Neutering didn't go quite as planned

Generally the kittens are neutered with little to no complications.  This time was slightly different.  At this point the kittens are fine, eating and walking about the kitten room, but I will be keeping an eye on them just in case..

I dropped them off Thursday morning and they spent the day at the shelter.  I got an email at 4:30 telling me they were all set and ready to go.  The kitten formerly known as Blue Eye that is now Penelope had a slight complication.  She was missing the uterine horn on one side. The vet had to expand the incision to find the ovary, so she has a much larger incision and was probably under a bit longer to make sure it was done right.

Image from Pet Informed.
Well done page with lots of info on spaying, may be TMI for a casual pet owner

I went and got them after work and brought them home. I cleaned up the room, put some food down, then opened up the carrier and took them out one by one to give them a once over so I would know how things looked like when they were done. This way I would know where we started from to be able to tell if things were healing or having problems. Penelope was first.

The incision for a normal kitten spay is often 1/3 this long..

I was able to check over the boys next.  no photos of those because they were squirmy and the area is much smaller and it is really hard to get good photos so I didn't even try.  They looked great though.  Lion was nicked with the shaver when they shaved his back and rear end when he was turned into the shelter, and I could tell it healed up very nicely; you can't even tell it happened.

I then reached in and pulled out the little long haired black girl.

Her incision looks great.  It is in the bottom 1/3 of the photo and is a little hard to see. Unfortunately this is the best photo, as she was also squirmy and not very happy about being held.  She also had something on her back feet that looked like a pinkish beige. I took a sniff of it and it didn't smell like diarrhea, but I looked at her rear end anyway and there was nothing there.  I put her down and let her run off because I knew that was what she REALLY wanted, and investigated the padding she was on.  It looks and smells a bit like she urinated, and it looks like there might have been a little blood in the urine.  I am concerned, but not panicked. She walked around just fine, was very interested in food and was eating well.  I will report it to the shelter just as an FYI unless something changes.

But I will be keeping a very close eye on her much to her dismay. At this point she has no where to go so sitting around at Casa de Gato is the only thing on her to-do list.  Penelope has found herself a home and Mr. Crazy Pants (they are thinking Norman) has also called out to someone and has himself a home.

Wouldn't it be nice if our little Lion would call to someone as well??

My first photoshop cloning experiment 

Kitten Glamour Shots (sorta)

Apparently someone felt the need to clean her plate with her face.. 

Wordless Wednesday - Play!

Humans plan, Kittens laugh

As you may know I like to cage foster scared kittens.  It makes me something good and interesting when I show up, because I bring food and I bring the ability to get out of the cage and play.  These kittens are a little old to be locked four to a cage, so I thought I'd try leaving them out for the night after we had a recent visitor.  But to do that I needed to make sure that I had access to them.  Nothing ruins a whole days worth of work faster than having to chase a kitten to put your hands on it, so we blocked off the ability to get under the couch..

or so we thought.. remember this photo?

So despite it being pushed up against the wall and blocked the best we could, they found a way to get under the couch.. *headpalm*

However, when I went in the room to give them breakfast, each one of them came out on their own, walked up to me and told me off for breakfast being so late.. Which means they aren't going to be locked back in the cage.. thankgoodness..

Two major ways to win a kitten over, food and  play.. today we tackle food with left over thanksgiving turkey.

Our little lion is so food motivated he forgot how big and scary I am, and even licked my fingers.  Crazy pants and blue eye (yes yes I know.. names.. ) aren't food motivated. They ate some turkey because they were hungry, but they were "meh" about it.  The black fluffy kitten still really has no use for me. She was interested in the turkey, but shied away from me when I tried to offer it to her. I was able to pat her a couple of times which was nice.

I'm going to try to get them in to be neutered soon. Another experience and then coming home to where they will feel safe will help them adjust and I would rather do that sooner then wait..

Adoption Story - Issac Arnold and Smedley

I want to start off by thanking everyone who shared Issac Arnold and Smedley in an attempts to help find them a home.  It was a direct result of one of those shares that connected them to Anne.  Anne fell in love and the rest, as the old saying goes, is history.

She needed to make her home ready for two young rambunctious kittens so I got to hold on to them for a wee bit longer and I was OK with that.  What is not to love about two kittens with motor engine purrs who adore sitting on a person... I spent as much time with them as I could to soak up all they had to offer and sadly, as a result, some of my other obligations became a bit neglected, but I do think it was worth it. :)

Anne came up from Connecticut to Maine a nearly 3-hour drive to adopt them.  She asked me if they passed and I would let her adopt, to which I said anyone who is willing to drive three hours to adopt (and pay the adoption fee) kittens was head and shoulders ahead in my book.. not to mention special needs kittens - which these two definitely are with their food restrictions..

It was rather an interesting experience because even when I opened the door, as I invited her and her mother to meet them before going to adopt them, I had this feeling I had met her before. That feeling only grew as we spent time together.  Even her mother gave me the feeling we had known each other for quite some time.

The boys weren't immediately drawn to them, but they very quickly got used to them and in no short order were crawling into Anne's lap and rubbing against Janet's ankles. Decisions were confirmed and we packed up the boys and brought them over to the shelter to make it official.

Yes, I sobbed on the way over there.. and yes I sobbed on the way home, but I KNOW it was the right thing.. It took no time at all for the boys to acclimate to their new homes (see above) and absolutely everybody is smitten with everybody else.

Fortunately, I had a great distraction when I got home.  The fluffkins needed to get out of the bathroom so I took them down to the kitten room and they initially freaked out and then calmed right down.

They were so happy to have room to run and run they did and did not stop.  I was fearful of the two not pictured above would hide under the couch and I'd never see them again so we blocked it off.. someone wasn't happy with that..

I have a will, I will FIND a way.. 

Little Miss Blue-eye has an odd issue going on.  The fur under her chin is matting daily.  I comb it out and smooth it down and the next time I go in it is all matted up again. In getting the mats taken care of her little neck is going bald.. I have a feeling it is from poor nutrition prior to coming here, but I can't know that. She is a little thin and a little boney so it makes sense.  I'm just hoping that once all of her fur starts growing back in she doesn't have this issue.  Fortunately, she doesn't mind being groomed at all.

It looks like two of our little fluffkins have already found themselves a home.  So more adoption stories will be forthcoming in the coming weeks..