Dear Doodle

Doodle is the sweetest little feral kitty.  He isn't really feral because he's such a love bug loving every scratch behind the ears and kiss on the top of his little grey head.  He is probably my fave outside kitty, but mostly because he is so friendly with me.  The sad thing is Doodle doesn't do well in the winter when it is as bitterly cold as it has been over the past 10/12 days.  He doesn't get the extra thick fur that the other kitties get and he is thin.

Doodle

Winter sleeping shelters were completed months ago but somehow Doodle has turned one of the feeding shelters into his sleeping and eating shelter.  The shelter has evolved.  Sunday I took an unused feeding shelter home and after a quick trip to a home improvement store for supplies I spent Monday completely insulating the shelter for Doodle.  The pink styrofoam insulation has made it much warmer. 

Then the shelter was wrapped in two layers of tarp to keep the wind from blowing in through any cracks.  Inside along with the insulation material there is fresh straw bedding plus the snuggle safe discs.  It isn't perfect but I hope this will help Doodle get through the coldest days and nights that still lay ahead.

Feeding shelter now Doodle's
sleeping shelter

When I feed in the mornings I have been taking 3 heated snuggle safes to put inside Doodle's shelter.  When it is particularly cold I will go back in the middle of the day to bring him 3 more heated snuggle safes.  Tuesday was one of those days.  Then about 4:30/5:00 I returned with dinner for everyone and 4 heated snuggle safes for Doodle's shelter for overnight.

Doodle snuggled up beside me

My snuggle buddy

Too many raccoons

It was pouring rain this morning when I left home to drive down to feed my feral kitties and I got quite wet but making sure the kitties have food is more important than being dry.

My beautiful, dainty Ollie came out and she was wet!  The sleeping shelters are dry but she came from the space behind the feeding shelters.  She has used this spot before but on a rainy day like today, it made me wonder why she was there and not inside the warmer, dry sleeping shelter.

Overhead I heard a noise and looked up to see a raccoon making his way down the tree.  Yikes!  Well that meant I wasn't able to leave breakfast for the kitties and I had a commitment to get to.  I packed up all the food and left.  I returned a couple hours later so that everyone could finish breakfast.

After everyone was fed, I pulled the feeding shelters apart to look at the small space behind that Ollie had been using.  It was wet.  After adding some dry straw for bedding I spread a tarp over the shelters along with the little space that Ollie was tucking herself into.  Now if she feels the to need to go in there she'll be dry and out of the wind.

As I was packing up to leave a raccoon came out of the sleeping shelter.  Arghhhhhhhhh.

http://youtu.be/_KGBPLZAt6Y

A few minutes later two more raccoons came out of the shelters!  They wandered around looking for food and finding none they climbed a tree to the roof of a shed.  I was glad they didn't go back into the sleeping shelter.

Later as the sun was setting I returned to feed the kitties their dinner.  They all ate and returned to their individual sleeping shelters.  Just as I was about to leave the raccoon returned looking for food, but I had packed up all the leftovers.

I don't usually see the raccoons at this time of year during daylight hours but they certainly made themselves visible today.

Jag - The Ups and Downs

http://youtu.be/zUUY6pnmayA

For some reason I feel like Jag has been with us for much longer than 72 hours.  She has been a model patient.  She comes out of her heated carrier every time I go to see her.  She has allowed me to wash her eye with warm water, purring the whole time.  I applied a topical solution to the raw wound on her head, which I believe she caused by scratching, and she was very accepting of my help.

My biggest concern aside from the serious infection, is her eating and drinking.  Yesterday she ate very little and I was thinking sad thoughts about The Bridge, but I wasn't ready to give up.  Last night I struck upon the thought to weigh the bowls of food before I gave them to her.  This way I could get a more accurate idea of her consumption.

When I went to see her early this morning I was pleased to see she had eaten some of the food left overnight - 35 grams worth.  Not enough to sustain her but she ate.  While fixing her breakfast I decided to try pouring just the water from the canned (people) tuna in with a little wet cat food to make a slurry.  It worked. She ate.  

Jag ate!

In the past 7 hours she has eaten just over 100 grams of slurry.  Almost half of that was what I call a "tuna shake". I threw a can of tuna in the blender with water and when I took a bowl to Jag she went right to it.  I'm now more encouraged.  

I have special feline vitamins from the vet that I mixed in with the tuna shake because I know she is not going to get all the minerals and vitamins she requires.  Next meal I will add a little wet cat food with the tuna shake and if she continues to eat she will have a much better chance at recovery.  She cannot return to the colony until she is 100%.

Next meal is in two hours and I will try adding a little bit of wet cat food to Jag's tuna shake.  

Nom nom nom