Cats of Storageforum

mubs

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Cute. Barely old enough to be separated from mommy. Reminds me of the one we had back in 2006. She was lighter colored, though, and we got her from a shelter. One of these days I'll have to put up pics of the cats we've had since 2006.
 

Howell

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It has been inconvenient to share an actual picture so far but our "cat" is a blue eyed white Netherlands dwarf rabbit. It was my wife's choice.
 

time

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Aren't dwarf rabbits vicious little monsters? My wife still bears the scars from one we had more than 20 years ago. :eek:
 

Howell

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I suppose you could condition it to be, we were able to litter box train her, but ours is much more interested in licking and humping than biting. I did accidental piss her off for several weeks but she never tried to bite us just hide from us.

I'm glad we got a lover. According to the media the fighters go for the jugular.
 

Howell

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All in all she still behaves like a prey animal. She is not super fond of having unsure footing whether on the hardwood or off the ground. She will tolerate nail clipping and being held for about 10 min.
 

mubs

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Here's Goose with her latest litter:

IMG_0209_SF.jpg

She was renamed Goose because of her silly behavior. From nearest to farthest, the kittens are Samba, Soda, Patch and Brownie. Patch was named that for obvious reasons and has the mother's colors, but with more orange. Soda got that name because when young, she had fuzzy hair that reminded my daughter of soda. Samba and Brownie are the bigger ones, stronger and robust. Patch and Soda are more petite.

I think they are monkeys reincarnated as cats. They are constantly up to no good, mostly fighting with each other non-stop and getting vicious as they grow, and at other times racing around, tearing up paper and plastic bags and what not.

Goose had the litter elsewhere (probably in the basement parking) and brought them to our apartment when they were probably a 4-6 weeks old. After about 10 days she got restless that the kittens were running around all over the house and she couldn't control them. So she moved them one morning to a nearby dry storm-water drain we could see from our bedroom balcony. It was pretty stupid, because it is much colder there and resident kids make a terrible racket in that area every evening playing for several hours.

Worse was to come; unused netting was dumped in the drain by the apartment folks, and Patch managed to entangle herself very well in it. She was screeching her head off, and I had to take my wire cutters down there and free her. That same nigh, she came out and got entangled in the netting outside, and some other people from the apt freed her (I went there right at that time after finding out). Goose had had enough, and she brought Patch back to our balcony. But now they had grown considerably since when she brought them to us the first time around. We are on the first floor (2nd floor for the US guys), and to access our balcony requires a leap up from the corridor to the corridor wall, a leap across from the corridor wall to our kitchcen window sill (only 2.5" wide), and then a leap down into our balcony. Goose managed this with Patch, but with Samba she couldn't. She dropped him in the corridor and urged him to make the leap up, but he couldn't. I heard him meowing, went out, got him and put him in the balcony.

We went and got Soda ourselves, but Brownie ran off. After a bit of suspense, Goose managed to make the leap up and across, but abandoned him on the kitchen window sill. The drop down if about 15-20 feet. Poor thing couldn't leap down into the balcony from there, and was too terrified. After some coaxing, got him and reunited him with the whole family.

It appears that Goose is now convinced they are safe with us. The day they can leap up the balcony wall and across from the kitchen window sill to the corridor wall, I'm sure she'll take them elsewhere.

In the meantime, it's wearing us out to keep these monkeys around, and we're actively trying to find good homes for them. Being novices, we can't if they're male or female.

More pics later.
 

Handruin

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Wow those are really cute kittens. Sounds like they've had some exciting times as have you. Managing one kitten was enough for me. She's still a two-handful basket case. I can't imagine all those little ones.
 

Mercutio

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The thing that's strange to me about all that is re-naming a pet. My grandma had a Golden Retriever named "Lady" when I was growing up who was definitely not that. She said she figured it out a couple days after she got the dog but she couldn't think of him any other way.
 

mubs

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Goose isn't our cat; she's the apartment cat (been here since it was built ~ 8 years ago; we moved in only last May). She visits for food and rest. What helps is that the adolescent and grown up cats can come and go as they wish because of the access via all the jumping they do.

The wife's fed up with the whole thing and wants me to put some netting in the access path once the kittens are gone. It's quite a handful feeding, dealing with 6 screaming felines (Goose + 4 kittens + adult tom cat from one of Goose's previous litters). The term "Herding Cats" comes to mind. In the morning and evening, there's a veritable traffic jam at the kitchen door with all of them trying to get in at once, and then the meowing begins for milk and food.

Now trying to find homes for them kitten critters. Cute as a button, but tough to take care of.
 

sedrosken

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Dad, my little sister and I are all allergic to cats, so cats are a no-go around here. I do so love me some cute kitties though.

And no, that is not a double-entendre.
 

sedrosken

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No, they really don't call it anything rather than laughing uncontrollably and then later uncomfortably.

I'm definitely not what they call normal, as for one my effective vocabulary easily dwarfs theirs.

They mostly keep me around as a curiosity. Being in a rural area, being someone who seriously works on computers/other electronics makes you a mini-celebrity, not always in a good way. 99% of the people know my name and I don't know theirs. It really unnerves me. Anyway, back to cats!
 

mubs

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S&B.jpg
Left to right: Sherrie & Browny on May 5. Though siblings from the same litter, he's 40% bigger than her.

Of Goose's previous litter of 4, we gave away two who were adopted by a nice family. The remaining two stayed with us - one female, Sherrie, and one male, Browny, now about 6.5 months old.

The 26th night, the two went out as usual. They usually come back at 6am to feed and rest. The minute I saw Brownie on the 27th morning, I knew something was wrong. He was droopy, he limped, and his front right paw appeared to be swollen. There was fluid on it as well. In a few minutes, I realized his right rear paw was also swollen, though not as badly. The tips of his ears had become thin and were flopping down like a dog's. The skin had also peeled off a couple of pads on the left rear foot. A whole set of weird circumstances.

I called the vet and went as soon as I could - reached there around 9:45 am. Initially he said it was due to an infection, but I said that couldn't be since he was absolutely fine less than 12 hours ago. They sedated him, x-rayed his front and hind feet, shaved the two right legs then called me in. "He's been in a cat fight, and has been badly scratched, This has caused an infection. Give him this antibiotic twice a day". He also said the swelling was consistent with soft tissue damage, like a huge weight had fallen on the paws, or somebody had stepped on them and didn't let go. He couldn't explain why the ear tips were folding down. For the pads peeling off, the vet said it looked like Browny had stepped into some acid.

There is a nasty white male in the neighborhood who terrorizes all the other males around, but I thought Browny was a tad young to be considered competition.

We brought him home, but he seemed to be increasingly uncomfortable. Slowly, his rear right paw began to balloon, while his front right continued to leak. By nightfall it was evident we needed to see the vet again.

This morning the vet said pus or fluid had accumulated and would need to be drained surgically. During surgery he would implant drains in both feet to allow the drainage to continue, and the drains would be rmoved after a few days. Browny was admitted for a few days.

The vet called in the afternoon. "I'm changing my diagnosis", he said. "Browny was electrocuted. When I opened him up, I saw extensive tissue necrosis due to burns. The burns are severe, and usually they die of septicaemia and infection", said the vet. To let the dead tissue drain away, the vet has made a lot of cuts on Browny's legs. If he heals, Browny will be stitched up.

In a nutshell, the prognosis is not good. If he survives for 4-5 days, he'll live.

This has already cost us a good sum of money - a nice kick in the butt, but there was absolutely no hesitation spending it. I only hope the poor fellow recovers quickly and completely, or passes away quickly without suffering.

There is a whole lot of construction of small homes behind out apartment complex, with a lot of power tools being used. I think Browny walked into a carelessly strewn live wire.

Posting this here since some of you have cats. Swollen paws could indicate electrocution.
 

LunarMist

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I've been electrocuted a few times, but never to that extent. :( I hope he pulls though.
 

mubs

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Thanks for the support, all.

We went to see Browny on Sunday midday. When we neared the room where he was housed, we could hear him meowing loudly; the attendant told us he had been quiet till then. Maybe he heard our voices or smelled us.

I took the loud meows as a good sign. He also looked quite good to me, though he appeared frightened and his pupils were dilated. He was in a large wire cage (would definitely not feel claustrophobic) with water in a bowl and what looked like Hills Recovery diet moist food. The right front and rear legs were bandaged from the shoulder/hip to the tip.

I asked the vet, and he was non-commital. So far so good, was all he would say. I did confirm though that if Browny recovered, he would be able to use his right legs just fine.

Keeping fingers and toes crossed.
 

Howell

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Sorry to hear that. Poor cat.

Our Corgi puppy fell ill about a week after we got her. Luckily we didn't waste any time and took her to the emergency very. The diagnosis was parvo and the prognosis not positive, a high mortality rate we were told.

After several days of antibiotics, anti-nausea, and subcutaneous fluids at home she turned up. She is now several months older and is the frappingest dog around.
 

mubs

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Glad your Corgi is all right.

We'll go see Browny either today or tomorrow. Vet called Monday night to say Browny was doing fine. Keeping fingers crossed.
 

Handruin

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Wow! So sorry to hear that mubs. That sounded bad for the little guy. I'm sorry I didn't see this and respond until now, I hope Browny pulls through fine. Let us know how things turn out. I'm hoping the best for you and Browny.
 

Mercutio

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I halfway have a new cat. New in that she's only 3 years old and halfway because she technically belongs to my friend and occasional roommate. Her name is Sugar and she's completely white and very, very sweet. Gracie does not like Sugar at all, so there is a definite feline personality conflict. I have to keep them separated, meaning that I typically shut Gracie in whatever room she's using to hide. Sugar does not like closed doors. She doesn't even like the hall closet being closed. Apparently, behind closed doors there are Secrets From Cats. She stares at the offending door and yells at it, then hooks her paw underneath so that she can knock the door back and forth. Sugar does not like secrets, and Secrets From Cats are the worst kind. Most of the secrets are that Gracie would like to take a nap, but Sugar seems to be convinced that the closed door is where all the treats are. When she finally gets into a closed room, she has to immediately run and explore the whole thing all over again.
 

sedrosken

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Wow! So sorry to hear that mubs. That sounded bad for the little guy. I'm sorry I didn't see this and respond until now, I hope Browny pulls through fine. Let us know how things turn out. I'm hoping the best for you and Browny.

Same here. I've actually not been active for a few days. Hope he gets through everything okay.
 

mubs

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Well, Brownie died shortly after. Not from the burns, but from the Parvo virus. We had never had the cats / kittens vaccinated, and when he was treated for his electoruction, he was too weak to be vaccinated. I suspect he caught the virus at the vet's place, but I have no proof. We did everything to save him, but one night the vet called and said it was hopeless. We decided to put him down to relieve his suffering. It hurt real bad, especially after so much effort to save the guy.

Goose had one more litter that she didn't bring to us and lost completely. Then one more with 4 lovely kittens that she did, and we were lucky to place in good homes.

We had Goose and Sherrie fixed to stop the avalanche of kittens.

Then, Jude disappeared. When we moved in here, Goose brought two 3-4 month old kittens with her. Ruby, the female, got sick a few times and I treated her with antibiotics from the vet. She disappeared one day - never showed up. Sometime in fall 2014, Jude didn't show up and hasn't since.

It seems that life expectancy for cats that are not 100% house-bound isn't very good. There are undeveloped plots around, and snakes, stray dogs - a recipe for disaster. Goose is ultra-watchful and careful, and that explains her longevity. She must be ~ 9 now. Fortunately Sherrie seems to be at least half as good as her mother in terms of self-preservation.

Goose and Sherrie are still with us. Some pics tomorrow.
 

Handruin

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I'm sorry to hear that mubs. You made the hard choice to put down a cat that was suffering. I'm sorry that the efforts you made to help didn't work out in the end but you did a good thing trying to help. I've heard the same about outdoor cats and low life expectancy. Growing up as a kid we had indoor/outdoor cats and they weren't around long. I have indoor-only cats now and as much as it seems mean to keep them from being able to explore I hope that they live longer and I can make their lives better than they would have had otherwise. We brought the cats out onto our deck today while we ate lunch. They get some outdoors but only supervised.
 

Mercutio

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When I was growing up in very rural Illinois, everyone's cats were indoor/outdoor animals, but I suppose it's just like children these days: You want them indoors for their own safety because you never know what will happen.
That is terrible news, mubs, but those kitties had better lives for your care than they would have had without. That is a good that you did in the world.
 
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