Prayers for Paws (And Me, Too!)

I have three or four cats that may be homed in the next week or so... plus two that are leaving a foster this weekend.

First, the kitties that need prayers for a good home:

Buttercup.

This little girl so badly needs her own home. She is a singleton and finds it difficult and stressful here with other cats. I have a potential adopter up in the Ventura area interested and so far... so good. Pray that Buttercup finds the perfect home and that I make a good and wise decision for her. Poor kitty was abandoned, then taken in by another who had to place her... AGAIN. So this will be her third home, not including her being in rescue. This is real hard on a cat.


Whaler

This once obese seal point Sia- mese boy is now trotting through the house so happy with his new trim body! This is a wonderful cat who really needs a super special home that will continue to care properly for him and keep him slim and trim. He does well with others, and the adopters are happy to move their kitty to his food (Wellness chicken, a very premium wet food). It is really important I make the right decision for Whaler! He was found on a street corner near a park just crying his eyes out, taken to the shelter, then adopted, then given up (he wouldn't eat... was sick), then here. All better now after nine months!

Snowflake, Beauty and Elvis

We have a great home for one of the above cats.

Snowflake, the pure white, is an awesome, mellow cat that does well with everyone and does fine with dogs. This cat came from a hoarder who was busted and she was in less than stellar shape at the time, but is just perfect now. Snowflake has been here two years, and we really don't know WHY other than the fact that pure black and pure white cats are the hardest to place. Personally, I'm pulling for Snowflake who likes to sleep atop the piano where I keep my little St. Francis and angel statues, Bibles, hymnal etc. Smart kitty.

Beauty, the grey and white do- mestic short- hair, is a lovely, playful and ex- tremely gentle cat. She was given up with another cat we have, Bella, when a child in the family was said to have developed allergies. She was loved and well cared for and now we just have to find the perfect home. Great cat, and quite beautiful.

Elvis, the show- shoe Sia- mese mix, is a gor- geous and goofy love bug and super affectionate. He is not the most coordinated cat I have ever come across (!) but his temperament is just superior! Elvis is quite beautiful, as well. This is an all around funny and wonderful cat. Elvis was given up due to allergies.

Some New Minions and Other Stuff

Today was photo update day, so here are some photos of several new minions, beautiful cats, all.

First, Beauty. This is a fabulous cat, VERY sweet, excellent with children. She is affectionate and really a 10+ cat... and her name fits her well.

She was given up, sadly, with her friend Bella (below) from a family that was developing allergies; one of the most common reasons people give up cats, though often it really isn't necessary.

They are both feeling comfortable here, though after about 12 days, so they are now free to do what they like. They are being slowly transitioned off dry food onto wet food, and tomorrow we are trying raw food for them to see if that transition is easier. Usually it is not, but you never know.

Bella is an incredible cat. Absolutely gorgeous. As you can see, she has found a basket to sleep in and is taking a wee cat nap (or was until I snuck up on her!).

Here is a picture of Whaler, taken today, and perhaps one of the better photos given he does NOT like the camera and resists whenever I try to photo him. Silly cat.

Whaler was found sitting on a street corner wailing away, but he actually got his real name from his weight... at 25 pounds, he was a "whale" when he came in, though he looks almost perfect now. He's a real character.

Finally, here's Chuckie, a 12yo cat twice abandon- ed. What crummy luck, eh? He has a number of medical issues we are trying to straighten out, so it is evident no one really EVER took good care of him, poor fella! But given he was as close to dead as a cat could be when we got him (we lost his brother, Spencer, sadly), I would have to say he has improved remarkably.

And here is a shot of some mini roses that finally decided to bloom.

Now... on dogs, take Stein's advise seriously!

Update: Watch his you tube vid (From CBS)... and GET A DOG!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Well, though I am totally in a spiritual funk (today's not the time to elaborate), I did listen to some services and some really cool music so I don't feel completely lost.

I did spend the day doing taxes, however, catching up on my animal microchip forms and animal files, sleuthing some chipping problems that I have had trouble dealing with for months. I finally got really FIRM with AVID and told them they need to get this stuff solved and quit goofing around. I stashed the Home Again chip info somewhere... for safety... and now can't find it. Sigh. My memory!

The Noodle is two weeks old today, and his eyes are open. Check these photos out!

The relative size of this kitten to his normal-sized mom should give you an idea how incredibly HUGE he is! I wouldn't be surprised if this kitten grows to be 18 pounds AT GOOD WEIGHT. I have never in my life seen such a huge kitten.

And And what a cute and fuzzy little face!

Last year, I had taken in a cat who had her babies ON Easter, thus we named them "Easter and the Eggs". Five little wee ones, normal sized. The vet didn't thinks she was very far along, and boy was SHE wrong!

THIS is a really nifty site on kitten development with pics that I think you will enjoy.

Right now, as we know and the text confirms, Noodle is still virtually blind though his eyes are open, and notice his ears are not away from his head yet. His main goal in life is to eat and sleep. His sense of smell works, but not much else:)

On another cat note, Kizo may have a home. I sure hope so as the woman interested is really into cats and has taken a lot of time to do reading over the years so really gets the importance of appropriate diet and was just excellent with him! Kizo came to me with his brother Kahn from a woman going into drug/alcohol rehab. I was VERY reluctant to take them in given how busy we are because I just knew they would end up here rather than, as the owner suggested, here for nine months and she would pay all expenses. Well, I was right. Sigh.

But, as it turns out, it was for the better. We have gotten 7.5 pounds off of Kahn, and about 5.0 pounds off Kizo. Both were obese. Obesity in cats is no laughing matter. It can and does lead to diabetes, and dry food (along with open feeding) is the major culprit. They are both extremely healthy now, and Kizo is at weight. Kahn is almost there.

Here's Kahn, and I have to tell you, this is just SUCH an appropriate photo for him!

So, from all of us, we hope you have a very wonderful and meaningful day!

And Kahn says... don't eat too, too much!

Heh:)

Astounding Story of a Cat That Survived

This was in a Diary over at Daily Kos.

Two cats, left in an apartment, were thought to have perished in a fire that quickly engulfed an apartment building in Anaheim Hills. My animal control friend down the street told me that many, many animals vanished and likely perished in this terrible, fast-moving fire.

When the owners checked, however, they found one of their cats, Abe, beneath a burnt out coffee table in the otherwise decimated ruins.

Abe is at the vet, and has been, VERY seriously ill and it is not known whether he will survive.

Read the story here.

You can see Abe's updates here.

Abe's medical bills (and remember, this family lost EVERYTHING) are going on $4K. If you can donate anything to help, please do. Donations go directly to their vet and you can find the information at Daily Kos (see first link, this page). They need help.

PLEASE donate, even a small amount, to help these folks and their cat. They have faced terrible personal tragedy. This is one story, but one we can all help with.

If we all donate, the cumulative effect is very significant. Please open your hearts and wallets to these folks. They are not giving up on their cat, one of two things they still have. Many here are giving people that believe sharing and the lifting up of our fellow human beings in the face of tragedy is inherent in our beliefs. I ask you to search your hearts. This is about caring and helping someone you don't know. This is the test of our own beliefs.

And if you are an animal lover, please post on your blog or crosspost this appeal.

*****

Now, for more remarkable news, their second cat, Adam, was found at the (OC?) Shelter. They had assumed he had perished, I suppose, but instead of giving up, checked and there he was!

Please put Abe, Adam and their owners on your prayer lists. With names like this, they can go right on the prayers read on Sundays!

Photo: from Daily Kos Diary

Films and Cat Shuffle

Been a busy last couple of days. Thursday, I cooked for the local music night where fun was had by all (including me and the other three ladies that help serve). It's a lovely way to bring the community together once a month. The organizer, through the last couple of years of doing this, has been able to buy all our own stage equipment, mics, PA, stands, mixing board, etc. which the community also uses for our October 'Country Fair'. Everyone brings their own beach chairs and/or tables and sits on the lawn (after a snake search!) at the local community center/park, kids run around having fun with one another, and local musicians play for the community. It's a fun little deal in this wee community.

Last night I had the urge to watch a film, so I watched Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole in Hal Wallis' 2.5 hour-long production of Becket. I love this film. I've probably seen it ten times. I also watched (for the fourth time in as many days) The Prestige which stars, among others, Michael Caine, my all time favorite actor. If you have not seen this film, I highly recommend it. But SIT and watch it straight through. It has a lot of twists and turns and a very surprising ending. I had to watch it four times to get it--LOL.

I am one of those that 'suspends disbelief' the second the music shows up, so when I want to really understand a film, I have to watch it multiple times. Acting looks so easy and must be so hard when done by the caliber of actors in this film. Michael Caine in Educating Rita is one of my top five films. I think Caine is amazing.

Cats are notorious for being hard to photograph well, and mine are no different. What I didn't notice (in between a short rest to replace batteries) was that they had all changed places!

This comfy positioning (near an open window) was changed to the following in about two minutes.

Each of these cats is a rescue cat. The gray, Smokey, came from a terrible abandonment situation caused, in part, by the county closing down an illegal immigrant camp. They never thought about the animals, and dozens and dozens of cats/kittens were left behind (many kittens that we had not yet trapped crushed by bull dozers) and many dogs remaining free. Smokey was a natural to stay here, plus he had IBD (which he is now out from under thanks to a raw diet).

The black, Ace, is a fabulous shelter cat. I have a weakness for the blacks and have always owned one given both black cats and black dogs are the most frequently left unadopted, then killed.

The muted calico, Mommy-Mommy, was a feral. It took me four years to get her inside because she would NOT go into a trap. She's been in now for about five years and is an amazing cat.

These three are very close, obviously.

Save This One. Love, God.

It should be no secret by now that the foreclosure situation across America is wrecking havoc on humans. Displaced, many forced to declare bankruptcy, entire families are moving into the homes of friends and relatives. They are moving into cars. Some are moving into hotels until they figure out what to do next. Some are living on the streets. Some are sharing homes with other families. Some are in shelters.

Combine this with the collapse of the real estate market in most areas, the statistical rise of unemployment and continued outsourcing of jobs, the over doubling of fuel, the rise in food costs, and for some caught in concomitant natural disasters, their double whammy.

Then there is the situation with Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran with one, sometimes two, members of the family called to duty or serving a second or third tour overseas or being relocated to a new base.

All of these human situations trickle down into my world of animal rescue.

Even in "normal" years, the situation is a disaster. But this year--beyond the animals left behind when a family turns them out in the wild lands here, the animals of the extremely ill or deceased whose immediate or extended family members often just want them out "now" or those kind friends that go the extra mile to honor the person they love and find those animals a safe haven--it is more akin to the nexus from hell.

There are also the normal stream of animals from those entering jail, abuse shelters, or drug or alcohol facilities, and the never ending tide of hoarders where, when they are finally busted, there may be 50-150 animals involved--or more--usually in tragic physical and emotional states.

I have friends of all sorts deeply touched--some bowled right over--by one of these circumstances, some deeply gouged by several.

But with this brings a whole host of other associated problems. As an animal rescuer, I am increasingly finding myself near emotional paralysis under the burden of desperate pleas for help by people that truly love their animals, but must find a place for them in a year where EVERY shelter is loaded to the gills like Noah's Ark. I cannot take them all, no one can. I am permitted for a certain number, and no more. I cannot move animals into responsible and appropriate-to-the-animal new homes quickly enough with so many humans unsure of their futures.

In thirty years, I have not seen a situation like this. It is bringing the rescue and shelter community to its knees. Even some rescuers are falling, and we in rescue need to help them first.

To each tearfully written plea, I have to respond. I have to say yes or no, almost always no these days, and see if there is another way I can help. Perhaps a referral to another jammed rescue, a plea for a rare new foster home, or perhaps a recommendation for a shelter that doesn't kill animals immediately after 72 hours, though shelters are at the mercy of space. The older animals will never make it out alive. Most of the younger ones won't either. The kill rates this year will be sky-high.

I have to make a dozen or more Sophie's choices every single day and I hate it. It has gotten to the point that I don't even want to open my e-mail.

At this point, I have several times broken down in tears of sheer hopelessness as I have to type the simple word "no" in a sentence otherwise trying to explain why and what I can try to help with along with suggestions. I have to do better, but I don't know how.

I have to consider what is here, what will fit in, and all this within the permit numbers I must stay within. I put those permit numbers upon myself. I never wanted to have more than I can care for properly. In normal years, in fact, I NEVER even allow this many animals here, so I must "chose" even more carefully.

The pleading eyes of a mother cat with her six two-week old kittens is horrible. But no more horrible that the 12 year old dog that will most certainly die in the shelter and will be wondering where their family and couch went and why they are in such a noisy and frightening place where, sometimes, they get attacked by other dogs and rarely receive even a kind word or touch. When, finally, they are walked on their leashes (happy to be out for a stroll), they find themselves in the kill room where, in the best of situations, they will die quickly and gently with a needle in their vein. Others will die slowly and horribly in a gas chamber.

Here is a letter I received today, with personal information removed. This is her fifth plea to me in as many days. She was served, at 11pm last night, with her 3-day notice to move as her home is being foreclosed upon:

URGENT HELP NEEDED!

Lost my home, my foster pets need homes now!

I am desperately searching for a home for my 11 foster kitties. These foster kitties,if not for me would be feral cats. There is one semi-feraI cat and one feral cat that depend on me and my backyard for life and sustenance. There is also Roxy a foster kitty friend, a Chihuahua mix little dog, she needs a good loving home.

The kitties are very social and love their little group. It would be wonderful if they could be kept as a group(s).

Then there are my two older cats,too that may be left homeless, unless I can relocate them or relocate to a pet safe location. We all need help ASAP.

Thank you for listening.
God bless you.

Sincerely,

At the bottom of her plea was a photo of each cat and dog and all the information on them. The post must have taken her the better part of a day to do.

I have two spaces for cats, then I am back at my limit. The ferals cannot come here, we have no feral program. The semi-ferals won't do well here with the dogs. I was supposed to fill my two remaining cat spaces today with two cats from a woman who is in alcohol rehab for six months, one of those cats so obese the cat can barely move at probably 28 lbs. Cat obesity is a specialty of mine, so this cat tears at my heart. This cat is paired with a semi-feral.

I also have a request from someone in the community to take their 10 year-old dog, and their three senior (8-12 year-old) cats. They were foreclosed upon and have to be out by August 1.

I think you can see how I am pinned just in these three requests.

The realities are that senior animals can be here for a VERY long time. Others, due to the stress of the losing their families, will quickly show signs of a serious underlying illness and last just weeks even with the very best of veterinary care and my doting oversight.

Younger animals, can also be very unpredictable in health. For dogs, parvo and distemper show up frequently, and for cats everything from pneumonia to FIP. This atop syndromes we just don't understand where the animals don't thrive no matter what we do. The cats and dogs that tend to do the best are those a year to six years, "tend" being the key word.

I have traditionally taken in medical animals as fosters as these animals do well here, with my experience. I have four such cats at the moment, all on the downhill side of illness which can probably leave in the next three weeks. I have three cats that came from hoarder situations, each lovely and healthy now, but this is a terrible time to find homes for adult cats. I have a semi-feral who is mine, and a cat with normalized (by diet) IBD who is also mine. I have two semi-ferals I am holding for a woman who is pregnant and has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Those two will stay until we know if her condition will allow the cats to return or not. I have two cats from a woman dying and in a coma whose friends took the responsibility in finding them safe haven before she died. One is in the median stages of kidney failure, the other is an obesity case and cannot be adopted out until the cat is at weight and stable for several months, meaning the cat will be here for at least six more months.

I have a senior blind dog (just a sweetheart), a dog recently recovered from the worst case of mange my vet had ever seen (has been here for six months), and the remainder are either seniors, mild behavior (non-aggressive) cases, or dogs recovered or nearly recovered from illnesses or injuries looking for good homes. I am at my permit limit for dogs.

Every single day I decide who lives and who dies. I hate this burden. I wish God would just leave them in a box at my front door with a note: Save this one. Love, God.

The She That's a He and WAY Too fat!

Once again, enter an obese cat: Krystal Blue, now Tom-Tom. The photo of him will appear tomorrow when he is in a better mood. But for now, just picture this in shades of tan and dark brown.

Krystal-Blue was taken to my vet today, along with her blood work from a previous vet and her original shelter documentation by her current caretakers. Amazingly, even after shaving the tummy of this enormous 25 pound whale of a Siamese cat to glimpse a spay scar, apparently both shelter and first vet failed to look a little farther south to discover... uh oh... she is a he, and he is now Tom-Tom. Sigh. How a shelter and subsequently a licensed veterinarian could make such an error is beyond me. My vet called it the gaff of the day and it was she that crowned him with his new name. Tom-Tom was the name of her very first cat, so I am honored. She is excellent with cats.

So, we will begin, here, week by week to document Tom-Tom's progress in getting in shape, including weight charts and photos.

We'll begin today, with his incoming weight:

25 lbs = 400 oz. Target weight: 12 lbs = 192 oz. We will adjust target weight up/down as we get somewhere near in months ahead.

The key to getting a cat fed to maintenance in calories is a formula that goes like this:

(13.6 x weight in pounds) + 70 = calories to maintain weight. This gives us an idea of how many calories are needed to maintain the current weight. Here are Tom-Tom's weight maintenance calcs: (13.6 x 25) + 70 = 410 calories/day.

As a comparison, Gerber chicken baby food (Beechnut is 1/2 the calories/volume, and other meat baby foods have significantly less calories which is a useful little factoid if you are trying to get a cat to eat and are forcefeeding) has 100 calories in their baby food 3 oz. jar. So to maintain weight, he would (as a comparison only) need to eat 4 jars of Gerber chicken baby food/day to maintain that obese weight. We're not going to be doing that.

Instead, we are going to take 2% of his current weight (2% of 400 oz. = 8 oz, or 1/2 pound) and target this for his first week's weight loss goal.

This of course assumes two things: That 1) he will eat what we give him, and 2) if he doesn't that he will eat something, even a "wrong" something like high-carb dry food while we search for what it is exactly he will eat and slowly transition him to a very high quality CANNED only diet. NO dry food is our first goal in terms of food type.

Lots of times, new cats, from stress, don't want to eat anything. I can accept this for 24 hours, but not for over 36. At 36 hours, he eats or gets forcefed.

His blood work showed a couple of irregularities, but nothing pronounced. We will be doing blood work routinely to make sure that his body is not responding poorly. Cats can become diabetic from obesity, and likewise from losing weight too rapidly which we will need to prevent.

By way of the person that rescued the cat from the Upland, CA shelter, this boy was found on a street corner literally crying his eyes out. Whether abandoned (likely) or lost, he was quite stressed but very friendly.

And in the way of prayer, if you pray, please keep me and Tom Tom in your prayers throughout our journey. They can be rough journeys, especially at first.

NO Fat Cats!

 

No, this is not a piece on oil company executives or politicos. It's really about fat (clinically obese) cats.

I don't want to reiterate the content of this fine article written by Dr. Lisa Piersen DVM on this subject, but I DO want to underline the importance of keeping a cat fit by feeding appropriate-to-species food. Dry food? Nope, never ever! Open feeding? No! No!

A few months or so ago, within a week's time, our rescue took in two clinically obese cats. These are hardly the first. Neither was able to properly groom themselves because of the fat, and one could not even jump onto a chair.

Tobie (neut male): 24 lbs. (estimate of proper weight: 9-10 lbs.)
Miss. Kitty (spayed female): 18.5 lbs. (estimate of proper weight: 8.5 lbs.)

Tobie has lost quite a bit of weight now, but still has a long way to go. He is grooming, and can now jump on the kitchen counter (enter training by me!).

Here is a chart we use to record and confirm weight loss. This chart is Toby's.

We thought it might be helpful to some if we actually showed the calculations and weights, over time, and how we dealt with them after you read Dr. Lisa's article.

Note that before we started the diet, we transitioned the cat to ANY kind of canned food he would eat, finally mixing in together Wellness chicken (a very high quality food) and Innova canned food. It took almost 2 weeks just to get him transitioned properly to a decent diet... not a bad amount of time--some cats take much, much longer. But be patient if they do or you will NEVER get this life-threatening weight off. But NEVER let a cat go without eating, especially an obese cat. It can have very dire--even life threatening--consequences.

Toby Target ounces: 160 ounces at proper weight.
Begin weight: 24 lbs = 384 oz. Weekly rate of loss: 1.5-2% of that weeks weight.

WEEK/BEGINNING WK WT/2% WEEKLY WT LOSS TARGET/ACTUAL WT LOST

Week 1 weight 384.00 oz. lose 7.68 oz. weight lost: 4.50 oz.
Week 2 weight 379.50 oz. lose 7.59 oz. weight lost: 4.75 oz.
Week 3 weight 374.75 oz. lose 7.49 oz. weight lost: 6.25 oz.
Week 4 weight 368.50 oz. lose 7.37 oz. weight lost: 7.39 oz.*
note: at week 4, Toby began to lose more than 2% so we added more protein and very slightly larger portions.

Weight lost month 1: 22.87 ounces

Week 5 weight 361.13 lose 7.22 oz. weight lost: 7.20 oz.
Week 6 weight 353.93 lose 7.08 oz. weight lost: 7.20 oz.*
Week 7 weight 346.73 lose 6.93 oz. weight lost: 6.75 oz.
Week 8 weight 339.98 lose 6.79 oz. weight lost: 6.75 oz.
note: at week 6, Toby lost too much weight. He was also close on week 8. We again upped the protein and gave slightly larger servings the following week.

Weight lost month 2: 27.90 ounces
Total weight lost to date: 50.77 ounces or 3.17 lbs!!!!

I think you get the picture. Toby now weighs in at 16.8 lbs, with 6.8 lbs to go. As we approach that weight (10 lbs.), we will slow down his weight loss a bit to make sure we don't overshoot. As he has gotten thinner, he has gotten more active which is actually burning more calories, so we feed more protein and larger meals to compensate. He eats on a schedule, 2x daily. He is looking so much better already!

Good luck to you if you are starting your cat on a weight loss diet. Love is about taking good care of your cat or dog, and that includes a proper diet and a healthy weight. And don't forget teeth! Most dogs and cats must have their teeth cleaned annually to prevent organ disease. Take care of your companions teeth!