July 10th trip to the Vet in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila - México

Post for Monday - July 10, 2023

Friday, July 7th with our sweltering temperatures, Chester followed by Suzie, ran inside the kitchen as I was bringing in some clothes. It happens with frequency as they are more agile than I am. They were panting and I felt bad for them and let them stay in the kitchen to cool off as I folded laundry.

They both fell asleep but when the time came for me to feed them they did not want to go back outside. Chester who is a large cat, and obedient, I was able to put out.

Chester

Suzie being small and thin was another matter. I finally corraled her but when I picked her up I felt something strange, hard, and lumpy. I got scared and turned her over and she in fact had three large lumps but did not seem to be in pain when I touched her.

This picture was taken the
day after her surgery

The cats' vet is in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila - México, so early Monday morning I took her along with two other kittens to Dr. Chavarria.

Dr. Chavarria has a very successful practice and in my estimation between 80 to 85 percent of his clients are Americans. Even though I got there five minutes after opening I was the fourth person there. I was surprised that Dr. Chavarria was the only veterinarian on duty.

I learned that the other guy that helps him is not a veterinarian but an assistant. His son-in-law who is an American citizen is a vet but he was not there today.

Suzie

While I took three carriers I had to put these two kitties in one carrier to avoid one of them fleeing if I attempted to place him in one by himself before we got to the clinic. These two are Laura's kittens and I had no idea what their sex was so could not name them. It turns out that they are both boys that I named Oliver and Brad Pitt. I used to call the kitty on the right "funny face" though you can not see his full face in this photo. That is no name for a cat so I decided on Brad Pitt. 

Oliver and Brad Pitt

They all got their shots. However, when it came to Suzie he had to call Dr. Chavarria to give his diagnosis. She had inflamed mammary glands which indicated that she was pregnant. So he sent her to surgery.

I paid for the two kitties which came to $1,000.00 pesos. If you pay in cash the Clinic takes your dollar at an exchange rate of $18.00 pesos to one U.S. dollar which equals $55.55 USD. I do not know what that would cost in the USA, if you have an idea please chime in in the comments.

You can not stay at the clinic and with two cats I could not take them to the grocery store or the mall so I came back home before the heat made its presence felt. Per the Border Wait Time Crossing App, there was a 30-minute wait but the line was moving fast and I crossed in 20 minutes!

I returned to México at 3:00 p.m. and again had a long wait to pick her up. Dr. Chavarria was not there so I had to see his assistant. I wanted to ask him how many embryos she was carrying along with other questions that his assistant just did not know the answer to. He mainly administers shots and does small cures.

He told me I had to clean the area where she had her C-section twice a day with Hydrogen Peroxide for a week. At least she is not afraid of me and is very loving like Chester who has taken her under his wing since they dumped her at the house when she was about six weeks old.

The bill for Suzie came to $3,000 pesos divided by $18.00 which equals $166.66 USD.

Had I used an Exchange House the rate would have been $17.30 to one US dollar or $173.41 USD.

The heat was terrible and lucky for me the traffic back to Del Rio was almost non-existent. I crossed in ten minutes.

Monday, July 10th we had a high of 104 degrees.

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

The kittens emerged from the water heater closet

I finally got a glimpse of the kittens late this afternoon even though I hear them cry all the time because both Luna and Laura take their sweet time feeding them. I went to bring in some clothes I had hanging outside when I saw a whitish kitten following Luna around as it cried loudly.

I was surprised that it was clearly a Siamese kitten with beautiful blue eyes. I wonder if Suzie (the now six-month-old cat someone dumped at Mom's house) and this kitten share the same father? 

By the time I found my phone and went back outside Luna was nursing what looked to be three kittens. I think she had four or five and her daughter Laura had three. It is hard to photograph dark-colored cats.

       

 It has been very warm lately...today we reached 90 degrees...so maybe that is why they decided to emerge from the water heater closet?  They are two days away from turning three weeks old.  

One thing that Luna hates is when her kittens start to cry...it gets on her nerves and she will quit feeding them. At least Laura who is a first-time momma cat has more patience and spends time with them. In contrast to Luna who goes off and leaves her litter behind.   

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Cat Humor

     

                                                                                             

Lost and found...twice

Last Tuesday, April 4th Bianca did not show up for breakfast which is rare for her as she and the quadruplets are always hungry. I went looking for her all over Mom's property to no avail. She did not show up for supper either.

Bianca is not one to leave the property like some of the older cats. Even though she turned 6 months old on April 7th she looks smaller for her age.

The following day she showed up and I was so happy to see her even though she looked like she had rolled around in the dirt. She was very hungry but otherwise looked well. I had placed a collar on both her and Suzie but their neck was still too thin so I had taken them off so they would not lose them. 

I decided to place another one in case she got lost so people would know that she had an owner and was not a stray. I took so many pictures of her but they were not any good until the last one...she looked like she was smiling and happy to pose :-D

Then on Thursday, April 6th, the same thing happened but this time it was Suzie who went missing! Do these cats want to kill me or something? Suzie is the Siamese cat that someone dumped on the property when she was about six weeks old. At the time Bianca was 3-weeks old and Luna (her mother) had already killed her two siblings and did not want to feed her anymore.

Bianca and Suzie bonded and were welcomed by the then quintuplets who are now quadruplets after Karen's passing. Grayson the quintuplets mother would nurse them every once in a while.

Suzie returned on Saturday, April 8th looking thin, with sad eyes, and a lack of appetite. Suzie and Bianca both got well. It wasn't until Tuesday, April 11th when I had to run several errands in town that I fed the cats earlier than usual that I saw that Bianca did not look well. She did not want to eat and curled up by Dad's old car and went to sleep.

When I got back to the house Bianca was in the same location that I left her but she had flies swirling around her. I picked her up and brought her inside the house. It was like a Deja vu of what I went through when Karen passed.

I knew then that she did not have long. A placed her on a cardboard box as I held her little paw and thanked her for having come into my life. She passed and I took her outside to our pet cemetery. The desert ground is too rocky and hard for me to dig a hole. I was looking for some peat moss to cover her with when Muñeca came around. She walked up to Bianca, smelled her, and perhaps said goodbye to her cousin.

Within two months I have lost two cats and that is never easy. Rest in peace my little Bianca.

They moved the maternity ward / Laura

It has been cool during the evening but very warm during the day, we reached 95 degrees this afternoon. This morning I cracked open one of the kitchen windows which faces north. Here I have a birds-eye view of the old washing machine where the "cucha" that holds the kittens and their mothers is located...I call it the maternity ward.

I was washing the dishes when I noticed Luna and her daughter whom after a year I have finally named...Laura... were moving the kittens and thus the maternity ward to the water heater closet.

I knew Luna would do that sooner or later as she has with her previous litters. She can not tolerate her kittens crying yet she makes no effort to nurse them as they are hungry. Laura can not nurse and groom them by herself while Luna takes naps and acts like she did not give birth to them.

There are some good mama cats as well as worthless ones and I am afraid that Luna falls in the latter category.

This gave me the opportunity to throw out the three plastic garbage bags that I wrap the cat bed up with to protect it. As soon as I have a chance I will go to the laundromat and wash the beds.

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Is it seven or eight?

I still have no idea how many new kittens I am now responsible for as they are so small and as newborns they huddle together...in this picture it appears they are seven. Only time will tell.

Today once again Luna neglected her kittens and her daughter had to nurse them because they were crying.

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

The miracle of life...

I have mentioned on many occasions that Luna is a feral and almost wild cat. I have tried several times to trap her only to fail. I basically have given up on her. Her first litter consisted of only two cats which surprised me. Those two cats, one male, and another female are equally feral.

Luna's second litter yield three kittens. They were born on October 7, 2022. She had enough of them after three weeks and refused to nurse them. Two of them died and I was only able to save a little black kitten that I named Bianca who is the spitting image of her mother. Though she eats a lot...she is tiny for being almost six months old. The good thing is that she is not feral and she lets me play with her.

Her daughter from her first litter and Luna became pregnant around the same time. The unnamed cat had a very big belly.

Her kittens were born Tuesday, March 28th. I went to peek at the cucha on top of the old washing machine and only saw three. One black, one grayish/black, and a tiny white one.

It was around 8:35 a.m. when I went to feed the other cats. After they finished I heard the cries of a kitten and went to look at the cucha but the sound was coming from another direction. I walked towards the water heater closet but what was my surprise but to see Luna giving birth sitting down while her daughter who had her kittens the day before was assisting her.

Her daughter laid down and even let her mother bite her on the neck...maybe to help her mitigate the pain?

Not being a cat mid-wife I went back inside. A couple of hours later I found that they both were sharing the "cucha" on top of the old washing machine.

In typical Luna fashion, she was NOT nursing her newborns...that chore fell on her daughter.

I do not know how many they are as I did not want to touch them and give both mothers an excuse to not feed their kittens.

It never fails most of my cats have been born during the month of March. Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Not the post I was going to make...

If you are new to my second blog...Walter's World...I currently have 16 cats both domestic and feral but they are all OUTDOOR cats. Due to this, I make homemade cat shelters that I refer to as "cuchas" in Spanish to house them during the winter and/or during inclement weather.

When Grayson had her five kittens eight months ago, I went to great lengths to make sure I actively interacted with them so they would not become feral and I believe I have succeeded. I did the same with Luna's only surviving kitten Bianca and the Siamese kitten...Suzy...that someone dumped at the house. The seven of them, now six with Karen's passing get along very well much to the chagrin of the other cats.

Bianca (it is hard to see her since she is so dark) and Mikey...

Darla...

On the back porch...

In the mudroom Mónica, Bianca, Suzy, and Mikey...

On another occasion also on the back porch...

Since it has been so cold this winter I decided to house the six of them in the mudroom where they are safe and place water and a litter box so I would not have to keep the door partly open to facilitate their coming and going when they wished.

Unfortunately, we have also seen unseasonably warm temperatures for this time of the year but felt bad kicking them out so I let them continue to sleep in the said mudroom. I heard them fighting last week but I was so sleepy I decided to let them resolve whatever the issue was on their own.

Later that morning, I found many of my shoes on the floor. I have old bookshelves in the mudroom where I keep my tennis shoes as well as miscellaneous items. I picked them up and did not give it another thought...that is until this morning...I felt there was someone or something in the mudroom.

I figured it was probably one of the feral cats who had gotten in and was hiding. Then I saw a big turd that definitively did not belong to a cat or a dog. Some of the spare cardboard boxes looked like they had been peed on and I found some more poop in the back of the other shelves and I began to get worried.

This morning it was cold and gray, we had a brief shower and the darn free-range chickens had pooped all over the yard.  My plan was to lay out a tarp and empty the content of the mudroom in order to clean it out. I placed the soiled cardboard boxes in garbage bags and when I reached for another I found it to be heavy...moved some of my plastic containers out of the way to reach it and when I did...there was a WHITE POSSUM inside showing me his or her teeth!!! 

I let out an ear-piercing scream that scared the cats and I ran back into the kitchen. This is not the first time it has happened to me...the last time was back in 2019...I also documented it on this blog at the time. The darn possum ruined my day!  I went online to see how I could get rid of it but after reading my own blog I recalled all the methods I had since forgotten but they will have to wait for another day.

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Stores running low on cat food

I buy my cats food at Tractor & Supply 99 percent of the time since I have a bad back and the employees will place it in my buggy as well as take it to my car. It is difficult to get someone to do that at Walmart or HEB.

I watch many Prepper Channels on YouTube and they have been sounding the alarm for a while now of a scarcity of pet food nationwide. Tractor & Supply while they do have dog food their cat food aisle is not as well stocked.

Like everything else, the price has almost doubled. I buy their store brand which is more affordable. I am a member of their store bonus points (I do not recall the actual name) and they will send you a survey every time you make a purchase. I noticed that the size and color had changed in the past months. Then I read one of the reviews and it was from a person who like myself purchases it to feed the feral and stray cats where they live. They noted the change as well and added that even the feral cats will not eat it and questioned if their supplier has changed and if this product was now made in another country.

While my cats did eat it at the time...the last two 36 lbs bags I bought have mostly gone untouched. They smell it and then walk away unless they are starving. The only ones that seem to not care are the free-range chickens our worthless neighbor does not feed and who come over to Mom's property to freeload.

I went last week to T & S to purchase another brand but they were completely out of cat food. I had no choice but to go to HEB and while they were low in inventory they had some. 

I bought three 16 lb bags of their HEB brand. At least I was able to place them in my buggy as well as my car without assistance.

They had dog food but their shelves needed to be re-stocked.

If you have pets be forewarned and stock up. Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Another visit to the Vet...

I was still in denial of sweet little Karen's passing when I was blindsided by another event. I started to notice that Sam was having issues eating but most importantly getting around.

I tried everything from canned food since I mostly buy large bags of dried cat food (cheaper when you have sixteen felines) to regular human canned tuna but nothing seemed to perk his appetite. He had no strength in his hind legs and would walk a short distance and then fall.

I was going to upload the video but due to my lack of computer knowledge...I am unable to...:-(  

Another visit to the vet was inevitable so off we went to México on Monday, January 16th, 2023. Thankfully, I got the head vet Dr. Chavarria as I will always value experience over anything else. He diagnosed him as "malnourished" but did not give an opinion as to how he got that way. 

I have always been mindful of seeing that each cat eats their fair share after an episode of Hoarders where this lady had multiple cats and would feed them but not stay around to see who actually ate. She did not realize that only the strongest survived and her original cat was denied food by the others. Horrible episode to watch if I might add 😢

He gave him the following medication and even before I had a chance to say anything...he reassured me that even though it had a dog on the packaging it was also for felines. I had to use the syringe, open his mouth and shove it down his throat twice a day...sounds easy doesn't it?  Let me assure you...IT WASN'T!

I have mentioned on my other blog Terlingua Dreams that the only two apps I have on my phone are Dairy Queen and Border Crossing Times. Unfortunately, I do not have cell phone coverage in México but to my surprise, I did not have to drive to Bodegas Aurrera or Gutierrez to tap into their internet as on a lark I tried it outside the clinic which is not very far from the International Bridge and had service.

Today's Dollar exchange rates:

 Compra=Buy $18.20 to $1.00 USD...Venta=Sell $19.60 to purchase $1.00 USD.

In case you are wondering what the tolls are from México to the USA...I was in luck as they had modernized their new tolls signage and gone electronic. The tolls for a regular vehicle are $30.00 Mexican Pesos. The going rate today was $18.20 to $1.00 USD... which translates to $1.65 USD. The toll to cross from Del Rio, Texas to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila is $4.00 USD which is a rate established by the City of Del Rio.

Bare in mind that it was Dr. Martin Luther King Day and while it is not celebrated in México a lot of American citizens had the day off. The app said the wait time was 25 minutes...WRONG...it was more like 45 minutes but the lines were moving fast as they had more lanes open on this holiday. 

It did not dawn on me to take a picture until I was halfway through the line as I was attentive to my little Sam.

Today is almost two weeks since his visit to the vet and while some days he is better than others, he is still not at 100 percent. This morning it was drizzling so I did not go outside with him until noon and I am glad to report that he ate more than on other occasions. During the evenings he sleeps in his crate in the kitchen. I suffer from chronic insomnia the only bright side to that is that I get to check on him frequently during the night.

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

My little Karen

Post for Friday, January 6, 2023

Thursday, January 5, 2023, I took the quintuplets to be fixed and was given the bad news that Karen had hepatitis. 

I followed the vet's instructions and had them sleep by themselves in the mudroom to give them time to heal. I checked on them throughout the night and they all seemed to be doing fine even Karen.

In the morning I fed them and then allowed them to go outside as usual. I was glad to see that Karen ate well and I went about my day. I go outside often to change their water, chase off the neighbor's free-range chickens, hang clothes, and do yard work.

From left to right Karen (whose face you can not see), Mikey, Sam, and Darla. The only one missing was Mónica.

It was on one of those outings that I saw Karen laying down in the full sun and I went to see why. I woke her up but she was not moving much so I picked her up and brought her inside. I tried to make her drink water and some food but she wanted neither. That is when I realized that she was in her last hours.

I placed her in a little box on top of the ice chests in the kitchen and held her paw as I reassured her that I would be with her till the end. There was no doubt she suffered, her little body would twitch and she would groan. She passed away at 3:05 p.m. on Friday, January 6, 2023.

The reason she has that green color on her tummy is that the Mexican Vet's tattoo feral cats so other veterinarians know that the cat has been spayed or neutered and they do not have to open her again. In the USA they notch one of their ears.

I have not wanted to make a post on Walter's World because I have been sad and needed time to process her passing. My cousin was livid, he said the vet should not have operated on her once he realized she was sick. However, I disagree and told him I was glad I found out she was ill or I would have wondered why a six-month-old cat would have died suddenly. 

She was so sweet and loving and I am grateful for the six months that she was in my life.

The quintuplets got spayed and neutered

Post for Thursday - January 5, 2023

Once again I barely slept last night fearing I would oversleep and not get the quintuplets to the vet in time for their surgery. It was cold this morning but I bundled up so I could put the cats inside their pet crates before they fully woke up and wanted to eat as they had to be "en ayunas" which means "fasting" in Spanish. After doing that, I placed them in the car as their cries brought around the other cats to see what was going on.

I had to feed the others before I left and fight off the darn chickens from Walter's former owner that have been making my life a living hell as they try to eat their food if I am not there to run them off. Will write about that in a separate post.

In the front seat, I placed Sam and one of the gingers, I want to say, Darla?

Yeap, it was Darla. The gingers look a lot alike.

This is Mikey who got the older and bigger crate. I wanted to place Sam and him together but was afraid that if I opened the crate he would try to run away...so he got to ride solo.

I have bought two more pet crates since my last post with dual openings at the top and the traditional front door. Anyone who has had to struggle with a pet will agree that a top latch is much easier to maneuver when it comes to placing them inside.

This is Karen which I ended up naming by mistake because I confused her with Mikey who is the troublemaker of the bunch.

Crossing into México took seven minutes and I had no problem finding a parking spot in front of Clinica Veterinaria Chavarria. It took me longer to get the four crates down than it took for them to call me.

They have three veterinarians but the main vet (the owner of the clinic) is the one that usually performs most of the surgeries. The other two examine the animals, weigh them, and if they have not had their shots they make sure to administer them before surgery. Two of the cats had not been there before since I was not able to catch them back in September 2022 and needed their shots and to be dewormed.

The two cats were also given formal names. One of the ginger cats turned out to be a male and since he eats so much I named him Mikey and the three-color darker one is a female now answering to the name of Monica.  

On the past two occasions that I took cats to be fixed they were ready by noon but today they had a full operating room and they asked me to come for them after five o'clock. I needed to run several errands so I decided to stay in Ciudad Acuña rather than make two border crossing trips.

Even though it was cold this morning it did not take long for it to warm up and I had to ditch the jacket. Finished my errands by 2:30 p.m. so I drove to Gutierrez (a grocery store) that has canvas coverings in the parking lot to keep your vehicle out of the sun's rays. I still had to crack the windows to let air in which made me visible to all the people that peddle their wares so decided to drive back to Clinica Veterinaria Chavarria to try to get a good parking space before the other pet owners arrived.

I went in at 4:00 p.m. just in case they were ready and they were. Dr. Chavarria was talking to his wife (she is the Clinic Administrator) they had the five envelopes with the cats medical records and I guess they were discussing them. I do not know if you recall but when I took three of the quintuplets one of the veterinarians dewormed them at no charge. He told me that he would do the same for the two that were dewormed today.

If that was not enough the other veterinarian (Dr. Chavarria's son-in-law) waived the fee for the two cats that had not been vaccinated. If things could not get any better Dr. Chavarria charged me the rates in effect for last year rather than the new ones that just went into effect as of January 2023. I could not believe my good luck and I thanked them profusely.

Spays are now $2,500.00 and Neuters are $2,300.00 Mexican Pesos. He only charged me $2,300.00 for the females and $2,000.00 for the males. That came to $10,900.00 Mexican pesos since I did not have enough Mexican Currency, I paid in US dollars as I did not want to use a credit card either. The Vet Clinic gives you a better exchange rate if you pay in dollars...which is $19.00 pesos to one USD...$573.68 which he rounded off to $573.00 USD.

However, not all was good news. I had observed that Karen had been sad lately and keeping to herself. She would come and rub herself against my leg when she would see me and wanted to be held which I obliged. Dr. Chavarria said when he made the incision in her tummy all her insides were yellow. I asked what that indicated and he said "she has hepatitis" which is why her eyes are dark yellow almost honey-colored. The only thing I could ask was "is she going to die?". He said he did not know but I should keep an eye on her and make sure she ate and drank water.

He told me to keep all the quintuplets inside tonight to give them time to heal and make sure they ate as soon as we got home. I kept them where they usually sleep in the mudroom/junkroom but I kicked out Suzie and Bianca (the kittens) so they would not bother them.

Unfortunately, I ran out of space in Google Photos and have to purchase a larger subscription. When I do I will upload pictures.

I have not purchased more space...I ended up emailing them to myself which for me takes a long time :-(

Thank you for visiting Walter's World.

Cat Video

I love watching Penny the talking cat and if mine could talk I think they would agree with her. This is not a long video...it is a Short.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YtECS8kBpus