Elephants Upstairs

In May of 2005, we decided we should try fostering kittens, to ease the pain of the loss of one of our cats. We lost Pepper on a Saturday, and 3 days later, we got a call that there was a litter of 6 orange tabbies that needed a foster home. That was when it all began. The title may make you scratch your head, but I was always amazed at the amount of noise these tiny little kittens can make when they are playing. From the living room, it does indeed sound like we have elephants upstairs.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Bye-bye Jessica, hello Twinkie.

Jessica get's one more shoestring chew before she goes.

On Tuesday Jessica went back to the shelter to prepare for her spay on Wednesday. As usual she was full of vim and vigor. They all got to run the hallway before she left, and they had a fine time with Bentley and Pancito. Jessica's favorite game was to run as fast as she could possibly go, jump up in the air in front of Bentley and swat him in the face. It was all great fun since she did not use her claws.

I did manage to catch some video of Bentley and Pancito interacting with Jammie. Oh yeah, and I can't forget Buck! I will try to get it loaded today.

Finally today Jimmy ended up gaining a little bit of weight. Jammie maybe gained half an ounce...not enough but at least they're moving up in the right direction.

I also got a call this afternoon asking me if I could take another kitten...a very skinny little boy who really needs some extra special TLC. His name is Twinkie. He is a beautiful little guy, but really skin and bones. Hopefully we can turn him around.

Twinkie

When I got him home, he had already made quite the mess in his carrier. He can hardly walk he is so weak. I went ahead and gave him 10 cc's of fluids both in the evening, and again this morning. I managed to give him some AD mixed with water and some Nutri-cal. He fights it, but I will syringe feed him all day every few hours. I didn't even bother to weigh him...but he is larger than Jimmy and Jammie, but really, he feels like a rag doll in your hands. He purrs a lot, but I know that is how some cats try to comfort themselves. I will try to spend some time just holding him today, and hope he understands I am trying to help him. When he gets stronger I will try to clean him up, but for now I will just wipe him off with some kitty wipes I found.

Pancito went back for another blood check and although his platelets are up to 52, they still have a ways to go. He will be on the steroid for a while, and they added another medication. We are hoping it works quickly. Another recheck next week.

Pancito hams for the camera while Bentley keeps an eye on Kittahs

Jammie attacking the unknown under the bed

The monster (Jimmy) emerges from under the bed

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Bye Bye to Jolie and Kanya

At the shelter, before heading home

Jolie and Kanya went back to the shelter yesterday to be spayed today! My niece is still interested in adopting 2 kittens, but I am going to try to convince them that they should get boy cats instead of girls.

I know, I know. That's not fair to girl kittahs. And one of the best cats in the world was my little girl Pepper. But we have 4 staff cats now, and all but one are boy cats. And all but one are loving, sweet cats. Guess which one has ugly mood swings? ;) Ripley has her moments where she will take a swipe at you. Never have I had this issue with my boy cats.

Jessica in mid hiss at Jammy

My niece had a bad experience as a child with a cat. Miss Kitty was similar to Ripley in that she would attack at any given moment. You might think that would scar her for life, but she still wants a couple of kittens. ;).

The boys look around

In case you are worried about Jessica being all alone, don't. She is still here, but she now has 2 little roommates. Jimmy and Jammy. (No, I did NOT name them.)

Jimmy checks out the new digs

They are pretty cute little guys and happily ignoring all of Jessica's hissing. She occasionally forgets they are interlopers and plays a little before she remembers she doesn't like them and hisses again. I figure by tomorrow the hissing will be all done.

Pancito update: Pancito went back Monday for a retest and his platelets went from a low of 28000 up to 52000. Not near where they need to be, but moving in the right direction! Another test on Saturday, hopefully with good results and we can wean him off the steroids. Yay!

Pancito and Bentley (and Buck)

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Aliens grown up

Bishop heads for the sink while Jessica watches

It's been a while since I posted about the aliens. They are doing great. They are healthy and it totally sounds like the elephants are running daily.

They now rush the door and love to escape and explore the bathroom and hallway. Bentley and Pancito like to run up and stand at the door whenever I head upstairs.

Kanya is over two pounds now, and so is Jolie. Jessica is close, but not quite. They will probably be heading back to the shelter soon to be spayed and go in view.

We had quite a scare last week with Pancito. He started vomiting Sunday evening. Nothing big, but he vomited 4 or 5 times in the evening. At 10 pm he threw up again, so I decided we should run him over to the Hope Center emergency vet in Vienna just to be safe. He got an X-ray, and blood drawn but everything seemed ok. We got some nausea medicine and they sent us home.

Jolie watches the dogs

When we got home (2:30 am now) I took the little guy for a quick spin to go potty. He did his thing, and then vomited again on the sidewalk. It was dark out, but the vomit looked odd to me. I got a flashlight and paper towel and went out to look. Bloody vomit. We jumped back in the car and sped back to the Hope Center.

Turns out his platelets were very low. 30,000, as opposed to a normal of 150-200,000! They kept him overnight. We were pretty freaked out by now. We went home and went to bed. (3:30 am)

At 6:00 am we got a call from the vet. Pancito was fine, but they ran a tick panel on him and he tested a strong positive for anaplasma, hence the low platelets.

Bentley and Pancito missed each other while Pancito was in the hospital

So, long story short, he stayed there until Wednesday evening, on an antibiotic and steroid waiting for his numbers to come up. They never did. So, we took him home with his medicine regiment to manage from home, since it is VERY expensive to stay there. The vet was great, and was comfortable with him coming home. We have to keep him from rough housing with Bentley, which has been hard, but he is doing fine. He goes for another blood draw on Monday. Fingers crossed that his platelets are coming back up!