Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Cool outside....

It is cool outside and I'm rocking away and typing on my laptop as a REAL LAPTOP. My wife is out here to worki... of no....playing on her iPad.

The kittens are asleep after paying a long time this morning and eating well. Our dog and cat are outside to enjoying the breeze. I wonder where we might go for lunch, also I know I am not going to CiCi's tonight with my wife. I am going to stay home and watch the Astros's game - alone - but I'm ok with that.

Things are much better overall today. Seems like like the kittens are doing so much better, the dog is  looking like he is back to his old self, the cat is doing very well. My wife's health is looking much better and mine is as good as I an expect, considering.

There is really nothing to blog about today other than I really would rather be doing something with my life if I could. I just have to think that God has a plan for me but I don't know what, when, where, etc.

Wife has gone off to 'work' CiCi's tonight with/for our son and I have stayed home in the dark to watch Astros game hoping to see them win the WS tonight.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Perfect weather, nearly perfect kittens, dog & cat....

Perfect weather, nearly perfect kittens, dog & cat. Let's take then one at a time. Weather could not have been better the last couple of days. Starts very cool - hum, cold in the early AM and warms up to cool during the rest  of the day. My Satsuma's are loving this weather. The dog doesn't like it to much in the AM but during the mid-day he loves beginning out on the porch.

The kittens seem to be getting a little better. We have had to separate them at night but we are getting thru it so far. During the day we are letting them have pay time together, just taking their litter box away till we separate them again  and make them go separate. They are eating better, playing better, snuggling more and better. Just being better 'kittens'. Just hope all goes well and we can adopt them out - all but one really. Runt may just become ours but he is doing so much better and getting bigger.

The dog is so much better and is so sad that he can't play with the kittens. We also know he just want of 'our' time instead of the kittens getting ALL of our attention. He is earing so much better, has taken all of his meds - as much as we could get down him. He still loves his 'me' time at night with momma.

Our lone large. old tomcat is still up and around. He generally sleeps with me at night and just hangs around the porch sleeping most of the day. He has not enjoyed the cold mornings but by mid day he would rather be outside than in.

On a side note. tomorrow is payday which we both love and are looking forward to. It is also Halloween, which we not be here for. We are no longer into that scene so it's 'lights off' and get out of town for us old people. We may go help our son at CiCi's or I might just stay and watch the Astro's game 6 with all the lights out or go to CiCi's to watch the game.....

Today our "lupper" may be at Waffle House just for a change of pace. We never know where we will eat but I am so looking forward to getting back to home cooked veggies and less money spent eating out everyday. I just want some more me, dog and cat time on the front porch.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Not perfect but close

We are not perfect with the kittens but close. We are not keeping the white one separated 24/7 for 14 days but as near as we can. We are still letting him out with the other two kittens during the day just so he can "socialize" with the other two and us. We are not that mean to him but we are doing as much as possible during him time.

My wife found a couple of ring worms in the poop of one of the kittens yesterday meaning that the meds are working.  All three kittens are looking a little slimmer today which is good.

We have been so careful about keeping the kittens apart for part of the day. My wife and I feed them separate, clean their litter boxes separate, make sure they sleep in different rooms at night but we still let them play together much of the day except when we leave for our daily "lupper".

It has been getting much colder 'round here. Even the dog does not want to stay outside for long.

Just a side note...the Astros won again last night....that's now a 2-1 series lead.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Dog is clean and clear....

Our dog seemed to be clear Sunday of his illness. He woke up perky and did all his business outside like normal. He came in and wanted to play with kittens again but can't not yet anyway. The kittens are still battling their own illness but the kittens and dog go back to the vet this week.

Dog's poop looks good and solid for now.

After visiting the Vet on Wednesday we found out the 2 of 3 kittens are clear but they all have to still be on the meds another two  weeks - plus they all have ring worms and have to be medicated for that for two weeks.

One thing after another. Vet said she knows we are doing EVERYTHING we can but the way they began life way have been what caused the problem in the first place.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Third visit to Vet this week....

Dog made us visit the Vet for the third time this week. His dehydration and diarrhea has just gotten worse as the week wears on. We became worried and it was FRIDAY so we figured it would be better today than a visit to the urgent care for pets - which cost us over $300 last time. Today's visit was only $50 - much better.

He was given food to eat, they took a couple of stool samples and sent him home with a notice to come back Monday if he is not any better.

As we came home we began to realize just how much trouble this would be - the dog meals every two hours and meds twice a day, the kittens need to be medicated once a day for the next four days and be separated. We can't give them away until we know they are clear and healthy. We told the vet we were doing MOST of what he asked for - but not all.

It has been a vicious circle - one thing after another,

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Dog is better, we are better, my daughter is happier,,,

Dog is better, we are better, my daughter is happier, all seems to be better on the home front. The kittens are eating much better. We are giving them their daily meds but not following Vets orders to the 'T' due to the fact it would just be to hard to do, stressful for them and us.

We took Doc with us today as we headed out to country and he felt much better. He got to chase a cat that under our country house while we were eating lunch. I cut some grass and my wife cleaned and rearranged the house getting ready for Lowe's delivery late this evening.

They finally made the delivery after dark due to getting lost due to bad GPS directions. We got home late tonight, fed the kittens, fed Doc, fed TJ, fed ourselves. And made plans for tomorrow.

All in all not a bad day. Doc is still battling the runs but eating better but hates to drink water.

We went out to eat and.....

We went out to eat and talked a great deal about how to deal with the kittens illness and my wife's father and my daughter's needs and my wife's anxiety and well a bit of everything but we still had a great meal - sort of. Both of us left the restaurant with a stuffed feeling, needing Tums or some type of antacids meds.

We then drove out to the country to measure for the appliances we/my daughter might need out there. On the way back we stopped at the Dollar Store to get some Tums  and boy did that do the trick. Within a few minutes we both felt much better.

Came back to find dog had bad diarrhea, which meant a visit to Vet thinking he might had gotten what kittens have. But my wife read up on it and discovered it might just be stress. She had fused at him the day before and REALLY fused at him; which she never does.

We took him in the next morning only to find out he was clear of any kitten parasites and it was only stress related to fussing and lack of attention the past five weeks. we have been making an effort to not leave him out of his normal attention getting. The cat either.

We did not go out to eat either that day and just stayed home except for going out to order all the items my wife/daughter needed/wanted for country house.

They are delivering them today so after lunch we will head back to country to wait on them. More tomorrow,,,,,

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Things are going MUCH better....EXCEPT....

Things are going MUCH better today since we found out the kittens will and have eaten a little dry kitten food from Fancy Fest. I got up fed the kittens, fed the dog, fed the cat, took the dog out, all before my wife got up.

When my wife got up I had cleaned the kitchen, all the dog and cat bowls, cleaned the litter box - as much as the kitten's would let me. All while my wife was on the phone with our daughter. Then she came in and sat and played with kittens a bit.

Then she tried a little dry food because the kittens were still acting hungry. Then were both feeding them dry and they were lapping it up. After about five minutes, one seemed to be full and went to get some water, then another went to get some, and all started playing - acting like kittens.

All was going good for the day until...first we took the kittens by to show my wife's dad and went well at first. Then he had to show us how he has been pampering kittens and brought two of them inside. They were scared to death because they had never been inside. They slipped away and hid. We finally found them then her dad asked us if we could find them homes? Then he started talking about shooting all the cats he had around his house and turned my wife off again. We left then.

From there we went to meet a girl who had wanted one of the kittens but she ended up deciding NO, not now. From there we went to see the Vet - just a quick, normal check in. That's when things turned bad.

The kittens kitten's still have a parasite and we will have to medicate tem for another week PLUS separate them from each other for a week. Ouch!

We came home feed them, put them to sleep and headed to "lupper" to tell the other girl she now could have the white kitten after we keep them for another to get them fully weaned to dry food. Did not lie, but did not tell her the whole truth.

From there we went to Wal*Mart to get items we were going to need to fulfill the Vet's orders. All this while dealing with my daughter's desire to move to the country, my wife's getting money out of her account to purchase items for the country......

All it all it went from a very good day to a bad day with the Vet's discovery and orders.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Things going well.....

Things are going well on the health front and the kitten front. It seems to be almost a daily improvement with the kittens. They are eating well with very little mess, sleeping well, being able to be played with, being gentle with their claws, playing well, all the things kittens should do.

My wife is doing much better now also. The anxiety meds seem to be working well plus the idea that the kittens are leaving us more time. We actually had time after 'luper' yesterday to stop by my sister's house and visit for a while.

They seem to be getting healthier, getting bigger, and not having any health issues. They are using their litter box on a regular basis, drinking water sometimes. and not being 'antsy' with their meals.

They play very well in the mornings between about the time I get up - 6:30ish - to the time I get my wife up - about 8:30ish. They don't make any noise, don't fight, they go to the litter box, and act like normal kittens should.

I fix them a "snack", a mix of watered-down small dry cat food which fills the need to make noise, climb my pants legs, scratch me, just the normal thing they do early in the morning. It also allows me to read the paper eat a little breakfast and let my wife sleep in for a while longer.

I have to keep checking on them from time to time because they get VERY quiet in the kitchen.

I just check them and they are all napping now after their early morning 'snack'.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Kitten high five


It is so strange to see the kittens progress so much and so fast. Now it is NOT at blistering speed but if you see them daily you can see the change from day to day. Yesterday we watched them go from making a huge mess as they ate to eating out of a 'bowl' style dish and being so neat about it. We watched as our dachshund licked them up after each meal to not having 'anything' to do but play with them after each meal.

It has been so much fun to work up them, going from bottle to eating normal kitten food, from messy to just eating from having to clean them up after every meal to the dog cleaning them to them cleaning themselves.

They were wandering around the kitchen this morning in the near dark as I got up around 6. Their kennels have been left open and the doorway to the rest of the house blocked off so they free range of the kitchen area, their litter boxes, their water dish. Generally when you check on them in the late evening they are snoozing away either in their kennels or on top of them. They are not forced to go to their kennels, they just know it is a protect space.

I have not made a sound or checked up on them in the past hour and I know they are all asleepon the other side of the wall. It's 7:30 and I about to take the dog out and get my wife up.

Things started well today then fizzled as the day wore on. End up having to take my wife our local urgent care - nothing MAJOR - but the doctor suggested that she go to the local ER to get checked out and let them run a stress test. We did go but after 9pm and the fact that she came home, fed the kittens, cleaned up, took a shower, packed a bag....you get the picture.

After we get to the ER we sat in a very crowded waiting room full of needy people all complaining about the wait. - which, for us did not seem to be long. My wife was pulled to triage for an EKG, then later pulled from waiting room for X-ray then pulled for blood work then pulled for a urine test, all before we were finally taken into ER for another heart monitoring test a visit with doctor. The doctor was super nice and told us lots of good news from all the test and what he thought was going on.

He released her and said she needs to see her own doctor and the problem was to many things going on in her life and not enough "me time". We were released at about 12:05 and got home about 12:30.

This morning was a much better day. We tried a few new tricks for the kittens which worked super in morning a even better at lunch. The trick we tried was feeding them a little watered down dry cat food - Fancy Feast that our older cat loves. I went well and get my wife time fix their wet kitten food.

At lunch we tried it again and it worked perfectly. We also tried having them eat from bowls we bought yesterday on a rubberize baking sheet which also kept them from sliding the bowls across the table which saved a lot of mess.

Round 5 weeks won.......

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Kittens Four, er, three...Part Four

The story of the kittens when very well yesterday as we had our granddaughter for the day and she was a very big help. She managed to help get them all to finally eat out of a dish - not a bottle. By their evening meal they were all eating a full meal then playing a long time.

The evening/night went well and we all went to bed at about 9pm. All but me got up around 7:30. I got up at 5 and read the paper, read my emails, etc. The kittens got up at about 7am and my GD and wife got up about 7:45.

The kittens ate really, really well and played all morning then went to sleep around 10.

Today they were crying around 7 but I left them in their kennels until I put out their litter boxes, took my meds, then let them out and each made a bee-line straight to the litter boxes. I slipped out and left them to play, settle down, and I got my shoes on took the dog out.

When I came back in they were quiet, I managed to slip in a fix my own breakfast, re do my meds into my pillbox, and do my last minute choses in the kitchen. Then I slipped out again and now they are quiet as can be.

My wife is now up yet I'm letting her sleep a bit longer - which is a good thing. I'm blogging away and it is still very quiet. I CAN hear patter of tiny feet so I know they are okay, so far.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Kitten's part three

Kitten's part three, or I think this is part three. It could be part six, seven, eight or who knows. Things have been so crazy around here that my wife and I don't even know what day it is or when they started doing....

Even today things are going "different". One, I decided to NOT turn the light on as I got up this morning in the room next to where the kitten's sleep. It's been a good sign so far. I have had an hours worth of eating, reading my emails, reading the paper, and now continuing this blog page and not a peep out of them....

I'm actually ready for them to wake up and get fed because we are scheduled to go lunch with our grand-daughter, then go out to eat ourselves, come home and wake the kittens, then feed them and take them to their vet appointment. Will we get it all done?

Who knows? It's early yet......

Did we make it? Yes we did sort of. Got them up, fed and back to sleep. Then we made it to eat lunch with our GD, our own lunch. back home, woke them up, fed them - sort of - and made it to vet's office just 5 minutes late.

We got back home and they were all passed out sleeping. My wife ran off to LC again to do what she had promised for a fellow orchestra and I ran to Walmart while the kittens are still sleeping.

Ten things I am thankful for today

It does not take a lot of time to tell you what I am thankful for - not today or this week or.... 1. I am happy because my wound care doc...