Operation Spay and Neuter

The cats at Colpetty Market keep coming and coming. Chris recently discovered the siblings of the baby she has been nursing. They were just as small and in bad shape. There are two mother cats that are ready to have litters and two tom cats that are ready to take care of business and get the cycle going again.

So we were very happy to find out about a spay and neuter clinic sponsored by the overseas school here. The flyer said to round up as many stray cats and dogs and bring them for shots and to have them spayed and neutered.

We grabbed our two kennels and called a taxi and went to the market. Chris bought two plastic picnic baskets that she had seen people use for carriers (they were slotted all around).

We grabbed the two male tom cats and two female cats without any problem. Part one went without a hitch.

The clinic was at the other end of the city but we got there soon enough. Chris went to the registration table run by students from the school when I saw her come back shaking her head which I already knew what she was going to say. The vets had stopped taking pets a half hour earlier and they were not going to do any more surgeries. They did offer to give them shots (well, a shot). We received shot cards for them, got back in the taxi, returned to the market and released them.

Chris had made some phone calls and found a vet that perform the surgery on all four cats for less than $90. The cats will get much better treatment than the MASH clinic that we visited.

Abby Gets Hurt

Ever hear the old saying, things can change in the blink of an eye?
I came home today and everything was going well, we talked about going out to eat. The cats were fussing with each other and I picked up Abby and started petting her. The next thing I know she scratched my wrist really hard, hard enough for me to yell "OWW" and she jumped out of my hands.

In that split second I knew that couldn't be good, she's a little kitten. I saw her land, it looked like a clumsy fall, but Chris saw what really happened, she landed on her head!

Abby went under the bed and Chris picked her up and put her on the bed. She tearfully said that there was something wrong with her. Initially I wasn't so sure, but it became painfully obvious something was wrong. She couldn't walk right, she was falling down, and she just didn't want to move.

I tried calling our vet but she was out of town. We called a few others and a taxi and when the tzi arrived we took a long trip through Colombo traffic across the city.

At one point Chris said that Abby wasn't moving, I was praying to God that the she was maybe just sleeping, thank God she was.

The veterinarian was busy with some dog owners but he got to look at Abby. He checked her eyes, rubbed her head and said that she would be all right. He gave her a shot of antibiotics and steroids and said to bring her back tomorrow. I think we were both a little skeptical as she just didn't look right.

We came home and let her stay in the carrier and continue to sleep.

About and hour later we heard crying and we run to the bedroom, there's Abby on the bed looking at us. We were both a little frightened, what did this mean? My guess, she's hungry or has to go potty.

We took her to her bedroom (Yes she has a bedroom) and she goes straight to her litter pan! We were very happy. I went and got her a pouch of cat food and she started eating. Next thing we know she's messing with our other cats again and joining us on the couch!

Tears of worry and tears of happiness. Lots of prayers answered. Thank you Lord!

Abby Update

It's official, she figured out that she could jump over her barricade, so we either find something higher or just let us join us, she has joined us.

She follows Chris everywhere and stays with her on the couch and when she does go around the apartment she doesn't stray far. I thought we would have to shut some doors when she was out as there are so many places she could hide, but she hasn't.

One funny thing about her is that she tends to hop almost like a kangaroo. Her back legs look longer than our other cats, maybe it's our imagination.

Our older cat Cricket has given her the paw once or twice so Abby knows to give her some distance, but Feral on the other hand hisses whenever she is nearby. Feral will eventually run away in disgust.

They all have their own spaces, Cricket has one bedroom, Feral like the laundry room and now Abby likes to sleep with us.

She still wakes us up at some ridiculous hour in the morning to eat. Ugh.

Kollupitya Market Kitten Update

Went to Kollupitya (Colpetty) Market with Chris for her usual feedings of the stray cats. Things have gone from sad to sadder there. Of the original four orange kittens one turned up missing the other week or so, nobody was sure what happened to it. The mother cat had moved them several time and most recently to a dark alley that ran behind the butchers stands. It's unfortunate but it could be anywhere or worse and you just have to move on. The three kittens have been moved to the front of the butchers stands and they don't look well. One is a runt, one has his or her eye swollen shut and one of them will most likely die soon. In fact Chris didn't touch it as I think she didn't want to know if it was already dead. The mother cat is pregnant again and she doesn't care about the kittens.

We found a whole new group of very feral kittens on the third floor with another pregnant mom. Not so feral that they wouldn't eat kibble, but they did hiss and spit at Chris.

Chris' favorite sibling kittens have been moving between their old hiding spot on the second floor to the fish mongers floor, but today we found the shy one on the stairs, one eye almost swollen shut and his or her sibling hiding in their old spot.

All in all a sad situation. Four pregnant cats and several tom cats that are more than ready to do it again. At least fifteen kittens all together (Not including pregnant mom cats and tom cats)

I know what your thinking. Get them spayed, get them neutered. Not so much a money problem as where to let them recover, that's the problem. If we had that solved we could do that and release them back at the market.

The company newsletter and bulletin board is full of kittens for adoption, to include a pregnant cat and one of her kittens from her last litter.

Patient Update

It was pointed out to me that I should post an update on our little patient.

She is doing much better now and has a big appetite!
She is also litter pan trained and very playful.
We think that she maybe blind in her left eye. You might notice in all of the pictures something
is different with her left eye (Looking at the photo her right eye of course). When we found her her left eye was encrusted shut. She is also cross eyed.
Chris found my earlier post about not planning to keep her very amusing as she did laugh to tears.
Oh, she has a name now, Abbey.
Click on any of the thumbnails for a larger image.

This picture shows how she is cross eyed pretty well

Cricket in Her Crying Place

I wrote about how our older cat Cricket has taken to random crying fits at night, although really this is not entirely true as we can be in the living room and she is right alongside us and she'll start crying.

But in particular she has this peculiar habit of getting under a table, against the wall, facing our bedroom and crying. I can only imagine that she thinks the table is affording her some sort of protection I don't know. We have nicknamed the place, well her "Crying Place".

Chris wakes up very early and she feeds Cricket. Well I think her kitty clock is just a little out of synch and she thinks whenever she awakes it's feeding time.

She has been good for the past couple of nights, but just when I least expect it.

Man Your Kitty Stations!

Feral prefers to stay on the love-seat giving her a commanding view of humans in the room and she can quickly disappear under said love-seat in case there are scary humans in the room. She can also turn around and see the crows on the balcony when they announce themselves.
The sheet was initially for Cricket our long haired cat who made the love-seat her home, but somehow Feral made it her turf.

I was able to train Cricket to lay on a towel whenever she is on the bed as she is so furry it is much easier to throw the towel in the wash instead of having to wash the bed spread or changing the sheets. Cricket prefers the guest bedroom near the kitchen where the food bowls are located. That would pretty much sum up Crickets day, sleeping and eating.

Expat Cats

My wife says that I don't blog often enough about the cats. I'm not exactly sure how many blog posts constitutes blogging enough about the cats, but here is one.

We have two cats that have traveled to Uruguay and went from outside cats to apartment cats, back to the U.S.A. for a taste of outdoor life again, then back into a pet kennel for the long trip here to Sri Lanka to be apartment cats again. Actually one of them was able to ride in the cabin to Frankfurt and even got a kitty boarding pass.

I'd say all in all they have accepted their fate well enough. Cricket, the older cat has always been more comfortable indoors so it's no big deal to her. Feral, as her name implies loves the outdoors.
The apartment has it's fair share of doors and mirrors and the master bathroom has all of that and a big window.

Feral is pretty sure that sooner or later if she stays in the master bathroom we are going to open one of the doors and there will be a big green lawn and trees. So she stays perched on the dresser in the bathroom (Oddly enough we have a full sized dresser in the bathroom) and waits for that moment.

They both want to pounce the crows that tease them from our balcony, they wait crouched down and ready to attack, but we can't let them attack them less they will use up all of their nine lives.

Pictured: Feral hiding under the table and Cricket looking at the crows.

The Cat Dog Experiment

A new country and a new dilemma with cat food pouches. Those yummy delightful bags of cat joy that brings at least one of our cats, Cricket, running into the kitchen to the sound of anything that even crinkles like a pouch bag.

In Montevideo the cat food pouches just disappeared off the shelf never to return. Here they have 2 different flavors of Whiska, both fish, and both not entirely favorable to Cricket. Hard to describe what it looks like in her food bowl, not so appetizing.

Well I had noticed dog food in pouches and wondered a little bit about trying it. So the boss (Chris) went shopping with me and we both mulled over the dog food, the pouches were larger and the prices was better but the most important part, it was chicken flavored which both cats enjoy.

Bought two pouches and tried it on our feline friends.

The verdict? Two paws up! They ate it up well.

An no, they're not barking yet and unless you want your hand bit you better not rub their bellies!

Learning to fly

Walking out the door this morning I noticed two of cats entranced with
something. I decided to investigate to which I saw tawny chasing
something back and forth. At first I thought a cat toy and then maybe a
big moth, but then I heard a chirp. Next thing I know Tawny goes
prancing by me happily as can be with the tiniest bird in it's mouth.
She dropped it in the dining room to swat at it a couple of times. I
had to take off my glasses and squint a few times because I couldn't
believe it was a bird, it was the size of a golf ball! If it wasn't for
the big beak I would have thought it was a fuzzy golf ball!

I picked up the small victim and took it outside to the balcony and said
"I hope you know how to fly little buddy, because if you don't...", I
tossed the little bundle and wings came out just in time and it flew away.

I hope the next time that bird picks a better place to land then a
balcony with three cats!

Book corner - Finished Reading

This Man's Army - A Soldiers Story From the Front Lines of the War on
Terrorism by Andrew Exum
Paperback 248 pages
Nonfiction

I was expecting an action packed book full of good war stories, instead
it just seemed like a book full of an officer in a boys club. Not
worth reading at all.

Book corner - Finished reading

The OSS Double Agents by W.E.N Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV
Paperback 426 pages

I liked this book. The authors took some little known facts from WWII
and weaved them into this novel that carried just enough suspense,
intrigue and romance to have you flipping pages all night! Worth
reading : )

You may have noticed by now that I'm not exactly a book critic.

Book corner - finished reading

Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward
Hardcover - 466 pages
Non-fiction

An interesting look into the behind the scenes look of the plans for the
Operation Iraqi Freedom. Worth reading for you history buffs.

Tawny the trained kitty

I'm going to have to word this carefully, so here I go.

So this morning I wake up and go to the bathroom and do what men 'do' in the morning when the door pushes open and here comes Tawny. As I'm standing there 'doing' what men 'do' in the morning Tawny jumps in the bidet, stands up, puts her paws up against the wall and promptly 'does' what a kitty does in the morning, finishes, turns around and scratches at the chained plug attached to the bidet and jumps out.

I'm not sure how she learned any of that.

Tawny the veggie kitty

Remember Tawny, our Uruguayan kitty? Funny thing about her, she loves lettuce. We discovered this one day after Chris washed some lettuce and laid it out on the dining room table on a towel to dry. Low and behold Tawny is on the table with a piece of lettuce, we shooed her off, but this wasn't the last time. So the next time Chris washed some lettuce she threw a piece to Tawny, but that didn't stop her from jumping on the table to grab another piece. Now, Tawny watches Chris wash the lettuce as she knows there is going to be a piece for her. When Chris throws pieces of lettuce in the trash, Tawny goes looking for it.

I'll try to get a picture of Tawny and her lettuce and post it.

Buy it when you can

One thing about shopping overseas is you have to buy it when you can! It's one of the first things I pointed out to Chris when we went shopping. If there was something on the shelves and she was buying one, I'd tell her she might as well get two or more because you never know if it would be on the shelves the next time we went shopping.

I've talked about cat food before. The last time I went shopping the grocery store had none of the stuff the cats like, only some strange looking stuff in a can.

I took my chances.

It didn't look so bad, I put some in the bowls. Well it hasn't gone over very well. They ate some of it for a couple of days, now they just look at the bowls and walk away.

Maybe this week the other stuff will come in.

Cat food rebellion

The other day we received some cat food from the States that a friend
had sent us. The cat food choices here are limited at best, although
fortunately our cats will eat it. Well at the first snap of the can of
Pro Plan our new Uruguayan gatita (Female kitten)"Tawny" came running
for the food dishes, our older expat cat "Cricket" could tell by the
distinctive "snap", this could possibly be "The good stuff". Let me
tell you, you have never heard more grunting sound then when these two
went at the food bowls, the cat food disappeared in less than a minute.
There was some hissing from Cricket as she didn't like the idea of the
new kid getting the good stuff, but it passed.

Oh, on a side note, Tawny's favorite toy is a wine bottle cork. It
keeps her entertained all day and night for that matter!

Finicky stray cat

"Tawny" our beach cat (Because Chris found her on the beach) is so funny
because although she was stray for who knows how long, she will not even
take a sniff of "human" food, not a bite, not a lick. She'll come
running at the sound of a pouch being opened though! What I don't get
is how a cat that spent who knows how long living on the beach, eating
who knows what, can be so finicky!