Skittles is 8 weeks old

 

Reaching the ripe ol' age of 8 weeks means time for that first set of vaccinations so off we went early this afternoon to visit with Dr. Steve.

 

It's cold outside today so before we left I heated up a SnugleSafe and stuck in between layers of towel so little Skittles wouldn't feel chilled.  Seems he really liked the warmth because normally when we get to the vet's office he wants to come out for a visit.

When we got home Skittles had a late lunch and then crawled back into the carrier for a cat nap until Annie, Cinder or Boomie are ready to play.

We have Skittles for one more week, then he is off to his new family.

Gracie one week after surgery

I just love good news and Gracie is nothing but these days.  Now her leg has been repaired and her tummy full with yummy food. 

My sister, Vicki,  sent these pictures taken yesterday at the clinic.  Seems Gracie is all purrs and love as she recovers.  She is doing very well in her recovery.

Shaved leg that has a pin in it to hold the bone
in place while it mends

Walking around outside her kennel

Exploring the kennel room at the clinic

Yay Gracie.  I am so pleased you are doing so well only seven days after your surgery.

East Side Gang

The whole gang in one photo

The weather is getting colder and now I begin to worry about the kitties living outside while I am cozy and warm inside.  I hate that they don't have a shelter with a heat source to sleep in.  They have sleeping shelters that are nestled in bales of straw plus the leaves I raked from our yard are piled on top but I really wish I could provide a heat source. 

Jag (black kitty) and Doodle just outside the pine bough
covered entrance to the sleeping shelter.

The shelters I made last year from Rubbermaid containers lined with insulating styrofoam survived beautifully so no repair work was required. I added a few more bales of straw and made a sort of foyer before the cats walk down a "hallway" to the individual containers.  This is so the wind and snow doesn't blow too far inside.  As well the pine boughs help stop the weather from getting inside while still making it possible for the kitties to get in and out easily. 

My post on October 10th shows a bit more of the interior to the shelters, plus the hallway. The Cat's Meow: Inspector Doodle


Jag on top of the sleeping shelters.

As the cats age, I worry about them more and more when it gets cold.  I hope the prediction I heard for a cold snowy winter this year is wrong.  If we have to have winter, I would love another one like we had last year with almost no snow and warmer than normal temperatures.

This year the cats should get a bit more sun shining on the shelters and feeding area during the late morning because the wooden structure that was blocking the sun is gone.  In the photo above there is a red bin where once there was a structure.

When I leave the cats after feeding each day I say, "be safe, be warm and be here".  And I tell them they are very loved little cats.



Gracie - post op 48 hours

Little Gracie continues to do well and she has a voracious appetite. She can't even wait until the contents of the cup are poured into her bowl. She wants her food right now.

 

Please don't make me wait until you put that kibble in my bowl.
Mmmmmm....this is good stuff.

 

This is MY food.

Here's what Vicki had to say in her email today about this very sweet cat :

"Gracie had a good day, Roger is happy with the incision. Swelling that she has is normal.  I took some pics of her at dinnertime tonight showing how she stuffs her face in the container before you can get the kibble in her bowl. It's sad but it does crack me up. After a week of getting good meals, she isn't really starving, just mentally thinking it could be her last meal. Typical of  starving kitty syndrome and she growls as she eats. Oh, and Momma (resident clinic cat) strolled by during breakfast - oooohhhhh - Gracie NOT happy!! She wasn't nasty but she gave Momma the stink eye. I bought Gracie some regular Whiskas kibble today at the store- she doesn't need to be eating any special prescrip diets but she does still get some A/D. She will be a wonderful cat for Jesse and his family - she craves loving and attention."
 
This is this kind of story that makes me happy that I am part of a network of caring people who can make the difference in the life of a cat or kitten.  There are still lots of sad stories but this is a happy one and I am pleased I was able to be a part of the happy ending. 

Again, I say thank you Vicki and Roger from the bottom of my fuzzy little cat-loving heart.  You two made things right for Gracie. 

And Jesse and his family will give her the continuing love and attention she needs for a full life when she is able to go home.

Gracie Update

Recovering

Dear little Gracie had her surgery yesterday to put a pin in her back leg so the bone can mend.  According to my sister, Vicki, the surgery went very well and the break was a clean break so the bone fit back together perfectly.

I spoke with Vicki today and it seems that Gracie is going to stay at the clinic for the next two to three weeks to recover and then we'll find out if she can go home.  She needs to be restricted in her movement so the kennel is her temporary home.  Vicki feels that Gracie is very content to be in the kennel because she is warm and there is a steady source of food, not to mention head skritches.  If I wasn't so far from the clinic (over an hour's drive) I would be visiting her and kissing the top of that soft sweet grey head.

Gracie is currently 4.4 lbs.  That is shocking for a cat believed to be about a year old.  I look at my Annie Sparkles who is also a year old and she is 10 lbs.  Gracie is very underweight and I wonder how much longer she would have survived outside with a broken leg and not much food had she not been found.

Thank goodness for kind hearted people

I was just on my way out the door to feed my ferals and go to my gym when I got an email from a friend this morning and the subject line was "broken leg".   I, of course, thought it was my friend who had the broken leg.  She was writing to let me know that there was a kitty with a broken leg, a stray and attached to the email was a copy of the xray which clearly showed a break.  My friend had been in touch with her vet and I called mine.  Seems very few, if any vets, deal with broken bones which means a specialist would have to be called in and that would be very expensive.

Break is visible in upper right corner of xray

My sister, Vicki,  works for a country vet, so I called her.  She spoke with Roger (vet), who said to bring the cat in and we would work something out.  Turned out that this kitty was not with my friend, but a third party so it took a few hours of trying to contact the young man, Jessie, who had the kitty.  Jessie was at work and it was going to take a while for him to get home to get the kitty.

Jessie and I made arrangements to meet at Yorkdale Shopping Centre and all he knew is that I would have a green jacket on and would be standing outside of the Indigo Book store.  My cell phone is out of commission and I wasn't in much of a hurry to get it fixed since I use it so seldom however, today was a day when I sure could have used it.

It was a one hour drive to get out to the vet's office and the entire trip the little kitty was very quiet.  She snoozed, did a little grooming and snoozed some more.  Jessie said she was on pain meds, so she seemed quite relaxed.  I'm not even sure if this kitty is a boy or a girl, but she is just too pretty so I gave her a girls name, Gracie.



in vet jail waiting for dinner to be served

Once Gracie was settled in the kennel she was given a bowl of food, her last meal until after surgery.  She was very very hungry and ate everything in her dish.  Jessie did mention that Gracie has a huge appetite and I suspect prior to being found, she had been starving.

Tomorrow morning Gracie will have her surgery to insert a pin in her leg and will then spend a few days at the clinic.  I'll know more tomorrow after the surgery, but she will likely be able to come home this weekend.  Then in six weeks she will return to the clinic to have the pin removed.

The happy news to this point is that when Jessie found Gracie he was kind hearted enough to bring her home.  We don't know how her leg got broken, or when it happened.  Gracie is under weight and is thought to be about a year old.  Jessie had her at two different vets but I don't know the details about why.  When I was just about to leave after getting Gracie's carrier buckled into the front seat, I thanked Jessie for caring enough about this little cat to do something rather than turning his back and walking away.  Jessie and his girlfriend plan to keep Gracie, which is wonderful.

Thank you Jessie for caring about this young stray.
Thank you Roger and Vicki for helping this young stray.

He ain't no Trouble.... he's Skittles

Our dear little foster kitten, Trouble, has a home of his own to go to in a few weeks. We will let him go a few days after he gets his first set of vaccinations which will be early in December. 

One of the fellows my husband Mike works with is adopting Trouble and the family has a 7 year old orange kitty so Trouble will also have a buddy to play with.

A too cute boy cat

Mike told them that if they let us know what they would like to call the kitten to let us know and we would start calling him by his new name.  We got word a few days ago that Trouble is going to be named Skittles, which I think suits this wee boy perfectly.

Annie pinned Skittles down so she could
groom him

For about the past week or so we have let Skittles have the run of the first floor of our house during the day.  When Mike gets up in the morning he gets Skittles out of the cage and then feeds him.  From that point on Skittles is out until about midnight when I go to bed.  The other morning when I woke up I found Skittles curled up sleeping on the rug in the bathroom with Cinder on the edge of the tub keeping an eye on her charge.  He had no problem going up the 14 stairs to the second floor and has since discovered the third floor plus the basement.

Skittles pushing the cat dolls off
their bench

Last night was the first night we didn't put Skittles in the cage but I did close the doors to a few rooms.  Early this morning Mike woke up and brought Skittles into bed.  This wee boy is quite the cuddler.

Trouble is a hungry little kitten

When Trouble is hungry, the entire household knows that he needs food - now!  He is quite the screamer when that little tummy is running on empty.  He is now eating both canned and dry food with gusto.



I'm soooooo hungry.  Nom nom nom



This is the best dinner EVER!  Nom nom nom

I'm sure I slopped something under here

When he is finished eating he trots over to the little bed in the corner of the kitchen and promptly goes to sleep.  Under the towel is a Snuggle-Safe, a microwaveable disc that provides him with a warm and cozy spot to snooze.

Just as I was about to publish this blog, I looked over to see Trouble sitting in a bowl (empty thankfully) while eating from another.

More disruption and construction .....



Giant bin for old roofing materials

 

Hope this fence isn't supposed to keep ME out.
 ha ha ha

There is a lot going on at the building where my feral kitties live.  During the summer and until just recently there were renovations going on inside but the workers had access to the inside of the building via a side entrance.   Some days I had to navigate my way around trucks and other pieces of equipment to get to the back area where I feed.

Now the roof is being done.  Thursday I arrived to find a large section of the parking lot blocked off and a huge truck with a crane lifting roofing materials up.  Thankfully this doesn't disturb the kitties too much but for me it means having to squeeze between pallets of tar and the machine that melts the tar.  There is not much space and while I am not wearing good clothes when I feed, I don't want to get any tar on me.

Tight squeeze between pallets of tar and tar
melting machine.  Smelly too ! !

 

I'm not sure if the workers only work Monday to Friday, or because the forecast was for rain, but no work was being done today.  Temporary fences are up to keep people out but there is just enough space for me to get through.


Film crew unloading truck which is next to
the feeding station for the ferals

To add to the mix, the building way at the back right beside the feeding and sleeping shelters, is being used for a movie!  Shooting is taking place inside the building however many of the guys come outside for a smoke break.  I've chatted with them a few times and they are there for three weeks.  Unfortunately, all it takes is for some of the kitties to hear strange voices and they are spooked so getting them to stay and eat is challenging.

Jag (left) and Doodle eating

Doodle must have heard a strange voice

Doodle watching the roofers

One of the roofing crew told me they should be here for two weeks, weather permitting.  That is much faster than I expected so I hope they do get the weather they need, get the job done and then get outta here.

 

They don't come any cuter than this

Trouble is getting bigger and stronger and sweeter and cuter with each passing day.   I weighed him this afternoon and he is now 651g, more than doubling his weighted since he arrived on October18th.

Are you my furmom?

Cinder is a little piggy and will eat whenever she gets a chance, even if it means stealing food from a baby.  Naughty sweet girl.

No More Bottle Feeding

first time feeding himself

This morning it was time to see if Trouble would eat on his own.  I mixed some canned kitten food with his KMR (kitten milk replacement) and he took to it immediately.  Yay.

The baby bottles have been sterilized for the last time and can be put away. 

He is also using the litter box with regularity. He is 4 weeks old today and thriving. Thank goodness.