Thankful Thursday

Adoption news:

Tamarind and Tumeric were both adopted last week!!! (not together, but still) Since mom doesn't do the adoptions at the center, we don't know anything about this new families, but we wish them good luck!!

Nashville and London are now both on Petfinder. Mom is reluctant to send London to the adoption center just to avoid him getting snotty again....we shall see. However, we suspect just getting him up on Petfinder will get him a home. :)

Speaking of snot, Tostada is back with us for a little bit. She had gotten pretty sick right after going to the adoption center. Then she came back out to the adoption floor, got sick, came back out, got sick.... notice a pattern??  Anyhow, she was on the adoption floor on Friday when mom stopped by and when mom got her out, she noticed Tostada seems kind of wheezy. Rather than put her back, mom said she could come to our house in the hopes she would recover a little better. For now she is in the tower so mom can catch her to medicate her. We don't care but she has been growled at several times by Topeka and Nashville.

Mom will be at an event tomorrow night and plans to take London. After last weekend, he appears to be pretty bomb proof. :)

thankful Thursday

Mom made it home Tuesday night. We were thrilled to see her and so were the kitts. We think even Strawberry might have been a little excited.

Strawberry had been a little snotty when they first got here. But it seems she waited until mom left to give it to the kittens. Mom got a text from the pet sitter on Sunday that one of the kittens had gunky eyes. Then it upgraded to snotty noses. But...everyone was eating and playing, so mom let it go and picked up meds from the rescue on the way home Tuesday night. Fanta is the worst....her one eye is really gunky and she is pretty snotty. But after getting cleaned up and couple of doses of meds into her, she looks a little better. Faygo is snotty and has some eye discharge, but not as bad as her sister. Rootbeer has almost nothing. We suspect his sisters aren't happy about that - MOL. However, he is getting meds with his sisters anyhow.

Grandma is doing better. On the drive home Tuesday, Grandma called mom and said the physical therapist didn't take any crap from Grandma and made her get up and walk down the hall.  YAY!!  Mom spoke to Grandpa yesterday at lunch and they have adjust her meds down some, taken all the iv's and everything else out ("Grandma unplugged") and getting her up several times per day. The nurse for the surgeon talked to Grandpa and they are going to delay sending Grandma home for a few days and make sure she is stronger (rather than move her to a rehab facility for a few days then send her home).

All in all....good progress. Thanks SO very much for all the purrs.....we know it helped.

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. 

Thankful Thursday....

We hear so much about hate and violence on tv and social media that sometimes we think that we forget that there are people out there doing the right thing - not for the attention, heaven knows not for the money or fame. But because doing the right thing is exactly that - the right thing....

On Sunday mom went up to the adoption center for the rescue to talk to Miss Mona (the head of the rescue) and pick up vaccines for Sunshine and the little geology girls. As mom was getting ready to leave, a lady walked in carrying a big box.

Now...if you have done rescue in any capacity, you learn to dread the big box. Cause 9 times out of 10, it AIN'T got donations in it.

And this box didn't have donations either.... it had a VERY skinny medium hair brown tabby mom and her 7 couple-days old kittens.

Let us say this here right now: this particular rescue is glad to help, but they will be the first to ask you to help US help YOU!

The lady explained that her husband works for the phone company and on Friday they were working when he heard a cat (they have one at home, so he is a cat-guy). He looks around and in a concrete pit is this momma cat...and she starts yelling even louder when she sees him. There is no way out for this girl.... So the man grabbed a ladder, climbed down and rescued the family. He and his wife took the family in and were looking for some assistance. So Miss Mona asked "would you be willing to foster the family with our support until the kittens are weaned and everyone can be spayed/neutered and then we will adopt them out through here."

The lady has a separate room, her current male cat doesn't seem to care that this lady cat is in the house and the plan was put in place....mom and kittens are set up in their new foster home and the rescue will get them adopted once they are big enough.

WIN all around....  (sorry - no pictures, mom didn't think about it)

thankful for friends....

We are sure some of you remember our posting about Katniss - the girl cat that was spayed by the shelter but then left outside with no real care.

Well, after finally catching her, mom's friend Miss Emily took her and set her up in a pen outside to let her adjust to being somewhere new (this is pretty standard with ferals). After 3-4 weeks they let her out....and didn't see her again. They eventually had to move the food out of the enclosure as it was attracting raccoons.

It was hard cause they didn't see her after that. There was food up on their deck as they have other ferals. But she wasn't seen. It was one of those times where mom had to admit that they had done everything they could to help her and that was the point - regardless of the outcome.

However....Miss Emily was volunteering on Friday when mom stopped at the adoption center to check on the kittens. And they got talking and mom asked if Katniss ever showed back up. And lo and behold - she has!!! Miss Emily said she has to sneak a peak around the corner of the drapes to their deck to see her or Katniss will run, but she has seen her out there several times - a couple with their one "friendly" feral Corduroy. Mom was thrilled.....they managed to catch her, move her and she is doing ok in her new location. YAY!!!!

Thankful Thursday - 6 weeks old

Oh the lure of the Uncle Tim.....

Hard to believe that the kittens are 6 weeks old. Mom figures based on weight we have maybe 3-4 weeks with them. Cinco is being spayed today and will be available for adoption after that. Oh - and that little orange kitten that survived - he was neutered yesterday and will be available for adoption this weekend!! Cinco got some freedom last night....which is why there are no new pictures of her and she spent the entire time bouncing around the living room...and down the hall...and on the sofa... and on Uncle Tim.

Anyhow - on to the weekly weighin

Oh Miss Coral - all 8 1/4 ounces of her

(she has an appointment with the v-e-t on Friday...just to check - 

though bless her, she is eating and active and everything else)

Amber now weighs 1 pound 2 1/8 ounces

and disapproves of the pawparazzi

Pearl now weighs 1 pound 1 7/8 ounces

and yes, we heard your heads explode

 Mica weighs in at 1 pound 7 1/4 ounces 

(and is the reigning heavyweight)

He still had bad hair days, but not as many

Ash weighs 1 pound 6 1/8 ounces

and yes, he looks like an elf in this picture....not sure why

Jade is doing better with us. Mom leaves baby jail set up in front of the bathroom door and so long as none of us stands there and tease her, she is fine. She will growl a little but hasn't made any attempt to get over the gate...though mom has no intention of leaving everyone unsupervised just yet. MOL

Thankful Thursday

Mom is going through withdrawal.....

Don't get us wrong - every day we go without a call about kittens is a GOOD day as it is that many more days of having to run and try to save these little lives.

But mom misses the tinies.....

Gigi, Geoffrey and George 

Marble and Silver

Silver

Doc Holiday and Mustang Sally

Thankful Thursday - an adoption update

Most of you will remember that when Mom attended Blog Paws last year, she took Triscuit with her.

maybe 4 weeks old

"yep - I could get used to this hotel thing..."

"I think I hear some adoring fans"

Triscuit was a hit and while we aren't on Twitter, we understand she was all over it.

Well, the snack kittens turned a year old this month. Normally after the initial follow up, mom will leave contact up to the new families. Some keep mom updated and others we don't hear from. But... mom couldn't help herself and emailed Marissa and asked how things are going.

Triscuit is now Nala and has settled in wonderfully. She loves her big kitty sister and her mom and dad.

We don't think that sweet face has changed a bit.

Marissa - thanks for the pictures and the update and for adopting our girl.  :)

Thankful Thursday

Today we are thankful for those shelter that help those that can't help themselves...no matter what.

Oh geez....we got a new woofie relative.

NO NOT HERE!!!

Our grandma and grandpa got a dog.

Meet Izzo. Yes, after the head men's basketball coach at Michigan State.

He is a 2 year old corgi mix. Mom hasn't seen him yet - he just came home on Monday. He stands about 12 inches tall and weighs about 24 pounds. The shelter where they adopted him said he was a corgi mix. Mom asked if they had any background and grandpa said that the ladies at the shelter (who love this little dog) said the people came in, handed someone his leash and virtually ran out. So, no information. But he did test heartworm positive so he was treated by the shelter for that.

Grandma and grandpa say he is a little timid but mom said that she bets once he realizes how good he has it, he will settle right in. Heck, he is already allowed up on the furniture (that has NEVER happened with any other woofie).

NOT thankful Thursday....

Oh man....it was that time of year again. The v-e-t showed up - AT THE HOUSE!!!

She comes twice a year and this time up was Tim, Tom and Ivy. Cod help us.

Tommy was weighed and vaccinated. He has lost over 1 1/2 pounds in a year which concerns the vet and mom. So the v-e-t did her vampire routine and we should have some results in a couple of days. Mom isn't too concerned as Tommy hasn't acted any different. Mom has cut back on food around here to help the Princess but has decided to put out a little more at meal time as everyone around here (except that darned Princess) doesn't need to loose weight.

Speaking of the Princess. She knew something was up and mom was unable to catch her to get her in the bathroom before the v-e-t arrived. She wedged herself behind the sofa. But the tech has some serious wrangling skills. So she grabbed the Ivy and wrapped her in a towel. There was some screaming (by the cat - not the mom or the tech) but she actually was pretty quiet in the bathroom (that's a first). And she lost.....  0.1 pounds. Mom just sighed.

Tim was caught too and was the first contestant. The v-e-t has some concerns about his front teeth (if you remember he lost most of his teeth 12/12 due to stomatitis.....his fangs look a little inflamed...but we are going to keep an eye on him for now.

Seems the number of the night was 12: Tim weighs 12 pounds, Tommy weighs 12.01 pounds (they checked twice cause that just seems wrong) and Ivy weighs 12 pounds also. Maestro was weighed too (though mom can't remember the number) and has lost some too....but that is more likely due to his age. Again....we see more breakfast and dinner in our futures (guess that makes up for the v-e-t).

Mozart was out wandering around. He rubbed on the v-e-t's coat and tried to knock stuff off the table. Amelia came out and supervised for a little bit. No one ever saw Junior, Spud, Cumin or Saffron. MOL

**update - the v-e-t called Wednesday afternoon (after mom wrote this). She said that most of the result of Tommy's blood work are good. But his albumen numbers are the low side of normal and his globulen numbers are high. Which to her indicates a gut issue. So she is sending a dose of panacur (start simple) and mom is gonna lock up Tommy and take a stool sample to be tested (the lab is local and mom can drop it off). In the meantime mom put out a little more food this am but while most of it was eaten, there was some leftovers (mid-morning snack). Mom asked Dr T about adding some canned food to our diet as well, so that will be coming. YAY!! (mom: cause my cat food budget needs that...I gotta find a friend with a card to Costco or Sam's) Dr T said it may end up being IBD and she would suggest starting with diet change and go from there. Mom needs to do some research and we need to wait for some more tests. But Dr T didn't seem seriously concerned. She said let's start with this, weigh him in a month and see what happens.

Thankful Thursday

We have said it before, but we want to say it again.

We are so very thankful for being part of such a wonderful blogging community. Through good and bad times, we are there for each other....sending purrs and prayers, sending cyber hugs and support and cheering on the good things.

We give you all 4 thumbs up!!!

Thankful Thursday.....

Mom says she is just thankful that it IS Thursday.

She was scheduled to drive a transport leg on Saturday for a preggers German Shepard....but the girl decided to have the pups on Tuesday. So they are safe in foster care until the entire family can travel. :)

Miss Mandy goes to her new home tomorrow. Mom talked to Mandy's new mom the other day and they agreed that Mandy would be better served spending a couple of days after surgery at our house. They have three girls who are VERY excited plus a dog.  Both she and Hobbes came through surgery very well. Mom brought them home and put them in the play pen to keep them from running around. Mandy dozed off. Unfortuately, Hobbes started climbing the pen trying to get out..... Mitts and the blues brothers were running around like crazy and Hobbes wanted to play. Mom finally laid out treats for everyone, put Mitts in the play pen (where she spent the first few minutes hissing at Mandy and Hobbes....again), and got everyone settled back down.

Hobbes will be going up to Petco (where he will room with Stella....we KNOW she will be thrilled - MOL) probably tonight and if not then over the weekend.

Thankful Thursday....

We got these dishes from the auction for Marigold and Laura. Mom decided to give two of them to Licorice to help her feel special. (please ignore the baseboards and the register....mom didn't realize it looked that bad until she saw the pictures)

She is doing well - spends most of her time laying down but she starts to purr when mom comes in to see her. Siobhan and Sierra both have snuck in a couple of times and Licorice doesn't seem to care. However, Sorcha came in the other day and hissed at Licorice who hissed back at her. Mom was in no hurry to start the introductions to us, but this episode helped mom decide to give it even more time than she had originally planned.

We had some concerns about how she was eating - but mom watched her the other day pretty close. Seems she takes a HUGE mouthful of food....and then has to nom some until a few fall out and she can actually chew what she has left. Silly girl (though considering how starved she was, we can't really blame her). There may be some other issues, but we are holding off on some things until we get her a little healthier.

Mom does have a couple of concerns. Licorice seems to be itchy - to the point of chewing fur off down to her skin in a couple of places. She is also turning out to be skittish of certain things. We may never truly know her background, but mom seriously believes Licorice was abused at some point. She has to be approached very slowly - and the other day mom sprayed some cleaner on a spot on the floor and Licorice freaked out and ran into a corner. So, mom suspects a bath might help with the itchy but she really doesn't want to do anything to betray the trust that she has built so far with her. So it may be back to the vet sooner than later. 

Thankful Thursday.....

We are gonna let mom take this since we weren't really involved. MOL

I live about a 20 minute drive from work. Normally our office manager is the first one into the office, but for whatever reason she was running late on Monday. I got to work, parked and walked up to the front door. Next to the pillar in the mulch was a pile of black fuzz. Animal shaped and not moving despite the noise I was making. I was sure whatever it was had passed. However, I stepped closer and said "hey baby" and a black and white head popped up and gold eyes stared at me for a second. Then the skinniest cat I have ever seen (and I used to work with hoarding and abuse cases with our humane society) stood up and walked over under a bush. HOLY CARP!!!

I opened the front door, turned off the alarm and ran back to my car for the cat carrier I keep in the hatchback (and people laugh at me for that). I walked to the bush and the cat didn't move so I reach in, pulled her out and put her in the carrier. OK - now what???

Thankfully the vet that works with our rescue likes me. :)  I called and asked "are you booked this morning?" They squeezed us in between appointments and I took off...thankfully I work in a small office and they all know the rescue work I do on the side (plus the one partner has a dog and so does the office manager).

"Name?" "I haven't thought about it." "Gender?" "Didn't check." "Background?" "No idea - just found her."

Rob (their vet tech that I adore!!) took me back. Low temp but purring like MAD!! Rob gave her a treat which she barely stopped to chew. Weighed her - she weighed 4 pounds!!!  OMG.....  The vet comes in and checks her over - can't check her heart, she won't stop purring. No id, no microchip, not spayed.  So we discovered she has lice (ewww) which after some research I discover comes mainly from neglect/unsanitary situations (and can be treated with Frontline - yeah!) [and is species specific - which means I can't get it....though I did spend Monday with the "itches"]. She has a limp and her back left leg is "jacked up" as Dr T put it. The vet says it feels like something we should x-ray but is further down the list of things to worry about. We gave her fluids and a name - Licorice.

Oh - and the really important thing: her FIV/FeLV test was....NEGATIVE!!!!

Now, keep in mind that at that time I had: my crew. The space kittens in the bathroom. The s kittens in the playpen in the living room.  And the lice that Licorice has can be passed cat to cat or through common blankets. Great....  so, I set her up in a crate in the garage until I got home from work. I hated the idea of her there overnight and came up with the idea of putting her and the traveling crate in the bathtub. She stayed in the crate so no exposure to the space kittens but she was upstairs in the a/c.

The space kittens went back to the shelter on Tuesday morning. The 3 bigger ones will be spayed/neutered on Thursday and go to the adoption floor. The smaller two will go back into foster care. And, since I was going to stop fostering for this group anyhow, Licorice gave me the ability to say I can't take anything for the time being.

So, short term: she is eating, though she does seem to struggle to bite down (hard to explain) and doesn't seem overly attracted to the canned food (I tried the kitten version of fancy feast). She has been treated for the lice which should kick in by the end of the week. She has been dewormed and will be vaccinated tonight. From there it is just slowly put weight on her. Then x-ray the leg (more for informational purposes - I suspect it is an old injury) and get her spayed. The vet wasn't able to pin down age other than to say "she isn't a kitten and isn't 20" - awesome. LOL   She will make someone a wonderful companion. She is happy to see me when I walk into to spend time with her....makes biscuit, purrs and will (slowly) get up and come over for scritches.

Some of the comments on facebook said she was lucky I found her....there was no luck involved on my part - she was sitting right there.....I can't ignore that (though now I have to wonder.....last summer they found out where I live [the alcohol kittens] and now they know where I work).

 Wish us luck. I have a feeling she is a long term project....but once she is healthy I suspect it won't be too hard to find someone who wants this super sweet girl in their life.

Thankful Thursday....

It has been a hard week for lots of animals and peoples around the interwebs.....  But, we are thankful for those we have meet and are so supportive of each other.

Laura took in Marigold after Rose died. Marigold just ran for the Bridge and the CB is having an auction to help Laura cover the medical bills. There is lots of great stuff (we stoled mom's card and put in a couple of bids).


Then we found out that Benny the French Bulldog has the evil C and his family could use some support too.

And then we learned that Skeezix ran for the Bridge. It was way too soon (he was 8 yrs old) and we know his family misses him very much. But we bet he has already started petitioning for pink angel wings. His buddy Max has a great post up.


Around here....the kittens seem to be feeling much better (thanks for the purrs). Miss Kelsey at the shelter has current foster kittens and if hers are big enough to be spayed/neutered, they will stay at the shelter and Miss Kelsey has offered to take at least a couple of the space kittens to give mom a break. We will miss them, but know they will be in good hands....we will know more tomorrow. They go to the shelter for a check up and maybe vaccines (depends on how they are doing).

We love being part of this community and knowing we are there for each other.....in good and bad times.

Thankful Thursday.....

Two things from yesterday: Triscuit is NOT joining the permanent crew. Just staying a little longer to be sure she doesn't get sick.  And mom tried to get pictures of her with the beer kittens....they move WAY too fast. MOL
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Mom says she doesn't tell us enough how thankful she is to have us in her life. We couldn't agree more. MOL

Junior: resident charmer. Mom says she is glad he is

so nice to the foster kittens and willing to play with them.

Mozart: resident housepanther. Our family greeter of all

who come to visit and constantly looking for love.

Ivy: resident princess. Mom loves your sweet face and

the way you fall over looking for love.

Spud: resident chick-hen. Mom says she is glad you are

getting more friendly with her.

Maestro: resident old mancat. Mom loves your sweet disposition -

even when the foster kittens invade your space.

Tommy: resident head mancat. Mom says she is glad you

are such a nice boy and are the kitten "enforcer".

Tim: residence mancat sidekick. Mom says she loves your sweet

face and that you are willing to help her socialize kittens.

(ok, for treats, but still)

Mom says she is still amazed at what we put up with around here (for the most part). Kittens in and kittens out. Even those momma cats that can sometimes get ornery. But most of all she says that she loves having us in the house and part of her life. awww.....