Slightly Worrying and Confusing Wednesday

Gizmo here

There was something funny going on today here. First mum let me out to have breakfast, but left Denali locked up in her room. Then she finally let Denali out but hid all the food (I wasn't finished grazing yet mum). Denali and I played for an hour while mum got ready, then she locked denali up in the carrier and put me in my room. We know what the carrier means... either we're going on the holiday early, or denali is going to the vet. Mum didn't put me in a carrier though, so I guess Denali has to go to the vet.

Mum left for about 20mins and then came back home...WITHOUT DENALI! Mum you forgot to bring her home. Where is she? I meowed  and searched the whole house. I couldn't find her anywhere, and her carrier wasn't back yet either. MUM you forgot Denali! Mum gave me a cuddle and said denali had to go to the vet to get spayed. Seriously? Who goes to the vet to get a spade? Don't they come from the hardware shop? At least mum knew that she left Denali behind. I was getting really worried.

Mum had to go Christmas shopping, so I stayed home and played with my toys. She cam home again WITHOUT DENALI! I meowed to let her know again, and she told me Denali was having a long sleep and would come home this afternoon. Finally she left the house again and locked me in my room. She didn't let me out for a few hours, and when she did I could smell something funny. Denali's carrier was in the lounge room, but denali's bedroom door was closed. The carrier smelled strange... not like denali at all. The carrier smelled like the vets... Yuck!

I meowed and searched high and low, but couldn't find denali anywhere. Mum said she was asleep in her room. Mum and Dad let me sleep on their bed, but I kept waking mum up because first there was a storm, and then mum rolled over and woke me up, and then I thought I heard Denali meow. Mum ended up getting up and put me in my room. It was 2am, mum should know thats play time.

This morning I got fed in my bedroom and locked back in there. Mum only just let me out. I can smell traces of Denali, but she is still nowhere to be found. Mum said she's ok, but just really sleepy and has stitches so I'm not allowed to play with her for a while, cause I play too rough.

I hope we can play again soon. I think I miss her.

Denali - The trouble begins

Denali has arrived.

We got Denali as a friend for Gizmo. She is an 8 week old ragdoll x bengal kitten. She is absolutely adorable, as you can see by the pictures, and I am sure she will get up to just as much mischief as Gizmo does. We got her from someone interstate and assumed they were reliable when they said she would come vet checked vaccinated, wormed and flea treated. Well as you all know to 'assume' makes and ass of u and me. When she arrived, she looked a little worse for wear, but we expected that because she had just been couriered interstate.

We took her home, gave her a bath and started brushing her. Bits of hair started falling out. I figured at first it was just because she had played with other kittens and was a little scabby because of bite marks as such, but then I noticed a quite defined patch where the hair had fallen out. Hmmm not good. I suspected possible ringworm. We were planning to have her vet checked after cleaning her up, so we decided that was the most important thing now before anything else. Gizmo would have to wait to meet her until we found out if she was healthy.

Unfortunately it is as I suspected. The vet said she is riddled with ringworm, and it's probably one of the worst cases she has ever seen. So we came home from the vet armed with various medications and a special shampoo.

 Now we have to try to keep Denali away from Gizmo for 4-6 weeks, as well as prevent the spores from spreading while medicating denali, bathing both of them in a special shampoo, and ensure they dont use the same living spaces, toys, or have cuddles with us whilst we wear the same clothes as we did for Denali. Then we also have to hope that we don't get it whilst we still make Denali feel welcome to our home. Luckily we have a few spare bedrooms at the moment which means they can both have their own room and play space. Lets hope Gizmo stays ringworm free and we do too.

Gizmo knows theres something meowing on the other side of the door, and he seems curious, it's so annoying that it will be 6 weeks before we can introduce them.

Im back and better than ever

Through Gizmo's Eyes

Im back!
I wasn't feeling well last week. I banged my head and eye on the bookcase trying to catch the feathers on the dreamcatcher hanging from it... The feathers looked so pretty. They changed colours when the light hit them on different angles...just like the fishies... I should have known. Anyway, my humans took me to the vet and got me some horrible medicine, but it made me feel better. They snuggled me and looked after me, and now I'm back to my mischievious self.

I have a lot of blogs to catch up on, but for this one I'm still a little sleepy after my medicine, so I just thought I would let you all know I'm better, and show you some pictures of my nice warm sleeping bag mum made me, She bought a nice warm fluffy blanket the colour of chocolate, and she cut it in 3 strips. Each strip she folded and stitched up. now I have a nice sleeping bag to snuggle into. It reminds me of snuggling with my brothers and sisters.

Thanks for all the Purrs

xox

Gizmo

Update on Gizmo

Gizmo wants us to let you know he is feeling a little better, and he thanks you for all the purrs and prayers.
He was confusing us a little on Sunday as he slept all day, didn't want to play or curl up near us at all, but was still eating his food. On Sunday night he started following us around a little bit and because he was up, we noticed he was trying to keep his right eye closed. We tried to look at the eye and see if we could see anything in it, but couldn't see much as he was trying to protect it. The one thing we did notice is his eye seemed cloudy in comparison to the other one.

We went to work yesterday after noticing he seemed to be feeling better and was starting to play with his toys a little again, but he still wasn't his usual boisterous self. In the afternoon when we got home, he was holding his eye open more, and was really playful, but we wanted to be sure, because his eye definately seemed cloudy, so we took him for a visit to the vet.

The vet was confused as to why a sore eye affected a kitten so much, so he suggested a few possibilities including calici virus and chlamydia (especially as he came from the pound and seemed to present no illnesses when we first took him for his checkup), but he checked to see if Gizmo had an ulcer or a scratch on his eye, checked for muscle soreness and joint stiffness, and checked his temperature... none of which Gizmo liked of course. In the end the vet decided to treat the eye as Gizmo was obviously trying to keep it closed, and said he might have banged it on something when he was playing.

We have got antibiotic drops for his eyes every 3-4 hrs as well as anti inflamitory drops for his food, and the vet gave him a pain killer to dilate the eye and make him feel better. We have another appointment for Wednesday afternoon to make sure Gizmo is ok, and hopefully it just turns out to be the blunt trauma. Right now he is back to runing around crazily like his usual self, so we think thats a good sign. Fingers crossed. xx

Gizmo also wants to let you all know that if you like tunnels as much as he does you should have a look in Ikea kids section. they have toy baskets that have a spiral inside them and when you cut the closed end out they become a great tunnel. We paid $25 for his tunnel from cat protection society, and this one is almost the same size from ikea for $10. It even has a lid which makes a great frisbee.

Gizmo's not himself :(

Gizmo seems out of sorts today. He's been sleeping more than usual, as in pretty much all day, and he's been quiet. Even his usual toys haven't pulled him out of the slump, and he hasn't wanted to sit on either of our laps today which is definately not normal. The door to outside was open most of the day, and normally he loves sitting out there, but instead he just stayed on the bed.

If he is not picking up a little tomorrow, I think it might be time for a visit to the vet (even though he saw us about 3 weeks ago and said I'll see you in a year).

I really hate that he can't actually tell us whats wrong.
:`(

Rescue from Death Row

After 2 years without pets, we decided we needed the company of a feline. A friend of mine helps out with various rescue organisations including save our strays, and she suggested we look for our new family member at blacktown pound. I looked on the website and couldn't believe the number of cats and kittens that needed new homes. These animals are only kept for a week from when they arrive. After that they are killed because there are so many. Organisations like save our strays, drummoyne darlings and various other rescue organisations just can't save them all.

We searched through the listed animals and found a tabby kitten who looked adorable and in need of love. He was due out about 3 days later, so I went to the shelter to have a look at him. When I walked into the Cattery, I felt so sorry for the cats and kittens. Cold cement and metal surrounds them, and people walk in and out feeling guilty that they cannot rescue them all. I walked in optimistic that I could at least rescue one. I sought out Gizmo... at the time he was just a number. He wore a pink band around his neck with his number on it as they thought he was a girl. While the other kittens in his cage clamboured over each other to come to the front and get a pat, he sat behind them and just watched. he looked skinny and bedraggled, but so cute.

I didn't want to leave him that day, however the pound had a system of application for tender, meaning you had to bid on the animal and the highest bidder got a call to pick up the animal on its due date. I put in an application on Gizmo hoping I would get the phone call to let me know that we had won his life...

2 days later I got the phone call and went to pick him up. He got his number cut off, got a new number in the form of a microchip, and I paid to release him from death row. He meowed the whole way home, and I felt so mean transferring him from one cage to another without being able to hug him.

I took him straight to the vet for a check up and his first vaccination. They wormed him, gave him a flea treatment weighed him and checked him out. He was malnourished and skinny, but other than that in pretty good condition... oh and they let us know he was a boy.

Finally I got to take our new family member home. He walked out of the cage tentetively, quietly had a walk around, and then curled up on my lap. He had found his forever home, and he knew he liked it. It took us a few days to decide on a name, especially as we had originally been trying to find a girls name. We decided on Gizmo as he had a huge head and ears, and he reminded us of the cuddly little mogwai from the movie gremlins.

Gizmo started to come out of his shell in the first week showering us with cuddles and kisses, sleeping curled up at our feet, or under the covers on the bed. He loved playing with paper and string, and chasing our feet. This would be the beginning of many hours of cuddles and kisses, games of hide and seek, fetch, mischief and fun. He has brought so much to us, and we are just glad we were able to save him from death row.