Introducing Marshall Tucker and a Review!

Well, it's been a while... I've just gotten lazy and haven't updated this blog in a while. Since we've been gone, we have added a new family member! Introducing Marshall Tucker!

 Marshall was dumped in our neighborhood back in December of 2014. Just three weeks after we had to say goodbye to our old lab, Dixie. We weren't ready, but God had other plans.

The cats are adjusting well, but we are working on it everyday. Cats. Hate. Change. Luckily, he's as sweet as honey pie and very patient with the kitties- even when they swat him.
He even has his very own Instagram @theamazingmarshalltucker- Follow him!

We thought we'd let Marshall do a product review for Chewy.com as part of his introduction. Marshall loves toys and KONGS are his FAVORITE! He'd never played with this particular product until this past weekend.

Here's what he thought of the KONG Squeezz Ball with Handle Dog Toy:

Marshall could not wait... he wanted to play as soon as he saw it and tried to grab it off the counter!

This toy is great for playing fetch!  



 

And of course, playing fetch with Marshall means playing tug-of-war between throws. This is tug-of-war made easy because of the handle on one end.

 

 

Just look at this happy boy!  

I think this video pretty much sums it up. Marshall LOVES a squeaker!

 

  

We will conclude this review by saying the KONG Squeezz Ball with Handle Dog Toy is a great toy for dogs who love to retrieve, play tug-of-war and roll onto their backs and squeak! Marshall gives it two pitty paws UP!

 

Maya Has Gone to the Rainbow Bridges

We had to say a final farewell to our dear, sweet Maya. For quite some time, his health has been declining. We did our best to keep him with us as long as possible and as long as he wasn't suffering. He would have been 15 years old in May. We bottle-fed him and his sis, Chevelle as infant kittens. We enjoyed over fourteen years with our ginger boy. He will be greatly missed.

Maya was the last remaining member of the Fab Four.

Sylvester, Cal, Maya and Chevelle

 He now joins his littermate, Chevelle (2000-2012)

and his best furfriend, Dixie Dog (2001-2014)

Maya Ralph

May 01, 2000- January 6, 2015

Rambler Has Gone to the Rainbow Bridge

Well friends, we appreciate each and every comment left for our boy Rambler. When I took him in for his recheck last Friday, the other vet said only one kidney was enlarged and she was almost certain it was renal lymphoma. I was sent home with fluids and appetite stimulant and knowing that he didn't have long.

He didn't even have a week. We made the decision to help him to the bridge yesterday. He had completely stopped eating, was no longer using the bathroom and was rail thin. We are thankful his illness was brief.

Rambler came to live with us 6 years ago when we trapped him to save him from animal control who had set their own trap for him. We have no clue of his age, but if we were to guess it was probably somewhere around 10+.

On Saturday, I took him outside for a photo shoot. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and he loved it. It was his last good day. Here are just a few highlights... there are over 100 pictures.

Ram-Bam, you were such a good boy. Thank you for 6 great years. You will be greatly missed, sweet boy.

We appreciate all of our friends love and support. Please forgive me for not visiting and commenting. Love to you all!

Bad News, Good News: Purrs for Rambler

Hello everyone!

Bad News: Yesterday was Rambler's Gotcha Day and it was also the day he was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure. Sad day. He may also have a kidney infection because the vet said his kidneys were swollen or it could even be lymphoma. He was given fluids, mirtazapine (for appetite) and Convenia (antibiotic injection). He isn't eating very much, but he is eating. He's lost a lot of weight. We are taking it day by day. Tomorrow he goes back in for fluids and a recheck. After this appointment, I will probably be administering the fluids at home.

Please purr, pray, send vibes, etc... Thank you!

Good News: Saylor is doing great on her Prozac! Her fur is growing back in nicely... though it looks to be coming in gray. No fur, gray fur, black fur...she is still the most beautiful girl! I will try to get some updated photos of her to post soon.

Big Boy and a Saylor Update

Remember our outdoor stray, Big Boy? He's been with us for over two years now and was a TNR neighborhood cat who hung around our yard the most. The last couple of months, he has been staying on our porch in a little house that we had built for Gretchen several years ago. Well, on Sunday, I noticed him on the porch and he hadn't eaten the food from the day before. He was much more vocal than usual and seemed to have a hard time walking. I called the hubby out and he looked him over. A quick visual exam did not reveal any cuts, swelling or anything out of the ordinary, but we could tell he just didn't feel good.

 

So, off to the emergency vet he went. He was so bad off, he let my husband pick him up! He barely ever let us pet him, much less pick him up when he was healthy. He ended up having a temperature of 105.8! The vet ran some blood work, but everything seemed to be ok. So she gave him a Convenia injection, two different pain med injections and something to bring down the fever.
 

We brought him home and set him up with a large crate in the garage. Within a day, the fever was gone and he had started eating a little bit. Shew!

It's been 5 days now and he is back to his normal Big Boy self. He is still in the garage and doesn't seem to have any plans on moving out. We've opened the door to the crate and he walks around the garage, when we go to check on him, he is back in his crate, asleep on his heated bed. Would you want to leave all that comfort for 35 degree weather? So perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. The temps are really dropping and we would have been super worried about how to keep him safe and warm during this bitter cold. Hopefully, when the weather warms up, he will want to go back out, but if not, we certainly won't kick him out ;) 

Now, for Saylor....

So, as you can see, the depo injection, Feliway spray and homeopathic anti-anxiety meds did not work. On New Year's Day, Saylor started on Prozac. I PRAY this works for her. I can't understand why she has started doing this to herself. It really does break my heart to see her looking this way. Other than the baldness, she acts like normal Saylor. I'm hoping for a new year, new fur!

 

The end of 2013 was quite costly for us with the vet bills- with Maya (thyroid) Saylor (alopecia) Maggie May (eye lesion) and now Big Boy (unexplained fever) I am surely happy to see the New Year! I wish for all of us....

New Year - Healthy Pets!

Merry Christmas from The Creek Cats

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Saylor is Going Bald... Suggestions Welcome!

Well, if it's not one thing (Maggie May's eye) it's another... However, this has been going on a few weeks. We first noticed Saylor was looking a bit patchy around early-mid November.

It started getting worse, so on November 19th she went to the vet. What began as a tiny patch on her front leg had now spread to her back leg.

Even with her fur loss, the vet and techs couldn't help but swoon over the beautiful Saylor girl! She was such a good girl and let the vet check her over thoroughly. I told him that she has been licking and scratching quite a bit- though her skin is not the least bit inflamed. She is completely flea-free and always has been.

The vet thought it could be one of two possible conditions... an allergy or stress. An allergy would be his first guess, so he said the easiest solution would be a steroid injection and if not better in a few days, it's probably stress-related.

The injection didn't seem to help, so that leaves the dreaded stress diagnosis.

His next course of action was to try to relieve stress by using Feliway. We went with the spray because we have 26ft ceilings and a diffuser just wouldn't cut it. He said you can actually spray the back of the neck with the spray and it hangs around like perfume. I've been doing that for about a week or so. I am sad to report she has not improved. We have also changed her from a chicken diet to a fish as a precaution.

Well, it's been about 3 weeks since the initial vet appointment and this is how Saylor looks now...

Another option would be to put her on anti-depressants. This thought actually makes me depressed. Saylor has the most awesome personality and she is my funny girl. Would these meds change her?
Have any other cat owners gone through this? I am all ears!!