Please pray for stray kitty - Page 2

Thank you so much for your support everyone. I'm not really cut out for rescue, so I am truly amazed that I am able to do this, and not have my heart broken for wanting her. But I truly believe there is something bigger than me at work here. I am the vessel to save Blue, but she is meant for someone else.

I Iove this sweet little cat, and I know she was put in my path for a reason. Sure, to save her any more suffering. But I may never know the full extent of it. Just like Mazy was meant to be with me, and Jennie, and Queen Eva, and Tolly, I feel very strongly that there is a "meant to be" fate waiting for Blue.

I feel no desire to keep her. I am quite content with my little feline brood the way it is.

You know, you could even look at what I've done and am doing as self serving. I wouldn't have had a seconds rest had I left her out there. I did what I had to do when she was sent here, for her yes, but also for my own peace of mind, and MY gang's safety.

It doesn't hurt at all to know that she is not going to live out her life with me. I thought it might, but it doesn't. With Tolly, Mazy, Jennie and my dear little baby girl, I knew from the moment our eyes met that those cats were meant to be mine.

I felt crazy those four weeks after I met Queen Eva and didn't know yet if I was going to be able to bring her home where she belongs. I don't feel that with Blue. I feel sure that whatever comes, it is going to be nice for her, because I was able to rise to the challenge of saving her.

It doesn't bother me in the least to "spend all that money on a cat I will never see again". I'm just grateful I can. If I had been able to adopt her, I would have spent all this money, plus had the expense of her for the rest of her life.

I am at my limit with cats now, so Blue really isn't going to cost me much, in the long term of things, at least that's how I see it. Yes, it is a lot of money. But...Blue is worth it.

She'll be having her dental surgery this morning, and tomorrow the Shelter Manager will pick her up and take her to the shelter where she will, I truly believe, meet up with her soulmate.

Blue's surgery is over. My vet came in on her day off to do that surgery. How can I ever thank her for that.

All her teeth were extracted. My vet said her mouth was a terrible mess. Bones fused together, osteomyletis (severe bone infection) rotting teeth, and a lesion on her tongue indicating a previous injury. ( How does a cat get an injury on her tongue? I don't want to know.)

What that poor little girl must have been suffering. It breaks my heart to think of it. Some might think she would have been better off euthanized, with such serious issues. Put her out of her pain, you know? If I hadn't met her I might even have thought that myself. I am a firm believer of: 'there are worse things than a peaceful death'.

But I did meet her and a cat as sweet as she is, so sweet and friendly and loving even with the terrible pain she was in, so determined to live and spread her sweetness around, Blue surely deserves a chance at a nice life. She deserves all the love she can get, and she is one to soak up the love. I still break out into weeping when I think of how much pain she was in.

Vet wants to keep her at the hospital for a few days so they can care for her properly, and keep an eye on that bone infection. I am relieved about that, and so is my Shelter Contact. If all goes well, Shelter Contact will be picking Blue up from the vet on Tuesday morning, and then her new life can get started.

The shelter is a good one. The people who work there are loving compassionate and kind. The cats are well cared for, the place is very clean. Mazy came from there, and I had many visits there before Mazy showed up, so I am pretty familiar with the place. I've stopped in on occasion to donate cat food. I'm always greeted with a smile and gratitude and a few cats coming over to say hello. Blue will have a nice life there with the lifers, even if she never gets adopted, but I still have this feeling that there is a soulmate out there for her.

I feel so strongly that Blue will have a Meant To Be Moment and live out the rest of her life in the comfort and love she so deserves.

I will continue to update, so when you see this thread show up in your subscribed list, do have a look. Also I've been rereading the whole thread and would like to answer many posts individually, and hopefully will get to that at some point.

For now I'll just say I am grateful to all of you for your support and advice, I don't visit this forum, because I just can't bear it. Imagine my surprise finding myself posting here, I can't tell you how much your replies mean to me, all of them.

I went to visit Blue this morning! She is SO HAPPY! Eating every chance she gets, loving loving loving. My gosh even now she is so thin I don't know how she survived, and with no organ damage. But her skin is already starting to heal from the flea dermatitis, she's grooming herself and talking up a storm. She's charmed the staff at the clinic and is not lacking for love and care while there.

My vet is cautiously optimistic, there was quite a bit of bone loss where the bone infection was. And of course, there's no knowing yet if this is the kind of stomatitis that is going to come back, even after the teeth are gone, but we can pray that it won't.

Her whiskers are HUGE! LOL! I fed her a bag of whiska treats the tech gave me while I waited for my vet to come in to talk to me. I meant to bring my camera, but forgot it. I wanted to get some video of her walking around, when she moves it really shows how emaciated she still is, but it won't be long now before she fills out. She is a small cat, even smaller than Queen Eva I think.

I'll get to see her one more time, on Monday when I go in to pay the bill I'll visit with her again, and then on Tuesday morning she will be picked up by the Shelter Manager. I'll be sure to ask her to let me know if/when Blue gets adopted.

The clinic is not charging me for the boarding/hospital stay (which will total one week by the time she is released), just the dental surgery, medicines, and of course her initial visit, where she had her SNAP tests, check up and rabies vaccine and convenia shot. Whatever the final tab, it's worth every penny to me, to see this sweet beautiful happy cat free of pain and getting a chance for a loving life.

I can't stop smiling over it all.

We found out today that Blue is hyperthyroid. My vet was concerned that she is eating so voraciously and has not gained any weight, so she did an in house blood test today. 4.7 is the outer range of normal and Blue's T-4 came back 5.

I don't know what this will mean for Blue's future at the shelter. I had no way of contacting the Shelter Manager who will be picking Blue up tomorrow to let her know this latest development. (the shelter is closed on Mondays, and she, the shelter manager, was off)

My vet said she would speak to Shelter contact in the morning. Please say a prayer, or send vibes that somehow this works out all right for Blue. I can't bear the thought of getting her this far and then having to let her go. I can't take her. I have to consider the quality of life of my four (and myself) and a fifth cat is just not doable. I've been hoping someone at the vet would fall in love with her, and they all have. Many staff came up to me today to share a story about Blue. But as you can imagine, their homes are all already full, too.

Maybe the shelter has a foster network for special needs cats, I don't know. I want so much for this little cat to have a nice life. My vet is guessing she is about 10 years old, but we can't really know.

I've got some pictures I took today, just have to edit them for size. Her coat has grown in some and is very soft and thickening. But you'll see how painfully thin she still is.

Thanks for keeping Blue in your thoughts and prayers a while longer.

Here are pics I took of Blue yesterday. Her update is two posts up from this one

Skinny girl





Sweet girl





Smart girl (wanted to go back to her space, knew the door handle was the way to go)



Do you like my pretty whiskers? (she has HUGE whiskers!)



Blue is red with tabby markings on her face, tail and legs. Her Bib, Tummy and Paws are cream. Her eyes are yellow. She loves people and does not flinch at barking dogs noise coming from behind the door.

Thank you so much for all your support you guys. It just means everything to me.

update to follow

I was surprised by the belly rub offer too, but as you can see I took her up on it immediately. Tolly, Jennie and Queen Eva are very generous with their Yummy Tummies, allowing me to rub them to my hearts content, only Mazy is a big tease and loves to show off her beautiful belly but I am not to touch, ever.

My vet left me a message that Blue was picked up this morning! Vet said Shelter Manager did not seem dismayed about the hyperthyroid news and felt Blue has a good chance of finding a forever home. So..Blue's fate is out of my hands now.

It's kind of a weird...bittersweet?...feeling. In the past week I invested so much time and thought and energy into Blue...and now, just like that, it's over. I trust this shelter, I adopted Mazy from them, and they have a good sound screening process. But when I listened to the message from my vet I caught myself by surprise by bursting into tears. Partly happy tears, but a tug of pain, too, I've never been very good at letting go, which is one of the reasons I am not cut out for rescue work.

The Shelter Manager did not return my call or e mail. Perhaps, once they take an animal in, they feel no obligation to update the person who left the animal. Of course this is a different case, Blue is not a pet that I have dumped. But maybe it's just as well that I let go now and trust that I have given her the chance she needed to enjoy the rest of her life.

(I can, of course, watch the "pets for adoption" list on their website to see when she is listed, if I really need to know)

Yes, I figured it was like that. Though this is a bit different, it's not like I dumped my pet at the shelter and am laboring under a lot of guilt. I know that shelter, and Blue will be well cared for while she waits for her soul mate to bring her forever home.

Thanks for your kind words!

Thank you so much for your support and understanding. I do want to explain though that I do not feel guilty about anything.

When I mentioned guilt I was talking about the type of person who dumps their pet, then feels guilty so starts calling the shelter all the time trying to find out what is happening, after they have relinquished all right to care for that pet. I imagine that is why shelters don't follow up with animals after they enter the shelter, and I don't blame them for that.

I am thrilled that I was able to save Blue from more suffering, and give her this chance. She's an adaptable friendly cat and can adjust to just about any situation or change I think, as long as she gets lots of loving.

This is the first time I have rescued an animal that I didn't keep. As I think of the constant rain and wind and cold of the past week I can't help but feel anything but pure joy that Blue is not out in it, and is no longer suffering the mouth pain.

I am still marveling over my quick actions regarding Blue. I am not one to be decisive and think on my feet. And making phone calls just paralyzes me. And yet I made dozens of calls to vets and shelters, the radio station, the newspaper. I printed up flyers, and distributed them in an effort to find her home, though it became obvious very quickly that no one was looking for her. I was assertive to the shelter I wanted to put Blue in. I got her in to see the vet immediately and somehow found the strength of character to ask that she be kept there in the hospital, rather than putting her back outside. The money was the least of it, handing over my credit card I didn't feel a thing but enormous gratitude that I was able to to do it.

There is a little tug, that need to control what happens to her, to make sure she's okay, I think, that makes me kind of wish I could have kept her myself, but I truly did not feel a deep bonding with her, in spite of how loving she was to me, I did not feel that "meant to be" that would have made it impossible to not keep her myself.

Which is a very good thing, as I am quite happy with the four I have, and would not want to have their quality of life changed. Taking on a fifth cat, I would not have been able to afford to continue feeding them the food I am using, or take them for six month check ups any more and so on.

I wrote a much better reply in the wee hours of the morning, but the site froze and I lost it. It said what I wanted to say in a much more succinct manner, but this is the best I can do this morning!