Updates, updates, updates

The good, the bad, and the ugly.  All kinds of updates and haven't had too much time or motivation to type it all out.  I do owe it to you or at least myself to document it all down so, here we go!

The good:

The horses are doing great.  Mia had 3 abscesses in 3 different hooves over the course of a month and is now sound, sound, sound.  She is also very, very good.  That last show where Mia actually felt like a partner? Where she listened to what I had to say instead of feeling like I am just there trying to manage her?  Yeah, she is still doing that.  Listening and trying.  It is such a cool feeling!  It only took 2 years to get here but I am so happy we finally made it.  I am hoping we can develop a really good partnership over the winter and she keeps this attitude.  It would be so nice!

The bad:

The farm didn't sell for what we wanted so we have pulled it off of the market for the winter.  I can't imagine a farm would sell in the winter and it is WAY too hard to live in a staged house 24x7 in good weather.  I have zero desire to continue through bad weather.  I am really disappointed, I didn't even think this was an option when we put it on the market, we thought it would sell extremely fast.  Our property is so very unique, the private indoor arena, brand new fencing?!  I mean come on!  I think our realtor did us wrong by having our start price WAY too high in the spring so we missed a huge batch of people and by the time I had her lower the price to it's "correct" price, very few people were buying.  Let's not comment that SHE never suggested a new price.  The last month the property was on the market, we would have a showing request about once every week or two.  Before that we had barely any showings.  We had one set of people say they were extending an offer but then never heard from them (*sob*) and another that loved the property but weren't "right now" buyers.  That tells me that they are dreamers with no intention of buying so they are wasting their time, my time and the realtors time with their daydreaming.  (Yeah, that one pissed me off pretty badly lol).  I had requirements for showing to hopefully eliminate daydreamers and unfortunately one still slipped through.  

Anyway, that means I am here all winter.  It is the reason I went ahead and bought/made the round bale hay net.  The net, by the way, is performing beautifully.  It is on its 3rd bale and there isn't a single tear or rip in the entire net and it is still doing a beautiful job of keeping the mess down.  It hasn't eliminated the mess but has reduced it down to a single forkful a day.  Win!

The ugly:

Sadly I have lost two of my buddies in the past 30 days.  I had a full blooded Maine Coon cat that I had adopted 7 years ago as a 6 yr old.  A show cattery had been dispersed due to the deaths of the breeders and I ended up with Arimus.  Everyone loved Arimus, he was just the coolest cat.  He didn't meow, he chattered and chirped.  He always met everyone at the door.  He wasn't afraid of anything.  Anything!  Shoot Nerf darts at him?  He wouldn't even bother to stand up.  New dog/cat come in?  He would go up and say hi and would threaten only if needed.  Throw a pillow at him when he was sleeping?  He would just open his eyes.  He loved everyone and was extremely friendly, he was extremely popular with everyone who met him.  Unfortunately in spring of 2014, I noticed a lump on his elbow.  We brought him to the vet who did a biopsy and it came back as cancer.  It was ingrained into his elbow joint, the only options were to amputate, put him through chemo or let him live it out.   Amputation and chemo would give him 2-3 years left of his 14-15 year life expectancy, letting him live it out would give him 1-2 years.  Since he had bad arthritis anyway, we opted to not amputate and chemo wouldn't be worth it for only one additional possible year.

We let him live his life, he did very well.  After surgery he gained his weight back and got back up this normal, not even close to chunky weight of 19lbs.  I would drain the tumor of fluid about every other month and all was well.  This spring I had to start draining the tumor every month and it had quadrupled in size, it was the size of a small apple on his elbow but he was still in good spirits and didn't seem in pain.  Over the summer he started limping and slightly losing weight, but not a large amount.  In July he stopped eating dry food and would only eat wet food.  In September he started losing weight quickly and went to eating only a quarter can of food twice a day when he needed at least a full can twice a day.  He was still in good spirits and I was waiting for one other "thing" and I was going to make that call.  On a Thursday, he was playing with Danica and was his normal self.  On a Friday I went to PA to move another load of stuff and got back Sunday night.  When I got back, he wasn't right.  He moved really slowly up the stairs and didn't meet me at the door but it was 9p at night so I didn't think about it.  He ate normally.  Monday morning, however, he wouldn't stand up and wouldn't eat anything.  Including treats, something he had never refused.  So I made the call and let him go.  It was so sad, he was my buddy, my friend.  That was October 12th.

Hairy cat can make a full 2nd cat

Mouse was a weird cat, we got her in our neighbor's divorce.  No, seriously.  Right after SO and I got together, we moved into a townhouse apartment.  The neighbors were nice enough, they had a 2 yr old daughter and a cat.  We lived there about 6 months before the neighbors split and were getting a divorce, when SO and I came home one day we saw the cat outside.  She was desperately trying to get into a door, any door.  The neighbors just kicked her outside to fend for herself, despite never being outside before.  SO paid the pet deposit as my birthday present and Mouse came to live with us.  She was 9 months old and had been the runt of the litter.  The neighbors took her bc she was so small and had a lazy eye, they figured she would die but she had lived.  We got her fixed and UTD on shots and lived pretty happily together.  She was always a grumpy cat, she didn't like other people, hated to be pet anywhere other than her head and shoulders, despised vets and didn't like other animals.  We made the mistake of sending her to MI to live with SO for 3 weeks during the transition to living in MI.  She was SO happy as a single cat.  The look on her face when everyone else moved to MI was priceless, she was pissed and she didn't forgive us for over a year.  Seriously.  She wanted to be an only cat and didn't let us forget it.  She never, ever played with the other cats and only tolerated the dog.  

Mouse has always been in good health, which is good considering her dislike of vets, but this July she started being off.  She lost weight, didn't want to really eat and finally looked bad so I brought her in.  Her T4 (thyroid level) should have been 2-4.8 and it was a 26.  We had to play with medicine levels and treatments to find what worked but by late September we had her leveled out and pretty happy.  October she did very well, she got ringworm (from the vet's office, its the only place that makes sense) but was in exceptional weight, ate very well, took her meds like a champ and her coat was looking really good again.  After some home remedies/horse treatments failed, I got meds to treat the ringworm was advised I should shave her down too. Yikes, did I want to live?  Lol!  I went to PA over the weekend and got back on Monday.  Mouse was still great and she got a bath with the special shampoo but didn't shave her.  Yesterday Mouse ate her entire breakfast.  I bothered her at lunch and made her sit on the couch for a little bit.  She was fine, her ringworm scabs weren't as prominent.  I was rushed after work and went out to ride quickly, when I came back in to feed dinner to the inside animals she was already gone.  When she didn't come to her bowl, I looked for her and found her in front of the dog's bowl.  She was lying down, looking asleep if not for her open eyes and stiff body.  I am in shock as it was so sudden, I wasn't ready.  With Arimus I was able to prepare and expected it, I didn't expect this with Mouse.  I can only assume it was a blood clot or her heart gave out, I am pretty sure she didn't suffer.  I have now lost 2 buddies in 30 days :(  RIP guys, I am glad I was able to improve your lives as much as I could.

Grumpy cats can still play, just not with others

Kitten spam

This kitten, I swear.  She is a cutie.  Also a terrorist, but still a cutie.  She actually made friends and played with our Maine Coon before he succumbed to cancer.  She has decided she doesn't mind the dog (finally) and will play with her despite the dog having no real idea what the heck the kitten is doing.  She has this (annoying) habit of walking on my face to help wake me up when she hears the alarm go off.  If she isn't already snuggled with me, she will walk on my face and plop herself on my face/neck.  Helpful kitten helps.

She is already a chunky 4lbs and is really growing.  It is crazy to remember that she was 1.8lbs when I found her at the beginning of Sept.  She is now UTD on shots, microchipped and was just spayed.  She tries to play with the other 2 indoor cats but they don't really have any desire to be friends.  Yet anyway.  I know the oldest won't make friends, she hates everyone except SO and I, but I think the other (only now? :( ) tabby will make friends with her soon enough.

So here is kitten spam as filler.  Why?  Because 3 back to back trips to PA (load, drive 11hrs there, unload, turn around, drive 11hrs home within the same weekend) makes for little to no blog material.  So...here you go.

RIP :(  Playing with Danica before cancer took him 

Friend time or warm body?

Attack cat

Now with extra bitey!

Cuddle Queen

Watching carefully for things that need attacked

Extra snuggles after her spay.  Nekkid belly!

Fails, wine and kitten

This is a very short, melancholy, wine filled post.  That I couldn't proofread.  Sorry peeps, feel free to skip.

 Mia was successful in recovering from her abscess and I went to PA for the weekend.  A nice short 11.5 hour, one way drive.  I got the call on Sunday morning, Mia was very lame again, this time on her left hind.  The diagonal opposite of the last lameness.  Of course she was.  When I got back Sunday night (after another fun 11 hour, one way drive), she was almost 3 legged lame.  Very uncomfortable and unhappy, she had zero desire to put her heel down and her hoof was very warm.  I slathered ichthammol on her hoof 2x a day and she is much better now.  She is still short at the trot but pretty sound at the walk.  I weaned her off of bute yesterday so I am hoping to see her true pain level tonight.  I don't think it has popped but it isn't causing her as much pain.  Another week lost!

Things have been very hectic here and it is affecting me more than I would prefer.  The biggest one is that our farm here in MI still hasn't sold.  I am extremely down about the whole situation, I think we were lead astray by our realtor at the start and it was priced way too high.  I also don't know what she is DOING other than listing it on websites.  The video that was taken has never been posted on youtube or put on realtor/zillow/etc.  This has caused stress from knowing whether I need to buy hay for the winter to how am I going to plow since I sold the blade for the tractor to regrets of our selling stuff I could use but sold because this was supposed to sell fast.  Ugh.  Add wine.

Things are not super better at in other aspects, the brake lines blew in the van as we were bringing it to PA, thankfully we were only 10 mins from the house at the time.  Wine night.  The tires on the car trailer are dry rotted so SO stole the tires off of my horse trailer so he could move the racecar.  My trailer is literally sitting on blocks.  Fail.  Add more wine.   Then today, for example, I got a showing request.  Awesome!  Except I was working and they wanted a showing in 2.5 hours from when I got the call.  UHHHH!!!  I have lived in a "staged" house condition since it was listed so it doesn't take long to have it go from "clean, ready to go" to "staged" but I was working!  I took off of work for the 2.5 hours to finish staging the house, dragging the arena, sweeping the barn and stashing all of the animals/toys/litter boxes/etc and I was SO impressed with myself because I got it done. All by myself in 2.25 hours!!  I took the 15 mins to go eat a banana and check in on work when I saw an email.  The people canceled 15 mins prior to their arrival.  Are you fricken kidding me?!?!  They ended up rescheduling for tomorrow but geez.  Was so bummed.  Guess what is happening tonight?  Wine.

The bright spot, however, is this dang kitten.  She is SO sweet and fricken adorable.  And a ferocious panther.  She sleeps under the covers and cuddles ALL of the time.  With EVERYONE.  She is really good for car rides and I even brought her to the farm store and she wasn't scared of anything.  Very inquisitive and curious of who would pet her.  So damn cute.  She is now 3.5 pounds and SO big in comparison from when I got her.  She now has her own collar, flies up and down stairs and chases the other cats in an attempt to play.  Anyway, here is kitten spam, doing what she does best.  Cuddling.

Sleepy sleep

Why did you disturb me?

What you doing?  I get you!

In which all good plans fail.

The first weekend in October is the last big show of the season.  I am actually in 2nd place for year end points so I am pretty excited and felt good that we should be able to secure our spot and even possibly move to first place!  That would be so cool, go out with a bang and all.  Alas, that didn't happen.  After shows, I always give the horses some time off.  Dressage shows equal about a day, going cross country warrants about 3 days off.  This gives them time to decompress, work out any stiffness and it is a reward for not being an ass.  I have done this for years.  Sunday was the show so I gave Mia a few, well earned days off.  Thursday the plan was to have the farrier appointment, do some cleaning and then ride and get ready for our show.  I had a XC lesson scheduled for the following Thursday (yesterday) at the venue the last show will be at, the timing was looking great.

Wednesday night when I brought the horses in for dinner, Mia was fine.  Thursday morning, I noticed she almost looked like she was standing more on her right leg than her left.  Could be coincidence, I let it go. When the farrier came out, he noticed it too.  Not that she was being bad, just that she wasn't standing squarely.  He put hoof testers on her and found nothing, no heat, no swelling, no reactions.  She didn't look lame.  Thursday night I went out to ride and Mia came in gimpy.  Damn.  She had no real heat but was definitely gimpy.  I gave her half of a gram of bute and slathered her hoof in ichthammol and kicked her back outside.  Friday she was 3 legged lame and her hoof was warm.  Damn it!  Entries to the last show were due on Tuesday, I put mailing that entry in off as long as possible.

I kept Mia's hoof slathered in ichthammol and kept her up with bute but to no avail, Tuesday morning, while much better, she was still a little gimpy and her hoof is still a little warm so I didn't send in my entry.  And canceled my XC lesson.  Damn it.  Last night she actually looked sound at the walk but I didn't have time to put her on the lunge to check her at the trot.  I think her abscess may have blown out of her frog, I can't really tell though.  Her hoof is still slightly warm on the inside wall.  Oh well, there is no reason she can't have a bunch of time off now anyway, so no rush.  I am disappointed we are missing our last show and our last chance to move up in points but it is what it is.  A sound horse is more important than a ribbon.  Horses, the only way to ensure a slow transition to insanity.

In other news, K and I were driving home from ice cream after Labor Day and as we turned onto my road, we saw eyes.  Lots of eyes.  Little bitty eyes on the side of the road.  Kittens.  One of the big downsides of living is the country is people just dropping off animals.  I had K stop and back up until the car headlights highlighted them and hopped out to grab them.  I can't in good conscience leave what looked like dumped kittens.  I saw 3 and was able to grab two.  I handed them off while I chased down the third through the ditch using the flashlight app on my phone.  (It was only 10p at night with heavy cloud cover and all.  Total darkness.)  I grabbed it and as I walked back to the road, one kitten escaped K's grasp and went running across the road into the corn field.  Well hell.  It was a black kitten too, of course.  I took my phone and went rummaging through the corn field for about 5 mins before I finally told K that I had to give up, I just could not catch it.  It was dark, it was a black cat, I am going through a corn field full of mature corn stalks, it simply runs faster than I can keep up and there was no ability to corner it.

Kittens the night we found them, after dinner and a bath

K started mewing as a last ditch effort to catch this last kitten and now and behold, the dang thing started going to her!  It didn't want her to touch it but I was able to come up behind the kitten and grab it as it was now in the ditch by the cornfield.  Success!  Except now there was a 4th kitten trotting in the road towards K's mewing.  Argh, more!  I grabbed the 3 kittens while K grabbed the 4th and we waited around to see if we found any others.  Thankfully there seemed to have been only the 4, no more mewing was heard.  We brought them home and they were tiny. And super skinny.  And covered in fleas.  As in well beyond "having fleas", more into the "more flea than cat" category.  Damn!  We gave them each a quarter can of cat food, trimmed nails, gave them baths and put them in the dog crate which then went in the garage to keep fleas away from my animals.

Danica, 6 weeks old

The kittens were about 6-7 weeks old and super hungry, they got 3 baths and rinsed in apple cider vinegar (which, actually, worked pretty well) before finally hitting the 2 pound mark.  Once they hit that mark, they got Capstar to kill the remaining fleas and came inside and were then named Terrorists.  OMG kittens.  Into EVERYTHING.  I kept them for almost 2 weeks before I found homes for 3 of them and ended up with one left.  And of course it goes that the one that is left is not the cuddliest one of all.  The one who sleeps under the covers with me at night.  The one who spends 90% of my workday on my lap and wants nothing more than attention.    So, I guess it is time to introduce a new anklebiter, Danica Catrick.  Now I am keeping her.

Danica, 7 weeks old

Danica, 8 weeks old

Cat stories

I am gearing up for my show next weekend so this week will all be dressage, dressage, dressage.  I am still on the fence about entering the App as well as the TWH, need to make up my mind fast though b/c I have to mail in my registration by Friday.

On another note my barn cats are always amusing.  They still keep me well supplied with dead mammals, ranging from 3-5 dead things a week.  Not too bad IMO, that is enough to not make me not feel bad about giving them a can of wet cat food at night.  I do, however, have 2 stories.  One gory, the other funny.  Skip two paragraphs if you would like to miss some death.

SO has a toolbox in the back workshop from his previous life as a mechanic.  In it he had a few granola bars and some rags in addition to all of his tools.  This past spring he noticed something had eaten on the granola bars and had tried to make nests around his toolbox.  We couldn't ever find anything alive and it wasn't a nuisance enough to set traps.  Yesterday SO was working back in the shop and found something had put a serious hurting on a shirt he had left out.  It was now full of holes and chew marks and when he picked it up he saw movement.  There was a mouse IN the shirt.  He tried shaking the shirt a few times but the mouse clung to the shirt, refusing to come out and run away.  As the mouse wouldn't run away, SO brought it up to the barn as a toy.

SO didn't even have to call the cat's names as he came around to the barn, they came to inspect whatever he was doing.  He told them he had a toy and when the mouse still wouldn't shake out of the shirt, he put the shirt on the ground.  The cats got the mouse out of the shirt but only half heartedly played with it, the mouse was pretty defensive and didn't just run away.  At one point it almost got away by trying to climb up the barn wall but was knocked down.  As it lay there Patches went in to play with it and had the audacity to bite her face.  Patches grumbled in protest and threw the mouse off.  Sylvester started playing with it again but then Patches walked up and, with no hesitation, went munch, munch, off with it's head.  Bye, bye mouse, I guess the lesson is do not bite a barn cat.  She didn't eat it either, just bit it's head off so I am guessing she took the attack personally?

This morning I turned all of the horses out for the day and was cleaning stalls. I kept hearing noise outside and then not only was the dog barking but then the donkey brayed.  Since this was extremely out of character, since she typically brays when she wants something and doesn't have it, I went out to inspect.  I heard chirping and it sounded like turkeys were fighting.  I saw some jumping around and some wing feathers through the trees, being excited to possibly see two male turkeys fighting I walked quickly over to the neighbors field.  What I saw, however, was not 2 turkeys fighting.  What I saw was an adult female turkey being stalked and attacked by Patches.  The turkey kept chirping and walking away and Patches was trying to pounce thus making the turkey jump in the air and squawk.  She has been stalking turkeys since spring and I am figuring it is only a matter of time before she gets one.  Wonder what the appropriate prize would be for a barn cat if she drug home a wild turkey?

Blind but better

So this past weekend I noticed one of my barn cats was a little more lethargic than normal, she is the one that always chases the twine I cut off of hay bales and who brings me most of the dead animals.  Seeing her on the tractor in the morning and night was a little unusual but I didn't notice anything "wrong" so left her alone.  When I fed Tuesday night, however, I could tell something was wrong right away.  She was on the tractor seat resting but her eyes were white.  She felt like she had a slight temperature and didn't eat all of her can of food, very abnormal for her.  I called the vet and scheduled an appointment for Wednesday, by the time I was done feeding I couldn't find her.  Wednesday morning I still couldn't find her, spent the entire morning, about 2 hours, calling for her to no avail.  I made the abnormal decision to fill PM hay nets for the next day and ta-da!  She simply appeared, white, blind eyes and all.  It was obvious she couldn't see so I brought her in the house and kept her in my office until it was time for the vet.

At the vet office they asked if she had been tested for FeLV and I advised I didn't know, she would have been fully vaccinated when she was spayed last Aug and she was vaccinated again when everyone got spring shots in March.  They said it was most likely FeLV, FIP, FIV or Lymphoma, I immediately thought of the damn stray cat that has been hanging around.  We finally caught him on Sunday and relocated him but he was definitely sick with at least a URI.  Did he give her something?  If he made her sick we didn't have him anymore to euth, he could make other cats ill, damn!  I had them do an in-house test for FeLV and FIV both of which, thankfully, came back negative.  They sent out blood for the FIP and a CBC to check for lymphoma.

Finally got the call this morning that her white blood count is very slightly elevated and while the FIP test came back positive, it came back as 1 in 100 which means she doesn't necessarily have FIP.  Just that she has been exposed to the corona virus that can cause FIP.   They said it is a viral infection of some kind and are keeping her on an antibiotic and steroid for 8 days, she should start regaining her sight and have the haze 50% gone in about 4 days.  She is already much better in the energy department and I think she can now see shadows.  Hopefully she recovers quickly and without incident, she is a really nice cat and I was seriously dreading the thought of having to put her down.  Besides, there are lots of moles making new tunnels and I am sure she needs to kill them.  This is how my barn cat cost me over $150 and lots of worry, but I think she is worth it.  She has definitely earned her keep around here (unlike my other cats!).

Patches says Hi, I like to kill things!

You are not pulling your weight

I live in the country, in the woods.  There is some farmland, however it is mostly woods.  As a result there is a lot of wildlife here, it is normal to see deer in our yard eating our cedar trees or watch the pack of turkey run across our driveway.  We also have a huge mole problem and we now have a small mouse problem.  This is a concern because I have a total of 5 cats.  2 cats are great, they are cold, calculating, merciless killers who normally bring me 1-2 moles/mice a week.  These cats are spoiled with canned cat food every night and as much dry cat food they want.  These are my barn cats, they were born in a barn, have never known a warm house and are the best barn cats I could have ever wished for. 

I also have 3 indoor cats that I have had for numerous years.  These have never been outdoor cats, except my little tabby who we adopted from a rescue and probably lived outside.  They live the life of luxury keeping the house safe from vicious birds that perch upon the birdfeeder by the window, sleeping in sunbeams and staying available for being disturbed.  Until lately, the house cats' job was to be disturbed for my entertainment.  Sleeping cat?  Disturbed.  Cold lap/toes and warm cat belly?  Disturbed.  Look lazy?  Disturbed.  Since we have moved in the country and we now have some mice that have taken residence, I figured the problem would be automatically solved.

How mistaken I was.  These lazy indoor cats may attempt to chase gerbils that are in cages but they do nothing for mice in walls.  Or mice chewing the dog food bag and stealing dog food.  Or mice that steal pieces of toilet paper, napkins or tissues.  Alas I finally broke down and bought mouse traps, despite having 3 (obviously not) mouse killers.  I have now caught my third mouse within a week and am patiently awaiting a new catch.  I have no idea how big of a problem I have, but am expecting the worst so I will continue my hunt.  Which my lazy cats are not doing.  Come spring, some can become indoor/outdoor cats and they can learn to earn their keep, they need to be schooled by the real killers I employ outside.  Lazy cats.