Happy Holidays to all!!!

Wishing ALL A Very Blessed Yuletide!!

From all of us at Witch Cats Blog to all our dear friends!

Brightest Blessings & Merry Yule ~

Kim, Midnight, Haley, Kiki & Tabitha

Finally finished!

Today marks Midnight's sixth and final Laser Treatment Therapy session. Each session takes only 2 1/2 minutes (dogs take between 45 minutes to and hour) and he has been responding so well to them thus far. From here on in, he is only scheduled for a once a month session unless otherwise needed. It has helped him a great deal with his arthitis pain and I would most definately recommend it to anyone. Although the only down side is that our kitty absolutely hates car rides and does not travel well. The worst part of taking him to the vet is getting him from our house to there. Once he is there, he is much calmer, and after he gets home again, he is great! 

It is hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago, he could not even turn his back to groom himself and we could not so much as touch his backside without him crying in pain. Now, he is pain-free and flexible again ...

He had developed a respiratory infection from taking him back and forth for two weeks in this horrible cold winter weather. A few days ago, the vet gave him an antibiotic shot and it did very little. So now he is on oral meds ~ one pill three times a day and it seems to be helping as he is not sneezing near as much. It is highly possible that he lowered his immune system quite a bit by stressing himself out during the car trips back and forth to the vet. But, hopefully he will get over his cold now that he (and us!) have some down-time. He can rest and stay warm in the house for another whole month.

Homemade Treats for Yule

With the sabbat of Yule approaching, we do not want to forget our furr babies. What do they love most in the whole world (other than us)? Well, treats of course! Here are a couple of sweet little recipes, one for cats and one for dogs, which you may wish to try. Special Thanks to our awesome vet, Eagles Peak Animal Clinic for these great recipes!
 

 Chicken Treats for Cats

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup cornmeal

1 tbsp. softened margarine

While your oven is preheating to 350 degrees F, combine the chicken, broth and margarine, then add the cornmeal and flour. Knead the dough into a ball and then roll it out to 1/4 inch. Cut into 1 inch pieces and bake for 20 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Healthy Pumpkin Balls for Dogs

This snack is not only delicious, but it is also filled with fiber, vitamin A, betacarotene, potassium, and iron.

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

4 tbsp. molasses

4 tbsp. water

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pumpkin, molasses, vegetable oil, and water together in a bowl. Add the whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon to the mixture and stir until dough softens. Scoop out small spoonful's of dough and roll into balls on your hands (wet hands work best). Place the balls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and flaten with a fork. Bake approximately 25 minutes until dough is hardened.

(resource: Eagles Peak Animal Clinic Newsletter ~ Winter 2013)

Midnight makes Eagles Peak's Facebook Page!!

Our clients have been talking-cats meowing and dogs howling about the different types of therapy that EPAC offers. For new advance treatment we have Laser treatment. Amazing what this does! We also have the Oasis (Hydro therapy) treadmill. Hydro therapy focus on weight and rehabilitation. We also have Acupuncture available now by Dr. Lee Pickett, she will provide pets with this option right here in the clinic. Pets have pain too! Make sure we have the solutions for all kinds. Long happy-pain free lovable life with our furry family is what we all want! Please feel free to call or stop in and speak to with us about anyone of the therapies. If your pet is happy, so are you. When you both are happy, so are we!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eagles-Peak-Animal-Clinic/209140892456756
http://www.eaglespeakanimalclinic.com/

Midnight's Laser Therapy

Since Midnight's diagnosis of athritis in his back and tail, we have decided to take Dr. Ostrich's recommendation to put him on Laser Therapy as an alternative to pain medication and/or periodic shots.

Yesterday morning was Midight's first Laser Therapy session with his technician, Danielle. She allowed us to be in the room with him while she treated him and she explained to us all about Laser Therapy, what is is, what it actually does, and the beneftit of this kind of treatment. She also told us that they have worked on hundreds of dogs so far but Midnight is their very first cat to be treated there. 

All of us, Midnight included, had to wear safety googles to protect our eyes. The entire session lasted only about 10 minutes and our baby was an absolute trooper as usual. Danielle said it feels like a warm message and took a pic of him afterwards. She told us she was going to hang it up in the office lobby for all to see. She even printed off a color copy for us to take home ...

Eagle's Peak Therapist Danielle works on Midnight's arthritic back using Laser Therapy techniques.

So far, Midnight is responding to the therapy fairly well ... only 5 more to go! 

Thought for the Day

"Until one has been loved by a cat, a part of their soul remians unawakened."

Okay, I can breathe again now ...

The past couple of weeks since it has gotten so much colder here in Berks County, PA, our kitty Midnight has been limping and crying in pain if we so much as touched his backend near his tail. We finally decided we needed to take him to our trusty vet, Dr. Ostrich, to get him checked out. Turns out:

1. After placing a sample of his fur and skin dandriff on a slide and immediately looking at it under a miscroscope while waited, he had developed a yeast infection on his back; and,
2.  Upon examination, Midnight had to be scheduled two days later for x-rays of his spine.

For the infection, he prescribed a lotion we must apply on his back once a day for two weeks called, Ketomax. And, he also gave him a shot for the pain.

As for his x-rays, I took him back to the vet today and Dr. Ostrich took two shots of his spine. I got the results within a few minutes and the doc took me into a viewing room and, with Midnight in tow while I cradled him in my arms, went over the results. He showed me the x-rays and exactly what I was looking at and told me that the area between his tail and spine are arthritic and that is what is causing him so much pain. The answer: Laser Surgery treatments. It will take six consecutive treatments and then one session per month thereafter. 

Talk about relieved? I am so very happy that it is not something much worse and that we can help him with treatments. No pills, no shots, just a painless laser procedure with the added benefit of NOT having to put him to sleep while doing it. 

Thank you once again, Dr. Ostrich ... you're the best!!!

How I spent Black Friday

As per usual, the cats & I spent Black Friday putting up the Yule tree and decorating the house. Naturally, they all had to immediately begin playing underneath it before I was able to finish placing the ornaments on ...

 "Hmm, it doesn't smell real..."

"Putting up the Yule tree is such hard work..."

After spending much needed playtime having fun playing together while mom attempted to finish up decorating the tree, the cats helped adorn the rest of the house ...

 Lloyd's of London's "Merry Christmas Mice" with cat

Christmas Cats

 Christmas Mermaids hung in our bathroom

Lloyd's of London's "The Night Before Christmas" tea light holder

Lloyd's of London's "Not a Creature was Stirring" cat & mouse

Gingerbread Cats in sleigh

And two brand new additions this year, two lovely Jim Shore pieces ...

And on that note, here's wishing everyone a very Blessed and "fun-filled" weekend!!!

Have a very Blessed Thanksgiving!!

Precious Memories

 "Until one has loved an animal, a part of their soul remains unawakened..."

After the devastating loss of our most recent feline family member Mr. Earl Gray, I decided to put together a couple of family photo albums of ALL of our precious and beloved kitty cats we have had the blessing to have shared our lives with throughout these many years, both past and present. So, after finding so many great pics that I had forgotten I had in the attic, I ran right out to the local CVS store up the street and went straight to work  ...

It did my heart so very good to find them after all this time and know that I could pull these albums out of the living room closet and enjoy them over and over again whenever I wished as they will now be forever preserved. And, surprisingly, this time-consuming project has actually helped heal my soul a bit since we lost our beloved Mr. Gray. He LOVED his picture taken and was the absolute best model kitty that I think I have ever seen in my life. With these pics, he has given me such a wonderful keepsake to remember him by and I am forever grateful for having the chance to share a piece of my heart with him.

Mr. Earl Gray, "A Touch of Grace" indeed ...

And so, from the cats and myself, here's wishing you ALL a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday!!!

Busy, busy, busy ...

Hey everyone, it's Midnight. Just thought I would grab my mommy's computer for a quick post. She has been so very busy the past couple of weeks cleaning up the "really messy attic," she says, that she hardly even has time to fuss over me (*sigh*) lately.

Oh well, I know that she loves and adores me and that I am her "Little Prince Charming." After all, I am such a loyal little kitty that I am always there to greet her at the door when she comes home from work every night and I like to follow her around the house because I am so worried that she will leave me. 

Anyway, I also wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain from me and my siblings ~ Haley, Kiki, and Tabitha!

My brother, the cat whisperer ...

My one and only sibling, Kerry, just loves to come visit our fur babies at least once a week.  He, like me, was raised to have the utmost respect for all animals and our whole entire family have always been aminal lovers. Our dad, for example, was raised around all sorts of critters growing up as a kid. Our nana used to take in every single solitary stray you could possibly imagine. I remember as a child so years ago, walking into the vets office with she and her sick blue and white colored parakeet, Peppy, in toe. 

Me with my nana Cora and one of her minature poodles, Suzie, when I was three years old.

My brother Kerry posing for pics with our calico cat, Haley

When we had to have our beloved Maggie put down at the age of 14, it was my brother who spent the entire day with me (as my hubby and I were separated at the time) until it was time to go to the vets later on that evening, and, it was also Kerry who stood in the middle of the vets office while we held each other crying. And, for that, I am eternally grateful ...

 Kerry playing UNO with Maggie, who appears to be helping him cheat!

 Me 'n' my bro!

As with so many other families, we have definately had our share of ups and downs through the years, but I love him dearly and wouldn't trade him for the whole world! One of the most proudest parts of it all for me is the fact that he absolutely adores our cats ... and they him.