|
|
|
|
#101
06-05-2012, 12:22 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Well, I understand that money's tight and all, but it's not like you acquired a net gain in pets here... you're down one (Maddie) and up one (Banshee) so you have the same number of pets that you did before.
Definitely gotta get little Banshee spayed when it's time, though.  And I also like the idea of you digging out the old dog carrier so that Banshee can start getting integrated with the dog. Am I a bad person for wishing to see video of the first time they meet? Is there anything cuter and funnier than a little baby kitten puffing up their tail like a bottle brush and making that little baby hiss ("pst!") that scares exactly nobody? Fuzzy little pipsqueak.
|
| Advertisements | |
|
|
|
|
#102
06-05-2012, 05:56 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I am not trying to solicit pity or sympathy here - hey, shit happens! I get that! But it just means that my position now is even less tenable than it was then... So,even at that time I already knew that when Frankie died, I would not be 'replacing' him. I was on a fixed income and knew that it was a stretch for me just to take care of the pets that I already had - it would be irresponsible to take on more. And its true that I knew that my chances of getting my son to pay 'kitten support' were slim. He was young, not yet into the whole 'personal responsibility' thing.. Still, I put up at least a token resistance. So, when Frankie did pass, I was still left with...two cats and one dog. So, yes, it was irresponsible of me to not get Maddie spayed, but dammit! I'd had no intention of taking on another pet, I knew it was not a good idea! and not getting her spayed became more of a matter of principal - I wanted my son to do the right thing! But then of course, Life got in his way too, he was in the National Guard and he was called up to active duty and suddenly everything got way too distracting from just 'fixing the cat.' So...not counting Banshee, I now have one cat and one dog. It would be difficult if not impossible for me to place either of them in new homes. The cat is 13 years old, white, blue-eyed and deaf as a post, we call her 'Froggy' - and not prone to liking new situations. And she is every bit the 'devil cat' that she appears to be in this pic! We always tell visitors, 'yeah she looks sweet, but be careful if you try to pet her - depending on her mood, you might pull back a bleeding stump!' http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/8007/052emb.jpg The dog is almost 7 and neurotic, with what I consider an 'unhealthy' emotional dependence on me. I'm doubtful that either of them could transition well to new circumstances. They are 'stuck' with me and I with them, lol. I'm okay with that. But starting over again, with a baby cat - well, that looks like a potential 20 more years of expenses that I was trying to avoid in the first place! Life is funny, ain't it??  this pic is of Markie poking his head in to check the new kittens - Maddie was totally unperturbed at this - she had complete confidence in her ability to put Markie in his place if need be...lol http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7066/135ta.jpg So, I guess my point is that the equation is not that simple. Then again, I have to consider that I will probably be in a position of moving in with my daughter within the next six months/year (house is being foreclosed), so - she will be assuming at least some of that responsibility, and she is the one advocating for me to keep Banshee! But of course, she's an emotional softy, not like her hard-assed mom, so I almost feel like that's taking advantage of her generous nature (she lost both of her own beloved cats within the last year, so she is not exactly unemotional about the situation...) She is also not in that great a position financially, so it will be enough of a strain on her to take on her mother, never mind her mother's pets! I'm not saying that I won't end up keeping Banshee - realistically at this point, its hard to imagine giving her away! It's just...well, nothing is ever as simple as it seems, is it? Oh, and by the way - Banshee and Markie have already met - I did let Markie into the room long enough to get a sniff of her - and since I'm sure that to her, my room already 'reeks' of dog, lol, she did not find him that foreign! The only time she has done the 'kitty hiss' at him has been when she is in her box and he is hanging his head into it, curiously. But Markie wants to play, and he's still a bit too big to trust them together...
|
|
#103
06-05-2012, 08:50 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
#104
06-07-2012, 12:53 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Do you think maybe you could put a hole in the carrier, big enough for Banshee to get in and out, but too small for Markie to stick his head through? Probably a good idea for her to have somewhere to retreat. (Though I imagine "under the bed" and "under the sofa" are other likely spots that a itsy bitsy kitteh could hide.)
Sorry to hear about your foreclosure.  Hopefully your stress levels will be on their way back down after it's all said and done. Why is your white, blue-eyed deaf kitty (please give her a little chin-scratch for me if you can do so without spurring her wrath) named Froggy?
|
|
#108
06-12-2012, 05:07 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
She IS a purty kitty.
|
|
#109
06-12-2012, 06:41 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
When I adopted her from the humane society (and they didn't tell me she was deaf - I don't think they knew...), her name was 'Rosalie'. It did not take me long to realize that she was totally NOT a 'Rosalie'! Cute name, but it was not her, lol. She became 'Froggy' because, on account of being deaf, she startles easily - and can go from sound asleep to jumping three feet in the air in a split second! She's jumpy! So, that - plus the fact that to me, her eyes always seem a bit wide and buggy, like a frog - the name just suited her! She was one or two when I adopted her, she's about 13 now, I think. Anyway...I have been reluctant to update this thread only because...well, I guess I didn't want to seem 'pushy'? I just figured, if people are still interested, they will ask. I'm glad you all asked! Banshee and I have developed a love/hate relationship. In the early days, when I did not expect her to live, I felt a certain degree of resentment in caring for her. I really thought that I was investing a lot of energy, a certain amount of expense and losing a lot of sleep for what amounted to a 'lost cause'. The vet did not do me any favors by telling me of the grim outlook for orphaned kittens - it just made me despair of a positive outcome. Yet, I persisted. And so did she. In the early weeks, she resisted the bottle feedings. I had to insist, I had to 'woo' her, I had to keep bringing her back to it. And there were times that I was so tired, that I would feel anger simmering deep within me. I swore at her, I swore at the damn bottle that kept getting clogged, I swore at the cotton balls, the paper towels, the butt wiping, the milk mixing, the face cleaning, the burping, the constant, unrelenting attention that she demanded. And yet I kept doing it. And she kept squalling, squirming, resisting and complaining - and I swore at that too. I swore...but I was never less than gentle with her. I was reminded in many ways of my daughter who was born five weeks early, weighed only five pounds and was so, so, unhappy. She, too, complained all the time - she could not be pleased. If she was awake, she was crying, and she never seemed to sleep for long. My experience with Banshee was giving me flashbacks to being a young mother, futilely trying to please an unhappy infant. But, like then, I persisted. And so did Banshee. She is almost 4 and a half weeks old now - and I have come to believe that she is going to survive her unfortunate beginning. And she is so much bigger and stronger now. She 'plays' now! She does the little kitten pounce, the little kitten sideways hop, she wrestles with this little stuffed lion toy that my brother gave her, as though it were a litter mate. She is cute and full of kitten charm! Sometimes I let her out with my dog in the room, (watching them so carefully!) and she tries to climb up his leg, she grabs his face, she strolls under his belly and follows him around. My dog looks at her helplessly and looks at me as if to say 'what should I do? is this okay?' He is trying so hard to be nice, but I have to correct him anytime he tries to nibble/nip at her in protest. But he is also fascinated by her and when she is in her crate, he will lay alongside it, and he always tries to discourage her if she decides to climb up the rails - he doesn't think that's safe, I think! Its time to start to wean her - time to get her off that cursed bottle! Oh, I know this will be a process and will probably take weeks - but already I'm getting frustrated. And cursing again, lol. She has no interest in getting her milk from a bowl, or kitten food from a bowl, or water from a bowl - she is still interested only in what comes from a bottle. Its frustrating - but I know its early days, it will take some time for her to adjust to such a change. I am eager for the change, but she is not! But she does like the kitten food - I mix her milk with canned food into a gruel and feed it to her through a bottle with the tip of the nipple cut off. She sucks that gruel down quite greedily - but put it in a bowl? No way. She may sniff at it, she may even walk in it, but she is not yet ready to eat from it. I know. I know its early yet. It will come in time. Still, I curse. Gently... And yet when I pick her up and she nuzzles into my neck and starts purring up a storm - suddenly its all worth it... I wish I had better pictures, but I am not a good photographer and she is an uncooperative subject! These will have to do for now... (In the future, I will try to get a side shot of her - she has a white marking on her back leg that looks like a lightning bolt - it goes from butt to knee to ankle to foot - sometimes I call her 'flash', lol!) http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/4999/009vtn.jpg http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8832/012iex.jpg Banshee and I thank you for your interest!
|
|
#110
06-12-2012, 06:51 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Lily
Please don't think keeping this thread going is being pushy, many times over the past few days, I've logged into the SDMB just to see if there was news on your little one. Whenever you let us know "all is well" it makes my day! Thank you for the update and the pics, Banshee's story is very uplifting... It sounds like there is a children's book in this story somewhere... Banshee's new Mommy... P.S. I saved my milestone 300th post just for this... Kiss her on the snoot for me! Last edited by D-bear; 06-12-2012 at 06:52 PM.
|
|
#111
06-13-2012, 02:46 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
She is so adorable! Her fur looks fluffier (but maybe not actually longer than?) a regular short-hair. Is she going to be a long-hair? Glad to hear that the dog plays nicely with the kitten. They make quite a pair!
I think the vet was probably just trying to be pragmatic - he probably sees and hears about a LOT of bad outcomes and rarely sees or hears about the survivors. Also he might have been fearful that you might just dump the kitten on him and his staff to care for.
|
|
#112
06-13-2012, 03:03 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Lily, you write so beautifully, I love your writing! I am glad Banshee is still alive and kicking and spitting, and I really hope there is so much more to this story in the days and months to come, and that you can keep us updated.
And there is no such thing as too much kitten.
|
|
#113
06-13-2012, 03:48 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
#114
06-16-2012, 05:39 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Banshee - 5 wks old today!
She plays, she hops, she stalks and pounces...she has even (at least once!) eaten kitten food from a bowl! She is totally doing all the cute kitten things! And she is without a doubt the cutest damn thing I have ever seen! She has big feet and big ears and a big bucket head!
And here are her latest pics! http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/5962/banshee5wks.jpg http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4...sheee5wks2.jpg I am so pleased...
|
|
#116
06-16-2012, 10:05 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Ded from teh kyoot! 
|
|
#117
06-17-2012, 02:04 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
banshee is a very sweet little kitten. there is nothing like seeing them eat food in the bowl! that, ahhhhhh, i can put the bottle down soon!
what a cutie pie.
|
|
#118
06-18-2012, 09:00 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
She sure does look like a sweety-pie - she also looks like ten pounds of trouble in a ten ounce package.
|
|
#119
06-18-2012, 09:54 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I'm very happy she is doing so well. Thank goodness she seems to be beating the odds.
|
|
#121
06-25-2012, 11:16 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Banshee is now six weeks old. I have to say, I never thought I would be posting such an update! I look back on the history of this thread and it all seems like it started so long ago - and yet its just been a couple of months... She has transformed from a tiny, screeching, mewling, pathetic little scrap of a being whose very survival was in doubt, into a full fledged crazy ass kitten! She is of an age now where many kittens are taken away from their mothers to their new homes (yes, still young - perhaps too young - but it happens often at six weeks!) She races about like a little maniac, hopping and pouncing and playing. She has favorite toys - a wadded up piece of scrap paper, a milk ring, a golf ball, a roll of paper towels left on the floor, a fluffy little cat ball. And of course, her little stuffed lion 'litter mate' that she wrestles with and drapes herself over to sleep on in her crate. I have seen her use Markie as a stepping stone, jumping from the bed to his back to the floor, leaving him startled and nonplussed! She often does that little kitten trick of rearing back on her haunches with her little 'arms' spread out like a grizzly bear about to attack! Sometimes she miscalculates, rears back too far and flips over backward, immediately springing up unperturbed as though to say, 'I totally meant to do that!' She makes me laugh, a lot! She eats kitten food now - although I had to be hard-hearted and let her get a little 'hungry' before she was willing to do so! But once she started, she did a complete turnaround and now has no interest in the bottle - yay! She has been using her litter box since she was 3 weeks old and often treats it like a kid's 'sandbox' - just another play yard, to dig and play in! She seems happy, healthy and as well adjusted as any little orphan can possibly be! She is free of fleas, ticks, ear mites or worms (at least as far as I can tell!) She has not suffered from any of the common kitten ailments, no constipation or diarrhea, no respiratory infections, no eye infections, no distress of any kind - other than her early 'orphaning'. In a couple more weeks, I will take her to the vet for a check up and preliminary shots. In a couple of months, I will track down a low cost spay/neuter program in the area to get her fixed (I have a car now!). Although I know that kittens are frequently spayed at a very young age nowadays, I am reluctant to put her through that until she is older - at least four months. Maddie did not have her first heat until she was well over six months of age, so I am not anticipating that this will be a problem. Also, there is no way that this one is going to get even the slightest opportunity to get outside. I am able-bodied now, no longer trying to juggle getting the dog out but keeping the cat in while in a cast and on crutches, a situation that Maddie quickly learned to take advantage of... All in all, Banshee is my little alchemist, turning lead into gold, tragedy into triumph and sadness into joy. I think she is here to stay... (I will post more photos as soon as I can.)
|
|
#122
06-25-2012, 11:38 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Aww, what a sweet story! I'm so glad she's doing well, and can't wait to see the pics!
Just as a guideline for spaying, the lady at a foster site I read regularly takes her kittens in when they reach 2 pounds, so she goes by weight rather than age. I'm sure your little survivor will come through it with flying colors!
|
|
#124
06-25-2012, 12:20 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
LilyoftheField, I just wanted you to know...I'm currently deployed to Afghanistan, as an operating room nurse, and my days are pretty much filled with tragedy, and I have to do just do my best to not let it get to me, and get on with my job. Your story has made me smile in a way I don't think I have since I've been here. I can't tell you how happy I am that it has a happy ending. Thank you.
|
|
#125
06-25-2012, 01:05 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Thank you so much for your service, for helping our sons and daughters who are at risk half a world away from us, and for your own sacrifices - it is so much appreciated! (When my son read on my FB page about the saga of Maddie and Banshee, his immediate response - from Afghanistan! - was an urgent plea, 'Save the kitty!' Well, in spite of my own doubts and insecurities, somehow I was able to do this - and now I feel that it was not just for her, not just for him and not just for myself - but for everyone like you and the other SD readers who are able to take some joy and pleasure from Banshee's story! It was so helpful to have the moral and emotional support from the readers of this thread, even as they, justifiably, shook their collective cyber heads in dismay at my failure to get Maddie spayed...) Thank you for your response...! I will be sending out good thoughts for your safe return and the safe return of all our military personnel...
|
|
#126
06-25-2012, 01:28 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Thanks for the update, Lily. It makes my day, too, to hear about little Banshee.
It sounds like you've got it covered, but a word of advice about the spaying - it seems like girl cats come into heat far earlier than you ever expect them to. The vet will probably have good advice on when to spay her, anyway.
|
|
#127
06-25-2012, 02:52 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
But I think its safe to say that I've learned my lesson. Banshee will be spayed - I just do not see the need to have it done while she is still so young. Please understand - I am still amazed that I was able to see her through to this age - I am not yet emotionally able or willing to risk her going under the knife quite yet. I feel confident that I can keep her safe until she is at least four months (preferably five or six) without her escaping and possibly getting pregnant. Remember - although I was remiss in getting Maddie spayed, she was almost three before she got pregnant! It was not until physical disability impaired my own ability to keep Maddie 'in' that she was able to answer 'the call of the wild'! And, although I know its no guarantee that the same will apply to Banshee, Maddie did not go into heat as early as some cats do. In fact, I think she was closer to eight months old before she had her first heat. Doesn't matter anyway - for two years she was strictly an inside cat and it will be the same for Banshee. And I know this will sound stubborn and cantankerous - but I don't care what the vet says. Even if he advises getting her spayed immediately, I will still wait. I have already made up my mind that she is not getting this surgery before she is four months old at the earliest. I am just not willing to risk her to major surgery, no matter how 'safe' it may seem, before I deem that she is old enough. Keep in mind that I still have no way of knowing what killed Maddie - if it was a reaction to the sedative she was given by the vet - how do I know that such a thing could not happen to Banshee? Well, of course, I don't know - and I also don't know that waiting until she's older will make a difference. But I do know that it will make a difference to me. So I will wait. And I will be careful... I'm just not willing to take that risk right now...
|
|
#128
06-25-2012, 03:13 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
When you're ready to do it, if you do have any concern that it was a reaction to the anesthetic for Maddie, you might ask the vet to use a different kind of anesthetic. I don't remember what it's called, but we have a cat with a pretty severe heart murmur, and any time he has to be sedated, they use this kind on him. If you ask your vet I'm sure he/she can give you the details (or maybe somebody here can). I don't think it's much more expensive than the regular type.
|
|
#130
06-25-2012, 04:49 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Fair enough.
|
|
#132
06-25-2012, 09:08 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
For cats with heart issues, the recommended protocol is to limit IV fluids and use Propofol, avoiding ketamine.
As a vet tech who works in feline rescue, I'm perfectly fine with waiting until 4 months of age. Our normal protocol is 2 pounds. I would recommend making sure to get her in right at 4 months, though, as it's really the minimum time for her to possibly start going into heat. A cat in heat can be spayed, (we do it every day) but it's a slightly more difficult surgery. Some vets also might charge more for the procedure if they find her in heat during the surgery. We charge an additional $10 at the low-cost S/N clinic. Often the surgery will end up taking 15 minutes rather than 10 minutes if the cat is in heat. It's a significant loss of time if we can only do 4 cats an hour rather than 6 an hour. If you were to wait until 6 months I would be afraid she'd already be in heat and that makes it a little more likely for complications. Healthy, sheltered, "safe" females pretty much go into heat and stay that way, so it's not like if she starts you could just wait out the "cycle," it's unpredictable with indoor cats. Doing it at 4 months (or 4 pounds) would be much more prudent if you're not willing to go as early as 2 pounds, but 6 months would be ramping up the risk just a little more. I don't want to alarm you, but spaying a cat in heat can be - messy. We spay cats in heat all the time, so it's not a deal-breaker by any stretch. I can go into more detail if you like, as to the why, but I'll only do that if people really want to know. It really is better to get her in before she starts.
|
|
#133
06-26-2012, 08:08 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Loving this saga too! Ditto what SeaDragonTatoo said about 6 months. The risk of certain cancers goes up considerably if they have even one heat Ask me how I learned that
|
|
#136
06-27-2012, 11:37 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I wanna know! Fight my ignorance, please - I assumed "spay" = "yanking out an organ" so I didn't think it would matter one way or the other.
|
|
#137
06-27-2012, 12:17 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
There was a time, not all that long ago, when vets simply would choose not to perform a spay surgery on a cat in heat, due to this increased risk. Nowadays, it is not as dangerous as it used to be (although still riskier than spaying a cat who is not in heat) and deemed to be 'worth the risk' insofar as its better to not risk pregnancy at all. Not just because of the 'too many cats' factor, but also because a spayed cat is at lower risk for future health problems... So...like many things in life, its a balancing act - risk vs risk... I want to thank St Germain and Foggy for their very generous offers - but I am going to try to man up and foot these expenses myself - as I should! I do not have much in the way of income, but so far I still have some credit! (the foreclosure has not caught up with my credit card yet!) So, if push comes to shove, I can still use credit to get her spayed. (And, yes - I could have, should have done this for Maddy - but I have been working for quite some time to get my debt down and not increase it - and clearly I underestimated the risk!) I took some pics today, but I don't have the proper cable for xferring pics from my camera to my computer - so I will have to wait and borrow the cable from my brother before I can post them. You're not missing much though, 'cuz that little girl won't be still for a minute! It took my daughter at least thirty attempts to get the couple of good photos that I last posted, lol!
|
|
#138
06-27-2012, 12:37 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I have brought Banshee downstairs just a few times - enough so that Froggy knows she exists, but has had no real contact with her. She mostly just gives kitty the evil eye from the safety of her table. If past history is any indication, as Banshee grows, she will probably have no real problem with Frog. Maddie was only a kitten when I acquired her, but it did not take her more than a few months to establish dominance over Froggy - even to the point of sometimes kicking her out of her own bed! Many times I would find poor Frog curled up asleep atop her table while Maddie snoozed contentedly in Froggy's bed! If Banshee is anything like her mother (and I think she is!) - she and Frog will quickly establish a hierarchy. Probably with Banshee on top - in the animal world especially, a disability usually precludes dominance.
|
|
#139
06-27-2012, 01:44 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
In general, if the animal (cat or dog) has not come into heat at all, or even outside of heat, the organs (uterus and ovaries) that are removed are relatively small, with a slightly smaller less blood supply, which has to be ligated and cut to remove the organs. Even in normal, non-heat conditions, these arteries pump enough blood that the animal can bleed out if the ligatures are not firm and/or the bleeding is not controlled in time.
In cats in heat, the organs to be yanked out are larger, engorged, and with more blood supply. Unlike the relatively simpler procedure of removing something small, you have now something larger, more sipplery, and more messy to remove, and be slightly more careful and mindful about those ligatures. I've spayed a cat in heat. I had to ask someone else to confirm that I had grabbed the right organ and was not just scooping intestine, as the diameter was much bigger than I had previously encountered. Once I got confirmation that I was not going to cut intestines, I proceeded as usual. It was a bit more slippery, bloodier, and messier, but not THAT bad. PS. Yea, if you're in a high-volume situation, spaying an animal in heat will take a bit more than a non-heat animal, and you also use slightly more material than for a non-heat animal.
|
|
#140
06-27-2012, 07:14 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Yep. Thanks KarlGrenze!
For anyone pulling up a chair for just a little additional gory detail... The only thing I can add is the friability issue the doctor can run into when trying to fish the uterine horns out with the spay hook. In the high-volume situations, the incision is tiny - as in 10-15mm tiny in most cases, so they use a "hook" to pull the stumps out in order to ligate them. When engorged from being in heat, the tissues can become thin and the process of pulling them out can make them basically fall apart (friable). When that happens, there's nothing left to ligate (tie off) to stop any bleeding. Most of the time, the bleeding will stop on its own and the cat is fine. She might take a little longer to wake up from anesthesia since she lost a little more blood than usual, but sometimes (rarely) the stump could keep bleeding. When that happens, we have to "go back in" and the doctor has to make a larger incision to do a minor exploratory and find the bleeding to stop it. In the three years I've been involved with high-volume S/N, I think we've had to do that twice. So out of about 8,000 surgeries, hopefully that won't terrify anyone!
|
|
#141
06-27-2012, 07:25 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I personally know someone who took in a pregnant kitten. She must have gone into heat at four months and then found a male right away.
|
|
#145
07-11-2012, 05:36 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I am in Banshee withdrawal. Need kitteh pics! Kthxby.
|
|
#146
07-13-2012, 11:25 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Banshee is driving me nuts!
Who woulda believed it?? LOL Not so long ago, she was a tiny, mewling thing that I was coddling to keep alive - and now she is huge and obnoxious!! Okay, well...not really so huge - to anyone else she would still seem pretty tiny, but to me she is so big now! She used to fit in the palm of my hand, now I need both hands to hold her and there's a lot of overlap, lol. And she is well into her terrible twos - two months + that is, lol....
I'm having trouble with photos lately, which is why I'm so long in posting this. For some reason, my pics don't want to upload properly, so I haven't got anything new quite yet - but I'm sure I'll work it out. Really though, she looks about the same as she did in her last pics - a bit bigger now, but its hard to tell scale in those pics anyway. Also, though I have taken dozens of photos, most of them end up being a picture of her blurred tail as she hops out of the frame at the last second! When she is awake, she is never still, always running, hopping, pouncing and seemingly going from 'here' to 'there' in the blink of an eye! She is only in her crate at night now - I have to get some sleep, lol! She doesn't seem to mind settling in for the night, she is usually pretty tired out by then and the crate is like her security blanket. Meanwhile, I am dying the death of a thousand pinpricks! She still prefers to climb up my leg, even though she is now big enough to occasionally jump from the floor to my lap without a problem. I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time, peeling her off my legs, my back, my neck, my chest - and she still tends to try to hang on with her little claws, although she is starting to get at least a little discreet about how deeply she digs in! I am like the mamma cat, who rejects her growing kittens by pushing them away or getting up and leaving the nest - although for me, the human equivalent is usually peeling her off and tossing her onto the bed - repeatedly! And like a boomerang, she keeps coming back! This has been really working on my nerves - although the pinpricks are not all that painful, its a bit like the chinese water torture - a psychological torment, always waiting for the next little pinprick, lol... I am also having to teach her about biting - how much is acceptable in play, how much is too much and when to refrain from it completely. These are things she would normally learn from her mother and her littermates. She is just playing, so she never bites very hard, she doesn't chomp, she nibbles - but she needs to learn that hands and feet are not acceptable chew toys. When she starts to bite at my hands, I push her away and give her one of her toys - she has many! I think she is catching on, 'cuz lately her play bites have taken on a 'hit and run' quality - with a quick soft 'taste' and then run away before correction, lol. She has a vet appointment for next week - barring any problems, it may be her only vet appointment for quite some time (as I stated before, her spaying will be done through low cost spay/neuter, probably through the local humane society). Its been a long time since I took a kitten into the vet - does anyone know what's involved in an initial checkup? I'm assuming that they may do a routine worming as worms are pretty common in kittens, even when the mother seemed to be worm free. I think that the mom can pass worms on to the kittens even if they did not seem to have any themselves, as they can be dormant in the mom - and let's face it, Maddie was prowling around outside, obviously! Do vets need to do vaccinations in kittens who will not be outside cats and are not exposed to any outside cats? I'm not sure about that. Since finances are an issue, it seems pointless to vaccinate her, but I do not know the protocol... Also, blood tests? I think lab tests can be pricey and I'm not sure how necessary they are? Or even if they are routine? I have seen no evidence of fleas on her or Markie or Froggy - I treat both Markie and Froggy prophylactically,- Markie because he goes outside and Froggy because she is exposed to outside pets.... What else can I expect? I am hoping that the cost of this visit will be 'reasonable'. The other day, I lost Banshee for about 20 minutes! She was downstairs with me while I was cooking dinner and after a while, I looked around for her - she was nowhere to be found! I looked everywhere! Behind/under furniture, behind curtains, even in rooms that she (theoretically) should not have been able to get into! I couldn't find her! I even went back upstairs a couple of times to see if she had braved the stairs and returned to my room - no Banshee! I was starting to panic a bit - could she have gotten herself into a life-threatening situation somehow? Where was she? I even went into the kitchen and started checking cupboards and fridge (she has a tendency to pop her little head in, when the fridge door is open!) Finally, I opened up the door to the small closet like pantry in the kitchen - and there she was! Sitting calmly on the floor in the two inches of space between the cans on the floor and the door! The whole time she was trapped in there, she never made a peep - just waited serenely to be freed! I had forgotten that I went briefly into the pantry to get some crackers for the chili and apparently she slipped in there unnoticed in the few seconds it was opened. This is why my daughter and I have taken to calling her 'Banshee la Pita' - pita, for pain in the ass, lol! Well, anyway, I was certainly relieved and she was totally unaffected by the whole experience. I'm working on the problem with uploading photos - hopefully I can get some new ones here pretty soon - thanks for your interest and concern!
|
|
#147
07-13-2012, 12:29 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Now is definitely the time to be firm and consistent about "no claws!" and "no biting!" If she's chewing on your hand or fingers, sometimes it helps to hold your palm up flat to her face, since there (shouldn't ...
) be a small enough surface for her to get her teeth around. If you *really* need to show who's boss, her head should still be so small that you can cup your hand (gently) over her entire face for a second or two. Alternately, you can push her shoulders down so you (again, gently!) flatten her to the floor for, again, just a second or two. It's a good way to remind her that you're in charge without hurting or scaring her. You just want her to know that you are for now the dominant one.
|
|
#150
07-13-2012, 06:27 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Indoor cats need vaccinations, too - the little bastards keep escaping, even with the most vigilant co-habitational human. Our cats have a cat-proofed backyard that they go into, and neighbourhood cats occasionally stop by to "visit" (read: "fight with them") - ours have had all their vaccinations.
|
 |
| Bookmarks |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Linear Mode
