Wanderlost
Nomad II
Joined 21 years ago
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Re: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Hope your Christmas was a happy one. We spent it at home with Tall and Short Friends, watching movies and eating finger foods. Ian and Gym had a wonderful time going from person to person for playtime. We also had visits from the stag herd and a few does. Hope you and yours had a great Christmas and may you have a Happy and safe New Year.170Views0likes0CommentsRe: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
After losing Czarny, and then Spousal Unit having one medical issue after another, we were not planning on adopting another cat(s) until after his hip replacement. The cat distribution system had other plans. While working at the library on 17 Oct, a librarian asked if anyone within hearing range wanted a cat. Seems a cat was in the butterfly garden, approaching humans and being very, very friendly. The librarians, having experienced this often, figured the cat had been abandoned in the library vicinity. No one took her up on the offer, but several offered to feed the cat and put up adoption/foster notices on social media. At library close, I headed out to my pickup. I heard a cat talking long before I got there. Sure enough, a ginger kitten of about 8 months was sitting under a tree near my pickup. And I made an enormous mistake. I opened a passenger side door to put some stuff inside, then turned and found kitty close enough to touch. He insisted on being petted, rolling on my feet and talking incessantly. I got distracted and didn’t close the door. After a bit of quality kitty time, I turned back to the truck, and now there was a cat inside. Okay, then — looks like I've been adopted. When I closed the door, he looked like he might have regretted being in the pickup. He panicked and started zooming all around the inside. I gave him a few minutes, until he slowed down, then quickly got inside. Soon as I started the engine, he stopped zooming and parked on the back seat. He stayed there, yakking all the way home. I called Spousal Unit to advise him we’ve been adopted. He had the front door open, ready to quickly close it as soon as I got Kitty inside. I pulled up right beside the porch, so there would be as little transfer time as possible. I slipped out the door and went around to the passenger side, but Kitty decided to decamp to the driver’s side, under the pedals. Sigh. A few treats and pleasant talk, and I finally got a good grip. Upon being released in the house, Kitty dashed behind the love seat, still talking. He eagerly came out for an entire can of wet food, then discovered the dry food. He talked to us off and on (mostly on) until we went to bed, first from behind the love seat, then from under our bed. He showed absolutely no interest in the outside world. He would not go near an outside door, staying pretty much in the center of the house. He does like to talk, and loves him some pettins. Not real big on being held and doesn’t quite understand being in a lap, although he’s showing a lot of interest there. So one kitty makes himself home with us on 16 Oct. He named himself Ian, after he perked up and answered when we mentioned a friend by name. On 28 Oct, I headed to Petsmart for kitten food, a toy or two, and some litter. Came home with all that, a new carrier and a kitten. Yep, the cat distribution system thought we needed yet another ginger kitten. The 8-week-old little thing got washed out of a pickup’s under carriage in a car wash. The employees caught the terrified little bit, wrapped him in a tee shirt, then didn’t know what to do. They needed to get back to work, and so were going to release him in the field next to the car wash. A customer said give him to her, and she promptly went to Petsmart. The vet clinic there checked him out, and other than covered in fleas and car wash muck, he was okay. Lee Ann (pretty name) walked around the store, getting a few folks interested in either fostering or adopting the kitten. Then I wheeled my cart by and the kitten made its decision. Well, crap, I’m going home with another one. Bought a smaller carrier for a one-pound kitten and brought him home. Even though he’d chosen, he was still right spicy and hissy. Drowning fleas on a wiggly little acrobat was interesting, but I managed. Then we put him into a big cage in the great room. Ian noticed him a couple hours later. They sniffed each other pretty thoroughly, silently, and Ian gently reached through the bars to touch Baby on the head. Then Ian laid beside the cage for several hours. No issues at all. Next day, Baby got his first shots and a drop of flea/tick/mosquito killer. He spent several days in the cage, where he could safely watch us and Ian, and get over being all hissy with the humans. When we finally let him out, he proved to be a real gymnast, so that became his name, Gym. He’s nearly trebled his weight since arrival, climbed all over everything he can reach, and shredded the dryer vent hose connection to the outside vent. I’ll need help moving the dryer out to fix that, so I’m drying the laundry outside. He adores Ian, who is the most patient cat I've ever had. He tolerates everything Gym tries with him. At the moment, Gym is trying to nap on my arm. Makes typing a challenge. Here they are, Ian on the left and Gym on the right:297Views1like0CommentsRe: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Spousal Unit now has GP clearance for the tooth extraction. Just waiting on that office to get back to us. When that's complete, he'll still need regular cleaning. Only then can we get back to the hip surgeon. Looks like this surgery may not occur this year. Sheesh. Meanwhile, no movement on the Simon front. Because SU is still in limbo, I really do not want to add a cat to the household. It would be alone a lot when he finally goes in for the surgery, and that doesn't feel right to me. Simon is being cared for, if not the way he was previously, so I feel no particular urgency in bringing him to our place. When we're both here more often than not, then I think he could adapt more readily to a new home. The barn swallows are long gone. Haven't seen hummingbirds in a couple weeks, so I'll be taking down the feeder today. Guess I'll make sweet tea with the leftover nectar -- not my favorite, but SU likes it. It's rut time, so the deer are really moving about. None show any inclination to adopt us humans the way Lassie and her progeny did. I'm not even sure if any of her descendants have survived. Our fox family has stopped transiting the property right around the house. When I see one nowadays, it's down near the gate. I miss them hanging around us. However, now that rabies has made another incursion into the county, it's best they don't come around the house anymore. Time to get back to crocheting Christmas presents. This year is embarrass the nephews. The Army pilot gets mesh shorts in desert camouflage (his wife is in on the gag). The college boy gets a willy warmer in a yet-to-be-determined color. His mom is really looking forward to seeing his face when he opens that package. Best get to crocheting. Later, y'all.559Views0likes0CommentsRe: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
The good news is Spousal Unit does not have cancer in his bones. He does need a right hip replacement, though, as the femur top and hip socket are severely deformed now. He'll come home from rehab by the end of the month, as they've done all they can to help him function while not putting weight on that leg. He has a stress test scheduled, then a dentist visit, and then they'll schedule the hip replacement. Back to rehab after the surgery for a bit, to get him used to walking without pain. Back on his walker and later a cane after 3-4 months of healing and outpatient physical therapy, and then he should be fine. While I'm still not in the mood to get a new cat, I did meet Simon, the large ten-year-old ginger kitty whose person has utterly forgotten he's hers. She knows his name, but thinks she's just feeding a stray, so I approached her as though I'm thinking about adopting a stray. She's all excited now about rehoming Simon. Simon himself allowed me to be sniffed, then I could lightly pet him. Short Friend says that's a major indicator that Simon might accept me, as he's never done that with any other stranger. I did commit to going over often enough that Simon can get used to my scent and then we'll see if he'll accept me as part of his normal life. He's very schedule oriented and territorial about his home, which makes it even harder for him to understand why his person has pushed him out of his house. He's a lovely cat. If he does accept me, I will bring him home, but not until Spousal Unit's situation is a bit more stable. Simon will need a lot of time to get used to being in another home with other people, and if we're there more often than not, it will be easier for him.773Views0likes0CommentsRe: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Spousal Unit went to the hospital on 19 Aug. There they found a small hip fracture due to tumors in both hip and right femur. He's currently in rehab so he can do things on one leg. We'll see an orthopedic oncologist next week to determine what needs to be done. I'm hoping his awesome immune system will fight off bone cancer the way it fought off prostate cancer. That said, it's a good thing we decided to not get another cat until October. Might be a bit later than that, considering how intensive cancer treatments can be.831Views0likes0CommentsRe: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Saran didn't make it. Her little body just couldn't overcome all the challenges of starvation and illness. She went to the. Rainbow Bridge this afternoon, just short of two weeks after we brought her home. Losing two cats in a month really stinks. We won't be looking for another cat until October. We should know by then if Spousal Unit's health issues will improve or if we need to put him on a wait list for assisted living. If so, we won't be getting a pair of kittens like he wants. He can't have pets in assisted living, and I don't want to care for more than one cat at a time by myself. On the wildlife side, we seem to be down to only one hummingbird, and the barn swallows have either departed or decamped to lakeside. The deer continue to wander past the house once or twice a day. Otherwise, it's quiet around here. Today wasn't a good day, so I'll just leave it here. Later, y'all.961Views0likes0CommentsRe: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
Well, Saran (as in Saran Wrap) is not a kitten, just an extremely tiny (and starved) adult about 7-8 years old. I believe she was a mostly outside cat, because she has no clue what a litter box is for. She follows every human who comes into the house. She's silent, like a feral, but wants to be with humans, like a tame cat. We have her on antibiotics for possible hemoplasma and will redo the blood test in 3 weeks. Her other bloodwork was normal. Since we got her, I've been knocking myself out finding grain-free cat food with zero poultry products. If there's the slightest hint of poultry in it, she'll walk away hungry. Fortunately, I know she likes salmon, ocean whitefish and tuna, and beef -- all pate. She won't touch dry food or dry treats. Not wanting anything to chew could be because there's a fair amount of tartar on her teeth. Can't do anything about that until her weight is back up to normal. Last Thursday, she weighed 5 lbs, 2 oz. Today, she weighs 6 lbs even, so the multiple daily feedings are working. I've not seen her drink a single drop of water. All her liquids seem to come from the pate. I might add a teaspoon or two of water to the pate and see if she'll consume it. Might not, because when she pees every other day, it's ¼ to ⅓ cup liquid. Spousal Unit says her insides must consist of a huge bladder and colon, because her eliminations are the size of a good size dog. At least she's polite enough to pee and poop on the tile floor... Speaking of, time to feed her again. I'm trying to slowly back off from every two hours to less often. We're in the every four hours stage. Eventually we'll get to 2-3 times a day, as her weight comes up. Anyhoo, later, y'all.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy
While we're still working on a visit to see if the 10-year-old cat will consent to coming home with us, a sudden change in our home life occurred. Seems a starving 8-9 month old kitten rescued itself by following some kids and their dogs home. As dog people, they couldn't properly care for the kitten, so now she's here with us. It's been a long, long time since we had to deal with starvation and complete ignorance of what a litter box is. I'm feeding her about a tablespoon of wet food every few hours, and she's not even eating all of that. Dry food is readily available, but while she sniffs it, she's not tried to eat it yet. We'll find out at the vet if her teeth, gums, jaws, etc. are too fragile for dry food. The retired vet tech who saw to kitty's rescue bathed, defleaed, dewormed, and provided a week's worth of a general antibiotic. Also verified kitty is not chipped. We'll get her chipped when we get her into the vet's office for a thorough once-over. But now, it's time to feed her again. Later, y'all. Meanwhile, she follows one of us wherever we go. I'm thinking of looking up various languages for the word "clingy." Spousal Unit suggested Saran as a name (Saran Wrap)...1.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: any changes coming?
I'm not a moderator, but I do post occasionally on my thread over in the pets section. Spending as much time online as I've done over the years, I have to say this new software just plain sucks. No, the GS admin/tech nonsupport does not care in the slightest. Evidence is that they can see us pointing out the problems, and they do nothing. Makes one wonder if the GS supervisors outside the tech area are even aware of the extremely horrible business practices going on here, for if ever a way of putting people off a brand -- this is definitely it.907Views2likes0Comments
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