I don't think I made the time of year really clear when I was discussing Pete and Pepper Jack. By now it was early January and one of the coldest winters we had. Bitter cold with lots of ice and wind.
I now had Pete and Pepper doing the inside/outside thing. I didn't want to let them back out but the little dilute calico wouldn't even stay on the porch when I went out. I knew she would freeze to death without some body heat from her brothers. She was so skittish that I called her Nervous Pervis.
One day she was asleep in the box and I snuck out the door. I had hubby waiting to let me in quickly if I was able to grab her. I snuck up to the box, slowly reached down and grabbed the scruff of her neck! Well I scared the tar out of her and she paniced big time. She pulled some Stubby flips and twists and managed to get away from me. I was standing there with blood dripping from my fingertips and started crying. Hubby came out and gathered me up while I cried and carried on about how I had just blown it for good with her. I had scared her so bad I knew she would never ever trust me.
The weather continued to get worse and nothing I did seemed to reach Nervous Pervis. One morning the boys came in and they did not want to go back out. I was getting ready for work and I just didn't know what to do. I didn't want her to freeze but at the same time it didn't seem fair to make Pete and Pepper suffer because she was being such a hard case. I decided to let the boys stay in. I was so distraught all day long worrying about her being in the cold all alone.
The next moring I rounded up all the kitties and shoved them in the bedroom. Our bedroom door is right next to the front door of the house. Bitter cold, but I propped the front door open anyway. Nervous Pervis heard the meowing and door scratching kitties and poked her head in. Now hubby gets this brilliant idea that he is going to go out the back door and when she comes in the front door he is going to sneak in behind her and shut the door. I stayed out of sight because I knew if she saw me she would bolt. So I'm in the other room when I hear....SLAM....I got her!!! Hubby came bouncing into the kitchen where I was hiding and said "I got her!" He was smiling from ear to ear. I went looking for her but I couldn't find her. "I know I got her!" Well, where is she? I looked out the window and sitting there on the porch was Nervous Pervis and I swear she had a grin on her face!:p Hubby's mouth fell open and his shoulders drooped. He was so proud one minute and so shocked in the next that I had to bust out laughing!
We went off to work and I thought about her all day. I got to thinking that hubby's plan might not be a bad one with a few revisions. So that evening instead of taking her the dinner that she was waiting for I shoved all the kitties into the bedroom again. We propped the door open but this time hubby stood behind the storm door. He squashed himself in there as tight as he could and I hid behind the kitchen table and chairs so I could see and give him hand signals. We waited and waited while the freezing wind was blowing all the heat right out the door! Finally I saw her little head peep in. I gave hubby the eye signal and I know that neither one of us even took a breath for fear she would hear it! Her little head would peep in and then she would run, peep in and run. She did this over and over but by now the kitties in the bedroom were really getting ticked! They wanted dinner and they wanted out. The noisier they got the more curious she got. Finally her front two paws were in the door. Again I give hubby the look and he knows we are getting close. My legs were locking up and I know hubby had to be miserable stuck behind that door, freezing. Finally, curiousity got the best of her and she went towards the bedroom door. SLAM! and this time she really was in!!!:D
Little Nervous Pervis went insane! She tried to break through the glass in the window and was screaming her head off but hubby and I let out a deep breath and I was so happy that I could have exploded! This little girl had been stressing me for days!
We left her alone, fed everyone, and when I checked on her few hours later I found her snuggled up on the couch with her brothers. She had finally found warmth and she liked it.
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She was tough nut to crack but finally after about two weeks she quit runnning everytime she saw me. We did the shoestring game every night until I got her to where I could handle her. During that time Nervous Pervis became Pervis and eventually shortened to Pervy.
In the first month while she was being so skittish she came into heat. It was a silent and early heat and we didn't even know it. By the time I realized that she was pregnant it was too late to do anything about it. I think they were older than I thought they were. We came home one afternoon to a kitten laying on the floor covered with its placenta. It was cold as ice but still alive. I cut the cord, warmed it and took it to Pervy who was giving birth to number two on my living room chair. I stayed with her and helped as much as I could. I soon realized that she didn't know what to do and I had to clean and cut the cord on the second one. I could tell she was still in labor but no more kittens were coming. I had a feeling that something was wrong and called the vet. He told me that I was probably being overly cautious, and I could bring her in if I wanted but first births can take many hours. I waited, and waited. By morning the third baby was partially out but seemed stuck and Pervy looked awful! I called the vet and he told me to gently pull the baby out and it would probably be dead. It was.:( I kept trying to convince myself that Pervy was just exhausted and everything would be fine now that she had finally gotten the last kitten out. About an hour later I wasn't feeling like that anymore. I just knew something was wrong. The two kittens were nursing but constantly screaming and Pervy looked horrid. I called the vet back and told him I was bringing her in.
We got to the vets office with two screaming babies, and a very sick Pervy. The vet checked her and got a very sad look on his face. Pervy's temperature was 107 and there were still kittens in her. He started scratching his head and said he wasn't sure what to do. He said they needed to give her a shot to induce her labor but in her weakened condition he didn't know if she could take it. He could also do a C-section but he didn't think at that point that she would survive surgery. I started bawling! He gave me a pat on the back and said "take those two babies home and be a momma and I will do everything I can for her". The babies were screaming because the fever had dried up Pervy's milk. We got the kitten milk and went home. I did my best with those little ones but they both died within two days.:( The doc called every few hours with reports on Pervy. They gave her the shot to induce labor and a shot to get rid of the fever but Pervy's last kitten just wouldn't come out. He had to do surgery and found that Pervy had a horrible infection in her uterus. He ended up removing it while she was under. For the next two days we didn't know if she was going to live or not. I cried constantly because if I had just followed my instinct she wouldn't have gotten that bad. Lesson learned there!
On the third day Pervy came home, hungry as an ox. I was so happy! Pervy and I bonded during the birthing and recuperation time. She would look into my eyes and I instantly knew that we shared a terrible experience together that would never be forgotten by either of us.
Pervy soon became her bouncy happy self again. She is still a little skittish and has to be handled very gently and with quiet calm tones, but she and I still have that bond.
Here are a few favorite pictures of my very special girl.
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You have to remember that when all this happened I did not have any cat loving friends, no internet access, and I was known at work as the "crazy cat lady". Everything I learned was from the school of hard knocks and unfortunately Pervy had to suffer because of it. I still feel guilty about that.
I'm grateful to still have my special little girl. She is beautiful, kind, and very gentle. She can hang with the boys when necessary though.
We love our special little survivor. She will always be extra special to me and hubby.
Thats the extra long tale of Pervy!
