Gus, The Angels, Fred'n'Percy, and more!

Sorry folks, I kinda crashed last night when I got home from work. After falling asleep during cuddles yesterday evening, I decided to call it a night, so no post. Gus is doing fine... he came charging around the corner when I brought in wet food (his fav) and Amoxi (NOT his fav) both last night and this morning. This last time I had to wrap him to get the Amoxi in him, so that's very good... our little Mr. Feisty!

Today at the Vet
Fred, Percy, Gus and Winnie all went to visit Doc Andrew this morning. Fred'n'Percy for their second shots, Gus just so Doc A could see how he was doing, and Winnie for her old lady checkup (she got chronic upper respiratory issues).

Once again, not a peep out of Gus during the journey, and the boys were very quiet and seemed much more relaxed this time. Maybe it was because grandma Winnie (an honorary designation, of course!) was riding with them. She's a good influence on all the kittehs in the house! Winifred is definitely not a cranky old lady, instead she reminds me more of a kindly, patient grandmother.

Winnie shows the boys how to chill during the ride to see Doc Andrew. It seems to be working.

Whilst in the waiting room, we noticed a new addition... yes, that is water bubbling up through the sculpture. It's truly amazing the things that vets receive! Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool!

Tech Jenn took us back for the weights and measures portion of our program. She used to work for Doc Hess and confided that the price he gave us for the surgery was very reasonable for supposedly "full price" work. I couldn't believe I forgot to tell her about his generous offer to spay and neuter our critters as part of his teaching work. I will have to rectify this as soon as possible!

Our little guy has gained half a pound since Wednesday!! Yay! Gus had lost a few ounces during the surgery event but he's up to just over 5 pounds now!!

It looked like the practice had an emergency come in first thing this morning and we waited a little bit for Doc Andrew to join us. Winnie and the boys were allowed to roam, of course, but I kept Gus quiet in the carrier, and the pics of him were blurry (wrong setting, I guess) so I only got one shot of him on this trip, unfortunately.
Winnie checks on Gus (just missed a shot of her up and peeking in on him), while the boys explore.
Fred could hardly contain himself. Up down and all around for our boy. He even climbed me to get to the exam table!

After a good sniff'n'splore, the boys returned to the carrier for a little lounging. All of a sudden, Win jumped up and sniffed at the door as if to say, "Somebody's coming!" Sure enough, about 3 seconds later, Doc A arrived!

The doc pronounced the boys hale and hearty, as well as cute as the dickens, and gave them their second shots. Then Win was up. Lungs clear as always and she got a script for a new antibiotic to try to clear her sinuses - she should be feeling up to snuff soon (not that the weezies really slow her down!).

Jenn shows off Gus' good looking incision. No swelling, no redness and, best of all, Gus is leaving it alone!

Then it was time to look over our Gus. He's got just a bit of swelling in the left foot, but that's normal because he's not using it yet... which is also normal. The incision looks great, his temp and other vitals are right on and Doc Andrew declared him to be healing well. And also as cute as the dickens. Doc A once again sent us on our way without filling in the front desk on everything he'd done. I tried to beat up on him, at least for Winnie, since she's mine, but it was to no avail. I tried to convince the front desk to override their boss, but they are a disgustingly loyal bunch. (Staci, please give that man of yours a huge hug for us, OK?)

So, everyone is now home and chillin'. It's a lovely Saturday here in B'more and we've got cats in every window! LOL!

And, finally, to bring a smile to your face today, here's the next installment from Abigail's Angels that we filmed last week! Enjoy!

The Maples First Vet Visit

Bad blogger... bad, bad blogger! Who forgot to take the camera to the kitten's first vet visit? You got it! Whew, I thought, I've got the cell phone. Whose iPhone gave her the low battery message as soon as she turned it on?? You got it! But all's well that ends well and we got a slew (and I do mean a slew) of shots for you.

The kittens and Peggy Sue were very, very good for their first time to the vet. There was a fair amount of singing in the car on the way up, though.... and, it's hot here today (94 and very muggy), so the poor kittehs were pretty miserable for the trip.


Here we are in the waiting room... carrier to carrier so Momma Peggy Sue could be sure her kittens were fine. Gotta love the carriers that open from the top. At least Mom could get some good pets while we waited.


Jenn weighs in the babies... here's Ginny, with her brothers looking on.


Momma got her weigh in and decided to go exploring, oblivious to the fact that she was about to be whisked away for her FELV/FIV test.


"They took Mommy!!!"
"No!!! Lemmme see, lemmee see!"
"Moooooommmyyyy!!!!!"


Fred is up first with Doc Andrew. Ears, teeth, lungs, heart, a good feel all over and, last but not least...


"Hey, Dude! Watch it! I'm really a boy - you can take her word for it!"


Ginny shows her smile to the Doc.


"Yes, I'm a girl. Fred told you you could trust the big stinky one, didn't he???"


"Enough already! I'm a girl, I'm a girl!"


Fred's heart rate - 'bout a zillion beats a minute - perfectly normal.


"Dang, this guy is obsessed! She told you I was a boy! She was right on the other two, wasn't she???"


"You're next, Percy. Watch out, bro. They poke and prod you everywhere! Eh-ver-ee-where!"


Percy lays the charm on Jenn in hopes of avoiding the...errrrahhh, more embarrassing portions of the exam.


"Ok, so far so good. He hasn't done anything but look at my teeth 'n' ears."


Little does Percy suspect, these are the pets before the indignity!


With the kitten's exams over, round two begins.
"What does he want NOW???? Ohhhh...ouch!!!"


"Nooooo... I saw what you did to my brother...get that thing away from.... Owwwww!"


No one is spared, not even the women folk.


And now it's Mom's turn.

"Go ahead Doc, do what you need to do. You've taken my blood... how much worse can it be!"


"Hmmmm...I'm rather enjoying your examination technique. I'm not sure what the children were complaining about."


Peggy Sue stoically endures the first shot.


Shot two and it's finally over!!!!

Yeah, the results came back negative on FELV/FIV! Everyone was pronounced healthy... even if they were not all particularly happy, at the moment!

The ride back home was very quiet and, moments after getting back... everyone was sacked out or relaxing on the old cat tree.

[Some time ago someone commented that the ancient cat tree looked pretty good to them... now you can see why it has been consigned to the basement! ;-) ]

Aggie is Feline Leukemia Free!

Our first visit to the vet was for Aggie's FELV test. Aggie was NOT happy to be put in the carrier. She cried, she growled, she clawed at the bars.

Lightbulb! Scooped up #1 Son and put him in, too. Instant calm. So, the doc got to meet both mother and son.


Look closely and you can see #1 Son chowing down while in transport. (Sorry about the fat thumb!)

Brian took us to the exam room, weighed her (forgot to ask how much!) and then trundled carrier and contents off to the "back" for the blood draw and test. While they were there, Doc A looked her over. Bummer... no photos. :-(

But soon they were back with the good news. Negative for Feline Leukemia! :-) Yeah!! Aggie can't get her shots until she's done nursing, so that'll be in about 6 weeks or so, when we take her in to be spayed. Until then, she's got as clean a bill of health as the vet can give.

Previous Adventure-Bitty and Her Brood

As we find photos from previous adoptions, we'll work those stories into the blog. Maybe in more than one installment!

In 2007, the administrative division staff found a pregnant cat on the grounds of the Institute. Margie lured her near, Allisa scooped her up, Lisa took her home and we named her Bitty... 'cause she was just a little thing. Bitty had 7 bebes! Financial and moral support came from dozens of folks at the 'tute. And we found homes for everybody. Six went to STScI staff and two to relatives of staff! Here's the adoption poster we used:



The little darlings received superlative care under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Jendrek of the Carney Animal Hospital. Doc Andrew and his staff made sure we did right medically by Bitty's Brood so they'd be in tip top shape for adoption.


Doc Andrew and Brian check out Splotch, 8/30/07. (Splotch's furever name is the much more elegant Carinae - she's named after the nebula... yeah, we're all at least borderline geeks, even the admin staff.)


Checkin' Emmett's ticker. (Emmett's furever name is Frankenstein! And we hear he lives up to it!)

Oh, the indignity! Poor Dot! (Now to be known furever as Missy.)