Another Kitty Update

Ok. We'll go in order of age and do an update on everyone since it's been so long.

Kittanna-age 16-for her age, she's doing well. She's due for blood work this month to recheck her T4 levels. Pretty sure she'll be diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She's eating, but getting skinnier by the week.

Lilly-age 10-she's holding on. She's barely four pounds now. Nothing but bone and fur. She was finally diagnosed hyperthyroid in October and started medication two weeks ago. She goes in two more weeks to be rechecked to see if it's helping. I've got a new food coming next week that's designed to be easy on the kidneys so I'm hoping that'll help, too. With the hyperthyroid under treatment, her kidneys will likely show as being in failure now. The hyperthyroid can mask kidney disease and she's been a constant at the water bowl for a very long time. Each holiday and birthday she sees is a miracle at this point.

Gaia-age 5-just your basic perfect little tripod fluffball. :) Still snotty and sneezy, but that's permanent.

Chiara-age 4-my feather is now a feather pillow. LOL! Spaying earlier this year had a typical reaction from her. She's ballooned from 7 pounds in February to somewhere around 11 or 12 now. She can still get on the counter with no trouble, but thankfully, this has at least stopped her from being able to climb the curtains. ;)

Pewter-age 4-still fat and loud. ;)

Speckle-age 4-she's actually become a bit of a lap cat over the last year or so. Still grumpy as all get out, but a slight improvement in how much she dislikes me, at least.

Miska-age 4-as much of a chunkabunk as ever. Poor thing seems to always be the one the other want to chase and irritate. Amazing how quickly a 11 pound cat can squeeze under a chair or coffee table. ;)

Rat-age 3-still my big man. He's about 11 or 12 pounds and has the tiniest little meow! Still can't trim his claws and he's big time overdue for a trip to the vet to have it done!

Trysten-age 1-finally a boy that's a lap cat! He's been through the wringer lately, though. A massive urinary tract infection that wouldn't clear up was found to possibly be the start of feline urinary tract disease (FLUTD). He's been through one round of antibiotics and two rounds of pain meds. I go tomorrow to get a third and ask about him starting anti-inflammatory medication. Seems he keeps getting inflamed and that allows bacteria to cause an infection secondary to the swelling. If it continues to be an issue, there's a surgery that will need to be discussed. As a male, he stands a higher chance of urinary blockage and that can be deadly.

And last, but not least, the new baby. Tabitha-5 months-she's a foster kitten. She's up for adoption through the Dogs4U cat program and will possibly be travelling to Connecticut to their shelter there on November 15. She was just spayed last week and after three tries is finally unable to get out of the cone. ;) She's a beautiful little ball of fur and will make someone a wonderful purry lap cat!

Chiara, Trysten, and Gaia

Rat

Tabitha

Kitty Update

Figure it's been a long time since I gave updates on all the kits. ;) From eldest to youngest:

Kittanna is sweet 16 now. She's beginning to show her age with some extra white hairs. She's also recently diagnosed borderline hyperthyroid and three weeks ago had to have some teeth removed. She came through the surgery well and has mended beautifully. She's still my soul kitty and I hate seeing her get skinny and wobbly with age, but love the hell out of her none the less.

My Lilly monster. Never thought she'd see 8 and she just turned 10. The years of tests and blood work finally showed what at least some of the problem may be. She's borderline hyperthyroid, too, but closer to the mark than Kittanna. She's still holding at around 6 pounds and gets three different medications twice daily. They're not making her better, but they keep her from getting much worse. While her T4 (thyroid) levels are high, they're not yet high enough for medication. She and Kittanna both still need occasional blood work to monitor them. There's a Go Fund Me HERE if you can help to cover some of the costs. Thanks!

My tiny baby, Gaia Rose. Gaia is doing beautifully!! She runs and keeps up with all the other kits with no problem. Anyone who's been here and seen her run does a double-take when I tell them she's only got three legs. She'll always have a runny/snotty nose, but otherwise, she's in perfect health. She just had her fifth birthday and still weighs barely six pounds. :D

Chiara, the duchess of the house at 4 years old. Once upon a time, light as a feather and hell on my curtains. Spay surgery in February solved that!! LOL! She's over 10 pounds now and getting lazier by the day. Running her with the laser light toy has slowly stopped working as she just flops down and watches it now.

Pewter, my 4 year old purple kitty. Spay surgery for her was last year, done quickly due to a urinary issue. She was already a hefty nine pounds at surgery. She is now the proud owner of almost 20 pounds of pudge. I feed her as little as I feel she can stand and still... the pudge is like super glue. She still has a purr smooth as a rusty nail and is beginning to learn she can't sleep on mama's chest anymore.

Speckle, my bunny, so called due to her colouring being that of a wild rabbit. If you ever wonder what this colouration is called it's agouti. ;) She's maintained around 11 pounds since her spay and still has a lot of attitude. She's begun to become a sort of lap cat, though. At three years old, it was a late development. She doesn't like to share and often gets on the arm of the chair and flops over on my arm and sprawls. 

Miska, my little chunkabunk. She's pudged up since her spay, too, though mostly around her chest. Worries me that she'll develop breathing problems somewhere down the line. She's only 3 so hoping the weight gain slows down. I try not to feed her too much, but, despite the added weight, she can still get on the counter, so it's hard to keep her out of the other kits' food if I can't stand right there until they're done. She's my bug monitor. Hardly a fly, gnat, or crawly thing can get in here without her hot on it's antennae. ;)

My man, Rateelae. Rat is a right little mess. He's about a docile as anything you've ever seen until you try to cut his claws. I can play with his feet all I want, but once I reach for clippers, he's a wild man! He makes the trip, when I can afford it, to have his nails trimmed at the vet. Way less traumatic for the both of us that way. He's 3 years old and has never tolerated his nails trimmed by me, but he's a perfect angel at the vet! He's a big boy at just over 11 pounds and he's not overweight. He's very tall and long and that just makes more of him to scoop up and cuddle. He has claimed the sleeping spot on my chest. 

And the baby, one year oldTrysten. He got his name at a friend's suggestion after I talked about his personality as a kitten. LOUD!! He screamed almost constantly while he was in isolation for a bad cold when I brought him home. Tore his way through the zipper on the kitten kennel twice before I gave up. Serenades me constantly to the vet AND back. The name Trysten means: NOISE. It was perfect!! He's not built as big as Rat, but they weigh about the same. He upholds the orangie tradition and is a right little love bug. :)

And those are my babies! My Taillee went to the Bridge January 7, 2014 at approximately 23 years old. She'd lived a long, good life and was ready to rest, but refused to go on her own. Thankfully, my nephew came the last night and stayed with her. Work also let me come home during the night to check on her and come home early that last morning. She was wrapped in a towel in my arms from 6 am until almost 11 when I let her go, except for the few minutes it took me to get dressed. My sister took us to the vet and Taillee stayed with us until the end. One tiny shot, a small gasp, and two twitches and my furry little dishrag was gone. But she left a legend behind no one has lived up to yet. Docile and cuddly with a mean streak when she got really stubborn. And I doubt I'll ever have another cat where I can flip her on her back, trim all her claws, and then file them smooth, while she purrs the entire time. ;)

I still miss my Zilla very much. I'm still not over her sudden passing. She was my little attitude kitty and I sometimes miss her bitchiness and I miss her purr. She's at the Bridge with my angel Tigger now and I'm sure she's loving being back with her adopted furmom.

Cover Share!!

For the few who have read anything here, you know I like gay romance. Adult or YA, I like the innocence, the smut, the sweetness, the adventure, all of it. One writer, Belinda McBride, has a great series called An Uncommon Whore. It sounds like a raunchy title, but it's a great set of books. The third book is due out soon and I'm sharing the cover art for it.

Here's the blurb about the book:

Falsely accused of treason, Markus Dayspring was abandoned on the slave planet of Warlan, and then sold to a brothel barge. The mysterious bodyguard Caius has spent months searching for the lost Dayspring. When he finally rescues Markus, he finds a man kept alive only by an iron will and the need for vengeance. Can a tiny seed of faith teach two damaged men to recover their trust in life?

The other books in this series are:
An Uncommon Whore

When I Fall: An Uncommon Whore 2

There is also an off-shoot from the series:

The Bacchi

And Another One

Lilly on the left, Kittanna on the right

A bit of an update on Lilly first. Finally, after three years of tests, she's been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Her thyroid is working overtime and that's why she's lost all the weight and is having other health issues. She's barely over 6 pounds now, but is maintaining. Medication isn't an option as yet. Her values are still borderline.

Took Kittanna to the vet for a loose tooth. Wanted them to run blood work, too, since she's getting older (16) and has lost some weight. She's approaching borderline hyperthyroid, too. And the tooth needs to come out, but it's a fang so it's a serious surgery. The vet said he'll have to cut into her gum line some and create what he called a bone flap to protect her sinus cavity. These teeth run very close to the cavity and that can be a problem if not treated carefully. If it breaks on its own, it could break into that cavity. So it MUST come out. The surgery will be $600 to $700. The only way for me to get it is to charge it on the Care Credit card I have for vet use. The balance is already over $3000 from all the work to save Gaia and to diagnose Lilly.

Lilly is going to need further blood work to monitor her. Kittanna will be needing that now as well. All that on top of the huge amount needed for removal of Kittanna's tooth.

I've created a Go Fund Me account and am begging. If anyone can donate something towards this, I would be deeply appreciative. Any donation of $10 or more, I'll make the donor one of the blank journal books I have on etsy. I started trying to sell stuff there to help with vet bills, but it's not generating much interest.

I'm doing my best by my kits, but I need some help.

Go Fund Me: Vet Expenses

Paper Paw Crafts