Well, our decision to use the "cat specialist" for Jack's lump removal turned into a nightmare.
For some reason, she released him to COME HOME less than one hour after his procedure.
I know this because I had asked Dave to call and check, and Dave texted back that Jack was having his procedure just then (it was 1:48 pm), and would be ready to come home around 4.
However, while I was on my break at 2:40, Dave texted to say he was being told to come bring Jack home!
I texted back "WOW... already? He's not even awake yet!" but Dave was already driving.
So. Dave got there, paid the nearly $600.00 bill (thank God, we had some of our loan money left from the home improvements...just about $600.00), and was handed the carrier, with Jack already in it.
Of course, Dave was confident that all was well, or he would not be bringing Jack home already.
Well, all was not well.
Jack was still mostly sedated, and he was bleeding profusely. He bled all over the inside of the carrier, and all over himself.....but Dave didn't/couldn't see that until he opened the carrier at home, and Jack stumbled out.
To Dave, it was horrifying. Absolutely gory. He tried to wipe the blood off of Jack, but it just kept coming out....so, he easily got Jack back into the carrier, because he was lethargic; cleaned the blood up off of the floor, and rushed him to the emergency vet where we took Louie to die barely over a year ago.
Yeah. Lovely.
He got Jack checked in, they cleaned him up, and examined his wound. They were able to stop the bleeding with some wound glue of some kind. Their notes say there was a gap in the incision that wasn't closed by one of the zillion staples.
They said he should be okay, but Dave didn't feel comfortable taking him home in that condition, and left him overnight, with my OKAY.
SO, when both Dave and I were home, we cried and ranted and got the emotions out. Yes, Dave was in tears.
And then the vet called. The emergency place had contacted her. She was profoundly apologetic. YA THINK?! She kept asking what she could do to make it right.
Dave told her that he was not prepared to discuss reparations at that time, and that we would talk Thursday when the pathology results come back on the tissue sample she sent.
Why the HELL did she send him home while he was still in recovery???
Anyway, we called the emergency to check on him at about 10, and he was doing fine. I took a quarter of a xanax., and we got some sleep.
We went to pick him up Saturday morning, and they had him completely cleaned up. They threw away the pad that was in the carrier because it was completely blood soaked. They'd given him two doses of pain medication through the night, and he was a little squirrely, but seemed okay.
The cone of shame that the surgical vet put on him was too big, so Dave went out and got a cool inflatable one. We changed it out, and that made him a LOT happier by last night. He'd been bumping into things and unable to eat or drink or see....with the soft collar, he can't reach the incision, but he could eat and drink, which he did most heartily when the drugs wore off in the evening.
Today, he's doing great. We took the collar off, and he has not touched his incision. He's back under the covers, resting. There has not been one drop of blood. He does have a little limp, indicating that he's in some pain, but he really seems fine.
(and, in related news, Annabel is completely fine...not going after him, just a little scared around him)
Anyway, the vet who did the surgery paid the emergency bill. My comment to the e/r vet was "As well she SHOULD have! We had to come here because of her!"
The rest of the story? When we went last Saturday for our consult, I asked her how she chooses the level of anesthesia with an older cat. She said "oh, we always do blood work first." Okay. Great. We agreed then that she would do blood work, and I commented to her that I wanted to see how his aging kidneys and thyroid were doing anyway.
That was when she asked me if I was in medicine. I told her I had been doing medical billing and now ambulance billing, and had a solid working knowledge of medical terminology.
Anyway, apparently, Dave forgot that part of the conversation, and so when the doctor CALLED him on Friday, before the procedure, and asked if he WANTED her to do blood work, he said no. He was merely thinking of the extra expense.
But, the point is, SHE FORGOT that conversation, too....she FORGOT that we had already agreed that blood work would be needed to determine his level of health before deciding on the anesthesia!
WHAT?!! When he told me this Friday night, I was fit to be tied.
Let's see, what else....oh yeah.....when Dave picked Jack up, the only instructions given were to leave the cone on for 2 days.
No wound care.
No medications given.
Just that.
And the cone was clearly too big for him.
The emergency vet administered pain meds to Jack twice overnight during his stay. Why were we not given pain meds to take home? He clearly needed them.
The emergency vet told us how to care for the wound. Why were we not given those instructions by the vet who did the surgery? We clearly needed them.
So, all in all, our experience with the "cat specialist" went really, really badly.
I guess it's just too much to ask to find a good vet in OKC.
We are hoping that she will refund us the surgery cost. I don't mind paying for the pathology, but she did such a horrible thing with Jack that I think we should get our money back.
And we will NOT be going back, except for her to finish what she started.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Cats, etc.
(Once again, Blogger is placing random hyperlinks in my posts...what IS THAT?! Why do we need to hyperlink words like "back," "open," and "close?")
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the day we lost Louie, after his long ordeal that started as a blocked urethra, and ended with kidney failure.
As if that weren't difficult enough, it was also the first appointment we could get with a new vet to have a lump on Jack's back looked at.
Yep. He has some kind of tumor (I was hoping it was a cyst), and his surgery is scheduled for Friday.
I decided that I couldn't take my cats back to the vet we were using. I mean, come on. Jack was there for a tooth extraction and came home with fleas. I saw them on him!!
We took him in and said "this cat has fleas that he got here when you had him for his tooth." We were told he didn't have fleas, he has some kind of rash, here let's put him on antibiotic medication and give him a shot of prednisone.
2 weeks later, he still has the fleas. I pulled one out of his fur and it jumped off of my finger. There was no doubt that it was a flea! Just like there had been no doubt that it was fleas when we took him in the first time.
SO, back he went...the vet says "Well, that didn't work because, hey, look at this, he has fleas."
YA THINK?
I know I blogged about this back when it all happened. This was the same vet that kept Louie catheterized for 2 weeks last February, causing him to get profoundly dehydrated, etc, etc....
Anyway, so we tried to find another vet near home that was open on Saturday, and could not. So, we ended up booking an appointment with a vet that specializes in cats...she sees cats only. She's the vet my guy back home recommended before I moved here.
We just never went to her before because it's 45 minutes away on the far north side of town. In fact, when I gave the info to Dave when Jack and I first arrived here, he basically said, "No, we're not going all the way up there. We'll find someone close to home."
But ...there we are, and Jack is her newest patient as of yesterday.
Unfortunately, the carrier we took Jack in still has some stank from the wild cat that was trapped in it last month. He got that smell all over him, and Annabel went OFF on him when we got home. It lasted through the night....much growling hissing and hostility. It. Was. Awful.
Before surgery day, Dave is going to take that carrier apart, and scrub it completely and hose it out, because when Jack comes back from surgery, we can't have her hurting him.
Ugh.
Thankfully, just like last year, Dave has vacation days that he has to use or lose, so he will be off to care for this year's sick cat.
Not that Jack seems at all sick. He seems perfectly healthy, and his bump doesn't seem to cause him any discomfort at all. Even when the doc was squeezing it and smooshing it all around, he didn't show any sign of distress. But, he's almost 14 years old, and the anesthesia will be hard on him.
They'll test the tissue as well, of course, and hopefully it will be benign.
Please??
Anyway, Dave's first trip up to Kansas as a "One Gas" guy went really well this past week. His new job will require him to travel a little more than he used to. It's a good thing I've gotten used to it now.
He got back into town on Friday, Valentine's day. He sent me roses at work, and when he got home, we went out for Ethiopian food, one of our very favorites.
I got a new kitchen gadget that I adore so far. It is an electric pressure cooker/slow cooker/rice cooker/steamer/saute pot. One of the girls at the dance studio was talking about hers, and I looked into it and just said wow...I need one of those!!
They're pretty expensive, but if you think about the other gadgets it replaces, it's worth it. I'd been thinking I need to replace my slow cooker anyway, since it's developed a hot spot where food has been burning. I already got rid of my rice cooker when we moved into this house with the tiny kitchen.
So it's a win. We put it on a credit card and called it my birthday present!
I've only used it a few times since it arrived (we got free shipping from Amazon), but so far, it's amazing.
The "competition team" from the dance studio went to California to compete in the "Bellydancer of the universe" contest. Can you hear me rolling my eyes?! LOL....
In watching the fuzzy phone video that one of their friends posted on Facebook, I can see why they didn't even place.
They are a group of soloist divas trying to be a troupe, and they were off on their timing in almost every phrase of the song, each girl doing her own version of the dance routine.
It was kind of sad, actually. They were not cohesive at all.
They're so full of themselves, though, that it makes me laugh some time.
I'm a mediocre dancer at best, but I've been doing it long enough (18 years, can you believe it?!) to know what's good and what's not.
I can see what's pure technique and what has heart....especially that.
Oh well....I'm kind of glad they lost because they would have been much more full of themselves when they come back to class next week if they'd placed or won.
I hope they had a fun trip to California, and I hope maybe they'll be a little more humble for a while. That will make my being in the same class as them a little more comfortable.
Dave's mom is doing fine these days. She's on a kick saying (again) that she wants to learn how to cook again so they'll eat better. We've been through this with them before. It usually doesn't last.
At least for now, she's feeling better and they're eating a little better. Til she gets tired or bored of it again.
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the day we lost Louie, after his long ordeal that started as a blocked urethra, and ended with kidney failure.
As if that weren't difficult enough, it was also the first appointment we could get with a new vet to have a lump on Jack's back looked at.
Yep. He has some kind of tumor (I was hoping it was a cyst), and his surgery is scheduled for Friday.
I decided that I couldn't take my cats back to the vet we were using. I mean, come on. Jack was there for a tooth extraction and came home with fleas. I saw them on him!!
We took him in and said "this cat has fleas that he got here when you had him for his tooth." We were told he didn't have fleas, he has some kind of rash, here let's put him on antibiotic medication and give him a shot of prednisone.
2 weeks later, he still has the fleas. I pulled one out of his fur and it jumped off of my finger. There was no doubt that it was a flea! Just like there had been no doubt that it was fleas when we took him in the first time.
SO, back he went...the vet says "Well, that didn't work because, hey, look at this, he has fleas."
YA THINK?
I know I blogged about this back when it all happened. This was the same vet that kept Louie catheterized for 2 weeks last February, causing him to get profoundly dehydrated, etc, etc....
Anyway, so we tried to find another vet near home that was open on Saturday, and could not. So, we ended up booking an appointment with a vet that specializes in cats...she sees cats only. She's the vet my guy back home recommended before I moved here.
We just never went to her before because it's 45 minutes away on the far north side of town. In fact, when I gave the info to Dave when Jack and I first arrived here, he basically said, "No, we're not going all the way up there. We'll find someone close to home."
But ...there we are, and Jack is her newest patient as of yesterday.
Unfortunately, the carrier we took Jack in still has some stank from the wild cat that was trapped in it last month. He got that smell all over him, and Annabel went OFF on him when we got home. It lasted through the night....much growling hissing and hostility. It. Was. Awful.
Before surgery day, Dave is going to take that carrier apart, and scrub it completely and hose it out, because when Jack comes back from surgery, we can't have her hurting him.
Ugh.
Thankfully, just like last year, Dave has vacation days that he has to use or lose, so he will be off to care for this year's sick cat.
Not that Jack seems at all sick. He seems perfectly healthy, and his bump doesn't seem to cause him any discomfort at all. Even when the doc was squeezing it and smooshing it all around, he didn't show any sign of distress. But, he's almost 14 years old, and the anesthesia will be hard on him.
They'll test the tissue as well, of course, and hopefully it will be benign.
Please??
Anyway, Dave's first trip up to Kansas as a "One Gas" guy went really well this past week. His new job will require him to travel a little more than he used to. It's a good thing I've gotten used to it now.
He got back into town on Friday, Valentine's day. He sent me roses at work, and when he got home, we went out for Ethiopian food, one of our very favorites.
I got a new kitchen gadget that I adore so far. It is an electric pressure cooker/slow cooker/rice cooker/steamer/saute pot. One of the girls at the dance studio was talking about hers, and I looked into it and just said wow...I need one of those!!
They're pretty expensive, but if you think about the other gadgets it replaces, it's worth it. I'd been thinking I need to replace my slow cooker anyway, since it's developed a hot spot where food has been burning. I already got rid of my rice cooker when we moved into this house with the tiny kitchen.
So it's a win. We put it on a credit card and called it my birthday present!
I've only used it a few times since it arrived (we got free shipping from Amazon), but so far, it's amazing.
The "competition team" from the dance studio went to California to compete in the "Bellydancer of the universe" contest. Can you hear me rolling my eyes?! LOL....
In watching the fuzzy phone video that one of their friends posted on Facebook, I can see why they didn't even place.
They are a group of soloist divas trying to be a troupe, and they were off on their timing in almost every phrase of the song, each girl doing her own version of the dance routine.
It was kind of sad, actually. They were not cohesive at all.
They're so full of themselves, though, that it makes me laugh some time.
I'm a mediocre dancer at best, but I've been doing it long enough (18 years, can you believe it?!) to know what's good and what's not.
I can see what's pure technique and what has heart....especially that.
Oh well....I'm kind of glad they lost because they would have been much more full of themselves when they come back to class next week if they'd placed or won.
I hope they had a fun trip to California, and I hope maybe they'll be a little more humble for a while. That will make my being in the same class as them a little more comfortable.
Dave's mom is doing fine these days. She's on a kick saying (again) that she wants to learn how to cook again so they'll eat better. We've been through this with them before. It usually doesn't last.
At least for now, she's feeling better and they're eating a little better. Til she gets tired or bored of it again.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Sunday Funday
Well, not really...it's just another Sunday.
Not much to report since last weekend. Dave's been sick all week with a cold that has left him with a lingering cough. Almost no sleep lately for either of us. Ugh.
His birthday yesterday was nice and relaxed, though.
I made Pamela's gluten free biscuit and scone mix for the first time. We are really trying hard to eat a lot less grain and bread products, but this was a treat. They came out really crumbly, though....like so crumbly they fell apart being lifted gently off of the parchment. We had to eat them without picking them up....but they were so yummy! Especially with that DELICIOUS fig butter from Trader Joe's that my sister sent, and with my Aunt Janet's Missouri Peach jam...Oh my God!!
We'll be on a sugar and carb high today for sure! But that will get us through my cooking project that requires an assistant: making a batch of breakfast sausage patties. It takes FOR EVER to cook them all up. Then I wrap them in foil in pairs, and stick them in the freezer for easy workday warming.
Yum.
Roasted a chicken last night, so today the meat will be stripped off of the bones, and a batch of Mulligatawny made. Also yum.
Then the bones will go into the freezer into a bag of bones and veggie scraps, waiting until there's enough for a fresh batch of broth.
I also got a deal on chicken legs, which I will roast today for tomorrow's dinner (Monday is the day that I get home from work, eat, and literally leave again to go work at the dance studio).
Those bones will fill the bag up pretty quickly, so maybe another batch of broth for next weekend. Made a batch yesterday with mixed chicken, beef, and pork bones. It's lovely and dark.
Okay, back into the kitchen....have a Sunday Funday!
Not much to report since last weekend. Dave's been sick all week with a cold that has left him with a lingering cough. Almost no sleep lately for either of us. Ugh.
His birthday yesterday was nice and relaxed, though.
I made Pamela's gluten free biscuit and scone mix for the first time. We are really trying hard to eat a lot less grain and bread products, but this was a treat. They came out really crumbly, though....like so crumbly they fell apart being lifted gently off of the parchment. We had to eat them without picking them up....but they were so yummy! Especially with that DELICIOUS fig butter from Trader Joe's that my sister sent, and with my Aunt Janet's Missouri Peach jam...Oh my God!!
We'll be on a sugar and carb high today for sure! But that will get us through my cooking project that requires an assistant: making a batch of breakfast sausage patties. It takes FOR EVER to cook them all up. Then I wrap them in foil in pairs, and stick them in the freezer for easy workday warming.
Yum.
Roasted a chicken last night, so today the meat will be stripped off of the bones, and a batch of Mulligatawny made. Also yum.
Then the bones will go into the freezer into a bag of bones and veggie scraps, waiting until there's enough for a fresh batch of broth.
I also got a deal on chicken legs, which I will roast today for tomorrow's dinner (Monday is the day that I get home from work, eat, and literally leave again to go work at the dance studio).
Those bones will fill the bag up pretty quickly, so maybe another batch of broth for next weekend. Made a batch yesterday with mixed chicken, beef, and pork bones. It's lovely and dark.
Okay, back into the kitchen....have a Sunday Funday!
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Ground Hog Superbowl Day!
Just a note..it's not me who puts hyper links in this post...like folding table, and work comp. That's happening automatically. Weird.
Anyway...
They say that since the groundhog saw his shadow on Superbowl day, that winter will go into 6 weeks of overtime.
Ha.
So...what's been going on? Let's see...
We've been having some real winter weather in central Oklahoma this year...this is good. Maybe the black widows and brown recluses will decrease this summer. We've had several nights of sub freezing temps, and even some days.
Today, I shoveled about 3 inches of wet snow off of the patio and driveway. I did it because I wanted to. Dave would have insisted, but I asked him to let me do it. I wanted the exercise, and the cold air in my lungs. I love winter. Always have.
Update on my desk at work: There is no update. My desk was supposed to have been rebuilt and made 4 times larger WITH a keyboard tray before the end of January..but....they apparently lost the order for the parts.
So it will be an additional 6 to 8 weeks.
So it's been 6 months now that I have been working every day of every week at an ergonomically incorrect work station, be it folding table, or incredibly tiny desk.
I really like my job, but this part of it has sucked monkey balls. My right arm is in almost constant pain, my left hand tingles all the time, and my neck is sore.
I don't go work comp because there are 20 of us in the same situation, and none of them have gone work comp...we just complain about the pain and keep hoping that something is done about it.
And I have officially been there 6 months now, so I have vacation time on the books now, too!
My company party was a week ago last Friday. Finally (it was postponed from December, because there was a huge storm predicted that never came). It was really fun, and I won a Keurig coffee maker, and a free day off! Sweet!!
Over the past several months, in my dance class, I have been learning a really difficult choreography. I figured it was good for me to dance to music I hated, doing choreography that felt un-natural and strange.
I made myself practice really hard, and I worked at it a lot, and I made this dance MY BITCH!
Dance studio showcase was last night, the one time I will perform this number, and I had gotten to the point that I liked it. I made myself work at it, and I made myself dance it.... not just learn it, but DANCE it.
There's a huge difference.
I hope it looked good from the audience.
I volunteered to be stage manager last night, too. It worked out great, except for the holier than thou divas whom I fully expected to give me shit when I tried to tell them they needed to get down to the stage for their entrance.
What the fuck ever. Seriously.
My job was to tell them that everyone was waiting, their job was to tell me that they can fucking well wait for US, because we're the princesses.
Yeah, it really is like that.
Anyway...other than their utter bullshit, it went great! Total success.
Then this morning, we got the snow, and the forecast calls for 2 more storms before this coming week is over. I am secretly hoping that the dance studio will close on Tuesday, and that work might even close!
And then, just now Dave's mom called in distress. She had an upper G.I. at the beginning of the week, and for some reason feels worse today than she felt before the procedure. So, my step son, who lives in the same town as mom and pop, is headed over there with his girlfriend, who has medical training.
We may be going to the hospital here in a little while. Ugh.
ADDENDUM: Long, dramatic story short: Eric took Mom to the E/R, where Dave met them, and then Eric went back to the inlaw's and made sure Dad got some dinner. Dave stayed at the E/R with mom, who was just having a panic attack, and who was also diagnosed as dehydrated and hypokelemic (low potassium), both of which come from the fact that she and dad dont't eat or drink right--especially lately since she's been feeling bad and needed an upper G/I. So, she's home, Dave's home, and we go from there.
Anyway...
They say that since the groundhog saw his shadow on Superbowl day, that winter will go into 6 weeks of overtime.
Ha.
So...what's been going on? Let's see...
We've been having some real winter weather in central Oklahoma this year...this is good. Maybe the black widows and brown recluses will decrease this summer. We've had several nights of sub freezing temps, and even some days.
Today, I shoveled about 3 inches of wet snow off of the patio and driveway. I did it because I wanted to. Dave would have insisted, but I asked him to let me do it. I wanted the exercise, and the cold air in my lungs. I love winter. Always have.
Update on my desk at work: There is no update. My desk was supposed to have been rebuilt and made 4 times larger WITH a keyboard tray before the end of January..but....they apparently lost the order for the parts.
So it will be an additional 6 to 8 weeks.
So it's been 6 months now that I have been working every day of every week at an ergonomically incorrect work station, be it folding table, or incredibly tiny desk.
I really like my job, but this part of it has sucked monkey balls. My right arm is in almost constant pain, my left hand tingles all the time, and my neck is sore.
I don't go work comp because there are 20 of us in the same situation, and none of them have gone work comp...we just complain about the pain and keep hoping that something is done about it.
And I have officially been there 6 months now, so I have vacation time on the books now, too!
My company party was a week ago last Friday. Finally (it was postponed from December, because there was a huge storm predicted that never came). It was really fun, and I won a Keurig coffee maker, and a free day off! Sweet!!
Over the past several months, in my dance class, I have been learning a really difficult choreography. I figured it was good for me to dance to music I hated, doing choreography that felt un-natural and strange.
I made myself practice really hard, and I worked at it a lot, and I made this dance MY BITCH!
Dance studio showcase was last night, the one time I will perform this number, and I had gotten to the point that I liked it. I made myself work at it, and I made myself dance it.... not just learn it, but DANCE it.
There's a huge difference.
I hope it looked good from the audience.
I volunteered to be stage manager last night, too. It worked out great, except for the holier than thou divas whom I fully expected to give me shit when I tried to tell them they needed to get down to the stage for their entrance.
What the fuck ever. Seriously.
My job was to tell them that everyone was waiting, their job was to tell me that they can fucking well wait for US, because we're the princesses.
Yeah, it really is like that.
Anyway...other than their utter bullshit, it went great! Total success.
Then this morning, we got the snow, and the forecast calls for 2 more storms before this coming week is over. I am secretly hoping that the dance studio will close on Tuesday, and that work might even close!
And then, just now Dave's mom called in distress. She had an upper G.I. at the beginning of the week, and for some reason feels worse today than she felt before the procedure. So, my step son, who lives in the same town as mom and pop, is headed over there with his girlfriend, who has medical training.
We may be going to the hospital here in a little while. Ugh.
ADDENDUM: Long, dramatic story short: Eric took Mom to the E/R, where Dave met them, and then Eric went back to the inlaw's and made sure Dad got some dinner. Dave stayed at the E/R with mom, who was just having a panic attack, and who was also diagnosed as dehydrated and hypokelemic (low potassium), both of which come from the fact that she and dad dont't eat or drink right--especially lately since she's been feeling bad and needed an upper G/I. So, she's home, Dave's home, and we go from there.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
The 5th cat
Oh dear...I had a whole post all written and ready to post and it....just...vanished.
If Dave were home right now, he'd blame it on windows.
Anyway....just some minor updates.....
Star, the eldest daughter cat, has made a return to our property, and we have been feeding her and sheltering her in hopes that we will be able to capture her. If we can get her to feel comfortable enough around us, we hope to trap her by the next free spay day, and take her out to join her family in Luther.
I had a very successful first visit with her upon her return (she vanished for a few days after we took her family away), and have been working toward building her trust in me.
I've had to call in sick at work for the first time on Friday. Had a mild intestinal virus thingie. Just enough to keep me home. I wasn't miserably sick or anything...no fever, no throwing up, no head ache...just couldn't stay out of the bathroom for most of a day, and felt like I had been doing sit up. Weird abdominal cramps.
It didn't last long, though, and I'm fine today.
That's about it...I had a lot more stuff written in my original post that disappeared, but now I am out of time and energy!
Ta!
If Dave were home right now, he'd blame it on windows.
Anyway....just some minor updates.....
Star, the eldest daughter cat, has made a return to our property, and we have been feeding her and sheltering her in hopes that we will be able to capture her. If we can get her to feel comfortable enough around us, we hope to trap her by the next free spay day, and take her out to join her family in Luther.
I had a very successful first visit with her upon her return (she vanished for a few days after we took her family away), and have been working toward building her trust in me.
I've had to call in sick at work for the first time on Friday. Had a mild intestinal virus thingie. Just enough to keep me home. I wasn't miserably sick or anything...no fever, no throwing up, no head ache...just couldn't stay out of the bathroom for most of a day, and felt like I had been doing sit up. Weird abdominal cramps.
It didn't last long, though, and I'm fine today.
That's about it...I had a lot more stuff written in my original post that disappeared, but now I am out of time and energy!
Ta!
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Cat herding (warning: long post)
When we first moved into this house, in May of 2011, within a few days, there appeared on our front porch a beautiful siamese mix cat and her little black kitten.
They were clearly wild, but also clearly dependent on the woman who had lived here, because they sat right on the porch and meowed up at the door and windows. There had been food provided at this door before!
I put my foot down and said no, we will not feed them. I couldn't risk my Jack being exposed to wild cats, even though his shots were up to date.
Over time, they stopped coming to our door, but they were still in the neighborhood, and were seen running here and there and sitting under cars, and on porches.
Someone was feeding them.
There were also a few big males wandering the streets, one that was all white, long haired, and VERY scrappy looking, with constant evidence of street fights and a rough life. We named him Scraps. Another is a pet from across the street who is allowed to run free, and in-tact. We call him Big Blackie. And there is also a roving tuxedo we call Big Daddy. There was another one for a while, too, who was a striped tabby with one ear chewed off. We called him One Ear.
Scraps must have died this past summer, One Ear left town, or died or something....but Big Blackie and Big Daddy are still around.
Anyway...where was I? Oh yeah... on the morning of my birthday the next year, Dave frantically called to me from the laundry room. I panicked and ran back there, only to see outside that same siamese momma cat and a batch of fresh kittens, whom she was sheltering under our air conditioning/heating unit out back.
There were 4, and they were tiny. Barely had their eyes and ears open.
Of course, we fell in love, and Dave, being the big softie that he is under his gruff exterior, insisted that we provide food and water.
The black kitten from the year before had matured and had a litter of two kittens of her own, even though she was still firmly bonded with her momma. She carried them into our neighbor's yard and tried to keep them there, but they were so tiny, and it had grown very cold and wet out.
We started calling the siamese momma China (as in China Cat Sunflower). We named her black daughter Star, due to the tiny blaze of white on her chest.
There may have been another litter the fall before, but we never saw or knew of them.
So, with the food and water and shelter all available in our fenced back yard, China's clan settled in, still going to the house down the street for some meals.
Star's kittens both died right away, one in the flower bed (which I think may have been in the engine compartment of my car, so I may have actually been unwittingly responsible for that one's death), and the other vanished, probably eaten by a predator, because they were very, VERY tiny. They did not even have their eyes open yet.
Eventually, China's new black kitten, Jet, died, also in our flower bed, and her striped one (Stripe) vanished. Taken by a predator, or maybe killed by a car. We buried Jet with the other kitten in back.
The only two left from my birthday litter were the little tuxedo girl and the pale siamese boy, whom we named Mitzie and Ghost.
Mitzie and Ghost grew to maturity, but Mitzie eventually disappeared. We hope she was captured and adopted. She was ADORABLE with a white triangle in the middle of her face, and a black button nose in the middle of the triangle, and white mittens.
Ghost found a family on the street behind us, and he still comes around now and then. He is clearly being fed well, and has shelter. He is stunningly gorgeous, same markings as his mother, but very light, with pretty blue eyes.....but very feral.
Anyway, time passed, the stress these outside colonists were causing to our newly-adopted Louie (who joined our family during this summer, in Aug. of 2012) was palpable, so I demanded that we stop putting out food and water, and they scattered and did not come around anymore. For a while, anyway.
We could still see them in the neighborhood, though, and watch their comings and goings.
Eventually, China tried to bring her next litter to the previous A/C unit shelter, but we had blocked it, so she discovered the side shed, and the next batch moved in.
Even without us feeding them, she was determined to stay. The fenced yard was safe.
This time, there was a little pale gray stripe I named Tigre`, and an almost all white boy with tiny markings on just the top of his head, that I named Casper.
Dave, of course, started feeding them.
Eventually, though, I asked him to stop, and when they grew up, Tigre and Casper joined Ghost on the street behind us, and they are all still seen from time to time. We don't know the people whose house they all seem to live around, but they all seem very happy and healthy. We HOPE that they have been to the vet and maybe have been fixed.
Then, China had another litter, but only one survived. The lost one, another stripe, but with white feet, was killed by a roving dog, and I, unfortunately, saw it happen. She is buried with the others in the back yard.
The survivor is another tuxedo, which has a big black patch on her face, covering her nose, so we named her Nose.
Nose was raised mainly at the house two doors down, where the people were also feeding the clan. I insisted that we NOT put out food because I didn't want wild cats in my yard anymore.
One day, I saw the woman on the porch with Nose ON HER LAP! I had hoped she was going to take Nose in, but she did not.
Through all of this, we heard from one of the neighbors that a couple of China's kittens HAD actually been captured and made into indoor pets over the past few years, so it was clear that she had been making two batches of kittens every year here for a while.
We got it into our heads that gee, it would sure be nice to try to trap her and put a stop to this...SOMEONE should do it, why not us???
So for a while there, we did some pretty intensive research and checking in to various programs. All we found , though, was that it would cost us a lot of money we didn't have to get these cats "fixed" and released.
Time passed, and this fall....another batch of kittens was being nurseried under our side shed.
Hesitatingly, because Louie is gone now, since Feb., Dave started feeding, and we started talking to people again.
This time, there were two blacks that looked like twins, we called them Jake and Elwood to start with, but Elwood vanished early on, and we changed Jake's name to Smoke.
I chose Smoke because, as she grew, we discovered that her fur was black guard hairs, but gray under-fur. She also developed GOLD eyes....she is so, SO pretty...I really wanted to adopt her, but we have two already.
But....She sat on my foot and looked up into my eyes once when she was tiny, and I fell in love.
(keep in mind that we have no idea if she is a she or a he).
There was also yet another tuxedo in this batch, with markings EXACTLY like Nose's, only a perfect mirror image! We call that one Sox.
As China raised her new babies in our yard, Nose re-joined her, and the back yard clan became a steady population of four, with occasional visits from Star, Ghost, Tigre`, and Casper.
Annabel, whom we adopted a month after Louie's tragic death, is now the one that is being stressed by outside cats, though, and it's a good thing that we found a solution for the feral problem. Jack doesn't really seem to mind them too much, but, like our late Louie did, Annabel was very distressed by them.
For some reason, some of the same people we had talked to before suddenly knew things they hadn't known, or told us about, before....like that the City of OKC has a once a month spay/neuter clinic that is free....if you can bring the animals in, they will fix them and clip an ear (an outward sign that a feral cat has been neutered or spayed), and give shots for REALLY cheap prices.
Free spay/neuter? How is it that no one knew about this before.... and oh so many kittens ago?? How is it that we felt our hands were tied all this time, and now we find out WE CAN DO THIS THING?!
Maybe this program is new? Not sure....but I am just grateful that we finally got information we could use.
So...armed with this new-to-us information, we decided that now is the time, and Dave made it his project to make this capturing happen.
Our friend Rita is a huge animal protection advocate, and her friend Betsy (a compulsive rescuer) is the one who got us in touch with a woman who will take the cats after their procedures are done. They both knew about the free spay/neuter clinic, and got us the info.
Dave and I discussed our various options for trying to "fake out" the cats, and get them captured and taken for the free surgery, and possibly rabies vaccines at least.
He ultimately devised a plan to gradually accustom the clan to being fed inside the main shed, with the idea that on THE DAY, he would merely shut the door behind them, and catch them.
I agreed that this was the best possible plan, but that it could go wrong in SO many ways...but we could not think of any alternatives that would be better. I had horrific visions of blood and destruction, but that's just my adrenals talking.
Weeks of conditioning went by, and gradually, the cats grew to trust him to not only be IN the shed with them, but he was able to pet the babies with every meal, China looking on, but not interfering.
On some days, the cats were clustered so close to our back door, that when Dave would go out to feed them, they'd try to come inside the house. Once or twice, they made it, but didn't stay long!
Dave found out that the next available free surgery day was today, 1/4/14. He made us an appointment for 4 feral felines, and we made finalized plans regarding borrowing carriers, and implementing the plan.
We arranged to borrow some carriers, since renting traps was still $100 each, and we didn't want to have to do that.
In the interim, he knocked on the door of the other house where the cats were hanging out and being fed. The house where Nose was seen on the lady's lap.
Their names are, interestingly, Paula and Mike. Paula said that she had been able to pet China in the past, and that she had treated an ugly eye infection for Nose with twice daily eye medications!! Since Nose was already pretty much comfortable with her, sitting in her lap, and all, she was able to successfully do that....but, for some reason, left Nose on the street. From what that other neighbor said, they adopted one of China's previous kittens a couple of years back. Maybe their house is full.
It was funny, though....we had wondered how in the world Nose had survived that infection, because when we saw her with it, her eye was about to be expelled from its socket. It was very, very nasty. And then there she was, healed, but blind. But HEALED!! It had to have been a miracle....but. It wasn't. *giggle*
Anyway, he let them know what we were doing, and they were really happy and excited to hear it. We asked them not to feed or shelter the cats the night before so that they would all show up at our house at the required time, very hungry for breakfast.
Which was this morning.
The extra carriers were brought to us last night. We got up before 6 this morning, did not make coffee or breakfast, with the plan being that we would need that time to capture the cats and get them to the clinic before 7:30 this morning.
The plan looked good in theory....but the one thing Dave didn't take into consideration was that these cats had never, ever been behind a closed door.
The moment he was in the shed with them, all hell broke loose. I went in to help.
Have you ever seen a cat literally climb the walls and hang on? We have now. They can fly through the air, too.
It took us a pretty long time to get them all, but we finally did. I only had one panic attack, and Dave got bitten by China, but it was more of a scrape than a puncture.
(Aside: We came inside and doused it with 90% rubbing alcohol the moment it happened, and then put antibiotic ointment on it later.
He asked about it at the clinic, and the vet tech looked at it, said it was nothing to worry about, and told us what to do. She said it's fine....the cat probably doesn't have rabies, it's a superficial wound, not a puncture, but legal requirements are that Dave go to a doctor on Monday and file a report. )
Anyway....I managed to be the one to capture my little Smoke with a towel, which was also how Dave got Sox.... and Nose caught herself by unwittingly jumping into an empty box in her panic. Dave was able to grab another box that fit into the top of the first one just right...it was like it was planned!
We both got China by tricking her into thinking the carrier was a place to hide. She went part way into it, and we forced her the rest of the way.
I think the only reason we were able to get them at all was that they had exhausted themselves with their total freak out (although Sox was captured right away, probably just dumb luck!).
It's a miracle only one of us was injured, and that only slightly.
They were pretty quiet in the car, probably completely terrified. We got them into the center (Nose in the box went inside first!), got them registered, and paid for their rabies shots.
Dave made contact with the lady who is taking them, and she will meet us back up at the clinic to pick them up when they're all done, some time later this afternoon.
She is a friend of Betsy, and has a rescue. She hopes to adopt out the youngest ones, and maybe Nose, too, since she is somewhat socialized.
China, on the other hand, will probably just live out her life there, in peace, with no more pregnancies, and no danger from the streets.
Maybe we can get Star one day, too, and completely remove the breeding females from our street.
We done good. Now, I need a xanax and a nap!
ADDENDUM: Okay....we picked them up around 3:15. Nose was a girl, but both little ones were boys. They all came through okay, but China was not reacting well to either the anesthesia or the rabies shot. We went out to per place in the country with the rescue lady, so we could see where they'll be, as well as come away with the carriers, instead of trying to figure out how to get them back from her.
She said she would monitor China through the night, and let us know tomorrow if she eventually came around.
We feel pretty good about leaving them with her. They have a converted barn to stay in, that has a fence around it to protect them from her dozen dogs that would kill them in a heart beat, so she says. Yipe.
Transferring them from the carriers to their temporary cages was an adventure, with a triple escape. We apprehended them all, though, and she put them in a cage with smaller spaces between the bars. They were all curled up together by the time we left.
China was left alone in a cage, because she was still so groggy.
We are invited to come visit in about a month, and she said she'd let us know if and when any of our babies are adopted. It's all good.
They were clearly wild, but also clearly dependent on the woman who had lived here, because they sat right on the porch and meowed up at the door and windows. There had been food provided at this door before!
I put my foot down and said no, we will not feed them. I couldn't risk my Jack being exposed to wild cats, even though his shots were up to date.
Over time, they stopped coming to our door, but they were still in the neighborhood, and were seen running here and there and sitting under cars, and on porches.
Someone was feeding them.
There were also a few big males wandering the streets, one that was all white, long haired, and VERY scrappy looking, with constant evidence of street fights and a rough life. We named him Scraps. Another is a pet from across the street who is allowed to run free, and in-tact. We call him Big Blackie. And there is also a roving tuxedo we call Big Daddy. There was another one for a while, too, who was a striped tabby with one ear chewed off. We called him One Ear.
Scraps must have died this past summer, One Ear left town, or died or something....but Big Blackie and Big Daddy are still around.
Anyway...where was I? Oh yeah... on the morning of my birthday the next year, Dave frantically called to me from the laundry room. I panicked and ran back there, only to see outside that same siamese momma cat and a batch of fresh kittens, whom she was sheltering under our air conditioning/heating unit out back.
There were 4, and they were tiny. Barely had their eyes and ears open.
Of course, we fell in love, and Dave, being the big softie that he is under his gruff exterior, insisted that we provide food and water.
The black kitten from the year before had matured and had a litter of two kittens of her own, even though she was still firmly bonded with her momma. She carried them into our neighbor's yard and tried to keep them there, but they were so tiny, and it had grown very cold and wet out.
We started calling the siamese momma China (as in China Cat Sunflower). We named her black daughter Star, due to the tiny blaze of white on her chest.
There may have been another litter the fall before, but we never saw or knew of them.
So, with the food and water and shelter all available in our fenced back yard, China's clan settled in, still going to the house down the street for some meals.
Star's kittens both died right away, one in the flower bed (which I think may have been in the engine compartment of my car, so I may have actually been unwittingly responsible for that one's death), and the other vanished, probably eaten by a predator, because they were very, VERY tiny. They did not even have their eyes open yet.
Eventually, China's new black kitten, Jet, died, also in our flower bed, and her striped one (Stripe) vanished. Taken by a predator, or maybe killed by a car. We buried Jet with the other kitten in back.
The only two left from my birthday litter were the little tuxedo girl and the pale siamese boy, whom we named Mitzie and Ghost.
Mitzie and Ghost grew to maturity, but Mitzie eventually disappeared. We hope she was captured and adopted. She was ADORABLE with a white triangle in the middle of her face, and a black button nose in the middle of the triangle, and white mittens.
Ghost found a family on the street behind us, and he still comes around now and then. He is clearly being fed well, and has shelter. He is stunningly gorgeous, same markings as his mother, but very light, with pretty blue eyes.....but very feral.
Anyway, time passed, the stress these outside colonists were causing to our newly-adopted Louie (who joined our family during this summer, in Aug. of 2012) was palpable, so I demanded that we stop putting out food and water, and they scattered and did not come around anymore. For a while, anyway.
We could still see them in the neighborhood, though, and watch their comings and goings.
Eventually, China tried to bring her next litter to the previous A/C unit shelter, but we had blocked it, so she discovered the side shed, and the next batch moved in.
Even without us feeding them, she was determined to stay. The fenced yard was safe.
This time, there was a little pale gray stripe I named Tigre`, and an almost all white boy with tiny markings on just the top of his head, that I named Casper.
Dave, of course, started feeding them.
Eventually, though, I asked him to stop, and when they grew up, Tigre and Casper joined Ghost on the street behind us, and they are all still seen from time to time. We don't know the people whose house they all seem to live around, but they all seem very happy and healthy. We HOPE that they have been to the vet and maybe have been fixed.
Then, China had another litter, but only one survived. The lost one, another stripe, but with white feet, was killed by a roving dog, and I, unfortunately, saw it happen. She is buried with the others in the back yard.
The survivor is another tuxedo, which has a big black patch on her face, covering her nose, so we named her Nose.
Nose was raised mainly at the house two doors down, where the people were also feeding the clan. I insisted that we NOT put out food because I didn't want wild cats in my yard anymore.
One day, I saw the woman on the porch with Nose ON HER LAP! I had hoped she was going to take Nose in, but she did not.
Through all of this, we heard from one of the neighbors that a couple of China's kittens HAD actually been captured and made into indoor pets over the past few years, so it was clear that she had been making two batches of kittens every year here for a while.
We got it into our heads that gee, it would sure be nice to try to trap her and put a stop to this...SOMEONE should do it, why not us???
So for a while there, we did some pretty intensive research and checking in to various programs. All we found , though, was that it would cost us a lot of money we didn't have to get these cats "fixed" and released.
Time passed, and this fall....another batch of kittens was being nurseried under our side shed.
Hesitatingly, because Louie is gone now, since Feb., Dave started feeding, and we started talking to people again.
This time, there were two blacks that looked like twins, we called them Jake and Elwood to start with, but Elwood vanished early on, and we changed Jake's name to Smoke.
I chose Smoke because, as she grew, we discovered that her fur was black guard hairs, but gray under-fur. She also developed GOLD eyes....she is so, SO pretty...I really wanted to adopt her, but we have two already.
But....She sat on my foot and looked up into my eyes once when she was tiny, and I fell in love.
(keep in mind that we have no idea if she is a she or a he).
There was also yet another tuxedo in this batch, with markings EXACTLY like Nose's, only a perfect mirror image! We call that one Sox.
As China raised her new babies in our yard, Nose re-joined her, and the back yard clan became a steady population of four, with occasional visits from Star, Ghost, Tigre`, and Casper.
Annabel, whom we adopted a month after Louie's tragic death, is now the one that is being stressed by outside cats, though, and it's a good thing that we found a solution for the feral problem. Jack doesn't really seem to mind them too much, but, like our late Louie did, Annabel was very distressed by them.
For some reason, some of the same people we had talked to before suddenly knew things they hadn't known, or told us about, before....like that the City of OKC has a once a month spay/neuter clinic that is free....if you can bring the animals in, they will fix them and clip an ear (an outward sign that a feral cat has been neutered or spayed), and give shots for REALLY cheap prices.
Free spay/neuter? How is it that no one knew about this before.... and oh so many kittens ago?? How is it that we felt our hands were tied all this time, and now we find out WE CAN DO THIS THING?!
Maybe this program is new? Not sure....but I am just grateful that we finally got information we could use.
So...armed with this new-to-us information, we decided that now is the time, and Dave made it his project to make this capturing happen.
Our friend Rita is a huge animal protection advocate, and her friend Betsy (a compulsive rescuer) is the one who got us in touch with a woman who will take the cats after their procedures are done. They both knew about the free spay/neuter clinic, and got us the info.
Dave and I discussed our various options for trying to "fake out" the cats, and get them captured and taken for the free surgery, and possibly rabies vaccines at least.
He ultimately devised a plan to gradually accustom the clan to being fed inside the main shed, with the idea that on THE DAY, he would merely shut the door behind them, and catch them.
I agreed that this was the best possible plan, but that it could go wrong in SO many ways...but we could not think of any alternatives that would be better. I had horrific visions of blood and destruction, but that's just my adrenals talking.
Weeks of conditioning went by, and gradually, the cats grew to trust him to not only be IN the shed with them, but he was able to pet the babies with every meal, China looking on, but not interfering.
On some days, the cats were clustered so close to our back door, that when Dave would go out to feed them, they'd try to come inside the house. Once or twice, they made it, but didn't stay long!
Dave found out that the next available free surgery day was today, 1/4/14. He made us an appointment for 4 feral felines, and we made finalized plans regarding borrowing carriers, and implementing the plan.
We arranged to borrow some carriers, since renting traps was still $100 each, and we didn't want to have to do that.
In the interim, he knocked on the door of the other house where the cats were hanging out and being fed. The house where Nose was seen on the lady's lap.
Their names are, interestingly, Paula and Mike. Paula said that she had been able to pet China in the past, and that she had treated an ugly eye infection for Nose with twice daily eye medications!! Since Nose was already pretty much comfortable with her, sitting in her lap, and all, she was able to successfully do that....but, for some reason, left Nose on the street. From what that other neighbor said, they adopted one of China's previous kittens a couple of years back. Maybe their house is full.
It was funny, though....we had wondered how in the world Nose had survived that infection, because when we saw her with it, her eye was about to be expelled from its socket. It was very, very nasty. And then there she was, healed, but blind. But HEALED!! It had to have been a miracle....but. It wasn't. *giggle*
Anyway, he let them know what we were doing, and they were really happy and excited to hear it. We asked them not to feed or shelter the cats the night before so that they would all show up at our house at the required time, very hungry for breakfast.
Which was this morning.
The extra carriers were brought to us last night. We got up before 6 this morning, did not make coffee or breakfast, with the plan being that we would need that time to capture the cats and get them to the clinic before 7:30 this morning.
The plan looked good in theory....but the one thing Dave didn't take into consideration was that these cats had never, ever been behind a closed door.
The moment he was in the shed with them, all hell broke loose. I went in to help.
Have you ever seen a cat literally climb the walls and hang on? We have now. They can fly through the air, too.
It took us a pretty long time to get them all, but we finally did. I only had one panic attack, and Dave got bitten by China, but it was more of a scrape than a puncture.
(Aside: We came inside and doused it with 90% rubbing alcohol the moment it happened, and then put antibiotic ointment on it later.
He asked about it at the clinic, and the vet tech looked at it, said it was nothing to worry about, and told us what to do. She said it's fine....the cat probably doesn't have rabies, it's a superficial wound, not a puncture, but legal requirements are that Dave go to a doctor on Monday and file a report. )
Anyway....I managed to be the one to capture my little Smoke with a towel, which was also how Dave got Sox.... and Nose caught herself by unwittingly jumping into an empty box in her panic. Dave was able to grab another box that fit into the top of the first one just right...it was like it was planned!
We both got China by tricking her into thinking the carrier was a place to hide. She went part way into it, and we forced her the rest of the way.
I think the only reason we were able to get them at all was that they had exhausted themselves with their total freak out (although Sox was captured right away, probably just dumb luck!).
It's a miracle only one of us was injured, and that only slightly.
They were pretty quiet in the car, probably completely terrified. We got them into the center (Nose in the box went inside first!), got them registered, and paid for their rabies shots.
Dave made contact with the lady who is taking them, and she will meet us back up at the clinic to pick them up when they're all done, some time later this afternoon.
She is a friend of Betsy, and has a rescue. She hopes to adopt out the youngest ones, and maybe Nose, too, since she is somewhat socialized.
China, on the other hand, will probably just live out her life there, in peace, with no more pregnancies, and no danger from the streets.
Maybe we can get Star one day, too, and completely remove the breeding females from our street.
We done good. Now, I need a xanax and a nap!
ADDENDUM: Okay....we picked them up around 3:15. Nose was a girl, but both little ones were boys. They all came through okay, but China was not reacting well to either the anesthesia or the rabies shot. We went out to per place in the country with the rescue lady, so we could see where they'll be, as well as come away with the carriers, instead of trying to figure out how to get them back from her.
She said she would monitor China through the night, and let us know tomorrow if she eventually came around.
We feel pretty good about leaving them with her. They have a converted barn to stay in, that has a fence around it to protect them from her dozen dogs that would kill them in a heart beat, so she says. Yipe.
Transferring them from the carriers to their temporary cages was an adventure, with a triple escape. We apprehended them all, though, and she put them in a cage with smaller spaces between the bars. They were all curled up together by the time we left.
China was left alone in a cage, because she was still so groggy.
We are invited to come visit in about a month, and she said she'd let us know if and when any of our babies are adopted. It's all good.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Year
The black eyed pea and ham soup is on the stove, the willow tree disaster is mostly cleaned up (but now there's a huge pile of brush that needs to be cut in the back yard), and this day off in the middle of the week is going by nice and slow.
Nice way to start the year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous, and disaster-free 2014 for us ALL!
Nice way to start the year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous, and disaster-free 2014 for us ALL!
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