u/echoesinthestars

Hey all!

Been a few days since I posted an update and didn’t want anyone to worry.

My old lady is doing great! She is now about 5.6 pounds (she was 4.9 at the start of this adventure) and appears to be like… 98% flea/flea dirt free. She hasn’t had loose 💩 in a few days, and is eating like a horse.

When I come into the bathroom, she gives me her little smokers meow and starts prancing around and rubbing against the counter. We’ve also discovered that she isn’t a fan of coming over her head for pets (I can’t really blame her tbh) but loves scratches on her sides, booty and chin. She also lets me pick her up to weigh her and look her over with no issues.

Monday 07/06 is 2 weeks past her vet visit, which is the time period my vet said we should quarantine to ensure all the buggies have gone to buggy heck. My biiiig void Cosmo has been laying outside the bathroom door chatting to her (you can hear him in the video lol!) and I’m like “dude, you’re literally 4 times her size… please be gentle when she comes out”

Plan is, Monday, I’m going to take 10 minutes at a time and put her in the carrier and sit her next to the bed in the bedroom with me. That way, she and my residents can see and chat with each other with a safe barrier. My clowder (6 neutered boys) are in for a rude awakening of tortitude 🤣.

Thank you guys for sharing this journey with me! I have also created an instagram account for her, but haven’t done much with it yet. It is @queencalliewildheart for anyone wanting to follow along!!!

Well, the overwhelming advice that I got was to go ahead and give Callie a bath if she would tolerate it.

I waited a few days after her vet visit because the dewormer they gave her was a topical (it was called Profender, I had actually never heard of it) and I wanted to give it a chance to fully soak in.

Warm water, used a cup to rinse her and dawn for soap. She did sooo well. Shockingly, she didn’t struggle a ton, and didn’t try to bite or scratch, I think at one point she did “fate accepted” and just went with it. That or the warm water and massage felt good lol.

Used gloves, as she’s a little bit of a poopy monster… so glad I did. As soon as I got her good and lathered, the soap and water coming off of her turned red and brown, and the whole bathroom just reeked of copper. I realized at that point just HOW MUCH flea dirt and dried blood she was coated in. Probably 15 minute of lather and rinse and she was running clear, but still had a bunch stuck up in her neck area. At that point I didn’t wanna keep moving her around tho so I called it and dried her off.

After seeing all that red come off, it is literally NO WONDER the poor thing is so anemic. Goodness gracious.

She’s definitely cleaner, but tomorrow I’ll be running to PetSmart to get a flea comb and will sit with her and comb out the remaining dirt and dead fleas. I did see a few live ones running around, so I think I’m going to give her a capstar tomorrow when I’m off as well. Hopefully that will get her right as rain.

Plus side… after the last few days, the antibiotics, the fluids, and the wormies starting to expel (good lord the work diarrhea) she is so much more alert. She was rubbing the counter and walls in the bathroom last night and meowing at me. We’ve also discovered that she loves scratches on her sides and booty, even though you can feel every dang rib and her hips.

Will give another update this weekend after the comb out and capstar. Vet said 2 weeks from the 22nd for introductions to my other cats, just to give a chance for the parasites to all get 💀.

Thank you guys for the support through this adventure - this is my first time rehabbing a senior street cat. I’ve worked with lots of kittens, but this is my first emaciated skrunkly bag of bones old lady lol.

So, I recently was able to rescue/bring inside my girl that’s been outside her whole life. She lost her companion recently, and decided that she was ready to be an inside girl.

She’s been to the vet yesterday, and got the all clear of anything communicable etc, but she’s very anemic from severe flea infestation. She’s been given preventative, so it’s got most of them unalived now, but she’s COVERED in flea dirt and dirt in general.

I genuinely think that she would let me bathe her, however she is severely underweight and I am worried she would get way too cold after the bath.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions to get the flea dirt, dead fleas and gunk off of her ? She’s let me wipe her down with cat wipes, but that doesn’t do much for the dirt under her fur.

Callie photo for tax 💜

Callie went for her vet visit today, and as promised, here is ya’ll’s update.

Went in… explained the situation to the tech. Tech took her back and got snap tests and fecal. When results came back, tech came in with the vet and announced the FIV/FeLV both came back negative! The vet announced that she was also likely between 11-13 and not 7 like we thought.

However, my vet, who is a wonderfully kind yet honest and up front guy, was very concerned about her size and potential for organ issues due to her extreme emaciation. He recommended in house bloodwork, but cautioned heavily that it was very possible she was either in kidney or liver failure, and or thyroid issues. They took her back, got blood, brought her back and said they’d be back in about 30 minutes to talk about options.

Longest 30 minutes of my life.

He comes back… looks baffled. He goes… “well. Her thyroid, kidneys and liver are all… totally fine…” as he just stands there and looks at this skrunkly little creature in front of him, in total confusion.

Final diagnosis: malnutrition, worms and flea anemia.

So, convenía for mouth inflammation, subq fluids, dewormer and a nail trim later, and we are home with orders to keep her warm, happy and outfitted with 2 full cans of wet food a day to help her put back on weight.

We go back in 2 months for a re-check and hopefully vaccines… but ya’ll… Miss Callie gets to live out her golden years inside as a loved and spoiled companion.

I know ya’ll are probably sick of the Callie spam by now, but oh my god, we hit TWO major milestones tonight!!!

1. SHE PURRED.
2. she let me pet her, and she discovered chin scratches.

Update on my previous post about Miss Callie!!

Well, we had been going back and forth today about trying to see if we could get her to go into the crate on her own, but hadn’t made any decisions.

Our kids grandpa was leaving to go to the store, and called and asked us to come get Callie from under the car, because she wasn’t leaving her spot.

We are in Texas… it’s an ambient heat of 110° today. I was already concerned about the heat. Well, we walked outside, she heard my voice and came trotting up… I saw she was panting like crazy.

In that moment, my brain went… “here goes nothing” and I knelt down and scooped her up. When I tell
You this cat is a featherweight I am not even joking, there’s nothing to her.

So I called out to my gf and said “um, decision time…!” So she just stares at me in utter shock at me holding this cat and goes “take her to the bathroom!!!!”

So I put her in the crate to take her inside, come into the bathroom, and once the door is shut open it back up, not knowing what to expect.

She got herself out of the crate, and I helped her to the floor. She went behind the toilet, and immediately sprawled out on the tile. I had one of the kids go get a lick treat and her water, and set everything out… she took a lick treat within a few minutes of being inside, and is now cooling down. I sent pics to my TNR friend back home in Maryland and she’s in shock.

She’s showing no signs of stress, no panic… she just looks like she’s like “finally”

I posted in r/feralcats a few weeks ago asking for advice on trapping our newly alone outside girl that we’ve been caring for for years.

Backstory… we had a pair of ferals that were relocated to our house by a rescue that was finding caretakers. My girlfriend has tried for years to tame them down and they were pretty much disinterested. Callie, in particular, would not allow anyone within a 10-12 foot bubble of space around her. Well, 2.5 weeks ago, Mr. Orange was hit by a car, and Callie is now alone.

We’ve been working on gaining her trust, and oh my god the progress in the last 3 days is INSANE. This little probably about 5 pound tabico with an old lady smokers meow that hightailed it any time she saw us… and today this happened. Not only did she take a licky tube from my hand… but i got the tiniest of nose boops!!!!

Next step is trapping her.. hoping to do that over the next day or two… but we’ve been getting her used to the wet food and finer things in life so that hopefully she goes straight for it. Keep your fingers crossed for us and Callie!!!