The Vacuum

Part of the socialization process is to get these guys used to stuff they will see and hear in their new homes. We don't hold back much, and this weekend, we had the vacuum cleaner upstairs. No, we didn't just stick it in the room and turn it on. I was in the room with the "kids" and Joy turned the vacuum on in the hall. The door was closed, but it was a new sound for them. As you can see, they were a little freaked at first, but within minutes, they had forgotten all about it, and were happily playing, ignoring it.






Mama has now finished her antibiotics! Her URI is gone, and she can breathe. Another important element is I don't have to give her the meds, so she is warming up to attention even more. She doesn't like to be picked up yet, but she does like to be brushed, and loves her neck scratched. I am happy to oblige.



The itty bitties are getting bigger, and more bold. They charge the door now every time they hear it opening. Mama does too. She came nose to nose with Buck yesterday, but neither one of them were phased. She is a little more leary of Bentley though, but the babies aren't the least bit worried about him.



They love to climb on the kitty condo. I noticed when they get sleepy, that's where they head now, not on the bed where mama hangs out. They are a lot of fun to watch and so far, knock on wood, they have stayed out of trouble.

Looking up

Mama surprised me yesterday. I was in the room playing with the itty bitties, and I felt something by my back. All 3 babies were in view, so I looked, and it was her. I have been really trying to give her attention, but she is really shy and scared. Doesn't help that every time I pick her up I am sticking something down her throat. I am trying to really giver her attention when I am NOT giving her medication, so she doesn't only associate me with that, so I guess it's starting to pay off.

The babies are growing, and getting sweeter by the day. Gibby is always much happier to climb on me than he is to play with the charmer. The girls are all over that toy, and Gibby likes it too, but he is more of a lap cat.

I put the collars on Gwen and Gibby too. Only had one on Greer before, mainly so I could tell them apart. They were funny trying to figure out what the heck was around their necks. Didn't take them long to forget about them, but both of them were grabbing the tag in their mouths and walking around for a while. All kittens have ADD, so the trauma didn't last long.


Gwen, precollar

More stuff behind that door!

Last night mama cat heard Bishop crying, and she was growling in the room. Gwen heard mama growl, and was on red alert for a moment. I happened to be in there playing with them, and Bishop had his mouse toy and brought it upstairs. Bishop sometimes sounds like he is in pain when he has his toy. He makes quite the piteous mewing with that little toy mouse in his mouth. More than one time we have gotten up in the middle of the night, thinking that Buck is attacking the poor guy, just to find out he is playing with his mouse.

All the residence seem to be doing fine. One of the neighbor kids came over yesterday to play with them. They love company, and proceeded to climb all over her. She seemed to enjoy it. Since her family adopted 2 from the first litter we fostered 3 years ago, I couldn't even try to push another one off on them.

These guys might be nondescript to look at them, but they have enormous personalities. Look at all the Catzilla poses! Mostly it's the girls. Gibby is happy to climb up on my side while I am laying on the ground taking pictures of Greer and Gwen.



Gwen looks like the Catzilla on either a Saturday Night Live sketch, or Monty Python.



Gibby sharpens his claws on the mega condo





Cat or Squirrel?



Catzilla everywhere!






Greerzilla



Yes, mama and I have a sort of truce. She actually likes the attention, although she is still a little wary. She is sometimes up for a little play, and I discovered she does indeed now have a little milk! The babies are pretty much weaned at this point, but I guess it's a sign she is getting healthy now.

What's on the other side of the door?

The itty bitties found out this weekend that something lurks on the other side of the door. They have not seen it, but they know it's there. You can see they are interested in it, and you can see from the first photo that it has a pink tongue! Yes, that is Bentley's tongue. He has been interested in the itty bitties for some time, but this is the first time they have been interested in him. Mama has known he is there, but keeps clear. When no one is home, Bentley is not allowed upstairs. We put up a gate when we got him, and found out that it is best to keep it up, so he can't chase our resident cats up and down the stairs all day.



The Cat Charmer still seems to be the toy of choice for the itty bitties. Gwen is the funniest, when she has it in her mouth, and has both paws up and out, which is what I call "Catzilla."








Greer grabs on to the cat charmer.

The weekend was pretty quiet, although mama had a bout of liquid stool Sunday night, Monday morning. It seems to have passed now. I think it might be the Albon kicking in. All I can say is, thanks for hitting the box mama!

Weigh in

We hit another milestone yesterday. Everyone is at 1lb! Yay! The itty bitties are all happy and playful. They got their first dose of Albon last night. Mama was Not pleased, but the little ones didn't seem to mind too much.



They all like the cat charmer toy, which is no surprise. I think every kitten/cat we ever had loves it. Even mama got in a little play time. She really seems to be feeling better, and is getting more active. She is still shy, but when she hears the door open, she makes a move to the door, as do the itty bitties.

Gwen was cute playing on top of a box on the bottom of the shelving unit in the room, and you can see she had a little trouble getting down! No harm was done, and now they can have a break until evening when they all get their next dose of medication.








Note to self: Wear long pants and socks when going into kitty room!

more meds for the troops

Got the call yesterday about mama's stool sample. She has coccidia. (intracellular parasites) So, babies most likely have it too. Mama's pretty ticked at me already, what with the clavamox for her upper respiratory infection. Oh well, we will get her all fixed up and healthy, then we will work even harder on the socialization issue.
Other than that, everyone is gaining weight, and just as important in my book, they are all VERY good at using the litter box. I am so happy about that. : )



Greer looking very cute


Gwen using my leg as a scratching post


Gibby thinks it's time to weigh in again


A little down time

all's well...

Everything seems to be going smoothly. (I always hate to say anything like that, lest I jinx it!) all 3 kittens are very active and seem to be enjoying the new freedom of having a room to play in, instead of a little cage. Mama seems to be getting more use to me, cowering, but letting me pet her. She has never been hissy, just scared. We seemed to be making progress...and then came the antibiotics.



She was NOT happy about getting Clavamox. Still no hissing, but trying oh so hard to get away! Having to get it twice a day for the next 7-10 days is goingtobe a setback for sure, but she is so congested. I think she is already feeling better after just one dose. I tried to get a weight on her yesterday so I could make sure I was giving her the correct dose, but all I have is a kitten size scale. I think I got a fairly accurate reading, even with the squirming. I know she is small, but I was surprised at just how little she is. 5lbs! She is a tiny girl, barely more than a kitten herself.



Gibby has a bit of a food face. Need to clean him up.


I am starting to be able to tell the itty bitties apart without looking for the "markers" I was using. Gwen is the chirper, and is more black than the other two. Greer has the blue collar, but she has silver tips on the hair on her legs. Gibby is a boy, and I used to look for his little wet butt, (which seems to be getting better, less runny poop) but now I see his tail is sort of squared off at the tip, unlike the girls.




Note the squared off tail.


I guess it's time to piss mama cat off again, with medication. I hope she forgives me.