FIRE!

We live very close to an abandoned Hotel.  This Hotel has been empty  and used for storage since 2005. During the weekend it became the site of a five alarm fire.

Luckily nothing else in the area caught on fire.  This happened early on Sunday morning around 3:00 AM.  There are still fire trucks there today (Tuesday) because every so often a fire starts again in the burned out shell of a building.  There were six structures and only one is still standing.  Arson is a heavy possibility.  The news said that the owner of the hotel had not paid taxes for the last four years.  Now they can afford to pay the taxes with their insurance claim, right?  Arson, well...maybe????

The cats are doing well.  I'm doing battle with the fleas again but that seems to be common for Summers now.  I believe that the Frontline Plus flea treatments are no longer working.  I think the fleas have become resistant to those chemicals.  Even some Vet techs agree with me on that one.  Something new needs to be developed to combat those horrid blood suckers.

The makers (Pella) of our new sliding glass door will be out to see our new door on Thursday.  There is a 1/4 inch square spot in the center of the door that has zero coating on it.  Both the stationery and the sliding door has glass in them that appear to be distorted. if you move your head from side to side it looks like like there are vertical lines running through the glass.  I now refer to our new slider as the fun house door.  We'll see what happens after they inspect it.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Help!

Again, I am falling behind in my posting.  Victor was back at the vet this week.  He (of all things) has an infected tail.  Whether it started with a flea bite or a cat bite, who knows.  He's on liquid antibiotics and a topical as well.
He doesn't seem to mind the liquid but when I spray his tail with the topical he has a royal hissy fit.  Well...I guess I should know his boundaries by now, right?  Rule number one:  The vicious feral cat will not be touched in any way by human hands.
It seems that Sugar has the same problem and is tearing her hair out in clumps.  So.......tomorrow is vet day for a follow up on Victor and a new appointment for Sugar.  It never ends!  This is a slow path to being homeless.
If we don't find an extra income soon we will be out in the street.
If anyone wishes to contribute I have a Paypal account (Under the name Muttzncatz).  Contact me for instructions.  What am I saying?  I can't even get anyone to sign up to follow my ramblings.  I know somewhere out there is a person or two who would love to help with our vet bills.
Cherry just had surgery for a kidney stone.  That was around $900.00 with all the ex-rays and overnight stays.  Now she is on a special prescription food for the rest of her life.
Just the pet medicines alone that we get every month is enough to keep us broke.  Victor is on a special liquid for his blood disorder and will be for the rest of his life.  Amos is on an antibiotic because of the growth in his nose.  He also takes an appetite stimulant and an immune support pill each day.  Fina takes a special medicine to keep her from getting an upper respiratory infection due to her having only one nostril.  Tanner now has Hypo Thyroid and will be on a daily pill.  Homer has a constant problem with worms and has to be de-wormed about every other month.  He also takes a Calming liquid to keep him from spraying.  The flea treatments each month are almost $200.00.  The dogs are on heartworm meds each month.  I may have left off something, but I tried to give you a picture of what it's like.  Our credit card is nearing extinction.
Well that's about it for tonight's rant

Good Night From Muttzncat's Place

Victor is in the Hospital

Our little Victor has been in the hospital since yesterday night.  Awhile (two weeks) back he had to have a shot for his gums that get inflamed constantly because his system has turned on the enamel on his teeth.  We had all but maybe two to four teeth removed but he still gets the inflammation.  That means that every six weeks or so he needs an anti-inflammatory shot.  He use to yowl and run away from his food when it started to hurt him.  This time he didn't...he just quit eating only I didn't know that.  By the time I realized he wasn't eating he had lost a substantial amount of weight.  He got his shot and started eating until he caught an upper respiratory infection and stopped eating again.  This one I figured out immediately but his system was already compromised from not eating for so long the first time.  Off we went to the 24 hour animal hospital.  He is slowly mending and should be able to go home tomorrow.  Lamont, being his best buddy, has been miserable without him.  Every time I go into their room he looks at me like, where's my Victor?  I told him to pray hard that Victor gets well because the first night we didn't know if he would even make it.  He must have prayed because the doctor (who was surprised at the partial recovery) said Victor is doing much better.

Fina is blissfully happy since Christmas eve.  She is wearing her bling for all to see.  I held her up to the mirror so she could appreciate her necklace.  It sparkles with all the crystals that are in it.

The next shot is Fina in mid lick..............

It looks like she is sticking her tongue out at me.  Who knows...maybe she is?

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place 

The Holiday Crunch

The Trailblazer is back but only the heat is working.  The air had to be disabled.  It was seizing up and will cost between $700.00 to $800.00 to fix.  That won't get done right now.  We at least have heat for the Winter months.

I've started my Christmas shopping.  I always dread the buying gifts part of Christmas.  I'm afraid that no one will like what I bought for them.  The only part I do like is buying for the cats and dogs.  For the cats, a little catnip goes a long way.  For Homer...the small furry catnip mice are perfect.  He loves them.  The only problem is that he plays with one and then the next morning it's floating in the water bowl.  He's almost as bad as a raccoon.  He has to wash everything.  Even when he gets ahold of something I have cut off a package to open it...it's in the water after a bit of play.  One of his worst habits is reaching under the oven or fridge and scraping out dust bunnies after I've washed the kitchen floor.  I'm never sure if he is trying to tell me that it needed cleaning or he is looking for a mouse he lost. 
Fina likes a little bling.  If I can find something that has rhinestones on it for around her neck, she's happy.  The rest just get balls and catnip.  They all get new collars too.

Speaking of Christmas....we have another recipe that we like to fix for Christmas dinner once in awhile.  It's carrot pudding. It's a steamed pudding and tastes really good.  I'll post it next time I blog again.  I'll also try to get a picture of the children's Christmas stockings hung on the mantle in December to show you they all have a stocking.  I have to get one for Sugar since she's the newest adoptee.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

I'm still here...They haven't beaten me down yet

Sorry......I've been busy with dentist,  doctor and vet appointments all through October.  I'm still not done.   I'll be doing doctor and dentist appointments all through January.  Amos and Hunter have been to the vet several times.  Hunter had a Urinary infection which he must have had for a very long time since he decided to urinate on the carpet in front of me to show he was sick.  There was blood in it.  He just finished a two week round of antibiotics.  He had lost weight and had a dull look in his eyes.  He is now pretty well back to normal and is eating like a little piggy.  Amos, we have determined, must have a growth in his nose.  We have tried every antibiotic we can find and the infection keeps coming back.  We can't afford to have a cat scan on him (at his age) I think we need to just make him comfortable.  I hate to think about saying good bye to another fur child but I know we don't have too long.  The hard part is that Hunter is actually older than Amos.  Though neither one is young...like older than 13 years........It's still too short of a life for my animals.  My cats usually last close to 20 years.  Anyway...I don't want to think about that now.

Thanksgiving is coming very fast.  I shopped  today for all the goodies to cook on Thursday.  I'm not looking forward to all the work but I sure am anxious to see my grand daughter and her significant other Randi.  Misty assured me she would be here for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Then there's Christmas.....
Oh Lord!  More worry about what to get for everyone and lots of work to do both in decorating the house and yard and then cooking the meal again.

I have my husband's family gifts bought. Now a couple of gift cards and I'm done with buying.  Well maybe not...I still have to get my husband a big fat gift.  It's so hard to buy for someone who hates everything you get for him.  I can even purchase something he said he wanted and he would never use what ever it was because I gave it to him.  I swear I'm not making this up!  Well enough of that.......

I'm hoping for Snow close to Christmas this year.  I love the Christmas lights with snow all around them.  I'm not crazy about the new LED lights though.  They aren't as bright and showy as the old ones.  My husband is going to put them up tomorrow morning I think.  That means this week I will have to put up the huge wreath on the front of the house and the lights, ornaments and topper on the Blue Spruce in the front yard.  Oh, I almost forgot....the air-blown Snowman on the side yard too.  I never got out all the decorations last year so I think I'll start early this year.  I always feel guilty when I don't put them all out.  I don't feel guilty however.....when it's time to put things away because it's a lot faster without all the extra stuff.

I went out to lunch with an old friend of mine last week and we had the best time.  She gave me some advice about our current flea problem.  She uses Cedar chips in her dog run and it keeps the fleas to a dull roar.  I think after the holidays we need to do the same thing.  Our two girls are both California girls and DO NOT like to go potty in the muddy dog run.  It's bad enough that we have made them come to a colder and wetter climate....but now we expect them to use a muddy bog instead of soft green (dry) grass?????  How uncivilized!  I'm hoping that the cedar chips or shavings will entice them into using the dog run again.
Have a pleasant one today
Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place's

And Then There Were Eight

Sadly, we are mourning the loss of two of our children.  Ming and Midge have gone over the Rainbow bridge. A few Saturdays ago we awoke and I began my medicine and feeding ritual.  Midgey always got her meds first.  I pulled her out from under the table she always slept under due to a heating vent there. I wrapped the towel around her and pilled her as usual.  Normally she didn't like it but took it in stride.  This day she turned on me and anchored her front claw in my chest.  I pulled her claw out, set her down and she flipped over on her side, yowled loudly, her front legs stretching out stiffly in front of her.  I ran and got the cat carrier to put her into.  I picked her up and set her back on the carpet so I could unlatch the carrier door and she again yowled and her legs went straight again. I carefully put her into the carrier and went to find Ming.  He couldn't walk.  I kept sitting him up and he kept falling over.  I retrieved a second carrier, put him  in and off we went to our vet.  The diagnosis was Midgey probably had a brain tumor and Ming needed steroids but that was risky because his heart had also worsened.  I could not put him through possibly having more heart trouble because of a steroid treatment.  Ming was around 23 and Midge was around 18 so they did have a long life but still I miss them so much.  No matter what the circumstances, I still always feel like maybe there was a chance for them to get better even though my heart knows better.  I have to say putting down two in one day is a hard one to take.