Even More Updatingness

The kittens are getting BIG!  Batman is bigger, stronger, and more playful, but still way stunted.  We have to make sure he eats enough and often enough so he can catch up growthwise, because falling behind could turn him around for the worse at any point.  My only real concern about him right now, though, is that he has a bit of a goopy eye.  In any other situation I wouldn't worry much, but they came from a colony with known rhinotracheitis problems and, try as I might, I still worry about us giving it to him from our cat.  As long as it's just eye goop and not ulcers or fever I'll try to be calm.  -.-  Leia turned out to be a BOY, so he's temporarily renamed Han Solo.  Or Jabba.  Haven't decided yet.

Penny is 2 and a half weeks post-surgery now and looking great.  We're getting her stitches out tomorrow, and next week she'll be going in for an x-ray.  The goofball thinks she's already healed up and keeps trying to jump and run at every chance she gets!

We also just decided to temporarily foster a dog from a shelter about 4 hours north of us.  Well, I say we, but I adopted her due to my fiance's insistence.  Not sure how that's gonna work out, but it's better than a 7 month old dog getting put down because no one knows about her.  You can read about if if you'd like on my significantly more opinionated/gripey/vet-and-rescue-oriented blog here.

While we're on the topic, I'd really like to talk about shelters.  Actually, I have a ton of things to talk about, but they're all long, extensive topics I'd like to put more thought into first.



Different shelters have different policies, even in the same town as each other.  There are two things I hear way too often, though:

1. "As nice as no-kills* are, they only give the pets at the pound/city shelter ___ days to live, so it's better to adopt from them."
2. "I support the shelter/animals by donating to the Humane Society of the United States/PETA/SPCA."

Both of these are said by perfectly smart, caring individuals, but both statements have major flaws.  Let's start with #1.

It's true for the animal you adopt that you are saving it, no matter where you get it from.  However you are not just benefiting the animal you pick when you bring one home, you're making its space, supplies, and care costs available to other animals.  In a kill shelter this is a drop in a lake.  In a no-kill with limited resources, it means the world.  Opening up a space in a no-kill means one fewer animal in the kill shelter.  Of course, that does NOT make one better than the other, as both are (or should be) working toward the same goal, but I hate to see no-kills denied visitors because of the guilt trip.  If one wants to slow or halt the euthanasia of healthy, adoptable animals, education and spay/neuter are the first steps!  :)

Aaaand now #2.  I'm gonna try and word this one as inoffensively as possible, though I'm pretty passionate about it.  I have no personal beef with the spca and appreciate many of their programs, but they and their policies vary quite a bit between locations.  Do your research on where your money is going, because quite a bit for national organizations winds up making commercials and products before it ever reaches the animals.  Peta, oh Peta.  Peta has been noted many, many times, both on a public scale and by its members, promoting a vegan-only lifestyle and advocating against pet ownership at all.  If you're funding Peta, understand that their goal is not to help homeless pets find homes.  Do your homework on where your money goes!

Now, the HSUS.  This is the one I have to really breathe about.  The HSUS is NOT affiliated with your local humane society.  They're called the same thing, but they are not the same organization.  The HSUS gives less than one percent annually of their funds to pets, and that is spread out in different ways (not all given directly to shelters).  Your shelter can apply for a grant, but it shouldn't hold its breath.  The other over-99% of its funds go to paychecks, lobbying (including against owning pets, like the current famous exotic reptile ban, one of many examples), advertising, and launching raids that then leave hundreds of animals at local shelters without aid or space.  I'm really sorry guys, that's the most I can dull it down.  The difference is rights vs welfare, and I definitely recommend googling both and deciding which you support. 

ANYWAYS, my point is that by donating to the Humane Society of the United States, you are NOT contributing to your local animal community, or to anyone's animal community.  The best way to support your local shelters is to donate to them directly.  Investigate them first - where do they get their funds?  Are they legitimate and are they doing a good job with their animals?  What do they need - would they prefer material donations like blankets or dog/cat food, or do they need money?  Donations to nonprofit shelters are tax-deductible, so it's a win-win.  You know your money is helping real animals, and your shelters can keep doing what they're doing.

It takes a community to make a difference.  If you like critters, take a Saturday to volunteer now and then, give a few bucks to an organization that needs it, spread the word around.  It is possible to become a real, no-kill community, but it takes coordination, teamwork, and a whole lotta love.

-Miss Mouse
<:3 )~~



* No-kill means that a shelter does not take in more animals than it can support, so does not euthanize for space.  A no-kill may still euthanize an animal in extreme situations, using a veterinarian and under that vet's advice.  Unfortunately, some animals come to shelters unable to recover from past injuries, illnesses, or traumas.  A kill shelter such as a pound or city shelter is usually required to accept ALL animals, regardless of condition or space, up until a specified limit if applicable.  Those critters come from animal control, owners, found animals, transfers, etc., and there simply isn't room for all of them.  Different shelters will have different policies to determine how long they can keep animals and what makes them adoptable, so check with yours.  It doesn't matter if you're looking to adopt from a kill or a no-kill, you should still ask to see numbers, save rates, and any other data you need to feel comfortable that they are legitimate, clean, and responsible.  It's most important that you find the animal that is right for you, not where it comes from!

Kitten Update

Well the little guys have names now:
Batman - The dark tabby boy
Luke - The normal tabby boy
Leia - The normal tabby girl

Ta-da!

Batman's health went up for awhile, and yesterday he even started sitting up and attempting to walk around (instead of crawling).  This is actually stunning to me, because he opened his eyes before the other tabbies too, and now he's showing better motor abilities despite being noticeably behind in growth.  They were 14 days old Tuesday (since now it's technically Wednesday), and until today Batman was actively nursing (means he's in less pain) and momma was frequently grooming his genitals (means she doesn't think he's going to die).

Unfortunately, he's had a rough day today.  It's been tough to get him to eat and requires several minutes of stroking first.  He sleeps with the others but his tummy isn't as round and his chest feels flattened, almost.  He's even been making cries that aren't as pained as that one scary day, but definitely not normal "I'm hungry, where's momma" cries.  It takes several tries of placing him on mom's nipple before he'll eat, and it seems like he's easily distracted from it, turning his head to wander and cry.  At least he takes kmr better, even if it's only a few drops at a time.  Usually kmr will at least get his tummy going and he'll be better about nursing.

We're looking into increasing the humidity as well as the temperature, which we've noticed is far better for him at around 80-82 F than the 77 it sometimes falls to.  We have a space heater with a thermostat pointed away from the cage and a temperature gauge inside of it.  When stores open in the morning we'll pick up a little humidifier and see if we can help those lungs out a little bit.  Cross your fingers!

As far as Penny - we finally have the money for her surgery!!  She's getting her leg fixed up next Tuesday, the 15th.  It's going to be frustrating, and I anticipate a lot of "surprise" costs, but at least it won't hurt her anymore.  Here's hoping they can do a repair!  :)

And now...a comic.

Sharing the bed.

-Miss Mouse
<:3 )~~


P.S. -  Kitten Valentine's Day cards are up on my Etsy here.

Kitten Drama

Well, four beautiful, seemingly healthy kittens were all born Tuesday afternoon, one week ago:

Nursing

My all-time favorite kitten picture

Kissin'

Nursing...the wrong side of mum

As you can see, we had two tabbies, one very dark tabby (he looks black, with stripes), and one black kitten who might have had a little bit of striping on her front legs.

Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon I went in to check on them and found the black kitten upside down and passed away.  It was absolutely heartbreaking to watch mom looking around for it when I took it out, but I had to remove it immediately.  Without any concept of what sort of health background these guys or mom had, all I could do was guess.  I recalled that the black kitten had been mewing more than usual and crawling all around the kennel that morning, and took the kitten and my phone to go call to price a necropsy.

A necropsy is a good idea whenever other animals might be in jeopardy.  Yes, sometimes kittens "just die," but if there are three others at stake and such an unknown health status, it's important to know what caused it if possible.  If you think you may need to get a pet necropsied, be sure and refrigerate (not freeze!) it immediately and try to get the procedure arranged within 24 hours so there is minimal tissue decay.

In this case, we called the woman for whom I am fostering these cats, particularly concerned about the mewing and howling the dark striped kitten was making that worried me he had the same condition.  She gave us the number of a vet out of town that had seen the other hoarded cats, and we hopped in the car and made the 30 minute drive out to the sticks.  We brought the dead kitten in a plastic bag, in case it could be of use.  Twice on the drive alone, the dark kitten had to be held and stroked to convince it to stop screaming.

We finally arrived and brought in the kittens, where the vet first thought the dark kitten was only crying because it was hungry or needed to urinate (something mom isn't quite as good about doing for them as nursing).  However, it soon started screaming again and she had a look at it.  It calmed down after being peed and put back with mom, so she decided to take a look at the dead kitten for clues.  The intestines showed it had been being fed regularly and didn't have any problems there, but further investigation showed massively damaged lungs.  They were the same color as the liver...which should definitely not happen.  The kitten had died of pneumonia.

It was difficult to impossible to tell if the dark striped kitten had the same problem and if so, if it would recover.  The dead kitten also showed signs of being pigeon-chested, a genetic deformity that happens in people as well and can make it just that much more difficult for the sick kitten.  So, with fingers and toes crossed, our only options for treatment are two shots of penicillin (one that day and the other tomorrow) and supportive care - frequent attempts at feeding, manually stimulating urination, and keeping the room they were in at a balmy 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

So far it's been about 24 hours and dark kitten has only screamed once, and that was when I tried to feed it two hours after coming home.  Actually, I haven't been supplementing because I can convince it to nurse about once every 30-45 minutes on its own.  I supplement momma with KMR and if I can find it, L-lysine, a medication that is great for helping breakouts of herpesvirus, or rhinotracheitis in cats.  It's better if I can get the kitten to eat naturally, because I don't want to risk aspiration of the KMR into the lungs, which might compound a lung infection into a lethal problem in a very, very short time.  Since we're by no means out of the woods, though, I have the KMR on hand for in case it isn't eating enough.

Herpesvirus, which displays as a recurrent respiratory infection in cats, is most active at temperatures just below normal body heat.  So, by keeping the room at that 80 degrees like I mentioned, we can keep the air going into the kitten lungs warmer than usual.  This may seem like it's bad for pneumonia, but actually, it's going to help the little kitten immune system fight its best battle.  Speaking of, interesting fact - apparently the first kitten or two to be born obtain more colostrum, so naturally have more robust immune systems.  This is why the last two kittens in this case seem to be having a harder time fighting off something that hasn't manifested clinically in the other two.  Voila.  I learned something.

Here are the three little survivors, the black one being my biggest concern (but fighting a great fight!):

I'll keep you guys posted.

Oh, by the way!  I just found out that Penny is going to be receiving at least $300 from a GLC fundraiser!!!  It's not official yet, so I haven't added it into the total, but wouldn't $670 be an amazing number to see?  We are almost there!  :)

See you guys soon,
-Miss Mouse
<:3 )~~

Sassy

Just a heads up - this blog may be making a very slight shift.  I love writing instructional or informative posts, like ones on medications, foods, litters, etc., but I only get around to that so often.  I'd love to start including posts related to rescue, veterinary stuff (I'm really loving the vet tech courses and would love to share some of that with you guys!), and sometimes a bit more about my critters, since my experiences shouldn't just teach me - they should help others, too.

So anyways, here we go:


Penny Update!
     We have about $380 right now, and are slowly but surely working our way up to that $900 number.  I know $1,000 was our goal, but the second we have enough to get her in, I want to.  The longer we wait, the more it scars over, and the less chance we have (if we had any to begin with) of repair.  If you know ANYONE you can pass her story on to, please let them know.  You can donate to her cause on the right-hand side of the page or at her website.  In the meantime, she's being her typical, goofball self.  :)


Sassy
     Let me start of Sassy's story...not even with Sassy.  Actually, it really begins with my mum.  My mum went to the hair salon a couple of weeks ago and noticed a cat with a collar but  no tags desperately trying to get into the salon.  The employees were quite annoyed with it and said it had been coming around for a few weeks.  They told her she was declawed.

Well, my mum went back the next day with a carrier and kitty hopped right in.  She was extremely affectionate, and my mom did everything right trying to find her home.  No takers.  So my mom watches as the vet bills stack up with all the things that go along with rescuing a lost or stray cat - tests, shots, tags, and the big S - Spaying.

BUT...kitty puts on a little weight and my mom starts to wonder if she's preggo.  My mother wants to get her spayed anyways, but I convince her to determine for sure if she is or not first, offering to help if there are little ones on the way.  We get everything set up and await the call.  Turns out she's not preggo after all, though my mum is still complaining about the cost.  :\  Welcome to the world of rescue, mum!


Now, a few days after that cat's surgery, I see a post on Facebook from a woman I know at the rescue that we're working with for Penny, explaining an emergency situation.  A woman in town with SIXTY-FIVE CATS IN HER HOUSE is moving to Tennessee and stopped by the shelter to ask if they'd take in the 57 she didn't want.  28 are fixed, none have vet records, and one is pregnant and going to pop any second now.  No.  No shelter will take 57 cats.  Heck, our animal control/humane society can only take 50 per day, and that's from everywhere in the county.  When do they have to be gone by (because her landlord doesn't know about them)?  WEDNESDAY.

Look...I have worked with that many cats before.  I worked in a shelter with about 50-60 cats per house spread out over two houses and a barn.  That took about 50 or 60 litter boxes EASILY, isolation was hell, records were complicated, and it took about 3 or 4 employees plus the owner to take care of that many cats every day.  Boxes were scooped twice daily and it took a few hours.  Imagine filling that many water and food bowls (and yes, they HAD water and food bowls).  Just imagine that many cats for a second.

This woman had 65 in her house WITH her and her husband.  Neither is wealthy and the house is no mansion.  For litter she used dirt.  Half the cats have upper respiratory infections and no attempt at medication or isolation has been made whatsoever.  The fact that only one cat was pregnant was a damned miracle.  They must have done some strategic fixing, or maybe that's why they HAVE so many cats.  Ages between 2 months and 8 years.  The cats were flipping out in the house, but the second they were removed?  Calm.  They were dying, literally, to get out of there.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, I really do.  Things get out of hand sometimes, even to very good, normally responsible people.  But if it were up to me, that woman would not be allowed to take any of the cats with her on the move, let alone eight, no matter what that means we have to do with them.  She's only taking one that's fixed.  Next thing you know, Tennessee is going to be handling a woman with 60 or more cats in one home.  Pray someone smells it and reports her to the authorities before she hurts or neglects anymore cats.

Since we were all prepped and ready to go for my mom's cat, my fiance and I had a brief talk and I contacted her to volunteer to foster the mom and her litter.  I spent the entire night and morning re-cleaning the room she'd go in, moving the other critters out so she'd have peace and quiet, and setting up a big wire kennel filled with soft blankies and towels, a shallow litter pan, a water dish and a bowl full of kitten kibble.  I readied the KMR, covered half the kennel for privacy and security, and went to pick up momma cat.  It was a lot of work, but hopefully she'll have a little less stress and be able to have a safe, healthy delivery when the time is right.

This was about an hour ago.  I now have momma cat (ready to pop any minute now, according to the woman who pulled her from the hellhole house) all tucked into her new home.  It took me a long, long time to get her to come out  of the carrier - she was practically catatonic with worry.  She explored her new home and settled in quickly.  She is a beautiful, black, young kitty with gorgeous eyes, and I hope with all my heart that she didn't catch a URI from the sick cats of the house.  No more dirt litter boxes for her.  No more crowded homes, no more litters after this one, and no more neglect.  Sassy is going to have real meals every day, vet visits, tags, and paperwork, she and her babies are going to find amazing homes.  Let's just get through this pregnancy.


I'll keep you guys updated on both Penny and now Sassy, and when the little ones come along I'll share the experience with all of you.  :)

This is a happy ending!

-Miss Mouse
<:3 )~~

The Holidays!

Hey guys!  Hope you're having a great start to the holiday season!

Penny Update:

Penny's doin' great.  She's gained enough weight that she looks like a normal dog now!  Except for the limp, of course, heh.  We go on longer and longer walks every day to build up her other muscles, and she's still on high protein food so her body will have all the resources it needs to compensate.  She's already turning pit bull haters into pit bull lovers!  She really seems to think of us as family now, too - she's only content when both my fiance and I are in the room (and when she's on the couch!).  She and the cat have progressed to sitting near each other and sniffing, but I still don't trust either of them enough to turn them loose around each other.  It's a start, though!

The weather is getting cold and it seems to really affect her - she doesn't want to move around as much when it's chilly outside, instead opting for laying down and chewing rather than running around and wanting to play.  She also displays a lot of really subtle pained body language on colder days, which seems to be independent of anything else, so I'm guessing it has to do with her leg.  Her surgery is tentatively scheduled for January 3rd, so hopefully in just one month's time we'll have started down the path to a normal puppy dog life - painfree!

If you can help Penny, please give anything you can spare using the paypal button on the right, or check out her own little blog space here.

Anyhoo!

It's gettin' holiday time, and with the holidays comes a lot of food and festivities.  Here's a neat article I just found with ten toxic items and foods to keep away from your pets.  There are of course more than mentioned, and some of the things pointed out are a little more complex than covered (like houseplants, heh), but this is a great spot to start so I wanted to share.  Remember that if you need to know if a houseplant is toxic to your cat or dog, you can check the ASPCA's list here.  For other animals, you can do a google search to determine if something is toxic or not.  If you AT ALL suspect your pet may have gotten to something dangerous, don't take any chances!  Call your vet or local emergency hour vet hospital and ask any questions - nothing is too silly to ask when your pet's life may be in danger.

Now that we've covered what NOT to share with your pets this holiday season, how about a link to something you can?  Yeah?  Yeah?  While looking for ways to fundraise for Penny, I found a huge collection of recipes for baking your own dog treats.  Wouldn't it be sweet if while you baked holiday cookies for friends and family, you could make some for your furry friend, too?  That's not the only place to find them, either, there are dog treat recipes all over the internet - just do a Google search.  I haven't tried any of them, so use judgement when picking out one that is healthy or appropriate for your pet.  You can probably find just as many recipes for cat treats, bunny treats, bird treats...just about anything!  Tis the season to bake!  Did you keep any of your seeds from your pumpkins or squash this Fall, by the way?  Rodents go nuts for pumpkin or squash seeds!  :)

While we're on the topic of the holidays, I found yet ANOTHER article here  (I can't write original content today, can I?) about how to pet-proof your Christmas tree.  I'd write about it, but I haven't risked getting a Christmas tree the past few years BECAUSE of my pets, so I don't have any experiences to lend!  With Penny needing all of our spare...well...pennies...I may have to give some of the suggestions a shot next year rather than this one!


I hope everyone's having a good start to December!
-Miss Mouse
<:3 )~~


P.S. - I was also going to talk about vaccinating your pet at home and what to do if your pet has an allergic response to a vaccine (which can happen even when it's done at a vet, so it's a good thing to know!), but it's sort of a big topic, so I think I'll cover it next time.  Maybe I'll do a video to go with it, yeah?  :)