Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I don't have any really good excuses except I've managed to keep myself pretty busy lately.
The little tabby boy kitty took about a week to start coming around. He stayed up in the box springs of the bed only coming out at night to eat a little bit. It took him several days to pee and then about a week to poop. His first poop was in the litter box which I was very happy about. His first pee was not, but since then, he has been peeing in the litter box too. I'm not sure if he knows this is where he should go, or that it's the only suitable place for him which feels almost like going outside. Either way, I'm not complaining but I'm concerned that he would go just about anywhere if he had constant access to the entire house.
After a week of him being very shy and not coming out from under the bed, one day he started eating treats out of my hand. The next day, he started coming out and letting me pet him. Now, when I call for him, he makes it known where he is and usually comes out for some love and attention. He's still weary of Mike, but with patience, I think he will even let Mike pet him.
Right now he's downstairs in the basement somewhere. I've been letting him out of his room whenever I'm around during the day. He's starting to hate being cramped up in one room all the time. Last night after I said goodnight to him and closed the bedroom door, he started crying and reaching his foot under the door. I felt bad for him but I don't want any unnecessary cat fights during the night or unnecessary pee or poopings everywhere. So, while I'm around, I let him explore, but for now, at night, he's in his room. He's been laying on the bed a lot which is much more comfortable than the box springs and he has the extra bonus of being able to look out the window that way.
The other cats have not taken to him very well. Sabrina has been the best about it, just hissing a little but letting him sniff her. They even touched noses this morning...then she hissed. Stumpey has been growling a lot at him. I'm pretty certain she would swat him if he got close enough. Skye hasn't really been around him that much but I've heard a hiss or two out of him. And Skore. Oh, Skore. I would have expected her to be the most accepting of them all, being that all the cats in this household love her and she's a pushover for all of them. But no. She has been going crazy when she smells this new kitty. She's been growling at both him and us when he's around. She's been hissing and swatting. I've never seen her do any of these things. She's like a wild black tiger! She obviously has a little bit of her mother in her. Luckily she's not beating up the other kitty like her mother did to all of my cats!
I would have expected little tabby boy to defend himself and possibly even be aggressive to these other cats being that he's lived outside for what I would imagine has been all his life. But he's just as docile as can be. I haven't heard one peep out of him except for a cry now and then. I think he really wants to make friends with all of the cats but they are having a very tough time with this change. I don't think he made a very good outside kitty based on the fact that he hasn't tried to show dominance at all over this household. That's probably why at the young age of 1 year old that he's already been bitten by something in the outdoors. I think he'll fare much better as an inside kitty. It's too bad his ear is tipped. It makes him appear imperfect when in fact, he's a pretty perfect guy.
All in all, things are going well. I'm happy about his progress emotionally and his foot is looking much better. He's even starting to walk on it a little more. It still looks mangled, but it's not bloody anymore and it seems to not be hurting him so much anymore either. I wasn't able to get even one antibiotic pill in him, but I guess the shot they gave him did it's job because there definitely is not infection that I can see.
So, it seems my life is revolving around cats lately and that is fine. Between feeding the ferals 5 days a week, volunteering at Fancy Cats Rescue cleaning the cages at Petsmart at least 1 day a week, helping them with other duties (like last week bringing 3 cats to the vet), and trying to socialize this tabby boy, I've been pretty busy. Last week was dedicated to trying to find a free or really cheap crate to put the boy in. After I received one from a very generous lady whose dog didn't fit in it anymore, the boy started coming around and I haven't needed to use the crate. But, at least I have it for the future. And it was free. I also got a free small TV for his bedroom so he would start getting used to indoor sounds. Today was the first time I've turned it off in about a week and a half. Now all we really need in that room is a light so I can see him at night. Right now, the TV in there has been serving two purposes: keeping him entertained and lighting the room at night. But that is the poor man's way to light a room.
I think it's time to stop writing and start eating breakfast. I made some biscuits yesterday and I think my breakfast is going to consist of more biscuits this morning. I've been liking me some biscuits lately. Too bad they are filled with so much butter!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I wonder if I am 3% Irish just like Barack.
It's been an interesting last week. I guess the most important event has been the attempted capture of one of the kitties that I feed at one of the feral colonies. This kitty is not feral and probably very adoptable as he's always let me pet him during my feedings. But he was outside and has his ear tipped/clipped (which means he has been neutered so that no Animal Control Officer can pick him up) and hangs around one of the feral colonies. Well, last Tuesday I didn't see him. And then on Wednesday I didn't see him. Two days of not seeing him made me worry a little as he was always the first kitty to greet me. By Thursday I saw him which took a weight off my chest but I immediately noticed he was limping. I looked closer and his right back foot was mangled, bloody and swolen. I knew that I needed to somehow get him to a vet, but I didn't have a cat carrier with me. So, I attempted to pick him up, which actually worked a lot better than I had expected, and tried to just put him in my car. I didn't know how tame he really was. Well, he let me pick him up and carry him, but once I got close to the car, he started freaking out. So I let him go and decided I would try to go home, get a carrier, and go back to try and get him. When I got back with the carrier, he was no where to be found. Every one of the other kitties was still around, but the hurt tabby boy was gone. So, I left the carrier out there and came home to try again the next day.
Friday came and I went out to the site and the tabby boy wanted nothing to do with me. He wouldn't even come close enough for me to pet him. Cats are so smart!! He knew something was up and even though he was hurting, he wasn't about to let me put him in a cage! Then a train came by across the street and blew it's horn and he took off.
Saturday the other lady that takes care of the cats fed them and said she did not see the tabby boy. She was hoping that she would be able to trap him and bring him to the vet, but that kitty was not around.
On Sunday, I went out to the site pretty late (around 4:30p) and all kitties were very ready to eat, except for the tabby boy which was no where to be found again. I started to really worry about him and was hoping that his foot wasn't infected and he wasn't getting really sick somewhere.
Yesterday, Monday, came and tabby boy was back ready to eat. He let me pet him again and I tried to get another good look at his foot. It was looking like the top two puncture wounds had healed, but he was still limping on it. So I knew he was still hurting. I poured some food out and let him eat while I was petting him. I got the cat carrier ready to go and was petting him when my cell phone rang in my pocket! This noise terrified him and that was the end of trying to get him on Monday.
Today I was hoping that he would be around when I fed, and would allow me to pet him. I also had the other lady let me borrow one of her feral cat traps to try and trap him if he wasn't being friendly. When I got to the site, he was hobbling around and happy to see me. I placed a little food in the cat carrier and after petting him for a few strokes, I picked him up, scruffed his neck, and placed him feet first into the carrier. I felt such success when I closed that door!! I finished feeding the rest of the cats and took him to the vet.
Poor little guy was so scared driving in the carrier. He was scratching the sides of the carrier trying to escape, but he was better than my kitties which would have been screaming the whole time too. Once I got to the vet (which was the other lady's vet that works with a cat rescue group so they give good discounts) they sedated the little boy and took a look at his foot. The wounds weren't full of puss which was a good thing, but his foot was still hairless, swollen and punctured. While he was completely passed out, they gave him two shots (one that was an antibiotic and one that was an anti-swelling agent), they tested him for FIV and Feline Leukemia, they weighed him (he was a whopping 7.15 pounds...3 pounds less than my smallest cat), and checked to see if his foot felt broken. All in all, he was doing pretty well. He tested negative for FIV/FeLeuk meaning he could come home with me, and the vet didn't think his foot was broken.
About 10 minutes after getting him off of the sedating gas, he started waking up. I brought him home, set up one of the spare bedrooms as his "healing room" with a box with towels, good food, clean water and a litter box, and then let him out. He went straight to the box and laid down. Poor little guy is so scared. My cats were interested in the new cat smell for all of like 5 minutes and since then they have left the room alone. The last time I went back in there he was back in the cat carrier huddled in a corner. I'm hoping that by tomorrow he will start being comfortable with his surroundings enough that he will get himself a good meal and a nice drink of water. I'm not sure how the whole little box experience is going to go, but we are going to give it a try. Who knows? Maybe he'll use it the first time. He has a pill antibiotic that he will be on for the next 10 days so I'm definitely going to leave him in that room for that amount of time. If he seems to be not minding the indoors, I probably will not put him back outside. I will have to find him a good, indoor home somewhere.
Now, he needs a name. I think I'll leave that up to Mike since he always tries to rename the cats we already have and they are always dumb names. This way, I won't be stuck with a stupid named cat forever (minus Stumpey who I did not name but is still named a stupid name).
It's been an interesting last week. I guess the most important event has been the attempted capture of one of the kitties that I feed at one of the feral colonies. This kitty is not feral and probably very adoptable as he's always let me pet him during my feedings. But he was outside and has his ear tipped/clipped (which means he has been neutered so that no Animal Control Officer can pick him up) and hangs around one of the feral colonies. Well, last Tuesday I didn't see him. And then on Wednesday I didn't see him. Two days of not seeing him made me worry a little as he was always the first kitty to greet me. By Thursday I saw him which took a weight off my chest but I immediately noticed he was limping. I looked closer and his right back foot was mangled, bloody and swolen. I knew that I needed to somehow get him to a vet, but I didn't have a cat carrier with me. So, I attempted to pick him up, which actually worked a lot better than I had expected, and tried to just put him in my car. I didn't know how tame he really was. Well, he let me pick him up and carry him, but once I got close to the car, he started freaking out. So I let him go and decided I would try to go home, get a carrier, and go back to try and get him. When I got back with the carrier, he was no where to be found. Every one of the other kitties was still around, but the hurt tabby boy was gone. So, I left the carrier out there and came home to try again the next day.
Friday came and I went out to the site and the tabby boy wanted nothing to do with me. He wouldn't even come close enough for me to pet him. Cats are so smart!! He knew something was up and even though he was hurting, he wasn't about to let me put him in a cage! Then a train came by across the street and blew it's horn and he took off.
Saturday the other lady that takes care of the cats fed them and said she did not see the tabby boy. She was hoping that she would be able to trap him and bring him to the vet, but that kitty was not around.
On Sunday, I went out to the site pretty late (around 4:30p) and all kitties were very ready to eat, except for the tabby boy which was no where to be found again. I started to really worry about him and was hoping that his foot wasn't infected and he wasn't getting really sick somewhere.
Yesterday, Monday, came and tabby boy was back ready to eat. He let me pet him again and I tried to get another good look at his foot. It was looking like the top two puncture wounds had healed, but he was still limping on it. So I knew he was still hurting. I poured some food out and let him eat while I was petting him. I got the cat carrier ready to go and was petting him when my cell phone rang in my pocket! This noise terrified him and that was the end of trying to get him on Monday.
Today I was hoping that he would be around when I fed, and would allow me to pet him. I also had the other lady let me borrow one of her feral cat traps to try and trap him if he wasn't being friendly. When I got to the site, he was hobbling around and happy to see me. I placed a little food in the cat carrier and after petting him for a few strokes, I picked him up, scruffed his neck, and placed him feet first into the carrier. I felt such success when I closed that door!! I finished feeding the rest of the cats and took him to the vet.
Poor little guy was so scared driving in the carrier. He was scratching the sides of the carrier trying to escape, but he was better than my kitties which would have been screaming the whole time too. Once I got to the vet (which was the other lady's vet that works with a cat rescue group so they give good discounts) they sedated the little boy and took a look at his foot. The wounds weren't full of puss which was a good thing, but his foot was still hairless, swollen and punctured. While he was completely passed out, they gave him two shots (one that was an antibiotic and one that was an anti-swelling agent), they tested him for FIV and Feline Leukemia, they weighed him (he was a whopping 7.15 pounds...3 pounds less than my smallest cat), and checked to see if his foot felt broken. All in all, he was doing pretty well. He tested negative for FIV/FeLeuk meaning he could come home with me, and the vet didn't think his foot was broken.
About 10 minutes after getting him off of the sedating gas, he started waking up. I brought him home, set up one of the spare bedrooms as his "healing room" with a box with towels, good food, clean water and a litter box, and then let him out. He went straight to the box and laid down. Poor little guy is so scared. My cats were interested in the new cat smell for all of like 5 minutes and since then they have left the room alone. The last time I went back in there he was back in the cat carrier huddled in a corner. I'm hoping that by tomorrow he will start being comfortable with his surroundings enough that he will get himself a good meal and a nice drink of water. I'm not sure how the whole little box experience is going to go, but we are going to give it a try. Who knows? Maybe he'll use it the first time. He has a pill antibiotic that he will be on for the next 10 days so I'm definitely going to leave him in that room for that amount of time. If he seems to be not minding the indoors, I probably will not put him back outside. I will have to find him a good, indoor home somewhere.
Now, he needs a name. I think I'll leave that up to Mike since he always tries to rename the cats we already have and they are always dumb names. This way, I won't be stuck with a stupid named cat forever (minus Stumpey who I did not name but is still named a stupid name).
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
American Idol and life currently
As I watch American Idol, I seriously think Paula Abdul is on drugs. Whether they are prescription drugs, or illegal drugs (or it could be alcohol, I don't know) she is on something. There is no person out there that looks and acts the way she does that is not on something. She seems to have to hold herself up while sitting at times. It's embarrassing for me to watch. Even if she's a good judge they should take her off the air. She is definitely a bad role model for the children watching...although they probably don't realize she is not acting quite right.
This past weekend it was nice and sunny outside. We went to Old Towne Alexandria and walked to the waterfront which, I must add, was not as impressive as Wilmington's waterfront. Then we walked to this Latin fusion restaurant and drank some mojitos. Afterwards we went into the city and ate at one of the many Ethiopian restaurants. I was SO full after eating. It was beautiful over the weekend in the 70's. It was nice not having to wear a jacket everywhere we went. On Sunday, we didn't end up doing anything much except going to the grocery store and to our staple Tex-Mex restaurant. I had a coupon for a free cup of soup (and they actually had one that was vegetarian) and I just ate the chips, salsa and guacamole for dinner. And I ordered an ice tea. There are few times that I drink anything but water when out but I felt feisty that day!
Today I went to the dentist for a cleaning. As always, they commented on how wonderful my teeth are and how well I take care of them. I have always had this one tooth in the front that was abnormal. It has a hole on the side of it that is covered by my gum. The dentists have always told me that if I didn't want to fix it, as long as I took good care to clean it out then I wouldn't have any problems. I've also had a couple dentists tell me that they would fix it for cosmetic purposes, but honestly, I can only tell that it isn't perfect if I intentionally search. So I've always said no to any work being done on it. This dentist told me that she wasn't going to make me fix it and that it was ultimately my choice, but she thought it would be best to fix it so that it wouldn't cause any problems in the future. I remember back when I was a child and they talked about fixing it, they said that eventually the fake part would discolor and you would be able to tell that it wasn't all real tooth. So I asked this dentist about that and she said that with the products they have now a days, that wouldn't be a problem. I think she is probably right since I had to have my bottom front tooth fixed about 5 years ago when it broke and you can't tell where my real tooth ends and the fake part begins. I also remember the color they chose when they were filling that tooth- A1. I'm pretty certain that is the whitest they have. Yay for my naturally white teeth! Anyways, I'm going back next Thursday to fill in the hole in my tooth. I hope I'm making the right decision.
And to those that I haven't spoken to since we got confirmation, we are moving to Beaumont, TX in July. I have mixed feelings about the move but I think it will help us financially. I think the weather will be nice, being near a beach again will be nice and buying a house that we can actually afford and still be nice, will be nice. I think we are going to buy a place that is newer to avoid the mold issue that I've had with this house. I will be looking forward to not having to spray Veramyst in my nostrils on a daily basis.
Michael left last night for Billings, MT where it was a high of 12 degrees today (ha ha!). Poor guy didn't get there until 1 am EST and then is on a plane right now coming back home. He won't be back until after midnight. I'm sure he's going to be exhausted. I hope he doesn't think he has to be at work tomorrow morning as early as he normally does, especially since his boss isn't even going to be there. That made me realize that tomorrow is Wednesday already. Time is just flying by. I can't believe that it's almost the middle of March.
This past weekend it was nice and sunny outside. We went to Old Towne Alexandria and walked to the waterfront which, I must add, was not as impressive as Wilmington's waterfront. Then we walked to this Latin fusion restaurant and drank some mojitos. Afterwards we went into the city and ate at one of the many Ethiopian restaurants. I was SO full after eating. It was beautiful over the weekend in the 70's. It was nice not having to wear a jacket everywhere we went. On Sunday, we didn't end up doing anything much except going to the grocery store and to our staple Tex-Mex restaurant. I had a coupon for a free cup of soup (and they actually had one that was vegetarian) and I just ate the chips, salsa and guacamole for dinner. And I ordered an ice tea. There are few times that I drink anything but water when out but I felt feisty that day!
Today I went to the dentist for a cleaning. As always, they commented on how wonderful my teeth are and how well I take care of them. I have always had this one tooth in the front that was abnormal. It has a hole on the side of it that is covered by my gum. The dentists have always told me that if I didn't want to fix it, as long as I took good care to clean it out then I wouldn't have any problems. I've also had a couple dentists tell me that they would fix it for cosmetic purposes, but honestly, I can only tell that it isn't perfect if I intentionally search. So I've always said no to any work being done on it. This dentist told me that she wasn't going to make me fix it and that it was ultimately my choice, but she thought it would be best to fix it so that it wouldn't cause any problems in the future. I remember back when I was a child and they talked about fixing it, they said that eventually the fake part would discolor and you would be able to tell that it wasn't all real tooth. So I asked this dentist about that and she said that with the products they have now a days, that wouldn't be a problem. I think she is probably right since I had to have my bottom front tooth fixed about 5 years ago when it broke and you can't tell where my real tooth ends and the fake part begins. I also remember the color they chose when they were filling that tooth- A1. I'm pretty certain that is the whitest they have. Yay for my naturally white teeth! Anyways, I'm going back next Thursday to fill in the hole in my tooth. I hope I'm making the right decision.
And to those that I haven't spoken to since we got confirmation, we are moving to Beaumont, TX in July. I have mixed feelings about the move but I think it will help us financially. I think the weather will be nice, being near a beach again will be nice and buying a house that we can actually afford and still be nice, will be nice. I think we are going to buy a place that is newer to avoid the mold issue that I've had with this house. I will be looking forward to not having to spray Veramyst in my nostrils on a daily basis.
Michael left last night for Billings, MT where it was a high of 12 degrees today (ha ha!). Poor guy didn't get there until 1 am EST and then is on a plane right now coming back home. He won't be back until after midnight. I'm sure he's going to be exhausted. I hope he doesn't think he has to be at work tomorrow morning as early as he normally does, especially since his boss isn't even going to be there. That made me realize that tomorrow is Wednesday already. Time is just flying by. I can't believe that it's almost the middle of March.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Tuesday in March with Snow on the Ground
Yes...it is March and it snowed yesterday more than it has all winter! We got about 5 inches of snow here....in MARCH! It's supposed to get to the 60's this weekend, so this fluke cold weather is strange. And it's been really cold the last 2 days too. Today I think it made it up to 30 degrees. I'm ready for winter to be over with.
The rest of the New Orleans trip wasn't much better than the few days I previously wrote about. I ended up walking over to Cafe du Monde and got some beignets and a decaf cafe au lait. The coffee wasn't half bad with a ton of sugar in it, but the beignets I was disappointed with. I got them to go so maybe that was part of the problem, but they just weren't that satisfying. Later that afternoon I walked to a building where the 113th Army jazz band were playing. They were really good! Later on that night after Michael was done working for the day, we walked over to a place where Michael could get some oysters and then we went to Emeril's for dinner. Emeril's was really good and I can honestly say that the two really memorable places to eat while in New Orleans have been with NOLA and Emeril's. I also really enjoyed Hip Stix (the Thai restaurant I wrote about in the last post) and will probably list that as a memorable place to eat as well.
As far as the rest of the trip goes, I could have had more fun walking around the fairly clean city of D.C. New Orleans is dirty, stinky and people really disrespect the environment there. I would never want to live there, or visit during Mardi Gras again, if I can help it. I didn't have a good time watching the crazy people trying to grab at the massive amounts of beads being thrown off the floats, the floats themselves were all basically the same, the old penises and boobs can definitely stay in their prospective clothing, the trash produced is just sad and definitely should be regulated better, the food isn't good in the Quarter, and the city is overall just overrated. Sorry husband but that is the absolute truth to the matter.
I was happy to come home, see the felines and the fish, get some love from the felines and get back into a normal routine. I hope our next "vacation" turns out better than this last one. I actually enjoy having a good time while on vacation. Oh, and I tried a generic King Cake and it wasn't that great. I will admit that I still haven't tried a cream cheese filled one from a good bakery (yes, Michael still hasn't gotten me one) but I tried one that was given to us by the hotel and I was majorly disappointed. I did, however, really enjoy all the pralines that we bought at a candy store in the French Quarter. Sugar, butter and nuts put together are always a favorite of mine!
The rest of the New Orleans trip wasn't much better than the few days I previously wrote about. I ended up walking over to Cafe du Monde and got some beignets and a decaf cafe au lait. The coffee wasn't half bad with a ton of sugar in it, but the beignets I was disappointed with. I got them to go so maybe that was part of the problem, but they just weren't that satisfying. Later that afternoon I walked to a building where the 113th Army jazz band were playing. They were really good! Later on that night after Michael was done working for the day, we walked over to a place where Michael could get some oysters and then we went to Emeril's for dinner. Emeril's was really good and I can honestly say that the two really memorable places to eat while in New Orleans have been with NOLA and Emeril's. I also really enjoyed Hip Stix (the Thai restaurant I wrote about in the last post) and will probably list that as a memorable place to eat as well.
As far as the rest of the trip goes, I could have had more fun walking around the fairly clean city of D.C. New Orleans is dirty, stinky and people really disrespect the environment there. I would never want to live there, or visit during Mardi Gras again, if I can help it. I didn't have a good time watching the crazy people trying to grab at the massive amounts of beads being thrown off the floats, the floats themselves were all basically the same, the old penises and boobs can definitely stay in their prospective clothing, the trash produced is just sad and definitely should be regulated better, the food isn't good in the Quarter, and the city is overall just overrated. Sorry husband but that is the absolute truth to the matter.
I was happy to come home, see the felines and the fish, get some love from the felines and get back into a normal routine. I hope our next "vacation" turns out better than this last one. I actually enjoy having a good time while on vacation. Oh, and I tried a generic King Cake and it wasn't that great. I will admit that I still haven't tried a cream cheese filled one from a good bakery (yes, Michael still hasn't gotten me one) but I tried one that was given to us by the hotel and I was majorly disappointed. I did, however, really enjoy all the pralines that we bought at a candy store in the French Quarter. Sugar, butter and nuts put together are always a favorite of mine!
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