Big Black Cat

The big black shorthaired cat is getting much more relaxed around me. I walked into the kitchen tonight and there he was sitting patiently waiting for me to show up and bring out the food. He still gets a little nervous when too many of the other cats show up. He has lots of scars on his head and one ear sticks off at an angle. His front legs show some scars too. He was either in one big fight or a bunch of smaller ones. He acts like he’s decided his fighting days are over.

I took Foxy Girl in for her yearly exam and shots. She had so many tangles and matts we decided to shave her from her shoulders to her tail. She still has short fur where she was shaved but she does look a little strange.

Kitty Update It’s been a while.

I haven’t posted a lot because when things are good and all the kitties are doing fine, there’s not much to post. When things aren’t going well, I hate to post bad news.
So that being said, most of the babies are doing fine. Sparkle, my wandering kitty, is still happily living in my exercise room in the basement. I spend time with her every day and give her the run of the whole basement once in a while. 
I noticed that Swoozie was eating much more than usual and drinking a lot. I took her to the vet and after a couple of visits, they determined that she had hyperthyroidism. All her other bloodwork was OK. So she now gets a pill twice a day.
Cinder had started having trouble urinating, like she would be in the litter box for 10 to 15 minutes just to leave a little spot of pee. Over many vet visits over the last month, she seems to be back to normal.
Huggy Bear had lost weight and was drinking a lot of water, so I took him in. His kidneys were starting to fail and on a follow up visit his kidneys were so much worse, it was decided to let him go. I miss him everyday. 
There’s a giant brown tabby who has been showing up at the barn and even coming in the house to eat. His main color is brown but where most tabbies will have a light tan under coat, his under coat is yellow which gives him an over all golden hue. I call him Goldie. He comes from the west of my property.
There’s also a big black shorthaired cat who shows up to eat and occasionally I find him sleeping on one of the window shelves in the house. He comes from the east.
Of course, Darrell, the big white Persian still comes over to eat late at night.
In middle of all this, I had to say goodbye to my best friend of over 50 years. I hate funerals but I’m glad I went. His wife is such a sweetie and his son and I have always gotten along really well.

Goodby Uncle Ed

Last Tuesday, when I was taking Kato out to the car to go to the vet, I startled Uncle Ed. When he took off, I could see that he was having trouble running. I knew I’d have to try and catch him to get him checked out. Kato’s visit went fine and now she’s current on all her shots. When I got home, I saw that Uncle Ed was in one of the cat houses so I blocked both exits and then managed to get him in to a carrier. I called the vet’s office and got him an appointment for the next day.

At the vet’s office they figured out right away that they would have to sedate Uncle Ed before they could check him out. They gave him a sedative shot and we waited. He was still awake so they gave him another shot and we waited. He was finally groggy enough that they could wrap him in towels to take back to give him some gas to finally knock him out. He definitely had a problem with his rear end but x-rays showed no fractures. The vet thought he might have suffered some sort of trauma. It was going to take a long time of confinement and twice daily antibiotic pills and that may or may not do any good. We decided to run more tests to see if anything else was wrong with him. That showed that he was FIV positive. That decided the matter. The best thing to do was to say goodby to the old boy.

On Thursday I took Spitkitty in to have the lump removed from his rear leg. The vet said his lungs sounded kind a raspy so she wanted to put him on antibiotics for a couple of weeks before she did the surgery. The only way I can be sure to catch him twice a day to give him a pill is to keep him confined in a room in the basement. He hates being confined and he hates getting pills. It’s going to be a fun couple of weeks.

Today, I got a new area rug for the living room. I decided to go subtle.

Kitty News Update

The latest kitty news.

The weather has turned nice with daytime highs at or above freezing and nighttime about 20 degrees lower.

Uncle Ed is still living in one of the cats houses on my main deck. He’s an old boy but he’s still eating well.

The new kitty is due to go back to the vet for her booster shots next week. It finally dawned on me that I had named her after that nasty hurricane, Katrina. I renamed her the original name I had thought of, Kato. Yes, she’s named after the sidekick to the Green Hornet.

Sparkle, my wandering kitty, seems happy inside but I fully expect her go on another adventure when I let her outside again. At least she’ll be current on her shots.

Last night I found a small lump hanging off Spitkitty’s rear leg. He’s going to the vet this Saturday to see what it is.

Other than that things are pretty quiet around here.

Wanderlust Kitty

Sparkle is up to her old tricks again. I got a call from the local Humane Society saying they had a little black kitty whose ID chip said she belonged to me. This is the 3rd time she’s been turned in to the Humane Society. This time she was found about 12 miles away. I don’t know if she’s walking all that way or if she’s getting a ride. She’s in great shape and friendly as ever. She missed her vet appointment a couple of days ago so she’ll have to stay inside until her new appointment on Feb 3rd. Sparkle is the mother of Mingo and Shy Baby.