Rory

The cat rescue shelter is full, and its latest new resident is Rory.

Rory is a beauty. He is a golden orange tiger stripe, big and lean. Intact male, probably a father many times over.

He was rescued from the mouth of a greyhound that was shaking him around like a rag doll. It had him by his manhood. Ouch.

You can see his beauty through his scratches. Boy howdy, is he scratched up. Road tar or something else black in the fur of his tail. Fleas. Ear mites. That stuff will have to wait.

Nothing broken, no internal injuries, but I'm sure his dignity is almost as bruised as the rest of him. He doesn't move much, and purrs when we do anything for or to him.

Miss W called to tell me about him, and that she was concerned he was dehydrated. She and Robin had been force feeding him as the vet told them to, but he wasn't drinking voluntarily and she didn't want him going without fluids while on pain meds.

I agreed and said I could give him fluids with my setup, but that I was almost out of actual fluid. The kids and I left the house at breakneck speed (it was our night to clean the shelter anyway), but just missed being able to get more fluids from our own vet by about 30 seconds. Doggone red lights.

Miss W managed to get the emergency vet to agree to supply the fluids, so while we cleaned the shelter, she went for the IV bag they were willing to give her. When she got back, I got to work.

Orange tabbies have the thickest skin ever. They are notoriously hard to stick for some reason. He was no different, and I didn't want to move him much, so I went in through the loose skin at the shoulder instead of up closer to the neck between the shoulder blades like I usually do.

He purred as the first 100cc went in with me holding the bag up with one hand and petting him with the other, then didn't like how it was stretching his skin, so he got up and slowly climbed into his litter box. Cats will do that when they want a safe place. The good thing about his thick skin was that when I had to pull the needle out as he moved and I couldn't put continuous pressure on that point, the fluid didn't leak back out from under the skin anyway like it does with most cats.

At that point, Robin, Miss W and I regrouped. Using a bent wire coat hanger, we managed a makeshift IV hanger using the intake vent for the a/c in the ceiling. Robin picked up the whole litter box and sat on the floor with the box and cat in her lap, and I showed Miss W, who knows how to give shots and needs to learn to give fluids, how to pick a place with loose skin and no scratches, and we got another 100cc in him.

He actually licked the food off the spoon instead of having it syringed in after that. Fluids make them feel so much better so fast it is amazing. Miss W and Robin will continue to give fluids for the next couple of days, until they see him drinking.

When he heals up, gets cleaned up and "unpested," and is neutered, he is going to make someone a great pet.


Today is

Alexandra Rose Day, UK

ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Field Day (through tomorrow)

Beautician's Day

Boardwalk Day

Flag Day, Romania

Forgiveness Day

Full Strawberry Moon/Full Rose Moon

Independence Day, Madagascar, Somalia

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

National Chocolate Pudding Day

St. Pelayo's Day

Sunthorn Phu Day, Thailand


Birthdays Today:

Jennette McCurdy, 1992
Derek Jeter, 1974
Chris O'Donnell, 1970
Harriet Wheeler, 1963
Greg LeMond, 1961
Chris Isaak, 1956
Eleanor Parker, 1922
Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1914
Colonel Tom Parker, 1909
Peter Lorre, 1904
Pearl S. Buck, 1892
Lord Kelvin, 1824
Abner Doubleday, 1819


Today in History:

Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire; General Jovian is proclaimed Emperor by the troops on the battlefield, 363
The legendary Pied Piper leads 130 children out of Hamelin, German, 1284
Richard III is crowned king of England, 1483
Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima, 1541
The Christian holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States, 1870
The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity, 1909
The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco, 1945
William Shockley files the original patent for the grown junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor, 1948
The Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, opening North America's Great Lakes to ocean-going ships, 1959
The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, 1974
The CN Tower, the world's tallest free-standing structure on land, is opened to general public, 1976*


*It is still the tallest in the Western Hemisphere