The Assertive Cancer Patient

GB Has Pneumonia

This photo is of GB, Younger Son's Golden Retriever, and a foster kitten. It was taken two summers ago at the beach.GB is half-asleep, letting the kitten crawl all over him. Yes, we took two large dogs and three tiny kittens with us to the beach.

And we had a wonderful time.

Now, GB is at the vet, and he may not survive.

I talked to one vet on the phone late yesterday, and he said he thought last night would be the turning point, one way or the other.

So I went in this morning, as early as they would let me, and GB was still hanging in there, but he wasn't getting enough oxygen (gums and tongue were purple/gray), so they had tried to rig up an oxygen mask for him (because he was too big for the oxygen cage that they have) but he had been fighting it.

When I was there, curled up on the floor next to him, he calmed down and we put the oxygen back on him. So that was good. And the staff said it helped him to have me there, so I stayed for more than half an hour, brushing GB with his own dog brush from home (which he loves), which also helped to calm him down.

I have a massage at noon (thank god), which will help with my stress. Then I'm going back to sit with GB for the last hour that the office is open today, and the staff said I can go in tomorrow morning, even though they are closed except for emergencies, because there will be a vet there, of course.

Meanwhile, Younger Son is off on a college retreat for the weekend. He also had midterms this past week, so he hasn't even been able to see his dog since GB swallowed the rocks last weekend, leading to the pneumonia he is fighting now.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

More Cats in Sinks

After seeing my photo of one of the four foster kittens taking a bath, Helen, a blog reader from England, sent me this link:

Cats in Sinks

I think the site is advertising sinks, but who cares?

I'm trying very hard to get the four little mites, now about four and a half weeks old, to drink their special kitten formula from a dish, but they are resisting, to the point of going hungry.

So I need to pop in there and bottle feed them, yet again: Round Three: to the kittens!

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Another Wet Kitten

As I mentioned in my earlier post, these kittens have just started using a litter box, so they get pretty dirty when they are in their crate. Of course I change their towels several times a day, but I've also been bathing them every couple of days with special pet shampoo.

When you start early like this, the kittens don't mind (they actually prefer to be clean, but have no mother to wash them), and I'm careful to keep them warm afterward. They have a heating pad in their crate.

No room for the litter box, though, so I need to move them up to a larger crate so that I can put the box in their with them, plus food and water bowls once they start eating from a dish.

They have also started to play--wrestling with each other. I gave them a kitten toy, but so far they're ignoring that.

Younger Son has a girl at school he's interested in, and he's going to invite her over this weekend to play with the kittens, which he calls "chick magnets." He knows this from past experience, of course.

The kitten in the photo is Zoe, I think. It might be Muffins.

Want to read more about kittens? Go to this link, and scroll down: Kittens

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Chased By Kittens ...

The four kittens that I am fostering are now four weeks old, and whenever they are loose in the bathroom, they chase me, all in a pack, tails up, running.

It's quite a trick to exit the bathroom without catching one of them in the door.

Four weeks has got to be the absolutely cutest age for kittens, as you can see from the photo.

They are using a litter box. They purr (surprisingly loudly for such tiny mites). They try to climb my pants legs with their sharp little claws. And they should start eating kitten food (a dry food that I mix with warm water) and also drinking milk out of a bowl--but they are resisting this. They prefer to be bottle-fed.

For the past couple of days I've been putting food out for them, but, except for walking through the dish and then shaking their wet paws in a puzzled fashion, they pretty much ignore it. But I'm patient. And they can't stay babies forever, sadly.

I took one of the kittens along on Wednesday when I went to do my volunteer gig at First Place School, and for that hour I was the most popular person at the school! Everyone wanted to see the kitten. My four kids--the ones I teach Japanese--were really well behaved: They took turns holding the kitten and bottle-feeding her, and they were fair about sharing "kitten time" with the others in the group. (Note to Zoe: The kitten who visited school was the one named after you, little Zoe.)

For our Japanese lesson, we reviewed the words for "ears," eyes," "tail," and so on, and then I had them draw the kitten's body parts and label them in Japanese. That was fun.

The kitten in the photo is Tux--who got that name because he is a "tuxedo cat," black with a white tummy and paws--after his bath today.

Want to read more about kittens? Go to this link, and scroll down: Kittens

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Kitten Face

Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of a two and a half week old kitten? With a digital camera (between the time you click the shutter and the camera fires, the kitten has turned its head ...)?

It took two of us (you can't tell unless you look closely, but my friend is holding the kitten in a head lock--the kind of move that would be illegal in wrestling), and even so only one of the three shots I snapped was useable.

The foster kittens are growing, eating, sleeping, purring, and one of them is up walking on his legs. The other three are still doing the kitten crawl, with their fat little tummies on the ground.

Zoe, Dubutaunt's daughter, has naming rights. Except for one, which was named by the kids I teach Japanese to at First Place School. They named him Kuro-neko-chan, which means "little black cat." Very appropriate. If I have a favorite, it's that little guy. But really, my favorite is whichever one I'm holding at the time.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

The Kittens Are Awake!

This is a good reason to get out of bed early: four 10-day-old kittens who need to be bottle fed.

The babies arrived last night, dropped off by an Animal Talk Rescue volunteer who had had them for the past two or three days. I get the bottle babies because I'm home during the day and can feed them frequently, and because I have an adult cat who would be upset if I fostered a nursing feral mother.

He doesn't mind kittens, and the dogs like them, especially the Golden Retriever. What is not to like about this breed? The Golden, who is Younger Son's dog, lets kittens pounce on his tail and walk all over him. He just smiles his doggy smile and washes them.

These babies are too young for that kind of play, of course. But they are chubby and eating well and just starting to move around with some purpose.

They also didn't wake up especially early. I was listening for them and didn't hear a peep until after 7. Good kittens!

Here they're asleep. Can you see four kittens in this pile of bodies?

They're in a crate with a heating pad and towels to keep them warm.

Oh, and when they nurse on the bottle, their little ears move with each gulp, because they are nursing so hard.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

The Percival Report

It's been almost two weeks since I brought little Percival home to foster, to help me get over a meltdown.

In that time, he's almost doubled in size, learned to run, and thinks I'm his mama. Whenever he can, he crawls up inside the sleeve or neck of my sweatshirt, and then cuddles down to sleep. He's still drinking kitten formula (there is a special formula made just for kittens, another for puppies) from a bottle, but I think he'll be moving on to kitten chow within the week.

Like to adopt a cat or kitten? If you live in the Seattle area, contact Animal Talk Rescue.

Click here to see Percival's first baby photo.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

Jeanne's Causes

One of the ways I cope with having metastatic cancer is to make sure my life is NOT ALL ABOUT CANCER.

One of the ways I do that is to volunteer for causes I care about. And, for the most part, the organizations and people I work with are not aware that I even have cancer. So I get a break there.

Right now, I am volunteering to help homeless kids and homeless kittens. A sad irony, the cats' lives are often better than the kids'.

I volunteer once a week at First Place, an incredible school here in Seattle for grade-school-age kids who are "in transition." None of these kids actually is living on the streets. They live in shelters and other housing for families who have been homeless.

My job is to run the Japanese Club. It's a once-a-week commitment, for just an hour. And I love it.

I teach the kids some Japanese. We do origami. We practice picking up jelly beans with chopsticks. We draw maps of Japan and talk about the ways people in Japan are different from us: They bow. We shake hands. If you try to do both at the same time (a common occurrence when East meets West), you bump heads.

The kids love that last part.

First Place can always use help. The school needs money. It needs donations (check the Web site to see what is needed right now). It needs volunteers, warm bodies to make a difference. First Place especially needs male mentors: guys who can spend at hour a week at the school just being friends with a little boy.

First Place School

Kitten Therapy
I call it kitten therapy.

I've been a volunteer with Animal Talk Rescue for about six years now. In fact, right now I'm fostering the tiny kitten I mentioned earlier, Percival. Two of my pets, one cat and my dog, Constant, came to me through the rescue.

So I know what good work this no-kill shelter does. Animal Talk's mission is "to end the plight and suffering of homeless, neglected, and abused companion animals, also to educate the public about the benefits of spaying and neutering."

The shelter can always use help--anything from fostering animals to a donation of old towels. Cash is also good.

Animal Talk Rescue

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

Nukes in North Korea and Vandalism at Animal Talk

Monday morning. Even before the first cup of coffee, the headlines: Over the weekend, North Korea tested a nuke, and the Animal Talk pet store and rescue was vandalized.

The news from North Korea frightens me, but the chaos at Animal Talk hits so close to home.

Thieves apparently broke into the store on Roosevelt Avenue in Seattle early Saturday. They stole several reptiles, killed a couple of dozen rodents, and released 50 or so cats from their cages. You can imagine the carnage and chaos--cats killed the gerbils and mice, some of which were also stomped on by the thieves, and cats fought with each other, leaving a number of animals frightened and injured.

I have been a volunteer with Animal Talk for five or six years now. In fact, right now I'm caring for three kittens that I have fostered since they were three weeks old. Two of my pets, one cat and my dog, Constant, came to me through the rescue.

So I know what good work this no-kill shelter does. And I know how tight owner Missy Young's budget is. I'm heading out shortly to see what I can do to help. If you have a little money to give, please consider sending Animal Talk a donation:

Animal Talk Rescue
6514 Roosevelt Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98115

Kitten Therapy

It's pretty hard to feel unhappy when two kittens are attacking your ear. Or when they're cuddled up under your chin and purring.

In 1999, the night before the last in my first series of chemo treatments, I was lying in bed unable to sleep when I heard a persistent, faint crying outside my window. After trying to ignore it for almost two hours, I went outside and found two newborn kittens under the ivy.

The little mites were apparently born to a feral cat who disappeared. Their eyes were closed, placentas still attached. The kids and I spent the next few weeks bottle-feeding them on demand. Late-night feedings with kittens brought back all sorts of memories.

My father was a veterinarian, and when he did a Caesarian section on a dog or cat he would do the surgery in the evening and then bring the newborns home overnight, because the mother would still be groggy from the anesthesia. So my sisters and I would sit up all night, feeding the babies with eyedroppers and rubbing their tummies so they'd urinate. It's one of my happiest childhood memories, and one I was delighted to be able to repeat for Akira and Robin, my sons.

These cats, brothers, are now 8 years old, just the first of a number of homeless animals my kids and I have either fostered or added to the family.