A taste of winter

It's the first honest-to-God cold night of the season.  NWS issued a freeze warning for our area and lows are expected to be in the upper twenties.  Not that Callie and Lily notice, of course.  They're as snug as bugs in rugs.

Callie's not too thrilled about having her beauty sleep disturbed, but she'll get over it.  Stay warm, my friends.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987

Lily and Chessie

Obviously I'm a cat lover.  I wouldn't have this blog if I didn't love cats.  What I've failed to mention, both here and in my dolly blog, is that I'm also a railfan.  Railfans, to keep the explanation brief, are folks who love trains.  We watch 'em, photograph 'em, collect memorabilia, and have fun.  Most of us have one or two railroads that we like more than the others, and I'm no exception.  My favorite railroad is Chessie System, partially because they have a kitten as their mascot.  Their advertisements sometimes ran a graphic of this little cat.  The image came from a 1933 issue of Fortune Magazine.

Talk about a cozy kitty!  It just so happens that Chessie looks quite a bit like my younger cat, Lily.  Tonight I was even more convinced that Lily should've been Chessie's namesake.  Check this out.

Had I had any idea of what this baby would look like, I would've named her "Chessie."  However, she seems to like "Lily."  Either way I love her and Callie to bits.

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987

Another strange turn of events

We had another bizarre turn of events today.  Callie spent the weekend at the vet's, while Annabelle had to go today to have her infected bite drained.  We dropped Annabelle off at Vet A's office early this morning, then drove to Vet B's expecting to hear that Callie had died.

Surprise, surprise!  Callie made it through the weekend!  She's still not 100%, but she is eating and meowing and wanting to go home.  Vet B even let me see her and hold her for a few minutes.  I was told to check back every day until the vet was ready to let her go home.  It was wonderful to see her and rub her and tell her how much I loved her.  Then I reluctantly handed her back and drove home to wait for news about Annabelle.

As it turns out, my Annabelle didn't have an infection at all.  Oh sure, she had a bit of stuff in that knot on her head, but not enough to be causing all the trouble that it was causing her.  No, her woes were being caused by a TUMOR!!!  That would explain why it didn't respond to antibiotics and why Annabelle hadn't been putting on weight despite the new diet.  This makes me wonder now if her kidney woes weren't another symptom of this.

Anyway, Annabelle has cancer...or she had it.  Dr. Kyle said it was best to just put her to sleep, so I opted to do that.  Since she had both cancer and kidney failure it just seemed pointless to try and fight the inevitable.

RIP, my bratty little baby girl.  Mama loves you very much.

I'll miss my cranky little girl, but when there's death, there's usually another life somewhere.  In this case the other life happens to be at the foot of my bed, in the form of Callie's little friend Lily.  Lily has an attitude that is surprisingly like Annabelle's.

I just pray I'll have more than four years with Lily.

Best wishes, 

RagingMoon1987

Kitten Watch 2016: the aftermath

After Callie miscarried her litter I called the vet and asked if I should bring her out.  I was told no, just watch her and bring her out if she starts acting sick or running a fever.  Fast-forward to Wednesday morning, after a peaceful and uneventful Tuesday.  Callie got a good night's sleep, got up to eat...and immediately crouched and began yowling.  I thought "Oh great, she's retained a placenta."  Unfortunately, it turned out to be worse.  Callie had retained a fifth kitten, but that fifth kitten didn't make an appearance until AFTER I took her to the vet.  I palpated her stomach and felt nothing, the vet palpated her stomach and felt nothing, and THEN the fifth kitten began to show.

Long story short, the retention of all that mess caused a nasty infection, so Callie's spent one night at the vet's and it looks like she's going to spend at least one more.  The vet said I'd done a good job of bringing her in as soon as she started acting sick, but I feel guilty.  I feel like I should've known, even though Callie acted completely normal after miscarrying four babies.  She didn't start crying and acting sick until a solid twenty-four hours after the fourth kitten was born, but all the same I feel guilty.  I'm also very angry at her prior owner for not having her spayed in the first place.

I've since learned from my sister, a person who is very learned in genetics, that polydactyl calico cats have a double dose of bad genetics, and problems with pregnancy in these cats should be expected.  That would explain why two kittens looked deformed.  Thus if any of you out there have calico cats with extra toes, PLEASE SPAY THEM!!!  If you haven't done so already, please do it.  I would've done so with Callie immediately had it not been obvious that she was already pregnant.  I've always been for spaying and neutering, but this latest debacle has made me even more adamant that it be done.

Please pray for my sweet Callie!

Love always,
RagingMoon1987

Kitten Watch 2016: the end

We took Callie and Annabelle to the vet yesterday as promised.  Annabelle will need to have surgery on her sinuses in one week.  The vet says it will be strictly exploratory, to see if there are any foreign bodies or dead tissue causing the infection.  I'm nervous of course, and it'll be expensive, but I'm willing to do anything for my Annabelle.

The news with Callie started off good.  Dr. Kyle said she was fine except for a few fleas, and that she should have her kittens in two weeks.  Feeling relieved, I took both cats home and went out with Mama to get something to eat.  When I returned to my place I saw a tail sticking out of Callie's backside.  I thought "Okay, Dr. Kyle was off by two weeks.  I'll leave her alone until she's through."

So I made Callie comfortable, took Lily in the bedroom, and lay down to try and relax.  An hour or so went by...and then lo and behold Callie appeared in my doorway meowing.  "Absolutely not," I thought, "that cat is not having her kittens under my bed."  Then I noticed that the first kitten was still hanging from Callie's vulva!  Horrified, I reached down to see if I could offer any assistance.  The second I touched the kitten I knew it was dead.  It was not moving, and it was cold to the touch.  I considered pulling, but Callie didn't like that idea.  So I called her back to the laundry room and shut the door.  Two hours later I went back and found that she'd miscarried not one, but two babies.  The first one was bigger than a newborn kitten should be, and it was completely hairless.  The second one though, was perfect.  It was black and white.  I buried them in the front yard.

I left Callie alone for the night and went to bed hoping that would be the end of it, but no.  When I went to check on her this morning I found two more babies.  They were deceased as well, and I buried them next to their littermates.  So I want to thank those of you who've been following Kitten Watch 2016.  I wish it could've ended more happily but what can one do?  Dr. Kyle said she was perfectly healthy.  The silver lining is that right now Callie is indeed doing fine.  She's moping and sad of course, but otherwise she appears to be fine.  She goes back to the vet tomorrow just to be sure, and as soon as I can I plan on getting her spayed so this doesn't happen again.  I'll just toss this on the pile of bad things that sometimes happen when one owns pets, and I'll look forward to the years of happiness that I'll hopefully have with Callie, Lily, and the others.

God bless y'all,

RagingMoon1987

Kitten Watch 2016, part 4

Tonight will be a quick one.  We're still playing the waiting game with Callie.  I discovered an indented line down the center of her belly last night, leading me to worry if she hasn't had a C-section.  If this is so then I question her ability to birth kittens on her own, if she is indeed pregnant.  So Callie is going to the vet tomorrow, both to confirm whether she's pregnant or not, and if so to get a wellness check.  Annabelle is going too, as her sinus infection has not cleared up.  I may also drag Lily along just for the heck of it, since she's going to need shots eventually anyway.  The results will be posted tomorrow.

Love always,
RagingMoon1987

Kitten Watch 2016, part 3

Here's Callie, my expectant mother.

Tonight may be the night, or it may be another false alarm. Callie released a little more fluid (on my clean sheets, no less), and she rapidly went from purring and cuddly to growling and antsy. I dragged her little cat bed back here into the bedroom and now she's settled down some. Time to play the waiting game again, I guess.  I wonder if I should turn my ceiling fan off?  Newborn kittens don't like it drafty.  As an added little haw-haw, my uncle has already called dibs on any black kittens she may have.

Yours truly,

RagingMoon1987

Kitten Watch 2016, part 2

As of 7:30 p.m. CDT Callie has had no kittens.  I wonder now what on Earth it was that came out of her body, whether she'd had some digestive problems or if she hadn't gotten around to cleaning herself.  Either way Callie has not given birth.  However, I am still positive that she is pregnant.  Cat bellies don't get big and hard like hers unless something is seriously wrong, and apart from a few stray fleas Callie appears to be in excellent health.

Sick animals seem to have been the norm with us here lately.  Three weeks ago we had to have Lucy to the vet.

You can probably see the growth on her hip.  Lucy had been away for awhile visiting a family member, and when she came back, she came back with that damn thing on.  Pardon the language.  The vet took one look at it and said "Yep, that's cancer.  It has to come off."  Due to the size of the tumor I thought "That's it, it's in her bone and she's done for."  But that wasn't the way it turned out.  It was all soft tissue, and Lucy was home the day after surgery.

The incision looks bad in that picture, but it really wasn't.  My camera's flash messed up.  Anyway, Lucy didn't bother her stitches once.  No chewing, no licking, she was good as gold.  Her stitches are out now, and we know where her road will lead.  The diagnosis was bad; it turned out to be some sort of cancer that can be very aggressive.  The prognosis, however, is great.  The cancer she had removed tends not to spread, and the vet thinks he got it all.  He told us to watch for regrowth and bring her back if anything comes up.

Unfortunately that's not the end of our little sickies.  We've had Annabelle, one of our cats, at the vet too.  Annabelle suddenly fell ill at the end of July.  She wouldn't eat, wouldn't wash herself, wouldn't come out for head rubs, nothing.  When she finally did come out of hiding, I was horrified to see every bone in my little girl's body!  We rushed her to the vet who ended up keeping her.  Long story short, Annabelle has kidney failure.  She's not going to die, thank God, but she'll have to be on special food for the rest of her life, and she may have occasional crises that the vet will have to deal with.  I was warned that one day I may have to give her fluids on a daily basis, but right now that aspect of Annabelle's life is good to go.  Now we're waiting for her to fight off a sinus infection (she's seen the vet for that too, no worries).  So we could do with some prayers for our little sickies.  I'll keep y'all posted!

Best wishes,

RagingMoon1987

Kitten Watch 2016, part 1

Curtain up on what may be a frustrating and ultimately futile wait.  I have no guarantees that Callie is pregnant, though she certainly does show the classic symptoms.  Her belly is big, her nipples are losing hair, her breathing is heavy, and I could've sworn I saw fluid coming from her vulva last night.  Okay, that's TMI, but it's what it looked like to me.  Fourteen hours have passed and her symptoms haven't changed much.  Callie is still hungry and suspicious of my presence around her, and her breathing has calmed some but it's still heavy.  She won't let me peep under the hood to make any assessments of her condition, so I'm just going to leave her to her devices and pray all goes well.  We've had pregnant cats before and they all had their babies on their own, no difficulties or complications.  If my guess is correct and Lily truly is Callie's daughter then Callie should have no problems.

Since the last post had no pictures, here's a random picture of Lily.  She's a brown torbie and she's adorable.

Stay tuned for updates!

Yours truly,

RagingMoon1987

A purr-fectly weird predicament

Heavenly Father help me, for I am in a situation. The rest of my earthbound friends can read this. For those of you who are unaware, I work at the library in Campbell, Missouri. I have a regular who comes in and is...well, something of an old SOB. He has cats, and he recently fed Mama and me this big load of hogjaw about getting a girlfriend, moving to Charleston, and having to get rid of two of his four cats. In the past I made the folly of admitting that I love calico cats, and so I ended up agreeing to take his calico plus a small torbie kitten that she supposedly has adopted. Said calico was extremely rotund, but her erstwhile owner insisted that she wasn't pregnant.
Joke's on me. Callie (as I named her) is now barricaded in the laundry room with everything a cat needs to survive for an evening on her own. It has become clear that despite her previous owner's prior claims, Callie is indeed pregnant and apparently in the early stages of labor. The last time I dealt with a cat in labor was fourteen years ago, and all I did was make the diagnosis. There's nothing I can really do now but make sure Callie is comfortable and wait for morning. I am positive now that everything this man told me is a lie; that he isn't really moving and just wanted a pregnant cat out of his hair. I am also certain that the smaller cat Lily is indeed Callie's baby, as they share similar patches of calico fur. I have unfortunately had to separate Callie from Lily for the night, so Lily is now behind my ear behaving herself. I can only pray that all will go well for poor Callie, and I humbly ask y'all to do the same. As frustrated as I am right now I'm glad Callie has a warm place to deliver these kittens, and not some run-down joint that reeks of cigarette smoke. PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR ANIMALS!!!

Love always,
RagingMoon1987