Ups and Downs Week

This has sure been a week of highs and lows and I hope not to have to deal with these issues again for a long time.

 If you can't tell from the name of my blog, I am a Cat Person. I have a few that live inside my house and then some that live outside. I have a large patio on the back of my house which is where the outside kitties get fed every day, twice a day. They don't always stay in the yard though. They go off to parts unknown when they are not eating especially when the weather is bad. They are all strays so I have no idea if they have other family in the neighborhood or not, but I've still taken it upon myself to have the females spayed so we don't get anymore kitties in the neighborhood. Four of my inside kitties are those that were born in the back yard over the years.

The low point came first thing Monday morning. I had already put food out for the kitties on the patio, but only three had shown up. No. 4 Doris was missing. That happens a lot so I didn't think anything about it. Right before I was leaving for work, I remembered that I had not put seed out for the birds, so I went outside to do that. When I went out I noticed Doris jumping over the back fence. But she didn't come up to the patio to get breakfast. She just laid down by the side fence and cried. I walked over to where she was to get a good look at her. She was crying and panting and didn't seem to be able to stand up on her own. Of course, I went and got a carrier and got her in it with no problem and immediately called the vet's office to take her in for an exam. We got there about a half hour later. She was in a lot of distress with her breathing so the vet put her in an incubator to give her oxygen. Later after she was a little stronger they were able to take x-rays which showed she had a huge hernia - her diaphram had been damaged and her stomach was pushed up into her chest making it difficult to breathe. Later we noticed that she also had damage to one of her back legs. There was no doubt that she had been hit by a car. I am amazed that she was able to make it back into my yard after going through this traumatic experience. I had to make the very hard decision to let her go. She was a very sweet and friendly little girl, and I miss her every day.

It is very good when the lows are offset by highs. One of my other outside kitties - Glynda has been living in the house mostly in a crate for the last four weeks. I first noticed outside that she was a bit lethargic and didn't seem to be eating very much if at all. I decided that it was time for a trip to the vet. I love my vets. It's a cat clinic, no dogs allowed. The vet that saw Glynda diagnosed her at first with a UTI and treated  her for that. They were going to keep her overnight because I was having her groomed also. She's a long-haired cat and had not been grooming  herself very well, so she was dirty and had mats that she wouldn't let me cut off. Better to let the professionals handle that. They gave her a lion cut, and she looks pretty cute, but I'll be glad when the rest of her hair grows back in. I hope it does before the cold weather gets here. While she was there they noticed that she had some bleeding in her urine and did an ultrasound on her bladder and found that she had two small stones in her bladder that were the cause of her problems. This meant she had to be on a special diet to dissolve the stones and also that she would have to be inside confined to a crate where she could be fed her diet.  That has caused a little bit of upset with the other kitties who live in the house, but they are coping. Two weeks turned into four, but yesterday she was given a clean bill of health! The stones are gone and she will be able to go back outside to her friends and family. She and the other outside cats will now have to also be on a maintenance diet to keep this from happening to her again or any of the others. I decided to keep her in the house until Saturday when I'll have three days to monitor how she does back outside.

This is Glynda before her health issues. Even though I lost one of my kitties this week, I was able to save this other one, so that's pretty good.