Jack is Back

 Jack is back.  The foster lady ended up finding a kitten with ringworm in her house.   Jack was exposed.  That meant he couldn't be passed along to a shelter for adoption or get a home.  Not for weeks anyhow.   Incubation period for ringworm, once exposed, is anywhere from a few days to three weeks.  I figured he would be a lot happier here while we wait to see if he gets it, and treat it if he does. 

Treatment can go on for over a month or even two once a cat shows lesions.

He could infect the other kittens here but there was no other real option.  The bathroom floor is vinyl and everything else is easily cleaned surfaces.  No carpet, nothing that can grab and hold spores, so I'm set up a little better in some ways, than others, to fight ringworm.

He was up there four days and probably was plenty exposed and probably will get it.  I had half a bottle of lime sulfur that was very old.  I mixed it up and gave him a bathe minutes after I got him back here.  The stuff stinks to high heaven but seems to be effective in halting ringworm's growth.  He shows no signs other than he is scratching at himself more than he did before he left.  Yeah, not good.  I ordered more lime sulfur dip off Chewy.

The lime sulfur dip is the most affordable and easy method of treating ringworm anyhow.  You do it twice a week, for as long as it takes.  I don't mind.  That along with keeping the environment very clean and I'll wash their limited cloth bedding often and I mop anyhow everyday.  I'll just add some clorox to the mop water.  A big plus in fighting anything like ringworm in kittens is keeping them happy.  Happy cats are healthier cats.  I've learned over the years that stress causes illness and bad behavior among cats while play and petting makes them happy and healthy. 

Ringworm is very common in Oregon.  Kittens are most vulnerable.  If you have a single cat house, you can, if you want, just let the fungus self resolve, which it often does in a couple of months.   But if you have lots of cats or foster for adoption, then it can become a pain in the behind.

I drove almost to Portland to pick up Jack.

That was after I went out and quickly trapped seven cats just outside Albany.

These seven were sure easy.  They were super hungry is one reason.

A Scio woman was driving home that way and saw kittens in the grass along the road.  She was sure they had been dumped and contacted me.  I went out and first talked to houses along that road.  I scored pay dirt at the third house.  Before I even knocked I spotted a torti, along the side of the house.  One of the kittens seen was orange.  "Ah ha!" I thought.

Sure enough, the older couple living in the house feeds the cat crew including the wandering kittens the Scio woman had seen.   They'd vanished for months, she said, and she thought they'd  not be back, so she got two more kittens from a neighbor.  So by then, when I talked to her, she had eight cats, including the two tame kittens.   She didn't want eight cats, she said.  This was right before Christmas.

Now, almost two weeks later, one of the two tame kittens has vanished, so there were only seven to catch.   I grabbed the tame kitten, who is darling, and put him into a trap inside the house.  The cats are not allowed inside.  I trapped two more, using regular traps, then used my drop trap to catch the last four.  In all I was there just over half hour.

They will be fixed Monday.

I have to name the cats for spay neuter records.  This adult torti I named Cheeky!

Insultee!  The 2nd adult torti is both outraged and insulted.

Protester!   A teen boy.

Midea, a middle sized black.

Poco, a black kitten

Little Gray

The Model.  This is the ultra skinny tame orange and white kitten whose sister has now vanished.  The eagles are back in the valley and I sure hope an eagle didn't take that little thing.

We were supposed to have a big fast windstorm last night.  First it was to come in the afternoon, but the times kept being pushed later.  Arrival in the valley was pushed, in forecasts, to 6:00 p.m., then later, and I'd been up early and finally fell asleep and missed any wind that happened.  I guess it did blow through between ten and midnight.  I haven't even been outside yet to see check for any fallen limbs.

I guess the wind did come through.  I found my garbage can neatly placed where it hadn't been so someone tracked it down where it had blown and returned it.  And I slept through it all.

In one pallet of the donated cat food there are 25 "slicks".  The slicks are composed of five 7 lb bags shrink wrapped together. In all, I got 40 slicks.   I've given out food to several large colony caretakers by now and 17 of the donated slicks are now off being fed to cats all over the county.  The cat food is equivalent in quality to Atta Cat.  Lots of corn in the ingredients.   More is leaving today to a Lacomb lady.

We're all kind of made of corn now.   Corn or corn products seem to be in everything.  We feed livestock corn and this causes their multiple stomachs to become inflamed so we include antibiotics in their feed.   Pets are fed lots of corn too.  Have you ever seen a cat out trying to climb a cornstalk to get to an ear of corn?  Yeah, neither have I.

It's better than starving though.   And for older cats, too much protein isn't good for their kidneys at all.  So I'm happy for the donated food, to hand out to those who need something to feed their hungry kitties.

In other news, I finally got a wedding invitation, my first ever, to my nephews wedding.  It's only about three weeks from now.   I have nothing to wear but have a friend who may loan me some of her clothes if they fit.  I don't have shoes suitable for a wedding and my feet are abnormally long and narrow, which means I don't really own many shoes, just some tennis shoes and some cheap sandals I wear all summer, along with some rain boots.  It will probably have to be the tennis shoes.  I know what you're thinking, white trash, tennis shoes at a wedding.  Hey, that's me!

 The other problem is the drive to the wedding.  Goes through the mountains and they are often, this time of year, snow clogged, with chains or traction tires required.  I don't have either and chains cannot legally be bought for the car I have because it has so little clearance between the tire and wheel well.  I tried to get some before for the car.   So I may be unable to attend anyhow, if normal winter weather is going on, through the mountains. I don't want to spend money on clothes or shoes, if in the end, I can't even get there due to weather.   Here's a photo of Tombstone Pass, which is 20 some miles up on highway 20, beyond Sweet Home.  This was just after Christmas.    You go even higher up after that.  This is between me and the wedding venue. Conditions change constantly however.

Want to drive that road, without chains, in a car whose front bumper is normally only about eight inches off the pavement?  Ha!   The car actually drives very very nice in snow.   Low center of gravity is why.   But it would be very dangerous to drive if the pass is clogged as it was when this was taken, a snap shot off the ODOT trip cam for the day after Christmas.  I'm not going to risk life and limb and car for a wedding.

While my other brother and his wife will fly into central Oregon and stay somewhere and my younger brother, the grooms' father, will also be staying over there, outside of the invitation, that gives time and location, I'm on my own.  At least I got an invitation.

Whether or not I'll be able to go or not, depends on the weather.  Be a long day of driving, both directions, but I've never been to a wedding before so it will be interesting.