Sunday, December 26, 2009

Stella was spayed this morning, and I picked her up at 4:30. I put pillows all around my bed, put a soft towel under the desk lamp and set a cozy, warm spot for her to recuperate. She was restless, though, coming out of the carrier as soon as I'd opened it (which I'd put under the desk close to the baseboard heater in case she wanted to stay there). She staggered around the bedroom, falling over and unable to maintain her balance most of the time. She finally settled on the bed under the lamp.

She urinated at 6:45; I'll wait until she's moving about better before I offer her food. There's water here next to her litterbox.

The vet had said that she was somewhere between 1 and 1-1/2 years old, no more. I've given Elizabeth a new writeup plus some better photos of her for the website.

December 22, 2009

Phoned Killarney Animal Hospital to see how Stella is. She's off in a quiet area, getting lots of attention, and she's not bellowing. But Jessie, the tech, said she expects Stella will be there for another 2 weeks - her uterus is still engorged with blood - now, how they know this I can't imagine! But better they err on the side of caution, instead of spaying her under extremely risky circumstances.

Saturday, December 19

Stella went into full-blown heat Wednesday night - now I remember what it's like! It's not just vocalizing but very loud bellowing plus a lot of extremely suggestive posturizing. She wasn't too bad Wednesday and Thursday nights, but she woke me off and on all through last night. I hope she'll settle down tonight, having been in heat 3 days.

Buster and Boo were adopted by a really nice couple yesterday. Thank God they went together!

I talked to Jessie at Killarney vet, and she said that a heat cycle for a female cat takes about a week to get fully going, then lasts a week in the full-blown phase, and then it's another week before everything settles down again. Omygosh!! Jessie said it could take less time if Stella was uncomfortable - i.e., no one petted or cuddled her and she was put in a cool room. I then decided to get Elizabeth's take on whether it was kinder for me to take Stella to the vet now, so that she'd be really uncomfortable for awhile and thereby get spayed sooner rather than later. Elizabeth said her opinion was that it would indeed be the kindest thing to do: Stella's clearly miserable and anything to get her out of this state in the shortest amount of time would be best for her. So off we went and Stella was left at the vet.

December 15, 2009

Where's this past month gone?? I learned today that VOKRA has a one-month return policy if a cat doesn't work out (say the resident cat and the adopted one don't get along at all). Elizabeth says that you should know by two weeks whether or not they're a good match.

I also learned that a nursing mother has to have stopped nursing for 2 weeks before she can be spayed. And of course she can't be in heat, because there's a big risk of blood loss during the surgery. Also a male kitten at 15 weeks can impregnate his nursing mother.

The bottom line is I need to separate Stella from her kittens soon, because she's showing symptoms of going in and out of heat while she still nurses Boo and Buster. (Chico was adopted on the 13th by a young couple.) A woman will be coming to see Buster this afternoon. I hate to see "the twins" split up, but Elizabeth says they often make out fine.

December 8th: All cats were given their second dose of Revolution today: Michelle came and put a number of drops on the backs of their necks. She suspected she'd put too much on mom and said Stella may lose some fur on her neck as a result. Her fur there did actually go white and stiff over the next couple of days, but there wasn't any visible fur loss.

Day 10: I created a monster (or three)!

I let the boys out to explore the living room tonight. Boy, was that a mistake! I knew this would happen: now they've tasted the great outdoors, they want their freedom. When it came time to put them back in the bathroom, Buster and Chico began working feverishly to break down the barrier I use to keep them in and allow Stella to go in and out. I finally put a board up against the edge where they can squeeze out and I hope that will do. Meanwhile, everyone, including Stella, will continue to live behind the closed bathroom door when I'm out, as well as at night when I need my sleep. Oy!

One week later
Tonight I finally saw Buster eat some Wellness on his own! So I don't have to worry about him starving.

As time goes by...

Buster & Boo

Was told by my contact Elizabeth that the cats had been covered in fleas when found, and each kitten had received a drop of Revolution on the back of the neck plus mom had received 3 drops. Elizabeth asked me to try to name them and report the names to her within 3 days if I could.

The guess was that mom was about a year and a half old, and the kittens were somewhere between 5 and 6 weeks. I witnessed the kittens nursing off mom at 8 pm on the first day, and saw everyone was using the litterbox. One of my jobs as a foster parent is to make sure the cats are well litter-trained, and that they don't scratch furniture.

Chico

During the following week, I learned that the kittens were all boys - though I should add that this has yet to be confirmed by someone with experience sexing kittens. I named mom Stella; the black short-hair Boo; his "twin" plus a tuft of white on his chest became Buster; and the furry charcoal kitten I named Chico, after a false start where I'd thought he was female and had called him Dustbunny.

As I watched how much they ate I came to the conclusion that Stella was scarfing down close to a can and a half per day, with Chico and Boo helping out a tiny bit. I was worried about Buster because I didn't see him eat any Wellness; I bought goat's milk and tried that with no luck. But considering it's a week later and Buster still bounces off the walls during playtime, he's obviously getting enough from mom.

My first fostering experience

On November 11, 2009, Karen emailed me that a family of cats had been found: could I foster them? I had been reeling in the past week from the loss of my beloved cat Peaches, who had died on the 5th at the age of 18. I said yes, probably because it was so lonely coming home to an empty apartment and I desperately missed the company of a furry critter. I knew VOKRA needed my help and so did the cats: mom and three kittens had been left in a carrier in a schoolyard. Fortunately, some kind-hearted children had reported this to the right people, who called VOKRA.

Momma and the babies were delivered to me at 4 pm by Karen and Leigh, along with litterbox, pine litter and 12 large cans of Wellness chicken. I was told to put a little dry food on top of the Wellness if the cats weren't used to canned - i.e., they didn't seem to want to eat it.

November 12, 2009All four received their first dose of Drontol worming medication today: Stella had 1 ml syringed into her mouth, and each kitten received .5 ml. They hated this; the poor kittens actually foamed at the mouth. I must come up with a treat to give them after their next dose on the 19th.