Did you ever wonder?

Did you ever stop an wonder...what is the velocity of poop flung from the paw of a kitten? Probably not. And I have to admit, I probably wouldn't have either, except today was clean up after the last batch of kittens day, and I was shocked at how far and how high up I had to go to clean poop! It reminded me of the silly jokes we learned as kids, like "book titles, and authors." Remember? The one that came to mind today was "Spots on the wall" by Who Flung Du. Well, let me tell you, I KNOW who flung it!

So, my babies are gone, off to the shelter, and on view to find a permanent home. I already miss 'em. It's weird waking up in the morning, and not having to feed them. Seeing little paws under the door, just waiting to make the mad dash out as soon as I open it. I thought I even heard them crying to get out last night. Like the old phantom ring of the cell phone. Maybe I need a break. But I can't. The babies need me. I have a mama and 3 babies coming Monday. I was told mama is very shy, and maybe a little feral, so they want me to take this batch. I guess I have a reputation now. Hopefully, there will be less heartache with this next batch. We can hope.

Last Day!

Well, the show is over. At least at my house. The itty bitties are no longer itty bitty, and they are going back to the shelter today! They are all 3 sweet, cute and love attention, so I have no doubt they will be adopted quickly. They are quite good at being charming, and all have loud purr boxes.

I am not sure what the fixation on the bathroom is. They do seem to like it, as you can see. Sully is quite the acrobat. He also likes to get on the counter downstairs, and leap from one section, over to the other. Ripley does it to, but she is 3, and quite a bit larger! He looks like a little flying squirrel.

So, I suppose this is my last post on these 3. Sullivan, Reuben and Natalie will be replaced by more, but at least not until Monday! In the mean time, I may fill these next couple of days worth of post with some past kittens, or even some of my own. I mean after all, Buck, Bishop and Bentley were all shelter animals, even though Buck was my only foster. (Ripley was sort of a foster, but never got to the shelter...someone gave her to me at about 4 weeks, and we just decided to keep her.)

Enjoy the last round of photos from this group, and we will begin a new chapter next week...

Everyone is at weight!

After a big stall in weight gain, Natalie had a "surge" and is now 2lbs, 12 oz! Yay! All are scheduled to go back to the shelter for the next spay/neuter day, which is Tuesday. I will most likely take them back Friday or Saturday.

I was in their room this morning, trying to take some photos, but it is really hard to do when they are in their room. As soon as I sit down, they climb all over me. They bite the camera strap, they touch their nose to the lens, they jump from the kitty condo to my head...you get the picture. I did manage to get some though.

Poor Joy spent some time cleaning the kitty room yesterday while I was at a networking function. I have been rather neglectful as far as a good scrubbing goes, and it really can get bad fast. Because all were on kaopectate, and also the Panacur worming meds, there were little pink and white splatter marks all over the floor where they try to spit it out and shake their heads. The pink and white liquid does tend to fly. She did a great job cleaning the place up. I appreciated it, and I am sure the itty bitties did too. Once they are back at the shelter, I will clean the place up top to bottom. The walls next to the litter boxes get abused, especially when there is loose stool involved. They inadvertently step in it, and shake the offensive foot to clean it off. So, a good wall scrubbing is in order. Nuff said.

the long wait

The shelter is backed up now for spay/neuters, so I have to keep the "kids" until next Monday. They are all doing fine, but still Natalie is not to weight! She is only at 2lbs, 61/2 oz. She has stalled on her weight gain. She is eating, and growing, and seems healthy enough, but she is just slow to gain weight. They were wormed again, so I am not sure what the deal is. They all still have loose stools, so I guess I will get the housecall vet to come take a look at them.





They all came to "help" me work in my office yesterday. I know, it's a disaster, but they had lots of things to explore. Natalie found another paperball, so she was happy.

More play time

As the itty bitties get bigger and bigger, they are less and less happy to be locked in one room, so they get some play time each day with full access to the whole house. Of course, Sullivan wants to run down to the basement immediately. I have no idea why he is so intent on the basement, but he is determined.

While out and about, Natalie found one of Buck's favorite play things. It's true, Buck's favorite toy is a paper ball. If you crunch up paper, Buck will come running from where ever he is in the house. Natalie carried that paper ball around the entire time she was out. Buck will fetch it, bring it back and will keep that up for a long time. Natalie just likes to carry it around, and will even play with the little mouse toy with the paper ball in her mouth.

Reuben is a sweet guy. He tries hard to keep up with the other two. When he came here, he was sort of a bully. He had so much energy, he would "Catzilla" the others, attacking them relentlessly. Now he is the one on the receiving end of that most of the time.

Old Friends

Joy and I went to visit Joy's sister today. We also got to visit Yoshi and Spats. We persuaded her to adopt those two from our last litter. They are still adorable. We took over a kitty condo that my neighbor gave us. She got it for her two cats, and they would have nothing to do with it. We already have a huge one for our cats, and the itty bitties have one in their room, so we took it over to Maria. They loved it!

The photos today are of the itty bitties playing outside the kitty room. They are getting so big, it just seems cruel to keep them in there all day without getting out to run! Here, Reuben takes a peek out the front window.



Bentley takes a drink while Reuben watches Sully try to steal a little piece of doggie kibble.



Reuben sees what Bentley is doing outside.















Natalie surveys all from her perch on the countertop.









Hopefully, all 3 of these guys will stay healthy, and can get back to the shelter, be adopted and go to a great forever home!
And soon...they are getting so big...

Out and about

The itty bitties got to come and "visit" today. We had friends over, and they got to come out and play. They are all three into something at all times, and it's hard to keep up sometimes. My friend Deb got some great shots of Reuben hiding in a crock. They got about 45 minutes of running time, and I put them back in their room. After about 5 minutes, they were romping around up there, and everyone in the room understood why this blog is called elephantsupstairs.

So, we have two pictures of Reuben, being all cute, a picture of Joy holding all 3 of the itty bitties, and what's that last photo? No, it's not a cat. We had a family of 5 racoons in our side yard tonight. The little buggers have been after my fish in my fish pond, so I have put netting over it to keep them out. Now they come and eat the food we put out for the feral cats! I guess we just adopted them, too.