The Family Grows Again

Sorry it's been so long since my last post.  So much is going on right now.  

First of all.... We added another black kitty.  She was an outdoor stray that was pregnant.  We fed her until she had her kittens, then a neighbor trapped her and kittens and took her in until the kittens were old enough to spay/neuter.  The kittens are off to be made ready for adoption and mama kitty (winnie) Is trying to get used to our crazy fur farm.  We named her Winnie since it was close to Halloween when we took her in..Winnie being one of the witches from Hocus Pocus. (Winifred Sanderson).  I'll post pictures when I get time to get her out from under the couch in the living room.

Secondly.... My husband Ed has been dealing with a detached retina since September.  He has had two operations so far.  I have to do all the driving now and I have a really bad cataract in one eye and anxiety when I have to drive on a freeway.  It's been hard for me. 

Third..... my husband is suffering from dementia and PTSD. Enough said about that.

Fourth... OMG!  Christmas is coming!!!!  We have almost enough money monthly to pay the bills and eat. ( Nothing for gifts ) Here's where our families get tested on how much they love us, right?

Have a blessed day tomorrow!

Good Night From Muttncatz's Place

Cherry Has Gone To The Rainbow Bridge

Cherry had a massive seizure yesterday afternoon. Before we got her to the vet she had another one.  She then had two more at the vet clinic.  She also had started into congestive Heart failure.  For months now she hasn't been herself.  We thought she might be going into dementia.  Her walking was difficult as well.  I had to take her down to the dog run and then bring her back up.
I couldn't stand to see her go through the seizures again.  She is now at rest.  We will miss her but I didn't want to keep her going just for selfish reasons.

She was a sweetheart and was full of energy all the time.

See you again some day Cherry Berry!

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

We Squeezed Another One In !!

Our newest rescue is another Chihuahua mix.  Her name is Miss Kitty. 

My son and his girlfriend spoiled her so she is now known as Miss Kitty,

 Princess Royal of Porter

She is a sweetheart but definitely thinks she's all that.  She is fitting in very well and has tolerated the rest of the pack.  I get a kick out of her attitude sometimes though.  Before bed two dogs (Sugar and Cherry)  take meds with a small piece of processed cheese.  I give Kitty a piece and the way she chews it is like she can't stand the taste but she will eat it to keep the others from getting it.  When she first got here she wouldn't touch dog food.  They were giving her beef, turkey or chicken made fresh with some cheese and of course, it was served warm.  Peel me a grape, right?  She is now eating dog food.  We win! At least we won that tug of war.

That's it for tonight...sleep well all!

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Lamont has crossed the Rainbow Bridge

We lost our sweet Lamont tonight at 6:30 PM.  He seemed lethargic for a couple of days and wouldn't eat for the last two.  when we took him to the vet this afternoon he was alert but still lethargic.  When we brought him home he lasted about two hours and was gone.  We will miss his sweet disposition and love for the vacuum cleaner being run over his body.

Now we are down to three cats and three dogs.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

One More Gone

We have lost another kitty.  Tanner continued to loose weight but was eating like a little pig.  He seemed fine yesterday morning but by last night at 1:30 AM he couldn't even stand up.  His eyes were sunken in and he seemed to not be there mentally.  We took him to the vet hospital since it is a 24 hour facility.  He was in respiratory distress.  This was not apparent in the morning but was super bad when we took him in.  We put him down.  I couldn't stand to see him suffering and wasting away further.  We will miss him but now his pain and suffering is over.  Now there are four cats.  (That number is down from twelve in the beginning.)

That's the news from here.
Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Still Beading/Still obsessed

Hi there!
I have been busy this last year learning new things.  I took the time to learn how to shuttle tat and bead crochet.  Now I'm settling into my beading again. Here is the necklace I just finished.

This is an African Netted Necklace in size 15 seed beads.  I still enjoy making my beaded jewelry.  Bead weaving becomes a obsession!

The animals are doing pretty well, but Tanner is getting very skinny.  The vet feels that he probably has cancer but doesn't seem that sick. He is getting weaker.  He is one of the cats we brought in from outside to give them a forever home.  He was getting beaten up every day by other cats.  He was not young when we brought him in.  He would pee all over when we had to pick him up to put him in a carrier to transport him to the vet and back.  A vet tech reached into the carrier one time and picked him up and he peed all over her shoes!  We couldn't pet him until about two years ago.  Now he can't get enough petting.

Unfortunately most of the pets we rescue end up with cancer because they had trauma in their lives before we adopted them.  We have two dogs from a puppy mill in California.  Doodle, we don't know about his previous life.  The cats were all strays except for Zoey.  We got her from the Humane Society. She came from a home were she was not allowed on anything but the floor.  She had a thyroid problem and they didn't want to deal with it so they gave her away.

If you would like  to see other pieces of jewelry I created please copy and paste this address in your search engine:

http://www.picturetrail.com/muttzncatz

That's it for tonight
Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Good bye Paddy......then there was eight.

My Paddington was put down this afternoon.  He had a massive growth and it must have ruptured.  He stopped eating, drinking water and by the time we took him to the vet he was in a weakened state and was having trouble breathing.  Bless his Heart he was trying very hard to keep going but I could not stand to see him suffer.  I told him to go find Amos, Midge, Hunter, Victor and Ming and I would see him again one day.  He was a love and we will miss him. He's the only one who told us every night it was food o'clock (5:00 PM).

The little stinker was always running through the house and playing. I loved to take him in circles with the laser pointer. That was his favorite toy.

He always found any left over bread and made sure he had his portion.  I lost an antique bowl once because he needed to get the muffins on the floor where he could eat a bite out of each one in private.  He loved spinach and was a star at doing the dishes before they went into the dishwasher.  

Anyway....That's the sad news from our house.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Reverse The Letters And It Spells AND

I had my DNA done on Ancestry.com.  I'm a true Mutt.  I'm Irish AND Scottish AND German AND English AND Russian AND Polynesian.  The last two have me a bit puzzled.  I think I found the Russian ancestor (Viality Vortatz) in my Palmer group.  The Polynesian one?????

The animals are doing great.  I had a super idea.  Have you ever heard of a thunder shirt for dogs?  It calms them down during times of stress. NOW.....what if I put a thunder shirt on a cat that sprays?  We have two cats that spray.  Homer and Lamont.  We have them in the back bedroom (we call that room the cat room).  The products that are suggested for spraying cats are plug in scent bottles.  Most times they are filled with Lavender scent.  Calming for the animal.  So maybe a thunder shirt would work the same way?  I think it's worth a try.


Speaking of cat spray....I found an outstanding new product that does away with stains and smells on most surfaces.  It's called Furry Freshness and it works miracles!  It takes out stubborn stains like cat vomit, pee spots and generally most anything the animals leave as surprises for you to find.  Just Google the name and you'll find it, or go to 
www.furryfreshness.com

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Are You Still There????

Well....here we are in August and I haven't written anything since February was it?  The pup of course has been named.  I named him Doodle Pupnstuff (Dood). He will be a year old in a few days.  I'm hoping he will soon stop chewing on everything (including Sugar).  He gets behind her, grabs her back leg and tries to take off with it.  I have to give her credit, most of the time....she is very patient with him. I won't promise, but I will try to post a picture of the little scamp soon.

Two weeks ago I was trimming trees and bushes on our berm and caught my foot on a large root from a dead tree stump.  Down I went and when I sat up again I had a large lump on my wrist.  I was sure I broke my wrist.  Not so!  I broke my arm just before it gets to the wrist.  I'm now in a cast and tomorrow I have to get a new one because the swelling has finally gone down.  I am truly thankful that it was my left arm and not my right or for that matter, I'm relieved it didn't break my hip.  DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO DO EVERYTHING WITH ONE HAND?  I never realized how hard it would be with one arm out of commission.  Other than my toes this is my very first break.


Better get going for now.  I have to be at the doctors office by 11:00 AM tomorrow and as some of you know I'm usually not up until 10:30-11:00.  This should be interesting.  

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place 

No Room At The Inn!

I pretty well dropped out of life for a year.  I only did four posts last year.  I just wasn't myself until recently.  That Heart procedure took a huge chunk out of me...more so than I realized at first.  After my Ablation I still had AFib.  I went to the doctor and his nurse told me that sometimes you have to have up to three Ablations to solve the problem.  Before the operation the doctor told me he had a 98% success rate!  I thought...I can't loose.  The best laid plans, right?  I wasn't looking forward to another Ablation since I bit off a small chunk of my tongue during the last one.  Anyway....here we are a year and almost a couple of months after the procedure and I finally have almost completely stopped having Heart flutters.  I believe part of the reason for that is because I took myself off  my omeprazole for my burning stomach.  I read in the warnings that you could have Heart flutters while using this medicine.  Must be true.

So.... the animals are doing well.  The dogs (Cherry and Sugar) just had their teeth cleaned.  Sugar had three extractions (top front) and Cherry still has all her choppers.  

Just a day ago we rescued another fur child.  My son's girlfriend's mother is in a retirement community I think it is, and a lady passed away that had a little dog.  Another lady took the "PUP" and kept it in her apartment. She rescued it from this other lady who didn't let it out but allowed it to do it's business on pee-pee pads in her apartment.  I hope I wrote that so you could understand the chain of events.  Anyway this little "guy" is another Chihuahua (deer-headed).  His name is Bandy, but since he is only 6 months old we are going to change his name.  I will post a picture of him sometime this week and you can all suggest a name that would fit him.

  Trust me when I say...Muttzncatz's Place IS FULL!!!!!! No vacancies!!!!!!

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

I have not even thought about my blog for sooo long.  It says the last post was in April.  Well...here's what's been happening.....................

Tanner does NOT have any teeth left and is eating just fine without the pain. He's looking good and even allows minor petting (if you stay away from his tail).
Lamont still acts like his teeth hurt sometimes.  They get wet food in the morning and at night so they won't starve any time soon, that's for sure.

Sugar and Cherry were put on a rigid diet and are both looking trim and healthy.  Sugar seems to have stomach problems.  If she eats human food she has the runs and lots of gas.  That seems better after giving her Greek yogurt a couple of times a week.

My health is doing better.  I'm still on part of my meds to slow my Heart but the dizziness went away as did the shortness of breath.
I'm currently learning to tat with a shuttle.  I could do it with a needle but have always wanted to shuttle tat.  My next challenge is to learn beaded rope crochet.

I can't believe Christmas is coming soon.  Where has this year gone?  I guess I lost track after I had that Ablation.  I was down for so darn long.  
Anyway....I have bought for three people so far and have five more to go. I want to get it done now so I can enjoy Christmas this year.

I'll have to take some pictures and post them soon.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Do They Make Kitty Dentures?

Poor Tanner.  He wasn't as lucky as Lamont.  He has NO teeth after his dental visit.  He looks really rough now.  No teeth and his one glossed over and bulging eye.  I know he will feel so much better though.  Do they make kitty dentures? If they do...he needs both upper and lower.

I went to the doctor and my heart is still in rhythm.  I am only taking 2 instead of four a day of one of my meds, and I'm finally off the Warfarin.  I go again in June and hopefully then I can get off the rest of the Heart slowing meds.

I'll be glad when things slow down.  The cats are healing and so am I.  Soon we will all feel back to normal and life will go on.  Please.....no more expensive operations!

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

M&Ms (Medical And Money)

Much has happened since I wrote last.  January 21 I went in for an Ablation.  That's a heart procedure to stop AFib.  It didn't take long for my heart to slip back into an irregular heart beat again.  The doctor explained that sometimes it takes until the heart heals from the procedure to beat regularly.  I went to the doctor on the 9th of this month and it's back to a regular heart beat once again.  I'm gaining strength (finally) and feeling much better.  I still have a bit of a problem when I change the sheets on the bed or lift something that is too heavy.  I think that's because my doctor has me on meds that slow down my heart beat.  He calls it, "keeping my heart quiet".  I go in again on the 8th of April.... and if my heart is still doing well, I can stop taking some of my meds.   I go in around the first of June and if I'm still doing well I imagine I can stop the rest of the medications he put me on.  I can almost see the finish line!  I'm going to buy a Kuerig coffee maker and get some of the deepest, darkest roast coffee I can find.  I haven't had anything but decaf for around 5 years.

The sad part of this operation was that I had saved some money to get our sagging roof repaired this Summer.  I now have to pay the medical bills with that money.  

Lamont got home today from the vet.  He had all but his fangs removed.  His teeth were driving him crazy and I couldn't stand to see him in pain.  I guess they were really awful according to Dr. Stanhope at St. Francis 24 hour Hospital.  On the 10th of April Tanner is going in for the same dental procedure.  I'm betting he will come home with no teeth to speak of also.  I'm going to have to sell a bunch of scrap gold to fund these operations but it's worth it to have them feeling better.

Well....that's it for today (that's enough, right?).

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Forgive Me

I know I have ignored my blog for a long time but there is a reason.  In September I went to my doctor and found out I had AFib.  Not what I had gone to her to cure but I guess it was more important.  

One week ago I had a procedure on my Heart they call an Ablation.  I was put on a second medication to keep my heart calm.  I could do nothing but sleep, wheeze and cough.  My head would feel like it was blowing off and my eyeballs were not far behind.  I was dizzy, panted to breathe, couldn't eat and my legs looked like telephone poles.  I called my Heart doctor and he said I could quit the medication he had just put me on.  The next day I was feeling soooo much better.  I stopped panting as much and didn't have to go back to bed after tending to the animals.  Now I am four days without the medication and I did most of my usual chores today and can actually breathe with my mouth closed once again.  I have an appointment with the doctor on Monday so he will tell me if the procedure worked or not.  I now, Thank God, am on the mend.

The cats and dogs have been so good during this whole ordeal.  I used my warming blanket on my side of the bed because I was cold all the time.  I would turn on the blanket, get my jammies on, turn back around and there would be Binx and Paddy taking up the whole thing.  Paddy was so happy he purring most of the night.
Zoey won't stay in the bedroom because she hates Binx.  She does on occasional walk through so I won't forget her.

My husband has done what he can to help with the cats and dogs during this time but I have realized that he is not able to understand what needs to be done or even what I just went through.

Oh ya....I forgot to mention, I bit off part of my tongue during the surgery.  When I woke up I couldn't figure out why my teeth and tongue hurt so bad.

I'll update soon
Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Borrrrrrring

It's so exhausting getting into the rhythm of a new home with new brothers and sisters.

Nice teeth buddy!

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Here's Binx!

  He is trying hard to play with Paddy but Paddy thinks he's trying to fight.  I think he might be younger than I thought.  The vet didn't say what he thought and I forgot to ask him.  He's 14 pounds of energy running through the house at top speed.  He had a very spirited game of mousie today with a catnip mouse.

Zoey is NOT a fan of the new boy.  She hisses whenever he gets near her.  It doesn't seem to faze him in the least. 

He doesn't care about the cat tree.  I tried to put him on it to show him Zoey's stash of food but he didn't care for the height.  He backed out of the box the food was in and proceeded to fall off the cat tree.  He's not the most coordinated animal I've ever seen.  I don't think he has done much jumping in his life either.  He jumped about a foot from the kitchen counter to the Island and hung there with his claws in the wooden top, his back feet trying to grab anything solid.  My measuring cups that I keep on a shelf under the counter were all over the floor. (I'm still looking for my 1/4 cup measure)
More later........

Good night from Muttzncatz's Place

Binx Is Now A Family Member

Took a very vocal Binx to the vet this afternoon.  He was negative for FIV and Feline Leukemia.  We brought him home and deposited him in the laundry room where the kitty box is and he immediately left us a stinky present.  He is currently hogging my chair at the dinning room table where we spend a good portion of our time.  I guess this is payback for several shots and a couple of de-worming pills he had to endure while at the vets office.  You know how it goes........you have to train your humans right from the beginning or they think they have the upper hand.
I certainly hope he stops itching soon.  Poor guy, that seems to be all he does.  The doctor gave him a steroid shot to stop some of the itching.  I hope that's all he needs but I have my doubts.
I'll try tomorrow or Sunday to get a good picture of him in the light.  Kinda hard to get a good one of a black cat in the dark.
Later......................

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Can You Say, "Oh Oh!" ?

Here we go again!  We are about to take in a new stray.  Tomorrow if all goes as planned we are packing up a boy we've been feeding on our deck and taking him to the vet to see if he is FIV free.  If he is...he comes in that night.  He is a short haired, black, neutered male...... we have named Binx.  We, of course, have no idea how old he is, but I'm sure the vet will help with a ball-park figure.  Look out Dr Stanhope here we come!

Binx has been hanging around since Summer and decided recently that our deck was his final destination.  I know he was down the street for quite a while.  There were two black cats and now there is only one very skinny one.  I think that one is an intact female that had kittens under the house of a neighbor a few months ago.

Binx has to come in soon because I'm getting tired of bringing in the food dish at night so the raccoons don't attempt to help themselves to it.  He always looks like I'm hurting his feelings when I bring that dish in.
If he is FIV free I will post pictures of him and his progress in his new "digs".

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Zoey and Cat TV Stars

Zoey did nine days in the cone.  The tenth day her stitches magically disappeared.  She's such a sneak!
She's on three doses of her Thyroid meds for six weeks.  She wasn't gaining any weight but was eating like a little piggy.  I've noticed she is sleeping more during the day since we started the third dose.  I'm hoping for the best.
She's still very shy with us.  She wont' get in our laps or even come to us when we call her.  I can't say that I blame her though...every time she sees me coming at her I have meds on the tip of a rubber glove.

Here's another star of cat TV at our house.  This is a White Crowned Sparrow:

This is a Rufous Sided Towhee:

This one is a Steller's Jay:

Sorry about the fuzzy picture....... I must have moved the camera as I clicked the button.


So that's the update for now.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place

Birder's Alert!

Here's what the kids have been seeing from the sliding glass door this Spring and Summer:

Black-Headed Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak

Rufous Hummingbird

Cowbird

These are just a few of what we have been seeing.  I'll post more as I edit them.

Stay cool and check back to see what's happening here.

Good Night From Muttzncatz's Place