Simply Sunday...

We are resting today and Teri is too...We've all been busy around the Furrydance house, and thought our furrends would like an update!

Brighton is improving effurryday, and is now leaving grape-sized clumps in the litterbox (not dime-sized) and he isn't spending a long time squatting anymore, either. Since he seemed to urinate more when he was at the vets and using an empty litterbox, Teri put an empty box in the bathroom in case he wanted to use that, but so far no one has (even Disco, who likes to use empty litterboxes sometimes).

The behaviorists say that sometimes after a cat has had an UTI and had painful urination, that they associate that pain with the litterbox and avoid it. So just in case that was part of Brighton's issue, she used a clear plastic storage box so it didn't remind him of the 'normal' litterpan.

He is still on Valium until he is back to 100% normal, and Teri will maintain him on the 'nutraceuticals' of Cosequin and Duralactin as they are anti-inflammatory. He is loving his canned food and drinking out of the fountain well, and Teri just ordered two 'Sink Drinks', cat dishes that attach to the bathroom faucets, to encourage him to drink more, too.


Here's a link about them:
CLICK HERE

Teri is still quite worried about Brighton, as from here on out, she will have to keep a really close eye on him, not knowing if and when he could block again, but she is doing what her vet recommends and while one a cat has a urinary blockage, they tend to have recurrences, she has made a 'lifestyle' change for Brighton and hopes that will be enough to keep him purring along without problems!

She had to take some green papers out of savings this month to pay bills, but she is grateful that Brighton's making headway and has not blocked again and that everyone else is staying healthy!

Coco's kittens are all doing great in their new homes, too and Teri is getting regular updates about them...here's a few pix of Miles, Hiro and Bosco with their housemates:




Update on Mama Katz, her kittens and TomTom (the daddy, maybe?):
Mama K didn't come around for her evening meal on Monday or Tuesday and Teri was a bit concerned in case she has a problem with her spay incision or an infection due to not nursing, but she has come by every night since then and looks A-OK.


She was going to try and trap TomTom last Tuesday so he could be neutered on Wednesday but then she had to switch days off with someone who was on vacation, so she is going to try for this Tuesday night. He is very wary (but hungry) and she hasn't been able to snap a photo of him yet, but she hopes he gets in the trap and not a raccoon or a possum...

Speaking of possums...Teri doesn't like to leave the cat food out overnight in case she attracts critters like rats, raccoons, foxes or possums but one night before she locked up for the night, she flipped on the patio light and look what she saw...



She finally remembered to take her camera to work on Friday and snapped a couple of photos of Mama Katz's kittens...

The friendliest one, who got over his pneumonia quickly, is the one closest to the table post, and he is spoken for...his name is Butters.


The little one with the eye defect, who is still looking for a home.


and, the little girl, who is also spoken for and whose name is Tilly.

It's hard to tell in that photo of Tilly, but if you look closely, you will see she is favoring her right front leg. When Teri arrived to work on Thursday morning, she found a bad accident happened overnight.

Someone had left the exam room chairs down (we are supposed to put them up on the table at night anyway but especially important as the room needs to be 'kitten proof' so they don't get into a trouble).

Tilly had gotten her leg caught in the frame of the chair and no knowing how long she had been trapped like that, but she was not able to get free! Her leg was swollen, her pads purple and she has radial nerve damage to the leg, so she is unable to make it do what the leg is supposed to do. Nothing is fractured, and she is on pain meds and an anti-inflammatory and she is getting better each day, but only time will tell if the damage is temporary or permanent.

Poor Tilly! Accidents do happen, but this was due to human error, and that makes it even worse. Sometimes Teri thinks people might think it odd that she keeps kittens in a tent (even though it is a large, dog sized tent) until they are 3-4 weeks old. And then in a large bathroom until they are 8-10 weeks old (of course, they get lots of time out with supervision but when she can't watch them--they are in the bathroom with their mommy).


But it is just for this reason--they can find things that get them into trouble just because they are tiny and don't know about dangers around the house. Even when they are adults...they do things that get them into trouble. Living with cats is like living with children and their environment need to be kitten-proofed and humans need to think "Could they get into trouble if..."

And for a Bebe update... She is doing well in her rehab and enjoys the guest bedroom with it's comfy bed. So far no peeing out of the box, though Disco did spray the bedroom door, just like Teri predicted he would, but only once so far. Good thing, as it's hard to stay mad at him for long...with his cute face!


Here's a photo of the guest bedroom what is Bebe's right now.


She will have the room to herself for a couple of weeks, then Brighton will get to meet her and we'll see if she likes him for a companion and if she is ok sharing her litterbox, but Teri will only leave them together with supervision so she can watch for any behavior that might start Bebes not wanting to use the litterbox, such as grrrs or stares or whapping on either cats part.

Yesterday, our petsitters came over for dinner and we had fun! Disco got to go out strollering! Bebes got lots of attention and brushing with the Zoom Groom, which she loves and everyone said Brighton acted back to his old self again! Bart (Mr Petsitter) helped Teri build a new patio off our basement 'Bird Watching' area. That's a real friend, as it was in the mid-90's and real sweaty work. But now there's room for patio furniture and maybe even a hammock (for human's, not us...).

Teri bought some new plants (a Wisteria and a Honeysuckle) and she said there is even a birdie nesting in one of the 'decorative' birdhouses she bought...soon we may hear tiny tweets?? (Sure, when she finally gets the basement back together and it's 'kitten proof' again!)


Here's an old photo of our 'Cat TV' room aka the basement...which we are patiently waiting to hang out in again:


Well, that's all the mews for this week. Teri is still trying to catch up with visiting our bloggie friends but wants to say thanks to efurryone that has been visiting us and keeping an eye on Brighton, too! She told us we lost some bloggie furrends this week and we are sad to learn that Puff-Kitty and Keiko went to the Bridge, and that sick kitties Neala and Jelly Bean need more purrz and purrz.

Looks like we missed a bunch of Birthday parties, too...but Teri brought us in a bunch of fresh nip from our garden, so we had a party in honor of those Purrthdays we missed!

Wordless Wednesday...2 Headed Cat?

Simply Sunday Afternoon...

This is Bette Blu, soaking up some laptime with her Daddy, George. You all remember Bosco, one of Coco's last litter? He flew off to his new home on Friday...and Bette Blu is his new 'sister'! Here he is, inspecting the Pagoda at the top of his new cat tree!


Our mewmie has been very busy (not lazy...leave that to us, hahameow) and has missed visiting our bloggie friends (and thanks them for stopping by to visit and ask about Brighton, too) but in between gardening (more like yard work), she is slowing cat-ching up.

She took some photos and movies yesterday of what's going on in our garden--squirrels, birds, Catnip and just us lounging around the house (TP artwork courtesy of Coco! and Kiki is in heat and wearing her collar so Disco can't bite her neck--yep, even though he is neutered, he attempts to have his way with her!) and the beginnings of a new patio, too...so we thought you'd enjoy seeing the them, too.


For all of you who have been purring for Brighton, he feels great, eating great, and back to his loving personality (mewmie said, who wouldn't be, he's on Valium to relax his urinary tract)...but he still isn't peeing normally! She even got him a new waterfall fountain..which all the cats like!



She took him into work with her last Monday and the vet said his urinalysis was perfect--so that's an improvement for sure. All the infection is gone and their still are no crystals to be seen, so he should be doing the normal 3 urine clumps in the box each day. But he is still going frequently, and only dime to quarter sized clumps.

So, besides continuing the Valium to relax the urethral spasms, they added Metacam for inflammation. Teri has been able to watch him closely all weekend and she thinks it's helping.


The vet was reluctant to sedate Brighton and pass a catheter to check for strictures etc as sometimes just passing a catheter can cause irritation. So we will wait another week and do that if he isn't back to normal by then.

Mama Katz (the cat formerly known as Punky Brewster) is coming around every night at the same time, dusk about 8:30pm, just as one of our bloggie followers who does TNR said she would.

And one of the clients at the vet hospital donated 30# of Evo dry food for Teri to feed her! And she gets to eat all our canned food leftovers, too. Teri said it's like having a doggie, hahameow!

Mama Katz arrives with the probable daddycat to her 4 kittens, and Teri's boss said if she can trap him Tuesday night, she will neuter him Wednesday...that will be good cuz he's been spraying by our front door---Pee U!

The kittens are doing great, too! The one with pneumonia and constipation is all better now, and two of the 4 kittens are spoken for and the lady who donated the cat food for Mama Katz said once they reach 8 weeks old, she can take them to cat shows and 2 rescue groups said they would help her find homes for them.

Teri keeps forgetting to take her camera to work with her to take photos of the kittens, but they are growing fast and while they have to be in a cage during the day, at night they have a big exam room to romp and play in.

And they get lots of attention from the staff at the hospital and maybe the 2 kittens that don't have homes yet will be adopted by one of the hospitals clients...that would be nice!

And finally an update on Bebes, the kitty who is here at Furrydance for 'Rehab' cuz she had been peeing outside her litterbox. You might remember her from this post CLICK HERE and you will be happy to know she is doing quite well here!

Today, Teri got the guest bedroom all ready for her next step in her rehabilitation. She washed all the bedding and vacuumed real well and since Bebes has not once peed outside the box in her time here, she gets to move into our favorite room in the house!

Disco said he might just have to spray on the bedroom door to show his displeasure at being shut out of there!


She is still on anxiety meds (Buspirone) but other than becoming a bit more vocal, she has not exhibited any of the behaviors she did in the home she was in. She is not digging at the carpet by the door, not scratching the door and not peeing inappropriately.

She does do a lot of that 'tail waggling' behavior, sort of a precursor to spraying, but some cats do that when they are happy, so as long at that is all she does, that's 'socially accemptable'. If she behaves herself in the guest room, then she will let Brighton befriend her and then we can see if she is ok sharing a litterbox etc.


As a side note, the other kitty this couple has from me (Coco's mother, Kely) is adjusting to being an only cat, but they also caught her peeing in the basement (the place Bebe's was doing that) so they have closed off the basement for now.

Neither cat ever peed anyplace in the rest of their house they said, so there may be something about the basement--animals seen outside, stress at being separated from their humans, or something in the carpeting or pad that attracts them.

Well, that's all the mews for now!

...Daddy's Day

Today is the day to tell your Daddy you love him...give him extra nosetaps, and give him your rumbliest purrs.

Some of our bloggie friends know we lost our Daddy in February 2007 and we miss him everyday. He had not been sick, in fact was very healthy and good about going to the doctors. But an unknown aneurysm took him from us without warning...


He used to sit and watch TV and we had lots of laptime with him. He was a big computer gamer, and we often interrupted his games but he never stayed mad for long. And he loved to take naps and we always joined him!


One never knows what life has in store for us...so don't put off telling your Daddies that you love them, efurry day!


If you'd like to get to know our Daddy and why we miss him so much, here's the blog that a friend made for our mewmie..
CLICK HERE

Wordless Wednesday

Elliot and Jacob, doing what cats do best...



They both live with the wonderful Brown family here in Virginia (Jacob, the black one, is a Furrydance Alumni)

Spread the word...

Which Rescue Group would you like to see get a FREE sponsorship to Pet Expo 2010? ($150 value)

Kristynn and Thomas are the proud servants of two Furrydance Cornish Rex, Teddy and Henry. They live in Summerville South Carolina and their favorite place to shop for their pets is Doolittles. Doolittles is having a contest to vote for a local rescue group to be able to be sponsored at the local Pet Expo 2010.

For any of you who are on facebook too, here is the link to their page and you can vote there.

CLICK HERE

Kristynn asked me to pass this along to all the CB to vote for OUR LADY OF MERCY'S CATNIP COTTAGE. Here is a link to their website:

CLICK HERE

Unfortunately, it looks like you can only vote if you are on facebook, not from Dolittle's or The Catnip Cottage's websites--fooey!

And if you need another reason to vote for them...listen to this story:

Kristynn is a Oncology/Palliative Care nurse and last week a young woman in her early 20's who is in hospice care and has not much longer on earth, had one wish...to have a cat to snuggle with as she had never had a cat of her own, something she had longed for.

Kristynn contacted The Catnip Cottage as she had adopted one of her kitties from there and asked if they had any cat that might be the one who could grant this young woman's wish, if just for a few hours. Amazingly, they have two Certified Therapy Cats and they brought Franklin to comfort this girl.

Once he had his collar on, he knew he was 'at work' and he spent the next two hours doing his job--comforting a patient...touching her face, curled up next to her, putting his paw in her hand. He is trained not to walk on patients, and to avoid all the medical equipment and IV lines, and to be calm and comforting.

This young woman was in and out of consciousness but for the whole visit with Franklin, she was lucid and even spoke, thanking him for coming to visit and how much it meant to her...and The Catnip Cottage took no money for this service, this labor of love. They said they feel blessed to have such a special cat to help others in need...

For this story alone, because my therapist asked me what I would be doing if I didn't have to work...and one of the things would be to get at least one of my cats Therapy Certified...The Catnip Cottage gets my vote and hope they get yours, too...

Simply Sunday Afternoon...

With all that has been going on at the Furrydance house, none of us have been able to visit all our bloggie friends in about 2 weeks, except for a comment here and there.

But hopefully we can catch up this week, cuz we miss visiting all of our furrends! You all come up on our Google Reader and we always check the CB, and so we know that there's some kitties needing purrs out there, big time and also an awardie we need to pick up over at Admiral Hestorbs...mewmie needs a Staycation!

Brighton is feeling much better--more chatty, and telling us he has cabin fever by pulling down the towels from the towel bar and getting mewmies bathrobe off the hook on the back of the bathroom door and sleeping on it! He got to come out into the bedroom today, while the rest of us had to say hi underneath the door...just to be safe.

He is still on the valium to help with the urethral spasms and his 'per pee' volume isn't much but he is going multiple times a day and larger amounts, so that's improvement. His cold is pretty much gone--just an occasional sneeze and no stuffiness now.

He will go in to work with mewmie tomorrow to hopefully collect a urine sample for testing and see what his 'flow' is like. He loves his 'medicine' treats and is easy to give his sub q fluids to, thank goodness!

And for a Punky B and kitten update...Lookin' Good there, too! One of our techs took two of the kittens home with her to her moms house this weekend--the one with the wonky eye and the little longhaired boy kitten that has pneumonia, consipation and was losing weight.

Both are doing great, and Butters (as the LH is called now) is gaining weight, playing and eating up a storm--so hump is over for now! And her mom is considering adopting Butters now, too!

The girl kitten and the hissy boy got to spend the weekend together in an exam room at work-so lots of room to play, much better than a cage! Hissy stops hissing after a few minutes of stroking and sweet talk but needs more 'environmental stimulation' to get over his fraidy-cat-ness.

Maybe our techs mom will foster them as she is home full time and can really work with them. I checked on them yesterday and they are doing great--eating and using the box (mostly). One of our clients at the hospital is donating litter and food for them, and one of the techs pitched in and bought them some Royal Canin Baby Cat food, which is just right for them at this age.

Another one of our techs parents came by to visit them yesterday, and they are going to adopt the little girl and call her Matilda! They are home a lot too...so they might be able to foster her and Hissy, and split up the responsibilities a little.

Punky B took a long time to recover from anesthesia, but that's cuz we wanted her to. We wanted her recovery to be smooth and not have her beat herself up in the trap while waking up. But by the time I left work with her, she was sitting up and watching me.

I put her in the big cage I had the kittens in on my patio--but made the mistake of putting a bowl of water in the cage along with food and well, she proceeded to try ever so hard to get out of the cage and in the process, knocked food and water flying everywhere. I felt terrible that she had to spend the night all wet and of course, wouldn't get in the dry storage container where there was soft, absorbent towels.

But by the morning she was calmer and while she was hiding behind the litterbox, I was able to 'sweep' up the floor of the cage and put out more food...I skipped the water! Saturday she took to sitting on top of the storage box and looked comfortable and was eating.

I couldn't really see her incision well or tell if she was engorged with milk until today, when she was grooming herself and licking her belly...all looked ok. So, I decided to let her out of the cage, wishing her fare thee well as she leapt over the side of the cage and off down the hill...

She won't have the responsibility of having to raise kittens again and she's been dewormed, deflea'd and vaccinated, too. If she hangs around, I may look into giving her an oral wormer/flea control product once a month so she can be as healthy as possible out there in the wild!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful...I really am. Thankful that Brighton, although still having difficulty urinating and so stuffy that he is breathing with his mouth open a little (If you biggify the photo, you can see his mouth open slightly)...that I still have him with me, that there is hope he will improve and get back to his sweet, porpoising self (I call it porpoising when he does this sweet greeting where he raises up on his hind legs and arches his back like a porpoise jumping out of the water...he then 'body slams' into my leg and I ruffle his ears as he passes by).

I took him in to work with me on Monday for a progress exam, but his bladder was empty (a good sign) so we couldn't run another urinalysis. He was finishing up his meds from the emergency visit, so Dr Lamb gave him an injection of Convenia--a 7 day antibiotic that is good for both the urinary tract infection and the respiratory infection. And we changed his 'relaxant' to diazepam to see how that worked for his urethral spasms.

So far, he is about the same I'd say...sits in the litterbox for 10 minutes, leaving maybe a teaspoon sized clump of urine. Not normal yet. Not sure why. His stuffiness has affected his appetite some, but then the diazepam stimulates it, and I wonder if he wasn't on that if he would be completely off food. That's a worry.

I am still giving him 100cc sub q fluids every day, and he is so good about that, which is a blessing. And he loves his Vetri-Lysine SoftChews, his freezed dried chick-hen treats, his Zuke's HipAction Glucosamine and Chondroitin treats. Not so much the Duralactin Omegas but they are good for inflammation of any kind...so takes your medicine like a good cat, Bright One!

I am glad I will have the next 3 days off to spend with him (oh, and Disco, Kiki, Coco, Sammy, Hiro and Bosco, too). I am keeping Brighton confined still, both to monitor his urinations and to not expose Hiro and Bosco to his URI, as they are getting ready to leave their birth home here and I'd hate for the stress of moving bring on a cold in them, too.


That's always a risk and well, I am being careful-disinfecting myself after handling Brightie, but the all live together anyway so it's kind of like shutting the barn door after the horse escapes...

Hiro's new family comes on Sunday to pick him up and Bosco's person is coming down from NYC on Friday to get him...so the house will be kitten-less until July 15th, when Coco's kittens are due to arrive. It will be just enough of a break for both her and I :-)


AND NOW FOR THE STRAY CAT STRUT...UPDATE

So much has happened since my last post on Sunday! My vet said to bring in the kittens on Tuesday as we weren't booked full with appointments. So each one got a full exam, found a few live fleas so more stuff to make the fleas flee and more deworming and on the good side...lots of petting and cooing from all the staff.

Of course, with feral cats and kittens, one always has to be aware of contagious diseases that may be incubating, AND of the possibility of Rabies if we get bitten. So we handle them accordingly, of course!

Already they are not hissing at us and are purring for us, too! One rescue group contacted me (out of the 5 emails I sent out)and put word of them out on their network...but so far no foster homes have contacted me. One of our techs said her mom would foster them if the rescue team would pay for their 'maintenance' needs (she's home all the time so that would be great for the kittens).

But if each of our staff pitched in something (I brought food in, someone else could get a bag of World's Best Litter, another person could buy some toys...and so on). I think it will all work out and when they are old enough to go to new homes, they will be healthy and well-socialized!

For the most part, their exams were great--no URI'S, no oral ulcers, no ear mites. One kitten (actually the first one I caught--that sweet one looking up with blue kitten eyes from the storage box bed) was breathing a bit hard--could be roundworm migration or early pneumonia or a URI starting. We did a HCT/TP to check for anemia or first signs of FIP, but those results were normal.

By the next day, he had lost an ounce so we xrayed him and all looked normal, so we gave him a baby kitten dose of azithromycin antibiotic. He gained a bit overnight but still looks a bit rough today, Thursday.

Then another kitten has some kind of strange lesion on it's eye--not the typical herpes ulcer though. My vet said it looked like something he might have been born with, so she took a picture and emailed it to an ophthalmologist at The Hope Center and she emailed back that she'd take a look at him for FREE--cool, huh?!


So one of our staff came in on her day off yesterday and took him over there and well, the vet said she hadn't ever seen anything quite like it before but thought it was something he was born with...but she took a bunch of pictures with her fancy camera and will post it for other eye vets to comment on...

They are all eating great and using the litterbox like good little kittens, even though they are so young! Here's a photo of them in their hospital cage:


and MamaCat? I trapped her last night and she came in with me to work today and had her LadyGardenectomy, after testing her for FELV/FIV and deworming/defleaing her with Advantage Multi. She was quiet, surprisingly, for the 45 minute car ride in to work with me, and not frantic in the trap...but wowza, she didn't get too sedate after her pre-anesthetic injection (given through the wire of the cage--she IS feral) but often even when they don't look hyper-excited, they are and the sedation doesn't work as well.

The techs got her in the induction chamber, wearing protective gloves of course, and while they were prepping her for surgery, I combed and combed out fleas...nuking them with Ovitrol--die, die! She is in good shape, about a year old, no wounds or skin issues and NO gingivitis! What is it about outdoor wild cats...oftentimes their teeth are in great shape...no spoiled pampered dietary lifestyle of the rich and famous cats maybe?

I will take her home and put her in the cage on my porch and as long as she is calm in there, probably keep her confined til Sunday...then I guess I have my first 'outdoor' kitty ever! Oh, I am sure she goes someplace during the day and some irresponsible pet owner just got a free spay at our wonderful cat only practice...but I sure feel good that I did the responsible thing!

Here she is (I'm calling her Punky Brewster) in recovery...in the Hav-a-Hart trap, of course, cuz there would be no handling her once she woke up!

Brighton Update, and Stray Kitties Update, too...

Brighton has had a stable weekend, not as much improvement in urine flow as I had hoped to see, but he is feeling good, eating well and taking his meds and sq fluids like a good boy.

His culture results at 48 hours show no bacterial growth so that will probably be negative after 72 hours...one less worry. He has started sniffling, so I hope that doesn't worsen and hope he didn't pick something up while hospitalized or the stress cause him to have a URI recrudesce. He's already on antibiotics, but I have added Lysine to his food starting today.

CatHerder had asked if he was on a special prescription diet for Urinary Tract disease, and right now, the answer to that is no, since no crystals were found in 3 urine samples. His blockage was due to protein material, not crystals. For right now, he is on an all canned food diet and no dry kibble, to help increase his water consumption, as canned food is 87% water. It is possible stress could have brought on FIC (Feline Interstitial Cystitis) although I have gone away on vacation before with no problems.

I am truly hoping his urine stream improves, which may mean changing or adding medication--anti-inflammatories and/or anxiety meds, and I pray he won't need that 'last resort', a perineal urethrostomy to enable him to urinate normally again, as that surgery is not without it's risks and problems, too.

Here's some links to info on Urinary Tract Disease in cats:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/urinary.html
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1111

He will go in to work with me tomorrow for a follow-up exam and to express his bladder and look at another urine sample. So keep him in your thoughts and keep the purrs coming...

As for the stray mama and kittens...I captured all of them on Saturday--4! I think 1 girl and 3 boys. They are safe and dry and flea free now and eating canned food. I was hoping that mama would find them in my backyard and not just run off...and when I got up Sunday morning she was next to the cage.

She disappears during the day but is around after dusk. So I am hoping I can trap her Tuesday night and take them all into work with me for mama to have a sedated exam and tests. Another friend is going to post info about them on the rescue network and another organization said we could bring the kittens to adoption fairs after they are 8 weeks old. Still up in the air if we will TNR the mama back to this neighborhood but more than likely so.

Another friend has a colony of cats she cares for at her barn--some feral but most not--most surrendered due to urination and spraying issues but happy as clams as barn cats. They get the best of food, flea control and cat 'apartments' in the barn so not a bad life at all! So that might be an option, too.

Here's a few pix of the kittens and the cage setup on my patio (before I caught the 4th one):

Brighton Update, and Stray Mama Cat n Kittens...

Here's the Friday update on Brighton, and my thanks again to all of you who are watching his progress and sending your purrayers.

He is still taking a long time to get a silver dollar sized spot o' pee out, but I actually saw him make a 'stream' a time or two and that's an improvement. I still have him confined to the bathroom so I can monitor his litterbox leavings but he seems content and resting.


While I was cleaning up the bathroom this morning, I let him out into the bedroom and all his buddies said hello to him (oh, I gave him a bath, much needed and now that he was feeling better, I wanted to wash the 'hospital' smell off him, as there is no way to stay 'pee free' when one has a catheter in place. A little later, I found him curled up on my bed, happy to be home!


He was a very good patient getting his sub q fluids this morning and ate a whole can of Fancy Feast Medleys, so all's well with his appetite, too. His blood chemistry panel shows improvement over yesterday, too. His BUN is 36, Creatinine 0.9, Phosphorus 4.8.

I took him back into work (aka the vets) for a squeeze and a urinalysis and Dr E was able to squeeze out a stream. OMC, she was excited about that--vet's are funny sometimes! And his u/a showed improvement, too. Still no crystals, and 25% less white blood cells, too. Still sort of iced tea color but that's ok for now. The culture results will be back Sunday and we will know then if he needs to change the antibiotic he's on.

I am pleased with his progress and I dropped the emergency hospital an email with his 'status report' as I know even though they see lots of pets there...they like to hear happy endings! They were very attentive to him and and I both and I felt so good knowing he had 24 hour care, a heated cage, someone monitoring his breathing (because of his heart murmur, being on IV fluids can be risky and can push them into congestive heart failure sometimes) and some extra TLC cuz our previous pet sitter is a vet tech there.

So, now that Brighton is doing better, I can tell you all about the next 'cat-astrophe', which I hope will have a good ending, too.

I live in a townhome community, sort of like condos, with neighbors cheek and jowl together. The neighbor on my right is irresponsible in many ways and the neighbor on my left is kind of a hoarder. I had seen an orange kitty hanging around for a few weeks, and in my neighborhood, you don't see outdoor or feral cats much.

While I was away, my petsitter found that this kitty had made a 'nest' under the neighbors bay window, in the bushes and she saw 3 orange kittens making their way into a burrow underneath my concrete porch. She said they looked about 2 weeks old. I told her I would look into it when I got home and see if I could help.

The mama is feral so will need trapping, but I have handled all 3 kittens, deflea'd them, and given them all a dose of Drontal. I had to put the dewormer in a pill pocket and I think the mama ate it, mixed in with some canned food. The kittens were covered in fleas, and could be anemic from that but otherwise have no URI signs right now, thank goodness! Of course, I disinfect myself after handling the kittens as I don't want to bring anything in to my kitties inside!

A friend who is involved with cat rescue made some phone calls for me and checked with 4 rescue groups in the area and so far no luck in them taking this family. It is the 'kittening' time of year, and I hate to have to make the choice of taking them to a 'kill' shelter, though the kittens would stand a chance of adoption, not so the mama.

This same friend has a humane trap and has offered to help me trap the mama cat next weekend. And my petsitter is coming over tomorrow to help me set up a cage on my patio and I will corral the kittens there, and I have a 'dream' that I can get the mama cat to get into the cage to be with her kittens and I can drop the door shut before she escapes...I know, dream on.

I will have to keep the door shut unless I can watch the cage, or she may move the kittens and then I might not find any of them again! I made a shelter out of a storage box, but so far, none of them has voluntarily entered it...they'd rather sleep in the dirt and leaves, sigh...I thought maybe they'd all hunker down in the storage 'cave' and I could close the 'flap door' and trap them, and that ain't gonna happen it doesn't look like!

Wish me luck tomorrow and then with trying to find homes for them all...anybody close by to me looking for a new gingercat furbaby??