An Update on Rascal

Rascal

Thank you all for your kind wishes. Rascal is feeling much better after being catheterized and spending the night at the vet. He is on a special diet of canned food, which he is very much enjoying. ( My cats rarely get canned food.) And, I am thrilled to report that he is able to urinate on his own again. I am less than thrilled on were he is choosing to go, the bathroom sink and the bathtub wasn't so bad, but really, on my bed and did he really have to  go on the clothes I was going to wear today! It is a good thing he is so darn cute and that I'm so happy he is feeling better.  We have two sayings in our family, "I love you just because." and "I love you even though."  I love Rascal "just because" he has been with me since he was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, and he really is a rascal. I love him "even though" he is peeing in places I would rather he didn't, and that he can be a brat.

Cats will sometimes urinate in places you would much rather they did not, as a way to tell you that there is something bothering them. It doesn't do any good to punish them, the best thing to do is figure out what is wrong.

The Night I Almost Lost Rascal

 

Rascal

Links A. Male Cat Urinary Tract Issues
          B. Feline Urinary System Blockage

(Note from Anastacia: If you enjoy my stories and appreciate my efforts, please follow my twitter account. This is the only truly accurate method that allows me to gauge reader interest. Thanks. @texascatnapper)

I almost lost one of my cats today. Yesterday morning I noticed that Rascal was taking a long time to pee, then last night I saw that he was unable to pee or spray at all. Often cats who have problems like this, will attempt to get your attention by urinating in strange and annoying places. In less than an hour Rascal tried to go in the kitchen sink, the bathtub and the litter box. I also noticed that he was spending more time than usual grooming his privates, and his attitude towards the other cats was more grumpy that usual. Cats hide their pain and sickness. It is a survival mechanism; they don't show weakness. When they feel pain they lash out, or they run in an attempt to get away. Rascal took off in the night and hid in the workshop in an attempt to escape from the pain that he didn't understand. There wasn't much I could do for him last night. I did try to stimulate his bottom like one would do for a newborn kitten using warm moist paper towels, but he would have none of it. He growled and hissed at me, making it very clear to me it hurt. Neither of us slept very well last night, and when I got up at 4am to check on him I found that he had used the kitty door and had gone outside.

This morning when I woke up he was nowhere to be found. I rattled the food dish which usually attracts his attention, but today, no Rascal. After searching, and calling/whistling, he showed up. I was so relieved to see my Rascal coming out of the workshop. The fear that I may lose one of my cats had started to creep in, and it made such a difference to know that he was still with me. From the manner in which he gingerly walked towards me, it was obvious that he was in pain. He did come inside and drank some water, which he then threw up. I put the open carrier in the middle of the room allowing curious cats to go into it and check it out. Like the others, Rascal became curious and climbed inside. I shut the door and he didn't even protest. Poor guy just wasn't feeling well. The vet office normally opens at 8am, but I was not going to waste any time; I was on the phone at 7:30am. I had no trouble making the necessary arrangements, and once Rascal got into the carrier it was off to see Dr. Philip. After a brief examination the vet decided to insert a catheter in order to drain the bladder. They also decided to keep Rascal overnight. The vet informed me that Rascal was able to go on his own, which was a huge relief. When we pulled into our driveway we were both happy to be home. He will have to on a special diet for several weeks, and I have to keep him in the bathroom for a week, in order to monitor his urinary functions. As a special treat for my sick kitty he will get to sleep with me during this time. I am very allergic to cat dander, so this is something that doesn't happen very often.

Whenever one of my own personal brood of cats is ill, I do what I can to educate myself on the cause, symptoms, and treatment. I learned that with some male cats, crystals form in the urine that can block the urethra. In male cats the urethra is normally very small, which can result in the type of blockage Rascal experienced. Untreated, death can occur within 48 hours. If you notice similar symptoms in your cat, please contact your vet immediately. Dr. Philip said that this is most common in male cats between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Sometimes it is a one time occurrence, or it could happen repeatedly.

I am so happy that Rascal is home and feeling better I will be keeping an eye on him to be sure that we don't have a re-occurrence of the problem.

Racal and Pixie




Sally Sonic

In the past two months I have had several outstanding cat encounters. The first kitty that touched my heart was a little fuzzy calico that I trapped behind the local Sonic. I knew there was something wrong with her 'cause she didn't run away when I first put the traps out. She stayed hunched up next to the dumpster, I have seen that type of behavior before. My little Mia kitty was like that when I first met her. The poor kitties just stay huddled up to conserve energy and also to make themselves a smaller target, less vulnerable to other cats. Cats like these have just given up, they try to stay near the food source and expend as little energy as possible. Unfortunately when food becomes available the other cats get it first, so the weaker kitties get weaker and just get to the point were they are waiting to die.

So I went ahead and put the traps out, very slowly and carefully so as not to scare her away, hoping that the smell of stinky wet cat food would draw her in. She didn’t move, I continued on, setting traps behind and around the local feed store. When I got back to the Sonic she was gone and the trap was empty. What had happened was that someone had come out of the Sonic and put trash into the dumpster and had scared her away. Drat! That happens quite a bit when trapping, someone or something comes by and scares the kitties away. I did not catch her until the next night, by then I had caught 7 other cats from behind the Feed store and the Sonic. Early the next morning I took them all into the Austin Humane Society to be spayed or neutered. All the cats were deemed healthy enough to withstand surgery. Normally I keep the kitties one night after surgery to keep an eye on them and to make sure they are completely out from the anesthesia, then I release them back to were I trapped them. I really did not want to release this kitty, as I knew there was something wrong with her, but I didn’t know what.

Now comes the human interest part of the story, I have a friend (Pi) who knew of someone (Lew) that wanted a calico kitten. He wanted a kitten because he has a small dog (Fate) that he wanted to become accustomed to cats. He wanted a calico because he had had one back when he was younger and it was a really good cat. Now understandably most people that want a kitten want a friendly, healthy, happy kitten. I think that was what he wanted, but what he was willing to take was a scared, feral, kitty that was sick in some unknown way. Remarkable! We set him up with a crate, litter box, food and water and everything else we thought the kitty would need. The next day I get a phone call telling me the kitty is eating, drinking, pooping and peeing but cannot walk. This generated mulitable phone calls to other board members of the Blanco County Cat Coalition to get approval to take the kitty (who is now named Sally Sonic) to the local vet. It takes at least three board members to agree to spending money on medical issues, this is because our funds are limited and need to be spent on our main focus of spay and neuter. Well we all agreed that, because Lew was willing to adopt Sally and we had already invested in her getting spayed that we would approve to spend up to $200 to try and get her healthy. Yea! A trip to the vet, Dr. Philip, determined that Sally could move her head, had feeling in all four paws and her tail. Was eating and eliminating fine, he checked her gums and she did not look anemic, sure she was under weight, but a lot of ferals living out of dumpsters are. But she did not have an awareness of where her paws were. He said that she probably was not born like this or else she would not have lived this long, and that since there was someone that was willing to take care of her it would be worth it to give her a chance. That the next week or two would show either improvement or decline. Lew assured us that if there was any hope at all he would do whatever it would take to make her better. And he did just that, he cleaned her up, brushed her, cut the mats out of her fur. Cuddled her, gave her physical therapy moving her legs around and massaging down her back, cleaned her bottom after she pooped, and petting her. Fate helped, at first Sally was scared of the dog, but soon figured out that Fate was harmless. Fate helped with cleaning Sally, she especially was good at helping clean Sally’s face after she ate. For the next week we all watched for and celebrated every little improvement, hoped for the best, but tried to prepare for the worst. About 10 days later that day came, it seemed that Sally had developed an infection in her incision, and had started to act like she was in pain. So it was back to the vet. Lew could not take her because he had his own doctors appointment that day. He is an older gentleman that served his country in Vietnam and as a result suffers. I took Sally in, on the way she started bleeding from a sore on her bottom and had developed a sore on her mouth. Dr. Philip confirmed and assured that there was no hope for improvement and that she would only suffer if we did not put an end to it. I called Lew and he gave permission, he had said goodbye that morning before he had left for his doctors appointment.

Skip this next part if you don't want to read about Sally’s death. I am including it for various reasons. Such as; death is a reality that most of us do not want to face, none the less, it is a fact of life. Maybe if more people were aware of the harsh facts of life that feral cats face they may be more willing to spay, neuter and vaccinate their pets. After all the feral cat epidemic started with people not being responsible for their cats.

Sally's death was not horrible but it was not easy either. I have watched Dr. Philip euthanize cats in the past and it has not been horrible. But poor Sally, her veins, in her little legs collapsed as Dr. Phil inserted the needle. In the end he had to use a vein in her neck to administer the drug. He explained that using the vein in the neck was no worse than using any other vein, it just is something that might be upsetting to people, so he asked me to stop recording at that point. Maybe it is weird of me me to record a cat being put down, but it was done and posted on facebook in hopes that maybe, just maybe it will prevent suffering in the future.

Rest in Peace Sally Sonic!

What I find remarkable about this story is Lew, that he was willing to allow this kitten into his life knowing that by doing so he was opening himself up to potential heartbreak. Which indeed is exactly what happened. I really admire people like Lew that are willing to do good even if it hurts. He is one of my hero's! His story does not end here.....
To be continued...

Kitten being euthanized, hard to watch but not horrible