Kitties

This is a picture of FanceePantzz when she was happy - before the white devil (Lilly) came to live in our house. My husband built this tree for the cats but FanceePantzz claimed it as hers the first day. When Lilly came to live with us Fancee went up the tree and stayed there for almost 2 months.

I’m happy to report that Fancee has finally decided to come down and visit me in the computer room now. Fancee growls whenever Lilly even dares to peek in here and I have the squirt bottle handy. I lock the computer room door at night so Fancee can have the run of the room and is able to use the litter box without being chased halfway through.

I’d still like to find a good home for Lilly. She really is a good and sweet cat (except for the one issue) and as much as I hate to admit it, I think Lilly is the smartest cat we have. I know she is going to make someone a wonderful pet.

I was thinking about our “tree” where FanceePantzz is being held hostage. It looks a lot like the Stairway to Heaven cat house and our cats really love it. Well, Fancee really loves it because she lives on it now and even takes her meals there.

I was thinking about ordering another one and found a nice selection of pet supplies over at the Internet Pet Emporium.

I want to thank the people that responded to my post about Lilly because I think you understand how I feel about her. I know some people have the mindset that “it’s just a cat!” and I do understand that mind set because I never had a cat of my own until about 10 years ago when I got my Shimmer.

My husband and I lived in different towns before we were married and he would say he needed to go home because his cat Skid had been left alone for a day and I’d say “it’s just a cat!” to him. I could just kick myself now for saying things like that back then. Our cats are just like family to us and they are not “just cats” at all. They are our babies.

Technorati Tags: cat house, cats, kitties, pet supplies, pet information

I love the little cat. I really do. But she has completely disrupted the life of one of our other cats - FanceePantzz.

Fancee is so afraid and fearful of Lilly that she won’t even come into the kitchen for breakfast or dinner. Fancee stays on the tree my husband built for the cats and seldom comes down. I had to put a litter box near the tree but sometimes Lilly stakes it out and chases her out of it and back up on the tree. So Lilly has the run of the house and Fancee has been held prisoner (by her own fear) on the tree for almost two months now. We just keep hoping it will get better but I don’t think it ever will. Lilly knows she can intimidate Fancee and she is not about to stop.

I guess we’ll just have to find another home for Lilly. It hurts my heart to do it and I’m really going to miss her, but Fancee should not have to live in fear 100% of the time in her own home.

Technorati Tags: cats, pet behavior, kitties

*sigh*

I say again…

*sigh*

I should have known better. I really should have. My mother-in-law is a dog person and never had an indoor cat before. When she started talking about getting either a cat or dog I persuaded her to get a cat because I knew I’d end up with the pet sooner or later and a dog will not fit into our family of cats. I just didn’t know it would be this soon.

Lilly White kitty bit holes in the Old Lady’s oxygen hose so many times we all felt it was better to let her (the cat, not the Old Lady!) come live with us. We all thought we were doing the best thing by getting her a cat but truth be told it was just too much for her.

Lilly has been with us for about a week now and is settling in pretty well. She is tolerated by 2 of our 3 cats and hopefully she and the other female will learn to get along with each other too.

Although I really didn’t want another cat I’m happy to welcome Lilly into the family. I guess 4 is not much more trouble than 3. I just have to clean the litter box more often. heh

That’s what I have to keep telling myself to keep moving. I REALLY don’t want to go anywhere today but I have to take the Old Lady to the doctor for her monthly blood test.

We were supposed to take the Old Lady’s kitty (Lilly White) to the rescue center to have her micro-chip inserted but they are giving me the runaround. When she was spayed last week and the center was out of chips the center owner said I could bring her back this week. I specifically asked if a vet had to be there and she said no, she could do it as long as she had someone to hold the cat. Today she tells me she will not have a vet there until June 20 or 21 and that I had to wait until then. I reminded her that she said a vet doesn’t have to be there but she backtracked and said she does not have anyone to hold today and on the 20th or 21st she is sure someone will be there. I just said okay, I’ll bring her then.

I’m going to get this chip inserted at the rescue center because it is already paid for and I believe if we take Lilly to our regular vet it will cost $40.00 (or was that $60.00, I don’t remember the exact price now). At any rate, I’m not paying for something I already paid for. Period.

But back to my Old Lady rant - I dread this trip to the doctor. It is always such a freaking hassle just getting the Old Lady into and out of the car and into and out of where ever we are going. Gawd I hate it.

I picked Lilly up from the Old Lady’s house this morning at 8:00 am and took her to the rescue center’s clinic to be spayed and micro-chipped. Both are included in the $60.00 adoption fee which I think is a terrific deal. It would have cost over double that amount to have both procedures done in my usual vet’s office.

When I picked her up from the clinic at 3pm after her surgery I found out that the shipment of chips didn’t arrive in time and that I would have to take her back YET again next week to have the chip inserted. arrgh!

I felt so sorry for the little girl. I’m sure she is experiencing a lot of discomfort due to her surgery as well as her swollen, um, do you call them breasts on a cat? I guess you’d call them teats. At any rate she was removed from her kittens this past Saturday and she is very swollen and must have been very uncomfortable even before she was cut open. My heart goes out to her. I think I’m too overprotective of this cat that doesn’t even belong to me (yet) but I can’t help it. I already love her as if she were my own.

My husband and I went to the rescue shelter and picked up Lilly White and took her home to my mother-in-law’s house. She is a beautiful cat and everyone is very happy with her.

I wanted her to be settled into her new home before surgery and not afterwards. I thought it would be hard on Lilly to remove her from her environment, cut some of her guts out, take her away from her kittens (they are old enough, it is just the thought of it) and bring her to a strange house. This way she will already be familiar with her new home. I’ll take her to the clinic Wednesday morning and bring her home in the afternoon after surgery. She will know where her bed, litter box, food and water and toys are and it will be less stress for her. And the delivery was made by Mother’s Day.

My mother-in-law really, really likes her new kitty. I’m very happy about it and I am glad now the original cat I had selected was already adopted. We all love Lilly White.

I had let the people at the rescue shelter talk me into leaving Lilly there until after she has her surgery. The more I thought about it the less I liked that idea so I called and asked if we could pick her up tomorrow and then bring her back Wednesday for her surgery and micro-chip. They really didn’t want to let her go yet because they were afraid she would come into heat before Wednesday and run away and get lost or even worse - pregnant. But they said that we could come and get her tomorrow. Yay!

I call the Old Lady every day at 11:00 a.m. for the daily check up call. This morning during her normal blabbing session she mentioned that she would like to have a cat. She has been fluctuating the past several weeks about either wanting a dog or a cat. I have 3 cats and I know that when the time comes my husband and I will end up with which ever pet she gets now and a dog will not fit into our family. So I decided to strike while the iron was hot.

I told her that if she really wanted a cat that I would find her a cat and that I would do my best to find one and give it to her for her mother’s day gift. She said she really wanted a cat. So I began my mission. It was really simple since there is a “no kill” critter adoption rescue shelter in our area and they even have pictures of the animals at PetFinder.com to look at.

I am DEAD SET against declawing a cat so I looked for one on the adoption page that was already declawed (since I had a hunch the Old Lady would want her cat declawed). I figure if the cat is already declawed then the deed is done and I won’t be the one that is the cause of it. I found a kitty named Summer that seemed to fit the bill and called to see if she was still available. They said she was.

When I got to the shelter Read the rest of this entry »

FanceePantzz was the one of the three that wasn’t sick at all. All she is is FAT! heh

Can’t leave her out so here is her picture.

We put ointment in both of Shimmer’s eyes last night and this morning and they are both improved now.

Maybe I can think of something else to write about besides these cats. :p

It just seems to be working out that way now. *big sigh* (I sure am sighing a lot lately.)

When we took them all to the vet last week Shimmer’s left eye looked a little weird so the vet gave us some ointment to put in it which we have been doing faithfully.

For the last few days he has been sneezing or coughing every once in a while which I know is not a good thing for a cat to do. Now I just noticed his right eye looks like it is infected and it is closed. Looks like another trip to the vet’s office first thing in the morning.

Skid got to stay home yesterday and he was very happy about it. All in all, he ate a whole can of food (one teaspoon at a time during the day) and was quite a bit more lively than he had been. Over the weekend he was doing so poorly that he would not even lift his head up. Now he walks around and yesterday he even went out on the screened porch.

We took him back to the vet this morning to have his catheter removed from his paw. He was given some pain medication and some antibiotics. His right hind leg still seems to be causing him pain. He is not eating as much as yesterday but at least he is eating.

There was a brief time that I was wondering if this was the end of the road for him. He is not completely out of the woods yet but hopefully he will recover fully and live another happy few years.

Skid spent the day at the animal hospital again today. When he got home he started eating on his own! I hope he continues to improve. He gets to stay home tomorrow. Yay.

Hubby force fed Skid over the weekend but he still refuses to eat by himself. He took Skid to the Vet early this morning and left him there all day.

Skid’s blood sugar was elevated at 278 and we’re told the normal level is 160. He was put on an IV, given appetite pills and force fed during the day. His blood was checked several times during the day also. Hubby picked him up at 6:30pm and brought him home.

He would not eat anything at all and would barely even pick head up. He yowled when he went to the litter box and we never did find out that that was all about. He has to spend the day at the hospital again tomorrow.

Hubby and I took all three cats to the vet last Tuesday for their routine checkups and they all got their vaccines.

Friday morning I noticed our oldest cat, Skid, would not eat his breakfast. This worried me of course, so I called the vet who said to bring him in the next morning.

It turns out he had a delayed reaction from the rabies shot which was making him sick. The vet put a subcutaneous pouch of liquid under the skin on the back of his neck because he had lost 5 ounces of weight since Tuesday and she said he was dehydrated. She also gave Skid a shot and some high calorie food and taught us how to force feed him in case he still didn’t want to eat.