I'm sorry I don't have new pics, but I thought I'd bring y'all up to date on how she's doing, because I know there are a few people out there keeping track of her story.
First of all, Gary and I had to go be with my mom during her surgery. We left at the end of September and got back last Tuesday. Because of various circumstances in our living situation, we had to put the cats in boarding while we were gone. Our new Vet has lovely facilities - completely separate from the hospital facility and completely separate from dogs, and they have a really dedicated staff. (Personally I think we're lucky to have come back from our trip and made it home with Flowerbelle! Three of the staff, when they saw us, all made jokes about having to run home to get her for us, LOL!)
She had the stitches out from her second eye surgery while we were gone. Her eye has healed up, though it still "goos" a bit. We have to work to keep it clean. She's no longer in any kind of pain, though her cornea does appear to be scratched. The Doc thinks she has limited sight out of the eye. He says after a few months we can consider cornea replacement perhaps, but we shouldn't bother seeing the eye specialists until some time has gone by (her growing and all).
The question of her age is much closer to being answered. She did gain weight while she was there, and she weighs a grand total of just over three pounds now.
BUT - also while she was there, her - what do they call them? The canine teeth? The pointy ones... anyway, she's got her adult ones now, so she's somewhere between four and six months, most likely five. She should weigh about twice what she does. I can't imagine this little teeny thing going into heat. Had she even survived this long outside (which she wouldn't have), she would never have survived being pregnant. I just don't see how. BUT - we don't have to worry about that now.
Instead of bringing her home, we would have let her stay to be spayed, but she developed an upper respiratory illness while there
, so we're going to wait until several weeks after the URI has cleared up.
Apparently because of the damage to her lungs she'll be prone to this. She's on Cefa drops now. She wheezes and sneezes, but the pneumonia and previous bacterial infection were all cleared up. Although her ragged breathing worries us, Doc said as long as she's sneezing and not coughing, we're not to worry (too much).
Flowerbelle has no more parasites.
However, due to the incompetence of our former vet, Spooky and Lazlo did get roundworm from her. While in boarding at the vet, we prearranged vet visits for all the kids. Lazlo and Tuxedo were clean (*phew*). Lazlo and Spooky were treated while there. We'll make sure by taking "samples" in next week.
Flowerbelle tires easily, but she is doing GREAT!
AND........ she's no longer confined to the bathroom at night or when we leave! They were all so close to being completely integrated just before we left, we weren't sure what was going to happen when we got back. Lazlo and Spooky stayed together, and Sheldon and Tuxedo stayed together, and Flowerbelle, before the URI, spent time with each set, though slept in her own area.
So when we got back home, we just let everyone out. They were SO GLAD to be home!!!!! It was a purrfest in here for several days. They all sniffed each other, checked out the whole house - and treated Flowerbelle like she was a normal part of the gang.
She and Tuxedo play like crazy. He's only gotten too rough with her once, and when she started squealing, he let her go before we shouted out. They LOVE to play hide and seek (or dodge and seek is more like it
).
But the first night Flowerbelle spent out of the bathroom, we realized the next morning, was the first night she'd ever spent with people. She LOVED it, and she was all over us.
I swear, she is the perfect kitty. She plays like a kitty, she does the cutest things and romps around - but she sleeps all night with us, she loves cuddles - she never seems to get jealous or grumpy (like all the rest of the gang except Tuxedo, who, although he doesn't seem to get jealous or grumpy, he doesn't ever sleep in the bedroom when we're in there).
I don't know how I wound up on my back, because I don't sleep on my back (which is probably why I woke up) - but I woke up this morning with Flowerbelle asleep on my chest, her feet reaching out and resting on my chin.
The night before last, I woke up in the middle of the night, and she was laying on Gary's pillow, with her body going up over the side of his head, and her chin on her paws near his ear. They were both sound asleep, and it was the cutest thing! My moving around woke her up, and she got up, sleepily got up and walked over the side of his face, down is arm and curled up on his hip.
He LOVES that we have such a cuddly kitty! Our other kids love pets and brushes - but they're not really "lap" cats per se and none of them sleep with us in the bed. Shelly comes in around 4:00am for 20 minutes - 1/2 an hour or so for pets and lies there. But this little girl - when she's tired, she crawls right up onto one of our laps. And when we're going to sleep, Gary can pick her up, tuck her in under his arm, and she'll just snuggle in, purring and trilling.
It is really so rewarding to have such a happy cat that just loves the attention and snuggling. This is a pretty new experience for us, and we're loving it.
When she feels all better she's going to be a handful though, that's for sure. Even sick, though she doesn't play for long, she plays hard - and she is FAST. She zings and zips around here. I will not be at all surprised if this teeny little girl ends up as our alpha. As it is, she sits all the way up on her haunches, grabs both arms out around the other cats' necks - and HANGS ON as they try to just walk away. It is hysterical. It looks like she's trying to ride them or something!
Spooky did kind of attack her today. Spook sleeps on a sheepskin on my bedside table, and stopped for pets on the bed on her way out of the bedroom. Flowerbelle came bounding in and bounced into Gary's lap. I was petting Spooky - who was eyeing Flowerbelle.
Gary had to get up to get ready to head out, and placed Flowerbelle at the end of the bed. Spook kept eyeing her, but was purring while I petted her. When I got up to go, Spooky just walked over to Flowerbelle, grabbed her around the neck and grabbed her by the scruff. I don't know if she would have bit her to draw blood if I didn't clap my hands real loud to get her to stop, but that was worrisome. It's the first time I've seen Spooky do anything other than just bat at her. And even that she hasn't done much of since they all got back. Spook and Flowerbelle were even playing together last night for a few minutes, so go figure.
Anyway, as a result I got out of having to go to the customer BBQ today. I have to stay home so Gary doesn't worry about Flowerbelle. Now THAT's a job I sure don't mind.
First of all, Gary and I had to go be with my mom during her surgery. We left at the end of September and got back last Tuesday. Because of various circumstances in our living situation, we had to put the cats in boarding while we were gone. Our new Vet has lovely facilities - completely separate from the hospital facility and completely separate from dogs, and they have a really dedicated staff. (Personally I think we're lucky to have come back from our trip and made it home with Flowerbelle! Three of the staff, when they saw us, all made jokes about having to run home to get her for us, LOL!)
She had the stitches out from her second eye surgery while we were gone. Her eye has healed up, though it still "goos" a bit. We have to work to keep it clean. She's no longer in any kind of pain, though her cornea does appear to be scratched. The Doc thinks she has limited sight out of the eye. He says after a few months we can consider cornea replacement perhaps, but we shouldn't bother seeing the eye specialists until some time has gone by (her growing and all).
The question of her age is much closer to being answered. She did gain weight while she was there, and she weighs a grand total of just over three pounds now.
Apparently because of the damage to her lungs she'll be prone to this. She's on Cefa drops now. She wheezes and sneezes, but the pneumonia and previous bacterial infection were all cleared up. Although her ragged breathing worries us, Doc said as long as she's sneezing and not coughing, we're not to worry (too much).
Flowerbelle has no more parasites.
However, due to the incompetence of our former vet, Spooky and Lazlo did get roundworm from her. While in boarding at the vet, we prearranged vet visits for all the kids. Lazlo and Tuxedo were clean (*phew*). Lazlo and Spooky were treated while there. We'll make sure by taking "samples" in next week.
Flowerbelle tires easily, but she is doing GREAT!
AND........ she's no longer confined to the bathroom at night or when we leave! They were all so close to being completely integrated just before we left, we weren't sure what was going to happen when we got back. Lazlo and Spooky stayed together, and Sheldon and Tuxedo stayed together, and Flowerbelle, before the URI, spent time with each set, though slept in her own area.
So when we got back home, we just let everyone out. They were SO GLAD to be home!!!!! It was a purrfest in here for several days. They all sniffed each other, checked out the whole house - and treated Flowerbelle like she was a normal part of the gang.
She and Tuxedo play like crazy. He's only gotten too rough with her once, and when she started squealing, he let her go before we shouted out. They LOVE to play hide and seek (or dodge and seek is more like it
But the first night Flowerbelle spent out of the bathroom, we realized the next morning, was the first night she'd ever spent with people. She LOVED it, and she was all over us.
I swear, she is the perfect kitty. She plays like a kitty, she does the cutest things and romps around - but she sleeps all night with us, she loves cuddles - she never seems to get jealous or grumpy (like all the rest of the gang except Tuxedo, who, although he doesn't seem to get jealous or grumpy, he doesn't ever sleep in the bedroom when we're in there).
I don't know how I wound up on my back, because I don't sleep on my back (which is probably why I woke up) - but I woke up this morning with Flowerbelle asleep on my chest, her feet reaching out and resting on my chin.
The night before last, I woke up in the middle of the night, and she was laying on Gary's pillow, with her body going up over the side of his head, and her chin on her paws near his ear. They were both sound asleep, and it was the cutest thing! My moving around woke her up, and she got up, sleepily got up and walked over the side of his face, down is arm and curled up on his hip.
He LOVES that we have such a cuddly kitty! Our other kids love pets and brushes - but they're not really "lap" cats per se and none of them sleep with us in the bed. Shelly comes in around 4:00am for 20 minutes - 1/2 an hour or so for pets and lies there. But this little girl - when she's tired, she crawls right up onto one of our laps. And when we're going to sleep, Gary can pick her up, tuck her in under his arm, and she'll just snuggle in, purring and trilling.
It is really so rewarding to have such a happy cat that just loves the attention and snuggling. This is a pretty new experience for us, and we're loving it.
When she feels all better she's going to be a handful though, that's for sure. Even sick, though she doesn't play for long, she plays hard - and she is FAST. She zings and zips around here. I will not be at all surprised if this teeny little girl ends up as our alpha. As it is, she sits all the way up on her haunches, grabs both arms out around the other cats' necks - and HANGS ON as they try to just walk away. It is hysterical. It looks like she's trying to ride them or something!
Spooky did kind of attack her today. Spook sleeps on a sheepskin on my bedside table, and stopped for pets on the bed on her way out of the bedroom. Flowerbelle came bounding in and bounced into Gary's lap. I was petting Spooky - who was eyeing Flowerbelle.
Gary had to get up to get ready to head out, and placed Flowerbelle at the end of the bed. Spook kept eyeing her, but was purring while I petted her. When I got up to go, Spooky just walked over to Flowerbelle, grabbed her around the neck and grabbed her by the scruff. I don't know if she would have bit her to draw blood if I didn't clap my hands real loud to get her to stop, but that was worrisome. It's the first time I've seen Spooky do anything other than just bat at her. And even that she hasn't done much of since they all got back. Spook and Flowerbelle were even playing together last night for a few minutes, so go figure.
Anyway, as a result I got out of having to go to the customer BBQ today. I have to stay home so Gary doesn't worry about Flowerbelle. Now THAT's a job I sure don't mind.
