Val Improves

Well, I did not know if Val would be alive this morning, given his rapid decline the last two days with a terrible slurpy cold, with the slurp going down the back of his throat. But alive he is and vastly improved too!

Val's will to eat, ok he's a chow hound, really helps him make it through tough times. He's unwilling to not eat even when so congested eating is difficult. It's not a pretty sight or sound, to watch and hear him try to eat with congestion in his nose and throat, but it makes me laugh. In relief.

I think the antibiotics have kicked in. And the sub cu fluids. And the steaming. Now to find an economical way to get those last four teeth out.

I'm still hoping the Portland woman who had pledged to adopt him in March still will do so. She didn't make it down the day she was going to come meet him. Am hoping she still wants him, however.

I got an e-mail yesterday from a woman between Albany and Lebanon, for whom I got cats fixed. She stated one of the cats had been attacked by a predator, rear leg torn up badly, with obvious bite wounds. She was hoping I could get him the medical care he now needs. I told her I could not and suggested she try Safehaven, although she would likely have to relinquish him if they agreed.

I also had warned her about letting those cats outside in that area, where predators are everywhere. Oregon is experiencing a predator bloom. Coyotes even roam streets and hunt openly in broad daylight. It really is not safe to let your kitty outside in Oregon. Your cat will end up dead or in need of expensive vet repair.

I'm not Miss Money Bags, to get cats seen by vets whose owners cannot afford care. I wish I was Miss Money Bags!

I'm glad Val is improving. He'll need several more days of TLC but this morning, he is looking so much better. He wolfed an entire plate of food. But he would do that on his death bed.

Sam is finally being adopted by my brother, as a shop cat. He has wanted Sam since he first met him. The adoption has been pending for a year now, but now my brother has set a date, at least, a date window, of this month, sometime between the 20th and 24th. He wants me to bring one of Sam's friends. I have debated. Mums really adores Sam, but she is so light colored. One of his best buddies is Smolder, Sage's son.

Sage, that big wonderful smart torti, who got a great home a few months ago, came here with her four boys, three of them black and one a tabby on white. One of the boys died suddenly. He had a heart murmur. Sage and two of her boys got homes. That left Smolder, a sleek HUGE black male now a year and a half old.

Here's the interesting thing I found out about Sage. She was originally part of the Lebanon very old woman colony. I only connected the dots a couple months ago. It was a neighbor who brought her to me, with her boys, in carriers. He stated then a really old woman next door fed them and nobody wanted them in the area. They were covered in fleas and soaking wet. Because the man held them in carriers for a couple of days, they had pooped and peed in the carriers so he hosed them down from outside the carriers just before meeting me with them. I was just going to get them fixed, but they were unwanted in their neighborhood.

I couldn't take them back and was very glad I didn't. Sage was/is incredible! I showed their photos to the old woman, once I became suspicious Sage was originally from that colony, and she confirmed it and asked me what happened to them. So Smolder, Sage's son, is distantly related to Little Black Eyed Pea, the bottle babe of the Siamese mom from that colony who was fixed last Friday.

Anyhow, Smolder is a little shy because he mainly hangs out in the garage room and cat yard, but quickly warms up and he loves Sam. I think it will be Smolder who goes with Sam to my brother's shop, where they will get both love and lots of space, which is something Sam has wanted for a very long time.

Sam is driven nuts by the neighbor cats who are always in my yard. One of the main hang outs is Simba, owned (sort of) a block away. Simba is one of about 12 I got fixed from that household. Zeva, a white cat from same household, also spends most of her time in my yard and in the yards of my neighbors on either side. So did the same households black short hair female and their black long hair female, until the black short hair disappeared and may have been the cat killed on the busy street a block away a few days ago. The blacks basically have lived in my neighbors yard, so she set up a bed for them. Their real owners don't seem to care much about them.

Simba fights with my old man neighbors' black tux fixed male. They go at it often, right in front of Sam, watching from the cat yard. My neighbor doesn't do much for his three cats except put out food. They're outside all the time. The other two are girls and don't cause issues, but the black tux does have issues because he gets no attention. Simba has issues too. So they go at it, mainly in face offs, sitting three feet apart, yowling at each other. Drives Sam nuts.

I am hoping this time it will go through, the adoption, of Sam and Smolder, to my brother.