R estless A nimal R escue An album of the precious animals I have rescued.

Updates

Full Disclosure Update

In all honesty, I do not know what is going to happen in the near future. Personally, without too much detail, my 8 years of employment are coming to an end. As I have been very busy working on updating my resume, skills, etc., updates to this site have suffered.

The animals are well, and Onyx in particular has grown so much. Her appointment is in the process of being made for the snip and a chip. I am just waiting for an email.

The new white kitten, Pearl for now, is doing well. She has a warm corner with bedding and a heat mat under the crate. She loves the wet food, and I have thrown some toys in there as well.

Each morning while my coffee brews, I handle her and groom her to see how she is doing. I may start streaming these daily on twitch.tv/restlessanimalrescue. Given the financial state of things, I am going to have to seek donations for specific goals. Look for a new "Goals" page soon.

In the meantime, thank you for all your help and support in allowing me to rescue these angels.

Another Kitten and an Over Due Update

I apologize for the length of time since the last update, but my life has become extremely busy. Onyx is doing well, and soon she will be ready to be spayed. Then she will be ready to be rehomed.

I must admit, the prospect of her leaving is difficult to consider, but this is what I agreed to do in order to help as many animals as possible. Though she harasses Prissie a lot, Prissie actually seems to like her. Onyx is going to be a very elegant cat when she fully matures.

Last night, as storms rolled in towards my home, I heard meowing. I realized it was coming from under my house, but I was unable to see the source. There is a video of this you can watch here Incidentally, looking at the replay of this video now, I see another kitten. I will look for them tomorrow.

Today, I didn’t hear anything until this afternoon, about the time I was going to end the nature stream. So I grabbed my camera and started filming under the house.

Eventually, I grabbed a live trap and added kitten food. The kitten seemed reluctant to approach this side of the crawl space. Walking quietly to the front of the house, I could see where it was near the skirting and could see its little white paws.

So, I moved the trap and set it up with the camera. I will try to make a video release from the six-hour footage.

The kitten soon approached and ate all the raw fish chunks without setting off the trap. So I added more fish and placed a stick on the trigger plate so I could help activate it.

I was about to end the attempt for the day when the kitten became active again. While I watched the stream on my Kindle, I was able to see the perfect time to approach and trigger the trap.

I set up the crate that Onyx spent quarantine in and made sure the kitten had clean bedding, food, litter, and water.

Incidentally, Onyx is very upset, and Maggie is beside herself about a new friend. Tomorrow, I will get wet kitten food from the store. I also need to look at the kitten’s teeth. If the teeth are mostly in, they’re fine without kitten milk. But if the teeth are barely in, they will need supplemental milk.

I will do a stream in the morning with the kitten and try to determine its sex and age with the help of chat. This will likely be from my own Twitch channel and not the Nature Videos one: Restless Animal Rescue

A Kitten Back in Quarantine

Yesterday, Thursday, the 29th of August, was Onyx's Liberation Day. She was set to enjoy a full day outside the quarantine crate after breakfast. As she explored the house with wonder in her eyes and met the other cats (who were all quite rude to her), it was a great big beautiful adventure for her. She was happy, even if the other cats were a bit jerky. Prissie was the biggest jerk of all.

Maggie Mae was beside herself with excitement. Her new little friend was free, and they could finally play. However, the kitten wanted to explore the house first. Eventually, she made her way to my bed. (My office is in my bedroom, and my old office is being converted into a pantry.) She was playing with Maggie Mae, who was being really good and gentle with her. It was the cutest, sweetest thing I had seen in recent history. I managed to get a brief video, though I had to swap out the audio due to copyrighted content in the background. It would be terrible for some poor copyright owner if their content was briefly heard in the background of a video. They might starve.

After playtime, she wanted to be picked up. She was tired now. That's when I noticed signs that she had tapeworms. Checking online, I found out that the dewormer she had been given was not effective against tapeworms. If you want to know for yourself, a sign of tapeworms is small rice grain-shaped things around the anus or in the tail. They can be found in bedding, and if your litter separates the poo from the pee, you might see them in the poo. They are called proglottids. A small image of a tapeworm proglottid in the fur of a cat

With disappointment, I took Onyx back to the crate and placed her back in quarantine. I removed my bedding and replaced it with clean bedding. I confirmed with another rescuer that this was a sign of tapeworms and started formulating a plan. I wish I had seen the signs earlier and had not assumed that tapeworms were covered by the meds given by the vet. However, the vet also missed the signs of tapeworms.

The Praziquantel tablets arrived today from Amazon, and there are three doses in the box. These will be used specifically for rescues now and in the future. I also ordered a pill popper for giving pills to cats. I will need a way to sterilize and keep this tool for other rescues in the future. Today, Onyx will receive her dose. In about two weeks, everyone will get a dose of Praziquantel when Onyx gets her second dose. Maggie Mae, Prissie, Zelda, and Miss Fritz's doses will be my own responsibility. In about a week, I will get a dose of Revolution for all the cats. That requires a prescription, but my vet should be fine with everyone getting a dose under the circumstances.

This approach of dealing with the tapeworms first, then fleas (part of the tapeworm lifecycle), and then tapeworms again should completely resolve the issue. This treatment for tapeworms will be a standard procedure for future rescues. It will be part of intake, as we know tapeworms are present in the neighborhood. I am also looking into alternative litter for the quarantine that allows for easier inspection of fecal matter for the diagnosis of conditions. I will talk to my vet about what items I can be given access to for future rescues.

Thank you again for coming along on this journey with us.

Just a quick update to the update to say that the medicine has arrived. It can be crushed and mixed with food! Life just got easier. Onyx has been given a dose and should start feeling better very soon.

The End of Quarantine for Onyx

Quarantine ends tomorrow (August 29th, 2024) morning after breakfast for Onyx. Then, I will open the crate and let her start exploring the house. She has been waiting for this moment since she started feeling better. Each time I get her out for grooming and playtime, she becomes more and more feisty.

With better health and more food comes increased energy and curiosity. I can't wait to let her explore the house. It will be great to see her running and jumping through the house and across the furniture. It will be interesting to see how she interacts with the other cats.

Maggie is ready. Maggie thinks Onyx is her new friend, and watching the two of them interact will be fascinating. During playtime, Maggie is always close by, watching the kitten excitedly.

In the evenings, when Onyx gets her wet kitten food, she will be back in the crate. Zelda, who is overweight, would likely love to steal the wet kitten food. Whether Onyx will be confined to the crate at sleep time will be a wait-and-see.

With Onyx out of quarantine, it means I need to start preparing for the next rescue. I need to figure out how to set up a trap that will only allow the kittens into the trap. I'm also thinking of how I can set up a cover over the front of the trap with a small hole drilled in it. I would love to be able to capture Onyx's littermates and take care of them before they become too feral and are only eligible for TNR. If I can raise more money, I will be able to increase the number of strays I can rescue at a time. More information on fundraising will be available soon.

Thank you for your time.

Onyx's Veterinary Visit

Onyx had a good visit with the veterinarian on Thursday. There were no real surprises. Onyx is, in fact, a girl, but she is underdeveloped, likely due to inbreeding and living conditions. The veterinarian estimated her age to be 16 weeks, based on her teeth.

She weighed in at 3.7 lbs, or 1.68 kilos or 1678 grams. She has ear mites, which were treated with Ivermectin for $12.00. She also has intestinal parasites, and was treated with 0.4 cc of Pyrantel for $11.20. Additionally, she has fleas and had a tick on her neck, but she is still too light for flea and tick medications. The mysterious lump in her fur on her neck was, in fact, a tick.

She received her first vaccine, labeled as "FVRCPP & Feline Leukemia," for $35.00. All in all, the total vet visit cost this time was $58.20, which I covered with my own funds. The accounting page for the website should be completed and added to the site this weekend.

On the way home, she threw up and pooped in her crate. This was not too unexpected, given the dewormer meds. For the rest of the day, she napped pretty hard, all curled up in a little black ball. She did wake up to eat her evening wet food and drink as well. Today, I can tell a difference in the litter box—she is having more natural stools and less frequently.

I have decided to give her one more day of recovery. On Saturday morning, the 24th of August, I will do a live stream playtime with her. I think she will be even more energetic and playful after her recovery. The stream will hopefully be available on both Twitch: RestlessAnimalRescue and YouTube: RestlessAnimalRescue. Both are available to viewers, but honestly, Twitch represents the quickest chance to start raising funds for the rescue. As funding improves, I hope to increase the number of cats I can rescue at a time.

For other updates related to the rescue, I am working on adding methods for individuals to donate to the efforts. I want to be completely open and transparent about how much money is raised, where it comes from, and how it is spent. That is very important to me, so I am looking for ways to do that. I am also spending a lot of time this weekend working on updates to the website, which I am excited about.

This update is a little late because of my workload after the veterinary visit yesterday, but look for further updates soon. Thank you for coming with us this far.