She Plays!

It was only for a moment or two but I was thrilled to watch Honei play. Last year I brought Honei home from the local Animal Services/Control. When I first saw her she was working the window trying to get any one's attention. Being a senior cat I didn't think anyone else would rescue her from there.

She seemed to feel okay but she did drool a bit so I took her to see the vet. She looked to be in good health except for one abscessed tooth. So I made an appointment to have it extracted. A bit after that Honei has an urgent problem with a heart murmur and congested heart failure. Later she had ringworm, then some diarrhea. When that balanced out, she was clearly uncomfortable eating. Two teeth that were hitting the gum of the tooth she had removed were causing her a lot of discomfort so out they came. More diarrhea... Then she had an urinary tract infection. then more diarrhea. The latest problem is Pancreatitis. After a few months of Honei feeling good the diarrhea returned, her pancreatitis flared up. So now after investing $4,000+ towards Honei's health, it does my heart good to see her playing.

Honei likes to keep me on my toes, although I wish she would stop coming up with various health issues. The vet bills are cutting into the kitty food fund doncha know. I'm just glad she is feeling well and hope she does for a long time.

Oh My gosh, Go Figure!

So I moved one of the hissy kittens into a large cage which is in a room of three cats that like me. Because two of those cats are on a diet I don't free feed them. Because I caught one of those two poking her paws through the cage to get to hissy kitty's food, I decided to start feeding him only when I am in the room too. They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.... well it can work for kittens too. Only a few feedings into my new program and he is starting to purr when he sees me. This afternoon he starting purring, jumped onto the shelf where he gets his can food, and even offered me a soft meow. All without any hissing! Yay! But would the magic continue during another feeding? Well... yes, this evening he purred, jumped up to his bowl, and paused to sniff my hand. Again, no hissing! Unfortunately the spell was broken when I cleaned his litterbox. But we ended the day on a good note.

Feeling giddy, I went into the next room where his brother is. Also in a large cage but across the room from two of his siblings (in a 3rd large cage) and his mom who is loose in the room. This boy has some back up. Earlier when I came into the room I noticed that this kitten, Rudie, had spilled his dry food onto the floor so I decided to try my new "think of food when you see me" program. Rudie isn't as much of a fan of can food as his siblings. I tried a couple of rounds of using can food but he wasn't as impressed as his brother. So I decided to try just feeding him dry food while I am in the room. What Rudie does like is the feathered wand that I have gone back to using to pet him. I try to stay focused on using it only to pet him. He tries to stay focused on watching the bird as it moves about him. But..... but he has purred a couple of times while I am petting him with the feathers. It does settle down his hissing, and his fear a bit. Yay! Progress! I just might have to kick out some money for their neuters rather then using the free clip & snip feral neuters. I can live with that.

Movin' along

Well the socializing continues. One kitten purrs when she sees me, when she is being pet - she loves having her chin rubbed by the way - and she purrs when she sees the can food. She plops down and starts to knead. What a love!

Her brother that's with her is doing well too. He hides at first but then he comes out to say hello. He purrs after I pet him for a bit. Has to get over the first impulse of being timid. They both love to play with the bird on a string. What fun!

The remaining four siblings.... well.... two are beginning to trust me... a little. Two of them have stopped hissing for the most part. The rule with them is they get pet if they hiss. Also I pet them while they are eating can food. I can pick them up and hold them for a short time and I can pet them. They aren't sure about it, but I can do it. Soon I will move them in the same room as the kittens above. Hopefully they will follow their siblings and be better about trusting me. If not, I can move them back into the large cage they are currently in, or there is a cage in the room I plan to move them into.

Now the last two boys.... I get rejected by them on a daily basis. Hiss, hiss, hiss! I separated them and moved one into another room. He's in a large cage and his room-mates that are outside of the cage all like me. They hear him hiss and give him a look of "What's your problem? What are you hissing about?" He is getting better. Another brother is in a large cage that I moved to the opposite side of the original room they were in. He can see his two siblings and their mother is still in the room. But times will be a changin' because the person that will be taking care of mom is now ready for her to return to her yard. Just have to catch mom early on spay day. And soon the two kittens will go upstairs and this poor boy will have no support in his hissing. I haven't given up on these two boys although I have threatened to have them clipped and snipped and throw them back into the wilds.

Interesting enough, the two boys are better when I am wearing gardening gloves. I guess they disassociate me from my hands when gloved.

The plan was to get the first two ready for adoption. Then work more with the next two, then as they are ready work with the last remaining kittens. Problem is that adoptions are so slow that it looks like they will be almost full grown by the time they get adopted. Plenty of time for me to bond with them I guess!