Photo out takes - kitten style

So I took a few props down to the kitten room to get some good Christmas goodies to share with you, and I got some funny outtake photos I wanted to share with you.

One involved my putting a jingle bell fuzzy collar on The Kitten that looks like Melody.

At first Lion was NOT amused.. but then he went up to his sister and then followed her around very closely until I took the collar off..  which was not as easy as you would think as she was quite skeptical of my motives

And she was very smart to do so, as I simply had another collar to try on her..

Ok, fine, she is not going to help me out here, so we offered her something she did like..

Notice her reflection in this last one.  She actually picked the ornament up in her mouth and attempted to carry it off.. I tried so hard to get a photo of it and this was the best I could get.. especially since I was laughing..

I hope you enjoy the upcoming photos.  While no kittens were harmed in the making of them, they were freaked a little by the odd things I attempted - hey it really was good for them to be freaked out, honestly I promise..

See, he's choosing to sleep near us..

Another award for me!

I got an email when I was out of town from Beverly over at Moggiepurrs letting me know she honored me by nominating me for this award.  I know I have been given other awards in the past few months and I have missed posting them and I am deeply sorry for that.  Please do not be offended, I do really appreciate you thinking of me and my silly little blog.  I just get so overwhelmed with the 'rules' sometimes.. nominating others kinda puts me in a tissy (and I know I'm not alone in this one) as I don't want anyone to be offended by my not recognizing them, as well as the 'post so many things about you' stuff. There is only so much stuff about me to be known (if you know what I mean) 

But it has been a while, and I like Moggiepurrs and hope you stop by and visit them.

This award asks you answer ten questions..

 Ten questions to be answered:

Your favorite color …. Don't have one
Your favorite animal … Turtle (shocked you didn't I?) or Polar Bear..
Your favorite non-alcoholic drink …. Kombucha, but since that has a wee little bit of alcohol in it does it count?  I actually do not drink alcohol, so I am guessing it does.
Facebook or Twitter ….. Facebook. I don’t “get” Twitter
Your favorite pattern ….. giraffe
Do you prefer getting or giving presents? Giving
Your favorite number … 3
Your favorite day of the week … Not Tuesday
Your favorite flower …. peonies
What is your passion? ….. rescue

Guest Post - Marilyn and Swiss

I was contacted on Facebook at the beginning of November by Tania and Marilyn. They wanted me to know that seeing posts about Odilia gave them great faith when a kitten with no eyes came into the shelter. Marilyn fostered him and I asked if she would like to do a guest post about fostering.

With out further ado:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piper and Shelton. Those are the names I gave to the two kittens that started me on my path to being a cat foster mother. After two years of cleaning cages and learning how to deal with cats at the Bay Area Humane Society in Green Bay, WI, I decided to take the next big step. Those little kittens, a little boy and his sister, were adorable. I truly felt like their mother. They played with me, on me, and all around me. They climbed on my shoulders and played with my hair. My legs weren't safe. There was no problem climbing right up to my shoulders from the floor. Jeans were a wardrobe requirement when I was with them. When it was time for them to be spayed and neutered, I was at the shelter when they came out of surgery.

Three years later, I’m still fostering cats. Some are babies, too small to do well in an animal shelter. Some are sick and need some time to get better before being adopted. And then there was Tucker. At only a year old, an x-ray showed his leg had been broken and healed badly. Our vet decided to amputate the leg in order to avoid future problems when he went to his forever home. A foster home was needed for pre- and post- op, so I volunteered. Shortly after I brought him home, I found some hairless patches on him. He was tested for ringworm but after 14 days the test was inconclusive. The test was run again and this time it was negative. I spent a lot of time with Tucker in my laundry room that summer. I still spend a lot of time with him. Right now he is attempting to climb my Christmas tree. And he is succeeding because he still has all four legs. Foster fail!!

Every night before I go to bed, I check Facebook. One of the posts I particularly enjoy is Tails from the Foster Kittens. I followed the kitten named Odilia who was born without eyes. She was an amazing kitten. She could do anything a sighted kitten could do. It was like she wasn't blind at all.

Shortly after Odilia was adopted a call went out to the foster families at our shelter. A blind kitten, born without eyes, was in need of a foster home. No one answered the call. Some already had fosters, some were leaving town for the holidays. No one could take the little guy. I thought long and hard about it. And I thought about Odilia a lot. Finally I decided to foster Swiss, the little Siamese with no eyes. I started him in the laundry room where all my fosters live. Every time I put him in his crate, I set him down in his bed so he could orient himself. I left the television on 24/7 so that when he wasn't in his crate, he could use the sound of the TV to guide himself. He soon learned the sound of my voice and would follow me around the room. You would think his favorite toys would make noise so he could find them. Nope. One of his favorite toys was a shoestring!

After a week, it was time to let him leave the laundry room. As usual, he followed the sound of my voice. We went into the family room where he immediately climbed up onto the couch. Uh-oh! Getting up was one thing, but getting down was another. Since he couldn't see to judge how far he would need to jump to get to the floor, he was left pacing the edge of the couch. It took a few days but he figured it out. I don’t know how he did it, I was too busy watching a football game. But I know he didn't fall off, I would have heard that.

In the four weeks Swiss lived at my house, he learned to do everything a “normal” kitten could do, except for one thing. He still couldn't get off most of the furniture or go down the steps. But that will come. When he gets to be a big boy, the steps won’t be so far apart for him and the chairs and furniture won’t be so high. His whiskers will tell him when he gets too close to the walls and his hearing will tell him where to find the things he finds interesting. He will be just like Odilia. He’ll grow up to be strong and smart and sassy. I know he will, because I raised him that way!

Swiss is gone to his forever home now. He was adopted by a young girl who is in the process of getting her Master’s Degree in Animal Psychology. How perfect is that?! She has another cat so he now has a playmate and a buddy to show him the ropes. Her last two cats both lived to be twenty-four years old! It was the perfect adoption. But then, he’s a perfect cat. “Bye Swiss! I’ll never forget you!”

Jack, Orbax and an excessively dismissive vet..

So I went to pick up Jack last night. $1500 He apparently got two whole liters of fluids which seems like a lot to me. They also gave him some antispasmodic pills to take home and some Orbax. (antibiotic) and annoyingly they did not wipe him down and sent him home COVERED in blood.. His belly (seen below) his tail, his legs, his front leg and his chest and mane.. I was NOT pleased..

This is the first time he has been given these meds, and I know it is a very new drug and know nothing about it so I read over the packaging to see a) if it needed to be refrigerated and b) to learn about it.

I called the clinic and asked the receptionist if it needed to be refrigerated. She said no. I said the packaging said it was for abscesses and skin issues, and so why was it prescribed for Jack? and that she could not answer so she transferred me to the vet on duty (who has been 'doing this for 30 years' - can you tell this conversation didn't go well?)

I started out by telling him that Jack came home covered in blood.. which he half apologized for and said that shouldn't have happened.. and then I started asking him about Orbax.

As I said, I know nothing about it. I wanted to know what he knew about it.

He said they prescribe it because they have better luck with it. I asked what this better luck means. I asked if he knew of any information I could read about it and he referred me to the web and told me to go to the manufacturer website. I asked him why he prescribed this over clavamox, and he said it was more broad spectrum and clavamox was "basically useless" these days, "or so some say" meaning he immediately started back peddling right after the words were out of his mouth. I tried to explain that I strongly preferred to give medications that had been around a while due to the known side effects and the Orbax insert says it can have adverse reactions with the retina. This means this drug can cause blindness. Clavamox does not cause blindness. Clavamox might cause diarrhea or an 'allergic reaction'.. and Jack is not allergic. I talked to him about risk vs benefit, and he believes the benefit of Orbax are worth it, and every drug comes with side effects but he could not point me to anyone, but the company making money off it, as to why.

And they are using it off label. It is not approved for this.

Veterinarians routinely use drugs “off label.” When a company wants Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a new medication, it has to prove that the product is both safe and efficacious. The approval process is long, complicated, and expensive. To simplify matters the company typically picks the most prevalent (lucrative) condition that the drug could be used to treat and runs with it.

Once the medication is on the market, veterinarians start thinking outside the box. With knowledge of the drug’s mechanism of action, the physiology of veterinary patients, and how related compounds are used, doctors will try it for other conditions. source (but it has pop ups)

So instead of testing something to make sure it works for what they are using it for, they test just one thing (in this case skin issues/abscesses) and let the vets make your pet their guinea pig while they try it out and see if it works. I told him I do not trust the manufactures, due to what is going on with Metacam and Covenia to which he interrupted me and basically said wait what? and he 'hadn't heard of side effects with Covenia' I said that it kills cats by killing all of the bacteria in the gut and since it has such a long half life that fighting it is near impossible, to which he immediately got defensive and said you can't believe what you read on the internet.

That got me. That set me right off. There are many vets.. VETS.. who believe Convenia is dangerous. There are pet owners who have watched their pets die from it, or nearly die from it that I know of. If he hasn't heard of any negative side effects with the drug than he isn't paying attention.. and I told him as such. I harped on it, and he admitted that he had heard of it but it was all 'anecdotal' - like his anecdotal evidence that clavamox was useless (which I did not say) not to mention that the chance of dying from clavamox is well.. no one is making websites to warn people about that risk..

You do NOT get dismissive of "the internet" with me and get to get away with it. Yes, there is a lot of information out there that is junk and if not insane, but to dismiss ANYTHING read off the internet simply because it came off the internet - especially in this day and age.

So I continued to explain why. I gave examples after examples until I actually heard his eyes roll, and then looped back around to the Orbax and said look, I'm sure you are feeling attacked right now, and that was not my intention. I want to know why YOU think this is better.. and he said he has been using it for a few years and it was broad spectrum and it works 'better' but could not really give me a reason why it was 'better' - which sounded so much like a sales person pitch that it took everything for me to not bang the phone against the wall. But really what it came down to was compliance. He wanted to make sure the cat was getting the medicine (because that is SUPER important. If you are EVER prescribed antibiotics, you have to give ALL of them) and a once a day med that apparently tastes OK has better compliance. I nearly hit my head against the wall, and said I can pill a cat and I was NEVER ASKED if I might have an issue pilling a cat. Seriously it takes half a second to ASK THE CLIENT if they have any issue pilling a cat... Guess vets are sick of having that conversation - or maybe the sales people who pitch these 'convenient' drugs tell the vet that they can avoid having that conversation (and sell a MUCH more expensive drug and thus make bigger profit) all together..

then..



wait for it..



he tells me to stop feeding raw food..




(moment of silence while you picture me banging the phone upside his virtual head)




and yes. I went off on him. I told him EXACTLY why C/D 'works' and how filling a food full of plant based ingredients that cause the urine to become alkaline and then sticking a low quality acidifier (DL-Methionine) in to balance it out was pretty much equivalent to giving a diabetic human a cookie and then giving insulin, and how I was NOT going to do that..

I have so much evidence and research and scores of vets on my side on this - including my own holistic vet that is also recommending raw and staying away from plant based ingredients for an obligate carnivore.. (and I'm not linking them here.. I'm tired and I want to get this post scheduled, but if you are new to this blog and haven't seen me linking them before, start off at catinfo.org and feline-nutrition.org )

So this vet who has been "doing this for 30 years" (which means practicing medicine, not researching urinary issues in cats - which I have been doing for 5-8 years) ... well lets just say I didn't hang up on him but darn I was close..

I doubt I made any impact on him, but wouldn't it be nice if I did.. if maybe he read the ingredient label of the food he was shelling out.. or looked for the research on this med on his own so he can share that with that 1% of people who might ask..

*

Update: Yes, I did decide to give the meds mostly because I knew they would not be refunding me for it if I refused it. I did reading on it from several trusted sources and the consensus seems to be at this point it is safe enough.. on par with Baytril if I needed to get a comparison for you (which also has the warning about retina). I got the meds out and wasn't I ticked off even more since I have to give the other pill TWICE a day, so telling me that I only need to give the antibiotic once a day argument goes right out the window. I have to pill already, I have to do it twice a day already.. so (insert frustrated reaction here) Seriously, what is the rational logic on this one?

When I did give him the pill I noticed that he has a fat lip. I AM PISSED! (oh and it gets better) and so I gingerly gave the pill and then I gave the antibiotic and he immediately started foaming at the mouth and running from me!! Yup, I am beyond frustrated and angry and plain ol mad. This med is supposed to mask the antibiotic taste and make compliance easy.. *headdesk*

Any wonder why I am having a hard time finding a vet..

Heading home

Leaving is bitter sweet..

I am sorry that plans had to be abandoned due to what was going on at home, and I spent a good portion of this nice relaxing trip stressed out of my gourd, so extra time would be really nice..

But boy do I want to be home.

Jack is doing well and should be able to be released by the time I get home late this afternoon..providing that the storm entering the area does not delay me..

4-7 more inches on top of the four and a half we already have. Sigh. Winter in Maine I guess I should just so complaining..

I'm doing my best to convince Lowenstein to come home with me, he is totally not buying it..

Kiss your kitties today and hug them a smidge tighter than cat rules permit and smile that you can