Cooling pads and [unrelated] a visit to the emergency vet clinic

Day 41

The cats are doing well in the new room. Kittens are extremely playful! Mom is just lounging. In the afternoon the room gets hot, as I feared. Goes up to 27 degrees and even more when direct sunlight hits that big window. I see her panting.

I decided to put in the cooling gelpad I bought. It is advertised for dogs, but I wonder if it will work for cats as well. For extra protection I put a pillow case around it. I sat on it for a bit myself and could still feel the cooling effect through the fabric. Not long after I did that, I saw the whole family on it while drinking with mom, all in a row. So I guess they like it. I have to keep an eye on it, because I don’t want the kittens to scratch and damage it.

I made a change today in the set-up of the interior. I moved the scratch pole to the original Basecamp crate. That is now dedicated to play for the kittens. Mom can also lounge there, or lie in the carrier or the green bed. But she now has an open space to use for napping and feeding, with the cooling pad underneath. I think it works better that way. The Ensuite is now the bathroom, dining room and nap-room at the same time and the chaos of play quite naturally happens in the Basement.

I spent some time with the lot this afternoon, just rested on the floor, and spotted mom checking out the carrier for a short moment. She was looking up, towards the window. I wonder what she would do if I let her out in the room, window closed of course….

Working with the cats in the crates is a bit harder now, because they are sitting on the floor and no longer on tables. My back is protesting and I have to be careful. Best wear long pants as well, as it is easy to get carpet burns on all fours. Oh well, it is all temporary, as we are planning on giving them the room once we have cleaned up the cables and made it safe. Although I do not expect the kittens to climb on top of the crate, it still needs to be safe. So I will probably use the Ottoman to put stuff in that I do not want them to get at. Lots of work to do still.

There was a bunch of stinky poop too tonight. I thought it was just kitten stuff and started to scoop it out in the crate. Bad idea. As soon as you touch the turds, they turn on you and stink!! And that odour remained in the house for awhile. So next time, just do what we always do: exchange the box with a clean one and take the soiled one downstairs and clean or refresh it completely in the garage.

An unexpected trip to the emergency vet clinic with Suzi!

Today was relaxed with the cat family, but our own resident cat had to be taken to the emergency hospital in the afternoon. Our own vet practice did not have a vet available. What is up with that? I mean, I understand about working in shifts and maybe starting early and then going home mid afternoon, but even other vets we called for help had nobody available. Was there some sort of vet event going on? So I stayed home and Wim trucked Suzi over to a 24-hour hospital where he was until 11pm. Suzi has a urinary tract infection. Second one this year. Damn. I worry about her. She has had such a rough start in life and her health has away been unstable. I fear for her, sometimes. Lots of cat stuff on my mind!