Backwards In High Heels

A Sad Goodbye

I admit a few tears flowed this afternoon.  After ten long weeks, we came to the end of the road with one of the hand rears, Flint.  Unlike her three surviving siblings she did not thrive and as they moved onto solid foods it became more apparent that her bowels had not formed properly and sadly there was nothing that could be done for her. So sadly she went to the vets today to be put to sleep.  It is never a decision taken lightly, and the charity we work with only takes the option on the vets recommendation and when the animal's quality of life becomes notably poor and their is no other route.  As always the vets were fantastically supportive.

It was particularly difficult as we hand reared her from a few hours old so you do naturally become very attached.

However, we come home to the raptuous welcome from her three siblings who are now tear aways causing havoc and ready to find their own permanent homes. At least three of them have made it as we know for a fact that none of the litter would have survived due to a very real threat from somebody who supposedly passed as a human! Here's a photo of the terrors, l-r Pip, Whizz and Pugesly, behind bars!!

On a side track, I can't expect to be cheered up by the BBC tonight.  BBC1 now has Holby Blue - all the misery of Casualty but in a police station...

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Arm-ageddon

To the left is Kip. Kip and his siblings were rescued and brought into care when they were just a few weeks old. Kip hasn't perfectly adjusted, hence he has come to us for some 'rehab'- he has problems with his manners! He is litter trained - in fact he is very clean. He has a good appetite. He would play all day given the choice so what is the problem? Well when he sees your hand he works on the principle of 'if it moves smack it' and sadly he smacks with his claws out and you cannot not get near him.

But the behaviour is stranger still. At night he sleeps in a pen, equipped with ensuite and food like all plush rehab facilities, and he loves it. Like a well trained puppy when I go in on an evening after his day in the unit we just have to say 'bed' and in he gets. On a morning when it is time for him to come out he bounds forward and we pick him up and have a huge cuddle. He flings himself back, he purrs, he rubs, we put him onto the floor and then we are back to smacking when you approach him. As a result hands and arms have a number of war wounds.

Today I had a breakthrough. As he chilled on the unit sofa this afternoon he smacked me, but with no claws, and then let me stroke his head and tickle his chin for a whole minute. We can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Kip is in no way unusual and not the worse case by far. Part of our work takes us into feral colonies when we trap and neuter. Feral cats are wild animals and however cutesy they look you are soon reminded they are not. Sometimes we have sent some real buggers to the vets for neutering and as the vets emerge with torn hands I feel a little guilty but it seems it could be a lot worse.

That in the croc's mouth is the arm of vet Chang Po-yu.

The arm was retrieved and sewn back on.

I'll stick with cats...even tempremental Kip! 

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Oh Blub

We took the five remaining hand rear kittens to the vets today, resigned to the fact the struggler would not be coming home with us. Whereas the other four have all showed signs of weight gain, indeed the 'top two' are doing really well - even starting to use their mini litter tray, the runt was fading away.

Unbelievably, this is the first time we have had to take the tough decision with a hand rear kitten, which is probably why we are feeling so floored tonight. Usually nature steps in and beats us or we triumph through but this time the kitten was fading slowly but inevitably and although I know we made the right decision, again with the superb support of the vets, it still leaves us a bit flat.

The remaining four are now back home, with a course of antibiotics and a prescription of long term tlc. They are now sleeping through the night so normality is almost restored to the house, as much as it ever was.

Make sure you read the news story of the cat who catches the bus to the fish shop. It really brings a smile to your face!

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