Conference misery::feline_v1

    
    ONE ADDITIONAL NOTE.........
    
    Jan Brown is Stripes new mom in N.H.
    Sorry, hon I couldn't remember your last name!!!!!!!!
    
    Best of Luck on the new adoption.......
    
    

    Jan...
    
    Congrats on the newest addition!!  I can't wait to meet him!
    
    MaryAnne

So far Stripe is everything we could have wished for -- and more!

He has demonstrated his understanding of the purpose of a litter box, which
we didn't expect from a feral cat!  

He thinks brushing is one of the nicest things a person could do for him,
he particularly likes the way it makes his handsome "tuxedo" coat shine.

He knows that people are for cuddling and purring at, although we have a 
slight difference of opinion on the joys of being held in a person's arms.

I know he's dying to meet the rest of the "family", he says his private
room is warm and sunny but it just doesn't have the excitement that the
company of other cats offers!  He's off to the vet Wednesday night for his
shots and all that, once he's certified healthy we'll start the introductions.

We haven't asked him how he feels about being required to "give up his manhood",
I can only assume he'll take it with his usual decorum.

It's starting to get hard to keep track of everybody, but then again we like
a challenge (current headcount is 11 cats and 3 dogs)!!

Jan   

"We haven't asked him how he feels about being required to "give up his manhood",
I can only assume he'll take it with his usual decorum."
    
    Jan -
      If he's anything like my x-ferals he'll be more than happy to give
    up his manhood in exchange for a warm loving household with lots
    of food and cuddles!
    
    And it IS surprizing that they knowactly what that box is for.
       Nancy DC
    

    
    
    ******* OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm so happy for Stripe!  And the
    best to you Jan and your BIG family.  I was missing him, when he left,
    but it's better knowing he "has a home!"  I wish and hope and pray, I
    can get his brother Blacky-Boy and his Adopted brother Grey-Boy to a
    wonderful home, such as yours.  I look forward to stopping in your area
    to visit and hope all will go well with his shots.
    
    					Carol Weston, Stripes Past Dudley
    					Road's Mom........
    
    

Stripe wasn't too sure about getting back into the carrier, but all in all
he took it pretty well.

He thought Dr. Janet was nice as she petted him, complimented him on how
handsome he is, looked at his eyes and mouth and listened with her stethescope.
He thought she was getting a bit rude when she started feeling his insides,
especially when she got around to his "naughty bits".

He started to squirm when she insisted on digging all the ear mites/crud out
of his ears, and the last straw was the ear drops!  He never tried to scratch
or bite, and in fact never said a word either; but he squirmed and shook his
head mightily.  What a well-behaved little boy, a real trooper.

He couldn't believe it when this nice lady vet then started poking holes in
him for blood tests (negative for feline leuk. and feline aids, hooray!) and
vacinations (distemper, rabies, etc.).  You should have seen him glare at me
once I got him home, I was in BIG TROUBLE.

But he behaved very well and except for the ear mites seems to be in perfect
health.  On our vet's advice we won't be introducing him to the rest of the
family until after he is neutered (Mar. 28 when he'll get his feline leuk.
vaccination and another distemper), but at least if the quarantine is broken
accidentally it won't be a medical problem.

Now we get to deal with toenail clipping and earmite medication, I get all
the fun jobs...


Jan

Gee, Jan, there's always room for one more, eh?  You guys are so incredible!!

Would you mind stopping over and trimming Robin's toenails for me??  Or does
someone have some steel mesh gloves I can borrow???

Give Scooter a hug for me!

Mary

    Jan - did the vet say anything about upper respiratory infections?
    I agree with keeping him away from the others for a while.  That
    will give any cold he has a chance to clear up.
      Glad to hear he's in such good shape.
      Nancy DC

Nancy, we didn't discuss URI's specifically because there are no symptoms
to indicate he has anything.  I've had him a week now and he hasn't sneezed,
coughed, etc. yet!  

I would expect to have seen something by now for those sorts of medical 
problems, it's the "hidden" illnesses that only show up by blood test in 
the early stages that I usually worry about.  Since those were negative, 
once we find out about whether he has worms or not I assume it would be 
medically safe to make introductions.

The vet did caution me about introducing him around before he's been neutered;
he doesn't have THAT smell yet and she felt that the need to earn a place in
the hierarchy could well trigger the hormones into action.  We'll just wait
I guess, or then again I feel sorry for him being alone and might just take
my chances!


Jan

    Jan,
    
    Make sure you clean those ear mites up before you introduce Stripes. 
    Otherwise, you'll be doing ears for 10, or is it 11 or 12 or.....
    
    Also, be very careful about disposing of anything you use to clean his
    ears.
    
    cin
    

    HI!!!!!! JAN, it's Carol ........ Weston
    
    So glad to read about Stripes good check-up and I hoping he'll be with
    your gang soon.  I hope all will go well, and I just could tell he
    yearned for a home and doing so well at the vets, does amaze me.  Send
    him a warm hug for me..............and by the way, can I remind ya for
    a picture?  His ex-mom is keeping a collection, of the past adoptees.
    
    So glad to hear!!!!!!!!!
    
    				Carol meow!!!!!!!!!!!! Stripe!
    
    

Now we get to the bad news -- Stripe is "riddled with roundworms", according
to the vet's assistant.  Groan, now we have to keep him isolated for about
two months until we're sure that is cleaned up -- I definitely don't want
to wind up treating the whole rest of the household.

One advantage to a feral cat is that when you advance upon him with what is
obviously a bottle of medicine, he DOESN'T RECOGNIZE IT!  This little cutey
climbed into my lap for cuddles and purrs, and was ever so surprised when I
gently (but firmly) pried his mouth open and stuck in the eyedropper.  It was
all down the hatch before he even knew what was going on.  Of course I was
someone to be avoided for the rest of the day 8^(

Other than that he's doing fine, only took him a week to figure out that an
upholstered chair in his room is good for sitting on.  He has been stretched
out on the "cold, hard" floor until now, completely ignoring the chair.  Since
I don't really want my cats on the "good" furniture in the rest of the house
I haven't done anything to encourage him; guess I'll deal with that when the
time comes.

And he is just starting to feel comfortable enough to play -- he looked sooo
embarrassed when my husband walked in his room and caught him playing with a
catnip toy!  Before this he would just look at us when we tried to play, 
willing to be cooperative but having no idea what to do (or not feeling safe
enough?).

Now, I just have to remember to buy film and take those pictures....


Jan

    Jan, the playing part reminds me of Nikki.  When I first got him
    as a feral, I would catch him playing with "Mr. Furry" when no one
    was looking.  If we walked into the room, he would stop dead in
    his tracks.  A couple times I tried throwing a ball to him, and
    he bolted away thinking I was trying to hit him with it.  Now, two
    years later, he plays like a kitten, and is not afraid of his toys.
    
    Glad to hear that Stripe is doing well!
    
    --Roberta
    

    SORRY Jan, you have to deal with this ring-worm.  I hope things will
    clear up fast.  Never really have dealt with that, makes me nervous
    about my Scruffy, cause the strays hang around.  Too bad Stripe will
    have to be alone............  but it sounds like he's into playing a
    bit and I know he'll really appreciate that.  Sounds like he's adjusted
    to you well.  
    
    Keep up the great work with him...........very happy!
    
    						Carol W.  (stripe x)
    
    

Carol,

I think Jan said he had roundworms.  My Meg and all her kittens had them as
did Robin when I brought her in.  Robin the Vet said that it's very common
in cats that are fond of eating mice and the like.  It's also not uncommon
for Moms to pass it to their kids, and sometimes, the Mom shows no signs
until she has kittens.  That was the case with Meggy.  Fortunately, it's very
easily done away with and isn't nearly as awful as ringworm (unless you
gotta clean a bunch of them up of the floor......UCK!).

Good luck, Jan!

Mary

    YA!  ROUNDWORMS, NOT RINGWORM!!!  Big difference - I know.
    
    I'm not surprized, all our ferals had ear-mites (except christie),
    round worms, another sort of parasite that I can't remember the
    name of, fleas and Upper respiratory infections.  After we got all
    that stuff cleared up - Boy they hated to see us coming - we got
    to deal with the silly Ringworm.  Gawd!  We were sticking things in
    their ears and eyes and mouths for the longest times.  They were
    so good  :-)

>  That was the case with Meggy.  Fortunately, it's very
> easily done away with and isn't nearly as awful as ringworm (unless you
> gotta clean a bunch of them up of the floor......UCK!).
    
    BOY YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!  One morning I happened to see Bob
    use the box and I almost vomitted!  After I started to associate
    that potbelly look with the roundworms, I decided that Jesse MUST
    have roundworms because he'd been hunting outside for so long.
    So I called my vet.  Had to get a stool sample that came back
    negative which I just couldn't believe.  Well, the next morning
    Jesse was kind enough to throw up TWO roundworms  UGH!!! Which
    I promptly packaged up and left for the vet.  Showed them, I did!!  ;-)
    

    
    
    aaarrrrgghhh...thanks for the nice description....I *was* eating 
    my lunch ;^)
    
    
    So roundworms are visible to the human eye.......how big and what do
    they look like....a good part of nippa's diet is rodents (although i
    try to convince her it is not ladylike......) and she occasionally
    gets the pot bellied look - which indicated stool sample time.....
    
    but will round worms cause them to barf (if so, I think Icould be on to 
    something....)
    

Roundworms, when tossed up (sorry, luncheaters...) are about 2 inches long
(5 cm to our metric friends) and are sort of cream-ish in color.  They look
like very thin cooked spaghetti broken into 2-inch pieces.

Uck...I think I'll go read a techie notes file while my lunch makes up its
mind...

Mary

Okay you guys, cut it out with the gross descriptions.  This is what always
happens when we watch a Nature show during dinner -- just as we start the
enjoyment of dinner, they start describing how the mommy bird regurgitates
the food for her babies or how ...

YUCK!!

8^p

Stripe, by the way, has shown no disgusting symptoms and produced no disgusting
output -- quite the little gentleman he is!

We did decide last night that he's very smart, he knows by the sight of the
little bottle that it's time to clean out his ears and have drops squirted in.
And that is most definitely not his idea of fun!  He struggled a bit but didn't
really get serious about it, no attempts to rip off my arm with his back claws
(as some of his brothers and sisters have tried during similar procedures), no
biting, just a lot of wiggles.  We'll both survive.


Jan   

    re: roundworms - I've seen them longer than 2 inches - I'd say 4-5
    inches.  10 - 13 cm.
    
    re: ears - I think its hardest to try and clean out a scottish folds'
    ears.  Their ears a smaller than a regular cats and both Dundee and
    Bonnie absolutely HATE to have anyone play with their ears.\
      N
    

Stripe had his day at the vet yesterday, and can now be addressed as IT!
He came through it just fine, perky as normal when I picked him up after work.
He does sit down a little carefully, but that's to be expected!

He seemed surprised when I let him out of his carrier back into his room, like
he couldn't believe he was getting to come back -- he walked around sniffing
everything, then settled into his chair contentedly.

Only six more weeks of quarantine!!!


Jan

    
    HI! JAN,,,,,,,,,,BEEEN TOOO busey,
    
    I needed to check-up on Stripe, nice to see he's doing so much better!
    
    Could you tell me, how long a recuperation period do they give to
    MALES?
    
    I would like to neuter a couple of males in the neighborhood, just to
    stop them from spraying and hopefully get them adopted quicker.
    
    I think of Stripe, and do miss him coming to my door, I just loved his
    face!  Speaking of face!  Please!!!!!!!!!!! Can I have a picture of
    him?
    
    Carol..............297-6273
    
    

    Murdock was neutered on Monday... and recovered (from the anesthesia
    anyway) by Tuesday!  A neuter is a very simple procedure and the
    cat usually bounces back quite quickly.  T.K. was a neighborhood
    stray when I had him neutered.  I was instructed to keep him inside
    for a few days, but that was impossible to do.  I took him home
    from the vet after work one night, and he went right outside the
    next morning -- his decision!  Never suffered for it.  Once the
    hormones subsided, he became the perfect pet and companion.
    
    Go for it Carol!  Through Friends of Animals, a neuter should cost
    no more than $30 or so, probably less.
    

    .24
    
    Thank you.......
    
    Will do, would like to neuter about 4 of them, at least two, right now.
    I was concerned about keepting them in.
    
    Thanks..........much easier than the females!
    
    Carol
    

Stripe went back to the vet last night, he has now developed (just since
Saturday!) quite a bald spot on the back of his head.

Doesn't look like ringworm according to the vet, and examination under the
microscope didn't show any microscopic "bugs"; she is growing a culture to
see if it is some type of fungus/bacteria and he's on antibiotics to avoid 
any additional problems.  It does look a little irritated, but we haven't
seen him scratching or acting in any way like it itches.

I think she's leaning toward declaring it an allergy but he is still in
quarantine for at least two more weeks until the culture growing is done; his
ear mites have finally cleared up and he should be over the roundworms (will
get test results on that today) -- we were looking forward to introducing him
to the rest of the menagerie!  I know he'll find life with 10 other cats and
the 3 dogs much more exciting than being confined to one room all by himself,
but he'll just have to wait a little longer...

I guess photos should wait until the hair grows back in, he looks like he's
preparing to enter a monastery and become a monk!



Jan

    Hi, Jan,,,,,,,,,,,
    
    Gee, I feel sorry that STRIPE has had such set-backs!  A Monk eh?
    He must look a little funny.  Poor fella, does he mind being alone?
    
    I look forward to a picture as soon as you can!  I'm making a book up
    of these guys and will wait for his...........
    
    I wish I could place more.....as I look in FELINERS there are so many
    to be adopted it's so hard!
    
    Well, give STRIPE a loveable hug for me and tell him I miss him and
    hope he gets better REAL SOON to pose for me, and meet his family.
    
    
    Carol
    
    

For anyone following the saga of Stripe from Dudley Road (Hi, Carol!), I wanted
to let you know that he has been successfully introduced to the rest of my mob.
He seems to be particularly friendly with our giant black cat Maxwell, maybe
they recognize their similar coloring (Stripe is a tuxedo cat while Max is just
about all black, only a few white chest hairs).

The introduction itself was a real yawn, I let him in the cattery and everybody
continued on with whatever mayhem they were up to at the moment.  One or two
wandered over to sniff, and stuck-up George had to make HIS feelings known by
giving the world's largest wetest hiss.  Stripe looked a little overwhelmed at
suddenly acquiring 10 brothers and sisters but he has adjusted well.

He is now eating very well, having a lot more mental and physical stimulation as
well as the competition of other cats to encourage him!  He still hasn't quite
gotten the idea that dinner is presented regularly -- everybody has their own
dish and location and they all run like mad to be standing there waiting when
I make it over with the food.  He tends to just watch -- but last night he
jumped down off the cat tree and wandered over toward his dish, just in case. 
The look he gave me when I plopped in the food was a real reward!

And I finally got him to PLAY.  Just once so far, but I was sticking my finger
tips up over the edges of the cat tree perch and he reached out and batted me,
then rolled around in pleasure so I could pet him.  A real milestone I think,
he is starting to indicate that play is an activity he'd like to do more of!

He hasn't met the dogs when they could actually touch him, but they seem to
reside quite peacefully on opposite sides of the wire; he only looks a little
panic stricken when one of them lunges to their feet and goes dashing out the
dog door!  Greyhounds are just not within the normal range of cat experiences!

We're all having fun, and look forward to becoming even more "cat-normal" as
time goes on.  Thanks to Carol for socializing him so well!


Jan  and_her_menagerie

    Hi! Jan.......
    
    I'M VERY HAPPY FOR STRIPE....will let my hubby know, how he's doing,
    this was Steve's favoite.
    
    I really feel that Stripe is ALOT happier with the gang, since he was
    usually around 6 - 10 others at any given time.  I have socialized a
    few more.  Plan on fixing them when I receive the certificates.  A
    couple to neuter.
    
    One of Stripes' brother, Blacky-Boy has been a sweet-heart to us, and
    he's not around alot lately, so I get worried.  Next time, I'm keeping
    him in and getting him to the vets, he's kind lathargic.  Got to get
    him neutered.
    
    Give STRIPE a warm hug for me, I miss his fur and his hugs, Blacky-Boy
    hugs the same way.
    
    I sure do hope though,,,,,,,,,,,,,,he's back with ALL HIS Fur so he can
    pose for a nice picture..........I looked forward to this picture,
    someday.
    
    "I Thank You - Jan" for saving Stripes' Life.........and giving him
    love and company, food and a good home, in which he deserves!"
    
    					Carol
    
    

    JAN.........
    
    Don't know if you still read this NOTE.  I've been away from DEC a long
    time.  The last assignment was extremely busey and then there was none. 
    I've had alot of terrible things happening within my family, lost my
    Dad recently too................ but!
    
    I did receive the LOVELY picture of Stripe!  and I've have  felt bad in
    not thanking you!  He looks so big!  I have a litter of 4, about 8
    months old, there is a "Little Stripy"---she reminds me of him, so
    much.  I haven't been on the ball to place any of them, again.  I 'm up
    to 9 cats again.  I need to get them place for their sake and my
    expenses.  I've kept them well fed, warm and loved.  Quite a few of
    them I have socialized quite well.  I'm even trying to talk my husband
    into keeping one or two.  We have Scruffy and she prett much takes care
    of herself.  I just know I'll have a new litter this year, cause Bright
    Eyes is non catch-able till I get rid of the rest and then I can try
    and cage her.
    
    Well-----------thank you once again, I've added Stripe's picture to my
    little book of my strays.  If your heart is big again, or you know of
    someone else's heart............please let me know and I'll be glad to
    give these kitties a home.
    
    Carol Weston