More updates: Cat # 5

Momma and her kittens.

A few more updates on the cats. As I mentioned just before letting this blog go on hiatus, I had a litter of kittens show up. (Their pic with momma cat is today’s pic) One of the cats that rarely came around showed up with 3 kittens. They looked to be a couple of months old, already weened. I would see them in my back yard eating regularly along with their momma. That was around Oct '09, they were starting to go feral. I sat next to them to feed them, until I got close enough to grab them and put them inside. That was a bit wild 7 cats in the house full time, with these 3 not letting me get to near. I wanted to socialize them so when I took them in to the Humane Society they would not get put down as UN-adoptable.


After about three months, they were still a little wild, but I needed to get them out of the house. So I took them in, the Humane Society took them in as they could handle them getting them out of the carrier. I never did see a pic of the kittens on their website under the list of adoptable cats. Not sure what happened to them, it can take a month or so to get posted and hopefully they were adopted out before their pics were posted.

Momma cat disappeared after I took them in, only saw her once every two or three weeks. Then about March she started hanging around more. I thought she looked pregnant again, belly getting big , nipples visible, etc. So I scraped up the money to take her in, they said she did not have a litter. I was hoping that she did not just have one, because it had been a few days, they would not have survived. I grabbed her on a Saturday when she showed up and kept her inside so she would not disappear before I could get her spayed. It was Monday morning before I could set up an appointment to get her in, they took her the next day. That’s three days right there she was away if she had any.

In my bathrooms I have these little windows about five an a half feet off of the ground in the shower. Momma cat had been jumping up there wanting out. She would race from one window to the next, she did this while waiting to get spayed. Brought her home Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday afternoon she started up again, racing from window to window for about 15 min rest for a little while then do it again. She did not seem to be sore at all letting me touch her scar with no issues. On Thursday I finally let her out, before she could hurt herself. She showed back up on Saturday wanting in, I never say no to the cats. Let her in and fed her, letting her out shortly after. As far as I could tell for the next 5 days she never left my backyard. Every time I went out she was there, sleeping under the tree or under the lockers. I told her if she wanted to be my kitty she would not be able to go out again. She did not go crazy again, this time she would go to the door wanting out, not fussing much when I would not let her. I did let her out a couple of days later and a few other times. All she did was to hide under the lockers.

Now I am up to 5 indoor cats. I am willing to adopt her out if I can find a home for her, I have been trying. Just to many cats available in town right now, the Humane Society always has over 100 on their site (today 141) and a lot more on Craigslist. (Anyone in the Tucson area that wants a sweet cat that loves attention let me know.) Now to figure out a name other than just calling her Momma Kitty. Every time I go to pet one of the other four cats she will come up and try to get between us wanting attention. I go to play with another cat and she is there, if I talk to one she is there. It is like she is jealous of them. That is a name that suits her, but I did not want to call her Jealous all the time. I tried to find a name with that meaning, all I could find was one I could not pronounce, some ancient goddess or Morgan, King Arthur’s sister. Still it is a good name for her, Jealous.

The other thing about her is if you pick her up she purrs, scold her she purrs, etc. Knowing some male cats are called Sir Purrs-a-lot, I decided to name her “Mizz Purrzzzy” (pronounced pur-z, any one have a better spelling let me know) So that is the tail of how Mizz Purrzzzy became cat # 5.

I'm Back

Well it has been just about a year since I last updated this blog, I had pretty much given up on it. But my friend and neighbor keeps encouraging me to write a blog about my cats. She doesn't know that I had started one before. (I think she is tired of hearing me brag about my cats).
Around this time last year I was worrying about work and had some personal problems getting me down. I looked and could not tell that anyone had even visited my page, which didn't help. Being somewhat superstitious (which is how Girl got her name or lack there of) I stopped because my babies were getting sick, just shortly after starting the blog. I almost lost one, came close to having another go blind.
An URI (Upper Respiratory Infection) started going around, most of the strays I take care of and all my cats got infected. First Mittens started sneezing for a couple of days followed by Squirrel. After which Girl followed by Lil' Bit. In that order, after a few days Squirrel was not as active and I was worried that I might have to take her to the vet, most of the others got better in couple days. I was working only 15-20 hours a week and money was getting tight, so I kept a close eye on her. After the fourth or fifth day she started getting better (just as I was about ready to take her in) , Lil' Bit on the other hand was in her third or forth day and stopped eating and drinking. You always can tell when she is drinking as she makes a bell like ringing sound when she does. (One day I will post a sound clip, it is cute) For being the smallest and yet most active she will drink about twice as much as the others so I will constantly hear this through the day.
After 2 days of this I took her to the vet. They gave me some antibiotics and eye drops. I already was using a syringe to force some water down her, worried about kidney failure. That was on a Wednesday on Friday I took her back to have her stay over night so they could give her an IV. They gave me some special food to feed her when I brought her home the next day. For two days I forced her to eat and drink. On Monday she started eating and drinking on her own. I was very relived. The doc said that her kidneys should be fine, they checked while she was there overnight. I was concerned that I was not giving her enough, still it was another day before she went to the potty.
Just as she got better one of my stray kitties, (belongs to my neighbor across the ally) was in a somewhat bad way. He was keeping one of his eyes closed, the other half opened and not acting as normal. When I looked at his eye it scared me. The only way I could describe it is to look at a dead fish in the market, red, dry and sunken in the center like a volcano. So I kept him inside and used the rest of the medicine I had left on him. Three days later his owner came around looking for him, said she had some medicine for him. I gave him over to her, not sure if she had and medication for him or not. They let him run around outside though. They are the kind that will get a cat, let them run around and might put out some dry for them. He is better not but the lens in that eye is a bit cloudy. TJ (Tom Jones, named by my friend) can be a pest sometimes like right now, bugging me. Otherwise he seems to be OK.
That my dear readers brings you up to date on what happened and why I had stopped. Next post I will pick up where I left off. Giving you the back story on how I got each of my babies, and then from there keep you update on them. I plan to post at least once a week maybe twice a week while telling you the back story on each. Please forgive me as I am new at most of this and I am sure the site will change and I learn, and hopefully get better. For now here is a picture of Lil' Bit.

Mittens stray nuter spay cat kitten Lil Bit

Sorry I have been so long in posting I have had a couple of emergencies with cats and have been busy with them I will post all about it after I finish the introductions. I almost lost one of my cats and had a litter show up and had to take care of them. I have been busy with all that and more. This is the last page of introductions and will get on with the story of my cats.
Well that is the first 3 cats and how they showed up. Mittens was starting to settle in and getting used to not being let out (all my kitties are indoor kitties now). My neighbor was helping me to get all the strays spayed or neutered. She wanted to get all the Toms fixed as they can get more than one female knocked-up at a time. I had 2 that I though were pregnant and one that I was sure was. The humane society had a free day and with her help we took 2 males and the pregnant one in. We arrived 45 min early and wound up being about 15 behind the cut off point. They went through the line taking names etc. We told them that the cats were feral and were able to get them all fixed for free but they tipped the ears. One of these was Tom a complete stray I still do not think he has a home. One was TJ (Tom Jones, not his real name) named by my neighbor because she found out all males were toms and that was the first tom name she thought of. The third had no name, she was blue colored and pregnant. Just a small kitty I thought she got knocked up during her first heat appeared to be about 6-9 months old. Having to give her a name on the spot I named her Lil' Bit. Because she was a little bitty, itsy wincey, teeny tiny kitty, way too small to have kittens. Males need to be kept in for about a week after being neutered and females 2 weeks. My neighbor kept TJ for about 5 days before she could not take it anymore. We let him out as I could no keep him Tom would fight with him. Tom stayed with me for 7 days and Lil' Bit 2 weeks. After which I could not let her go I felt sorry for the poor little thing. Now 3 cats is my max, that gives them someone to play with. Especially with Girl being so afraid and hiding the other 2 had someone to play with. But I just could not abandoned Lil' Bit to her fate so I took her in. I have not been sorry scene. All she thinks of is Play Play Play. If she is not sleeping the she is running after a soccer ball. I have some foam balls from the pet store that are colored to look like soccer balls.
With these 4 as indoor kitties I now keep my back door shut and do not let MY kitties out. But I still have others looking to be fed. Tom can come in any time he wants as he is my favorite of the strays, poor thing. Well 3 of the others showed up pregnant at the same time. Again my neighbor helped me and we took them in and dropped them off at the Humane Society. At $35 a pop this was over $100 she paid $55 and I did the rest. I knew there they had the best chance of being adopted and living. As the local pound puts most anamals down. That was on a Sunday on Thursday they showed up again at my back door. I recently found out that those 3 and TJ belong to my neighbor across the alley. So Blackie Ugly and her twin Pretty came back. Blackie's real name is Fee Fee. Pretty is Precious, and I am unable to remember or pronounce Ugly's name so still call her Ugly. Also found out that TJ was Marvin and one other that I called Bandit until I found Thor on his collar was named Sylvester. I found this all out recently when TJ (Marvin) was sick. One of the issues I recently dealt with.

Intro PT 4

I figured that they had moved and taken Twinkie with them. Now though I had a new problem to deal with. Three cats is my limit, one could get lonely by herself during the day. Two or three would have someone to play with, especially with Girl always hiding. But I was not quite ready for a new cat. Due to some recent purchases I was running a little short on money and Mittens was pregnant. The Humane Society charged $65 to spay $20 if knocked up and $10 a shot, running a little over $120 to spay her. But only $35 to drop off a cat, I managed to scrap up the money and with a heavy hart abandoned Mittens to her fate. She had not been around enough to show her personality and had not gotten her named but with white paws I gave them that name for her. I then went home and told the other two that from now on they were indoor kitties only. It was getting hard to lose cats, Twinkie had just disappeared 2 weeks before. I was going to start to wean off the strays from coming around feeding them every other day and getting longer between feedings.
I was able to keep an eye on Mittens at their web site (http://www.hssaz.org/) to see if she got adopted. This was August of 2008, the following month they had a special on adoptions of older cats (over 5 months) less than half price $25. At the end of September I brought her back home. She has been here since, although I don't think she has totally forgiven me for leaving her. From the second day she showed up she slept with me and was affectionate. Used to purr regularly and loudly, only meowing for food. I have yet heard her purr after I brought her back, and she rarely sleeps with me now.

As I said before she likes to be in the middle of everything, when SK would start playing with her favorite toy MK (Mitten Kitten) would jump right in. SK would back off and leave, eventually losing interest altogether. This is when SK started stalking Girl regularly. I would constantly have to chase MK away, also every time I would open a can of food she would be right there. I would have to chase her out of the bedroom so Girl could eat. As soon as Girl is done and I open the door MK is right there seeing what was in the can. She has to eat some out of every one that is opened. It seemed she was always in trouble for one thing or another. I noticed she likes paper, one day I had put a bill down on the floor and she tore it apart. My personal shredder.
So a lot of time was spent working on getting Girl to open up and SK to stop chasing her. Mittens no longer slept with me, I don't know if it was because she was not allowed out or upset because I abandoned her or because I had to constantly discipline her. Either telling her no or after a while I started using a squirt bottle with water. She is just a big dumb brute, but I love her. When I come in the house I have to almost step on her to get her to move, most times wind up having to push her out of the way. She is stubborn, I pick her up take her to the next room to get her to leave Girl alone and she goes right back. My problem child