DRAMA, DRAMA & YET MORE DRAMA
17 February 2022
Well, just as I thought things might be settling down again, lots of Drama suddenly struck us …. JJ, a formerly-feral boy of 18 months old, who had to remain here with us due to a serious cruciate injury & some arthritis due to that, developed a full Bladder Blockage & required emergency surgery 17 days ago ….which after a two night stay in the vet hospital with a catheter in, plus an IV running, was able to come back home on the third day …. However, it was clearly evident, with very frequent trips to the litter tray with no result, that he had already developed another bladder blockage …. So it was back to the vet again the next day, & major reconstruction surgery to prevent further blockages …. After that, I slept in the living room with him for 10 days, until his stitches were removed four days ago …. Now he is happily back with the gang again …. While all that drama was going on, our Golden Retriever had to have surgery, just four days after JJ’s second surgery, for a large growth on the side of his tongue ….which did not go according to plan …. On returning home with David, once the sedation was wearing off, he was bleeding heavily …. & vet said to bring him back in again straight away, so it was back to the vet, a 2nd lot of sedation & more stitching of his tongue …. Two days before he had surgery, we had torrential rain all over the weekend, & I was worried about a litter of six small feral kittens, who we had been feeding for several days …. They were only around 5 weeks old, & their mother was just a kitten herself & clearly she had little milk to feed them all …. Due to the torrential rain, I was worried about how these small babies would access food, especially if the mother wasn’t with them, or didn’t have sufficient milk …. On the Sunday, David went into the side garden in a short break from the heavy rain, to put out some food, & returned with two tiny rain-drenched babies ….part of the litter of 6 …. I quickly had him make a hot water bottle, while I did my best to dry them out a bit with a towel, before placing them on the well-wrapped hot water bottle to warm up, as it was a cold day …. David mentioned that one of the babies was laying dead on the lawn, & I asked him to pop outside again to make sure it was indeed dead …. He returned with the baby, who not only was drenched to the skin, like the other two, but was very cold to the touch …. David said he was sure it was dead, but as he picked it up, it gave a weak little miaow …. As I worked on it, I truly did not think this one would survive, but amazingly, after being dried off as best I could, & joining its siblings on the hot water bottle, beneath a cover, it would give a little miaow every now & again …. It took a lot longer than the other two to recover …. In the meantime, everytime there was a break in the rain, David would go out into the side garden, & return with a drenched baby …. Until finally, just before evening set in, he found the last one …. I am happy to report, that all six survived their awful experience …. But all six developed cat flu a few days later, & a gastric upset, so it was off to the vet with them …. Their visit & medications, plus three lots of surgeries, plus the other litter of five in that same room, who caught the flu off the newcomers & required medications, have seriously set us back financially, & David, at the age of 70, has taken on a few additional hours of work in order to pay off a very high vet bill …. I keep telling him that this is a season, & it will come to an end, & then we can all settle down again …. Pic shows some of the new litter, who are now all gaining weight nicely, & are due to move into a bigger cage while they continue on with their medications …….
