Fading baby

The human here. I'm sorry, but I'm too exhausted to write for Tia today. I'm having to hand feed the baby that isn't gaining weight, as he lost again overnight when left with only one feed. This means he's being fed every two hours around the clock. I'm finding it very hard, and so is Tia who wails piteously every time I take him away for topping up. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, but I know I'll go as long as I can. I just hope and pray that he doesn't have some hidden health defect that's preventing him from gaining. Keep praying, folks. I don't know when I'll write again. My priority for the next little while is these kittens, and next to that, I need sleep for myself whenever I manage to snatch some. I'll write every time I feel up to it, and will try and keep mom Trish up to date with what's going on with the little fading baby. Boy do I hope that what I'm doing is enough.






Thank you to all of you who stopped by and left comments, not just in these last few days, but over the last week as well. I'm sorry if I haven't commented back. I've tried with every one of you, but either you have word verification which i can't get past, or Blogger won't accept the comments for some reason. I'll keep trying whenever I have the energy. Know that I read every one of you though. thank you for being so supportive!

No Babies yet...

Kitties!

I got a quick note from Tia's Human:

Temperature has dropped another 02 degrees. She's maintained it below 100 for the last 9 hours or so, so it really shouldn't be that long now. They say 12/24 hours is the length of time it normally takes, so fingers crossed and we'll have babies tonight or tomorrow... I feel like I've been saying that for a long time now!

Keep your paws crossed for kittens soon!

xx  Katnip Lounge Mommy  xx

Clarification

This is going to be a very short post just to clear up a few of the comments left in response to yesterday's post and to give some more information. I will allow the human to write the rest of this, as she's the one with all the details. Just means I'll have to smack her down later if she gets any high handed ideas about writing on here a second time!




Human: Ok, to start off with, let me tell you that I'm on a number of forums and groups, and one of those just happened to have a lady in it who knew the breeder of the sphynx personally. From conversations that went on, plus reading of the original thread, here's my informed information/opinion.





The kitten was 16 weeks at the time of travel, not 11 weeks as stated in the original story-writer's words. She was shipped in a climate controlled part of the aircraft, and apparently, this cost even more than it would have done for the owner to get a seat herself on that flight. I don't know why she didn't go herself, but I can make an educated guess. The woman refers to young children in her post, so I suspect it was too difficult for her to get them cared for while she went to collect the kitten. From the level of upset she's experiencing, I doubt this was a decision made on selfishness.





One reader asks if she'd checked breeders closer to home. As I'm sure you folks are aware, distances in the US are immense, and many breeders ship their kittens to their new homes as it's often the only way to get them there. Driving sometimes simply isn't an option. Perhaps there were no breeders closer to this lady's home. Perhaps she wanted a sphynx and no rescues had them. I simply don't know. Perhaps she didn't want a rescue cat because she'd be unsure of its start in life and the issues it would bring with it to the home. none of us were there, so we don't know.





What we do know is this. The kitten was in climate control, and, if she'd been dealt with as she should have been by Delta, temperature would not have been an issue, as she wouldn't have been exposed to it for very long. Airlines have rules about temps animals can travel in, and if they took the kitten on the plane, those rules were obviously satisfied. If it was too cold, again, Delta is to blame for agreeing to fly the kitten. It's the airline. It should know, through experience, the bottom temps an animal can deal with while being flown, and yet, it still accepted the kitten.





The breeder packed the baby up well. She had fleecey blankets, a snugglesack, a heat pad, and even was wearing a little sweater for extra warmth. There's nothing else she could have done to keep her any warmer.





The owner showed up on time to ensure that the kitten would not be forced to wait in the cold, but despite numerous plees that the kitten needed to be brought in from the cold, despite Delta staff being made fully aware of a kitten being on board, they continued to offload normal luggage instead of her carrier. Again, this was Delta's fault, not the breeder's, and certainly not the owner's.





This breeder is not a novice. She has been doing this for a long time and knows what she's doing. If folks do their research, they will see that Delta is responsible for many, many pet deaths every year. Even our own ML had her labrador lost for hours on end by Delta. Luckily, that story had a happy ending, but it is still food for thought.





The story is a tragic one with no easy answers. On the bright side, apparently Delta have already been forced to speak to the press about this particular case, so let's hope they keep the pressure on!

Nurse Tia

That's what I've been doing this weekend. Although I miss Mummycat, I don't think I miss her as much as the human does. Saturday night was really hard for her. She came in, and because she'd been gone for so long, I came straight to her for a cuddle. I don't mind admitting that I miss her when she's gone for long periods. She's usually happy to see me, but as soon as I let her pick me up, she got all leaky and runny in the eyes. She kept muttering Mummycat's name as she hugged me tight. Where I'd usually have struggled, I just sat quietly. I don't mind a bit of runny eye juice in my fur. I can clean it off, and it doesn't taste awful.

She didn't open the door of Mummycat's room, even though the radio was still on in there and the carrier really should have gone back in because it was in the way in the hall. She says she just couldn't bring herself to do it. If she didn't look, she could pretend Mummycat was still there, because every time she thought about her being gone, she got so upset that she says she felt like being sick. This is an unfortunate problem of the human's. Whenever she's really sad, her tummy, which isn't as yummy as mine, goes all funny. She can't eat and it's like she has a tummy bug. She started taking Rescue Remedy on Saturday. It's good stuff, and I reminded her that it helped last time she was really miserable. For once she listened to me and has been guzzling the stuff ever since.

She stayed in bed really, really late on Sunday. The sun was on its way down before we got up! I loved it as it meant extra cuddle and sleepy time. She said she was avoiding reality by staying in bed and hoping time would pass quicker. For once, she was actually looking forward to going back to the work hunt. After her recent day off, this relieved me somewhat. If she doesn't want to hunt, she's more likely to stay at home and the more she stays at home, the less food there'll be for me because she doesn't have the moneys to swap.

She gave me a bath when she got up. She says it was the day for it. I'm getting one twice a week for the next four weeks to help clear up my scabs with that horrible special stinky shampoo. I did a naughty thing when she left me in the carrier though. If I remember, I'll tell you about it on Tortureshell Tuesday.

Throughout the weekend, I've been on nurse duty. It's really hard. I know that you others say to get as much healing spit in the water they drink as you can, but my human takes all of hers from bottles. I've contented myself with licking her instead. Not only does it clean her, but it exposes her skin to all the good healing I can give!

I've also been cuddling her loads and loads. I feel that it's my duty to be on her whenever she stays still long enough, and I even laid on her chest last night although she was sitting up. (human note: If I hadn't caught her just as she flopped over, she'd have slid off and onto the floor. She was lying vertically!) I follow her from place to place. I even sleep with her all the time. I let her give me real chicken every night too. I'm sure that makes her feel better because even though her eyes are still runny, she smiles when I miaow to her to tell her it's time to prepare my dinner.

This nursing duty is exhausting. I'm kind of glad she's gone hunting today. It'll take her mind off Mummycat for a while, and give me a chance to rest.

Speaking of Mummycat, she settled straight away in the old place we used to live, and spent all her time trying to get at a new kitten that one of the other cats has had. She loves babycats so much that the human asked for her to always have one with her, and the breeder agreed. she says there's a really old lady people who might fall in love with mummycat and give her the propper home she deserves where it's quiet all the time and there's always just the one people there to cuddle her so she won't get afraid by Hoover lady and the vacuum and stupid Dogface Molly and all the peoples who come to see my human. The lady people we used to live with says she'll only let the other lady people have her if she's really special though, and is going to push and push to see if she'll let Mummycat take a kitten with her to her new home, if it comes to that. Me and the human are torn about this. We'd like to see Mummycat in a home, not a cattery, but on the other hand, it's another move to another house and Mummycat's sure to be frightened to start off with. I guess we just have to pray very hard that the right thing for Mummycat will be done. We don't want her to be miserable any more, and she sure isn't in the old place we used to live. She was playing with toys and everything, something she only did once in the whole time she lived with me and the human.

Now it's time for the healing to start. I think I need to get some healing spit on the human's heart, because she says that's the bit that's sore. I don't know how to get there though. My tongue isn't that long and there's all the skin in the way. I'd appreciate any ideas and advice you others can suggest. It makes me sad when the human is sad, and I don't like either of us being this way.

Not Easy Like Sunday

I wish I could say I had an easy Sunday, but to be honest with you, I didn't.

It started in a pretty usual way. The human slept in late, and, being a devoted follower of all things which require little effort, or in this case none, I joined in. Dogman woke us up, or should I say, his stinky hound did, by beating her tail repeatedly on the wall of the bedroom, all because he'd rolled over. If she was allowed, Molly would jump on the bed whenever Dogman showed the first signs of getting up, and by this, I mean even the slightest change in breathing, but as she's forbidden, she contented herself instead with attempting to bang a hole in the wall with no more than a tail. This dragged the human out of bed, and not long after, Dogman appeared.

He's strange. When my human wakes up, she sounds sleepy, but she still talks propperly. Dogman kind of grunts first thing in the morning, for a good long time or until he's had his coffee. Incidentally, I still haven't gotten a taste of that. Nor have I been able to try the Paw trick, because he didn't set it on the floor again.

After such a rude awakening, I wanted to get some more shut-eye, but it wasn't to be. My human has things right in one area. She doesn't do the washing up first hting on a Sunday. Truth be told, she leaves it for as long as she can because the bubbly soapy stuff makes the skin on her hands go sore and cracked. Dogman, however, cleans everything in sight first thing in the morning, then flops for the rest of the day. He did this this morning with the dishes, and my human, getting the guilts for being idle, actually got up and helped. How am I supposed to sleep when my cuddle spot is mobile? More to the point, how's a girl supposed to sleep with all that noise going on!

If only he'd stuck to the usual Sunday routine of do as little as possible, but he didn't. He and the human went out, and when they came back, they had a box! Great, I thought. I love boxes, but the first attack I make on them is usually done when nobody's watching. I like to claim things in private. Truth be told, it's because of my exuberance. I'm supposed to be a well-bred lady, and that means showing enormous dignity at all times. When you're rolling around attacking imaginary things inside a box, you kind of lose that angle. Once I've done this once or twice though, it's out of my system. Then I just use the box as a cosy place to snuggle down in and peak at the world.

Dogman didn't leave this box alone long enough to let me do that, not even when it was empty! So much for me making friends with him this morning. I made a point of stationing myself right in the middle of the TV screen when he was trying to watch it earlier today. Why? Because he was sure to notice me there, and he must have, because he did give me ear rubbings and head scratches. That's about all he gave me though, and he certainly didn't donate that box!

Anyway, I digress. The thing that came out of the box was a human thing, so not all that interesting, until they plugged it in, however. A funny smell came from it then, and I got closer to investigate. It was hot too, and Dogman stopped me putting my face too near. See what I mean? He spoils all the fun. Then, out of nowhere, my human picked this thing up, and it began to hiss! A lot! I fled at that point. No way am I sticking around something which is big enough to have enough breath to spit for that long. After a time though, my curiosity got the better of me. I came slinking round the side of the sofa, ready to dart off at a moment's notice, but also ready to defend my human if necessary, but only if the thing wasn't too big you understand. There are limits! All I saw was the people thing! Very, very strange.

My human says this thing is a steam iron and that it hisses because very hot water is coming out of it under pressure. Again this just illustrates the point that they are stupid. First of all, if you have to be near water at all, it should be cool enough to drink or bathe in, not hot enough to hiss and come out as steam. Secondly, why in the name of holy cats would you go out and bring something back that does nothing but hiss and spit at you! In the sensible cat world, we call such things disfunctional and steer well clear. We definitely don't bring them back to the house! I think Whicky has the right of it sometimes when he calls his peoples apes. They really are abominably stupid at times. Nothing I said would make her get rid of this abomination though. I've decided that I'm going to boycott it. I'm not going near it, and any time she uses it I'm going to kick up a stinker of a fuss. I might even try turning myself inside out. Either that or I'll hide. This is to make the human feel guilty over thinking that it scares me, not because I'm really scared, you understand.

Now, onto the exciting news, or exciting for the human at least. Kittens. The owner of the mancat that I went to see last has just had a litter of kittens born. My human says that this people breeds cats with an incredible pedigree. Again, she's showing her stupidity here. We're all incredible regardless of pedigree. She mutters something about the show bench here, saying that this people's kittens are usually well placed, yada, yada, yada. I'm not talking about the human's sayings more today because she's just too silly to pay attention to. I'm not one of this people's kittens, and I still placed well in my first ever show. Just look me up on Cat Planet or the GCCF if you don't believe me. My show name is Catarosa Dolly Mixture, yet another piece of people idiocy.

Anyway, back to the news. This people doesn't usually sell girl kittens for breeding because she worries about the homes they'll go to. A lot of breeders keep so many cats that we never get to be truely pets, and live in a cattery instead, and this people doesn't want that for her babies. Good for her, I say, and my human, in a single second of sanity, actually agreed with me. To be fair, she's pretty immovable on this point. If cats aren't given the good life, she gets very, very upset.

After speaking with my human, but more importantly, seeing how loving and content and beautiful and cuddly I am, this people said that she'd be happy for my human to have one of the girl kittens to breed from and show with, but finding a cat of that quality is usually quite difficult. Because of her standards, only the best kittens from this people are even considered, and by best, I mean this idiotic notion of people that we have to look a certain way. I know, I know, it's pathetic, but there you are. There's only so much I can train her.

The people phoned the human a few days ago and told her that one of the cats had just become a mummycat, and she had three little girls. So now she's got her fingers crossed that one of them will be the right cat for us. It's not going to be an easy find. The people is selective about which ones she'll offer, and my human is even more selective about temprament. She wants another lovebug, as if I'm not enough! Honestly though, if we have to have another cat, I agree with her on this. Before Ming came alone, I'd have sworn I'd not want another stealing my human, but kittens aren't so bad really. A nice one is a bonus.

So, that's where we are at the moment. Kittens loom large on the horizon, the house has returned to normal, or something approaching it, and Dogman has left us. Sadly, so has his suitcase. Oh well, there's always a next time.

Rest and Reprieve

I'm sorry that I didn't blog yesterday. I didn't really have much to tell you on the Molly front, and as that's what's dominated mine and the human's thoughts, we didn't feel like writing much else. We have news though.

The peoples from Guide Dogs called the human today. She still hasn't made up her mind because they can't guarantee that Molly will be retired. She might go on something called the Buddy scheme, which pairs dogs which aren't good enough to be guide dogs up with younger children to give them confidence in new environments. The team might also keep her themselves and use her to go and see people to help assess if they'll be good with a guide dog or not. The human's still not happy, but Molly was due to go in for some retraining anyway in a couple of weeks while she's away on holiday. What she's planned to do is let her go, find out what they have to say after the assessment, then make a decision when she comes back from holiday. She knows that it would probably be best to let Molly go, but she just can't face the thought of her being shipped out to a few more homes before she's finally allowed to retire. She needs to be strong and do what's right for us all. I tell her this, and I have faith she'll make the right decision in the end.

To answer a couple of comments placed, the human doesn't really have the room to leave a cage up that is big enough that I'm comfortable eating in. You're right though, Molly couldn't pull that apart. I guess this is something we can explore in a bigger house, but even if cat food wasn't a problem, the dog shouldn't be jumping and climbing to get food. When you are out all day with a working dog, you can imagine the problems this could pose at lunchtime in work, for example, or at other peoples' houses. I keep telling her that working cats are a much better idea, but she mutters something about strong-will and stubbornness. I ask you, what rubbish!

Other than that, life has been fairly normal. The human's friend arrived on Wednesday night, so I've been watching him closely just in case he's here to make off with some of the ping pong balls! I know he's a shifty character because he wouldn't even let me share his coffee! It smells so good, doesn't it? The human doesn't drink it, so I can only sniff it when other peoples are here. This one said I'd not like it if I tasted it, but I'll never know. He didn't give me a chance!

The human's sleeping in the living room again, which is great. I don't even have to walk far to find a bed. Last night they had gammon for dinner. The human says to tell you that if you don't know, it's like a big thick steak of bacon, kind of. Anyway, she didn't eat all of hers, so I got some! I'm not sure if I like it though. I did the same thing with the gammon that I did with the rabbit, but she's left me some down today while she's out at work. I haven't touched it yet, but I'm really thinking about it.

I was really sad to hear about so many of the other cats on the Blogosphere leaving us forever a few days ago. While I didn't know any of them, I and my human know how hard it is to lose someone you love, and we send huge snuggles to the families of those who have gone. We grieve with you.

My human has entered me in a contest to win a Kritter Kondo, and I must say, it looks fab! This would give me the chance to go outside a lot more, something I struggle with now because the only way the human can take me is on a leash. I am not a dog, nor will I ever be, so although she's trying to teach me to walk, when she puts that and the harness on me, I belly out to make her know my point. She'll either have to drag me or give up, as no way am I putting up with the indignity of wearing what a dog would! She usually gives up. With the Kondo though, she can let me out in that and not worry that her eyes can't see me as I move around. I'll let you know if I win.

I have also been reading about a cat rescue place called Tabby's Place, and boy are they nice peoples! They take cats from shelters where they would otherwise have been killed, and they let them live in the place they've built just for cats. There's no cages, and they all get to live with the company of others. What's better, even if no peoples come to adopt them, they can live there for the rest of their lives without fear of being killed cuz they've been there too long. Currently, I have my eye on one of the cats who lives in the human offices. She's not very well, and could really do with massive support. If you want to send her love, head on over to their blog.

Tabby's Place

My human is due home from work in a few hours, and I'm getting ready to welcome her back. Mummycat's still making noise, but I'm used to that now. I'm more happy because I know she's eating more, but I wish she'd be quiet and learn that no matter how much she screams about it, the human is mine first! When next I post, I'll share with you exciting news about a kitten!