Altoona Mirror Pet Expo pictures Pt 1

The 2013 Altoona Mirror Pet Expo

Monica's Heart

Fidose of Reality

Rabbit Rescue by Virginia Walkup

Petco and Freshpet

Centre Wildlife Care

Meet the Breed with Altoona Area Kennel Association

Maddi and Wyatt

Teri and Coco in one of the five outfits she wore through out the day

OK, we are getting a little pict intensive here.. part 2 tomorrow..

Former Foster Friday - Odilia Halloween Edition

What, you thought I only took enough pictures for one post.. ha ha ha.. you are funny..

While I was with Amy, she wanted to get a picture of Odilia in a pumpkin. Two of my favorite things, how could I resist? She gave me some really lovely shot which was nice but a good part of the time she was facing the wrong way. We would turn the pumpkin and she would simply turn herself around. It was quite funny. Amy wanted to see if we could get a witch hat on her, which was a no go.

We stopped at CVS after the show (pictures tomorrow) and while there we saw the devil costume. Since Amy keeps calling Odilia "The Beast" I thought it was perfect. It was attached with two large pieces of velcro, one around the neck/chest the other around the belly, and so I figured it was going to be easy enough to get on and off with out freaking her out. We got it on her and she got very confused as to why we were laughing so hard. She knew something was different and she wasn't quite herself while it was on, but it was no more stressful to her than the first ten times I got the harness on her (time 11 she hated the harness and told me in no uncertain terms she was done wearing it). We left the costume on her just long enough to catch our breath and get a few good photos.. which again was hard since she wasn't all that into looking at the camera..

considering running away from those silly women

Smedley is in the house..

Smedley is back home with Issac Arnold again... And Verona is VERY happy about that as all day yesterday he was being a very pesky little brother and annoying her..

Smed got to see the vet and it was determined that he has some issues with sphincter control. It is always so amusing to talk to people about anal issues, because they want to be delicate and not use words like anus or fecal matter.. after 12 years I'm so over not using the right words for the matter ;)

When I dropped him off I spoke to the awesome K who has been there (on and off) since I started fostering.  She actually fostered a very young Jack before I ended up taking him home.  I explained why I thought something else was going on here and why I wanted him seen, and she agreed with me that while it very well may be coccidia causing him issues, since none of the others in the room had this going on it was something else.  The vet took a look at him and probed the area with a cotton swab and his determination is that he has some sphincter control issues.. basically what is going on is that his anus is tightly closed until he has to go poop, and he does, but that 'clench' at the end that makes the poop fall off and 'close things up again' isn't as tight as it should be.. thus the looser fecal matter that is supposed to stop and start forming the next stool isn't stopped and it leaks out for a while until it finally closes back up.

It was recommended to put him on a high fiber diet, in hopes that the fiber would 'sop up' some of the matter that was leaking, and maybe give him something to push against??   Once again they attempted to give me W/D.  Since it has carageenan in it - a known inflammatory of the bowel - I decided against it.  Knowing what the issue is will give me a chance to correct it a bit more holistically.

You are taking about my bum again aren't you?

Being at the shelter all day he didn't use the litter box, and his little colon absorbed the extra water and made things a little better just giving it time to do what it is supposed to do.  I took up all commercial food and am going to be giving them raw exclusively for a couple of days and see if that works.  If not, then I will look into adding fiber into his diet either with pumpkin or psyllium.

I will say this morning his bum looked 50-75% better than it had been.. so *knock wood* hopefully this is the last of that.

Smedley needs medical help

I have been emailing and stopping into the shelter over the past few weeks trying to get some help for Smedley.

The whole lot of kittens, and Snow, had horrific diarrhea over the weeks they have been here.  First it was near white, which all the websites say means excessive bacteria in the gut, then it was liquid and peeling paint off the walls with the stench, and tests on it showed something that looked like a thread worm, and later coccidia.  We treated with marquis paste and albon and we gave some strongid to take care of any rounds since those are uber common in kittens.  Some of the cats cleared up, some did not.  Sometimes ones that cleared up would start up again.. Another test showed negative and I wondered if they might not have the new parasite they just found, since they had all of the symptoms,  but that was summarily dismissed because they say it comes from cow urine.  I don't know where these kittens come from and have no idea if they even looked to see what their history was.  I do know Snow had another litter before she showed up here with her kittens.. but where she came from I do not know.  I also know she had some serious dietary indiscretion by what she vomited up a few days after being here.

A threadworm was discovered in Snow's stool.  No one knew how to treat it.  I kept asking, no answer was ever given. Panacur was given eventually but not after another stool sample was brought in and coccidia was found.  More marquis paste, more albon as well as probiotics, colloidal silver, and slippery elm bark as well as putting them on raw food. Issac Arnold put on weight. Health and vigor returned to everyone.

Everyone except Smedley. Well he had health and vigor, but Smed's stools went from nice looking to water to nice looking. He was pooping on the floor. His rear end would often be covered in in a foul smelling liquid and he left stains where ever he went (he wasn't alone in this but he kept it up the longest)  I finally took him in to the shelter to attempt to get a super fresh stool sample to test it to see what was going on.  He refused to give one.  I got the tylan powder.  His stools firmed up again.  I grabbed a piece of one and brought it in and was told once again they saw coccidia.

In the mean time his rear end went from normal looking to this..

10-8-13

10-22-13 (click to see enlarged images)

He HATES having his rear end looked at so this doesn't really represent what is going on there but it is close enough.  If I attempt to put anything soothing on it he flails and screams and claws and attempts to bite me - all which is so out of character for him.  I know he must be in unbearable pain.  The few times I was able to wipe it down (because it is often coated in a foul smelling liquid) I often see blood (and by wipe I mean touch a cloth to it).  He also constantly has his tail 'poofed', which to me is further evidence of how much pain he is in..

it isn't all that clear in this angle,
but the first bit up to where his ankle is is 'puffy'

When I contacted the shelter yesterday about how much pain he has, and how he really should be seen, I was emailed back reminding me he has coccidia and to keep him on the Albon for the full 14 days.  Well he has been on it since Friday, along with the Tylan (Tylosin) which he has been on longer..As you can tell his rear end is worse.  He growls at himself when he tries to groom down there.  They reminded me to bleach everything to keep him from reinfecting himself.  What I can't help but wonder if this coccidia is so darn contagious that he's re-infecting himself by being in the room with himself, why are the other three just fine? I have dealt with coccidia many many times; even had a set of kittens nearly die from it.  I've never seen it act like this..   I think there is something more going on here, and the only way to get him the help he needs is to turn him into the shelter.

At this point I do not know if I am going to get him back.  He and his siblings are all of weight.  If they intend to keep him until he is better, than there is no point in keeping Verona, Mishka and Issac Arnold.  At this point I intend to take Smed in this morning and then see what they have to say about it. I very much want to bring him back here and see him get well and give me a little more time to hopefully find someone who can not live without him and Issac Arnold..

Issac Arnold growling over his new prize

but chances are I will be returning the whole family... so this might very well be the last post about them.  My heart goes with them and they will live with in it for years to come.

Smed (laying down) Mishka, Issac Arnold and Verona

Division of cats at Casa de Gato

I own seven cats.. I used to own eight, but with the passing of Ollie, things aren't as 'even' as they used to be. We used to have four girls and four boys..  it wasn't planned, it just worked out that way.

With each subsequent adoption, kitties have generally decided if they are 'my' kitty or 'DH's' kitty.  Muffin is most definitely "MY" cat.. where Kit is beyond a shadow of a doubt "Daddy's Girl"  We have some that lean toward him, and some that lean toward me but play the field, and then there is Eli who will go to whoever will pet him and generate the most static (he is so frustrated right now because he knows static season is coming, but it just isn't here yet)

Usually, when we watch TV I generally have more cats on me than he has on him, mostly because I often have a blanket or my electric blanket is on.  I like this very much and almost never complain about it.

Last night, however, DH had all of the kitties and I had none.  At the point in time when I took the photo he had four kitties.. shortly after I took it two more kitties showed up and sat on his side of the bed.  I was starting to feel a bit like I was being given the cold shoulder for some reason..

So I went downstairs and visited kittens, and they apparently didn't get the memo to ignore me tonight and I got my purr therapy and all was right with the world :)