MAKING FRIENDS

Flossy is doing a thousand times better physically! She still has very mild symptoms of her past URI but it's almost entirely cleared up and she looks great. Her appetite has returned and she's even begun eating hard food (with a little wet mixed in to satisfy her "lady" tastes). Her coat has become incredibly lush and thick and she spends hours every day grooming herself from one end to the other!! She eats in the kitchen now with Silly & Rocky and has full run of the house; she is still very shy with us, but each day she seems to gain a little more confidance and courage than the day before, and instead of hiding up in the spare room, she's usually downstairs now either under the coffee table or laying on the floor beside our loveseat. However, she has also found a very special place that she really likes to have her mid afternoon snoozes...........



Yes you are seeing correctly - our Flossy girl not only seems to really like the company of other cats, she's taken a real shine to our ornery Rocky. The other morning I caught her trying to rub up against him - well you can imagine how that went over! She makes these adorable little "trilling" sounds when she approaches him, and even though his hisses blow back the fur on her face and practically knock her tiny little frame over, she just happily strolls by completely unfazed.

I caught her kissing Silly the other morning as well (cheeky miss) and it's very evident that their company is helping to bring her out of her shell and settle in a little more. We've decided to wait abit longer before putting her pics and write up on the website - she's still too shy with people and we're hoping that given abit more time she'll emerge a little more and not coil back so much from noises and us in general.

She's come a loooooooong way - we're very proud of her and she's going to make someone a lovely little friend when the time comes.

"THE FLOSS"

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for their words of encouragement and suggestions on ways to help Flossy as a result of my last post. It's very heartwarming to know that I'm not just typing to dead air, and that there are people out there who are reading, and who care - thank you again.

We're delighted to report that Flossy is doing amazingly well since I last typed only afew short days ago. She's eating on average about 4 cans of Fancy Feast (the small ones) a day, and is not dehydrated! Her URI is almost completely cleared up with just the odd sneeze now and again and a very small amount of discharge from her eyes, and the gagging and choking that I described prevously also seems to be diminishing and becoming less frequent. It's her behaviour that is most noteworthy though - she has begun to travel between her room, and our home office on the 2nd floor, and once we go to bed, she goes exploring the whole house! We know because in the morning we find tuffs of white fur everywhere like a little trail of cotton balls, and often when I awake first thing, she's not in her room but usually downstairs in the diningroom on one of the chairs.
She also appears much brighter, is carrying her plumie (gorgeous tail), high with abit of a bend at the very tip which I like to call the "candycane" walk, AND she has also begun coming to us for rubbing and pets when we call to her! Last night when I opened her food for dinner, I went to head upstairs to give it to her, only to find that she'd venture all the way to the threshold of the kitchen and had this expression on her face as if to say "That had better be the good stuff Mommy"!!!!!

The added bonus is that she doesn't mind the company of other cats AT ALL!!!!! She meets Rocky's growls and hisses with total indifference - hubby and I joke that her facial expression when Rocky begans posturing is one of pure disgust (typical female!).

Below is tonight's picture - she looks a million times better and I hope you can see that diva glint in her eye. As I type this, she's curled up just beside my feet under the desk...............

WHAT LIFE HAS TO OFFER

I'm going to apologize in advance for the tone of this post. If it resonates confusion and frustration it's because those are the two paramount feelings we're having right now where our little Flossy is concerned.

We learned last Thursday that Flossy was again eating on her own at the vet clinic despite her feeding tube (which had to be inserted after her surgery since she didn't eat right away at that point and they were concerned that not too much time elapse with that being the case), and that we could pick her up that evening.

We were so happy to bring her home and she looked physically ALOT better, her eyes were brighter and she seemed very glad to be home; rubbing up against us and purring up a storm! We had also purchased a high calorie wet food (since she cannot have dry now for a few weeks while her mouth heals) so that we could have her continue on the road to healing with the right diet and hopefully also assist her in putting some weight on.

That's the brightest point - the low points have come in many forms since that evening. Firstly we discovered that she hated the vet food and absolutely would not eat it, so after 24 hours of trying to convince her otherwise, we returned that and purchased another brand that we hoped she would eat. That too was met with distaste and no interest, and so we resorted to Friskies - the junk of all junk cat food. Well she loves Friskies but ONLY the patte kind, and with absolutely nothing healthy mixed in. I think I've thrown out more cat food in the last 3 days than I have in all the years I've been fostering.
Added to that is the fact that neither of us have seen her drink a drop of water since arriving and any attempts to force water into her is HIGH STRESS and even HIGHER DRAMA! We end up soaking ourselves, her blankets and even her little frame as she fights and resists and water is everywhere except where it's supposed to be.
Due to her feeding tube, she came home with literally an uncovered hole in her neck where it had been inserted. Afew hours after she arrived it began to seep clear liquid and I found myself with just one more thing to worry about - was it safe, was it not, was it going to become infected, was this normal, was it not????? It seems to have stopped seeping now but not before it turned the one side of her coat a crusty mess and all attempts to brush it are also not met with a positive reception.
Lastly, we are also experiencing another new thing - when she purrs very hard, she begins to almost choke and gag; as if she's trying to dispel a hairball that is never coming. It appears to alarm her when it happens and even the affection that is probably the only thing she has loved, is now a source of anxiety as she has these episiodes.

But the saddest thing of all is her demeanour once again. She is withdrawn, seeking out places to sleep constantly that are in area's where noone can bother her - case in point.......the picture below.



We have left Flossy's bedroom door open since yesterday in the hopes that it would help her begin coming out of her shell. All it appears to have done is lead her to find new area's to withdraw to. In this photo she is wedged between a chair and a end table in our home office - on the floor.
She does not seek out attention or contact - if you pet her she will purr and loves it, but no sooner is she moving away and recoiling into herself. She becomes terrified if you try to handle her and will only then return to a place where you cannot get to her; and always with her back to a wall.

Flossy was brought inside approximately 4 weeks ago. Is she happy, sad, indifferent, I honestly cannot tell. She is our 58th foster and by far, she is probably the hardest one we've ever worked with. What does the future hold for this little girl, I don't know and what's worse, I don't know that she even cares.

ONE PUSH BACK

Yesterday Flossy was admitted to one of the animal hospitals that the rescue is affiliated with. We were concerned that after three weeks, her upper respiratory infection although somewhat better, had not completely lifted, and as well, there was an extremely strong pungent odour coming from her mouth that we felt needed to be addressed as well.

The vet indicated that our little girl is very dehydrated and also that she has advanced gum disease and tooth decay. The dehydration is what is holding her back from fully recovering from the URI, and because she is also battling the infection in her mouth, her body is having to work extra hard to fight two infections.

Monday she will have most (if not all) of her teeth extracted. She will then be on a course of antibiotics and will be on a strictly wet diet for a number of days as her mouth heals. The great news in all of this is that Flossy has tested negative for FIV, so that is something to rejoice over!

We miss her dearly and I keep going by her room wishing she was there for me to visit with. I pray that she comes through the surgery fine and that there are no further complications - the vet seemed confidant that the combination of drugs, hydration and removal of her teeth will help greatly to have her on the real road back to recovery.

This darling has been through so much - my heart is full of sadness as I think upon all that she has to endure in the first 5 years of life.........

BELIEVE

This coming weekend is the three week mark since Flossy arrived. I hope everyone will take a moment to compare some of her earlier photos to the one above taken just now - we see the light and so we wanted to share.

I have spent many, many hours with this little girl over that timeframe. Not only to care for her as she has battled against this virus, but also in an effort to gain her trust, and to pour out as much love and tenderness upon her as she would be willing to receive, in the hopes that some of the horrible damage that has been done as a result of her being abandoned on the streets, could be healed.

There is one thing that I can tell you for certain at this point - this tiny, angel who was so ravaged when one of our fellow volunteers first saw her those few weeks ago under a car (and thought she was a dying cat) - and who has been one of the sickest foster kitties we have ever cared for, is not only an amazingly tender and gentle little soul, but she is also a survivor and a fighter.



Flossy has reminded me once more why I love fostering so much..........there is no greater feeling than the one that comes when you see an animal beginning to trust you and when you can somehow feel the thankfulness they exude as you care for them and the barriers begin to come away - slowly perhaps at first; but they do come.