as much as she likes Tim.....  Or maybe that really IS wishful thinking.

By the way.....hard as it is to believe - the nut is 6 months old now. Happy Half Birthday Daiquiri!!
(oh - and she is going to be a big girl....not fat, but tall and sturdy)

Year 2014 in review (part 2)

July found Mae West outside our condo. She was already spayed, so after being tested she went to the rescue to find a home (still looking for a home by the way). She is adorable....and chatty. MOL

We posted an update on the geology kittens. And Pearl got adopted....by a family in Michigan. Katniss reappeared (thank cod). Mica and Amber were adopted (separately). And we had some oranges arrive at the house.

August brought us Check Your Chip Day (we were disappointed to discover it was about microchips not potato chips), Black Cat Appreciation Day (Mo says that should be EVERY day), and a state of the cats report. Baby jail got an upgrade and Cass and the alcohol kittens arrived. Unfortunately a famous blogger Sparkle left us. And Coral became a permanent member of the house.

September got us an update on those alcohol kittens. Kahlua joined their family and Stoli and Sangria got some time out in the living room....and made Coral look HUGE.

We gotted a new carrier...that became a mancat cave. And lots of adoptions: Ash, Quartz, Sunshine and Clementine and Tangerine (together).


October - a month mom wishes she could have skipped. Coral started getting sick...and got sicker...and ran for the Bridge. She was six months old. Stupid FIP.

But, we gotted a new water fountain, celebrated National Feral Cat Day, mom went to an art retreat and then headed to BarkWorld/MeowWorld.


November gave us mom's report from the conference. We had a feel good story about Aiden. Tim and Tom had to go visit the v-e-t for their snot. And....we gotted a gingerbread house!!!

December brought a good house trashing (nothing some packing tape couldn't fix). Some weird test results and having Stoli and Sangria get adopted together. Plus we had a great time celebrating with other bloggers with the Santa Kitty Toy Hop, Pet Bloggers' Gift Exchange and Secret Paws. Plus of course Christmas. And, helping to heal our hearts, we added Daiquiri to the family as a permanent member.

that girl is just goofy

We wish ALL of you a wonderful, peaceful and healthy 2015. There have been some joys and some losses this past year....for us and for our friends. Mom swears she is going to resolve to help us comment more often, but know that we are reading and following...even when mom falls down on the job. We are looking forward to more fostering next year and BlogPaws in Nashville in May.

Love and kitty kisses from all of us here at Random Felines

And be sure to follow us on facebook and twitter

Thankful Thursday

First and foremost, THANK YOU for being our friends and being so wonderful over the last weeks. It is never easy to lose a family member....your support and purrs and wishes have been wonderful and we truly appreciate it more than you will ever know.
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Also, you may notice a new header - we were pleasantly surprised to get an email from Miss Ann at Zoolatry with a new header just for us. THANK YOU for thinking of us....we love it.
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Saturday mom spent the day at an art retreat given by BZ TAT. Some of you will know her from Blog Paws conventions where she does artwork. She lives a couple of hours from us and when she put up the notice earlier this fall, mom signed up. Bearing in mind that mom has almost no artistic sense... MOL  Anyhow, with everything that has been going on, mom wasn't sure that she wanted to go, but decided she needed to get out of the house. She had sent in a picture of Maestro. Here is the series as she went along as well as the final picture. We were impressed.....

BZ TAT said that being artistic is all a state of mind....we all have the ability, we just need to tap into it. We think mom did a great job. The painting is now hanging on our "cat" wall in the entry to the condo. 

Coral

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry you got sick

I'm sorry we couldn't fix it.

I'm sorry you only had just over 6 months here.

I'm sorry that the only way to stop

your pain was to let you go.

But I will never be sorry for how much

I loved you and for making you

part of this family.

Fly free angel

4/10/14 to 10/18/14

**the crew here: there is no test, but every clinical sign pointed to Coral having FIP. And there is no cure....there was just buying time and it wasn't going to be quality time. So mom did the best she could and helped her over the Bridge. We are going to take a small break from blogging....mom's heart is broken and we have to find the pieces and glue them back together for her. Thanks for all your purrs and support during this....it means a lot to know that so many people care and loved Coral like we did.

Random Fridays

Fountain update:

It has been a week and we love it. Mom is making sure to wipe the edge of the water dish every few days in an effort to help Tim. And so far....no reaction. If you look at the picture above, he seems to drink more from the opposite edge, so we bet that is helping too.  Maxwell, Faraday and Allie's mom asked about the filter...we haven't noticed any clogs or anything. You can't see the refilter part in this picture, but there is a small opening near the bottom of the dish (about where Tim's nose is at) where the water circulates back through and that is where the filter goes. Now...there is a considerable amount of cat hair in this house. Mom has fished a little bit out of the opening, but nothing major. And seriously - this thing is QUIET!! Mom has even gotten used to the blue alien light flickering at night. MOL
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Coral went to the vet last night. No really good news. The concern of the vet is her eyes - they seem a little worse and mom is taking her this afternoon to have the pressures checked - there is such a think as sudden onset glaucoma...which can be painful. Coral walked around the vet office last night and really the only thing saving her from walking into a wall was her whiskers. Mom's major concern is getting Coral to eat...without getting some nutrition in her, there becomes a greater concern about everything else. She did eat ok this am, but nothing really seems to catch her attention. We will keep you posted and thanks for all your purrs.... they mean a lot.

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Mom is spending some time with our friend BZ Tat tomorrow at an art retreat. Can't wait to see the weird results from that. (mom is not so much in the artitistic flair). Mom had to send a picture of what she would like to paint and sent this one of our angel Maestro.

is it an emergency

If you have been reading along, you know that Coral hasn't been feeling well. Our vet did a titer test and it came back positive for toxoplasmosis. Which mom was reluctant to put out there since the it causes panic sometimes. However, in this case, she would have shed it for a few days but mom was careful so we are all safe.

Most cases respond to antibiotics. However, just to be difficult, our tiny brat did not. Some days were better than others, but we couldn't say with any certainty that she was definitely improved overall.

Then came Saturday night....she seemed disoriented - and even walked into a corner and couldn't seem to get back out. Mom had to pick her up to get her into bed. Although she hadn't been sleeping with us for a few days, so maybe this was a good sign.

Mom however got a good look at Coral's eyes and got concerned. The inside looked swollen and red. And Coral didn't seem like she was visually reacting to things.

What to do? Wait until Monday when her vet is in the office? We are lucky that there are two 24 hour places nearby...but one is expensive and the other mom isn't a fan of their "service". And then the other question - was this really a run to the vet at midnight emergency?

We are lucky in that mom has had cats for many years and has been in rescue for many too. So what constitutes an emergency for some people doesn't get a rise out of mom. In this case, mom decided wait until morning.

Sunday morning came around and ... no Coral. Let's back up though - mom got up about 5am to blow her nose (darned allergies) and Coral followed her into the kitchen and acted like she was hungry. Mom gave her about 1/3 a small can and stood guard as Coral ate everything. Mom went back to bed and Coral soon followed - getting up on the bed by herself. When mom got up around 9am, no Coral. Mom fed the fosters, fed us....still no Coral. Started laundry and then checked everywhere. Coral had gone downstairs and was walking near the garage doors crying softly. Mom picked her up and decided that was it....off to the 24 hour vet.

However, mom has done this before and knew a few things: take a blanket for Coral and make sure you have her medical history straight in your head - or take her records. Take a book and your cell phone charger - you could be there a while. And since mom hadn't had breakfast, she stopped for coffee and a bagel. She made a comment to the tech as they were going back to a room and the tech said that they can tell the people who have never been in before - no jackets in cold weather, no background. And then those that have been there come with drinks, snacks and a book. :)  Don't get us wrong....if there is an immediate emergency - get to the vet asap!! However, in this case it was more of a "probably shouldn't wait until Monday" thing.

Anyhow....after 2 1/2 hours, they sent Coral home with eye meds. They are fairly certain it is toxo that has now affected her eyes (which mom had read about). The resident who saw Coral thinks she has some vision and it may be more affected by swelling than anything else. He said she could walk around a room without hitting furniture but that he put a chair in front of her and moved it toward her and she didn't flinch either. The er vet is also a specialist hospital so the plan is for mom to check with Coral's vet today and see what the next step is...bring her in to them, see the eye doctor at the specialist hospital, or see the vet at the university that our vet was talking to about this.

Either way, Coral came home with mom and spent Sunday sleeping on mom's lap. We aren't sure what the next drug regamine might be but suspect we will have to try something else. Thankfully she is with us and mom is committed to getting her better....

Random Friday

This is how we are spending the weekend.....

Oh and on the fountain front - it is SUPER quiet. Mom did say that the blue light is a little weird at night. She can't see it from her bedroom, but as she walked down the hall toward the kitchen the light flickers cause it is behind the water falling and it looked like we had tiny blue aliens landing in the kitchen. MOL
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Our friend Miss Connie from Tails from the Foster Kittens is having a yard sale of some of her kitty stuff to raise money for treatment for her kitty Jack - he has had some major medical lately and so she gathered up some things and is having a sale (click here). Any support is appreciated. :)  We already got our order in!
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Coral is the TINY black head near Jade's elbow 

Mom thinks she kinda looks like a tiny mouse here

6 months ago today, 4 little kittens were rescued during a mass TNR in a mobile home park. Hard to believe it has been that long. Happy 6 month old to Coral, Amber, Ash and Pearl (Mica too...he was about 3 days older).

Coral is eating a little better and getting feisty about taking her meds which mom is considering a good sign. In fact, she is beginning to put up a fight about taking her meds...which is good cause she must be feeling better, but mom isn't so happy about the fight. Mom also broke out the comb last night and Coral had a good time rubbing all over it and then rolling over and giving it a good bunny kicking.

The Coral Report

the mom here:
Thursday night Coral was doing great. Ate quite a bit, ran through the house, jumped up for some cuddles.

Friday morning ate again. The vet called on my way home from work. The titer test shows she does have an infection. The bloodwork showed mild anemia and a high protein level. Both of which shouldn't cause her to be little and both of which could be caused by her system fighting off the infection. Nothing showed up on the bloodwork to indicate why she really isn't growing. However, short term we decided to fight the infection and deal with the rest of it later. The vet was encourage by my report of Thursday.

Friday night she refused to eat again and was back to hiding (see picture above). I called the vet Saturday morning and took her back for more fluids and B12. She got to spend a couple of hours with me at an adoption event (that should teach her) and she did eat a little there. Back home with party favors - I got fluids and more B12 from the vet to give at home. And bought a different food at the store hoping she will eat that.

Most of the weekend she was still pretty blah. But...the vet did say that some take longer to react to the antibiotic...this is day 5, so hopefully soon. It is supposed to be a 14 day course.

At least as of Saturday morning she was up 1/2 ounce from the previous Tuesday. I would be WAY more worried if she was losing weight. Though I would be MUCH happier if she was gaining weight.

So that is where we are for right now - convincing her majesty to eat and hoping the drugs kick in soon. I'm trying not to worry too much....but we all know how that goes.

Thankful Thursday

Our tiny chick is having some issues.

Mom had a check up appointment with her on Sept. 18th. She officially weight 2 pounds 14 ounces and charmed the vet and techs. No idea what her heart sounds like - she never stopped purring. Though mom said later they should have tried at the end of the visit....Coral got her pantaloons trimmed and was NONE too happy about it.

However, mom came home last Wednesday (Sept. 24) and Coral was staggering down the hall and fell over twice before mom could get to her. Mom called the vet in a panic and they said bring her right in.

When they got there, the vet suggested drawing blood to check her glucose level - IF it was not normal (mom can't remember if they were checking for high or low), it might be a shunt which would explain all sorts of things. It was normal. But her temp was 104. So they gave her fluids (she was NOT happy about that), antibiotics and a shot for the temp (no, mom can't remember what that was either). The plan was to take her home, keep an eye on her and make sure she kept eating. She weighed 2 pounds 11 ounces.

Over the weekend, Coral was sort of eating, lethargic and felt kind of warm. By Monday mom had enough of that and called the vet again. They agreed to have mom bring Coral to them on Tuesday morning and have her spend the day. Maybe IV fluids, more drugs, keep an eye on her. The big concern was that her head trembles slightly at different times.

Mom dropped her off Tuesday am and waited....and waited....and waited. Once the the vets just adopted a new baby and she knows they were busy. But by 2pm she couldn't stand it anymore and called for an update. They didn't do IV fluids, electing to give them under the skin. Coral was eating however she was running a temp again. The vet was in with a client.

When Dr B called, they went over the options. Here was the final decision: send her home, keep her eating. Run bloodwork to see if anything else is going on (and start maybe seeing if there is a reason she is still so tiny). In the meantime, the vet suspect toxoplasmosis (see what Cornell Vet has to say about that here) so we are trying a new antibiotic. There is a titer test that can be run and mom said do it - better to know than not know. If the drugs work and it is toxo (and Coral responds like she should), we should notice an improvement by Friday or Saturday. The good news was, despite mom saying Coral felt bony to her, she had only lost an ounce since last week (although at under 3 pounds, she doesn't have an ounce to lose).

If you could be sending her some purrs, we sure would appreciate it. Once the vet calls with some updates and results, we will keep you posted.

random Fridays

Stoli was playing with the ess....not sure if he realized Coral was back there.
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Our friend Miss Kelly (local) gave this flower when Maestro crossed the Bridge. Mom planted it outside and thought it died (have we mentioned mom has a black thumb?). But lo and behold it bounced back. Not sure if it will survive the winter, but mom was glad to see it bloom one more time.

That kicker sees some serious action - not all of it being kicked.

Mom was helping the bloodhounds yesterday and another this weekend. And some other news Monday too.... 

Hope your weekend is relaxing!!

weekend wrapup

Good job mom....she forgot Spud's birthday.

HAPPY belated birthday Spud!!!!
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We didn't do a whole lot this weekend. The oranges got moved from the big baby jail back to the play pen. It has less space, but Tangerine figured out how to follow her mom out of the pen and she is skittish enough that mom doesn't want her running all over the place.
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Coral went shopping with mom again.

 They go and hang at the resale shop for the adoption center. Mom wants to keep getting Coral out and working on her social skills, but it is tough to find places that allow cats.

Then it was back home for a nap with Tommy.
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Oh - and mom took the money from the mice bucket challenge we did on facebook and also our comment-a-thon for Sparkle's memorial and bought some supplies for the rescue.

not what mom had in mind

The rescue we support has a resale shop next door to the adoption center. They have furniture and pictures and lots of other stuff. However, the other day mom was in there and found a Sleepypod carrier for sale. Holy Cod!!!  We have read about these on the interwebs, but our budget just doesn't stretch that far. But this was a great deal. And if mom wants to be taking Coral more places, this seemed ideal....

Of course, mom bought it and Coral won't go anywhere near it. In fact, the first time she acted afraid of it. For now mom has it opened and sitting on the floor in our living room.

Just call me "batcat"

Mo has turned it into is mancat-cave.

Mom just sighed and said at least it was a good deal. MOL

 Ivy isn't so sure about this thing.

This is about as close as Coral has gotten since mom brought it home. Mo is sleeping inside in this picture. Mom hopes as it starts to smell more like all of us that Coral will relax.

One other thing....whoever donated it didn't leave the shoulder strap. Before mom bought it, she checked online and didn't see it being sold separately on the website. Mom sent an email inquiry and went back and forth a couple of times with a nice lady named Camille at Sleepypod. Finally on Friday mom called and talked to her. They don't sell the straps separate but Camille took mom's phone number and if something is returned (sometimes the straps are ok but the bags can't be repaired for whatever reason), Camille will call us. What great customer service!!!

Of course if we can't get the kid IN there....we aren't sure that the mancave needs a shoulder strap (Tommy has since decided it is an awesome place to nap as well).

Random Fridays

Thanks for all the purrs for Cass. Mom spoke to the rescue vet yesterday and she had spoken to the specialist. Nothing shows up on x-rays. And since she is walking better than a week ago, mom and the vet agreed to stick with limited activity for now and then reassess once she is done nursing. Since we will never know when something happened or what exactly happened, the best we can do for her is treat the symptoms and get her healthy.

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An update....some of you may remember reading one of our Opt to Adopt posts about a senior guy named Ebright. As a reminder, he was living in foster care, was adopted by a lovely older woman, she passed away and her family called the rescue to "get the cat out of the house". Ebright went back into foster care with our friend Miss Beckie. But he wasn't very happy about it. Ebright's greatest joy was living in a house with just HIS person. Well....as it turns out, another senior lady called the rescue and...wanted Ebright. No other cat would do. So, Ebright is now in his new home with his new lady sleeping on her couch. She said he is a little grumpy and she wouldn't have him any other way.

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dang photobombers

(that's Tommy's tail)

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Over last weekend, Junior jumped off the sofa, strolled over and laid down - right there. He is less than a foot from Ivy. Not sure if he was doing it to torment her or just ... whatever (hard to say with that boy). But weirdly, Ivy just sat there. It lasted 2-3 minutes until Junior stood up, stretched and wandered down the hall. Don't get any ideas though - later that evening she was snoozing on the footstool and he was teasing her until she hissed at him.

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Mom has been working on the cat tree. So far the carpet is off two of the big posts and two of the platforms. Mom says she is fairly certain whoever put the thing together was paid by the staple....there were like a bazillion. She wrapped sisal rope around the parts of the posts that we like to scratch on. She found donut beds on sale for the platforms. Now she just has to figure out what to do with the platforms. She was considering paint. She doesn't want to put fabric on since she isn't sure how to attach it so that she can get it back off if she needs to. The sides are cardboard though. Plus mom noticed the other day that Coral had gotten used to climbing the high post and using the carpet to climb over the top platform - Coral is now slightly confused.  HAHAHA  Mom just has to remove the last part of the carpet.

And then maybe someday start working on the shelves she wants to put up for us. (yeah right)

Opt to Adopt - Great Plains

Hello peeps and fur-peeps of the interwebs and blogosphere!!!

Coral here....and mom told me I could take over the blog today for a special post.

Our friends Maxwell, Faraday and Allie (isn't she fabulous??) at A Tonk's Tail help out their local rescue. Their mom is a volunteer and reached out to bloggers to help generate some adoptions. Since my official gotcha day was just a week ago, this is a big deal to me. I think all pets deserve to live in a home where they are loved and cared for like I am in my home.

See the rescue they work with is Great Plains SPCA. In an effort to help animals in their area and achieve a no-kill status, they won the bid to take over a city shelter. However, their intake numbers ballooned and don't seem to be leveling off at all. They are over capacity and need help. And due to their numbers, they are currently unable to take in additional animals. So this is WAY more than urgent.

You can help out by doing a number of things:
  1. ADOPT!! I don't know if they will transport or let us arrange transport out of state, but we haved asked.
  2. SHARE!! If you can't adopt, maybe you know someone that is looking - or even thinking about looking. Please use the tag #DailyDoseofIndependence on facebook and twitter
  3. DONATE!!  GPSPCA has a wish list on amazon and I know they could use the support if that is what you can do right now.
  4. ADOPT!!!  (I know I already said that, but it bears repeating)

Big Boy
(aka Sebastian)

 Fifa

Italy

Tommy  

With 3-4 million animals dying in shelters every year, having rescues and shelters commit to being no-kill is huge....but in this case they are overwhelmed and need some help. The animals are all being well cared for, but their ability to help others is limited until they can get adoptions increased.