- Joined
- Aug 17, 2005
- Messages
- 74
- Purraise
- 1
A cat showed up on my front lawn July 7th. I live in Arizona and it was record temperatures that week. The poor thing was so dehydrated and starved I thought it was a kitten. It took two full days of giving her small quantities of wet food and water every two hours before it was able to eat or drink without vomitting. After 3 days I started her on kitten chow with her wet food, after 2 weeks I figured she was a full grown cat so started her on a self feeder of cat chow alone.
I advertise for her owner right away by putting 25 flyers up within a two mile area, a newspaper ad, and ads in Pets 911 and Backpage.com. Many people came to look at her but it turns out she belonged to an elderly neighbor who had died of a stroke. She must have gotten out in all the confusion surrounding the death or maybe she had a cat door but no-one was feeding or watering her and that's how she came to me in her condition.
I checked local no kill shelters but they refused to take her and the Humane society said they would euthenize her within 72 hours. I've asked friends to take her and found her a home for two days before she was brought back to me. I guess now she is my cat.... although I was hoping if I had her vet stuff done it would be easier to place her in a more appropriate home. We're not wealthy people, living paycheck to paycheck like most, and I have been salting away the $100.00 odd dollars it costs to get her spayed, her LVF? and her immunizations done. We were supposed to go in this Friday to have it all done so I could spend the weekend caring for her. Pet lovers here are furtunate that our Humane society does a low cost clinic for these procedures.
To get to the end of this saga we went on our annual one week family vacation, just getting back last Saturday,and the pet sitter I hired, who is a vet tech, informed me she is pregnant. I had noticed she has really big nipples but everything I have read said pregnant cats have big, bright PINK nipples and hers are just regular pink ~ not bright pink. I also noticed she was getting a fat belly, but I figured she was still gorging herself because her back and flanks haven't filled out yet.
Then yesterday I noticed her attitude has changed, she doesn't want to leave my side and follows me around or is in my lap every time I sit. She has always been a lover but now she is downright clingy. Discharge is leaking out of her vagina today (do cats have vaginas or do they call them something else?) and she is off her food. She didnt appear to be sick in any other way so I called the vet tech back over and she said she is in beginning stage of labor. Counting back 65 days this pretty much works out to the time the lady died and when she possibly became a stray.
I now have Piper quarantined in my office where I have placed a large stereo box with shredded newspapers and ripped sheets in it. I've left three flaps closed on top and cut a door into the side so I can get in and she can get out easily. Her food and water are and a litter box are on either side of her "nest".
So, what do I do now? She's still skinny and I'm worried that because she was so sick when I got her, I changed her to Cat Chow off Kitten Chow and I still think she is young she may have problems delivering or the kittens may be ill at birth. I am worried sick. I don't have a "real" vet for her yet so there is no-one I can call.
Do I have to worry about her burying the kittens in the newspaper and sheets? Do you think she'll try to have them in the litter box? What do I do once they are here? Will Piper need any care aside from Kitten Chow? How long will this take? Will the kittens nurse on their own right away or will I have to hold them to her? How can I tell if the kittens are sick? How will I find them good homes if they are ok? How long do I have to wait now to get Piper fixed and her immunizations done? What if she has FLV? Will the kittens have it too? What do I do if they do have it?
I advertise for her owner right away by putting 25 flyers up within a two mile area, a newspaper ad, and ads in Pets 911 and Backpage.com. Many people came to look at her but it turns out she belonged to an elderly neighbor who had died of a stroke. She must have gotten out in all the confusion surrounding the death or maybe she had a cat door but no-one was feeding or watering her and that's how she came to me in her condition.
I checked local no kill shelters but they refused to take her and the Humane society said they would euthenize her within 72 hours. I've asked friends to take her and found her a home for two days before she was brought back to me. I guess now she is my cat.... although I was hoping if I had her vet stuff done it would be easier to place her in a more appropriate home. We're not wealthy people, living paycheck to paycheck like most, and I have been salting away the $100.00 odd dollars it costs to get her spayed, her LVF? and her immunizations done. We were supposed to go in this Friday to have it all done so I could spend the weekend caring for her. Pet lovers here are furtunate that our Humane society does a low cost clinic for these procedures.
To get to the end of this saga we went on our annual one week family vacation, just getting back last Saturday,and the pet sitter I hired, who is a vet tech, informed me she is pregnant. I had noticed she has really big nipples but everything I have read said pregnant cats have big, bright PINK nipples and hers are just regular pink ~ not bright pink. I also noticed she was getting a fat belly, but I figured she was still gorging herself because her back and flanks haven't filled out yet.
Then yesterday I noticed her attitude has changed, she doesn't want to leave my side and follows me around or is in my lap every time I sit. She has always been a lover but now she is downright clingy. Discharge is leaking out of her vagina today (do cats have vaginas or do they call them something else?) and she is off her food. She didnt appear to be sick in any other way so I called the vet tech back over and she said she is in beginning stage of labor. Counting back 65 days this pretty much works out to the time the lady died and when she possibly became a stray.
I now have Piper quarantined in my office where I have placed a large stereo box with shredded newspapers and ripped sheets in it. I've left three flaps closed on top and cut a door into the side so I can get in and she can get out easily. Her food and water are and a litter box are on either side of her "nest".
So, what do I do now? She's still skinny and I'm worried that because she was so sick when I got her, I changed her to Cat Chow off Kitten Chow and I still think she is young she may have problems delivering or the kittens may be ill at birth. I am worried sick. I don't have a "real" vet for her yet so there is no-one I can call.
Do I have to worry about her burying the kittens in the newspaper and sheets? Do you think she'll try to have them in the litter box? What do I do once they are here? Will Piper need any care aside from Kitten Chow? How long will this take? Will the kittens nurse on their own right away or will I have to hold them to her? How can I tell if the kittens are sick? How will I find them good homes if they are ok? How long do I have to wait now to get Piper fixed and her immunizations done? What if she has FLV? Will the kittens have it too? What do I do if they do have it?
