Wrong from the title on
3 minutes ago
Monday, July 13, 2009
Ms. Layla update
We got a good look at Layla this morning. It appears as if she has a broken lower mandible.....not good......further explains the not eating/drinking......she has an appt. at the vet tomorrow morning. We can not afford an expensive medical surgery bill.......we will see what the hospital has to say.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Ms. Layla
She is still alive. She still is resting mostly, but walks around on the back porch several steps, before she wants to lay down again. She is safely contained within the dog crate unless we are back there with her. I put soft towels/blankets, food and water in there for her. The food has not been touched and I don't believe she drank any of the water.
It appears as if she might have gotten past the initial trauma of the head injury. We now must wait to see if she develops any complications from the injury and need to get some fluids in her to avoid extreme dehydration. It would be a shame that she survives the head trauma, but dies of dehydration. I have not been able to get much water down her throat. I don't know of any cat that likes to be held while medicine was put down their throat, but she is especially NOT laid back. She has always been more timid, nervous little girl, that is kind of psychotic.
Brian is a bit less apprehensive around her, so I asked him to help me by holding her while I got some syringe fulls of fluid down her today. If she starts panicking with me, I start getting scared that she might bite or scratch or I might hurt her, so she always gets loose from me. Brian can hold on to her a little bit longer. She is a strong, little thing. We go in several times a day and tend to her...love on her, washed her fur today because it stinks horrible, then restrain her while we get medicine and water in her as best as possible. Today was the best day of getting stuff down her. We had to wrap her in a towel, then wrap her again in a rug to avoid the claws. Poor baby girl fought something awful and wore herself out. The first time we did it today, she peed all over the towel - it was POTENT urine!!! There was not enough water in it to dilute it at all. It was awful. I was worried that she panicked so hard that we killed her.....y'know how some animals eliminate their waste when they die....but no - thank goodness. It was kind of good that she eliminated all that waste though.......it was sitting inside her not getting out.....
Her one eye that had blood in it is closed shut with a bloody scab over it......if she survives this whole ordeal.....not sure if she will have that eye or not....... She had some goo coming out of her mouth.......I was freaking that it might be cerebrospinal fluid, but Brian thought an area of her mouth looked infected and it might just be pus. Along with the water we have given her today, she was given some anibiotics and got some of that down her. We will continue with this wrap method, along with the antibiotics. Hopefully, she will start drinking, then eating on her own.
She is definitely NOT out of the clear, by far. She is still hurt very badly and has a long way to go for recovery. I am amazed at her strength and will to live. Time will tell.......
Friday, July 10, 2009
Layla is still hanging on
Just a little update that Layla is still alive. I honestly did not think/feel that she would make it through the night. She has made tiny improvements today. She has purred when we held and pet her, which was so nice to hear. We have tried to to get more fluids down her with a baby medicine syringe with a little luck. A few times she appeared to swallow some, but it is hard to tell how much is going in. We have to do it extremely slow and eventually she still gets frustrated and squirms to get free. She has repositioned herself several times today and after she squirms free from us, her walking does not seem as staggered/drunken. The main thing she wants to do is sleep. Her face is so swollen and the one eye that had blood in it is swollen shut with dried blood. She still is in very bad shape and I remain concerned about dehydration. With a traumatic brain injury, things could take a turn for the worse quickly.......I am so glad she is home with us, whether she lives or dies...she is here where she is loved.
It is amazing that she does not appear to be in more pain....I think non human animals have a wonderful self preservation, going inward, pride, strong sense of something that is hard for me to put into words adequately........ We humans in our suffering tend to be fearful of death and it gets expressed in many ways.......there is something about other animals that I have a strong admiration/respect for when it comes to this kind of thing.........I hope I can feel more like this when I am sick and/or dying.
We have her contained in a dog crate for her protection. She has a folded up towel to lay on and I put water and food in there just in case she decides to eat on her own. We contained her in the crate because she is one to hide when she is afraid and can hide in the tightest of spaces. We did not want her to hurt herself or go off somewhere in the house and die. We also did not want the other cats to bother her. They have gone up to the crate to sniff and seem to know her, but I was afraid that they might pick on her if she acted strange.
Last week, she was one of the cats that showed no interest in going outside. Then one evening last week, she darted out and hung out with Mattie by the mailbox. She did not show any interest in coming back in so I went back out later to call all the cats in, but she was gone. We are guessing that she got bumped on the head being hit by a car....y'know when you pass over an animal that doesn't move from the middle of the road and you think you are not going to hit it, but then Boom! that last second thud........it sucks......just dunno.....
We picked up some medication that has anti-inflammatory effects and crushed this up in water and tried to get a little down her. Poor baby girl.......we'll see how she is tomorrow.....thanks for all the kind words/thoughts I have received. I'll keep you updated.
It is amazing that she does not appear to be in more pain....I think non human animals have a wonderful self preservation, going inward, pride, strong sense of something that is hard for me to put into words adequately........ We humans in our suffering tend to be fearful of death and it gets expressed in many ways.......there is something about other animals that I have a strong admiration/respect for when it comes to this kind of thing.........I hope I can feel more like this when I am sick and/or dying.
We have her contained in a dog crate for her protection. She has a folded up towel to lay on and I put water and food in there just in case she decides to eat on her own. We contained her in the crate because she is one to hide when she is afraid and can hide in the tightest of spaces. We did not want her to hurt herself or go off somewhere in the house and die. We also did not want the other cats to bother her. They have gone up to the crate to sniff and seem to know her, but I was afraid that they might pick on her if she acted strange.
Last week, she was one of the cats that showed no interest in going outside. Then one evening last week, she darted out and hung out with Mattie by the mailbox. She did not show any interest in coming back in so I went back out later to call all the cats in, but she was gone. We are guessing that she got bumped on the head being hit by a car....y'know when you pass over an animal that doesn't move from the middle of the road and you think you are not going to hit it, but then Boom! that last second thud........it sucks......just dunno.....
We picked up some medication that has anti-inflammatory effects and crushed this up in water and tried to get a little down her. Poor baby girl.......we'll see how she is tomorrow.....thanks for all the kind words/thoughts I have received. I'll keep you updated.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
My heart hurts for Ms. Layla
We found 1 of our 3 cats that have been missing - Ms. Layla. She is still alive, but barely. Our neighbor came and told us she was down by her mailbox. Brian went to get her. When I saw her, I immediately started crying and saying she needs to be put to sleep. It appears as if she was hit by a car. We just don't know though. Her head looks swollen and one her eyes are swollen and has blood in it. She had dried blood on her nose. She responded a little and took some water from a syringe. She might also have severe dehydration from being gone so long.
Brian washed her off in the shower when he brought her home because she was stinky - he said it smelled like pond water. It does not appear/feel that she has any cuts or broken bones....I think it was blunt trauma to the head. She may have internal bleeding - dunno. We took her to the vet our neighbor recommended. The vet said he mostly deals with wellness issues, not trauma. He said that if we wanted to have another vet look at her, they could do all kinds of tests, but it would get very expensive and she may not make it. While at the vet, she has enough energy to try running away. He recommended taking her home. If she gets better, great. If she gets worse, we should euthanize.
We have spent the day checking on her, trying to get some fluids in her, and letting her rest. She has repositioned herself several times. When she has become frustrated with us messing with her when trying to get fluids in her, she has squirmed out of our arms and has taken a few steps, just to stumble and fall to lay over. She does not look good - her eye looks awful, her face is swollen, she has some labored breathing, her tongue is usually stuck out like she is unconscious, but she has moved around more than what I thought she would.
I have spent the good part of the day crying. Janelle: I may have been wrong when I said the worst part is NOT knowing what happened........I have been feeling today that not knowing allows one to dream about other possibilities. Seeing the reality of what REALLY happened has been tearing me up...it is painful. My head hurts from crying and emotional pressure.......
I do not have much hope for her. I am hanging on by a thread that there will be improvements. I hate seeing her this way. I don't know what the right thing to do is......am I prolonging her suffering? Did she come home to die? If so, I am glad she is here and not on the side of the road somewhere alone. I don't want to be too quick with the decision of euthanizing her. It is painful to watch her this way.
She is a fighter. She is the smallest of our cats, but the deadliest. She was absolutely crazy when when we first got her. She vomited after she ate for the first month, hid under the bed for 3 months, almost bit the tip of Brian's finger off when we tried to put her in the kitty crate to take her to the vet one time early on, and took forever to warm up to humans. Now, she is the sweetest, prettiest, little kitty, who seeks out loving. It is not fair what is happening to her right now.
I must get to bed. I will write an update tomorrow. I am not religious, but please have some positive thoughts sent our way. Either way it goes, I hope for a recovery or a calm death for Ms. Layla and a peace of mind for myself.
Brian washed her off in the shower when he brought her home because she was stinky - he said it smelled like pond water. It does not appear/feel that she has any cuts or broken bones....I think it was blunt trauma to the head. She may have internal bleeding - dunno. We took her to the vet our neighbor recommended. The vet said he mostly deals with wellness issues, not trauma. He said that if we wanted to have another vet look at her, they could do all kinds of tests, but it would get very expensive and she may not make it. While at the vet, she has enough energy to try running away. He recommended taking her home. If she gets better, great. If she gets worse, we should euthanize.
We have spent the day checking on her, trying to get some fluids in her, and letting her rest. She has repositioned herself several times. When she has become frustrated with us messing with her when trying to get fluids in her, she has squirmed out of our arms and has taken a few steps, just to stumble and fall to lay over. She does not look good - her eye looks awful, her face is swollen, she has some labored breathing, her tongue is usually stuck out like she is unconscious, but she has moved around more than what I thought she would.
I have spent the good part of the day crying. Janelle: I may have been wrong when I said the worst part is NOT knowing what happened........I have been feeling today that not knowing allows one to dream about other possibilities. Seeing the reality of what REALLY happened has been tearing me up...it is painful. My head hurts from crying and emotional pressure.......
I do not have much hope for her. I am hanging on by a thread that there will be improvements. I hate seeing her this way. I don't know what the right thing to do is......am I prolonging her suffering? Did she come home to die? If so, I am glad she is here and not on the side of the road somewhere alone. I don't want to be too quick with the decision of euthanizing her. It is painful to watch her this way.
She is a fighter. She is the smallest of our cats, but the deadliest. She was absolutely crazy when when we first got her. She vomited after she ate for the first month, hid under the bed for 3 months, almost bit the tip of Brian's finger off when we tried to put her in the kitty crate to take her to the vet one time early on, and took forever to warm up to humans. Now, she is the sweetest, prettiest, little kitty, who seeks out loving. It is not fair what is happening to her right now.
I must get to bed. I will write an update tomorrow. I am not religious, but please have some positive thoughts sent our way. Either way it goes, I hope for a recovery or a calm death for Ms. Layla and a peace of mind for myself.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Nightcrawlers
This past weekend, my momma was visiting. I was able to revisit my childhood by hunting for earthworms to use as fishing bait with my momma. I remember doing this as a little girl with my family in our backyard. My parents taught us well. :)
After having a slow start, I finally got the hang of it and totally mastered the technique - (skimming the surface of grass with the flashlight being careful to NOT shine light directly on them, grabbing them, determining what end is what, then grabbing them closer to their behind, then pulling them slowly out of the ground the rest of the way, being careful to not rip them in half) I was absolutely giddy to be catching so many. Every time I got another, I would yell to my momma, got another one! She would say - "damn!" because she was not catching any. :)
These little guys now live in a plastic container in the crisper drawer of our fridge minus the ones we have used for fishing bait the last couple of days. Ewww you say - they are in your fridge?! Yep - That is how we did it when I was young and that is how we are doing it now. I also remember a couple of times when I was a kid the worms somehow got out of their container and we found them all over the bottom of the fridge...how is that for ewww? :)
I am proud of my batch of earthworms - can't you tell? :)
After having a slow start, I finally got the hang of it and totally mastered the technique - (skimming the surface of grass with the flashlight being careful to NOT shine light directly on them, grabbing them, determining what end is what, then grabbing them closer to their behind, then pulling them slowly out of the ground the rest of the way, being careful to not rip them in half) I was absolutely giddy to be catching so many. Every time I got another, I would yell to my momma, got another one! She would say - "damn!" because she was not catching any. :)
These little guys now live in a plastic container in the crisper drawer of our fridge minus the ones we have used for fishing bait the last couple of days. Ewww you say - they are in your fridge?! Yep - That is how we did it when I was young and that is how we are doing it now. I also remember a couple of times when I was a kid the worms somehow got out of their container and we found them all over the bottom of the fridge...how is that for ewww? :)
I am proud of my batch of earthworms - can't you tell? :)
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Kubota tractor - Brian's new toy
Brian got a new toy, I mean work machine, for the farm last week. He has been putting it to good use pulling a cart behind it, hauling garbage to the dumpster we rented, moving stuff from the pole barn to the house, and giving kids rides they beg for. We got a good deal - 0% down, 0% financing for 60 months. It is a sub-compact Kubota tractor. I have yet to learn how to drive it. One day, I will have to. If anything, I want to learn so I can escape out to the wilderness to mow. Right now, we have the front loader and the mower.
We are having some drainage issues where the gray water (water from our all our water except the sewage) is supposed to be draining out to the pond, but instead it overflows into the cistern tank. The cistern tank is ONLY supposed to have rain water from the roof in it. So, right now, the water is pretty nasty in the cistern tank. This problem is not an immediate emergency, but needs to be fixed. We only intended on using the cistern tank water for gardening and if emergencies arose from the rural pumped water. If the problem does not go away with some roto rooting of the drainage pipes, we may have to do some digging up of the yard to find out where the problem is. Most likely it is tree roots invading the pipes, but we will have to see. The problem is the distance from the house to the pond is a good distance. If there has to be digging done, we will get a quote. If it is more than a $1000- $1500, Brian will probably just buy the excavator attachment for the tractor and do the digging ourselves.
Ok, back to the tractor......
Ohhh....ahhhhhh....
The boys checking it out
Boys with their toy
Zaners turn for a ride
Vito has been enjoying the tractor - likes to run beside it.
Riding off in to the distance
My man is starting to look like a farm boy - love it!
Gareth's ride - pure joy
Momma and Iris
Putting the boys to work - loading it up with trash
Using the front loader
I don't want my turn to be over!
A little over 3 minutes of tractor stuff and rides - the boys love it!
We are having some drainage issues where the gray water (water from our all our water except the sewage) is supposed to be draining out to the pond, but instead it overflows into the cistern tank. The cistern tank is ONLY supposed to have rain water from the roof in it. So, right now, the water is pretty nasty in the cistern tank. This problem is not an immediate emergency, but needs to be fixed. We only intended on using the cistern tank water for gardening and if emergencies arose from the rural pumped water. If the problem does not go away with some roto rooting of the drainage pipes, we may have to do some digging up of the yard to find out where the problem is. Most likely it is tree roots invading the pipes, but we will have to see. The problem is the distance from the house to the pond is a good distance. If there has to be digging done, we will get a quote. If it is more than a $1000- $1500, Brian will probably just buy the excavator attachment for the tractor and do the digging ourselves.
Ok, back to the tractor......
Ohhh....ahhhhhh....
The boys checking it out
Boys with their toy
Zaners turn for a ride
Vito has been enjoying the tractor - likes to run beside it.
Riding off in to the distance
My man is starting to look like a farm boy - love it!
Gareth's ride - pure joy
Momma and Iris
Putting the boys to work - loading it up with trash
Using the front loader
I don't want my turn to be over!
A little over 3 minutes of tractor stuff and rides - the boys love it!
Yummy sweet corn
Mark, the handyman who has been working on odds and ends jobs on the house, brought us some sweet corn the other day. It was super yummy. We all shucked them on the front porch and threw the leaves/tassles in the wheelbarrow.
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