A Sad Tale

It is with great sadness that we must report that on June 17, 2013, Miss Kitty went to heaven, to be with her son, Scamp.

She, although fairly young at 7 years old, had a rapidly growing cancer. It had wrapped around her larynx, despite a surgery less than 6 weeks prior. It was found while performing anesthesia for surgery and we were able to ease her into eternal sleep without her awakening.

We are blessed with her two sons, Beetle and Lou to remind us of her, since they look so much like her.

She will be with us forever.

Update

Been a while since I updated you all on the cats! All are doing great!


Miss Kitty is the BOSS and keeps all the boys in line. Starshine is such a lover, not a fighter. Both his sons love to sleep lazily with him all day. Lou dearly loves to smell everyone's ends and Beetlejuice only surfaces at dinnertime.


They are all healthy, happy and safe indoor kitties.

Another year???

Hard to believe a year has flown by.

Our kitty family is happy and healthy.

They have two padded perches we fashioned out of old headboards, where they can watch the world safe, happy and warm from inside. The front perch offers a view of the pond and flying birds, and the back perch offers a guard site for the back 40....squirrels and stray kitties to guard against!

Inside they enjoy sleeping pods, hiding places and a tunnel with three entrances. They also have a hidden den in two different places. Plus, waaaay too many 'mice'

For us, keeping these kitties was the right decision. We could not imagine our life without them. So if anyone were to tell you you cannot tame feral cats, they would be WRONG!

The Loss of a Hero

Sometimes you are only allowed a little time on Earth with your furry friends...that time, so precious because it is so fleeting, goes by in a blink. Our precious Scampi became whole again tonight. He had his eye removed, but his kidneys refused to function and he was dwindling away. So God called him home and now he has two eyes again, and is frolicking and eating all the grass he wants. If love could have fixed him, he would have been the most healthiest cat in the world. Now he is at peace. He was our hero.

Dark Days

Scamp had his eyeball removed this week. The vet did an awesome job, putting the scar along the cheekbone and forming a small eyelid, so from the side he looks like his normal self. We were concerned about what to expect...but after the horrendous "Tales from the Crypt" eye, what could be worse? We shudder to think. He came home but did not thrive. He seemed to just get weaker. Last night we had to take him to the Emergency vet, and he was completely dehydrated. We think the antibiotics, which are flavored like bubble gum, made him not want to drink. Anyway, he is now in the hospital getting fluids, and we have our fingers crossed that things will go well. One strange thing we wanted to share with you was that he kept walking over to water bowl and staring at it...it was like he had forgotten how to drink. When prompted, he did drink, but I guess not enough. The vet told us that that behavior is something cats do when they are ill...so be on the lookout. More updates soon...

Some News....

It's hard to understand why God allows things to happen sometimes. Our beautiful baby boy, Scamp, got pink eye. Although we (the vet and us) tried everything we could, it looks as though he will have to have the eye removed. It's so sad, he is only 5 months old, and otherwise healthy. But we wanted to share with you as we go on this cat journey things that we have learned. Approximately 60% of cats get herpes virus- some have no symptoms, some breeze through it and some cannot handle the infection...these are rare. Of course, Scamp fell into this category. It started out as a mild eye infection, similar to the one his Mom had when we found her ( see previous blog entries at the beginning).That is interesting because the vet said that once they have the disease, there is no cure, it simply goes into remission, but can flare up again. It's possible, especially since he is an inside kitty that his Mom's saliva carried the infection or that it could have been given to him in utero. We immediately started topical antibiotics ( we used Terramyacin) and it seemed like it was going away, but then his eye swelled shut. We took him to the vet and the vet diagnosed Pink Eye/Herpes, which had progressed to where his cornea burst. Fortunately at this time we already had him on antibiotics and pain meds so the eye just got worse. Soon it was apparent that he would have to have it removed. The photos are quite graphic, but can be viewed on his website at www.cybervilleusa.com/savescamp We are currently trying to raise 858 dollars to pay for the surgery, so PLEASE forward this to all you know. Instructions for donating are on the website. More updates to follow.....

Life is a Kitten Freeway....

Can't believe it has already been another month and the boyz are growing like weeds! Since we had previously named them girl names, we changed them to Lieutenant (Loo), Scamp and Beetlejuice!(He's the little one). Mama Kitty and Daddy Starshine went in for the happy surgery and came thru like champs!!! The boys are scheduled to go in when they are 4 months old. We got a great deal at our local no-kill shelter. You might check in your area, many vets do discount spaying, and your local ASPCA does it, too. Found a wonderful 1970's era padded velvet headboard and cut the legs off it and hung it from the ceiling, with brackets on the wall in front of our other window. A favorite place to nap. Our other headboard is the place of choice for sunny afternoons. I'll end this post with a pic of them in their little stroller...Lord help the babies who have mamas who dress them up!