NEW ADDITIONS TO THE FAMILY TREE

This has been an amazing couple of weeks, genealogically speaking. Not only have I found more ancestors, I found a new cousin!! Unbeknownst to be, Ancestry had just added information from local Pennsylvania churches to their database. At the same time a lady named Linda contacted me thru Ancestry telling me that one of my maternal aunts was her grandmother. We immediately started exchanging info and she was the one who told me that there was info on my great grandfather, Reuben Lake Miller's, parents. I was sooo excited because that's been the last brick wall for that generation.

REUBEN LAKE MILLER

Based on church information, we discovered that Reuben's parents were William and Kezia Lattig Miller. The funny part is how many different ways Kezia's name is spelled on different documents. One census even spelled it "Theresia".

It appears that the Millers are Irish and the Lattigs are Dutch. Both families have been in America since before the Revolution, mostly in Williams Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, which is near Easton. Of course more research and confirmation will need to be done, but it's so nice to have that brick wall broken down at last.

And the best part is that I have a new cousin who is just as interested in researching the family tree as I am.

VETERINARY UPDATES

Well, this has been a busy week, vet-wise. We had three vet visits this week for three different cats. On Wednesday Buddy had his regular eye check-up with Dr. Hermann. The pressure in his eyes is pretty stable, though higher than normal in the left one still. Buddy is so good during the exam and Dr. Hermann is just the best! He answers all my questions like I have a few brain cells and explains things well. We go back in four months.

Wednesday afternoon I finally got Max in for his checkup and fructosamine with Dr. Hseih. Was she surprised when Max showed up at 15 lbs! His exam went well and his fructosamine showed his glucose was being maintained well. He's down to 5 units of insulin twice a day. I was so amazed that I was able to catch him Wednesday morning. I didn't even call for an appointment until I had him secured in the bathroom. For a big guy he can sure move fast! Since he's doing so well he doesn't have to go back for 6 months!!!

Thursday Micha had his recheck. They did bloodwork and an exam. I really like Dr. Werner - she handles Micha well and doesn't take any of his guff  personally. His kidney values were actually down a bit more, which is good. However, he is now experiencing some anemia - a result of the decrease in kidney function. If it continues to increase, he may need some bone marrow injections. He goes back next week. Micha does look much better and his appetite appears a bit better. He has gained 3 ounces since last week. He's tolerating his fluids well and I've caught him nibbling at the dry food. As long as I can get at least 1200 cc's of the special canned food in him each day, I don't really care if he eats the dry, too. He's staying hydrated and that's important. I know his days are numbered, so I want to make him as comfortable as possible. He still has lots of strength and his usual vim and vinegar. When that changes I'll know it's time to let him go. In the mean time we will both enjoy our time together.

So it goes. These guys and their housemates do take a lot of my time, but I don't know what I'd do without them.

FURTHER MICHA UPDATE

It's been a busy, busy week and I apologize for taking so long to update Micha's condition. He spent the New Year's weekend at the emergency clinic for continued IV fluids. Since they were open Monday, he stayed there rather than going to the vet and then back to the clinic. Tuesday morning I moved him back to the vet. His numbers were down, but continued above normal.

The best news was that Tuesday evening he got to come home instead of going to the Emergency Clinic again. He was so happy to be home and I was happy to have him here. He knew he was home as soon as we drove into the garage. I set up a cage in his room as I didn't want him wandering about with his IV catherter still in. He wasn't happy about the cage, but settled in.

Wednesday morning we went back to the vet for more IV fluids and more bloodwork. The vet was disappointed that his numbers didn't stay, but went up just a tad. However, the best news of the week was then Wednesday night he came home for good, hopefully. They felt that this was as low as his numbers were going to go and it didn't make sense to keep him in the hospital for more fluids.

I can tell he feels better as he's not cranky and even talks to me a bit. I move him in and out of the cage depending on the time of day. He's supposed to be only eating some canned food especially for kidney failure patients and he gets a supplement twice a day and, supposedly, an appetite enhancer once a day. We are also doing subcutaneous fluids - 150 ml daily. He's not too keen on the canned food yet and I've caught him nibbling at the dry food. I'm not going to be too awfully strict as he does need to eat, though the dry food isn't the best for him. He's been a doll in taking his subQ fluids. He does not like the syringe feeding. He does nibble a bit at the canned food, too.

Another bit of good news is that he doesn't have to go back for a check until the 11th or 12th!

We are working out a schedule and it's almost time for his fluids so I will sign off for now. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and good wishes for Micha's recovery. As the vet said, there is no "cure" for kidney failure, but we can work on maintaining a good level of living while we can.

MICHA UPDATE

Micha is back at the Emergency Clinic, probably for the weekend. He had a good day at the vet and they were able to get urine for urinalysis and culture to see if anything was going on there. He still hadn't eaten any food. Since the vet would be closed for the entire weekend, he had to go back to the Emergency Clinic.

When I picked him up at the vet, he seemed much more alert though still cranky. I remembered that most of the other indoor cats loved the Purina Cat Chow that I feed the outside cats - they think it's candy! So I put some in a baggie to see if Micha would eat it. Dr. Inman mentioned a possible medication that requires being taken with food.

While we waited at the Emergency Clinic for him to be admitted, I dropped some of the Cat Chow in his carrier and - surprise, surprise - he ate it!! It's not the best thing for a diabetic cat to be eating, even if he is in remission right now. But he needs to eat so . . .

The Emergency Clinic is an interesting place. When we walked in, there was no one else there. The minute we got seated there were three dog brought in, two of which needed immediate attention. So we waited about an hour for admission. But we had people to talk to and I was interacting with Micha. There were two dogs who lived together and were devoted to each other that got in a fight over a knuckle bone. One just had some damage to the face and ears, but the other was in worse shape. I don't know how that worked out. The lady who brought them in was so distraught so we talked about dogs and cats and I hope she felt a bit better when I left.

I will go visit Micha later today with the hope that his bloodwork shows drastic improvement. I also appreciate all the prayers and good thoughts that folks are sending our way. It really helps both of us. I'll post an update later on today when we have the lab results.

KITTY MEDICAL CRISIS

I had to take my dear, sweet Micha to the vet yesterday evening. He's a 10-year old seal point rescue and former foster kitty. Several years ago he was diagnosed with diabetes and very early stage renal failure. Over the years his diabetes has ebbed and flowed as his need for insulin changed. He's been on a "honeymoon" for a while now.

I noticed this week that he was looking kinda ragged and he was dehydrated. I was able to get an appointment with his vet late yesterday afternoon. His blood work showed that he was in acute renal crisis with his numbers way off the charts. The treatment is lots of IV fluids in an attempt to get the numbers down and somewhere close to normal.

Since it was late and his IV usage needed to be monitored, the vet had me take Micha to the Emergency Clinic for the night. He wasn't very happy about it, but that's what we did.

I picked him up early this morning and brought him back to the vet for the day. With a holiday weekend coming up, I'm not sure what's going to happen. It would be nice to have him home for the weekend rather than at the Emergency Clinic again. Or the vet since they don't have anyone there at night.

Micha was his usual (when not feeling well) cranky self when I picked him up and was noticeably heavier in his carrier. He looked good and all his vital signs were normal so he's not in critical condition. I hope we can pull him thru this since he's really a sweetie when he's feeling good.

I remember rescuing Micha and his two sisters 10 years ago. Their mom was a beautiful solid black feral cat. The kittens were in the back yard and I just went out and grabbed them. I can still see their mom on my heels hissing and growling all the way as I ran back to the house. She looked like a miniature panther. I don't know what every happened to her as she disappeared several months after that. Micha's sisters were adopted by a nice lady and I got to keep the little guy.

I have a couple of kitty quilts in my Etsy store that I may switch to Ebay to see if I can raise some funds for his treatment. I'm not sure if my finances can take another major vet bill, but I will see that Micha gets the best treatment.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce you to Micha and let you know about his situation. He could use all the prayers and healing energy you can send his way.



NEW KITTY FABRIC RAGGIES

I finally got around to using more of the cat fabric that my friends have given me and made two little raggies. The first is made from 42 6" blocks using 21 different fabrics (22 if you count the fabric on the reverse). It measures 29" X 34", the perfect lap quilt or crib quilt or even a table topper. Some of the fabrics are recent and some are vintage and they all combine to make a cat lover's quilt.

The second raggie is smaller - 19" X 19" - and would be a perfect table topper, security blanket or even a bed for your fur person. It's made from several cat prints by Debbie Mumm.

Both raggies are in my Etsy shop in case you just have to have one or both.

I'm sure you remember how all this started. I was trying to raise money to pay for Mimi and Mikey's medical bills. Well, it was all worth it as they are growing into beautiful kitties. Especialy Mimi. See for yourself in this recent picture.

Beautiful, isn't she? And she's quite the talker, too. She wants to thank all of you who sent good wishes for her and her brother's recovery.



WHAT'S GOING ON WITH PAYPAL THESE DAYS? ANTI-CHARITY?

I usually don't write "rant" blogs and I won't do it today, but I do want anyone who has ever dealt with PayPal as a customer or vendor to read these two blogs. You can then decide for yourself on the issue. First go to http://www.regretsy.com/2011/12/05/cats-1-kids-0/ to read about it from the "horses' mouth" so to speak. I've heard from many friends and online buddies who sell online and use PayPal about the heavy handedness of PayPal. This takes the cake. Then go to http://thegreengeeks.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/why-paypal-is-wrong-regarding-regretsy-according-to-their-own-policies/ for a great breakdown of how PayPal is making up the rules as they go along. Emailing PayPal probably won't help as several folks have pointed out, but getting this out to the public and, hopefully, making national news about it just might. So pass this on if you wish or not. I will leave it up to you to decide if it's worth the effort.