Another Emergency, Update 4 - More Pictures

Here's our latest news on Arsinoe.  She has done her # 2.  Fantastic.  That is great news.  Her hip/hips are broken, but she is not suffering from internal bleeding. The nerves to the back legs are damaged, but there is a very strong possibility they will get better over time.  She is eating very heartily, and she has a long, strong meow.  And even when she is being treated and checked, she is always purring.  Her one eye is not dialating as it should, because there is swelling in her brain; and this is a result from a blow to the head when she was hit by the car. But the prognosis is that it will correct itself with the right anti-inflammatory drugs and lots of TLC. 

She is trying to walk every chance she gets.  She takes a few steps and loses her balance, and has to gather herself, but our vets George and Christina say there was a great improvement yesterday from the previous day.

Our vet, George, gives Arsinoe a tickle during her exam, which she thouroughly enjoys

She ate heartily yesterday, two cans of Hill's prescription, loaded with heavy duty flavor, nutrients, and calories! 

After her meal, Arsinoe licked her chops :)

Her booboo on her head is getting better.  There were wounds around her mouth, too, but those have rapidly closed up.

She is trying to walk

George, here, shows Nik how much fun Arsinoe is, and how much she enjoys attention.

Nik then experiences it for himself :)

As far as her pregnancy, because of her broken hip or  hips (we are not sure if it is both), a delivery would endanger her life.  She is not strong enough at this point for an operation to terminate her pregnancy, so George and Christina will wait until she is stronger.  We would not normally take this course of action, nor would George and Christina, but saving her life to us is absolutely paramount. 

Nik visited with her last night and he was completely taken in by her personality, which he says is fun loving, playful, and affectionate.  He says as soon as she hears your voice she wants to come over and rub around your legs, and be a part of what's going on.  And that she has a very characteristic strong voice! 

Thank you for your loving concern and prayers, I believe they have helped her.  Please continue to keep her in your heart and prayers. 

Update 5

Another Emergency, Update 3 - Pictures

Today on his lunchbreak, Nik went to visit the kitty he found hit by a car on the seafront road yesterday.  We've named her Arsinoe.  Here are the pictures of Arsinoe from today:

She is not feral.  She is about one year old and pregnant.

The appearance of her eye is a result of the car that hit her.

She is trying to walk

with George, our vet, helping her.

Please send Arsinoe, and George and Christina, our vets, your prayers.  And if Arsinoe makes it through, and you would like to give her a safe and loving home, please contact us. 

Update 4

 

Another Emergency, Update 2

I don't mean to leave you hanging, Nik and I are both exhausted - the kittens have left the cupboard, and wow, what a difference that makes as far as actually feeling there are 19 cats in the house now - not 15 + 4, which is how I was thinking about it before. 

There's a lot going on. The park has taken a lot of my time.  Operations have gotten pretty complex down there and I am longing for the easier days of winter. 

So - as far as the injured kitty goes, so far so good.  She is still with George and Christina at their clinic in Nicosia.  She is trying to use her back legs, which is a good sign, meaning they could recover and she would not be paralyzed.  She has done her pee pees, another good sign.  Now we are waiting for her to do her #2.  Her belly has not swollen; this is another good sign, meaning less of a chance there was internal damage.  She has eaten something, yet another good sign.  They saw some improvement today over yesterday.

Nik went to see her on his lunchbreak today and got some pictures.  I'll get those to you later tonight.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  Thank you. 

They live such a tough life out there, it's mind boggling.  Just watching Starlight have her kittens - and seeing how long it all took for her to get them to the point they are at now, brought home to roost the complexity of what they are trying to achieve out there on the streets alone: finding food and water, avoiding fights, looking for safe cover, finding shelter from the rain, crossing dangerous roads, going through long pregnancies and having to raise their kittens, and often times, after all that, losing some if not all of them.

And yet we can walk by them, drive by them, hit them with our cars like they are not even there.  They are there alright, suffering.  Perhaps that is too much for us to handle?  Is that why we turn a blind eye?  Because we feel overwhelmed by their suffering?  Because we feel helpless? 

A hedgehog was hit by a car in front of our house last night.  I wondered if he was on his way to the foodbowl here, because they often come and eat next to the cats.  I felt terrible about it.  And it just reminds me that any day that could be Morris or Mandy, Sylvia or Amber, Jazzy or Cobbles, or Tweets, or any of the cats that live or eat outside our house.  Not to mention all the cats at the park, the apartments, and the maisonettes who are in the very same danger every day.  It mortifies me.

Do you think I should take all these cats to the shelter?  I am so torn about it.  What I would give to have acres and acres of land that I could build a huge fence around, where we could keep them safe.

But I guess that is what a shelter is, isn't it?  What do you think we should do?  Any thoughts?

Update 3

Another Emergency, Update 1

Nik and the injured cat have arrived in Nicosia and our vets George and Christina, who were kind enough to meet Nik at their clinic early (thank you, guys), have examined this kitty who Nik found crouched by the side of the road.  They say it is a pregnant female and that she has been hit by a car.  She will stay with them where they can look after her and see to her needs, and try to save her life, because she is in a very bad way.

She has been given a pain killer, rehydration and minerals, and anti-inflammatory medication.  She was scanned using ultrasound and she is pregnant.

Nik said that even with all the pain this cat was in, when he stroked her, she started purring. 

Between the time he found her and the time he went back to get a carrier for her, at least a dozen cars went by.  Nik was floored that with all the people who drove by her this morning, not one person stopped to help her. 



Update 2

Another Emergency

Nik came by the park this morning where I was feeding, after he completed his feedings.  He was looking for a carrier because, as he was driving, he saw a very sick cat on the side of the road down by the marina.  He wanted to pick her up to take to our vets in Nicosia on his way in to work. 

We communicated by phone, and he was able to pick this cat up without a problem; they are on their way to the vet's now.

Nik has pictures which he will send me and I will get up later today. He said the kitty looked very ill, so please send your prayers.  We don't yet know what is wrong.

 Update 1

Catching Things in Time - The Router and A Trapping Mistake

I mentioned a couple of things last month that I never followed up on, and I wanted to spring forth with the promised information, because I am thorough like that. In this first case, it's a picture of our router.

A while back, our router melted, and I couldn't get online, and you could say I was prompted by that event to take a week off computer.  (Have you ever done that?  It's the strangest sensation!)  But in case you didn't believe me, because it kind of sounds like "the dog ate my homework," here is a an unbelievable picture taken by Nik:

the dog really did eat my homework

And here are the three culprits:

me

+

Minnow (in her mugshot), "NOT GUILTY!"  Nik took this awesome picture.

+

A halogen floor lamp - (Mandy, here, is not guilty of anything, except being cute - this just happens to be the only picture I have of the lamp)

It was a recipe for disaster to have that lamp on while Wee Mini Minnow was trapezing through the house like one of The Flying Wallendas. 

I smelled something burning, and I was a little concerned at first, until I remembered how often I smell things burning in Cyprus, particularly now since I live near agricultural fields, where they are often burning their debris, including fragrant plastics, in great ritual pyres. 

I was on the Internet at the time.  And I kept wondering why it was going in and out.  But I didn't get up to look at the router to see what the problem was until it quit working completely.  And that is when I saw the funny shaped little man:

He looked like Freddy Krueger

But what's really amazing? How long the router kept working while it was melting.  I have to hand it to Cytanet  for that.  Or whoever makes these routers.

The other promised story:  I mentioned here that early one weekday morning, Nik trapped a cat at the apartments that turned out to be a huge mistake.  He trapped a nursing female, possibly Braveheart (it's hard to tell with the plethora of black cats at the moment, and here), thinking she was another, male cat; then he stopped by the park where I was feeding cats to show me his catch on his way to Nicosia (an hour away).  I haven't seen Braveheart in the daylight in months, so I didn't recognize it could be her either. 

We mistakenly trapped a nursing mother - possibly Braveheart

It wasn't until our vets, George and Christina, phoned Nik at work to tell him we had trapped a nursing female that it dawned on me who it could be.  It was harrowing news.  When Nik phoned mortified, I was down by the sea taking Muji for a much desired swim (it's getting hot these days), and some time off-leash.

Muji swimming

A disappointed Muji had his swim interrupted abruptly, and I took him straight home so I could hightail it up to Nicosia.  I had to get mama cat and bring her back to release her ASAP so she could attend to her kittens.

It was a great relief to see when I released her, after a morning imprisoned, she didn't go urgently running off.  She wasn't even mad. She swiftly and without ado exited the trap, but then she surprisingly stopped about ten paces away.  And she turned around and looked at me shyly and questioningly.  Did she want food?  What was she trying to say?  Well, I had a small can of mackerel in the car.  Certainly she deserved it!  So I got it out for her and put some down.  I had to hurry, because I was totally where I wasn't supposed to be and it was broad daylight out.  So I put it down and she ate, and then I had to disappear.  I apologized to her profusely and left the can of mackerel. 

So what is the lesson of these stories?  Well, I've learned it really is true halogen lamps are dangerous, which is why ours recently got moved to the doorstep, because it is on its way out of our lives for good, as much as we loved to read by it. And I've learned as much as we would like to get these lovely cats altered as soon as we can, we have to pace ourselves and be more careful.

And it is terribly important to catch things in time before something really bad happens.  In both cases we were very lucky. 

We are glad whoever this cat is, she forgave us.  We pray all is well with her and her kittens.

***Update*** This cat turned out to be who I now know as Wanda.  Are Wanda and Braveheart the same cat?  Possibly. 

Shining Stars for You to See YAWL

Remember that old song?  :)  Mau- reese!

Well we have some little shining stars for YOU to see -
what your life can truly be!




AHNOW!

And here's Miss Starlight:

Awwwww!  She's so cute and shes done such a good job!  It's a lot of work!

Don't be embarrassed, Starlight!  It's OK if you need a little break...

"I just need a little me time."

God Bless you Starlight!  And your little stars. ;)