Tuesday, January 5, 2010
grrr
I hate seeing pregnant cats on PetFinder. I am becoming such a girl - but it always just completely breaks my heart.
Monday, December 21, 2009
back!
I have been watching some little guys from THS for Heather for the last little bit. Only one has been given a much deserved name - Sneezy. They're about 3 months old, and all kinds of variations of black and white. All are in great shape, except for Sneezy.
Of course Sneezy has to be the most ridiculously friendly kitten ever. He is generally always on my neck, or chest, or curled up in my lap. Unfortunately, as soon as you sit down, he likes to walk right up to your face, snuggle into you, and then look directly into your eyes and sneeze goo every which way.
I had a quick trip to Montreal, and came home to find three very "attention starved" kittens. So, there was definitely a point earlier when I had 2 kittens on either of my shoulders and a third in my lap.
While I was in Montreal, we went to the mall. Of course, there was a pet store. Of course, I "had" to go in. I don't just like cats, I like everything! I love to watch birds, and I can lose myself for a good while in a pet shop with a decent aquarium section. Much to my heartbreak, however, I discovered that they sold puppies and kittens there. What the hell! I can't remember the last time I went into a store that sold kittens and puppies. This...really bothered me. A Himalayan kitten for $600. $600!?! Who wants to pay that much for a cat, really. It blows my mind that cats can and do sell for that when you could instead rescue a gorgeous purebred for next to nothing.
Somehow this came up a little while ago, and I found myself at the Pj's Pet website. I did laugh in a way, because their "meet a breeder" video really only, in my opinion, hurts them more than it's attempt at helping. "Why did I get into it? To make some money from home." *Cringe*. Not to mention the video shows one woman breeding about four different breeds. So much for genetic variation and attempts to adhere to a breed standard! I don't know, it just blows my mind. I just wanted to scream at someone when I was in the store.
So much for an eloquent post!
Of course Sneezy has to be the most ridiculously friendly kitten ever. He is generally always on my neck, or chest, or curled up in my lap. Unfortunately, as soon as you sit down, he likes to walk right up to your face, snuggle into you, and then look directly into your eyes and sneeze goo every which way.
I had a quick trip to Montreal, and came home to find three very "attention starved" kittens. So, there was definitely a point earlier when I had 2 kittens on either of my shoulders and a third in my lap.
While I was in Montreal, we went to the mall. Of course, there was a pet store. Of course, I "had" to go in. I don't just like cats, I like everything! I love to watch birds, and I can lose myself for a good while in a pet shop with a decent aquarium section. Much to my heartbreak, however, I discovered that they sold puppies and kittens there. What the hell! I can't remember the last time I went into a store that sold kittens and puppies. This...really bothered me. A Himalayan kitten for $600. $600!?! Who wants to pay that much for a cat, really. It blows my mind that cats can and do sell for that when you could instead rescue a gorgeous purebred for next to nothing.
Somehow this came up a little while ago, and I found myself at the Pj's Pet website. I did laugh in a way, because their "meet a breeder" video really only, in my opinion, hurts them more than it's attempt at helping. "Why did I get into it? To make some money from home." *Cringe*. Not to mention the video shows one woman breeding about four different breeds. So much for genetic variation and attempts to adhere to a breed standard! I don't know, it just blows my mind. I just wanted to scream at someone when I was in the store.
So much for an eloquent post!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
an absence
I haven't written in a while. For the last 2 weeks, I have been foster cat free. Piglet, Chai and Adeline all went to a store while I was on vacation, and much to my surprise and heartache, both Piglet and Chai were adopted very quickly. Adeline and Chico are my only unadopted cats, but they're both not with me anymore.
The last two months...really sucked. A lot. I didn't know what to say or how to say it...I joked to Heather about two months ago, that my kitten mortality rate was ubsurdly high - something like 40%, and I wanted to just have a nice time for once where no bad things happened. My cats are always insane for some reason it seems...even Chai ended up having a blocked nipple at one point that required a vet trip. I always say that I have terrible luck, and if anything, the last two months...kind of show it even more.
First there was Bart and Emmett...and then Chai, she had five little kittens, and only Mist survived. She nursed another five orphaned kittens, and I lost one of those ones too. Then there was Cloud & Chico, and Flip and Chloe and Samba, and they were all healthy...although I couldn't make Chloe and Samba come around to me (they were feral), luckily Heather coaxed Chloe out of her shell, but Samba had to be adopted to a farm.
I took Destiny from Heather at this point, and she was SO tiny and weak, but Heather said that after all she'd fought through, she wasn't worried about her dying. 12hours later with me, of course, she was dead.
So, after the whole Chai ordeal, Heather brought me a nice FAT grey girl named Adeline who was pregnant. She had been at the shelter forever, she had no URI, everything was supposed to be great.
She ended up amazing us with only three kittens, one was healthy, one was born with no anus, and the third was born with some of his organs outside of his body - he of course died almost right away. The second was euthanised by a vet, and the first suddenly died a day or two later.
So, that didn't go as planned.
Barrett and Piglet were my last kittens at that time, and that group of orphaned kittens had had terrible luck - an eye infection that kept going around etc etc. Every time they were supposed to go to the store, someone would get sick, they'd be quarantined, it would be passed around...it really happened at least twice. Then of course, the night Piglet was supposed to go to the store the third time...Barrett suddenly died. Quarantine again. After what happened later, I really suspect Barrett died of distemper. He went from fine to dead in a course of about 24hours. He declined so rapidly; lethary, loss of apetite and what I thought was diarrhea, but was actually the vomitting of some thick, orange liquid. I have no idea how he would have gotten distemper, though. He and Piglet were both about 2.5 months old, and other than Adeline who was quarantined the whole time, I hadn't brought any new cats in. Piglet never got sick, either...just Barrett.
I decided to get back on the horse, and fostered this gorgeous calico DMH named Deirdre, with 6 beautiful newborn kittens. I also knew Piglet was going back to the store after his quarantine period ended, and I brought home another 4 adorable DLH kittens.
I still think about that group sometimes, and I want to burst into tears. They were all so adorable and sweet, and I feel like what happened was my fault.
About two or three days later, the kittens started getting sick. Within 2 days, they were desperately ill. That morning I walked in and saw that Deirdre hadn't eaten her food, and I saw her vomiting the orange fluid. One of the kittens died in my arms the night before they went to the vet. The next morning, before I could get to my appointment, another one died.
Deirdre peed and vomited all of her kittens in the crate on the way to the vet. A third kitten was euthanized, and the vet elected to keep Deirdre and the 4th kitten under supervision there.
I wandered home with 6 very hungry kittens. I fed them every two hours for two days. The vet called the next day and told me that Deirdre and the 4th kitten, who I was in love with and had named Winston, were euthanized. Over the next 2days, the kittens all slowly started to get sick and died one after the other. &these were terrible deaths; they all followed the same course, progressing levels of weakness...I would walk into the room and see them all at X stage, and know "this one will die tomorrow, this one in an hour, this one by this evening".
In 3 days, I lost 11 cats. 3 gorgeous cats that had days before been energetic and seemingly healthy. &I can't help but feel like it's my fault. Maybe Barrett had died from distemper, and then I brought all these little angels into a nightmare. Maybe if not, had I changed my clothes, been more careful, I could have stopped the spread from the four kittnes to Deirdre and her babies at least.
Out of 30 cats I have fostered, I have lost 18. Honestly, I'm a little paranod people think I have Munchhausen by proxy, and I'm killing them on purpose.
The last two months...really sucked. A lot. I didn't know what to say or how to say it...I joked to Heather about two months ago, that my kitten mortality rate was ubsurdly high - something like 40%, and I wanted to just have a nice time for once where no bad things happened. My cats are always insane for some reason it seems...even Chai ended up having a blocked nipple at one point that required a vet trip. I always say that I have terrible luck, and if anything, the last two months...kind of show it even more.
First there was Bart and Emmett...and then Chai, she had five little kittens, and only Mist survived. She nursed another five orphaned kittens, and I lost one of those ones too. Then there was Cloud & Chico, and Flip and Chloe and Samba, and they were all healthy...although I couldn't make Chloe and Samba come around to me (they were feral), luckily Heather coaxed Chloe out of her shell, but Samba had to be adopted to a farm.
I took Destiny from Heather at this point, and she was SO tiny and weak, but Heather said that after all she'd fought through, she wasn't worried about her dying. 12hours later with me, of course, she was dead.
So, after the whole Chai ordeal, Heather brought me a nice FAT grey girl named Adeline who was pregnant. She had been at the shelter forever, she had no URI, everything was supposed to be great.
She ended up amazing us with only three kittens, one was healthy, one was born with no anus, and the third was born with some of his organs outside of his body - he of course died almost right away. The second was euthanised by a vet, and the first suddenly died a day or two later.
So, that didn't go as planned.
Barrett and Piglet were my last kittens at that time, and that group of orphaned kittens had had terrible luck - an eye infection that kept going around etc etc. Every time they were supposed to go to the store, someone would get sick, they'd be quarantined, it would be passed around...it really happened at least twice. Then of course, the night Piglet was supposed to go to the store the third time...Barrett suddenly died. Quarantine again. After what happened later, I really suspect Barrett died of distemper. He went from fine to dead in a course of about 24hours. He declined so rapidly; lethary, loss of apetite and what I thought was diarrhea, but was actually the vomitting of some thick, orange liquid. I have no idea how he would have gotten distemper, though. He and Piglet were both about 2.5 months old, and other than Adeline who was quarantined the whole time, I hadn't brought any new cats in. Piglet never got sick, either...just Barrett.
I decided to get back on the horse, and fostered this gorgeous calico DMH named Deirdre, with 6 beautiful newborn kittens. I also knew Piglet was going back to the store after his quarantine period ended, and I brought home another 4 adorable DLH kittens.
I still think about that group sometimes, and I want to burst into tears. They were all so adorable and sweet, and I feel like what happened was my fault.
About two or three days later, the kittens started getting sick. Within 2 days, they were desperately ill. That morning I walked in and saw that Deirdre hadn't eaten her food, and I saw her vomiting the orange fluid. One of the kittens died in my arms the night before they went to the vet. The next morning, before I could get to my appointment, another one died.
Deirdre peed and vomited all of her kittens in the crate on the way to the vet. A third kitten was euthanized, and the vet elected to keep Deirdre and the 4th kitten under supervision there.
I wandered home with 6 very hungry kittens. I fed them every two hours for two days. The vet called the next day and told me that Deirdre and the 4th kitten, who I was in love with and had named Winston, were euthanized. Over the next 2days, the kittens all slowly started to get sick and died one after the other. &these were terrible deaths; they all followed the same course, progressing levels of weakness...I would walk into the room and see them all at X stage, and know "this one will die tomorrow, this one in an hour, this one by this evening".
In 3 days, I lost 11 cats. 3 gorgeous cats that had days before been energetic and seemingly healthy. &I can't help but feel like it's my fault. Maybe Barrett had died from distemper, and then I brought all these little angels into a nightmare. Maybe if not, had I changed my clothes, been more careful, I could have stopped the spread from the four kittnes to Deirdre and her babies at least.
Out of 30 cats I have fostered, I have lost 18. Honestly, I'm a little paranod people think I have Munchhausen by proxy, and I'm killing them on purpose.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Here we go again
See subject :P.
Mist was readopted by the same family :). I am left just really mad at the vet for telling them to google this horrible disease she *might* have had. Who does that? When was the last time you went to a doctor, and they're like "a cough? It's probably nothing, but google lung cancer"?. Ridiculous.
The other kittens are almost over their colds & eye infections. Thank god the eye infections are done with, because boy were they brutal. Like, terribly brutal. I kept worrying kittens were going to go blind based on the insane inflammation. It was crazy - basically the eyelids had swollen to 3x the size. There's a little goo left on Barrett and Piglet, but everything has returned to normal size. No more swollen shut business.
I wish I would see that Chico had been adopted :(.
Mist was readopted by the same family :). I am left just really mad at the vet for telling them to google this horrible disease she *might* have had. Who does that? When was the last time you went to a doctor, and they're like "a cough? It's probably nothing, but google lung cancer"?. Ridiculous.
The other kittens are almost over their colds & eye infections. Thank god the eye infections are done with, because boy were they brutal. Like, terribly brutal. I kept worrying kittens were going to go blind based on the insane inflammation. It was crazy - basically the eyelids had swollen to 3x the size. There's a little goo left on Barrett and Piglet, but everything has returned to normal size. No more swollen shut business.
I wish I would see that Chico had been adopted :(.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Ugh
I am not going to write about Destiny. I'm really upset about it.
Anyway, Mist was returned.
It's a long story.
Basically, a few days after she was adopted, she developed some sort of bumps on her ear.
Her new family took her to the vet and gave her some surolan. Less than 2days later, the bumps hadn't disappeared, and they took her back. From what I know, they were told the bumps could be either a reaction to earmite treatment (she was given Revolution a few days before she was adopted), or some autoimmune condition. Heather suggested it might also be a reaction to flea bites, and when I had originally heard he symptoms, it sounded to me like maybe she'd just scratched her ear too vigorously.
Anyway, they wanted to return her. &they kind of laid a bit of guilt on me...she told me how her daughter was heartbroken and had been crying all day, and she wanted to talk to Fern (which, I can only guess means complain). They were told it would take a $400 biopsy to confirm, or they could wait two weeks. They chose to exchange her for another kitten.
So, I'm pretty pissed. Because guess fucking what. Less than 24h later, the scab on her ear is gone, and try as I might, I can't see any wound or feel any alleged bump. At least it took her about 30s to lie down and try to nurse from Chai. &omg, she is being such a little sweetheart.
But I am a little pissed that this woman who could apparently not wait 2 days to see Mist, also could not wait more than 36 hours for her ear to clear up, and could not wait 2 weeks to see if she'd be all right...nor could they wait one day to get a new kitten.
Anyway, Mist was returned.
It's a long story.
Basically, a few days after she was adopted, she developed some sort of bumps on her ear.
Her new family took her to the vet and gave her some surolan. Less than 2days later, the bumps hadn't disappeared, and they took her back. From what I know, they were told the bumps could be either a reaction to earmite treatment (she was given Revolution a few days before she was adopted), or some autoimmune condition. Heather suggested it might also be a reaction to flea bites, and when I had originally heard he symptoms, it sounded to me like maybe she'd just scratched her ear too vigorously.
Anyway, they wanted to return her. &they kind of laid a bit of guilt on me...she told me how her daughter was heartbroken and had been crying all day, and she wanted to talk to Fern (which, I can only guess means complain). They were told it would take a $400 biopsy to confirm, or they could wait two weeks. They chose to exchange her for another kitten.
So, I'm pretty pissed. Because guess fucking what. Less than 24h later, the scab on her ear is gone, and try as I might, I can't see any wound or feel any alleged bump. At least it took her about 30s to lie down and try to nurse from Chai. &omg, she is being such a little sweetheart.
But I am a little pissed that this woman who could apparently not wait 2 days to see Mist, also could not wait more than 36 hours for her ear to clear up, and could not wait 2 weeks to see if she'd be all right...nor could they wait one day to get a new kitten.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Heartache/The great kitten swap
So, I went to Montreal this weekend passed. I was checking my e-mail, and I saw one named "don't cry when you see the adopted cats list...". Heather had, apparently catnapped and adopted out Mist while I was away. I knew I was attached to her, but I really never expected it to hurt so much. :(
Anyway, before I'd left I'd spoken to Heather about the possibility of trading kittens. Chloe had never really come around, and I didn't think there was much more I could do for her - maybe a fresh perspective and effort could ease her out of her shell?
Heather agreed to take her, and now I find myself welcoming Baxter and Destiny into my home. What a little angel - seriously, reading her story the first time almost brought me to tears, and now I am nursing this little gem in my lap. Unfortunately, she seems to have a URI much like Juliette and Piglet have developed. At least feeding medication 3x vs 2x is not much more work :P
Anyway, before I'd left I'd spoken to Heather about the possibility of trading kittens. Chloe had never really come around, and I didn't think there was much more I could do for her - maybe a fresh perspective and effort could ease her out of her shell?
Heather agreed to take her, and now I find myself welcoming Baxter and Destiny into my home. What a little angel - seriously, reading her story the first time almost brought me to tears, and now I am nursing this little gem in my lap. Unfortunately, she seems to have a URI much like Juliette and Piglet have developed. At least feeding medication 3x vs 2x is not much more work :P
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Attack of the Killer Kittens (aka read if you like loading times)
Mist being silly.The short of it:
Cloud was adopted.
Chico was moved to another foster home while I was away, Mr. Attention did not enjoy the store.
I have to submit Flip's bio tonight.
Ashes has a gooey eye.
The long of it:
First, cute photos!!
Mist!
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