Star Kitty

[jcribbs]

This morning was a breeze as far as medication goes.

Star, since taking medication, has taken to laying in a laundry basket of clothes in the laundry room. Last night I went back there and really petted her. It was not a medication time. I picked her up and walked the the LV with her and sat on the couch and loved on her. Tink came over [jealous] and started purring that kitty purr and then began grooming Stars ears.

Star was content but not relaxed. I placed her on the couch and she went to the other end with Tink and STAYED THERE for a good 10 minutes. She just watched me. That was a first.

So this morning, hubby had already gone to work and I had not given Star her medicine yet and was quite nervous about it. She was in the laundry basket. I got her eyedropper ready and hid it behind my back and went in there and petted her like last night. I got a tiny piece of her scruff and shot it in her mouth real fast and it was over before she knew what had happened.. She tried to roll on her back when I got her little scruff and the meds just rolled on down......

It was the easiest so far... She forgave me and is in the LV now eating. I am still going to keep her in. This morning was not trumatic for her. Thank goodness. She is probably wise to the laundry room trick now however. We'll see what night dose brings...

Lucky sound like a very very smart kitty....... spitting his pill out. That is too funny.......hehe I can just picture that and it makes me laugh......

Have a good day all.

 

[jcribbs]

Well, today is surgery day for Turtle and Angie. And also Socks gets her stitches out from her surgery. Three more to go----Cookie, Tink and Dovey. I went and bought a new wire crate with a divider down the middle so they can ride in the same crate.

Then all 12 will be fixed with shots......

Expensive but I will be so glad when it's done! $151.00 per cat but that is fixed with followup plus all shots and he is testing them for leukemia since they were all strays. And it includes their worm pill.

When these are fixed, Toe and Yellow need updates on their rabies shots and then I'll be done. That rabies is very important living in the country..

I am also going to worm the rest of my kitty pride as well..... I can buy the pills and do that myself when Toe and yellow get their shots.

It is going to be a vast relief not to have to worry about them having litters again. Since I have known Socks, she had so many litters. Her previous owners were very irresponsible. My kitties deserve a good life and if I don't get them fixed with shots then what the heck would I need them for........ I don't want my pet population to grow unless I want it to.

Star kitty is also over her trauma of taking medication. She is back to playing in the LR with Tink. They are taking turns this morning hiding under a throw rug while the other plays attack kitty! They are so funny.

I also hate to admit this but I thought Turtle was a boy......He is a girl........hehe.. I saw a male cat on him/her last week. I thought he/she had testicles.. What an idiot I am sometimes... Glad her appointment is today.

I did the same thing with Yellow. When he showed up to live at our house, he started gaining weight. I thought it was a pregnant female so I made the appointment to take 'HER' in and the vet laughed at me. Yellow was a neutered male cat in trouble. She checked his broken leg and gave him his shots and sent me on my way..... Poor Yellow. He is doing pretty good now. Eyes are all cleared up thank goodness. He is spry again and feeling good.

 

[renny]

Thanks wonderful to hear that Star Kitty and Yellow are back to their old selves again! That's always the best feeling after watching your kitties sick. I love to hear the stories of you menegerie!

 

[jcribbs]

Thank you Renny for the sentiments. And your're right. It is a good feeling when they are all well.

I need to get ready to head to the vet now.. I have to be there between 9 and 9:30 this morning. It's been hard to get ready as Kissy is very needy this morning wanting her morning love.

I'll pick them up this afternoon and let all know how their surgery goes. I'm sure it will go well, but it's always a little troubling till it's over. You know? They are my babies.

 

[jcribbs]

Well, Turtle and Angie are at the vet having surgery right now. I had to hold them while he drew blood. It was horrible. The needle went through Angies entire vein and came out the other side of her skin but he finally had enough blood. Her little front leg had blood all over it. I know it hurt. And poor Turtle has never been to the vet probably. That old vet had to stick her 4 times to draw blood. It just killed me because I had to hold them down while he did this. I wanted to slap him hard and silly.

They were so scared.

I may take the others to a different vet in town even if I have to drive quite a ways. I want someone who is gentle. I wanted to cry for my kitties.

This is just stressful. I am going to call a different vet now and talk to them and see what they say about it all.

They did both test neg for leukemia and cats-aids however. Thank goodness.

 

[jcribbs]

Well, I called a vet who is approx 45 minutes away and they can't fix Cookie, Dovey or Tink until the 13th of April and they come highly recommented. But I don't want to wait over a month to get them fixed. So they recommended another vet clinic in Kimberling City which is a good hr from me. But I don't mind the drive at this point.

So, I called the Animal Hospital in Kimberling city and I made the appointment for next Tuesday for all three kitties. The woman sounded so nice. I explained to her the situation this morning and that another vet said for me to call. It sounded very professional. She said I get to stay while Doctor Henry has a consultation with my kitties and determines their needs. It is cheaper too. Only 138.00 per cat for the same things Dr Kuhl is doing today for Turtle and Angie. She said they have licenced vet techs through the state that assist the doctor so I would not have to.

I feel so much better about this. Dr Kuhl is history as far as I'm concerned. He will never see another cat of mine. I am so worried about Turtle and Angie. My sweet little Angie....she is so precious. I have taken care of her since she was 12 hrs old and I feel so bad about holding her down today. Oh my god..... What was I thinking? I should have left with them.

I just want them home. I have a spot fixed for them to recover in in the spare room. I sure hope all goes well with them.

Socks got her stitches out as well. She has a bubble on her belly that Dr Kuhl said might be a blood clot from surgery but it was nothig to worry about.
What kind of bull is that?

 

[renny]

Sounds like you are doing the right thing looking for a new vet. I'm considering that at the moment myself. Not that there was anything like yours...one of the vets is great, the other spent the whole check up lecturing me for making lucky fat (i was almost in tears....). Turns out lucky is a little big...but nothing to panic about she has just been getting less exercise since i moved into a place with no stairs (she used to love running up and down the stairs forever).

Is it bad to change vets just b/c you don't like them personally??

 

[jcribbs]

Heck no........I don't think it's bad at all to change vets if you don't like them.

I think if you have a good a good feeling about your vet and your animal likes them as well then they are probably kind to your pet. But if a vet makes you feel bad about how you take care of your animal, that's another story. Especially if you are taking good care of them. No one has the right to make you feel bad unless you are doing something really wrong. It's one thing for a vet to make a suggestion about a food change to help Lucky but it's another to lecture you.

You have to follow your heart. Before we moved to Missouri, I checked out three different vet clinics till I found one that suited me and my animals. One I really liked but they were too expensive as they kept raising their prices. But that was not the reason I changed at that point. I had a great dane I had to have put down due to her agression with children. She was a beautiful animal and very loved but I was afraid she would harm some kid trying to jump through the door at them. And at the time I lived in a neighborhood with tons of children and they were all scared of her. She even got out and ran through the neighbors house chasing once. So my husband and I made a hard decision. And this vet that I really liked did not agree with my decision to put her down. She did it but our relationship were never the same and I found a new vet. I finally settled on a little country vet that had two male vets and they were wonderful with the animals and with me. It's a two way street with vets. You have to like them and so does your animal. At least that's how I feel.

Oh and Renny, I have several fat cats by the way and they are sassy as heck.

I already have a good feeling about the vet I am going to next Tuesday.. Just take Lucky in to a new vet and discuss with them the situation with your current vet. Let Lucky meet them and see how she does.

Just remember, it doesn't hurt to shop around. Like with your personal doctors. Sometimes you get a lemon and have to move on to another.

Lucky is so cute by the way. Actually she is beautiful. The pill spitter!!! That is so funny.

What you might do, since you don't have stairs now, is get her some exercise equipement or another friend to play with. If you can't get another cat, get her a 'large large cat condo recreaction inside area'. With toys hanging all over it to entice her to play.

Some of mine went nuts when I brought home a battery powered mouse. It ran all over the place. My dauchaund finally killed it!

Let me know how it turns out and good luck honey.......

 

[renny]

That makes so much sense. Lucky actually has a friend...her laid back pal Rambo and they have at least one game that involves charging like maniacs around the house per day. It's just there isn't that much room where i live. I think part of it is that with winter I can't let them out in the backyard to play either. The vet had me quite upset for awhile, but i keep figuring I hardly go...so i shouldn't worry about it now. But i may start shopping around...especially with it looking like I might be moving soon.

ps: thanks for the compliments....Lucky knows shes the bomb! I'll but Rambo's signature on so you can see him.

 

[jcribbs]

Rambo is so adorable...........!!!

Love that pictures of him sleeping......... And look at those bright shiny eyes,,, I can't wait till I can make signatures of my babies and use them. What program did you use to make them? Just curious... And I hope you find the vet of your dreams for your babies...

You know I have three human grown children. No matter how highly recommended a doctor was, if I didn't like him and he had a horrible bedside manner, we would go somewhere else UNLESS he was a specialist we needed.

But for regular stuff.......no way...

And................

I also picked my babies up a bit ago and they are at home now resting in their hospital area.... Comes complete with fresh litter, water and kitty chow.

I popped some recovery pictures of them if you want to see them... Turtle has a dry mouth I can tell. They both did fine at the vet according to him. The vet did make 1 comment about Turtle. Vet said "That turtle cat is a little wild, isn't she?"......... I forgot to tell him she was 'a little wild' because I was so upset about the blood work.....hehehe Turtle only like me and my husband but mostly me. After her blood test I just kept holding her and she had her head buried in my elbow bend.

But here is a link to their recovery photos...... Poor little kitties..... I am so glad it's over. Vet thinks Turtle is about a year and a half old as well because I wasn't sure. We have had her less than 6 months. She did not have a home and now she does. My cats did not like her at first. But she is so sweet. In one of the photos, you can see her torn ear from a cat fight at some time or other. Have no idea when it happened. Turtle was not quite what I would call feral.....like star. But she was not tame either. When she first came in the house, she didn't want to go back outside. She loves to snooze. Angie likes to explore the outside world. It will be hard to keep her in for a week. I plan on keeping them seperated from he others until tomorrow.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jcribb...WBLhEBF_KEp4MC

 

[jcribbs]

Well, I let my surgery kitties out of their kitty hospital room........ Angie immediately went to the laundry room to find her mother and they are now laying in a basket together and Angie is nursing. Mama does not have milk but on the other hand she has never weaned Dovey oir Angie. They just continue to nurse and nuzzle her and Mama loves it. She still cleans their butts and they will be a year old next month. Tink is not her baby by birth and doesn't try to nurse but Mama grooms her and cleans her just like she does Angie and Dovey. She has been the best mom-cat I have ever seen. They are just too cute nursing and I'll try to snap a pic of them one day nursing. Mama Kitty knows Angie had something done to her and she is tending to her like when Angie was a wee kitten. Right now Angie is sleeping with her head buried in her mothers lap. Mama looks worried about her baby.

Turtle is hiding under a dresser in her recovery area terrified. I lay in the floor and stroked her a while and put her water and pallet under the dresser for her. She has not used her littler box yet or eaten. I feel so sorry for Turtle. She has no close kitty friends. They didn't like her when she first came here. In a bit, I am going to try and get her out from under the dresser and bring her in the main portion of the house so she won't be loney and scared back there. When I was petting her, she held her chin up so I coud rub it. She is avoiding my husband this morning. She had a bad experience at the vet with that bad bad man.

Poor Turtle.

On another note, Cookie is Socks baby and Socks will not groom her or have anything to do with her. She was a fantastic mama when her last litter were little babies but when they reach a certain age, she says bye bye... Socks and Cookie are both so fat. Socks went out today for the first time since her surgery. She stayed out about an hr and then came in... She is digging her claws in my hip right now... "Ouch Socks".........!!!

It hurts.........

 

[renny]

Oh poor turtle....what a rough experience she had. She deserves tons of extras cuddles. That's so sweet what Angie does, sounds like Rambo. Every night to get to sleep or when he's upset, Rambo will knead and suckle on me (i've since tried to get him to do it to an old stinky shirt of mine and it seems to work). It's almost like sucking his thumb i figure. He's over a year now and there is no sign of it stopping.

hugs and scritches to your recovering posse....hope they are all feeling better soon!

ps: so to the Signature Shop section, there are tons of wonderful signature designers that can make you one. Cagnes made this one for me, and the princess lucky one.

 

[jcribbs]

I've been in the floor with Turtle and she said she wanted "Recovery Bacon", so as soon as I put it on, she came in the kitchen. It's ready now and I am fixing to feed her. Angie is yelling she wants some as well.........

Bacon is a fix all......

Your sigs are beautiful.. I'll check out that section.

 

[jcribbs]

My kitties are doing great since surgery..... Angie wants outside real bad. Since my husband can't tell Dovey or Angie or Tink apart, I put a collar with a bell on Angie. That way when he opens the door, the cat that that has a "tinkling sound" has to stay inside for a week... smile...

Turtle, after eating her bacon this morning, slept behind a lounge chair most of the day. She is laying on the chair now. I personally think she was terrorized by the vet and her experience. She has been getting lots of love today.

Angie is just all over the place. She is jumping, playing, eating and pooping. She doesn't even act sore at all.

UPDATE on Star:

She has spent most of the day outside. The last couple hrs, she sat meowing at the door but would not come inside when I held the door for her. She wanted me to feed her outside and I would not. I didn't want to put food out because it is extremely windy tongiht and is going to storm. The food in spite of being on our large porch would have gotton soaked. Star stayed outside until all the other cats came in. She does not like to be the only one outside. After they came in to eat, she slunk in too. I had to rattle the pan so she could hear it. While she was eating, she let me pet her.

She is still a little more skittish than usual since her medication but she is coming back to where she was pretty fast. Today was the first day she has meowed at me since her meds. I have picked her up two or three times and today while she was sleeping on a chaise lounge, I lay across the end and acted like I didn't see her. She kept laying on the other side of it and when I reached out and lay my hand on her back, she stayed there. I dont' know why that is so exciting to me but it is... It's also easier to pet her if her head is turned away and she can't see me.

She has only purred for me a couple times and it was a very tiny purr but I felt it. Last time she did it was a few months back or so. I don't remember exactly. But she very seldom does it at all. It's not a strong purr but a purr is a purr is a purr. And that means she felt content..

Jimmy amblings...
I wonder which cat Jimmy will befriend first. It will proably be a female. Toe and Yellow, my males, will accept him with no problem. They take everything with a grain of salt. Socks does not like friends. She like people so it won't be her. She swats all the cats and dogs too. Cleo, aka Patty, loves to play and she is Yellows favorite and him her favorite as well. Mama is laid back and loves to groom so it might be her if he enjoys being groomed. Cookie loves to play also. Tink is a good friend of Cookies. Thay race rapidly around at night, jumping and running like crazy. Star does not run with them and they sleep at night curled up together. She will play with either Tink or Cookie but only one at a time. Angie does not run with them but she is bonded to them as well. Dovie has a little attitude problem. She is the smallest cat I have but not the youngest. She wants to be the head boss young kitty and swats them all [the young ones]. Sometimes she growls like crazy at them. But she loves her Mama-Kitty the most. Dovie and Angie sleep together in a laundry basket with their mother. They still feel like litter mates. Turtle sleeps with noone. She finds her a corner and settles in. She doesn't play with the other cats. I draw her out and love on her. The others with the exception of Star come to me to get their loving. They all get along with Turtle but she has no buddy or playmate. I hope Jimmy and Turtle become friends. They need each other. Turtle is laid back and quiet. She is a very beautiful tortoise who just came to my house one day needing a home. She wanted to be petted by me so I know she had been handled before and so we kept her. All the other cats that I have except Toe and Yellow all knew each other in my neighborhood and ate at my house. It was easy to keep them all. I guess they were a colony. Turtle was not in their colony. It took them a while to like her. They accept her now and their is no problem but she was scared at first. Star was in this colony. Star, Tink and Cookie were together but not from the same mother. They all had different mothers and Star was older. Tink and Cookie are approx the same age which is about 10 months old. Angie and Dovey are about 11 months old. Star is about 1.5 or 2. Not sure. But Star watched these young ones and played with them before I could socialize them. Watching them with me, when they were her friends, helped me with her. Cookie was much harder to tame than Tink. I could never get Tinks mother near me. I felt so sorry for her. There were also a couple black males in this group but I could not socialize them. One had mange pretty bad and after feeding him for a long time, he let me doctor him. The mange got better but he just disappeared one day. I never saw him again. The other black male never let me near him. The black males were from a previous litter of Socks who at that time belonged to my next door neighbor. They ignored her and all her litters that she kept having and all turned feral. They also had a dog that had lived on a chain for 4 years. A tiny little thing that I called the pound on to try and get something done, but the dog was within the legal limits of Arkansas. Had a house and food on the ground and dirty water. We gave him cheweys and fresh water at times. They wouldn't let him in their house because they were allergic to animals. Pitiful excuse. They did not need Rex.


And that's all for tongiht..

It's been a great day and I feel very good about adopting Jimmy. I am just thinking about watching him find his kitty nitch in our household... I'll be glad when he is here.

Here is another link to some kitty pictures I took today. Have a great one of my fat Socks cat and a beautiful one of Star that I have as my desktop pictures. She is so photogenic... Socks is not quite as fat as the picture makes her look. But since surgery, all she has done is eat and sleep and purr. And she is probably still a little swollen too since it has only been a little over a week. Yesterday and today she went outside some, but after a while she comes to the computer window and looks in at me when she wants back in..

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jcribb...WHfhEBw3ifUGm1

 

[jcribbs]

I just woke up and it 3:47am..... Angie could not have been any closer to my face. She was meowing like crazy and practically on top of my face. We have a huge storm outside. I think she was either 1-nervous, or 2-wanted me to let Toe and Cookie in... They were both at the front door. I was on the couch last night watching TV and fell asleep.

Now everyone is tucked back in and I am wide awake........... and with a crick in my neck.. Ouch!!

 

[renny]

Gotta love those early morning in your face wake-up calls! They sure do know how to get your attention. It sounds like your family has settled in together just great. I love hearing about your posse. Did i miss something...who is Jimmy? And when is he coming?

 

[jcribbs]

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jiimmy, Jimmy................

Read this Renny.. This all happened yesterday! This is the original link about Jimmy......
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ighlight=Jimmy

I am so excited by it all....

And yes, those early morning wake up calls are something else. I thought I was dreaming about a cat meowing and when I opened my eyes Angie's face was about 1/32 from mine. She was staring intently at me.

 

[renny]

That's Wonderful news Jenn....so happy for you and Jimmy.

Do you ever wake up and find a bunch of them staring at you. I woke up in the middle of last night and both of mine were sitting beside the bed staring up at me....was I snoring? talking in my sleep? They didn't make a noise but somehow i still woke up!! lol

 

[jcribbs]

I understand totally........... I get walked on all night long....... and stared at. So does hubby...

However as a rule, since I am used to this at night, it doesn't wake me. But Angie last night woke me on purpose. I think she knew it was storming and wanted me to let Cookie and Toe in. They were both at the door... And then Angie settled in somewhere.

If I have a female that wants to stay out at night, I put Toe out with whoever is out there. They will always stay with him and that way I won't worry. Toe keeps an eye on them. As a rule however, they are all in at night.

 

[jcribbs]

Well, tonight Star was not very gung ho about coming in the house. It stormed horrible outside and Toe and her got in the box shelter and watched it. It even hailed but they were content. Toe was at the front and Star was back behind him cuddled in.

About 10 tonight Toe came in. Him and Star stayed in the box together for a good two hrs. When Toe came inside, Star came out of the box with him and stood by the door. I stood there about 5 minutes or so talking to her but she did not want in. She wanted Toe back outside. She finally looked at me and went back to the shelter on the porch.. Urmph..... Such an obstinate little kitty girl at times. She likes her way and has a way about her too.

I got the outside food, brought it indoors and shut the door. After 45 minutes or so, Emma my lab started staring at the front door so I knew Star was out of her box. I looked out and Star was ready to come in. I cracked the door and in she came. She is back in her laundry basket now..... after checking out the food bowl of course.

She likes her food out there and Toe out there. She does not like to be alone outside at night with no food..... hehe

I'm so glad they are friends. We got Toe in 2000 or 2001 when he was 5 weeks old. He has always been babied. He is a good cat for Star to pattern herself after and learn things by. He is a cat that loves company over at the house and doesn't hide.. Kissy is the same way. All the others quietly and quickly disappear when company comes over. I'm not sure what they think is going to happen but none of the rest like people. Except me and my husband.

I want to add a thought here. I know everyone dealing with ferals talks about trapping the cat.. But I never trapped Star. I only coaxed her gently. It took longer than trapping but in the long run it worked. She makes the decision to come in the house. And she is still a free cat. All of mine are. They just sleep in my house at night and I feed them and play with them.

Nite everyone....