Sunday, October 17, 2004

Updates


Tweedle went back to the clinic for surgery. We used Iso on her, and she still turned quite blue. They did get her spayed, but they highly recommend that she never go under anesthesia again. She has been living at my house now for a while and is trying very very hard to become a member of the family. We are resisting, but she is a pretty unstoppable force! She takes no guff from the other kitties and fits in very well. We'll see.

I brought home a pregnant cat on the 8th. The shelter named her Dixie. She was extremely pregnant and not eating, so I assumed she would go at any time. After five days, I was pretty concerned and brought her to the clinic where I work for a physical. She showed no signs of distress, and her x-ray showed five or six kittens. Her temp was down, which is a sure sign of impending birth. I brought her home and spent the evening with her, but still nothing.


The next morning, there was one kitten and part of the placenta in the cage, so I brought her in to work for observation. Considering my past history with pregnant cats, I wasn't taking any chances.


She gave birth to one kitten an hour. She loved having her belly massaged. The first time I did it made the weirdest noises like there was air and water inside her. I would massage till the noise went away, and the next time I would check in there would be a kitten. By 11:30 we had four kittens, all looking exactly alike.


Then nothing. She pretty much stopped being in labor. I could feel what I thought were two kitten heads, but I wasn't sure. They just put in the new x-ray machine at work, so I volunteered her for an x-ray. There was one kitten left in her. At four PM there was still no progress and I was getting concerned. I massaged her belly more, and this time heard the squishy noises again. At 4:30, I went back in to check on her. I couldn't see things very well because she had her butt to the back of the carrier, but it looked like she was in the middle of delivering another kitten. One of the other kittens that was delivered breech, I found half way out of her, and I was concerned she stopped half way through this one too. I unscrewed the carrier and found this to be the case. She was cleaning the kitten off but didn't seem to be pushing anymore. I got a doctor, and the doctor pulled the kitten out, but things just didn't seem right. She was stiff and unmoving. We rubbed her, and she breathed, but I was still concerned. There is so little you can do for such little kittens, so I left her with Dixie to clean and stimulate. At 5, I took them home, and she still didn't look right. Her arms were out in front of her and stiff, so when you went to put her on her belly, she'd fall over. She had no suckling instinct and was cold. I stimulated her by rubbing her and moving her arms back and forth. I even made up some KMR, thinking the warm food would help "bring her around" Nothing really helped. At one point she did seem to want to suckle on my thumb, so I put another drop of KMR in her mouth, but she didn't seem interested. I had to go out, so I put her with her siblings and left, expecting to find her dead when I got back.


I was wrong. She is doing really well. Four kittens that look exactly like their mother, and one black one. Four girls, one boy. The boy weighs about an ounce more than his sisters. I was weighing them, and mom got a little concerned. By the time I was done with the last one, she came over, and picked her up, and brought her back into the cage. It was the cutest thing.



Now if I could just get Tweedle off my chest, I'd go give Emmy and Jack a bath. Emmy has tons of dandruff, and Jack's fur is so thick, that he still has flea dirt on him. But she looks so sweet, half asleep.. I can't bring myself to disturb her.

Monday, October 11, 2004

Bits and bites, and kitty footprints


Apparently everyone survived my going away without any lasting side effects. Muffin (at least I believe she is the culprit) went pee on my favorite chair. Emmy survived her trip and is doing much better with her cough. Ollie appears to have put on all the weight he lost right before the trip, although his fur has yet to grow back in, so he looks like he's walking around with a boot on.. :) it's cute.

Tweedle is still here. I brought her in on Friday to be spayed, and she had yet another reaction to the anesthesia. This time, it was Iso, which is very safe, but she still turned blue. I was going to bring her in for adoption on Saturday, but they had a lot of kittens there, and I just wanted to keep her a bit longer. Muffin isn't happy she's here, but what's new. She is such a sweetie. Will have to find just the right home for her.

I brought home a new cat from the shelter. Dixie. White with a smudge of grey on her head. She is quite pregnant but isn't giving up her kittens yet. Although she's not that interested in eating either, so it could be soon.

Im also thinking of officially changing Muffin's name to "Bad Kitty" seeing as that is what I keep calling her. Today she walked through an art project of mine, and now there are little grey kitty footprints all over the table (which she is NOT allowed on in the first place) and the chair. If it weren't so freaking cute, I'd be annoyed. I knew it was her even before doing the investigating and finding the paint on her foot. I so know my kitties :D

Friday, October 1, 2004

purrs for the kitties


Ok. I'm leaving in about half an hour. Here's hoping the kitties get through this and don't miss me too much. I know some of them will be ok with it. Muffin is so needy sometimes that I'm a bit worried.

I'm sure they will do fine.
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