The little furry buggers are just deep, deep wells you throw all your emotions into--Bruce Schimmel

Spice......AKA Dot to us

The lady, Cynthia, who we met at the vet’s office last Wednesday, called us on Thursday and wanted to come over to meet the white kittens, Dot and Dash.

She came, she saw, and she took Dot home with her.  It was heartbreaking to see Dot go, but from the beginning I knew that that was the plan one day....find homes for Kiki and her kittens.  I'm a terrible foster mom.  They should all belong to me!

I thought about Dot during the night and wondered how she was doing in her new surroundings, without her sisters and us.  She’s been with us since the first part of October, so we are really the only home she’s had.

Cynthia called us yesterday morning to report on her new kitten.  “Dot” is now “Spice”, to go along with Cynthia’s other cat, “Cynnamon”.

“Spice” made it through the night with no dramatic events.  Cynthia said she felt good about having “Spice” added to her family.  We told her to be sure and let us know from time to time, how Spice was doing. 

I plan on calling Cynthia next week to follow up and I hope it works out.  Spice has to go back to the vet next week to have her sutures out.  Cynthia said she would make sure it was done.

Maybe we should change Dash’s name to “Sugar” so she will be one of the Spice girls.

In another week or so, we will be hearing from Sarah, the lady who wants to adopt Cody.  That is one that will be hard to let go of.  Charlie and I both became attached to Kiki and all of her kittens, but Cody especially pulls at our heart strings and we’ll miss her.  I think Sarah will keep the name Cody for her.

We took Sheila for a walk yesterday.  I haven’t been taking her out much by myself because of my muscle injury.  When Charlie put the harness on Sheila, he said it was getting tight around her.  She’s probably putting on weight, like the rest of us.  We’ll all have to start getting out and walking more next year.

More later................

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

The Christmas tree is still standing!  The novelty of playing in and around the tree has finally worn off.  The cats are ignoring it.

Dot, Dash and Cody

We still have our three little foster kittens.  They are now out and about the house all day long.  They are getting used to sharing the house with people, cats and a big dog.

We put the kittens in “their room” to sleep at night.  It’s more for us than for them.  We’re sure we wouldn’t get much sleep since they like our bedroom now.  In the mornings when we open the door to go in and feed them, they pile out of the room.  Because they are hungry though, it isn’t hard to get them back in the room to eat.  When they are finished, I open the door and down the stairs they run to start a new day.

It’s really been fun having these kittens in our house.  We’ve watched them grow and learn not to be so afraid of everything.  They still have that “flight first” reflex, but we can see that they are starting to re-evaluate the situation before running to hide in the “woodpile”. 

We’re still advertising and looking for homes for the kittens though.  As much as we love them, we know they would be better in a home where they would get more attention.  The person who wanted Cody, the tabby, just had knee surgery and needs a couple of weeks more before she can take her.     

We noticed that Mr. Creme seemed to be losing weight, not much, but enough that we could see.  He’s never been overweight, but he has weighed up to 15 pounds.  He had his last senior blood panel last January.  Since that was almost a year ago and we had some concerns, we took him in on Tuesday for his blood work.

Mr. Creme outside the patio door--Jonesie and Rhody inside

Mr. Creme is 11 years old and will be 12 in March.  He and Lexi are siblings.  Of course, a few weeks ago Lexi was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and started her daily medication.  It is easy to give twice a day by rubbing a pre-measured amount of Tapazole gel in her ear.  Back in 2000 or so, when Calvin was being treated for this thyroid condition, he was on Tapazole pills and the dosage was hard to regulate.  But, Lexi is doing fine right now.  We would not be surprised if Mr. Creme had the same condition since another sibling, Pinto, also was diagnosed with it not long ago.

Lexi, trying to relax

The vet called yesterday with the blood results.  The good news was, Mr. Creme did not have a thyroid problem.  But, he does have diabetes.  That was not what we wanted to hear at all.  We also had a cat, Rowdy, who had diabetes diagnosed in the late ‘90's.  Feline diabetes was pretty new to vets then and treatment was not the best.  Some vets were not really much up on what to do.  I don’t think we ever got Rowdy on the right track.

But, things have changed, thank goodness.  Vets now see hyperthyroid and diabetes in cats and dogs more and more, and medicine has come a long way.  They know more about how to do the testing which will make it possible to regulate dosages of insulin.

Charlie and I made an appointment to see our vet and we took Mr. Creme with us so we could get him started on insulin.  The vet came in and showed us the ProZinc Insulin Kit which contained a bottle of insulin and 100 syringes.  When the syringe is used, you put it in the little tray and turn the knob, it drops into an enclosed reservoir.  When it’s full, we take the empty syringes to Walgreens or any drugstore for disposal.

Back in the day, with Rowdy, his vet gave me a prescription for insulin and I had to go to Walgreens and buy the box of syringes and the bottle of insulin.  Then we started him at a certain dosage and took him back for testing.  It was very erratic and not fun to watch the roller coaster of Rowdy not eating or throwing up everything he ate.  I worried constantly if we were giving him the right amount of insulin.  We tried special diets, but he hated everything.  It was not a good life for him or us and we said we’d never put another cat through that.  That’s easy enough to say, so soon after going through it.

But, with Mr. Creme, we have confidence that we can provide him with a good quality of life and he should be able to keep his normal day to day activities.  He’ll go back in three weeks for a fructosamone test which will give us his blood sugar reading and how the insulin is working.  We will keep him on his current diet for now, but may have to change to a prescription diet.  That will be hard because Mr. Creme is one of those cats who will simply stop eating if he doesn’t get what he wants.

I will join a feline diabetes support group online and try to get on top of what we can expect with Mr. Creme from now on.  If I had it to do over, I would have joined the feline lymphoma support group when Taz was first diagnosed with lymphoma last year.  All of the supporters had or were going through it with their cat and they were so helpful.  I didn’t join until Taz was well into his chemo treatments.  I have learned a lot after he died too. 

While we were waiting for the vet yesterday, a lady came in with her cat, “Cynnamon”.  She had adopted her from the animal shelter three weeks ago.  We were talking to her and she showed interest in getting another cat to keep Cynnamon company.  Of course, the girl at the front counter was also giving her theory that it was better to have two cats, so they could play together.

 

                   Dash                                                          Dot

Anyway, we “mentioned” that we had two little white kittens at home and if she was interested in another kitten, to please call us.  We gave her our number and she said she’d follow up on it.  Apparently she had to check with her daughter because she wasn’t sure that she would go for two cats.  We may not hear from her, but we are certainly trying to get the word out about the kittens.

Also there was a young, college-age girl with her black cat in the waiting room.  She said the cat didn’t have a name yet and she was a stray.  The day before, she had brought the cat in for examination and to set up a date to spay her.  The cat had worms and it was discovered that she was also pregnant.  Surprise....not!  So the girl went ahead and scheduled a spaying.  When she took the cat home and told her mom about the pregnancy, her mom said no, they would not spay.  They would let her have her kittens and find a home for them. 

We were happy to hear that.  She was there to get a worm treatment shot for the cat and she wanted to make sure that the shot would be okay for a pregnant cat.  When the technician came to get the cat to take her back for the shot, the girl said “It’s just for a shot, right?”  She was being pretty protective of that little cat. 

The girl is already in contact with some of the local animal rescue services, so I think she will do what’s best for the kittens. 

Sheila went to the groomer today and just got back.  She smells very nice.  I think they put an extra shot of perfume on her this time.  We’ll let her wear her pretty Christmas bandana through the rest of the holidays.  It’s nice to have a clean dog in the house.

More later............  

  

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph--Shirley Temple

Last Saturday we went to the Christmas tree farm and bought our 6' Douglas Fir tree.  We usually put our artificial tree up, but this year we decided to have a real one.

It’s a pretty tree.  From almost all angles, it looks straight.  The stand we used didn’t have a large capacity for water and we were a little concerned about that, but we would just check it morning and night and add water.

We didn’t know how Rhody would behave around the tree since this is his very first Christmas. Jonesie was new last Christmas and we had no problem with him.  Rhody is very different than Jonesie though.

The first morning we found the bottom strand of lights hanging on the floor and two or three ornaments lying around.  Most had been pulled off without their stems, so instead of trying to find the hooks and stems on the thick tree, I just put the ornaments on a shelf.

We found virtually the same thing the next day and the next, but figured that pretty soon the novelty would wear off or all the ornaments would be off the tree, and they’d leave the tree alone.

I was sitting at the dining room table one afternoon, addressing Christmas cards.  Jonesie and Rhody were running through the house like they do.  I was aware of it, but really wasn’t paying attention to them.

Suddenly I heard a crash and then sounds like breakage, coming from the family room.  I went to see what the noise was.  Our Christmas tree had fallen over, or should I say, had been pulled over by someone.  It was shock to see.  We have never had that happen before.

Charlie got it back up and we assessed the damage.  Yes, some of the one-of-a-kind, special ornaments were broken, three to be exact, and others had fallen, but were not broken.  Charlie said he would go to the store and get a BIGGER stand, one that the cats couldn’t turn over.

When he came back, he had the stand that the salesman at Home Depot had told him, “They will not knock this one over!”  It also has a reservoir which holds lots of water and is easier to fill.

So far, the tree is still standing.  Of course we have another week before Christmas, so I’ve still got my fingers crossed.

Cat proof.....not!

I admire people who decorate their home at Christmas and other holidays.  It does change the atmosphere and makes you feel happy.  Charlie’s mom in Virginia, Doreen, always has such a festive house at Christmas.  I don’t know how she does it, but we’re always glad that she does.  We’ve visited there at Christmas and there’s no feeling like driving up to the house and seeing all of the lights on and Santas and snowmen in the yard.  I just love it.  She sent pictures of this year:

Her front yard

It looks so pretty

There's Rudolph!

We lived in Virginia through two Christmases.  I think we decorated more there than we do here. We put lights up outside and decorations in the house.  It was a two story Williamsburg style house and in the winter, it just looked like it should be dressed up for the holidays. 

Our house this year, the pretty blue lights are solar powered, wrapped around a small tree in front, Charlie's idea.  He gets his creativity honestly......from his mom!

There is a “Christmas Circle” here in town, not far from our house.  Most of the people on both sides of the street go all out with the holiday spirit.  Charlie and I walked over there one night a couple of years ago to see the lights and decorations.  Some are very elaborate. It’s really quite a treat to see it.  We could have driven over and through the street, but hundreds of other people from all around have the same idea.  While you’re walking on the sidewalks, cars are slowly driving by, as if they are driving through an animal park. The cars were bumper to bumper.  It was nicer to walk through.  I'm glad we don't live on that street though.  It would be too much pressure to decorate every year.  We noticed that only a couple of houses did not decorate.

I’m at the end (I hope) of a week long cold.  It’s the sneezy, “can’t blow my nose enough” stage right now.  I hope it’s better tomorrow.  Our weather has been cold and rainy too, so it feels appropriate to feel this way.

More later...........

You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals. ~George Mikes

Dot, Dash (white ones), and Cody

We received the report on Lexi’s blood test for her thyroid.  She is on the right dosage.  When we first took her to the vet about six weeks ago, her numbers were 8+.  With the medication she’s been on, she’s now 2+.  The numbers they are looking for are below 3.  So, if she doesn’t seem to gain or start losing weight, we will not have to have her tested again for a year.  She weighed 11 pounds now, so she’s gained a little.  It’s a good weight for her.  I just hope it stays this simple.  We’ve never had a cat on medication that didn’t have to be continuously tested.

I talked to Karen Wednesday.  She and Greg have been staying in constant contact with us since we brought Kiki and her kittens home from their wood pile in October.

Karen told me that Greg’s brother would like to take Kiki.  He already has a three month old kitten, Chino.  Kiki’s kittens are about three months as well.  We’re hoping she will accept him and he will accept her.  We were happy to hear that Kiki would have a home, but of course, it’s always bittersweet when we have to see them go.  I’m not a good foster mom.  I don’t like letting them go.  I know that anyone who knows me would never know that about me.....right?

Karen and Greg came by yesterday morning and picked Kiki up to go to her new home in Rancho Cucumongo, about two hours away from here.  I received a text from Karen that Kiki made it to her new home.  She and Greg were staying overnight and coming home this afternoon.  I’m sure I’ll get a report tomorrow on how Kiki did last night and today.  She also texted me a picture of Chino.  He’s a very cute little guy.

Cody, Dot and Dash had their first night without their mother (if you don’t count the one night that they stayed alone in the wood pile after we trapped Kiki).  They were starving this morning and cleaned their little plates.  I left the door to their room open and they wandered up and down the hallway.  One of the white ones ventured downstairs and out to the cat patio.  I imagined that she was looking for her mom, but I’m sure she just went to a familiar area.  But, she did jump up on the cat tree where Kiki usually slept.  I’m just saying....

The kittens stayed under Charlie’s desk all day long.  I checked on them during the day and they were curled up asleep together.  Charlie said it was because his room is the warmest room in the house.  His computers are on most of the time and it does get warm and cozy in there.  But, I think it’s because he has mind control on every girl cat in our house.  They all just migrate to him.  I used to think that the little boy cats were more attracted to me, but they like Charlie too.  That would be fine, but the girls don’t spend much time with me, unless it’s time to eat.

Charlie said that earlier the kittens were at the top of the stairs, which is where Sheila likes to lay.  They were running all around her and didn’t seem to mind her at all.  She’s kind of gotten over the excitement over them that she had at first.  Now she just lies there and watches them run around.

We went out to the Pinery Christmas Tree Farm yesterday and bought a tree.  It’s a pretty 6' Douglas Fir.  We have an artificial tree, but we decided we wanted a fresh one this year.  We also decided to put it in our family room for the first time.  We (mostly Charlie) decorated it last night and really didn’t know how many decorations would still be on the tree this morning.  This is Rhody’s first Christmas and at seven months old, he’s in to everything.  He’s big and clumsy too. 
Sure enough, this morning part of the light strand was hanging on the floor and two or three ornaments were on the floor.  Nothing broken though.  I think the novelty has worn off now (hopefully) and they will not pull anything else off the tree.

One reason I didn’t help too much with the tree decorations is that I’m still having quite a bit of pain in my left back hip area.  The 8 weeks or so that I went to physical therapy did not seem to help.  I’ve started seeing my chiropractor again.  He has pinpointed my problem to a pulled ligament in my gluteus maximus area.  I need to write some of the names down when I see him again. 

When I left him last week, I felt really good.  I went through the afternoon without pain and it’s been so long since I didn’t have pain every day, I have forgotten how it is not to think about it.  I’m considering asking my doctor for an MRI, but in the meantime, I do feel like my chiropractor is helping me.  I will see him next week.

More later.........

“Confront a child, a puppy, and a kitten with a sudden danger; the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy will grovel in abject submission, the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance” --H. H. Munro

We just returned from spending a week in Las Vegas.  That is a long time to be there, especially if you are not a gambler.

We enjoyed the week, although we couldn’t help but wonder how our cats were doing at home.  They were well taken care of and I’m sure we missed them more than they missed us.

My sister, Jennifer, and her husband, Greg, came from South Carolina to Vegas for the weekend.  Friday, the 2nd, was my niece, Jasmin’s, 25th birthday.  The trip was a birthday present.  Her boyfriend, Adam, and Greg’s mom, Joan, came from North Dakota.   

We enjoyed a nice dinner Friday night and then went to see the ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham.  It was a lot of fun. 

We don’t go to Las Vegas much.  The last time we went was about five years ago.  But, it would have been hard not to meet my family when they were so close, only a five hour drive away.

I played some slot machine Blackjack and did okay.  Joan found a slot machine which was really paying off and we all took turns playing it.  I won about $60 after playing only $10.  Charlie, who never gambles, couldn’t resist putting some money in.  It paid out for all of us.  Of course, eventually the money went back into another machine.

We took Kiki in to have her sutures removed just before Thanksgiving.  She is such a nice cat.  She lets Charlie pick her up and put her in the kennel to go to the vet.  She doesn’t struggle or try to get away from him.

The kittens have been staying on the cat patio during the day and they are doing a little exploring.  Sometimes we move Kiki to one of the 4x4x6' kennels on the patio.  We have to keep her confined though, because she does not like our cats.  I thought it was because of the kittens, but even when they are not with her, she threatens any cat who comes near the kennel. 

Yesterday Charlie took Lexi back to the vet to get some blood work done.  We need to check to see if the medication she is taking for her hyperthyroidism is regulated.  She weighs 10.8 pounds, which means she has gained a little.

He also took the three foster kittens, Cody, Dot and Dash, to the vet for their first shots.  They weighed about four pounds each.

This morning they didn’t eat their breakfast and felt kind of feverish.  I’ll keep an eye on them.  I’m sure it’s due to the shots they had.

Sheila was boarded at Mr. Jensen’s kennels for the week we were in Vegas.  We picked her up Monday morning and I don’t think she could believe that she’d ever see us again.  She was so happy to be home.  She “spoke” to all of the cats, who were less than pleased to see her, and then she bounded up the stairs and back down.  We let her run around because we didn’t want to dampen her spirits.  But, soon, we had to tell her to cool her jets a little.

It’s been cold here, in the 30's at night.  Our house is about 63 degrees when we get up in the morning.  That’s fine for sleeping, but a little too cold to be up and around.

Today we are going up to Temecula to meet Patti and Bob for lunch.  We try to do that every so many months.  Temecula is about half way for both of us to meet.  We each drive about an hour;  them from Palm Springs, us from San Diego. 

We meet in Old Town Temecula, walk around the shops for awhile and then have lunch.

More later...........