Many of you may remember last May when we began working with a lady in Logan County who supposedly had 45 outside cats that needed fixed and re-homed. We have continued to work with that woman and I honestly think her estimate of 45 cats was very low. If I would have to guess, I would say we’ve probably helped fix nearly 100 cats. And we still are not done yet. She thinks there may be 10-15 more that she is having trouble catching at this point.

The latest batch to go in to be fixed were a mother cat and a litter of four kittens that I had coerced the woman into taking inside to care for. The woman has a male cat outside that routinely kills newborn kittens. I told her she could not let that happen to these babies and she agreed to take them and mom inside until they were old enough to fend for themselves.

A few weeks ago, I contacted the woman to see if the kittens were big enough to be fixed and if the mom had weaned them. Many, many of the cats in this woman’s colony have horrible bouts of upper respiratory infections–sometimes so bad that they die. The woman told me that all of the kittens were really ill and she was treating them with antibiotics. When I contacted her again two weeks ago, she thought they were well enough to go to our weekly clinic, but she told me that one of the kittens, who she had named Ruby, had almost died. Because of the upper respiratory infection she had survived, Ruby was tilting her head. The woman thought the head tilt was because the kitten had not received enough oxygen to her brain while she was ill. I told her that cats usually develop this tilt because of damage to their inner ears from infections or severe ear mite infestations that cause their equilibrium to be off and so they continually tilt their heads. 

When I picked up the kittens for clinic the following Wednesday morning, they all seemed very congested. I wasn’t sure if they were well enough for the surgeries, but I left them at the shelter for Carol and Dr. Amy to check over.

Later in the afternoon Dr. Amy called me. Two of the kittens had stopped breathing during their surgeries and she had to intubate them to bring them back. Dr. Amy was very concerned about the kitten named Ruby. She wasn’t sure if she would have a normal life, because it appeared that she only had one kidney. Additionally, she was having a very hard time breathing and Dr. Amy did not know if she would live through the night. She wanted to know if I wanted to euthanize the kitten. I told her that since the kitten was already waking up from her surgery that we’d give Ruby a chance. If Ruby got worse in the meantime, before I arrived to pick her up, or tested positive for feline leukemia/FIV, then it was okay to euthanize. 

When I got to the humane society to pick everyone up from clinic, Ruby was still alive, but breathing with very labored breaths. Dr. Amy asked me if I could keep Ruby and her brother, Stevey, for the next week to make sure they were going to live. Both kittens were in very poor shape and were struggling to breathe. I knew that they could not go back where they had come from, so I talked to Carol and we agreed to help these babies.

I put them in my spare bedroom with a vaporizer on them and began administering antibiotics and hefty doses of Lysine, since I believed they were probably suffering from both the herpes virus and a bacterial infection. The little boy, Stevey, who looks like a Maine Coon, also had a weepy eye.

Besides struggling to breathe, the kittens were also very frightened, not only of their new circumstances, but because of how rotten they felt. They had just endured major surgery and were gasping for breath. I suppose I would be terrified, too, in those circumstances. They cowered in terror in the back of the large dog crate I had placed them in. But even though they were very sick, they still ate like troopers and that gave me hope that they had a chance. 

They lived through the night and continued to get better. 

Because I had to be out of town for a few days, Carol took the kittens from me and continued on with their care. She asked me to stop over recently to see how much they had improved in just two weeks. She also wanted me to evaluate Ruby, who she thought was deaf. 

When I arrived at the shop where Carol was keeping the siblings, she demonstrated why she thought Ruby was deaf. Opening the door to the room where Ruby and Stevey were playing in a large dog crate, Carol advised me to creep in very quietly. Stevey instantly looked up when the door opened. Ruby continued to play, unaware of our approach until Carol reached out to touch her and she jumped. She had not heard us coming.

Carol said she had noticed Ruby’s deafness the very first morning she had her. She had walked into the room and Ruby had not responded. Carol rushed over thinking the kitten had died, but then saw Ruby’s sides moving with her ragged breathing. Ruby, however, had not noticed Carol. 

We tested Ruby further, making noises and watching for her responses. It does appear that this poor baby, with the tilted head who has survived so much, is deaf. 

The kittens are doing much better now, eating and playing. They are very bonded and we think they will need to be a team for the rest of their lives. They love to be petted and begin purring immediately, but they are not very sure about being picked up and held. We don’t think they were picked up much previously. Carol is working on that and they are coming around. 

Carol told me that it will take a very special person for these two, since they have a few things stacked against them. I assured her that with a bit more time and attention that I think they will be adoptable and someone with a big heart will want to give them a home.

I’ll keep you posted.

I received a thank you card in the mail featuring a chihuahua in a sombrero and the message “Muchas Gracias.” The dog on the front was adorable, but I was also intrigued to read the back of the card and find out that the pup “pin-up” was an “Underdog” named Maggie who had been in a shelter seeking a home. Maggie was the last of a litter that was left in a “cardboard box in a grocery store parking lot.”  Maggie’s “Special Power” was that she was a “Rottweiler wannabe and part time desperado.” The card continued, “If you need a fearless guard dog, she’s your hombre.”

The card, part of a line called Hooray for the Underdog!, was sent to me by a dear lady, Caroline, who knows a lot about rescued dogs needing a home. She adopted a formerly penned and heart worm positive dog named Maggie Moo (or just “The Moo”), who Bobbie, Dr. West, and I worked for months to help. So, of course, Caroline would be sending cards featuring other pets looking for a home.

Hooray for the Underdog! cards are made by husband and wife photographers, Janet Healey and Joe Grisham. The dogs and cats in the pictures are up for adoption in shelters or have been rescued and adopted. Ten percent of all proceeds from the card sales are donated to shelters and animal welfare organizations. The cards have been featured on Oprah as a “gift that gives back.”

The motto for Hooray for the Underdog! cards is: “Celebrate the power and spirit of rescued animals everywhere.” And the card line is defined by this: “Great stationary with exceptional images and inspiring profiles of pets that were abandoned and then given a second chance at life.”

Since I am somewhat of a “card junkie,” this may soon be my favorite place to visit online. But beyond cards, they also offer journals, notepads, prints, folders, place mats, and pet tags. A little bit of something for everyone–especially ME (I’m a journal junkie, too…sigh).

To see the Oprah story, go HERE.

To browse the line of cards, go HERE.

We are not sure what kind of animal ripped into poor Sir White Wiskeys. Whatever it was, however, chewed him up pretty good. When our friend Betty wrote me that she had another kitty in need (Sir White Wiskeys came from the same neighborhood as Brian’s sweet Leo Albert), I told her to get him to Noah’s Ark as soon as she could. She said the cat was bloody and leaking a lot of pus. Betty had only seen the cat a few times before he showed up with wounds to his neck and the side of his face. She was worried that her sister’s Husky, a known cat killer, had attacked the seriously injured cat.

At Noah’s Ark, Dr. West put Sir White Wiskeys (he received his name because he was such a gentleman and had gorgeous white whiskers) out so she could clean up his injuries and neuter him at the same time. She had thought the wound would require a drain tube, but with a great deal of cleaning and flushing, the drain tube was deemed unnecessary. Dr. West was not sure what had caused the abscess and bite on Sir White Wiskeys. It could have been the Husky, although she was not sure if the cat would have survived that. It also might have been a raccoon or another cat. Happily, this gentle boy tested negative. We had been quite worried about that since he had been wandering the streets where Leo Albert had come from; our Leo Albert who tested positive for feline leukemia. 

Sir White Wiskeys, it turned out, was a very nice cat–too nice to be returned to a place where he might end up even more seriously injured or dead in the future. So now this big guy (he weighs over 12 pounds and that is even after Betty told us she thought he’d lost weight during this ordeal) is recuperating with Carol. As soon as he is feeling better, we’ll post him for adoption. We know this sweetheart of a cat will find a safe, forever home very quickly.

We’ll keep you updated on our handsome Sir White Wiskeys. He is a talker, a lover, and a survivor.

On New Year’s Eve, I had a call from Dr. West (I knew she was not calling to ring in 2011). A man had phoned Noah’s Ark wanting to euthanize his cat. Well, that was not going to happen on Dr. West’s watch without a very just cause (as we all know, she will not euthanize severely injured animals as long as they show the will to live and will try to eat–that’s why we love her!).

Anyway, the man said that his “male” cat was 25 pounds and was peeing all over the place. Dr. West suggested that if the cat was that large, he might be diabetic and the peeing was a symptom of the disease. The man said that perhaps his wife had mentioned that the cat had diabetes (he couldn’t quite remember). But, again, he just wanted the cat euthanized because they were tired of all the peeing everywhere except the litter pan.

“Had the cat been to see a vet?” Dr. West queried further. No straight answer on that either. “Was he neutered?” The owner thought so.

And that is where I came in.

In her frustration with the man who was bent on killing his cat, Dr. West asked me if Black and Orange would take the cat to save its life if the man would bring him to her. Of course, I went along with Dr. West’s plan, agreeing to a cat I had not seen and which might have been very ill.

As fate would have it, there were many, many fallacies to the man’s story. First off, the cat was a female named Rhatima. She was very gentle and a bit shy, but loved to be held and purred loudly once she felt secure.

Secondly, there was more to the man’s story than he had previously let on. Rhatima was the little girl in the family’s cat and she stayed in the little girl’s room, who loved her. The rest of the family was not very kind to Rhatima and so she hid out with the little girl–in a room with NO LITTER PAN. Because she was afraid to make a run for the litter box in a different part of the house, she peed in the little girl’s room (all of this came out when the little girl and the rest of the family arrived at Noah’s Ark to turn Rhatima in). The adults refused to put a litter pan in a bedroom.

The little girl was heartbroken to give up her cat and Rhatima was also very, very sad.

Besides not being male, Rhatima also did not weigh 25 pounds. While she is not a petite gal, she is by no means as large as some of mine. She only weighs 14 pounds and could use to lose a bit of weight, but is nowhere near 25 pounds!

After a barrage of tests and the removal of a bad tooth, Dr. West found no signs of any type of diseases. No diabetes. Rhatima was a healthy, older lady (she is 9), who had been with this family since she was a kitten and had not received any type of vet care in many, many years. Her hair looked greasy and she had a ton of dander (had anyone been petting this cat, I wondered).

In fact, Rhatima seemed a bit surprised when I put her into my spare bathroom and began touching her. Bobbie said it didn’t seem like she had been petted very much.

The poor cat was depressed and would not eat for the first two days. She didn’t venture forth from her carrier the first night. When she finally did leave the safety of the carrier, she hid in my bathroom cupboard and scuttled about, always keeping low to the floor, and never coming out when I was in the room.

And that is where she has been for the past week. She loves the cupboard and she is slowly coming out of her shell. She loves to be petted and brushed and her purr gets so loud sometimes that it rattles her whole body. She will sit in your lap forever, but when you put her down, she hunkers close to the ground and runs to her safe spot.

What in the world was going on in that house to make this poor cat so fearful?

But guess what? She is a champ about using the litter pan. She waits until I am not there and then she leaps in and does her business. So much for the final bit of untruth to Rhatima’s life story.

Not male. Not 25 pounds. Not sick. Not a “won’t use the litter pan” cat.

So Rhatima and I are now getting acquainted and she can have as much time as she needs to feel comfortable. She will need to be adopted into a household that is quiet and where she will be allowed to progress at her own pace. But I know we’ll find the perfect family. We always do.

Rhatima also is okay with other cats. Of course, Bean Bag and Apple Seed had to run right in to see her the first moment she was there. They hopped on top of her in her carrier. I told Dr. West that they would run to greet a rattlesnake and have no fear for their safety (after all, everyone loves them, right? And “mom” would never allow them to get hurt in any way!). Rhatima made a few feeble hisses at them as they licked her and climbed on her belly, then she finally gave up and touched noses. Who can resist the power of Apple Seed and Bean Bag? No one!

Rhatima is one of the lucky ones. If she had ended up at another vet’s office or with a large shelter, her ending might have been very different. No one would have taken the time to unravel the knots in her life story. No one would have taken a chance on a cat whose owners just wanted her killed.

No one but Dr. West and us!

Although our mission statement says we focus upon helping cats in Madison and Union Counties, I have to admit that we sometimes overstep county boundaries when a cat needs us. Since I also grew up in Champaign County, in the small town of Mechanicsburg, I know quite a few people in that adjoining county. I also know that it is a very, very rural area (even more so than the sweeping fields of Plain City) with few resources for spaying and neutering stray and feral cats; few resources for finding homes for pets. So, yes, we have helped many, many cats in Champaign County who otherwise would have had no one looking out for them.

You can therefore understand why I was distressed to get an email back in December saying that the PAWS shelter in Urbana was closing and they did not know what would happen to the animals that were currently with the organization. PAWS is the only animal shelter in Champaign County and it is a “no kill” facility, adhering to the philosophy that every animal is valuable and deserves the chance to live.

I subscribe to the MechanicsburgOh.com web site and on there I read a blog posting about the shelter’s lack of funding. Sadly, this loss of revenue has happened to many, many non-profits over the past few years. Declining donations lead to a giant loss for the animals when charitable organizations can no longer function.

Black and Orange actually worked with PAWS in the past. One of their board members contacted us about using our weekly low cost spay and neuter clinics to sterilize some of their cats. They did bring about a dozen cats to Marysville for vet care, but when funds ran low and the drive proved a bit far, they had to discontinue their efforts.

I was reminded about PAWS again on Saturday when a banker friend from Urbana mentioned the organization (he was worried how B and O was faring in these economic times). Happily, my friend told me, kind donors had raised enough money to keep PAWS going for the next few months. But the shelter, which is now housed in an actual building you can visit (previously, it had been functioning out of volunteers’ homes and garages), is still in danger–as are the animals PAWS is trying to help. My banker friend worried what would happen to the animals if the shelter did close. Where would that many animals go? Who would take them in? Would they have to be euthanized (even though PAWS is a “no kill” shelter)?

Champaign County has many, many animal lovers. I know. Black and Orange has worked with a large portion of them when we’ve had money to help. I’d like to ask all of my friends in Champaign County to make a small donation to the PAWS Animal Shelter. I’d ask the same of anyone who is looking for an underdog to support. PAWS needs any help you can give them, no matter what county you live in.

You can send a donation to: PAWS Animal Shelter, 1535 West US Hwy 36, Urbana, OH 43078

As they are a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization, all donations are tax deductible!

Please visit the PAWS web site HERE. You can also visit them on FACEBOOK.

You can read the MechanicsburgOh.com blog HERE.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, Kim and Paul Swider (Naomi’s former foster parents) told me they had seen a cat get dumped and then hit on the road in front of their house. They chased after the cat who was severely injured, dragging it’s body by it’s front legs because it’s back legs were not working. But try as they might, the cat, even on only two legs, would not let them near it. I told them if they could catch the cat to bring it to me any time so I could get it in for medical help or euthanasia depending on how bad it’s injuries were.

The next week Kim and Paul reported more sightings of the cat–it was still dragging itself around. Paul had made sure to put food out for it, but even when the cat pulled it’s body on to the porch to eat, Paul could not grab it.

Finally, the Monday before Thanksgiving, Paul was able to trap the all black cat, who they named Biscuit, and bring him to me. I quickly took him to Noah’s Ark thinking they might have to euthanize the poor cat. But when Dr. Jensen let Biscuit out of the trap he was in, he was no longer pulling himself on two legs. Rather, he was walking on all four, but with a slight limp. Biscuit was also not a feral cat, as I had feared. I worried about putting a cat who had experienced such trauma back outside to take care of itself. Biscuit, however, was very friendly. He must have been someone’s cat–maybe even the people who tossed him from the car.

From the X-rays, we discovered that Biscuit had not just been hit by a car, he had actually been run over by the car. Yes, run over by an enormous vehicle, tires smashing bone. His pelvis had been broken in five to six places. The good news, however, was that in those weeks when he could not walk and pulled himself around, the bones had mended and he was healing. He would not need surgery. Only further cage rest to allow his pelvis to completely mend.

I was amazed. Here was this cat who had been run over by a car and he was going to be okay. His bladder and bowels were working fine. Although he was pretty thin (he did have pebbles in his stomach from trying to find something to eat), he would recover. He did have a little bit of a limp, but even that has almost vanished now. Dr. West says that cats are truly the ultimate survivors. She thinks that if anything ever happens that wipes out the rest of the planet, cats will still be here, the only species that will have lived through whatever killed the rest of us.

Because Biscuit needed more weeks of rest, he went to stay at the shop with Carol where he would be the only cat in residence. Dr. West didn’t want to neuter him until his pelvis had healed more and we were not sure how our other cats would take the smell of an un-neutered male cat’s urine. So to the shop he went, where he quickly proved how resilient he was.

Carol placed Biscuit in Alex’s bathroom at the shop. Alex was now at PetSmart waiting adoption, so his room was free. Alex had spent many weeks in that bathroom with no problems. The very first night Biscuit was in the bathroom, he figured out how to pull a panel off the wall, climb through a hole, and escape out in to the shop. Carol spent four days looking for him with no luck. Only a trap and some smelly soft food retrieved our “Houdini” who then went into a dog crate to prevent further escapes. Angry at his forced imprisonment, he trashed every cage Carol placed him in.

We know Biscuit must have been someone’s cat. Not only is he friendly, but he also can use his paws to open doors. The very first moment after we put him in Carol’s bathroom at the shop, he reached out his paw and tugged at the door. The ladies at Noah’s Ark also told me he had tried repeatedly to break free from his room.

Biscuit is now almost completely healed and will soon be looking for a new home. He may always walk a little funny with a tiny limp (but even that has almost disappeared). He will probably always be too smart for his own good. And he will definitely always be a survivor. But our little survivor also needs to be something else–wanted. We hope to find him a forever home very, very soon.

I had a call from Dr. West at Noah’s Ark at the beginning of the week. A good friend, Tara, had brought a 12-week-old kitten to her that had been hit by a car and had damage to her face and mouth. Tara was horrified (as were Dr. West and I when we heard this) when people who saw the tiny kitten asked Tara if she wanted them to take the injured baby out in the country and shoot her. As Dr. West said, “There will be no shooting of any cats!”

Dr. West has been naming all of the B and O kitties (and even Fruit Bat) that come to her following the alphabet. We were now up to “H,” so Dr. West decided on a Native American name for this little girl. She chose Hok’ee, which means “abandoned” in Navajo. We also decided that since we were approaching Thanksgiving, we needed to honor the Native Americans who lost out when the white folks took over their land. Little Hok’ee is our Native American honoree kitty–a symbol for what we are thankful for all year long–saving innocent lives.

Little Hok’ee had been hit in the mouth by a blunt object that broke several teeth. She will be visiting our dental vet, Dr. Tom Klein, at East Hilliard Veterinary Services to have her mouth fixed. Hok’ee is the fourth kitty to visit Dr. Klein this year after Naomi, Bean Bag, and Oliver. We love Dr. Klein and so do the kitties he has helped.

Little Hok’ee is doing well after the horrors she has been through. Dr. West did her normal test to determine if euthanasia could be considered–was the kitten eating and purring? Yes, she was! Well, by Dr. West’s rules, no cat will ever be “put to sleep” if it is purring and wants to eat. That is the Dr. West anti-euthanasia test. It works every time! Bean Bag passed. Any cat with a giant will to live will pass. Hok’ee did, too. Even with her hurt mouth, she wanted to eat. Dr. West said she is a little piglet.

Hok’ee has tested negative for feline leukemia/FIV. Dr. West started routine vet care and this sweet girl is loving all the attention. We will keep you updated on her progress. Dr. West has kindly agreed to pay all her bills at Noah’s Ark, but we plan to collect donations to pay for her surgeries with Dr. Klein. Dr. Klein always tries to help us out and keep his prices low, however.

Once she is recovered, Hok’ee will also be looking for a forever home, so please keep her in mind. For now, she will be snuggling with her stuffed pig, eating as much as her belly will hold, and thanking her angels for giving her such a good, good life.

My good friend, Cynthia, sent me an email about a declawed cat who has been staying on her back porch. The cat belongs to Cynthia’s neighbors, but they decided they did not want her any more and tossed her outside. Miss Kitty, as Cynthia has named her, was declawed when she was younger, but it was a “botched” job and her feet are now a bit deformed due to this.

Cynthia has her own colony of cats that she takes care of. The problem is, they are not too friendly with any outsiders who try to join their group. So poor Miss Kitty is trying to fit in, but is, unfortunately, miserable in this new situation. She keeps running back over to her old home, crying at the door, hoping they will let her inside again.

Miss Kitty appears to be a tabby Maine Coon cat. She is already spayed and had a poor declaw surgery at some point in her short life. If anyone would have a warm, safe spot for her, Black and Orange will pay to have her vaccinated, tested, and given any other vet care she may need. In fact, if some foster space frees up within the next few months, I’ll see what we can do to help Miss Kitty. But if anyone reading this would like to help this poor cat, please don’t hesitate to email me.

Here is what Cynthia wrote me about Miss Kitty:

“I am really needing to find a forever home for this poor little girl….she was mutilated as a kitty ….botched de-clawing….wish we could make a poster girl of her…..She is living on my back porch….when she gets out she runs ‘home’ and pleads at their back door…they slam the door and pull the drapes….she is so miserable…she hates the other cats…..it’s getting colder and I know she is in pain…I know how my hands feel when they get cold…I can’t imagine having had the tips of my fingers cut off….She is very distrustful (duhhhh!), but sweet natured…She isn’t hurting anything here…what’s one more? But she should be happy and warm, and I have a colony of sixteen cats, who do not want her around. We, humans did this to her….I feel responsible…..”