Deployment Delay

Sergeant Sassy Pants and Captain Oblivious were scheduled to deploy to Petsmart to find their permanent base on 1/1/22, with housemates Neville Longbottom and Korgy Porgy. Though all 4 were from different litters, they formed a cohesive unit. Their surgery was scheduled for 12/22/21.

On 12/21/21, I was doing computer work with Sassy settled in my lap. Sassy is pretty attached to me and either in my lap or on my computer desk, so that's pretty normal. But the sudden gurlgling in her stomach followed by warm... stuff leaking out of her into my hands was NOT normal. A flurry of frantic texts with the rescue, but they recommended that I take her to get spayed anyway- and have the vet tell us if she was too sick for surgery or not. We covered a kennel in puppy pads and she spent the night alone. Things seemed ok in the morning and they cleared her for surgery, giving her something to settle her. So she was ok for most of the day... until she wasn't. The next several days I either carted her around wrapped in a puppy pad, had her in a diaper, or she was in the crate. She seemed to have no control over her bowels. But we then began noticing a second complication..... her cute little belly folded over her surgery scar- which began to get swollen and infected because it couldn't air out.

Her diaper further covered this, so we had to ditch the diaper, which meant poor Sassy had to stay kenneled unless she was in my lap on the puppy pad. Whenever she got wiggly, she had to go back until she got her poops under control. Within a few days she was at least able to stop leaking until she got into or near her litter box, so we let her out for some supervised play sessions. She passed those so we began covering the bed with our waterpoof blanket (soooo much better than the tarp we previously used for similar purposes) and increased her freedom. We also sent in a poop sample to check for worms and other poop related problems (negative!)

Things weren't improving quickly enough, so Sassy went to the vet and surprised me by being pretty docile!! My little drama queen was pretty happy as long as we were holding her. She made some minor protests at having her temperature taken, but nothing like the sass levels of showing up to a new house or someone new looking at her. Was Sassy Pants learning to chill??!!

Vet said the antibiotics (for the belly infection and poop issues) we had started seemed to be working and added Proviable, probiotics, to her treatment. Despite the upset tummy and multiple medications a day, Sassy's spirit was undaunted. She actually had more energy than playful Captain- who sneered at her attempts to play with him to continue with his nap.

In all other matters, Sassy was a normal kitten. Playful, hungry, filled with the zoomies... and super cuddly when the zoomies wore off. Though I seem to be her favorite human, she didn't shy away from my husband when his lap was available. By 1/1/22, though things were getting better but her poops were still not "adoption poops"- too soft to go to Petsmart so she and Captain got held back while Neville and Korg headed off to their new families. Hubby and I actually dropped them off before getting on the road to Disneyland. One of my foster friends house sat for us while we were gone. I left detailed messages and warned her that Sassy hated change and would probably growl at her... while Cap was easy going and loved people.

But... they're cats. And cots love to do their own thing, even if that thing is different than the thing they did for weeks before. The first few days, Captain Oblivious was skittish and skeptical about this new lady sleeping in our bed! But Sassy, or drama queen that got upset if we moved her toy to a new place or screamed at us every time someone entered the room.... she just cuddled up to the pet sitter and purred like a sweetheart! In time, they both warmed up and Cap even crawled under the covers for a movie binge. But I was continually shocked when I got the text updates about Sassy's sweetness. I mean... I KNEW she was a sweetie... she cuddled with me all the time- but only after working for weeks to get her acceptance!

I spent a TON Of time writing their bios- but it's mid January now and I'm not sure either lives up to their names! Captain still loves to play and gets along with everyone in the home.... but he's grown more cautious of strangers. Sassy purrs non-stop and is my near constant companion when I'm home. In fact, if it wasn't for her favorite toy, I'd start to wonder if I imagined her level of attitude or maybe over-exaggerated her amount of Sass.

When the poof is safely hidden away though, Sassy's dramatic flair switches from disgruntled growls and loud wails to a desparate need for my attention. I had to create this covered table for her so I could get computer work done. If I'm sitting too close to the desk for her to fit in my lap, she has to be directly in front of me. Sometimes she just keeps me company, curled up on her raised towel bed. If I bend over and kiss her on the nose she won't move but starts purring instantly. Sometimes... she HELPS. OH BOY... is she ever so helpful. I'm not sure what she typed into my power point presentation here... but I plan to blame all typos directly on her... putting one of these pictures directly into my presentation as proof!

She much prefers the lap though... and today I wore my cat pocket sweatshirt.... which she loved more than any other kitten I've stuffed in there...

But my favorite new Sassy habit is her nursing....

With her health issues, I spend a lot more time with Sassy, but Captain is not neglected. He'd never let you forget him. He's a climber, and needs his kitten claws constantly clipped because he loves to climb up my legs. He's fascinated with my bedroom slippers and I have learned to slide them across the floor instead of taking regular steps, as I never know when he'll suddenly be there, attached to my foot. He's much harder to get in pictures as he tends to like to snuggle behind my knees, in the small of my back, under my neck, under the covers (unlike the pet sitter, I can't take pictures under there and post them in public!), or sitting on the back of my neck. Currently I have some tears, swelling, and loss of mobility in my shoulder so it's difficult to take pictures of anything not directly in front of me. He was also less impressed with my kitten pocket, lol.

With her health issues, I spend a lot more time with Sassy, but Captain is not neglected. He'd never let you forget him. He's a climber, and needs his kitten claws constantly clipped because he loves to climb up my legs. He's fascinated with my bedroom slippers and I have learned to slide them across the floor instead of taking regular steps, as I never know when he'll suddenly be there, attached to my foot. He's much harder to get in pictures as he tends to like to snuggle behind my knees, in the small of my back, under my neck, under the covers (unlike the pet sitter, I can't take pictures under there and post them in public!), or sitting on the back of my neck. Currently I have some tears, swelling, and loss of mobility in my shoulder so it's difficult to take pictures of anything not directly in front of me. He was also less impressed with my kitten pocket, lol.

They were supposed to go to Petsmart this weekend (1/15/22) but Sassy was still not fully recovered so we're doing further tests, as it's been quite some time to have poop problems. I may have to split up Captain and Sassy- which is less of a problem for them now that Sassy is no longer quite the drama queen... but I am still hoping they can go as a pair- though their personalities are evolved and they're not a bonded pair- their little character quirks do compliment each other quite nicely. Hopefully we'll solve the mystery soon!