CATASTROPHE UPDATE

Last night, after I posted, I went to the barn to check everyone and feed the cats and chickens.  A nice surprise greeted me, "Cross-eyes" stood up.  It was painfully executed but he stood to greet me and then laid down.  The Vet had said that the lactated ringers sometimes seems to make miracles.  I fed him and cleaned the towels under him.  I knew I would have to come back down at 10PM and give him more lactated ringers.  He is still not drinking water.  It was good to see some improvement in his demeanor. 

St. Louis is experiencing some horrible weather fronts.  One came through last night right after I cared for the cat.  It rained so hard it was deafening.  The St. Louis area was devastated with Tornadoes.  The airport was even hit.  It is closed now.  Thank goodness it hit when not many planes were landing.   There were very few injuries and no deaths.

To keep "Cross-Eyes " comfortable in this damp and cold, I made him an adult incubator.  We have a very large Styrofoam cooler (normally used for a propagation chamber).  I laid it on its side and placed a heating pad on the ground side.  Covered the pad with a heavy bath towel and turned it on low.  While he was so debilitated I hung a heavy cover over the front of it to keep away drafts.  He is improving this morning, we saw he had been up and used the litter box (it is right next to him).  He didn't eat this morning, I will try him again in a couple of hours. 

At 10, last night, the fronts had passed.  I went to do the final check at the barn and doctor "Cross-Eyes".  When I fed him he left some of his food so I took it to the other cats in the barn.  Out of a oil drum next to me, jumped a cat.  Startled me a little more than a little bit.  It was Priscilla. (the cat in the cover shot).  she was growling at me.  I served her the food to occupy her and went to look in the drum. Yep!! there were five little ones.  Three of them looked exactly like the one I had up at the house. I went to get the other kitten and when I came back Priscilla was already back "home".  I went to get more enticing canned food to keep her away while I tried to reinstate the baby in the nest of siblings.  When I put her back I fondled all the little ones too, just so she couldn't tell I had added to her brood.  A half hour later I checked and she was happily nursing kittens.   I couldn't tell if mine was attached or not and I didn't want to make her nervous.  I returned to the house to get the first full nights sleep I have had in 3 weeks. 

This morning when I went down, Priscilla left the nest and ate. While she was eating I fondled little ones.  Mine was warm.  I think I felt something in the tummy.  The good sign was she had given her a bath and her little bladder was not full.  She was not crying so I figured that is a good sign too.

It is a better day today.

Catch my other blogs at:

http://www.gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/ 

About projects I create, including cooking, quilting, costume making, ect.

New entry called "the Wedding Quilt"" 

http://www.organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

This is a garden blog, but it occasionally has recipes on it.

Three new entries about wild flowers on the farm.

One new entry about New baby chicks.

KITTENS, CATS, CATASTROPHES

This site wasn't intended to become blogs about cats, but it seems this time of year I have no recourse.  It is a big topic around here.

Last week I had high hopes for the three little ones I rescued, even though I knew they had been chilled for over 24 hours and never fed.  The last entry about them was April 18.  Since then, they have all died.  Up until their last day they appeared healthy and then quickly they developed respiratory problems and died within 6 hours of the onset of symptoms.  The last one to pass away was Big Rick.  He died Thursday evening the 21.

The kittens' passing was made even more difficult because on that day I found one of our feral cats, who is on the sweet and timid side.  He had been missing for 4 days.  He is very beat up.  Two legs look like they could possibly be broken.  He is not able to stand on them.  His jaw may be broken. He is eating, which is good but he is having trouble swallowing.  He is severely dehydrated and I have to force water down him.  Today I will be giving him Lactated ringers sub-Q.   I have been giving him penicillin shots twice a day for 36 hours.  The reason why, is I wanted to scare away pneumonia and he has an infection somewhere on his body that smells really bad and I haven't found it yet.  The odor has diminished substantially so I hope the infection is going away. 

I called the Vet.  He is sending out an oral antibiotic which he said was stronger and a broader spectrum than the penicillin.  I hope I can get the pills down him.  I am tired of giving shots and he is tired of getting them.  I am going to have to give him lactated ringers sub-q  twice a day till he starts drinking on his own.  The plus is he's eating, consuming two large cans of cat food a day.  I get him the gravy coated kind. Hopefully it will give him more liquid in his system.

Wish I had a healthy picture of of him.  He's a silly cat, Non de-script brown and gray striped tabby, very gangly and lanky.  He does have an outstanding feature.  He is cross-eyed.  He looks like a cat in a cartoon.  Another anomaly is he cannot mew like a regular cat.  He sounds like he has laryngitis.   He cannot talk above a whisper.

Last night after taking care of "Cross-eyes" (BTw he answers to his name) I went into the barn.  It was 9 o'clock.  On the floor was a tiny kitten.  She wasn't there at 4 in the afternoon.  The cat in the cover shot "Priscilla", I think is the mom.  She was growling at everyone at breakfast.  The kitten was thoroughly chilled.  I warmed her up and fed her sugar water (she had not been with mom, she still had her sac on her.)  When I googled on raising the other kittens it said, kittens who become deeply chilled, their digestive systems shut down.  The sugar water was to help warm their insides and jump start things again.

So far it has worked.  She started eating with gusto when I fed her two hours later.  She urinates and defecates well. She is very active (the other kittens weren't).  When she feels my touch she goes crazy trying to climb into my hands.  She is eating every two hours.  No, I don't know if she's a she.  I'm keeping vigilant for any changes in her health. 

Thank you for looking in on our cats.  Our cats protect my garden from moles and other rodents.  We haven't had a rabbit in years.   No self respecting mouse comes near the barn.

Catch my other blogs at:

http://www.gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/ 

About projects I create, including cooking, quilting, costume making, ect.

New entry called "the Wedding Quilt"" 

http://www.organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

This is a garden blog, but it occasionally has recipes on it.

Three new entries about wild flowers on the farm.

One new entry about New baby chicks.

KITTENS' FIRST FIVE DAYS

This is an update on the three Amigos.  Late night feedings, Ho Hum, I'm yawning through the day.  Can you spell sleep deprived?  The kittens have improved every feeding.  Last night at the 1 AM feeding things changed.  Little Rick didn't eat his 6 CC's and seemed lethargic.  There were no other symptoms.  At the 5 AM feeding there was no change.  His siblings gobbled theirs and he just barely downed three. 

I had to run to the Veterinarian to take another cat to have the stitches removed from his thigh and hock.  "Amigo" (Just happens to be that cat's name) had had an altercation with our Daddy cat "Mr. White Gloves. "   Even though Amigo is one of the shop cats which are spayed and neutered, "White Gloves" doesn't want them around.  I was headed there all ready I literally bagged up the kittens for the vet to look them over and see what was the matter with Little rick.  He said it was dehydration which I knew because he wasn't eating, but why?  He said as tiny as they were it could be anything.  He gave him sub-q lactated ringers and a Vitamin B shot.  He told me to do more sub-q hydration the rest of the day.  I have been home two hours and it doesn't look like there will be a corner turned the other direction. 

I have kept him warm.  He won't eat and he has developed a symptom he didn't have at the vets.  Evidently he is has pneumonia.  He is now having trouble getting air into his lungs.  I don't like to think about it but he will be gone before the end of the day.

Chumlee and Big Rick seem to be doing okay.  I mentioned in "Twenty Four Hours" raising a new born who has never been with their mom is very chancy. 

We are big supporters of the idea of spaying and nuetering, and just as big is DO NOT DUMP your pets.  This is Dawn another special friend who was a dumpee.  The sad thing is she doesn't know she is a Cat.  She thinks she is a dog.  She can't stand other cats but tolerates our dog.  She was living at the barn and one day she decided to take a walk up to our house.  She lives in the basement now.  We bring her up to share our bed at night. She is the sweetest girl except to other cats and then she is a tiger.

She is a small Cat only 6 lbs but she is all tyrant. See Dawns story at:

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2010/01/she-had-so-many-she-didnt-know-what-to.html

Yes, she is spayed now.

There are chapters about her kittens, Spirit and Winky.

Update on Winky;  Winky found a home within a month.  He went to live in the lap of luxury.  His owner won millions in the Missouri lottery. 



I will keep you posted on the kittens.

Thank you for stopping by.

You  can also visit me at:

http://www.gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/ 

About projects I create, including cooking, quilting, costume making, etc.
New article about "The Wedding Quilt" 

http://www.organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

This is a garden blog, but it occasionally has recipes on it.

I have placed 4 new blogs this last week on it.  They are not about my garden.  They are about the yard surrounding my garden (which is mostly woods).  Also about our new baby pullets, which will be our fertilizer producers and will feed us.

FORTY-EIGHT HOURS

48 HOURS AND COUNTING!

This is not a count down, we are counting up.  The kittens are now 72 hours old.  We have had them 48 hours.  Their schedule has been eat every 4 hours. There is no movement in the box until they are ready to eat.  Then it is squeal and squiggle time.  At 2:30 PM today that changed.  I heard scream not squeal coming from the box.  The large baby had extricated itself from under its covers and was hanging on the side of the box screaming.  I wondered what had awakened him from his leche' induced sleep.  The minute I picked him up from his perch he started searching for dinner.  I chastised him and told him he just ate he didn't need anymore.

He insisted, the others were squealing now wanting some.  I warmed up the milk and fed them all.  They ate like they were starved, sucking on the hub of the syringe like old pros.  If you wait too long past the feeding time they get too anxious to eat and don't suck properly.  They are too hungry and try to gobble the syringe.

As active as they seemed I figured it was a good time to weigh and picture them.  I just took terrible pictures of them.  they did not want to be away from each other.  They did not like being in the plastic bowl to be weighed.  I will excuse it by saying this is to document these kittens are real.  Not a "Fig newton" of my imagination.

INTRODUCING :

CHUMLEE WEIGHING IN AT 3.1 OUNCES

He's camera shy at this age.

LITTLE RICK AT 3.0 OUNCES

This is his tough guy look.

BIG RICK AT 3.06 OUNCES

 I know what I'm doing.

If you don't realize it, they are named after the stars of the TV show "Pawn stars".  They may not grow up to be boys but for right now they are our boys.  They are thriving and they don't show any signs of distress or depression.  They are still the sleep kings and will be for at least 10 more days.  The contest now is to see who can fall asleep the fastest after we finish dinner.

We will keep you posted on their progress.

Visit my other blogs:

http://www.gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/ 

About projects I create, including cooking, quilting, costume making, ect.

New entry is called "Creations" 

http://www.organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

This is a garden blog, but it occasionally has recipes on it.

Three new entries about wild flowers on the farm.

One new entry about New baby chicks.

Thank you for sharing your time with me.

TWENTY FOUR HOURS

So much can happen in twenty four hours.  In twenty four seconds, you can have a disaster.  I am not unlike anyone else.  My life is filled with the mundane through the exciting.  Even when I plan, things change by the minute.  Yesterday wasn't any different. 

My second entry to this blog will be in the vein of animal husbandry.  It doesn't fit in my creative blog and it isn't part of the garden.  Well in one sense it is garden related.  The cats protect the garden from snakes, rabbits and the like.

The mundane part of my day everyday is going to the barn to do the morning chores.  There is a set routine, when it's finished I go about doing something I planned.  Part of yesterday's routine was to check to see if the new mother Cat had retrieved her babies.  I went to feed the barn cats and laying in the middle of the floor were the little kittens. They had wiggled out of the box themselves.  They were stiff with the cold.  I put a halt to the chores, gathering up the kittens.  It was up to the house to take emergency procedures.   They were hardly responding to to my touch.  I warmed a bowl of water and got the baby wash soap and bathed and soaked them till they were warm on the outside.  They had been over 24 hours without food and had not had the first meal from Mom.  To warm them from the inside I made some sugar water and gave each of them 2 cc's with a shot syringe with a push-on hub not a screw-on hub for the needle.  (I have tried the nursing bottles before and the kittens never liked them, albeit I have never had kittens that were brand new.  They were all at least 10 days.)  These were not any different they took to the hub right away. 

I snuggled them in a nest made of  towels on a heating pad on low and left them while I went to the feed store to buy kitten milk replacer.  It's only a 20 minute trip. I was back home toute' suite.

Kitty replacer cost a fortune.  It was 4.50 for an eleven ounce can.  I normally use the 16 ounce can of goats milk at Walmart for under $3.00.  I wanted to give the kittens the best chance.  When I came home I read the label.  It was filled with things like corn syrup.  Needless to say I will be getting a can of goats milk.  I'll mix it 1/2 and 1/2 till the kitty replacer is gone.  It will be healthier for them.

I feed them round the clock, every three to four hours.  Last night, a 2 AM feeding brought back memories.  Yesterday they were too fragile to keep out of the warm box for a picture.  They have been wanting to guzzle more milk than they should have.  They are taking 3 cc's at a feeding.  Tomorrow they should be strong enough to hold their body heat up long enough for a picture session.

If things go well, they should grow up to be nice big cats.  My worry is they will get pneumonia from the hypothermia they suffered.  I will keep you posted on their growth  (at picture time I will weigh them).  Right now the little angels are asleep, which is all they do.

Why did I try to revive them when they were seconds from death. They are  part of a  colony of  feral barn cats who eat us out of house and home.  If I found them and didn't try I would feel it was I who caused the death since I didn't try.  If they die while I am rescuing them then I feel I did all I could.  I at least did my best to help my animal friends. 

We find homes for the babies we catch and tame.  If the older cats, who escaped capture become tame; they get either spayed or neutered. Then they enjoy a life of labor hunting mice on the farm.

We have had people dump cats/dogs at our gate.  This is so unconscionable.  When you dump a cat/kitten at a farm, if the farm already has an established cat population, Your animal stands the chance of being killed by the farm's resident cats.  Or it is run off to fend by itself.  Dumping any animal is cruel.  If they do not find a home they cannot fend for themselves.  They do not know how to hunt for food or to kill for it.  If for any reason you cannot care for an animal, please don't leave it on the road.  Use the local humane societies or rescue stations.   

"SUNSHINE"

A spayed cat who was placed in our barn while we were gone one afternoon.  She was frightened.  It took us three days to catch her.  She was beat up  requiring stitches.  We fell in love with her.  She was our first "shop" cat.  Barn cats didn't like her, our house cats wouldn't let her move in, We put her in the work shop.

I do have my soap box moments. 

Please visit my other blogs:

http://www.gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/ 

About projects I create, including cooking, quilting, costume making, ect.

New entry is called "Creations" 

 

http://www.organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

This is a garden blog, but it occasionally has recipes on it.

Three new entries about wild flowers on the farm.

One new entry about New baby chicks.

 

 

Thank you for sharing your time with me.

BEGINNINGS

Spring, the beginning of new growth,

Morning, the beginning of the day,

I've finally decided to begin this blog,

Using it for things I've got to say.

I set it up for a garden blog,

A place, my daily entries to log,

What kind of garden thoughts will I tend,

Will I keep in touch till the year's end?

It has taken me 4 months to begin,

There will be thoughts about my friends,

Or daily happenings I need to tend,

There are no blog rules that I'll have to bend.

Come visit with me,

There will be pictures to see,

Sharing my other two blogs with thee,

Where I put things of interest to me.

Yes, there will be moments of prose,

Poetry, Stories, sometimes about snows,

Sometimes I'll be very mundane,

Repeating the same stuff over again.

Good morning, it's the beginning of a very rainy day.  Yes, April showers bring May flowers but if it rains too much it either washes away all my great top soil or it makes it too muddy to plant those May flowers.

Visit me at:

http://www.gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/ 

About projects I create, including cooking, quilting, costume making, ect.

http://www.organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

This is a garden blog, but it occasionally has recipes on it.

I have placed 4 new blogs this last week on it.  They are not about my garden.  They are about the yard surrounding my garden (which is mostly woods).  Also about our new baby pullets, which will be our fertilizer producers and will feed us.

I'm looking forward to sharing this year with you.  I apologize for the late beginning..