Recap: Thursday, December 17, 2015

LAPS:

Beetlejuice

• Bettlejuice was due to have surgery to remove his damaged eyeball today, but the vet’s office was busy today because some staff members were off sick. His surgery has been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Shiraz

• Foster Mom Jules had a short Periscope session with Shiraz today. Shiraz is still having some trouble walking, but she’s running and pouncing and getting more and more playful. She loves Temptations — and snuggling. Jules took her in to see Dr. Ferguson on Tuesday for a checkup. Shiraz’s spay surgery and tail removal is still on for December 22. Jules will be dropping her off at LAPS on December 21 so that they can take her in to Mountain View the next day. She’ll come back with Jules after that and if she does well recovery-wise, she’ll head to LAPS for good on December 26. Shiraz is about five years old. Jules noticed that Shiraz has a spot in her eye (my cat had a similar spot — Kitty) but Dr. F says it’s perfectly normal.
  

Christmas Decoration Kittens

• Alicia had her nightly Periscope with Star, Ribbon, Tinsel, Glimmer, and Bow. The kittens went to the vet yesterday — because of her work schedule, Alicia took the kittens to Mountain View (which is closer to her), where someone from LAPS then picked up the kittens to take them to Yorkson Creek Veterinary Hospital. Bow and Tinsel were treated for nausea, including getting subQ fluids. (Alicia will give them more tonight.) All of the kittens — but particularly Star and Ribbon — are showing minor signs of a URI so have eye drops and another medication to firm up their poop. They stayed overnight at LAPS and Alicia picked them and their meds up today. Star weighs 343 tonight (down 21 grams since Tuesday), Ribbon weighs 474 grams (up 47 grams), Tinsel weighs 601 grams (down 6 grams), Glimmer weighs 536 grams (down 35 grams), and Bow weighs 620 grams (up 15 grams).
  

Star Wars Litter

• Amy and Kayla had a visit with Amidala and the kittens at around 15:20 PST. Kayla made the mistake of bringing in some toys she’d bought for her own cats to show Amy — Amidala claimed a catnip-filled snake for her own and then proceeded to go crazy over it. A little too crazy, so maybe not so much catnip toy play in mama’s future. Several of the kittens hissed at the new toy.
• Interesting note: Luke, the largest of these kittens, is almost the same size as Star, the smallest of the older Christmas Decoration kittens, which gives you an idea of just how undernourished Star and her siblings were when they were brought in. Luke weighs 341 grams (up from 332 grams yesterday), Leia weighs 339 grams (up from 322 yesterday), Obi Wan weighs 263 grams (up from 250 yesterday), Han Solo weighs 327 grams (up from 304 yesterday), and tiny Chewy weighs 246 grams (up from 232 yesterday).
  
  (The Livestream recording has been posted on their Livestream page and is also embedded below along with the Periscope recording.)
  
  

TinyKittens HQ:

Cassidy

• Shelly posted a video of Cassidy seeing snow for the first time.
  
• Friday, Cassidy is going to Mountain View and under anesthesia they’re going to take more x-rays of his knees and try to get them into a better position and then get them splinted into a better angle before he wakes up. Shelly will be with him most of the day.

People for Happier Cats/TNR site:

General Notes

• Tomorrow is ringworm bath day.
  • Shelly will likely not be on site for that. Gwen may be in early to feed and give meds, but at the very least will be on hand by 10:00 for the start of the baths. (Not sure who else will be there.)
  • Gwen is going to try to keep Elf separated from the others after her bath long enough to get an “uncontaminated” sample for a PCR test (since Elf fluoresces the least of the four); she’ll also try to get a sample from Jingle, who fluroesces the most. Shelly wants to see what the results look like right after bathing (typically you’re supposed to wait several days after bathing to test) when tested in conjunction with the regular blacklighting Shelly’s been doing. Not a lot of experimentation is done “in the field” on ringworm like this (at least not where the results have been documented and shared) and Shelly’s hoping they can get additional data that might help them and others in the future. (This is one of the aspects of TinyKittens that inspires me the most, that Shelly wants to — and does– gather data and experiences to increase understanding of the lives of feral cats/kittens and the best ways to care for them.)
• Feral Arts by Ferals for Ferals
  • Shelly, Kimsies, and Gwen packed up and shipped out almost all of the Etsy orders for the special feral art note cards.
    https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1036249423093298&id=639268792791365
  • If you haven’t bought yours yet, there are still some sets available in the TinyKittens HQ Etsy shop. They are $25 US plus shipping for ten blank cards, and 100% of the proceeds go towards helping the feral colony.
• Mark Dixon Memorial: There will be a virtual memorial for Mark Dixon on Saturday in the TK Livestream chat at 15:30 PST.
  https://www.facebook.com/tinykittenscatpack/posts/893305337449361

Holly, Comet, Mistletoe, and Joy

• Suzanne visited in the late morning.
• Shelly visited at around 14:45. Gwen and Kimsies were cleaning up the other areas, in particular disinfecting the plastic items (like the nesting bins) so that they wouldn’t have to be done tomorrow during/after the ringworm baths.
• Kimsies visited after Shelly. There was a lot of snuggling and cuddling with Joy, Comet, and Holly. Not so much with Mistletoe, who hid in the carrier safety zone, but she’s still coming along in her socialization. Baby steps.
  
• Lawana visited at around 18:00 PST. She brought WD-40 to fix the squeaking doors and a wall clock so that people know what time it is. She put out more food, and played/cuddled with them all. Joy is very sneezy. Mistletoe didn’t come out of the carrier, but she did purr a lot for Lawana while being petted in there. Lawana doesn’t think she’ll be back for a visit again until the new year.

Ringworm Romper Room with Jingle, Elf, Nicholas, and Noelle

• Suzanne visited in the late morning.
• Shelly visited in the afternoon. (Kimsies was just finishing up cleaning, removing the plastics to clean, and assembling some cardboard boxes for the kittens.) Shelly gave all four kittens their meds. Nicholas’ URI is still ongoing. She wants to bring her stethoscope next time to listen to his chest as she can’t tell if the snarfling sound is chest congestion or purring combined with the nasal stuffiness. (Sounds chesty to me but cam audio could be deceiving.) Elf is doing really well at socializing once they get her into their lap. It’s getting her there without forcing her out of hiding that’s going to take some time. She’s the oldest kitten in the room and now the largest or nearly the largest. (Shelly’s had a hard time weighing her because she’s very squirmy.)
  
• Lawana visited at around 19:00 PST. She brought a clock for this room as well. She also replenished the food and administered cuddles and play time all around.

Kimsies’ videos and photos from TKHQ

Today’s video caps courtesy of Sara (Little Darling):

Tiny Kittens Suzanne visits with Jingle & Co

Tiny Kittens Shellys visit with Jingle & Co

Tiny Kittens Lawanas visit with Jingle & Co

[Page last updated: 2015/12/18 at 10:20 PST]