Our Spencer....

Our healthy Spencer

It all began with advocacy, as it so often does. Trey and Milo, Murray and Dharma and so many others before Spencer. But Spencer was special right off the bat. He was older, meaning he wasn't quite as likely to be adopted as a kitten or younger kitty would be. And he was also obese, a whopping 22.46 pounds when brought into the shelter in June of 2013. His face appeared on my cyber desktop one morning and my heart nearly stopped! I could imagine that if my sweet little Dalton hadn't died at age 6 months, he would have grown up to look exactly like Spencer...the white snout with white feet and chest, the white tummy and the beautiful smoky grey body with adorable expression. Within one short day, I became obsessed with getting this baby out of the shelter and into some place safe - saving this boy's life, since I wasn't able to save baby Dalton. 

I networked him across the internet, I sent out his picture and notified friends I thought might be interested or could help with finding me someone else who would be interested in adopting him. And I printed out his picture and put it on my fridge to remind me not to let the ball drop on this one! 

The rescue - drooling, oozing eyes & weight down to 16 lbs

As days passed without even so much as a nibble from anywhere I knew it was going to be up to me, so I mentioned this to my husband. He'd already seen the photo and was a little edgy about this cat dying too, if we didn't rescue. Then when a second photo was released by the shelter and it was evident that Spencer was actually getting sick with kitty cold, (URI) I knew we had to act and quickly. A URI (Upper Respiratory Infection) is easily treated if someone wishes to, cares enough to do it. But so far, there was no one and he would just continue to get sicker until they killed him.
So the decision was made for us not by us and off we went to Philly ACCT! Spencer needed out! Stat! And we were going to make sure he did!

The first thing was to isolate him at home and away from the other five...having one sick cat is costly enough. Having six is financially crippling. If we'd only known at that time...not that anything would have really changed but perhaps we could have braced ourselves for what was to come.

We took him to our vet the first chance we got to have him vetted and recorded there. By this time we'd had him five days and he hadn't eaten or defecated in the litter pan...early concerns begin. We tell ourselves, nothing in nothing out, hoping this is the only reason. It wasn't. After numerous attempts to syringe feed him and subcataneous fluid replacement every night, and having him get more and more distressed and learning to dislike us, his new kitty-parents intensely, we needed to get to the bottom of it! So off to Critical Care!
The bottom line was Triaditis! Inflamed pancreas, liver and small intestine. Survival rate 50-50 and a very l-o-n-g recovery time if they were to survive.

He went into OR and had an e-tube inserted into the side of his neck & that led to his tummy. Through this we were to feed him cruel and nine medications...antibiotics, pain killers, anti nausea medicines, hunger stimulants. Literally hours every day to administer thesae things, all different dosages on a complicated schedule. But just when we began to wonder if we were blowing it all out the window, he began to look better. The URI was long gone and he was not as weak or wobbly on his feet. He would even play with catnip toys, rolling on the floor & 'wrestling' it. The day he got up onto the bed all by himself, we knew we were on the right track. He was improving and you could see it happening right before our eyes.

Interactive feathers

We still have a ways to go yet. He still isn't really eating on his own, though he has sampled Hormel chicken and some deli chicken. He did eat human baby food for a few days but has stopped that for now, but he does like the Temptations kitty treats...also chicken. The upside of eating those is that while he can't have them as a steady diet, they are cat food! Which is something that he's turned his nose up to since Aug. 3rd, this now being Oct 6th as I'm writing! And so, we know we're in this for the long haul. Seven weeks and counting.
On other matters, he goes for his Wednesday at the hospital where they do blood work and ultrasound, checking to see how things are proceeding. They are quite happy with his progress so far...we thought he might even be taken off insulin...yes, he's diabetic as well, but so far he's staying on that.

 He adores my husband and has now begun to forgive me at least for shoving food down his throat pre e-tube. I hope to one day have him sit on my lap so that I can assure him I love him and everything I'm doing is because I love him.
We will make him well! We have to make him well! Thousands of dollars have been spent now, but if he is well, none of that matters. If you are reading, please keep him in your thoughts.

20 kitty cookies disappear...

Having Temptation kitty cookies late at night with Mama! We've found at least one cat food that he likes so right now it's less about quality and more about quantity!  He needs to eat again. He is a big boy...or was. He's just 17 pounds now and doctor would like to see him back up to at least 18. He must have loved to eat at one time - we need to tap into that hunger he used to have and make him well again and for good!
 
 The day he ate chicken on his own and from a dish, was one of the happiest days on my year. We just need to make it happen all the time so he can have his e-tube removed and become a normal kitty once more.  He does really like chicken and completely ignores everything else, turning his head away in disgust! 

Having Hormel and enjoying it immensely! 10-1-13

BOO! BOO TO YOU!!!!!

 And we're finding odd little things...he doesn't like eating in a dish with sides, preferring a plate. Or better still, off the floor or from a spoon!? But whatever his little heart desires is what he will get right now, in order for us to get what we want - a kitty eating on his own!
He is such a beautiful boy...a celebrity with everyone who's come in contact with him. Yes, he's special. We don't know why, are just aware that he is.
And with Halloween fast approaching, he even gave me a spooky Halloweenie picture the other night and I will share that with you too.

Spring! Ringy, dingy, Ding!

Murray overseeing bird bathing....

Dharma here -- We'z lookin' so forward to spring comin'! We get to go out on da big deck 'n' watch all the wildlife babies cum into ar yard wif dere mama's... we can see everthing from ar deck 'n' nobuddy can hurt us. And just as important, we can't hurt anybuddy else eever!
In da meanwhilez, we watch fings frum da diningroom window 'cuz ar Mamacat puts a new hummingbird feeder out dere on da porch too. So many pretty burds 'n' da bigger burdies splashin' around in the bath...woot! It doesn't get much better dan dis!

We'z been havin' lots of fun 'cuz ar Mama is teaching us tricks too. It's fun 'cuz dey aren't too hard to do 'n' we gets cookie treats fur doin' dem well. 'sides, Murry loves to show off in front of da uver boys! Tsk! So far me, Murray 'n' Milo all playz fetchie wif Mama. She sets aside da time 'n' sits on da floor where we ar, den frows the coily springs fur us to catch 'n' bring back. She sez she wants to make a video of us doin' dis but we keeps her so busy she can't do both! 

Dharma sends a message to Milo

 So ar Mom sez, okay kits, we'll add a few pix here since I don't have a lot of time to type. SHE picks da one of me stickin' my tongue out at Milo. Sheesh! Den to make matters wurse, Milo decides he's gonna come up on the cushun I'z on. Can't a pretty girl get any respect in a house full o' boys? I guess not. 

At least my Daddycat realizes what a treasure I am 'n' treats me like a princess! Diva Dharma...I should have a necklace!

Dis girlie glare is for my cushun Milo!

Mamacat is going to try 'n' add a video of a REALLY talented kitty who is now ar inspiration! He can do jumps (easy) 'n' fast runs (easy) 'n' all sorts of fings. But put dem all togevver 'n' it's pretty impressive!

Mama also gotz to figure out how to do new wallpaper fur ar new page. Chissymus is gone away 'n' so does da wallpaper need to go! We hope she can do dat, 'n' get da video up too. We wants to show da world dat kittahs ar smart as da woofing animals!

The Days before Christmas...

So, it's eight days til that magical morning of torn paper, ribbons strewn around the floor, ornaments accidentally bumped frum tree branches 'n' plump stockings emptied of their contents and scattered about the house. The aroma wafting from the kitchen makes ar tummy grumble even though it's hours til the table is set and people are seated. But how were da days leading up to dat morning? Oh dey were fun!

First of all, ar Mama loves to give Sandy Claws a hand wif makin' da toys 'n' stuff. She knows exactly wot kitties love best 'n' she can make dem good, so we ar always willing to help out dere too. She sort of has a diff'rent wurd fur it - calls it miss cheef doe I never met no purson by dat name. Sometimes she says it's okay, she doesn't need ar help but we just can't see her doin' it all by herself like dat, y'know! Plus dere's always a bit of catnip in it fur us 'cuz stuff gets spilled on da floor sumtimes.

Murray has bin da biggest help dis year, dis bein' his an' Dharma's furst Chrissymus 'n' all. Darius, well, he has had 11 of dem now 'n' he's allus actin' all know-it-ally on us. But Murray really helps to pick out which bows to use 'n' den makes sure all the boxes ar da best size fur stuff. An' he even 'tests' the new toys just to make sure deyz playable...such a good helper! Mama hollered only 'cuz she was afraid he'd hurt hisself, not 'cuz he wuz doin' sumpin wrong er nuffin.
 

I allus remember da furst Chrissymus wif my fambly here. It was so nice 'cus my Mama made a stocking fur me, just like da uver guys had! I felt so special! An' dis year she made summore fur Murray 'n' Dharma, den made a better one fur Trey 'cuz his udder one was jus' a store bought kind. Not dat dere's anyfing wrong wif dat but when all da uvers ar home-madey, den it looks funny y'know?

 'N' ar toys ar all healthy ones...Mama is such a burd sumtimes y'know? She made corn on da cob, a pea, a squash, a new banana fur Murray. We knoes dats 'cuz she luvs us so much tho' so it's okay. They still ar packed wif organic catnip...da BEST!  An' li'l diva Dharma of course gets a fuzzy red heart. <gag>! We also like da music at Chrissymus 'cuz ar Mama plays sum fur us 'n' we get to feel special about dat.
 We'd luv to have ar veggies to play wif right now but Mama                          
 sez dey gots to go to da Norf Pole so Sandy Claws can put da magic in dem.  Den he brings 'em back fur us! Is dis exciting er wot? We will have lots more pictures 'n' hopefully summore movies to show soon!                             

Christmas is a-comin'...

Oh yes! Snow kitties and Snow Buntings...all things point to Santy Claws time rolling around again.

This is the most exciting time of year for us kitty dudes, and new dudette...Dharma and Murray haven't had a Christmas yet, so this could get dicey. Both she and Murray, otherwise known as the Terrible Two or the Dastardly Duo, are still too young to have gone through a Xmas yet. 
Our Kitty-Mama  is starting to fuss a little, putting up the occasional green thing or colorful bauble and glancing around to see if anyone's flying at her creations. 
Signs have gone up on the guest bedroom door as well as the craft room door..."Santa's Warehouse" and "Santa's Workshop" respectively. We're pretty sure by the delectable smells coming from the workshop that there are things being made...the whirr of the sewing machine and our Mama singing Christmas songs is another good indicator.

Murray stalking the green pom pom

The ravaged pom pom bag!

Murray got into the workshop the other day when the door was left ajar and raided the cutting table. It was lots of fun until Kitty-Mama found us, then she took pictures and made us leave. I wonder if she's going to put the pictures up in the post office - 'Bad Kittens for sale". Yikies I hope not!  
There was a huge bag of pom poms there and lots of pencils, ribbon and stacks of cloth. I think these are going to be made into something special. 
 I believe our Kitty Mama has a contract with Santy Claws this time of year, to make the best toys a kitty could want! She uses the best organic cat nip and the prettiest, softest cloth so we will have really fun and cozy playthings. I think she has plans to tell people reading here how to make them for their kitty-kids too, but I'm not sure yet. She has to figure out how to do patterns in the blog.

And...wait! You haven't heard the best! Our Kitty-Mama uses the very best catnip but she is also thinking healthy making the toys too! Yesirree! We get bananas and melons, apples and lemons, tomatoes, peaches and corn on the cob. And maybe not so healthy, but a fun green pickle! MOL!!! Yes, it looks like it's shaping up to be a fun Christmas morning...

Dharma spots a pom pom!

It's at this time of year too when our Kitty Mama gets sort of sad as she remembers all her other babies she made toys for at Christmas. This last year has been a particularly bad one because she lost three babies without warning and was sad for a long time. First our oldest brother 14 year old Jakey died of cancer Feb 12, then in March 18, we lost Dalton, our tiny baby brother just 6 months old...Dalton had a genetic flaw - his body wasn't manufacturing red blood cells. Without that happening, he would surely die, and after four blood transfusions, he lost his battle. Then Bailey in June - he was also 14 and he couldn't remember who he was or how to do anything anymore because he got premature dementia. 

But there are always kittens in need and our Mama knows this so she got Murray and Dharma. Some things happen to make way for others I guess.

Our Mama has settled down now...

YEAH, baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  ...and we'll commence with our blog. 

We're pretty excited about this. Kitty-Mom is going to show how to make toys, she'll tell tips on how to keep kitties healthy and the best ways of administering meds (blech!) She'll supply really good links to other great places where you can read and get smarter and smarter about all things kittah!!! 
Plus she'll give recipes for nommy snacks for when you are extra good. Sometimes it's just better to make homemade treats than buy them in a store when they come from not so good places.  We think Santa Claws took her recipe to the North Pole too because there's always Kitty-Mom snacks in our Xmas stockings too. But first we need to talk about how we all came to be here and some of that is happy, some of it sad. As our Kitty-Mom says, 'that's life!'

I guess we could start by telling you where we live. We have a nice big house with lots and lots of rooms to play in, two flights of stairs to race on and when you're upstairs on the top floor, you can see downstairs through the railings in two different places.

This is the best kind of house and we thinks it was designed by a real smart kitty architect who knew the five of us would be living here.

We have our litter pans in the basement and Kitty-Dad made sure it was easy for us to get to by making us a mouse hole in the door. 
One of the rooms, the morning room is all windows! How great is that?! It's got the patio door in it so we can sit high on our tower and watchds, or we can lay in front of the patio doors and watch dem as nose level. And that big slidey door also has a kitty door in the screen so we can go out on this huge deck made big and high just for us! Our Dad put the kitty door in for us... Dharma learned to use dat really fast and she's never shutted up about dat since she did!

The deck doesn't have any stairs going down to the backyard or anything so our Mom doesn't have to fear us going off the deck and getting lost in the woods or anything.

And the woods!!! Oh the woods! We have bunches of birds in them and Kitty-Mom has feeders so they come to visit them and us on the deck. We haven't been out there lately, 'cuz Murray and Dharma still have to learn that the birds are an extension of our family and not just 'fast food'!!We will have plenty of pictures in the posts to follow of our bestest deck in the world too!.

♪ Christmas is a-Comin'...♪

The Great Snow Kitty

Since it was the baby cat's first snowfall, Mama thought she'd go out and build them a baby cat snow kitty. It was a touching thing fur her to do but the temperature was um, warm? And snow kitty didn't stick around too long. Still...we did enjoy him whilst he wuz here. 

The babies watched the snow from inside da house 'cuz Mama wuz afraid they'd jump up on da slippy railing 'n' fall way down into da yard but they have plenty of time yet to see how burrrrry snow is between da toesies! 

Trey...Trey's ar biggest bruvver 'n' da most intellectual one in da house, well Trey thot what we should do wif dis post is show some pictures so's everbody knows us today...ready?
Okay den!

Furst is the babies watchin' da snow like we said! The door be open but Mama was watchin' close so day dint scoot out. 
Before long it got cold so she pushed the door closed again 'n' of course dat got Darius all upset 'cuz he was fluffin' himself up 'n' gettin' ready to go for a snow romp. Hah! He sure would be surprized too if he gots out dere 'n' discovered no chairs to lay on. He's such a lounger, dat guy! 
 So the babies thot it was all pretty cool dat stuff.
Mama brought in a couple of handfuls 'n' let 'em stick dere noses on it! Huh! I bin dere so many times...sigh.                                                  

 Da utter ting is da Xmas business...
oh me oh my! We gots us some baaad babies dere!
Mama has bin tryin' to do some wurk for Sandy Claws...you know, he doesn't have a lot of time to do kitty toys wif all the yooman kid toys he gots to do, so ar Mama always helps him out dere.  
But da babies...well you can guess...dey broke into da wurk shop 'n' dey ravaged da goods! 
Yup! Stuff all ober da place! Mama was walkin' around mumblin' sumpin' about 'why make toys when dey make dere own just by tearin' a bag'. 

 But she never got mad...ar Mama is pretty cool dat way...she just laughs. Yeah, she does it thru' clenched teefs but she still laughs. She made sure to take pictures of dat too, soes she could show Sandy dat da babies were nice 'n' naughty 'n' not da uver way around!

The two culprits were so busy checkin out all da stuff dat they didn't even think to run away...dey was too interested in what was goin' on dere.  

Murray caught dead to rights!

Dharma spies a jingle bell!

I took a little tour in dere myself I must admit, 'cuz I thot I caught a whiff of some nip-nip but Mama was too fast 'n' I didn't get ta see.  

Anyways, after all dis, she made us leave da wurk shop, but dere was still more stuff to get intoo....oops, I mean to help her wif! She wuz gonna put all da green stuff on da mantle 'n' it all is packed in big boxes. You know what dat means...BIG BOXES!!!! WOOT!  Darius 'n' I took da ones on da floor 'n' Dharma climbed into da reindeer box. She's soooo tiny!

 Murray is real jealous of Dharma having da box 'n' he gots a big pouty lip so Mama had to give him treats. I just know I wasn't like dis when I was little...no sirree!

Givin' Dharma 'The Look'!!

So anyway...today ar kitty dad is putting da tree together. Dis of course is so we can climb it? Well, dey don't axtually say dis but we knows it is. Mama says just unbreakable stuff on da tree...now if she dint expect us to climb it, why would she be tellin' daddy dis??? We's so 'cited about dis too 'cuz Mama has been makin' new stockings fur us so Sandy Claws will have a place fur all the hundreds of toys 'n' treats he's gonna bring us.  Dharma's stocking is uber special...all glittery 'n' gold...wot a spoilt gurl she is! I bet Mama will show pictures of da stockings too once they'z hung on Xmas Eve!

So, back to ar tree day! Dad donned his best Xmas tree puttin'-up pants 'n' started buildin' da tree. Murray gots a little nervous 'bout dis...he does have his moments. 
Den Darius trapped Dharma in da tree box but she gots him back good 'n' drew blood on his nose...hah! 

♥ Darius on his green velvet skirt section ♥

Darius can hardly wait fur da tree skirt to be put down every year 'cuz he loves green velvet 'n' Mama made green velvet sections in da skirt just for him! Me Milo, I don't really care...I'll lay unner dere anywhere, just as long as I kin stare up at da lights. I'z sooo glad Mama 'n' Daddy adopted me 'cuz dey makes da best Xmases!

I guess this should stop here 'n' mebbe Trey or somebody else kin show more stuff once da tree has all the cat toys put on it. 
Stay tuned...

The Staff...and our gofer!

I, Darius, overseer extraordinaire...

Well yes! Here we go! First, we know introductions are in order. And since Darius is chillin' on top of the kitchen cupboards again, we will engage our typist to do the honors here.

We are (or will be) a small, informative and chatty blog made up of five incredibly intelligent and beautiful felines.  Our family, for the time, being includes our provider of all things needed, Kitty-Dad and our typist who we lovingly and lickingly refer to as Kitty-Mom. 

Kitty-Mom works for free so there are times when typos will occur and that's okay. It is part of her charm. Or she will insert her own opinion which depending who she's angry at is less charming. This is frowned upon for that reason of course, but as noted, she works so cheap, and also gives out treats on such a regular basis, we tolerate! But we digress... We will go into more character depth later on but for this first entry we will just give names, ages and other pertinent information. So! From oldest to youngest we are:

Darius, Ginger Tabby - born March 28 2001
Trey, Chartreaux - born May 5, 2005
Milo, Russian Blue - born (approx) 2007
Murray, Blotched Tabby - born March 20, 2012
Dharma, Mackerel Tabby - born March 20, 2012      

Dharma gived me a boo boo nose!

Dharma's first din din after bottle weaning

Zen Milo

 Trey as part of the furnishings

                                                   Darius - official ginger windowsill kitty


Starting from youngest to oldest, Murray and Dharma are brother and sister, two of four tiny one day old rescues our Kitty-Mom adopted from a friend at age 7 weeks. We are now 8 months old and strong, healthy and rambunctious. 

Next is Milo, a kitty that was 4 hours from being killed by a shelter in New Jersey. Our Kitty-Mama spotted him on the internet when his name was Jake and called the shelter immediately to put a stay of execution on him until she and Kitty-Dad could drive to NJ and pick him up. We will explain the significance of the name Jake further along too, but it is also the reason Trey joined our family. 
Milo is (almost) Dharma's best friend if it weren't for Murray.

Trey...beautiful big fluffernutter Trey is the product of a broken home. Our Kitty-Mom spotted him on the internet as well and because he resembled our (now lost) brother Jake, she just had to give him a home! Jakey...we all called our first Jake #1 Jakey, was still with us back then and it was pretty hard to tell the two of them apart - in the dark it was impossible. The only way to tell who was who, was touch them - if you heard a purr, it was Jakey because Jakey could rattle windows with his purr while Trey is so much more demure. A whisper purr if you lay your ear to his side is all you hear.

Darius was a shelter kitty too and Kitty-Mama would never have found him if she hadn't been getting well in the hospital. The shelter brought around kits and dogs to visit the patients and tiny Darius was brought into the room and dropped in our Kitty-Mom's lap. She was not going to ever let him go back to that shelter and phoned our Kitty-Dad to go and get him at the shelter. That was June 2001.

We are a pretty lucky group of guys and little gal. Our Mama and Dad love us so much and have made sure we never want for anything. Ever!  Mama makes us toys at Xmas time and is always making time to play with us...she has a warm lap and lets us all pile on it if she's reading or watching tv.  She said she's going to do a page for each of us here so we can brag and crow all we want then...you are warned people!