Simba, My Next Foster Kitten

This little 9- to 10-week-old boy is Simba, and he'll be my new foster kitten in a couple weeks, after his second surgery.  We think he was hit by a car.  He had two broken legs when he was rescued from a busy intersection.   One of my adopters, and friend, Barb, and I met Simba's rescuer, Angie, last Sunday, picked him up and took him to an emergency vet clinic.  Angie's kids named him after the Lion King.  He had x-rays and pain meds.  When the tech brought him back, Barb held him to her chest in his towel.  He just melted into her and snuggled.  He is such a beautiful, sorry, handsome boy.  And so sweet.  Both legs on his right side were broken, but he didn't seem in pain - even before the meds.  It had been at least four days since it had happened.  I just can't imagine what he was feeling, but he never cried once.

Since I had just had eye surgery three days before, Barb drove and took us back to my house from the clinic.  I put a heating pad under a towel in a small crate.  Simba was dehydrated and very hungry.  He ate half a can of canned food, a small bowl of dry, and two small bowls of water over an 8-hour period.  He even wobbled over to a shallow litter box and used it several times.  He still had dried poop and litter on his back end, so after he was settled in, I very carefully held him under the kitchen faucet and washed his butt off.  I had left a message on our regular vet's phone on Sunday afternoon that I'd be bringing him in Monday morning.  I took his food away at midnight hoping they could squeeze him in and do the surgery Monday.  Since he was dehydrated, I left a little water in his bowl.  He was matted again in the morning, but I knew the vet tech girls would clean him up while he was out.

Cheri stopped by the vet's office on her way home from work and took these two pitiful pictures of Simba.  The back leg had two breaks, both above and below his knee, and each got pins.  When Marcy was almost finished with his back leg, he wasn't doing so good, so they weren't able to get to the front leg.  He'll have that done this week.

Monday evening Simba went home with Sharon, the head of Snuggle, a wonderful organization that specializes in at-risk care for kittens.  Sharon knew how to take care of him, and I didn't.  I can do diarrhea, colds, and birthing, but I've never had a broken bone.  Okay, I stepped on a kitten's paw once and broke his toe, but he stuck it under my foot - honest!

Simba's surgery is costing over $2000, even with our discount.  Heartland could sure use your help.  If you go to our website, http://www.hhsrescue.org/, and click on Simba Needs Your Help, you can read more about him.  Click on the Donate symbol to make a much-needed donation.  Or you can send a check to Heartland at the address at the bottom of the page.  Every little bit helps.  Thank you.  I'll be keeping everyone posted about his recovery when I get him.

Sauted Mushrooms and Dreamcicles, But Not Together

More mushrooms today, but of the edible variety, this time.  I was hungry for sauted mushrooms ever since I found the giant ones growing in our yard last week.  And, yes, they were poisonous.  I bought two 8 oz packages of real mushrooms at the store and used one tonight.  I fixed these a little differently than usual, and they were awesome.  Not that my usual ones aren't, but these rocked.

 I started pulling things from the fridge and announce to John I was playing "Top Chef".  For those non-foodies, it's a program on the Food Channel where cooks and chefs compete week after week to be the Top Chef.  They're given odd ingredients and have to make a dish using them.

Besides the mushrooms, I found a package of fresh basil, some grated Asiago cheese, bacon grease and some leftover garlic butter.  Sliced and sauted the mushrooms in the garlic butter and some bacon grease - can't go wrong so far.  Chopped up two leaves of basil and added it.  Threw in two handfuls of Panko bread crumbs and some grated Parmesan cheese.  Yes, I like the Kraft stuff that looks like powder.  Mixed it all together and let it cook some more, stirring often.  When the mushrooms were getting soft, I sprinkled on some fresh Asiago cheese, turned the burner off and put the lid on.  OMG!  I hadn't intended to do another mushroom blog, but this was so pretty, I ran for the camera.   And it tasted even better.  There's no specific amounts.  Use what you like, in quantities you like. This is what was in the fridge.

Barb's Rockin' Mushrooms
Mushrooms
Bacon grease
Butter with garlic powder
Fresh basil
Panko bread crumbs
Grated Parmesan cheese
Grated Asiago cheese

Four friends, Holly, Kathy, Mary, Terry and I have been getting together for lunch at each other's house twice a month for 23 years.  It was my turn yesterday, and I had made comfort food - two meatloaves, so we would have leftovers for days, broccoli, and skillet potatoes.

For dessert I served dreamcicle floats.  Another OMG!  I don't have a picture of them, because the ice cream is all gone.  However, I think most of you can follow this.  Put some half melted vanilla ice cream in a tall glass  and pour some orange soda over it.  Mix slightly and suck, drink, or spoon it down.  That's it.  Takes me back to my childhood and the Dreamcicles on a stick that were very popular in the '50's and '60's.  I don't even know if they still make them.

 This was our most excellent dinner tonight. No artistic staging, no linen tablecloth.  Just really good food.

 And, this is all that was left from the pan of mushrooms.  Yes, we ate the whole thing.  I'm not going to blame it all on John, either.  I did my fair share.

Mushrooms!

It's been a long time since my last post.  I'm still here.  I've had some sick kittens that have taken lots of my time.  So does blogging, so something had to go for a while.  The kittens are better, so I hope to make regular posts again.
 

We've finally gotten some rain here in the midwest.  When I let Lucy outside this morning, I noticed the grass had grown about 2" overnight, and there was a patch of mushrooms in the yard.  So what, you ask?  Everybody has mushrooms in their yard after it rains. 

  Well, feast your eyes on these babies.  Lucy's not a small dog.  She's about 75 pounds.  I know portabellas get this big, but I've never seen mushrooms this big growing in my yard - overnight.  Lucy didn't want to get this close to the alien beings, but she slowly came when I called her, but wouldn't look at me, so she's not really there.

 I wish I knew if they were edible.  I'd have these sliced, sauted in butter, garlic, and panko bread crumbs, and wouldn't need anything else for dinner.

 To give you a better idea of just how big these are, the Sharpie pen is 5.5" long.  The large one here is 7.25" wide.

 This is the largest at 7.5" across.  Why is there a red dot on the marker?  All of my notions and tools that I take to quilt classes I teach, have a red nail-polish dot on them so I know they're mine.  Anyone is welcome to use my things.  I just want to make sure I come home with all my stuff.

My hand is only to show the scale.  Even the smallest mushoom is bigger than any mushroom I remember seeing in my yard.

My weak attempt at artistic photography.  The mushrooms really are cool.  The areas around the edges look like dew, but are flaky and rough places.  The large darker pieces are the skin of the mushroom when it was smaller.  As it grew, the skin cracked.  Like when all the continents drifted apart from one land mass.

A baby mushroom, only about 3" across, with the skin just starting to split. 

As I was taking the last of the pictures, I heard Randy, the guy that does our lawn, start his weed eater.  The sky was very dark to the south, and he was trying to get our yard done before it rained again.  So, I pulled up all the mushrooms.  I'll always wonder how much bigger they would have gotten.

I will get some kitten pictures posted very soon.

Intruducing Hope and Her Ten Kittens

Foster mom, Jen, took in a pregnant cat from a shelter a couple weeks ago.  An x-ray showed possibly eight kittens, probably within two or three days.  She looked ready to pop.  She was way bigger than Elsa was with her eight kittens.  No way would she make it two days longer.  Well, mama Hope didn't get the email because she went over a week longer and had her kittens Saturday night.  Jen hadn't seen kittens being delivered and was looking forward to the experience.  Aunt Barb was on standby, and standby, and standby. 

Jen checked on Hope about 6pm on Saturday night, and all was fine.  She checked again at 10pm and there were eight kittens in the box!  Jen was changing the towels and heard a slurping sound as #9 came out.  She changed towels again and #10 came out.

I've never heard of a cat having 10 kittens.  I'm sure they have, many times.  I've just never heard of it.  I had a litter of eight kittens here two months ago.  Now Jen has 10.  Heartland sure does like to grow them big.

 Beautiful Hope with her babies.

The kittens will learn how to eat in shifts.  Mom only has eight nipples.

 The kittens are about 15 hours old.

 This is all 10 kittens, but it's hard to tell the individuals.  All are black, white and gray.

 The vet techs shaved Hope's tummy when she had her x-ray.  It helps the babies find the nipples easier.

Jen has a digital scale and reports that most kittens have doubled or tripled their birth weight in three days.

 One of Hope's nipples was inverted - pushed inside and not usable.  I tried to gently squeeze it out like popping a pimple, but it didn't work.  I tried to put a kitten on it and have it sucked out, but that didn't work, either.  Jen also reported today that it's fine now, so someone did suck it out.  Probably a very hungry determined kitten.

From day one, a kitten will hold a sibling off with one paw while eating.  The universal sign for, "Bug off."

This beautiful little girl is Jen's daughter, Samantha.  She's a very lucky girl to be around all the cats and kittens they have.

Kittens Named

It was very hard to give names to the orange kittens.  I couldn't think of eight name I liked, and there aren't TV shows or movies that have five girls and three boys as leads.  So I picked several of my favorites.


The orange kittens, three boys and five girls are Callan, Deeks, Julius (his new mom named him), Kensi, Nell, Hetty (NCIS:LA) and Jane and Maura (Rizolli and Isles).  After 150 cats and kittens, you look for names anywhere you can find them.  Callan, Julius, Nell, and Maura have been adopted.

This is Jane.  The basket was just something laying around the house and got played with.  It ended up in a kitten room and has become a favorite toy.  The handle is only attached on one side, now.

 Jane, again.  Her hair is a little longer and she's a little more red.

Mama Elsa with her seductive come hither look.

Kensi.

 

I've named the Tent City orphans, two girls and one boy, Abby, Ziva, and Gibbs (NCIS).  Abby is the calico in back, Gibbs is the gray tabby in front, and Ziva is the tortie on the right.

 

  Jane and Hetty.
 
 

 Abby being her cute adorable self.

Ziva on the recliner.  Ziva's tummy is shaved because she, Abby, and Gibbs got their package last week and are now available for adoption.  

Kensi and Gibbs playing.

 

 

Ziva playing with the ever-popular basket.



Abby.

 

Abby in back and Gibbs in front.

Winfield Kittens

This is an exerpt from an email I sent another foster  mom when I got home from the vets on Tuesday afternoon.  I saw no reason to retype everything.

Okay, so I was minding my own business at Pet Docs, taking Shari, the snowshoe, to be scanned and tested, and mama Elsa a fecal.  Two teenage girls walked in with a box.  Can the vet's office take the six kittens?  They found the box with the kittens in it by the side of the road by Winfield.  Tiffany and Jessie said they were filled to the max - the storage room and all the kennels were full.  And then they looked at me.  And then I looked at the kittens.  Crap.  They were pretty small.  Some looked like 3 weeks, sickly and scrawny, some like 4 weeks and healthy.  A couple with crusty eyes, but all their ears were clean and no visible fleas.  I said if the techs would test them, I'd take them.   After the girls left, Tiffany and Jessie both said the girls were lying and the kittens were theirs.  I fell for it.

They tested two, and they were negative, but the others were too dehydrated to get a blood sample.  So, I brought them home, Bottle fed everyone, did an hour of power cleaning, put Shari, the snowshoe, in my room, put Elsa and the kittens in Shari's room, and the new kittens in the nursery.   Gave all of them a bath and put them in a tub on the deck, partially in the sun to dry.  After just a few hours, they're like new kittens.  I think they might be two separate litters.  

One of the older three.  I think a little boy.

  You know how I love the gray tabbies.

 Also an older one, a calico girl.

 The other older one, and I don't remember if it's a boy or girl.















These are all three of the older kittens.

 "You wanna keep that paw?"

Since I bottle feed the younger three, they all run to me as soon as I come into their room.

The diluted gray calico is a younger little girl.  A lady and her four-year-old daughter came over today to see Abby, the calico in with the orange kittens.  They played with them for a while and I mentioned I had gotten some younger kittens since I had talked to her and would she like to see them.  Almost as soon as she saw the little dilute calico, she fell in love.  She knows the kitten won't be available for a month, and that's okay.  I said they could visit whenever she liked.


I have 17 kittens 3-10 weeks old.  I'm crazy, I know.  As cute as they are, kittens are pigs.  I've been cleaning so much my hands look like dry shredded paper.  I sweep the nursery in the morning, wipe up spots and smears of poop because they drag their tails through it after they go, then walk around and get it all over the floor, and by evening it looks like I haven't cleaned in a week.  And I get to clean it all over again.  Then, I get to hold and play with these soft little bundles of fur.  They lick my nose and chin and start purring against my neck.  And I don't feel so crazy anymore.

Madeline, Shari, and Kittens

On a happier Memorial weekend note, Madeline came up Friday for the weekend, too. for a grandson's baseball tournament and stayed here.  She wanted to sleep with kittens, so I put the three orphans, Abby, Ziva, and Gibbs, in her room, but they didn't get on the bed and sleep with her.  But she had plenty of kittens to play with. 

This wasn't the first time Elsa or the kittens had been out of the room.  At least two kittens escape and run down the hall every time I go in the room.  But, this was the first time I opened the door intentionally.  Bizarre!  Nobody wanted to come out.

 Lucy wanted to see what was going on.  There was some hissing at first, but after five minutes, the kittens ignored her.

 At this point, nobody had a name except the fluffy buff boy.  His future mom named him Julius.

 The calico is Abby, and is spoken for.




 




















Then, Sunday, one of John's patients brought over a stray cat they found a couple weeks ago.  It was very friendly and got along with her dog and other cat and slept with her last night.  The only available room was Madeline's.  So, while she was gone to another ballgame Sunday afternoon, Wanda and Jim brought the cat over that they'd named Shari.  Madeline's door had been opened for a few hours and had the three orphans and four of the orange kittens playing in it.

Shari was pretty scared being around seven rowdy kittens, so I put all the orange kids away in their own room.  The three orphans are a couple weeks younger and much quieter than the oranges, so they got to stay.  

I'd never see a cat like Shari before and thought she was a very oddly-marked cat.  After showing her picture to Cheri and Lisa, they said she was a Snowshoe.  It's a Siamese mix and they have four white feet.  Wanda and Jim had put up signs all around their neighborhood for Shari because they knew she was someone's pet.  She was very friendly, got along with their two cats, and smelled like baby powder.  Nobody called about her in two weeks.  I had her tested (negative) and no chip or spay scar was found.  She'll go in next week for that and then will be available for adoption.