daily dose of dogs (aka cats with your coffee)

Surprise!

Last week I did a special Thursday post about Andrea’s beautiful kitty sofa bed and her commissioned work – all to benefit Winnie’s Wish!  The announcement had been made as to who won the raffle.

 

 

The next morning I saw a comment that Andrea left on that post.  Here’s what it said:   I'm thrilled with how well the raffle for that bed went! There is more to that story, too, but it won’t be revealed until next week! Oh boy is even Chrystal gonna be surprised!   So I really didn’t know what any of that meant.  But I was having a very busy couple of days and I figured I would write to Andrea soon and ask what she was talking about.  Then on Friday when I got home from being at my parents’ house, there was a package waiting for me.  I opened it   . . .

 

I think I nearly had a stroke.  I was totally shocked.  Even after reading Andrea’s comment, I did not one single time think of something like this.  That beautiful Fancy Crocheted Velvet Sofa was somehow in my house.  Also inside the package were two of Andrea’s round crocheted kitty beds. 

 

And there was a letter.  Here (in part) is what the letter said:

Dear Chrystal, As you know, June C won the Fancy Crocheted Velvet Sofa in the raffle.  When I informed her that she won, she said – Yay! Send it to Chrystal!   

Then Andrea went on to say that the sofa was for MY own personal cats.  The money from the raffle went to the Wishers, but the prize was to go to MY cats so that both groups got something.  Andrea said that she thought this was a great idea and that she was going to add TWO of her round crocheted beds for the Wishers!  She said that way everybody got something.   Andrea even copied & pasted from what June had written:

Chrystal deserves all the happiness that her heart can hold! I thought giving her the sofa for her personal cats was important so people clearly understand there are two cat groups close to her heart and one actually lives in her home.

HOW SWEET!!

I wrote to both June and Andrea and told them that I had secretly coveted the Fancy Crocheted Velvet Sofa.  I knew I'd never have one but I thought it was absolutely beautiful.  Then Andrea did the drawing and paypal'd the raffle money to me.  Getting that money for the Wishers was such a gift!  I told June - Without your explicit directions, this sofa bed would have gone to the Wishers.  Anything that is donated goes automatically to the Wishers.  Anything my own personal cats get is purchased by me with my own money.  I never mix the two.  My Winnie's Wish cathouse is a big roomy three-room house for the Wishers.  I get the occasional paypal gift or Wish List donation, and there are the big things like Andrea's auctions.  Obviously, with over 30 kitties to care for, tons of my own money goes to caring for the Wishers.  Every bit of help I get is so needed and so appreciated.    Then we also have several of our own cats.  These are cats who, for one reason or another, have ended up living in our home with us.  I consider these cats just like anybody else would.  They are mine so I am responsible to pay for everything they need out of my own money.  So when I receive donations - funds or items - for the Wishers, it goes for the Wishers only.  That's why getting this sofa bed with your explicit instructions that it be for MY OWN cats is so exciting.  It's so much fun to have such a beautiful bed in my home for my own kitties.  I then thanked June for her long-time support and for the very special gift of the sofa!

Now this beautiful (secretly coveted) sofa bed is in my family room.  Several cats have tried it out, but most haven't stayed when I've gotten up to snap a picture.  Evers, on the other hand, had no problem with me getting his picture (several times actually).  And Trudi was so sound asleep that she never knew I took the pic.

 

 

 

 

June – THANK YOU.

Andrea – THANK YOU.

And again to everyone who helps Winnie’s Wish by bidding at Andrea’s auctions, having her do commissioned work, and by buying raffle tickets for this sofa – THANK YOU.

 

Andrea’s Help & Talent

This is the first chance I’ve had to mention Andrea’s Raffle to benefit Winnie’s Wish.  Andrea made a beautiful fancy cat bed and sold tickets to make money for the Wishers.   Here is a picture of that bed.

 

Amazing!  I have said many times on this blog that I am in awe of Andrea’s talent.  This luscious bed is gorgeous and Andrea did SUCH a wonderful thing by selling tickets to win this bed and gifting that money to the kitties of Winnie’s Wish.  Of course, just as I always say with Andrea’s auctions – without the participation of all of you fantastic folks these things wouldn’t be successful.  Ticket sales were GREAT and Andrea raised $470 for Winnie’s Wish (and then she and Greg rounded up).  THANK YOU Andrea and thank you to all who participated!

And that’s not all.  Andrea always puts many of her handcrafted items in her auctions.  But what you might not know is that she also does commissioned work.  Just recently, she did some work for a person who asked specifically for some things Andrea makes.  With the money, she sent supplies to Winnie’s Wish.  Andrea and husband Greg “round up” and always kick in some of their own money.  It was wonderful to have supplies delivered here from Andrea and Greg.   I want to advertise some of the items that Andrea makes for people who ask for them during times when there is not an auction to shop at.

 

puffy bed

 

 

crocheted bed

 

 

fish taco

 

 

sardines

 

 

toy set

 

 

Andrea has had the title of Number One Fundraiser for Winnie’s Wish.  Looks like she’s gonna keep it!

Andrea – THANK YOU.

 

Wildlife Wednesday - Babies Bring a Smile

A quick note before I start today's post.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words about Daffy.  I've read all of the comments several times.  It's been almost a week now that she's been gone.  I miss her so much.  But I've been here many many times.  And I will be here many more times.  I know that time heals.  The last month of Daffy's life sure wasn't very good for her.   I am grateful that Daffy is no longer suffering.

And Cynthia - THANK YOU.

Now on to some babies.  Everyone can smile when they look at a baby.

I believe I posted two weeks ago about Older Daughter’s wildlife rescue.  It’s Spring and that means orphaned babies.  This year it’s been squirrels.  I told you about the first two.  A third one came in but only lived a few hours.  Now a fourth little squirrel has made its way to Wild Angels.

 

The first two are doing well!  They are now learning how to eat “squirrel food.”  It won’t be long before they will be weaned off of formula.

 

 

Unfortunately, Older has received some baby bunnies, too.   I won’t write another long post about how hard it is to keep baby bunnies alive.  But I will remind everyone to tell your friends and family – DO NOT remove baby bunnies from their nest.  Mom doesn’t show up for many hours at a time, but she WILL show up.  Bunnies need mother’s milk; formula cannot replace mother’s milk for bunnies.  So unless a person KNOWS that the mom rabbit was killed, the babies should be left in the nest if discovered.  Older first received two little bunnies.  Sadly, one has already died; the other one is not doing well.  Then she received another bunny.  Older was successful last year and kept some baby bunnies alive and they were successfully released.  But more times than not, they do not survive without mother’s milk.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed that these two will make it.

 

the first two; only one survived

 

 

the surviving one with the newest one

 

Spring babies!  Sad that they are orphaned, but luckily there are wildlife rescues like Wild Angels where a few will still get the chance to live their lives.

 

[Note – I don’t usually blog on Thursdays but I will do a post tomorrow about Andrea’s fancy cat bed raffle and also about some of Andrea’s commissioned work for Winnie’s Wish.  Hope you’ll stop by.]

 

 

Daffy

Thank you for all of the kind and supportive comments on last week’s post about Daffy.   We lost her on Thursday.  I posted on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I knew she was worse.  We were down to only one of the anti-vomiting medications; the other one had stopped working altogether.   Unfortunately, Daffy vomited three times in a two-hour period on Wednesday and that was WITH the anti-vomiting medication that had been continuing to work.    I could also hear her breathing – just a small sound that you had to listen closely for.  I decided I would take her in on Thursday to see if maybe she was developing a mild case of pneumonia.  Sometimes even a small amount of aspiration during syringe feeding can cause pneumonia.  I hated to try to add an antibiotic since Daffy couldn’t hold anything down without strong medication.  And honestly, in the back of my mind I was afraid that we might have entered a new stage in her disease.  The diagnosis was histoplasmosis which settles in an area of the body.  In Daffy’s case, it was her gastrointestinal system.  But it can spread to be in multiple systems of the body.  All day Wednesday I kept thinking about the possibility that the disease had now taken her lungs.  She already felt so bad.  It was extremely hard to watch her wasting away.  Even though I was force-feeding her four to five times a day, she was losing weight.  She was lethargic.  And constantly nauseated.  On Wednesday she was vomiting even with the anti-vomiting medication on board.  And now her breathing had changed.  During one of the times we sat together, I asked her if she could show me when it was time to let her go.  I told her that I would keep fighting for as long as I needed to, but that I didn’t want to keep her alive for me.  I asked her to please let me know when she’d had enough.

I got up on Thursday morning and went into her room.  At first I didn’t see her.  Then I found her hiding.  When I talked to her, she got up and tried to walk to me and stumbled.  I noticed her breathing immediately.  She could barely get a breath.  She struggled to breathe, struggled to stay upright, then collapsed onto her side.   The tears started pouring down my face.  As soon as I could, I contacted my vet.  We’d reached the end.

Daffy was an extremely sweet, feral-start, half-grown kitten when she came here.  Her sister Daisy was more outgoing, less feral, and she was adopted.  Daffy’s mother, Fannie, is a Wisher.  Though feral, she is happy living at Winnie’s Wish where she has shelter, food, and water.  Her only request is that I not touch her.   When Daffy’s sister got adopted, I hoped the same for her.  It never happened and eventually she became one of our own.  She was shy and would only come for attention occasionally.  She loved one of the heated beds in our family room.  She loved her supper time.  She was part of our family.  It was hard to lose her because it’s ALWAYS hard.  But it was especially difficult after having spent countless hours with her since the end of February when she became ill.

I had desperately wished for a different outcome.  But I know Daffy is no longer suffering. 

 

when she first came here

 

 

about a year ago (happier times)

 

Daffy – Farewell.

 

Daffodil

 

 

It’s Spring and I really hope the new season brings with it the winds of change.  It’s been a LONG Winter here.  I’ve now mentioned this numerous times but please allow me one more.  Our Jazzy cat became ill and died in December.  This was followed in January and February by a string of illnesses in Wishers – Bunny, then Smokey, then Slate.   Just as we were ending that Winter mystery illness streak, our own Daffy became ill.

 I rescued our Daffodil (we’ve always called her Daffy) along with her sister (Daisy) and her mother (Fannie).  I trapped this little family of females in July of 2017.  Daisy was adopted.  Fannie is a Wisher (one of the three I still can’t touch after all these years).  Daffodil lived in our bathroom for too long and I couldn’t move her to the cathouse, so she became one of our own.

 

Just after trapping this little family

 

 

Towards the end of February, I noticed that Daffy had slowed way down on eating and had lost weight.  Early in March, we went to our veterinary clinic.  Bloodwork was done.  There was nothing significant in the results except for the elevated WBC count.  She also had fever.  Came home with antibiotics which she would vomit right back out.  The vomiting became a staple of her condition.  Daily vomiting and daily fever.  Back to the clinic.  This time for X-rays.  There was no apparent blockage.  Came home with a strong anti-nausea medication given by injection.  A few days later we were back at the clinic.  Dr. A and I discussed the bloodwork, looked at the X-rays, considered the fever and vomiting.  And by this time, Daffy had completely stopped eating on her own.  Force-feeding was the only way she was receiving any nutrition.  During that visit, Dr. A said that her symptoms, along with some speculation about the X-rays and the bloodwork (things that were only slightly off), made it possible that we were dealing with histoplasmosis.  I won’t go into detail about this disease, but it basically comes from spores in the soil.  Daffy has been an indoor cat since she arrived here.  She is almost 4 years old.  I said I didn’t see how histoplasmosis could be possible.  But Dr. A explained that it most commonly occurs in female cats between the ages of 4 and 9 years of age.  AND – that it can lie dormant for 3-4 months up to 3-4 years.  So at least the possibility exists that Daffy was exposed as a kitten before I rescued her.   

The problem is that histoplasmosis is a disease that is typically treated for four to six months.  The prognosis is poor.  The spores that the animal ingested morph into a stage wherein this fungal infection settles in one or more “areas.”  It often sets up in the lungs but can also settle in the gastrointestinal tract, the brain, even the eyes.  Dr. A feels like Daffy could have histoplasmosis that has set up in her GI tract.  She explained that the treatment is an expensive oral antifungal medication that is dispensed by a regular pharmacy.  Of course, Daffy is vomiting daily so an oral medication would be a problem. 

At that time, we hoped that the anti-nausea medication would help Daffy keep down food and this new medication.  I agreed with Dr. A to start the treatment and she called in the order.  I also took home a supply of two different types of injectable medications for nausea/vomiting.    These meds lasted about 48 hours.  So Daffy would get an injection and for two days I could force-feed and give the new oral treatment (itraconazole).  The problem then became the injections.  At first, we got 48 hours.  Then the injections were lasting only about 36 hours.  It soon went to 24 hours.  Then this past Sunday, an injection was given at 6:45am and Daffy vomited 7 times between 12:30p and 2:00p (just six hours after an injection). 

 If I can’t keep food in Daffy and if she vomits her itraconazole, then there is no hope.  I’m at my wit’s end.  As all of you will understand, I desperately want Daffy to survive and recover from this.  It seems unlikely at this moment in time.

 

See you next week.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – It Must Be Spring

I haven’t been blogging for a couple of weeks so I’m behind in reporting the first Spring babies at Wild Angels.   You might remember me saying that squirrels have TWO baby seasons – Spring and Fall.  Sometimes the first babies at Wild Angels in the Spring are baby bunnies.  But this year it was squirrels. 

 

The first baby is a male fox squirrel.   He was about 4 weeks old when Older received him.  She carries her babies back and forth with her to work.  So a couple of days after she received this little guy, she sent me a picture of him in the crate.   He was sleeping on his back and I thought she was just showing me what a darling he is.

 

 

I texted back - How cute!  And she responded with another picture.

 

Wait. WHAT??  TWO squirrels in the crate!  She laughed and texted that a family had called and talked to her about finding a baby squirrel lying beside their porch.  They don’t know if a dog or cat brought it there, but there were no injuries (thank goodness!).  This one is also about 4 weeks old and a little girl.   The two babies are good company for each other.  They are eating well and doing great.

 

 

 

Spring has sprung and Wild Angels' baby season has begun.

 

Fancy Velvet Kitty Sofa Raffle!

I haven’t been feeling all that great and I’ve let some things go.  Blogging is one of those things.  I think the long Winter has finally caught up with me.  First, we lost our Jazzy cat in December.  Then in January, a horrible stretch of Wisher illnesses went on for two full months, one after another after another – first Bunny, then Smokey, then Slate.  During this time, my mother had a serious surgery and recovery.  And just when all of these things were on the mend, our Daffy cat became ill.  I had planned to blog about Daffy today but didn’t ever get a post together.  (It's not great news.)  I hope to do that next week. 

The reason I’m here today is because of that dear dear Andrea of Celestial Kitties!  All of you know how hard she works for Winnie’s Wish.  I received a text from her yesterday announcing a fundraiser she was putting together.  I definitely want to draw EVERYBODY’S attention to this raffle.  Just WAIT til you see the pictures.  Andrea has amazing talent.  She is a yarn wizard; her work is legendary (big smile).  She has made an absolutely GORGEOUS Velvet Kitty Sofa and is raffling it off to benefit the kitties of Winnie’s Wish!  She has written about this on her blog.  I have basically copied from her blog.  I hope for the benefit of my Winnie’s Wish cat sanctuary, and because Andrea has put so much work and love into this beautiful bed, that it raises a fortune!

Here is the information from Andrea’s blog in her own words:

More information on the upcoming Fancy Velvet Kitty Sofa Raffle!

I've decided that it will start on Leo's Gotcha day! It'll be this Friday the 26th! I think that's about a perfect time since he was a Winnie's Wisher and the raffle is to help the kitties of Winnie's Wish Cat Rescue and Sanctuary!

The original Fancy Sofa was in an auction quite a few years ago and was won by Robyn of Love and Hisses fame. It's still getting a lot of use by kittens and cats alike there. Robyn graciously said I could use her pictures to show that one off. Here it is with some of her foster kittens enjoying it.

 

 

 

I loved the Fancy Sofa but it was the only one I ever made because it was not exactly as easy as it looks. I still have the yarn I got at the same time to make one for my kitties and have never made it! 

Then I started seeing that someone was making the fancy sofa out of velvet yarn! Now, I love Velvet yarn, even though it comes with its own challenges, but I never ever thought about using it for a fancy sofa! But I love it! Those velvet fancy sofas were raffled off by the cat rescue Love and Hisses Robyn fosters for and they have been a big hit. 

Well, after seeing those, I couldn't NOT make one, so I got me some of that Fancy Velvet Yarn and made a Fancy Velvet Sofa! 

I did make this one a bit bigger just because the yarn is bigger and you have to use a bigger hook and I didn't want to do the math to make it fit the original dimensions, lol!

Here it is again, so you can, hopefully, fall in love and want to buy a raffle ticket and thereby help the kitties of Winnie's Wish!

 

 

 

Here is the link to the raffle.

https://winnieswishauction.blogspot.com/

 

Please visit.  I know Andrea will appreciate it and so will I!!

 

My plan is to be back tomorrow with a Wildlife Wednesday post.

 

And Again

Friends.  I'm not going to blog much today.  I have another sick cat.  This one is not a Wisher but one of our own.  Daffy stopped eating her normal amount a little over two weeks ago.  We thought it was because one of our other cats was bullying her, but when we separated them for several days, Daffy did not resume her old eating habits.  She was seen by our vet on Saturday.  A complete blood panel was done.  All of the big things were ruled out - FIV, leukemia, liver and kidney failure.  Her WBC count was high.  She was put on an antibiotic but she is unable to keep it down.  Older Daughter has been force feeding her and breaking her medication into smaller doses more times per day.  It is dangerous for a cat to go without eating for even a short period of time.  Daffy has continued to eat, but only extremely small amounts.  After the series of three Wishers being so sick this winter, I am emotionally exhausted.  Please hope with me that Daffy will fully recover.

 

 

The tabby cat I have been trying to trap has not been seen at all.  I sure hope if this cat needs me, he/she will eventually end up in my care.

 

Before I close, let me thank Karen for sending this gift to Winnie's Wish.  As with all gifts to Winnie's Wish, this is SO needed and SO appreciated.

 

Karen - THANK YOU.

 

Long Haul

I had hoped to be writing to you about catching the tabby cat who has been spotted here in the country on our property.  However, no luck so far.  I’ve written about the first sighting in the field across from our house.  Then there were all of the paw prints in the snow.  And there was a second sighting when Husband caught a glimpse of the tabby crossing our driveway.  The trap has been set a good deal of the time ever since.  No catch.  There is one piece of news to report though.  There has been a third sighting.  The middle of last week, Younger Daughter told me her story.  Just like me, she feeds a couple of opossums on her property.  One evening she put food just outside her back door for the opossums as she usually does.  Late that night she glanced out the back door to see if the opossums had gobbled up all of the food.  She said she was nearly in shock to see a tabby cat eating the food.  Afraid she would scare him away by opening the door, she watched for a few minutes trying to decide what to do.  Finally, she decided to crack open the door and try to talk softly to the cat to see if it might be friendly.  He actually did not run when she opened the door.  But as soon as she spoke a word to him, he looked up and shot away into the woods that are just a few feet from her back door. 

So . . .   only 5 or 6 days ago the cat was still here. (Younger Daughter lives about a half mile from me, so he’s still in the vicinity.)  But there’s been no sighting since.  And there are no tracks now with all of the snow gone.  I will keep trying.  I’m reminding myself that Theo (one of the Wishers) was first seen on our property in the summer of 2017.  It was not until Christmas that year that I was able to trap him.  I was in for the long haul then and I am again.  Surely if this guy needs me, he will eventually end up in my trap.

 

Day . . .

 

 

. . . and night

 

Friends – keep your fingers crossed.

See you next week.

 

Wildlife Wednesday - Starlings

Two starlings. Soon to become scores.

I’m not sure if any of you had a similar experience to ours.  Our three back-to-back snows, along with below-zero wind chill temperatures, caused something that started off as a normal experience here.  Every time we have much snow, we get a huge number of starlings that come and descend on our bird feeders.  They only come in droves when it snows, and they can clean a group of feeders dry in about half an hour.  When they come, they keep all of my regular birds off the feeders.  I hate that, but I also know that these starlings need to eat just like any other bird.  When the snow leaves, the starlings leave.  So we just go through a lot more food for a short period of time and then things return to normal.  This time things were different.

We had ice and snow and very low temperatures.  The starlings came to my feeders in numbers that reached 50 or 60 at times.  We continued to have snow and the temps didn’t allow for any melting.  And the starlings stayed.  But what was different this time was the number of starlings that were dying. 

It was only two days into the deep freeze when I noticed several starlings perched inside our pigs’ little home.  They have houses inside a stall.  They also have heat lamps and blankets and straw.  There was one straw bale stored on top of one of the houses, and the starlings were sitting on and beside it. When I walked in to feed the pigs, the starlings all flew out.  But one just sat on the floor and didn’t move.  I went to it and was able to pick it right up.  That certainly wasn’t ok.  I put the bird into a little hollowed out place in the straw bale.  I went on down to the kennel and cathouse but I got on the phone to Older Daughter.  I told her what I had and she said to put the bird in a small box and bring it to her.  She would set it up with a heat source and see if it could recover.  But when I went back for the starling, it was gone.  Older and I talked and decided that it must have warmed up enough to fly away.  But that was only the beginning . . .

It all runs together now, but during the week and a half of bad weather the starling situation got really bad.  And then worse.   Each morning I would come out to feed the pigs and the number of starlings in the pig stall was always about 50.  They were packed in the stall, sitting on the straw bale and on every surface.  They were inside the pig houses.  AND – they were sitting on the pigs.  Yep.  The pigs were cozy in their straw and blankets under their heat lamps.  And the starlings were piled close together ON the pigs’ backs.  That’s not all.  The pigs did not venture out into the snow, but they would come out of their stall occasionally to look around.  THE BIRDS RODE ON THEIR BACKS.  It’s true.  I managed to get a picture.  Anyway, back to the starlings.  They would come swarming out when I stepped into the stalls to feed the pigs.  And every morning there would be 4, 5, 6 starlings dead in the stall.  I asked both of my daughters if they were seeing anything similar at their own homes.  Older Daughter said no, but Younger Daughter said the starlings had taken over her chicken coop.  AND she was finding several dead every day.

 

Arnold and his feathered friends

 

Then a few days into this, Older said she was finding dead and dying starlings at the shelter (where both of my daughters work).  She said she had gathered up a few that were still alive and she was trying to warm them.  That evening, she brought home the ones that survived and set them up in bird cages inside her house.  That same evening, Younger Daughter found more dead ones in her chicken coop and also a handful that were alive but not moving.  She took them to Older Daughter’s house where those, too, were put into bird cages.  Over the next couple of days, Older found a couple more unmoving starlings on the road while driving to and from work.  When it was all said and done, Older had ELEVEN starlings in cages in her home.

We continued to find dead starlings throughout the period.  My brother-in-law said he saw a post on Facebook about dead starlings inside a woman’s chicken coop (just like Younger Daughter’s experience).  My daughters and I talked and couldn’t imagine what was going on.  It was sad because it seemed to be either the cold itself that was killing these birds or that they were possibly starving.  However, at my house, there was food out for the birds two to three times a day.  We just don’t know. 

The good news is that of the eleven Older Daughter rescued, ten survived.  She kept them warm and fed.  In fact, she had to hand-feed them all in the beginning because they were too weak to eat.  But they gained strength and started eating on their own.  It felt great to know that those ten starlings went from frozen, weak, and starving to strong and capable again.  They have now all been successfully released.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See you next week.