Merry Christmas from Miss Mousie!

Not another picture!

Miss Mousie sends her Christmas wishes to all of you! Last night, she sat next to the tree and stared at the lights and presents. When we woke up this morning, Santa left Miss Mousie a stocking of treats and presents under the tree! 

The photo on the left was taken just a few minutes ago! Miss Mousie didn't want her picture taken, but we told her it was for the blog and she let us take one. But just one!

She is still on anti-virals for her cold/URI issues and they're really helping her. Though she keeps trying to trick us that she's swallowed the pill then a few minutes later will spit it out! We have to watch her very carefully.

Thank you again for helping us get Miss Mousie her TECA surgery.  She feels so much better!

In the series of books I write set on Mount Hood, Christmas Magic is a running thread. Even though we're an hour and a half away from the mountain, I have no doubt a bit of Christmas Magic in September and a lot of love from cat people near and far are what saved Miss Mousie! It's amazing what we accomplished in such a short time! She and all of us are so grateful for your help.

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I like turkey!

Miss Mousie wants to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! She continues to heal and do well, in spite of another cold she caught. Her fur is growing back, too! The picture on the left was taken this morning.

She, along with all of us here, are so grateful that we were able to raise the money for her surgery and that's because of your support and help. 

We hope you have a wonderful day with your family whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving here in the States or elsewhere in the world!

Thank you!

Stitches Out!

Yesterday, the kids and I took Miss Mousie to the Cascade Veterinary Referral Center for what we hoped would be our last trip down there. She was checked by a very nice tech, then taken away to have Dr. Flynn remove her stitches. He then returned with her to talk to us.

Miss Mousie is doing great!

The pathology reports were back. They run tests after the surgery to make sure there was nothing more they needed to worry about. No cancer! Yeah! But she did have an infection deep in the ear canal. The medicine she's still on as well as the TECA procedure will have taken care of that.

But this was an infection separate from the one she had in August. I had no idea. None of us did.

All I could think as I heard this was thank goodness she had the surgery. Poor Miss Mousie must have been hurting so much. So again, a big thank you for all your help, support and donations!

Miss Mousie does seem much happier. She isn't shaking her head or itching at her ears constantly (though she's still in the collar for a couple more days and the stitches/tubes did seem to bug her a bit at first.) She's back to her old routine and running around the house like she always did.

She still prefers to have either her daddy or me in sight. I'm not sure if it's because she can't hear now, but I'm not sure how much she could actually hear before. But we don't mind at all.

She's started sleeping outside her cat bed that we've been using for her since the surger. It made carrying her around and keeping her with us at night easier. She would cry if we left her alone so we just put the cat bed between our heads and she was content to stay there all through the night.

When I was volunteering at the kids school on Monday, she was in the bonus room on the couch with her daddy. Right now she's next to me on the bed.

Her fur is starting to grow back. She was shaved in three different places. But the fur on her head is coming in the color of the Betadine, not white but this sort of rust/orange color. The tech said there wasn't much you could do about it. But Miss Mousie is looking more like herself. As soon as a little more hair grows back, we'll get a picture up! 

The only not good news is Miss Mousie has caught another cold. Nothing serious. It's like the one that postponed her surgery for a couple of weeks. This one is most likely a virus due to stress since she's on antibiotics right now. The surgeon wasn't concerned. Once we finish the antibiotics, I'll contact her local vet if it doesn't clear up.

So that's the news for now! Thanks!

Recovering!

Miss Mousie's surgery went well! We picked her up on Saturday morning. She's going back this morning to have the drain tubes removed from her ears.

Although she is tired, she is happy to be home. She is eating, using her litter box and wanting as much attention as she can get. Yes, she's her same self which is such a relief.

The kids are a little scared of the way Miss Mousie looks. She looks very different with her head shaved, sutures in her ears and tubes sticking out dripping blood. Oh, and she has the dreaded collar on aka the cone of shame. She'll need to wear this until her stitches are removed. But no matter what she looks like, she's still our sweet girl!

If you've been keeping up with the updates on her Facebook page, we've decided not to post pictures of her right now. Cat lovers understand the effects of an invasive surgery like TECA, but we would hate for any pictures to be turned into memes. Miss Mousie deserves better. We are taking pictures to chronicle her journey, just not posting them at this time. We hope you understand.

Also, author Sue-Ellen Welfonder, who has been a key person in helping Miss Mousie, is running a contest in honor of Miss Mousie's surgery. Check it out on the Tartan Ink blog. Click here!

Thanks again for all your support and prayers! They mean so much to Miss Mousie and all of us!

Today is the big day!

Miss Mousie

 Miss Mousie is having her TECA surgery today!

We'll be driving down to Tigard, Oregon in the morning.  It's a long drive. She didn't like the trip when we went for our consultation. She won't like it tomorrow especially since she can't eat breakfast. But we hope she'll be so happy to get out of the car she won't mind what happens next.

 After so much work, it seems a little unreal that the day is upon us. So many people helped us get here: the authors who graciously wrote about their beloved cats, the authors and cat lovers who spread the word about Miss Mousie and the generous people who donated to her fund so the surgery could happen!

If you would like to light a virtual candle for Miss Mousie, one of her cat loving friends set up a page for her click here.

Thank you!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Love,
Miss Mouse, her foster family and the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society

P.S. We will be posting updates on Miss Mousie's Facebook page. But as soon as we're home we'll update the blog, too!

UPDATE:  The surgeon just phoned. Miss Mousie is recovering! Everything went well during the surgery and it's looking good. He went over a bunch of stuff with us, the meds she'll be on, the drains that have to come out next week, etc. He told me to call back later if we want another update. So relieved. Thank you so much for all your prayers and good thoughts!

Miss Mousie at The True Book Addict

Miss Mousie says hi!

Michelle at The True Book Addict gave us the opportunity to tell her blog readers about Miss Mousie on her Cat Thursday feature. Check out the post here.

As for Miss Mousie...

She has finished her medicine for her cold. We're just waiting to hear back from the the WCGHS about getting the surgery scheduled! Once we have that date, we'll let you know!

She's been enjoying the nice, sunny weather in the Pacific Northwest, sunning herself on the cat tree, the back of her favorite chair and in the window.

Thanks again for all your support!

Update

We wanted to update you on what's going on. Miss Mousie still has the sniffles and is on medication so we don't have a firm date on her surgery. We'll post the date once it's definite!

Other than her cold, she's doing great!  Playing and eating and napping. The sun's still shining in the Pacific Northwest so lots of resting on the wide window sill or on the cat tree.

Miss Mousie sends her love!