I'm not good at this snow stuff

So my neighbors said they had been spending time sweeping the snow off their outdoor plants. I thought to myself "should I be doing that too?" I know nothing about plants you see - that gene went from my mother to my sisters and bypassed me. I grow cats. Nevertheless I picked up a rake and went outside just now and started whacking my plants. I whacked a really big one, and the entire contents of the tree next to it, fell on my head. In effect, I threw a really big snowball at myself and made a direct hit! Snow down my shirt, in my hair, covering my glasses - thank goodness it was dark!! I immediately stopped my plant whacking, I suck at this snow stuff!!

Ok, the snow is not so cute anymore

I never for a minute thought I'd ever be snowed in - in SEATTLE. Yes, I'm officially snowed in. My neighbor went skiing this afternoon and he barely made it back here in his 4x4 and it is still snowing. yesterday my neighbor and I managed to get my truck out of the driveway, took an hour and a lot of kitty litter. But this allowed me to get out and get some essentials. My cell phone was on the fritz so I got a new one, and I bought kitty litter, diet coke, and toilet paper. Seriously, what else does one need when they are stuck in the snow? But I have not been able to leave since yesterday. Even walking on my lawn, the snow is higher than the top of my waffle stompers. Here are some snow photos.

Dinner anyone?

My dad built this in the 70's, look at the snow!!

The cats are fascinated by the snow

No bird seed today

Let it snow let it snow let it snow

It is snowing - won't stop snowing. I wish it was just enough snow to keep me from work but not enough to keep me from the movies. No such luck. Here are some photos. Meeee in the snow.

Yes, I feel like I'm in Siberia. You can't see it well, but this is a photo of my trucks efforts to get out of the driveway.

The neighbors keep coming over and begging for food

Show Results

Sammy went 2nd best cat in show!! I am so thrilled I can't stand it! Blondie went 4th best kitten in show - fantastic for her first outing :-) Gato went third best alter in show - not bad for an old fart. And of course Cassie went best household pet kitten. I just wish there had been more than three kittens there. I am really looking forward to the rest of the season!

Puyallup Wa Show Dec 13-14

Wow, is what I have to say about this weekends show. This may very well be the most successful show of my cats careers. We had so much fun and the success was overwhelming. This was Blondie's first kitten show in TICA, Sammy's first TICA show since July, and Gato's first show of the year. It was also Cassie's first outing as a household pet kitten. They all came out in the top end of their respective classes. Gato picked up four BEST ALTER awards and went best of breed in 11 of 12 rings. Not bad for a 13.5 year old grandpa. He picked up 8 finals out of 12, that was so heartwarming. Sammy, who is looking like quite the brute right now, picked up 9 finals!! Not bad in a field of 52 really nice adult cats. He did not get the one final he needed to become a supreme grand champion, but he picked up some really nice points. Blondie loved showing and showed herself off well. So well in fact, that she picked up a BEST KITTEN in her first All Breed ring!!! That was one of two best kitten awards she picked up this weekend. She ended up with a total of 7 finals out of 12 - not bad for a 4 month old kitten in her first show. Cassie was shown in the household pet kitten class and picked up 10 Best Kitten awards. I'm very proud of her - but I wish we had more competition. There were only 3 kittens competing.

Needless to say we are very much looking forward to the rest of the season! This is Blondie.

This is her daddy Sammy.

Portland Cat show Dec 6-7

The Lewis and Clark cat show in Portland this weekend was the largest I had attended in the Northwest. It was nice for the club and the region to have over 300 cats attending this show. It did make it a campaigner show, which is not so good for cats just starting out, but it is a nice opportunity to see some spectacular cats. Seamus was in top form physically, but his reluctance to stand on the tables affected him this weekend. When you are competing against 75 other cats, you need to make a good presence, and sleeping on the table doesn't cut it. He picked up 4 finals out of a possible 8, all from NW judges who knew him. He ended up 14th out of 75, very respectable. I pulled Grissom from the show on Saturday. I found that his whiskers had been poking him in the eye and his eye was all red. Sunday he looked much better. He did not make any points, but enjoyed the attention. His coat needs to grow in some more to make him a contender. Sammy had a great time. Had his coat been perfectly white where it should be white, he would have done better. But I had just pulled him from the cattery and he was still yellow in places. As a result he only made one final. But proved to me that after a 5 month layoff, he still enjoys showing. The kittens (Legally Blonde and WALL-E) did very well for their first show. They were not scared in the judging cages. WALL-E took a while to warm up to the judges but they were very gentle with him. At the end of Sunday he was playing with them. He picked up a best of breed from Diana Rothermel - there were 4 Selkirk Rex kittens total. Blondie loved every minute of being on the judging table, she has lots of potential. She made one best of breed. Most of the other BOB went to Curly Bears Sassafrass, a 7 month old female. She is really spectacular and is now #1 Selkirk Rex kitten in the world - yay!! I felt bad for her owners, Sassafrass started her first cycle at the show and was very grumpy. But Sassy is a nice BIG girl - she made one final.

Showing 5 cats was exhausting but it was fun to spend time with friends. I spent way too much money on the vendors. But hopefully the cats will appreciate my spending. I bought three hanging beds to go in the cages, two tents for travelling, and some cage and hammock covers. We are now white and zebra stripes - crazy.

How to ignore your life

I am a professional avoider of life. I am so good at it, I should start a business. I have so much to do, and the list keeps getting longer. Its a double edged sword though. I have a long list of things to do because I'm avoiding life, and I have a long list of things to do because I'm avoiding facing the list and the list keeps growing longer. When I have a ton of stuff to do, I go to a movie. That's two hours I don't have to think about anything and I'm thoroughly entertained. Going to the movies also has the added bonus of two of my comforts, diet coke and popcorn. I'm not a movie buff, I just love avoiding life. I'm also figuring out that I need to lock up my home computer. Whenever my computer is not here, its in the car or at work, I get tons done. It is my home avoidance system. Like right now, I'm starving, but don't know what to eat for breakfast, so here I am on my computer, and watching tv. Yes, this blog today is my free therapist. I'm due at Bonne's house around 1pm, I hope that will go well. What I need to do is... scoop litterboxes, bleach litterboxes, vaccum and wash floors, wash walls, bleach the house, clean the bathrooms, pull a bunch of poop for fecals, finish the laundry, buy more totes to contain the cat beds, box up stuff to go to Phyllis' for storage. Notice anything? None of this really benefits ME. I need to make breakfast, do my hair, take a walk - and get off the computer. Bye!

Blondie - The Superstar

This is my show girl. She is a sweet and loving LARGE girl. At 3 months of age she is already nearly 5 pounds. I was almost thinking I should get weight OFF of her! Her coat is dense and curly. Her paint job is gorgeous and who knows what color she is. I'm thinking in CFA she is going to be called a dilute torbie with white or a dilute calico. In TICA she will either be a black silver patched tabby or a black silver tortoishell with white. I think she has some stripes in her tail so she will likely end up being a patched tabby. She's beautiful and sweet all the same. She should eventually make some nice babies with Grissom.

Cassie - all growed up

Look at this beautiful girl! She will be 4 months old in Dec. Because she is a straight coated selkirk rex, I cannot show her in purebred competition. But what a shame!! Her paint job is by far the most magnificent I've ever seen on any cat. She is also independent, but sweet, a classic tortie girl. I've decided to show her as a Household Pet Kitten in TICA. That should be fun and she should do well. She travels very well too so hopefully I can send her on some road trips with friends.

Kramer is growing up

Sept 2 we had a birth at Dramatails from Katomymme Evening. Her first kitten was born in the afternoon. A beautiful curly mac tabby. Her labor continued with no progress. Another $1800 later, and one dead baby, we got Kramer. Within 24 hours the first baby died, leaving Kramer as an only kitten. Unfortunately, Evie was just too confused and in too much pain to be a good mother. So my good friend Phyllis took in Kramer and one of her manx queens has raised him. He is 10 weeks old now and a beautiful black smoke shorthair. His registered name is Dramatails Nightmare on Elm Street. He was going to be called "Krueger" but it came out to be Kramer and Phyllis says he answers to it. So Kramer it is.

Flowers for me!

I won 6 arrangements from Elizabeth Morgan flowers. You can see my first arrangement on her blog! http://morganandmoss.blogspot.com/2008/10/fall-order-and-biz-card.html I highly recommend her for special occasions!

New Babies

Crystal had her babies. We finally had a birth at Dramatails that did not involve so much Drama and expense. The birth went well. I didn't get any kittens I really wanted, but they are all firsts for me and a good experience. All longhairs, one straight hair and TWO homozygous. Ugly and interesting at the same time!

Dramatails Iron Man - Selkirk Rex Long Hair.
Straight hair. Silver Mac Tabby


Dramatails Ghost Rider - Selkirk Rex Long Hair.
Homozygous. Silver Mac TabbyDramatails


Igor - Selkirk Rex Long Hair. Homozygous. Cameo

Good Bye Maddie

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that I had Maddie put to sleep about a week ago. I haven't been able to write about it until now, it was just too painful to think about it. Medicating her made her so scared and it was scary for me. I was bitten and scratched so many times I lost count. I could not pill her, giving her antirobe liquid would make her vomit. The injectible form of antirobe was very painful. The toxoplasmosis had caused nerve damage to one side of her face and it made her eye twinge. The only way I could handle her would be to cage her and when she was caged, she would barely eat. If I tried to force feed her, she would struggle so hard she would make herself sick. I re-arranged my home so I could shut up all of my younger cats so Maddie could have a couple of final days free in the house - one more time. I found a great video I'd taken of her with some super-powered catnip –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mofPoQR4usU

I played this over and over again when I came home from that final trip to the vet. My vet was very supportive and sat and talked with me for a long time about my decision. I had such high hopes for this precious girl. It seems like from the day she was born, the cards were stacked against her having a normal life. I'd like to think that she was able to experience a little bit of happiness while in my care. At times, she certainly did seem happy. The house feels different without her here, but I find comfort in knowing she is in a better world, where ALL cats are loved and treated like the kings and queens they are. She has crossed the rainbow bridge and is enjoying the company of Macallister, Dante and other foster cats I've known and lost - and hopefully she has made furry friends of those you have lost as well. Thank you all for your support - I know there are people around the country sharing in my tears.

New Job!

Yay! After 3 months of interviews and back and forth communication, my recruiter Joel and I were successful in snagging me a full time position with Verdiem Corp! I will be their new Program Manager. This is going to be a first for this company and they are hoping I'll be able to come in and help them organize their main products Edison and Surveyor. This is an awesome green company and is hot at a time when green is hot. I will get to bus to work, will work in the middle of down town, two blocks from Pike Place market! I'm very excited.

How to pill a barracuda

Of course I must medicate Maddie with the worst tasting medicine on the planet next to metronidazole. Antirobe (Clindamycin) is so nasty - of course capsules are preferred. I've tried to pill Maddie and I swear it was like trying to pill a snapping turtle, a barracuda, or a pirhana. We are going to investigate options.

A definitive diagnosis

Maddie's final bloodwork came in and she has toxoplasmosis. When you look at the description of toxoplasmosis, her case is textbook:

The most common symptoms of toxoplasmosis include fever, loss of appetite, and lethargy. Other symptoms may occur depending on whether the infection is acute or chronic, and where the parasite is found in the body. In the lungs, T. gondii infection can lead to pneumonia, which will cause respiratory distress of gradually increasing severity. Toxoplasmosis can also affect the eyes and central nervous system, producing inflammation of the retina or anterior ocular chamber, abnormal pupil size and responsiveness to light, blindness, incoordination, heightened sensitivity to touch, personality changes, circling, head pressing, twitching of the ears, difficulty in chewing and swallowing food, seizures, and loss of control over urination and defecation.

We are switching medication to baytril and Clindamycin today and for the next three weeks. We have a VERY good prognosis here!

Maddie - encouraging news

Some of the bloodwork has come back on Maddie as well as a professional evaluation of her xrays. The bloodwork is NOT pointing to FIP! It is showing a decrease in liver functions from not eating as well as suggestions of a slight infection. The most surprising information came from the evaluation of her xrays. According to the report, Maggie has pneumonia. This would account for the on and off vomiting of the last month, the high temperature, and the difficulty in breathing. She shows no outward signs of a URI of any kind, eyes bright, nose clear. But we cannot find any record of her ever being vaccinated either. The vet suspects that Maddie may have sustained some nasty damage to her lungs while in the cattery from hell and the stress of that, plus the rescue, being in animal control for a month, then moving again... She's likely been hiding pneumonia for quite some time. We will continue the baytril and fluids and add amoxicillin. I've let her out of her confinement now that we have no lab signs pointing to FIP. She's much happier out of the bathroom and actually ate for the first time on her own since Monday. Catching her to give her medications is going to be the most difficult part. Right now she's sitting quietly on the floor in the middle of the family room watching my every move. I hope I can catch her tonight without stressing her out too much. We'll see. I'll feel better if she feels better in a week. To all our friends...I think the prayers worked - stay tuned.

Maddie's Vet Visit

Maddie's temp was down to 103.5 this morning when we went to the vet. But unfortunately, that just gets her closer to the average range for FIP. The vet did not feel any fluid in her abdomen, that was a good sign. They put Maddie under with gas anesthesia and drew blood and took xrays. Initial review of xrays showed a lack of contrast of the organs suggesting some type of peritonitis. Maddie is back home with me. Ive given her some raw food today to see if she will eat. The kind folks at catsafratsrx were kind enough to offer to send medications and royal canin rescue food for maddie. We received some catnip balls the other day. The well wishes are very comforting to me as Maddie and I go through this together. I really appreciate the emails we get from all over the country. I have no idea how this will all turn out - either way, it has been so wonderful watching her this past month discover new things and actually enjoy life.

She bit me! Good times...

Well, little Miss Maddie hates to be scruffed, hates it with a passion. So just now when I gave her fluids, I had to pinch off the skin where I took the needle out. She wasn't having it and sunk her teeth into my finger. Good times - as my good friends would say - she has a little spunk left in her. I gave her some buprenex in case she was in any pain. Shoot, now I need some. I work at Microsoft and not being able to use my right index finger will make it hard to type and click! Dang..hurts like a mmmmmudda. Maddie 1 - Mommy 0

She purred for me - oh the irony

Anyone who has ever dealt with FIP knows that it is often called "the purring disease" because the stress and pain of a fever causes the cat to purr - thus making the cat feel more comfortable. Tonite I came home, not sure what to expect. Maddie was very easy to handle, which concerned me. She had peed next to the litterbox. Her little tongue was sticking out but she often does that. She went behind the toilet and I gently put my hand around her belly and picked her up. Yes..I picked her up. In any other circumstance I would be thrilled, but at this moment, I wished she would fight me. I've dealt with a lot of ferals in my time and they get more and more tame as they get sicker and sicker. Both a blessing and a sadness. I easily took Maddies temp and it quickly went up to 105. I crushed up some baytril for her and gave it to her with some babyfood, she really liked that. She just kept looking at me as if she were giving up and asking me for help. As she sat facing away from me in her bed, I started running my fingers back and forth on either side of her spine, and she began to purr. Her entire body relaxed and she just sat there, purring. In an instant I almost wished she would stop, turn around, and run off. Wouldn't it be wonderful if she was purring because she knew that I was helping her? A tiny part of me thinks that, but the practical side tells me that she is feeling the effects of whatever ailment is taking over her body and she's trying to calm herself. I'm going to go and give her another 100cc of fluids. I'll mix some vitamins in with it. I'll also put together a row of dishes with various foods in it. Anyone who has ever had a really sick cat knows this drill too - find every can and bag of food in the house and line them all up, hoping that one of them will be sampled. Our appointment to see the vet is Thursday. I have received prayers from all over the country - keep praying and Thank You from the bottom of our hearts.

A little improvement

Maddie's temp is down to 104 so I'm encouraged that the antibiotics helped. She did not absorb the fluids well which is a concern. Since she improved, I do not think she has a heart problem. She urinated so that eliminates the possibility of a blockage due to UTI. She definitely feels better. But we all know that FIP can come and go with the fever. The vet has suggested I stay the course and bring her in on Thursday. That way we can look for patterns in her reaction to antibiotics. She is going to be a huge challenge to treat. I could only give her fluids last night because she was so sick. Seems to work well if I put her in a single sturdi cage which I can easily manipulate and access her with. I'm expecting at least one bite through all this! She has not eaten.

I do think it is FIP

In writing the previous post it really got me thinking about the possibility of FIP. It can definitely come on quickly like this. I just went in and knelt down next to her, she was curled up on the bed I'd put in there. Needless to say I was crying. I spoke to her softly as she hissed at me. She allowed me to put my hands around her belly. It is large, hard and distended and when I put a little pressure on it, she grunted in pain. Oh my Lord...No - this cannot be happening. More tomorrow after we go to the vet. All I can keep saying to myself is NO, this is NOT fair! She just started her little fragile life over and she's been so happy. No...no...no! I hope I'm wrong.

Maddie is very sick

Just a half hour ago as I was sitting here working, I saw Maddie slink across the floor. Something just wasn't right about that slink. So I walked after her and watched her slink away again. Hm, still, something wasn't right. She looked as if she was disoriented, didn't want to move her neck, actually, didn't want to move at all. So I reached down to touch her. She was fine enough to move away quickly. I followed again and scruffed her – kapow! - fine enough to kick her way out of my grasp. But after only this minute of effort, she was mouth breathing heavily, not good. I chased her around for 20 minutes last week and she was only slightly winded. I went and got a towel and got her into the bathroom. She was burning up with fever. I took her temp...106.9. Of course it is 11:30 at night. She isn't sneezing, doesn't have the look of a cat with URI, but perhaps she has a virus? She is a regular vomiter, but I always figured that was nerves as she has gained weight nicely. Without a clue on her background it could be just about anything. I have given her 100cc of lactated ringers and some baytril. At this point I have absolutely no idea what tomorrow will bring. If this was one of my other cats, they would be sleeping with me all night. Maddie is in a cool room with tile, food and water. I did not give her a litterbox, just a towel. I want to see what her urine/poop look like. I called my contact at MEOW and they have agreed to initially front any vet bills. I said I thought perhaps that BAP or CFA might be able to help with reimbursement of any vet bills. She could also have FIP for all we know, thus the difficulty in breathing? She will definitely go to my favorite vet to try for xrays and bloodwork. Poor girl...please keep her in your prayers. Here is a recent photo of her from last week showing how happy she was hanging out with Charlie, my other semi feral.
.

Maddie Movie!

Aug 19 Maddie Update

A week ago I decided to let Maddie out into the house. It occurred to me that she was continually being cornered by me in any type of cage and that must be terrifying. For the first 4 days she hid, I didn't know where, but I trusted that she was eating at night.

Do you ever have one of those days when you float around the house, doing this and that, and you have this feeling like someone, or something, is watching you? Now granted I have a lot of cats in my house - but lately, it's been different. For the past few days I've realized that there was a little girl watching me. I have started noticing her more and more. It's been Maddie. She is no longer hiding all the time, she's actually out and about - her curiosity getting the better of her. For example; right now I'm sitting at my desk in the living room, the Olympics are on, the cats are lulling around. Behind me there is a cat tree, with a little persian sitting on it. When I turn around she stares at me as if I had no right to stare back. Later I turned back to my computer and when I looked again, she was gone. Now, out of the corner of my eye, I see her sitting on the sofa, then she jumped down and walked (not RAN!) across the floor. As I spied her creep back to the cat tree, I turned around and picked up a four foot cat toy on a pole. The other cats of course came bounding out to play. I shook it in her direction, first fear, then curiosity, then - was it? It was! A paw stretched out to catch a feather. We continued on with this for a few minutes. This is the first time I've ever seen her play and it was with ME!

She really must be relaxing. This is even after I cornered her this afternoon to give her an exam. She had been vomiting and I was concerned she might be down on weight. Nope, she's of good weight and her hair is growing back. While I had her cornered in a cage, I held out a piece of chicken - and she took it out of my fingers and ate it!! Chills ran down my spine, this was progress!

Wow...she is sitting on the floor now, just four feet away from me. Whoops...gone again! To see this girl embracing her freedom is something to behold. Every experience she has is a first. I've seen her sitting by the back screen window, soaking up the smells of the fresh air of the back yard. It has just started to rain, if she sits by the window again tonite, it will be the first time she's seen and smelled rain, can you imagine?

Gymnatics is on...gotta go!!

Dramatails WALL-E

Dramatails Casablanca

Dramatails Legally Blonde

Dazz and her lumps

I left Dazz at home this weekend while I was at the show. I had flushed out her infected tissues a number of times before I left and arranged to have a friend look in on her. My friend called with updates, rather worried, but things were ok, just, well...kind of gross. The infection had to go somewhere. The infection has gone but left some weak and broken skin. There are now holes where the skin and mammary tissue died. I actually have a degree in Animal Science from UC Davis where I was pre-vet, so this stuff is wildly facinating to me. Here are the before and after shots of her day 5 and day 8.

The vet and I have come up with the theory that this particular milk duct must have started backing up pre-partum. When the kittens were born, I encouraged them to nurse on this nipple because I thought it was just very full. During birth, Dazz was not sick and was in good spirits. Likely the duct was blocked and eventually began to become impacted. Bacteria, possibly from the c-section, entered the blocked area and created a septic environment. That led to the fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, and stiffness. The kittens too, were not thriving. Even with strong antibiotics, some of the mammary tissue died. This caused the bruising you see and the infection to surface. I definitely learned from this experience. In hindsight, as soon as I saw these mammaries filling up and becoming larger than the others, I should have made sure that they were freely expressing milk. Dazz is a very large queen who is prone to being overweight. She also has always had a pounch where these glands are, therefore, having sagging mammaries there, did not look unusual. We have the option of surgery, or just keeping it very clean. I have opted to continue to cage Dazz and keep the area clean. Tonight I will glove up and do some serious flushing and try my best to pull out the dead mamary tissue. She is still on baytril. Now that the infection is gone, she is a VERY happy girl. A very good friend of mine is bottle feeding the kittens and they have literally tripled in size since coming off mom and going on the bottle. They should be fine. Dazz should heal in a couple of weeks, and will go on to a new home. For this entire year...I'd like a "do over" please!!!!!!!!!

Exhibitor support for Maddy

I attended a show this weekend in Portland with my alter - I was truly not prepared for the number of people who came up to me to wish me well with Maddy. The support was overwhelming and the stories that were shared really hit home. I met people who knew Judy - these were not friends of hers. The feedback I've received regarding the owner of the 22 Persian cats was grim. Granted, so far as I know this is a "he said, she said" issue without concrete proof, but it is not pretty. I won't go into details about the character of the owner of this cat in regards to her conduct in CFA - it is opinion and I prefer not to pass judgement on hearsay of others. HOWEVER - I think people need to be reminded that how they treat others will be reflected on how they treat you. "Do unto others as you would have them, do unto you." When this woman told authorities that "she could not get anyone to help her"; I wonder how many times she had gone out of her way to help others. What do they call it...kharma?

I guess this could explain why Maddie acts like she does. She's giving back to humans, the same as she's received. I don't think her previous owner should be put in jail. I think she should be made to live in her garage with a toilet that doesn't work, no running water, no soap...you get the idea. Oh..and no visitors, no love, no kind words, no gentle hands. Sorry, a little bitter today.

Maddie is still very scared. She makes a mess of her cage every day. She's lost her dignity. She does not work very hard to clean herself. I suppose when she was caged, there was no point in keeping herself clean. That must be torture for a cat. She is eating well, but not a lot. I'm wondering if the food I'm feeding her is too high quality. Sometimes when cats have been raised on cheap crap food, its hard for them to convert to the good stuff. She loves treats, that's cute to see. I've had to isolate her from Grissom because he was getting tired of her torti-tude. I don't like caging her, I wish she could be free. I can't set her loose in the house as I still want to run a lab fecal on her and besides, she would most certainly find some hiding places in my house that I'd never known existed. I really don't like keeping her caged though. I don't think it is good for her not to have anywhere to escape to. Sometimes when I come and open the door to this newer cage, she starts jumping up against the back corner of the cage under the shelf. There is no where to go so all she does is whack her head on the ceiling with her jumps. So along with being scared to death...she's rather an idiot. She is a persian, after all...

My New Kitten!

Meet Woolibaar Edyta Sliwoolska - newly of Dramatails! I was at a show this weekend and had seen this girl before. I am not a tortie fan AT ALL, but I got to meet this girl and she is so sweet. She also has behind her Pamacs Alacurlzam and Castlekatz Harry Potter, two outstanding sires. I made a deal with Donna Bass her breeder, that I would grand this cat for her and help her to gain the title of "Distinguished Merit" on her dam. This will be just the second DM for the Selkirk Rex breed in CFA! I'm going to call this cat "Fire" as her call name. In TICA I will register her as "Woolibaar Firestarter of Dramatails." She has some very sweet cats behind her and with her own great personality, she should make some very sweet tempered babies.

Devil Persian

Maddy likes the hammock! Usually only little kittens like the hammock, but Maddie loves it. I must say, she lives up to the look she's giving in this photo. She is the classic tortie, rather bipolar. I can go into the cage (it is a walk in) and pet her, but I have to be careful. I can't scruff her because, as my arm scratches attest, she's a mad rabbit kicker and ignores the scruff. You know the type! So I have to wrap her in a towel or a pillow case to handle her. I had her in a pillow case the other evening. She wiggled up near my ear. In some other story I might write: "I could feel her soft sweet breath in my ear..." But this time, I was thinking..."Holy shit I hope she does not take my ear off!"

Even Grissom is getting tired of her temper. He gave her a warning growl tonite, she'd better listen, he outweighs her 3 to 1. She had just drawn blood from me, I wasn't going to defend her. I swear she was playing with the feather toy earlier this evening - could have been she was eating the feathers, imagining it was me - but one can hope.

Bedazzled is doing well. Her fever finally broke today. I had her at the vets every morning for the last 3 days getting her IV fluid therapy. At one point her temp was 104.7 for two days. She's now down to 101 and she ate for the first time today since Sunday. I gave her some mirtazapine to help stimulate her appetite. She's in with Lacey and together they are sleeping with and pottying the kittens. Neither has milk (unfortunately) - so I will be up again in 4 hours. Labor of love...labor of love...

Selkirk Stress

NiteWind Bedazzled went into labor last Friday, she had been due that previous Wednesday. She had two live babies, then one dead one and then labor came to a screeching halt. Rather, the delivery of kittens did. $1800 later and an emergency c-section, we have 3 live babies out of the original 5. This is my catteries second c-section in one year and I tell you, I'm seriously thinking that this might not be the hobby for me. My first litter produced two live kittens out of 3, with a $1300 c-section. The next litter came when I had run to work, and my maiden queen did nothing to take care of her babies and they all died before I even had the chance to get home. The next litter of one (Lacey's litter), produced one kitten with physical challenges that died shortly after birth. Now Bedazzled. Bedazzled spent today at the veterinarian's office on IV fluids and antibiotics for a nasty case of mastitis. Lucky for me Lacey is a very good wet nurse and at the very least has kept the kittens clean. It is clear, after seeing how clean the kittens are today, that Bedazzled has not felt right since she gave birth to these babies. The babies had been fed up until now, but not very clean. Between Lacey and I, we will raise these babies together - with what little milk she can produce and supplemental bottle feeding.

I've only had whole cats since last year. And nobody told me then about the number of c-sections and the high mortality rate that this breed, as well as others, have experienced. At first I was shocked, then when I thought about it from a scientific standpoint, it made sense. The mongrel, mutt cats of this world - reproduce by natural selection, survival of the fittest. We don't breed the fittest reproducing cats, we breed the ones who conform or will lead to the correct type for our breeds. As a result, reproductive fitness has been reduced to a case of chance. I'm happy to be working with cross breeds, but right now I would give anything to be able to outcross with domestic cats. I bet the LaPerms are doing well.

Bedazzled's temp is 104 right now and has been all day. She's on baytril and clavamox, plus buprenex and fluids. Her days of being a mom are over. I just want to get her through this so she can start the rest of her life as a wonderful pet.

A Soft Bed to Lie on

First it appears I need to change Angels name. A wise person has said that perhaps it is not a good idea to name a cat like this "angel", she might become one. Which was not the entire reason I decided to change her name, but partly. I really like the name Madeline, or "Maddy" for short. It really suits her and she was the youngest one rescued. She is Maddy.

As I've watched Maddy move about her cage, I really have to wonder if she has ever actually slept in a soft bed before. She continually ended up in the litterbox, which, if you think about it, must smell like home. Even when I took the top off the litterbox, she would sit in it. As I went about my daily routine of scooping litterboxes, I thought to myself, "is this really so hard?" Most people I know have at least 20 cats in their programs if you include the pets, kittens and alters. They seem to in most cases single handedly scoop daily, sometimes twice a day! I have a feral boy called Charlie who I get to pet once or twice a month. When I do, I will gently cut off the little matts of furr that gather on his hind end. I just can't imagine someone who loves cats, letting these little balls of fur, grow to the size of a baseball.

I finally went down to Costco yesterday and brought home a variety of boxes. If you've been to Costco you know they have great kitty boxes that used to be baked bean boxes or the like. I set up a box in the cat run and put in some bedding. Grissom quickly claimed it. Since Grissom had hogged the cool box, I put a bed next to it, hoping it would look like a good hiding place to Maddy.

We had another petting session in the bathroom before I went to bed last night. This time I brought out some babyfood and a plastic spoon. The spoon was brutalized but in the end, she ate the entire jar. Glad I did not use my fingers on this first try. She still needs to be picked up with a towel if I want to avoid being rabbit kicked and she is very wiggly and flashes her teeth from time to time. I put her in a pillow case and turned her on her back to rub her tummy. I think she enjoyed it, but I'm sure would never admit it. Apparently torties must have their secrets.

Jump to this morning and guess who was sitting on a soft bed - yup! Grissom was still hogging the cool box, but little Maddy was lying on the soft bed next to the box. It gave me a warm feeling just thinking about how it must have felt to her. Before I left for work, she had moved up onto the shelf and was watching the world go by - baby steps!

Still calm waters

This morning (ok, I slept in until 1pm)...ahem...This afternoon I wasn't sure what to expect from (enter new name here). I don't know if we can go on without a name for this little spitfire of a girl. I thought of "Madeline" from my favorite book series as a young girl. "The smallest one, was Madeline." There have been some great suggestions emailed to me; Beauty, Angel, Autumn Leaves. As I sat here thinking of a name, the blue angels kept flying over. That name has stuck in my mind as well, Angel. I googled "angel beauty" and ended up on Amazon.com. There is an album of inspirational songs referred to as "Healing Harp Music." The songs include: Shining Ones, Angel Beauty, Soaring Wings, Angels Of Mercy, Angel Light, and Lord, Come And Heal The World. I'm not a terribly religous person but you have to admit, these songs sound very inspirational and positive. I've decided to call her Angel. If she bites me, she might have another name temporarily, but Angel will be her real name.

Angel likes to hide, no surprise there. But hiding in the litterbox while sharing a pen with a whole male is not my idea of an ideal hiding spot. I've pulled the top off the litterbox and given her a kitty cave. But first I picked her up with a cat bed and placed her on the bench in the walk in cage. She is letting me pet her and has yet to strike out or hiss at me. Her eyes are completely dialated though, she's very scared. I'm being very careful to move slowly around her, lets face it, I'm a big girl, and my presence must be mighty scary.

We did have a little breakthrough though. I left the cage and came back with some freeze dried chicken. As I reached out to place it in front of Angel, I half expected this to be the time I got a warning shot. But NO! She sniffed the chicken and stayed still while I placed it in front of her. Another baby step.

She needs a name

How do you tell a cat that she matters? How do you persuade a cat that she's worth being loved? Can you imagine the confused and messed up mind a child would have, locked up for the first couple years of its life, completely ignored, wait...not ignored, treated like vermin? I don't know what this little girl thinks I'm going to do, and that must be it, she has no idea, so she thinks the worst. Every interaction she has had with humans, has been painful. This little girl was forgotten early. Apparently she showed her shyness early in her life, and was put into one of the tiny wire cages in the cattery. The plan had been to euthanize her, but the "deed" kept getting put off. Did I mention that her previous owners answer to how things got this bad was "I could not get anyone to help me!!" Somehow I don't think that is going to mean anything in court.

So into this little wire cage, was thrown food from time to time, and water. Her feet are yellow and blistered from urine scald and stain. After her time in cat hell, this little girl was then pulled out and taken to the shelter. There was no way for her to understand that she was safe. She struck out at every hand that approached her. She was put under anesthesia, spayed, and her matts were shaved off of her back and tail. She was also tested for PKD and put back in a carrier. She's negative for PKD, not the case for at least half of the other cats who were rescued. Back to the shelter she went, and into a stainless steel cage. This must have seemed like a little bit of paradise to her in comparison to what she had been in before. But this was, for this little feral, a slightly different kind of hell, just not as bad as the first. The shelter is full of people, something she was not used to seeing. There were dogs barking, and strange cats meowing. And her friends and family, were gone.

My friends tell me that I am crazy when it comes to ferals. I take chances that most people would not. When we have what we call "hissy spittys" at the shelter, I get very excited and will reach in and pick one up. Granted, I have had 3 trips to the emergency room in the past 8 years, but I think that's pretty good considering! So of course, while driving home with this little girl, down I5, at 65 miles an hour, where was my hand? In the carrier of course. This little cat has never actually been petted before, and I was eager to show her how nice it was. Now, I'm not completely stupid, I put a little towel around my hand and gently covered her head with it before I started petting her. I won't say she enjoyed it, but I still have my hand, so it could not be all that bad.

After we came home we went and sat in the bathroom together. I opened the door a crack to let Seamus, Gato, and any other purr monster come in who were curious. The goal was to have this cats first real look at me, be with ambient purring and very positive cat:person interaction. She was petrified, but it was not bad. Like the crazy person I am, I picked her up from the corner of the room where she sat and placed her in my lap - 1,2,3...10 yes, all fingers still there. Her body language made it clear she wanted to run, but I held her in my lap for just a moment, then let her go. We repeated this a few times, then I put her in with Grissom, my selkirk male. He said hello to her, noticed she was spayed, and then ignored her - PERFECT!

We had another petting session in the bathroom an hour or so ago. Same deal. Seamus gave her a bath and then sat on her, purring all the while. I was able to pick her up, being careful not to look at her. She clearly did not want to be in my lap, but she didn't try to kill me. She clearly needs a name, but it hasn't come to me yet. Baby steps.

She is so beautiful, I really hope this works.

CFA Email: There are no words

Hello AllI just got home from Animal Control in Olympia where I was able to see 13 ofthe 22 persians rescued earlier this year in the Northwest. First of all,this city shelter is an example of what I wish all of the city shelterscould be. They are so lucky to have this state of the art facility. When Iwalked in, the place did not smell of litterboxes and dog poop, it was likewalking into an office. There were tons of people there looking to adoptpets and a wealth of volunteers and staff waiting on them, I was soimpressed. The main reason I had gone there was to meet one of the Persianswho was too feral to handle.

I first met the three ferals from the original22. Two had started to come around and the shelter staff was working onthem. Their eyes were bright and their hair was growing back in. Theirtummies were nice and round from being well fed, and their cages were clean.The feral girl I went to see, a tiny calico they called "Feralina", tried tocharge at me through the bars, she was petrified of humans, with no place tohide.

I next went to see the 10 persians who were up for adoption. They hadtheir own room and each had their own cage. They had special litter fortheir sore paws, soft beds to lie in, and fresh food and water. The sheltervolunteers work with these cats daily, helping their atrophied limbs learnto walk again. All had excellent medical care and were learning to lovebeing loved by humans. I think I spent most of the visit crying. Theyshowed me some of the case photos. Truly, there are no words to describethe conditions as shown up close in these photos. After seeing thesephotos, I no longer have an ounce of sympathy for the previous owner. Thepain and suffering these cats experienced is something I cannot imagine andsomething I hope never to see again in my life. In most of the photos, whatI saw was a yellow mound of fecal matter. I thought I was looking at a moundof hair that had been shaved off of a cat, until I saw one eye in the photoand realized, it was a cat. On this particular cat, the nails had grown tonearly an inch and a half, the toes had begun to slough off, the tail wasfull of infection, his testicles were swollen to three times their normalsize. Next to that photo was a professional photo taken of this black andwhite bicolor, in his competitive prime. Then another photo of the shadowof that cat as he is now. He will get a new home today, and the love he sorichly deserves.

I brought Feralina home with me. She definitely needs a new name. Sheappears to be about 10 months old, and scared to death. I put her in a largecat run with one of my sweet males as she was housed with a male before. Heis gentle and loving with me and with other cats. This is more room in therethan she's ever had in her life. And it is right next to a window, I doubtshe's ever seen what the outdoors looks like either, much less felt thewarmth of sunshine on her face. I'm hoping that she'll see how I interactwith my boy Grissom and she'll learn that people are OK. I think I'll starta blog for her, with photos of her progress. She may never "turn" as we hopeferals do, but it will be a long time before we give up on her. My fondestwish is to at least get her to a point where I can handle her enough to combher. She cannot go to a feral colony or be an untouchable indoor feral, asshe would have to be caught, put under, and shaved once a year - that is toomuch for a feral to handle.

The shelter was very appreciative of the support from CFA - they received agood chunk of funds to help pay the medical bills of these cats. To allthose who donated, THANK YOU.