Monday, June 3, 2013

June 1st


Happy Adopt a Cat Month


I spent part of the first day of Adopt a Cat Month by watching a woman adopt her first cat ever.  She drove over half an hour to get to the shelter and ended up adopting a solid black cat.  I could not have been happier.

I was at the shelter because I had to bring Trevor Von Stinkypants' stool into the vet.  The day before his output was mostly liquid and there was some blood on it.  He had gotten the second dose of Marquis Paste a few days before, and he was following pretty much the same time line as Odilia, but with the blood I got concerned.  It was only a few drops and it was bright red so I knew full well it was simply from irritation, but still I paniced and was hoping it wasn't something else.  Although if it had been something else I was pretty sure Odilia was going to be showing symptoms.. but yet..

And even though I brought it in on Friday I couldn't get it tested till Saturday because they ran out of fecal testing cups.  So I had to wait till he went on Saturday and it while it was better, there was still some blood so I figured I'd bring it in.

I had a whole plan for the day (and if you don't know what that means then I'm a little jealous of you) I was going to bring in the sample, get any meds I might need, stop off at a store or two before coming home and doing a few things at the house..

As I walked in the door I was accosted by three different staff members asking me if I might want spitters.. I mean seriously, spitters.. they are my kryptonite.  how on earth could I say no?  Four little blackish medium haired kittens with eyes so googly they belong on a greeting card.. They are about five weeks old... and they hiss and they spit but they are just scared out of their gourd.  Once I have my hands on them they stop, they don't lash out, so I don't see this taking forever..  Although how I am supposed to tell them apart I have no idea.  There is one solid black one who is a girl.  Three black with white frosting two boys and one girl.. no names as of yet as I'm still not all that good at telling them apart.



but while I was there I stupidly looked into another cage.

Introducing Scotty McTattletale

He simply floors me. He is also quite frightened by everything going on, but he is in the foster room with Odilia and Trevor Von Stinkypants and he sees them eating next to me, he sees them crawling all over me, meowing at me, interacting with me, and if I ignore him he will investigate me. The first few times I put my hand up to the cage when he came up to check out what was going on and he flinched visibly at the smell of me - which made me feel like I must be something pretty horrid.. but after a while he stopped doing it.. I guess he got used to me.

He ran around the room a little yesterday and he actually put himself back in the cage after a few minutes.  While the cage was open Odilia went in and peed in his box.. to which I had to laugh, she is such a diva.

I've also seen Odilia and Trevor Von Stinkypants playing.. that makes me very happy.

Sadly there was a development with the black kittens.  I got an email telling me they came from a hoarding situation and other kittens taken at the same time were doing so poorly they were suspecting PanLeuk.  I had originally set them up in my bathtub while I figured out what to do with them and while Scotty was getting used to Odilia.  I was hoping that Scotty would integrate quickly and I would be able to put the spitters in the cage, but Scotty isn't adjusting as quickly as I thought he would.  As much as I hate integrating litters - not to mention three different kittens from three different back grounds - as you never know the risk of what they have been exposed to.. I'm willing to risk it with Scotty because he looks so darn healthy and I think it will do Odilia some good.  Yup, I'm knocking wood all over the place.  But this is mute at this point.  I have no need to rush Scotty in with Odilia because I want to keep a good eye on the spitters.  So far so good with them.  They are eating very well and  while their stool isn't perfect I'm not worried about it

There was also something going on with Odilia.  Nothing medical, this was purely behavioral. Every time I would pat her she would turn on me and bite me.  I can hold her and she eventually relaxes, but the second I rub any part of me over any part of her she goes into 'attack' mode.  Not kill kill die die, but more pointy claws and bite-y teeth.  It didn't seem to upset her unless I would scruff her. If you scruff her she gets very upset.  I was thinking she had some serious stimulation aggression, but last night I was able to get a few pats in with out her turning on me, so I am fairly certain this is a learned behavior and I can help her learn a new one.   I can not tell you how glad I am for that, because who wants a kitty so cute it hurts and not be able to pat it!!  I am guessing that she does get over stimulated when patted simply because she has one less sense to rely on and thus the rest a bit more.. but I'm guessing that this is something she can learn to deal with.    This makes me uber happy.  Her time is drawing close as she is nearly two pounds at this point.  I'm going to be emailing the shelter and seeing what they want to do with her.  I do not know if they want to sew her eyes shut or not, and that is totally their call.  If they do I am totally up for keeping her here while she recovers from that..   I'm thinking minimum she is here for a week, probably more like two, and then if she needs more care .. then there would be that..


10 comments:

  1. Odilia girl! What's with the Kill Bill imitation? You've got the right foster mom to unlearn that move, thankfully.

    We love Mister mctattletale's name, and are so glad Odilia will have someone to interact with.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lemme guess... Scotty's a talker?

    Those little googly eyes are enough to kill someone from cute, you know? If they were to spit at me, that might just be the end of me. You must be made of sterner stuff than I.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh, your household just got VERY busy!! Spitters--it made me think of Jurassic Park when I first read it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMG - good luck with the black kittens (fingers crossed). I had a group of brown tabbies that were ALL the same and ended up getting paper collars from the shelter. It was just easier.

    BTW - I read this and all I could think was "and you make fun of me LOL" :) We are both way to easy....

    ReplyDelete
  5. OH - and can I say how much that first story excites me!!! YEAH!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Um... hello... how did you not immediately let me know about Scotty... I might be in serious trouble... and I mean trouble with a capital T... How big is he? Spitters... that made me chuckle... I had a kitten years ago that spit - I had never actually seen it before that and he turned into the gentlest cat ever (although he was always timid...)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Phew full pelt house hold again,have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paws crossed that everything is okay with the spitters! As for everyone else, it sounds to me like you have it under control.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh no - I hope hope hope the spitters are healthy. I love tiny little black kittens - they are the cutest things ever. Well. Except for your little tuxie. And I have a thing about orange-y ones too.... But those little black cuties need to be ok!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mommy says that she cannot imagine how you keep up with all these kittens. The new black kitties are so precious. Mom's been wanting another black kitty since she lost Thelma almost nine years ago. She knows one will come her way someday. To tell your new charges apart, how about a different color of nail polish on one or two claws of each kitty. Hope everything turns out to be okay with T.V. Stinkypants. Purrs and hugs from the kitties at The Cat on My Head, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Josette

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...