I Hate Springing Forward

I'm still walking around in a fog missing both Fina and Moosey.  Amos being gone shifted so much in the daily routine of the house.  I was spending so much time doing things for him that I didn't even realize how much time was take up.  I still watch the clock carefully for his feeding times (three times a day).  I would gladly do it all again if I could have him back.  

Now that we are on daylight savings time again the cats are thinking it's food O'Clock an hour before it actually IS food O'Clock.  I hate this time change.  When we "fall back" the cats think they are being rewarded by my feeding them an hour early.  I get to be the good guy then.  But now I'm a mean mom that's withholding food from them.

There's a little thing I picked up on the Internet I wanted to share with all you wonderful people that rescue stray animals.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

And Now We Are Five

Today is a very sad day at Muttzncatz's Place.  We have lost another child.  Fina went to the vet today because she wasn't eating as well as she should have been (losing weight) and she seemed lethargic.  I was thinking maybe she would need a test for her thyroid function and maybe some antibiotics to help her ragged breathing.  Her breathing was nothing unusual since she seemed to get that symptom once in a while.  The doctor ex-rayed her and found a growth that was making it impossible for her to breathe properly.  He said it had become part of her lungs.  We had her put down since it was only going to get worse, it was inoperable and she was already struggling to breathe.
Ed and I made it to the corner after leaving the vets office and got a pop at the local Taco Bell, cried for a half hour and went home.  It was such a shock.  We expected to be taking her home with us and she was gone!
We will all miss our "Queen" Fina.


Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

I Do Not Have Cat Hair In My Eye!

On Friday I had to rush over to my eye doctor's office.  It seems I (according to the doctor) had something in my eye and it swelled up and turned super red.  Oh ya,  It also hurt like crazy.  He said it was probably a cat hair that came out after it caused the angry eye. I maintain the position that I think I would have felt it if I had a cat hair in my eye.  I can sure tell if I get an eyelash in one of my eyes.  I still think it was an eye infection.  I shouldn't say WAS because I'm still having pain from it as well as swelling.  I'm hoping tomorrow it will stop hurting.

I went into the Humane Society's web cam tonight to check on Damien.  He's  hiding in one of the cubes they have on the floor of the cattery. I'm happy he is sleeping soundly and not bullying any of the other cats into a fighting frenzy.  The Humane Society must have had a lot of people through there today. All the cats seem to be out cold.

All is well here at our house.  The cats are fine and the dogs are fine as well.  The bird watching isn't as exciting right now because it's been raining for a few days.  Paddy and Homer are doing their favorite rainy weather sport.  They wait until Fina gets up and then chase her until she goes back to bed again.  Poor Fina!

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

Muttzncatz's Place Update

I caught a picture today of Tanner as he was napping in a basket by the front door.

He has been extremely elusive.  You can't even make eye contact with him and he's gone.  I shudder to think if I should ever have to give him any serious medicines...who would win that round?  For as chunky as he is he moves with lightning speed.

Fina was just getting ready for an afternoon nap when I clicked this picture.

At least her eyes aren't glowing like her picture on the left of the page.

Victor is fighting me on his feedings.  I have gone through two large towels so far and there will be at least two more by the end of the day.  That is a messy job.  Feeding a cat that doesn't want to hold still is not my idea of fun.  He is sneaky about it too.  He shrinks into the towel instead of trying jump forward out of the hold.  I have tried every wrap I can think of on him and he still escapes before I'm done feeding.  I end up wearing almost as much as he has eaten.  I will say that giving him his pill is a breeze.  Since he doesn't have teeth in most of his mouth he can't bite me.

Maybe it will be easier tomorrow.

Good Night From Muttzncatz'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 

Little Tree Many Ornaments

The tree is done.  Here it is.......

To the left under the tree there is a white splotch.  It's kind of hard to see but on the top of the tree there is a snowman and he's holding a snowflake that splotch under the tree......that's Fina making herself comfy and waiting for Santa to bring her bling and lots of happy grass.  If I lifted the table cloth up you would see three other kids...Paddy, Tanner and Homer.  Tomorrow or the next day I'll try to get a better picture of the area.

Victor went to St Francis 24 hour vet hospital yesterday for his anti- inflammatory shot.  So far he still won't eat.  He's the one with almost all of his teeth extracted because he was allergic to his own enamel. His gums get swollen and red still so we have to get him a shot about every six to eight weeks.

Now I have to hang the stockings on the mantle after I put Sugar's name on one.  That's all I'm going to do this year.  It's a snowman year...very few, if any, Santas were brought out.  I still have to put out my air-blown snowman in the yard.  After I get home from the dentist ( A fitting for my bridge) on Saturday I'll do that.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

A Timeout for Fina

One day closer to Christmas and we are getting our tree tomorrow.  After discovering that our artificial tree is in a corner behind the 5 foot Santa Claus that I vowed to not bring out this year...we're getting a fresh cut tree.  I also want to get a wreath to put on the gate.  The tree is not going to be our usual 6 footer but about a four foot so it's easy to decorate.  I don't want to go up and down the ladder a million times this year just to get the limbs in and then the lights evenly placed.

My husband's son came over today to bring us a Christmas card.  While he was here Fina hopped up on the dining table and began to clean herself.  I, politely putting her on the floor, scolded her for taking a bath where we eat.  This is what she did after my short lecture.

This must be her way of taking a timeout.  Who says they don't understand what you're saying?  I told her she had better be good because Santa wouldn't leave her any happy grass or anything with bling if she was a bad kitty. I have all of the kids stuff bought already.  I need one more stocking since we have a new child (Sugar).

I don't know how cold it is where you are but it's chilly here.  It never got above 34 degrees F today.  Now it's misting out there. So near yet so far....I want snow!!!!

Better get on with the decorating.....

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Weekend Update

Tomorrow is dentist day.  I'm hopeful that this will be the last one.  I feel like this has been a drawn out process.  I've never had a dentist that would not do my work mostly in one sitting.  I have to have an antibiotic before treatment because of my enlarged heart so it is an imposition to keep taking the antibiotics and getting a yeast infection each time.  We have been trying to get our teeth completed since June.

Cherry and Sugar are starting to play more and Sugar can't go anywhere without Cherry.  Sugar is making a few independent choices though.  She has decided that she enjoys sitting on the back of the sofa and looking out the window.  Cherry always goes with me when I head to the bathroom to take my bath and Sugar usually follows.  Today she stayed on the back of the sofa.  I think maybe she has decided that nothing is going to hurt her here.  Except that bully kitty, Fina.....6 pounds of mean, that one is.

The rain is about to show up in Oregon.  Sunday we are possibly going to see a little rain and then on Monday we are going to have  a bunch of rain.  What would Oregon be without rain?  I was hoping I could get outside and work on the North side of the house.  My Wisteria is trying to grab everything in sight.
The dead limbs on the pines are looking messy and need to be cut off.  The Pine in the back was already over trimmed by the neighbor who decided that it was going to touch his house.  The Rhodie's are needing to be trimmed back too.  Thinking about work is depressing me........

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Getting To Know Sugar

I'm so glad our mini heatwave is finally over. I hate 90 degree weather. Now maybe I can get back to work in the yard.  I have so much trimming to get done. According to the weatherman on our local channel we may have rain on Saturday.


I can hardly wait until Sugar gets used to the sounds here in our home. I get to sleep about 2:30 AM and she wakes me at about 8:30 AM.  Maybe I could crate her with a radio and a warm blanket and she wouldn't hear our neighbors or the cats in the other part of the house.  Our next door neighbor decided to take a phone call on her deck this morning and Sugar had a fit.  Then in the next hour Fina decided to throw herself at the bedroom door until I got up.  These guys (cats) all have their own way of handling situations.  Fina was attempting to get me up to feed everyone.  She won.......again!

This morning I went out on the South side of the house to water our tomato plant and there was a baby raccoon climbing up the tree extremely close to where I stood. he settled on a branch that he considered high enough to be safe from the human and began talking to me.  After he finished his speech I went to get the hose and turn on the water.  When I returned to the top of the stairs again he was gone.

Today was chase the Tanner day.  It was flea meds time for the poor child.  He's getting better about leaving a stream of pee as we chase him though. He ran into the vacuum box that I fell on the other night.  It was easy to reach in and rub the treatment on the back of his neck.  He's always the last one to get his flea treatment only because of the degree of difficulty.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Sugar Has Come Home

Sugar came home with us today after the meet and greet at the Oregon Humane Society.  When She and Cherry met each other it was basically a no big deal thing.  When we got Sugar home however, Cherry decided that Sugar didn't have any business being in her home.  Cherry did the occasional growl of authority and then ignored her.  I figure it this way...they haven't torn each other apart yet so I think they'll eventually get along after a few days of being together.

We have to take her to our vet this week some time for the free checkup.  She sounds congested so I'm a bit concerned about that but maybe it's just one of the things typical to the breeds she is mixed with.

In the evenings I come in to the computer room/library and knit, crochet, cross stitch, paint, play games on the Internet (Pogo) or read.  I fixed a box with a pillow in it for Sugar since Cherry has one.  Cherry jumped in her box and Sugar ran to the other box and jumped in like she knew it was hers.  She must be fairly intelligent.  She certainly seems at home here.

The cats took Sugar in stride.  The only one who had his tail in a knot was Tanner.  He looks like someone put him in a dryer for a fluff dry every time he comes face-to-face with Sugar.  When Fina came to investigate the new kid on the block she jumped in front of Sugar like she wanted to scare her.  It worked.  Sugar now gives Fina a very wide berth.  It's hard to comprehend because Fina is so small and looks frail but she IS the queen of the place and must be obeyed!

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Another Rainy Day In Oregon

It's been raining off and on for most of the day right into evening.  I love it!  That means it's too wet to sit on the ground and do weed pulling Yea!!!!!  A day off is a good thing.

So...what to do with my time?  How about dragging out the watercolors and giving a kitty portrait a try?  Let's see....who should I paint?  I can guarantee it won't be a black kitty so that lets Homer and Moosey off the hook.  Maybe miss funny face (Fina)  Her cute little one nostril, cleft lip might be interesting to paint.  Tanner has beautiful markings even though he has a scaredy-cat attitude.  Most of the time when I'm trying to get a photo of him all I see is his rump moving away ASAP.  Hunter won't get away from in front of the camera so it's hard to get any distance to get a good picture of him.  Paddy is usually sound asleep or has his head in a just emptied can of cat food. (That's why we call him can-face.  He has a permanent circle cut around his face from the cans which wouldn't be too awfully wonderful in a portrait anyway) Lamont might be a good model but he is presently not a happy camper from being confined to the back room.  Victor doesn't care as long as he can be Velcroed to Lamont.  Maybe someone else has a cute and cooperative kitty that would like to be a subject of a portrait?  You would think that out of eight cats at least one would be a good subject, wouldn't you?

Maybe I could do one of the birds we had appear at the feeders last month.  We had Orioles, Tanagers and Evening Grosbeaks.  What a treat it was to see them. Here's a picture of one of them.

We always have Black headed Grosbeaks but once in a while these beauties come through and visit for a couple of days.  During this time the birdwatching society at the sliding glass door was a standing room only situation.

I think I'll get busy now and do one of my bird photos.

Good night from Muttzncatz's Place

Now For The Dog Days Of Summer.......

Thank God the fourth of July is over.  We did well though.  Everything turned out pretty well and we only had one glitch.......The Turkey had to go from the BBQ to the oven to get done in time.  I understand the Vancouver, Washington fireworks display was nothing to shout about this year.  I was told they were low to the ground and only 25 minutes instead of the old 45 minutes.  Nothing stays the same I guess.

I'm working outside when I can ...weeding the flower beds. This is a bit of a sore spot for me since we pay extra in our rent so they do our yard work.  We live in a mobile home park and we are in a section that is supposed to have yard  maintenance included. Watering, weed control, edging, trimming are all included.  Ya, right!  I have worked harder in this space than in my old one where I was responsible for all the yard work.  The only thing the park does is mow the very front lawn because it shows from the street.  After I'm done with the weeding then I have to start the trimming of the trees and bushes. Is it any wonder that I like Winter better than Summer?

I'm still looking for a watercolor class to attend.  I did find my last teachers phone number though.  I'm going to call her this week and see if I could maybe go to another one of her classes somewhere else.  I need some inspiration.  If I could go out and take pictures of flowers and birds.....I would possibly become inspired.

We are having a very cool Summer so far.  I do understand that we will be in the oven soon. 

On the kitty scene.........I now have Moosey, Victor, Lamont and Homer in the back room (Due to spraying issues).  Victor has to be watched very carefully because he has pain shots for his inflamed gums about every 6 weeks.  (He was allergic to the enamel on his teeth and had to have them pulled). When
he hisses it sounds reeeeeeally wet.  He hisses every chance he gets because he's still very feral. At least HE thinks he's still feral.  He loves to be petted behind the ears and under the chin but then suddenly realizes he's being handled by a human and hisses and trys to look almost vicious.

In the main part of the house we have Fina, Hunter, Paddy and Tanner.  Tanner is trying so hard to make up to Hunter but the best he gets is a whomp on the top of his head.  Since we did a major shift in the fur people that live in each part of the house things have not been boring.  Lamont is lamenting, Victor is glued to Lamont (no change there), Moosey attacks Homer relentlessly, Tanner keeps getting beat up by Hunter, Paddy is afraid Hunter will eat all his food and Fina is attacking Hunter Paddy and Tanner.  Ahhhh, life is good....well, maybe not good, but interesting.

Good night from Muttzncatz Place

A Place In The Sun

Fina found a spot in the sun under the Bentwood Rocking chair.  There wasn't much sun today but she enjoyed what we had.

The cats were doing strange things today.  I was in the computer /craft room this afternoon and I heard a couple of thuds.  No screeches, howls or screams. I rushed out to find four  cats quietly laying around a huge pile of grey and white hair tufts. They all looked so innocent...ya right! I think this was an alpha kitty fight.  Paddy and Lamont still have not determined who's the top dog (kitty).  Fina believes herself to be the crowned queen of Muttzncatzville.  She's the smallest, yet she'll take a swat at any of the other cats without  provocation.
The repairman came today to fix the dishwasher and there was not a cat anywhere to be seen for the first 20 minutes.  Fina decided at that point to come and help the poor guy.  She ended up supervising his every move.  He temporarily fixed the dishwasher but we are going to need a new one soon.

I have three of the four wrist warmers done for my friend in Hawaii.  I hope she likes them.  They're different from the first pair I gave her.  I had Better get them done soon.

Goodnight from Muttzncatz's Place