SHEESH

My Tasha pup is sick. She got a bit of heat stroke last weekend and passed out for a few seconds at the dog park (we were sitting under this really awesome wooden gazebo that has a swing; with a nice breeze, it was heaven). She'd eaten some grass, which she loves to do at the park, and later started having a hacking cough in the pet store. It continued all night, so we made her vomit. She had some long pieces of grass come out and seemed a bit better, but the coughing continued the next day. Mostly when she ate or got up from sleep. She also became VERY clutchy, crawling into my lap, which is the #1 sign that she doesn't feel good.

So, Misty took her to the vet yesterday morning. He said she has a very bad case of tonsillitis (did you know dogs can get that too? I didn't). She got an injection and was sent home with antibiotics. She's due for a vaccine (but couldn't get it b/c she is sick), so we'll make a new appointment in a couple weeks to have that done when he can recheck her tonsils as well. She also had a lot of labwork done. The vet said he was ready to dole out bad news when he saw "very sick, lethargic 13-yr-old husky" on his list for the day, but he said her labwork was amazing. Healthy like that of a dog half her age. "Darned if she doesn't live to be 20!" he said. Yay! I certainly hope so.

Then, there are the fosters. The Miestro is doing well and should be off the bottle soon - he's already crawling; eyes are open; and he's craving human attention. Peach and Bingo have been neutered and returned to the shelter. They will hopefully be adopted soon.

Some updates on the other animals.

• Popeye the Pug was adopted by a nice lady from the news (but I won't say who or which newschannel!).
  
• Frosty (remember Frosty & Snowball; Snowball who passed away with Frosty curled up beside him) had some bad luck for a while. She kept getting paired with other kittens who she got totally smitten with, but they either died or got adopted without her (this is all at the shelter; we generally only keep them at our house until they are an adoptable age). She finally got adopted with another kitten and is doing fine.
• Eragon, little black furball who tended to hang out with Peach, got adopted. He also got adopted with a buddy to play with and I think that family had kids, so it was a great match.
• Freddy, the housegoat, got adopted by a petting zoo. He will eat that attention up like nothing else. Yay for Freddy. Oh, and the ponies are quite happy to have him gone as well. ;-]
• There are still about 4 dogs left from the Whiteford incident...well, plus Lucky's 5 puppies
  

I think that is it. Misty works this Sunday, so I'll probably go in to help out as usual and will hopefully be able to get some pics of Lucky's puppies. I saw them last week, but didn't have the camera. They are getting so huge and totally adorable!

Fostering

We've had some bad luck with fosters. Shrek (see last post) passed away while I was in Florida. The two neonates Misty had gotten while I was gone (named Sprite & Coke or Pepsi or something) passed away within a few days of each other after I got back. That left us Peach (picture below, with faux rabbit fur toy), Bingo (picture above, with ball & ribbon toy), Jerry Garcia (no pictures unfortunately), and The Miestro (last post).

We lost Jerry Garcia last night. He was a scraggly little thing that reminded us of Peanut...except his color, he was another black kitten. He was very shy, but liked to curl up on my arm and sleep. He grew listless over the last week and we were having to force-feed him. He died in our arms. We've agreed not to do any more small kitten fostering. Just can't handle the grief.

The Miestro is still doing well and starting to crawl around (he was a neonate when we got him & is still being bottle-fed). Peach & Bingo are little terrors and we constantly hear them knocking things around while wrestling. It is hard to get pictures of them b/c they are always running around too fast.

RIP Peanut / Foster Pictures

Peanut died tonight. The FIP test was indeed positive, but the vet assured us our other cats were unlikely to develop it. FIP is a mutation of the corona virus which many/most kittens are exposed to when they are very tiny - especially in a multi-kitten place like a shelter. Most kittens fight it off, but a few develop into FIP. The vet thinks Peanut had it when we first brought him into our house (it isn't something routinely screened for) and it just finally got to be too much for him to fight off. Sati & Boulder aren't too young, too old, or too sick where they are likely to catch anything...plus the vet doubts Peanut was "shedding" the virus by the time he was in our place - he would have already had it (and the kitten really only sheds it before he gets sick). Poor little guy. He never stood a chance.

I wish we'd had longer with Peanut: he was a great cat/kitten. It is good to know his 7 months were 7 months he wouldn't have otherwise had if we hadn't stepped in - and in those months, he slept next to a comfy husky dog, played with another cat every day, and bonded with his humans. Those are good things.

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I wanted/needed something happy to post, so here are our current batch of foster cuties:

Peach
who you've all seen before
(feral kitty when it comes to wet food; he's now quite the little hunter)

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Bingo

(Peach's long-lost twin)
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Shrek
photo is a little fuzzy - I was trying to show his cute, squished face
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The Miestro
(he came with another little one that didn't last the first night)

Crappy Holiday Weekend

I like this picture of Peanut - he always pulls his food out of his bowl before he eats it. Just a neat little quirk with him. We've gotten some pretty bad news over the holiday weekend.

My Aunt B, passed away Monday morning (well, "yesterday" for another 10 minutes). She was a smart, generous, amazingly loving person whose tiny frame could fill a room with her presence. I remember swimming in her pool every summer and she would show off what new plants she had growing in her yard. I remember a walk my mom & I took with her when we came across a snake. My mom froze and Aunt B just screamed bloody murder (who knew she had such pipes!). I remember her showing up to my college graduation and being excited that the people who were housing me for the summer gave her some roots to bring home and plant. I have a lot of great memories of this woman and I will miss her dearly.

The same day I lost my Aunt B, we got some bad news about little Peanut. Our little fighter, who struggled to come back from the brink of death at mere weeks of age, is sick again. He gets a kitty cold almost every month, but he fights it off with meds each time. This time is different - he isn't sneezing so much, but he won't eat and is very lethargic. We took him to the vet on Monday and he had to stay the whole day. He's lost over a pound in a month (and he only weighed about 5lbs to begin with!). The vet is pretty sure he has FIP and gives him at most 2 months to live. Given his quality of life is deteriorating daily, we may have to make that awful decision a lot sooner than that. Poor little guy. I really hate it when life decides to kick you when you're down.