random Fridays

First, we are sorry to start this with some sad news: Fuji went in Monday to see a different vet. Mom isn't so sure about that clinic where she was last week and wasn't sure she was eating plus with mom at work during the day....  Long story short, a kennel tech at the vet office agreed to take Fuji home with her overnight and bring her to the clinic during the day for a few days to get her back on track. Mom got a call yesterday morning and Fuji crossed Rainbow Bridge. This vet did everything in their power....mom said she wanted to give this baby a chance since she was feisty....unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. We know sad news isn't a great way to start your morning, but we wanted to let you know. Gala and Cortland are doing very well though and we will do everything we can to keep it that way.
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Ummm - about Nashville going to the adoption center at the pet store....he was there for about 36 hours before his eyes got goopy. Sunday mom switched him for Reno. She would have left Tostada, but after chasing her around the house for over 10 minutes, mom couldn't catch Tostada and left her home. MOL  We are guessing after a couple of weeks of being medicated plus a couple of vet trips, Tostada isn't going to make being caught easy for mom.  Anyhow, Reno is up there though scared....but he will come up and LOVES to be held. Nashville is running around the house and sleeping with mom. All three are on Petfinder too....

However, there was an adoption from the store, so Tostada is now up there as of Wednesday.
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 We mentioned yesterday that mom was spending Thursday going around town with Uber and local offices could request a visit. Since Nashville and Almond are here and outgoing, mom decided to take them. (Acorn has a bit of an eye infection and mom didn't want to stress her out)  Surprisingly, Nashville HATED the whole thing. He didn't mind being snuggled but wasn't very happy about being trekked around. Fortunately every office was very understanding about this and he got some love but would then go back in the carrier. Mom picked up a little fuzzy calico kitten named Margaret and she and Almond had a blast. Who knew Almond was such a ham??? You can see pictures from us and around Cleveland and Cincinnati by going to the twitter feed for Uber Ohio. You can read about it in our local paper and see video too.

The very first stop was to the election office for John Kasich. This is the link to their twitter feed - there is an ADORABLE picture of Almond and Margaret by a campaign sign.

We stopped at several other offices too. Including Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's headquarters - check out the picture on their twitter feed.

We had four volunteers out with four drivers and a representative from Uber. Mom had a BLAST!!! A HUGE thank you to Uber, their drivers and the offices that had us visit today. Mom said that it was fun for her to talk about the rescue but also to see just how much joy these kittens brought to everyone....the day got off to a sad start for mom but she couldn't help but spend the rest of the day smiling bringing so much joy to others around town.

We hope YOU had a great National Cat Day yesterday. Thank you for supporting us and being our friends. We plan to relax this weekend as mom has plans for next week. Take care and be safe.

*sorry this is late - mom hit the wrong button when she saved it to post  MOL

games with cats

While at BarkWorld, Miss Julie introduced the kittens to games on her iPad.....

Mom says it is an easy way to entertain some cat ladies....the kittens took a little bit to get the hang of it, but were kind of fascinated. Mom said it would be funnier if the screen were bigger.

Not much going on here this weekend.....adoption event tomorrow that Sangria and Stoli should be attending. And the moving of another hound on Saturday morning. Mom mentioned something about napping on Sunday. YEAH!!!

so much for that....

Sorry about the double post yesterday - mom planned the one about the new kitts for today but hit the wrong button. Good help is so hard to find. :)  MOL

Anyhow, mom fed the kitts last night and was watching TV when the phone rang. It was Bug's mom - they caught the momma cat!!!! Wahoo.......  Mom got right in the car (ok, after finding some shoes and running around the house) and went over to pick her up. She came back and got everything set up.

Mom borrowed a big wire dog crate from our friend Miss Kelly. She put the blankets inside and then.....

Meet "Grandma" as she is called in the neighborhood. This is the cat they were sure they were seeing with the kittens. Mom got her in the crate and then put in the kittens and food/water/litter.

She checked on them later in the night (though didn't take any pictures - have we mentioned the thing about good help). Grandma was eating, but the kittens were nursing. She decided to give it to morning. And while the food was gone, it didn't appear the kittens were eating. Grandma was being nice to them, but either those aren't her kittens or too much stress from being trapped and moved.

So a decision had to be made - in order to bottle feed the kittens, mom had to get them out of the crate. She decided to "re"trap Grandma and grab the kittens. And since she was in the trap, she got dropped off at the clinic today. Mom says the kittens are doing ok as bottle babies and the routine isn't too bad, so she is just going to take Grandma back to the neighborhood and release her.

Didn't work out the way we wanted, but hey....one more girl cat spayed!!! Plus the 2 boys from the previous days. Not bad if we do say so ourselves. And the neighbors want to continue to borrow the traps to keep doing TNR. Mom says for that alone, and setting a good example for the kids, she can bottle feed a couple of kittens. (guess this means we should let her off the hook for the picture/button hitting thing, huh?)

dammit.....

Louisa crossed the Bridge on Tuesday night.

Mom got home from work and found her with her third eyelid part way up, hot to the touch. She called the shelter director and they met at the shelter. Louisa's temp was 106.3 (normal is about 101). The director called one of their vets who recommended fluids and a shot of metacam and antibiotics. Or, head to MedVet and have her looked at. Mom opted for the vet route and the director agreed that was in order.

Mom got there about 6:30pm. They took blood and sent mom home about 8pm to check on the kittens and told her to come back around 9:30pm once the results were in. The preliminary results looked ok so the vet hoped to give Louisa fluids, convenia and send her home.

Didn't work out that way...... Louisa's CBC numbers were all over the place. The vet said she was septic - and basically already dying. She called the director and they spoke for a while.The director then talked to mom and together they decided to let her go. The vet gave her less than 50% survival chances and said she was suffering. Mom couldn't let that go on.

Mom bottle fed the kittens Tuesday night and Wednesday morning about 2am and again before work. She then dropped them off at the shelter and they are going to try to find foster homes that can support tiny bottle babies (they were born 4/8 so they are just over 2 weeks old). The cat caregiver called mom yesterday afternoon to say they are going to split them into groups of 2-2-3 and try to introduce them to the other nursing moms currently in foster care.

Mom is pretty sad. But she is also angry. Sitting at the clinic, she got to read Louisa's paperwork. The lady who brought her in found her LAST JULY!!! She had every opportunity to get Louisa to a vet for shots and care and to get her spayed. And did NOTHING!!! This could have been avoided. Instead, the woman did nothing until there were kittens and then brought them to the shelter. We know she couldn't have known how sick Louisa was, but she still pawned off her responsibility.

Mom knows that rescue work is hard. It is like a teeter-totter. Somedays are good days: cute kittens, great adoptions, good follow up stories, successful saves. And then there are the other days: losses, stupid people, adoption returns. To keep doing this, all you can do is hope you have more good days and bad. Cause you have to get up the next morning and keep going - heaven knows the next animal coming doesn't care that you are having a bad day.

We may not post tomorrow - we are making sure to give mom lots of love and purrs. Plus it is the end of the month which makes her pretty busy at work. We will try to get her to get the laptop out over the weekend at home so we can check in on everyone. She has a slobbery bloodhound transport on Saturday morning but no real other plans.