We Heart Cats

well what a night. sheese! laid down about 7:00 pm because i had only gotten a couple hours of sleep the night before… have no idea why i was wide awake all night… and woke up about 9:30 pm.

i decided to go on back to bed instead of staying up and fartin’ around…and i had gone into the bathroom… when i opened the door back up, the three babies were right there and i thought oh cool. i’ll snatch them up and see if they’ll eat some canned food. so i did this. they ate a little, walked through it, made a mess.

i grabbed them up and when i opened the bathroom door back up again to leave, every cat in the house was there waiting…the couple/three that were in the bedroom heard the cans opening through the bathroom door and they passed this pertinent information to the cats in the rest of the house. omg.

it was a damn little flood hitting me when i opened the bathroom door…so i just said a few choice sailor words and let them in to finish off the canned food the babies didn’t eat. (my inside ones don’t usually get canned food…too much drama as you can see….so when they hear a can opening, it’s ON!!)

FINALLY everyone got done in there and i shut the door and laid back down. please see pic…this is a tent thingy i got at walmart for 6 bucks, they all freakin’ LOVE IT…. and that’s ling ling in there… he’s claimed it. period! haha! well, it was all twisted up…so i got back up and snatched the top of it to get it set back up right again. i was NOT aware that ling ling had reclaimed it, was IN it, and had ALL his ginormic claws out in fierce tiger play mode. he gave me a slash like none other and ran like all the devils of hell were after him. well, i looked down at my hand and there was blood everywhere! i thought WTF?  it’s just a slash!but actually it was a HOOK…a couple hooks to be exact.  cat owners know the difference between gettin’ SLASHED and gettin’ HOOKED. so i went in the bathroom and stanched the bleeding - from a couple little holes… very impressive it was. got it disinfected and a bandaid on.now, i have a couple wonderful fleece blankets… they’re different than my other ones…they’re like that micro fleece or whatever… sooooo soft… one is a pirate blanket that my son gave me… anyway, i had one on my bed for covers… i got back in bed and discovered that in the few seconds all THAT drama had been playing out, someone had pee’d on the thing!

well.  the babies are doing wonderfully.  but mom isn’t doing so hot.  my legs are shredded, my hands are in pieces, even my face has taken a beating! 

these little wee things are hell on wheels.  i have a carrier i put them in when i need to get anything done around the house.  if i don’t, i’m followed relentlessly by three screaming little bundles of claws and teeth!  and yes, they have their teeth now! 

i tried leaving them out last night when i went to bed and within a few seconds, they had figured out how to get up in the bed down at the end and then… they ran up me and pounced my face! 

flash, my white baby, has issues with the bottle.  she dukes it out with the bottle.  i’ve never seen such a thing.  and in doing so, my hands get quite beat up!  i can’t trim their nails yet because the babies are so wiggly and because their nails are so tiny, but wow, are they SHARP! 

cody is a piggy.  cody will just lay there in my arms and drink … i think if she could she’d just drink that bottle till she actually popped.  she doesn’t look like a kitten anymore.  she looks like a little calico BALL. 

tigger, the other calico (with a tail) likes to drink a little, get down, play a minute, and then start screaming for more.  it takes a long time for that one.  and alot of leg climbing!

so i just plan on putting something decent on the tube, getting everything ready, putting my feet up in another chair (so the others don’t climb my leg while i’m feeding one) and sitting tight awhile with bottle in hand. 

today we’re gonna try some canned food.  tigger is already looking at the dry food i have out for the other cats.  so i think they might be ready.  i’ve been putting chicken baby food in with the formula to give ‘em an extra nutrition kick…but i think it’s time for more! 

this morning we did the feeding and i let them roam about while i tried to do some computer work.  they kept coming back over and over again to climb my leg and yell (even though there’s no doubt they were stuffed!). 

so i tried the squirt bottle thing on ‘em.  worked for a minute but then they ended up soaked so i thought … well, that ain’t gonna work!   the look on their faces was priceless though, since they’d never been squirted before!  the older cats know the drill - get squirted … stop what you’re doing! 

so they’re back in the carrier for now all dried off and sleeping.  when i leave to run errands i’ll let them out to play.  

the picture is of cody actually asleep (wow!) in the toy basket. 

i have to say, even with all the ‘drama’ they’re putting me through, there’s nothing like bottle feeding the babies, and having them do well… playing and growing… it’s just the most wonderful thing! 

link to a previous post you might enjoy:  funny cat story

and a link to a fellow blogger’s post you’ll find very good! a different shade of green

well, i thought i had posted that i had found two more kittens other than the little one in the attic… but i guess things have been so crazy around here that i didn’t do that!  ah, i just looked at a previous post and saw that i did mention finding the two other kittens. and we’ve changed the name of the one we found in the attic - from tommi dee to cody, since she looks so much like one of my aunt’s cats … who was named cody.  cody is the one in the picture with the little bobtail.  it’s sooo cute! 

i found two more kittens outside underneath a metal shelf thing i had around back.  i snatched them up and have been bottle feeding the three of them.  they’re all doing well…and are about to move up to ‘real’ food.  which would be great, since when they’re hungry…which is ALL the time…they love to climb my legs!  ouch!!! 

i’m a pro at clipping kitty nails but these guys are way way too wiggly and their little nails are so tiny that i haven’t even tried yet.  but wow, are they ever sharp! 

there’s cody, the little calico bobtail of course, and then there’s tigger, who is a calico… and flash, the white one with the black slash across her forehead.

they’re about 5 weeks old now and they’re having a grand time.  besides climbing my legs, they play with all their toys and drive the other cats crazy and yell for more food and sleep and then get up and do it all over again. 

there’s a great deal of joy in bottle-feeding babies, but you need to have the time and the patience to pull it off.  thankfully i have both right now! 

however, they’ve figured out how to get on the bed, so i have to be careful…they figure out i’m IN the bed and they run up to my face and POUNCE!  i think they associate my voice with food, so they head directly for my head!  :-D 

here’s a past post about the first kitten:  NEW KITTEN

here’s a good post from a fellow blogger with some great thoughts on how we prepare or DON’T prepare properly for disasters such as the california fires:   AVOIDING NATURE’S FURY

a couple of weeks ago, one of my beloved kitties, Spaz, (picture is of him being very cute) dashed outside.  now, he has a history of pulling this and i would always run after him and snatch him up.  he comes out of nowhere and dashes out.  he’s simply amazing in this feat of escapism.  in fact, once when i was heading to the convenience store for something, he pulled this, so i put him in the car and he went with me.  he didn’t care for that one bit.  so he quit pulling that nonsense for a very long time. 

well, he started it back up about a month ago.   he did it again and i couldn’t catch him.  he came back around later on and played the ‘let’s watch mom chase me game’ and  i figured he’d get tired of it and come on in the garage and i could put him back in the house. 

he then proceeded to disappear.  he has a slight heart condition that we need to keep an eye on and i was very concerned that he just wasn’t going to come back.  i put flyers in every mailbox in the area, checked the pound, and prayed alot.  nothing.  i was resigned to his loss, which hurt terribly.   he is a very special cat.  all of mine are special, but he was above and beyond.  

he was found years ago by a very nice person who took him to our vet’s office.  he was only a couple weeks old.  we took him from there and bottle fed him; in fact, he went on vacation to hilton head with us because we couldn’t leave him with anyone.  so he was spoiled totally rotten and he was and still is my son’s absolute favorite cat.  my son loves this cat more than anyone or anything else i believe. 

i had honestly given up hope.  but yesterday, my neighbor called me and asked me to come outside.  and what did she have in her arms?  my baby!  she said he had been under her shed, that she thought her big dogs had kept him there…they’re very busy people and this was the first they’d been out in the yard to notice the dogs trying to get to something under the shed. 

my boy was horribly thin, but alive and alot more active than he should have been!  i gave him a big dose of fluids right away (i learned how to do this long ago and keep a bag on hand all the time) and gave him some chicken baby food.  he ate that up and then later i gave him more fluids and food.  he’s since been following me around and lying on my tummy when i’m in bed…i think he’s very glad to be home.

now, you can believe what you want… in fact, the past couple weeks i’d had a major crisis in faith… sometimes things ball up on you and you start wondering…in a big way. 

but that cat should not be alive.  there’s no way that he should be alive.  but he is and he was brought home to me.  thank you God.   and he’s never ever even getting near a door when i’m leaving or coming in.  i’ll be on top of this like nobody’s business.  that little furbrat has seen his last bit of the outside except from a nice windowsill, i can promise you that. 

if you loose an animal… the best things to do are to do as i did, put a big sign up in your neighborhood, put flyers in each and every mailbox all over your neighborhood (in fact, we found one of our cats a few years ago by this very method!), check the pound, and if this is an issue with a particular animal - go ahead and get a chip for him.  in this case, it wouldn’t have helped, but at least you’ll have it in case someone finds your pet.  and pray.  don’t give up on that. 

here’s a link to a previous post you might enjoy:  mom is a trampoline

and here’s one to a fellow blogger that i thought was very good, and it’s about dogs no less!  haha!:  love and dogs

parasites are an annoying part of our walk with cats.  i have found a site that sells natural products for your cat in dispensing with these things.  i’ve never used any natural remedies - so i’m not saying that these things work.  i’m just telling you about them and giving you a link so you can determine for yourself how you want to go about it.  but suffice it to say, parasites can kill your cat… especially the round and hook worms.  tapes not so much although they will lead to anemia and a loss of weight since they take in most of the nutrition your cat is eating from his food. 

here’s the link:   natural remedies

if you have fleas, you’ll more than likely have tapeworms.  you can tell a tape by the little rice looking particles coming out of your cat’s bottom.   

round and hookworms are harder to see.  you can see them, if they’ve gotten bad, in their stool and in their vomit.  you see that, you get your cat to the vet pronto.  don’t wait around for your natural remedy to arrive from ordering it online, just get the cat to the vet.  by the time you see them like this, they’re in your cat BIG time.  at your yearly checkup, which i hope everyone does, have your cat looked at for these parasites just in case.  better safe than sorry. 

now, heartworms….is a whole other ballgame.  dogs can be treated once they have heartworms…it’s hard on them but they usually live through it.  cats do not have a good prognosis once they’re diagnosed with heartworms.  if you notice these symptoms (i got this from 21 cats.org - wonderful site for EVERYTHING about cat health):

one mosquito in your house, and yes, it’s caused by mosquitoes, can give your cat heartworm.  it happened to my mom and her cat died from it.  you have no idea how upset and mad she was to find an indoor cat with heartworm.   there are preventatives, so check with your vet about that.

please go to the 21 cats site and read more about heartworm and also the other parasites mentioned here.  they go into great depth about them and i reiterate, it’s a wonderful site for all things health related. 

this is very brief, but 21 cats really puts it all out there and you can read about these things there… and get all the info you need … and in a much better fashion than i can give you.  i just wanted to bring to your attention a few parasites that can get ahold of your pet and things to watch out for. 

here’s a previous post you might be interested in… cats love fountains and if you can, really think about investing in a little one for your kitty!   water fountains for cats

and here’s one i enjoyed from a fellow blogger:  gettin’ your lawn in shape

for something pertinent to say this morning.  there are a million health topics i could touch on…and i’m sure i will in the future…there’s an update on my kitten saga.  i found the other two babies AND i was able to get chi chi and the three babies into my ginormic carpeted walk in closet where they’re all doing really well.  i’ll get some pictures of the other two babies and post that tomorrow.   that was huge…and she seems to be feeding little tommi as well which concerned me a bit.  tommi is a very vocal little kitten and she hasn’t said a word since i put her in with her mom, so i think all is well in the feeding department! 

i’m getting my twice yearly case of bronchitus…seems like when the weather changes i’ll get a case of it.  and i feel quite miserable.  but i have a whole bunch of love to help me feel better.  seems like my kitties know when mom doesn’t feel good and they’ll get in the bed with me and snuggle.  there’s something to be said for that kind of love. 

and finally it’s cooled off here.  it seems my cats know when it’s cooler outside, they’re more wound up.  the temperature could be the same in the house, but they’ll still be totally wound up.  it’s weird! 

now, mom is going to take another pill and see if she can find her phone…seems they’ve hidden the thing AGAIN.  i’m sure i’ll hear it ring and it’ll be under the bed! 

here’s the link to the original story about finding the kitten:  a new little one 

and here’s a good blog post i found from another member of this great site:   bring in the houseplants

i have a little bobtail (chi chi) who will not stay in the house.  i have tried and done everything, but she’s a little thing and awfully quick … and out she goes…she’s also smart enough to know when i have my arms full and can’t snatch her back.  not having a proper tail, there’s not much to grab when she DOES go flying out the door!  so she’s now an outside kitty and very very happy…she sticks around the house and enjoys the company of the other cats from the neighborhood.  

i thought we had gotten her fixed…my neighbor and i have worked over the last year to get all the boys outside fixed first, then we worked on the girls… we have a regular bunch who come to eat and we’ve taken care of all of them.  or so i thought, i think there was a mixup between the two of us and we managed to miss chi chi. 

well, chi chi got pregnant.  i have NO idea who the daddy might be since we’d gotten all the boys done…that we KNEW about!  i was going to snatch her up and put her in the spare bathroom (which i have fixed up for sick kitties or new rescued moms with babies) to have the babies so there’d be no drama.  well, i was a day late and a dollar short - i saw one morning a few weeks ago that she was no longer pregnant! 

night before last, i saw her coming from the rafters in the garage with a kitten in her mouth!  she came down and took him out the garage door, i think she put him under my little front porch, which has a hole there going under the house.  a good place really for this type of thing…safe and dry.  i was going to snatch her right then and there but… what if there was more than one?  big trouble.

so yesterday morning i hear squalling … over my laundry room/pantry area …. up in the rafters of the house…. i thought, ok, she’ll go back up there and take care of him… but all day long - she’s outside just looking at me and he’s up there squalling!  so i got a ladder… climbed it and then got on top of the hot water heater box… and i could see back there… i could hear him but he’s way far back and i couldn’t get to him…  

so i thought a bit and then i decided to call the fire department.  God love ‘em, they said they’d come around and see what they could do.  they came out and one of them got up inside in there and crawled back farther …. he finally had to get a broom to kinda sweep the baby outta there… he was to the side in a crawl space area….

it’s a little girl, a very soft almost pastel calico.  and check the one picture out… what do you see missing?  :-D  yup - she’s a little bobtail.   

munch and elsa, two of my own females, have always been little mommies…. they adore babies and if i have a rescue mom with babies, if i give them half a chance, they’ll snatch those babies up and claim them for their own! 

well, both of them took one look at this baby and took over.  they’ve been loving her and cleaning her and fussing over her.  they’ve about cleaned the fur right off of her!  i, of all people, ran out of kitty replacement milk and i’ll go today to get some.  in the meantime, i’ve been giving her some chicken baby food … mixed with water.  she really likes it.  and when she’s hungry, wow!  she has some voice on her! 

i hope she’ll do well… she’s certainly a cutie…. i named her after the fireman who was actually up in the rafters…they told me when i called later that his name is tommy d, so her name is now tommi dee.

my aunt has already claimed her!  my aunt had a cat named cody that she adored who was a soft, muted pastel calico.  she passed last year and my aunt has been looking for another one since.  when i told her about this one, she about flipped.  i told her no problem, but you might have to take munch or elsa too!  i don’t think those two are gonna give this one up without a fight!  

let’s hope tommi dee does well and lives a long happy life!  

here’s a link to a previous post i wrote … which also involves the fire department!  FIRE DEPARTMENT 

and here’s a link to a great post from a gentleman who writes about our city - charlotte nc… FLASHBACK

i can’t seem to get motivated to write a decent blog the past few days.  i know alot of it stems from the fact that my dorked up leg from that little fall in my neighbor’s yard won’t let me sit at the computer long without screamin’ at me. 

and my mom has had such drama (much of it self-inflicted i’m afraid…sigh…) from some kittens she’s fostering.  in fact, one of them is at the vet’s office hooked up to an i.v. right now… he went downhill almost overnight and the vet has no idea why… 

i think that my next article will be on the ‘fading kitten’ syndrome.  in talking with my vet’s techs, other rescuers, and my own experience, this is a real issue.  i lost 10 out of 11 2-month old kittens almost overnight a few weeks ago.  it was horrible.  

God love my cats, all of a sudden they want to do the “weave around mom’s legs and headbutt her” thing, but how do they know that’s my BAD leg they’re smackin’?  :-D 

and elsa… oh my word elsa.  she’s the one in the picture.  when she was a kitten, she would climb me… and i mean RELENTLESSLY.  i never saw her coming.  i could be doing laundry and she’d launch herself out of nowhere and climb me.  sitting at the computer was the worst, she’d either launch from the bed or just from the ground up.  i kept her nails trimmed, but that didn’t help much because when she couldn’t get a purchase on me from her front claws she’d engage the back claws!  wow!  she did it for months and then suddenly stopped.  well, it’s been about 3 months since she quit and now for some reason, she’s started again!  thankfully she’s a small cat but STILL…. just thinking about it makes my hair stand up! 

she also loves to help me, as you can see in the picture, with my crafting endeavors!  thankfully she’s not very destructive, she just likes to look and check it out and then flop down and go to sleep in the middle of it all!

another thing that’s making me nuts is this weather.  we’ve had no rain in 2 months plus it will NOT cool off.  well, it has a little bit, instead of being in the 90’s we’re now in the upper 80’s.  if we don’t get snow this year, someone is gonna answer for that!  i am a happy camper when it’s cold out.  unfortunately, my cats get really wound up when it’s cold out.  doesn’t matter if the house is warm, they just get so wound up… like i need more of that ‘eh? 

oscar - when i’m doing the potty boxes in my room … i have a craft area set up for my work and under the tables, i have four potty boxes…  i’ll be bent over scooping and oscar, a beautiful orange boy, will get on the tables and start rummaging in my hair.  he’ll pull hair, he’ll snorgle, he’ll knead, and i’m helpless for a few minutes while i’m scooping.  i just want to scream when he does this!  then when i look at him and tell him to please would he just please STOP IT - he has the most amazing look of love on his face… i wish i could capture that look in a picture… and i just can’t holler at him. 

munch… well, she think she’s a mom.  whenever i have foster kittens, she takes over.  she has that special ‘mom’ meow and i know when i hear it she’s snatched someone from where he belongs and is carrying him to where SHE thinks he belongs.  she’ll even snatch ‘em from their proper mom.  she’s doing it now and i’m wondering what her deal is cuz there’s no kitten around for her to snatch, except the one i have left from the foster litter, and he’s nowhere to be seen.  hmmm. 

here’s a link to another post of mine about these crazy furbrats:  http://www.weheartcats.com/cats-argh-w/

and a great post on birds and acorns! :  http://www.backyardbirdingblog.com/offering-your-birds-acorns/