Purring Hurricanes

The past year.

2011-12-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

I adopted Sanouk. a lilac point siamese kitten for Forrest in July 2010. Forest and I had moved to our very first home of our own. Without the rest of my family nearby, Forest was lonely and I thought our family needed to grow some more. He loved Sanouk very much and loved to learn from his actions and lick him all over. I've never met two cats that liked each other as much as they did. With Sanouk, Forest learned how to stop biting- that biting actually hurts.

The following spring, I went out to dinner with a friend, I was gone an hour and came back to a house that wasn't the same as it was before I left. Forest was crying, loudly, and he never cries, so I knew that something was very wrong. When I found him, he was laying behind the washing machine- trying to hard to get out and his eyes were glued to mine. It was immediately clear to me that he couldn't get out and the machine would need to be moved, my friend moved it, I squeezed into the space and he crawled into my lap... dragging his hindlegs behind him. He had peed on himself With me where he wanted me to be, Forest purred. Heartbreaking when your little boy is in such pain and all he wants is his mom and to feel better.

I told Forrest to the emergency vet hospital where they diagnosed him with massive heart failure and no pulse in his hind legs. There was nothing they could do... and I had to hold his paw, look into his eyes and help him make the journey across the rainbow bridge.

Forest is now buried next to Abby, my burmese baby girl, on my parent's property, under a beautiful great mertle that blooms all summer and fall while attracting lots of butterflies and birds. Other than staying in my arms, he's in the safest place he can be.

Being fluffy makes it easy to forgive Forest

2009-11-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

Forest is many things, but one thing no one has ever not agreed with... is the fact that this cat is fluffy and when he walks, his tail fur plumes out behind him in such a manner that it is nearly impossible to resist petting him. This is a good thing for Forest, because it makes it easy to forgive him when he does things he shouldn't.

So, what does Forest do that requires forgiving? He has a tendency to give me black eyes in the morning when he jumps on my eyes to get me to wake up, feed him, and play with him. If jumping on my eyes isn't an option, he'll bite 'till I bleed- it's his way of getting what he wants RIGHT now. In recent weeks, he's figured out to get some of the things he wants... without my assistance. He now knows how to open drawers and tightly sealed containers to obtain all of his favorite things... such as bread, muffins, my watch, my hearing aid, and my glasses. Once something has been obtained, he hides each item in a separate spot. The food is just because he wants to eat it, my hearing aid, glasses, and watch... he takes and hides those because knows that those are 3 things I never leave my house without. So, if he's got them, he figures I'll have to stay home with him. There are other people in this house... but I am the only one that receives this treatment from Forest.

Yep, it sure is a good thing that this little cat is so fluffy and that when he's nice, I feel so loved that I tend to forget and forgive his transgressions on my body, possessions, and food. He knows he's my cat, and he's made sure that I know he's mine. :-) Forest... you just gotta love him.

Moving towards normal

2009-08-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

After Forest was neutered at nearly 7 months old, many things changed overnight. All of which, I'd consider major, simply because of how dramatic each change was.

When he was neutered, he was just over 3 pounds and his growth rate was averaging a quarter of a pound a month.

When the vet technician brought him out and talked with me about how to take care of him and what to expect in the future since his body chemistry was now permanently altered, she told me that he wasn't going to grow anymore and that he needed to go off of kitten food so he wouldn't become highly overweight.

I, of course, did not do the diet change. I had spent so many months just getting him to eat and get to his current fat (but really pathetically skinny) weight, that weight gain would be welcome. There was no way I was going to tamper with Forest's slow upward climb away from constant uncertainty of his staying alive. And since Forest has always confounded doctors and people who have raised an extraordinary number of cats, sometimes it is best to just go with your gut.

So what happened? The plain and simple answer is, Forest started growing. Today, at a year and 2 weeks old, Forest now weighs 7.3 pounds.

And after much trial and error, I've found an adult cat food that agrees with him. Purina Indoor Cat is one that he'll eat and where I can definitely see an improvement in his mental and physical health. Interestingly, when I first started bringing home lots of bags of cat food, I let him smell the bags and would open the one that he paid attention to the most. In the end, the bag that he ultimately showed the most interest in, was Purina Indoor Cat. It makes me wonder how many bags I would have gone through if I had simply bought them all at once and kept only the one he showed the most interest in.

Before I move away from talking about food, I'd like to mention that Forest continues to go crazy over potato bread and he still occasionally gets home cooked food like turkey bits and juice, and cooked salmon.

Several other things changed after Forest went under his little snip-snip procedure. Forest stopped meowing and learned how to bite. And when I say he learned how to bite, I mean BITE with capital letters, because he would bite so hard that he'd end up drawing blood. My hands, arms, and feet are covered in healed, or still healing battle wounds. Why did this start? I was given doses of painkillers to give Forest at set time intervals and the biting always increased the closer time would tick towards his next dose. I am sure he was in pain and wanted to tell me that so that I'd fix it.

After he healed, the biting didn't go away, my family and I tried so many techniques, but nothing worked. It basically became one of those things you learn to live with. It was something I was sure would go away over time, perhaps after I got my own place and could get a little friend for Forest.

Anyway, I took him to the vet on Saturday because his ears were red, hot, and had black stuff in them. I had been trying to resolve it by cleaning his ears often. But since my efforts had no lasting effect, after two weeks, I decided that he needed a trained professional's assistance. Two weeks was way long enough. The vet, diagnosed him with ear infections. His ears were deeply cleaned, and so very gently- I was impressed. I left with a special solution to clean his ears with, medicine drops to put in them, and an oral antibiotic. The result has been nearly instantaneous. His ears are no longer pink, they are clean, and he seems so much happier.

The most amazing change has been the fact that since his vet visit, he has not bitten me or anyone else. Normally, every day, I'd get roughly 170 bites. Waking up to a purring cat is much much better. The vet visit and drugs cost me close to $300, but it was worth it. This just makes me wonder if he's had these ear infections for much longer than I was aware of a problem with his ears. I try hard to listen and pay attention to Forest, but there are some days that I wish that he was really able to communicate.

Speaking of communication, Forest may not meow any longer, but he has learned how to get my attention and tell me what he wants when he wants something. When he wants bread, and I've got a kitchen drawer open, he'll jump up on it and walk around and around the edge of the drawer. Or if he wants to be held, he'll stand up on his hind legs and stretch his paws up my leg and kneed until I pick him up. He now even brings me some of his toys so that I'll use them to play with him.

My mom says that there was a reason Forest came into my life, I needed to be needed, and to have a challenge, and Forest needed massive amounts of TLC fine tuned just for him.

I'll be posting photos of this very fine boy, very soon.

Mini Update

2009-06-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

One of these days I'll find time to do a real update, but this little bitty bit will have to be enough for now.

Forest is still with me. He's very fluffy, does a good job cleaning himself now. He's also eating dry food and these days it is only on an occasional basis where he gets spoiled with potato bread and cooked meats. He's a nice hefty 7 pounds now and he's still growing. He may just be the world's slowest growing cat. :-)

In less than a month, Forest and his siblings will be a year old. It feels like just yesterday that I was bottle feeding them, teaching them how to eat real food and to use the litter-box.

Little Forest and I are on the road most weekends to visit people up and down the east coast. He's a fabulous traveller and loves meeting resident cats to play with.

When I eventually buy a place of my own, Forest will very likely obtain a foster friend. In my present living arrangements, I'm not currently allowed to have more cats than Forest.

Tricking a Picky Eater

2009-03-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Forest is a picky eater, he always has been- even when he was nursing from the bottle. To get this little boy to get enough calories in him, I had to feed more often and supplement his diet with Nutri-Cal for a long time.

I've heard people say that it is harder to get a cat to lose weight than it is to get them to gain. I disagree with this vehemently. When you have a picky eater, or a kitty that is not well, they lose weight, and fast. And the amount of time you have to fix whatever is wrong, shrinks with every ounce lost. I'd much rather have a fat cat than a skinny one.

For months, Forest was on wet Prescription A/D. It was the only food he could keep down fairly well (threw up once a day, rather than after every meal) and which he'd eat. I tried many, many different types of foods, warming it, chilling it, watering it down, and etc. It was so very frustrating have a little kitten that just wouldn't grow or get fat at all. When you think of a kitten, the image of one where you can feel each and every bone in his or her body and your own fingers through their gut is not one that comes readily to mind.

For the most part, Forest's diet is called, "If he'll eat it, he can have it." As with anything, Forest is not allowed to eat just anything at all, not everything is good for a cat to eat, and many can actually be detrimental to their health.

I've had experience with picky eaters and low weight cats, but I can honestly say that the support I've gotten from other volunteers at Fancy Cats greatly helped me with Forest. They've given me many techniques and names of foods to try, and sometimes even food. Having people I can call with any questions I might have, whether it is food related or not, has been a great benefit of being part of this rescue group. My stress on whether I'm doing things right is much lower than it otherwise would be.

Little Forest is quite spoiled and well loved in my family. He eats multiple little meals throughout the day. My mother makes turkeys just for him and will save a little portion of meats she makes for the rest of the family for him (his portion never contains spices of any kind).

Forest loves my mom's turkey and will cry and cry for some more of it, but I really don't want him to eat turkey and human food as a regular part of his diet. I really want him to get onto a normal cat diet.

Thus, with Forest's addiction for turkey and my own determination and creativity, a means of giving both of us what we want has been devised.

With this handy product, which is SODIUM FREE, all I have to do is add water and Forest gets the flavor he wants, and I get to get him to eat cat food. When I first started adding this flavored water to Forest's food, I had to drench the food in it, but over time I've been decreasing how much I put in. Now I've gotten to the point where he'll look at me and I'll just have to spray the food I want him to eat (with a water bottle filled with the chicken flavored water) and the initial flavor will be enough to get him moving along with eating the cat food. As far as cat food, he currently only eats Baby Cat, which has tiny kibble. This is the only brand of cat food he is willing to eat right now.

Hat Gear

2009-03-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Hat gear for Forest. He didn't fit in this at Halloween, so now that his head is the right size, he's making up for lost time.

I rather like the horns and was amazed at how fine he was about something being strapped to his head. You can see from the chin strap that even though the hat fits, it is still a tad large for him, but that's okay since it gives his ears more room to twirl about.

Sometimes you just can't pass up things in the dollar bin at Target. Forest in his little horn covered hat sure made me smile. Especially when he was playing with it on and "rushing" towards a toy like a little rhino.

Forest Gump is a Cat Model

2009-02-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

Forest Gump is now a cat model! His photograph won a contest which is hosted by Staff for Cats (Dogs have masters... Cats have Staff!)

The excitement of Forest's photo gaining recognition inspired me to take more photographs of Forest. He was a very good sport about getting dressed up for this latest photoshoot...

There are a surprising number of contests for pet owners out there.

A Big Fat Easy Button

2009-02-14T08:01:00.000-08:00

Little Forest has a very interesting way of perceiving life. Forest has the idea that body parts are separate creatures that are not part of a whole.

He believes my left hand is another kitty that can play with him. He's always ignored my right hand, probably because up-until Wednesday I had a brace on it and haven't used it much. But anyway, he'll randomly decide to play hide and seek, and while pretending he's the seeker he'll pounce on my left hand and arch his body into the defense attack stance (where a cat tucks in their chin, puffs up their fur, turns sideways a little) and stand up on his hind legs and bat at my hand with both of his forearms.

And no... I don't encourage this, I've never played with cats with my hands because I believe it promotes cats thinking that hands are for biting and playing with. But Forest just perceives the world differently than any other kitty I've ever had.

He's the only one I've ever had that I have been unable, thus far, to teach the word "no" to. And when he gets something fixed in his head, it stays for a long time. An example of this... is that it took me to the middle of November to teach him to consistently use the litter-box (which he now uses perfectly).

He thinks his tail is not his, that it is a weird moving feather following him. I'll be holding him so he's facing me with his butt vertical to his head... and he'll look me in the eye and always... always notice his tail is moving underneath him and appear shocked that something fluffy is moving. He doesn't know that his tail, is his tail. He plays with it a lot.

What's very different for me is learning that to Forest, my nose is one big fat easy button. When I'm sleeping and Forest wants to eat or play, or just wants me to be awake, he'll take his paw and press my nose so I wake up. It doesn't matter how I hide my head to try to sleep longer, he'll stick his paws under whatever is covering my face (my pillow... my arm... etc...) and wave them around until he hits my nose. And he seems to know without seeing my face where my nose is... and whether or not he's hit it yet... because after he has, he'll just sit there next to me, quietly looking at me until I look at him back.

And yes, I fully agree with Forest, my nose does seem to be an easy button... because I do wake up when it gets pressed by him.

A Fatter & Healthier Forest Gump

2009-02-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

Little Forest is still teeny-tiny, but most days he gets a tad fatter. Or if he's "lost weight," his average weight is still either constant or growing.

This is not to say that he doesn't have his bad days, because he does. He's still a picky eater and is prone to throwing up. He's still being fed 4 times a day. Today, the scale registered his weight as 3.8 lbs.

This "high" weight was a very happy surprise and shows me that I'm right in that he can still continue to improve... and he is just "slow" at growing physically and mentally.

The photo above show how nicely "fat" Forest is getting. His fur is filling out nicely, with how fluffy it is becoming, it hides the appearance of his true (low) weight and size.

And this last photograph shows much older Forest is starting to look... he looks a little less like a kitten and more like a young adult cat (which he sort of is). I say sort of, because I measure time a lot slower with this little boy. It took him months to learn things his brother and sister picked up in the 8 some weeks I had them. It took half a year for him to learn how to clean his face. So I do believe that I measure age and time for Forest differently than I would for any other cat. I just hope that this translates to him having a long life.

Remembering Abby on her Birthday

2009-02-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

This is one of my most favorite photographs of Abby. Today would have been her birthday.

The Internal Medicine Specialist

2009-01-21T15:59:00.000-08:00

Forest Gump @ 3.2 lbs (1/21/2009)

A scene that will stay with me forever is how I learned Forest hates needles. Poor baby was having a wonderful time at the vet's office exploring and playing until he was taken away to have his blood drawn. When he came back, his teeny little hind leg was all wrapped up and he ran away from the technician and into his carrier. He poked his head out of it after a minute and when he saw me, he cried and ran under my legs so I'd hold him.

I telephoned the Internal Medicine specialist's office today. Forest's lab work came back as being perfect. Additionally, he tested negative for being a dwarf.

The specialist says the next step would be to go to rarer tests to see if Forest is able to process certain enzymes correctly. There is research being done at a children's hospital in PA on growth problems in felines- in the hopes of helping human children eventually. The only problem is that even if they can figure out which enzyme Forest is not able to process (if this is even the problem), there aren't many that they can supplement or treat. The test costs around $50, not including collection and shipping fees of Forest's urine.

Otherwise, depending on how far we want to pursue figuring out what the problem is, they could put an endoscope down through Forest's throat and digestive system to take biopsies and take a closer look at his insides. It would cost around $1,200 to just take a look. The vet wasn't sure they'd even find anything because of how good his blood work and x-rays were.

Forest is just an odd little boy, even to a vet specialist. As the vet said, there is obviously something going on with him because of his slowness to grow physically and mentally, his inability to keep down most foods, and random bouts of throwing up bile. And this is made even more clear with how well his siblings have and are doing in comparison.

To change the topic slightly...

Forest has captured many hearts and had help in different ways from different people. The latest example of this is why Forest was able to go in to see the Internal Medicine Specialist. A lady met Forest a weeks ago and was taken by him- she decided to sponsor him for seeing the specialist, she has five cats of her own so she couldn't adopt him. Her sponsorship of his visit is the only reason he was able to go- as much as FancyCats would like to, they simply wouldn't be able to afford to without special fundraising. Financially, FancyCats has been hit hard the last few months.

I need to learn more about fundraising for a non-profit. I currently post many ads for FancyCats' felines on Craigslist, but I don't currently know how to post ads with a donation button for specific (or general) causes.

Forest Has an Internal Medicine Specialist Now

2009-01-19T14:36:00.001-08:00

Forest had his first visit with his Internal Medicine Specialist. It went very well in the Vet listened to his history and explained very well what types of issues Forest may have with his internal development. We got an X-ray and had a full panel of blood work done. X-ray shows no physical abnormalities with Forest's organs (this includes the other vet's idea of a diaphramic hernia). In addition to looking at a wide range of values to check organ functions, Forest's blood is being tested for Dwarfism markers.

It will take some time for the blood work to come back from the lab, Forest's specialist will use that information to decide on the next step for figuring out why Forest is the way he is and if there are any ways to treat him. Before we left, the specialist said we've done the right things with Forest and to continue with what we're doing. Our visit was 2 hours long.

Incidentally, Forest weighs 3.2 lbs.

Forest's Record Breaking Adoption & Return

2009-01-02T05:18:00.000-08:00

Little Forest Gump and I had quite an adventure this week.

Saturday we did a home visit where I spent 2 hours talking with his new potential family. They said they really wanted him as a part of their life and they were okay with his special needs since all of their animals are special needs. I exchanged lots of emails to help prepare them for caring for him and integrating him into their lives. Forest was adopted Monday night.

Tuesday morning I learned that they had taken him to the vet and why hadn't I told them he was a special needs cat? They said they were not willing to live with him just the way he is.

Tuesday evening Forest was back at home with me. After talking with the vet more, the couple said that the vet believes that forest has a congenital diaphragmic hernia. The surgeon they found said that it would cost 2,400 to repair if that's really what he has. He is too little to x-ray and so little that surgeries have a lower success rate and higher probability of death. The vet performed no tests and said that he could very well be healthy/fine.

Forest Gump - Elf Magic

2008-12-26T17:53:00.000-08:00

Forest Gump's only job for X-mas was to enjoy all the paper, smells, and to make people smile. He did it quite well.

Whatever Happened to Josie's Boys? | A Summary

2008-12-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in the first blog entry, Josie had five sons. I am sure you are wondering how soon they were adopted after their mother.

(Four sons are pictured here. Left to right, Henry Thoreau, Sherlock Holmes, Teddy Roosevelt, and Rhett Butler)

This is only a short summary, more in-depth entries focusing on each cat's story will be added later.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes was adopted a week after his mother, Josie, at an adoption fair hosted by FancyCats Rescue at their Fairlakes PetSmart location.

Teddy Roosevelt & Henry Thoreau

(Henry Thoreau)

Later that same afternoon, Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Thoreau were adopted together by a young, newly married, couple residing in Arlington.

T.S. Elliot

(T.S. Elliot)

That same week, T.S. Elliot found a home as well. This was his second forever home and it will be his last because he is so well loved in his home.

Rhett Butler

(Rhett Butler)

This left Rhett Butler the last of his family to find a forever home and resulted in his "adoption" of the three orphans. A kitten himself, Rhett raised the three orphans and was adopted the week after Sophie Petrillio and Ethan Hunt went to their forever homes.

Stay tuned...

The Three Orphans

2008-11-30T12:41:00.000-08:00

As best as I can estimate, The Three Orphans were born in the middle of July. My mother found them in a trash heap underneath an abandoned rental house in Hyattsville Maryland. She called me and asked me what to do, since in her inexpert eyes, they looked bad.

(Forest Gump, Ethan Hunt, Sophie Petrillo)

(This photo was taken a few weeks into their bottle feeding phase.)

I told her to watch for the mom cat and that I would call FancyCats Rescue and ask if they would be willing to take in these babies.

FancyCats Rescue said yes, but that they didn't have anyone who knew how to, or who had the time to, bottle feed kittens as young as these guys were, 2-3 weeks old.

I told them I'd bottle feed them, (I had experience from Josie's 5 boys) but I needed fewer cats. I still had Josie and four of her babies. And 7 cats, not matter how you slice it, or how big they are, is a lot of cats.

They obliged by letting Josie have a newly opened window cage at Springfield's PetSmart. She spent 2 1/2 days there before getting adopted by a little girl also named Josie. I had the privilege of meeting her new family and telling them all about her to make her transition into their family smoother.

The mom cat never came back, so my mom brought them home in a woven basket, ringed with plastic, made to hold large flower pots. At the bottom, their three tiny emaciated, lethargic bodies huddled together and looked at us with big eyes.

Their fur was matted, mud had dried on it, and fleas crawled freely over them. Despite this, they were beautiful. The smallest, Ethan Hunt (named after the daredevil actor in Mission Impossible movies) had the most fleas on him and was in the worst shape. After spending more than an hour washing him, watching the water turn red from all the scabs and flea poo on him, and carefully combing out more than 50 fleas, I realized just how close they had been to death. After washing them all, the process of de-worming, vaccinations, antibiotics, cleaning them, training them to use the litter-box, and bottle feeding every 2 hours began.

After the first few days, their personalities really began to shine through and this is when they got their names.

Ethan Hunt

Ethan Hunt was a cuddling sweetheart who would daringly go forward and climb or balance on what he could find. This darling boy never seemed to stop crying for food. In the beginning, it was difficult to take any photographs where his mouth wasn't wide open calling for food. Ethan also made it difficult to feed his brother Forest Gump because of his preponderancy of pushing his siblings away from the bottle. But Ethan was very much a good boy, it was obvious that he very much wanted affection and to please people. He learned very quickly what behaviors gave him positive attention and had a very expressive face. Ethan's face portraying happiness, confusion, shock, fright, love, and intent interest, would give many persons who say that cats are just animals and are all the same, a reason to doubt themselves.

Forest Gump

(Forest Gump @ 1lb)

Forest Gump looks very much like his brother Ethan Hunt, but could never be mistaken for him because of his long super-fine fur. Forest Gump was named after the movie and character of the same name. Forest was extremely affectionate, but only with humans, and he never wanted to play. Forest Gump would come over saying he was hungry and then forget he was eating and wander off to watch whatever action was occurring around him. Forest's looks caused me to initially believe he was part Maine Coon, but after much discussion, research, and accounting for his fur type, tail length, and miniature size, it has been determined that he is likely a Persian mix. Forest's slow development, Persians, and cat Dwarfism will likely be in a future post.

Sophie Petrillo

Sophie Petrillo, of the three, was the easiest in that she was willing to drink warm milk from the lid of a chinese food container, which was the absolute smallest container I could find with a tiny lip. After letting her eat on her own to start her meal, I always finished her off with a bottle to ensure she was full and not just tired from the way she had been eating. Of the three, Sophie was the most cautious, most intelligent, spunky, and most often awake. These traits earned her the last name of Petrillo to honor the actress who played Sophia Petrillo's character in The Golden Girls, she had just passed away.

Ethan Hunt and Sophie Petrillo were adopted together by a young, married couple via a pre-arranged meeting at a Fairlakes PetSmart fair. Ethan was renamed "Max," but Sophie retained her name. They are quite happy now and as normal and healthy as they can be.

Forest Gump, on the other hand, has proven to have an abnormal constitution, with both food consumption, and internal and external development. For a long time, his tiny size and continual poor health made certainty of his survival questionable, but he is doing much better. Special care will put into ensuring that his eventual forever home is the right fit for him. He is, and will always remain a special needs cat needing exacting, time consuming attention to his physical and emotional needs. As a dwarf, even part of an ounce difference in his weight matters.

When one door closes, a window opens

2008-08-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

I became a kitty foster mom April 10, 2008. I had lost my own cats the year before and didn't want to have any more cats of my own, but I still wanted them in my life. Thus a door that closed, opened a window.

Josie and her five baby boys were the first little family to come into my home.

Josie was a beautiful silver tuxedo with green eyes and a teeny "mew mew" of a voice. She had been abused by her former owner, her fangs had been filed down. The reason for this was and still is unclear however it is believed that her owners had intended to use her as bait for dog fighting. Short fangs interfered with her ability to pick up her babies and when she failed an attempt to pick them up, she always looked at me for help.

Josie is a very sweet cat, no matter what medicines I had to give her she never tried to bite or scratch me. Apprehensive about being held, by the time she was adopted she had grown to love attention.

Josie was eventually adopted by a little girl who had just turned 9 years old. For her birthday, her mom took her to get a kitty. It was Josie she fell in love with. Incidentally, the little girl's name was also Josie.

Josie's five sons were only 10 days old when they arrived with her. I eventually named them: Teddy Roosevelt, Sherlock Holmes, Henry Thoreau, T.S. Elliot, and Rhett Butler.

Of her family, Josie was the first to receive a lasting forever home, but not the last. Read future postings to learn their stories.