Saturday, June 20, 2009

Lots of goings on....

Sometimes life hands you almost too much to deal with. I'll do this in chronological order.

On Tuesday, the 16th I came into possession/responsibility for a little kitten. I couldn't even tell if it's a boy or a girl. 2 of them were found in the parking lot at my nail salon. Animal control was absolutely no help at all. They wouldn't take them, said they are too small, need to be bottle fed every 2 hours and no one there could do it. Well, you know me. I couldn't just leave them there to die. A girl from the adjacent sports club/gym took the other one.

I have it closed up in my spare room (away from my other 3 cats) with a heating pad and blanket. I sleep in there with it. Well, 'sleep' isn't really it. I have to feed it every 2 hours, and stimulate it so it will pee and poop. It has been eating, after some coaxing, and it has been eliminating.

The animal control lady said that the chances that it will survive without it's Mom are slim. I am doing my best and hoping for the best. So far it's eating has improved, and it appears to be gaining weight. I think it's a boy now from what I can tell. He's so small. But things are looking up for him, I think.
Here are some pics of the tiny bundle. First one from June 18th

Then these are from today:











Isn't he a cutie pie? More pics of this baby in my webshots album here I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying.

Next up...
4:07 AM June 18th. I was up at 4 AM for the regular feeding, I think I hear the phone ringing. By the time I get to it the machine picked up, someone said something that sounded like "I'm calling his cell they didn't pick up". DH's cell starts to ring, he is stumbling out of the bedroom. He gets the cell and yells, "WHAT? WHAT? OH NO!" He runs back to the bedroom to get clothes on, I'm like "What? What happened?" It was my neighbor from across the street, saying there is a fire. I run out to the garage and it's filled with smoke. There are flashing lights outside. I run around to the back door and around to the driveway to find my neighbor and several police, one with an empty fire extinguisher. Both the 55 gal. garbage can and the same size recycling bin are reduced to ashes, still smoldering. They sit beside my garage door, the siding on my house is melted and the tree that the cans sat behind is singed badly. The fire dept. shows, 4 fire trucks, including the ladder truck, they douse everything with water and start removing the siding. The fire inspector shows up and starts taking notes. Turns out that the contractor that re-stained our deck On Wed. didn't properly dispose of the rags and whatever. It all combusted and *POOF*. It's bad, but it could have been WAY worse. Thank God it's rained here as much as it did, or that tree would have been engulfed, that would have set the garage on fire, 2 cars in there with full gas tanks, and Lord only knows what else is in there that is flammable. Plus 2 vans in the driveway parked right in front of the second garage door, with full gas tanks. Oh yeah, it could have been much, much worse. Thank God my neighbor, Joan, got up to use the bathroom when she did. Her master bedroom bath faces our driveway, that's how she saw it. She called 911 right away. Thank God is all I can say. No one was hurt. Thank God is really all I can say.

Couple exhaustion with anxiety and everything else..., I feel like death, but Thank God we are all still alive.

Pictures of the fire damage can be seen here

So no stitching has been done, as you can imagine. I am going to try to get some in this weekend between feedings. I'm so tired and my concentration isn't the best, so I guess it's a good thing this is the HAEDless Sampler weekend. I'm not going to touch my HAEDs till I get some rest.

Till I can post again,
Happy Stitching

6 comments:

Tama said...

I've raised abandoned kittens before, and 2 out of 3 lived. grew up quite healthy, in face. They're a lot of fun and occasionally annoying, lol - because they think YOU are their mum.
The vet only told me 'you'll know' when I asked when to start feeding them solid food. I knew, all right - they chewed the nipples off the baby bottles!
Ouch about the fire but you're so right - it could have been worse!

Dani - tkdchick said...

Wow you are sooo lucky you had neighbours keeping an eye out for you! That fire could of been worse.

That wee kitten is adorable. I hope he survives.

Cindy said...

That was quite a close call! Your little kitten is so cute...hope all is well :)

gatofish said...

Whew! I'm so happy that the fire didn't do more damage than it did!

Your kitten is very cute. I'm praying for you both! We are taking care of two feral kittens (but eating/pooping on their own, thank goodness) and they are a handful. Kudos to you for doing the right thing. Good luck!

Billie said...

This tiny kitten is so cute. I do hope all your work and dedication will make him live and a great addition to your household. Please keep showing more pictures as he grows up.

Samantha said...

I'm so glad that your neighbour spotted your fire, as you say, it could have been so much worse.

Your kitten is so sweet! Have you thought about a name yet?