Sometimes I wonder....

I started off the week with seven foster kitties. I currently have four.

You can't get rid of me that easily ~ Mittens

I spent most of my week since we last met up shoving paste and tablets into several flu ridden kitties. I thought they were getting better...how wrong I was.

So here we go...

Clarence is a happy case. I wish I had devoted more time to him but he was rather lost in the crowd with all the other sick cats and having to decontaminate between each group that I never really bonded with him.
He was a quirky little kitten happy to get all Halloween cat at you when you opened his cage door and sometimes happy to be held or patted but for the wide majority of the time he was very happy doing his own thing.

He never did learn how to form the perfect poop. He did however remain to score A+ in how rank it could smell. The vet found him fine for sales and he was over the required weight so he's now learning how to 'hopefully' be more social in a surrounding where he sees people daily.

Really? A big room with other kitties! ~ Clarence

Magic, Magic, Magic *sigh*

Relaxed little Kitty

He was trouble from the beginning. After his episode where he got really lethargic and unresponsive he bounced back. He then got an inflamed left eye. That too recovered and he was well over 700 grams. I was all prepared for him to get his vaccination and we'd be over the worst of it....

No.

I got a slap in the face when the vet opened his mouth and discovered what I feared most.

Ulcers.

I was thrown. He was eating fine, playing like a retard and generally being a happy healthy kitten. The vet seeing he had more than one ulcer and the fact Cosentino, Mystique and Trixy were so far clear he suggested we sacrifice one in hope the other three never got it as bad.

He did say it could be treated. It could get worse. It however put my cats at home, my fosterers that are currently healthy and any other shelter cats at risk. Minor flu symptoms could be waited out but the risks of keeping a cat that had developed the ulcerative stage was leaving too much to chance.

I had to think of Trixy and the fact she might have a home. I also had to think of Leo and the fact that this could be highly contagious.

Puss (the mother cat) who I dilligently pilled and squirted paste in her mouth for over a week also had them. I am to this day kicking myself for not having noticed them before.

Such old wise eyes for a barely 2 year old Kitty

Magic and Puss are no longer with me. I am hoping their second life upstairs will be much better than their short stint down here on earth.

Its knocked me flat. I couldn't be in the room when these two passed over the bridge. They outwardly looked so healthy but inwardly they had to be in pain.

I often really wonder why I continue to foster when things like this happen. I usually try to prepare or have an inkling that maybe this cat wont make it. Nothing with these ones and after all the worry and treatment they still failed to pass.

I then try to think of what I'd do if I gave it all up. I'd miss seeing those being given a slim chance to pull through showing everyone wrong and making it to adoption. I'd miss bonding with tiny kittens and hearing them purr at me for the first time. In general I'd just miss it.

So each loss breaks my heart but also solidifies my reason on why I do this.

Chance. The chance to save a life keeps me going.

R.I.P Puss

R.I.P Magic

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I also have a facebook page which I try to update with latest happenings or pictures. Feel free to drop by.
Legends Of The Little Fur Balls

You know you wanna see more cute pictures of me ~ Trixy

Back to Seven

Due to our heat wave down here in Australia Clarence had dropped weight considerably. He was 674 grams when he got vaccinated on Monday. He was hovering around the 650 grams by the Friday but the vet felt it was due to the heat and he has since picked up and is over the 700 grams (fewf).

Closer picture of Clarence's eye

Friendly as long as you don't pick him up...

Now if only he could learn what proper bowel movements look like....

Mittens seems to have been sneezing forever. I thought there was a chance she'd go back to isolation but instead took her home for more "wait and see if it passes". Then she got goopy but since she had no temperature and didn't seem too bad it was still "Wait and See".

Then she became some other kitten and not the little Mittens I've come to know.

Mittens hiding in the corner = not normal

 Apologies in advance for those squeamish people. This is proof that fostering isn't all sunshines and rainbows and cute kittens. When they get sick it breaks your heart and most of the time you need a tough stomach to nurse them back to health.

Mittens at her worst. Oh the goop. Poor Baby.

She was sleepy and was getting goop in eyes and nose. It seems to be affecting her left side more than her right. Poor baby. She also has a sore on her nose from an encounter I'm assuming with Sakura or Clarence when he had razor sharp claws. It's taking its time healing.

Thus I'm really beginning to hate this vibravet paste. First with Panda, then with Puss and now Mittens is on it. I'll be pro at medication... 

Two days on medication the goop has not returned and she's much brighter

I came home with some more little kitties on one of the numerous vet check visits. I seem to be there more than I'm home recently...

Meet Puss

Pretty pretty girl despite being sick

and her four babies.

Greys are girls, Black and white are boys...

It took a day and a bit for them to become the Magicians.

This is Magic

Adorable sweet little Magic

This is Mystique

Cheeky, Mischevious little girl

This is Cosentino

Inquisitive into everything little Coz

This is Trixy

The frustrating one who gains in small increments

Unfortunately these guys haven't avoided picking up some form of URI as well. I'm going insane hearing all these kittens sneezing I swear.

I've also had a small scare with Magic. It was like he was struggling to lift himself around. If he sat still he would face plant the floor. His eyes were unfocused and dilated. When he moved around it was like he couldn't coordinate his limbs or he couldn't see where he was going...very scarey.

After a feed Magic zonked out in my aunties arms on a hot water bottle

Better but now has an inflamed left eye...(vet put on ointment today)

Since Magic has returned to being the fattest of the litter there is strong hope that his URI isn't bothering him too much. I'll be much happier when his eye is back to normal though.

Just in case anyone is going Gah-Gah over miss Trixy since she's such a gorgeous near Russian Blue lookalike (well in coat color at least) unfortunately all things going well she's been spoken for.

See, I'm taking my time gaining weight for a reason ~ Trixy

Until Next Time....

Crazy Eyed Clarence

As of the moment I have two kittens.

The day Panda left for heaven, Fatso's mother Sakura also went back to the shelter thankfully not the same way.

Sakura was over her kitten. She would sit down the end of the cage and meow incessantly all day. If there was newspaper covering the floor of her cage she'd tear it all up within minutes. In the end she was also throwing paper around in her litter trays and somehow sending said litter trays halfway across her cage.

It was doing my head in turning around and cleaning it not even five minutes later.

I also have enough of one cat meowing all the time *Gives wailing Leo a glance*

My Boy Leo finally being quiet

Since Fatso seemed to be eating fine I wanted to separate him from Sakura in hopes of turning him into a kitten who was curious about people instead of one wailing for Mumma.

I went to the vets that day with three Kitties. I came back with only one. Those are bad odds.

While we were there, Fatso got his first injection. The vet mentioned he had wonky looking eyes and looked nearly cross eyed. Spur of the moment he got a new name Clarence after Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion. (Way beyond my time apparently).

He isn't cross eyed but he does have one pupil that bulges out slightly. He has some growth in that eye that he can see past fine but it will need to be monitored closely in case it grows and begins hindering his vision.

Excuse blurry picture can see left pupil is bigger than right

So I still have Mittens. I still have Clarence.

Clarence seems to be a quick study and is already purring in my presence. He does still Wig Out when he's picked up or held. He doesn't yet know Mum's not going to come save him.

Another shot of my wonky eyed boy.

Mittens will hopefully return on Friday. I'm not sure if she'll go to sales or be put in isolation.One nostril is persistently remaining slightly damp. She sneezes in sequence but can go long periods without a peep. Her energy level has not dropped and her belly just keeps expanding.

She's so leggy all of a sudden too.

Mittens entering the 'teenage' gangly look

Unfortunately Mittens has gone downhill and is now on medication. Let's hope this will kick the extra virus and her flu in the rear end. She's been sneezing since the 19th December I feel she's well overdue for a break and a search for her family before she's a full grown kitty.

********** NEW UPDATE*******

After hearing about the difficult departure of the six other kittens my sweet neighbor thought I needed cheering up and brought over a previous little foster kitty.

Why do I keep coming back here?

Who would have thought this big kitty Ash would have been tiny foster kitty Misty only a few months ago...

Tiny little Misty MMMM

Until Next Time...

Forever Free

With a heavy heart I have to break some sad news.

Little Baby, nicknamed Panda did not bounce back he got worse and the staff and vet as well as myself decided it was much kinder to let him go. He is now running about in the clouds once again reunited with his original siblings that never made it in this world.

My father was the one who gave little Panda his nickname. He offhandedly said the kitten looked like a tiny red panda. So he did, thus he got the new name.

On Wednesday evening Panda stopped eating independently. He seemed to nurse a little but most of the time sat huddled in the bed. He no longer ventured out to play.

By Friday he'd dropped to the 320 gram mark and I was prepared, even then, to say goodbye. I couldn't see how he'd be given the chance being so skinny already with no vaccination to try and make his symptoms less severe.

The lovely vet decided to give him a go. She set me up with medication, told me to take him off Sakura and do hand feeding (force feeding with syringe) and see if he'd bounce back.

He didn't.

Panda snuggling with Mum

I desperately wanted him to though.

I fed him small amounts, smaller than I even wanted, at regular intervals even setting him up in a carrier in my room so I could wake up every two or three hours to give him more.

Each meal was a battle. Just one syringe (around 3ml) took sometimes half an hour. He'd squirm and struggle saying he didnt want it (I thought his protest was a form of hope that he was strong enough) and I'd have to give him breaks so he could just breathe for awhile.

For those who don't know. If a kitten (Or Cat) cannot breathe through their nose their sense of smell is gone. A cat who cant smell will likely starve since they need to investigate it with their nose before their mouth.

Normally, even with Mittens, when a kitten gets a taste of the stuff in the syringe they begin chewing on the end of it and guzzle up to three syringe's of food. Panda didnt even want one.

Most of the time he slept. We got him up to 324 grams but then he tumbled way back down to a 307. I knew early Sunday morning that we'd be saying goodbye.

Usually I'm not there for the end. I usually hand them over to the vet and staff having said my goodbyes already. Today felt different. I HAD to be there.

So hopefully the last thing little Panda saw as he left this world was me patting him gently on the head.

He struggles to breathe no more, no more sharp pains of hunger he cant soothe...

He will now run free, with no frail body letting him down and holding him back.

Goodbye little Panda. How I wish we had been able to turn you around...

The brightest little Panda ever looked while he was with me. R.I.P little buddy.

Mittens, The OOPS & My Little Munchkin

Mittens has barely given two hoots that she has the whole floor of the study (aka kitten room) to hoon around on. She spends her days chasing toys or sleeping in the study chair.

It's taken her siblings to leave for this little girl to decide to get up with the times and pass or stay past the 900 Gram mark. Her being this high in weight makes me believe the worst of her URI is over. Sure she has sneezing fits but she eats independently and watching her play you'd never think she was unhealthy.

Her new room mates may have been mentioned in a previous blog.

I mentioned there were a few other mother cats around with babies but I ended up choosing Cotton and Percy since they were orphans...

Well...

Sakura is a gorgeous mother cat. She's Calico, or here called Tortoiseshell with White or something (Don't ask me why they don't just call them Calico...). She has her own little baby boy called Fatso (I do hope to possibly change his name during his duration here, but he is named that for a reason).

Ever patient Mumma Sakura

This is Fatso. Doesn't look fat but scales say he is

Sakura also has an adopted baby. Called Baby (oh so original and NO I didn't name them)

This is Baby

Sakura was the mother that was out in sales and gave birth to one singular kitten. No one knew she was even pregnant until her baby was born. She's doted on that little kitten so much so that he's technically younger than Baby but weighs a whopping 500+ grams.

Sakura is extremely protective of him. She does allow him to be handled (he doesn't like being handled) but she watches him like a hawk.

Crazy little kitteh

Baby however is a bit worrysome.

His mother was a gorgeous grown up Mishka lookalike. She had a litter of kittens that I think she already had when she was admitted but they were barely a few days old. Baby's mother then got some form of mastitis or something and lost her milk. Baby was the only survivor.

So far its obvious his real mother has failed to give him the best start. He's a measly 340 grams and he's supposed to be older than Fatso.

Since his mother once again dried up they put him on Sakura since she was doing such a great job with her one kitten. Sakura does mother Baby but to me it seems she still prefers her own kitten. Thankfully Baby knows how to eat on his own but I'm helping him as well (much to his disgust).

He has gained weight but he's still skin and bones. It also appears he has some form of URI or something as well. Since he's not vaccinated I'm worried that his frail body wont tollerate the illness. I have everything crossed that he'll bounce back.

Little Fluffball

I believe he's a fighter and time will tell.

So it appears Mittens shall return to the shelter on Friday where she will hopefully pass vet check with no issues. I'll be taking Sakura and her bubs in to be checked as well and then I'll be just down to three with not many other prospects waiting in the wings.

(Very Very sad face)

I mean no kittens is a good thing. No kittens is a bad thing for anyone that fosters kittens though....

Part 2: Hard Goodbyes

When the Tiny Tots had reached the 1 kilo mark (All except Mittens) and Percy and Cotton were past the required weight to return I knew I wouldn't have them for three weeks.

When the Tiny Tots were teeny tiny

Tiny tots not so tiny...

Amazingly although tinier than the Tiny Tots' Cotton was the first to conquer the half door and most of her days since was cooped up in the big cage (which was more than twice the size of a shelter cage anyway but still smaller than having the whole room to roam).

Still not happy Lady ~ Cotton

If the others had learned the same behavior I would have let them run with the door closed but my parents, brother and I enjoyed leaning over the half door and fishing for kittens as they'd bore across the room and leap either into your hand or halfway up your arm.

The only previous kitten I've had that did this was Paris. The kitten that had so many names. She was a singleton so she just wanted company. The Tiny Tot's as a litter were just that affectionate they'd drop what they were doing and seek out human company and I've never had a litter do that before.

They no longer looked like tennis balls with tails sticking straight up in the air, they were little cats. They were still small but they were rotund little kittens with no bones that could be felt at all. The transformation was amazing.

Baby Cookie

Cookie grown up

Little scraggly Koda

Koda the big boy

Tiny Mittens

Sweet Mittens much bigger

Tiny Tigger

My big Tiggly Wiggly

Pretty boy Zorro we so thought was a girl

Such a handsome grown boy

I had begun preparing myself to return them on Friday for at least a once over by the vet to either say they still needed isolating from the healthy shelter cats or if they would be given the OK for sales anyway. I figured I might have Mittens for a bit longer but all the others beyond an occasional sneeze were active, eating with no discharge.

I had begun releasing Mittens during the day to begin playing with her siblings and step siblings again. She returned to her own quarters at night.

I received a call on the Monday from the RSPCA. I'd called them just to give them the heads up that I was planning to come to Friday vet check and letting them know how the kittens were. They called me back later in the afternoon and asked if I could bring the six kittens out, all except Mittens.

The Ballarat shelter had apparently been in high demand for kittens but had none to show off. The Portland shelter was drowning in kittens and being a dead end place with no real means to come through here to get to anywhere finding homes sometimes took a while.

There was no time limit on the kittens, as some people still assume, but they could grow into cats waiting for their turn. By transferring to bigger facilities they get shown to more people and therefore are more likely to get homes while they're still small.

An order of TWENTY kittens and roughly three adult cats were picked to be transferred to Ballarat on Tuesday. Six of those Twenty were my little babies.

Some were to head to Epping and some to Ballarat. I don't know where exactly my six would be heading but I have friends I've prodded to keep an eye out for them.

The sudden change of plans. Not having four days to pull away from the kittens. Not having four days to come to terms with returning them made me more than a bit upset.

I had no day dreams of keeping them. I do notice that right before I get ready to send kittens back I begin distancing myself from them. I had no chance to do this and the excuse of 'I need more time' wasn't valid. These kittens had an opportunity to find their forever families and they were more than ready for them.

I wish them all the best and I believe they will remain as some of the 'special' kittens that somehow stand out more than some of the short term kittens I've fostered.

I shall captivate people with my eyes ~ Percy

Alas it made it slightly easier leaving them at the shelter when I still had one Tiny Tot to return to at home. I also had a few more recruits to begin the next chapter of the long fostering journey....

Until Next Time....