Odilia's Story

Odilia was turned into the shelter back in April and I brought her home to foster on the 23rd.

At the time it was thought she was three weeks old due to her size, but the more time I spent with her the less likely I thought that was possible.  She had very good coordination, and a peek at the teeth told me more on the five or six week range since she had her back molars in.

Odilia when I first took her in

Sadly there is often very little information in rescue.  I like to ask. The shelter will tell me what information they have, but you do have to realize that all too often people are unwilling or unable to tell us the truth of their history.  As I understand it she was born with another kitten who passed away.  The owner felt that the mother kitty was unable to care for the kitten so she was turned in.    I am not quite sure how much of this is true since she did not have the feel of a failure to thrive kitten since she was round in all the right places.  But I would rather she be in the system than left with someone who felt uncomfortable to take care of her.

Odilia is the first blind kitten I have ever fostered.  I have been fostering kittens since 2002 so I have a good handle on how to help a neonatal kitten become a well adjusted and social kitten that is easily adopted.  But with Odilia I had different challenges.  I kept her confined for the first week or so, close to bedding, food and litter it was hard for her to not be able to find what she needed.  As time progressed I decided to introduce her into a larger area.  I would call her and walk away and have her follow me to each corner of the room to help her learn how large of an area she had as well as navigate to those things she would find important: food, litter and bedding.  Because I was over protective of her, I did this over the course of a couple of days, returning her to the cage I was keeping her in at this point when I wasn't able to watch her directly.  After just a few times she had the room down pat, and she showed me that she was just fine.

It took a while longer for her to drink water, but she came to that on her own.  She also learned to track belled toys and now plays with them on her own as well.  When you watch her play and navigate her environment you would barely know she is blind.  Occasionally she will run and will run headlong into things, but occasionally fully sighted kittens will do that as well.

Her prognosis is very good at this point.  I was worried originally due to the death of her sibling, but she is eating and playing and active and in very good health.  All the stress of going to BlogPaws didn't even faze her.

She does have a few challenges.  First she has a pretty strong under bite and doesn't have the jaw strength that kittens her size usually have.  I am not sure what that means for her, but I do know she refuses to eat dry food (not that I mind that one bit). The second is she is very very small for her age.  She weighed out at 1lb 3oz yesterday.  This is the general size of a four week old kitten.  Chronologically she is probably nine if not ten weeks. She also acts much younger then her age, which is good because it is more in line with her physical size.

I am fortunate to be fostering for a shelter who is willing and able to take on challenging cases.  Because of all of the effort they have put in to improving the conditions for the animals in their care, they have near no-kill stats.  They are often importing dogs and sometimes cats from shelters in parts of the country that have an over abundance.  They even took in some kitties from across the country when their owners needed to find them a new home and no one locally would help them out.  Because of all the good work they do they have a wonderful reputation with in the community.  I have no doubt if that Odilia, if she isn't able to charm someone online to adopt her, will find a home and probably pretty quickly.  For the most part she could probably fit into any home pretty easily, as long as the owners were willing to be patient and work with her and show her around.

The Blind Cat Rescue webpage has a great page about living with a blind kitty.  It just enforces what I have learned caring for her..

I am often asked if I am going to keep Odilia.  While I would love to, I think she is an amazing kitty and I have no doubt she could easily become an internet sensation, I have to also keep in mind the welfare of the cats I already own.  We have a wonderful balance with The Crew and I fear adding to it and causing disharmony.  So I will let her move on and make someone else very happy.. which will also open up another opportunity to help more kittens..

1200 miles

to be honest, I am still quite worn out from the trip.  I still haven't unpacked, I was nearly falling asleep last night at 6:30.. so info about BlogPaws is still going to have to wait.. sorry.

but the trip home.. I don't need to upload a lot of images for that or find links, so you get that story now :)

I set my trip odometer before I left the house.  When I got home I had nearly 1200 miles on my car.

When traveling with someone, you always have to make some sacrifices, but I was very lucky with Robin.  She understood my need to get going early.  We packed my car up with in an inch of its life and headed out a little later then I would have liked, but a little earlier then my "oh we really should have left by now!!" time limit.

We talked most of the way.  I will tell you that Robin has had one amazingly full life so far.  She has some wonderful stories to tell, and I really enjoyed traveling with her.

As a bonus, so did Odilia...

pict ©Robin Anderson

as someone who is afraid of heights, I have to say I am NOT a fan of the Delaware Memorial Bridge especially in the rain.. but I had  a good companion who kept me distracted, I kept my head down, and went slow..   Mentally I know there is nothing to worry about, but some how my stomach and throat are totally disconnected with that, and the second I see how high up I am they simply panic.

The trip to CT to drop Robin off was pretty uneventful.  There was some concern about going through or near NYC due to the train derailment, but with the help of Robin's cell phone and a call to Sam we got through it with minimal waits in traffic.

I stopped at Robin's for a rest stop, and I got to pat The Dood, which was nice.  As much as I love kittens, they simply do not compare to the joy of patting a big ol cat.

I did not hang out long, as I really wanted to get home before the sun set.  It was still drizzling and as little sleep as I got through the past few days I did not want to get caught in the rain in the dark.  I drove for a while then stopped and filled up the car, got a Subway sub and a bottle of Mountain Dew.

I have not had a MtnDew since they changed the name of it from Moutain to Mtn.. I used to have a huge addiction to it, drinking a six pack a day (if not more) due to the fact that I had to get up way too early and count money...I cut out all soda from my diet years ago.  I occasionally drink a soda that is made of sugar only (not HFCS) but it is rare.. but I wanted the caffeine and I don't drink coffee.  I have to tell you it felt like every cell in my body responded on the very first sip. it was a little disconcerting..

Still trekking along nicely, with Odilia sleeping in the back not giving one care that we are moving, I made a few merges as one road turned into another, when I made one specific merge.

This time I was 75% in front of the car I was trying to merge into, but he was not backing off.  I was uncomfortable stepping on the gas and getting in front of him, so I stepped on the break and let him go past.  As I finally merged, I looked to the left to make sure I was OK with the car that was there, then glanced behind me to see where those cars were and as I looked forward, I saw the car that had been in my way previously heading at a 135 degree angle  from the 'slow' lane that we were originally in... aka he was heading for the median.  It took me half a beat wondering what on earth he was doing when he impacted the guard rail.  the hit was shocking to my system, and my foot was off the gas and slowing me down by lightly breaking before I even realized what I was doing.  He hit the rail (which was post and wire) and bounced off it a bit like a bumper car.  he ended up damaging the whole side of his car, nearly ripping his rear view mirror off, and at least his front tire was flat.

the guy next to me had also slowed down, so the crippled car had room to limp off to the break down lane, which is good because that was where it was going regardless of what we were both doing.  I was never more thankful that I leave so much room in front of me and the next car that I get cut off all the time.  If I hadn't, or if my foot hadn't moved and started slowing me down, I am certain he would have taken my car out as well and Odilia and I would have been a world of trouble.

But we were fine, and the rest of the trip went off with out incident.

I finished the book I was listening to while I was in New Hampshire. Knowing the Pascataqua River Bridge was coming up, I turned on the Match Box 20 album I have been listening to "North" and as I came upon this..

This was playing..

To say I was overjoyed was an understatement.  It was still light, the rain had stopped.. I was nearly home.. (Just an aside, this video is special to me.  I met my husband on a carousel)

When I got off the turnpike, I found it near impossible not to speed.  Not because I had just spent the last 11+ hours going 65+ miles an hour, but because I simply wanted to be home..

I was so happy to be home.. The Crew was happy to see me, but then they remembered they were ticked at me for leaving and I got the cold shoulder for a while.  Muffin took nearly two and a half hours before she decided that I MUST make up for lost time and kisses not given.

I did make it in to work the next day..

btw, since Odilia was such a big hit at BlogPaws, and had her picture taken by seemingly everyone, I know her image must be on blogs.. If you happen to stumble upon any, would you mind sharing URLs with me?

A Matter of Trust

In case you feel like listening to it

So I have been thinking a lot lately about trust.  It is an integral part of what I do with kittens, engendering trust.  I spend a good deal of time getting kittens to trust me, trust their environment, and trust in strangers.It is interesting working with Odilia, because I have to consider if what I do normally actually works with those that can not see me.

I do spend time thinking of new ways to help build trust - yes, I know I'm a little odd and I am OK with that - but as a result I often think of how odd our world is.  We go through life trusting a great deal and often taking that for granted.

We trust that other people want to drive carefully and not hit us.  We trust that most people aren't going to  break into our house.  Yes, we lock our doors and we keep an eye out when we are in strange places, but we do go out, and we do not live in dungeons.

We know full well that people could do these things, but for the most part, we do not expect it because we trust..

We also trust in the corporations that make the products we use.  We trust they will make a safe and effective product.  We trust they will make foods that are healthy and good for us. We trust pet food companies to make foods that will keep our pets healthy.

If we trust but verify with our home and our car, why do we not with foods?  Well food and nutrition is much more complicated.  right?? if so, how are we still here on earth?  I mean before all this "science" we some how figured out how to feed ourselves.  So why do we not trust ourselves any more?  Why have we handed over this trust?  The more I learn about food and nutrition not only for myself but for my cats, the more I am shocked at what corporations have been able to get away with.

And now I have just found out I had my trust has been violated by a corporation in a very specific way.  I am so very upset about it.

Remember my trip to Kansas recently?  Well during that trip one of the women left early.  We were given the impression that she was not feeling well.  Well when I saw her at BlogPaws, she told a different story. She told us there were bedbugs in her hotel room and she was bitten.  I have to say it is very possible that she was making it up, but I trust that she wasn't.

I was less then thrilled at how she said she was treated.  I would have thought the hotel would have bent over backwards to make this right.  I do not blame the hotel in the least for having bedbugs, but how they deal with it makes all the difference in the world in how I feel about the situation.  And beyond how she was treated, I am quite bothered by the fact that they didn't tell those of us staying at the hotel.

I mean wouldn't you have wanted to know they were in the building so you could take extra precautions to ensure they did not enter your home???  I know I do.  I believe the responsible thing would be to take the possible hit on the chin and tell us all but they chose not to.

To make matters worse, neither did Hills.  They knew and they also did not tell us.

Bedbugs are not easy to get rid of, and to allow us to blindly go on not knowing.. to put us at risk like that..

I didn't like the way Hills did business before this.  I seriously do not like them now.

On the road again..

Meme by JaneA Kelley

OK fine, this pict was from a while back, but I think it is horribly appropriate.  On the way down I split up the journey but today I am going to power though and just make it home.  10 hours+  Yup, I'm silly, but I so want to be home.  I am not foolish, and if perchance I can't make it I'll stop somewhere but I have a feeling I'll be home before the sun sets

The Crew could not be happier about it.  My husband says that they have not been themselves since I left.  Nothing wrong, just 'off'.

I have a feeling I am going to be postless on Monday.  Maybe I'll pull something off a little later in the day since I am heading into work.. but maybe not.

Wish me luck!

From the road..

As I mentioned previously, Odilia had an issue earlier and it was determined she had coccida.  She was dosed with marquis paste and thus all of them were killed, but her stool was quite soft.  When it wasn't firming up I took her off canned food and put her on raw.  She LOVED it.. ate it like a true obligate carnivore kitten should, all standing in it, and gulped it down.. it did my heart good to see it.

After almost no time at all, her stools were firm, dry and lacked that horrific coccidia odor.  If you feed raw, you will know that a raw fed cat's stools are pretty much odorless, which I have to say is really a bonus - especially after sniffing the odorous concoction that is a parasitic stool  :)  (wait, no, make that :$)

well I fed her raw right before we left, and I knew Robin would have some so she ate it while she was in CT as well.  Her stool had been firm for days so I was planning on putting her back on canned while here.  Well wouldn't you know it, after the first meal her stool became loose again.  It coincided with her bonus dose of marquis paste to make sure we got it all, but I needed to get my hands on some raw.

This conference is heavy on the Purina and Hills food and the commercial way of thinking about pet food, so I figured I would have to do some sleuthing online until low and behold I realized I was sitting next to THE Margaret Gates of Feline-Nutrition.org - whom I refer people to quite regularly (along with catinfo.org because it is run by a vet and because it has a whole different layout feel and I figured people need more than one option in this sort of thing)

Wasn't I thrilled!  I figured she of all people would know where to get raw - because she is local.  I asked and she gave me the name of a place, but then said she could bring me some!!  I mean she was awesome before, but man, feed one of my foster kittens and boom, you are so my favorite person (yes, I'm that easy)

Well she brought some, she put it in a really nice container, with some ice, double wrapped in plastic and then in a whole foods bag.  I kinda felt like we had to do it on the down low due to the environment - the keynote speaker had just finished and he said he was opposed to raw food.

Margaret asked if I would send her photos of Odilia eating the food, and I said, well she has a belly fully of eggs (seriously, you NEED to see that video) but lets give it a try.  We opened up the container, and Odi is  reaching into the container to eat.. :)

I did some more socializing with her, but then she started getting grumpy.  After eating she almost always needs a litter box, so she came back to the room while I went off to a session.

When I got back I gave her some more raw..

Although after her breakfast of a taste of butter and some scrambled eggs, I'm curious what her stool is going to look like :)

I would also like to share how awesome my husband is.. He knew I missed my kitties, so he's been sending me pictures..

Twee and Kit - Daddy's girls

Jack

Doing the breakfast dance:
Skippy Muffin, Twee and Eli 's back and Fleup's tail

Fleurp and her eviscerated mouse.. she loves that thing.
Yes, that is a "it's good to be the Princess" mat for her to sit on

Sadly his blackberry doesn't take very good photos.. but it really is the thought that counts

Blog Paws Day One

Good Morning Odilia

Time to get up

whatcha doin in there??

well we made it.  I spent last night at a different hotel.  I love the high end hotels for how beautiful they are. and the pool was so fabulously warm I partook twice, but sadly they wanted to charge me $13 for internet for one day.  I am sure they are used to such things being put on the company card, but no company card for me.  I got the room via my husband's travel points which was very helpful considering it would have cost me $300!

I probably could have gotten them to comp it for me if I had asked, but I didn't think of that until late in the morning - at which point I was packing up to go to the Sheraton where BlogPaws is being held.

Last night I did go out to dinner with some AWESOME cat ladies.. I will do some name dropping in my next post, because the evening reception starts in a few minutes and I need to get back to the room to recharge my laptop (I am currently pool side trying to clean up my 300+ messages I had)

I am sharing a room with Jeanne from Random Felines, and Triscuit, who likes to make herself look beautiful.  Tris is none too happy with me, because I forced a meeting with her and Odilia.  I can't really blame her, but Odi wasn't catching on or maybe not caring there was another kitten in the room and I wanted to see what would happen to see if we could leave them alone together.  Right now I'm not.  Odi is locked in the bathroom most of the time.  She is fine with that.. (Ok fine, she wasn't sleeping in the bed, but wasn't that just uber adorable??)

Triscuit looking adorable!

Road Trip Day One

I am in a hotel room all the creature comforts of the sterile and unimaginative  and none of the fun of being at home.. Oh well.. c'est la vie.

Odilia traveled like a champ!  There was a bit of original nervousness.  She HATED getting a harness on, but once it was on there was no clothing paralysis and she didn't bother it until much later on in the day when she started grooming herself.

The treck was 3.5 hours.  I had watched Odi sleep that long and longer during this part of the day so I wasn't stressed over getting her set up with a litter box or food etc.  I did put her in the little carrier so I could watch her closely and if perchance she went off the deep-end while I was driving I could do something about it up to and including turning around and bringing her back home.  But no, she settled in and slept a good part of the way.  Every time I spoke though I woke her up and she called to me.  I felt bad and did my best to keep my mouth as shut as possible.

We did make one tiny stop to check in on the road.  I thought I'd put her harness to the test and sadly it didn't get much testing.

She took one step on that grass and bee-lined it to the pavement.  I put her back on it, but she seemed to want nothing to do with it.

She ate well a Robin's house.  Robin gave her her first taste of raw rabbit.  She inhaled it like a champ.  We offered her a litter box, but she wasn't having any of it.

After a brief visit I headed to the hotel.  I have set Odi up in the bathroom.  She had some more rabbit, walked around the room, found the litter box, left the litter box, explored some more and THEN went to the box and went pee.  You'd think after all that time she would have wanted it sooner.. but no.  Our little Odi is a pip that is for sure.

She is still doing pretty well.  She is getting overstimulated a bit.  It is adorable for her to go from loving on me and purring to spazing out and smacking me, but that is only because she is so darn small and can not do damage.  It is really something we both need to work on.. her better communicating that it is getting to be too much, and me for listening to her cues.  Fortunately all it takes most times to calm her down is 30 seconds in her carrier (or on the floor) Sometimes it takes a little longer, but not often.

These next few days should be quite interesting.

Kitten Shower 2013

Eons ago (or at least what feels like it) the shelter I volunteer for started a spring fundraiser called a "Kitten Shower"

The first one was thrown together with decorations from a baby shower with kitten heads on it.  Some hors d'oeuvres on some plates and a punch bowl.  It was fun!

They didn't do it again for several years, then someone had the brilliant idea to do it again, but they changed it into a money making opportunity.  Stuff for sale, food for sale, raffles, a silent auction and donations were weighed and whomever bought in the most by weight would win a behind the scene tour of the shelter.  Not a bad fundraiser, but far less of a community outreach / educational opportunity then I feel the original intent was.  *shrug*  I don't run the shelter, if it works for them so be it.

In the past I've attempted to help out, but it is pretty much standard fare at this point so there isn't really much to do, so I've backed out it.  I tend to show up to see the donations (and go shopping for my foster kittens) either end of day or the next day, but this time I had to stop in so I was there for the festivities.

Stuff for sale

Catchalls.. I love these things

Jewelry Pouches

and Jewelry to go in it

Fun crafts - I LOVE those little kittens.. only fifty cents too!!

Raffle prizes:

A flower arrangement with a cat toy

An original painting

more raffles

and more raffles

Cute kitty bed

Catopoly! :) 

There were a few prizes that didn't make it into the shots.  I also didn't take a photo of the silent auction items... one of which was a cat climber very similar to the last one I bought (different color) that I put my name down - but I guess someone out bid me.. if I had won I was going to bring it down to Robin..

When I saw the raffle prizes, I said I totally wanted that cat painting.  I had a couple of dollars on me so I bought two tickets and stuck my name in.  There were a TON of tickets in there, so I figured I'd never win.

Guess who got a phone call  :)

Behind the 'sneeze guard' to keep it safe till we can find a wall to hang it on

Sleep away camp is cancelled

I just could not do it.  I know I know.. I am a sap.  I am sure you are out there thinking this means I am going to keep her.. nope.. isn't going to happen.. I just couldn't let her go right now..

Nothing on R, she is an AWESOME foster home.. and it probably would have done her a world of good..

But Lady!  I was already packed.. 

Yes sweetie, but you couldn't bring your little friend.. 

Who?  My stuffie?? why not

well no, you couldn't bring your stuffie either.. mostly because he's missing part of his face.
 Any idea how that happened?

No clue lady.. I iz innocent.. honest.  So then why did you make me take a baf, and why did you clip my clawz??

Because you were a mess!!

WAS NOT!  So what friend did you mean??

coccidia

eww.  

Yup, I agree.. and it was why you were having issues.  But we got you some medicine and they should be gone soon.

Then will you explain why I am wearing this silly thing?

Why sweetie, I have no idea what you are talking about!! (grin)

I am so going to miss her

In a short while Odilia will be packing her bags and going to 'sleep away camp' for a little over a week - that is if I am lucky and she doesn't bond so hard with one of the kittens there that I won't think it is right to take her back..

I am going to miss her. (shocking I know.. )

She makes great strides each day in learning how to adjust to her world.

Tonight we realized she could:

realize when someone is eating something

and be friggen adorable 'begging' for it..
OK fine, she's not really begging for it, she's just being adorable

track a belled ball across the room

and finally drinking water on her own.

She also has a pretty bad overbite.  I had been trying to capture it in a picture, and finally we got one.  I know it doesn't look like much in this photo, but remember that the top canines are supposed to be slightly in front of the bottom ones..

She will NOT let me clean her off with wet cloths.. which is interesting, because when I gave her a quick bath after she first showed up she didn't mind at all.  I am going to have to give her another one before she goes so I don't feel like a bad foster parent sending her kitten off to sleep away camp with stains ;)