Fevred ravings

Showing off my new tea tins at work. That's some lovely German rock cane sugar in the background. Tastes so smooth and sweet. Teavana is my new favourite obsession.

Here is the kitten. All growed up.


His enormous middle isn't dangerous. The vet has no idea. He isn't wormy, his blood tests are normal, his organs are normal and he doesn't have FIP. He's just a pudge. It's fun to tickle.

Kitten 2 died yesterday afternoon. I've named the last kitten Scrappy in the hopes that his name will inspire him.




He's 9 ounces in weight and got a pair of lungs on him. Very loud. I have hopes because he's much more active and kittenish than his deceased littermates.

From the first batch, they all got their first leukemia vaccines today. All but one is 2 lbs or over, so they'll be fixed and microchipped and hopefully adopted out soon.




This is 3 of them, the other 2 kittens and momcat are also orange and white. This picture was taken several weeks ago, so they're bigger now. Very cute. They'll go fast. I'm trying to keep upbeat about it all. And as soon as I finish writing this, I'm going to play the drunken houscleaning game so that will keep me distracted as well. Caio

I lost my first kitten today. I haven't been fostering for very long, just started this summer. But I have to say, fostering kittens isn't easy. It's even worse when they come to you without a great start in life and you're playing catch-up until either you win and they thrive...or you lose and they die. I lost last night. It's 2 siblings are at the vet right now. Only one of them is thriving right now. The other is just skin and bones.

They came to me on Sunday when a lady, trying to do the right thing, caught them in her yard. 3 squalling little babies, covered in fleas and very underweight and anemic. They looked more like 3 weeks old than the 6 weeks old that their teeth said they were. Thankfully, kittens this old can eat solid food so it didn't mean bottle-feeding, although at this point I kinda wish I had. Maybe the poor kitten would have lasted. No help for it now.

In my spare room is a totally different set of kittens. And their mom. They got a much better start. They were dropped off at the store like the others, but all 5 kittens and their mom, despite being small and also covered in fleas, did not look anemic nor did they look underweight.

All of them thrived and mom has turned into a total lovebug. She's only a year old and despite the rocky start of our relationship (for the first week, all the bleeding I did was because of her), she starts purring as soon as I step into the room and it's always a battle for my lap between her and the kittens. Not that they seem to care all that much, they'll just as happily attack my shoelaces as sit in my lap. Such is the life of a healthy kitten.

They are about 9 weeks old (approx 5-6 weeks when I got them, same as the tiny siamese ones, size is so different!) and they've all got the pudgy round belly. Kitten fat. Between that and their orange cuteness they'll be sure to be adopted quickly. I'm not even worried about momcat, with her beautiful longhaired orange and white coat, and her little bob tail and her sweet personality, I'm betting she'll get a home quickly. I have an appointment with my favourite vet to weigh them and get their felv shots. I'm hoping they'll weigh enough to be fixed at the shelter proper next week sometime. Then I'll make the rounds of my stores to get them adopted. I've already got 2 tentatives.

But I'm still sad. This is my first dead kitten. Intellectually, I know that he had a small chance of surviving anyway, but you always hope, you know? Now I'm focused on his siblings. I still have to figure out names for them. They were going to be the three stooges, but I think that would be depressing now.

RIP Grandma Schmoll 1/27/2008. Your death was entirely unexpected and you will be missed.

RIP Grandma. 12-24-2007. I wish you'd seen one last christmas. I know how much you loved this time of year.

I mean, I must right? For shits and giggles, I think I'll add up what I've spent on them in the last..month, shall we say. *brings up cc statement*

Gizmo adopted - $100
Supplies for Gizmo (not food) - $134.85
More supplies at the specialty store (food and stuff) - $149.19
Hairball treats - $3.80

Here's where it gets interesting

Gizmo's first vet visit - $194.88
this includes the x-ray and exposures and stuff because he's got a weird
swallowing motion and a severe heart murmur

Gizmo's 2nd vet visit 3 days later - $257.45
more x-rays and stuff. he's brought in this time because he's started
puking up everything he eats and has lost a half pound in the last 3 days
and is sneezing up a storm

Gizmo's 3rd vet visit 4 days after that - $305.00
this is for the cardiologist I had to drive 30 miles to get to in Seattle
traffic. he diagnoses a heart disease I don't think he ever told me the
name of and an irritable bowel thing because his small intestines are all
thick and stuff. Prescribes an anti-inflammatory and a beta blocker.

Petsmart and vet visit that day - $9.79 and $2.86 respectively for pill treats
and a pill popper. Gizmo turns out to be a miserable patient.

Filling the prescriptions - $22ish, hasn't shown up yet

Getting scratched by an angry cat who's going to have to be pilled twice a day for the rest of his life - priceless

Last but not least, Nova's vet appointment for a severe winky eye - $261.27
part of this one can be explained by the fact that I signed him up for
the Banfield wellness plan and did the entire annual fee in one hit.

I have another appointment for him in a week. And an appointment for him and Hikaru (who is not signed up for a wellness plan. yet) on 11/2

Let's add this all up, shall we. $1441.09 So far.

I love my cats. Why else would I put up with this crap?

So apparently I felt the need to give myself an early birthday present. Happy 25th to me today. And a welcome to the newest member of my family, Gizmo. He's about 3.5 years old, fuzzy black, much smaller than my other 2 kitties, and has an adorable kinky tail. It's kind of tied in a knot at the end.

I'll be posting a few pictures when I can get good ones. I tried to take some last night, but my very small bathroom is not the best place for it. So you all will have to take my word on it that he's a lovely little kitty that I couldn't resist taking home from my volunteer shift on Sunday at the PetsMart adoptathon. I held off for more than 2 years on getting a third kitty. My mother was impressed! I'm not really sure why she was surprised that #3 is black too.

I kind of feel bad for little Gizmo, locked in the bathroom. Nova is showing signs of coming around already. Sniffing under the door and watching it a lot. Hikaru still hisses if she smells his scent. Ah well, it's only been 3ish days. I wonder if she'll calm down when she sees she can be dominant to him. He's...probably a good 5 or so lbs lighter than her. And she's spent her whole life wrestling with her 19lb friend/brother. I can only hope they can be integrated before my father comes to visit on the 28th...

Alright.

So, my television (you guys remember it? Dell LCD, smaller than Thomas' one) is broken. For whatever reason, sound works, but video suddenly doesn't. At all. Black screen.

If anybody who comes across this has any ideas, please comment.

I'd rather not have to buy another television.