UPDATES

I know my blog was full of information and a great deal of sadness.  Life is full of both happy and sad.  We appreciate the happy more when we experience the rain of sadness.  Lately it has felt like a gully washer rain of sadness around here, but the sun does come out and I do appreciate the happy that is mixed with the sad.  No matter what anyone says, sadness and hard times show you what you are made of and how much you can handle. I am a firm believer that we are not given more than we can handle.  It amazes me how rich my life is after going through the sad and hard times.  Of course, we must be willing to embrace the sad and hard times to experience this richness.  We are usually more compassionate and giving to others in their sad and hard times because we’ve been where they are now.    

Vinny’s appointment with Dr. John was July 13^th.  Vinny lost 5 oz.  He is now down to 7lbs 4oz.  He will continue to lose weight from the kidney failure.  His thyroid level is 6.4, down from 9.1 a month ago, which is a low Hyper thyroid level. Remember normal thyroid levels in cats are: 0.8 to 4.0

Dr. John did a complete blood work up on Vinny.  The results are good.  His kidney levels are 3.1, which is good kidney function. His red blood cell count went up a point. This is good too. He is a little less anemic.  Basically, Vinny is holding his own. His electrolytes are good too. My pushing as much fluid at him as I can is paying off.  Dr. John and I are keeping Vinny around his current level of 6.4. 

Vinny does not need to go back to see Dr. John for 3 months, unless he takes a serious turn.  This turn will come sooner than later, but for now I enjoy my time with Vinny. Dr. John instructed me to keep doing what I am doing for Vinny.

Vinny's routine is to eat all day and into the late evening hours.  We have hit a bit of a glitch in this routine.  He stopped eating any of the fish wet cat foods.  Now Vinny no longer likes any form of canned cat food. Not even the cheap stuff!   

Now what?

I stopped at our local dollar store looking for anything new he has not had. They had nothing.  On a whim, I bought some Caesar canine cuisine.  I figured he fit the small breed category.  If he does not like it then the dogs will think this is the best day ever! I mixed some up with warm water, just as I do with the canned cat food.  You guessed it. He loves it!  In my mind, as long as he eats I am good with it.

Here is the kicker.  This stuff is expensive for ground up meat by products and organs!  My word, I thought cat food was expensive. HA!  Dog food is worse.  But if the boy will eat it and is happy, then I am happy too.

Caesar has a whole line of cuisine. They have the sunrise breakfast food, which includes, sausage and eggs, grilled steak and eggs, ham, eggs, potato and cheese and of course an egg and cheese soufflé.  There are the various steaks, chicken and pork meals too. Where are the desserts? (kidding).  

I do not like to look at the stuff as I mix it. I see organ parts and valves more often than not! YUCK!  But the boy does not eat those pieces, thankfully. He just likes to lick the juice and flavor out of the food. I mean it is dry by the time he is finished.

I did pick up a couple of holistic natural super food dog foods…..he won’t touch it, let a lone smell it. The dogs ate it mixed with, that’s right, the cheap tasty stuff.

Vinny has decided he likes to have certain flavors for breakfast, different flavors for lunch and something entirely new for dinner and of course those in between meals need to be different as well.  NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!  Well, for the most part anyway.

He likes the Predigree small dog wet food too. Actually so far he likes almost all that I have presented to him.  He still eats dry cat food. He has not taken to barking or rolling on dead things like the dogs.  His breath is dog breath, not fish breath. He is still Vinny the cat.  I do offer him wet cat food but he rejects it flat out.  I do have canned cat food in reserve for the day he rejects dog food.  Until that day, Vinny the cat/dog is happy.

Amie had her last follow up appointment with Dr. Stefani on July 18^th.   All her wounds are completely healed!!!!!!!   No more cone of shame for her and no more bruises on the back of my calves from her cone!  Yippee!!

Amie is back to her happy busy self. Click link below. This so fits her.

http://www.karateforkids.net/peanuts.mp3

However, we now need to integrate Amie back into the dog population. She still thinks she should sleep with us at night and spend her days lounging on our bed……..The trouble with her lounging on our bed is she is cone free now and can easily eat the plate of wet cat food. She cleans the plate dry for them.  Now our work begins!

                                 This is Amie, Elle and Sarah.

She still has some fur growing in on her very last healed wound. She likes to lick it.  This makes it a hot spot, meaning an angry red patch.  To help her with the itch of fur growing in, Dr. Stefani introduced me to a spray called: Genesis Topical spray.  Now I tend  to give too much information, also known as an acronym TMI.  Dr. Stefani began the litany of if you have an auto immune disease or are pregnant or nursing, blah, blah, blah, this could make you sterile. “I am sterile,” I said.  Poor Dr. Stefani, she about busted a gut, but was choking it back.  I smile.  I told her I had a hysterectomy, so being sterile is not a concern. Besides I have handled so much of the animals medicine I must have a resistance.  Too much information, you think??? Probably.  Are you covering your eyes, saying, TMI, TMI….!!!!! All this to say, if you use this product you might want to wear latex gloves when applying it.

I talked to Dr. Stefani about Sarah the wonder dog, (wonder she is still alive).  Explained we were hot wiring the fence this weekend.  Told her about my complete utter dislike for shock collars for dogs.  She explained that Sarah is the type of dog that would muscle through the pain of the shock collar and escape.  Yep, that is Sarah.  We are hoping the hot fence will deter her.  Dr. Stefani was kind. I am sure her mind was saying the hot fence won’t keep her in either.  She told me once the fence was hot to show Sarah, by throwing a stick at the fence to make it spark, that it is hot.  Hopefully the intelligent part of Sarah's brain will understand this is a bad thing. But I fear her common sense side, which is dumber than a box of rocks, will say, “Cool, let me do it!”

click on link below to understand Sarah's side of this fence issue.

http://www.jazz-on-line.com/a/mp3w/1944_003.mp3 

Dr. Stefani told me to look for burns on the pads of her feet and nose.  See, she thinks the fence won’t keep her in……I am in great hopes that it will. If she gets burns, we will be visiting our favorite vets for help.  I will let you know how this goes. By the way, the temperatures this weekend will be in the 100's.

FYI: In case you are not aware of this, NEVER touch a hot fence with the palm side of your hand to see if it is hot, WHY? Because your hand will automatically close, or grab the hot fence. Use the back of your hand to test a hot fence for voltage. Using the back of your hand will automatically cause your hand to recoil instead of grab.  Same goes for testing to see if a stove top is hot.  

Now the tech Susie told me, while at Amie’s appointment, that she would be happy to come over to my house and help me subcutaneously hydrate Vinny, whenever.  She was the tech that assisted the vet when I brought Molly in after she was mauled so badly.  She lives about 20 minutes from me.  Now I think that is just about the nicest offer I could get.  When Vinny gets to that point, I will probably seek out Tech Susie’s expertise.  I believe we go to the best Vet’s office there is!

I want to share this picture of Little Dude with you.  It is hot here now.  Tomorrow is going to be 102 degrees, which means the heat index will be 106.   I just put fresh water in this water bowl for the birds.  I turn around and there he sits.  The pools are about three feet behind him, but he chose the bowl. 

Little Dude is doing his best to protect his fickle female Oma from the overcharged boys.

Phoebe caught her first frog.  She decided to swallow it whole. The frog was still alive when she did this……I think it went down fighting.  She kept stretching her neck to clear her throat.  She did this for at least half an hour. I kept an eye on her just in case this went terribly wrong. It did not.  I was hopeful she would learn to kill the frog first, but she has not.

Oma and Buffy hopped into the small pool together yesterday…..that does not happen.  If Oma is in the pool only Dude can join her.  I knew they both spotted a frog and were diving for it.  I was filling the girl’s swimming tub in the coop while this was happening. I drop the hose in the tub and head out there. Buffy jumps out of the pool. Oma ignores me.  I see the frog.  It is a good two inch or more body sized frog. Oma grabs for it as I grab of her, meanwhile the hose is still running. 

Oma grabs the frog before it could leap out of the pool. When she did this the poor little frog screamed. Yes, you read that right, it screamed.  Animals do feel pain.  I truly hate to hear them scream.  Oma has it by one leg. I am trying to catch Oma before she swallows it down. Around in circles we go. Me yelling, “Oma drop the frog!” Poor frog is on the worst roller coaster ride ever.  Finally I grab Oma!  She won’t let go. I have to pry her beak open, not easy by the way.  She drops the frog and Blinkin swoops in to grab the frog. I manage to stop her, for the moment.  I fight off Blinkin and Oma.  I shoo the frog along, no I do not touch frogs!  I finally get the frog out of the area and under some cover. The frog is safe for the moment. Meanwhile the hose has filled and is overflowing the swimming tub in the girl’s enclosure! 

When I was a kid, I had a wart problem on my hand.  Of course, I believed that touching a frog was the reason for the warts.  My warts were cut off and burned off.  Now my doctor, Dr. Woodward, was fabulous with kids.  He explained that touching a frog does not give you warts.  Being a kid, I knew he was wrong. He was not a scientist, he was a doctor!

The last wart he burned off my hand left a lasting impression along with a slight scar.  I was probably twelve years old, so my mom did not need to be with me.  I am lying on the examine table with my arm stretched out on the little slide out side table.  Now the doc had his little iron, reminded me of a soldering iron, out warming up. He had the alcohol bottle and cotton balls ready to go. Of course, he numbs the area.  Finally all is ready and he wipes the wart and area with the alcohol soaked cotton ball and sets it down and brings up the hot iron.  All looks good until he passes a little too close to the alcohol soaked cotton ball, POOF! The cotton ball goes up in flames!!  The doctor jumps and his stool on wheels goes backwards.  The flaming cotton ball is close to my alcohol soaked hand!  He is hitting the flaming ball with his free hand and finally gets it off the table and stamps out the flame.  He sits back down smiles at me and says, “That was exciting.”

I am laying there watching this in a bit of horror, with saucer eyes, thinking I want my mom to free me before my hand bursts into flames from that hot iron!  But the wart got burned off with no more incidents.  Thankfully that was the last wart I had. 

To this day, I do not pick up frogs. I will herd them along but no touchy.  Yes, I know they will not give you warts, but……….

I told you about Little Momma the raccoon that stayed in our semi enclosed carport while she was pregnant.  She had her two little ones.  They live in the woods now.  Last night they were out eating the food we leave for the critters.  They are so cute!  I so enjoy the energy and playfulness of the little ones, human or animal.

While momma eats, the little ones explore, climb the Crape Myrtle trees and get into trouble with the visiting skunk.  They were out of range for my phone to video.  I will do my best to describe their antics.  One of the babies is timid.  This one hides under the SUV. I had to move the food bowls out from around the vehicle because timid was dragging the food bowl under the vehicle. I broke a bowl pulling out one day because of this. Now it comes out grabs some food and darts back under the vehicle. 

The other one is curious. It wonders around eating from place to place.  The curious one has a shorter tail. I hope it grows out. The curious one saw the skunk. It went up to the skunk. The skunk put its tail straight up in the air, warning the little one. The little one took off then spun around in a defensive stance in front of the skunk. Now the momma is eating and watching it all.  The little one decided it showed the skunk and off it went, only to turn around and run full bore at the skunk!  Well, the skunk did not take kindly to this and charged the little one. The little one ran.  The one that is timid finally came out from under the car and ran up toward the porch where a food bowl is, but when it touched the first step changed its mind turned around and ran back to the safety of momma.

Momma finished eating, went over to the pan of water we keep out there for them and cleaned up and called the kids to keep up with her.  The curious one stopped at the food bowl for one more bite, but momma snapped an order, off the little one went.  I hope to catch them on video or at least a picture to share with you. I will keep trying.

We took a hot water heater drain pan and my husband used a threaded piece of pvc in the hole and placed a cap on the threaded pvc end to close the open end off. We keep that filled with fresh water everyday for the birds and the nightly critter visits.  

Dr. John wanted Oreo to lose weight. Well, what we tried exploded in our face. I changed out the dry food to weight management food.  This food is expensive! What bugs me about it is this: the first ingredient is corn gluten? What is that? Come to find out it is a by product of processed corn! Now the science geeks are finding that this corn gluten is good for weed control. This is the first ingredient in a cat food, along with chicken by product or flavor? A very expensive cat food. These science type diet foods for cats are very expensive for by product ingredients. We spent $33.00 for a 15lb bag! 

But to help Oreo lose weight, I will bite the bullet. Well, a month and a little go by and I notice Oreo has two bald spots on the back of his hind legs and his tummy....whaat? Then I saw the bald patch on Grumpy's neck and that Sneezy's ears were fur less and bloody!!! WHHAATT????

                                     here is Munchkin and Oreo. 

Come to find out they are allergic to the weight management food! Now we are back on Costco Kirkland brand food.  Know what the first ingredient is on the Costco food? Chicken! Not chicken by product but chicken! The cost is $18.99 for a 25lb bag....got to love it!

Good news is Oreo, Grumpy and Sneezy are growing back their fur nicely. Oreo lose weight? Dr. John and I agree it probably won't happen, but I keep trying.

                                  

                       Sneezy sleeping out in the Cat Lounge

                             This is Grumpy when she was a kitten

You are now up to date on our farm.  I have to go feed Vinny now.  He is sitting on my shoulder giving me the vulture stare.  You know the stare...
My husband calls him Vulture Vinny.

Click on the link below and enjoy!

http://nscsd.org/uploads/NSJHStuff/roy_rodgers_dale_evans_-_happy_trails.mp3 

THOUGHTS

Before you begin reading this, please read Transitions: spring to summer and the parts that follow first.  Otherwise this may not make much sense to you.

The hospice is still operating.  Vinny is doing okay. His quality of life is still good. He sleeps a lot now.  He eats all the time.  He does come and sleep with me from time to time.  Vinny has slept next to my side for 14 years. I miss him not sleeping next to me. 

Sneezy’s cancer has not raised its ugly head yet.  She is still eating, drinking and sleeping next to my shoulder most nights.  When her cancer advances to the point of no return, she will go quickly.  Hopefully for her sake it will be fast with the least amount of pain.

The critical care is done. Amie’s physical wounds are healed except one.  The remaining wound will be healed in less than two weeks!  Now we must deal with the emotional wounds.  This will take time, patience and understanding.

Munchkin taking ill so suddenly then leaving us has left a void.  I thought there would be a shift in the cat herd.  I figured one of the other cats would rise to take Munchkin’s place but no.  We have the old ones and the young ones. All doing their own thing  It is quieter in the house now with Munchie gone.  When he was not napping he was very active.  I miss his activity.

In some respects, I think the abruptness of his illness and death is almost easier to take than the long wait that Vinny and Sneezy are going through.  But on the other hand, a little more time to enjoy Munchie and let him know just how special he was would have been nice.   

My cat clan is mostly old.  The house is quieter.  We started out with 9 rescued cats.  Miss Kitty belonged to my husband.  He rescued her from the Vet’s office. The owner left her there to be destroyed when she found out Kitty had cancer.  The Vet could not bring himself to kill her, as the cancer was not that far along.  Kitty still had some quality of life left.  My husband was there to pick up Tude. He went home with Tude and Kitty.  Shortly after my husband moved from his place in California to our home, Kitty began her journey to the end of life.  We released her one month after they settled in our home.  She was a sweet Siamese cat, with the most beautiful clear blue eyes.  She was very loving. She took to me the first day we met.  I adored her.  She lived an additional two years beyond the year the Vet gave her. I do not have a picture of her sadly.  We have 5 remaining cats of the original group of 9.  Vinny is 14 years old, Tude is 13 years old, Oreo is 12 years old, Sneezy is 10 years old, Grumpy is 9 years 10 months old (Munchkin’s biological sister).  I fear death is coming too quickly for all of them.  When they depart, we will have three younger cats remaining: Floyd is roughly 5 years old, Jazzie is 3 years old and Buddy is around 2 years old.  Junior was our only feral cat that stayed feral.  He came around after Floyd came into the house.  Junior looked like Floyd. We figured he was his offspring.  Unfortunately, Junior never trusted us enough to let us pet him.  We could get close, but not too close.  He was here for nearly two years, before his demise.

We moved to Texas with 8 rescued cats in November of 2006.  What a trip! We all made it without too much stress.  The cats settled nicely into their digs.  It was two weeks after the move when Tommie introduced himself to us.  He wanted to come in, but we were not prepared.  He came and went. We tried to fix him up with a bed in the garage but he would not have it.  Finally one early spring evening he showed up hurt.  I could not just feed him and turn him away.  He stayed in our laundry room. I took him to the vet, got him patched up, neutered and all the necessary shots.  By this time we had four dogs. Brought him home to meet the family. Tommie fit right in.   He died of renal disease in late 2009. He is buried next to Molly.  They use to share a dog pillow together. Here is a picture of them.  Tommie would also groom Fats our dog’s head for him. Here is a picture of that too.

                                     Molly and Tommie

                             Fats getting groomed by Tommie

                                   Tommie grooming Fats

Molly departed us in spring of 2009. She was an old white lab that had a very hard life, before coming to live with us.  When she was mauled by some neighbor dogs, her life looked over. But she prevailed and grew strong and as healthy as a worn out dog can be.  The previous owner gave her up to us.  She was a faithful, loving, easy going dog. She was terrified of thunder and lightening. We gave her tranquilizer to get her through the storms.  She was diagnosed with Cushings disease.  We faithfully gave her the medicine and she responded so well to it.  Her end came when she could no longer get up by herself. Her hips were gone. There was nothing left to fix or replace.  She stopped eating, unless I could coax her to eat a little treat, but she just quit eating.  All she wanted from us was a safe loving home.  We were more than happy to provide. 

            Molly's neck did scar, as you can see the dark line on her neck.

                                                        

                                This picture was taken in 2008

Scamp was Oreo’s brother. He was 4 weeks old when I rescued them. They lost their momma.  He weighed 1lb 4 oz.  He was very independent.  He did not need love or attention. One day when he was 6 or 7 months old, he hopped on the sofa next to me and cried for attention.  It was such a great moment!  I lavished him with the attention he needed.  From then on, Scamp would come when he wanted attention.  He would thump my leg with his head until I petted him.  He would accept my intrusion, but preferred attention on his schedule.

                                   Scamp when he was a kitten

When he was a kitten he and Oreo decided to help me paint a room…..They were climbing the ladder and getting into things, big help.  Scamp decided he needed to sniff the paint! He got paint on his nose and mouth. Being new to this type of drama, I call the vet. No worries, it is latex paint, he did not get enough to do damage. Make sure he drinks water. I forced water in him.

                                        Scamp a year old

Scamp contracted IMHA, which is extremely rare in cats.  We discovered his illness too late. We tried a transfusion but it failed.  I miss him. He was a character. Kept to himself, except when he wanted my attention.  He was easy going, laid back and curious. He left us in 2010.

All of our animals teach us something before they depart. We keep growing in knowledge in our care of the remaining.  Our hearts break at each passing

The cats came first, then the dogs, then the ducks and chickens.  Winkin chicken died two summers ago. She was not a very strong bird, but she did her best. The heat was just too much for her. Blinkin, well, she is very old in bird years. I do not imagine she will be with us next summer, but she is a tough old bird, who knows?

                                       Winkin hunting bugs

                                     The girls hunting bugs

Opa was Oma’s first mate.  He was our first causality in the feathered world.  We got too comfortable with them roaming around outside all day.  One evening, before it was time to go in, he got snatched. There were no feathers or sign of him.  It was either a coyote or a Bob cat.  We learned a painful lesson.  Opa was a funny Rouen drake. He was king of the birds. The chickens stayed away from him. He ruled the coop and the yard. He was a big beautiful bird.   Oma mourned his loss for days on end. She would call and call for him from morning to night.  This broke my heart for her.  We have not made this mistake again.

Mourning loss is very difficult. Difficult in that the world speeds on. The demands on you are coming from all directions.  It would be nice to just have some quiet time to mourn, not to make it a career, but the needed time to heal.  Instead, we are pushed along to feel better, be better, get going, be doing and speed along with everyone else. To where? Our own death.  Stuff the feelings of loss and hop on the fast track to no where. How sad for all of us that we cannot make the time to grieve for those we love.  

I have not lost my joy, my peace and my humor.  My heart is broken over each loss. The loss takes time to heal, which time is the best healer.  Life is precious.  Life is a gift. We tend to forget this gift has an expiration date.  We treat this gift carelessly and waste so much of it. Imagine how we would live, if we lived as though today was our last day of life. 

With all that has been going on with our babies this spring and summer, I find myself reciting an old nursery rhythm.  You may remember it: There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she did not know what to do. 

I could not remember the ending.  I asked my mom and she reminded me of it.  I don’t like that ending, so here is my ending.

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children she did not know what to do.

She sucked it up.

The old woman reminded herself of the commitment to love, care and protect the children until they depart.

When the time came for each child’s departure, the old woman gently cradles each child in her arms.

She speaks softly, tears stinging her eyes, saying, “I have loved you all of your days. I am richer for having you in my life.  Thank you for sharing your life with me.”

 She cradles them until they depart.

Click on the link below. this has been running through my mind.

www.achtungbaby.org/08/07/good-morning-heartache.mp3

GOOD NIGHT MUNCHKIN

The first time I saw Munchkin was at the home of my husband’s aunt.  She was known as the cat lady.  Not that she collected cats, but she had great compassion for stray animals and people.  

Munchkin was a baby of one of those stray cats, she fed.   He was very small, with a cute little moon face, with big eyes.   He would sit and watch me prune bushes and rake.  I would talk to him as I would talk to any person.  He never talked, just watched. He was fine with me talking to him, as long as I did not get too close.

My husband’s aunt was feeding 23 or more cats and kittens.  Her house sat on pier and beams. The cats lived under the house and all around the house.  Now this was a woman on a fixed income of $900.00 a month.  She was 86 years old.  She faithfully fed these cats each morning and evening, without fail.  

Sadly, these cats and kittens all had an upper respiratory infection, (a form of herpes) which caused a green nasal discharge, mucky, runny eyes and sneezing.  In the three days we stayed to clean his aunt’s lawn and winterize her home, I noticed changes in Munchkin.  By the last day, Munchkin’s eyes were a mess. One was completely matted closed and the other eye was matted with just a slit to see out of.  It would not be long before both eyes were matted shut.

My husband’s aunt asked us to catch as many of the kittens as we could.  She wanted us to find them good homes to give them a chance at life.  We were able to catch three kittens.  Munchkin was one of them.  We waited until feeding time.  Munchkin was not one to miss a meal.  The older cats chased the kittens away from the food dishes. The kittens got what was left, if anything at all.  Since we were standing around, the older cats stayed away. Munchkin had his face in the dish eating when he saw us coming toward him. He was torn between eating and fleeing.  He kept looking at us and eating as fast as he could with one foot ready to flee.  We got him before he could flee. Now his sister Grumpy will skip the meal if meant not being caught.  She nearly got away from us.

What his aunt did not know was how sick these kittens were.  I believe they were roughly 5 weeks old.  We were not sure if Munchkin would survive the 6 hour drive home.  He did. We were not sure the Vet could do anything for him.  The Vet could and did.  We put the three kittens in isolation. We did not want this virus getting our four other cats.  Munchkin and his sister Grumpy recovered from the virus after three weeks of administering medicine twice a day.  I knew I could catch Munchkin if I administered the medicine at meal time; Worked every time. He just refused to miss a meal. When you picked him up he would wrap his paws around your arm.  Not sure if he thought he could restrain you. But each time you pick him up; he would wrap his paws around your arm. The third kitten, Sneezy’s recovery took over two months.   

               Out on the deck of our last home. He is six months old.

To this day, when the seasons change Munchkin’s right eye, the eye that was matted shut, would get mucky and runny for a few days, that was the only reminder we had of the virus.  He also did not completely trust me being around while he ate. He would wait until I was not in sight to eat.  I could not blame him.

When we brought him home, he weighed 1lb 2oz and could sit in the palm of your hand.  He was sweet with the moon face that was half black and white, with those big eyes.  He was feral.  He became as domesticated as possible.  He never totally let go of his feral guardedness.

                         His tail finally decided to be all black.

It took a great deal of time for him to realize we were not the enemy.  Especially since he spent the first few weeks in isolation getting medicine shoved down his throat!  He would only come for love and affection on his terms.  He selected the time and place that he would come to you for love.

He would jump up on the bed, with Vinny, Oreo and Scamp, after I settled under the sheets for the night.  In the last few years this became our nightly routine.  He would ask you once to pet him.  If I stopped before he had enough attention, he would ask again.  In the morning if I stirred enough that he thought I was awake, he would cautiously put his face in my face asking for attention.  At night, I would pet him, especially his belly, that was his favorite, he finally laid down next to me.  Just as he was about to completely relax and fall asleep, he would jump up and run off.  He never changed that habit.  He did add to the habit.  He learned this trick from Oreo and took it to a whole new level.  If I did not respond, to his demands, he would take his paw with one tiny sharp claw extended, tapping me on the arm, no response, move up to the shoulder, still no response, then gently on the cheek  to get my attention.  It always worked.  His cute little moon face and antics always made me laugh.  Munchie was such a sweet boy, with a sweet temperament.

In our last home, Munchie and Sneezy would run as fast as they could chasing each other down the hall and shoot through the cat door to the deck. They would play and shoot back through the cat door and back down the hall.  He was full of energy and play.  He only talked when it was important to him.

He became buddies with Vinny, Oreo and scamp, the older boy cats.  I called Vinny, Oreo and Scamp the three amigos.  Those boys would strut down the hall side by side with tails straight up in the air.  It was quite a sight.  Munchkin joined them.  They became the four amigos.   It was always funny watching the four them strut down the hall side by side, with their tails straight up in the air, giving you the brown eye.  I never caught it on camera.  After Scamp’s death, it was the three amigos again, Vinny, Oreo and Munchkin.  

As Munchie aged, he mellowed more toward us.  He began to spend time with us, but still a bit on alert, just in case.  He kept that feral part of him.  In the beginning, when we moved to Texas, he would sleep on the end of our bed. When he heard us approach, he would open one eye watching our every move.  I think the time spent with the three amigos taught him to trust us.  He got away from sleeping with one eye open when we were around.

He was extremely loyal to Vinny, (Mr. Mom), scamp and Oreo (the adopted big brothers).  He took over as the iron claw after Pebble’s death.  He kept the young cats in line.  He taught them what was and was not acceptable. He was the big brother to them.

He was always first to the kitchen for breakfast and dinner.  He would hang around talking to me while I got his meal ready, at a safe distance of course.  I think he was saying, ‘can you hurry it up, I am starving here!’

Monday evening, Munchie did not show up for dinner.  I did not think much about it.  Later that evening, Munchkin did something I hoped would happen one day. He came up on the bed, where I was reading, came over to me and laid down next to me like this was an every day occurrence.  I was surprised and touched by it.  I talked with him and petted him while reading.  After a bit he left.  In reflection, I realize this was his way of saying good bye to me.  He knew he was dying.   Cats are very smart. They know when their time comes to die. They do not fight death.  They surrender to death.

                   This was taken Monday, June 25th. This is Munchkin and Oreo

Tuesday, he did not come to the kitchen for breakfast. He was under our bed.  I brought him out and set him on the bed and talked and petted him.  He went back under the bed immediately. He did not come out for dinner. He stopped eating.  I knew something was very wrong.  Munchie did not come up on the bed that night for his nightly scratch.

                   I kept trying to get a full face picture, but to no avail

I took him to Dr. Stefani, Wednesday morning.  He had lost 2lbs.  We left him at the clinic for a complete diagnostic work up and to see if they could do something to help him.  

Dr. Stefani called and told us the bad news. He was diagnosed with FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis).  This is fatal.  He had the wet version, meaning his tummy and lungs fill up fast with fluids.  The fluids were filling faster than Dr. Stefani could eliminate. This disease is fast in its destruction. There is no treatment or cure.  There is no effective vaccine or test for this disease. 

We knew we needed to let him go, as his condition was worsening by the hour.  We returned to the Vet’s clinic to say goodbye to a dear, sweet friend.  While petting him and letting the tears flow, Munchie saw a cat in one of the cages.  Munchie did not have the strength to stand up, but he laid there with the tip of his tail seriously tapping. The tip of his tail was bent. Something happened to it before we got him. He wanted to check out the cat and, if need be, put it in its proper place.  He put one last smile on my face by these actions.  We held him as he left this mortal plain, on June 27, 2012. 

Munchkin made me laugh and touched my heart with his courage and sweetness.  He was loved. I miss him dearly.  We laid him to rest next to Pebbles.    

Munchkin (Munchie) was 9 years 10 months old.  I am thankful we gave him a good home and a chance at life.  He taught us much and enriched our lives.  I miss my amigo.

           Munchkin and Scamp, December 2002.  Both Amigos are gone now.

Good night sweet Munchkin

TRANSITIONS: NEW BEGINNINGS

Part 6:  As you know we feed nocturnal critters.  We leave dry cat food out for them each night.  In late May, there was a raccoon that was coming out to eat as early as 6:00PM!  What? It is not dark!  I would go out and put some food in a dish. The raccoon would stay back and watch me.  I would not say a word, just make slow movements and fill a bowl with food.  The little critter would eat then take off.

This worried me. This is a good way to get killed in this part of the world.  A few times a week this would go on. I began getting food out there by 5:00PM.  One day, the raccoon was looking in the kitchen door!  It was 3:30PM!  WHAT!? Thankfully the dogs did not see it or their bodies and faces would be plastered up against the door barking.  What is going on?

This little raccoon was not the one I was seeing before.  This one is younger and smaller.  I put food out as the raccoon watched from a safe distance.  It ate the food, stretched out underneath my vehicle, like a cat would.  I thought, now I have a pet raccoon? No way.

Now I knew I needed to keep cat food available to them all day. Each morning the cat food went out.  Each afternoon here comes that little raccoon.  Then one day, I noticed something, she was pregnant!!  Now that explains the daylight raids for food.  She was getting ready to have babies.  But where? She must be close by.  Yep, she was. She made her little nest in our partially covered carport, where my husband stores, building wood and large machinery. 

Now I am hooked. A new mom. She is young. I am thinking this is her first batch of kids. We made sure every morning she got fresh water, fresh food and if I had any fruit or veggie to share, she would get some.  We did the same thing at night as well.

One morning or actually nearly noon, she was coming back from the woods and heading for her nest.  I did not see her.  I was busy with my head down cleaning a duck tub to refill it.  Ever have one of those moments when you respond like someone tapped you on the head? I did. I looked up. I saw her off her beaten path eying chicken and duck.  I yell, “No little momma.”  She looks at me then looks at them.  I yell again, “No little momma, they are my babies. You go see your babies and leave my babies alone.” She looked at me, and then at the chicken and duck, they were frozen in position. She moved back to the beaten path and went back to her babies.   So close to having a chicken and maybe duck dinner.  I immediately herd my group closer to the coop.

Sometimes I would see her peak her head out the carport. She sniffed the air, “yep that crazy human is still out there.”  She would come out late in the afternoon and eat from the bird feeder and the other bowls of food. I think she needed a break from the babies. She was looking pretty haggard and worn.

I am still waiting for the debut of new life!  I want so badly to see the little raccoons, but I dare not enter her nest area, if I wish to keep my face intact.  Sometimes when I put fresh water out for her along with food, we would be about 4 feet from each other.  She was cautious and I just said, “hi little momma, just bringing food and drink.” I never made quick moves.

I think she and the kids must be sleeping through the day now.  I do not see her at all during the day.  I still have not seen her out with the kids yet, but hoping.  When I do get to see them, I am hoping to get some pictures to share with you. 

This is the only picture I have of her. She is next to the vehicle eating.

 Just ran into momma raccoon. We startled  each other. She went into defensive mode and I stood still. She ran back into the carport. She is out eating. She had her babies.  She does not look pregnant now. The kids won't be making an appearance for a time now. I will let you know when they make their debut. 

TRANSITIONS: FEATHERED FOLLIES

Part 5: The ducks and the chicken are going through their usual molt this spring through summer.  For some reason, unbeknownst to me, the girls molt first.  The boys are revved up and raring to go!  The girls would like the boys to drop dead!

Thus the struggle of hormones and molting in spring begin!  My logical brain thought that the boys and girls would molt at the same time.  Not so with my group.  The girls begin molting in the spring.  Little Dude begins molting at the girls halfway molting point.  The Appleyard boys heads begin to change from green to white.  By the time the molt and changes are done, we have a crabby crew. There coop looks like a giant pillow fight where the pillows exploded.

Oma likes the attention of the Appleyard boys during the fall and winter. They are mellow.  She does not mind having an entourage following her around. She loves giving them commands.  They follow her everywhere!  But come spring, another story completely. She is hollering at me to keep them away!! 

                    Little Dude does his best to protect his fickle female

One spring day, the Appleyard boys, were so excited they hurt Oma’s leg.  The boys tend to jump one on top of the other on the females.  I am constantly pulling them off of each other.  Some how they managed, in their zeal, to twist Oma’s ankle, I have not a clue how.  She limped back into her enclosure and sat down. She did not move the rest of the day.  We keep tubs of water in their enclosure for swimming.  I put her in one to let her leg get a good soak.  She allowed this for a minute then out she came. I left her alone.

I kept her in the enclosure for a couple of days to let that leg rest and heal.  Oma was a very unhappy duck.  She gave me a good chewing for it too!  The third day I let her out and she did not limp at first, but as the time went by, she began limping again. It did not help when the boys came running over to see her and she tried to flee from them.  I put her back in her enclosure, again another royal chewing.  I left her in for a couple more days. I thought I would never hear the end of her complaining! During her down time, she finally used her tub and floated around to let the leg heal. She got better, but it took a good couple of weeks for the limp to stop.

            Little Dude in the fore ground and the Appleyard boys behind.

Just after Oma is better, the Appleyard boys descend on Little Dude.  Jonathan tries to beat him.  Well, he got a hold of Dude then I heard this little squeak, looking up I see Jonathan sitting on Dude pecking him. I run over there to break it up. Jonathan saw me and split.  Little Dude looked okay.  However, it was a 90 plus degree day, with Dude just sitting in the sun.  I watch him.  He is not moving any closer to the water dish. I give him a little spray from the hose. He welcomes the relief, but does not get up.  Oh no, they hurt him.

                                       Little Dude

I walk toward Dude. He jumps up but uses a wing to balance as he tries to walk away from me.  Not good.  He is trying his best to run away from me, but I catch him.  I pick him up and feel his legs. They are not broken, whew!  But I see blood on my hand. Where is this coming from?  I look at Dude’s feet.   In his struggle with Jonathan, one of Dude’s nails is broken, not just the nail but the entire nail bed is hanging by a thread of tissue.  I apology to Dude for what I am about to do. I finish pulling the nail bed off. He squeaked a bit, not surprising.  I put him down in his enclosure and hot foot it to the house. I get the styptic and haul back to Dude, who is bleeding.  I just put clean water in their tubs. I put him in it to clean the wound. He jumps out; I grab him and apply the styptic until the bleeding stops. Now he has a glob of this stuff on his wound.  The bleeding is stopped. 

                        

The next day Little Dude still has the glob of styptic. He jumps in the outdoor pool and cleans off the styptic. I have my husband hold Dude up so I can examine his wound.  It is clean. I apply liquid bandage to the wound.  Dude does not move and looks straight at me.  Did I mention the liquid bandage has an antiseptic in it?  It dries, we let him go. He runs to the pool and takes a bath to get the stink of human touch off of him.  At the present, I do not see any new growth. I believe he will be one nail less on his left foot.

Now my husband thought this liquid bandage is a great thing, until he used it.  He came and asked my why I did not tell him it would sting?  I asked him if he noticed the word, antiseptic. No he did not. He has not touched it since.

 

Dude is usually the last one out of the coop.

When the boys are out with everyone, they tend to bring nothing but chaos and hurt.  Blinkin our chicken does her best to help me rein them in, but she gives up after a bit.  This particular day Jonathan was determined to have Phoebe. He finally chased her down. After he had his way with her, he runs to Oma and Mac to share in his conquest. 

                            Phoebe in the foreground with Buffy

Phoebe walks back slowly.  Oh, NO, not again! Remember the girls are molting, less feathers.  Jonathan managed to pull her blood feather and nick her skin. There was blood gushing off her. 

Phoebe does not want to be touch.  I end up herding her into her enclosure.  I go to the house and get the liquid bandage.  I take the hose in the enclosure with me.  I grab her up and look for the wound.  So much blood, I begin to rinse her off.  When the temps are high, I wear a white worn out t-shirt to keep cool.  As I am spraying to clean her wound area, the water is splashing back; she is flapping her wings at me covering me with watery blood. I am a mess.  Finally I cleanse the area find the wound. This time it is just a small nick.  Now I am holding her in one hand pressing her up against me, trying to open the liquid bandage with her flopping around. Manage to get the liquid bandage on her wound. In fact, I get three coats on it. 

If I left the wound as is, in a very short time I would find her covered in maggots. I do not want to pick maggots off of her or anyone else for that matter. So best to clean and use liquid bandage for the wound. The liquid bandage is water proof and will wear off.

I open the enclosure and put her down. She makes a dash for the nearest pool dives in and takes a bath to remove the human stink.  She was funny to watch. I had sprayed her with so much water to clean the wound area that when she was in the pool her back end sank down in the water. She did not care. She wanted that nasty human stink off!

Blinkin chicken is 5 years old.  She is a laying hen.  Laying hens lay eggs for 3 years, then stop.  They live 6 years.  Apparently she is unaware of this.  This spring while the molt was going on with the female ducks, Blinkin laid an egg.  Shocker!  Then four days later another egg, what!?  Four days after that another egg, amazing!  She did this for a couple of weeks.  The last two eggs she cannibalized.  She left us the shells as proof.  She has not laid an egg since.  She is back to running the yard and jumping the ducks every chance she gets.  

                                   Blinkin bug hunting

She gets angry with Oma during bugging season.  Blinkin will follow me as I kick the grass and stir the bugs to jump. Blinkin is hot onto the bugs.  Oma following Blinkin jumps on the bugs that Blinkin catches before Blinkin can eat them.  It is no wonder Blinkin gets a wild hair (feather) and attacks the ducks out of the blue.

Buffy still holds the title of “Buffy the Frog Slayer.” She can out run the others to catch frogs. I try to stop her, but too late each time.  If I see a frog, I do my best to get it out of the ducks  line of sight or it is dinner.

Buffy is also trying out for the synchronized swimming venue for the Olympics. She plans on being the star duck. 

Phoebe is our snake alarm.  She stands at whatever end the snake is not and begins the alarm call.  Her call is fast, short and loud!  Quake,quake, quake, quake, quake, breath, quake, quake…. sounds like snake snake snake snake pause, breath, repeat.

The first time she did this I was looking at my sad nonexistent garden.  I went over to see what was up.  Doggone, there was this long snake!  I turn and head for the house to get the shot gun!  When I return I see the snake heading out on Oma’s side of the coop. I run around to greet it with the shot gun, but that sneaky snake zipped out through the side fence and was gone!  The second time she sounded the alarm, I was watering. I shot into the house for the shot gun. By the time I got back, I saw its tail leaving the building, but could not find it in the grass. NUTS!

The third alarm call came while I was getting in my car to head to town. I went back into the house got the gun came out and BAM, first shot nicked it, second shot, opened it up, third shot cut it nearly in two, still had a thread of skin holding it together. Man, I am out of shots!! I run around to Blinkin’s side of the coop grab the hoe. Come around find the back half of the snake in the nest……where is the front half? Saw the front half resting in the Appleyards side.  I go over to make sure it is dead. IT IS NOT! I take the hoe to it. The hoe is so dull all I am doing is beating it. I thought I finally beat it to death, but it raised its head to move. I hit it again and again. Finally it stopped moving.

I have never apologized to a snake before.  I felt terrible having to beat it to death.  It is much better to shoot its head off and be done.  This felt so mean.  I get the head section out onto the yard. I go back to the girl’s side to get the body section.  Guess what, the body section was still moving…gross!  Phoebe and Buffy were not moving an inch.  I finally manage to get the moving body out of the coop. See the video. This is one snake.  After I took the video, the snake raised its head one more time. I beat it until I knew it was really dead!! I apologized.  This was the snake that kept getting away.

It was not three days later, I hear Phoebe sound the alarm. I was out with the dogs in the back yard. They were doing their last bit of business before bed.  I heard Phoebe. I know what is out there….a snake!  I get the dogs in the house; grab the 12 gauge this time.  It is 10:30 at night.  I grab a spot light and out the door I go. I really do not like walking around in the dark….I shine the spot light into the girl’s side of the coop, nothing…I shine it into the boys side, still nothing. I shine it over to Oma’s side and Blinkin’s side, still nothing….?  Okay, I walk around to Oma’s side and pull the cord to raise the solar shade. Oma and Dude are in a tub together. I scare Dude so bad he looked like he was shot out of a cannon when I rolled the screen up!  Once he realized it was me, he ran up the ramp and jumped back in the tub with Oma.  This is weird? Phoebe is still sounding the alarm, the boys are standing with their backs to their door and not making a peep (so unlike them).  Phoebe and Buffy are against the same wall as the boys. That snake has got to be in there somewhere…..I am standing on the outside looking in the girl’s area again, then the snake moved! It was down by my feet on the inside of the coop!!!!!  Now I have a shot gun with a good kick to it in one hand and a spot light in the other. The snake is on the back side of their swimming tubs. It is heading for Blinkin’s side. All I can see is the back end of the snake.

I am, hoping not to blow a hole in the tubs. I fire and cut the snake apart!  I go around to Blinkin’s side hoping to finish it off. All I see is the shot part of the snake going into the bale of straw we have in the coop!!!!  Okay, decision time. Do I shoot into the bale hoping to kill the snake? No, I might hit one of the birds. Do I go in the coop and use a hoe to dig through the bale.??????  No!  I decide to wait until morning to finish it off.

Next morning, I go out looking for the snake in the bale of straw. I hold the gun in one hand and use a rake to slowly rake the straw………NOTHING!? Where did the snake go?  Needless to say I was a bit on edge cleaning that day. I really wanted to know where the rest of the snake was hiding.  I did shoot a hole in the chain link fence. We fixed it. But I did not shoot a hole in their swimming tubs.

                     This is the back end of the snake. notice the hole to the                      left of the snake. I did that. it is fixed now.

I left the end that I shot in the girl’s area there until morning too.  That was a big mistake on my part.  This happened 4 days ago.  At present, neither Buffy nor Phoebe will go into their big tub to bathe.  They will not even drink out of it!  Not sure if it was my shooting it and leaving part of it there over night or did the snake scare Buffy out of the tub? Whatever the reason, neither of the girls will venture into that tub.  I am hopeful they will forget about it. They now use their big tub happily.

I was heading for a Vet appointment for Amie and Munchkin on Wednesday morning, June 27th.  As I walked out to the car, I heard Phoebe sounding the alarm. My husband was bringing out Munchkin and Amie. In a matter of fact tone, I told him there was a snake in the coop again. The shot gun is in the kitchen. I failed to mention I did not reload the 20 gauge shot gun. I drove off, he grabbed the 20 guage and lined up his sight on the snake and tink, nothing.  He realized the gun was empty. He went back into the house and got the 22 hand gun with snake shot in it. That did the job.  He made up a country western song title: “There’s a snake in the chickens and the shotguns in the kitchen.”

Yesterday, I found the front end of the missing snake. It was out in the yard by the dogs’ fenced area, deader than a door nail.  Whew! Now I do not have to keep looking for it. 

                Front half or more of the snake I shot a few days earlier

We installed a new bigger swimming pool for the ducks.  We kept their little pool as well.  With ducks anything new or out of place is consider a danger area!  You approach with great caution or just give it a wide berth.  This is what they did with the new big pool. 

They remind me of this cartoon drawing when they saw the new pool.

It took Little Dude a couple of days then into the pool without fear. He loves the big pool!  It is deep!  He can swim around and feel like he is all that and a bag of chips!  Everyone else is now digging the new pool.

                            We now have the battle of the pools...

We added two more solar shades to outside of the Buffy and Phoebe’s and The Appleyard boys’ enclosure.  It really helps keep the sun out and the temperature down a bit. We bought these solar shades at Costco last summer. Here is the manufacturers website: http://keystonefabrics.com/solar-shades/

We have their misting system going again to help them tolerate this heat. Here is the website where we purchased: http://www.dripdepot.com/misting-kits  I added 7 fans that blow in different directions to help keep them cool.

I am working on a filter system for the big pool, (when I get the time). I am hopeful to add a water fall to it.  When I get it done, no one will go into the pool for a few days. Once again, something new, must not get too close.  I will post some pictures of it when I get it completed.

We also need to put some shade out there next to the pools and over the pools for the birds to rest under. The temps are in the low 100’s now.  It gets to be a bit much for them.  I have a framed out sheet of lattice with solar shade screen attached to it.  I plan to make a temporary stand for it. At least, it will give them shade. Now again, it will be something new that must be avoided. Hopefully they will get over it quickly.

Their tempers are flaring a bit with the heat too. Little Dude came walking out of Buffy and Phoebe’s enclosure and Buffy jumped him and gave him what for. I had to break it up.

It is going to be a long hot summer!!!!

Almost done, part 6 next.  Transitions: New Beginnings