Watson/Freedom spotted this morning at Webster and Seminary. Please keep an eye out for him if you're in the area!

Watson/Freedom is still missing. There were two reliable sightings yesterday - Lincoln/Halsted around noon and Sheffield/Diversey around 6pm. Please keep an eye out for this guy if you're in the area. Don't chase him if you see him, just call 773-398-7525 or 847-421-9828 and tell them time, location, and which way he seemed to be going.

I just spent 6 hours flyering in the area. I can't imagine how cold he must be after being out in the freezing rain and single digit temps last night. I'm still warming up from my foray out there today and I was layered in long underwear, polar fleece, and down!

This newly adopted greyhound is missing in Chicago in the Fullerton/Western area - coordinates for search area are:
Diversey on North
Kedzie on West
Ashland on East
Armitage on South
Please keep an eye out for him. His name is Watson but his racing name was Freedom and he may respond to that. DO NOT CHASE if you see him. Call 773-398-7525 or 847-421-9828 if he is sighted.

I'm probably going to go search and put up flyers soon.

She's home with us, for now. We've got her situated in the den in a roomy crate with a litterbox, food, and water. We put towels over the crate for privacy, and the door to the room is closed. We're going to let her chill for a while, and maybe we'll spend some time in there later tonight. We got some advice from the internet and one of the vet techs about socializing her. We'll try to get pictures, but only if shoving a camera in her face doesn't completely freak her out.

We managed to just kind of slowly dump her from the carrier into the crate without any Devil Cat appearance or bloodshed.

Having finally gotten a good look at her when she's not on death's door, she's unbelievably cute.

I keep saying this, because it's all that runs through my mind: I don't know what the hell we've gotten ourselves into. But I don't know how it could have been any different. It seems like all the choices we made so far were ones that had to be made. We're just following our hearts at this point, which might result in heartbreak but is all we can do.

I'm not sure it's wise, but we're going to think of a name for her. One of the ways to socialize cats is to talk to them a lot, and it's hard to talk to her without a name. Unfortunately we already have one Kitty in the house.

A couple pictures, as best as I can get for now.

I just talked to the regular vet. The kitten is medically doing fine at this point - her temperature and glucose levels are back to normal, she's able to stand and walk, etc.

The problem remains her behavior. She is really aggressive with anyone that tries to touch her at all. The vets have her in a cone collar so that they can handle her without being bitten.

Regular vet thinks that the best case scenario is that this is a feral cat. (How she ended up spayed with regular sutures - the spay-and-release programs all use dissolving sutures - is a mystery though.) Worst case is some sort of disease that is causing brain damage. There's really no way to know which, and that's what's frustrating. They're going to hold her and observe her today, and I'll call this afternoon to see what they think. The cone collar makes it hard to do some of the neurological tests; the vet said she may be brave and take it off and try some more tests without it on.

I'm just so frustrated because I feel like we have to make a decision without having the necessary information. Do we put her to sleep? Do we take her home and keep her isolated for a week and see what happens? Do we try to find a feral rescue that can take her? I just wish I knew the right thing to do.

Bo took Beans out for her nighttime walk around 9:30. While walking down our street, Beans noticed something and expressed interest.

That something was a kitten, laying on the ground next to a tree and clearly in trouble of some sort.

He came back to the house and got me; I had a look at the kitten and we decided we couldn't just leave her there. So, we took the dog back home, grabbed a towel, picked the kitten up and drove to the emergency vet.

The kitten was dirty and skinny. She's a light orange tabby with white patches. She had stitches in her belly, clearly from a recent spaying, but no collar. She was shaking and doing this weird thing with her front leg. We thought for sure she was hurt in some way: hit by a car, or attacked by a dog or alley cat. She didn't seem to be able to move. That said, there was no blood or anything on her.

We got her to the emergency vet clinic. They took her temperature and it was so low it was below what would register on the thermometer. They concluded she was not injured - she was just hypothermic and also probably had very low blood sugar from lack of food.

She's now staying overnight in an incubator, getting warm fluids and Caro syrup and whatever other things she needs. We just got home and took the dog out to finish her abbreviated walk and put up signs in the neighborhood. She must belong to someone but was not microchipped so we have no idea where she came from.

As we were leaving, we were allowed in back to see her. She was no longer shaking and her temp was up to 98.4. However, when you lifted her up her head just hung limp like a rag doll. The vet was concerned about this - it could be that she's just too weak or low on potassium. Or it could mean she got into something toxic while trying to find food. She was also still very dehydrated.

Anyway, we're not sure what happens next: if she'll survive, if we'll find her owners, what we'll do if we don't.

The emergency vet won't be cheap - $450-$650, it looks like. And she may need further daytime care at a regular vet tomorrow morning. But we couldn't just have left her there, could we?

Prologue: For those that are sick of the political ranting and raving, feel free to skip. Most of you probably know this stuff already so really you should all just skip it. I just have to get it out. Poor wurdsome can't be the only one bearing the burden of my rants.

( On ACORN, the financial crisis, and other election stuff )