They arrived with little fan fare, and pretty much merged right in. Ted brought them over from 50K about 5:00, and we introduced them. They are a bit bigger than the crew I have, but not too much, maybe 3 or 4 oz.
Initally, Sierra checked them out, and just sort of kept a wary eye on them.The itty bitties had no trouble with the integration, and the Rockets seems to be thrilled to have some more siblings to cuddle and share body heat with.
New family for the Rockets
A little later, I went in to check on them, and Sierra was not with the babies, but they were all asleep. They work up when I came in, and cried a bit, so I got Sierra to go lay down and I put Kelsey and Halicy with her, and they bellied up right away. Sierra checked them out pretty throughly and settled down. I snuck Caddo in, and as long as he wasn't up front, Sierra let him nurse...except he never did find a nipple. When he came back up front, she hissed at him. The hiss didn't seem to phase Caddo, Arnie had a full belly, since I had just fed him, so he was sleeping, and was content.
Sierra decided segregation was better
So, I guess I will just keep an eye on them. I will feed the Rockets around 2 or 3 AM, and back in at 6 to feed again. Hopefully Sierra will warm up to them by then.
Reintegration of the itty bitties
4 comments:
I got teary when Ted told me about how Sierra accepted the boys...let's hope she relaxes and lets them belly up to the bar now and then...
Hey Jamie - great pix! I'm still optimistic that Sierra will let the Rockets nurse. If not, they'll still benefit greatly from the companionship of the itty bitties -- they love the warmth and I'm sure they enjoy being part of a big gang. And the Rockets can probably go 6 hrs between meals by now, so you may be able to skip the 2am feedings. If they're not ravenous at 2am, that will tell you.
Hate to tell you, but I had to separate them. Sierra started to not nurse even her kittens! When she hissed at and smacked Kelsey, I had to separate them, and try my best to get their smell off of Sierra's babies. I was a little freaked out, thinking I was going to have to bottle 7 kittens, which I can't do. She did eventually chill, and take her own kittens back. Anyway, Caddo peed all over all of them last night, and again himself this morning! Anyway, I will try again this weekend. They are doing fine. I think Bishop wants to take care of them. He heard them crying when I was feeding, and he was crying at the door to get in. I think they both need a bath, which I will try to do this afternoon, and keep them in the bathroom with a space heater until they dry off. I haven't given up yet, so try to not worry about them while you are on vacation. I will take good care of them.
Oh, and I fed at 2, they ate. Again at 6:30. They ate again. : ) I can do the 2 am's, no biggie. It's just 2. If it were 7, now that would be a problem! I have 2 other microwave snuggle heaters, and they were all still pretty warm this morning, so they were nice and warm, in a basket with a towel over the top. More pix this evening.
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