Oh Bonnie what a darling little kitty, I really want a cat, but hesitate because of the responsibility, you're making me "cat broody"LOL M

Yahoo!!!!! She finally arrived. I bet you are as pleased as punch :o) How is Banshee adjusting to sharing your lap again :o)

I may have two CH kitties in my litter .. not sure yet they are still fighting an infection or something .. no one is sure yet. And of course the two are the cutest ones :o( Right now they are on antibiotics and fluids (by mouth) almost every hour or so. The one had blood in his urine last night so Im not very hopeful on his recovery .. but I will do what I can for them :o(

Anywho .. have fun with your new baby .. any news on a new name for your little lady?? I'm sure she realizes she has made her way to the best home in the world for her!!!

Laura

Oh almost forgot .. what kind of battery charger do you need Bonnie .. I have about 5 lying around the house collecting dust .. Bill runs out and buys new ones when he "misplaces" them :o) I might have one I can send you.

Laura

Heh Mora - kitties have a way of doing that to others! One of the friends that drove me up is seriously thinking of adopting a stray she has hanging around her house now - she has some serious kitty longing even though she has three old kitties (one in his last month or two and another in her last year or two), and a kid that has some serious eating problems (kid was very preemie and almost died - is mostly fine now at 4 yrs, but can't eat!).

I am so pleased to have her! DH is in love too :-) She has tested negative for FIV and FeLV, so that was a relief - the shelter doesn't test cats unless they are symptomatic, so I didn't know before hand. We do have a poop issue to deal with unfortunately. She has some seriously loose poop and with her clumsiness, it is pretty messy :-(. It's also got the occasional bit of blood, so I am worried about it. I took in a sample today and it came back negative for everything, so hopefully it's just the stress of the new environment - she is incredibly friendly and has totally accepted DH and I, but she is very shy and nervous about roaming the apartment - I have had to confine her in a small bit of it for now. I'm going to put her on a very good quality kitten food and some probiotics and see if that helps any. I'm teaching her how to use the pan in a less messy way though, so for now that will have to do.

Laura - I need a charger that will charge NB-2L batteries (for Cannon Powershot S50). If you have an extra one that will charge them, I'd love to buy it off you or trade you something for it. I can order one online for around $40-50, but I keep having things crop up that take up our discretionary cash! Vet bills, replacing worn out bras and out of town friends visiting have to take priority :-)

Oh yeah - kitty has a new official name now - Zephyra. Zephyrus is one of the Four Winds in Greek mythology - he is the West Wind, the gentlest of the winds. Zephyra is a feminized form of the name. Kitty is so like a wind blown tumbleweed, wild and crazy, but also so sweet that we thought the name was a good fit.

I hope you can pull those little guys through Laura! Are they from a feral mom? What will you do with them if they make it? Will the shelter euthanize them or find homes? I'll send some rooting for kitty vibes your way :-)

BP

What a lovely name .. and so original too. I'm glad to hear she is adjusting well. Did the vet send the fecal off to be tested for coccidia and Giardia? They will cause loose stool and diarrea with blood. It is very difficult to determine by an normal fecal and should be sent off to a lab. If I were you .. to be on the safe side .. pay the extra little bit and send it off. I took in about 12 stool samples to my vet and she didnt find anything .. I got so frustrated that made her send it out .. low and behold .. they had both!! That was when the vet put Taz on the metrodiazol and almost killed him!! There are lots of other meds that will take care of it.

The little ones .. are not doing well .. Riley passed away last night :o( Boo .. is hanging on .. EVERYONE is being dewormed for Coccsidia and Giardia ++ I am giving Boo 50 cc subq .. antibiotics 2X's daily, pedialite, force feeding. He looks a bit more chipper this morning but I tell ya its hard to give a little guy that much subq and keep him still :o) It has taken more than several pokes to get the job done :o) I have had minimal sleep so I am a tad bit cranky this morning .. that is an understatement :o) If Boo pulls though the shelter will adopt him out .. but with a medical waiver. He is so beautiful. Keep your fingers crossed for me .. the next few days will make or break it.

I will check my stash of chargers for you .. might take me a bit to find them all :o) but I will let you know.

Take care
Laura

That's so sad Laura! I'm sorry to hear that :-(. I hope Boo pulls through! Go Boo, go!

Actually I don't know if they sent it off for the test or if they did it in house. I know that it's possible to not see anything in that sample, but for it to still be there bothering them. She has had two treatments of Revolution, so if it's anything it'll be coccidia or giardia. If the better food and probiotics don't do it I'll ask for something to treat those things, just in case. What do you use now?

I've cut back on her food too - it'll give her gut more time to rest. She is on the chubby side (and got there by being quite piggy) so it won't hurt her to lose a bit of weight anyhow :-)

At least she is really learning to use the pan better. She was laying on her side to use it and as a result her urine was running over her leg and the skin was quite red and irritated looking. She had licked it bald trying to keep it clean! Now she is crouching down in the loaf position to pee and her leg is returning to a normal colour. She doesn't like to poop like that, but is learning to lean against the side and stand up a bit - it's still messy, but not nearly as bad as when it all landed on her leg!!! I'm teaching her not to scratch to cover it, as that just causes her to get it all over her and the walls (yuk, yuk, yuk!!) Last night she didn't get any of it on her at all, so she's learning :-).

I'm sleeping so lightly because I'm listening for her starting to scratch that I'm pretty exhausted - I can't imagine what you must be running on - gallons of coffee? Duracells? :-)

BP

Well dispite all my efforts .. Baby Boo passed away last night :o( I still dont know what the problem is/was .. so now I am worried about the rest of the kittens. I still have 8 and will have to closely monitor them. We finished the dewormer for everyone else today .. I hope it works for the remainder and that parasites is all that it is.

Bonnie I have used S125 for cocci (sulfadimethoxine / Bactrovet) with the kittens before .. the dewormer (panacur) that I am using this time is suppost to treat both the coccidia and the giardia (according to my vet) but I have yet to find any info regarding its use for this purpose. So who knows. If the Panacur actually treats for these then Taz handled it well. You would really have to talk to your vet. I do think that they did have cocci and giardia and thats what killed them :o( Im going to collect a fecal and send it off just to be on the safe side.

Im glad your little lady is learning how to use the box. She sounds like she really needs some physio to get her musles growing. Her poor little leg must be sore :o( but she is in the best place for her cuz I know you will give her 100% of your attention and love.

Im off to catch up on some sleep
Take care
Laura

Poor Boo :-(. Young kitties are so full of energy and life that it's hard to remember that they're so fragile too.

Rant time! I just got back from the vet and they won't give me any antibiotics without examining her first. That's not really unreasonable, but she just had an exam from her old vet last Friday (my vet has the records), they saw her Monday (no exam, just blood tests), and they did her fecal test. The vet is of the opinion that coccidia is always easy to see, and so she doesn't have it (red alert!!). With Banshee developing diabetes, and this new kitty arriving with poop issues, I can't afford to be running every test they want repeatedly! Grrr... Her symptoms are 100% textbook coccidia, but without having seen the poop or the cat, she thinks giardia is more likely and wants to look for that again - oh and she mentioned treating with metronidazole, and wasn't too keen on my nixing it for something else. I have done a fair bit of reading on that drug since you first warned me about it, and it definitely shouldn't be used on kitties with neurological impairment - you're not the only one to have had a bad reaction.

The other vet at the practice is more understanding of financial constraints and owner input, but she wasn't there today :-(.

Zephyra's poop is improving, and coccidia is something she can get on top of on her own eventually, so I'm tempted to try to ride this out. She's not dehydrated and her appetite is enough for ten kitties (she a real pig!), so she's not doing badly. S125 doesn't get rid of it anyway, it only keeps it from reproducing long enough for the kitty to get on top of it quickly. I think I'll contact the shelter and see if they have any extra drugs hanging around or if their vet will prescribe me some - it won't hurt to ask.

BP

BP .. I sent you an email :o)

Bonnie,

Haven't checked-in here for a while... life as we wish not to know it has crept up on me.

Beautiful Zephira!! I love the name and I've always wanted an orange cat, but everytime we adopt again, another color kitty takes our heart away.

She's so fortunate to have found you - a real blessing! Keep us posted with how she's doing.

Nicole.

Captain Jack Sparrows, 8 months, says Hi! to Zephira!

{{gwi:442723}}

That Captain Jack Sparrows looks like one of my long gone kitties - very cute!

heh - whatever you plan on getting or not getting is never what you wind up with it seems! You can have all these well thought out plans on what breed, what colour, or none at all, and then... Suddenly you see the kitty that's going to come home with you come hell or high water! The heart decides :-)

Zephyra is doing really well - she's taken over the place and knows where all the fur mice hide (my mum sent me up a package with a whole bunch of fur mice for her - they're her favourite toy). She has two nice new carpeted boxes I made and she goes mad playing in them - she prefers to do her over-the-top-crazy-kitty playing in those padded places. She can't get hurt in them, and she knows that :-)

She has made huge strides in walking. When we got her she couldn't take more than a couple of steps without falling over. It didn't really seem to bother her, since that was how she was born. But now... She can walk in a straight line without falling - she falls going around a corner still. She has even started trying to run! It's more like a front legs/back legs bunny hop, but she is starting to do it! So far she can only do two or three hops before falling, but she's improving. She really wants to chase the other cat :-)

We're still dealing with the poop problem. She just finished her antibiotics today, so once those are out of her system and her gut has settled down I'll see if they had any effect. If it doesn't clear up in a couple of days, then I go to plan B - a novel protein diet where she gets to eat something she's never had before to test for allergies and intolerances. If that doesn't do it, then I guess the vet will have to come up with a plan C. I'll be so glad when we get this poop problem behind us :-)

BP