we have urine!

Yes, there was urine in the litter box this morning! Yay! Also, a totally empty water bowl. Then, around lunch time, there was poop! This girl just spaces her business further apart than most. She is fine.

We seemed to have come to a truce on where the babies are better off. I moved the bed next to where she keeps moving them, but on occasion, she will still move one or two of them, and then it seems like she gets tired, and just forgets. I came home this evening and one of them, the mostly black one, was all by herself asleep in the back of the shelf. I picked her up, and she was wailing! She seemed to be pretty hungry, but was having a hard time finding a "tap" to hook on to. Almost like she was too excited. I tried to help, and after many times trying, she got one, and wow, she was going at it. All 4 little legs were pumping! She is small, but scrappy, and she was not going to let any of her siblings dislodge her! And oh, they tried! She would tire, and seem to start to fall asleep, but I would stroke her back, and she was at it again, all 4 little legs pumping.

Everyone gained weight today, Most are around 5 1/2 oz. One is about 6 1/4. We have a LONG way to go to get to 2lbs, 9 oz. Should be a fun ride, and we all get to see them grow up.

I was having trouble figuring out who was who, so I took the following photos.
I still need a good face photo of the first little girl. This is the one who was off by herself.















I am fairly sure they are all girls, except for number 2 there. Still a little hard to tell when they are this small. Gotta get some names working. Post 'em if you have any suggestions.

something brewing?

Today seems to have gone OK for the newest members of kitty central, but I am a bit concerned about Mama cat, (who we renamed Sierra). She has not used the litter box since Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. Nothing. No urine, no poop. I took her temp, which was normal. She has been eating crunchies, but has not eaten any canned food since Tuesday. She has been drinking OK, two bowls in 3 days. I am going to see if there is anything in there tomorrow morning, and if not, call the vet. Could be she is peeing somewhere else, but I have a pretty sensitive nose for that, and I haven't smelled anything.

The babies all gained weight today, so I am happy about that. I am having a hard time telling 2 of them apart, because the pictures the shelter supplied me with doesn't show one of the two's face! I am almost convinced it's the same kitten, and they took his picture twice, and missed one. I am going to use the ones I took tonight to really be able to tell. It's only day 3, so even if I got the weights wrong one night, it won't be a big deal.

We are having friends over this weekend for dinner, and I think I know where they will spend a lot of their time!
There is an awful lot of cute going on here.

back to it

Day two of the 2009 kitty season.
All seems to be well. mama and I have come to an understanding. She kept moving the kittens to the corner, but the babies kept rolling on to the cold floor. I moved the bed over to face the corner, and put the itty bitties in the bed. She has not moved them again since this afternoon.




Nothing much to report, and hard to get any really good pictures. They seem to always have their heads in mama's belly, and when I pick them up to take pix, they cry, and mama gets a little uptight. So, I got a few pix, but I will try to get more tomorrow.

I decided that Lana is not a good name for this Mama, who is very sweet, and very pretty. I think Sierra is better. So, now I need to come up with names for the 5 babies. So far, they are still a bit too small to figure out what sex they are, so either gender neutral names, or we wait a week or so. I am happy to entertain any suggestions!

what was i saying?

Did I not just say yesterday how winter was a time to recharge, and it was good to not have kittens? Not 10 minutes after I posted, I got an e-mail from the shelter that they had a mama cat that was right then giving birth, and they needed someone to foster her! So, tonight I picked up this beautiful little mama and her 5 itty bitties! She is very sweet, and loves attention. She is quite a good mama, keeping a close eye on her brood. I went to dinner about an hour after I got them all settled in, and when I got back, she had moved them all to where she wanted them, which was not a very comfortable place. I put them all back in their bed, and moved the bed next to where she had moved them. Hopefully she will decide it's an OK place to stay!
(note: I heard mewing a second ago, and she had moved them all back to "her" spot. I did think that might happen, so I at least padded it down with soft towels.)

Mama came to us named Lana. I am not crazy about it, and I will probably change it pretty quickly. The little ones do not have names yet, and it's a little early to tell who are boys and who are girls. Maybe in a day or two we can work on that.

I will get baby close ups tomorrow.

Without further ado, here they are.













Mama decided to move!

midwinter and still kittenless

Being kittenless is a good thing this time of year. We get the opportunity to recharge, and the feral cats outside get a chance to not be caring for kittens. If your area has a TNR program, please help with the kitten population in your area! You can contact AlleyCat allies, and get some help trapping any feral cats in your neighborhood. Then, they are taken to a local vet where they are spay/neutered, and then re-released in the same place they were caught. No more kittens! We had 2 neighborhood cats that "participated" in the program, and we have not seen any mama cats this past year. We have seen a couple of big black Tom cats, but they aren't doing any harm to our girls. : )

Here you see a picture of a couple of the Orange Tabbies from our first litter, all grown up. This is Sadie and Latte. They still live in my neighborhood, and I see them from time to time. They don't really remember me anymore, but they are certainly loved at their forever home!


Looks like Sadie gets the lions share of the food!

More good news! Gia was finally adopted! You will have to go back to September, and see her. She was the very sleek very small mama cat. Mother to Gibby, Greer and Gwendolyn, the 3 black kittens. Anyway, the former volunteer coordinator from the shelter adopted her this weekend! Yay! Another happy ending. Last I heard, she was checking things out, and seems to be adjusting well. I will of course get some pix of her to post later.
Here she is from August.

home front

Still quiet here at kitty central. I don't expect any kittens anytime soon, and who knows, with this last cold snap, we might not see any until April. Until then, Buck, Bentley, Bishop and Ripley get all of our attention, and still keep us entertained.


Ripley finds a nice cubby to lounge in


Buck surveys his domain from a high vantage point


Our friend Pepper was center stage at a recent inaugural party we attended


Bentley eagerly awaits the next kitten season


Buck, Bishop and Ripley are all drawn to the condo.