4 posts tagged “cats”
So we had just assembled our new "lobster red" coffee table from CB2 in the TV room, and within half an hour, Chonita and Pepi had staked out their spots under this new roof. Notice that Pepi, as usual, is keeping a safe distance, but by no means ceding her rights to make herself just as comfortable under their newly discovered spot.
Spawn of Fuzzy - Part 3
I guess we shouldn't always blame Fuzzy. her last litter was back in may. is it possible to have a second litter four months later? if so, i'd say they're fuzzy's. and if so, i kind of blame myself. after the last litter i swore that i would trap fuzzy and get her fixed. but i didn't figure on more than one litter a year, so i thought i'd have all winter to do this. i was going to do it during my vacation, but fuzzy only showed up one day and i didn't have a trap then. also, fuzzy is about the feralest of the ferals i've ever encountered. usually they become pretty reliable, once they know my porch is a source of food. all three of the cats we keep in the house now started as ferals who became regulars. canela and baga, who both sadly died on stormy rainy nights, would wait for me on the porch for their evening meal every night. granted, they waited on the porch, and bolted for the bushes when they saw me, it wasn't like they were THAT freindly, but at least i knew they'd always be there. fuzzy is different. first, she's got a few years on the other ones. this chick has been walking the streets for several years, at least. she is not the least bit friendly or inquisitive. she's pretty mean looking and has an attitude problem. and she protects her feraldom very well. no regular habits, no regular hangouts, steers very clear of people. so she's going to be a tough one to catch, but i have to do it, this is the third (and maybe the fourth) litter that i know about that she's given birth to in my yard or my neighbors back shed.
so we were just getting into bed last night, watching project runway, with the rain absolutely pouring outside, the first rain in months. we hear the distinct sound of very young, very unhappy kittens right outside our bedroom window. tony immediately wants to go save them. i tell him we should wait and see if the mother (fuzzy, we presume) will take care of them. i explain she is probably moving the litter one by one to a new, dry, location and we should give her chance to come back for these last ones. but after twenty excruciating minutes of listening to these poor kittens crying in the rain, tony wins, and we are out in the rain checking on them. there they are, in the overgrown grass outside our bedroom window, soaking wet with the rain pouring directly onto them. we couldn't leave them like that. a tabby and a black and white. the tabby's eyes have just opened recently and the other's are about to. i'd guess two weeks old? maybe even three? much further along than the last litter we tried to save. so we took them in, dried them off, warmed them up, and put them to sleep in a box on a heating pad, with plans to ask my mom to drive them to the berkeley animal shelter the next day, where our understanding (from my call to our vet) is they will not be out to sleep.
so mom kindly takes them to berkeley animal shelter, but of course they only accept animals from berkeley, and my mom is not prepared with a fake berkeley address or story, so they won't take them. i should have thought of that and prepped her with a story. shoot. so she takes them to oakland animal control, where of course they only take kittens that weigh more two pounds, anything smaller they out down. (for what it's worth, they told her it was the same at berkeley animal control). so she brings them back home and calls me to make a decision. as much as it pains me, i am thinking at this point the kittens have had no food or nourishment for more than 12 hours, they're probably pretty weak and close to death at this point anyway, and there are a shitload of lonely cats already in the shelters, so i'm ok with having mom take them back and having them put down. but i would have to lie to tony, and i'm thinking that maybe after our last experience, he might see my point and be ok with it. OF COURSE I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG!!!!!
tony was horrified that i would even think that. and was adamant that we try to save them. so i had to call mom, and ask her to go to PetSmart, by the kitten formula and dropper and see if she could feed them twice this afternoon. she was more than happy to help, so hopefully they will pull through until i get home tonight (not like i'm super skilled at this!). tony has already found someone at work who just lost a cat and is eager to take both kittens in a couple weeks.
so if we can keep these guys alive and growing for two weeks, things are looking good. these two look a lot stronger and seem a lot healthier than the last batch, so i think we may succeed.
don't kill me for this! i was curious if my little blog would come up if you searched for it, so i tried searching on yahoo! using two words: apgar and fuzzy. unfortunately, after three hits on the topic of the fuzzy apgar test, the next hit was a guy named dave apgar talking about his fuzzy cat. damn that fuzzy. she is nothing but trouble. but i did feed her last night.
antonio is home today and spent the day cleaning the bedroom. according to him, it looks amazing, which given the usual state of our bedroom, i can't wait to see. he sent me this picture of the cats, pepi sound asleep in the front and diabla acting wierd in the back. how much do i love my pepi? sgt. pepper. pepsi cola. pepita. peprika.
