Hi!

Hi! My name is Val and I'm brand new to this board. I live in south Louisiana and am guardian to 9 cats (Diana, Sam, Griffin, Max, Roscoe, Oliver, Felicia, Chester and Adrian), 3 dogs (Ilsa, Anya and Bear) , 2 foster kitties (Rizzy and Pumba) and 3 ducks (Boy ducks and girl duck). Five of the cats have disabilities of some sort or another, some more severe than others and Bear has a totally atrophied back leg. :( but he gets around great :) . I'll chime in on certain topics but mainly wanted to introduce myself today and not just lurk. I look forward to getting to know all of you and your fur kids!

Welcome...oh and we like pictures!

Welcome to PT!

Wow, you have large fur family. How wonderful that you are helping special needs kitties too.

We'd love to hear more and see pictures of your kitties (and the rest too).

I have 5 kitties and a dog as you can see in my signature below.

Will send pics in the future (love yours!). A digital camera was/is to be my Christmas present just have still not had the inclination to shop for it (totally confusing new fangled things!). As soon as I do I will take pictures of EVERYTHING that breathes. This will probably be just what I needed to motivate me!

Welcome. I too am kind of new. I have really learned alot here. I too have a total of 9 cats, 3 dogs, four birds and fish. Hope you get that camera soon, we are all anxious to see your babies.....

Welcome Val, I'm Lisa from Alaska. I'm currently owned by 3 kitties (Halo, Cammie and Pepper). Kuhio (1985-2002) is our Rainbow Bridge kitty. Can't wait to see photos of your babies one of these days. I have all my photos stored on www.imagestation.com so that they can be linked here. There are other websites you can use too.

Hi Val!:) Welcome to PT - a wonderful place to be here in Cat General!!
I am Debbie from Ohio and have five kitties you can see below. My hubby also posts here, as do my three daughters:D

Hi Val and Welcome to Pet Talk!!! You sure have quite the fur and feather family. ;)

My name is Meg and I am owned by the 7 kitties that you see in my signature. Two of my kitties are special needs kitties....Gracie is blind in one eye and Gabriel is almost totally blind in both his eyes.

I look forward to seeing some pictures and hearing about your wonderful furry/feathery family. :)

Welcome, Val! I have one pet, she is Miss Hoppy, the bunny you see as my avatar. Just a note: lots of people here have and use digital cameras, so I am sure if you had specific questions, people would happily chime in!

Hi Val! My name is Sarah and I currently live in Auburn, Alabama. I have three kitties and a turtle that you can see in my siggy! I hope you enjoy PT!!

It's so wonderful to meet everyone and see your beautiful babies! My husband has been asking me constantly when I plan to get my Christmas present! I'll definitely ask for help if I have trouble figuring things out. I just don't like to shop much and didn't want to deal with all the crowds around the holidays as my other shopping was finished early. But showing off all my pets will be the motivation I need to get the job done! I'm as proud of them as they come and altho none would win any "beauty contests" and only 1 is actually a PB (she is spayed so none of that really matters anywho) I think everyone is beautiful:) :) ! Thank you for such a warm welcome!

I hate shopping too and prefer staying home! A digital camera will be such fun for you!! I am not much of a photographer so hubby just got me one at Wal-Mart for about $100. It is by Hewlett Packard and is called hp photosmart 435. It is basic, easy to use and good for the money and can even take short videos with sound - although I had to go online and buy a bigger memory card to do that, but it was only about $25 for a big card!! It will zoom and flash and that was enough for me. Maybe you can look online for something similar??

Folks here will be glad to help you - and I sure understand what you say about staying home:p

Welcome to PT!

My name is Bunny and I live with 4 males.....my husband Tim, Fluffy, who showed up at our backdoor 16 years ago, Lucky who will be 8 and my "baby" Yoshi who is now 4 1/2 :eek:

I'm just like you when it comes to digital and computers (that's why I don't have any pictures in my signature....I have NO clue as to how to do it!! :rolleyes: )

There are a lot of very nice people here, you will really enjoy this site!

YAY!!! Another special needs fanatic! My name's Jan, and I'm owned by many rescued special needs kitties, most of which are in my siggy below. Thumbelina is also special needs, and quite a miracle kitty! She was born with moderate radial hypoplasia (bent front legs) a severe heart murmer, megaesophagus, and most likely a liver shunt due to her diminutive size, and the fact her tongue sticks out constantly. She's about 7 years old now, and still going strong. :) I have several born with parts of their legs missing (Gabriel is two legged, having stumps for hind legs)...he's doing wonderful too. Hope to hear lots more about your furfamily!:) And anxiously awaiting pictures. ;)

Welcome! I am a native Louisianian, but I'm from north Louisiana. My husband and I now live in Georgia. We have 3 cats and 2 basset hounds. Glad you are here.:D

Welcome to Pet Talk Val! My name is Vickie but I prefer to be called Slick and I'm one of the "older" members of the crowd....born in the early 50's. Ha! I live in BC, Canada and am owned by two precious furbabies. Max the Persian is 11 and Speckles the Tabby is 17.

What a special angel you are, caring for all those special needs kitties. You are just like many other members of this board that I admire. Kudos to you for all you do for them.

Really looking forward to seeing pics of your furfamily. :)

Welcome to Pet Talk! My name is Kim, and I have 4 cats: Lallen, Pouncer, Abby and Harry. I also have a large dog that is scared of the cats named Nicki.

HELLO! And WELCOME!!! you will love it here. I am Jen (no kidding :p ) and my own 15 cats are in my siggy. I also am a foster home for many (9 right now....oh, and 2 temporary).

And even with out pictures, you can TELL us about your kitties. :D

Hi Val, Sooooo glad to see you decided to sign up and join us here. I want to welcome you to PT too! WELCOME! WELCOME! WELCOME!! I am LAURA!! yes, it's MEEeeee!

I have been busy already and I think I have a male for your Neuterthon.. I have sent them a copy of your email with the dates and I guess they just call the vets? If not, email me who they need to contact.

Hay, you and Queenscoopalot have so much in common that you two should become fast buddies here. She is a wonderful lady and a real sweetheart. (Love you QSL!) She and Leslie have been a wonderful help to me with the trapping and taming of the two ferals I have. Lots of wonderful people here so stick around!!!
Tubby and Peanuts Mom (and Dad) was JUST in D S over the holidays and I got to go meet them while they were there, they stayed at the KOA there.

I can't wait till you get your digital camera and once you do, you will wonder how you ever did without it. I can't wait to see pictures of all your babies and I will make you a siggy soon as you get some pictures posted if you want one. Need any help posting pictures, just ask, anyone here will be glad to help you get the job done.

My babies are in my Mardi Gras siggy, Chester, Amy, Giz and Samantha.

Welcome Val! We look forward to getting to know you!

Ah ha Laura! This is the same Val that I sent you the email from one of the many rescue/handicapped cats/disabled pets etc boards from Yahoo groups! Duh! I never put the connection together until you pointed it out Laura. :rolleyes: Glad you two made a local connection, and hope it benefits more homeless kitties along the way. ;)

Hi Welcome.

Hope to see picture ofyour cats soon :)

I am owned by the eight cats in my signature :D

Opps, thought I told you Jan... (Where is the pink icon for the embarrassed face?) YES, I may get to meet ANOTHER PT'er soon!!... And I did forget to tell Val that YOU are the one who sent me that post that turned me into her direction. Glad you pointed that out so she will know it was you.. Val is doing a lot of great work not far away from me and I am so pleased to know there is someone close that is doing such work for our feline friends. I hope to meet her and maybe help out in some kind of way when I run out of things to do on my off time.... She lives in my "home" parish where I lived and worked for many, many years.

Hi, Val. I'm Alice and live in New York state. I have 7 cats of my own, and currently have 6 fosters, all young to middle aged adults. I foster for a rescue group, and tend to get the hardcases to tame.

For cameras: Nikon and Canon are good brands. You can spend from a couple hundred bucks to over 1000, but you can get a nice one with software for about $250.

I'm so glad you already know some folks here!

Hi Val,and Pet Family,and The Found Cats,Strays and Angels,and I welcome,you,to the Board,and wish,you a Happy Mardi Gras,and send you a Found Cat MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOWWWWWWWWW!As do,I the Feeder.

Oh migosh! What a welcome! Thanks everyone for taking time to say hello.

Hi Laura! Yes, it's me and I made it here altho I can see that this can be an addictive place to hang out. Thanks so much for forwarding the Neuterthon info to anyone who may be interested. The only vet we will be using is Dodge City Vet Hosp (Dr. Scott Smith and his crew - his Dad Jimmy retired a few years back). The locations I gave you for this weekend are just to register and pay their $25. The actual Neuterthon is on Sunday, Feb 13.

For everyone else's info this is a Neuterthon for male cats only (they're small and the surgery is quick). We have a couple of sponsors that are picking up the tab for the difference of the $25 and the cost of the surgery. This is all done through Pet Aid, Inc., a nonprofit spay/neuter organization created because our parish (county) has no Animal Control. The two fair sized cities of Walker and Denham Springs have small shelters (and are also Animal Control facilities) but the rest of our parish has no where to bring strays, etc. Many people will take in a stray but do not have the means to spay/neuter. Our parish is growing by leaps and bounds but the infrastructure can't keep up (roads, drainage, animal control, etc.). Pet Aid also pays for the cost of every spay/neuter for the shelter animals of Denham Springs and Walker. The advantage to a 501c3 (nonprofit) is the ability to apply for grants (there are not many and competition is fierce) and many businesses may donate to a 501c3 for the charitable contribution tax break. Right now Pet Aid is broke (so what else is new) and we are only able to help the Animal Shelters. When money is available we help the public spay/neuter their pets as well. Anyone that can afford to contribute to the cost of the surgery does so.

So there it is in a nutshell for anyone curious as to what Laura was talking about!

I'll be checking out digital cameras this week. I just want a simple point and shoot. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. I started doing research on them before the holidays and the more I read the more confusing it got. Then I realized I was putting way too much effort into it and I kind of just gave up. Like I said tho, I of course want to show off my crew, so I'll finally get my Christmas present this week. I'm always a little behind on these sort of things!

I am going to go do a thing or two (scrub cat boxes and give meds, etc) then I'll be back later to tell y'all a little something about my pets.

Once again, thank you so much for such a warm welcome and I look forward to getting to know you and all of the fur kids!
Val

Opps again, I did forget to tell you this place is VERY addictive! Hope you hang around though so some of us can learn from you. We need "experts" in all areas here to help us dummies along in our blind attempts to help.

Val, go to "user cp" and click... you have a pm there waiting for you...

Welcome...I used to live in SE Louisiana. Now it's Illinois! I have 3 cats...Angel (my rescued pregnant girl), Thor, and Mason. And my lab puppy, Bull!

Hi Val, and welcome to Pet Talk! What wonderful work you do, it's great to have you here to share in our efforts for the good of the kitties! I look forward to meeting your crew and hearing more about your work!

I currently have 19 kitties living here, one of which is about to deliver babies any day. So ... my numbers will be increasing!:rolleyes: I run a small cat rescue from my home, you can check it out at www.cats4keeps.com .

Kim;)

WoW! I'm running way late in my welcome but here it is anyway!!

Welcome aboard Val!! It sounds like you do lots of good things for the kitties and that makes you wonderful in our book! They call me CCL for short and sometimes by my real name Lisa. I live in Kentucky and I am owned by 12 furballs (below) and nine outside ferals that I feed. It's nice to meet you and I hope you stick around.
Good luck on the camera!!

Welcome, Val! I'm Georgia, a native San Franciscan, owned by my two beautiful furballs.

I see you've already been warned that PT is addictive. It led me to buying a digicam too, although right now I can't download pictures to my PC - mainly because of laziness! I just have to crawl under the nest of wires and hook up my new USB hub .... soon! Soon! I promise! The HP Photosmart I bought (online from TigerDirect as I hate to shop too) is a basic, albeit very slow, point and shoot digital. The only thing I wish it did was videos. I might get a new one sometime this year, but for now it serves me very well.

Enjoy PT!

And hi to all the others that have welcomed me since earlier today. It's amazing how scattered we are all over the place!
For those of you in Illinois, I was actually born and raised in Chicago and left at 18 after high school. This was MANY years ago and have not been back since I was about 20. I was raised in the Rogers Park neighborhood (the last stop on the "el") and could actually walk to Evanston via the beaches or Howard St. If that makes sense to any Chicagoans out there! But now I enjoy the South, the warmth and such. I've lived in South Louisiana about 25 years now (y'all do the math and someone will guess my age!).

I'll start to tell about my animals but may not get to finish today. Most have come from the Denham Springs Animal Shelter (also an Animal Control facility) which is not like any other animal control facility in our local area. It used to be a high kill shelter with a low adoption rate, but with the help of a new more cooperative city govt and many wonderful volunteers it no longer is. Every cat and dog there is special.

Let me get started:
Adrian, the newest, a male tabby with the herpes virus with permanent corneal damage because the virus festered too long in his eyes untreated. He sees pretty darn well but I guess some might say he looks spooky. He is a huge love that loves to be cuddled cradled like a baby. He's about 8 months old. From AC and was a foster we couldn't give up. For any of you with herpes cats l-lysine is a great supplement that helps to reduce flare ups.

Chester, an orange tabby on white is about 10 months old. He was a young kitten at AC that had a severely broken pelvis. I brought him home for the cage rest that the vet recommended but he never healed properly. One leg is cockeyed and he walks weird. He cannot jump higher than the sofa or bed (which can have its upside- he doesn't get on counters unless things are placed strategically enough for him to climb). He has gotten too rambunctious (sp?) and wound up back on cage rest because he overuses the good side of his body to compensate for the bad and wound up not being able to walk for awhile. The vet said that as he gets older and less kitten-crazy he will do less harm to himself. He is also doing a good job of not dragging his bad leg so amputation is not a worry. He's very spunky and independent and loves to chew on noses and chins!

Felicia, a black and white tuxedo cat is my smallest size wise. She's almost 2 years old now and another from AC.
Someone drove up with her in the back of their SUV. Had found her in the street. She also had a broken pelvis. Fortunately she healed better than Chester and only because I know her well I can see that she walks uneven. She will limp occasionally if she gets a little too physical. She's a sweetheart with me and my husband Paul but hates all of the other cats. I have a cat door and mine go in and out as I'm surrounded by trees, woods, a creek and a pond. Felicia spends about all day outdoors but at night she has a bed in the kitchen cabinet that's hidden and small and she loves to tuck herself in there.

Oliver, a gray tabby is difficult to describe. He's at least 4 years old. He was an adult when he was brought to AC. We all first noticed his strange walk. He throws one front leg up with each step he takes. His back legs are very stiff but not atrophied. He cannot walk backwards and cannot jump higher than the sofa or bed. At the time he was brought in I was working at AC part time and it was not the same as it is now so I "snuck" him out and was going to get him adopted on my own. That's when we noticed that he has many "twitches" on one side of his face in particular. He is an unusual eater and kind of bobs his head into his food. This creates a mess sometimes. Oliver appears brain-damaged. Whether this was a birth defect, such as cerebellar hypoplasia or from an injury of some sort I don't know. He also has feline epilepsy. He has seizures about once a month so at this point he is not on phenobarbitol. When seizures occur more than once a month or last longer than 5 minutes then medication is required to stop the pattern. Getting the dosages right can be tough but can be done and kitties with epilepsy can live long happy lives. Oliver has probably the most endearing personality of all my kitties and never meets a stranger. He wears a harness with a leash when we visit the vet as cat carriers make him lose it. Of course I never could give him up and he's been mine since the day I brought him home.

Diana is a gray calico and my oldest at 17 1/2. She was diagnosed with chronic renal failure 13 months ago. She is doing well altho she only eats soft catfood and only small amounts at a time. She gets a Depo Medrol injection about once a month which keeps her appetite up. She has a good quality of life and I am grateful for every day I have with her. CRF is a reality for many elderly cats and everyone should learn about it so that the early signs will be recognized and treatment begun early so that these kitties can be comfortable and happy for as long as possible. Diana used to not put up with all these other "brats" but she's become much more tolerant and I've even witnessed her letting Adrian and Chester sleep in the same chair with her. Then other days she just cusses them out!

Roscoe is a huge black & white tuxedo cat that was trapped as a feral and brought to AC. I was volunteering at the time and he was in the kitty condo out at the dog kennels I guess waiting for the vet to put him to sleep. The vet did not come everyday, just when they called him.
I talked to him and the other ferals in the condo. He hissed and spit at me. A few days later when I went back, all the ferals were still there and I talked to him some more and got the same response. This actually went on for a couple of weeks. It is still a mystery to me why those ferals were there as long as they were which was uncommon at the time. Then on one of my visits as I was talking to him he rolled on his side and didn't hiss or spit. I got brave, put my hand in the cage and he let me scratch him and that was it. I went running inside the office to tell the workers. I visited him a long time that day. The next time I went he was inside in a regular cage with all the adoptable cats! Oh my gosh, I actually got to pet him and then picked him up and he just burrowed into me. Well, he had to be mine so I adopted him. He is now an 18 pounder. We try very hard to watch our weight but it's hard because he loves to eat and esp get into Diana's soft food. He is the biggest lug and gets along with every other cat in the household. I have no idea of his age.

Max is another black and white and the first I ever brought home from AC. He was about 5 years old. He was the first one at AC that got "under my skin" as he was always standing at the cage sticking his paws out. It was the end of kitten season and his cage mate got adopted and he was all alone. I guess I couldn't stand for him to be alone. Max is a healthy young man that only likes my husband and I people-wise. He is the sort of cat that comes barging into the house and slams into you with affection.
He gets along with some of the other cats but can be a bully at times.

Samantha is a brown tabby that was born on my sister-in-laws roof. Sam's mom abandoned the litter and my sister-in-law bottlefed the 3 kittens. Sam is 10 years old and I've had her since she was 6 wks old. She is kind of shy but can be a bully with some of the other cats. She also drools when she gets really affectionate. And I mean slobbery drooly yucky.

Griffin is a brown tabby on white. My husband brought him home after he wandered into his building at work and rode the elevator with one of the secretaries. Griffin was about 4 months old at the time. The secrerary called Paul and asked what to do so Paul called me and asked if we wanted another cat. And so Griffin came home with him that evening. He is 6 years old and would have been a semi-feral without intervention. He cannot stand to be petted much and barely tolerates me. I am the "food lady" to him. He'll sleep in bed with us but only if he's not touching us. I can pick him up and carry him around but he'll get angry pretty quick so I never force more attention on him than he can stand. He likes my husband better. He plays like he loves us when he wants a treat but it's all just a game and we all know it. But he's a happy guy and I just let Griffin be Griffin.

And that's my cats. I have 2 fosters at my house with problems but I will update y'all on that soon and I'll even tell you about my dogs. But I've written way more than anyone wants to read I'm sure but I have bragging rights and I took advantage of that this evening! Besides, y'all asked for it!

It's great meeting everyone and I'm glad I found you (with Laura's help of course!).

Val

Your furfamily sounds delightful Val! Oliver sounds very much like a ch kitty from your description. When you have the time, you may want to read the stories members have posted on the ch kitty club...http://www.chkittyclub.com/pages/members.html
I have several cerebellar kitties, and the way you describe his goose-stepping type walk, is a very common thing with ch kitties, head tremors as well. ;) Glad you joined up here, and as you've been warned, it will become addicting! :D Jan

Oooooo VAL!! This is creepy! I have a Chester and a Samantha too! Are those names a "southern" thing? I grew up in Virginia and transplanted to down here in the 60's..

I love how you word things and I got many a good chuckle out of your newest post introducing your babies.

"Then other days she just cusses them out!"

"She also drools when she gets really affectionate. And I mean slobbery drooly yucky. "

"I just let Griffin be Griffin."

(Just to mention a few that made me laugh....)

I loved your introduction, that is the kind of stuff we like here... The greatest thing is nobody thinks we are crazy for loving these babies like we do! No matter what the situation is... someone here has been there, done that and understands!

Welcome to PT Val!!!:D I'm sure you'll love it here. I enjoyed reading about your cats and I look forward to seeing their pictures some day too.:) I'm owned by four male cats which you can see in my signature picture and avatar. Storm is 9 years old, Sunny is 4 years old, Cirrus is 2 years old and Sky is also 2 years old.:)

Hey Jan! I'm already subscribed to chkitty and epi-feline yahoo groups. I think that's where we initially "met". Oliver does have some of the ch characteristics but as I've learned it really doesn't matter if he is or not as there is no "cure". It is comforting to have learned that he won't get any worse. My much bigger concern is his epilepsy. I keep close track of his seizures and hope they get no more frequent than they are so he will not have to go on pheno. I'm glad it's an option along with other medications for seizure control, but I definitely want to delay it as long as possible! To what degree do yours have ch? It's amazing how sweet these kitties can be altho Oliver can be VERY stubborn!

Hi Val, I have a mixed bag of ch symptoms with the gang here. Eli my blue point Siamese boy is worst off, and isn't able to get around without really psyching himself up first, and then it's a rough and tumble affair from there. Poor guy, bless is heart tries very hard to keep up with everyone. Brandon is an overweight ,deaf, slate grey moderate ch boy who was born feral, but one would never know it now. He's quite cross eyed as well, so has trouble focusing on things. He's a big loving mush ball. :) Misty doesn't have the classic ch symptoms, and the consensus is she was stuck in the birth canal and suffered oxygen loss. She was one of 6 feral kittens born to a very small mama cat. Misty spends much of the day trying to walk a straight line, but spins in circles a lot. She has mild nystagmus as well (rapid side to side eye movement) which when she's scared for some reason gets really bad. :eek: Misty & Eli's stories and pictures are on the members page of the ch kitty club (along with Zeke who passed away last year). :( I have a M*A*S*H unit here, and things get hectic during kitten season as I trap a lot, and do fostering etc. when there's nobody else able to take them in. And you're right about Oliver...it shouldn't get worse unless there's an underlying condition unrelated to ch. Hope his seizures don't get worse...are they quite mild ones? :confused: Jan

Sorry i'm a little late on the welcome wagon but, a big hearty Welcome to PT Val.
I loved reading about all your furbabies.

Hope you get your digital soon. I got one for Christmas from my dear sons and I love it.

You can see my furbabies in my signature. :)

Hey! Oliver's seizures run the gamut of petit mal to inbetween to grand mals which can be the most frightening to watch. But I don't want to scare anyone out there about feline epilepsy as it is controlable and every epi kitty deserves a home. Your ch kitties are so lucky to have you to care for them and it's a huge step forward that ch kittens are not being automatically pts anymore. I'll go to chkitty to read your profiles. I wish we had somewhere to relocate ferals in our area after TNR. The people in the city trap them and most certainly do not want them back even after spay/neuter. Our 'barn people' are full and just can't take anymore. There are not enough foster folks to take in healthy adoptable ones much less ferals (I mean ferals you can't touch). I've been predominately working with the ones with upper respiratory infections, herpes, coccidia, ringworm that are adoptable, but not until they're well. If they are treated outside of the shelter they get well so much quicker and it keeps so many others from getting sick and perpetuating the cycle.