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We had several days of peace (not peace and quite, mind you, as Spatz never shuts up, but we did have relative peace in terms of the Porch Wars). But that was broken today by the fact that Spatz entered Mommy Cat's hunting turf (under the camper) and she called out the big guns (Orange Boi) to back up her claim. The explosion on the tarmac was epic and there is still enough fur strewn around out there to construct another meatball head feline. I broke it up, and then tended to the newest cut on Orange Boi's head. Friends had recommended Vetericyn for treating wounds on cats, but when I went to Tractor Supply they were out. I stood there for a good 20 minutes reading bottles because a number of the products there were safe on pretty much every animal except cats. Eventually I settled on MicrocynAH and have been pretty pleased with it. It is a gel formula so it actually hangs around the wound area instead of running directly off. There is no discernible smell (at least to me), and it clearly doesn't burn or sting because OB has let me spray it on some pretty hideous gashes so far. Now I just need to keep him and Spatz from killing each other until the weather here sorts itself out and I can get The Enemy fixed. Most days we have peace, but some days these idiot meatball boys will be boys. "I am Orange Boi and I am soaking wet because I got in a massive brawl with Spatz in the one puddle that is in the back drive. The human lady had to come spray goo on my bloody head and she told me I am a dumbass. Miss Gimpy said she is correct in that."
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18 years is not enough. Isis was very tired, exhausted from a long life full of love and crazy Savannahs. She was ready, even if I could never be. I think the pandemic gave us something good, in a way. We got to spend extra time with this lady for the last five months of her live. Extra loving, extra cuddles, extra laughs. She had recovered from her lymphoma, but her kidneys were just done. I talked to a vet friend of mine who told me that she usually sees kidney issues creeping in around 15 years. In the wild a cat's life is only a few years, but we care for them so well that their length of life far exceeds the wear-and-tear on their parts. It hit Reeses at about the same age. Isis did very well through the summer but started to really slow down and drop weight in August. She could still get on the sofa and would come to bed with me every night until September rolled around and then she just chose to lay on her cat bed in the living room, often with Layla keeping close watch on her friend. Eventually, Miss Isis was done and we had to say good bye. We made it to 18, but that doesn't make it easier so my heart breaks yet again. I hope she is cuddling with Reeses and Nimar right now. Thanks to Rude Ranch for bringing her into our lives. I never thought I would say this but I miss hearing her sing the 'song of her people' in the middle of the night every night. We very recently said farewell to our adorable little deaf gal, Reeses deBuggg.
She was adopted almost 15 years ago from Rude Ranch. She was taken in by a rescuer with several other ferals, but her personality, along with her super soft bunny fur, meant the BigMan would cave in to her grumpy little self and bring her home (even when he was supposedly NOT looking for another cat). Even at a petite 6lbs, she was the one none of the other cats would mess with. Even Nimar swung a wide path around her if she leveled her tortietude stare in his direction. She was also my sweet little lap cat when I played video games, and was Isis’s dearest companion. For about 2 years now, kidney disease has been becoming more a problem for her, but she still kept on doing her thing in her own cute way. This summer a host of other issues crept up, including Horner's Syndrome and then earlier this month she lost most of the function in her hind legs. Eventually, she was just ready to go. I hugged her right before I left town to visit my dad in the hospital, because I knew there was a chance she would not be home when I came back. I am broken hearted now, especially for the BigMan and the Isis who has need her constant companion for nearly 15 years. There is never, ever enough time with our beloved furry companions. Things are not so bad right now in Kittonland. Isis is continuing to regain weight, which means that her meds and foods are helping deal with the lymphoma. She and Reeses now have a quiet space to hang out, look out the windows, sleep and not have Malik eat all their toys during the day. They look forward to us coming home from work so that they can get social time, but are pretty much ready to go back to the private suite at bedtime. I initially had great guilt about setting up the house like this, but they actually seem to prefer it, so all is well. Siada had her two-week post-op check up last week. She is doing great, and everything is healing up well. She now gets to take 2 five minute walks a day (under strict supervision) and gets cuddle time with Papa. I think that is the thing that makes her most happy! And then there is the knuckle head brigade. Malik and Layla pretty much act like little furry hurricanes that barrel through the house at random intervals. They knock over furniture, steal potatoes and crackers, and generally drive me nuts, but I love them. Layla Squashin, as you can see below, is still a very real event in our house, and even Isis gets her turn at the Squashin (I think she likes it less than Layla does, lol). I am delighted to find out that my Savannah Scams page on this site has really taken off. I have now gotten several emails from folks regarding it, and how it helped them avoid scams (or emailing me to see if I think something is a scam). I will be posting more updates there this week.
I hope everyone is having a good 2019 so far! Well, despite some unwelcome issues with our geriatric feline friends, the holiday season was mostly peaceful. Reeses had a few out-of-litterbox incidents, which I initially thought was progression of her kidney disease (she is stage 3 CKD), but it turns out it was a UTI. We got her treated and she is back to being her excellent self (and is still holding her own against the CKD). Isis, as I mentioned last month, has been dropping weight, barfing more than usual and has been exploding in the litterbox multiple times a day. She was referred from our regular vet to a specialist (who fortunately was also Nimar's doc), and is now being treated for small-cell Lymphoma. She is on special food and some medications and in just three weeks has gained a half pound! I am so very happy about that. Also, no more barfing and all else is also now functioning normally. For a 16+ year old lady, this is really good news. Her appetite and energy are great and she can even jump on the bed again without using the cat stairs. I have to count all of this as a blessing. On the Kitton Front, Siada went in this morning for surgery on her other knee. The first one has healed fantastically, but the left knee is now much worse than it was on initial diagnosis (it slips out regularly), so we are getting that taken care of now. Of course, that means I am a total stress case today, but she is a Champion, and should be fully recovered in time for camping season. And what about the rest of the crew? Well, I can say that the Kittons had a great holiday playing with their new Ripple Rug that Santa brought them. This thing is probably the best $40 I ever spent on a cat toy. The three Savannah's love darting in and out of it, rolling in it, and beating each other up on it. I think Layla even declared it the BEST DAY EVER when they unwrapped it!
The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. One of the funny things about forums online is that, over time, you really feel as though you get to know the other participants on those groups, or at least you get to know their pets. There are a number of Savannah cat groups the I regularly check and so many cats that I love seeing photos of or hearing of their antics. I laugh at the silliness and mourn the loss of those whom I have adored for years. One of my favorites is Luna, the Savannah who survived FIP. For those who are fortunate to have not been touched by this disease and who might now know about it, Cornell University describes Feline Infectious Peritonitis as a condition caused by the feline coronavirus. A small percentage of cats with this virus will progress to FIP where the body's own white blood cells transmit the virus through out the system. This causes inflammation in the affected areas that is almost always fatal. It is a horrible illness which progresses very quickly. (Yeah, there is more too it than that, but you can read the full explanation in the Cornell link.) Luna had the typical FIP swollen belly and was not feeling at all well, but she was actually very lucky. She was lucky to be diagnosed when she was, and even more lucky to be in the perfect position to begin a drug trial to see if they could halt this devastating disease. And best of all, the drug worked and Luna won the battle. She has been free of the disease for 19 months. This sweet Savannah is living the life she was meant to live, traveling and hiking and even now has a Savannah brother and sister! If you want to read the full story of her miraculous recovery (I highly recommend it) as well as the team who got her there and the hope for the future in the battle against FIP I please check out the links below: https://pethelpful.com/cats/Hope-for-Feline-Infectious-Peritonitis-aka-FIP-Lunas-Story http://debraroberts.net/category/lunas-fip-ucd-trial/ If you would like to assist the fight against FIP, you can donate directly to the research efforts at UC Davis. The funds will go towards research, treatment and prevention of this disease: https://give.ucdavis.edu/Donate/YourGift/V483516
Several people have asked me how Siada is doing, so I thought I would give the lengthy answer here.
She is doing well. The 2 week follow-up went great. We had some concerns about a small bump about a centimeter from the incision, and the surgeon said that it was tissue over one of the pins. He said she is exactly where she should be in her recovery process. She walks with a heavy limp, but is finally putting a little weight on that limb. It is pretty crazy, actually, how quick she can still scoot around the room. So the good thing is that she is going very well, but the bad is that we still have 6 more weeks of crating. She is allowed out twice a day for 5-10 minutes to walk around but otherwise, it's in the crate. We are doing our best to make sure that she doesn't left out, bored, lonely or sad over this. We have the stroller I mentioned previously at our house and use it to take her from room to room with us in the evenings. This allows her to sit with us while we play computer games or when I do the dishes or other work. She seems to enjoy it. The stroller is perfectly serviceable for our needs, but Papa decided that it was not sturdy enough for outside walks and for use while camping, so he ordered a more heavy duty one to take camping.
I bought the travel kit on a total whim and am so very glad I did. The crate is essentially a pop-up tent. It weighs nothing and folds completely flat. It is not super sturdy, but has so far survived a couple of wrestling matches between Malik and Layla (both on, or in, it). All of the accessories were a bonus (it has a tarp lined litter pan, a mat that has a vinyl side and an absorbent side, a collapsible water dish, toys and a carrying bag for the accessories. This would also be fantastic for a long road trip with a cat.
And because the world needs more cat pics, here are two of Malik and Layla playing in the camper and one of Siada getting some quality time sitting on Papa (which I am sure is helping with her recovery). Also, please note that yesterday was the Reeses-aversary! On October 24, 2004, she was adopted from Rude Ranch at the local Pet Smart. Alas, she preferred to nap on her holiday so the image at the far left below was the best I could get of her scrumpy little self. The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. 'Siada had her surgery without complications last week. It was terrible not having her home that night (but they needed to make sure things were going well before releasing her into our care). For the first couple days she was very groggy and quite drugged. She had a hard time moving around (would not put any weight on the corrected knee) so she had a few spills in her confinement area, but nothing serious. I gave her lots of attention, special stinky cat food to get her to eat more (was worried about dehydration until she got more mobile), and I crawled into her Kitton Prison with her and watched many episodes of the Walking Dead this weekend while keeping her company. She gets up a few times a night and fusses/stresses and I get up to make sure she didn't empty the litter box into her cage (because she did once) or to make sure she wasn't standing on her back legs trying to jailbreak. One of the major issues we are having is that she keeps taking the dang cone off. Even the cute little lion cone is getting removed with regularity (sigh). It is supposed to be on for 2 weeks when she is unsupervised, but she has removed it a number of times. She hasn't damaged her sutures though, which is good. She is mostly just interested in grooming her princessy butt. I am trying to rig a pair of infant leggings into a one legged hosen type thing to see if she will wear that rather than the cone. Will be testing out that theory tonight. One of the good things though is that I have to say that the purchase of the stroller was rather brilliant on our part. It enables us to take her anywhere in the house with us, which allows her to get more social time and to be less bored (bored Savannahs are destructive Savannahs, lol). She is already trying to jail break (and actually made it past me and out of confinement once, but I nabbed her quickly and recontained her royal rump). Of course, her Papa decided that her stroller, while perfectly serviceable in the house, is not sturdy enough for walks at campgrounds or around the Cabin), so he ordered one with more substantial tires and more heft to it. When it comes in I will do a full comparison of the two here.
The stroller is also allowing the other cats to remember that she is still here, and to reacquaint themselves with her smells. And it provided the sweetest moment last night when Layla finally got over her fear of the new apparatus and gave her "sister" kisses. Tomorrow will mark the beginning of the second week of recovery. The whole span is 8 weeks, and it will be a very long (sleepless) 8 weeks in my world! The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. Siada does in fact need knee surgery, on both legs. The first will be next week. I am stressed out and worried about how sad she will be being confined for 8 weeks. Fortunately, her containment area will actually be larger than I expected (I was guessing it would be a small crate, but instead we can use the Kitton Prisons we already have, which are octagonal and 52X52 inches).
The surgery has a 90% success rate, and the surgeon told us that even for the other 10% that they still tend to be better off before, with less of the knee slipping out of place. Hopefully once this is all over we can have the Princess streaking around the house and ruling once again with her iron paw! I do have to say that we should have given Nimar's vet (who works at the ER/Specialist center) a heads up that we were coming in. When she saw us in the lobby I could see for a moment that she was worried that we were there for an emergency (she knew we got two new Savannahs), but we quickly told her that Siada was in the back (she rushed back to meet her) and then showed her more pictures of Layla and also of Malik. She (and all of the techs that had to deal with Nimar) were happy to hear that Malik is MUCH easier to handle. The last month is somewhat of a blur, as I was sick for three weeks and after that it was fast-paced prep time for the camping trip this past weekend (the kittons, btw, loved being in the camper again). And overshadowing everything else is the fact that tomorrow Siada goes in for her appointment to have her knees x-rayed. She has luxating patellas on both knees (with one worse than the other). This causes her knee to slip out of alignment at times. She can pop it back in, but over time this will cause serious arthritis and we need to prevent that as best we can. The condition is congenital, but not necessarily hereditary. It is not particularly common in cats, but when it does show up it is usually lanky, leggy breeds.
The x-rays themselves are neither here nor there, it is the surgery that is stressing me. Recover is 6 weeks, and she will be crated most of that time. I feel so horrible over the very idea of having to do that. She loves to run and climb and jump and play so very much. I know this is the "right thing" but that doesn't mean it feels like it. |
AuthorSavannah Caretaker who is honored to do the job. The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. This revenue goes towards helping to feed the Furrals!
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