It's like a treasure hunt sometimes...

So today I went to see Ms Foxy. She was same ol, same ol, nasty gross scratches that are just worse every time I look. I am pretty sure I will just have to break down and have the vet out. I'm going to give it a few more days and then call and see if I can get all of her yearly stuff done and have the scratches looked at, at the same time. I still have two more things to try, so we will see how things go......


However, today at the barn when I had Ms Foxy in the wash rack, I kept hearing something. It almost sounded like....an animal?

It was hard to say. So eventually I abandoned Foxy in the wash rack and started hunting it down. It sounded like it was coming from the tack room so I went in there and found a newborn fricking kitten in the corner! Wedged behind this folded up table thing. Like it had been born nearby and abandoned, and been crawling around and gotten itself stuck. So I rescued it and carried it around for a while trying to figure out what the hell to do with it.

I called the BO but got her voicemail. The kitten was solid black and dry but dusty and dirty and still had its umbilical cord attached. Poor thing. It kept trying to nurse on my shirt :(

I ended up finding a sweatshirt in my car and a feed tub and stuck it in there while I waited for the BO to call me back and finished messing with Foxy.

Eventually I decided that it really had sounded like more than one animal to start with...so I went back in the tack room and started hunting around. And found another! Wedged behind a sign leaning against the wall.






Omg babies! So fricking cute. But also so fricking young. The black and white was not as strong as the other, but they were both alive and vocal and crawling around a bit.

I ended up moving a few things around in the tack room looking for more and trying to figure out where they came from. All the while poor Ms Foxy is just standing in the wash rack. Not tied, just with the lead rope thrown out the window as I like to do.

I ended up tying her in the aisleway instead so I could mess with the kitties without worrying (ha).






Foxy does not tie consistently well. She actually ties well until something goes wrong and then she explosively pulls back. Crazy horse. She has broken some cross ties in her time and one time almost killed me when I had the lead rope looped a few times around a pipe rail fence (in her stall in california) and she pulled back so violently that as the lead rope pulled back the end flew through the air and hit the grooming box of brushes hanging off the fence and flung it off the fence and about 10 feet away. And I had been standing between Foxy and the other fence and attempted to throw myself out of the way of flying horse and flying lead rope and flying grooming supplies. And smashed right into the fence.

I am a genius.


Anyways, Ms Foxy ties just fine until there is a reason to pull back and then she does just that. Whatever. I don't ever tie her if I am within about 10 feet, I can just throw the lead rope over her back or drop it to the ground and she won't go anywhere. But after her wild escape last week, I don't trust her to 100% again yet so would totally prefer to tie her if I am going to be out of sight or more than about 20 feet away for any length of time.


Foxy is offended about this whole tying thing.





This is bullshit!


Of course, she stood there perfectly the entire time today. This may have something to do with the fact that I had to get all ghetto on her earlier in the day when she would not stand still. Ghetto. Seriously. Or rather, I finally slapped her on the rump and yelled at her, and then made her back the hell out of the way, step sideways to get back where she was supposed to be and then threatened her life if she moved again.

Or something like that. Foxy needs a reminder how to behave every now and then.


ANYWAYS, point to this is that I was able to get the two kitties all bundled up in an old sweatshirt in the feed tub and just as I was finally going to give up and just take them home with me, the BO showed up! She had heard them the day before but could never find them. She looked in the hay loft and outside in the bushes and grass and in the stalls, but nada! She did not think to check the tack rooms since it is a solid room, four walls, no windows, no gaps big enough for a newborn kitten let alone a pregnant cat. My theory is that momma cat snuck in when the door was open, had the kitties in there and then snuck back out when the door was opened...and got locked out!

We left the kitties in the feed room in the hopes that the momma cat will find them when she comes to eat and will take care of them. Who knows. All I know is that I was panicking trying to figure out how the hell I could take care of two newborn kittens! I used to foster kittens but only took them 5 weeks and older since I don't have the time or desire to bottle-feed. But I was totally planning on running to Walmart and getting kitty stuff....do they even still carry bottles and formula at Wally World? I know they used to, years ago.


So basically tomorrow I am going to go pick up some bottles and formula JUST IN CASE. I actually used to keep some on hand at all times, but haven't since I stopped working at the shelter.



In other news, today was a REAL 5 egg day!





I did still manage to break an egg but it was AFTER the picture was taken. I guess I need to start using an egg basket!