weight loss

If it was me losing weight, it would be a good thing. Unfortunately, it's Nadine.

Yesterday was a crazy day for me, and I didn't get to spend the time I wanted to with the itty bitties. I fed them in the morning, cleaned the boxes, and left the house. Back in at 1, fed, cleaned, and out again until about 9. I was beat. I fed, cleaned boxes and took only a short look around, to make sure everyone was ok, and I went off to bed. I didn't notice anything obvious going on.



Jet meets Buck



Nadine watches the fan

Tonight I weighed in, and all was fine, until I got to Norton. He was the same weight he was on Tuesday. Then I was shocked when I weighed Nadine. She was at 1.5 3/8 oz on Tuesday, and had dropped to 1.2 oz tonight. I picked her up, and noticed she had that sort of limp feel of a kitten that hasn't been eating. Kittens bellies are almost always full, and taught. Not Nadine. I checked for dehydration, by pulling the skin up on the back of her neck, and watching to see if it snapped back, or if it stayed pinched for a few seconds after letting go. Seemed ok. Checked her gums to see if they looked dry or white. Looked OK, but I gave her 3ml of subQ fluids anyway, to be safe. Dabbed some Nutrical on her nose, so she could get some calories in her, and "primed" her with some water reduced Avoderm canned food by squirting some in her mouth with a syringe. I sat her down in front of the food, and she did eat some. Not much, but some. I will see how she is in the morning, weigh her again, and see if I can get her seen by a vet.



Nadine still has the energy to get a little play time in



Niles and Norton play in the basket of clean towels



Ebony on the condo

Everyone else seems OK. After dinner, Ebony immediately climbed to her favorite spot on my shoulder. Jet and Norton played, and so did Niles. Nadine even played for a little while. I hope she is better tomorrow.

New game

They learned something new! Charging the door as soon as it opens, and crying like someone is squeezing them when they want attention! I am having a hard time getting work done when I have to go check on them every 10 minutes to make sure they haven't gotten themselves into some king of pickle! Talk about the kittens that cried wolf!



Niles nibbles



Ebony in the hammock



Norton & Jet mix it up



Nadine has a chewing problem!


Norton plays with the "expensive" toy!


They do love to play. And they love attention. I picked up Nadine and put her on my knee while I was sitting cross legged in the room. Next thing I knew, she was asleep. They like to sleep on you. In that way they are like all the other litters.

They get their last dose of antibiotics tonight. Hopefully no more sneezing.

Monday Funday

We got through the weekend in Cat-town with no big problems. Seems Ebony has some liquid stool problems, but she continues to gain weight, so I will continue to watch her closely, and give her some of the kaopectate (sp?) I got for Robyn last go round. It already seems to be a bit better than when she first got here, and no one else is having the same issue.



I am seeing more personality now, but all 5 of them are pretty darn sweet! Ebony has become my favorite. She was the first to climb up my back and make herself at home on my shoulder. She is content to sit up there and watch the others play. She will mix it up with them, too, but she loves to sit up high. She also likes to climb on my face!



They all seem to like the hammocks in their room too. There is one I tied to the chair, and one on the kitty condo, and they all seem to like to crash there.





Jet is a very appropriate name for the little black and white. (turns out Jet is a girl, even though she has a blue collar) She is always jetting around the room. She has also already started trying to dart out the door whenever it opens. She is non-stop. Here she is making sure I fill out the daily log correctly, and then spazzing out on one of the kitty beds.



Nadine is the most photogenic of all in this group. She is just beautiful, and it seems like she knows it!



Niles is one that loves the hammock. I don't think there has been I time yet when I have gone into the room at naptime, that he has not been in one of them. He likes to wrestle with my shoe string too.



Norton likes to play the "cuteness card." He will pull it out at any given opportunity. It never fails to get his lots of kisses!



And then there is dinner time. This tends to look the same for all the litters!

more is more

I got 5 new itty bitties today.

They are a little shy, but that won't last long. They all weigh around a pound, so that should put them at about 4 weeks. They do look little compared to the last batch that went back last week.

There are 5 of them, 3 from one litter, and 2 from another. We will most likely change some names, but for now we have Norton, the orange tabby, Nadine, the tortoise shell, Niles the black kitten. The other 2 from a separate litter are Jet, the black & white, and Ebony, yes, another black kitten.

Although they were all a little timid when they came out of the crate, they got used to their new freedom very quickly. At the shelter they were in small cages, without much room to play. After about 10 or 15 minutes, the elephants were romping hard!



Jet is the crazy of this bunch. He ran through the water bowl about 3 times while I was sitting in there with them. Not too shy, and was ok with being held, and getting kisses practice.



Norton is very cute. He will be adopted easily. Orange tabbies are popular. He is a little shy, but gave a ready purr when I picked him up. He has sort of stayed in the far corner, climbing on a stack of towels, and onto a paper box.



Nadine (tortellini) was the most scared when she arrived, but is also coming along fine, purring when picked up.



Niles is the sweetest of the bunch so far. He loves to be in the lap already! We played chase, with my hand. He tried to climb up in my lap multiple times.



Ebony is a little shy. She is also a little on the wild side, willing to give Jet a run for his money, but she stayed out of the water bowl!


They all seem healthy, but did come with Clavamox. They are all going to be on it, and hopefully kick out any URI they might have picked up in isolation.

empty nest

I was expecting to pick up some more itty bitties yesterday, but they have not contacted me yet. I best call them, in case they are just overwhelmed, and have not had a chance. I wan to get some little ones out of the isolation room. They are overflowing, and if I can snag a few out of there, I am happy to do it.

In the mean time, I will post a few photos of Bentley and some friends from vacation.

gone...

Back from vacation today, just in time to take the black cats back to the shelter for tomorrow's spay & neuter. Everyone was well past 2 and a half lbs, and all were bright eyed and healthy.



Greer



Mama

Mama came out for some skritchy scratches, and the babies looked huge to me. I let them run a bit, then loaded them up and took them over. I tried to get some final photos of all of them, but Gwen kept hiding behind mama, or running past me before I could get one. Got a good one of mama though, which is good. Maybe she is a little less shy.



Gibby

They are all very sweet, and I hope they get adopted quickly...but there are a lot of kittens. I took a look at the website yesterday from the beach, and I saw Sully was still there! I can't believe it! He is one of the prettiest kittens we ever had! I found out he was in sick bay for a while with a URI, but I gotta tell you, if you want a great cat, go get him quick! He is a great little guy, and he is not afraid of anything. Just ignore the picture on the website. It is terrible!

Tomorrow I go pick up 5 or 6 more. Seems they have over 40 kittens in need of foster care, and no homes to send them too. : (
If you have a little room in your home, and are interested in fostering, let me know and I will put you in touch with someone who can get you started. It really is a great feeling when you get them all grown up, and healthy enough to be adopted.

movin' on up

All is well with the itty bitties today. Everyone is growing, and happy. Mama is still very shy, but loves to be stroked, and scratched under her chin. I wish I could spend longer amounts of time with her. She is probably ready to go back, but I was there today (the shelter) and there are SO many cats and kittens, I am worried she will be over looked. She is better off here.

We are heading off to vacation for a week, but we have a house sitter that will be here taking care of our cats, and the itty bitties. She will be fine, and this crew has been pretty easy. (I say again at the risk of jinxing myself). I am sure everyone will be close to weight if not already there. Right now they are all over 2 lbs, and growing steady.

Bentley will be with us, so the resident cats will get a break too.



Greer catches some air!



Gibby shows his little soft underbelly

These 3 photos were snapped rapid fire, and are here in order. I have no idea what is up with that middle photo. That Gwen is a nut!











The girls play hide and seek with Buck



Gibby gets the best of the shower curtain



Gibby looks like he is scowling as he exits the bathroom.