The flood begins. Last year I was able to keep my head down a bit, but this year we have lots of kittens "on deck" (calls from people who have "kittens around" who finally call to say "can you take them?") These four (stinky! Coccidia?) kittens were coaxed into a rabbit cage by the homeowner. Mom cat, dad, and two teenagers from last year need to be spay/neutered. The kittens will also need FeLV/FIV tests, and wow...something needs to be done about that stink! Roundworm meds didn't touch it, so we are treating for coccidia. If they don't start smelling better and having a better stool soon, I'll take a stool sample into the veterinarian to see if something else--perhaps giardia--is going on.
Here they are safe and warm:
We also received an email from a person who has an abandoned cat who has given birth in a barn nearby. A local dog boarding kennel has a cat who needs some adoption exposure (they did all the vetting themselves and have posted her as "found" far and wide).
The last night, I was driving home from a rare dinner out at a friend's house outside Van Etten, and guess what...eyeshine! A black and white tuxedo kitten was sitting by the guard rail. He wouldn't let me catch him, but he kept coming out when I stepped away, so I left some wet and dry food, and I'm just packing up this morning with a trap to see if I can get him.
Gremlin, who is one of the shy Candor kittens, still needs to be neutered. He likes to hang out by me when I work and looooves great big male cats, so would be a great companion for someone who has a "home alone" cat who needs a friend.
Scruffy, the emaciated cat I picked up right before a work trip to Austin, is doing great. He also has to be neutered. His fur is slowly growing back. He needs a better name. He's quite the talker.
And then there is Fluffy. He is deaf, due to wax plugs down in his ears that he has likely had most of his life. He can't hear when the other house cats hiss at him, and that is causing some issues with his move into the house. In order to "tell" him to back down, I have to raise my voice, with makes the hissing/scared cat think I'm yelling at her, stressing that cat even more. If I just walk up to Fluff to get between them, he doesn't hear me coming, and gets startled when I step in and runs off in alarm. So those plugs need to go via anesthesia and some careful work by the veterinarian. Normally they would be left alone at this point, but his semi-deafness is really causing some problems. Fluffy is a "personal cat" now, so he no longer rates a discount. However, he sure is happy being in the house. He owns the place!
Needless to say, there's about $1500 of vet bills waiting to happen in the place. Not a great place to be on May 2! So it's time to get a move on.
This afternoon, I'm off to Debra's in Waverly where we plan to do some more work on incorporation. Spring is officially here!
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