Karma Was Adopted and I Freaked Out!

A family came in to adopt a kitty named Duchess.  I brought them to her room and they petted her but for some reason, they didn't seem too impressed with her. Somehow, they did not know she had FIV, even though it says that in her description and there is a special symbol by her name on Petfinder. *shrug*  I talked to them like they knew she had FIV and they said they had not even heard of it before.

As they were leaving because they were no longer interested in adopting Duchess, they saw some pictures of Karma on the table.  They asked about her and I showed them to her her cage which was in the same room.

They ended up wanting to adopt her!  I feel suspicious about someone who comes in for a specific kitty but wants to adopt another one once they get to the shelter.  It tells me that they are not sure of what they want and that worries me.  For example, Duchess is an overweight, older kitty (I think she is around 5), who has FIV.  They ended up saying they wanted a 9 month old kitten who has a history of serious injuries.  There is quite a difference there.  Also, they look nothing like each other.

I gave them a pre-adoption form and saw some things that worried me.  Their previous kitty was front paw declawed and she marked that one of the problems she was *not* willing to work with was litter box problems.  Well, I am very opposed to declawing especially with Karma who already had 2 surgeries.  She was shaking when I brought her to the vet for her check up. I think she thought she was there for another surgery.

Karma sometimes misses the litter box.  I talked to the vet about it and she believes that Karma may have some numbness due to her injuries and surgeries which makes her "aim" off.  The numbness may never go away.  She sometimes defecates right outside the litter box even though she is standing in the box.  Once or twice, she also has urinated outside the box.

The vet said this may never go away so if this woman is is not willing to work with litter box problems, Karma is probably not right for her.

I felt that the children with her were pressuring her to adopt Karma because she is so cute and friendly.

The people ended up leaving, saying they wanted to think about it.  I really did not think they would come back.  I was talking to the other adoption counselors about them, trying to get their perspective about the family. They are removed from the situation so they don't have the emotional bond with Karma that I have that may cloud my judgement.  Also, one of the counselors told me that she had discussed declawing Karma and they both felt that Karma should not be declawed because she had already been through enough trauma.  So, that was good.  I never want my foster kitties to be declawed but if they are under 1 year, the shelter will allow it.  But not with Karma. About 10 minutes before adoptions were over, the family walked in with an empty carrier and smiles on their faces.

I was completely caught off guard.

I started to sweat and shake slightly.  I had already put them out of my mind because generally, people who leave, do not come back for the cat they were thinking about adopting.  So, the family came in and sat down and said they decided that they wanted to adopt her.

I told the mother that I felt Karma was really freaked out because it was her first adoptions and that the kitties around her in the other cages were hissing and growling at each other.  Also, she had received a shot and a microchip just the night before at the shelter and (I think) was scared that she was going to get another one.  We talked about her litter box issues again and I feel that she will be okay with it.  I said that it maybe happens once a week.  We also told her that the "head honcho" of the cat house said that Karma cannot be declawed.

I must have look visibly shaken because the mother offered to wait until later in the week to pick her up. After they left, I was still shaking and I felt embarrassed at how I acted.  Looking back, I feel that I might have overreacted a bit.  I didn't feel that at the time, though.

I told my boyfriend later that night that I guess I wasn't as good at keeping myself a little disconnected from my fosters.  I love them and treat them the same as my own cats but I always believe that I do not get attached to them so it enables me to give them up without causing myself pain.

I guess with Karma anyway, I didn't do that.

When she came to me, she still had a broken leg, two broken hips and a fractured pelvis.  She did not have her first surgery for 4 days.  She was dehydrated, hungry and very thin.  So, we took the weekend to get her rehydrated and give her some food so she would have energy to go through the surgery.  She had one surgery in January to fix her broken leg and one hip.  She had her second surgery in February to fix her other hip and spay her.

We went through a lot with her and I guess I was more concerned about her than I let myself believe.

So, I am preparing myself for her new parents to pick her up Wednesday at 4.

A new kitty...

I have a new kitty coming to stay with us.  She is a young, very small Siamese who was stuck in a fence near the railroad tracks.  A city employee found her and brought her to a nearby vet.  This poor kitty is really scratched up and has severely scraped paw pads.  We do not know if she is feral yet but we do know she is pregnant!  She is in a lot of pain and is understandably totally freaked out.  Basically, she is acting feral but she might just be scared to death and in a lot of pain.  We will just have to give her time to feel better and see if she is feral or not.

We don't know how long she was stuck in the fence but we know she was terrified.  The fence is near the railroad tracks which means the train went by her (loudly) and it shook the ground as it went by.  She nearly ripped off her paw pads while trying to escape.

I will know more on Monday.  She is going to come stay with us after she is feeling better.

Karma is available for adoption!

I took Karma to the vet yesterday and the vet cleared her for adoption!  Her first adoptions will be this Saturday.

Click here to be taken to her petfinder page!

A month after Karma's second surgery-she is now able to jump!

A little more than a month after Karma had her second Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO), she is beginning to jump!  Since we brought her home, she has been using her "arms" to pull herself up onto things.  Now, she is beginning to jump.  I wasn't sure if she would ever be able to jump because we have had her for a few months now and we had never seen her jump.

After she gets her last checkup in a week or two, she will be available for adoption.

Badly injured kitten healed herself!

Not many cats can give vets the kind of jaw-dropping double-take that C.C. pulled off. But then, C.C. is no ordinary girl. When C.C. was found as a stray kitten, she was injured badly. She couldn’t use her back legs, she had a fractured pelvis, and she was incontinent.
C.C. had been living as a feral kitten and learned to be afraid of people. Still, the folks who found her knew she needed help. They wouldn’t take no for an answer! She came to Best Friends for emergency care.


At Best Friends, she received all the medical help she needed. (Along with some TLC she didn’t think she needed!) It was obvious from the beginning that she would require long-term special care. A shelter specializing in incontinent cats heard about C.C. and offered to take her once she was healthy enough to travel. Until then, C.C. had a cozy bed and all the comforts she wanted right at Best Friends.


It’s amazing, though, what a determined kitten can do. That TLC worked wonders, even though C.C. resisted affection at first. Not only did she start trusting people, she began to feel better … lots better. In fact, as her body grew and matured, it seemed to miraculously fix itself. She lost the limp and started using the litter box more often than could be considered accidental.
The vets and caregivers wondered if she was regaining continence. Nerve damage hardly ever reverses, but all signs pointed to a complete recovery for C.C. So, they monitored her closely during a trial period without expressing her bladder. 


Call it luck, call it a miracle, but C.C. passed with ease! After many days of observation, she was pronounced cured. The only thing left from her injuries now is a slightly crooked tail, but even that looks somehow exotic on C.C.
The shelter that had offered to take her bowed out once they learned she was no longer incontinent. After all, they need the space for harder-to-place cats. So C.C. decided to call Best Friends her home for now. But, with all the tricks she has up her sleeve, it won't be long before she woos a family of her own. Welcome, C.C. What a way to turn those medical books upside down!


Story by David Dickson
Photo by Molly Wald


http://news.bestfriends.org

Karma has surgery tomorrow...

Karma has surgery tomorrow and I am nervous.  She is getting her femur repaired.  She has at least one more surgery after she recuperates from this one tomorrow.
For those who don't know, she was a stray and was hit by a car until a good samaritan called us.  Now, she is under our care and will be adopted after she is healed.

Our newest foster kittens...one was hit by a car.

We have two new foster kittens:

Gracie, is 3 months old, weighs a little over 2 pounds and is a little shy.  She is black with a little white patch on her chest.  She was in another foster home with her sister but we decided to separate them because they were not making progress.  They were both trapped outside with their two brothers.  (There is a 4 in the litter, 1 black male, 1 black female, 1 grey male, 1 grey female)  Because they are a little feral, we need to tame them so they can be adopted.  Sometimes when litter mates are together, they do not bond with humans as well as they do when they are alone.  The other two of the litter are doing well together but Gracie and her sister were not.  So, we separated them.  All 4 of them are available for adoption.



Karma is 6 months old and weighs 4 pounds 3 ounces.  She is slightly emaciated.  She was hit by a car two weeks ago and a woman who has been feeding her decided to call our shelter to get her help.

I am not sure why this woman waited 2 weeks to get Karma medical attention but we have her now and she is getting the help she needs.  She went to the vet yesterday and today.  Yesterday, she had x-rays taken and was given a powerful painkiller.

Today, she was examined and another vet looked at her x-rays to determine what surgeries she needs.  She has 3 fractures in her pelvis, one through her hip socket and one in her femur.

She is scheduled to have surgery on her femur on Tuesday.  Surprisingly, she is able to walk.  I am not sure how she can physically stand but she gets around fairly well.  She is confined to a cage to prevent her from running and jumping which may cause her more damage.  I do let her out periodically because she likes laying next to me and getting some pets behind the ears.  When she is out, I have to constantly supervise her to make sure none of the other kittens try to play with her, which could hurt her.

After she heals from this first surgery, she will have another surgery to fix her pelvis and hip.

As you can see in the picture to the right, sometimes, she doesn't want to use her legs.  Here she is eating some wet food. She does not appear to be in any pain because she is on pain medication.  I am watching her very closely for any changes.

She is such a sweet, loving kitty.  I am surprised that even in her condition, she is so loving. She wants to lay next to us and purr.  She is such a sweet girl.

After she heals from all of her surgeries, she will be available for adoption.

Cat's face re-attached by vet after trying to find warmth under hood of car.

Edgar, a 4-year-old long-haired female cat, went missing from its home in Winthrop, Massachusetts, for three days last week. When the cat finally returned, the owner found it sitting in the litter box - with part of its face dangling from its head.

Veterinarians said they believe the injury was caused by a car's fan belt, which the cat might have approached in an effort to stay warm.

"When her owner saw her face, she passed out," said Elizabeth Kendrick, a surgical technician at Angell animal medical centre.

The owner, who asked not to be identified, rushed Edgar to an animal hospital.

Remarkably, Edgar suffered no major blood loss nor any permanent nerve damage from the accident, and veterinary surgeons were able to stitch the facial skin back on during an hour-long surgery.

The pet is expected to make a full recovery.

Besides the skin hanging from Edgar's face, Edgar seemed normal, Ms Kendrick said.

"She was purring and sticking her head up so we could pet her," Ms Kendrick said. "She even tried to chew at her skin. I'd never seen anything like it."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28151326/ 

Dog in Chile risks life to save injured dog on highway

A traffic camera in Chile caught a heroic dog dodging cars and weaving in and out of traffic to reach an injured dog lying in the middle of the highway as cars sped by.

How sad that people just sped by and didn't try to help the dog or even slow down.  What animals will do for other animals and humans is truly touching.

The dog that was rescuing the other dog has not been found.  The other dog died shortly after being rescued by the sweet, caring dog.  If the other dog were found, he would probably be killed for being a stray.  What an absolute shame that while we all love stories like this, we are so quick to kill animals (who might do these same things that are not caught on camera).  No animal should be killed for space or because they do not belong to anyone.