FFRC Blog week ending June 7, 2025
Adoptions:
On the heels of his brother getting adopted recently, our Ridley also got adopted!
This little boy came in with his brother (Maverick) last July, 2024 when they were just 3 months old. They had been brought in to have a neuter done from the monthly Humane Ohio truck transport and at the Vet’s the vet determined they were too sick to undergo the procedure. So FFRC agreed to take the two and the healing process began. It’s amazing what good care and proper medicine can do!
Initially, the two boys would play and wrestle with each other but as they’ve grown they’ve made other friends. Brother Maverick was adopted a few weeks ago. And now it’s time for Ridley to get his own home.
His birthday is April 14, 2024, so he’s now just over a year old. And that face says it all. It’s impossible not to look at that sweet face and simply melt. He is a kind, gentle soul with a loving heart. And he is so very handsome. In fact, that is going to be his new name, Handsome! He went home in style, on an airplane. He will now call Arizona his home! Congrats Handsome (Ridley)!
New Cats:
See Health Updates.
Health Updates:
Our Covie Glory went to see Dr. Darcy. She hasn’t been feeling well and we wanted to get a complete physical and set of blood work done on her. It appears she is in Kidney failure (stage three). She also has a bowel issue happening. We are treating that with meds, but she is really having a rough go of it. Glory is a little over 11 years old. We ask that you keep her in your thoughts as she goes through this challenging time of her life journey.
Dusty Rose went in for her dental and spay. Her spay went very well. Remember we have been very concerned with her mouth. Dr. Darcy does not believe it is cancer. She does have a lot going on in her mouth though. She has a lot of ‘itis’ going on. In short, she has a very major infection of her mouth. Her teeth were in terrible shape, so a complete tooth removal was done. Cats can live without their teeth, they can even eat dry food (they just kinda inhale the food, like a vacuum.) She is recuperating nicely. Her mouth swelling is starting to go down so she’s starting to look much better. Her mouth is starting to look like a cat's mouth now! Her pain appears to be much more tolerable now. Dr. Darcy said her mouth was one of the worst mouth’s she’s seen. So warm thoughts for her.
Barnie Dude. Dude is a very shy cat. He is one of our Barnies. Our Barnies live in the barn on the farm property. They really are not people cats and prefer to come and go as they want, always knowing they have food, water and a safe shelter from the elements. Dude is 16/17 years old. He is very difficult to get so we haven’t had success capturing him for a dental. NOTE: We have two Dude’s. Barnie Dude and Covie Dude. Both are “Dudes” but very different. It’s kinda like having two Peter’s. One if Peter cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail, happily. Then there’s Peter “stay out of my face and leave me alone’. The two Dude’s are like that. They both are unique and have the same name!
We were finally able to grab Barnie Dude to bring him in for dental work. (he probably realized there may be a connection to us capturing him and him feeling better once we did). Barnie Dude is not feral or mean, he just doesn’t really like people and doesn’t want to come to us. We’re ok with that and it’s one of the reasons we have different types of outside cats. The Barnies have things in their past that make them really want to stay away from people. We love them, just the same as all our cats, but from a distance. We were able to lightly sedate Barnie Dude to get some tartar off his teeth but do know he needs two, maybe three, teeth extractions. We know his age makes this very risky, but we can’t leave him in pain so we have a dentist appointment on June 12. We’ll keep him comfortable until then. We can pick him up but it’s clear he’s not a ‘fan’ of people love up close. But he’s being as good as he can be with us, kinda like that distant relative you invite to Thanksgiving dinner because you have too, but he doesn’t want to be there any more than you want him to be at the table, but at least he’ll eat that horrible beet salad your second cousin Doris always brings.
Ludwig:
Also on June 12th, Ludwig will go to the Vet for one eye removal. Remember, one eye is completely blind and for infection reasons, we will remove the eyeball and have his eyelids surgically closed. The Vet has told us that eventually the other eye will probably have to be removed, but for now, just the one will be removed for his own health. He does have some (very minor) vision in the remaining eye but if it’s determined it’s best it is removed for future health reasons, we will defer to the Vet.
Joaquin:
Joaquin has an irritable skin condition that is being treated with medicine. He’s getting better as his skin improves. He’s also a little “snorky”.
Marvin (the littlest of Sinopa’s kittens):
Marvin has been a ‘snorky’ and a little ‘icky’ in his ear and a closer look in there showed he has a polyp (Note: we haven’t had a Vet determine this yet, but Intern Dr. Megan is using her new medical skills to go places she hasn’t gone before and can see the polyp. A verbal consultation with a board certified Vet (Dr. Darcy!) confirmed it is a polyp. Despite him being a little underweight for surgery, it was determined it is in his best interest to have the polyp removed on Monday. So warm, positive thoughts for our little Marvin.
Our sweet Amy was returned (Amy is one of Wispy’s babies and sister to Eric and Popsicle). Amy was just adopted within the past few weeks and she was returned as she appeared to be going through something. She has lost a lot of weight and just didn’t look right. We did an FIP test on her and she did test positive. She shows all the classic symptoms of FIP. We have started treatment on her and she is eating some but very little. Her owner did the right thing. The first week she was home she was a typical normal kitten, playing and active. However the second week she slowed down and just seemed sick. He brought her to his Vet and they put her on medication to treat a possible infection. He called Megan and said he needed help as he had never given a cat pills before. He brought her in and that’s when we did the FIP test and it came up positive. In just the two weeks, Amy had declined very rapidly (as is the case sometimes with FIP). We are very worried as we are now 5 days in and we are not seeing a noticeable improvement. A stomach tap showed it is wet FIP. We are continuing to treat her but we are not giving up and keeping a positive outlook. She did start licking some food. So her improvement may just be a slower than normal process. Prayers for Amy are appreciated.
Holds:
None
Other Updates:
The tiny, black and ash colored infant who was found in the middle of the road by himself/herself (gender TBD a few weeks ago now has a name. He’s a he and his name is Beetles. Megan has been taking him home each night to feed him (remember he’s still only about 2 weeks old and unweaned). He didn’t seem to be getting enough food by mouth, so Megan went up to Dr. Darcy’s office with him and learned how to tube feed. Beetles is doing well now. Tube feeding is just that, you measure from the mouth to the stomach and stick a tube down the cat’s mouth and put food into the tube through a syringe. The food then is released into the stomach, bypassing food going down the esophagus.
We’ve gotten a lot of questions about whether Popsicle and Erik would become permanent residents. As of right now, the answer is yes. However, we never know what could change down the road, so keep an open mind on this.
Ann has been visiting this week and has helped us go through our supplies and we realized by putting certain things together that we have a tremendous amount (thank you!) of beds, blankets, toys, bedding, condo’s. So we ask that you hold off on donations of these items. We’re actually running out of room to store these items.
However, because of the treatment of so many cats recently, we are in major need of Royal Canin Mother and baby cat food (both wet and dry) and KMR liquid. We are good with baby food and licky sticks. (what a wonderful problem to have, too many beds and toys!) Our Friends are always so wonderful to us.
Catathon is June 16th to June 21st. More information coming up!
Lynnette will be taking Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday off as a mini-vacation. We’ll miss her but she should know how much we will be looking forward to bringing more cats into the office while she is away!
“Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves,” Mason Cooley.
Barnie Dude
