Kitty News

Update from the cat ranch – Nov 05 2022

Cold weather is definitely here. I got to shovel my first snow a couple of day ago. There’s a high wind warning for tonight and tomorrow. Gusts up to 80 mph.

My last big project this fall was to modify my trailer and used it to haul in 2 tons of crushed concrete to fill in the potholes on my road. Good exercise.

It’s been about a week since I’ve seen the raccoons, so I guess they’ve move on for the winter. It was fun having them around.

I finished with the 10 vet visits last month. I’ve done 2 more visits this month and have 14 more scheduled for the next 2 months, about 2 a week except for 5 the week before Christmas.

I’ve got the heat lamps back in the cat houses and the heated water dishes in place.

I’ve got another ‘self adopter’. The little black cat that I mentioned last time came in through the cat door last evening and stayed to eat everything insight and then took a nice long nap. He eventually went back outside sometime last night. This evening he was at the back door waiting to come in. He’s been inside ever since. He’s been trying out all the many places to sleep and of course having frequent snacks. I didn’t find an ID chip when I checked. Once he’s been here a while, I’ll make an appointment to get him checked out and get shots and a chip. I haven’t thought of a name for him yet.

I bought the domain ‘FlyingMonkeyCatRanch.com’. I’m planning to eventually move everything from VisualCats.com to this new domain. I’ve been moving all my websites over to a new host provider and VisualCats is the last of it. The move to the new host will save about $500 over the next 3 years. Or I might decide to stay with VisualCats, but on the new host provider. We’ll see.

Update Oct 14 2022

It’s about time for another update about what’s been happening around the cat ranch.

The raccoons only show up every two or three nights. A couple of weeks ago, when they showed up, it was only the mom and two of the kits. The next day, when I was heading to town, I saw that one of the kits had been hit crossing the highway. That really made me sad. With the cold nights, I decided to put the pool away for the season.

Over the last month, one after another, my cats started getting sick. Mainly coughing, sneezing and trying to hack up phlegm. Some were affected more that others but at least two thirds of my cats got sick and it’s taken at least three weeks for them to get over it. The cats out in the barn stayed clear of it. Spit Kitty got it the worst and probably had other complications. He’s still on meds for another couple of weeks, but is finally getting over it.

An interesting story, in the middle of all that, Tawny came down with something of his own. He was lethargic and running a temperature. Now normally, whenever Tawny would see me, he’d take off like his hair was on fire. You can imagine the wild chase to get him in the carrier to go to the vet. After he got an antibiotic shot and got home, he was quiet for a couple of days. Since then, he’s been totally at ease around me. He still doesn’t like to be petted, but other than that he’s like a whole new cat. Strange, but nice.

This month has been busy with vet visits for exams and shots. Seven so far and another three before the month is done.

Another of my neighbors apparently split the sheets and moved out. I don’t know who got what of the pigs, goats, chickens and turkeys, but they’re all gone. It looks like they left one or more cats behind. Yesterday evening, when I was feeding my barn kitties, I noticed a little black short haired cat crouched down by the fence between my yard and theirs. I set a plate of food where he could see it and when I looked out a few minutes later, he had inhaled the food and was trying to lick the pattern off the plate. I set out another plate of food and he wasn’t shy at all about going after that too. Tonight was a replay at the afternoon feeding where he ate three plates of food and at the late night feeding where he only ate a little over two helpings. He’s friendly and ‘petable’ but not totally comfortable around the other cats. I hope he isn’t a she and packing babies, but he sure came go through the groceries.

As for myself, I’ve been keeping busy everyday. As soon as I finish one project, another one or two show up. The recent rains showed that there was a low section of my barn roof that wasn’t letting the rain run off like it should. I ended up jacking things up and replacing a couple of rafters.

I also just got my flu vaccination and the latest ‘Bivalent’ Covid booster.

So I’m working on my laptop when one of my cats, Sky, came thundering in from outside, jumps up on my desk, drops this and takes off running.
Perfectly placed, dead center.
I don’t like the trackpad but this isn’t the kind of mouse that I wanted.

Might as well start with the bad news.

I lost Bright Eyes a couple of days ago. She had started drooling a bunch and acted like she was trying to throw up but never produced much. I got her in to the vet who did all the usual tests and decided that the problem was a bad tooth. Two days later she was back at the vet for her dental work. The vet who was to do the dental saw that her mouth and throat was full of stick discharge. She figured it was probably an infection in her nose or sinuses so she sent her home on antibiotics with instructions to let them know if she hadn’t improved in 3 days. She hadn’t, so I took her back in and a third vet checked her over and after another set of x-rays found that she had an enlarged esophagus (megasophagus) and her stomach and intestines were also enlarged. After considering all the factors it was decided to let her go. At least it happened over a short period of time so she didn’t suffer long.

The raccoons are still showing up most nights to eat, play in the pool and take naps. 3 or 4 weeks ago, when it was super hot, they disappeared for a couple of days. When they finally showed up late at night, they were all acting agitated and were being aggressive with each other. All the kits seem to be afraid of the mom, especially one of them. The next night they showed up but one of the kits was missing. It’s been weeks now and the mamma and the remaining 3 kits are acting relaxed and normal again and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the fourth one. The only thing I can think of is that the missing kit contracted something and the others drove him away. The mamma and the remaining ones look and act healthy. The weather has turned cold so I’m not sure how much longer they’ll stick around.

Little Sweety’s hyperthyroidism is nicely under control and all my other cats and kittens are doing fine. No new kittens or pregnant mamas have showed up. I did talk the neighbors into letting me take their big white Persian, Darrell, in to the vets for his shots and to get microchipped. They kept putting it off for lack of funds and it’s actually pretty hard to find a vet who is taking new patients. I figured I could get him in as a new one of my tribe. In less than a week I had him in for his shots and a chip. I told the vet that it was kind of a joint custody situation with the neighbors furnishing his food and board and me taking care of his medical. Of course the neighbors insists on paying me back which is fine if they can, but if not, that’s ok too.

This is Darrell…

As for me, I got used to the heat so I managed to get all my summer projects done. I’m still coming up with new things to do to keep me busy. On one visit to the vet we were talking and she asked me what I’d do if I didn’t have all my cats to take care of and my projects to work on. It’s simple, I told her I‘d get old and die. I’d rather avoid that as long as possible.

The usual routine every night for the raccoons is to go for the food first then drinking some water and playing in the pool. After an hour or two of this they settle down for a long nap before heading back home. Mom is sleeping just out of the picture.