Tuesday, May 29, 2007
put the ark away for another day
Em is stable at 9.5 pounds.. Miss Molly and Miss Martha are back to feeding their kits very well. I still supplement them once a day, but I think that is more for me, than because they need it. I was concerned about the 'what ever dude' kitten, since he was skin and bones... but I gave him 3ccs one night, he took 6 the next. he feels like he's got more meat on him now.. still incredibly laid back.. but things look good.
The buff boys who were sneezing and having problems keeping their eyes unglued are doing much better. The bigger one is in fact the biggest of all the kittens.. eyes are staying open, active, and can scream with the best of them :)
I still can't seem to get the mothers to eat very much, but I'm sure they'll pull through just fine.
Em spent a lot of the weekend outside with us as we did yard work. I swear she does better when she gets outside. but that could just be me projecting. This morning there was blood in her nasal drainage.. Could just be from the fact that her nasal passage is quite irritated from everything going on. Hopefully it was just that little bit, and I won't get home to blood all over the house.
Friday, May 25, 2007
cute Em story
I took Em out last night when I got home from work. It was such a nice night, that I decided to go into the garage and get my pruning shears, and work in the garden a little. I told Em to stay put that I would be right back. Well she thought I was taking too long and yelled at me. When I got back out we both went into my little garden and started puttering around. Well she wandered a bit, and I lost sight of her. I called out to her, and found her at the very front edge of our yard. It dips down into a culvert, so that is why I lost sight of her. As I started walking towards her, she actually started stalking a bird. She did her little run to try to catch it.. (which isn't quite a run but is a lot quicker than you'd think of the ol girl) it was so cute and heart warming for me.
Ok, Where is the Ark??
When it rains it pours!!
Em is down to 9lbs 8 oz!! WTH?! I thought she felt heavier so I weighed her. I just looked at the ounces and saw 10 ounces and got excited for a minute thinking she was 10lbs 10 oz.. hence gaining weight, but it was 9lbs 10 oz. I weighed her again this morning (after she didn't eat her mid meal snack) and it was 9lbs 8 oz. Makes me want to cry. She has been doing ok for the most part. she has a lot of drainage out of her nose despite the antibiotics.. little annoying to keep picking it off the bed, but as long as she's with me, I can't complain. She did have another episode the other day. Remember when i stepped on her tail and she seemed out of it afterwards.. it was like that. I suppose I should get her back to the vet.. but I don't think they can do anything for her, so what would be the point?
Then the foster kittens are having issues. The moms (I've named them Miss Molly - for the younger one w/ white and Miss Martha for the tortie) are having issues. They aren't eating all that well. Miss Molly is barely eating. Last night her kits were hungry but not STARVING, so I thought we were still on the far side of ok.. Miss Molly was definately dehydrated and skinny, but bright and allert. I gave her some more KMR, and went to bed. This morning she was still on this side of OK but I was concerned. The little boy tiger kitten (winky) was very slow to respond, and also dehydrated. So I took her and the kits in to the shelter for some fluid. It almost ran into mom.. a steady stream. Hopefully this will perk her up enough to eat and start producing milk again. winky seemed to feel better. the solid black one is extremely laid back. He's the "what ever dude" type of kitten. Which scares me, because when they don't care it is usually a sign of health issues. However he's been this way since I got him home... so it might just be his personality. I gave Miss Molly's kits some KMR (Miss Martha's kits seem to be doing fine except for the goopy eyes) and they all had about 6 ounces except the little black one who had about half that despite all of my tricks..
Sad thing is, that there is about a week of difference in their ages, but both groups seem to be about the same size now..
Thursday, May 24, 2007
covered in KMR and snot
What is it about one that gets me covered in both?? :)
Em is still snotty. Lots of white to greenish white drainage. She's back on antibiotics.. don't think it is helping, but then again I have only given it a short time. Other than that she's pretty stable. BGs almost always hit 300 by testing time. still wants to go outside on a regular basis. Still likes to lick me in the middle of the night. Yup.. she's hanging in there.
The fosters are sneezing.. just the mom's younger kittens. Did I mention that I think the two moms are mother and daughter. Mom (tortie medium hair) has much worse teeth and isn't nearly as obsessed with her kittens as the daughter (torbie - tortie w/white - long hair) Mom has the younger kits, daughter had the older. Daughter is in with her kittens 90-95% of the time.
Neither one of them is eating well. Its frustrating. They are both oboxiously thin. The only saving grace is that they are so fluffy that I can barely see it. not that it is much of a saving grace. their input is like half of their output.. I have no idea how they are doing it. I keep offering them different types of food and nothing really tempts them.
one of the buff colored boys (younger set) is sneezing up a storm and is constantly snotty. I thought we were out of the woods the other day as he was much much less snotty, but this morning he was all covered again. its funny cause when he gets covered, he nurses, and grabs some of his mom's fur in the process which is black, so he ends up looking like he put on a fake beard and mustache..
so because I was worried for the moms, I brought some KMR down, and supplemented the kits. almost all of them totally appreciated it. One in each group (snot boy and the girl in the older set) was like "what the heck are you sticking in my mouth!?!?" One of the older boys LOVED it.. sucked it right out of the syringe :D too cute. I gave some of the KMR to the younger mom, she wasn't thrilled that I did that, but she so needed it. she's nothing but skin and bones, and if her kits are attached to her all day and that hungry you know she's not producing much. Hopefully it will be like priming the pump and she'll start eating well on her own.
names.. I so need to get them names..
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
mostly not about Em :D
I was going to not post about Em at all, but then I remembered the drainage was worse this morning, almost an opaque white.. it was weird. It blocked up her nose, and when I cleared it off and "milked" her nostril, quite a bit more came out, so I upped her prenisolone to 7.5 mg SID. apparently I can so up to BID, but I am no where near ready for that. I am considering dropping back down to 5mg, but breaking it up into two 2.5 mg doses through out the day.. But I have to wait and see if the increased dose clears up the drainage.
Now on to the "good news" :D
I have KITTENS!!
the shelter took in two strays from the same place. Two torties.. One with three one week old kittens, the other with four two week old kittens. The mom's look like sisters, and are incredibly close. they nurse each other's kittens, climb into the same box together, groom each other and obviously get a lot of comfort from one another. It is so sweet. out of all the foster I have ever had, this is the first time I am in love with the moms.
One of them (or maybe both) were vomiting quite badly.. the first night I had them I gave them a once over.. the "older" one (for lack of names and better descriptions) has foul breath and is missing some of the little front teeth. her ears were attrocious too, so I tried to clean those out a little. the "younger" is good.. but her ears need some help too. Last night because of all the vomit, I gave them some dewormer. the older one fought me tooth and nail and HATED it.. the younger took it just fine.... almost acted as if she liked it. this morning no vomit, but the older one refused to come out and see me. I'm going to have to spend some time in that room tonight and NOT clean or medicate anything :D
The "older" one is pure tortie. The "younger" has a black mask and white on her chest and paws. I THINK the younger one has the two week old kittens, but she's in and out of both boxes, so it is hard to tell.
the younger kittens are two boys - buff colored - and one girl. the older kittens are three boys and a girl. the buff boys are so close to one another, that they often look like a two headed kitten :)
I'm going to try an experiment with the two week old girl. Going to take a picture of her every day and watch her develop.. see if I can't create a video out of it.. I think it will be interesting if she co-operates.
now on to the pictures....
the "younger" cat in with the younger kittens, and the "older" one with the older kittens
the "younger" cat changed boxes..
Older Kittens
Younger kittens
how can you resist this much cuteness??
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
bad morning for Em
She looked like a 90 yr old this morning. Tired, run down, achy, not wanting to move much. her BG at 7 am was 90.. at 8:30 it was 140, so I gave her 1.5 units.. Her nose is also producing a lot of drainage.. *sigh* at least it is clearish.. and not bloody
*good thoughts, good thoughts, good thoughts*
Monday, May 14, 2007
more bleeding
well it wasn't much.. just enough to goop up the end of her nose and annoy her when I went to clean it off. her weight is down a little bit too, and her pupils are often two different sizes. but she still gets very excited about food, and going outside. She did have a bad morning the other day, but she seemed better by that afternoon.
when we go outside, she often walks up to me and meows at me like she wants something. I had a snack the other day, and she got so excited thinking it was for her. So I created a 'picnic' for her, and brought some of her food outside with us. I thought it would send her over the moon, but I think it just confused her. She ate some, then came over to see me again.. She wants SOMETHING, I just can't figure out what it is.
Often the sun or bright lights hurt her eyes too. I find she's squinting at me a lot these days.
Muffin is still breaking into Em's room.. Jack is still Jack, and Tweedle is still the baby. :) no real good stories about any of them.
I have to say though, I so need foster kittens.. I am sick of this blog turning into a death watch for Em.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Em Stories
My sweet ol girl is such a bright spot in my day. I miss her so much while I'm at work.
Last night I got home and tested her and her bgs were 338, so I got 3.5 units ready, and went to inject her. After I inject, I run my hand over the fur to make sure I didn't miss, well it felt like I missed, as the fur there was wet.. so I got another 3.5 units ready and injected that. That was at 7 pm. at 10 pm I checked her and she was down to 124!! arrgh. so i left some dry food and some more wet food down just in case. This morning I wake up to her sleeping next to me dead to the world.. she didn't move when I called out to her, didn't move when I touched her, didn't move when i patted her, and when I finally shook her.. she just lifted her head as if to say "MOOOOMMMM I was SLEEPING!!" :)
She's been dragging these past few days. *sigh* more green gunk coming out of her nose, pupils two different sizes, fur not all smooth and polished.. but she was so bright and cheery when I took her outside yesterday to get the mail.. Its funny how you can just tell how happy that makes her. I wish I could just sit around outside with her all day. (and this from a person who HATES being outside!!)
Jack however doesn't have such a high opinion of Em. Last night they were just sitting quietly on the bed as I was watching TV, and he reached over and bit Em's ear!! I scolded him, and he looked contrite, but a few minutes later he reared up and smacked her several times!! arrgh! Jack so needs to leave her alone and pick on someone who can pick on him back!
So.. that's pretty much it for now. Holding steady which isn't a bad place to be - considering.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Em can still bring me joy
My Em is still so cute, and so funny.. :)
first for the update, then for the cute story. No bleeding still *knock wood* yesterday morning she didn't want to eat for a couple of hours, but other than that has been starving for quite a while now. I can't seem to feed her enough food. So I took to leaving a huge plate of dry - which of course sent her BGs sky high, over 500 the other morning, so that is going to go away, and we'll just keep dishing out the wet. She's holding steady (mostly) at 9lbs 15 oz. I've seen 10 oz.. *shrug*
So she still very much wants to go outside. Last night she was insitant on it... but we were headed out to see Spiderman 3. We had to distract her to get out of the house. We got to the theatre, and the 7pm show was sold out, so we bought tickets to the 8:30 one. Being only 10 minutes from the theatre, we went home to 'walk Emmy'
There was no dawdling this time. Usually she hangs out at the bushes in the front of the house for a long time, but this time DH and I were out exploring and she came right with us. On the edge of our property (between us and the road) there is a fire pond (since we aren't on city water) Near that is a huge bolder and apparently the local rodent population are digging out under it for a home. I called Em over to sniff it, and she did, but not long. The fire pond really interested her, so she walked over to the stones they put in to create it. She's sniffing and walking and getting closer and closer to the pond. We went and got her and put her back on the lawn, but she bee lined it right back to the pond! Silly girl. So we picked her up and put her closer to the house and walked further and further away from the pond. She followed us and when we reached the porch in the back of the house (she likes sniffing under it) I sat on the steps while DH stood around. We talked about putting a patio room on the house (which I don't think the house needs, but he's interested in, so we'll get a quote anyway) when something caught Em's attention and she started walking towards the large bushy area in the back. I don't want her in the bushes, as I know we'd never be able to get her out. So Dh went after her, but she took off running!! can you believe that!! lol. Again, old bones and arthritis are no match for us, so we caught her.. DH thinks she wasn't so much running away from us, but thought she was thinking that we were going to join in her hunt and was excited we were coming along :)
Well I am off to the shelter for a fundraiser for the incoming kittens. Hopefully it will be a big success.
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