It didn't rain, it poured !

By the end of last week all 9 cats and kittens had signs of upper respiratory infections and possibly pneumonia. So last Friday we journeyed back and forth to the vet with the 9 of them. All did have an URI and were in various stages of developing pneumonia. Apparently it is a common bug that kitties can pick up at any veterinarian hospital. $583.00 later, we were home with 9 bottles of antibiotics, each got a shot of antibiotic, each got a vitamin B shot and we came come with 2 IV's in the event someone got too dehydrated. We're hoping the mortgage company really loves cats and understands why we didn't pay this month!

Sammy the 20 yr old wasn't looking so good for a few days. This is now Monday and all have showed signs of major improvement. Between little steam bathes, cleaning snotty noses and yucky eyes, passing out meds, special diets and just holding them..we need a vacation lol. Yesterday, all of them just slept day and night. By this morning it was like someone flipped the switch back on. Woke up to a cat fight on my head, someone lunged at Sammy and scared the P actually out of her and on to me..and so life has returned. And it better last!!

When it rains it pours.....9 sick kitties

Wouldn't you know it. Just get Lucy well healed up and start re-integrating all the kitties and adult cats together. Then the dreaded sneezing begins. Within 3 days all the babies, Lucy and my other 3 adult cats all have an upper respiratory infection. When it rains it really pours! Just got caught up on vet bills and now this. Just can't treat one and none of the others so it's all or none. Short of re-mortgaging the house (I'm kidding somewhat) this is becoming a financial nightmare. They will all have to be taken to the vet. My oldest Sammy is 20 years old and if she gets too dehydrated it's all about doing the subcutaneous IV fluids as well as whatever other meds are needed. $35.00 per cat for an office visit plus meds.

Some days I question my own sanity, we just wanted to help this momma and her babies. To give them a home they never had..warmth, food, toys and lots of love. Were we wrong to take on this major project? We really didn't mind giving up the last 11 weeks to devote time to them. To putting ourselves even more in debt despite the kind and generous gifts offered by many of you. We have achieved all the goals set out for this young furbutt family and now this........sorry I just needed to vent. Now back to my nursing duties...warm food, warm milk supplement, cleaning runny eyes, wiping clean snotty little noses and giving them little steam bathes so they can breathe easier. Keep a good thought for all of us would you? It would be so appreciated

                                                

  Kitty Kisses,

          The family of Lucy and her 5 babies, Jessy, Billy and Sammy

Mug Shots of The Bengal Five

Lucy is doing so so much better! After a few terrifying days, she's back to normal although her activities remain restricted. Her incisions are healing well, even though she's been caught pulling at the sutures. Until Lucy is out and about, I'll handle her blog duties but I'm sure not as good as her. Thought maybe you'd like to see the mug shots of The Bengal Five up close and personal.

Bailey (male)

The king pin. Thinks he owns the house and the other kids. He's quickly becoming Russ' shop assistant and in the middle of anything and everything. A little over 4 pounds at 10 weeks he demands food! Only kitten that does not look like Lucy. He has a black nose! and strange looking eyes.

Yoda Ears (male)

The sneaky one with the speed of a wildcat! He has overly large ears that I personally thinks he uses to detect capture. He's the only one with slanted eyes. This poor boy has fallen in love with Joey. He races to find Joey and latches himself on to the dog's leg or tail and won't let go. Joey puts his paw on him and the little devil weasels out and re-attacks

Little Face (female)

This was the runt of the litter and still the tiniest at under 3 pounds. Don't let her cute, petite face fool you! She runs with boys and plays just as rough as them except when she wants attention. Then she's all love and rumbling

Baby Face (female)

This one will steal your heart and your food. She was the baby that had the hard time after surgery. She has the loudest purr for such a tiny baby, also under 3 pounds. Second in line for the biggest mouth in the bunch. She knows how to demand attention and is priming herself to be the little princess around here.

Gabby (male)

Another demanding ruler of the roost and the dinner plate. Gabby is my assistant, who is quite the kisser and huggy one. He's the same size as Bailey, and the 2 of them pound the daylights out of each other. Loves to be cuddled and has the biggest mouth of all. As a matter of fact he never shuts up. Even makes growling noises when he eats.

Until next time...Kitty Kisses from Lucy and her babies

We almost lost our Lucy.......

Being as I'm not feeling so good I'm having my human mom write for me

On Wednesday, Aug 25th, Lucy and the kittens were all scheduled for their sterilization. The babies are just about 10 weeks old and weigh between 2.5 and 4 pounds. As expected we were a nervous wreck for our new little family as we dropped them off at 8am and couldn't pick them up till the following morning at 7:30am. Bright and early Thursday morning we were first in line to pick up our crew. Couldn't understand why they kept avoiding us and left us till last.

They came out with all the carriers except Lucy's. Babies were all being sent home but there had been a problem with Lucy. Briefly told that she had ripped out her sutures overnight and that they were stabilizing her for a return to surgery to see what happened. Spent most of the day making call after call to see what was going on. If it were not for all of you dear friends we would have been even more more upset than what we were.

Finally got thru and was told we could pick Lucy up at 3pm. When spaying they cut or separate the uterine horns and the uterine body

Once the cuts are made they are closed by what they call ligatures.

After her surgery all seemed well with Lucy. Staff is there very late at nite and return early in the am with a few hours of no staffing there. When they returned in the morning they found Lucy in a pile of blood and in critical condition. Took them 8 boxes of gauze pads to just soak up the blood pooled around her, put her on oxygen, IV fluids and a heating pad with a tech holding a pressure bandage on her incision.

Apparently the ligatures on the 2 ascending cuts were fine. However on the descending cut, the ligatures knots untied and she began bleeding in to her belly. When the pressure in her belly became too much, Lucy ripped out her sutures, inside and out, to let the blood drain out and she continued to bleed until they found her. Once stabilized, which took most of the day, they took her back into surgery. Again another incision to find out the problem, re-tie the ligatures, double check the other ones, and close her back up. I think they knew we would not let her stay there another night alone and unsupervised.

Back home on Thursday evening, our poor Lucy was an absolute mess. The anesthesia and pain meds for 2 days in a row really took it's toll. She was so dazed and almost confused, any slight noise just startled the daylights out of her. In between we were also monitoring the babies and trying to console our other pets who had no idea what was going and why they weren't allowed in certain rooms.

That night, Lucy was frantic and the only way to calm her was to hold her. She wanted nothing to do with a cage or an elizabethan collar. So I stayed up and held her for 4 hours straight just gently talking to her. She let her self relax. Managed to try the cage one more time for about 20 minutes, but went back to holding. So the entire night I just held her to my chest with her head tucked under my chin and let her sleep.

By Friday morning she was still groggy but very anxious about her kittens, we periodically took her in to see that they were ok and sleeping. By this time all the kittens had rallied around. Only one of the little females was a bit shocky at first, but holding her most of Wednesday night calmed her down. She was the only one that seemed to experience any pain but that seemed to subside by Thursday nite.

This post has taken me days to get completed..it's now Sunday morning and things are beginning to look up. Last night Lucy was just kind of blank and staring into space. We wrapped her tummy in a towel and sat her on the couch beside me and let the kittens out. 4 of the 5 just kind of zipped by as they were more intent on just running themselves ragged. The 5th kitten, was the little female who was initially kind of shocky. Her and Lucy just seemed to melt in to each other. Nuzzling and bathing her baby till she was soaked, Lucy seemed almost back to normal. Normal will take time as she is still run down from blood loss and tires very easily but at this time the things are finally looking up.

I'm tired but oh so much better

This is Lucy's belly today, 4 days after the double surgery. She is still quite swollen and bruised. She may not appear swollen but she had lost so much weight that it almost makes her look normal. Unfortunately it's all swelling on her tummy and inner legs

    

Here's the babies resting up

except for this guy who's feeding his fat little face again. He's the biggest at 4 pounds

Our sincerest thanks and gratitude to all our extended family on Bonanzle and the Pet Finders Forum for their many prayers and good wishes for Lucy's recovery. If it had not been for you all, we would have never survived ourselves much less Lucy. Such a great and loving bunch of people that it is our pleasure to call them part of our family. So many, many thanks and undying gratitude for those that sent donations to help with the mounting bills, mainly food bills now. Just this family is consuming 18 cans of Fancy Feast per day!....may God bless you all for helping raise this family of felines..these are your babies too! We love them all to death and have only wanted the best for them

On Lucy's behalf...many heartfelt kitty kisses and hugs to you all,

Mary & Russ

Lucy & her Babies

Sofy & Joey

Sammy, Jessy & Billy

I am in love and with the wrong person?

This has been a rough week! I have been out mixing with all my new brothers and sisters and WHAM, something went askew. Mom says I'm in heat. I was all cranky then suddenly became all lovey with everything in site. I loved all the furniture, I rolled all over the place, even down the basement stairs. Do cats get PMS? I kinda think so. I tried loving the boy cats, but Jessy and Billy just look at me all dumb and bewildered and sit like lumps. I have been screaming my little lungs out for over 24 hours non-stop. My little bum just stays stuck up in the air and no one is interested except for one. My new bestest friend.

I have found my new soul mate, Joey. I have been trying to seduce him too but it just isn't working! Darn it! Joey just follows me around nuzzling and licking my head. However, no one informed me he has this drooling problem, so he is quite messy. And he has this annoying problem with wanting to shake paws with me all the time...his paws are as big as my head.

So mom and dad are trying like crazy to raise some money to get me "fixed". Guess if Joey could do it so can I. And the babies all have to be done at the same time if we want the discount deal. Mom says I absolutely cannot even think about looking outside, although I go back to the window well where I came in from and yell for help! I'm telling you, us cats get PMS too...I'm acting so wild and crazy. I'm grabbing my babies and just dragging them around for no reason. Then I have to meow as loud as I can..dad says I can out scream any Marshall mini stack..what ever that means. Wonder if they make Midol for cats?????

So here I am with my new Bonanzle ranch hat on..think I would do this if i was in my right mind?

And oh my, here's my new bestest guy pal that I'm in love with. OK I know you think he looks a bit goofy with his cowboy hat but oh he can turn my head with his good looks and charm. He's a younger man too! He's only 8 months old..does that make me a cougar now?

And the babies..what can I say

Mom says edumacation is very impotant, I'm halfway thru this seesaurus

Got my ranch hat and ready to do my chores. Got the mouse! Who would ever name a mouse Dell? That is just so lame.

You sure you don't need more help? Honest..I really want to help. I can unplug the keyboard again for you..would that help? Did you know how pages you can open at one time plus install wizards at the same time. What's a wizard by the way?

Mom says that you have to to take a bath every single day....personally I think it's overkill. Besides my tongue gets tired.

Can we puhleeezzz go shopping now? Look at all this cool stuff on Bonanzle  I'm sitting on all the right buttons so lets go find cat tree, and some more foods, some treats and some toys and, and, and ....

How could someone not wuz me? or my mom? I don't understand......

Dad says I've been on the computer long enough. Says he has to try and make some money to take care of all 11 of us! So gotta go for now, I have this incredible urge to keep screaming and meowing as loud as I can.

Kitty Kisses,

Lucy and the Babies

Hello Friends!

It's been hard to keep up with my blog! The babies are now 6 1/2 weeks old and growing like crazy. They weigh between 1 pound 6 ounces and 1 pound 13 ounces. I wasn't feeling so good for a couple of weeks. I had bad diarrhea and was losing weight, not like I had any extra to spare. We went to the vet for our first parasite testing about 2 weeks ago and we were all negative. Still got a dose of icky tasting deworming medicine and have to get another dose on August 10th. Vet said she had no clue as to why my tummy was so upset. But hey, I got to have lots of fresh chicken and rice, yogurt and cheese...think I'll be sick more often.

Me and the kids have been keeping mom and dad really busy. The babies have learned to play really well and jump up on everything. Mom's office desk is pretty cool to play hockey on..everything gets thrown off on the floor lol. And then there's the shelves of china to get lost in..so many places to check out.

This past week I've been going out to meet my new brothers and sisters. Samantha is a 20 year old kitty that tolerates me pretty well but is not exactly enthused about the kitties pouncing on her. Billy is 11 years old and Jessy is 8 years old. I pounded them good a couple of times and they are afraid of me...showed them who's boss! Then Sofy is an 7 year old Black Lab/Chow who loves me and the babies. Joey is the 8 month old Great Pyrenees/St. Bernard..boy is he a handful! Joey loves all of us but we have to watch him with the kittens because he gets so excited. The babies just love to crawl all over him and nest in his fur, especially that big ol tail.

Mom has to update our ChipIn page because she says we need some help to get the next round of parasite medicine and then to get us us all spayed/neutered. Before they could take us anywhere we had to get a pet carrier for me and a much bigger one for all the kids. Plus we are running out of food again. Guess we eat an awful lot lol

I am so happy in my new house! I just feel so comfortable here. I can lay down where ever I want, there's always food, water, toys and lots of attention. Thanks to all of you who helped me get here...it's the bestest ever. Here's some pictures of us! Enjoy!

Hope you all have a fabulous week! We got a new kind of litter box and we have to go try it out! Mom says it's great. It's called the Breeze Litter System by Tidy Cat   No more litter all over the place and no more perfume. We'll see you later!

Kitty Kisses,

Lucy and the Babies

p.s.  feel free to tweet us or facebook us, it would be really appreciated! 

Lucy and the Chunkettes

Can't believe it's been 8 days since I last wrote to you all! Some days the hours just whiz by us. In 2 days the babies will be 4 weeks old already! In past few days, they have all learned to run kinda wobbily and are eating other foods too. We get Fancy Feast three times a day, then twice a day a mixture of replacement milk, KMR 2nd step cereal and Fancy Feast. Our human mom, ground up Blue Buffalo Wilderness hard kibble and some Purina Kitten chow for us to nibble on as well. Boy are we stuffed, then we go nurse with momma for a while to top it all off.

In the past couple of days, 3 of of just started using the kitty box to go on our own. They laugh at us saying we make funny faces! AND...we got a fancy new litter system to learn in called Breeze by Tidy Cat. Our human mom loves it. Plus we untie shoes, climb up legs, and just make ourselves at home. Think momma was worried about us tonite..2 of us made a prison break to go see the world! Except we ran into a wall of big Joey who starting barking, who got the other cats hissing..what a circus lol. We've been hanging out in the office helping an awful lot. We sit in the china, try to climb but fall down, and tumble all over the place. We brought you new pictures to see!

Mom gets to look out the window all day if she wants. Said she wasn't the one who broke all the blinds either! Us kids took over the bathroom lately! Gots to go! One of the babies is trying to pull Joey's tail under the door! LOL

Kitty Kisses,

Lucy and the Babies