Stray Momma & Kittens - part 1

We have the pleasure of living in a very rural area, which we love most of the time. Gene's least favorite thing is the smell of the fertilizer the farmers use, which always coincides with when I open the windows for fresh air. Being in the rural farmland area, barn cats are a very standard thing around here. The downside is that they don't always get spayed or neutered, and we all know this is a huge issue on many levels. That being said, the guy across the street from us has a yard where all the stray pregnant mommas feel safe and always have their litters.

About 5 months ago, a mom and her litter of 4 showed up. (Monkey, Buddy, Mr. Gray (aka Poe), and Missy) Our neighbor's daughter comes over and feeds them once they have been discovered in his yard. She sends pictures to me; they are all adorable and super friendly (including mom, who is friendly and comes up for pets). We find ourselves with 4 kittens ready to explore the land outside of the yard they were born in. One day, as they all frolicked in the middle of the road, a quick decision was made to catch them and put them on our sunporch, followed by the standard vet visits, including the spay/neuters. I immediately reached out to FB looking for potential adopters for some kittens. We found homes for all 4 (YAY! We won't be taking in an additional 4 kittens at this time). Now we just have to get them fixed and up-to-date on shots.

We got them scheduled for the spay/neuters the day we leave for vacation. This way, they will be all recovered from the surgeries and ready to go to their new homes by the end of September! This is quite a surprise, as we struggled last time we had kittens that needed homes. Needless to say, that makes us humans happy, as we won't be burdened with more food and litter costs for these cuties!

In that time, one has been adopted out to someone who wanted to get the neuter and shots done at her own vet. (Less costs for us this way!) So we have Missy - a cutie calico, Buddy and Monkey two tiger-striped with white. They are quite the trio - hate being separated. They lasted all of 24 hours with their hoods on (e-collar) after surgery. Just too playful and those things get in the way.

Fully recovered, they have gained access to the "main" house, which is always a crapshoot regarding how that will go. It can go super smooth or crazy and chaotic. We are on the crazy/chaotic end. Smokey, a senior cat, isn't thrilled about the kittens. She gets right in their faces and hisses to let them know how she feels. Dobby is sad and walking around like she's not the baby or the favorite anymore (so far from the truth, at least regarding being the favorite). Roughy is mad that there are more cats and can't even be happy that this means he gets his "Sunporch" back.

The paws are flying as everyone gets accustomed to the three temporary kittens. Lots of butt sniffing happening, and the face that follows when they realize it's not a butt they have smelled before is hysterical. (But seriously, why is it only okay for animals to sniff each other's butts?)

Shouldn't be too long now before life settles down and the kittens go to their new homes.

Are you still wondering about the Momma/prego situation? Catch us next time for the dets on that!

Till our tails cross again,

Melanie

#purrfectdozen #lovecatsandeverything #kittens #blogger #catblog #bloglife #catlife

Paws on blogging

I missed quite a few blog post Mondays in the last few months. Was there a good reason?

Sort of—I’ll call it life happens. Jasper getting the cancer diagnosis, losing him to cancer, work, house-sitting, finalizing vacation, working on special orders, and more cats entering my life—time for writing a blog came to a sudden & grinding halt. To say I was feeling burnt out would be a drastic understatement; it wasn’t even burnout from just one piece of my life. All angles of my life had me feeling totally burnt out and just needing a full-on break from everything, everyone, and all that is important to me. Each day would bring a new level of crankiness, short-temperedness, and a short fuse that would make me blow up over the simplest and least important things. Never a good place to be for anyone. A vacation was just what I needed, and one that was a full week of unplanned days. So I could truly take each day as nature handed it to me.

I mentioned Jasper's cancer - there are a few blog posts already posted about that - and boy, do we still miss him. We have not fully finished mourning him. I have picked up his ashes - he's at home hanging with Peppermint, Rollie, and Pita - adding to the pressure of making a memorial wall in the house for the pets. Send me your pics and ideas for a cool way to memorialize all of our pets as they pass.

I like keeping my posts short (a quick 4 or 5-minute read), so some things to look for:

*kittens available for adoption and how that came about

*pregnant momma cat and an unknown number of babies

*surviving a vacation that my husband planned and knowing each day has no plan

*anything else the universe throws my way as I'm getting back on track with writing.

For thebetter part of 2 weeks (in my major burnout) I kept thinking about the week away from home and compilied a loose list of what I'd like to accomplish. On that list were about 4 things, some of them being absolutely not important other than in the self-care department, but nonetheless - on the list.

To date, I have done three of those things and am working on the fourth as I write this (with a feeling that there was a fifth item that has totally escaped me and now won't happen!). What did I do? Painted my fingers and toes—yep, totally a self-care thing—and something I truly never do at home. I used to go monthly for a pedicure, but expenses cut that out. So I did that yesterday and love that I have color on my nails again. Finished a book—sounds simple—but when you are so tired you can't even hold the book open, it's impossible to read. A cloudy day at the beach made finishing a book possible. Finished a craft project I started and listed it on my website. This was probably the easiest to do! Last on my list—you guessed it—writing some blog posts. So here I am, writing away and hoping that I have enough topics to get me set for a few Blog Post Mondays.

I beg of you (with the soft urges of our cats too) to share my blog site with all your friends and family, shop my merchandise section, and lastly—help keep writer's block at bay—send me things you'd like to read about!

Till our tails cross again,

Melanie

#purrfectdozen #blogger #blogpost #burnout #cats #crazycatlady #lovecatsandeverything #vacation

Days after the goodbye

Here we are, a week after we have said our final goodbye to Jasper. He has crossed the rainbow bridge and joined his girlfriend Pita and siblings Rollie and Peppermint. How are we, the humans, surviving? That is a truly loaded question. Read on to see how our life is going without Jasper.

There is a big empty hole everywhere. In our hearts, in our house, in our daily task list, in our cat lineup, and in the bathroom supervisor. I don't think I can even begin to process all the ways we miss him or how we will even move on. We are both irritable, cranky, moody, defeated, on the verge of tears constantly, and feeling like we failed on some level. Is there anything that can be said to make us feel less like that? Nope.

As for me, I've been booked solid with house sitting and drop-in visits as well as my usual work schedule at the chiropractor and dress shop. That means I've had very little time to dwell on the empty spot and my broken heart. Have I felt completely maxed out on being able to handle life? Absolutely. I decided to tackle the next few days/weeks by handling it one minute, one hour, one day, one task at a time, thus keeping my mind busy. Yes, one day, probably very soon, this will backfire on me.

While working on listing merchandise and scheduling Facebook posts for the groups I run, I had to go through my photos. There are so many of him from all stages of his life with us. I will cherish those pictures forever. As I scroll thru pictures, I cry for every hard road turn we had, every good memory we had, and for the emptyness in the coming years.

As for Gene, he's working as usual, studying and playing video games. The video games are his downtime and how he unwinds and relaxes. Gene, always a sturdy rock by my side, is struggling with the loss of Jasper as well. He was the medicine man—daily doses of insulin, probiotics, and wet food. Every day started with a few minutes hanging with Jasper, plus a few minutes after dinner. While it isn't much time per day, it's a task that has been ingrained in him for the last two and a half years. Each morning is hard, not having to take the time to give meds. Each visit to the bathroom is different now. Missing having a cat watch us do our bathroom routines is a constant reminder of Jasper. Now the emptiness of not having a cat always there for all your private bathroom visits it tugs at our hearts each visit to the bathroom.

Gene told me that he can't take in any more pets, which is not surprising on some level; he's always the one saying no more pets. He told me that it hurts too much with the loss of pets. Meanwhile, as I'm hurting and saying I can't go through the pain of losing another pet, I'm ready to take in more, as there are always strays that need homes. I'm sure in time, when this is farther in the rearview mirror, Gene will be more ready to take in another pet.

Fortunately for both of us, we balance each other out. We won't be taking in any new pets in the near future. We will continue to mourn the loss of Jasper and cherish the siblings he left behind. To date, the other cats are settling into life with access to the bathroom where he resided. Normally, there is a fight to establish the new pecking order, but we won't have to deal with that process as he operated as a standalone cat. We decided to keep his set up of litter, cat tower, bed, food & water dishes. So now all the cats spend time in there as they feel the need.

The days and weeks after the final goodbye have been hard and will continue to be hard. We all mourn differently. How do you get through the mourning of losing a loved one? I'd love to hear how you ease the pain, get back to life, and still honor your loved one.

Til our tails cross again,

Mel

#purrfectdozen #lovecatsandeverything #mourning #catlife #feline #life #catlover #petlover #memorial #heartache #heartbreak #goodbye