The Journey...To Heaven

I am quite tired of these posts. I'll bet followers, the few I do have, are probably tired of them too.

Ebony was grotesquely emaciated. Her fluffy coat hid it well but there was nothing left of her. Around Midday yesterday I knew even though her eyes were bright her body was growing weary.

Supposed to be 600g but is less than the size of my hand

Her bowel movements were not from this world and spoke a story of an extremely sick kitten. The pictures I showed the vet and fellow shelter people had them all recoiling and saying that it was not right. It didn't take any form of expert to know there was something seriously wrong with her inside.

Loving some chin scratches

Huddled for warmth. Fuzz hides how boney she is
(my face reflects the putrid smell coming off her)

From early this morning Ebony was on food strike. Not even raw chicken could entice her. So I gave her cuddles and we packed off to the vets.

Wrapped up in her blanket

I never got a confirmation on what would cause the severe issues she has. No definitive answer. The vet said it could be an extremely heavy worm burden, a form of gastro but either way her body wasn't strong enough to fight it even if a proper diagnosis was found.

You wouldn't think I'd bathed her the day before...
I Did, I swear

I had prepared myself for Ebony. I knew she was too far gone to save, that I couldn't do anything for her but be there, pat her, give her cuddles until the nearest vet check.

Rest In Peace Ebony, you were not made for this world...

I was not prepared for part 2.

The shelter is on lock down. No kittens or cats are available for adoption until 4th March. The closest a person that's non staff can now get to them is pressing up against a window.

The lock down is their only method to try and contain the cat flu. If those in sales remain clear of flu symptoms by March 4th then they'll be right to be adopted. If not its a very grim future indeed.

Buster is one of these kittens, I looked at him through the glass and he seems relaxed and well adjusted to his extra space and roomies. He isn't out of the woods as yet but I have everything crossed that he'll be fine.

Me? I'm living it up with the big cats ~ Buster

I 'need' him to be fine.

Last vet check I noticed Lilo occasionally sneezing. I thought nothing of it and she continued occasionally sneezing but showing no other signs until this vet check.

Everyone is hyper alert to cats sneezing now because of the flu that can't seem to be fully eradicated, but I think Lilo's final nail in her coffin was sneezing 10 times in a row when she was in the vet room. She sealed her own fate.

Sadly one of the better pictures of this one I have
is of her in her coat

I wasn't expecting to come home alone.

I hadn't prepared myself at all for the death of Lilo as well as Ebony and it hit me pretty hard. I mean Lilo was a little love bug, she played, she purred, she ate, she pooped fine and she loved being patted.

Purring away madly

She was kept in her cage since the sneezing began to try and reduce where in the house the flu spread to. Her stitches were fine and hadn't become infected again....

Its at the point where one sneeze equals death. Its too risky to keep them. One cat that sneezes may or may not have the flu but if it does and it's allowed to pass into Quarantine or even sales and it spreads it to several previously healthy cats then that expands the number having to be put down.

Its an absolutely horrendous sacrifice, one life for 10 others but it does make sense. A shelter is not made of money. It is hard to medicate flu. A cat could be medicated, get over the flu and then be penned beside one shedding the virus but not yet showing signs and get reinfected all over again.

So, it seems kitten season is over. I was hoping to have Ebony for a few weeks until she was fat and playful like Buster was...unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.

I thought I'd have Lilo until this Friday when her stitches would be removed and she'd likely pass for adoption.... unfortunately that wasn't in the cards either.

Rest In Peace girls. May you have better adventures among the clouds.

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Apologies for lateness in posting this. I both needed time to come to terms with what had happened, face the  task of uploading more pictures and once again kicking myself for not taking more of Lilo when she was here.

At one stage this week I thought I'd already posted this.

Crazy minds.

Added to all this only today I had to rush Terra off to the vet. After coming home from work I saw her cowering beside a small table and where her right eye was supposed to be was pink flesh. I grabbed her and tried having a look but in all the history of eye scratches Terra has fallen prey to, this was the mother.

Here third eyelid was puffy and red, her bottom lid was badly swollen and inflamed.

The minute I saw it I feared serious damage to the actual eyeball since I couldnt even see the eyeball.

Rushed phone call to the vet and rushed trip back down the street to the vet office went a panicked me and a terrified Terra.

Terra is my brother's cat but he was out doing his job and wouldnt be back. Her eye injury couldnt wait that long.

Thankfully the vet checked her out. No ulcers that he could see with this awesome orange dye that then changes scratches to a hulk green. He did have to get tweezers in to get the third eyelid out of the way in order to see anything at all.

I once again am grateful of the whole steel stomach.

Unable to discover any major life threatening (or more eyeball threatening) injury, the vet prescribed some antibiotic eye ointment to help with inflammation and infection.

Terra sporting her bucket.
Her right eye looking much better already

I decided to ask the question my brother and I argued about incessantly.

Is Terra Overweight?

Answer: Yes.

(HAH brother!)

Apparently Terra is 10% overweight. On a scale of bad she's about a six possibly out of 10 with 5 being ideal. So she's overweight but not morbidly so. Not sure how we're going to get that extra 10% off as Terra spends her days hiding or eating the small rations she's been cut back to.

Anyways, Terra is now on medication and sporting a 'bucket' as I fondly call them. Majority of her irritation is caused by her itching and rubbing her eye until its horrifically swollen. The biggest mystery is how this happened in the first place?

Did she injure her eye during the nasty storm last night and spend the morning rubbing and irritating it?

Did her and Leo get into some form of squabble where once again she got poked in the eye and then of course rubbed and irritated it?

Who? What? ~ Leo

I didn't do it! I'm innocent! ~ Leo

Did some foreign particle get in her eye and she's rubbed it out only to scratch her eye with said foreign object and then spend the rest of the time rubbing and irritating it?

Pretty sure we'll never know. I do know she played a major part in its severity by not leaving it alone.

I'm fine now Daddy's home ~ Terra
(that cat absolutely adores my brother)