R.I.P. My Sweet Chelsea

I was at the vets today. Had to take my poor Chelsea to be put to sleep. I knew she was really sick and hoped it was her teeth or a upper respiratory but sadly my Chelsea had mammary and oral cancer. She was feral. She would not allow me to get close. I had hoped she and her children would come around but unfortunately they remained feral. Zeus her son is semi feral, as he will not let me touch him but he no longer runs away from me in fear like he used to. He does not always keep his distance but his momma never came around. She was 7 years old at the time that I rescued her. She, her daughter Velvet and her son Zeus, were living in the ravine behind a house a few streets over from me. The Lady who owned the house with her husband, was dying of cancer and could no longer take care of them. A friend of mine and I went over there for a few nights until we had successfully trapped all and took them to be spayed and neutered. Unfortunately,some females who are spayed late in life, having gone through many heat cycles before being spayed, can develop mammary cancer. Her tumour was quite large and it must have caused her alot of pain. I just wish she had not been feral and I was able to notice she was sick earlier. But Chelsea was 11 years old, she had 4 years with me and my zoo, alot longer than she would have lasted outdoors. It just saddens me every time I lose one. Especially when I never really got a chance to know her and named her after one of my favourite Bon Jovi songs, Midnight in Chelsea.

R.I.P. my sweet Chelsea. You are on the wings of angels now. I will never forget you.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” ― Lewis Carroll

so true. Sometimes you wake up and feel undecided about what you want to do and sponteneity usually works for me. I love to travel and explore new places and not knowing where I am and finding an interesting place can be very exciting. Not always knowing where you are and where you want to go does not have to be scary. Having everything mapped out for you is not always a good thing. Routine kind of sucks the life of things sometimes. I find my life too routine at best and love to mix things up.

meow for now....

Snappy tom litter

the new litter that I am using in the new litter boxes in the den seem to be working. All the cats are using the boxes and not the floor. It really is a good litter. They are crystal type balls and it was easy to scoop out the poop and the urine just dissolves. i guess the cats using the den were too lazy to go to the alcove or they just don't like the feline fresh I use in the other boxes. Some cats are finicky that way I guess.

I also got a bunch of donated cat food from my friend at Global so I have more than enough now to feed my not so little feline zoo. It really helps. The food is actually quite good too. I lucked out this time. It's food by fromm and you can actually see the big chunks of chicken they use with a thick brothy sauce. cats love to lick off the broth and leave a few bits if chicken in the bowl. But I leave it out for awhile and the chicken eventually gets eaten. Too bad Jack does not like canned cat food as I am sure it is quite tasty. he likes his chicken cooked and then I add the addlife powder from wysong along with his viokase. He has chronic pancreatitis and his system is unable to process the food normally, so the viokase helps his system along.

The enclosure is still a big hit. I scooped out the litter box and it was quite full. some of the cats, like Angus have learned how to get back up through the enclosure. The other cats don't seem curious enough yet but Sam, one of my colony rescues loves to lie in the enclosure near the bathroom. I just need to put a climber or a step ladder in the bathroom to make it easier for Jack or the other upstairs kitties to get into the enclosure. It is a small bathroom and my gets around in a walker so I have to be careful about what I put in there, does not obstruct her in any way.

Tomorrow, Kris from cat's den is coming back to put an enclosure off the kitchen porch. that will be great for the kities like Beauty, Smokey and Sawyer. To encourage them to use the enclosure and not be outside. It will be secure enough that when we open the kitchen door we no longer have to worry about cat's escaping.

anyway, that's all for now....

How many is too many?

Whose to say how many cats is too many? When my eyes linger to the left of my bed while I am laying under my soft sheets and new duvet cover I recently bought on ebay, and see all the cats snoozing away, inevitably covering my bed in fur, i don't care. I love my cats. Wish I had less than what I have? I don't know. It's a hard thing to answer knowing where these kitties came from and wonder what their fate would have been, had I not been there to intervene. My most recent rescues were kittens, now adults, were found under a pile of wood in my neighbours backyard. Others I rescued from a junkyard, the momma kitty seeking refuge in an old range rover with her kittens. Others I rescued from horrible hoarding situations, some from my backyard and the rest from a neighbour up the street who just dumped them on me. When I see them all curled up against each other or wrapped with each other or enjoying the new enclosure I built or climbing the new all in one activity centre I bought at the pet show, I am glad I chose to be their meowmy. Even after money I have spent at the vets, money I have spent on food, on having to get a pricey new vacuum cleaner or a carpet cleaner, it is worth it. The only down side is that a few of them still do not have the best litter box habits, meaning they do not use one, but considering the amount of cats I have, it is to be expected I guess. There will always be messes to be cleaned up after, but that is a choice I made and as long as I have the right tools and product, I do okay.

And the number one reason I am glad I rescued these cats and that I am their meowmy and zookeeper, is when my cat Chance finally came back to my bed to cuddle. He was holding out on me for awhile to be with a momma feral cat Gigi, for reasons I don't really understand, but she is an awesome momma. That story is for another day.

Meow for now.....