V*T Visit

Both kitties managed to survive the V*T trip OK.

Billy White Shoes didn't struggle very much going into the carrier, but spent the trips to and from the V*T meoowwing his head off.  Dr. Van De Berg was the first V*T who saw Billy with his broken leg, and the Doc was quite pleased to see how Billy was doing.  He thought Billy's bald spot was just Billy over-grooming out of boredom while in his cage, but he did give Billy an anti-allergy shot.

Grace O'Malley was quiet on the car ride, but it was a battle getting her into the carrier at all.  (Actually, that isn't quite true.  It was easy to get her into the carrier, but a struggle to get the door closed before she turned around and ran back OUT of the carrier.)  Gracie was running a bit of a fever, and seemed to have some infection around her backside.  Dr Van De Berg expressed her anal glands, and gave her an antibiotic shot.

They both got vaccinations, and deworming.

So, two of the crew are fine for the year.  (pending)  With luck, next month, I can get a couple more of the Clowder in for their yearly checkups.

No photos, sorry.  Forgot to grab the camera before I left.

Don't warn them

Hi.  Don't warn them, but Grace O'Malley and Billy White Shoes are going to the V*T Monday afternoon.  They both have bare spots on their skin, and the spots don't seem to be healing.  On the other hand, they aren't expanding, either.  So I might be getting upset over nothing.

But I decided I needed someone to take a little more professional look at things, to find out if we have a problem or not.

I am beginning to think I should have named Billy White Shoes something more along the lines of 'Homer Simpson' or something.  Little Billy seems to spending his life careening from one problem to the next.

Billy White Shoes is out of his cage

Hi, everyone and everykittie.  We didn't realize that it was more than a month since we posted anything.

Billy White Shoes went to the V*T yesterday, some because it was about to the time we were supposed to schedule a visit, and some because I was starting to get tired of spending half an hour every evening trying to catch Billy to put him back into his cage.

Dr. Van Zee checked Billy out a little, and decided Billy was healing fine, and I could just let him run around loose with the rest of the crew.

So, Billy White Shoes is now out of his cage, although I intend to keep an eye on him for a while yet.  I've got a lot of money invested in Billy's leg -- I want to protect the investment. :-)

A big thank you to Dr. Merlin Van Zee and the staff at the Summer Street Animal Clinic for their care and skill.

Billy is starting to get restless

Billy is starting to feel better, which in a lot of ways makes things worse.  He feels OK, and he really can't figure out why I don't just let him out of his cage so he can run around like he wants to.

I used to let him out for a lot of the day, if I was going to be around to keep an eye on him.  Of course, back then Billy didn't feel all that great, and he would spend most of his time dozing someplace.  Now, he is spending most of his day in his cage, because he keep trying to climb up on things, and generally run around like he used to.  The last I need right now is Billy White Shoes tearing that leg up again trying to rassel with the rest of the crew.

Billy, tucked neatly between the heated pad and the litter box.

 Reaching for my leg, trying to convince me to let him out and let him run around and cuddle with the rest of us.  The shaved place on his left leg is where the V*T had an IV during surgery (and maybe for a while after that)

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UPDATE: I tried Connie's nip suggestion, at least sort of.  I had a nip cigar (from  Nip & Bones) that I gave Billy.  It seemed to help, at least for the first few hours.  Thanks, Connie.  (we had some bananas that most kitties seemed to like better, but they've disappeared somewhere) 

A closer look at Billy's leg

As in, Billy's Xrays.  Let's just say Billy White Shoes is going to have trouble if he ever needs to enter a court house anywhere.

I didn't get a Before image, but you can about imagine what it looked like from the After shots.

My complements to the folks at Summer Street Animal Clinic for a job well done.

PS: Various V*T's best guess is Billy White Shoes got hit by a car.  The scrapes and scratches kind of indicate that.  Beyond that, we may never know.  Billy isn't talking about it.

Billy still hanging in there

Billy White Shoes and I just got back from a trip to the V*T.  Some of the staples were working loose, and I wanted to check to see whether there was a problem or not.

The V*T checked things out, and decided the incision was healing enough that he could just remove the staples and be done with it.

Billy is getting bored in his cage, so I've started letting him out for a while when I can keep an eye on things.  Billy keeps pressing his luck, trying to start climbing around, so he usually doesn't get to stay out very long.  But progress is being made.

A close-up of Billy's incision, sort of.  Billy was laying in my lap when I took these photos, so it was kind of shoot a lot and hope.

Billy White Shoes, looking back at you.

Billy is home

Billy White Shoes is home.  Currently he is spending most of his time caged, to restrict his movements, and he is none too happy about it.

He will go back to the V*T on the 17th to have his staples removed, and for a general checking out.

 

 

I also have a couple pictures of his leg.  They are kind of gross, so I'll put them below the fold, if I figure out how to do that.

Billy White Shoes update

Billy made it through surgery in fine shape.  I went to visit him, and all the tech's liked him a lot.

I took him his penguin, and he seemed kinda glad to see it.  He reached out to grab it, and started cuddling with it.

With luck, Billy will be home tomorrow some time.  After that, it will just be a matter of keeping him calm for a few days/weeks before he can run around again.

Just a quick Billy White Shoes note

UPDATE: I just called the V*T (about 4PM, 04-DEC).  Billy came through surgery pretty well, all things considered.  The surgeon had to put a pin and several screws in Billy's leg to keep everything in place, but he seemed hopeful over the phone. Billy likely won't be home for a few days, yet, but at least he is gaining on things.

Thanks, much, for all the purrrrrss and purrrrayers.

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Hi.  Just a quick note.

Billy White Shoes is at the V*T tonight with a broken leg.  Billy will most likely go through surgery tomorrow afternoon.  The V*T thinks he can repair Billy's leg, but the break is bad enough there is an outside chance the only option will be removing the leg entirely.

We could all use a few purrrrrss or purrrayers, if you should have any to spare.

I Has Tuff

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/11/13/funny-pictures-wif-me-i-has-tuf/

That isn't Billy in that LOLCat, of course, but he is starting to have the same attitude.  The other day he was trying to rassle with Grace O'Malley.  Gracie was about half way between 'Oh, yeah, bring it on' and 'HUH?'.

I'm not sure how much progress I'm making on getting Billy White Shoes weaned or box trained, though.  If I put some Kitten Glop on my finger, I can get Billy to lick it off once in a while.  But most of the time he swats my hand away and ignores me.  I haven't gotten Billy to have much of anything to do with the little litter box I put together for him, but he keeps heading to the kitchen with the 'big kitties' box.  I keep finding little puddles in the area, so I kind of suspect he is trying to go where the other cats are going, and is just too small to make it into that box.  I'm about to track down a couple bricks to give Billy some steps up there, and see how that works.

In other news, Grace O'Malley got her stitches out Friday.  She didn't appreciate being stuffed in the PTU, or being held that tight, but otherwise she didn't seem bothered much at all by the process.  The only thing left is for the fur to grow back, and that is coming along fine.


And now some totally gratuitous kitten photos.

 In that last photo, I heard Billy yelling and struggling, so I went and checked on them.  Gracie was sitting/laying on Billy's chest, and Billy was fighting to get out from under.  When they saw me, the both stopped, and looked at me like 'Well?  What do you want?  We're fine!'.

Back from the V*T

 
Gracie spent most of the night tucked away someplace sleeping off the drugs.  About dawn she climbed up in the bed and cuddled with me until the alarm went off.  She seems a little sore, but is moving around OK.  The stitches are to be removed in about 10 days, if she hasn't pulled them out herself by then.  (Anne Bonny saved herself the trip by doing exactly that)

On the stray kitten front, I had a jar of baby food that I had no other use for, so I mixed that in with the Kitten Glop.  Figured stray kitten could use the extra protein, and it might start getting him used to the taste of solid food a little.  I tried letting him decide when he was hungry, but it looks like he wants fed anytime I try to cuddle or play with him, so I'm not sure I've gained that much.  But he is eating, and eating well.

At the V*T

UPDATE II: She's home.  A bit sleepy, a bit groggy, but she is home and kinda dozing in my lap.

Thank you for all the purrrrrrsss and kind thoughts.

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UPDATE: I just checked with the V*T (there are advantages to living next door to the clinic :-) ).  Gracie seemed OK.  I talked to her and rubbed her head a bit, but I'm not sure she noticed.  She was still petty stoned.  Plans are to pick her up around 4PM.


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Grace O'Malley is at the V*Ts.  No news at yet, which usually means good news.  Updates as they reach me.

I suspect I had the Glop a little too warm or something, or maybe the kitten just wasn't hungry.  He is eating better.  At the 5AM feeding, he almost turned the bottle inside out.

I'm going to have to move the kitten to one of the PTU's.  When I got up this morning to take Grace to the V*T, the little kitten was crying really loud.  I was talking to him, telling him i would feed him in a minute, when I realized WHY he was so loud.  He had climbed out of his box, and was about five feet away from it in the middle of the floor.  I had already put a screen on top of the box, to stop an earlier attempt, so the next step is a cage of some sort.

I've been thinking about names for the kitten.  Part of the problem is I'm not sure he is a HE at all, which complicates name selections.

I thought about just calling him My Neighbor's Cat, but I suspected I'd get tired of explaining the name every time.

V*T Visits

We could use some purrrrrss and healing thoughts for a couple of the kitties.

First, late yesterday afternoon the little stray kitten decided he really didn't like what I was giving him, or something.  He went from "gimme the food, I'm starving" to "meh, not in the mood" pretty much from one feeding to the next.  If I stick the bottle in his mouth and keep it there, he will swallow a little, but keeps trying to slide the bottle out of the side of his mouth.  Not sure if he is trying to tell me I need a new bottle, or he is tired of the Glop, or what.  I took him to the V*T, but I couldn't tell me much I didn't already know.  The kitten is still lively and noisey, so he just might be tired of me waking him up every couple hours to stick the nipple in his mouth.

Second, Grace O'Malley is scheduled for her Lady-Garden-Ectomy tomorrow morning, so she is going to be a very unhappy kittie this evening when I lock her in the utility room.  She'll probably be even crankier tomorrow night.

Think of us all if you get a moment.