Monday, August 31, 2009

Its official


The orphans have gone on to their new home.

I brought them into work with me this morning - not having fed them, and man they were terrors. I always liken fosters who reach that adoptable stage as two yr olds at a birthday party, and no set exemplified that more then these guys.. (probably shouldn't say that as their new owners do have the address to this blog :D)

They were sweet, and they are adorable, and now they are gone.

That leaves me with just Skippy and Lula and her brood (just.. ha ha ha)

Saturday, August 29, 2009

picts


The kittens are growing like weeds. The boys have lost their cords and are fat and cubby. The girl still has hers, and is smaller and petite compared to them.
KITTEN BELLY!!
Then they were screaming and Lula came to the rescue.
When I went upstairs Fleurp was being adorably cute and wanted her photo taken.
I got up this morning and saw this, it was just too cute and had to share. Jack (gray) Ollie (black & white) and Muffin (white and gray)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Skippy


Well the new drug combination is working wonders. He still sneezes a little, but you can't hear him breathe anymore. He HATES being pilled, and was quite adament about it this morning and spit it out twice. Fortunately I am craftier than he is and it eventually went down.

I so wish I could keep him.. but since that is not possible, I wish for the best possible home for him. Someone with gold plated kitty bowls and feather kitty beds..

Orphans at the vet


Oliver, Anne and Annie are at the vet to be neutered..

they were a little mad at me this morning because I forgot about the appointment until I was about to put the food down for them to eat.. very mean of me to offer food and then snatch it away before they could get any.

Lula will be glad when they are gone, she is sick of being locked up.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

And still three this morning


I guess there were only three in there. How on earth do some mothers give birth to six!! I think Lula would have exploded if there were any more in there.

Her belly is still quite distended but there doesn't seem to be anyone else in there.

She is also quite friendly towards the orphans now.. its adorable.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

and a brother and sister make three


Well after I stopped home for lunch, Lula popped out two more kittens. A little girl and then another boy. I can tell because of the various state of dampness. The original boy was all dry and fluffy, the girl slightly damp, the boy quite damp and his cord hadn't dried up at all.

I can't tell if Lula has any more or not. I felt up her abdomen, and I don't feel another one in there, but considering the state of the her belly prior to these deliveries and the state of her belly now, I wouldn't be shocked if a few more show up.

Here are the three of them. If you imagine they are a triangle the first boy is on the top left, the second boy top right and the girl is at the bottom.


Oliver was a little bothered that there was attention being given and he wasn't getting any so he climbed up in my lap and asked for it :)

Lula, labor and kittenage


Last night Lula was very restless and could not be comforted. I had moved her up to the office that morning after a feeling that the labor would go badly if the orphans were to get involved. She complained loudly when I got home from work and so I went in and I spent a great deal of time massaging her belly, but she kept getting up and wandering around, then meowing at me because I wasn't rubbing her belly :)

I gave up at around 10 and went to bed. at 3:30 she woke me up crying, so I took her into the sun room and set her up in her box and proceeded to massage her belly as much as she would let me. She had some spotting, and some very active labor, but produced nothing. Finally at 5 I had to go back to bed so I set her back up in the kitten room cage and went to bed.


at 8:30 she still hadn't produced any kittens and no longer seemed to be in labor. She ate some food, and proceeded to wander around the kitten room for a few minutes while I tried to check if she was in labor or not. I figured if she was that active that she must be ok and left.




Since Skippy had to go to the vet today, I knew I would be running home at noon. I just checked in on her, and we have one kitten and still one very large belly. So I guess things are going well - if albeit a little slowly.







and this was the sceene outside of the kitten room.. Guess my cats weren't amused at my sudden appearance and not paying any attention to them.

Skippy update


Well his week of medication is up, and he still sounds horrible, and isn't eating very well, so he went back to the shelter to get a recheck with a vet.

I just went and got him, and now he's producing snot in his nose.. :(

They put him back on Zithromax and added Baytril.

*crosses fingers this clears him up soon*

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I'm so sorry Skippy!!


This poor little boy is breaking my heart. Still kills me that ANYONE could give him up for any reason.. stupid people.

He looks fine. His eyes are clear, his nose is clear, but he's still quite congested. He is nibbling food on his own, but not much. He hates it when I force feed him, and even though he lets me, he has this look like "how could you??" which is the same look I get when I medicate him. You should have seen the look when I tried to give him fluids..

He's peed several times since being back, but only had a very small amount of stool pass sometime last night - and that is because I force fed him the 40ccs yesterday. I think he ate some on his own after that, so I have only given him little bits after that - mostly to get the lysine in his system.

Last night I took him out of the bathroom for some cuddle time, and walked down the hall into the great room. Our great room consists of the kitchen on one side of the hall, the dinning area on the other, and opposite that is the living area. In the living area there is a ceiling fan and it was running, and it completely freaked Skippy out I'm not sure why, all I could think of was what did they do to him? he was such a confident boy when he was down in the kitten room - but then again I don't think I ran the ceiling fan before. But he also freaked at the microwave being turned on and going off, and the opening of the patio door (DH was grilling) I felt so bad, so I took him to the bedroom and we spent quite a bit of cuddle time there. After he had settled I turned that ceiling fan on and talked to him softly while it ran. I don't think he trusted it not to fall on him, but he wasn't quite as freaked out as before. After a while he wanted to get down, so we locked the crew out of the bedroom and let him explore. He had a lot of fun climbing up and down their kitty tree, and pouncing on their kitty toys. After a while he decided he wanted to cuddle again, so he crawled back up on me and we watched a little TV together.

This morning we had some cuddle time, then I went and took care of all the other creatures in my house, and then went back to medicate him - side note I so need to trim his nails!! I tried to force him to eat, but he ended up with a lot of it on his bib, so I gave up. I'll work a little harder on it this evening when I have a little more time - that is if he's not eating on his own.

I decided to give the fluids one more shot. I ran to the shelter yesterday afternoon and got two 10cc syringes filled with subq fluids to give him - unfortunately they forgot to give me a needle. I had one left over from another time, but it was an 18 gauge needle - for a kitten that is pretty much like a cannon. I was able to give him 5ccs of fluids yesterday when I got home, but his reaction to the needle was pretty excessive (well not excessive for what it was, but it got to the point where I felt getting more in him was not worth his trauma)

There was about 4ccs of fluid left in the syringe, so I gave it one more shot this morning - holding him very close to me and letting him listen to my heart beat which he loves. I was able to get them in him with out a reaction - which was good for both of us.

I just hope the meds and the love start kicking in soon and he starts eating well on his own right quick.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Guess who's back!


Apparently Skippy was returned on Thursday. His adopted family noticed he was sick, and brought him to the vet. The diagnosis of possible pnemonia was too much for them to handle and he came back.

This bothers me in a different way than you might think. I'm glad they returned him, but they adopted him KNOWING full well that he could have medical issues with the UTI. I know they knew because I told them!!!

I'm just glad he's back. I wasn't thrilled with them due to their attitude and a few things they said / didn't say.

Personally I think Skippy was just being smart. He was breathing hard, and congested, but he isn't showing any outward signs of illness. I bet he's just fine and wanted to come back :)
Skippy Skippy

Friday, August 14, 2009

Kitten watch


Yesterday Lula wanted to have her belly massaged. Good sign. Last night she spent a bit of time grooming her vulva.. another good sign. she then came up and sat behind me on the couch, and I leaned my ear on her belly. She was purring pretty loudly, but I heard squishy noises which I took to mean her kittens were moving around, and then I felt a distict push against my ear. This is the first time I have felt a kitten move.

Very exciting.

Raw food study


I feed my crew raw food. I tried to find a low carb high protein canned food that wasn't break the bank expensive and didn't contain fruits and vegetables and didn't contain garlic, and I was left with little options, most of them bank breaking.

So I started making my own through the recipe at CatInfo.org and did that for several years, and then started buying commercial raw. I woud prefer to make my own, but I just don't have the stomach to grind up 50+lbs of chicken parts each month. (the curse of having seven cats)

Vets for the most part, are unsupportive of raw. But a new study might just change all that.

A girl can hope!

An ending for Benny



I have mentioned Miss Benny here several times since she went back to the shelter. Unfortuntely a home could not be found for her. Her medical situation has taken a turn for the worse - and while we could fight to make her healthy again, she would most likely be stuck at the shelter for the rest of her life.

The shelter decided that the humane thing was to end her life.

While I wish I could fix it, and how I sit here and wish I could do something, anything, I know the realities of limited finances and limited homes.

Benny never did like to share, and now she no longer will have to.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Kittens at work


Brought the kittens back in to work again. This was an interesting trip. Seems they forgot all about being here last time, as it took them a while to warm up again. But soon they had, and they could NOT be contained. Last time they spent the entire trip on my boss' desk, but this time they were running all over the office. Oliver even figured out he could use the cubical walls to climb up on a cabinet he wanted to get on. He is the only other one besides Skippy to realize that could be done. Skippy climbed the entire wall though and ran across the top of them ;)

Click photos for larger versions

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I left them in the carrier for a while since the boss was on a conference call to the home office (who would not appreciate the pitter patter of little kitten feet)
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They then spent some time wrestling on my boss' desk.. what is it that caught their attention?
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they then got some chicken from the property manager :)
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Then came the running and the mayhem, and since that doesn't photograph well there isn't any of that. But soon they decided to settle down. First on my boss' desk,
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Then on mine
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This photo shows you just how orange their little feet are from standing in their food for so many weeks
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Don't you just want to zerbert this kitten's neck?
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I think this is my favorite photo of the day
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and here is a great shot of Anne's eyes and how blue they still are
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Monday, August 10, 2009

You catch more flies with kittens than with honey


Just so you know :)

Being the dog days of summer, once again my foster room has been swarmed with flies. How they get in? I have no idea. Why they want to be in there? no clue really, unless they are smelling the deposits in the litter box and think kitten poop is the bee's knees? (do flies like bee's knees?)

so for the fun of it I brought down a paper plate with a little honey on it. Flies completely ignored it. However, the kittens LOVED stalking and pouncing on the flies. So.. kittens are a better fly catcher than honey.. albeit a bit unreliable, and their pouncing skills leave a LOT to be desired.

Last week I noticed a flea on one of my own cats. Muffin tends to get fleas on her face. Not sure why. Maybe I'm just more able to notice them on her since she's white. I played ignorant and hoped it was an only child until late last week I saw another one on her, and one on Anne. *rolls eyes*

So I went to the shelter and told them the kittens have fleas, and I was sent home with frontline. Enough to do the kits and four of my own kitties. I have enough to do the rest, I just haven't gotten around to it yet, because once I started dosing my own crew, half of them took off for hiding places yet unknown by Mom. I'll end up having to do one a day (hopefully) and if I'm smart I'll start with Eli, since if he figures out he's on the hitlist he will find his space ship and go home.

I also mentioned the odd reaction the orphans had when I dewormed them last week. They became quite pale and went off their food. I was concerned enough to force feed Annie, but by the time came around to bring them to anyone for a check up they were back to their perky selves. The manager was a little concerned by that, and so I didn't deworm them yesterday but gave them the flea meds instead. I'll deworm them probably tomorrow, since they are supposed to get it once a week for three weeks. I also weighed them, 1 lb 10 oz... so probably Labor day weekend adoption :)

Lula has yet to give birth. I ask the manager when she came into the shelter - so I would know when she went past her last possible due date. She came into the shelter on the 9th, so if she got pregnant that morning she wouldn't be due until Labor day. Labor day?? arrgh. I don't want to wait that long for kittens!! I don't feel any kitten movement - which is usually a sign that she's about ready to pop (because there is no room for them to move) but considering her history, I'm watching her like a hawk for ANY change in behavior or attitude. I'm so scared they are dead or are about to be. but then I still panic that (live) kittens might have died overnight too. Lets just say I'm overly cautious.. (you say paranoid like it is a bad thing)

Yesterday I spent extra time in the kitten room. Usually it is play, feed, clean and gone, but I had some free time and a book I was reading, so after cleaning I sat down on the couch and laid down to read. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Lula curled up (well as much as an obnoxiously pregnant cat can) on top of the sofa above me, Oliver sprawled out on my leg, Annie curled up in the crook of my knee, and Anne laid down on my arm, and spent way too much time gazing up at me as if to say, "You are the most wonderful thing, thank you" :) It was just too cute.
funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Monday, August 3, 2009

Lulu or is it Lula?


I think the name given to this kitty is Lulu, but I think I'm going to call her Lula, and if perchance any of her kittens make it, I'll name them after the Plum Series novels by Janet Evanovich
It is quite humorous to go to the kitten room now. Lula has no interest in the orphans, but Annie and even Anne think that she needs to be intimidated by their massive size. Oliver is ok with her, and doesn't pay her much mind.
This was Annie's more adventerous spirit. Most of the time she's back arched fur out. Lula couldn't care less. She likes exploring the room, using the scratching post and stretching her legs. I keep her in the cat condo while I'm not around to supervise, because I don't want her giving birth anywhere but in a contained area.

Gratuitous Kitten Shots:
Annie
Anne
Oliver

Sunday, August 2, 2009

The orphans were tested


and they came up negative. :) onward and upward for them.

And once again I went to the shelter I came home with a new kitty. Lula is a very pregnant cat who came into the shelter and got ill before they could spay her. They vaccinated her and gave her antibiotics, so the question of the health of the kittens is very much up in the air. *shrug* Hopefully they will be ok.
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