Friday, July 18, 2008

My foster cats need dentures and a green card


My sickly cat, Huey (the black one) has had so much trouble with his teeth that the vet recommended just pulling them all out, except his fangs. So I had them yanked out a couple of days ago. He's doing remarkably well, much better than all the humans I know who have had such extensive dental surgery---including me. I guess cats naturally whine less than people. He's resting very comfortably, as you can see.

My other cat Emma (the calico) was undocumented. She finally has some records, so I now don't have to worry that the INS will come take her away. She came with Huey. Both of them arrived under questionable circumstances, which I've sort of pieced together...I think. Their former owner was a kind, but stupid young woman, who had previously adopted them from Lifeline Animal Project. Despite the paperwork which specified she would keep them indoors, Huey ended up with FIV, most likely because he's a male and was bitten in a fight. The girl began asking Lifeline to help her with vet bills, which they did. Eventually she lost her job, moved in with her parents, and was going to keep the cats in an unheated garage over the winter. The shelter manager at Lifeline was apparently fed up, and made her surrender them both. Of course, they needed a schmuck who would foster them, so guess who got the call? I met the girl at the shelter when she brought Emma and Huey in to give them up, so they passed directly to me, which is most likely why Emma had absolutely no paperwork of any kind...vet records, intake forms, nothing. I might as well have picked her up standing out front of a Home Depot.

I did take her in last week for a standard checkup, so now she has her shots and microchip. They also looked at her hip. I thought maybe she had a problem since she limps occasionally. The verdict---she walks funny because she's so fat. I'm always putting out food to encourage Huey to eat and gain weight. Unfortunately Emma never met a can of food she didn't like, so she's pretty darn round. After the green card and the dentures, the next item on my cat list is a kitty treadmill.