Jimmy is having a breakthrough!!

[jcribbs]

Well, hubby built the kitties a kitty shelf yesterday and they love it!!!

This is a pic of Honey and Mama exploring on it..... They were the first to check it out..... Since it was new, they all sat and stared at it for an hr or so before venturing up the ramp.....



Here's Jimmy looking at the cats up there this morning.....
"hmm, do I want to check that out???"
(Actually, very few were in the house last night. I suspect they all slept up there or at least some of them. Jimmy stayed outside all night last night so he has probably already been up there.)

(He is doing great by the way Elly..... He is quite the tame little guy...)


And here's Star....


Then this morning JJ, my three legged wonder got up there and the incline on the ramp was too steep for him to attempt to come down.. He was scared...



So I made him a handicapped ramp!! It consists of three old 2x6's that I had laying around, He tried and slipped a little and promptly jumped back to the shelf for safety . So......I tied a rope around it for traction for his three little feet...... He loves it and uses it.. He feels safe again now......

This is the handicapped ramp..... and that's JJ on the right side of the pic with Honey.. Honey is very daring. She hangs from the bottom of the steep ramp........ and dashes all over it... She is something else......


We've been clearing land too for the enlarged animal area...... These next two pics are a before and after...... I had forgotten how horrible it was....... These next three pics are of the same area......

This is an old pic two yrs ago of the outhouse the people used that previously lived here and is the exact same area in the last pic..... It is just a different season of the year. I have posted this pic before but the comparison is remarkable......



And this was taken right before I started clearing this area and is also the exact same area as in the lat pic. The outhouse was long burnt.


This is after.......and I am so proud of it. It took three weekends and a lot of back breaking labor. I am going to plant more rye grass here because it is good for the animals to munch on..... I have have it established in some planted areas. I have my work clothes on now and am fixing to head out and keep going toward the creek....... Eventually it will be clear down to the creek..... One day it will look like a park...



See that old fence by the outhouse? That is the recycled ramp for the kitties!!

 

[graciecat]

I just love their shelf...and it looks like they do too.
Juan did a great job...you trained him right

Jimmy looks wonderful, such a handsome boy

Awww Jenn, bless your heart for building JJ a handicapped ramp...you're such a good kitty Mom

How's Toeman doing?...he's such a pretty boy!

 

[eilcon]

That shelf is awesome, Jenn, and the cats obviously love it. I love that picture of Jimmy. He looks so healthy and handsome.

JJ's quite a handsome fellow too. You're such a good mom to take of his needs. The whole place looks great; you and Juan have created a real kitty paradise.

 

[jcribbs]

;hi gracie and elly........!

it's 10 till 3 and i am through working today. i just showered and am exhausted.... i cleared some more and it really takes it out of ya....... Glad it's cool..... In fact this is the coolest august I ever remember having..... I am loving it.

And Toe is doing great!...... but...... he hates the cat enclosure..... he never goes out there.... i keep him in now except if Juan and I are sitting outside and he can sit with us. We have a couple of big bobcats in the area so he has been strickly inside excpet for a few times for a couple months now.... He has adjusted and doesn't seem to mind. He has never had another incident with crystals in his urine.. They all look great and seem to feel excellent!!

And thanks for saying I am a good kitty mom....... That means a lot..... I do try to do my best.....

Had an incident this morning... Remember the house where mama was trapped in the basement? Well this morning Juan and I were outside and I was telling him bye as he was leaving for work. We heard something and looked up and there sat three little rat terrier puppies staring at us. They were wiggling all over in that rat terrier way. Probably 8 weeks old or so.... Maybe 10 week. They are still very small babies.

Anyway, they live at that house. Juan had told me that those people had a rat terrier that had puppies. So as Juan was driving off laughing at me, I was standing there in the driveway holding three puppies. I still had my gown on. This was like6:30 this morning. Anyway, I carried the puppies home and no one was there. The mom growled at me. She was on about a 6 feet chain which looped around a two foot tree leaving her 4' to walk. There was a tiny little dirty doghouse beside her which she couldn't get in because her 4' free space on the chain was wrapped aroudn the tree. Their food and water bowl had dry dirt in both of them. So........ I went home to get some of my dogs food and water. I filled a giant pitcher of dogfood and a huge cooking pan full of water and walked back to the house. Only this time FOUR puppies followed me home...... When I got to the mom and she saw I had food and water, she was so happy..... I put their food down and the puppies wolfed food like I have never seen. So did the mother. The pups were fat but the mom was skinny. She let me pet her since I brought her food and she let me untangle her chain too.... When I went home, the pups stayed with their mom. They were hungry and went looking for food...

Juan is going to talk to them when he sees them..... I haven't seen them all weekend so I wonder how long they were waterless and foodless....

They moved back in this house about 5 months ago..... The mom dog probably weighs 20 lbs.... Can you imagine chaining a little rat terrier? It's horrible.

Another neighbor said a couple yrs ago, they moved and left their dog chain (a different dog) and put a 40lb bag of food in the well house for them to eat and he would go every day and give the poor thing water.

Now that I know their history and that these pups are there with possibly them gone somewhere for days, I'll make sure they have food and water.... I'm not sure if there is anything else I can legally do since we don't live in town... Juan is furious so I am not sure what he is going to do.

People like that need to spend a month chained to a tree with 4' walking room and see how they like it.

I know they had to have been without water for awhile because i put the food down first and she instantly started eating. When when she saw me pour water in her other bowl, she cried for it..... And you know, with the short chain length, EVEN IF it had had water, she could not have reached it.... I moved it for her.

 

[graciecat]

I'll bet you are tired, clearing all that land is hard work.
We've had a couple of cool days here too...I love it I can't stand that hot and humid weather.

I'm so glad to hear that Toe is healthy and happy!
It's just a shame he doesn't like the enclosure, sounds like he's decided to be an "inside kitty boy"...I put that in quotes because ever since we brought Elliott in off the street my little ones have called him "Elliott, the inside kitty boy."

It's a good thing he likes in inside with those bobcats running around.
Bobcats are beautiful, but I don't think little toe would have much of a chance againest one.

Oh my, those poor dear babies...I'll never understand people.
Why have a dog if you're going to tie it outside?
Bless your heart of giving them food and water.
I sat here reading that with tears in my eyes.
I wonder if the puppies are fat because they have worms?
That just breaks my heart, but thanks to you they have food and water and Mom has room to move around.

 

[jcribbs]

We went and fed them again when Juan got home. And then an hr or so later, the people were home so he went and talked to them.

They went out of town and left their dogs this way! They had been gone for two days. Can you believe that?? Isn't that horrible..... I looked at the pups real good today and they are covered in ticks. They're little bellies have embedded ticks all over them....

They are prime bobcat bait. They have no chance at all if the bobcat comes back.....

They acted like they did not care.... not one little bit.

They also said they are giving three of the pups away and keep one plus the mother. Juan also told them that we have tee posts and fencing if they want to fence and they said 'the grandfather owns the land and doesn't want it fenced.....

It is just disgusting......

When Juan told them we watered and fed them twice today, he said they had dog food i nside the house... ????? I guess he was saying it was ok for us to go inside the house and get their dog food....... What jerks! And also the water bowl they had was little.

We filled this this evening and also a big bucket so water is abundant now......

But it breaks my heart for people to be so callus regarding the lives of their animals....

The mother dog likes me now since I fed her and her babies. I will check on them every single day from now on.... I won't be able to rest good at night if I don't.

 

[jcribbs]

And next time I order front line, I will get some extra for them too... Just to relieve their suffering.

 

[graciecat]

These people sound like real losers.
So big deal, they have food in the house what good would that have done them if you and Juan hadn't noticed that they were out of food?

What did they think was going to happen?...they must have thought they have some really smart dogs on their hands and that they were going to go into the house on their own, drag out the bag of food, fill up the bowls and then put the food back in the house!

What about the water...were they supposed to get that on their own too, or just wait for it to rain?

I'll never understand people, how on earth can they treat those poor innocent puppies and Mother that way?
As my Father would have said "People like that are a waste of a heart beat".

It's just to bad that you and Juan don't know someone who wants a puppy or full grown dog...if you did, the puppies could just start missing one by one...from the sounds of it, I doubt those idiots would even notice, much less care.

I'm not above catnapping...because I've done it and I'm afraid if I were there I'd become a puppy and dognapper too

Bless your heart for taking care of them

Speaking of Frontline, we just bought some for our neighbors cats.
The people that own them and 24 and 21 so they aren't little kids and should know better.
They got these to kittens from a farm and so far haven't even taken them to a Vet yet to have them checked.

Last week she was talking to me and she was covered in welts I asked her what happened and she said the kittens...I'd say they're about 5 or 6 months old...have fleas and that she must be allergic to flea bites.
When I asked her what she'd done about the fleas she said she'd bathed the cats in dishwashing liquid but that the fleas kept coming back.
She said she'd also put flea collars on them and put hartz flea powder on them.
I wanted to slap the crap out of her, but instead I asked her if she was trying to kill them.
I told her to get Frontline, she told me to costs to much!!!!
HELLO...I know it's not cheap, but they've spent enough on junk flea stuff that they could have bought Frontline by now.

I also told her to be on the lookout for tapeworm because as MOST people know, when they have fleas a tapeworm isn't far behind!
When I told her what a tapeworm looks like she had this look on her face that told me they've already seen some!
She said they're taking them to the Vet on Friday when they get paid, but something tells me she only said that to shut me up!

God, why are some people so stupid???

 

[cc12]

That is a shame about your neighbors. Good thing they could care less if you take care of their dogs. So at least someone will care for them.

Great enclosure. The ramp is a thoughtful thing for your disabled cat. I love thing picture with Star's little pink tongue. So cute.

 

[jcribbs]

Every since I have had Jimmy, I have struggled worming him....plus some of the others. It takes me two days to shoot a worm pill down their throats and they hate it. And I hate it.

So we quit the pill route and started using a paste that I mixed with sweet condensed milk and reg milk to make it taste good and would give it to them that way. That worked until I did not stir it up good a few months ago. One cat got a bad taste and several others saw it and they avoid the condensed milk now...... lordy.... They are so smart.

So last night, I put the paste on my finger and wormed 20 cats in 30 minutes wiping it on the roofs of their mouths. Quickly done, and no nips.

I still had Jimmy and Star to do. I tried both and wasted the medicine as they both wanted to bite me. Well, not really bite. No one actually tried but they were unhappy campers. Star jumped and ran and Jimmy, if I had held him and forced the issue, would have bit me if I had tried to put my finger in his mouth to rub his gums.

But as it was I just let him go.... Neither was traumatized so they were still in a lovey dovey mood this morning....so tactic two went into play.

I put it on a q-tip, got the scruff and put the q-tip in their mouth and swabbed em. It went without a hitch and they were wormed before they knew it.....hehehe

I can't believe how easy it was. Their shots are easier than worming them! I think I finally have a winning way to do it now.

I am really shocked that it went without a hitch. I never dreamed of wiping it on the roof of their mouths. They are all so gentle with me that they never thought I was fixing to put some foul tasting substance in their mouths......

Good for another 6 months........ahhhhhh what a good feeling. The pic below is about two minutes ago. See that mildly irritated kitty look... He was wormed about 10 minutes before the pic...

 

[eilcon]

Hey Jenn!

It's so great to hear from you! Hope all is well with you, Juan and the crew.
Glad your worming efforts were successful. Never thought I'd see the words "lovey-dovey" used to describe Jimmy, but it shows just how far the big guy has come under your care. Love the new picture. Jimmy's as handsome as ever!

 

[jcribbs]

Elly, he is much much tamer than Star. Star is much harder to handle than Jimmy. I can call him and he comes to me to be petted. If other cats are around, he waits his turn until they leave. When I sit on the couch, he lays on the back of it. I stretch my arm on on the back and he lays close by my hand and has even nudged me to pet him......

He is not what I consider absolutely tame. He is still feral and will probably will always be feral but in spite of that he trusts me and he absolutely loves to be scratched around the head. It is his downfall and he adores being brushed too. He is not the same animal.

Hubby still can't get near him..... Oh , he has sniffed his hand a few times and possibly let him pet him once or maybe twice but he is my cat... I am his only human that he trusts. But it is still within his limits. He has came further than I ever dreamed possible.

He has a few quirks. One is people food. He will not eat any scraps, not even chicken because he is not quick enough. Oh he wants it. He will sit by me when I eat but if I put a morsel of anything out, it takes him so long to sniff it and make his mind up that it's ok that another cat grabs his bites.....hehe.... He is still very careful but also still learning. Star is the same way about people food. Her and Jimmy have many mannerisms in common and I guess they are typical of true ferals.

But he plays and runs and wrestles his cat friends. He is a happy boy...

Something else he does is snuggle Emma the lab. I let her lay on a chair because of her bad hip and he lays beside her at her back. He likes her and she grooms him.

I remember when I first got him I hoped one day he would be 'as tame as star' but like I said, he has far surpassed her in every way.

And yes, he is very lovey dovey...... He would let me scratch for for hours I think.. Today I am home and he is glad..

See ya and good to hear from ya,
Jenn

 

[eilcon]

Awww, Jenn, I'm glad Jimmy has come to love and trust you so much.

I just knew he had in it him. You've done an amazing job with him!