Another added to kitty I.C.U. (and another)

Dusty is mighty cute also. I really hope she does well.

Thanks fair share. Dusty's twin Smoky joined us last night. I was kind of expecting this since I knew there were two and I couldn't imagine one being sick and not the other.

Luckily their mom brought me the sibling at feeding time yesterday. I can't say abandoned since she was sitting right next to it until I picked it up.

She knew there was nothing she could do for the little one since it was running a fever. I put Smoky on antibiotics right away and just a little feeding. She/he slept the night in a separate box to avoid passing something along.

Fever is gone and she was wanting out, so she is now out with the others. After a little fussing at me (good sign) she started feeding from a syringe and has been growing stronger.

I think we are done with this batch but another mother gave birth under a stack of skids two days ago. She is charging out 40-50' to challenge our dogs if they get close so I dug some unused fencing out of the vines and put up another layer to keep them further away.

It won't stop the mother from getting through but maybe she will feel safer and not go out on the attack. It is NOT a fight she will win and I real don't want to have to nurse a 'days old' litter.

I'm glad they are doing ok. They are lucky to have you Steve.

Sadly we found out that Smoky our newest has a "club foot". Her right front paw is bent. When I move it she does not react in pain so I presume it is a birth defect not broken.

We will be able to afford any corrective measures so she will have to be an inside pet. Nature is so adaptive that I expect she will still have a good life.

One of our cats showed up at the front door about 16 years ago. She has a terrible limp and instead of running she hops really fast. Vet did some x-rays and she had several crushed vertebrae in the lower back. Funny thing is she doesn't know she is disabled. I don't think she even knows she is differently abled. The body has remarkable adaptive ability. The mind even more so. And that goes for animals and humans. She was just an adolescent at the time she showed up and the vet said someone stomped her real hard to smash the bones like that. I think they have a special place reserved for them.

I believe that abusing an animal is a foreboding indicator about that person and the value they place on life.

Agree 100%.

I thought sure I was going to have a sad tear-jerker this morning with the loss of Smoky, our club-foot kitten, BUT, happily I was wrong.

At bedtime last night she had separated herself from the others and was laying in a limp form over in a corner of their bathroom. An hour earlier I had held her while she was jerking and making a sound of death on its' way.

She had just pooped, so I massaged her belly and ran her belly under warm water in case she was having tummy problems but it seemed to hurt her more than help so I wrapped her in a towel and placed her back in the corner she had chosen to die, or so I thought.

I really cringed at coming in this morning, but four bubbly kittens met me and we are back to normal. Thank you Lord for helping ME. Losing a kitten really gets me in the dumps.

Way to go Smoky. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I suspect he has a special place in His heart for babies of all kinds.

What a roller coaster! The two twins, Dusty and Smoky both fell ill last night and Smoky was again appearing to be at death's door.

I gave them a different antibiotic to see if they were resistant to amoxicillin and they gagged so much I had to give it again but this time forced a little into the throat.

Smoky was motionless all night with an occasional twitching of her tail.

This morning, ..... full speed ahead for both of them.

An update: They are all doing reasonably well. No extremes last night but we added one more thing to their treatment at the suggestion of four vet.

We wormed Smoky and Dusty. I often forget that they could have them passed to them by Mom and even though we de-worm them all about twice a year, (just last week for everyone again) these could have still squeaked in between.

Dusty's belly was maker her look like she was pregnant and that is what triggered me to call and made the vet suspect worms. She's got diarrhea but have not noticed her passing worms yet. She is acting better though.

I gave them one dose break on the antibiotic, but they are back on it again now. Smoky throws a huge fit when she gets it, but she's doing better too, so we won't toy with success.

Snowflake STILL has trouble going poop. Not sure if it is constipation since stools are soft but hopefully she will outgrow the problem. She does not like getting her bottom wash 2-3 times a day.

Graham is doing fine. No problems except he loves climbing my legs whether I have pants or shorts. Yikes! My legs look like I've been strolling through briars.

An issue has arisen with our outside cats. Almost all of them 30+ cats have stopped eating. They're drinking but the cat food is going to waste.

I am switching to dry only tonight since the wet/dry mixture had really attracted flies. Vet says heat could be the culprit and I certainly understand that. Hopefully their appetite will return by Sunday when it is forecast to be below 90.

We got the makings of another house for them yesterday. Our daughter works for a company who occasionally gets large crates with the products they bring in. They just have to pay to landfill so we helped them out.

Nice project for September/October. Cats are already checking it out and making claims on their space.

I'm glad to hear the lil ones are doing well.

We had to let Snowflake go today. It turns out her intestines and other internal organs were missing and malformed.

As she grew older it became more apparent and the vet said she would eventually become infected, weaken and have great pain.

She was already experiencing pain that we could not relieve, so we agreed to say goodbye. She had such a lovely personality. It REALLY hurt to let her go.

I'm an emotional wreck during these times, but we tried real hard to save her, so I can take some comfort in that.

Now an update on the other three. Graham, Dusty, and Footsie (aka Smoky) are doing well. Smoky became Footsie because we had trouble remembering Smoky and since her foot was bent, it was a way to differentiate between sibling who looked simieilar.

I'm pleased to say that she has grown out of the reason she was renamed Footsie. Should we rename her one more time?

Compared to the two boys, she is quieter a little quieter but FEARLESS. I can vacuum within inches of her and she will watch it go by but no fear. Of course, I have not vacuumed her yet but neither have I done so to the boys, but they head out when the switch is flipped.

A few days ago we caught her going out the cat door in our sliding glass door and another day she was out there for a few minutes before we realized. Luckily Spottie (our Dalmatian and maybe Pit Bull mix) was not around.

We've had some bad experiences when cat and dog did not play nice. (Dusty just climbed my leg to see what I was writing. I have not been able to wear shorts most of this hot muggy summer)

This morning Fearless Footsie slipped out again. Bobby, one of our long-haired reds came over to let me know something was going on. He usually stretches up to touch me with his paws and I follow to see what he wants.

This time it was Footsie, outside, walking around the feet of Spottie who was wagging her tail but looking confused. She had seen the kittens through the glass door and must have learned that they were not her play-toy.

No harm was done, except for a good licking and nose pushes. I almost think Spottie was trying to push her back to the pet door, but.... nah... couldn't have been.

The end of today's post is, we have three adorable, adoptable kittens here folks. They are fully weaned, and litter box trained. wink, wink. :-)