RESCUING A KITTEN, Part 4

Before I continue Zoie's saga, I want to tell you a little about Ebbie, one of our eleven-year-old cats, another black beauty.  I've always believed my mom sent Ebbie to me.  She was one very sick kitty when I rescued her from a friend's farm.  My mom had died and even years later, I was still missing her terribly.  So that snowy Christmas week when I picked up some galleys my friend was proofreading, I brought Ebbie home.  I stayed up nights with her while she was sick, massaging her sinuses so she could breathe.  And ever since that day, she's filled a hole in my heart and given me unconditional love and affection.  So I knew the process of taking in Zoie wasn't going to be a simple one.  Yet I was in it...and committed...and that was that.

Less than a week had passed since we'd rescued Zoie Joy from inside a bush in our backyard.  She was only about six weeks old.   No one had claimed her and we'd already taken her to the veterinarian once.  We had a second visit in three weeks.  Zoie's eyes were still running after a week so I called the vet and she ordered antibiotic drops for her eyes.

We kept Zoie in the sunroom for ten days then decided to bring her into my office in the main part of the house, yet keep her separated from Ebbie and London.  My office has a hall and a double door leading into our kitchen, so this was easily possible.  In my office I didn't have to worry about Zoie hurting herself on a concrete floor because scattered rugs dotted the wood floor.  My office already had a kitty condo, scratching tree and litter boxes.  There was also one in the main part of the house. We started a new litter box to have two for Ebbie and London outside of my office.  Our vet had recommended one more litter box than we had cats. 

 A few days before Zoie's next appointment, she developed diarrhea probably from too much dry food and too much water.  After another call to the vet, I watched her carefully to make sure she was still eating and drinking and playful until our vet visit. Dry food makes animals drink more than they would with wet food.  I'd been trying to leave a scoop between wet food feedings so she'd have food on demand when we weren't with her.  I was feeding her about every hour and a half except during the night and in the afternoons when she slept.  We still had her separated from our two older cats, Ebbie and London.

During the second vet visit, the doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory medicine twice a day for the stomach disruption, gave her the second distemper vaccine, and rabies injection.  She said to continue to feed her on demand, but no dry food, just wet, until the medicine was finished and she seemed well.  Then we could start the dry food again, little by little.  For Zoie, the dry food was like candy to a child.  She would stop eating her wet food when full.  But the dry...  She would keep gobbling it until it was gone.  The doctor said to keep her separated from the other cats until both the eyes and digestive issues were resolved.

Zoie didn't mind noise from weather like rain or thunder or outside noises like vehicles or mowers.  But she was afraid of voices and anyone other than us.  She became familiar with my office, one section at a time, exploring thoroughly before proceeding to the next.  We supplied her with toy mice, balls with jingle bells, her beanie baby bear, and a wand with a flannel strip that we put away every time we left so she didn't get tangled in it.  Oh, and those mice?  I pulled off their eyes and ears which didn't seem to be attached very well and cut off their tails.  One of our other cats choked on one when it came apart.  There are no standards for animal toys so they have to be checked.  I found a couple of chew toys that Zoie could chew to her heart's content and I knew they would be safe.  I spent most of my days in the office with her with the television turned on to HGTV.  No explosively loud commercials!!

To add a bit of complication to this story, Ebbie had a virus when we rescued her that I was told would stay recessive in her system although we'd cleared up the secondary infection.  I also knew stress could make it reemerge, though it never had.  In the midst of our Zoie adventure, Ebbie had an appointment for a rabies injection.  I give our cats homeopathic remedies before and after treatment that a holistic vet had recommended and prescribed.  Even so, after a rabies injection a few years ago, Ebbie lost her hair at the site of the injection in a three-inch circle for about six months.  Afterward, I discovered the agent the company used to distribute the vaccine was mercury.  That vet wasn't concerned when I called to discuss it, so we changed vets.  Our new more-concerned, better-informed vet told us about other companies' vaccines that aren't as harmful.  But this time, I was worried.

Ebbie is my intuitive cat and we have a sister-like bond.  She knows when I'm hurting and always consoles.  She's my constant companion, sweet, and would never hurt me or anyone else.  She's a pacifist!  Even though she hadn't seen Zoie, she knew she was around.  Even though I washed thoroughly and changed clothes, she knew.  She began withdrawing.  I think it was a case of fearing the unknown.  Without any physical contact with Zoie, Ebbie's eye began running a week after her rabies shot.  So she had another visit to the vet.  He prescribed L-lysine snack pellets...or a powder or a gel.  He felt the conjunctivitis in her eye stemmed from the feline herpes virus that is one of the most common causes of upper respiratory infection and eye problems in cats. It had laid dormant in Ebbie's system all these years.  The L-lysine is an amino acid that helps suppress virus replication.  In other words, it breaks the cycle.  But Ebbie is not and has never been a pill taker or kitty snack consumer.  I would have to be inventive.  He suggested that it would also be a good idea to treat Zoie, too, with half the dose. I would have to check that out with her vet.

More about meds and cats next week along with how the first face-to-face (or nose-to-nose) meeting between Zoie and Ebbie and Zoie and London progressed.

© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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Yep, I'm late getting my September newsletter/ezine posted. But I was waiting for a few things to happen first. My webmistress and I redesigned the front page to my website, as well as reorganizing some of the other pages. I now also have a printable book list. So I wanted to make sure all that was finished and in place before I sent out September's ezine. I also added a newsletter sign-up on the front page to make it easy for readers to subscribe. I'd like to have comments from you so I know if I have made finding my books and series easier. I also added my new cover for ABIGAIL AND MISTLETOE, my October Samhain retro release.

My September newsletter/ezine has a new contest, pictures of my kitties and gardens, plus info on my latest projects. If you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter, the newsletter can catch you up with what's happening in one place.  If you do follow me on social media, you'll be able to enter contests and see more pictures about my cats, gardens and cooking projects.

I have a lot of fun putting the newsletter together each month. I hope you enjoy it!

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RESCUING A KITTEN, Part 3

So Zoie Joy had her first vet appointment the day after we found her.  The vet had given her a flea treatment along with a dose of worming medicine and distemper vaccine.  We took her home expecting her to sleep.  She did much of the day, still eating every hour and a half or so.  But that night...

About six hours after the flea treatment, we began seeing them.  Oh, my!  The fleas were especially fleeing around her face and neck and she was miserable.  She kept scratching her face and ears.  I knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with the evacuation going on so I held her and stroked her, trying to make her more comfortable. At midnight, my husband made a quick trip to WalMart for a flea comb!

So for the next couple of hours, I removed the fleas with the fine-pronged comb, dropping them into a dish of water.  They were affected by the medication and slower than usual.  Finally Zoie fell asleep.  The flea medication not only kills the fleas and their reproductive capacity on her but any that escaped couldn't propagate.  The next morning we replaced her towel bedding and washed down the area.  The concrete floor made it easier.

This was definitely a bonding time for me and Zoie.  When she was sleeping, I stroked her all over to get her used to being handled.  We held her whenever she let us.  The day after the vet visit, she slept a lot.  We began leaving more dry food in her dish to give her access between feedings.  We left a tablespoon of the milk substitute at night.

Have you ever given a cat a bath?  The vet advised us to do that with baby shampoo 48 hours after the flea treatment to wash the flea dirt away.  Where did we go for help on the subject?  To the Internet.  We found a video about how to give a cat a bath.  The most important tip was not to wash her head, keeping water away from her eyes.  Surprisingly, the bath wasn't the traumatic event I expected it to be.  The video suggested using the sink, but we didn't have her in the house yet.  So we used a plastic basin , putting a washcloth in the bottom.  The water was warm, but not too warm and, thank goodness, the day was hot.  We gave her the bath in the morning.  Filling two pitchers for rinsing with luke-warm water, we kept them close by.

Two of us made this process easier.  My husband held Zoie in the basin while I poured water from the pitcher to wet her fur.  Then I put a small amount of the shampoo in my hands, made a lather and skimmed it over her quickly.  We gently poured water over her several times to rinse her, then held her in a towel to dry her as much as we could.  Then we let her loose to wash herself in the sun.  It wasn't long before she was playing and drying, though it took several hours for that undercoat of fur to dry.

For the next few days, my husband and I alternated spending time with her, taking work to the sunroom to do.  She became more lively each day and stole our hearts even more.  But after a few days, her eyes were still seeping and a new problem developed...diarrhea.  We had another vet appointment a week from the first and I watched her closely, stopping the dry food.

Next blog--the second appointment and the joy in Zoie Joy!



© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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Peach Pie Recipe

I had a few requests for the peach pie I made for the weekend so here it is:

Pastry
2 and 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
7-8 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour and salt. Use pastry cutter to cut in shortening. Sprinkle with 5 tablespoons of water and mix with a long pronged fork.  Then mix in two more.  You can always use the last one if you don't think it's sticking together just right.

Form dough into a  ball and halve it.  I use the first half to roll out the bottom half of the pastry.  I sometimes can't get that second crust just right so I roll out the second ball and use a ravioli cutter to make lattice strips.  Then I weave them.

Peach Filling
5-6 cups sliced fresh peaches (I like them to be ripe)
1/2-3/4 cup sugar (Depends on tartness of peach variety.)
3 tablespoons flour
dash of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix until all peaches are coated.  Then pour into the bottom shell.  If they've made a syrup, I don't pour that in. They'll cook out sometimes as is. Dot the filling with about eight flicks of butter.

Top with lattice and bring bottom edge up over the lattice.  I crimp with my thumbs!

Bake at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  (I use a protector on the outside rim so that crust doesn't bake too much.

Enjoy!!!!

RESCUING A KITTEN, Part 2

 
Last week, I blogged about how we'd found a kitten in our backyard.  I made a vet appointment for the day after we found her, knowing there could be physical problems--fleas, worms, runny eyes to name a few.  What I was really concerned about was feline leukemia.  I think that's why we didn't name her before the appointment.

My husband kept the appointment because I had another appointment around the same time.  Fortunately, the vet took him early and he put me on speaker phone so we could have a conference call and I could ask questions.  After forty years of marriage, he knows I always have questions!  But the fact that this vet and tech would do that proved we'd chosen a good veterinarian.

The kitten's little paws were scraped from whatever time she'd been outside on her own.  We'd had a week of storms.  But the vet said they'd heal.  Her coat was good which shows some degree of health and she didn't have ear mites.  But...  She did have fleas and the vet gave her the first part of that treatment, saying we should give her a bath in 48 hours to wash away the flea dirt.  I had never given a cat a bath!  She also gave her the worming medicine and her first distemper shot.  Her runny eyes were a problem because of our other cats.  But she advised us to keep the cats separated, watch her eyes and also be alert for sneezing which could indicate an infection.

Thank goodness the feline leukemia test was negative.

The total cost for the vet was $130.

When my husband brought her home, we considered names.  I had created a character named Zoie in one of my books who ran away to find her bliss.  Just holding her, stroking her and caring for her filled me with a lot of joy.  So we named our new family member Zoie Joy.

Because Zoie's little body was being taxed with the vaccine, fleas and a possible virus/infection, I wanted to help her heal.  We chose healthy kitten foods (Blue and Wellness, both wet and dry with the intention of trying them one at a time) and bought a milk substitute for kittens that was chock full of vitamins. We left a tablespoon of that at night.  Zoie was eating about 8 times a day.  Kittens should be able to have food on demand whenever they want it during that first year.  I had decided to feed her mostly canned food and supplement with dry because in the past with other kittens, too much dry food and water caused diarrhea.  We made another vet appointment for a week later for her second distemper injection and to check eveything else.

The hardest part of all of this was keeping Zoie separated from the other cats.  Ebbie and London wondered where I was disappearing to for hours at a time.  The sunroom is attached to our basement. But I was mostly concerned about Ebbie.  When we'd brought her home from an acquaintance's farm, she'd been a very sick kitten.  She couldn't even meow because of her cough.  Although we helped her fight off the infection and she's been healthy the past eleven years, the virus which caused it remains in her system and could reappear because of stress.  I hoped to prevent that from happening.

More next week about Zoie Joy, her bath and what came next.  If you have any of your own cat rescue stories you'd like to share, please feel free to do so.  I'd like to hear them.


© 2012  Karen Rose Smith

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RESCUING A KITTEN, Part 1

We rescued a kitten this summer.  We love her to bits.  In my new mystery series, my heroine rescues strays.  Maybe what I visualized came true!  But I thought I'd write a blog on our rescue process because taking in a stray can be complicated and costly.  Maybe that's why more people are hesitant to do it.

This kitten was in a shrub, crying.  My husband and a friend found her when they were gardening.  But--and I think this is more a guy thing--they watched her run away.  So when they told me about the baby kitten who had been crying in a bush, I decided to try to find her.  It wasn't hard.  She was still in our backyard.

Tons of thoughts ran through my head.  We have two older cats who are eleven.  One has a territorial problem.  We had never thought about bringing in another kitten because of all the complications one could present.  I've had cats as companions all my life so I'm aware of their behaviors and physical problems as they grow older.  Taking in a kitten would be a big commitment.

However, as soon as my husband caught her and put her in my arms, I was pretty sure we'd figure out whatever we had to do.  She was a baby (about six weeks), hungry and thirsty and dehydrated on an almost 100 degree day.  First thing to do was feed her smooshed cat food with water mixed in.  She knew how to eat so we knew she'd been weaned.  After she ate, she curled up in my arms and fell asleep.  We have a sunroom with A/C and that's where I sat with her, holding her and stroking her.  My husband asked if this was where we were going to keep her and I responded, "For now."  He knew she'd be in the house eventually.  We'd bonded.

Still, I called a neighbor who lived on a farm to the rear of our yard and he knew nothing about the kitten.  After speaking to other neighbors, we realized no one was searching for a small black kitten.  In our area, passersby have dropped kittens before because we knew of other neighbors who took them in.  No one was claiming this one.

Her eyes were runny and I found flea dirt in her fur, which meant she had fleas even if I couldn't see them in her black fuz.  So the next thing I did was make an appointment with a veterinarian.  I couldn't get an appointment with our regular vet for three days, so I phoned a new vet in our area who our petsitter recommended.  I spoke with the receptionist about the kitten and they could get me in the next day.  The tech reminded me to feed her small amounts often with fresh water.  My husband went to the store for kitten food and readied a box with towels as a bed.  At first the kitten was disoriented and she urinated on the towel in the box.  Cats rarely soil where they sleep.  But as soon as she'd eaten two meals and had a nap, she used the nearby litter box and hasn't had an accident since.  Her mom taught her well.  I also think she was well-tended by her mom, groomed and played with because she liked the petting and stroking and was easy to handle.  She was a sweetie.  I held her for hours until she went to sleep, then fed her and repeated the whole process over again.

We also were careful about washing our hands thoroughly before going into the house with our other two cats.  I changed clothes each time because I was the one who handled all three cats.  We didn't know yet if the kitten had distemper or feline leukemia.  That's why a quick vet appointment was necessary.

More about the veterinarian visit, the cost and naming the new kitty in the next blog.


© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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A UNEXPECTED KITTEN GIFT

When I'm writing, each day is an adventure of finding out what my characters are going to say and do next.  My life, on the other hand, I like to keep on an even keel.  The unexpected happens but still in an "ordinary" way.

As we get older, our lives become filled with anniversary dates.  In previous blogs about Mother's Day and Father's Day, I wrote about positive ways to deal with those anniversary dates and holidays when we miss someone we love.  June has one of those anniversary dates for me--my parents' anniversary.

When I was growing up, I always had a cat.  My mom cuddled them.  My dad tolerated them.  But he knew how much I loved each one we befriended over the years.  So when I got married, it was natural to have a cat or two.  We have two now who are eleven years old.  We hadn't expected to bring any more into our lifestyle.  After all, don't we all know our place?  Aren't our lives settled the way they are?

As my parents' anniversary date approached, I was busy with a book deadline and thinking maybe this year, I would take a walk and get on with my day.  But...  My husband was gardening.  When he came in for lunch, he told me he'd heard a baby kitten in a small gnarled weeping redbud tree by our patio.  When I went outside, he found her and it was love at first sight.  She was tiny, scared, dehydrated and hungry.  After we fed her mashed-up cat food with water, she cuddled right up with me and fell asleep in my arms.  I held her most of the day, feeding her little bits often.  After my husband drove to the store to buy kitten food, I asked, "Do you know what today is?"  And he did.  We were keeping her.

 

We named her Zoie Joy.  Zoie after a character in one of my books who runs away to find bliss...and Joy because that's what this kitten has brought us.

And yes, I believe my parents sent us this little gift because we needed to remember that life isn't just about routine and busyness--but about those unexpected joys.

©2012 Karen Rose Smith

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