The blind kitty, aka Daz, that I’ve been talking about for a couple of weeks now was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia today. She had already contracted several other conditions (ulcers on her eyes, respiratory infection) and the vet told us she would more than likely contract more. This not only put our other cats in danger of getting Leukemia, but anything else she contracted as well. So, with the advice of the vet, we put her to sleep today.

This was not an easy decision, but it was the right one for all animals involved. We loved her and we will miss her greatly. We are heartbroken today.

RIP Daz

I’ll be posting more information about this at a later date. Several people asked questions that I can’t go into in just a short post. So, I’ll tell the full story with photos later for those of you that asked me specific questions.

I’m going to have to continue week 4 this week. This last week has been full of problems and distractions that have taken me away from completing week 4.

The biggest distraction, blind kitty. We have several inside cats and we adopted some outside cats we felt sorry for when we moved into this house five and a half years ago. We noticed last week that one of the outside cats, an adorable little girl, had cloudy eyes. She looks like she’s blind, but she can actually still see some. Her vision is just extremely distorted. So, we took her to the vet and he gave us some eye drops to put in her eyes. She acts like she’s starting to feel a little better now.

In the meantime, we made her an inside cat and the house is now a tension filled mess. The three cats we already had in the house hate other animals and often each other. Blind kitty throws temper tantrums at the doors trying to get out and wanders around the house crying, which doesn’t help the other cats temperaments. Blind kitty doesn’t like to let anyone sleep either. She either parks herself directly in your face on the bed like she’s trying to sleep on your nose, wanders around the house crying until someone gets up (me, of course), or she disturbs the other cats by walking within 20 feet of them which causes a hissing and growling fest that’s impossible to sleep through.

I realize that part of getting back into things is finding the time regardless of distraction. Blind, cute, evil kitty is impossible to ignore though. She’s so tiny and helpless. She’s less than half the size of the other cats in the house. She’s only slightly larger than kitten size. I did get some done here and there, but most of The Artist’s Way tasks I was supposed to do for the week were moved to the back burner. Besides, I was supposed to not read or watch TV this week and there was no way I could do that. I read up on all the possible things that could be wrong with her eyes and Blind kitty likes to watch TV. She can’t really see anything, just flashing lights and colors, but it keeps her entertained.

So, week 4 will be next week and I’ll try to get all caught up on other posts next week as well. Hopefully, things will die down here a little and hopefully, blind kitty will be able to see a little better.

Here’s a pic of Blind Kitty before her eyes got cloudy:

It has been awhile and after a couple of friends threatened me with bodily harm… I decided it was about time to update if I wanted to stay alive for awhile longer. This isn’t the podcast update they wanted, but I hope it will do for the moment.

I made a list of all the things I wanted to cover, but I can’t find it now… of course.

Ok, I’ve been lectured from people on both sides now. The “you shouldn’t post anything personal in your blog” camp and the “what else is a blog for but posting personal thoughts” camp. And… if you think you haven’t lectured me about this, I’m probably not talking about you! I think I fall somewhere in the middle and I’m starting to care less and less every day. I try not to be too personal… try not to talk about my cats too much or personal turmoil or things about myself that could be damning, but that doesn’t leave much to talk about now does it?

I have started a new writing project with a long time friend. He might even jump in on a few things I already have going. We’ve supported each other creatively for years, so this should be a fun and interesting venture. I’m excited to get started and nervous for him to read what I’ve been working on.

As always, I have a million and a half things to do, but I’ve been trying to be less of a workaholic lately. I’ve always been amazed at the people that can balance or at least appear to balance things that they have to do, need to do, and want to do. I bow in reverence to those that have combined the three (have to, need to, and want to) into one thing. I’d love to get to that point in my life.

In April, we took my grandmother’s cat to be put to sleep. Jessica was a sweet little kitty that had a hard couple of years before my grandmother adopted her. She was a good companion for a long time, but at 20+ years with a thyroid condition and failing kidneys, life became agony for her. We were there… we watched her take her last breath. It was so… sad is not a descriptive enough word… I’m not sure I can find a fitting one…

I know there was more I wanted to cover, but I can’t think right now. It’s late and my brain is shutting down for the night. Hopefully I’ll find that list tomorrow. If not… hopefully good stuff will happen that I can post about soon.

Still working on updating more, but I’m not making any promises about anything to anyone at the moment.

I haven’t had time to take any pictures of the snow this year, so here are some pictures taken around this time last year. Sorry guys. I know some of you have seen these before, but maybe we’ll have another snow storm after the first of the year so I can post some more snow pictures for those of you that are snow impared.

“Get this cold crap off of me!”

Fraidy hiding from the camera in his igloo.

“Where’d the stairs go?!”

I’ve been sick for the past few days. I’m starting to feel a bit more human instead of a slobbering zombie, so I figured I’d do a little catching up on the tons of things piling up around here.

Sunday we went out the rents for Mother’s Day. My mom liked the mauve and purple african daisies I got for her. We also found out more about what happened to the kittens. After talking to the humane society, they found out that it wasn’t a kidney infection that the mother got, it was distemper. With the help of antibiotics, the mother was able to survive it. However, as soon as she started feeling better, she started feeding her kittens again and gave it to her kittens. The kittens didn’t survive.

The mother was dropped off at my parents farm not long before she got pregnant.  My parents had decided to keep her and were planning on getting her shots and getting her spayed, then she wound up pregnant.  The whole thing is just sad, but I’m glad they were able to save the mother.

We’re still working on the website for the business, which has brought everything else to a halt.  Hitting a few brick walls that we have to scale and it’s going to take a long time to get everything up and running, but we’re getting there.  It will be a huge load off both my shoulders and my time constraints once it’s all up and running. 

I haven’t ordered my podcasting gear yet.  Soon!  I know there are a couple of people out there anxious for me to get all this started and I’m working on it… I promise!    I have a lot of behind the stuff to do as well before I’m ready to podcast… lots of editting that I’ve had to put off until the business website is done. 

This has been a crazy week already and it’s only half over.  Tomorrow… the kiddo gets her braces off!  Woohoo!  She can’t wait to eat a bagel, chew gum, and eat peanuts again.  I even bought bagels for the occasion.

Next time… Tater Brain and Tater Tot!  The story behind the names.

Read the rest of this entry »

My parents woke up this morning and found another kitten in the same condition as the first.  It cried and cried until my mother held it on its back against her chest.  Both were blind where they hadn’t been before.  The vet thinks it’s possibly something hereditary, so the first kitten probably wasn’t injured in the storm.  I’ve never seen anything like it unless it was an injury. 

I first suspected the mother after the problems we had last year with one of our cats trying to kill one of her kittens, but I really don’t think it could be her.  They’re awfully big for her mouth.  For her to do that kind of damage, I would imagine there would have been marks on the kittens neck.

There are two kittens left now.  It’s possible they will all have to be put to sleep.

sigh…

They were so cute. 

This cute little kitten was hurt in last nights storm.  The storm was so bad at my parents that stuff was blown all over the place.  The trash can was blown in front of the door, a heavy wooden board was picked up by the wind and flung across the yard, among countless other things.  We live about 30 miles north of my parents.  While it was windy here and the rain was coming down so hard and fast it was coming in our back door, I don’t think it was quite as bad here.

It’s impossible to guess what actually happened, but the kitten was fine yesterday, then today she just laid there.  She had extensive head and neck damage and the Vet gave her a very low chance to live, so they had her put to sleep.

Poor girl.    She had a cute personality and was one of four kittens my parents have been taken care of.  Their mother got a kidney infection not long after she had them, so she wasn’t up to mothering for quite awhile.  Her infection was so bad that they had to take her back to the vet twice.  The first round of antibiotics just wasn’t doing it for her.  She finally started eating again just a couple of days ago.

Seems like it’s one thing after another in kitty world.  Last year, it was our cats and this year it’s theirs.