Quiet, So Quiet

Events of 9th July 2015

It's amazing how the absence of a cat is felt through everything you do.

Having Hugo distracted me greatly from the absence I'm now feeling.

I don't have morning purrs and cuddles with Leo anymore.
I don't have him tapping me on the arm for my attention.
I don't have his wide variety of trills and meows following me around throughout the day.
I don't have him greeting me at the back door when I get home from work.
I don't have him sneaking closer to my legs at night for warmth.

He's just gone. And the silence is deafening.

Thankfully I'm not lacking in cuddles. I still have three weenies and they're supplying me with the usual stress that comes with fostering.

Willow & Wanda cuddling with mum

Wanda & Wally cuddling with Dad

Their poop and appetite had improved enough to be given the freedom to run and play in the lounge making the silence not quite so deafening.

YAAAY Free Play!!! ~ Willow

The three weenies figuring out the track ball game

Wanda & Wally focused on something

Wally being cheeky 

Siblings spatting over top spot

Wally found the perfect use for the track balls' loops

Willow not sure what to do first...

I mean, we do still have Terra, but for her size she's silent as a mouse and often off doing her own thing. She has one love in her life and that's my brother, the rest of us will sometimes be okay to hang with but his lap is the one she always wants.

Wanda introducing herself to Terra

BOX!!!!!! ~ Wanda

The free roam in the lounge didn't last long for the kittens.

Willow and Wally put me through the ringer with vomiting, diarrhea, lack of appetite but nothing outstandingly wrong with them. This is where hindsight came in and I'd begun to wish I'd kept Winnifred for a few weeks longer.

We're hoping a course of wormer will clear up the symptoms.

I think they knew I needed a distraction and went all out. *sigh*

Hugo Goes Home

Events of 8th July 2015

Hugo decided the lounge area wasn't big enough and now literally has the run of the house.

Hugo got the all clear on Monday to go to his forever home. Received his second vaccination.

I get to go home!?

Had a few days off work so spent it chilling with my little buddy before he goes home. Not that he spent a bunch of time with me.

The minute he's released from his pen its all squirrel noises and a poofed up tail. He hoons around and has learned charging up the stairs is great fun.

On the 8th of July a whole month after he'd been adopted (adopted on the 5th June) Hugo finally met up with his family and went home.

His family consists of two boys and a girl human as well as a dog. The kids had never had a kitty before and were quite smitten with him all wanting his attention at once. Hugo was of course a little overwhelmed but instead of cowering he would place himself somewhere that little hands couldnt just grab him but he'd still play with them.

Prime example was hiding under one of the chairs in the lounge but pawing at the wands they waved at him.

I received an update from his family shortly after he got home.

He loved the heat vents here and would often flop on top of them. At his new place his first discovery was the fireplace and I can see he'll spend quite a bit of time there.

I do hope the updates keep coming. Hugo is one of those ones that used up several lives to get where he is. It will be amazing to see how he looks when he's all grown up.

***FLASH FORWARD***
Some of the other updates I received in the following months. I'd say Hugo made it home.

Happy With Hugo

Events of 29th June 2015

Hugo behaving like a retard. He doesn't really stop for cuddles much anymore and instead its go, go, go.

NEW TOYS!!!

Hugo having a ball

He's adorably affectionate and so expressive.

So adorable

Tomorrow is his last dose of medication and then its a game of wait and see as to whether his flu comes back.

Tentatively making a date for his family to pick him up on the 8th of July.

Began the transition of Hugo to kitten dine food instead of the prescription AD so when he does go home he's on something that he'll readily eat.

Find myself looking forward to the day Hugo goes home so I can stop worrying about him relapsing.

At the same time when he goes my room will be silent without Leo.

On the 1st of July Hugo got sprung from quarantine and allowed to roam the lounge. He enjoyed some new things to investigate and new people to cuddle immensely. I see that adorable little prance in his step that he had when he was in the adoption rooms is coming back.

I'm going fishing

Hanging beside me for a breather

Napping with Mum

With mum again

Hanging with Dad

He is still sneezing and may sneeze for weeks or months ahead but he seems to be over the worst of it.

I am eternally grateful that Carolyn offered to let me keep Hugo. I had considered it several times. In the end it was clear Hugo had chosen Carolyn's family and she wouldn't find a kitten as confident and adaptable as him for a long time.

Me on the other hand. I needed the time to come to terms with Leo being gone. I wanted to give him that respect. Maybe next season I'll have a foster that tugs at my heart strings. Maybe it will take quite a while to find the new kitten I couldn't bear to part with.

Hugo was never mine. He did help with the grieving process and made me feel like the chain of events that led me to losing Leo happened for a reason. If I didnt have my room free to quarantine Hugo I probably would have had to say no. If Hugo hadn't had the intense TLC I'd put into him during those first few weeks maybe it would have been his life that was cut short.

The Weenies are going through a bout of diarrhea. If it persists they'll be put on a probiotic. Seems every litter I have ends up going through a bout of the runs. *sigh*

Return of the Moods & Hugo's Progress

Events of the 24th June 2015

The Moods: Smoochy, Sooky and Grumpy returned to the shelter today. I felt horribly bad for making my mother look after seven kittens while I was cooped up in literal quarantine with Hugo.

Hanging with me isn't a bad thing though ~ Hugo

From where they began all three of the black kittens were improved. They were by no means dying to meet you except Smoochy was quite happy to ninja tackle your arm but they all played with abandon and I felt if they were constantly exposed to people now on the adoption floor they would have a chance at finding a home.

Grumpy was the most reserved of the three but I felt if he was with his sisters he'd learn from them and gain confidence as time went on.

Jodi (one of the shelter staff that had been fostering them) commented on how much they had improved.

Kicking litter tray halfway up their room is a sign of impending return

Also playing in the litter tray is another sign...

Winni also stayed back at the shelter. Hindsight is wonderful and if I could go back I probably would have kept her for a few more weeks. She was getting a bit stir crazy in with the kittens.

Wally always coming over to say hello

Little Wanda is going to be trouble...

Winni has a beautiful nature. She's been the most gorgeous mother to her kittens and is very clean and tidy. She is affectionate and loves attention. I didn't get much of her history but she'd make some lucky person one adorable cat.

So sleek and shiney

Family Photo before Wini departed

Hugo had a bit of a relapse today. (24th June). Its a constant worry whenever he's not playing. He got quite flat and he was huffing with his breaths. My gut told me it wasn't right for him to be sleepy for so long and I somehow knew he was running a temperature.

Not while he had a temp but he absolutely loved laying on the heat vent

Got Hugo in to the vets where he was put on metacam again to bring his temperature down. I worried about how many more chances Hugo would get before he was considered a lost cause.

Hugo got wormed (much to his distaste). He started to get perkier again by the following night. On the other side Willow was doing some mysterious weight loss.

Whats up Willow?

I extended his Metacam for a few extra days. Gave the furball a bath that he sorely needed and his coat came up so beautiful when it was all fluffy. Brushed some matts out of his fur.

Look at that gorgeous coat 

And how clear his eyes are getting

Happy to report Hugo is back to bouncing around my room.

Hugo being cute

So pleased that his eyes are becoming so clear

Mr Snot Face

Events of 19th June 2015

Hugo gained so many nicknames as he got better.

After killing one too many syringe tips I decided to teach Hugo to eat off a saucer again. He's a quick study and he adapted quickly. The fact he's eating without help is very good considering his sense of smell would have to be limited at best.

YAY eating

He also has some ulcers on his tongue so even having the will to eat is amazing.

Of all the positive things to say I think Hugo turned up at the right time. Not to say I don't miss Leo like hell but Hugo's made it that little bit easier to bear.

Mum took Hugo out for a check and to see if his medication needed changing. No changes were made but the shelter staff were amazed at his transformation in just under a week.

Cut back the steam treatments to morning and night only.

He's still eating on his own. One of his nicknames is Snot Block.

Another is The Gremlin and Master Hugo.

In the much earlier days I also gave him some sugar water to pick up his energy levels. He absolutely hated it but I do think it helped.

Demanding little guy

For attention that is...

Looking a bit cute, still scraggly with sore little eyes.

Instead of just hanging out he's gaining some energy. He tours around the room a little and finds things to play with. I've removed any cords he thinks he can chew.

Beginning to venture around outside his cage

Perching on his "meds table"

If anything he's great preparation for whenever I decide to keep another kitten. Leo never bothered with cords, never tried climbing curtains, never burrowed under the covers.

Heaps of toys to play with in his cage

"Gotcha mousie"

Winnie and her babies were taken out for their first vaccinations.

Hugo went out and although he looks quite healthy and ready to us apparently internally he's still not there. The vet also said he'd be a candidate for euthanasia if he wasn't adopted.

Thats possibly the third vet to say that. *Sigh*

He got taken off the Metacam he was on and put on a double dose of vibravet morning and night to see if that would kick this thing once and for all. His ulcers in his eyes aren't completely gone either so he has eye ointment too.

Poor baby with ulcers on the rims of his eyes

Another pic showing the nasty ulcers.

The whole time he's been sick I've been keeping his family up to date with his progress. I had to tell them of the delays in his recovery and it killed me.

Soaking up attention

Hugo being cute

I mean who has the patience to wait more than just a few weeks to take their bundle of joy home? I will eternally be grateful to his forever family for not giving up on him when it would have been so easy to just pick a different kitten.