Seven Years and Seven Months

That’s how long I’ve been dreading this day.  That’s a long time for a cat to live with mouth cancer.

seriously snaggletoothed Snickers

Typically, they live for a couple of years after diagnosis, but it’s been seven years and seven months for Snickers.

Snickers

He was gifted to me when he was just a little kitten.

He truly was a magnificient specimen.

I will miss him dearly.

Birthday Boy

With all the craziness that is Eden Hills, I forgot to post a happy birthday to my April baby…Snickers.

Snickers Doodle McWhiner

He turned sixteen this month.

It’s been a long crazy ride with this boy.

It was seven years ago this month that he first had problems with the mouth cancer.

He’s still going, but it’s sometimes a trick to make sure he’s getting enough to eat.

We’ll see if we can make it to seventeen.

Health Updates

I tell you, for a while I was treating so many goats and chickens and llamas and me and taking care of the cat with cancer that I’m not sure how I kept it all straight.  Here’s some updates.  Gouda’s eye is much better.  He’s off meds and hot packs and it continues to improve.  Thank heavens.

Gouda’s eye is doing much better

I’m not sure I even mentioned that Haley ended up with a uterine infection, but she’s through her course of antibiotics.  I think getting healthy has helped her milk production too.  She’s still a bit thin, and we’re still giving her kids bottles, but everyone is doing well and better.

Haley

Same with Blaze.  She is still struggling to feed her boys after the mastitis, but everyone was healing and we are helping feed the boys, so it’s all good.

Blaze and twins (Bandit and Trooper)

We’re actually helping lots of goats with feeding because of the copper, but so far, all the kids seem to be healthy and not showing signs of copper deficiency.  Please, please, please let that continue.

Mary feeding Tootles (and Bubbles on the other side)

Clover is still really anemic from the copper deficiency and pregnancy, as are Bonnie and now Blaze.  I am trying to baby them.  Heck, I’m trying to baby all my moms.  They’ve had copper (as everyone in the whole herd has) and the three with bottle jaw have been wormed.  I just don’t know what more I can do.  For Bonnie and Blaze it’s a balance between their needs and the kids.  I can’t wean at three weeks old.  It’s very frustrating because I was so optimistic that the copper capsules would help them.  I’m sure it has, but it just isn’t enough.

Clover

In addition to everyone’s copper capsules, Lily and Harley are still on the meds for their arthritis and back injury.  Lily is really slowing down, but she’s hanging in there for now.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since she’s 12 1/2 years old.

Lily (scratching out the winter fur)

Harley scares the daylights out of me because she doesn’t seem to know she is disabled, and she races around with the yearling does like she’s a kid.  It really worries me because she sometimes falls, but she gets up.  She’s happy, and I know she doesn’t want to be penned by herself for the remainder of her life.  She’s having fun, and I’m going to let her enjoy herself no matter what.

Harley

I am going to be letting Tony out of the garage soon.  He has really been putting weight on since the weather has warmed up, and he’s still eating like crazy. This boy goes through two or three quarts of llama feed and a whole lot of alfalfa every day.

Tony Llama

Mama Phoenix is still hanging in there.  We’re still just waiting for her second foot to fall off.  Snickers is still hanging in there too.  This month he turns sixteen, and seven of those years have been lived with mouth cancer.  He has absolutely no manners anymore, but I just can’t yell at him.  Okay, I still yell at him to get down, but he just ignores me.

He’s pretty much just a really old kitten.

Old herds are really a lot of work.