Found A Kitty --, Remind me what to do Options

[Furkidlets' Mom]

Oh, NUMNUMNUMNUMNUMNUM!! Quite the darling, she is! (this must have been freshly-dried laundry time!)

For the gum test, either get behind the cat, or plunk them on their side on your lap, peel back their upper lip with one hand, and rub a finger from your other hand on their gums. Make sure they haven't just had either a drink or food before you test. If their gums are dry and feel kind of 'sticky', they're dehydrated. The gums should feel slippery, like your own. It's that simple, and more reliable than the skin elasticity test, especially when an animal's already older (cuz their skin is naturally not quite as elastic anyway). It's also a good time to check gum colour while you're at it (and get to know what their natural gum pigmentation looks like (some have natural 'spots' of colour).

[Mink&WillowsMom]

at this point, unless Willow can't make the adjustment, I will keep her
it's hard on Willow, but so far it's only setting him back 2 notches, not 6
she deserves a loving home, and I can give her that
she's such a lovely girl...

if her owner turns up -- then that person has to prove to me that Sable is hers, AND convince me that her getting lost was a horrific event that made a family desperate with fear and grief. She has to be one of us. My Mamabear is fully awake.

a friend wrote to me: "Well, who knows why this sweetie was brought into your life...or you hers. Maybe a combination of things. Could even be that she is there for some reason to do with your own cats." Just this evening, all three cats were playing together! This has NEVER happened before, it's always been pairs. I guess they're shoring up their alliances before meeting the new kitty. Great to see!

Just spent most of an hour with Miss Sable, and discovered several wonderful things:
1. If I work slowly enough, she will let me groom her matted fur for a LONG time.
2. She purrs the entire time.
3. Her fur, freed from mats and gunk and dandruff, is incredibly soft.
4. With the door open, all three cats, even scaredy-cat, belly-to-the-ground Willow stepped into the office to Look At The New Cat. When Willow spotted her, he hissed, but it wasn't a full-on hiss. The best part is that as soon as I ushered them back into the hallway, he calmed down. (With the kittens, he had growled and mewled and talked to me all about it from clear across the house, long after they were out of sight.)

I JUST realized -- uh, I mean, DUH -- but Miss Sable HAS been drinking water. Not a lot, because I haven't noticed the water level drop much,

but ---
everytime I look at the water, it has crumbs in it.
Which means she's drinking from it.
I change the water, I come back the next time:
more crumbs.

GOOD!

[Moose Mom]

Mink & Willows Mom

Oh your kittens are soooo cute! Rohan is so handsome and Luna, what a beauty! Great pictures, thanks for them.

So happy to hear that things are looking up for Sable.

Love

[paris]

Wow, now that the shoe is on the other foot, I forget what all should be done. Today I rescued a kitty stranded in a grassy median in the middle of a state highway.

I forgot to ask. How did you end up on the state highway median?

[Mink&WillowsMom]

I was on my way to Olympia to go car shopping (see Wrecked My Car in Cybershoulder Room) when I saw her sitting in the grassy median (which is about 50 feet wide). She's black, and the grass is gold, so she stood out boldly. Her sunken shoulders and hanging head bespoke utter resignation -- horrified me to my core. I spent the next mile trying to convince myself - futilely - that she didn't need MY help right NOW, passing the next exit. I quickly lost that side of the argument, and got off at the next exit, probably 4 miles away by now. Over the freeway, and got back on heading the other way.

A few miles back up the highway, I spotted her, in the same place, in the same position. Pulled the car over to the center median, parked half on the grass, half on the emergency break-down lane, and walked back toward her; she was about 10 feet from the road.

One safety note: if you should ever park at the side of the road (for a rescue, stopping to help at an accident, whatever) park 'downstream' of where you will be walking back to. That way, if somebody crashes into your vehicle, it will carry the debris away from you, not into you. Same thing for a train: if you have to abandon your car on the tracks, run TOWARD the approaching train. (On the side, obviously, not on the tracks!)

There was some risk for me being there rescuing her, but I was able to park my car completely out of the traffic, and stay in the grass while approaching her.

Today I'm experimenting with opening the door to her room, and letting her explore. (Willow is outside at the moment, unaware.) Rohan hunched his back, approached, and watched but didn't hiss. ~Kimberly

[Furkidlets' Mom]

Good, solid advice, Kimberly, regarding car safety.

...run TOWARD the approaching train. (On the side, obviously, not on the tracks!)

My second thought upon reading this account was how lucky you both were, too, that Sable didn't bolt when you approached.....which I'm quite sure you'd also thought of, cuz of course that could have been disastrous as well! The angels must have been busy making a circle of protection around the both of you in order to get Sable rescued and in good hands.

It's sounding like the kids will eventually accept Sable as one of the family, as there haven't been any great kerfuffles so far, and I've heard of many big ones between certain felines that still abated down the road, given enough time, attention and reassurance from their parent(s). When you think about it, it's really not much different than it can be with adopted human kids joining an existing family, or even caring (versus the bad ones) foster homes. It's just an adjustment that should be expected to take time and effort. (it's the people who expect 'instant soup' that set themselves up for trouble)

How's she doing NOW, physically? Anything new?

And btw, I highly doubt anyone's going to claim her. The fact that she was virtually out in the middle of nowhere suggests that even if she had a home, they sure weren't responsibly watching her very well, to end up way out there. Or, possibly she was dumped at the side of the road when she became ill because someone didn't want to take care of a cat who required medical help. It's not an uncommon story.

In fact, my no-kill shelter friend here had a story in her weekly newspaper ad recently that made me want to throw up &/or kill somebody. It still gives me absolute 'daymares' and I didn't even have to see it for myself! An adult dog was hit by a car right in front of his home, where he stayed for the rest of the day. His owners, who KNEW he'd been hit but did nothing, then figured he must have made his way somehow to the side of their house.....where they left him laying, with a broken pelvis in several places, unable to walk....for about another 9 days!!!! (I don't know if they'd even bothered to feed or water him) They THEN went out and and got themselves 2 new puppies, who were observed to be "two skinny little things, playing in blissful ignorance by the side of the road"!!! This couple wasn't in the least bit ashamed of my friend seeing or hearing all about this scenario. They told her their injured dog couldn't walk anymore, so they didn't want him any longer and asked her if she would take him off their hands. THIS is what many people are like in the real world, unfortunately, whether we want to believe it or not.

So thank GOD for all those who, like you, are there to try and balance things out and make up for the severe lack of decency in these other abominations of humanity. As you'd said before, no matter what, Sable is safe now. (and the poor dog above has now been adopted out to a more caring couple, too)

[paris]

Same thing for a train:  if you have to abandon your car on the tracks, run TOWARD the approaching train.  (On the side, obviously, not on the tracks!) 

Kim.

You really should write a book! And thank you so much for the advice: Next time I'm escaping from an approaching train, I'll know how to run!

[Ken Albin]

Bless you for being kind enough to rescue Sable and to give her a good home. As far as the other cats are concerned, we have always had good luck with putting up three baby gates to totally block the door but allow them to check each other out and hiss/paw a little. You can swap blankets after awhile as well so they will start to get used to each other's scent. Rubbing each of them with a cloth and then rubbing the other cat also helps. Give them a couple of weeks to get slowly familiar with each other. They will sort out the heirarchy from there and reach an understanding.

Good luck with your new beautiful furkid. I can tell that she is going to be a real beauty with a little more food and grooming since she is already stunning now!

[Mink&WillowsMom]

Sable's doing great. I'm slowing trying to restart the antibiotics now that she has yogurt in her to calm her gut. (Cats love yogurt -- who knew?) Pretty kitty on top, not so pretty kitty on bottom. I've managed to get one hip completely free of mats, and the fur is already starting to regrow on her ankles.

She still has her own room, but some meetings between her and the rest of the brood are going well too. ~Kimbermama

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[Mink&WillowsMom]

And the not so pretty part....

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[Mink&WillowsMom]

MISS FATSO has gained 1 pound, 2 ounces!! In 11 days! Gooooooood girl! She's now just under 7 lbs. ~Kimbermama

[Furkidlets' Mom]

Excellent! Now she's just a bit heavier than what Nissa was at her highest, natural weight. Good mama, too, for getting her there!

Have you considered clipping out (with those safety scissors) her matted fur, or is it just a matter of slowly but surely bathing and grooming it out for her? The parts you have managed to do are beautiful now!

Sable looks like such a sweetheart. (assuming that's what you're still calling her)

[Mink&WillowsMom]

Oh, I've been clipping and clipping and snipping and snipping away at the mats. The last pic shows 2/3rds of it clipped away on her right hip. Her undercoat is like down -- now I understand why feathers have spines -- to keep the fibers all going the same direction! It's like slowly working my way through wool felt. They're too tight to comb out. I want to bathe her, but I'd like to get all the mats off first -- I'm so close. Now that she's stronger, she has the energy to get grumpy when I work at the mats too long. ~K

[LoveThem]

Don't know if it helps but:

there are brushes designed to help take out mats.

An old Cat Fancy magazine I had recommended rubbing cornstarch into the mats..it is supposed to help them come apart better and if the cats lick it...it won't hurt them to digest it. I tried it...don't know if it really worked but my cats were black and looked funny with white cornstarch rubbed into them. I made it seem like they were being petted. Put it on my hands then just petted them all over and put more in the mat area.

Just some thoughts.

[Furkidlets' Mom]

That's probably true, in that it helps make things slippery-er, but I'd be careful as cornstarch is a real binder internally, not to mention the fact that it comes from corn itself (see the discussion on the article about diabetes posted by toonie recently). Arrowroot is a safer binder, but I'm not sure that it, either, is without risk for a cat to lick off.

Mats ARE very difficult, and that is why most (long term or no-kill) shelters simply shave the animal where they need to and just let the fur grow back in on its own. Looks like hell but it does the trick. But most cats can be very scared of those electric clippers and their skin can be nicked so easily if you're not used to doing this. So if it were me, I'd stick to the safest method even if slower, OR get the vet to shave some IF there was a necessary vet appt. scheduled anyway. I've heard of those special brushes, too, though, but don't know anything about them as my kids never had any matted fur and were short-haired to boot.

I'm sure you're doing fine as is. It's just going to take more time and effort. (and yah, it's a good sign she's now getting annoyed at you! )

[Mink&WillowsMom]

The mats are all gone, as is most of the dandruff. I haven't seen her groom herself much, but her fur looks less spiky, so I'm guessing she's been doing some. I was out of town, so I haven't had a chance to repeat her kidney function tests yet. The introductions are going well. Lots of detente, mostly everyone's wary and on their best behavior. She growls some, Willow hisses some, but that's it so far. They're still sequestered when I'm not home, but I hope to get past that this weekend.

Her weight gain halted while I was away -- my brother came over once a day and she got two cans, and I'd been feeding her at least 2-3 cans plus 2-3 servings of yogurt and morsel snacks. But now I'm back to fatten her up.

Her back legs are still wobbly. I wonder if she was injured? And she still pees * a lot*. Did she get caught in that pet food kidney injury? I don't know if she has a long life ahead of her, but so far so good. ~Kimberly

[Mink&WillowsMom]

She's gained TWO FULL pounds!! Still has 3 more to go, I'd guess. She's fully integrated with Gen Pop (see 'Introduction Strategies' in New Beginnings thread) with very little fuss. Last night she asked me to move her food into the kitchen too, a sign she's ready to spend more time out of 'her' room. I've started brushing her -- ye gads I'll be able to knit a whole new cat! And washing her with the nubbly terry cloth is going well -- she just thinks I'm petting her.

She's started drinking a regular, healthy amount, and isn't peeing as much. Still have renal tests to repeat, but in the meantime, she's quietly recovering. ~Kimbermama

[boogi3]

I'm so glad this poor kitty seems to be doing better. I've been following your story.
Sheri

[nickels]

Kimberly,
My life has been so crazy lately that I havn't had a lot of time to check in, but I just sat down and read your story. Sable is beautiful! Especially Thanks to you and your love for her. Sometimes I think God steps in and gives us a precious gift that we really didn't think we needed. I know you are really enjoying her this Christmas. She's had time to heal, love, and be loved. She will forever remember this Christmas.

I hope Sable and your family has a wonderous holiday season. Your story is truly a wonderful story for this season of miracles. You have warmed my heart. Bless you all!
Michelle

[Mink&WillowsMom]

Latest photo of our Miss Sable, squinting against the flash. Slowly easing in, slowly regaining health. Merry Christmas, everyone! ~Kimberly

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