All about Audrey (with some others too)

I think this pace of a post every few weeks seems to be working.  At least I can document how Audrey is growing!  I was gone for a week for work, and she basically turned into a big cat (in my mind).  In reality, she just stopped eating formula and began to use the litter box all the time!

Audrey does have two quirks to discuss.  First, let's talk about play aggression.

There has been a lot of information on this online.  Basically, it is well known that kittens that are bottle fed singletons (without other litter mates or mom) are.... ornery.  I also call it "psycatic".  She gets this gleam in her eye and attacks whatever is nearby, and plays inappropriately with what she considered "mom", ie. me.  She can be fine one second, and the next second, decide that my hand is typing too quickly and should be caught.

There's a few ways to help her learn how to play in a way that will actually be fun for other humans.  I've been using two main methods- making a large noise, or re-directing with a toy.  For the first one, if she runs over and attaches herself to my arm/hand, I clap loudly and remove her.  She then is ignored for at least 15 seconds.  I prefer that my arm isn't used as a scratching board, so I try to make sure I have MULTIPLE toys nearby to distract her with when I can sense that she's going to attack mode.  Her favorite is a green mouse on a string, and that bug toy in the picture above that she's had since we got her. The biggest problem with re-directing is that Pepper the dog's favorite toy is also the green string mouse, even though she is not allowed to play with it.

I mentioned in the last post that Audrey still seemed very wobbly at times.  She is uncoordinated, but still jumps, plays, eats, everything fairly normally.  Before I left, I videotaped her eating.  I'm not sure if it's because she has to stand still to do it, or if she gets really excited, but her wobbles are VERY evident here.  (First video on the blog! Fun! I can't figure out how to make these bigger on here, and I'm not sure maximizing will work.  I do have them on YouTube, so if you would like a bigger version, let me know!)

This video was sent to two vets that we work closely with.  Both agreed:  Audrey is a special cat.  She has some kind of neurological problem that causes her wobbles.  Based on the lack of other symptoms, it is likely that she has a mild form of something called cerebellar hypoplasia. It's not super common, but it effects how the cat walks and stands.  Some videos you can find of CH cats show a crazy stance that makes it seem like they are trying to walk on their tip-toes.  Audrey just has a bit of that.  CH does not effect quality of life or life expectancy.  She won't feel any different than another cat.

The only way to really confirm CH is for an MRI.  There are no pet MRI options in South Dakota, and it would also likely cost close to $2,000!  Since we can't confirm that she has it, we decided that we will likely see if we can find someone with experience with neuro-challenged (probably not a term, but it fits), and see if they are interested.

For now, we treat her normally, and she continues to grow and thrive.  I can't believe it's been six weeks.  We're expecting some more kittens this weekend.  I'm sure they'll be a great influence (fingers crossed) for Audrey, and I'll be showing them all on the blog soon!

Here's another video.  You can see that she is quite capable, but isn't quite steady and is very uncoordinated (note the flip at the end).

 Dexter in the high perch. 

 

 This is close for these two. 

 

Contemplating her next attack of the annoyingly colorful bug.

Two days

Hello Blog readers-

Usually, I have plenty of good news and the kind of shenanigans one has come to expect from fostering kittens over and over again.  Tonight's post is of a different variety.  As I said to the OPP organizer-in-chief earlier today, fostering isn't always sunshine and kitten snuggles.  Sometimes it's ringworm.... and rainbow bridges.

We had two siblings join us on Sunday.  They were surrendered from a family that had too many pets, and after a week in our program, someone was interested in adopting them!  Ryan and I got them to help with the transition to a forever family.  We named them Orion and Cassiopeia. They were hilarious.  Very classic surrender-type cases (in my limited first hand knowledge): super friendly, and crazy about all things food related.

 Orion

Cassiopeia

Today, the kittens went to the vet to be spayed/neutered and microchipped before being adopted later this week.  With any surgery, there are always risks, and unfortunately, Cassopeia passed away suddenly while in recovery.

My blog title today is in reference to how much time it obviously takes before getting attached to these foster babies.  I mourned the little cat as if she had been my own forever.  She was beautiful and loved to lick faces!  She was a great kitten, and it's so sad when routine becomes something unusual.  It does seem as though her brother is a little lost without her, although I've basically put Audrey with him for company.  I wish we had taken more photos to remember her sweet face.

As a foster, I still then called the potential adoptive family, and also broke the news to them.  In all honesty, I just wanted to say it and move on, when I probably should have given the nice man on the other side of the line a little time to adjust to the news.  Oops.  Something to remember for the next time, because however unlikely, it could happen again.  Orion will be adopted tomorrow.

Audrey is getting stronger each day.  She now weighs over a pound!  We're working on the litter box, but it isn't going well right now.  Someday she'll get the hang of it, but she's more interested in eating the litter than using the box.  She eats mostly solid foods now and doesn't take a bottle at all.  She can be absolutely insane- running all over the house.  One of her favorite things to do is to terrorize the bigger cats and the dog.  She's like a ninja.  She'll sneak up behind them, then pounce on their back/tail/head/whatever is closest.  She isn't making friends fast. :)

We are keeping a little closer eye on her development.  She's been quite wobbly and shaky when walking and standing.  Sometimes she seems normal, but other times she falls over while standing up.  I'm still not sure if it's just because she is weak and small, and catching up, or if it is something more serious neurologically.  We'll take her in for a vet visit in the next few weeks if the issue seems to staying around.

I'll end with a photo of Orion tonight, a photo of Pepper playing with bubbles, and Audrey's first outdoor photoshoot.  Everyone is passed out already on the couch for the night, so it's probably time to put them all to bed!

 Pepper always has to be around to help. 

Sleepy boy, snuggling.

Bubbles are fun!

Growing, adoptions, and a short (time) visitor!

Hello Everyone-

Lots has happened since Audrey joined us.  Mostly, less sleep happened.  She has learned three important things:  How to jump, how to climb (using her knife-sharp kitten claws), and how to eat some solidish foods!

Showing some climbing skills. 

 

Audrey's first solid(ish) food!

The Fairy Sisters attended a great adoption event at the local Petsmart.  They did SO well that a great family fell in love with both of them, and they were adopted a few days later, together!!  The house is a bit quieter without them.

They spent most of the event in someone's arms. 

We also had another foster for the weekend that was of the canine variety instead of the feline variety.  Brit was rescued from under a house with her seven newborn puppies.  The puppies all survived, and she was able to wean them.  We had Brit as a trial with cats before she was adopted.  She was a sweet girl, and I have to admit, hilarious to look at. 

German shepherd and corgi mix!   Amazing!!

And I have one final picture of the three big kitties, just in case anyone forgot that they exist as well.  

And no, Marie was not happy.

Until next time, cheers!

A New Realm of Fostering- Bottle Baby?!?

Hello blog readers, and greetings from Summersnowpocaylpse 2015.  Here in Rapid City tonight we are expecting over a foot of snow, and are under a blizzard warning.  Now would be a good time to appreciate your mosquitoes or deck or the shorts you are wearing.

Lots has happened here in Foster Land.  First, a few days after the Fairy Sisters, Ryan and I welcomed Dexter the Deployment Cat.

 Dexter's mom is in the Air Force and her plans for her big boy during a deployment fell through at the last minute (less than 2 days before her scheduled leave date!).  Ryan volunteered and Dexter joined us for a while here. 

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go and volunteer at one of the free spay and neuter clinics that is offered by OPP for Reservation residents.  It was a LONG few days (12 hours each!).  The vet that volunteers her time is amazing, and her family joins her to help with all other aspects.  We had a small team working intakes, surgery recovery, discharge, and wellness.  I learned how to vaccinate and de-worm cats and dogs, and we offered lots and lots of Frontline treatments.  Total counts for the two days:  64 spay and neuters (seriously, vet is a rock star), 55 wellness treatments, and 12 intakes for adoption.  I've always heard rumors about how when you volunteer at these clinics, you should really bring a kennel.  I laughed along with the others when one of the volunteers was sent home with four dogs the first day (they went to foster care shortly thereafter!).  What I wasn't prepared for was this:

Our director was standing outside helping load some animals, and someone drove up.  They handed her this kitten, said "We found this in a ditch", and drove away.  The day before, we had a really sad case of a little kitty that I helped care for that ended up not making it.  This baby was handed to me, someone said to find some milk for it, and there I was, a kitten surrogate. 

(Ryan doesn't always read this blog, right?)... there was an opportunity to send the kitten to someone else.  One of the volunteers was leaving to return home to Colorado and had offered transport, but she already had a handful of puppies (read: HUGE PUPPIES) in her car, as well as a very, very sick puppy.  Kitten was sort of stable (she was breathing), and before I knew it, I heard myself saying "I've got this one.  You can go ahead home."

And so began, the bottle kitten experience.  I was given all kinds of milk and syringes and warm things for her, and the director and I basically said "We'll see if she survives these next few weeks and then we'll reassess what to do with her."  With this baby, we were up to 7 cats and Pepper the Corgi at our house.  Oops.  Crazy cat lady status?  Check.

Pepper loves cats, so she was excited.





We estimated that the kitten was about 2-3 weeks old.  She weighed less than a half pound.  And I had no idea what I was doing.  I started reading everything I could, but, like the ringworm, there wasn't a whole lot of information that was informal or that reallllly helped.  The first few days I was scared I was doing everything wrong!!

We followed the directions on the milk replacement, picked up a bottle, and kept the baby clean and warm as much as possible.  I used warm water and soft clothes and helped her go to the bathroom before each feeding.  We weighed her a few times each day to make sure she was gaining.

My boss was very supportive.  I took her to work with me and fed her at all my breaks.  My coworkers were/are in love, and noticed how much she yelled when she was hungry.  Someone said "Feed me Seymour!!!!!", and I realized that Audrey, like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors, would make a GREAT name for her.

So everyone, a week later, meet Audrey.

Full disclosure, this was after I gave her a good wash-down and she spent some time under the heat lamp, so she's very fluffy looking.  She's gained 75 grams since Monday, and has started to play.  Her eyes, which were crusted over when we got her, look better and better each day.   Here's some more pictures of our lives since Audrey entered them.

In other news, Merriweather was adopted yesterday!!  Her sisters were on the news yesterday as Pets of the Week, so we are hoping someone is moved to want a kitten or two in their lives.  I'll try to get more pictures of them for the Facebook page (and for up here).  We'll keep on feeding and cleaning Audrey, hopefully helping her learn how to "cat" as time goes on.

So I'm off to start a warm dinner and to button down the hatches for the storm.  Cheers!

3 - 1 + 3 = 5

It was an interesting day in kitten fostering land today.  Lots of good news!  Egon went to his furever home this morning.  He was chosen to be an important mouser for his new dad, and I have no doubt that he will be a great one.  As before, it is bittersweet to see the cats go to a new house.  Egon was with us for three months, and changed so much!!  We will miss him and his crazy antics, and hope to have many updates.

A few hours later, we got the call for pickup for three adorable sister kittens!  These guys were found when they were only a few days old, very small, and very weak.  The great OPP bottle feeding family worked very hard, and now some weeks later, these girls are ready for the next steps!  This is the title for today's blog:  We started with 3 cats, went down to 2 with Egon's departure, then added 3, so we're up to 5!

Here are the Fairy Sisters arriving to their new (temporary) home!  I call them the Fairy Sisters because I was able to help name them, and chose the trio of fairies from Sleeping Beauty:  Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather.

As with other young kittens, it didn't take long for the girls to look around and start playing.  We have some good photos, snuggled them a bit, got them some food, and let them get to know their room for the night!  We will start them there, then introduce them to the resident pets in the next few weeks.  They will also have some vet visits here for shots, microchipping, and spaying.   I think they will be very cute guests for the next little while.

Introducing:

 Flora

Merriweather

Fauna

Skeptical kitten is skeptical.

I'll hope to update this as time goes on, but let's hope there's some good interest in these little ladies!!

Six weeks in- he's a new kitten!

Hello kitten lovers.  We've had a longer term guest with us for a while.  Six weeks to be exact!  We'll start from the beginning with him.

Egon was a kitten surrender.  We guess he was about five months old when we received him, so he should be about 6.5 months now.  He was tiny, and in okay physical shape.  There was a puppy and a grown dog also surrendered with him that were in terrible condition- they needed lots of medication for skin conditions and were very malnourished.

Egon was just terrified.  Of everything!  Noises, his food bowl, us, you name it.  He would just meow really loudly.  For the first two weeks, he spent most of his time like this:  
 

That's a padded box that Ryan made him to make him feel safe.  The good news was that even at the beginning, there was hope!  He didn't LIKE the human interaction, but we would have him sit in our laps, and he would end up purring.  Eventually, he started hanging out with both us and the older cats.  He began to look more like this:

That's him, sitting on my lap in the living room.  He was hyper aware of everything.  At this point he still didn't know how to play, but was better about receiving the human interaction and began to seek out the other cats on his on.

Move to about a month after (meaning, Egon today), and he's amazing!!

He's a beautiful cat with lots of personality.  He loves to be picked up and cuddled, and LOVES to antagonize the older cats.  He plays with whatever he can get his paws on, like all young cats should.  He sleeps with us every night.  He still has the cutest small paws!

We recently added a dog to our family, and Egon is the bravest cat out of the bunch so far. 

 
We will be really sad when he ends up being adopted because he has really turned in to the sweetest, affectionate cat.  We rarely hear his loud meow anymore, mostly because he's content with whatever he's doing.  He can stay as long as he likes, but we know he will make some very happy cat owners one day. 

The One in Which We Discuss Ringworm

Hello blog fans.  We've had some quiet times here on Foster Kitten Shenannigans, and that's because there has been a huge shenannigan to deal with!  I will document it here, in the hopes that someone may stumble across the blog needing advice and tips.

Here's the low-down.  In the beginning of November, I developed a small spot on my neck.  It was super itchy, but didn't seem THAT bad, and it never occurred to me that I could have ringworm.  In 2005, I was a teacher in Ethiopia, and actually had ringworm from my students a few times.  It manifested a bit differently, so didn't cross my mind that a kitten could have brought the scourge about the household.

Eddie showed no real signs that he had ringworm.  He was being quarantined because of ear mites and possible fleas, but we were not good at making sure he and the others were 100% separated.  They would play back and forth under the door, and towels meant to be a barrier did not stay there.  I did wash my hands after each time playing with Eddie, but he was SO lovey and reallllllly liked to snuggle right under your chin. 

Here's a cat picture to break up these block of texts.

November 14, I realized that Cedric had some strange spots, and after googling way too many things, decided to let OPP know that I had a strong suspicion that we had a ringworm outbreak in our midst.  By this time, I had developed more spots on my arms and under my own chin.

Eddie was tested the next day at the vet's office, and was positive for ringworm.  They gave us some Micanzole 2% cream to put on his nose.  Cedric was "clear" at that time.  We continued to keep them separate but in hindsight, should have made a more airtight quarantine space. I started treatment with lamisil (over the counter anti-fungal), twice a day. 

We continued with the cream treatment with Eddie, but in less than a week, all cats and humans began showing signs.  Poor Cedric.  He got it EVERYWHERE.  Tom, the big orange cat, lost all hair on his ears.  The cats were all banished together to the basement, where it was easier to clean.

I started the process upstairs.  For those with a possible outbreak- this was as bad as treating the cats- cleaning the house!  First, I cleaned the two rooms and used our extra vacuum.  Then, everything was scrubbed or sprayed with a bleach solution.  It was hard work, but I think stopped the initial spread.  Next, I changed my clothes every time I saw the cats, and every day wore different pants.  I used a different sheet each day.  Everything was washed with the hottest water cycle possible.  We also purchased a black light from Walmart, a long one.  For the most part, ringworm will show up neon green under a black light.  This was super helpful to see the progression.

I attempted to put cream on the cats' spots twice a day.  It didn't go so well, for any of us. Cats hated it, I hated it, and it didn't seem to be working!! Finally, I contacted the vet and convinced them to give us oral medication.  They got wet food with the medication once a day, and cream as well.  For anyone going through this, I highly recommend getting this as soon as possible.  The oral medication doesn't kill everything, though, and after almost two weeks on the medication and we didn't see any changes in the ringworm actually looking better on the cats.  I ordered Malaseb medicated shampoo, and we began washing the cats!  It was a two person process, as the cats had to be wetted and shampooed, and then they had to sit for ten minutes while the medication worked.  Here are some great pictures for you to enjoy, so you all can share the joy that the cats had.  Ryan and  I survived with all fingers.  The red lights were heat lamps that the kittens especially enjoyed.

Even though they were obviously not fans, the medicated shampoo and oral medication is what worked for us.  Ryan and I ended up with pretty severe spots ourselves, which took about a month of twice a day cream to start looking better.  The cats ended up with six weeks of medication and four total baths.

And now the good news:  Cedric had an adopter in November, and we were in the process of scheduling his transport when the outbreak happened.  Not only did this amazing lady wait for her sweet tuxedoed dude, she decided to take Eddie as well!!  The boys left today for their new life.  Even after all we've been through, I am thrilled that they were healthy enough to go to a new home and hope to keep in touch.  These two will be beautiful cats!!

So, as a recap for those that are just scrolling and couldn't make it all the way through:

-Ringworm can present itself in different ways.  (I think we'll be screening all intakes now :) ) Eddie's looked like a scuffed nose!  No itching.  He passed it to me and then everyone/every cat in the house.  It is highly contagious!
-Although it is a lot of work, a ringworm outbreak is not the end of the world.  Invest in bleach, laundry detergent, anti-fungal cream for humans, and oral medication for cats.  Medicated shampoo helped to turn the corner with us!!
-Wash everything all the time, in hot water.  Anything the cats touch should be disinfected with bleach daily.
-Use a vacuum you can also empty and use bleach on.
-Get ready for the long haul.  It takes time.

Finally, here are a few more snuggle pictures of the crew.  Our house will be quiet for a little bit now, although we hear that some other OPP fosters may need a change of scenery and join our crazy crew.  I'll keep you updated!