scary herbs

SHE has not seen me since yesterday afternoon, but SHE thinks I might have slept in the house SHE made for me. The straw bedding looks like something me-size might have nested in it overnight. Of course, it could be another cat. Or a 'possum! Or a skunk! It is hard to tell when you live in a wooded area.

SHE keeps putting out food for me, but the stupid dog keeps eating it. SHE does not think I have eaten anything at this house for about 36 hours.

This is perfectly normal behavior for recently trap-neuter-released cats, and SHE knows I may go make my home elsewhere, and that will be okay for me. I'm a wildcat! And I'm a survivor! But SHE will miss me a lot if I do that. SHE still misses the Fluffy cat she released here this past spring. SHE thinks she sees him sometimes, but he doesn't come close enough for her to tell for sure.

SHE is also worried, because SHE made a mistake she hopes isn't too bad. SHE gave me some herbal medicine, not realizing it is not good for cats. You see, I have a chronically irritated eye, and SHE was trying to help it. This ondition looks like something Cow!Cat, Dougal, and Taffy also have had. They all have taken antibiotics for it, but it has recurred for both Cow!Cat and Dougal, though less frequently now that they are not feral and their nutrition is well regulated.

The vet had suggested that in Dougal and Cow!Cat the eye irritation is possibly a viral or immune-related condition - perhaps feline herpes, or part of eosinophilic granuloma complex. Regardless, because I couldn't get to the vet for a full exam while I was still sedated from my surgery, and because I am a Ferocious Feral and would tear a vet's office apart if I were there when I was awake - and would also tear HER arm off if SHE tried to pill me! - SHE doesn't have antibiotics for me. But SHE wanted to try to help my eye feel better anyway, especially since SHE now knows I am FIV+, and I don't need any infections going unchecked.

So SHE has been putting some antiviral lysine powder in my food every day since my surgery. (Taffy also takes this nonprescription powder every day, per vet instructions, because her immune system is suppressed by her steroid medication.) And my eye was looking a little better by the time SHE freed me from captivity yesterday. But then yesterday SHE couldn't leave well enough alone. SHE wanted to give me something that might fight a bacterial infection as well - so SHE added a drop of rosemary oil and a couple drops of thuja extract to my food bowl. They are both supposed to be antiseptic, and SHE has seen them listed as ingredients on pet shampoo and flea products, and in cat litter.

I ate the food right up before I wandered away, and SHE didn't think anything of it at the time. But then today SHE thought to look up those herbs, and found out that both are BAD for cats to eat or even have on their skin. So now SHE is worried about me, and upset because these herbs are in pet products, and they are human-grade supplements, so SHE thought they were safe for us - and instead SHE might have made me sick, and SHE has no way of knowing where I am or checking on me!

So SHE is going to fret until I show myself again. SHE just hopes the couple drops I had weren't enough to hurt me. And SHE will never, ever give a cat a single drop of anything herbal again, before referencing it to make sure it is safe for us. SHE knew cats couldn't have onions and garlic and raisins and chocolate and lots of house plants - but SHE never knew before that rosemary and thuja - and oregano, and thyme, and chamomile, and cloves, and ginger, and all sorts of other herbs and spices! - are bad news for kitties. Even pine and cedar in our litter is bad! It seems like the only herb we should have is catnip.

SHE just is purraying that I am okay, and feeling very guilty and sad. And SHE wants all the other kitty Mamas to know NOT to use herbal shampoos or flea medicine on their cats, and NOT to give them any herbal remedies even if they're fine for humans. SHE knows lots of Catster humans use Rescue Remedy for their cats, and now SHE's wondering if even that is safe?

Freedom

I spent the last couple of days as a prisoner, but in a bigger box. My little box fit in the bigger box, along with a box of sand, and some bowls for food and water.

SHE fed me a lot of soup, and talked softly to me, and I growled at her. SHE also did something that helped my sore eye feel better. I don't know what. I think it might have been something that made my soup taste a little funny.

I was in a dry warm place the whole time, which felt good, but that doesn't mean being stuck in the big box was okay. So I sat in my little box, or on my little box, and glared and growled and hissed, to let HER know I do not like being held captive.

Today, SHE and HE both came to see me. I thought SHE was going to feed me soup, but instead SHE just took my bowls away. Hey!

SHE talked softly to me, and then THEY picked up my big box and started carrying me! I sat on the smaller box inside, and hissed at THEM.

Then I felt a breeze. It felt really nice! I looked out, and I saw the outside!

THEY set down the box, with me in it, and let me sniff and feel the outside for a little while. Then SHE opened the door and said "Go have fun, Fizzy! Stay safe, and come back when you need food or a place to sleep."

Really? Did SHE mean it? I kept on sitting on the little box, just looking around. But then I smelled something else wonderful. SOUP! So I got off the little box, and left the big box, and ate some soup.

It was hard to eat though, because it was so exciting being outside again, and not being held prisoner. And everything felt different - this is not the same outside I remember.

So I walked around ... and I sniffed some leaves ... and I checked out a couple of trees. They don't smell like the trees I am used to. I need to explore.

But that's okay. I can explore all I want. I'm free!

(Pictures to come.)

P. S. It's 5 pm and I already have come back twice to eat big soup meals. SHE said hello to me the second time but didn't try to come very close to me. I think this is going to be a pretty good place to live.

Trapped!

Today was the Worst Day Of My Life.

This morning it was rainy, and I was looking for a dry spot to hang out. One of the other kitties showed me a place to hide, near where I've been finding a lot of my food lately, and I followed the kitty. But then the SHE with the big voice closed off the way I got in. I was dry and warm, and SHE gave me lots of food and a box full of sand, but I couldn't leave! I decided if I had to be stuck there, I may as well make myself invisible until I could figure out an escape route, so I got under a big cave thing and watched.

Then I heard my other, first SHE - the one I sometimes still go to visit and she gives me yummy soup, but I don't see HER every day as I used to. SHE came into my dry warm place, carrying a plastic box, along with the SHE with the big voice. They both said my name a lot.

I know I don't like boxes when SHES are near them! So I stayed in my cave thing and watched.

The big-voice SHE knelt down to talk to me, and started patting my back and scritching in circles. I growled and hissed at her, but she kept right on talking to me. And the next thing I knew, I was squirming hard, but SHE stuck me in the box and my first SHE closed it! And then I was swinging back and forth, and hearing roary noises, and hating it all.

Now I'm in another dry warm place, with a can of food. It's dark here, like a cave, and that's nice. But I'm stuck in the box and I can't get out.

My first SHE was around for awhile - SHE even tried to get me out of my box, but I wasn't having any of that. But I haven't heard her voice in a long time. And there are lots of other cats around me - I can smell them!

What am I going to do? I need help! I hope somekitty can rescue me!

(His first SHE speaks: Fizzgig is at Forgotten Cats tonight. He will be neutered, tested, and given his shots tomorrow, and I will relocate him from our old house (now being put up for sale) to our new, larger back yard where there is much less car traffic for him to contend with. I am so thrilled to finally have caught him, with help from my lovely former neighbor - the big-voice SHE!

Fizzy needs lots of Catster purrs for his FIV and FELV tests to come back negative, for his surgery to go well, and for a smooth transition to his new home.)

Baby Steps

When SHE came over to the house today to feed me, and started putting my food down for me at the feeding station, I sidled up and bonked HER on the arm, and then let her pet my side a little bit.

And there SHE goes again, getting all excited about this little bit of affection I occasionally allow.

I wonder what I can do to make HER happy next month?

Fizzy

Touching

This morning, while I was eating my cat food soup, I let the Food Lady touch me.

First she reached out and did a little scritch on my shoulders, and then she did some Tellington TTouch circles on my back and shoulders and even a few up toward my occipital bump. And I didn't hiss at her at all, or cringe away at all, or swat at her hand like I did with the Man last weekend.

I was too busy eating. That cat food soup is really good stuff!

She didn't do it for as long as I might have let her, because she didn't want to overdo it on the very first day I accepted touching from her. So she did maybe a minute or so the first time, and 30 seconds a few minutes later when she brought me fresh water, and then she told me she was going inside and I was a nice boy and she hoped I enjoyed my meal.

But she is crazy happy that we finally made this breakthrough. Euphoric. The woman is a little daft for feral kits, I tell you.

We'll see if I come back for more tomorrow!