Lacee's Photo Shoot

Here she is. The little sweetheart who has stolen my heart. I have learned so much about her in the past couple of weeks. She is still very needy and clingy. Her paws never stop. Meaning, she kneads all the time. When I cradle her on her back, in my arms, she kneads the air.
She does not jump. I think it may be part neurological, and part physical. She is an excellent climber. While spending time in her cage, she will climb the bars to get up on the shelf, but will not jump. When I have her loose in the room, she will climb on and off the bed, but will not jump on or off.

She does seem to have some difficulty getting comfortable when first lying down, until she gets both rear legs sticking to one side. Her rear legs cross over when holding her. Other then that, she is one of the easiest cats I have had here. Very content to be held and loved on, and just as content to be put back in her cage when I can't watch her.
We did not have her spayed yet. Since I was able to get the shoe lace off her neck, her appointment was rescheduled for the 25th. That has now changed.

All of us here in this crazy house are suffering from lack of sleep. Can anyone guess why? With having five dogs in the house, all spayed and neutered but one (Bandit, because he competes in AKC shows), Six cats, spayed and neutered, and One female kitten, approximately 5 months old, not spayed. Hmmmm........... anyone guess yet? UGH, Lacee IS IN HEAT!

If any of you have not experienced a female cat in heat, well, you are so lucky. This is not fun. Yowling all night long last night, non stop, and has continued through today. We are all exhausted.

Her spay has been rescheduled to this coming Sunday on the 11th. It can't come soon enough. She isn't so cute right now.... well, yes she is, but; I am sooooooo TIRED!

Hello 2009

Hello and Happy New Year to all! Boy, I am glad 2008 is gone and now for a new beginning and welcome to 2009. We had many challenges to overcome, sadness, losses, and changes in 2008, but with those came good friends, changes for the better, lessons learned, and rediscovering who we are, and what is important to us.

My apologies to all who follow my blog, as I have been very sick the last 3 weeks, and really wasn't up to being on the computer much. Having a difficult time just keeping up with all the household chores, work, and dogs and cats, computer time unfortunately is last on my list. I thought I was finally starting to feel better and get my energy back, and then the last two days, I am back to not feeling so well. Not a good way to start off the new year, but I have hope it will be better then 2008.

I have lots of fun pictures to share, so hope to get to posting those soon.

Her Name Is Lacee

Can you see why we picked the name Lacee? This is a shoe lace, doubled and tied in a double knot. We discovered it was not embedded, thank goodness. As I was holding her, hubby was massaging her neck. It was very tight, and we really thought it was embedded. She is very clingy, and moves her head a lot, so every time we thought we could get a hold of it she would move. Hubby started working it, and we spent about 20 minutes just massaging her neck until it became loose enough to create a gap just big enough to cut it off with scissors. Awwww, she seemed so relieved once this was off and started giving little kitten kisses.


My mind plays all sorts of scenarios on why someone would tie a shoestring around a kittens neck. We are now estimating, she has been around in my shelter since she was between 8-10 weeks old.

We have had many reports here on the local news over the last couple of months of dogs and cats being found hung in trees at our local parks and peoples yards. It was reported that some kittens were hung by shoe laces. I don't know if this was the case with her, who did this, why they did this, but I am thankful she found her way to my shelter, and I caught her in time. It wasn't easy, that is for sure.
The minute hubby cut this off her neck, he decided her name should be Lacee. I like it. She is a lucky little Lacee.


She is doing so well. We moved her cage in the house, and she has made herself at home. She wants to be held all the time, and seems very needy. I think she is making up for all the attention she missed out on.
She still drags her legs before standing, but manages fine. She is much smaller then my pictures show. Her fur is still kitten fur, and nails are still those clear little kitten nails. When she has her spay done, we will have the vet check her legs. She is a cute little thing, isn't she.

Kitten,Good News, Bad News

First, I am happy to report, she is the sweetest little thing. She thrives on being petted, rubbed and loved on. I can rub her belly and every part of her. She is very mentally immature. She kneads constantly as I am talking to her, including kneading the palms of my hand. It appears that she may have been separated from her mama too young, by the behavior I am witnessing.

Second, I have determined that she has the same problem with her legs as Grady (rip) did. I wouldn't be surprised if she came from the same place and is related to Grady somehow. Her eyes resemble his. She could have Cerebellar Hypoplasia. When she lays down, she always lays on her hip and stretches her back legs straight out to the side, but the front half of her body is in a sit up position. Then when she wants to get up, she drags her back end and legs a few inches before she can stand on them. They do not bend correctly. She does have a difficult time getting comfortable to lay down until her back legs stretch to the side. But that is a minor handicap, as she has adjusted to that.


Third, I am so ANGRY! . Now that I can pet her, it has been determined that she was not born feral, *sigh*.... I found something embedded in her neck. It could be a collar, but too hard to tell. I can't find any buckle, and it resembles a LARGE RUBBER BAND!

Did I mention how angry I am?

Why the Heck do people, that call themselves humans do this? If I did not have my web cam, I wouldn't even know she was in my shelter, since she always stayed hidden. She is a baby and still growing.

I am so ANGRY!

I am waiting for a return call from our vet to find out when she can go in. After she recovers, and is determined healthy, we will then start looking for a special home for her. She will be considered a special needs kitty, with her handicap, she sometimes misses the litter box, but she tries, her legs just don't work right. We will have to do more evaluating with her coordination and personality as times goes on.

Here She Is

She seems to be doing alright for now. She is scared, but quiet and calm. It appears she has jumped to the bottom of the cage to investigate. I noticed paw prints in the litter box, and it appears she has been eating some of her kibble. All good signs.

When I opened the cage to take these pictures, she didn't put her ears back, she just tried to tuck in as low as possible to hide. no hissing or growling, just watching me very carefully. She is fine with me as long as I don't make any moves toward her.
I won't make any moves toward her for awhile. For the next few days, the only interaction I will have with her will be talking to her while changing her food and water, and cleaning her litter box. Then I will start sitting with her for about an hour every evening. I will use that hour to read out loud, or I can use that time to make some phone calls, so she can get familiar with my voice.
She has some scratches on her nose, but other then that, she looks fine. I am still estimating her to be about five months old. Once she gets a little more comfortable, I will post more pictures, and hopefully get some full body shots. These pictures don't show it, but her body has alot of orange underneath and blended in with the grey.
Now I need to come up with a name so I can start using it as I am talking to her. I will have to think on that one. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know.

The Kitten Is Safe

Finally, I have her. I am so very excited, relieved, exhausted. This kitten has tested my ability to trap. But I finally got her.
One thing I must admit, I was very foolish today. I lifted the roof of the house she was in to make sure where she was. Then I grabbed the trap, set it by one entry, and added bricks to help prevent her from getting out. Then I put a brick and cardboard by the other entry, then set the trap. 10 hours later, she still hasn't come out. I have done it this way for the last three days. Finally I give up in the late evening, as I don't want to trap her, if I am not out there to bring her in right away.

Well, silly me. Tonight, while watching the web cam, there she was, standing on TOP of the trap. I take a second look, thinking, no that isn't her, but it was. She was never in the little house I had the trap set for. I never realised she moved to another house while I was getting everything ready. Anyhow, so I just set the trap with a bowl of her kibble, and left it in the middle of the shelter. One hour later, there she goes, right into the trap!

It took me about 15 minutes to get her out of the trap and into the cage. I put the blanket that she always sleeps on in the little house, in the cage for her. Once she started sniffing the blanket she walked out of the trap and into the cuddler that the blanket was in.

So, now, I need to work on taming her. She is completely feral. This will take a lot of time and patience. It will be all up to her now.

I will post pictures of her tomorrow.

Bailey The Unknown Reindeer

This is not my dog, but he is having a blast in the snow. Make sure you have your speakers on.