Cats, cats, cats!

For the past few days, I have been drowning in cats--sick cats! Expensive, sick cats! Things are pretty rough right now. Dej called me Saturday, while we were camping, to tell me that Oliver was under the bed crying. That is certainly not normal behavior, especially for the sweet, laid back Oliver, so I told her to call Grandma and get him to the vet ASAP. They were able to get in right away, thank god. They called back to tell me that he was suffering from a total obstruction of his urethra--EXTREMELY painful. My choices were immediate euthanization or immediate catheterization. So, no choice, really. They put a catheter in and put in on IV fluids, and he had to stay there under hospital care for the remainder of the weekend. I HATE leaving my animals overnight at the vet. They don't understand, and it kills me to think that they are confused, afraid, and don't understand what happened to their family/home. No choice this time, though. This is typically a recurring problem, so even if it does resolve this time, it will happen again. I will have to either follow him around or sequester him in a room along every day until I verify that he has urinated. That's the only way to be sure he hasn't re-obstructed. Ultimately, he will need his urethra split and enlarged to prevent future blockages. I'm hoping to prevent this until we can better afford it. Our money situation could not be worse right now!

The new cat family: We picked up the family we are fostering on Thursday. The sick runt baby didn't make it, so we have three kittens and mommy. This poor little family has really been through some crap lately! Mommy's name is Harley. She was severly underweight, malnourished, dehydrated, and suffering from a horrible respiratory virus. She's on meds and has improved somewhat but has a LOOOONG way to go. She was initially too sick to nurse or care for the babies, so we hand fed them. She is now well enough to nurse, but we have still been supplementing with KMR. I introduced gruel tonight (kitten food with KMR), hoping they will start eating some of that too. Harley needs to conserve her strength and calories, so she needs all the help she can get with the kittens.

The kittens do not yet have names. I know their permanent families will name them but we would like to have working names for them now. My girls are arguing brutally about names. I told them they had to find a compromise, which Luciana is very willing to do. Dej, however, will not. She wants to name them all her butt-fugly names with no compromising. I will probably have to come up with names just to keep peace. Kitten #1 is all black. She is spunky, curious, and definitely the most bold of the three. She has started coughing, though, which may be from the same virus Harley has. The kittens are starting amoxicillen today, which should help with that. We just found out today that she has a HUGE heart murmur. There's a slight possibility that she will outgrow it when she's 3-6 months old. There's also a fair possibility that she won't live too long. This was heartbreaking news! Still weepy over that one. I put a tiny litterbox in their room tonight, and she was the first to use it. She's quite smart. Kittens #2 & 3 are cream colored and really stick together. Kitten #2 is a slightly darker cream with darker siamese coloring on the ears, feet, and tail. She has a staph infection in her tiny little eye, causing it to stick closed. We have to rub it gently with a cotton ball soaked in warm water to open it and then put a cream in for the infection. That should be fine in a week. Kitten #3 is a boy (we think) and seems to be the quietest and most cautious of the three. All four of them adore people and cuddles/affection of any kind. They are absolutely wonderful!

Just to add to the sick-cat stress of the last five days, Petey pulled a great one this weekend. While Dej, my mom, and I (by phone) are trying to keep on top of the sick cats, Petey was his typical naughty self. Saturday morning, he somehow managed to rip the dryer venting hose from the aluminum vent that goes out the window. He then escaped out through the vent. Dej was at home, when our wonderful neighbor Karen came to the door. Dej said she was puzzled to see that Karen had a cat with her. That cat was none other than Petey, the escape artist. Thank god he had on the collar and name tag, and this wasn't one of the many occasions he lost that. My dad came Saturday night to fix the dryer vent and Petey proof it. It seems to be holding. Petey has gone over to the vent several times and whined since then. That boy is going to drive me CRAZY!!

Dej did a great job under a ton of stress--real life and death situations. I'm very grateful for her excellent way with animals. I'm also SO appreciative that my mom was able to fill in for Dej while she worked and help out as needed. Not a fun weekend for any of us.