Biting the hand that feeds you

Or, My trip to the Emergency Room (ER).

This morning at 5:30 or so I am awoke to Brother exchangine words with another tomcat outside my bedroom window. Well, after a few moments of listening to their threats to each other, I roll over to rap on the window to chase the other cat off my window sill so I can get some sleep.

This is where things get interesting.

Brother thought that the tom outside had a compatriot inside who was jumping him. So, he did what any self respecting cat would do, defend himself. Unfortunatly for me, this ambush was my hand.

So, quicker then a flash, I have an orange tomcat attached to my arm at the wrist. He quickly realizes his mistake and lets go - while I am still reacting and pulling my arm away. So, he lands next to Sister. Well, this is round 2. Luckily that only lasts a second, and it looks like I am the only one who got any serious damage.

So, off to the bathroom I go to get this cleaned out. No glasses, lots of blood. probably a good thing. Wash wash wash. Brother comes in, crying - like he is saying "I am sorry".

Now to bandage it up. I go to the kitchen, grab the first aid kit out of the laptop bag, and get to work. Still no glasses. I notice my video camera, so I start recording.

So, I know cat bites have this nasty tendancy of getting infected. So I know I need to go get it looked at, if not just for some antibiotics.

So, I get it all bandaged up, and go back to bed. I am not messing with going to the doctors at 6am in the morning.



So, about 11am I give my local buddy Jason a call, does he know of any open clinics that are local. No, but a look at the phone book, he gives me some phone numbers. I call them up, nobody is open.

So, I call the number on my insurance card. Rhode Island. I get a couple of places from that person - poor gal, had herself the hiccups. When she read me the number, I kept mis-writing it because she kept interuping herself. I would read it back with the hiccups included. We had a good laugh.

I call the numbers. It's for the ER. Great, no other choices.

So, off I go. I know I need the cat bite looked after, but man do I feel silly going to the emergency room for it.

So, I get checked in, all that good stuff. The doc takes a look at it. Gonna need X-Rays. "Huh?" Evedently, the cat's teeth can flake or break off, and leave a small piece wich will get very infected.

Off to X-Ray. I have to ride in a wheel chair. I ask for a copy. She gave me a CDROM, but it's blank. Darn it, just my luck. Sorry, no pictures of my insides for you.

I got a tetinus shot. They clean everything off real well, and apply antiseptic. Wrap it up. Give me a presecription for Augmentin, which is amoxicillin, and sent me on my way.

A few things I learned today.
1) Don't scare Brother, he reacts badly.
2) 6 hours is too long to wait to see a doctor for a cat bite.
3) Cat bites are 80% likely to become infected.
4) Dog bites are 30% likely to become infected.
5) Human bites are even worse then cat bites.
6) I did a good job doing first aid on myself. It didn't look pretty, but it was the exact same thing the ER did.
7) I still have a lot to learn about video editing. I am trying to use Blender and MediaCoder to get the job done, and it's just frustrating me so far.

Kittens on the Couch

Here are the kittens in a box lid, on the couch. Brother came over to say 'Hi' to them.


Here are the fleas in my bagless vacuum after vacuuming the whole house.

Kittens hiding again.

So, I come home for a short lunch break - we had pizza at the office today, to check on the kittens. The cats are like 'FEED ME' - they can see the back of their food hopper. You would think that starvation is eminent, while they have 2 days of food left yet.

Sister had hidden her cats over the night, and it took me a while to find them this morning. I am glad I did, because they where in a bad situation, Sister couldn't get to them to feed them. I remedied that by removing a shelf. Confused yet? Watch the video!



Let me know if you like this new video format for my blog.

Kittens

Sister brought one of the kittens over to me. Here is the kitten just hanging out with me on the couch.


Brother, Sister, and a kitten.

Hide and Seek

So, I got home for lunch yesterday, and it was another round of hide and seek. One kitten was missing. The door for the spare bedroom was ajar - I had been leaving it closed, but with a small gap for ventilation. I knew right where the kitten was. Under the table saw.

I go into the room, sure enough, kitten under the table saw. Retrieve kitten, place back with others. Sister immediately tries to relocate the horde to under the table saw.



Kittens get fed lunch by me - they all take the bottle. They drank down nearly half a bottle.


I get home last night, kittens are moved again. Where are kittens? After the longest search to date, I find them. Under the table next to the front door. I am lucky they didn't wander out and into the path of the door. I am going to have to open the door real slow now.

Kittens get fed dinner. A quarter bottle between the set. Not so good, only one was really hungry.

Sister let me sleep the night. The kittens must be out of the woods now? Maybe she is just tired of me messing with them and moving them on her.

Checked the kittens this morning, a couple of fleas. Not too many though. So, flea bath tonight.

3 AM

It's 3 AM.
I am awoken to 'mew, mew, mew mew'.
This shouldn't be. Kittens are in a cupboard in the kitchen.

I gently feel around in the dark. Found it. I got a kitten in bed with me again. I can't get Sister to stay there long enough for me to go get the others.

Fine. 3am feeding it is. I make up 15 ml. or whatever the marking is on the bottle - it's since worn off. Cheap bottle.

Sick kitten takes about 2 units. Dark kitten - the one I found in bed with me, takes about 7 very hungerly. Phatty, I can't get interested in the bottle.

Now, let me sleep Sister!

Die fleas Die

Tonight, I started operation Flea Be Gone.
I vacuumed my floors then went to the store, and got stuff to rid myself of these pesky fleas once and for all!

I got Carpet Flea Killer, Borax, and Table salt. The vacuuming is supposed to cause the flea eggs to hatch - if you put poison down first, they won't hatch from what I read/heard.
The Flea killer is to do just that. The Borax and Table salt cost less then the flea killer, and is supposed to work well from what I read online. The theory behind the Borax and Salt is that it will dry the fleas and eggs out. Thereby killing them.



So, I am going multi-phased. Mixing it all together and putting it down real heavy. If one doesn't do it, the other will. Hopefully it will be a 1-2-3 punch that TKOs the darn fleas.

So, all the cats got flea sprayed. The kittens got a bath in flea shampoo and witch hazel. Sister doesn't like the flea spray at all. Starts foaming at the mouth and all that. I think she is allergic. Get that crap off the kittens so Sister can do her mothering thing. The witch hazel is an Astringent - makes the flea bites feel better. So the kittens should get some relief from their antagonizers, hopefully a good meal, and a good nap. I tell you what, the Witch Hazel works great on my flea bites - I think I am going to keep the stuff around for mosquito bites as well!




Kittens all ate - they all took two meals by bottle. Half a bottle between the three of them for both meals. Not to bad, best feeding so far. The sick one is really weak again. I hope the two meals will tide him over till morning.

I even remembered to feed myself tonight. I ate one of my 3/$1.98 pizzas I got from Elgin Fresh Market. It was just a cheese pizza. I added Pepperoni and onions to it. Was going to add mushrooms, but it's just not big enough for a can of mushrooms.



Everybody is all fed, bottoms all wiped. Time for me to get some sleep. I am exhausted.

Cat and Mouse,,,, er... Kitten

Sister let me sleep most of Monday night. Well, most of the way - until 6am or so. Then, surprise, kitten in bed with me. OK, two can play at this game Sister. I pet sister a bit, and she lays down. Kitten starts to nurse. I get the other two kittens and give them to her. We all slept till the alarm clock went.


^ Video of the kittens in bed. ^

Sister started a new game for lunch time. Hide and Seek. She will hide a kitten in an irresponsibly stupid spot where she can not get the kitten out. I have to find it. I found the kitten behind a tub, in a corner of the closet. There was no way for sister to get it out, and it couldn't get itself out. I couldn't actually see the kitten, I had to use the video camera to 'look' down the hole. Well sister, that closet is now off limits too.

So, I get home from work. Tend to kittens, turn on AC, lay down on couch around maybe 8, sleep until 5am. I climb into bed for the rest of the night.



I don't know how parents do it. This up all night tending to little ones is gonna drive me to drinking or something.

Kitten Update

Well, I have been up all night kitty sitting.
Everybody got a bath. They all musta smelled so bad from flea stuff that mom wouldn't get close to them. She will spend some time with them now.

Everybody got a couple of rounds with the bottle. The sick one maybe got a few cc's, not near enough but the kitten has seemed to perk up. I am going to give that kitten my best go - it just seems to want to survive.

Got some more pics.




Well, one last go at changing of the diapers so to speak, and passed the bottle around. Everyone got a good chug-chug. Sick kitty gave me a good 5 seconds of hard eating. The best effort from that kitten so far.



It's late. i am tired. Hopefully sister leaves the kittens in the dryer where I put them for the night. I just washed all the kitten bedding, and sister has been scoping the dryer out for weeks. I will leave them in there for the night, and take them out in the morning. It's a long jump down, don't need a broken neck when she moves them again.

Kittens

Let me tell you. Kittens are a pain!

First up, the photo I promised you all.


This would be 2-3 hour old kittens. I Photoshoped the images so you could see the
kittens against the dirty red icky nasty towel. Funny, all the girls that saw the original had no problems with it but the guys...


It has been one fight after the other.

Brother had picked up fleas from one of his midnight visitors. Right through the screen. I had been trying some natural remidies - such as dusting the cats with garlic powder. Not sure that worked all that well, but...

Anyway. I got some flea spray over the weekend before Sister had her kittens. This seemed to work pretty well. Well, after wrestling with each of the cats, they quite itching for a few days. Kittens come along. I didn't think anything of it - but come this weekend, the kittens were just crawling in fleas.

Now what.

Well the flea spray says not to use on kittens under 12 weeks of age. Doesn't give a reason why - I imagine it's to horrible to put on the bottles.

Turn to the internet.
Bath in dawn. Ok, I can try that. Friday night. Bath in Dawn. Dry kittens off. Man where they pissed. Friday morning. Still fleas. Not so many this time. Another bath in Dawn. Bath water comes out red - so many flea bites that the kittens are bleeding pretty bad.

Went out Friday with a friend from college for the 4th. Come home. Kittens are missing. Search house. Find kittens - on the floor in the kitchen. Ok, Sister, used up all the good hidey-holes?

Friday night. Sister wakes me up several times with a kitten in my bed. I check the kitten. No fleas, to speak of, one or two. The dark orange kitten is really not doing very well at all.

Saturday. Go to walmart to look to see what I can find for kittens, and to do weekly grocery shopping. Find skip-flea shampoo. Not for use in kittens under 12 weeks of age. By this time, desperation is setting in. Notice kitten formula and bottles. So distracted by kitten plight, I leave without getting groceries. Give kittens bath in flea shampoo. Stuff seams to really work. Kittens seam really pissed now. Sister moves kittens again.

Saturday night. Sister brings kitten a couple of times in the middle of the night again. Tough to get sleep with Sister waking me up to tend to baby. Feel helpless - nothing else I can do for it that I know of.

Sunday. Sickly kitten looking really weak. Afraid for it's life. Walk to walmart to get kitten formula. I raise a blister on my right foot from all the walking I have been doing lately. No bottle. Darn. Limp home. Get in truck. Drive to walmart to get baby bottle. Spend more in gas then in bottle. Get bottle, formula, and new digital camera, as all I can find is my cell phone, and as already discussed, it takes lousy kitten photos.

New camera is a movie camera.


It can take a movie in the dark. Here is Sister and her three kittens. The light orange fluff ball is doing well. The dark kitty is so-so. The dark orange kitten in the way very back is the one that is very sickly.

So. I try to feed kittens. HA! Kittens will have nothing to do with the formula or bottle. Minor flea issue. Another flea bath. Internet says sometimes it take a few tries to get all the fleas. Try bottle agian. Nope. Sister gives bottle a try. She likes it out of the bottle. Leave excess in bowl for her. Won't touch it out of a bowl.

Bed time. 1 am. Work night. I am tired, my foot hurts because I wore a hole right through the padding in my shoe at the heal. Off to sleep I go.

2:30 am. You ever get woken up by having a cold, wet kitten dropped into the small of your neck? Sick kitty VERY weak. Try to fead it milk. Nothing. Try to feed it water. Nothing. Put it back to bed with the others.

4:30 Kitten is beside me in bed. Try to feed it. Nope - won't have it.

5:30 Kitten is now in bed with me again. Try to feed it. Can't even force feed it. Tries to drown itself first. Put kitten back.

5:45 Get kitten again. Ok. New tactic. Kitten is gonna die anyway. BOMB the kitten with flea spray. Spray on TP to wipe it's face. Found all the fleas. No wonder it doesn't want anything put it it's face. It's all fleas! Work kitten over good with flea spray. Fleas fleaing everywhere. Brother is sleeping it tub. No fleas there.

6:00 Get dark kitty. Hrmm, musta finally did the right thing on real sick kitty, Sister wants me to treat the not-so-sick kitten. Get paper towel, wipe down face with flea spray. Fleas running everywhere. Vengeance is mine fleas! Kittens liable to get cancer or something like that, but you fleas wont get them.

7:30, alarm clock goes off. Sister let me sleep an hour and a half. Tend to shower. Tend to kittens. Still won't eat. Stubbern things. Sister looks to find new location for kittens. I open pantry closet door, put down towel under folding chairs, and leave for work.

Noon. Come home. Look for kittens. Only one. Huh? Search house. Find sick one in old spot. Looks dead - I guess sister moved kittens away from dead kitten. Pick it up to dispose of it. It moves and fusses. Not dead yet. Try to feed it. Nothing. Look for other kitten. In my closet, between some tubs, under some clothes. Sister couldn't have gotten in that nook to get it out. I try to feed it. Nope. Put all kittens in current hidey-hole.

6:30 pm. Get home from work. Dead kitten at front door. Scoop down to pick it up. Ice cold. About drop it as it lets out a bellar!

OK, tough little kitten. Give it my best shot at all it's nine lives. Run tap, get hot water. Fill plastic bag. Towel. Bottle. 1 hour of feeding, 5cc. Probably most of it is in the towel. Kitten finally settle down to comfortable sleep.

Check on health of other kittens. Try to feed the fat one. Nothing. Check for fleas. yep. Do the face trick, rest of body. DIE FLEA SCUM!
Check on dark one. Try to feed. It INHALES the half an ounce of watered down formula that's left in about 10 seconds flat. Hrmm. Hungry kitten. Give flea facial, and flea bath.

Observations. Fleas suck!

I have yet to see sister with her kittens tonight. I am wondering if she has quite nursing? The healthy one is growing, so I don't think that's the case. Gonna feed kittens formula anyway.

Did I mention that fleas suck?

Sick kitten sleeping comfortably on hot water baggie. Time to feed myself.

Kittens

Sister had her kittens this morning.
I woke up to quite a surprise!

Let me lay this out for you. I have a bed frame that I put storage tubs under. Monday, I had to access some stuff in one of them, so I had two of them pulled out, one stacked on top of the other. This was next to my bed.

Sister, the breaker of tradition that she is, decided to have her kittens on what is essentially a table top - the top of the tub next to my bed.

So, I wake up to see Brother sitting on the tub, staring at Sister. I was a tad confused until I counted cats. 1 - 2 - 2 and a quarter. Oh, I got a kitten head on the tub. By the time I get up and over to the tub, the kitten is born.

Go Sister!

So now, sister is doing her thing - not to bad for a first time mom. I am coaching her. 1) Like I know what I am talking about. HA! 2) Like she can understand me anyway.

She stands up to great me good morning and gets a little freaked out. There is a kitten attached to her. Sister still hadn't passed the afterbirth for that kitten, so the kitten was hanging on by the umbilical cord. This quite freaks sister out. She starts running around in circle chasing this little kitten who's 'hello' to the world is to basically get beat up by mom's knees. I had to stop sister and hold her down for a moment so she could reach around and touch the kitten.

It was quite funny. Guess you had to be there.

So, kitten is going to fall off of large flat surface. I go get the box I had prepped and stashed under the bathroom sink - where I had first thought Sister was going to give birth as she has been letting herself into the cabinet and scoping it out for a few weeks now. I hold the box up next to the tubs and in Sister goes. I scoop up kitten and it it goes too.

I go to take my shower, and do a head count when I am done. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. You can stop there Sister, really you can. One kitten to chew on the other.

So, I rearrange the room a couple of times trying to get sister, who is now in a large storage tub as the box seemed a bit cramped, a good ways 'up', and high enough that Brother can't get a vantage place to look down on her. As that seemed to make her nervous.

Brother was a good boy this whole time. Quite calm and relaxed. OK, he looked like he was exhausted! Goofy cat. Sister did all the hard work.

So, I get home from work over lunch to check on everybody. Sister meets me at the door like she usually does. 'Sister, why aren't you tending to your kittens!'. She runs over to the kittens and checks on them and looks at me like 'they are there'. I do a quick count. 1 - 2 - 3 little kittens in the tub. So, I fuss over the kittens and Sister and Brother too so he wouldn't get all jealous. Back to work I go.

I come home from work, and Brother and Sister meet me at the door again, like normal. Sister, are you such a bad mother?

Check on the kittens. Still 3. Good, I only have three cute as a button problems to deal with.

Anybody want a kitten? Cheaper by the quarter dozen!

So I fuss over the cats, and kittens, and go to the kitchen to make supper.

Home made bread - used up the partial bags of different flours I had. I am eating my stir fry i made and turn around when I hear a little 'mew'. Here sister brought a kitten into the dining room and was looking around for a place to hide it. I ask her what she is doing, and she puts it down it at my feet.

So, I go and fetch her tub with the other 2 kittens, and bring it into the dining room. She picks up her kitten, and in she hops.

So, I got a co-dependent mama cat who doesn't want to be in a room by herself.

I took some photos. They are terrible. I can't find my digital camera, so I took them with the cell phone. I also took some videos and uploaded them onto Youtube, but there is no sound. I will need to re-upload the videos at some point soon and see if I can get sound. When I get the photos de-uglified and the videos a wee bit louder, I will post them here.

Kitties went to the Vet

The Cats went to the vet on the first.
Talk about an April Fools joke for them!

They took it pretty well. They didn't seem to mind the crate much at all. Maybe because I leave one of them out for them to play in. They are used to it in a non-threatining way.


They where pretty good. Brother did NOT want his temperature taken. I can't say I blame him. They both fussed more about the thermometer then the actual shot.

Making a Cat Bed

My First Project on my new sewing machine. I decided to make a cat bed for the cats. I don't have a pattern, so I will make it up as I go along.

Here is my new sewing machine and the fabric I picked out for making the cat bed. I set it up on a folding table I got in college.

I made up the sides as a single long piece of fabric. Here you can see the batting I am adding to the sides. I am using quilt batting as it is flat and I can roll it up and shove it in the side.

Here is the side made up.

Here I am sewing up the bottom. Round and Round I went, I think I went around this thing about 4 times playing with my new machine.



Here I am making the pattern for the bottom. I am using a sheet of butcher paper. It's the only large paper I have in the house as I don't read newspapers.

I folded the paper in half, and halfed that and halfed that, etc. until I had this little wedge. A single cut gave me a perfect circle shape.

Here is the pattern on my fabric. I have the fabric doubled up so I can cut the top and bottom at the same time.

SNIP SNIP SNIP. I have a nice circle cut out now.



Here is the sewn up bottom. I cut out a couple of layers of batting for the bottom smaller then the fabric.

Here is the finished cat bed. Looks pretty sharp, eh?

Here is the bottom view. I know the cats would drag this thing around until they find a place they want it at, so I tried to make the underside look decent as well as the top.

Hrmmm... Design flaw. I don't think Sister will fit into it comfortably.

Sister doesn't know what to make of it.

If I push hard, I can get Brother to fit. Back to the drawing board, I need to make this bed about half again as large.

The Mean Kitty Song

So my mom loved the prior YouTube video I posted about the bad cat. She sent me this video. It is pretty good to.

Brother in the Mornings

This video says it all.

Oh brother, where art thou?

Brother, my cat, just LOVES to go outside. The street on live on is pretty busy, and there is a lot of traffic in the parking lot here, so I don't let the poor deprived feline out.

Well, he got out today, I was moving my plants into the house so I could paint, and he literally jumped right over me to get out!

It doesn't seem that I am all that bad at cat-herding. Maybe I found my life calling?

Sister locked me out of the house today!

My cat 'Sister' locked me out of the house today!

I was working on repainting a new bike for a friend of mine so I was in and out all morning. Sister here was playing with the door knob, and when I went to come in to the house, I about walked right into the door!

Pretty smart for a cat, lock out the hand that feeds her!

Kitty take bath

No photos tonight, just a funny story.
The kittens loved sleeping up in the passthru, right? Well, they haven't been up there in a couple of weeks that I have seen. I moved the boxes that they used to get up there. I figured it was safe to put the tank up there.

WRONG

Katie was making dinner tonight, and I was in the kitchen, slowing her down. The Kitchen door was closed with the cats in the living room. We heard a SPLOOSH! Turn around, and Brother (my male kitten) is in the kitchen, along with about half an inch of water from the microtank. Well, this seemed an opportune time to give Brother a bath. In he went. It took about 3 seconds of doing the backfloat before he realized it was wet. He laced me pretty good! Down my wrist and across my palm.

He is so nice and soft and silky now.

Kitten Photos

 Here is what I come home to every day. The kittens up in the passthru between the kitchen and the living room. They LOVE it up there, and insist on knocking everything I put up there down. Won't they be surprised when I build a fish tank to fit up there!


 Here the two of them are sitting in a chair.


 I was trying to cook some seasoned fries. They look good don't they?


 But the Kittens had to be underfoot. Litereally! They curled up between my feet and passed out.

You can send presents anytime!

  Thanks mom for the presents! I LOVE the crocks. Katie says you have good taste. I just can't decide what I want to put in them. I have to get batteries for the pepper grinder. I think that will stay right next to the stove. I tried the cake pan, but burnt the brownies. I haven't found the box with my timer in it yet, so I kinda winged it, and got distracted. Oh well, next time, right?


  Anyway, I used the boxes from your presents to make a Kitten Castle. There are several rooms inside, and this neat, recessed 2nd floor entrance onto a balcony. Of course they LOVED the boxes before I made them into the castle.


 Aren't they cute?


  They seem to like me, I wander from room to room they are usually about 30 seconds behind me. Wanting to be in the same room, but in typical feline fashion, pretending not to.


The naming contest is still open, leave a comment with name ideas. They are currently being called 'Brother' and 'Sister', so you only have a little while before they stick.
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