Escape!

Recently we had a rather frightening experience. We were returning from a dinner out and as I pulled the car into the driveway, we noticed Cheecko outside barking at the front door, apparently wanting to be let in. This was disturbing because we don't let our animals outside without supervision, and he had been inside when we left.

I quickly noticed that the screen on one of the front windows had been busted out. The next thought was "oh my god, how many cats are outside?" We found Tass at the front door with Cheecko, doing his normal roll-around-on-the-concrete maneuver, so we got those two inside quickly. Barb closed the window and went to check for missing cats while I went into the back yard. I saw Lucky and called for him; thankfully he came to me and I was able to put him back inside. I didn't find any more outside, but it was difficult since our lawn mower had been broke and the lawn was a bit overgrown. A cat can hide anywhere in that and we wouldn't know.

Back inside, the can opener called ten to the kitchen; we were still missing Oreo, Patches, PJ, and Precious. Cat nip brought out the missing PJ, so were still down three. I began searching the house for the typical hiding places and found Patches behind the bed. We were getting frantic now. Neither Oreo nor Precious had ever been outside, and neither were of the sort to come when you called nor were they keen on being picked up. More searching, inside and out, turned up nothing. Then, as if to claim there was nothing wrong, Precious showed up in the hallway.

Oreo was still AWOL. We tore apart the bed and checked all the "forbidden" rooms to see if he had somehow got closed into a room. We wandered all over the yard, notified the neighbors, and still could not find him. Barb and I were nearly at tears, and visions of Teddy (a feral who was killed on the road) and Lucky kept filling my head. Finally, hours later, Barb caught a glimpse of Oreo in the bedroom. After a bit of coaxing he came out from under the bed, and that was the last missing cat. We're still not sure where he had been hiding, but we are very thankful he is all right.

We learned our lesson. We don't leave the windows when we leave now, except for the ones with the fans in them, and those are only open enough to fit the fan and nothing else.

Chico Free!

I know this is a cat blog, but the biggest event recently has been Chico being neutered. The vet said he had to wear the cone collar for a week, but we just took it off a day early as he's been trying to scratch his neck like crazy. He's all healed up so there doesn't seem to be a problem.
On the cat front, we set up what we thought was a nice small kitty tent last night. Turns out it was a bit bigger than we thought. The cats and Chico had a blast running in and out of it though, so it remains assembled. We put it over the dog crate so they had a platform to jump up on inside it, and they can now peek out of the mesh windows at passers-by as cats so enjoy doing.

What a horrifying experience

Yesterday we took Precious and a few of the boys to the Vets to have their shots updated. We've done this a million times and never had a problem before, until now.

All seemed well until we got Precious home. After being home about a half an hour, if not less, she started vomiting. I called the vet and he said sometimes this happens don't worry but if it gets worse, call.

We watched her for an hour and she continued to vomit. Hubby noticed in the kitchen floor there was blood. I immediately called the Vet who told us to bring her in. While putting her in the crate, which was a core in and of itself, we discovered several other blood spots.

We rushed to the Vet, thankfully it's only a few miles away and they were still open. They quickly put us in a room and upon taking her out of the crate we noticed there was blood everywhere. The poor baby was covered in it and she seemed to be passing it through her bowels as well.

Scared and messy they took her in to clean her up. The Vet told us that sometimes this happens but it's rare. He said she had a reaction to her shots, probably her rabies shot since this was the first time she had gotten one of those as opposed to her regular shots.

They gave her a shot of Compazine to control her vomiting and Benadryl to control the reaction. We waited a short bit and thankfully the vomiting and passing of blood stopped. The Vet was correct.

We brought her home and put her in the large dog crate that we use to quarantine any sick cat. She did really well and recovered fast. The shots did the trick and she's doing great now, no more problems.

Going forward we need to be sure she has Benadryl prior to getting any shots to prevent this from happening again. It sure was a scary experience, especially after seeing all the blood but I'm just glad she's OK!

She's back to her normal snuggly purring self now, thank God!

A New Visitor

Yesterday, Thanksgiving, we had a new visitor at the back door. A small tortoise-shell, looking cold and hungry. Oddly enough I had just opened the door to toss a chunk of turkey fat outside for whatever animal happened to show up and there (s)he was. I don't know if it was a feral, an escapee, or a barn cat, but we set out some cat food and (s)he ate a little before leaving.

It was the first snow of the season that actually covered the ground. A bit late for us since we usually have it in October, but I'll take mild weather when we get it. It did, however, remind us of the things I've been putting off. Draining the pool and pump, putting the motorcycle away, and setting up a warm place on the back porch.

I just hope the little tortoise-shell has a real home. People, PLEASE spay or neuter your pets.

PJ and Chico

Chico, my son's blue chihauhau, is getting used to the cats. Snickers, Tass, and Lucky will play with him on occassion, but PJ is his best friend. The two love to play together, and when PJ wakes up without Chico around he immediately goes looking for him. Chico, on the other hand, is starting to behave more like a cat. He will chase the laser pointer, pounce on things, and sleep a lot. About the only time PJ gets tired of Chico is when he's grooming. (The cats have figured out the way to get away from Chico is to jump up on something.) Chico and PJ sleep together too. They curl up on the bed, sometimes in a ball, but never more than a foot apart.

Munchkin is free!

Much to our dismay Munchkin ended up having to be crated for many days. The day after we brought him home we thought it would be OK to let him out of the large crate and remove his collar, big mistake. As I was sitting at the puter he was roaming around the living room, upon looking to see what he was up to I discovered a long trail spots of blood all over our carpet and there was Munchkin licking his paws as usual.

We immediately checked his paws which seemed to have stopped bleeding, placed the soft collar back on and put him back into the crate. Upon calling the vet she indicated he'll need to be crated for several more days and the collar for several weeks. Our normal vet was not on call but she was briefly aware of his situation since he had been hospitalized some 7 days.

We began letting him out a few hours at a time to get some exercise later in the week and of course he never wanted to go back into the crate but had to. Upon seeing our regular vet on Saturday we advised him of the situation, that Munchkin was no longer bleeding and at times figured out ways to bypass the collar since it was soft and not hard. He said since he was bypassing it anyhow we could remove it and allow him to roam free again in the house (all our cats are indoor cats).

So far things see to be going well. His toes appear to be healing up nicely finally and there's been no more incidents. He does seem to have lost a pound or so but is just as loving, if not more, since the entire fiasco.

I know what we did was necessary since he would tear his face up so terribly when his disorder would act up but no one could have guessed let alone prepared us for what seemed like a long journey for a simple procedure. I am so heartbroken and felt so guilty that we had put him through all this but he does seem to be fairing well.

Here's to hoping he continues to heal without incident!

Munchkin Update

Munchkin returned from the hospital this evening. He had gone in last week for tooth extraction and rear declaw. They ended up having to remove a lot of teeth; they went from healthy to bad shape in a matter of months -- the vet said he'd never seen anything like it. The rear declaw is for his own protection. He tends to scratch his face a lot and tears it up.
He was in the hospital for such a long time because of the declaw. He pulled out the sutures the first day; they glued the wounds shut and he reopened them. He has a collar on now and they've been glued closed again; hopefully he will heal up and we can let him roam free again.
The poor guy has been through a lot, and I hope the worst is over now. For the future he can have only soft food, though I'm sure he won't balk at it. The cats prefer canned over dry any day.