CataBlog

Updates galore

Hi all. Got a heap of updates from our rehomed cats, so, without further ado...

First up, Rhiannon (who I'm going to visit today - yay!!)

"She’s sleeping on the bed with us at night, singing for her breakfast and diner and is fascinated with the forbidden room! She can be fast asleep and we open the door to the laundry room and in a flash she’s standing next to you trying to get in there, I think because it’s the only room not opened at night for her to explore she’s keen to get in there!

Last week though… she did get outside and chased (yes, she was doing the chasing) the neighbours (rather large boy) cat under the house, we managed to coax the neighbours boy out with food then we blocked off the vents (her only escape to the outside world) so she couldn’t get out - we then went fishing! Fishing you say, yes… the forbidden room has a trap door that opens to under the basement… so we were calling her and put food down and tied catnip toys to string and tried fishing her out! She wasn’t too bothered or in much of a hurry, seemed to quite like exploring down there… she eventually surfaced (11pm) and was amazed she was in the forbidden room! I think she thought she was rather cleaver!

We are thinking of getting a cat leash just to use while introducing her to the outside world, she is very friendly and loves attention, but is still startled easily, if you walk into a room she’s in (other than the bedroom which she is totally comfortable in) she runs back to her safe haven which is now on the bed and not so much under it anymore! I’m just worried that if we let her outside and a loud car or a cat comes by she’ll be startled and take off – I’m sure it would be back into the house, but I’m not prepared to take the risk of losing her – the last scare was a horrible experience that I don’t want to repeat it!

I think she’d love to see you again, and you could probably do with seeing her too! Whenever you have the time, just sing out and let me know!"

And from Pansy and Poppy's new people:

"Hi all,

Just thought you all might like an update on our little darlings, Pansy & Poppy.

They had their first visit to the vet for a second worm dose and vaccination. They were really good and behaved like little ladies.

We had a relieving vet on and she commented on how Pansy shouldn't put on anymore weight as she had a belly on her (fancy saying that about my girl) Poppy is very round now but she didn't comment on her weight only the amount of teeth she had lost and possible thyroid problems in the future. Not a problem we will look after them in their old age.

They still spend alot of the day under the bed and sleep alot. They are always with us in the evenings with us and are often busy at night, on the table in the bath, they have their crazy times.

The other night when I got up to go toilet I meet one in the hall and as it was dark I couldn't tell which one, so gave her a pat and when I returned she was gone, as I got back into bed there was Pansy sitting on my husbands chest and he didn't even wake up. It did look funny.

They haven't gone outside and make no attempt to try and get out the doors. Pansy got very scared looking out the window when another cat came up our drive, but Daddy chased it away.

They are such sweet girls and real time waisters, but they are worth it. "

And on the Cheeky and Boris front...

"Cheeky is going well. He’s such a pleasure to have in the house, always hopping up and down on his little paws, meowing at this and that. We have a brushing session outside every morning which he seems to love, black fur flying everywhere. This morning I watched him chase shadows around the garden – it was very funny!

Boris seems well, he’s still heads under the bed straight after breakfast, I think he fears that I’m going to give him his pill (it has now been five weeks of three pills a day, poor little guy) as he usually doesn’t realise that he’s already eaten it in his morning mince. But he’s out and about the rest of the day and is still a very affectionate little fellow. He’s bald spots have sadly increased slightly – I think some are from where he rubs under the bed and the one by his ear is from scratching. He’s back to the vet tomorrow for a blood test to see how the antibiotics are working on his little liver, fingers crossed it’s all ok :o)"

followed by

"I’ve just been reading back on some of the early Boris and Cheeky emails, I can’t believe they’ve been with us such a short time.

In August Boris wasn’t really eating a lot, I can not confirm that he is a right little pig, and at the beginning Cheeky was so stand offish at first and now he bosses us around!"

TJ is settling in to her new home, but is still hiding a lot during the day. She comes out for cuddles at night and seems quite relaxed, so no doubt she'll come round in her own good time.

And last but not least, little Victoria is also doing really really well.:

"Little Victoria has settled in well, much better than we'd anticipated. She's eating well, and has the run of the whole house. She's still a little reclusive during the day, but very perky from around 6.00pm onwards. She even sleeps on our bed for short periods, which is nice. She's fine with us picking her up and cuddling her, although she sometimes puts on a chase!"

Right, off to visit Meowff and see how the wiping her down with a wet towel went last night. R's allergies are still a real problem, so they're trying ways of minimising the amount of fur and saliva he's being exposed to. Fingers crossed!!!

Thanks for the lovely comments

Thanks to Sarah, Erin and Libby for the lovely comments. It was a horrible decision to have to make, but we just couldn't get her nerve pain under control and listening to her cry in pain after she ate or when she tried to go to the toilet is, I think, worse than living without her. And thanks too to my lovely friends who saw to it that I came home to a garden (and wine and chocolates) on my front step when I got back from a day at the shelter on Sunday. It was unexpected and very lovely. :o)

A huge thank you to Kerry, my wonderful vet, who came over to the house and made the experience as good as it possibly could have been for me and my girl.

OK, on to other stuff before I start crying again.

Meg got homed on Saturday and the reports from Shyla indicate that all is going really well.

And lovely wee Meowff went to her new home on Sunday. They're having a few teething problems, the most worrying of which is the allergic reaction R is having to her. He's never had an allergic reaction to a cat before, and this one is pretty severe. We're really hoping things will settle down, or this may not be a long term option for our Meowffie. Otherwise, she's playing like a mad thing and her eyes are starting to look quite a bit better! So fingers crossed that R's immune system can get used to Meowff-dander.

I'll keep this short tonight, as my Mont-sta lad is been quite unsettled by the departure of the funny little black cat. He didn't like her, but he's definately wondering where on earth she's gone to - constantly checking the bedroom and study for any sign of her. He's also started getting very bolshie with me (little rat). I think that now the dynamics in the house have changed, he's making a play for dominance again, so much biting has ensued since about monday.

Yet again I'm having to try to teach him I am top dog-cat-person and he's NOT the boss of me. (For those of you who've never had the pleasure of meeting my green-eyed boy, Monty has some fairly severe anger management issues due to residual kitten-hood abuse and can be quite the pysco when he loses it). Not exactly what I wanted to be dealing with this week, but hey, he's my boy. And despite the blood loss, I love him to bits.

For you were wee, small, short and thrashy-tailed

And I
Loved you
So.

Rest in pain-free peace my dearest little Jonny girl.

I'll miss you.

TJ, Patch, Rusty and Victoria all settling into their new homes

ep that's right - 4 of our wee ones have gone to their new homes since last friday. TJ was the first to go on friday night and gave her new person and me a heartattack on Saturday when she mananged to find a hole in the bed base and curl up in there for the entire day. J. thought she must have somehow gotten out when she got up to let her other cat out at 4am and a rather panicked phone call ensued after she'd torn her place apart and no TJ. I got a trap and photo of TJ out to her on Saturday morning and she spent the afternoon covering the neighbourhood with flyers, only to have a very unconcerned TJ emerge from under the bed later on that evening wanting to know where her dinner was! Much sighing of relief was done and a relieved tear or two shed.

Patch and Rusty were both homed on Saturday and by all accounts are settling in beautifully. Patch started purring as soon as A. got him home and possibly hasn't stopped since. Which given how upset he was getting in the shelter is just wonderful to hear.

Rusty has met his new 6 mth old sister who's rather facinated by him. Not sure that the feeling is mutal at this stage, but while there's been a bit of bad language, no fisticuffs have ensued.

And little Victoria is slowly settling into her new home too. She's the most timid of the lot, so will understandably take a while. But she's out of hiding already and they had her purring last night - go wee one!

In mega-exciting news for the week, there's a couple interested in adopting Meowff! They're going to talk to her vet so that they're fully informed about what they may have to expect health-wise, but so far, they're dead keen. Fingers crossed our lovely Meowffie finally gets the home she deserves!

My Little Madam isn't doing so great. We've started her on a new steriod injection, but if this one doesn't work, we're out of options. It's possible her nerve damage is too severe for drugs to control, so this really is one last shot to see if we can get her stable. If not, then there's only one decision I can make for her sake. So if any of you are of the praying disposition, please spare one for my little Jonny. We need all the help we can get right now.

The litle Lampchop has the right drugs at last! Damn - or has she?

After many ups and downs (mostly downs) we seem to have got the mix right. The vet thinks that the oral steroids weren't being absorbed via her dodgy bowel, so she's now on injections which seem to be doing the trick. Only downside is it's making her RAVENOUS!!! 5am bellowings of "FEED ME NOW!!!". But since after that she doesn't seem to be in pain like before, I can well live with that!

Ok as I write this she tried to come in and go under the computer desk (her "f**k off I hurt! Don't touch me!" place) and is now scratching in the litterbox and crying. Damn it! Well, today was a good day til now.

Time to cheer myself (and hopefully everyone else) up with a lovely letter from little Boris to his Aunty Heather.....

"Dear Aunty Heather,

My name is Boris and I would like to talk to you about my weekend.

On Saturday my Aunty Libby decided to give me some Rescue Remedy as she’s worried about my bald patch (as shown in the photo above, of course you will see I’m still a very handsome boy!) and about my overall happiness. I’m a very intelligent cat and I can not believe she tried to trick me into eating food mixed with medicine! Sure it takes a little longer, but I have plenty of time on my paws, and I’m quite happy to pick out the bits of mince and jellymeat that are not mixed with medicine. I like food a lot, I do not like medicine, and as I already have to take three pills a day I think it’s safer to refuse to eat anything that doesn’t taste meaty.

My Aunty Libby then decided on some tough love and put Rescue Remedy all over my paw. I do not like Rescue Remedy, but I like being clean, so I licked it all off! Here is a photo of me hard at work. I have not included a photo of my face when I first licked my paw as I do not want to frighten you.

I’m not sure if Rescue Remedy is the answer to (all) my problems, but my Aunty Libby seemed extremely happy when she came home from work yesterday and my friend Cheeky and I were in a figure 8 formation in the blue room, so I think she will continue to give a little to us both.

Love from your friend Boris

PS I also had a pedicure at the weekend so now my claws are very short and hopefully this will stop me removing too much more fur when I itch my neck.

PPS I’m sorry I missed seeing you the other weekend, I had a very important meeting under the back hedge, since which time I have not gone outside again."

Rhiannon Rocks!

Our wee girl is going from strength to strength in her new home. Check out the latest update:

"She is doing wonderfully, while she still has moments of being frightened and runs away she is a lot braver by the week – she is joining us in the kitchen in the evenings, we don’t get much done with her there though as she attaches herself to ya feet and is like a shadow following your every step and flopping at ya feet and purring lots!

She’s discovered that the kitchen is where the food comes from and bounds down the hallway when she hears noises like cans opening or biscuits being poured into a bowl!! That’s when her squeak turns into a meow, so cute when she’s being vocal!

Oh, and she’s discovered there is a difference between her food and human food, she has no fear when it’s the big ones dinner time – coming right up to our plates for a sniff and to try and sample if she’s lucky! I’ll get you photos this weekend.

We are sooooooo happy with her! I think you should visit again soon…."

My little girl on the other hand isn't doing so well. She's back on temgesic for pain relief as the steriods alone don't seem to be doing the trick. However with the temgesic she's a happy, purry little snuggle cat, so at least currently she's feeling better. Waiting for my vet to get back to me today to see where we go from here and if the temgesic can be taken long term or not.

Pansy and Poppy

Hi all. Just got in a lovely update from Pansy and Poppy's new people up in Palmerston North. The girls are doing just great:

"Just letting you know our little darlings are doing well.

Pansy is a regular on our bed at night while Poppy sleeps on our daughters bed or in the lounge on the couch. They started clawing the lounge furniture so we brought the old scratching pole in and they go crazy with it, just love it. They are funny to watch as one will play with it while the other sits watching and if the other doesn't get a turn on the pole they will scrap, but they are such dainty little fighters they don't hurt each other. So looks like we will be buying a second scratching pole.

If you pat one then the other will glare at you till she gets a pat, even if she is on the otherside of the room.

They are good little eaters and sit quietly waiting for their dishes to be cleaned and filled each morning.

They still spend most of the day sleeping under the bed but always come out for tea and some days in between, we always go and talk to them. They are no problem at all.

They are still inside of course and look out the windows every now and then but get scared, so if they are going to be inside cats that's fine with us. They are very addictive little girls, just have to cuddle and spend time with them."

We've decided to hold off on homing Andy (after discussion with his folks-to-be) until after he's finished his antibiotics and been back to the vet at the end of this week for a checkup on his ear. We all figured that starting out at a new place and having pills stuffed down his throat and then carted off to the vet was not going to be the best possible start. So, all going well, they'll be taking him on friday night.

No one homed yesterday - fingers crossed for a better day today.