Help Needed with Vet Bills

 

One of the reason’s I’ve let this blog sit unattended this year has been due to multiple sick animals keeping my hands full.

We lost Tennyson 3 weeks ago to kidney failure and today had to put Amber in the animal hospital with a possible heart issue.

So, we are swallowing our pride and asking for help.

Be Blessed. JMM

 

Kittens!!!

I think there is a neon sign over the cottage. It’s invisible to me and my husband, but it’s there none the less. This sign stands about ten feet tall, blinks on and off and says:

Drop Off Your Unwanted Cats and Kittens Here

Our two new arrivals were found Monday morning on my walk with Jay Jay. I heard a small meow, looked and saw a tiny kitten walking down the center of the road toward me. It meowed with each step as it hurried as best it could in my direction. Once arriving at my location, it became a little unsure (probably due to Jay Jay’s presence) but came to me with a little coaxing.

I picked her up and brought her back to the cottage, fed her and then Jim held her while I set up the kennel and got it ready for the new occupant. Soon she was checking out her accommodations. I then told my husband that people who drop out kittens usually throw away more than one. 

I headed up the street, back tracking the first kitten. Upon arriving at a low hanging limb of a huge spruce tree, I stopped and listened. Not a sound. Then I said, “Are there any kitties under this tree?”

“Meow,” came the reply. It took some sweet talk and a lunge and grab maneuver, but I caught the second kitten. Soon she was fed and back with her braver sister in the kennel.

I went back a third time, calling and looking up and down the streets around the cottage in case there were more. I heard no more meows. Thus reasonably assured I had them all I went back to check on the new arrivals.

The kittens are young, I will guess about 9 weeks old. Certainly not old enough to survive on their own. The location where they were had no access to food or water. I suppose the person who dropped them out thought someone would take them in. They were lucky I found them before they became too dehydrated or starved to survive.

I know the survival instinct drove the braver of the two (now named Spice) to take a chance and come to me. Or maybe a Fairy told her I was the one who could and would help.

At this point Spice and her timid sister,Sugar, are doing well. They are playing happily in the kennel, but are ready to come out and explore. The first few days in the kennel are for the other cats to get used to them before releasing them to roam the cottage.

Then the fun will begin. Nothing livens things up like kittens in the cottage at Shady Hollow.

Be Blessed.

The Scratching Post

Jim made the scratching post around 19 years ago. The construction was simple: a birch log attached with screws to a stained board base.

We had tried many store-bought scratching posts and pads, some covered with carpet others with sisal rope. None received a passing glance from the queen-in-residence. She much preferred the trim on the kitchen cabinet doors. When he brought it upstairs and placed it in the dining room, Miss Pretty fell in love at first sight. The cabinets (and the marriage) were saved.

Over a span of 19 years and 11 cats the old scratching post has developed plenty of character. It wears long deep gashes from years of claw sharpening. To my husband and I, it is a piece of art, carved by our beloved pets and wearing the autograph of each and every one.