cat « Harvest of Daily Life

On trusting the natural healing process of the body: Jack is healed.

I realized I never really updated you guys about the healing of Jack our orange cat. Remember the cracked jawbone, the limp he walked with and his starved state when he came home following his 2 weeks missing in action?

For financial reasons we didn’t rush him off the the vet. He wasn’t appearing to get worse and was not displaying any signs of major discomfort so we nursed him back to health at home.

Turns out his teeth weren’t all missing, rather many of them were just displaced and covered by swelling and puss.

Used a peroxide & witchhazel rinse for his jaw, gums and teeth injury. Fed him and kept him comfortable and loved… That darn jawbone thing healed on it’s own. Can you believe it?

All the gum line that was hanging away from the bone and swollen went back in to place on it’s own. He didn’t lose the teeth that were part of the hanging grossness. He is still able to eat fine and it is almost like nothing happen at all. Crazy!

He still has a slight limp when he runs and to the touch you notice something about his shoulder that isn’t like the other one but he is basically good as new now and happy to be home. We will never know what saga he went through to get the injuries he come home with and that kept him away for so long. He sure had the will to live that day when he dragged himself home all wounded and starved to death. We are just glad he is okay and that he is happy.

Animals are pretty amazing creatures. They have great instincts and are typically very capable of bouncing back from injury, with a little help from their people. We just remind ourselves that once, they were wild and did fend for themselves. And generally all of our bodies, when paid attention to, have the capacity to mend and adapt to trauma or illness. Jack is a just another great example of this.

Jack’s Odyssey

It has been two weeks since we’ve seen Jack, our indoor kitty that moved outside. N spotted a road kill cat a few days ago near the house and came to me asking if I wanted him to investigate and see if it was our Jack.

We first thought he had run off and shacked up with a neighborhood cat or that someone snatched him up to keep. He is a super friendly cat that typically sticks close to home so it was odd for him to be gone for so long.

Everly Discovers Jack

N went and scoped out the fur patch spotted near the house and said it wasn;t the same markings as poor Jack. I had just assumed it was him and that he was already gone. I figured N was just trying to lie to me so I wouldn’t be upset.

Tonight N and I were talking in the kitchen with the window open for fresh air and I shushed him, mid conversation because I swore I heard Jacks distinctive meow coming up the block.

We both ran out and sure enough Jack had come home, we approached him and began giving him scratches and talking about where he had gone. When I lifted him to the food dish I noticed how super skinny he was. He ate more food than we have ever seen him consume in a sitting and then I noticed his chin.

There was a dark scabby spot under his chin so N grabbed a flashlight so we could see it better. Upon shining the flash light in his face we saw that all his front lower teeth are gone and his mouth is super swollen.

It doesn’t seem like an animal attack, more like some forceful trauma (like a fall or a pinching). There isn’t any bleeding, his tongue is fine and he isn’t shy of eating right now so moved him in to our enclosed garage for some R&R and some quiet confinement so he can heal.

It seems to me he’s been starving for two weeks based on his appetite and his lost weight. N thinks he got stuck in some sort of trap and has probably been stuck since he went missing. I don’t know if he got himself loose or if he was let loose by someone.

I am just in shock and am kind of at a loss here.

And before you tell me I am evil for letting him be outside know that I’ve already heard the song and dance… We had our reasons and I don’t need to hear the told-you-so okay? I already know I am the worst pet owner ever.

I am just getting my worry and feelings off my chest here. I’d love to rush him off to the vet, throw some money down and have them make him all better like good pet owners do but the whole being unemployed and having zero income is kind of a road block for that. *sigh*

I need to just stop writing and go to bed now, this isn’t getting me anywhere tonight. I can tell. Thanks for listening though.

Live Blogging: Cat Swallows Needle

Here are my tweets as they played out during the night and early hours of the morning. I didn’t realized it would reach so many people. At first I was just tweeting so my husband would know what was going on, then I kept tweeting to be sure I didn’t leave anyone in the dark. Here is the tweet time line:

January 8th 2010 9:14pm: OMG! I don’t know what to do. My cat just swallowed a needle and thread…

Gabby is the grey Torti one.

9:16pm: She is gagging and trying to vomit… It’s a freaking needle though. It’s stabbing her insides!

9:29pm: Trying to find a vet now… Have no way to get her there till hubby comes home :-( OMG!!

9:34pm: Fuck, fuck, fuck! I am such an idiot for leaving it out!

9:36pm: We so don’t have the money for this but can’t let her just digest the needle and thread…

9:48pm: Poor kitty, Everly & I are locked in the bathroom waiting for a ride 2 the vet for an ex-ray. Tried peroxide 2 induce vomit, nothing yet.

11:09:54 PM: Hubby just got home, still no cat vomit. Damn it.

11:18:54 PM: Okay, heading out to the vet now. Will update here: http://ow.ly/UseY

11:55:36 PM: Having the ex-ray now…

12:08:25 AM: We aren’t going to be able to save her, it’s $300 just for the ex-ray. That is all we have.

12:25:52 AM: Needle confirmed… $2000 quoted for surgery or we put her down for $350. Its a bad night.

Gabbys Ex-Ray Result.

12:49:27 AM: If they would only let us make payments…

January 9th 2010 1:04:01 AM: Still trying to decide what to do.

2:06:20 AM: Back at home and the remaining cats are climbing up the wall. One just got his head stuck in the handle of a paper bag and freaked.

2:07:16 AM: The emergency vet is just like a car dealership… The longer you draw out the ordeal the lower the price gets.

2:08:18 AM: While I cried and we agonized about the decision the gal kept coming in with “deals” lowering the price and sharing other options.

2:09:20 AM: They said they would even offer to save her and place her for adoption afterward as opposed to us putting her down… If we gave her up.

2:11:03 AM: Gabby is having surgery right now & we were given a $500 credit line with the vet (WTF?) and we’ll need to shell out another $400 at pick up.

2:16:35 AM: That’s $1100 less than the initial price we were given… Still tons of money. Should have a call in the next hour about how surgery went.

2:30:11 AM: Vet called, she did well and is recovering. We pick her up at the butt crack of dawn. Time 2 sleep a few hours first

12:14:58 PM: Awake from our daze now. She’s home and doing fine. Looks painful though.

As you can see she’s home and recovering now. We are in the hole financially for it but we couldn’t just lose her. I guess they have that on ya there at the vet. They know you’ll go broke trying to save em so they CAN expect you to shell out that much at the drop of a hat. Insane!

9:00:27 PM: Gabby is resting & has peed once today. Still not eating or drinking much. Gonna give her water in a dropper soon. Don’t want her dehydrated.

10:03:45 PM: Just forced some more water down Gabby’s throat. She still hasn’t had anything to eat or drink.

10:51:36 PM: @Crunchynurse I have some powdered cat milk I was going to make up and try to feed her via dropper. Figure it is better than nothing right?

January 10th 2010

12:16:24 PM: Good news! Gabby is so much more alert and active today. Peed twice this morning. Still no poop or eating on her own tho :-/

7:36:12 PM: She’s drinking on her own and even ate a few chunks of her dry food on her own. She’s a trooper.

January 11th 2010

11:28:19 AM: Gabby brought us her jingle ball and has been running and playing fetch all morning. She’s totally back to normal behavior now. Yay!

In 14 days we’ll have her staples removed and I’ll be sure to NEVER leave a needle unattended again. $900 lesson learned, thank you very much.

Cat gifts and adorable baby accessories I love

I made the mistake of spending some time on Etsy drooling over all the handmade cute baby accessories the other day. I ended up there thanks to one of the people I follow on twitter. She had just shared that she snagged some adorable baby legwarmers that were on sale and she shared the store link. They were only $4.50 a pair and there were many cute designs so I snagged 2 pairs for Everly.

Baby leg warmers are great when you are using cloth diapers from what I’ve heard. Obviously cloth diapers are a bit bulkier than disposables and often times that results in baby camel toe when you try to have them wear pants.

Leg warmers pretty much eliminate the need for baby to wear pants as the leg warmers keep baby’s legs warm. Plus, leg warmers don’t even need to be removed when baby needs a diaper change, unlike pants.

So I was already eager to try a pair of leg warmers on Everly to see how we like them and when I saw some on sale I snagged a few. While I was shoping for those leg warmers I thought “man, my cart total is only $9.00 and I’ve been really looking for a nice headband for E…”

Then I went looking at adorable headbands like this one. The headband search led to adorable tutu’s like this fall themed one and then I was looking at cute ruffled bloomers like these. *sigh* baby girl stuff is just so freaking cute!

Luckily for our pocket book I did resist the urge to buy all the adorable things I found. I added them to Everly’s baby registry as possible holiday gift ideas though (hint, hint mom and others who have asked what to get Everly for Christmas).

After I placed the order for the leg warmers I thought about the two large boxes of yarn I have waiting to be made in to something and thought, leg warmers can’t be that hard to make right?

So Now I am trying my hand at making up some leg warmers for E… I am the queen of unfinished projects though. I mean I still have this blanket I started while I was pregnant that I’ve knit her name in to, it’s still not complete along with a ton of other knitting/ crocheting projects.

I am excited about the leg warmer project though and am hoping it’s a small enough project for me to actually complete. I am thinking about sharing the pattern here on the blog too.

(if you are eating or drinking I suggest you stop now)

Oh and since I’ve signed up for BD 365 and committed to taking a photo every day here is what was lovingly left for us on the deck by our outdoor cat, it is our happy-you-made-a-baby-one-year-ago-today anniversary present I bet!

An now a palette cleanser or two:

Now you have had your does of disgusting and cute for the day. LOL.

Cat piss has fried my brain and I can’t come up with a title for this crappy post.

I wrote this post on Wednesday and thought it was published… Somehow it never did actually publish till today. Blogging fail!

Man, it’s been a stormy last few days. Yesterday evening while on the way to pick N up from work it freaking dumped on us big time! I threw a blanket over Everly’s head and we made a mad dash from the front door to the car. I jumped in the drivers seat with a diaper/ dance bag slung over my shoulder and baby E in my arms. I was soaked and I’d only been outdoors for a few seconds.

Today the storms are knocking out my satellite signal and the rain is dumping again… It’s all good though. I’d rather have some rain than the muggy, warm Indiana summer temps!

Tomorrow my students perform for the first time and today is my day off from teaching.

I’ve got all sorts of things to take care of… Cat piss on the tile floor outside the litter box (Mr. Guy’s way of protesting semi-dirty litter), extra wet cat vomit on the white carpets (probably a result of cats eating things they shouldn’t), cloth diapers to wash and hang to dry, the bathroom totally needs to be cleaned, there is clean, unfolded laundry hanging out in the laundry basket (it’s been there for several days getting all super wrinkled), gotta pay the bills, figure out a plan for dinner and care for Everly while I try to take care of everything. Fun!

Speaking of damn cats… Why is Gabby obsessed with chewing every single cable in this house? First it was the iPod/ iPhone cord, then the video camera charging cable, the Wii nunchuk cord and the balance board charging cable. Next she got the iPod dock speaker cable, almost got E’s swing power cord and she just started in on the router power cable.

If she destroys the router or modem cables and I am without internet I will not be a happy camper!

I am wondering if she is lacking some mineral or something that makes her chew the various cords and cables around here or if she’s just dead set on being an ass because she’s not getting enough attention from us these days.

Anyone want to take care of our zoo for us? It sure would help out lots! Taking care of the house is one of the things we are slacking on… Slacking sucks when you’ve got 4 indoor cats who vomit, piss in the sink or on the floor and who are basically jerks when things aren’t kept up with. It’s not pretty around here.

Gotta go clean vomit and piss now, happy day off to me. :-P

Purring Cats on Pregnant Bellies… 24 week pregnancy thoughts

Well yesterday was the beginning of my 24th week of pregnancy. Other than the belly button pain and the occasional rib cage or back pain all is well. The bump is growing but I was surprised to see that I didn’t gain much weight over the month.

I’ve got a prenatal appointment with the OBGYN next week and I am sure she’ll make a comment about the lack of weight gain this month but N and I aren’t worried. According to all our reading Tater is just starting another growth spurt so I’ll probably pack on several more pounds shortly.

It seems my weight gain is not really a gradual thing, I pack on a good amount one month which puts me over what is deemed normal then the next month I stall out and don’t gain much… It is hit or miss really. Good news is I am still eating like a mad woman and I’ve put on 20 pounds since becoming pregnant, I think gaining another 20-30 pounds in 3 months is not going to be a problem.

This morning I was happy to see it was again a warmer day and we were able to open up all the windows and enjoy the fresh breeze. We are fresh air and sunlight people. We love our windows to be open so winter is sometimes a downer for us, especially when we don’t get enough pretty snow.

The morning email checking was nice with the cool breeze blowing through the house. Andrew one of our cats climbed in to my lap and took a nap as soon as I got up. These days all the pets have been less interested in hanging out with me, probably because they sense Tater is coming. So it was nice that Andrew came to see me today.

N snapped a photo of the love fest on my lap so everyone could see how the belly is looking…

It is kind of funny how Tater responds to the cats purring. She can totally hear them and she will kick when ever they are purring near my belly.

I told N she is either going to be super soothed by the purring when she’s born or she’ll go crazy wanting to play with them when they purr. What do you think?

Whoa, that lovin’ feeling!!!

Yeah, so we’ve got some horny animals in the house these days. It could be that valentines day is next week and love is in the air… or perhaps it is just because they are both unfixed still and are feeling “urges”…

Either way it is bad news! Gabby walks around with her butt in the air and she is meowing and talking like crazy while rubbing herself against anything she can.

Boner is just humping anything that is warm so we keep him in a cage most of the time. Problem is bunnies can’t be confined to tiny cages all day, everyday. They need to run and hop so we let him out to exercise but we also need to keep him from Gabby’s lady parts.

I am inventive you know so I put a cloth diaper on Gabby just to make sure we didn’t have any strange crossbreeding action. Then we set Boner free to exercise for a bit. It was not a g rated morning!

Weird thing is they are both okay with the humping, it is disturbing to us but they both seems to be having a good time… Oddly. I wish we had the money to fix them both right now. Unfortunately, we don’t so we’ll just make due by keeping them separate most of the time.

Good news is the new rabbit hutch N is building should be finished this weekend thanks to the warmer temperatures, yay! Soon Boner and Maybelle will both have room to exercise inside enclosed cages as opposed to being crammed in to one cage together.

Can salmon and halibut crossbreed?

Seriously, can they? I had a piece of fish the other night that was sold to me as salmon but I would have bet money that something fishy (I know cheesy huh, thanks N your cheeky humor is rubbing off on me) was up with it, it was like a salmon and halibut fillet.

For starters this fish fillet wasn’t super pink like a salmon fillet is normally, it was more white than pink. Then there was the texture of it, way to fluffy and light for salmon! It sort of tasted like salmon but not really.

Now I am positive a salmon freakishly mated with a halibut and the result was the mutant fish fillets we consumed. So I did what any blogger would do, I opened a new tab and referred to google. Here is what I found:

Another Irish study is now investigating the impact of farmed salmon escapees on wild salmon. “Ulster scientists are finalising a key research project on the threat posed to wild salmon by escaped farmed salmon,” reported The Belfast Telegraph (5th December). “Details of the north Antrim study emerged after the Government admitted a link between fish farm break-outs and significant genetic changes in wild salmon. Angling and environmental organisations have long feared that inter-breeding between the two types of salmon will eventually lead to the extinction of the natural population. The north Antrim project, based on the River Bush, ties in with research work in other parts of the British Isles and Scandinavia”. In a reply to a parliamentary question NIO Minister Angela Smith told MPs: “The surveys showed that the genetic status of the wild population was significantly changed, indicating that cross breeding with farmed salmon had taken place. Further scientific studies have commenced on the River Bush catchment on the potential consequences of genetic change in the wild population caused by interbreeding with farmed salmon in terms of long-term productivity”. UUP MP David Burnside said: “We are going to lose the wild salmon and they will never come back. We have the most polluted rivers in my experience. On top of this, we have the escapes of farmed salmon which are bred to put cheap food on supermarket shelves”. Quote source: http://www.salmonfarmmonitor.org/intlnewsjanuary2004.shtml

I still think I ate a mutant crossbreed fish! Oh and the above quote just gives me more reason to only eat wild (not farm raised salmon). Dang those farmers who raised food and also choose to genetically modify it!

Speaking of crossbreeding, remember my new bunny named Boner? Well the name was given for a reason, he is one horny fellow! He is trying to crossbreed with my kitten Gabby right now. They are both unfixed at this time and while he was chasing her around the house and trying to mount her I thought “oh crap they are both unfixed, they can’t crossbreed can they?”.

So now I am on hump patrol and am making sure he is not humping her backside. Not that she is confused enough to let him but I would rather be safe than sorry, you know? Good freaking times at the Talina & N zoo!

Weekly Winners – December 29th – January 4th

This is the first attempt at Weekly Winners that I have made on this blog. All photos were captured using my new Kodak CD1013 that refuses to turn on when I need it. These Weekly Winners aren’t stunning examples of mad photography skills like the shots Lotus takes. Mine are just stunning glimpses of day to day life in my house. Enjoy (but pay no attention to the mess okay?)!

Don’t you just hate not being able to pinch off that last piece of poo?

Dragging your butt from side to side across the bathrom floor is not the optimum way to finish your business but hey, some just have to make due right?

Do you see the long, dark hair in the factory sealed package of salmon?

Jack, out kitty has a real bad habit of turning and running before he surveys the area. This results in him running in to the corners of walls and hurting this same spot time and time again. How many times does a cat have to face plant in to a wall before loosing one of it’s 9 lives?

… And then there are the Wii photos. How about a little Wii Fit Yoga that the dog gets in to?

She was really in quite a trance.

Then there is the spilled coffee thanks to N bashing the Wii controller in to the table following Christmas gif opening. Nice!

Munching cat poo “cookies” is gross!

I am not sure what is so appetizing about eating cat poo piles from the cat box but our dog is totally addicted to it.

It worries me because cat litter can’t be good for a dogs digestive tract plus the process of eating cat poo somehow results in the poo and litter being strewn about the bathroom and the house (which is bad because I am not allowed to handle cat feces while pregnant) plus it just makes you want to vomit.

Sometimes I wonder how much of the poo she actually eats and how much just gets thrown about in the process. Either way poo eating is bad business in my opinion.

Yesterday while I was in the bedroom blogging and watching Desperate Housewives I heard things moving in the bathroom. Since our kitten, Gabby, was acting all psycho at the time I figure she was just tearing through the house knocking stuff over as usual.

Then I heard some major action in the covered cat box. Since 3 out of the 4 indoor cats don’t understand the concept of scratching the cat litter after doing their business I just figured a cat had used the box and was proceeding to noisily scratch the side of the box or some other area that was not the cat litter. Freaking geniuses!

So I continue blogging and I hear the cat box jostling and all that. Then I hear the dogs collar jingle and I realize the dog has her head in the cat box. This makes my blood start to boil because the cat box is so off limits to her and she knows it.

I called her name and sure enough she comes out of the bathroom hanging her head because she knows she is caught and doing something bad. I head towards the bathroom to assess the cat poo mess and I get to see Dixie, our dog, still working to finish off the piece of cat poo that is hanging from her mouth.

You see the cats eat everything they shouldn’t. Like ribbon, string and even my hair apparently because the cat poo that was dangling from Dixie’s mouth was being held together by my hair and she was having a hard time getting it down in it’s weird stringy state.

I was so disgusted to have to witness the cat poo “cookie” eating even after I shooed her out of the bathroom so I reprimanded her and took her down to her room. On the way down the stairs the poo “cookie” she was enjoying came loose from her mouth and fell on the steps. I photographed it just for you so you could share in my disgust!

I wish we had a laundry room on the main floor that we could keep the cat box and cat food in. I would gate the room off with one of those baby gates to keep the dog out and would never have to deal with “cookie” eating ever again. One day I’ll get my wish!

Great blog post for the first of the year huh? Yay for 2009! I just wanted to lighten things up a bit around here. Hope it worked…

Oh I am so taking Teeni up on the speedy meme she posted today:

Meme details: This one is from Speedcat Hollydale. The rules are:

Take a picture of yourself right NOW!
DON’T change your clothes
DON’T fix your hair…
Just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instruction with your picture.
Tag some people to do this meme.

Here is my photo contribution taken with Photobooth on the MacBook:

I am tagging my close girlfriend, Krystal, who writes over at: http://tapthatmom.wordpress.com/, I am also tagging April for this meme and anyone else who wants to participate!

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About Talina

Just an unconventional gal trying to make her way in the world. I wear many hats, I am a writer, virtual assistant, webmistress, mother of two & homesteading lady. A Homebirth & breastfeeding advocate (psst, I had both my babies at The Farm. If that means something to you then you are in the right place!), gardener and a future organic farmer.

What more could you want? Don't worry I am sure there is more to come ;)

On trusting the natural healing process of the body: Jack is healed.

Jack’s Odyssey

Live Blogging: Cat Swallows Needle

Cat gifts and adorable baby accessories I love

Cat piss has fried my brain and I can’t come up with a title for this crappy post.

Purring Cats on Pregnant Bellies… 24 week pregnancy thoughts

Whoa, that lovin’ feeling!!!

Can salmon and halibut crossbreed?

Weekly Winners – December 29th – January 4th

Munching cat poo “cookies” is gross!

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