Enough with the damn cats!!

[Marcster]

  :lol:Nice post ,friends of mine adopted a blind kitty (Gilbert) and for the most part he does awsome! Runs into shit once in a while, but it don't even slow him down.

You think he'd smell it and walk around it...  

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[Scratch33]

You think he'd smell it and walk around it...  

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Fixed

[Marcster]

Fixed

Thanks!  I fixed my post too.

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Possibly a repost, but the Empire Does Strike Back:

[Marcster]

[Mrs. DantesDame]

[Mr.Black]

[ConPilot1]

LOL   that was cool.

[Joey Stalin]

Yeah that one is so terrible, I have to watch it every time I come across it.

Jingle Cats, on the other hand, I can't get enough of.

[Marcster]

This cat looks like it has four upper canines (the "fangs") as opposed to the normal two.  Makes for a very toothy cat...

[Marcster]

[radman]

About a week after we returned from our trip in April, my cat Niki exhibited signs she'd had a stroke. She was stumbling around and one side of her face seemed droopy. I noticed her right side whiskers stayed flat when her left side ones fluffed out. She also seemed to be losing weight and her fur was looking poor. We took her to the vet who examined her but didn't find anything wrong. When I pointed out the whiskers thing, the intern went back and the vet came out and congratulated me on my observational skills. They suspected I was a doctor

The first thing was that she had an open wound (like a cold sore) right in the center of her tongue. In addition, her teeth weren't in the best shape, including the loss of a couple. We got meds and set up an appointment to take care of her dental issues.

As to the stroke, they said she could have one of a couple of issues; a tumor (cancer) or more likely, a lesion on her spine. The lesion is generally caused by abuse and it would go away after about six weeks if that were it. They could confirm it with a $2,000 MRI which we said no to.

We brought her home and paid attention to her weight and behavior in general. The sore and teeth thing must have been part of the problem as she gained weight again and her fur looked better. On the bad side, she seemed to get better, then even worse. I expected she wouldn't last the year out. At one point she was so unstable that she fell down the stairs.   I panicked and called Rita. I only had the bike and while I could have taken her, it might have been a little tramatic. I was calmed down and when Rita got home, we took her to the vet again. Turns out she has pretty severe arthritis in her knees but nothing broken.

Since then she's had trouble getting down off of low furniture and really stumbles around at times. She seems to be a trooper though. She started out early being hit by a car damaging her pelvis before I got her from the shelter when she was around 8 months. She's outlived 3 of the 6 cats we had at one time and is the same age as the remaining one. She's stubborn enough to outlive us all

Carl

Feline Calici Virus.  A terrible disease-my Rumble caught it from a new kitten (healthy and vet certified) that was a carrier.

Symptoms of felinecalici virus include:

    Lack of appetite

    Sores in the mouth, on the lips or tongue, or on the tip of the nose

    Difficulty breathing (your cat may develop pneumonia)

    Runny eyes and nose

    Stiff, sore joints or muscles (may resemble arthritis)

    Fever

    Some strains of feline calici virus also cause sores on the feet

    Inflammation around the mouth (stomatis)

Remember, it is possible for a cat to be infected with feline calici virus and have no symptoms at all.

I came home from work, and he was on the stand, at the top of the stairs, face covered in blood.  His nose was cracked and bleeding.  He developed a terrible ulcer on his tongue, which eventually had a hole 1/4" in diameter.  We gave him anti-biotics via needleless syringe twice a day for 2 weeks.  We used a horse syringe sans needle to deliver liquified food and lots of water, as he could not eat or drink otherwise.  He is also diabetic, so lets just say it was a busy 2 weeks.  After about 15 days, we saw him at the food bowl.  To say we were were relieved is an understatement.  He may be just a critter, but a fine one he is, a stalwart friend, and deserved our best shot.  This was 3 years ago-at 16 years of age, he's with us still, and can still kick the shit out of the sweet female that brought him the disease (they get along just fine, usually).  It sure taught us that before introducing a new critter, immunize the fuck out of the old ones, and wait 2 weeks.  It was as terrible for a while as it sounds-we nearly lost him, and that would have hurt terribly.

More Info

[Hardware]

Feline Calici Virus.  A terrible disease-my Rumble caught it from a new kitten (healthy and vet certified) that was a carrier.



I came home from work, and he was on the stand, at the top of the stairs, face covered in blood.  His nose was cracked and bleeding.  He developed a terrible ulcer on his tongue, which eventually had a hole 1/4" in diameter.  We gave him anti-biotics via needleless syringe twice a day for 2 weeks.  We used a horse syringe sans needle to deliver liquified food and lots of water, as he could not eat or drink otherwise.  He is also diabetic, so lets just say it was a busy 2 weeks.  After about 15 days, we saw him at the food bowl.  To say we were were relieved is an understatement.  He may be just a critter, but a fine one he is, a stalwart friend, and deserved our best shot.  This was 3 years ago-at 16 years of age, he's with us still, and can still kick the shit out of the sweet female that brought him the disease (they get along just fine, usually).  It sure taught us that before introducing a new critter, immunize the fuck out of the old ones, and wait 2 weeks.  It was as terrible for a while as it sounds-we nearly lost him, and that would have hurt terribly.

More Info

Excellent reminder to those of us (ahem...Mrs. Hardware) who want to bring home every stray we see.  While out of kindness and nice in theory, it poses risks for the companions we already have in the house (all rescues BTW).

[ConPilot1]

Excellent reminder to those of us (ahem...Mrs. Hardware) who want to bring home every stray we see.  While out of kindness and nice in theory, it poses risks for the companions we already have in the house (all rescues BTW).

YeaH that would be me. However you are absolutely correct. You don't know what another animal maybe carrying especially one that's been on the streets for a while.
I have rescued cats in the past where their home became the basement. I'd go down and spend time with the cat, make sure it had a warm bed and a clean litterbox, food and fresh water,
and of course toys.
One in particular was a scared shitless female orange tiger stray who found her way into my basement through a cracked window, it was a very cold winter that year. I had a steam boiler furnace, which required putting water in it every other day and draining out the rusty stuff. I went down to fill up the furnace, and the cat scared the ever loving bejeezus out of me when she bolted out from the back of the furnace where she was curled up in a warm spot. She bailed out the window, only to return the next night. I put food and water down there for her, and that was it. Cat had a new home. She was terrified of me, and it took me weeks to gain her trust.
Once the cat figured out that I wasn't going to hurt her she turned out to be the sweetest, most social cat ever, and had this funny habit of raising one paw at you, and waving, I shit you not.
When you'd talk to her she'd sit there and raise her paw at you and paw at the air, she did it a lot. She lived in my basement for the entire winter, into the spring. She was healthy as far as I knew, and I started bringing her upstairs to
be able to sit in the window and bask in the sunshine like every cat should have the opportunity to do. I would ban my two cats to the upstairs of the house when Muffers was downstairs. I knew I couldn't keep her, so I ran an ad in the Papershop for a free cat. A family with a little girl came by and adopted her. I was heartbroken, but had two cats already, and didn't know if this one could possibly carry FLV or FHIV and transmit to mine.
 The little girl that came with her parents lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw and played with Muffers, and I knew that the cat would have a loving home.

Everybody go AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW now.
You're welcome.

[Marcster]

[ConPilot1]

Well so the last bit of business tonight was a little charity work.

We have a little grey tiger stray that's been hanging around, this cat is not feral. She's definitely a drop-off or strayed away from a local home, which I don't believe the latter because
cat's are pretty smart and will return home if they wandered off on their own. So I'm leaning towards some asshole dumping this kitty down here in the industrial park.

Seems the pressman are already on it, I ducked out behind the back of the building for a smoke and they had a piece of plywood leaning up against the building for a little shelter,
with a couple ink can lids that they've been using for food + water. Kitteh heard me out there and came out from under a dumpster about 1/2 way to me and sat there in the parking lot meowing at me.

I got her to  come to about 3 feet away. One of the press guys said the cat let him pick her up and pet her a couple days ago. She'll be a resident around the building I'm sure, already talk of spreading the word for adoption, so hopefully the coyotes or a car won't get this obviously social cat before somebody can find her a home.

I got a box, lined it with some thick bubble wrap and a couple extra layers on the bottom. Good insulation. I put my hand in there and felt immediate warmth from all the dead air space from the bubble wrap.
Taped up the box flaps and made a little entry hole, and put it under the plywood lean-to for some shelter for the poor beast. Next came a can of sardines in tomato sauce and a week-old cheeseburger that's been in the fridge, and the press crew brought out some leftover turkey for the cat. So kitteh should be good for the weekend, hopefully the foxes won't get her food first. I'll bring in a bag of cat food for next week.
Shes' just a little shit, a young cat looks maybe 6-8 months old.

Sad to see a dump off like that. Did the best I could for her this weekend anyway.

[Kneescrubber]

Well so the last bit of business tonight was a little charity work.

We have a little grey tiger stray that's been hanging around, this cat is not feral. She's definitely a drop-off or strayed away from a local home, which I don't believe the latter because
cat's are pretty smart and will return home if they wandered off on their own. So I'm leaning towards some asshole dumping this kitty down here in the industrial park.

Seems the pressman are already on it, I ducked out behind the back of the building for a smoke and they had a piece of plywood leaning up against the building for a little shelter,
with a couple ink can lids that they've been using for food + water. Kitteh heard me out there and came out from under a dumpster about 1/2 way to me and sat there in the parking lot meowing at me.

I got her to  come to about 3 feet away. One of the press guys said the cat let him pick her up and pet her a couple days ago. She'll be a resident around the building I'm sure, already talk of spreading the word for adoption, so hopefully the coyotes or a car won't get this obviously social cat before somebody can find her a home.

I got a box, lined it with some thick bubble wrap and a couple extra layers on the bottom. Good insulation. I put my hand in there and felt immediate warmth from all the dead air space from the bubble wrap.
Taped up the box flaps and made a little entry hole, and put it under the plywood lean-to for some shelter for the poor beast. Next came a can of sardines in tomato sauce and a week-old cheeseburger that's been in the fridge, and the press crew brought out some leftover turkey for the cat. So kitteh should be good for the weekend, hopefully the foxes won't get her food first. I'll bring in a bag of cat food for next week.
Shes' just a little shit, a young cat looks maybe 6-8 months old.

Sad to see a dump off like that. Did the best I could for her this weekend anyway.

Do us all a favor and have it spayed/neutered. I'm overrun with charity cats and maybe I'm trying to be too good of a neighbor. That's my fault. I truly love cats and dogs. And yes, it's really disheartening to deal with strays (regardless of their imagined history), but the best thing to do is either fix them and keep them for yourself or turn them in.

[ConPilot1]

One step at a time. My immediate concern tonight was for shelter and food for the cat.
Short of throwing a box quickly over her or a blanket to capture her, she's skittish and untrusting of me anyway at this point.

I wouldn't want to do that to traumatize the animal anyway.

Maybe it would be the right thing to do, and turn her in, however I like to think
that the cat might have a shot at a home rather than a shot at a date with death, sadly, at the ASPCA.

It's hard. I hate seeing strays, especially when they're showing signs of having interest in some human contact rather
than the typical feral around here.

[antvq]

Back to the cats.....

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Connie's cat?  

[Mr.Black]