Fiji Time All The Time!

Well, folks....I am back from two weeks of bliss in Fiji. If you haven't been I highly recommend it. I basically went from pool to bar to ocean to hammock. Ahhhhh, all it was missing was a few good carnivores. I totally would have stayed and married a BEAUTIFUL Fijian man but they have no land mammals let alone any carnivores... I need predators to survive. The only native mammal is a fruit bat...... a frugivore...not even a vegetarian for pete's sake! Helen (a co-worker fro mthe Safari) and I mapped out a plan....all we need is a financial backer to buy us our own island then we can hire native Fijians for labour to build and operate our own zoo... brilliant! Sooo, any takers? HaHa!

I went scuba diving for the first time ever..... pretty adventurous of me since I don't really like the ocean. Don't get me wrong...I love the ocean, it's beautiful, the sounds are sooo soothing, I love boating, and I LOVE marine mammals..... but I don't want to be IN it. A couple of feet in is usually ok ...... until a barracuda came sneaking up on us while in only like 2 feet of water..... barracudas are nasty not-so-little buggars. But the good thing about Fiji ocean waters...they are crystal clear so you can see what's coming after you. *shudder* I know exactly what lies beneath thank you very much and I prefer not to interact with most of it. Anyways.... the dive was great actually (even though we did almost get attacked by a big trigger fish at one point...thankfully I was pretty oblivious until later). I had some trouble adjusting to the whole mouth only breathing thing in the practice session in the pool. I am a nose breather so when we practiced our masks filling up and learned how to empty them while still under water..... you lean back with your finger pressed to the top of your mask and blow out through your nose while still breathing in through your mouth..... I kept inhaling water through my nose after I blew out. argh! I was harder than I thought. I had to sit down there at the bottom of the pool for like 10 min and re-train myself to breath only through my mouth. I got it down, of course, and did excellent on my open water dive. Not looking forward to certification in oregon's very cold very murky water but i need it for work. It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it ;-)

We did the zipline through the rain forest...wananavu!! (awesome) I usually don't like to take too many risks outside of work....I figure I'm already taking so many chances on a daily basis why increase my odds of serious harm by doing wild things like bungee jumping and skydiving outside of work? Especially since those are things I don't have much control over. The zipline I was able to keep in control since you are responsible for your own speed and direction. I prefer things where I have control...like driving and I want to learn to fly helicopters too! ;-)

There was an ecopark near our resort (Kula EcoPark)..... Fiji's version of a zoo I guess. It was all of their native species so lots of iguanas, parrots, sea turtles, fish, and bats. It was a beautiful park and I would highly suggest a visit when in Fiji. We got to feed the baby sea turtles in their breeding/reintroduction program and walked through dozens of aviaries full of the most beautiful, colorful birds. There were some bats to see up close as well which was nice since the bats out and about didn't come out until dusk and were really hard to photograph. The only wild bat shot I got was by accident while trying to get the sunset, lol.

All in all it was an amazing, breathtaking, unforgettable trip and I am already planning my return next year...wish I could go back sooner. I have tons of photos and video on my facebook page but here's a treat for those of you that aren't facebook friendlies......

"I'm covered in iguanas!!" (think Eddie Izzard's "I'm covered in bees!!")

30 is flirty!

Well, it has been quite some time since i've had the inclination to blog...... ALOT has happened.I am back in Portland as of October '09 and am working at the Oregon Zoo!!!!!! eeeeeeeeeee! (squeal of happiness) One step closer to my life's goal. I am not a full time permanent keeper however. I am a temp keeper which means that i only get a certain number of hours per year and no benefits buuuuuut it's well over double what i was making down south and i tell them my availability. What that means is on a week by week basis i tell them what days i'm available to work... doesn't mean i'll get scheduled but it gives me flexibility to have a part time job on the side until a permanent position becomes available. So i have to be available atleast three days a week for the zoo and one of those has to be a sat or a sun. I also get trained in atleast three areas at the zoo so i can essentially be "on call".

First I worked marine life again, which felt like being home since that is where i started there what.... over 5 years ago? wow! As a temp i do what regular keepers do on a daily basis except for training behaviors (depends on the dept and how established the behavior is) so in Marine life i work the cat/fish routine (tigers, leopards, fish, and invertebrates) or the bear routine (polar bears/sun bears). I love it... all the keepers have such great attitudes and make it so fun to work with them. We just mesh well.... you don't know how important that is.. Well maybe you do. It makes work SOOOO much nicer when you all get along and have fun together!

I heart those guys!

I also got trained in the Africa Predators of the Serengeti dept. Which is the newest exhibit at the zoo... it has lions, cheetah (two of my boys from the Safari...well, only one now but that's another story), wild dogs, caracal, as well as various other "lesser" predators like reptiles and ugh...spiders (shudder). I had hoped desperately to get to work in the Africa section but had NO idea i'd get trained in the Predator area only because they had seemed like it was kind of off limits... not even all of the Africa keepers had been trained to do it yet. But i got lucky..... three of the four keepers trained to do the predator routine were going to be off for a couple weeks and since i had predator experience i got trained in two days and then took over the whole area for like two and a half weeks!!!! It was SO awesome! ! Seriously... I would so loooove to have that area as my own, I would have os much fun with those animals. Predators are my thing, what can I say?

I've always loved lions ever since i read the Narnia books as a little and wanted to meet Aslan. ;-) They have three at the zoo, a male and two females. Zawadi, the male, is my special. He is sooo sensitive and really does not seem to like men. Someone said they thought his previous keepers were all female so it may take him some time. He seemed to get used to me pretty quickly, I'm used to special males... between Ariyeh, Keeno, and Oso at Safari I've had lots of practice soothing sensitive male egos ;-) The girls Neka and Kya are rambunctious saucy little wenches who would be SO great to work with and get them calmed down... oh man I would love the opportunity to build relationships with those cats.... I fell in love with them so fast and so hard. (I miss them SO much!)

Cheetahs...well, I've had a thing for cheetahs forever... I wish i had made a copy of the letter i wrote to Bush Sr. when he was the Pres asking him to help Africa save the cheetahs...I would so love to read what I wrote in it, how freaking cute would that be?! And now I've grown up and worked with one of the top 5 cheetah breeding programs in the US.... how great is that?! The cheetahs at the zoo came from the Safari... Scooter and Suseli (brothers from the May '07 litter) were shipped up to Portland when I was still working with them at the Safari. We have since lost Scooter to what appears to be a very aggressive pancreatic cancer but we are still waiting for the pathology reports to come back (can take atleast a month). It was VERY sad and it happened after I was done working that area (i had been done in that dept for about a week/week and a half). So sudden and so tragic since they were only two years old. And now my other sensitive, delicate boy Susel is all alone. I did go check up on Sus last week and he seems pretty chill but his keepers are keeping a close eye on him.

The Wild Dogs are such amazing animals..... I learn more cool things about them everyday..the fact that wild dogs are one of the top predators alongside lions and yet are complete opposites of them and their social structure in so many ways. I love the animal kingdom in all its horrific glory. It seems so random at times but everything fits together perfectly and one without the other and it all starts to unravel, everyone and everything has it's place in the web and it all works (without human interference anyways).

The caracal (Peggy) is out of control... I fell in love with her in an instant. I call her Pegsy or Peggy-Sue or The Pegster and she grumbles ALL the time, she makes little snarfy noises while she pees and she snorts when she eats... oh man, her superbness is more than I can handle. I miss her little guts! She was a sensitive thing too. All these animals were new to their exhibits and still adjusting to new people which can be hard. Animals are very sensitive to changes in their environment and a move is a pretty drastic change. The little Pegster adjusted to me pretty quickly though and it was really great to see her enjoying her new home. After my stint in the Predator section they started training me to do the hippo/rhino routine which was very cool (Pete the rhino is soooo freaking sweet, we clicked right away, he loves back rubs and butt massages but then who doesn't). However... I would gladly take a simple carnivore poo to the walls/floors/every conceivable surface covered in hippo splatter. They eat ALOT and poo ALOT and it all smells very different. I am still very allergic to hay dust as well, lol. It was a great learning experience though and i'd work it any day they scheduled me there no problemo but i def missed my carnivores. ;-)

I have since begun training up at the hospital since they have a full time keeper that works up there to take care of any animals that have to stay at the hospital for an extended amount of time like an injury that needs to be monitored or quarantine of new arrivals. It is constantly changing and I have learned a lot of new things.

Basically I love LOVE my job and wish I could be there full time... someday... les sigh!

Let's see..... what else.... I am living with my brother and his family (wife and three boys ages 1, 9, and 12) until i can afford a place of my own. I entered the new year as a fabulous 30 year old woman but won't feel like it until i get out on my own again. I need my own space VERY much. Haven't been able to really start looking for an apt or a part time job to supplement my income because of a big vacation i have coming up next week. I am going to FIJI!!!! For two weeks!!! I am so excited i could tinkle!! It has been planned for some time and everything is paid for and i wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world. I never thought I'd get to go on a trip like this, are you kidding me?! I still can't believe it's actually happening..... it feels very unreal. I cannot wait! i leave the 23rd of Jan and spend the first week on the coral coast of Viti Levu at a fab resort where we will be exploring caves, taking a zipline tour of the rainforest, checking out some local archeological sites, and just chilling on the beach then we go north to catch a 70 person yacht to island hop the Yasawas (where they filmed the movies Blue Lagoon and Castaway) for a week. Man, I am not gonna want to come home. But they have no land mammals so will def be coming home ;-)

So when I return the job hunt begins and once i have enough saved for a deposit I will be out on my own again.... i cannot wait to have a permanent residence to call HOME! I won't be moving again unless it floods/falls into the earth/asteroid lands on it/ or i get married.... nothing less drastic will be cause for me to move again for a VERY long time.

R.I.P. Michael

6.01.09 Michael Bear...... How can we go on without you big guy? We love you and will miss you!

Michael hibernating...

Michael chillin like a villain...
Michael with his ladies...

New chick in town

Our 3 y.o. female white tiger arrived today!

Meet Cloe:

She arrived this morning and is VERY stressed out, poor little! 

Christmas in tiger-land!

We've gotten a lot of new toys for the tigers lately:

Phil made a fire hose ball on a spring (which Saigon snapped...twice... and now hangs on a log over his pond until he finally unravels it)...

We got some new spools which we painted...

I don't know what this toy is called but Saigon obviously likes the taste...

He got a new shiny red ball...

and a weeble that didn't wobble right...

We have since gotten a new weeble and it wobbles perfectly...it's one of his favorite water toys.

And through all the new toys and enrichment this is pretty much always Leah's level of interest:

She's pretty!

Celess' eye view

As promised, some pics of my critters in the cheetah dept:

Saigon

and Scooter

I adore the candid shots I get with my phone...so great lol!

Rooowr baby, rowr!

This is our new lioness, Sarabi. She's a California girl through and through:

She is an approved breeding cat so we are just waiting for our new male to arrive from Virginia and then once they are both "of age" we will be able to breed lions again, yay!

Kitty Updates

Mia just turned one!!! Can you believe it?!! I freaking cannot. She is still my little. Madison just turned 5 too which is even harder to believe. Still a miracle that she is alive and she continues to improve. I didn't know when she would just reach a point where she stopped improving but she keeps getting better. She looks really good. This is from January, I will have to get some more current photos:

This is my Mi-Mi chasing birds on the cat-sitter DVD. She loves it...is entertained for HOURS, kid you not:

She is sooo grow'd up!

Zoo Adventures

Sooo, I have a lot to catch up on.

I've made quite a few trips up to the Oregon Zoo in the last few months. I went up for a lecture on African Lions, a lecture on African Painted dogs, a lecture on Spotted Hyenas, I took my nephews on a tour of the areas I used to work:

Where we were almost attacked by the Babyimus nephewinicus:

then I went back up with a bunch of our vet students from the Caribbean. That was pretty awesome. We got to spend the whole day with Dr. Mitch who is an awesome vet, I think. We spent the whole first half of the day wrestling 12 African Pygmy Goats. We had to do their full physical exams which includes ear exam, eye exam, body size evaluation, teeth/gum exam, hoof trimming, 3 vaccs, and listen to their heart, lungs, and rumination. The goats weren't too thrilled about this so they were struggling and screaming their guts out pretty much the whole time. Unfortunately I did not get any pics of this very entertaining episode. Maybe Andrew did, I'll have to check. Then we moved on to the cat building and then the elephant barn to do an elephant foot x-ray. We got to see Chendra training for the elephant olympics:

Then we spent some time out on the back porch watching little Sam get frisky with the locks on the gates...so freaking A cute!

I want to smooch his little trunk right off!

All in all, it was a really fun day. I miss you Oregon Zoo!

The bears are having a picnic!

Well today was the Teddy Bear Picnic at the Safari. The culmination of our week long celebration of bears called Bear Awareness Week, go figure! It was a GORGEOUS day, at last! It has been so unseasonably wet lately that everything is still lush and super green so The Burg is absolutely gorgeous right now, it reminds me of Boring/Gresham/Sandy. So lush and green, I lurve it! Makes me want to go camping. Anyways, so I had today off but we do face painting at all the children's events to raise money for our AAZK (American Association of Zoo Keepers) chapter. So I spent a couple of hours painting bear faces on the little smunchums. SOO freaking cute.  The littles bring in their teddy bears and get health check-ups and get any repairs made like if their teddy's ear ripped off or something. So potion. There are tons of other activities too like hand painting your hand print on top of Michael's (our big Alaskan Coastal brown bear) paw print. 

He's a big boy! I made one with my hand, hee hee. I love kid activities. It wasn't nearly as busy as last year but we made over $60 face painting.... at $2 a face that's not too shabby. Only bummer was smokey the bear didn't show up....lame! Smokey has been slacking off the last few years. ;-)  They used my art boards that I made for last year:

Aren't they purdy? It makes me want to get back into scrap booking... I know, I'm a dork.

Bears are fun! Peace out.

Curious, Veeeeery Curious!

Where have I been? I'm sure you all have been asking yourself that very question.
Well, no internet access at home has hindered my web surfing just a smidge.
Life has been busy. Since December 1st '08 I have been back in the cheetah dept. and LOVING it! I do soooo miss my bears and lions but my true love ever since I was a didder is the cheetah.
I wrote a letter when I was a nugget to then president, Bush Sr., asking him to make a deal with Africa to save the cheetahs. GR! I was passionate even then. Too bad all I got in response was a photo of Bush looking smug and dapper in a nice sweater and a stamped cookie-cutter letter saying what a good concerned citizen I was. lol! I felt pretty important though.
So, now I look after 20 cheetahs and two mutt tigers. (I'll add photos later as I am at me mum's house right now). I just helped my Uncle create a blog of his own so he could rant and rave online instead of to me. heh heh. He can't wait for his first hate mail, he's like a little kid at Christmas waiting in bed to hear Santa on the rooftop knowing there will be presents in the morning. lol!
I'll try to add blogs as interesting things happen again... which is pretty much a daily basis but it all depends on my time and internet availability..... try to be patient my little baby birds..I'll feed you again soon. ;-)
Well.... off to church. (shh, I don't want to alert the media yet...I may get struck by lightning, we'll see)... It's my Mom's Mother's Day present. The things I do for her, I tell ya ;-) Love You Mamma!

R.I.P. Freddie

I'm so sorry to lose you buddy. He was a good boy and had a rough couple of years. His keepers fought really hard to keep him around. I'm sure it was really hard to let him go. We'll miss you big guy!

November 18 , 2008
CRITICALLY ILL AMUR LEOPARD EUTHANIZED 
Rare leopard had terminal cancer

PORTLAND, Ore. - This morning, Oregon Zoo veterinarians euthanized Fred, a 17-year-old, geriatric Amur leopard, who had been suffering from an aggressive form of terminal cancer. Veterinarians and zookeepers were by his side when he died. The staff is deeply saddened by his passing.

"We had a lot of people involved in managing Fred's care," said Chris Pfefferkorn, general curator. "It became apparent that his quality of life was not improving, despite the best efforts of all involved. Zoo veterinarians and staff determined that the only humane thing to do was to euthanize him." 

In September, zoo veterinarians performed surgery on Fred and discovered a tumor, which they immediately removed. Chemotherapy was begun to try to eradicate the cancer. However, during his third dose, veterinarians discovered the tumors had reappeared.

Pfefferkorn reflected on the loss: "Losing Fred is extremely difficult for everyone involved in his care. He was a very special cat and a wonderful ambassador for his critically endangered species. He will be sorely missed."

Noon-o'clock Celess News Update From the Front Lines of Life

It's been awhile, I had intended to do short weekly or even daily blogs so that all my devoted readers ;-) wouldn't have to read too much at one time. But you all know how life gets in the way of itself. What with craziness at work and spotty internet at home its been hard. Priorities, you know. So here goes, lots of news my friends:

Madison is doing fantastical. Her recovery has been miraculous, truly... the vets are amazed. She continues to improve on a daily basis too. She can crawl up onto the couch and has found a way to get down with out falling off by hopping over to the armchair which is lower to the ground. She can't jump up onto stuff because her equillibrium is off (permanently I think) so as soon as she releases her front claws to try and jump up she falls straight backwards. She has found a way to pull her self up onto my bed too which I am still trying to catch her in the act of so I can see how exactly she does it. So far I've just awaken to her being next to me on the bed mysteriously. She has woken me up falling off the bed however, I'm actually considering getting her a little "special" kitty helmet...... seriously. My poor crooked kitty ;-)

She plays now which is very good. She get a bit of spunk in her step and flip out with her mouse toy or start hitting a ball around. She chases and wrestles with Mia now too.... SO freaking great to see, you have no idea. 

Dana, my favorite spunkified cheetah ranger at the Safari quit and moved back home (traitor!) so I applied for her position. It was a hard decision for me to make because i love my critters (bears and lions) and there are going to be soooo many exciting changes happening in that dept in the near and far future BUT cheetahs are my dream, I've always wanted to work with cheetahs and thats the reason I came to Roseburg, thats where this whole thing started so I had to apply, I just had to. Well, I found out last week that I got the position!!!!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (squeal of excitement) So as of Dec 1st I will be a cheetah keeper!!!!! I think about it and do a happy dance, I'm so excited. I'll be working with my neighbor, Lacey, my current supervisor, Sarah, and our new keeper, Phil, who just spent three years working at CCF (Cheetah Conservation Fund) in Namibia, Africa. 

I'll miss you Dana and I heart your guts, but THANK YOU!

My newest nephew, Colten Hunter Zinda, was born on October 25th. Welcome to the world smunchy-face! 

Insert dark cloud: the little had to be rushed to the hospital a couple weeks ago and spent three days under observation and being submitted to tests to find out why he had stopped breathing. The doctors couldn't figure it out so they sent him back home. gr. My sister in law had to call 911 the other day and now they have sent the wee lad to a specialist even further south. I wish I could go down there and be with my familia SO bad but I can't afford the unpaid time off or the gas, sigh. My mom was down there for a week and now my uncle is flying down to help out with the older boys. My poor rei-rei (the cuddle monster in the photo above) ADORES his new little brother and is devastated at the thought that Colten might die... that's what he told my mom. SAD! So if any of you out there believe in miracles please pray for one so the bloody specialists can find out what is wrong. All the tests and xrays and probes and tubes have found nothing out of the ordinary so far. 

I have a new goal - I want to feel better about myself physically so I have set myself up to get back in shape. Motivation is my biggest problem, it's really easy to get home after work and just crash on the couch so I made a playlist of songs that get me pumped..... most of them ones that I used to run to back in the day so as soon as I hear them it makes me want to work it. So I am gonna start small and try to just either do one tape or take a walk every night after work. I think along with all the exercise I'll be getting in the cheetah dept (most of every day is spent hiking up and down hills) it shouldn't take too long to get back into the groove. I want to look good, dammit! And its not gonna happen by just thinking about it and remembering how good it felt to be a hottie. So wish me luck. Working out used to be a huge part of my life so I know I can do it I just need to make myself get started. The first step is the hardest.

Speaking of first times.... I made my first kill finally. Or I guess I should say my first big kill. I've dispatched plenty of chickens and bunnies in my day but this was my first horse and the first time I've killed anything with a gun (for the faint of heart and gut this may not be pleasant for you but remember the circle of life and that vegetarian or not we are a part of the food chain... it's the reality of life. Some animals can't physiologically choose to eat plants only, they would die). This was huge for me. It's a required, very unpleasant, part of our job at the Safari. Our carnivores have to eat and being a non-profit park we can't afford to buy pre-packaged ground up mystery meat... we use animals donated to us. It's actually a very good recycling system. When the local ranchers and farmers have animals that have gone lame or so old that quality of life has gone down they bring the animals to us (usually horses and cows but sometimes donkeys, goats, etc. we also get roadkill deer and poached/confiscated elk). Its cheaper for the farmers/ranchers since they have to pay hundreds of dollars to have a large animal humanely euthanized by the vet and then buried or cremated whereas with us they donate it for free, we dispatch it, and they get a tax write off. Its better for us too because then our critters get the freshest meat possible and we don't go broke trying to feed them all. We don't accept animals that are perfectly healthy... we hand out numbers for horse-rescue facilities for people who call with "problem" animals so the ones we do use are usually being put out of their misery which makes it a bit easier on our souls. The horse I put down on wednesday was in pretty bad shape, could hardly stand on its own let alone walk around so it was easier than I thought. One shot (I'm a natural I guess) and it was done. I'm glad I finally did it... the build up and anxiety over having to do it for the first time was worse than the act itself. I don't hope to have to do it again any time soon though, I'm just glad the first time is over. Atleast I know I can do it if its required. 

My mama took a step towards the technology age.... she created a myspace account! So potion. I helped her.... so freaking adorable. I set all her privacy settings and uploaded a bunch of pictures for her and found a cute layout for her profile. She's so cute. She just wanted to be able to see my cousins pictures and my sister-in-laws... and mine of course. I had to go online and mom-proof my profile ;-) I can just imagine her expression as she peruses through my photos. "Oh dear!" lol!  She's not that innocent but she likes to pretend sometimes.

Well, back to real life. I'll try to update my blog more often. Ciao!

No More Drugs!

Madison is off her meds, YAY!!!

We went to see the kitty doctor again and she is doing so much better that he decided to take her off her two meds and fluids. Freakin sweet!

She is drinking water on her own now and she's gained weight, her appetite has increased (she LOVES the duck flavored Natural Balance). She loves it so much that now she won't eat any other flavor.... she's such a diva, I don't know how I end up with "special" animals. She's chasing and attacking Mia now too. This is good news.

Sadly, I will no longer have to force pills down her throat or crush them up and sneak them in her food or clean up the mess after she vomits up her liquid meds or stick her with needles twice a day... bummer, I really enjoyed all those things.

Ah, technology

I finally have my laptop up and running again. I have felt so lost without it!

Alot has happened since I last had the convenience of sitting at home in my pjs farting around on the interweb. 

Madison is doing very well considering the condition I found her in. Her and Mia are very entertaining to watch. Mad is seeing better but still has issues.... she still hates Mia's guts but Mia adores her, follows her everywhere and now has to eat by her. Mia stopped eating from her food bowl in the kitchen and kept trying to pull scraps through Mad's cage to eat so I moved her bowls next to Mad's and now she eats just fine. So silly.

I caught them sleeping together:

Mia is now 5.0 lbs of cuteness!

I heart kittens.

R.I.P. Yugyan

Yugs was finally "let go" last tuesday. She'd been in renal failure for about a year. I'm just glad the last I saw of her were good days. The Marilyn of Polar Bears, I'll miss you Yugapants!! She was a saucy wench and quite devious.... my favorite type of critter ;-)

R.I.P. Etosha

DEFINITELY should not have happened.

She was a stunning creature and very much in good health. 

We will miss you dearly beautiful Etosha.

R.I.P. Mugadi

It happened unexpectedly which almost makes it harder.

We'll miss you pretty lady!

Prodigal Cat Returns.....

Atleast she is in one piece.

My neighbor found Madison in their vacant house.... right next door!

She was gone for TWO MONTHS.

She is not in good shape.

She is very skinny (8lbs.), her eyes were completely dialated, and her limbs were stiff, her liver values were way high which could either mean she ingested something toxic or the lack of food led to high ammonia levels damaging the liver. I took her to the vet and she had a seizure while in their care so we took her an hour north giving her IV fluids to an emergency clinic where they wanted to charge me $900 to keep her over night and do tests.

Yeah. Fuckin. Right.

So I had them give her anitbiotics for her liver and I took her home. I brought her to my work vet for more blood tests the next morning... the important part here is that she survived the night with no more seizures. Her liver values improved so I didn't have to put her down thank god. Next I took her back to the Roseburg vet where they ended up giving me Amoxi and A/D and charged me $317. Freaking leeches.

This all happened last friday. She's much improved. 

I feed her every 8 hours, medicate every twelve and when she wakes me up every 20 minutes I give her 3-6 mL of water to keep her hydrated since she can't do anything herself. 

She poops and pees fine but then needs a bath since she still can't stand fully...she is getting really good at holding her head up enough to eat out of the dish herself.

So we're taking it day by day. 

I am just glad to have my kitten back. I honestly never thought I'd see her again.

R.I.P. Lexus

We'll miss your seductive ways, Sexy Lexy.

Always the ladies man.....

We'll never forget you buddy.