Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Where are the boys??


No pictures, you'll just have to imagine it

I walked into the kitten room this morning and Mom was out as was Eliza and surprise surprise Arina.  I looked and looked and couldn't find the boys ANYWHERE! (well looked and looked entailed looking in front of me then turning around.. I mean I didn't actually search) so I made a mental note who was not out for lovin and realized it was all of the boys.  I started calling "Where are the boys?!?"  and Fedele popped up out of the laundry basket.  While I was givin lovins to him Ezra started rubbing against my ankle.  Nario was on the cat bed that is under the couch (the one he is jumping out of in that wonderful action shot) he really likes it there.  I thought about pulling it out from under the couch, but I think he really prefers it right where it is so I keep leaving it there.

See, I over fed them last night (gave them four cans instead of three) so they weren't hungry this morning.  Point taken, if I want an outpouring of love and adoration I need hungry kittens!

Arina


She is still way too shy for my liking.  I can walk up to her and pat her or pick her up, but you can tell she prefers that I not.  A while back I bought some Spirit Essences to help the fosters and another to help Ollie while he was transitioning from Alpha to hospice.  I went and dug that out and realized it was the other product I was thinking of purchasing to help kittens transition out of being feral/fearful called Safe Space.  Unfortunately it has a pretty strong alcohol taste, so giving it directly seems a little counter to the goal.  So I have been spraying it on my hands then lightly rubbing it over her fur and then her paw pads and her temples and ears.  More often then not I believe I see a very noticeable difference in how she reacts to me.  It doesn't make her willing to jump up on my lap and expose her belly, but she doesn't cower as much and seems a little more comfortable in her fur.  Now I wish I had Scaredy Cat too.. Or maybe even Trauma-Free as  I would imagine that the process of getting into foster care can be pretty traumatic to some kittens..

I've had nothing but positive results with Spirit Essences.  The kitties seem to react a little more obviously to them then Rescue Remedy and other Bach Flower Essences (which helped Eli all those years ago)

Monday, July 30, 2012

Eliza and Ezra


Eliza's cute tongue
Checking out my lap all on her own
Sniff Sniff

Belly Time
Either "Hello" or "oh if I must"
Ezra Tongue
Seriously, how does he see anything through all those whiskers??


beauty shot #1
Look at those eyes, that nose.. isn't she beautiful?

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Caturday - Kitten edition



Free Sample of Holistic Select


The other day I saw a sample giveaway from Holistic Select.  As an advocate for a species appropriate diet, it seems wrong for me to have dry in the house at all, but as an owner of seven (previously eight) cats several of which are omegas so if they have to compete for treats they aren't going to get any.  They prefer to back down and walk way then reaching out (even when directly offered).  So as a counter to that I take a handful of dry food and toss it on the floor for The Crew to 'clean up'.  This works well for all involved.. well except me because I don't much like the idea, but when I realize I eat cookies and other deserts full of sugar I find that to be a way to justify it.  I try to keep my eye out for foods with the most animal based protein in it.

I liked the idea that this had active probiotics and digestive enzymes in it.  (OK, I liked that it was free too) and thought I'd give it a try.  This is what came in the mail.
As you can see Jack, Muffin and Fleurp really wanted it.
wait for it.. 3..2..1..
it was all gobbled down quite promptly.

Looking at the ingredients of the food, it looks more like something I would be eating and not something I would pick for my cats.  Too many fruits on their website for my liking as well.  I also find the addition of cinnamon and peppermint to be interesting as I would never purposely feed those to my cats.

Not a bad addition to the rotation of goodies as they seemed to really enjoy it, but I'm not sure I would buy it for them.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

a few random pictures


Ariana
Nario photobombing
Fedele
Nario
Ariana would still very much prefer it if I just left her alone.  Once I have hands on her she tends to relax, especially when I hit all the right spots with the kitten massage. Last night I rubbed her back leg to get the reflex going and finally I hit the right spot and she splayed her toes and started purring pretty hard.  Made me smile.

Fedele is eating well and ended up eating almost an entire jar of baby food.  I did get Ariana to give it a try and she liked it well enough to stand on my foot, but not enough to fight anyone off for it.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The worst has passed


Well to go look at them all now you'd not know they suffered from anything worse then a case of the sniffles.  Occasionally there is a horking cough type noise, and there are a few more sneezes then I'd like, and everyone has snotty noses, but the mayhem that was in the kitten room was pretty normal.

Nario still isn't completely himself.  Not that anyone who didn't know him prior to last night would notice.  When Eliza showed up on the couch and enticed him to wrestle he took her paws down.  Probably could have done so with a paw or two tied behind his back.  Ezra showed up when Eliza was crying "UNCLE ALREADY!! Geeze" but he just sat down a foot or two away. Not quite sure why he showed up if he wasn't going to help.  I eventually went and broke things up, and Nario then started with Ezra.  I'm not exactly sure he wasn't actually trying to win and not just playing... but I "saved" Ezra.

now if we can just get that snot to go away..

Nario - the next morning


as we left things, he had a fever of 105 but he was nursing off his mom so I went to bed.  I slept hard, and woke up at 7, all be it with some serious reservations about joining the waking world.  When I realized it was 7 I had to force myself out of bed and head down to check on the kittens.  Part of me hoped that it was all better and I didn't have to deal with any of it, but I figured that wasn't going to happen.

I got down there and Nario was in the cat bed in the sleeping position but eyes open looking around.. he lifted his head to me and seemed brighter then last night so I opened up the cage and let Ezra and Eliza run.  Nario watched them run around so I got out my thermometer and he was much less willing to get his temp taken this morning (good sign) and it only went up to 103.5.  So a wonderful improvement, but still something that should be seen, so I was about to pack him and his brother up (who was also doing a hard wheezing cough) when Fiorella decided to nurse him.. 

I couldn't interrupt that!

So I sat there and watched the news with a mother and a kitten nursing on my lap.   Fedele decided to join them and Fiorella was beside herself wanting attention and was trying to wiggle around to get me to pat her.  Well my lap is just not all that big and soon she was about to fall off it onto the floor, so I'm attempting to pat her, hold her and move her back into a position where everyone isn't going to fall.. :) 


Finally she was perturbed that I was paying attention to something other then her (because keeping her from falling wasn't actually attention TO her) and left, so I scooped up the boys who were wondering what just happened and plopped them into a carrier and off I went.


The shelter tech asked me what I wanted to do with them, if I wanted to leave them or bring them home.  I explained what was going on and with the improvement I had seen I was willing to do either.  She looked them over briefly and decided that some zithromax would be a good idea and sent them home.


Nario is not 'out of the woods' but it looks like he is on the right path and I've got fingers crossed he'll be much improved by the time I get home from work today.


Thank you all for keeping him in your thoughts.



Wordless Wednesday - Snack Time


These images were taken on the weekend..

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

update


I was surprised how easily I found the paperwork.  I gave the shelter manager a call and she said bring him in first thing in the AM.

Of course I would have preferred she say "oh take him right to the e-clinic" (even though I am so NOT a fan of the e-clinic from my few experiences with them) but I understand the wait.  My husband said we could take him and pay if I felt the need, so I went back down to spend some time with him.  He's definitely running hot, and he is moving as little as possible.

He didn't want me to poke and prod him any more, and he had some distrust of me.  Once he understood I wasn't going to stick anything else in his input slot (food) or his output slot (temperature) he came over and snuggled up to me (awwwwww).  I got him into my lap (which was a mistake, as it is very late at night and he's not all that interested in moving) and he snuggled down and seemed to go to sleep.

Well my husband gave in to fatigue and went to bed.  I re positioned myself and got comfortable and was considering just falling asleep for the night when Fiorella finally decided to let his siblings nurse and he jumped down and started to suckle.  

I'm not sure it did him a lot of good because he couldn't seem to latch on.  He'd suckle one nipple and then move to another... but seeing him willing to eat made it easier to leave and go to bed (and update you)



that and the fact that he wasn't on my lap any more made it SO much easier.. 

105.0


  He's got a fever of 105. 0    "The web" says anything over 105 is very serious..

Guess it is time to dig out my fostering manual and see what they say to do.  Before this I was friends with the foster coordinator and I just called her at home, but she's not working there any more (and don't I miss her there terribly)  

just where is that paperwork??

Nario


Nario is one very sick little kitten.  He had been the healthiest and most outgoing of the bunch.  We have had some sneezing going on, but not him; even this morning he was being his goofy energetic self.  Then we had some snot bubbles and I wrote to the shelter and told them (I realized when I got home from work that no one answered me so I'll have to go in tomorrow to get something) when I went to check on them he was in the box sleeping.  I let Eliza and Ezra out to run for a few minutes and when I went to put them back Nario was still in the box.

I put my hand on his ears and they felt cold - not that means a whole heck of a lot as he was sleeping - and then I put my hand on his little body and I couldn't tell if he was purring or shivering.  I picked him up and he did neither.

I fed them and everyone ate but Nario.  I put a little in his mouth and he ate that and almost seemed interested but then turned around and walked away.  I tried offering him some baby food, and no go.

Unfortunately I don't seem to have a thermometer in the kitten room (it's probably hiding out with the 100 or so pairs of nail trimmers that have gone missing in that room too), so I'm off to get one (and a few other things)    

Not sure if I'll get another chance to update you before the AM, but I'll let you know how it goes

Bristol Cats Study


Are you in the UK and have you adopted a kitten recently?  Know anyone who has?  Would you like to participate in an ongoing study on cat behavior and how it relates to health??   (too bad they aren't including the US on this one)

Check out the Bristol Cats Study


We would like to know about your kitten!
Thank you for your interest in our exciting new study of kittens.  This webpage is designed to tell you more about the ‘Bristol Cats’ study…..

‘Bristol Cats’ will be the cat-equivalent of the ‘Children of the 90’s’ study that is run by colleagues at the University of Bristol.  (The ‘Children of the 90’s’ study has collected information relating to children born in the Bristol region in the early 1990’s.  The results of this study have identified ways to help prevent many important conditions, such as cot death).
Why is the ‘Bristol Cats’ study being carried out?
Because we don’t know much about the causes of common behaviour patterns and diseases of cats.
Questionnaires that are completed by kitten owners will give us very valuable data.  We can look to see to what extent certain characteristics (e.g. aggression towards people) or conditions (e.g. obesity) are associated with the cat’s management (e.g. diet, lifestyle) and other factors (e.g. breed).
The results from this study can be used to help improve the health and welfare of cats in the future, in the same way that the “children of the 90’s” study has helped our knowledge of childhood diseases.

Eliza Eliza Eliza


Hello, whatcha doin?
What's over there??
What's Over here???
EZRA!!!
What?  goodness would you let us out of the cage already??
Bonus almost belly shot of Ezra..

A word of warning



Kitties, let me tell you...

This is an awesome place to sit..
but for some reason she kept trying to pick me up and  'empty' me into a garbage bag


yes, he is a complete and utter goof ball.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Mixing kittens


Eliza and Ezra's cage really needed a good cleaning, and the kittens all really wanted to play together, so for a few minutes they did.
Must remember that my flip camera has sound and turn the TV off while recording.  Feel free to turn the volume down real low so you don't have to deal with it.

Edited: oh great, the edited video didn't make it on youtube, it should have, but it didn't.  so you have to listen to me tell Fiorella to get out of Eliza and Ezra's box.. 

Ezra & Ollie


This is Ezra
When I first put hands on Ezra, I couldn't get over how much he reminded me of Ollie.
This is Ollie
My husband finally met Ezra this weekend and he too commented on how much Ezra reminded him of Ollie. Ollie was an incredibly grumpy cat, but he was a very outgoing friendly kitten (puberty hit him hard as we didn't neuter him till 6 months per the vet's recommendation - which is yet another reason why I believe in pediatric neutering)

Ezra is all tense like adult Ollie was.  He's got a black spot on his white toes like Ollie had.  Ezra has a white belly unlike Ollie though.  He's also got a bit of white on his lip like Ollie, but he is missing the 'dribble' down the neck to his white bib that Ollie had.

So there are some distinct differences.  But after my husband mentioned the similarity I couldn't help but think about Ollie 'coming back'

Many people believe their beloved pets come back to them again.  I find that to be a very interesting idea, and I do like the idea of us getting to work at different issues until we get them right, but I can't really get my brain around it.  But then there is a lot I can't get my brain around, and I'm OK with that.

So lets just go with this is a possibility.  I know we all come at this from different religious and philosophical perspectives.. This isn't intended to be a study, just an explanation as to why I was walking around the house holding a kitten and got lightly leaky eyes last night.

So most of me KNOWS this is NOT Ollie.  But part of me couldn't help but play with the possibility that it was an option.  Wouldn't it be fun if, wouldn't it be cool if sort of thinking.  Ezra was having some trust issues so I was walking him around the house holding him close.  I decided to show him to some of the resident kitties.  I am guessing The Crew has come to accept this is part of life now as they no longer hiss when I show them kittens; they get to look and whiff but not touch.    Ezra had more then enough after the third kitty and started hissing when I would introduce them...

which led me back to the whole reincarnation thing.  If this WAS Ollie, how confused and ticked off he would be to be so much smaller then his family.  I could just picture Ollie the kitten trying to take over his old place in The Crew and trying to be Alpha again - and trying to jump up on top of the fridge again.  If it was Ollie would The Crew recognize him and give the kitten Ollie's respect or would they put him in his place for being the youngest and the newest..

and yes, at some point my head exploded from the logic paradox.

It was a fun little mental exercise to play 'what ifs'  and I thought you might enjoy the mental image of Big Ol Grumpy Alpha Ollie coming back as a kitten.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...