Kittens at the shelter

So I mentioned I went in on Friday and I met the "kids" at the shelter after they got neutered.  I was so happy to see them and it seemed they were happy to see me.  The woman who had Eliza and Ezra before me said they reacted badly to her, but they were very open and friendly with me... so I tend to believe they were happy to see me.  I think Ezra was a little hung over from the surgery..

Then the staff put them back into their cage..

Epitome of Preoccupootion

I got way too many photos like that last one.  I had my little point and shoot with me.  I am not a fan of the quality of photos with it, but I didn't want to bring my great big camera to Topeka so this ended up in my purse and hasn't been taken out yet.  I also met these kitties out in the lobby.  They are labeled as barn cats, but the longer they sit there the more likely it will be they will trust people and become house cats.  They are apparently very smart..

Learning to unlock the door

Your next kitty WILL come from a shelter.
You will come to the shelter and pat me.
You will give me real live dead shrimps
HypnoKitty has spoken.

Nario and Fedele.

Well I gave a water only bath to my new little black kitten with the stubby tail to get rid of the flea dander on him, and while doing so I saw a single flea run across his chest.  Considering all the debris on him, one isn't bad.  I mean seriously, look at the bath water..

Unfortunately the shelter didn't have anything additional for them.  They were given revolution two days ago.  The capstar there is the dog size and to dose a kitten they are looking at dust and that isn't something they wanted to do.  At this point I can go out and try to find cat capstar or hope the revolution takes care of that last remaining live flea before anything else happens.  I'm going with the later and keeping a good eye on them.  The last thing I want is The Crew to get fleas again.

While I was there I saw Fedele and Nario out being held.  A really nice couple was there who wanted two boy kitties.  All the other kitties up for adoption were girls so they had gone outback and brought them out to be seen.  They were smitten and ended up adopting them.  After all these years I have started having a harder and harder time meeting the people who adopt my kittens because I prefer to imagine the homes they went in instead of knowing the reality.  I know all too well that people have different views on how to care for cats and while I personally don't think they are right, I've come to accept the fact that just because they are what I would call ideal doesn't make them wrong or bad cat owners.   But I do like to believe they are adopted by good owners and are loved, and that is much much easier if I don't know the particulars.

Fortunately this couple was pretty much all I could hope to ask for in adopters.  A nice well established couple, who younger kids but not so young they won't understand the proper treatment of kitties.  (Nario is going to LOVE them) She has had several cats who lived to 18 years of age.  He wants to build cat trees for the kitties.. (I mean seriously, could it get much better??) Indoor only, was open to the fact that cats are carnivores, going to set them up in one room to help them get settled into the house.. and she promised to send pictures!!

and oddly enough they live in the town my mom works in, so they have met and know her! lol.  talk about your small world.

I am assuming she is reading this.. to see all the photos I have posted of "Martin or Marty" and "Jack" click here

all that and...

What's good for Fedele is good for Nario

all that...

So it is take your kittens to work day (or as my co-workers like to call it Kitten Friday) since Arina really needed it.. and apparently so did Eliza and Ezra because I haven't seen hide nor hair of either of them since we got here - I'll go dig them out in a minute and we'll leave probably 20-30 minutes later since Friday is a short day.

Well Fedele is Basking in the glow of having someone else tell him he's awesome and has been hanging out with my boss all morning (I've got a great photo of him sleeping in her chair basically hugging her behind)

Anyway, she's in her office and I'm out here and I just got an email with no subject line, no message just an attachment..

Yes, I am all that AND a bag of chips!

They are going back to the shelter pretty quickly in preparation for my trip.  They seemed to be doing better this morning, so there is a chance they might just be neutered and sent to their forever homes.  Not really sure.  But where ever they end up, they will have gotten the best head start I can provide.

SunPuddle Wrestling

Sorry for the delay in the post.  I was waiting for my gif maker to stitch this together and after several futile attempts I gave up.  it is currently still working on it, but it has been for almost an hour - and in the mean time I went to PhotoBucket, uploaded the images and made a slide show..


This was a seriously slow motion wrestle match, and I think the slide show does it justice! :)

I did make this gif..

Arina

it is those moments..

last night I sat in the kitten room and was playing with the track ball.  Fedele came right over and went nuts for it.  He would stop every once in a while and lay on the track.  I would say no parking on the track and roll him off and spin the ball again and he'd be on it having a blast.

Well Arina decided she wanted to get that ball OUT of the track and came over and when ever she got her paws on it she would try to grab and pull.  It was so cute.  She would occasionally 'park on the track' too and I'd have to roll her off as well.  She let me (and didn't run away) and we went back to playing.  When I wore them both out she let me pat her for a bit then realizing I was doing it she scooted under the couch.  I'm not quite sure why as she was clearly enjoying it - even purring.  I can't help but wonder if she isn't easily over stimulated in a 'stimulation aggression' sort of way - but with out the aggression.  I know she doesn't much like her head and whiskers touched (except during kitty massage when she is putty in my hands)

anyway, after running under the couch that I was sitting in front of, she then decided to attack my tushie.  It was the funniest idea I'd even considered since 10 minutes earlier with Nario decided hew as going to wrestle with my head.

but to have her voluntarily touch me.. that was huge.

After I gave her a great big dose of kitty massage last night, I swear every last little bit of stress left that kitten for a few minutes.  I could have molded her like putty.  She purred, she closed her eyes, she laid in my hands.. I kissed her head and her belly.. she purred more..   I also realized (and I can't believe it took me so long) that she is so totally a "bush dweller" and really likes having the tube across the room to cross it.  Will have to make note of that for her adoption info.

Then this morning while I was sitting next to the food bowls after dishing out food she and Fedele hadn't shown up to eat.  I looked around for them, he was up in the laundry basket sleeping.  She was playing coy under the couch.  I called her to eat then 'ignored' her, he worked her way from the couch to the open carrier next to the couch, then she worked her way to my leg and made motions like she was going to climb up into my lap but her mom showed up first and was being a pest (that girl LOVES her head rubs).  But again, she voluntarily touched me..   it made me smile.

I quickly picked her up and cooed over her and gave her a spritz of "safe spaces" and then picked up Fedele and brought them both to the food dishes..

then I quickly made my escape because if I sat and contemplated giving her another good dose of kitty massage I might not have made it into work..

Orange you glad it's Monday?

I just love how they sound like little piggies in the blanket

Night night sweet boy!

OK then..

I could not figure out why the orange kittens were just not getting over their URI.   I've been seeing URI all over the net in other foster homes and I just figured they had a bad strain of it.

Well today while giving the kitten massage, I looked down and saw a tape worm segment.  Oh how I hate parasites.. I grabbed a Q-tip (Romeo would be proud) and removed it from the kitten and ran off to the shelter to get some medication.

So this will kill the tape worms - I'm sure they all have them - and hopefully allow them to heal up right quick since I'm going to have to give them all back at the end of this week because I am going to the Hills Media Tour of their factory in Kansas next week and DH said he would much prefer not having to take care of fosters as well as our seven by himself.

Kind of a shame too because when I was at the shelter I saw two mommas with babies, one with four NEWLY born kittens (we removed the birthing bedding while I was there) and one with two kittens and one of them looked like a baby polar bear (it looks like it might be a flame point when it grows up) and his little sister who was sickly and was breathing hard.  Oh well, I'm sure they will be fine and there will be other kittens when I get back.

I also met a really cute little kitten that was up for adoption named "Apple" she reminded me of Fleurp, and I started calling her Fleurp's little sister.  Since Fleurp came into the shelter alone, her mom very well could be still out there making kittens.

She actually reminds me also of one of the women who I know through the shelter, they have the same eye shape.. :)  Anyway, this cutie conned me into taking her out of the cage to 'cuddle'.  Of course her version of cuddling was 'you hold me while I look at the top of the cage and see if it will support my weight"  she's a little con-artist this one! When I put her back in the cage she decided to play with the kitty in the cage next to her.

I don't think I've had such a strong desire to adopt a cat in a while... but alas I left with out her.



as a side note, I was getting overwhelmed with spam comments, so I've turned off anonymous commenting.   Hopefully that will be enough for the spammers to lose interest in my little blog.  I hate this, because I really like the ability for people to comment who haven't a blog

Nario

Nario is an absolute goofball that loves the camera and attention.  He likes getting on my back when I lay on the ground and sitting on my shoulder when ever possible, that is when he's not wrestling or running around.  His eyes also look like beautiful stones.. I don't think I did nearly good enough job capturing them - but just look at them ears..

Fedele

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)

Caturday - Kitten edition

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.

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..

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??