Saturday, December 31, 2011

There were Seven in the Bed


and the little one said Roll Over..
I don't know why the green blanket is such a hit with The Crew.  The pink pillow is the biggest hit though.  There is often a line to get on it.  Kit, Twee and Skippy all love it.  it is a microbead pillow, and I've been searching for another one since they took it over, and haven't found another that is "kitty sized"  but I keep looking.

This is how we intend to spend the next two days.  I officially do not celebrate the end of a year, but if you do, I hope you have a wonderful New Year's!!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Thank goodness


Step one down...

Brianna and Fraser


Well it is semi-official.  Brianna and Fraser have a home.
Brianna won over the husband with in two seconds.  It was uber sweet.  They already were thinking two might be a possiblity, and my little general speil on two kittens "sold" them on it.

Duncan was the immediate front runner, and it was so sweet because Brianna and Duncan were hanging out together while they were in there.  But Fraser's sweetness won her over.  Can't say I blame her.  Personally I thought Brianna and Duncan would have been pretty together, but you really shouldn't adopt on looks, it should be personality.

So a big congrats to all four of them.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Update on the kittens


Well the kittens have slowly been getting over the URI they came with.  We have a runny eye here a sneeze there.  They probably could have gone back before now, but A) I was selfish B) they had soft stools and C) there is a coworker of DH that might be interested in one.. so I've been holding on to them.

Well the other day while scooping the litter boxes, one of the kittens came and left a deposit.  This is not a rare occurrence.  They seem to enjoy trying to fill it as I'm trying to empty it (and lest you think they are enjoying using cleaned litter, they generally use a box I haven't scooped yet) but this one came with a special "gift".  This little pile came with an additional "friend" and thus I learned they had tape worms.  (one great big collective EEEEWWW!!!)

So we got pills and yesterday morning they got it. I was so pleased at not only how well they took it, but my skill in giving it. (not sure who I was prouder of)  I figured this would help clear up the loose stools and would also help them recover from the URI (because worms eat up the nutrients the kittens need to get healthy)  Last night they were eating like champs and doing well.

I have been noticing that Murray is very much a "momma's boy".  He still nurses over eating, and runs to her when ever he can.  I feel bad that he is most likely going to have to face life with out her really soon, so I decided to try to break him of nursing.  I got some bitter ointment and put just a dab on each of her nipples.  As soon as Clair's feet hit the floor Murray ran right to her, but he stopped short.  Even that small amount of ointment changed the way she smelled.  He was reluctant to continue forward until she gave him a little lick.  He got closer and realized the milk bar was closed, and I felt so sad for him.  But this morning I was able to walk right up to him and pat him, so I'm thinking I made the right decision.  The ointment probably didn't last the night, but hopefully it was enough to break him of that first impulse.

Someone also vomited last night.  Not sure if it was because of the ointment or the medication.  But no one seemed the worse for it.  They certainly enjoyed watching me clean up the floor..

And on the best news yet, we have someone coming to check out the kittens tonight.  They lost their kitty a while ago and are ready to add to their family.  They know they have to go through the shelter and pay their fees (at least I hope they know about the fee bit) and are just coming to scope them out.  Not sure if they will absolutely take one or not.  And there is also talk of someone else possibly being interested.  fun fun!!

I'm guessing they will be with me another week, and then most likely the foster room will be "closed" (well except for the fact of Bea) until Spring.  The shelter does get kittens all year long, but not nearly as many during the cold cold snow filled (well usually snow filled) winters and the staff usually can take care of them.  I'm sure The Crew will greatly appreciate having me all to themselves this winter. (well except for Bea)

I'm sure I'll get kitten fever many times over the winter with all the wonderful kitten blogs I follow.

Beatrice


I reported back to the shelter on Bea's health issues and her not eating well, and they advised me to force feed her and if she wasn't eating on her own in the AM to bring her in.

Last night I force fed her.  She's so good that she lets me, but she doesn't like it and she tires of it easily.  I got a few ounces in her, but I could tell it was depressing her. I tried new foods, but only gave her a bit so I didn't waste the whole can (we got the left overs ~The Crew)  I had tried warming the food, and I tried stinky food, but I didn't try out and out seafood.  All we had in the house was a can of clams.  That wasn't appreciated (but we oh so appreciated those left overs!!! ~The Crew) and so we went out and got straight up tuna fish (want Want WANT!!!!) and that got her eating on her own.  She ended up eating about half of the can.

Her weight was 11lbs 6 oz but this morning was 11lbs 8, so we are holding off on taking her in.  She was very snuffily last night, so I am going to assume this is a case of she just couldn't smell the food and she wasn't going to just take my word for it that it was food. 

Fingers crossed her nose clears up and she starts eating well on her own again.  Her blood sugars are running in the 300 area, and we are holding off on insulin until she gets well.  It is a far better option to leave her high for a long period of time then to risk it going too low for even a moment.  Hypoglycemia can kill, hyperglycemia does damage but it takes a long time.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A Name!!


Well I have settled on what I will call this beautiful girl kitty.. Beatrice!!  :) Which I shall pronounce Be-AH-trice. I think it fits her wonderfully and it honors my internet crush  (I've come to accept the fact that Wendy is going to think I'm looney)

Well Beatrice isn't doing so well.  You wouldn't know it to look at her. She is happy and purrs louder then a motorboat.  She makes biscuits while standing and is perfectly content flomping over and letting you rub her belly.  She also wants out of the room she is in (next week once the kittens go back she'll move down there - it will be better then the office)

but

She's not eating. She came to me eating dry food and a scoop of canned as a treat for being tested.  Well I don't do dry so we just gave her the canned, and she loved it.  Then after a few cans she slowed down and wasn't eating as much, then barely at all.  I tried a few other types of canned food which garnered more interest - but wasn't eaten enthusiastically.  Turkey which was inhaled on Christmas day was also ignored - which I then knew we had a problem.  I tried meat baby food - also a no go.  She wants to eat.  She sniffs everything I offer her, but because she is snuffily, I am assuming she can't smell it as food (I even tried warming it up and offering really smelly stuff too)  I force fed her last night.  She was nice enough about it, but I could tell it wore her out.  This morning I tried a few new foods, even offered dry (I have it for the kittens since I can't control what they will eat in their new home, I like to prepare them for anything).  Still no interest.  So emailed the shelter, and if she isn't eating tonight I am to force feed her again and bring her there in the AM so the vet can check her out. 

She's lost about a quarter pound last time I weighed her (hey, maybe I should go get her a quarter pounder.. ha ha ha) and with her history of pancreatisis, I'm just not going to risk it.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

"Sweetness"


Yes, I'm funny, and no, that isn't the name I've settled for her yet.

I finally worked through the mountain of paperwork (aka her vet records) and it seems she was diagnosed with diabetes a little over a year ago.  There is a history of her being treated (and some history of her not treating the kitty)  I was saddened to read the continued choice of high carb food despite the ultrasound vet suggesting a diet more in lines with the most current recommendations.

So I've been able to stop editing myself when thinking about her past, and gave some credit to her previous owner.  I don't always succeed in the "don't judge people unless you have walked a mile in their shoes".. (and I'm seriously working on that - not only in my own thoughts, but how I project, which I've come to realize can come off a lot more judgmental then I even considered meaning.. ) 

Well anyway.  Enough of her past.  *big deep cleansing breath*  I'm sure Sweetness is happy that her previous owner chose to surrender her instead of putting her down, so we are just going to focus on that she is here now and let everything else go.
I think she approves.

Her sugars were a little too high for my tastes on 1.5u of insulin, so we have gone back to two.  She stopped eating the food she had, so I bough a few choices for her, she has lost a smidge of weight, but I fear that was more because she wasn't eating well, so I'll officially report on her weight in a few days.

I did want to share my trip to the shelter on Christmas Eve.  I had to stop in and I was amazed to see there were only about 20 cats up for adoption.  There were a few more waiting to go on the adoption floor, but it was so nice to see it so empty.  There was one little calico who called to me wanting attention, so I went to give it to her.  She couldn't get enough, and it saddened me to leave her there.  I know the staff and volunteers would be in to care for them, but there would be no foot traffic for her, or any of the others, to get attention and lovins from.  I'm so going to have to make it a point to go in sometime this week and love on her again... although considering what a communicator she is, I doubt she'll be there for long.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

What's that?


That.. Behind you... is that a Santa?  or a mass murderer?
well whatever it was, I hope you have on clean underwear..

Friday, December 23, 2011

"Not Sugarbutt"


I keep throwing names at her, so far we haven't settled on one.


I weighed her this afternoon, 12lbs 3 oz.. which was cute..She probably is meant to be 9lbs.. She has started hanging out on the chairs in the room she is in.  She purrs quite loudly and loves head butting and rolling around while getting attention.  Think she's happy to be here?

I gave her the 2 units as prescribed, and we were getting some low numbers, so I gave her 1 unit of insulin, and it sent her pretty high, so I'm settling on 1.5 units and we'll see what happens.

Diabetes care has progressed quite a bit since the 80's :) When I first started treating Em in the 90s, we were taught an old school method.  We gave her a "high fiber" diet (cause that works wonders for dogs) and blindly shot insulin and sent her to the vet to be tested and have a "curve" (where they test the blood sugar levels every two hours to see how the insulin works through out the day)  Em totally balked at the high fiber diet (it gave her major diarrhea) and so we left her on the dry food that came out of a big huge bag that we bought at the supermarket that we fed her and the other kitties at the time. After a few years I wanted to learn more about feline nutrition, and I talked to people at pet stores, and they convinced me that a "premium dry food" was the way to go, and so we started feeding Felidae.  Well two of my kitties became blocked with urinary crystals while eating it (I am NOT saying Felidae did it, but I do believe that dry food in general was the cause)  So I did more reading, and learned that a canned diet would be good for urinary crystals, and at the time Em was losing weight so we put her on a canned diet and fed her separately so she wouldn't be harassed out of her food by the younger cats, we had Jack and Eli on urinary canned food, and the rest on Felidae.  Em had even more issues, and at that point I joined the message board for diabetic kitties and learned from a vet who actually studies feline nutrition that ALL dry food is basically unhealthy for cats and that feeding a high protein, low plant based ingredient raw diet would help Em with her diabetes AND Jack and Eli with their crystals, so I gave it a shot.  Em's insulin need went from 7u twice a day to 1u.  there were days when she almost didn't need insulin and I was so excited that she might be going into remission.  Unfortunately she stopped eating raw, and went on to a low plant based ingredient canned food (Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblets in loaf form) and her insulin need settled between 1-2u until the cancer showed up.  (at which point I fed her anything and everything she wanted and let the blood sugars fall where they would)

How did I know her insulin need dropped so dramatically?  We learned to home test her blood sugars. They learned that a human glucometer would work quite nicely to test a cat's blood, and we use a lancet to poke her ear and get drops of blood that way.  Em hated to bleed.  Most of the fosters I've had after her bleed nicely.  "Not Sugarbutt" has apparently learned that after she gets tested she eats.  Cause food that is completely ignored becomes inhaled right after I finish testing.

If you are interested, there are a lot of videos of people testing their kitties. Here is a great of of Buddy showing you how it is done  I don't know Buddy or his adorable owner.

Home testing has some great advantages.  You don't have "white coat syndrome".  Stressed out cats tend to throw higher bgs in general (not every cat, but a lot).  You don't have to make an appointment, you have immediate feed back. It saves a lot of time.  Money not so much because test strips are expensive, and once you get the feel of testing you get a little test happy because having the info is so incredibly helpful in keeping you sane.  It is also very helpful if you suspect a hypo (giving too much insulin and blood sugar levels go too low which can be deadly) and helping you navigate it (know when blood sugars start rising and the kitty is no longer in danger) but then again if it saves you a trip to the ER that will buy you a LOT of test strips :)

One other thing about diabetic cats, their owners are incredibly in touch and in tune with their cats.  Getting a diagnoses of diabetes in a cat isn't anything I would wish on anyone, but those of us willing to walk that road with the kitty come to realize it does create an incredibly special bond. The kitties come to realize that the injection makes them feel better, and well... While I will admit the regimented schedual of shots every 12 hours is annoying, it is so worth it..

(So anyone want a pretty black and white purr machine that needs injections every 12 hours?)

Secret Santa


I love the cat blogosphere.. :) this year I signed up to a Secret Santa exchange, and our package arrived yesterday.    I didn't have the time to open it and take pictures yesterday as it was my 21st wedding anniversary, so we put it on hold (ok so we stuck it in the closet so it wouldn't be molested) and opened it this afternoon.

Gracie from http://gabbygracie.blogspot.com sent it to us. and it garnered a lot of attention
what? ~Eli
I said... it GARNERED A LOT OF ATTENTION!!!

That's much better :)  So I opened it up..

And took out the contents..
And there was much rejoicing.  I loved that everything was wrapped individually, made for a lot of fun unwrapping :)
THIS ONE!! open this one first Mom!! ~Jack
mmm this smells good ~Jack
Yup, we all love this one ~Muffin
big surprise.. it is treats.. :)
This one rattles ~Jack
White!  i like white.. ~Jack
Is there one in there for me Momma? ~Skippy
I like this..  ~Skippy
Catnip..
Is this one for me Momma? ~Fleurp

Is this one mine? ~Eli
What's in there??  ~Muffin
FISHIES!!!  Jack loves his fishie, hopefully that one can retire and he'll love these.
Oh Momma, stop with the flashie thing and just open them up!!

If you didn't notice, Twee never showed up to partake in the fun.. I went in search of her and found her..
I don't do "secrets"
Honey, that's just a term.. there is nothing secret about it... well that Twee, she's a little "special".  Don't worry, she'll have lots of fun with the laser mouse during our next play session :)

Thank you Gracie!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Trying to be Thankful Thursday


Mom, why is this door closed?
Well darlins, because we have yet another new visitor.  She's nine years old and she was surrendered by a vet tech three days ago because she is diabetic.
Harrumph!
You put it much nicer then I could.  But the woman apparently has a baby, and the kitty apparently kept them up at night meowing (but mom we haven't heard a peep out of her in the 24 hours she has been here).  I have her vet records, and she has quite the medical history with pancreatitis and diarrhea. (she has had a lot of vet visits including an ultrasound) But she has also been eating carb heavy low quality foods. So she came home with me with just some low carb canned foods and a glucometer.. we'll see what we can do.  Her starting BG was in the 300s, I just got it and it was 174. Hopefully with less stress and some good quality food we can get those even lower.

She is freaked.  She wants to be loving, but she would really rather be hiding right now.  But she lets me test her BGs, which is awesome.  She's a little "enthusiastic" in her litter box digging and covering.

There are way too many diabetic cats waiting for homes on the diabetic kitty message board I hang out on (well I used to, and I started back since bringing her home) so I doubt I'll find her a good home unless I can get her off insulin.  *sigh*   This is the one bit that bugs me most.. when people give up "perfectly wonderful" pets because of health or behavioral issues. If the people who own and love them don't want to put up with a cat's issues, what makes them think anyone else will either??

Yes yes yes, there are rare gems of the human race who do take them in, but it is very rare, and once again there are just WAY TOO MANY... wait.. don't yell.. *deep breath*... there are just way too many cats out there needing homes.

Hopefully our little Sugarbutt (not her real name, I want to change it as the name she has ... well I think she needs something different) will find one of those blessed souls who needs her to fill a spot in their life.

Now.. introducing..
ANYTHING but "Sugarbutt" please..
She is a bit overweight.  She has almost no scruff to speak off because of it.  What is really unique about her is that her nose and her paw pads are black. I am so used to noses and paw pads on white to be pink..  She found a spot to hide last night that took us 10 minutes to find her (in one small room that was highly impressive) and then she found out she could open the closet door and is now spending most of her time in there - which I'm NOT happy about, but *shrug* that is what she wants - and at least it is easy enough to get her out when I need to test her.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Random kitten photos


I really like this one. I had to lighten it up quite a bit and it isn't in focus, but I love the look in his eyes..

This tube is a HUGE hit.. it also lights up when they are really rough on it
How kittens play "door" with out a door.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Whiskers on Kittens


When I first saw this photo, I was so bummed that Mack wasn't in focus, but then I realized what was in focus, and I just fell in love with the shot..

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Murray


Murray is a little more reluctant to hang round when I bring out the flashy box so most of my shots are long distance.  He LOVES playing so most of the shots I get of him are a blur anyway.. :)

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Duncan


Hey Duncan.. Can you sit still for a moment so I can show you off to your fans?
nope
But Duncan!! we just want to oogle you..
Sorry, things to do.  Tunnels to burrow under, invisible mice to chase
Wow, you are a busy boy..   Well I am sure you will mind just a bit, but I just need to do one thing..
seriously?
Yup,  Thank you my busy boy, you can go play again.. have fun!

Friday, December 16, 2011

MacKenzie


Hey Mack, did we wake you?
No no, I'm awake, I was just restin my eyes
ah, good.  Then you won't mind entertaining the guests would you?
That will do.. :)  But do you have a second act?
I do "cute" too.
Now that you do.  And you make us swoon with that belly shot.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Frasier


Oh Frasier, what are you up to?
You talkin to me?
Yes sweetie, you seem grumpy... are you OK?
No no, I'm good, just sleepy
Oh that's good, you are such a cutie, I'd hate to think of you upset.
I'm cute, I'm cute.. she said I'm cute!!
That Frasier.. he is an absolute cutie.. Very mild mannered and respectful.  Not that he's not full of it mind you.. what kitten at his age wouldn't be.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Brianna


Well we have some more improvement on Brianna.  Her third eyelid on that bad eye is no longer red.  It is still up - like Duncan's was previously - but not red is such a good thing.  I'd say we have 75 - 80% improvement at this point..
This is good, I like this
I love how one of her front feet has black paw pads, and the other has pink..   She really is a cutie, and stubbornly willing to let me medicate her.  Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it, but she doesn't fight me, she just clamps her eyes shut - like a two yr old who is about to get medication but doesn't really want it, but knows it is coming.  I can't help myself I often cover her with kisses once I'm done.
 She was doing somersaults over the ball, it was so cute..
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