Sometimes it hurts to care...

What a week!
Although things started off well, we had tragedy by the weekend.

Because kitty adoptions have been going well, I took in a few new friends this week.

Bunka has a new buddy named Bruno - who looks just like her but a bit bigger. He is about 5 months old and the two of them LOVE to wrestle and play. It is totally adorable!

Bruno came with his buddy Dexy - a gorgeous, gentle all black fellow about 7 months young. Sadly, he had to have a front leg amputated due to an injury that happened while he was a stray. Poor bub!

It doesn't seem to slow him down though, and he even balances and uses his remaining front foot to scoop litter over when he is finished his "business". He is such a cuddler - he has won me over already! ;o)

I will have to get pictures of these new guys up on the website soon. They are lovely!

I also took in a kitten that had been born to a feral mom. The lady who saw them had already caught one baby that was left behind by mom as she was moving her kittens around. That little guy went to the vet and was eventually adopted. This one she caught a couple of weeks ago and has had indoors. (We are thinking of naming him "Frazier) He is gorgeous - soft, soft long fur and all black except for a bit of white on his chest. He is gorgeous, but needs a worming, antibiotics and to be fattened up before he can be vaccinated. He is learning to trust, so he will be a bit of a project for awhile I suspect.

On Friday, I had a call from a friend of mine who is a teacher in Toronto. One of her students had mentioned that they were getting a puppy and would therefore be throwing their kitten out into the street. Yikes! Of course I agreed to take him, and Smokey arrived on Saturday morning.

On Friday, Cameo went to the vet for her spay. She was an 18 month shepherd mix (maybe crossed with corgi?) who looked like a shepherd pup with very short legs. Adorable! And she had a sweet disposition to match. Although we have done hundreds of spay/neuters over the years and they almost always go according to the book, this was to be an exception.

Cameo stopped breathing on the table. The vet was shocked and surprised and couldn't really tell what on earth was happening. A quick xray revealed something really bizarre - Cameo's diaphragm was torn and most of her abdominal organs were sitting up in her chest.

There were adhesions - her liver was wrapped around and actually attached to her heart! It seems like Cameo had suffered some major trauma a few months ago - perhaps being hit by a car? Although there were no outward signs, internally she was very strangely organized and she had healed in a very odd way.

This was emergency surgery now and a second, specialist was called in. After 4 hours of surgery things seemed to be all back in place and Cameo was allowed to wake up. Although she seemed to be recovering fine, she took a bad turn on Saturday, and despite the best efforts of her vets, she passed away near midnight on Saturday night.

Rest in peace gentle girl.

Please give your furry friends an extra hug today.

You never know what life will bring from one minute to the next.

Shelly and crew

=^..^=