Monday, July 1, 2013
Carmen and Calypso
Carmen and Calypso are prime examples of what I do. They are calico sisters. Carmen is long haired and Calypso is short hair. They have been at the shelter for over 8 years, ever since they were kittens. Their siblings were adopted while still young. Carmen and Calypso have so much stacked against them. Carmen is friendly but had a constant nasal issue and Calypso stayed feral and both had diarrhea. The old president decided to keep them together and now they are a bonded pair. They must go together! The shelter took great care of them. The girls got medical treatments when needed and volunteers tried working with them but with little success.
Happy Endings shelter received some medical grants and with some successful fund raising and reduced medical costs decided to look further into their medical issues and see if Calypso would come around. That is where I come in. I took the girls for a couple months and got them friendlier. They got dentals and poop samples tested and blood work. It was discovered that they had a parasite and that was causing them off and on diarrhea. We went through hell together but the blood stops after a while and the bites healed so they were on there way. The last problem was Carmens runny nose. She was taken to a specialist and scoped. Tissue samples were taken and tested and she has some permanent medical issue. She gets a little liquid medicine every 3 days and more if there's a flare up. In the truck, their crap was firm and no sneezing or runny noses. They loved being pet and hanging out. However now that they are back at the shelter they are so stressed the diarrhea is back. They are still friendly but standoffish. I had them with me for almost a year. They are so used to a small area I think if someone takes them and keeps them in a small area for a little while and goes slow with them they will be someones best friends. My wife and I are even paying their adoption fees.
Happy Endings shelter received some medical grants and with some successful fund raising and reduced medical costs decided to look further into their medical issues and see if Calypso would come around. That is where I come in. I took the girls for a couple months and got them friendlier. They got dentals and poop samples tested and blood work. It was discovered that they had a parasite and that was causing them off and on diarrhea. We went through hell together but the blood stops after a while and the bites healed so they were on there way. The last problem was Carmens runny nose. She was taken to a specialist and scoped. Tissue samples were taken and tested and she has some permanent medical issue. She gets a little liquid medicine every 3 days and more if there's a flare up. In the truck, their crap was firm and no sneezing or runny noses. They loved being pet and hanging out. However now that they are back at the shelter they are so stressed the diarrhea is back. They are still friendly but standoffish. I had them with me for almost a year. They are so used to a small area I think if someone takes them and keeps them in a small area for a little while and goes slow with them they will be someones best friends. My wife and I are even paying their adoption fees.
Our first night with Carmen, Calypso, and Cleo: As we place the carriers in their room in front of their cage, Calypso's carrier started moving~she wanted out. We opened the door and she ran in the cage to her new bed. The other two needed some assist in leaving the carrier, but in no time they were laying in a kitty pile in their kitty bed. Throughout the evening we spoke to them in soft, loving tones, and gave them their space. We put up a baby gate so we could see them and they could see us, even though they were did their best to ignore us. Cleo was the first to explore the room, but ran back in the cage when she made eye contact with my husband. We bid them goodnight and went to sleep. When my husband woke up @ 3am, he spotted all three of them on the kitty condo. Despite the 5 levels of this large cat tree, they were all huddled on the second highest level (the condo is very sturdy and over 6' tall). The three of them appear to move as a unit. This morning my husband woke me and said, "They're gone". We thought maybe all three jumped over the baby gate, but did not find them anywhere. We thought we did a good job of kitty proofing the room, esp. the closet so they had no good hiding places. Ahhh, those smart girls!!!! We have a treadmill in their room and we were both sure there was no way they could fit under it. How wrong were were! Well, now the treadmill is raised off the floor on lots of hard covered books (thank goodness we don't use a Nook tablet). I noticed they ate some kibbel, and did use the litter box, though. My husband is making bacon and just took the pan to the doorway to waft some good bacon smell in there, it may not have worked for our girls but it sure made me hungry. I am going to entice our scaredy cats with a bit of wet food. Later today I'm planning on making chicken. They won't be able to resist those smells for too long. I know they will come around with patience and lots of sweet talk. I'll keep you posted Cat Daddy Mark. :) Thank you so much Happy Endings staff, and Mark and Jessica.
ReplyDelete