Hello! I'm Cati/Cataria, and I keep acquiring cats! I have been wanting to join a cat forum awhile, and this one kept popping up on Google, so I finally decided to join. Let me introduce you to my fur babies:
This is Shade, who I have had the longest. I got her from an ad on Craigslist when she was three months old, and she's three years now! Shade is a real character. She's playful, very personable, even to strangers, but has a lot of crazy habits like sitting on top of the closet door and dragging dirty laundry around the house and bringing wet towels (fresh from being used after a bath) into my bed to sleep with. She's one of the mouthiest cats I've ever had and is definitely the ruler of the roost! I don't have an interesting story about how I got her like I do with the rest of my kitties, but trust me, that doesn't make her any less interesting.
This is Meko! Pronounced may-ko, so I'm technically spelling her name wrong, but oh, well. I guesstimate that she is about 6 years old. I found Meko at a park nearby the house I had just started renting. My niece and I were feeding the ducks and noticed her limping around but couldn't catch her. I kept going back with cat food and treats, and on day 3, I finally caught her! Her toes were missing from her rear back leg, and most of the leg seemed to be stiff. I drove her to an emergency vet that was an hour away (not only was this on a Saturday, it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving), and they gave her pain meds and said she was stable, but needed to have her leg amputated. I called the local vet that Monday to arrange the amputation surgery.
... Then, after scheduling, I called my landlord to ask if I could have a third cat. XD (At the time, I had another cat, a wonderful calico named Sweetie, but since then she has died from cancer). He said yes, so I could keep her, and I have had her for almost 3 years now. Meko and Shade have turned into a bonded pair and are always cuddled up and bathing each other. I would describe Meko as shy. She tends to keep her distance from strangers and generally doesn't like to be approached, but she's happy to have cuddles when it's her own idea! She actually drools -- confirmed with the vet that it's not a health issue, she apparently just drools when she is happy. She also has the ridiculous habit of waking me up by licking my eyelids to try to get them open.
Next is Nenya, who is also probably about 3 years old. Nenya also has an interesting story. Sweetie, the calico I mentioned earlier, had just died after an almost two year battle with cancer, and the place where I was renting from was being sold, so I was about to get a new landlord. I was sort of in the awkward position where, if I had three cats before the sale closing, I could have three cats, but if it happened after closing, I might not be allowed to have the third cat, since I didn't have my permission for the third cat in writing. So, before I was really ready for another cat, I needed to acquire a cat, quickly.
A co-worker mentioned she had a friend who had a cat colony going -- they were in the process of doing TNR, but they weren't anywhere close to getting them all. I borrowed a groundhog trap (a completely humane one, don't worry!), and Nenya turned out to be the one we caught. So I took her home, opened the trap's door -- and had crazy, wild cat freaking out and climbing the walls and windows. I would have never thought it would be possible to climb a glass windows, but there you go. We later figured out that there were two cats there that looked very similar. Nenya (the one I caught), and a really friendly one that would actually go into people's houses that looks just like her (I'm told the other one got a home a few weeks later, so that's good!). They thought I caught the friendly one, but apparently I caught the absolutely terrified-of-people one. Anyway, I spent about two months trying to tame her. At that point in time, she was still aggressive about being approached and touched but would turn submissive and even start purring and rolling around when I would actually catch her, so I figured it was time to take her to the vet to get spayed.
The spay surgery did not go well. The vet said they never saw anything like what they saw inside of her, and apparently the organs weren't where they were supposed to be. At a guess, they think she had an ectopic pregnancy and were finding bits of mummified kitten tissue in there, and it was quite possible she was in pain from it -- makes me feel extra bad about waiting so long! They took out what they thought was ovaries and did a biopsy -- unfortunately, they only managed to remove one ovary. About two months later (and after having to listen to the wonderful sounds of a cat in heat), I took her to another vet who would be more prepared to do an exploratory surgery to find the other ovary, and fortunately, they found it right away!
Anyway, Nenya is funny. Although she did settle down more after having the odd tissue removed and being spayed, in some ways, I would still consider her to be semi-feral since she's very skittish and can be very aggressive when pulled out of her hiding spots by strangers, something no other cat I have own has ever done. But for me? She's turned into a real sweetheart! She's my main lap cat, purrs like crazy, and even though she's still very afraid of strangers, she turns very submissive if I get her out and pass her to someone as opposed to someone else picking her up. She's an absolutely gorgeous cat and gets along well with Shade and Meko, even though Shade likes to pick on her.
And now for my latest acquisition... Kismet! She will be 8 weeks old in two days. It's a long story, but my mom has a couple strays that she feeds at her house, and one day one of the females showed up fat the one day, and skinny the next, so we knew she had kittens. About a week later, we found the kittens in the neighbors' yard. There were two -- Kismet, and a gray tabby. They weren't very hard to find because instead of being in the wood pile nest that the mother cat had created, Kismet was on TOP of the wood pile (keeping in mind this is a one week old kitten with only one eye partly open with only the ability to crawl) instead of inside with the gray kitten, and she was meowing so loudly you could hear her squawking from two houses away.
We kept an eye on them, but never saw the mother cat go over there. We saw her walk over to it a couple times, but never go in. Considering this and that it was also fairly wet and cold out, we were getting worried. About a day and a half later, I was talking to my mom on the phone as she was going over to check on the kittens. The gray one was dead ( :*( ) and Kismet had crawled several feet away from the wood pile and was lying in a big puddle. My mom poked her and she started squawking, so I told her to take her inside immediately. My mom and dad warmed her up and bought KMR, and between the three of us, we figured out baby kitten feeding and the joys of stimulating a kitten to pee and poop. That evening, we tried to introduce the kitten back to the mother, and although she seemed to recognize it (sniffed and licked her a couple of times), she didn't seem interested and left without her.
Also that evening, my sister saw Kismet and said she thought her eye was swollen. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but after she left, I decided to try to see if there looked to be anything wrong with that eye, which was at least partially open, so I could lift the lid a little to look at it. Aaaand... there were maggots in the eye. I immediately called the vet, but it was after hours, and they suggested that we just try to rinse the maggots out and we'd have an appointment the next day. My mom and I gave it a shot, but then my mom looked down and noticed blood... I flipped the kitten over and realized there were maggots coming out of the anus. Called the vet again and we had an emergency appointment.
The vet said there wasn't much they could do -- she was just so little, and there was a good chance that the maggots were chewing into her intestines and it could have already caused internal damage that they couldn't repair on a kitten that small. I told them that we at least had to try -- honestly, I have never seen a kitten fighting like Kismet was doing -- crawling that far from the nest, squawking so loudly... so the vet said she had medicine that should kill the maggots, but wasn't approved for kittens under four weeks old. I told her to go ahead and give it to her since it really couldn't get any worse... turned out the medicine was a pill. So yeah, pilling a kitten who has never had solid food in her life, real fun!
The medicine didn't quite do what the vet said it would... instead of killing the maggots, it made all of the maggots come squirming out, so the vet and I start picking out the maggots coming from Kismet's eye and her butt. Between that, and the blood, and kitten feces... super fun time, haha. The vet still didn't expect her to live but gave me an antibiotic to give her and said to come back in the next afternoon if she was still alive for a check-up.
And she made it! To that appointment, and every appointment since then. After it became clear she would pull through, we had concerns that the damage to her anus would cause incontinence issues, but two weeks ago she started to use the litterbox and everything seems fine. We were also worried she was going to lose the eye because we were able to see damage to the third eyelid, and although I'm still not sure whether her vision was affected or not, it doesn't look injured, so that's super promising as well. Her rear end and base of the underside of her tail is bald, but whether that is from scarring from the maggots or overzealous kitten baths, we don't know -- hopefully the fur will grow back!
In any case, Kismet is doing really well, super playful and adorable. It took Shade awhile to adjust, but she's turned into a surrogate mother (outside of the whole feeding-the-kitten aspect), but Meko and Nenya are still skeptical and annoyed. I expect they will get over it eventually.
So those are my cats! Nice to meet you guys, and hopefully you will see me around!
This is Shade, who I have had the longest. I got her from an ad on Craigslist when she was three months old, and she's three years now! Shade is a real character. She's playful, very personable, even to strangers, but has a lot of crazy habits like sitting on top of the closet door and dragging dirty laundry around the house and bringing wet towels (fresh from being used after a bath) into my bed to sleep with. She's one of the mouthiest cats I've ever had and is definitely the ruler of the roost! I don't have an interesting story about how I got her like I do with the rest of my kitties, but trust me, that doesn't make her any less interesting.
This is Meko! Pronounced may-ko, so I'm technically spelling her name wrong, but oh, well. I guesstimate that she is about 6 years old. I found Meko at a park nearby the house I had just started renting. My niece and I were feeding the ducks and noticed her limping around but couldn't catch her. I kept going back with cat food and treats, and on day 3, I finally caught her! Her toes were missing from her rear back leg, and most of the leg seemed to be stiff. I drove her to an emergency vet that was an hour away (not only was this on a Saturday, it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving), and they gave her pain meds and said she was stable, but needed to have her leg amputated. I called the local vet that Monday to arrange the amputation surgery.
... Then, after scheduling, I called my landlord to ask if I could have a third cat. XD (At the time, I had another cat, a wonderful calico named Sweetie, but since then she has died from cancer). He said yes, so I could keep her, and I have had her for almost 3 years now. Meko and Shade have turned into a bonded pair and are always cuddled up and bathing each other. I would describe Meko as shy. She tends to keep her distance from strangers and generally doesn't like to be approached, but she's happy to have cuddles when it's her own idea! She actually drools -- confirmed with the vet that it's not a health issue, she apparently just drools when she is happy. She also has the ridiculous habit of waking me up by licking my eyelids to try to get them open.
Next is Nenya, who is also probably about 3 years old. Nenya also has an interesting story. Sweetie, the calico I mentioned earlier, had just died after an almost two year battle with cancer, and the place where I was renting from was being sold, so I was about to get a new landlord. I was sort of in the awkward position where, if I had three cats before the sale closing, I could have three cats, but if it happened after closing, I might not be allowed to have the third cat, since I didn't have my permission for the third cat in writing. So, before I was really ready for another cat, I needed to acquire a cat, quickly.
A co-worker mentioned she had a friend who had a cat colony going -- they were in the process of doing TNR, but they weren't anywhere close to getting them all. I borrowed a groundhog trap (a completely humane one, don't worry!), and Nenya turned out to be the one we caught. So I took her home, opened the trap's door -- and had crazy, wild cat freaking out and climbing the walls and windows. I would have never thought it would be possible to climb a glass windows, but there you go. We later figured out that there were two cats there that looked very similar. Nenya (the one I caught), and a really friendly one that would actually go into people's houses that looks just like her (I'm told the other one got a home a few weeks later, so that's good!). They thought I caught the friendly one, but apparently I caught the absolutely terrified-of-people one. Anyway, I spent about two months trying to tame her. At that point in time, she was still aggressive about being approached and touched but would turn submissive and even start purring and rolling around when I would actually catch her, so I figured it was time to take her to the vet to get spayed.
The spay surgery did not go well. The vet said they never saw anything like what they saw inside of her, and apparently the organs weren't where they were supposed to be. At a guess, they think she had an ectopic pregnancy and were finding bits of mummified kitten tissue in there, and it was quite possible she was in pain from it -- makes me feel extra bad about waiting so long! They took out what they thought was ovaries and did a biopsy -- unfortunately, they only managed to remove one ovary. About two months later (and after having to listen to the wonderful sounds of a cat in heat), I took her to another vet who would be more prepared to do an exploratory surgery to find the other ovary, and fortunately, they found it right away!
Anyway, Nenya is funny. Although she did settle down more after having the odd tissue removed and being spayed, in some ways, I would still consider her to be semi-feral since she's very skittish and can be very aggressive when pulled out of her hiding spots by strangers, something no other cat I have own has ever done. But for me? She's turned into a real sweetheart! She's my main lap cat, purrs like crazy, and even though she's still very afraid of strangers, she turns very submissive if I get her out and pass her to someone as opposed to someone else picking her up. She's an absolutely gorgeous cat and gets along well with Shade and Meko, even though Shade likes to pick on her.
And now for my latest acquisition... Kismet! She will be 8 weeks old in two days. It's a long story, but my mom has a couple strays that she feeds at her house, and one day one of the females showed up fat the one day, and skinny the next, so we knew she had kittens. About a week later, we found the kittens in the neighbors' yard. There were two -- Kismet, and a gray tabby. They weren't very hard to find because instead of being in the wood pile nest that the mother cat had created, Kismet was on TOP of the wood pile (keeping in mind this is a one week old kitten with only one eye partly open with only the ability to crawl) instead of inside with the gray kitten, and she was meowing so loudly you could hear her squawking from two houses away.
We kept an eye on them, but never saw the mother cat go over there. We saw her walk over to it a couple times, but never go in. Considering this and that it was also fairly wet and cold out, we were getting worried. About a day and a half later, I was talking to my mom on the phone as she was going over to check on the kittens. The gray one was dead ( :*( ) and Kismet had crawled several feet away from the wood pile and was lying in a big puddle. My mom poked her and she started squawking, so I told her to take her inside immediately. My mom and dad warmed her up and bought KMR, and between the three of us, we figured out baby kitten feeding and the joys of stimulating a kitten to pee and poop. That evening, we tried to introduce the kitten back to the mother, and although she seemed to recognize it (sniffed and licked her a couple of times), she didn't seem interested and left without her.
Also that evening, my sister saw Kismet and said she thought her eye was swollen. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but after she left, I decided to try to see if there looked to be anything wrong with that eye, which was at least partially open, so I could lift the lid a little to look at it. Aaaand... there were maggots in the eye. I immediately called the vet, but it was after hours, and they suggested that we just try to rinse the maggots out and we'd have an appointment the next day. My mom and I gave it a shot, but then my mom looked down and noticed blood... I flipped the kitten over and realized there were maggots coming out of the anus. Called the vet again and we had an emergency appointment.
The vet said there wasn't much they could do -- she was just so little, and there was a good chance that the maggots were chewing into her intestines and it could have already caused internal damage that they couldn't repair on a kitten that small. I told them that we at least had to try -- honestly, I have never seen a kitten fighting like Kismet was doing -- crawling that far from the nest, squawking so loudly... so the vet said she had medicine that should kill the maggots, but wasn't approved for kittens under four weeks old. I told her to go ahead and give it to her since it really couldn't get any worse... turned out the medicine was a pill. So yeah, pilling a kitten who has never had solid food in her life, real fun!
The medicine didn't quite do what the vet said it would... instead of killing the maggots, it made all of the maggots come squirming out, so the vet and I start picking out the maggots coming from Kismet's eye and her butt. Between that, and the blood, and kitten feces... super fun time, haha. The vet still didn't expect her to live but gave me an antibiotic to give her and said to come back in the next afternoon if she was still alive for a check-up.
And she made it! To that appointment, and every appointment since then. After it became clear she would pull through, we had concerns that the damage to her anus would cause incontinence issues, but two weeks ago she started to use the litterbox and everything seems fine. We were also worried she was going to lose the eye because we were able to see damage to the third eyelid, and although I'm still not sure whether her vision was affected or not, it doesn't look injured, so that's super promising as well. Her rear end and base of the underside of her tail is bald, but whether that is from scarring from the maggots or overzealous kitten baths, we don't know -- hopefully the fur will grow back!
In any case, Kismet is doing really well, super playful and adorable. It took Shade awhile to adjust, but she's turned into a surrogate mother (outside of the whole feeding-the-kitten aspect), but Meko and Nenya are still skeptical and annoyed. I expect they will get over it eventually.
So those are my cats! Nice to meet you guys, and hopefully you will see me around!
