I went ahead and bumped Ditto's fee up to $100 and I will make the appointment to get her rabies vaccination when I can. Then we will use the deposit money once we find a suitable home, to get her microchipped before she leaves. The vet charges just a little less for microchipping when the cat is already under anesthesia for spay, so by putting it off, we could potentially save a couple dollars by doing the microchip when she's asleep for her spay surgery if she doesn't find a home before the end of November.
Luna's kittens are doing well for the most part. They walk around and explore the screen porch, and most of them are now sampling the hard food. Tracer remains the runt and is slow on all levels. She's a little slower moving, slower to wake up, slower to come to the food or water dish. She's still more interested in nursing and I've only seen her nibble hard food once or twice. I'm a little worried that she's slower in general (slower to grow), so I'm keeping a close eye on her. Needless to say, if she needs a little extra help along the way, we can step in.
My health issues continue, but not as severely. I am eating alright for the most part. I'm still limited on my food, but I'm not getting as sick from eating now. I've weaned myself off of pain medicine except when I have a flare up. I am able to get out of bed and at least be a little active - for longer periods of time than I have been for the past few months anyway. I'm still not to where I want to be. I still cannot do certain physical tasks. I can't lift or carry, I tend to hurt after raising my voice (like calling for the dogs to come in, or hollering for kids in another room). Turns out I also can set off a pain flare by struggling to open the salsa jar. Yeah, that happened yesterday. I feel so completely useless some days. If I need to refill the big food bins in the barn, I either have to ask someone else to bring the bags in and dump them in the bins, or I know I'm going to be in hours of pain for having just done it myself to save time. I want to muck the barn before it gets cold again, but I can't use the shovel for more than a couple minutes before I'm in extreme pain that lasts for hours. If I can't get my health issues in check I may have to re-home more of my animals. I don't want to, but if I can't properly care for them, I may have to put their needs before my own. I wish the doctors would figure out what's wrong with me and how to help me. I just want to be able to do the things I could before... Lift, bend, shout, twist, sleep on my back, open a jar of salsa...
I wish I had more photos to share today. I'll try to get a photo of how close to completed I am with the pink blanket, and maybe an update photo on my progress on the new blanket. I just started it yesterday, so it won't be much, but any progress is still progress, no matter how little, right?
Tonight it's supposed to dip down into the 40's. I've closed the windows for the night. I wouldn't mind so much one or two nights that got a little chilly - we do have blankets and can put on an extra layer of clothing until the house warms up (or have an excuse to bake cookies or something). Unfortunately we also have hairless cats who don't do so well with cold temperatures. This will be our first winter without Henry, but he'd get sick every time the temperature touched 65=degrees. We had to keep the house heated above that all winter to keep him from getting sick. I suspect his daughter (Sage) has taken on this trait. The windows were open a couple days ago when it got colder than expected (or I'd have shut the windows then too), and she's starting to have a flare up again. Her eyes are goopy and she's sneezing more. I'm going to have to bring her back to the vet for yet another round of antibiotics. Poor thing. This was the longest she's gone between needing antibiotics. It's been several months. All summer really. She definitely needs a home that will pamper her and maybe even put her in little sweaters or something.
I'm still trying to find homes for Ginger Bear, Netherquartz, Sage, and Ditto. I think they're all awesome kitties, but I'm also sure that someone else could provide better for them, and we need to downsize. We have too many cats. Especially with my own ongoing health battles, I want to make sure they're getting the care they deserve. If you are looking to adopt a kitty, or know someone who is, please send them our way! We have boys and girls, a variety of colors and temperaments, and prices vary from $30 (less than 12 weeks, no shots provided), up to $1200 (for our dear high-maintenance Sage). See the Kittens page for photos of all of them!
And let's not forget the bunnies! We have all kinds of bunnies from 6 weeks up to a year old ready to go right now! We have Peanut, our lover boy who needs an indoor home. We have Wanda and Waldo, the Holland Lop / Jersey Wooly crosses. We have Ebony and Blanche, the New Zealand / Californian crosses. We have Princess Poppy's litter of four (Californian / New Zealand cross), and Donna - the last doe from last year's colony litters. If she doesn't go soon I'm going to breed her. We have Lorna still left from Snowflake's last litter, and Bacon, who is retiring from our program because she may be spayed. We also have several older bunnies I'd like to retire. We have Snowflake, Fern, Fabio, and Pocahontas (who technically never even bred, she was just a back up we don't need anymore). We have meat breeds, we have pet crosses, we have super tame sweethearts, and we have meat rabbits who've had less handling. We don't have any biters, but some are squirmier than others. The kids have been having fun holding all the babies and making sure they're friendly when they leave to new homes. Check out the Rabbits For Sale page to see them all! I will be working on getting the retiring breeders up on the for sale page as I am more serious about selling them now.