Updates

It's been pretty busy around here lately, so here are a bunch of updates:

1. Several kittens went home in the last two weeks: Hudson went to a home that had an adult cat, and Ajani and Tibalt went to a home together with an amazing couple.

2. Speaking of Ajani and Tibalt, Lily's kittens had their retesting done last week...and all four came back negative!  My beautiful, brave, strong Liliana managed to give birth to six perfect babies with NO FIV!  Just Chandra and Jace are looking for their forever homes now.

3. Jezebel, the skinny little stray, went to the vet yesterday and tested negative.  She's been vaccinated and ready for a new home.  She isn't quite ready to be spayed yet though, the vet wants her to gain some more weight for about a month before spaying.

4. RIP Cody.  He also went to the vet yesterday for evaluation and testing.  It was ultimately decided by the vet that he was too old to be socialized, and was taken away from his mother too young to have the survival skills to be put back outside.  They decided it was most humane to euthanize him.  I feel very responsible for this little life having been lost, since I should have started socializing him sooner but just didn't have the proper environment to do so.  I had just gotten him a nice cage and was ready to start, but the timing just ended up not working in my favor.  I don't think I could agree to this decision again if it comes up, but what's done is done in this case.  I'm so sorry, little guy.

5. When I went to an adoption last week with 6 kittens, I came home with 7.  The AC&C van had dropped off a bunch of kittens that the group pulled from the kill list and the director asked who wanted kittens.  We agreed to take a solo kitten who had been thrown out of a car window and onlookers brought him to the shelter.  His name is Prize, though we call him Sir Prize.  He is about 8 weeks old now.  Both he and Hermie have people interested in them!

Path of the Planeswalkers

This post has been a long time coming.  Back in early April, my husband called me with his now-famous line: "Tell me I did the right thing."

He was walking home from the bus stop and saw a pretty tuxedo cat.  Then saw her giant belly.  He immediately picked her up and took her home.  She looked to be VERY pregnant.

First of all, about the names you are about to see, and the title of this post for those who don't recognize it: My husband and I both enjoy playing a trading card game called Magic: The Gathering.  There are different types of cards, and some of them are called Planeswalkers, people with extraordinary abilities, to keep it short.  There are quite a few of them at this point in time.  When we knew we had a litter coming, we knew that's the theme we wanted, and the mother, Liliana, got her name (Liliana Vess).
 
A couple days later, we took Liliana to the vet to get tested and general checkup to make sure everything was going okay with her pregnancy.  We have went through the rescue process many many times.  By now, testing for FIV/FeLV is just a formality to be safe and to have the records to give to whoever might end up adopting the cat.  My heart sank down to my feet when the vet tech came out and said the test was positive for FIV.  They retested her on the spot with a fresh sample, since the tech left the test unattended for a few extra minutes and just wanted to be sure.  Again, she tested very strongly for FIV.  The vet also told us she probably had about 2 weeks to go in her pregnancy, even though she was already massive and looked ready to pop.

It was a scramble to learn everything I could about FIV, especially since kittens would be coming into the world and I had to know what to expect.  Thankfully, from my time volunteering at the animal shelter, I learned a bit about FIV already: that cats could live long lives with it, and that even friendly cats could live with non-FIV cats since it's only transmitted through deep bite wounds.  During my research and talking to several vets, I further learned that it's actually pretty rare for kittens to get it from their mother, they don't get it through the mom's milk, and that kittens could falsely test positive up to 6 months old due to having their mother's antibodies.  So things looked good to have healthy kittens.  Side note: if you have any questions about FIV or want more information, please contact me - I'm more than happy to share what I've learned.

Exactly two weeks after the vet predicted two more weeks, on April 21, the kittens arrived.

We had went out to run some errands, and Lily wasn't even in labor.  She looked peaceful and content when we left (we knew it was getting close!).  By the time we got back a few hours later, she was delivering kitten #3.

This is where the story gets very sad and tumultuous.

Lily gave birth to 9 kittens, but 3 of them were stillborn.  Those 3 are now lovingly buried in our garden and will not be forgotten.  She had a very rough time during delivery and I had to help her out a few times.  Even so, she was a great mom.  Around 1 AM, she started settling down and it had been awhile since the last kitten, so I thought she was done.  However, her belly still felt swollen and possibly like there were more in her - but she also ate a LOT of wet food during delivery, so I thought it could have also just been her very full tummy.  I called an emergency vet just to find out how to tell if a cat was done giving birth or if there were more.  The triage tech assured me that cats usually deliver without any help and she should be fine.  We finally went to sleep.

The next day, Lily started leaving the nest box already and lying on the floor or on our bed away from her babies.  We have been through two litters before and this is unusual.  As the day went on, we started seeing puddles of diluted blood on the bedspread, much more than what I'd expect.  I called the same vet again and spoke to someone else.  When I described how large the puddles were, she advised us to bring her in ASAP.  So we packed up Lily and her 6 beautiful babies and away we went.  She was examined, x-rayed and ultrasounded.  All they could clearly see was gas bubbles in her uterus, which meant she either had an infection or decomposing kittens still in there.  They told us to get her spayed the very next day if we could (they don't like doing spays there since they are just an emergency vet and charge a lot more).

That night, I contacted one of my rescue acquaintances and set it up for Lily to be spayed at their vet the next day.  I had to sign about 4 different waivers releasing them of liability if she died on the table (which they were so sure she was going to, because of the FIV) as well as papers agreeing to take care of the kittens if the mother didn't make it.  The next day, off to the vet she went, leaving us with kitten duty.  I had never bottle-fed a kitten before, and it was a learning experience.  It was a crash course in kitten care.  Around 3 PM, the vet's office called me to tell me that Lily made it through the surgery and was doing great - they had never called me before when I've used them for rescues, so it was a surprise to them that she made it.  It turned out that there were, in fact, 2 or 3 more kittens in her that didn't make it.  That means she was carrying 11-12 kittens - no wonder she was so massive!

We were warned that it would take her at least a day to recover from the surgery, and the vet said she wouldn't be able to produce milk at all.  Still, we were hopefully, based on other research (specifically TNR) that she would be able to take over nursing when she was feeling better.  I made arrangements with my boss to work from home half-days so I could feed the kittens around midday to hold them over until my husband got home from work to feed them again.  We kept the kittens in the box with a heating pad while Lily recovered

Lily snuggling with a stolen kitten. Another is under her arm.

A couple days later, my husband came home and 2 of the kittens weren't in the box.  He found them in the closet with Lily; she had started stealing her kittens back.  Every time we'd put them back in the box, within a few hours, 1-3 of them would be gone again.  She had steel stitches so we were nervous about her having them and trying to nurse, since the kittens could get hurt, but we just couldn't keep them apart.  We put the box back in the closet for her and over a few more days, she was back in the box being full-time mom.  We just watched really closely; thankfully none of the kittens got hurt on the stitches.

Lily never did start producing enough milk for all of them.  She produced a little bit, but just not enough.  They would still suckle on her, but it was mostly just comfort at that point.  We ended up bottle feeding them all the way until about 5 weeks old, something we never wanted to do since we both work full time, but we made it work and survived.  All 6 kittens thrived and are healthy little terrors now.  They are just about 3 months old.

The kittens already went through their first round of FIV testing.  Two of them tested negative right off the bat, which is great news.  The other four tested weakly positive and will be retested again next week; they will continue to be tested once a month until they either test negative, or until they are 6 months old.  At 6 months, if they still test positive, then it is almost certain they have FIV.

Without further ado, meet the Planeswalkers:

Ajani

Chandra

 

Gideon

Jace

Nissa

Tibalt

So far, Gideon and Nissa have been adopted, and it was pure coincidence that they were the two who tested negative already.  Gideon went to a home with another solo kitten, and the woman had an adult cat as well.  Nissa went to a home with three dogs and a gorgeous adult red male tabby.  I'm hoping the others get adopted soon; especially with black cats, the older they get, the harder they are to find homes for.  There are already smaller and more colorful kittens to compete with at adoption events.  They are all very friendly and people-social, probably because they were bottle-fed basically since birth.  They are available for adoption through Anjellicle Cats Rescue.

As for Liliana, Lily, Lilybelle - she will be staying with us for now.  We love her dearly and we aren't afraid of the big bad FIV.  If someone is specifically looking for an FIV cat, we will happily let her go to a new home, but we aren't going to actively seek one out for her.

Jezebel

This past Thursday, my husband sent the following picture to my phone with no explanation while he was working:

Somehow, I already knew what that meant.  I did leave some doubt in my mind that maybe one of his coworkers got a new cat and just brought it to work to show it off or something.

An hour or so later, he called me and gave me the details.  His boss had found this friendly little tortie girl outside his house.  He asked his neighbors if it belonged to anyone, and when it was a resounding no, he called my husband at work and asked if we could take her.  Shortly after, he picked my husband up and brought him and the cat to our house.  My husband told me she was thin, but I had no idea until I got home.

 

Her head is wider than the rest of her body.  I can't say she is the thinnest cat I've ever seen - everyone has seen pictures of cats so starved ALL you see is bone.  But she is the thinnest cat I've ever seen in person.Even the picture is misleading.

She ate so much when she first arrived that her tummy couldn't handle it; she threw up.  Besides the wet food, the rest of the contents was inedible objects - rubber bands, rocks, paper, things like that.  She was eating whatever she could find when she was outside.  It broke my heart.

She is very friendly, though she doesn't like other cats.  If I had to guess, she's somewhere between 6-12 months old.  We already have money set aside for her vetting and spay when she gains some weight, she is too thin for surgery right now.  We aren't sure what we're going to do with her since she's not with a rescue group, but she's safe now and that's all that matters.

Rescue in Action!

I knew exactly what happened when my husband called me at work and his first sentence was "Tell me I did the right thing."  I think it's turned into a code phrase.

On his way back from the bus stop after work, he saw a mother cat and two kittens.  The mom ran, the tortie kitten followed right behind her, but the little fluffy tuxedo boy was disoriented just long enough for my husband to grab him.

He is about 8-9 weeks old if I had to guess, definitely old enough to leave his mom.  We are going to try to catch his sister and eventually trap his mom for TNR.  He's in pretty bad shape; crusty eyes, stuffy nose, etc.  We cleaned him up and gave him eye meds and antibiotics.  Up next: bath time!  More pictures to come as he feels (and looks) better.  His name is Cody Rhodes, since he looks like a mini-Dusty.

The "M" Kittens

As I mentioned in my previous post, we have been working with a rescue group that saves (or "pulls" as we call it) cats from the kill list.  About a month ago, one little 5-week-old tortie kitten was on the list.  I'm a sucker for torties.  As I read through her information, I found out she had 3 sisters who were also in the shelter, though not on the list (yet).  The ACC has a policy against adopting out kittens who are under 8 weeks old, only rescues can take them.  We decided to pull all 4 kittens.  They were eating on their own, which was our only real requirement, we didn't want bottle babies; that's another story!  All 4 girls had URIs (upper respiratory infection, basically a cold) and so were on antibiotics and eye ointment.  They recovered in about a week. 

This is Minnie.  She was the one who was actually on the kill list.  Hard to imagine anyone wanting to put her to sleep just for being too young for a home and having a cold.  Minnie's story is interesting.  The way the "kill list" works is that every night, a list of animals to be euthanized the next morning comes out on Facebook, and then people scramble to contact rescues or the shelter to foster or adopt them before they can be put to sleep.  A woman was in contact with my rescue group to adopt Minnie that night, but the process takes a little bit of time (checking references, etc).  So I had pulled all 4 kittens just to foster; a few days later, this woman got an email saying she was approved to adopt Minnie, and she was so confused because she thought someone took all 4.  Anyway, she was thrilled and finished up her adoption requirements, and patiently waited 3 whole weeks before I could deliver Minnie to her, which was last weekend.  She now lives with two older female kitties.

 

From left to right/bottom: Mellow, Mikki, and Mallory.  All three went to their new homes this past Saturday.  Mallory is SUCH a sweet kitten.  She loves people and she would just crawl right up to me and curl up.  She loves to be held and she's going to be an amazing companion.  She went home to a family with 2 young girls and 2 other female cats.  Mikki and Mellow went to a home together.  They are complete opposites, which is what makes them a good pair.  Mellow is exactly like her namesake - she is very calm and just goes with the flow.  Mikki is a typical kitten - full of energy, absolutely no fear, and TROUBLE!  The couple that took them hadn't owned cats for a very very long time, but I think having these two will be a good start for them.  Gotta start somewhere!

So now our total is down to 17 cats.  With 6 7-week-old kittens just about ready to be adopted, hopefully that number will keep going down!

Patty

I do have another rescue story I wanted to share from a few months ago, but something else came up and I wanted to write about it while it's fresh.

This past Saturday, we went down to the city and took the train, so we parked the car in a neighborhood near the station. As we were walking back to the car that night, we saw a brown and white tabby cat. He was a little nervous, but he warmed up to us and we spent some time petting him and checking him out. His ear was tipped and we could tell he was neutered. He didn't feel dirty, and he was a healthy weight. We decided to leave him there, since someone was obviously taking care of him.

After we got in the car and started to drive, I saw a tuxedo cat under a car, then another cat under the same car. My husband insisted on stopping so he could see what was going on. It turns out there were 3 kittens, 1 adolescent, and 2 adults all under that car. My husband used up the end of the treats he keeps in his bag, but none of the cats would come out. After about 20 minutes, he came back to the car. I had been watching another cat who was walking around the sidewalk, looking for food. I asked my husband to go see if she was still there. All he had to do was click and hold out his hand and she came running to him. He picked her up and we took her home.

She is incredibly thin, there is no fat on her body at all. One of her eyes is a little infected, and we've been trying to treat it. She had fleas. I'm glad we took her in, but there is a problem: we are only supposed to have our 3 cats in our apartment, no more than that. She is very very friendly and will follow us around like a puppy. I almost had a home lined up for her already, but it fell through. Now I'm scrambling to find a shelter or rescue group who will take her.

Final Eliza Update

I have been avoiding posting for awhile because we found out some bad news. Eliza ended up developing more auto-immune problems and the rescue group decided to put her to sleep. It breaks my heart because we truly would have kept her if we could, she was such a sweetheart. If they would have told me sooner, I probably would have taken her back and figured something out. I still think about her every day and probably will for a long time. I hope she will remember us and wait for us at the Rainbow Bridge.

Eliza Update

After rushing to get home quick enough to pick up Eliza and get her to the vet on time, it was quite an informative visit. Eliza is a little under 1 year old and weighs 4.6 lbs. She is so underweight that she cannot be spayed for two weeks so she can gain. She tested negative for FeLV/FIV and got her vaccinations. She has a chipped tooth, but the vet was unconcerned about it, and it doesn't look like it bothers her when she eats.

Her bad paws are due either to trauma from the cold (frostbite) or an autoimmune disorder. In the two weeks she has to wait anyway, if her paws heal--which frostbite WILL heal on its own if it's not too bad, which it isn't in her case--then great; if they don't heal, then it's a problem. I'm not sure what the rescue group would do with her at that at point, honestly. He found a pebble behind one of her paw pads and pulled that out. I was hoping that would fix her limping and why her one paw hurt so much, but she doesn't seem to have improved overnight. It's a chore even to get her to stand up on her front legs now. It looks like her paws might be scabbing over, though, so that might be why it's still uncomfortable. He gave me Clavamox (antibiotic) in case her paws got infected at all.

The vet is certain that she was someone's pet at some point, because she is just too friendly to be feral. We would honestly keep her, not even just foster, if our new lease allowed it. The woman from the rescue group is coming to pick her up tonight and she is going to keep her for those two weeks until she can be spayed. I wish so so much that we could keep her and give her the care she needs.

So tonight our last adventure in rescue comes to an end for the time being.

Good luck, Eliza!

Pretty Girl Eliza

Just when we thought our days of rescuing were on hold. Our new apartment only allows us our 3 cats, no more. We took our boys over to the new place Tuesday night. Wednesday (yesterday), there was a huge snow storm. My husband and his friend were outside enjoying the snow when we saw what looked like a red feral cat that we've been trying to catch for almost 2 years who is currently pregnant (again - 4th time since we met her). Right now it's a rush to catch her before she gives birth, so hubby chased and caught her since the snow slowed her down. I was ecstatic, because for so long we couldn't get her.

Once inside, we realized it wasn't our pregnant red, but a pretty buff-colored tabby (looked red against the snow) we saw a few times within the last month or two. She was the skinniest cat I had ever seen, even including ferals. We bathed her, gave her food and litter, and she is SUCH a sweet cat. I immediately contacted the rescue group I was just working with to adopt out a stray mother and litter of kittens, which the last one (mother) was just adopted this past Sunday. The lady knew about the pregnant red I've been tracking, so I asked her if she still wanted to spay this new girl. She agreed. She will be taking her Saturday before the movers come, then she'll be spayed and put up for adoption with their group or at a shelter - either is better than being outside in winter.

Not only is Eliza very very underweight, but her paw pads are all red and torn up a bit, either from frostbite or sidewalk salt irritation. She limps and doesn't want to put any pressure on one paw in particular. She's going to the vet this evening for testing, vaccinations, and to get her paws treated. Thankfully, they have medication for treating frostbite.

She is an incredible girl, she loves loves loves being held and will cry for as long as it takes to get us to pick her up. She was miserable by the time I went to visit her this morning after being in the bathroom all night by herself while we slept. I would have left her out in the apartment but she doesn't seem to have the energy to seek out the litter box by herself if she's too far from it since her paw hurts so much. She tries not to walk as much as possible.

My husband is in love with her, head over heels. I've been looking for a female for a long time that didn't have an attitude, so far all of the female strays we've taken in either didn't like us or didn't like our other cats. It's sad that she came to us at such a bad time, when we definitely can't keep her, but I think we got her just in time for her own health.

More updates after the vet visit tonight.