Well things are almost back to normal here in Kitty Village. Smokey’s eye, or lack of an eye, is doing well. She is in good health now and is enjoying exploring the house when she is out of her habitat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyday we let her out for awhile, but you can see she is still more comfortable in her habitat. We can see this with her body language.

For now lets talk about the tail of the cat.  

The position of a cat’s tail can decipher how a cat is feeling. The tail that is straight up is a happy cat who is most likely approachable unless it’s a Halloween cat tail. When you see your cat’s tail straight up and all the hairs puffed out like an upright bottle brush signals your cat feels under a threat.

Tail down indicates scared or threatened. If hidden below or between its legs means that your cat is  insecure or even anxious.

A cat wagging its tail is not the same as a dog.

A fast-thumping moving tail is a good indication that your cat is agitated and should be left alone. A tail moving slowly back and forth is your cat trying to decipher the situation. This slow movement of the tail means he is making up his mind about how he feels. When the tail is curled around something or someone indicates a friendly atmosphere.

Well that’s my tale about tails.

She gets along well with Khaki and Kiki.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And she appears to be happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I’m sure she will be even happier to get back together with her family outdoors.

That’s what I meant by things here at Kitty Village are almost back to normal.

The Fence enclosure is moving ahead slowly. When ever we have time, we are busy building the enclosure. Remember, as said in past posts, this enclosure will protect Smokey with her handicap from other animals and dangers that exist out in the wild and will also protect the rest of the villagers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget to visit Nutty About Nature.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

Rudder 2006 – 2018

Rudder is an old friend to Kitty Village.

 

 

He and his crew would come to visit the Village time and again, especially to visit Kiki

and Khaki.

 

 

Rudder is an amazing sea going dog who has traveled to more places than most of us ever will.

 

 

You would always find Rudder with his buddy Tiller.

      

In an open field or on the beach Rudder had a wonderful life.

   

 

Rudder was the kind of friend whose eyes you could look into and see something so much more than a dog. It was amazing.

 

 

 

Rudder will never be forgotten here at Kitty Village and by anyone who got to meet him.

 

 

 

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

Sorry we have been away for awhile. Here is the latest news on the village.

Smokey is doing great. She had a minor urinary tract infection which was fixed with a trip back to the Veterinarian office.

Now she is exploring the house and had a brief visit with Bandit. Animals are amazing! They both acted like it was just yesterday they saw each other.

As for Khaki.

Khaki is doing very well from his eye surgery, and was given a clean bill of health from the Veterinarian. He has now become a celebrity in the Village sporting his new down and out eye wear.

Mister Fashion statement.

Khaki wanted me to pass on to all dog owners some information. “When we ride in a car with our head out the window, we need goggles, or as we call them doggles, to protect our eyes from any flying debris just like motorcycle riders protect theirs. We be cool too.”

By: Josh Weiss-Roessler of Cessar’s Way achieving balance and harmony

“Dogs aren’t quite as dependent on their eyes as we are (nose, eyes, ears, remember?), but their vision is still a major way that dogs interact with the world. As the Pack Leader, you have to pay special attention to your dog’s eyes during her care routine.

Four common dog eye problems

Eye infections
How do dogs get eye infections? Sometimes they just get something in their eye that has bacteria. Other times they may come into contact with another dog that’s infected.

Signs of a canine eye infection include excessive crying and whining, light sensitivity, redness, and green or yellow discharge that crusts over their eyes. Breeds prone to eye infections include cocker spaniels, Maltese, Pekingese, poodles, pugs, and Shih-Tzus.

Cataracts
This largely genetic condition will make the lens of your dog’s eye appear increasingly white or cloudy, coinciding with a progressive deterioration in his vision and eventually blindness.

All dog breeds can develop cataracts, and it’s also possible to get them from disease, immune system problems, or injury. But some breeds are more susceptible than others. These include: American cocker spaniel, bichon frise, Boston terrier, Havanese, miniature schnauzer, miniature and standard poodle, silky terriers, and smooth fox terriers.

In-growing eyelids
Also known as entropion, with this condition, your dog’s eyelids will actually grow or roll inwards, rubbing up against the cornea and causing damage and discomfort.

Third eyelid prolapse
This may sound strange, but every dog has a third eyelid. The gland of this eyelid protects the cornea by secreting tears. Sometimes, though, this gland can become swollen and exposed.

When that happens, you may see yellow mucus indicating the irritation. Brachycephalic or “flat-faced” breeds like the Pekingese, pug, and Shih-Tzu commonly have this problem.

How to take care of your dog’s eyes
While each of the problems above are likely to require veterinary consultation and specific treatments to solve the issue, there are still a number of general things you can do to keep your dog’s eyes healthy and to catch things early on.

Gaze into her eyes
Check your dog’s eyes regularly by taking her to a bright area and looking for crust, discharge, or tearing, and making sure that there’s white around the eyeball.

You should also watch out for cloudiness, unequal pupil sizes, a visible third eyelid, a change in eye color, closed eyes, or rubbing of the eyes. These are signs your dog needs to see the vet.

Check the lining
While you’re there, look at the inner lining of his eyelid by rolling the lid down. You want it to be pink, not white or red.

Clean them out
Keep her eyes free of gunk and crustiness by using a damp cotton ball and wiping outward from the corner of her eye, being careful not to scratch the cornea. Use dog eye wash if you see redness, which is common during dry winters.

Keep your dog clipped
Long hair can scratch and poke your dog’s eyes, so trim those bangs using round-tip scissors.

Close the windows
It might bring a smile to your face — and your dog’s — when they stick their head out the window while riding in the car, but wind and debris can actually cause serious eye problems.”

I hope this helps with your furry babies.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

 

 

 

Tragedy Struck the Village

When we took on the responsibility of caring for these wonderful animals, we knew we would have to take the good with the bad. Over the past two years, we had to take a few of them to the vet for minor problems. Teddy hurt his leg jumping off our porch roof and since then he stopped his high wire adventures. Sam had a possible bite to her foot while in a fight, and Orangey (when she first arrived) had ear trouble which we had taken care of. But nothing prepared us for what happened next.

One day, Smokey showed up for her morning meal and we were shocked to observe a severe eye wound on her. It took two days of hard work, but we trapped her and brought her directly to our local Veterinarian. Smokey’s first operation was to try and save her eye, which was a long shot, but worth it if her eye could be saved. My wife and I set up a medical clinic in our house to care for Smokey who is a wild animal that never lived in captivity and never was handled by a person.

For over a week, we hoped and prayed that the eye would heal. During this time, we could see that Bandit, Teddy, Sam and especially Pete were looking for Smokey. Pete normally is always at her side.

We returned to the Animal Clinic with Smokey, but after consulting with an animal ophthalmologist, the prognosis was that the eye had to be removed. Now, Smokey had to endure a second operation removing the eye and then back to our home for her to recuperate.

During this time, we had a couple of complications that were resolved by going back to the vet office. Then on May 14^th 2018, Smokey was brought to the Animal Clinic to have her stitches taken out, but two stitches had to remain in for a few days. The last two stitches were removed and the Doctor advised everything went well with Smokey’s procedure. Now we have two more hurdles to complete our task with Smokey’s recovery.

First, we have to properly introduce smokey back to her family. Smokey’s scent will be different now and needs to be masked so they accept her back into the clowder. Also she does look different.

Second, we are afraid of letting her loose into the wild due to having only one eye to defend herself, and that her existing eye has a haze to it.

We hope that within the next few week to slowly introduce Smokey back to her family on our enclosed porch with one family member at a time. We are going to try and change the scent to everyone so they will all smell the same and will accept her back. We also have started to build a large cat enclosure, covering approximately 2000 sq. ft., that will be escape-proof for the clowder and will not allow intruders in.

Our future post will show Smokey’s reunion and the new enclosure for Kitty Village. We will keep you posted on how the family is doing and talk about the different adventures we have had with them.

Till then, please pass on information about feral cats and the TNVR programs in your area.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

It’s a Big Day here at Kitty Village Today!

 

Yes, it has been a long journey for this beautiful girl in her four years of life.

First, she was born in the wild and survived her first year of life as we explained in Post Six on a feral cats life expectancy.

She then gave birth to three wonderful kittens and made our land her home.

 

She did have help with these guys from her mate Bandit.

 

 

 

 

 

Then, in late April, tragedy struck here at Kitty Village.

On that dreadful day, we found Smokey with her injured eye.

 

 

Now, here we are today almost five months later and she can start to begin her somewhat normal life with her family again very soon.

 

One Happy Girl Now!

 

Soon Smokey and Bandit will be together again.

If you are enjoying this blog, please share it with others and have them share too. Let’s spread the word about Smokey, Bandit and the rest here at Kitty Village.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

 

 

Welcome Back to Kitty Village, a Diversified Neighborhood

Here at Kitty Village we have six cats and two dogs who are permanent full-time residents of the Village.

We will also see our part time residents: Egrets, Peacocks, Ibis, and Sea Otters.

 

 

 

 

 

Once in a while we catch a glimpse of an Alligator sunning itself along the canal bank.

When we travel around our neighborhood we will see Horses, Goats, Chickens, Peacocks, Ostriches, Turtles, and Owls.

But, something we do not see often at Kitty Village are the Cone Heads.

 

Khaki must have gotten jealous over all the attention Smokey was getting that he decided to get in on the fun.

Not one, but two eye patients in Kitty Village Hospital.

 

Khaki developed a Corneal Ulcer and had to have outpatient eye surgery where the Animal Ophthalmologist used a diamond bit to scrape the eye and then put a temporary contact lens in place.

 

We are looking forward to more quiet times here at the Village.

We will keep you posted on both Smokey and Khaki.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

Welcome Back to Smokey’s Recovery

Smokey’s recovery has been fantastic. There is no more eye swelling and she is doing well enjoying rub downs from the staff here at Kitty Village.

Smokey goes to the ophthalmologist Monday, September 10th, to have her stitches removed and for the doctor to check on her progress. We are expecting an A+ from the ophthalmologist.

Well the rain. Yes the rain and more rain that we have been getting from the Tropical Storm system has slowed down the fence project here at Kitty Village. Within the next few days that project will start up again.

 

 

 

Meanwhile all the residents are hanging out on the porch to stay out of the rain.

 

 

 

Hopefully, word will not get out about the four star hotel that Smokey is in with personal massages and breakfast in bed. They all will then want it even though Smokey deserves and earned it for what she has been through.

 

Well that’s it for now….. oh, Bandit wanted to add one more thing. He went down to the neighbor’s house for a photo shoot without me knowing.

Bandit wanted to honor the passing of Burt Reynolds on September 6th.

Bandit said and I quote “Meow mow meow purr meow“.

Translated to:  “We have something in common”.

If you did not know, our neighborhood is an equestrian neighborhood. It also has peacocks and many other types of animals including sea otters living in our canal which is next to our property.

At dusk, the peacocks take to the trees and call out to the other peacocks to come home. The same goes for the goats. Not kidding, for real.

 

 

Orangey is also getting in on the action.

 

 

 

 

Well, thank you again for visiting Kitty Village News and for supporting our cause to helping this family.

Till next time.

S&B

 

Welcome Back to Smokey’s Recovery Part Two

 

The patient is doing well in Kitty Village Hospital. She seems to have recovered fully from the anesthesia and is moving around more. Well, how much can you move around with the cone of horror around your neck.

 

In another day we will take the cone off for feeding but for know this is how it’s done.

Stay tuned for more on Smokey.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

 

This a continuation from Post One Part B

Today, August 27th, Smokey went through her third surgery.

She was operated on by an Animal Ophthalmologist who specializes solely on animal eye care. The doctor found a very large cyst in Smokey’s eye socket. The cyst and all the eye debris was removed and taken down to the bone.

 

For the next fourteen days we will be caring for Smokey around the clock with medication and keeping her calm. She will have to wear the cone collar for the next forty eight hours and then it can be removed  only while we are diligently monitoring her in her habitat. On September tenth she will return back to the specialist to have her stitches removed and if all goes well the collar then can be removed.

When we took Smokey out of the house this morning, in the pet carrier, I placed it on the floor inside the porch and Bandit, Teddy, and Samantha all intently greeted her with loud purring.

We will keep you posted on a regular bases through out her recovery.

Thank you all for your well wishes for Smokey. She is a champ!

 

Thank you for ready Kitty Village News.

S&B

We would like to introduce you to Orangey.

It was a cool, clear January morning in 2017 that I heard a different sounding meow coming from the back yard. It was a very gentile peep-like sound which I followed to the rear porch door and, to my surprise, standing there was Orangey. She had her ear clipped, identifying her as a feral cat, and was very skinny and very dirty. Even though her ear was clipped she did not act like a feral cat at all, rubbing up against my leg wanting desperate attention.

It would not be till later on that I found out that Orangey had visited some other neighbors’ homes before coming to Kitty Village but was turned away.

We filled a bowl with food and Orangey ate like there was no tomorrow. She was so hungry that, due to eating so fast, she would throw up her food. We had to give her smaller portions in the beginning to regulate this problem. We knew from that instant we met Orangey that she would be a new citizen of Kitty Village.

 

 

When she arrived, Orangey would constantly shake her head telling us she needed a visit to our Veterinarian. We discovered she had an ear infection which we had to treat by flushing out her ears and administering medication for over a week. Other then that, she got a clean bill of health and we learned a little about her past and her journey to us.

 

We had Orangey’s micro chip read and found out that our County Animal Care and Control is where Orangey was brought in reference to TNVR (trap neuter vaccinate return) program in our county. This told us that Orangey was trapped in a neighborhood over eight miles south of us. She then was brought to Animal Care and Control which is seven miles north of us.

When a cat is trapped and brought to Animal Care and Control you have to fill out a form as to where you trapped the cat. They then advise the trapper to return the next or same day and pickup the cat to return to where you trapped. They also advise the trapper that if they do not pickup the cat, Animal Care and Control will return it to the area trapped.

Well, it is apparent that this individual did not want the cat back in his/her neighborhood and due to already giving the location she was trapped, was forced to pick up the cat and then displaced it in another neighborhood. According to the date trapped, Orangey wandered my area for over three weeks before finding Kitty Village.

When Orangey first arrived, she became our rear screened porch resident. She spends 75% of her time on the porch while the other residents would only come by for chow time or water. In time, the others would learn from her and begin spending more time on the porch.

Now Bandit, who protects the residence of Kitty Village from other intruders, accepted Orangey into the Village from the very beginning. We think he knew she needed a home. So Smokey and Bandit adopted Orangey into the family.

Orangey got along with everyone in the Village except for her step sister Samantha. They would actually take turns attacking each other. There would be the occasional scratched nose or we would witness one with a mouth full of hair, but the fights sounded worse then they actually were.

In time, the fights got less and less and now they pretty much avoid each other. During feeding time, Orangey comes inside the kitchen to be fed so Samantha can eat her meal in peace.

 

Orangey being fed.

 

 

When I fill the automatic feeders, Orangey is always there to help out. She lets me know when I put too much food in and removes it for me.

 

 

Orangey and the other Villagers always got along with our Canine residents. Maybe it was because of there size.

 

 

 

 

 

Orangey, not being a feral cat,  will always greet anyone who comes onto the porch while the others will flee for cover. She always accepts a deserved head rub or back scratch while most of the others will move away most of the time. Orangey prefers to stay on the porch and only on occasion explores the yard.

 

 

Whenever we are out in the yard, Orangey loves to follow us and hang out with us no matter what project we are working on. Well almost any project.

 

 

When the lawn mower starts, all Kitty Village residents run and hide.

 

 

 

 

Now, during a bad storm while the other residents of the Village are scared and hide, Orangey is not bothered.

 

 

Well, this is Orange Marmalade or known by the other Villagers as Orangey.

She is here to stay, and the way she acts, never wants to leave.

Welcome Orangey to Kitty Village.

 

 

Once again thank you all for your support and keep watching to get to know the rest of the Villagers.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B