Henna Found a Home, Sorta... And Fang Loses Out

Henna, our most exotic rescue to date has found temporary - possibly permanent - placement. My husband took her to the local shelter today where they recognized her immediately as one of a missing pair of Bengals whose prior owner had passed away.

After the death of their owner, the two siblings were then placed into the care of another party who neglected them. The shelter had picked up the brother due to the neglect but was informed at that time that the sister was missing. (She was with us, getting fed, lucky girl.)

The manager of the shelter was fostering the brother in her home so when we brought the sister in to check for an ID chip, the shelter staff were elated, snatched her up, and whisked her away.

Now for the sad part. Fang also accompanied my husband to the shelter to see if there was a ID chip but they took one look at him and said "No, he doesn't have a chip and er, we don't have a place for him yet, and uh, it might be awhile before we do..."

Sigh.

Now we can look forward to another week of medications for his various ailments. He has relapsed into a horrid ear infection which was not caught by the original vet exam and it turned back into another upper respiratory infection. So he now gets an ear flush daily. Which by the way, I must say, he truly despises. Followed by an ear antibiotic twice a day which requires refridgeration. You know how great cold wet drops in your ear feel. Then he receives a refridgerated, banana-flavored oral antibiotic. Again, he's impressed, banana is every carnivore's favorite. Why not tuna-flavored? Have they no pity? And last but not least, he receives antibiotic drops in his eyes and his nose. By now, as you can imagine he's thoroughly enjoying the entire procedure. Did I mention he's a big strong boy?

The vet office clipped his nails way back so although we have a bruise or two to show for our "this is hurting us more than it's hurting you" medication regimen, the worst damage consists of cleaning up the various liquids that don't quite make it to the intended infection site during our struggle with, er treatment of the darling creature.

And when the last dose has been administered, he sneezes, looks at us and starts purring and kneading again.

Henna - What's Her Story?

I just crossed the line from altruistic cat lover to the crazy cat lady. This is the latest rescue and these pictures do not do her justice. She's the most beautiful cat I've ever seen. I find it hard to believe someone dumped her, she must be lost. We'll take her in this weekend to the shelter and see if they can find a chip on her. She looks expensive although she's extremely thin, dehydrated, and half feral. How does a cat this gorgeous get misplaced?

Humans Sit on the Floor

Clockwise from the top left is Honey (black & white), Helen (grey-tabby), Hyacinth (long-haired tabby), and her sister Hermione. If you look close, you can see Hyacinth's tongue still sticking out. Honey was our first cat (she's the queen bee), Hyacinth and Hermione were our first rescues, and Helen is definitely the princess.

No Respect

Yep, the pre-teen years are pure, unadulterated bliss...

Cat Attack

Remind me again why I rescue them?

Tomato King

My husband didn't plant his tomatos until early July but they are coming along quite well.
And he is quite pleased!

Pasture Management

The front pasture is done! (Doesn't sound that exciting, does it?)



It was a back breaking exercise in clearing native roses and blackberry canes back far enough to place new posts in order to separate the upper front pasture from the lower front pasture. My husband did much of the hard labor on the tractor, painstakingly working around existing posts and electric tape to clear areas of overgrown fencing, trimming the lower branches of the Douglas Firs up to at least 7 feet, and clearing away the pruned limbs. I followed behind with a bucket full of post insulators and not-so-sharp pruning shears to clip back wayward blackberry shoots. I had hours of fun untangling previously used electric tape and dragging bough after bough of Douglas Fir to our debris pile. The electric tape had been neatly coiled at one time but had obviously been processed recently through a professional grade tangle machine.



It was a beautiful sight upon completion, all four firs had been completely overgrown/overtaken by one kind of thorny brush or another and now they stand clear and clean of brush and ready to offer shade, windbreaks, and shelter from the rain during the late summer and fall season.

This was the last stage of this year's plan for the front pasture and now we just need to get home early enough in the afternoon, one day this week, to give the horses some time to acclimate to the new location during daylight hours so they know where to expect obstacles and gates.

Moving Eleanor

Eleanor is 94 this year and she's make the move from her independant cottage living to a studio apartment on the retirement home campus. My mom went over Friday and helped get the small items packed into boxes and then moved most of the boxes to the studio.

Saturday, the rest of the clan joined Mom and moved the remaining boxes and large furniture items to the studio. It was hot, muggy work made even more pleasurable by the need to unbox all the boxes, arrange all the furniture and knick-knacs, hang all the pictures, organize the new, smaller living space, clean kitchen and bath, make beds, glue broken items, and help Eleanor come to terms with the need to part with furniture that we could simply not squeeze in the new space.

But when all was said and done, we left her completely settled in her new space with only her thoughts to rearrange.

Fang - Update

Fang is settling in smoothly to his temporary quarters. His coat is beginning to return to normal, his Upper Respitory Infection is nearly gone and his antibiotics are finished. He's also learned the morning routine and happily chats to whichever captive audience is in the shower. He doesn't seem unduly concerned with the presence of dogs but we've yet to test persian protocol through formal feline/canine introductions.

He has a supportive fan base, many have been tempted to offer him a home but so far none have taken the bait... er, lovely little fellow.

The vet clinic did touch base with the local no-kill shelter and they volunteered to take him without a charge since we have had him neutered, are fostering, and provided him with medical treatment. They will not have a place for him for several more weeks however, since they are remodeling their quarantine section. So we get to spoil him for a bit yet.

My Dad

Dad just started his own blog as well - battle-ground.blogspot.com

Fang - The Money Shot

All cleaned up, he doesn't look nearly as scary. But could you love this face? If you could, he's ready for pickup.

Fang - The Vet Visit

We raced out of work late due to last minute fires, headed over to my mom-in-law's to pickup Fang for his Vet appointment. When we arrived, I expected Fang to be stressed and anxious but instead discovered him (yes, I checked the gender and as my brother would say, "He's packing") lounging comfortably on some boxes in the garage, still purring and kneading.

My Oldest had been keeping tabs on his food and drink, preparing mushy food for him as we figured with those teeth he wouldn't be comfortable with dry food. My Youngest had been keeping him company so he didn't feel abandoned and all-in-all they did a great job because Fang didn't look like he intended to go anywhere soon.

My mom-in-law gave me a comfy little blanket to wrap him in for the trip to the vet and other than gracing my husband with a few well-aimed sneezes (barely deflected by my husband's elbow shield) we made it to the vet just by the hair of our chinny-chin-chin.

The technicians and veterinary doctor oohed and ahhhed over the cat "Ohhhhh, he's darling!"
My husband - to himself "No, he's SCARY."

They prepared an overnight space with a warm blanket, water and a kitty box. Fang was not ready to be left behind as evidenced by the first absence of purring and kneading since entering our custody. He attempted to bring us back over to his cage with the Feline Vulcan Mind Stare but my Husband's elbow shield once again deflected the worst of Fang's powers. Giving up, he proceeded to climb into the cat box and express his opinion of the situation.

The vet inquired whether we were keeping him and since we really don't have room, we took her up on her offer to contact the no-kill shelter after he received a Neuter, some antibiotics, and a good dose of Revolution to get rid of fleas, worms, and earmites. The doctor said she'd do a full exam in the morning and let us know what else she found.

A no-kill adoption shelter is a must or this guy's a goner.