I Could Get Used to This

Oh, clouds and even rain in August – it makes my heart so happy. Then the cooler temps this week, if Summer was more like this I could get behind this season. Of course, in my mind I’m like, “Okay, Summer’s done, on to Fall!” but Summer is unlikely to agree with me. For now though, yes, this I like. Dogs like it too! We’ve been able to get out and about a lot more, as it’s not 98 degrees and a smokey hell anymore. Still, days are getting shorter, Fall is coming … we’ll get there.

The solar eclipse is coming right up too, I decided to just play with my camera at the Summer Cup and continue the dogs’ agility break. I want to give them a full 6 weeks off, and if we were going to run this weekend I would have wanted to start easing them back in before now. I’ll enjoy watching the fun though, and we have some fun trials planned in September. We’ve been enjoying our break, but looking forward to getting back to agility classes – and the Confidence Camp is right around the corner too, that will be quite the adventure.

As for foster kittens, that has been a bit crazy, but things are calming down. Mama cat (whose name IS Lulu, 10 points to Heather’s memory for once), did not want to eat or drink, which is not a good thing – especially as they all have upper respiratory infections. Even after Lulu was feeling better from the antibiotics, it’s like she WANTED to eat, but just couldn’t. So getting her fluids and trying everything we could think of to entice her to eat. Didn’t have any luck though, so ended up having to syringe feed her to get her appetite started – poor girlie! The good news, she’s finally eating (and none of the fancy shit we tried, she just wants plain kibble – no canned food, baby food, tuna, chicken – just kibble). And she’s finally drinking … out of the toilet. Lulu is very particular, and not fancy at all. She’s eating like a horse though, and her milk is back, so the kittens are now back to mostly nursing instead of eating canned food.

So, whew! And kittens never seemed to feel as bad as Lulu, they’ve been playful and snuggly and curious and adventurous the whole time – and only getting more so. The girl kitten is the total pig, she’s actually bigger than her brother. They’re both very sweet and friendly. And they’re using the litterbox! Sometimes. They kind of had a crash course in everything this week, but they handled it all like champs. Now it’s cute kitten tumbling and romping, and happy mama taking care of them – she is a very good mama now that she’s feeling better.

I did figure it would be easy enough to find homes for all three while they were waiting to grow up – but turns out the shelter is against that sort of thing. They don’t do ‘pre-adoptions’, whoever gets there first to adopt them when they’re old enough gets them. And this is why people don’t want to deal with shelters and rescues. This is a great opportunity for someone who is looking for a kitten that was raised around dogs to know they’re getting the right match for their household (as you know there will be lots of border collie lovin with these kittens). Instead it’s just totally random. So, yeah, I won’t try to find them homes then. And bringing the now healthy family back into the shelter to wait for adoption, where they will be exposed, once again, to all the shelter illnesses, seems counter-intuitive to me. That’s okay, I’ll do my best to raise some outgoing and well socialized kittens, get them healthy, and then send them off to be neutered at 8 weeks and adopted out. Still, at least one of the kittens MAY go to someone I know, if they get there in time or whatever – that would be fun to see them grow.

Still, getting animals from breeders, just seems easier at this point – you know what you’re getting. Though no puppy raising for us this year, didn’t work out – which is a little disappointing as it would have been fun to see a puppy that was related to both London and Bean – but puppies are a heck of a lot more work than kittens, so it’s not a bad thing. Kittens will fulfill my baby animal needs for quite some time – SO CUTE.

Fizzy and Dragon have no idea what’s happening behind closed doors, but they’re pretty horrified at the amount of food I’ve been throwing away. They did get to see the vet, I had a mobile vet come out to update my cats vaccines (which probably did nothing, but made me feel better) and see Lulu. I really like them, as I have used them for at home euthanasia, and this was a much nicer reason for a house call.

Fizban thought that having an in home vet appointment was AWESOME – and they fed him continuously! Fizzy is always very popular. And, if you’re curious, 17.9 pounds. Dragon thought this was the WORST THING EVER – but maybe not as bad as actually going to the vet. But he may not have admitted that at the time. He was like 18.9 pounds, about a pound more than Fizban. And guess which cat already needs a dental? Poor Dragon, he’s like a lightning rod of issues – he’s three. At five, Fizzy’s teeth look pretty darn good – Fizzy gets all the breaks. Neither cat had any sign of heart issues – hurrah!

Oh, and Lulu, 5.7 pounds of nothing but skin and bones, but she’s making up for now, she’s doing her best demolish a whole bag of kibble in a week.