Thursday, December 30, 2010

Peter is a real kitten after all


last  night while I sat with them, Pete actually attacked my feet!!  This is quite a big step for him, and I am very pleased.

I took him to work yesterday for a few hours.  He was very overwhelmed and hid most of the time.  Tinsel was out and about enjoying the change of scenery.  It is amazing what an overwhelming trip can do for a kitten's confidence when they come home.  I guess all that scary makes the safety of being at home all that much more secure.

He still has a way to go, I'm not quite sure he's ready for the overwhelming onslaught of being adopted, but I am much less saddened by the idea of him going through it.

He does have a bit of something going on.  The other day I realized he had scabs on his "wrists".  It was on the top of his paw/foot area.  They were falling off, so I helped, and the skin underneath looks just fine, so I can't help but wonder if he burned them somehow.

DH came down while I was with the kittens last night, and the disruption caused Peter to want to hide.  He brought out the feathered toy and got him playing rather fiercely which was a riot to watch.  Ever so kind Tinsel just sat and watched Peter play, even though you could tell full well that he REALLY wanted to get it.

I spy on them from time to time with the web cam. 
The video is a little slow, but he does come out and play with Tinsel.  I started recording because Peter started the wrestling, but it didn't start recording until he had run away.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Peace on Earth


Well we have some pretty big developments in the world of Peter.

Yesterday I went into their bathroom and it was immediately very obvious in several different ways that the room was just too small for them.  I was reluctant to put them down in the kitten room because it gets so cold in the winter, but I took the heater and put it right in front of the window to combat the cold air coming off it, and after a few hours it was warm enough.  So I brought them down.  Peter immediately went and hid under the couch, which I was expecting, and Tinsel started exploring the room having a grand ol time.  I sat for a while to see what they'd do, and much sooner then I expected Peter came out to explore.  He stuck the side of the room, and ventured out only when the carrier was close enough for him to stick to.  I was horribly impressed at his bravery and told him so.

My sister then showed up with her two boys.  B is 12 S is 7.  B is very gentle and respectful of kittens, S is not.  I was a little concerned about Peter, but I told the boys to not chase the kittens and let them run away if they wanted.  I figured they wouldn't even see Peter, but when they came up a few minutes later B said that Peter crawled up in his lap!!!!

they went back down a while later, and we warned them not to let the kittens escape, but it is all too easy with two little boys and one wild and willful kitten.  Tinsel apparently escaped but B was able to catch him.  In the bedlam, they "lost" Peter.  He ended up crawling into a cubby hole and I found him right away.

I went and checked on them a while later and found them both on the cat litter box box.  It was the first time I saw them sitting touching one another.

After dinner I went and sat with them for a while.  Tinsel immediately jumped on my lap and snuggled.  Peter worked his way up to it.  Slowly thinking about coming up, working his way around - I'm not sure if he was trying to be subtle or what.  But he made it on to the couch and worked his way up to where Tinsel was and we all snuggled and watched a bit of a movie.


I can be a brave boy if I need to!

Friday, December 24, 2010

belly


Don't you just want to bury your face in his belly??  Fortunately (or unfortunately cause your not here) he'd let you too, and keep on purring

Merry Catmas..

Dear Santa, I can explain


 Mom always calls our treats "cookies" so I got a little confused!!


Another Target find.. Absolutely could not resist, and luckily Jack didn't mind wearing it in the least.  But we took it off him when we went about our nights.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

awww


all too often I hear the horrid animal stories.  Like the kitten sealed in a box (yes, it was saved, by a dog, so it is a happy ending, but I still want to throttle someone, which to me is a horrid story)

But I just read about a dog who took in a kitten when she was injured.  I mean how adorable and heart warming is this?  Injured she nursed her own pups and a stray kitten..

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Movie time and a new friend


I just couldn't stand leaving Peter alone in the bathroom as we watched Christmas movies, so I snuggled with him on the bed for a while.  He was content for quite some time, but then he saw the other kitties and he REALLY wanted to go see them.  Even Ollie who was in a grumpy mood sitting on a pillow on the far side of the bed. I kept him from getting there, but he kept trying.  Fortunately he is still quite unsure of himself, so he never tried very fast or hard.  Twee showed up for a little sniff session.  Kit even gave him a good smell.  He seemed to really REALLY want to snuggle up to them, so I made the decision to go to the shelter the next day.

I did get a few good shots of him during "movie time" and hopefully you can see his "sash" on his belly


So after work today I went down to the shelter.  They had a ringworm scare, so all of the intakes were recently lime dipped and in quarantine.  I suggested any old kitty they had could come home with me for the holiday, and they agreed.  It was suggested I check out one particular kitty who might do with some socializing.  When I went to see her, she slunk back as far in her cage as she could go.  So sad, but I needed someone to help bring Peter out of his shell, so I looked around.  There was a calico kitty who called to me.  She reached out and meowed and made a fuss.  I thought she might be good, and took her out to see what she thought of other kitties.  She did not stop meowing, telling me all about something or other, and wasn't amused when I tried to get her reaction to another cat.  I don't think that she cared about the cat one way or the other, but was annoyed that I wasn't listening to her story.  Well I was still there for Peter, and since he is located on the other side of the wall from the bedroom, this chatty kitty wasn't going to work for me.   I then spied a small solid black kitty.  A look at his card said he was 11 weeks old, and his name was Tinsel.  I took him out, and he took to me, and showed interest in other cats, so I claimed he was the one, and off we went.

He was a little over dramatic in the ride home, and I told him he was fine and asked him to not be so overly dramatic, and he quieted right down.  He made another little fuss after we got home and I put him outside the door where Peter is.  Well Peter started singing back to him, which to me sounded like a good start.

 When I went in, Peter was in his carrier
 Tinsel was in his.  So I brought Peter over...
Hi There

what are you?

I'm to be your guardian angel kitty

Mom, this kitty is weird

off exploring

Contrast in tail position. Peter's is hidden, Tinsel up in the air

add joke here about ceiling cat and basement cat

Tail neither up nor down.  Still not sure about things

Oooh, this food smells good enough to dare being near that other cat

Tinsel wonders why this kitty is so odd

Tinsel drinks Peter's water

For the water, Peter is willing to be brave
Tinsel is EXTREMELY good with Peter.  He engages, but backs off when Peter becomes upset. When I'm playing with the toy, Tinsel will play unless it gets too near Peter, then he backs off to see what Peter will do.  He's also not afraid to "impose but not force" himself on Peter.  I've seen him run up to him to play with him several times.  Each time Peter hisses.  The first time Tinsel walked away.  The second time he went back immediately to see what would happen.  The third time he tried a few times before giving up and walking away.  I like that he is engaging Peter but not forcing himself on him.  He seems to have a real regard for Peter's feelings and understands that Peter is a little slow in accepting things.  Like I had to get past Peter's defenses and kept imposing myself on him despite being hissed at, so is Tinsel.  I like that they are going to be together 24 hours a day so maybe Tinsel can make more progress with Peter and teach him how to be a "real kitten"

I find that calling the new kitten "Tinsel" is a little hard. It is a harsh name.  Its cute and timely, but it doesn't roll off the tongue when calling kittens, so I find myself calling him Tin, and moving on to Tim.  It is very Cratchit -y in there, with (tiny) Tim and his brother Peter.. Officially he'll remain Tinsel, but he'll probably be called Tim while he's here for the week.

on an odd note, I did a count of kittens for this season, and Tinsel makes #16.  I was a little surprised how few kittens I had this year, but I did have two pregnant cats who took over a month to give birth, and each only had three. I'm curious how many kittens I've fostered over the years since I'm coming up on year #9.  Maybe one of these days I'll go back over all of my records and count.  I remember the early days of fostering and how I was still using film.  Taking photos of kittens with out digital was a nightmare.  I was so thrilled to get my first digital.  It was so expensive at the time, and an equivalent now would barely cost $10.. lol  I didn't start this blog until my 8th or 9th litter, back when I had Kodi and was so concerned about him and "Scooter" (who later became Muffin) and "Melvin" (who became Eli) I was being annoying with updates and I thought I should make a place to give daily updates on them and I could talk as much as I wanted about kitties because it was on my terms.  So much has happened since then.  1400+ blog posts later... here we are :)

Happy Happy Elf time


 Ok, maybe happy happy is a bit over stating...
 Yes Muffin, more then a bit.  How about Grumpy Grumpy Elf time... But then again you do know Santa Claws is watching right?
 Fleurp was about as thrilled as Muffin was.  I think it was the bell on the top of the hood part that did them in.  Although I do think the other cats got a kick out of watching them try to wear the outfit.
We got it at Target for $2.50 It made me giggle, and was totally worth it.  Happy Happy Elf time lasted about as long as it took for you to read this post, so no cats were harmed (nor was their ego) in the making of this post

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Whiskers in Wonderland


So I didn't find out about this until after the fact (I'm catching up on my Colbert Report viewing) and I saw them promoting this.. how adorable!!

Whiskers In Wonderland - December 18 & 19, 2010

I hope they were very successful.. 
and I wonder what they were giving out :)

bath #4


It looks like we have made some serious progress.  I won't say that for certain for a few days to make sure the french fry smell doesn't return.  There are still some spots on him that I'm pretty sure are grease, but for the most part he is sweet smelling and looks like I think he should look. It looks like he's got a "sash" of buff across his belly (sorry, no photo) that looks a lot like a beauty pageant sash that is oh so adorable.

He was much more objectionable to this bath then the last.  It was adorable to see that he was feeling comfortable enough to try to squirm out of getting wet, but it did make it a little harder to do it.  Despite my warming up the room a bit, and using warm water and keeping him cuddled to me to dry him, he still shivered quite heavily.  Broke my heart.  I tried putting him near the space heater, which he really really liked.  I got him as dry as I could, and left to do some holiday baking.  I checked on him 20 minutes later to find him snuggled up to the heater.  It was adorable and a little sad at the same time.  He was mostly dry (under his tail was still a little damp) and was happy to see me.  He did not run but let me pat him, and nibbled on the ground turkey I had brought him.



I went back to baking, and did some wrapping, and had dinner, and went and spent a little more time with him.  This time he was hanging out behind the toilet, but he came out rather quickly when I waggled the toy in his direction.   He still mostly ignores it, but I do think it helps him understand that it is time to interact with me and he'll get patted.

I brought in a brush, a comb, and a pair of scissors to get the gob of grease that was hanging out at the base of his ear.  He LOVED being combed with both the brush and the comb.  I am still so surprised at how much he is shedding.  I suppose I shouldn't considering what he has gone through, but kittens never shed so I'm just not used to it.  He coats what ever I'm wearing when ever I hold him, and I took quite a bit off with the comb.  The comb was also helpful in getting the gob of grease that was hanging out on his flank that I couldn't get off with the bath. 

He just LOVES being patted.  It is unbelievably sweet. He rolls around and offers different sides.  I tried to get him to play with the toy some more, but he was still basically ignoring it.  He liked it when I moved it rather quickly in front of his eyes, but he was unable to make the connection to reach out and catch it.  I couldn't stand it, and the next time I had him belly up on my lap I took the toy and tickled his belly until I annoyed him.  I could see he was not amused by the fact that I wasn't patting him any more, and he reached out and grabbed and bit the toy.  I waggled it while he had it, and he played!!!  Seriously, I teared up.  He was still slow in the connection of what he just did and playing while on his feet, but I kept at it, and I eventually had him jumping over my leg and running up to the toy.  To the left of my leg was part of the room he wasn't really comfortable with, so he'd just run up to it, but when it was on the right side of my leg he would pat at the feathers and bite at them.  At one point he even waggled his tushie and attempted to pounce!!!!  I'm so thrilled.  He even had his tail straight up in the air while he was playing!! He stopped and wanted to be patted from time to time, and had a little bit to eat, with the base of his tail up, but the rest of it down.  So we still have a bit of work to do, but oh such joy was had tonight by both of us.

and just an aside, I offered him a can of Iams this morning. It is being totally ignored.  I even put a small piece in his mouth and he spit it right out.  He preferred dry to Iams.  I can't understand why so many people still love it for their cats.  I can't get ANY of my fosters to eat it. I'm sure my crew would eat it, but they eat poptarts so they don't have the most sophisticated of pallets.

Friday, December 17, 2010

another good day


When I went to see Peter (Oliver??) this morning, he wasn't in the trash can!!!  He was hiding behind the toilet, but still, it was huge.  I got him to come out on his own by offering him some food, which is also a big step for him.

His tail is still mostly between his legs though.  I can get him to lift it when I scratch his tushie, but it immediately drops when I move somewhere else.  I started him on Rescue Remedy last night.  I brought him out of the bathroom for a quick walk around the house (and gave him his first dose)  He saw all of my cats, and I could see he really liked the idea of other kitties.  He must have been part of a clowder before coming to the shelter.  I wish this were a few months ago, so I could find him a friend as I bet he'd come out of his shell a lot faster with someone to cuddle up to.

hope and joy


 Can you tell that DH has food?
 How about now?
nope, she didn't get any.  but she didn't mind.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Christmas at the cat house



And yes, the toys need to be replaced daily.  This year because of the placement of the furniture, it was the lower 3/4ths of the tree, not the lower 1/2 as past years.  It makes me smile.  Toys they have no interest in year round are suddenly fascinating when they are on a tree.  Reminds me a little of being a kid and being fascinated with the tree.  I just hope they don't knock it over and hurt themselves or someone else.  They haven't in the years we have been doing this, but Skippy didn't climb in the tree last year..

slight progress and a possible set back


So last night I sat with Peter (I'm thinking of changing it to Oliver) and he wouldn't come out to see me, so I eventually pulled him out.  I offered him some shredded type food, thinking that would most resemble the food he's probably used to scrounging.  He went right at it, and over the course of the night ended up eating the entire can.

He did stop eating for a while and came closer to me for some scritches.  I am not content with that, so I pulled him right up into my lap and snuggled him for a while which he didn't object to.  I then laid him on my lap and patted all the good spots, and he purred and purred.  He offered me his belly again and I patted that.  He liked having his face patted, so each time he rubbed his face on my hands I started paying attention to his face again.

After a while I got concerned again that he might not be eating enough, so I took a piece of dry food and offered it to him.  He wasn't interested, so I popped it in his mouth.  He got a little concerned about that, but did eat it, but patting time was over.  He jumped off my lap and went and hid behind the toilet again.  I tried calling, and offering air scritches, but he just sat there and looked at me.  I brought him a feather wand, and tried enticing him into play with it, but he mostly ignored it.  I think it did ease the concern though, because after a few moments of wiggling it near by, he came out on his own.  He ignored the feathers so maybe he would have come out if I hadn't, but I do have the distinct feeling that it helped.  He took a few more bites of the canned food, and looked around a little more.  I reached out to pat him, and once I touched him, he started purring again, and moving so I could get the good spots.  He is very reluctant to put up his tail though.  I had him doing elevator butt, but still his tail turned under.  Some more patting and some more loving, and the tail started to be airborne, but for the most part it was wrapped around his feet or tucked under.

I got him back on my lap (he walked over my legs on his own, and sat under my knee before I moved him), and offered dry food again.  This time he ate it right out of my fingers.  more pieces, more snacks.  made me smile.  He wanted to snuggle all night long, but sitting in the bathroom isn't very comfortable and I was quite tired, so the next time he climbed off my lap, I got up and went to bed.

This morning he was sitting at the door again crying.  I think he wants contact with the other cats in the house.  When I got up to see what he wanted, he scurried back into his hidey hole.  When I went in with breakfast, he refused to come out.  I wiggled the feather toy in front of the opening, and no go.  He did start purring though, which was quite humorous since it echoed.  The possible set back? I needed to take a shower, and I think that freaked him out even more, but hopefully since nothing bad happened to him, and he's still safe and warm with food, that he'll realize he is safe and he'll be more willing to come out and visit this evening.

I can't tell you how badly I want to give him another bath.. and a really good scrubbin (think cartoon wash basin with a scrubbing board) three baths down and he still smells like a fast food joint.  He is shedding pretty badly when you pat him.  Probably from the poor nutrition he got when he was alone.  I'm just so not used to kittens this young shedding.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Where's Peter??


 He was no where to be seen this morning.. Where's Peter??
 The raw is gone, but the rest of the food was untouched...
There he is.. he threw himself away!!

Silly boy.  I think he looks a little better in this photo though (despite the trashcan background) I was able to get some of the oil off him, but not all of it.  I plan on waiting quite a bit before giving him another, but that isn't set in stone.  When looking at his feet and ankles, I noticed his skin was rather raw looking and even had a speck of blood.  I can only imagine what he went through.

After the bath, we had a little cuddle time, and he made biscuits and even let me pat his tummy!!  I can't quite understand why I'm scary as all get out when I'm not touching him, but the second I do, I'm the bees knees.  I try not to force shy kittens out of their hidey holes, but I had to take him out of the carrier twice since he's been here, which is why I think he relocated to the trash can.  When I picked it up to check if he was in there he meowed quite pitifully, so I put it right back down.  When I put the camera in front of the can, he meowed again.  I think he's ready to be left alone for a bit.  I'll try enticement tonight to get him to come out on his own.  I've got chicken and a feathered toy.. one or the other surely will work.

I think he knows he's in a good place, but he's not quite ready to get over the fear he's been living with that has been keeping him safe.

Overly emotional


We put the tree up last night.  I've got gobs of photos to share, but I'm too emotional at this point to go through them.  As soon as the tree went up, Ollie parked himself under it. He has always loved the Christmas tree, and I can't help but cry over the fact that this will be his last.

Even now.. Ok, moving on, I have a cute Peter photo to share..

(must remember to not grieve what isn't gone)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

bath


So I gave "Peter" a bath.  I got a few of the darker spots out, but I fear there are some up around his ears that will have to be cut out.

He is very fearful of me when I am not touching him, but once I have him in my hands he starts purring and becomes quite relaxed.  Even the bath wasn't the event I thought it was going to be. He didn't much like it when I put him on his back and tried to get the back of his head under the water, but it was more his ears.  Once I made sure he knew that water wasn't going to get in there, he relaxed.  He isn't a fan of water, as he headed out of the sink when ever I let go of him, but not as quickly as you might think.  More of a slinking out of the sink then a bolt.  He was so good when I wrapped him up in a towel... almost to the point where I started to get concerned.  Kittens who are too pliant are often not feeling well.

He ate most of the second helping of hamburg I gave him last night, but didn't touch the dry or the canned, so I opened up a can of AD and was going to force feed him, but once he smelled the AD, he perked right up and was very interested.  he ate a few bits on his own, but I wanted to make sure he got something, so I mixed some with water and gave him about 20 ccs of it.  He was very interested in eating on his own though, so I put some more straight AD in a bowl and he started eating.  He then tried to eat the dried up hamburg that was left over, so I picked up the bowl and left him with the AD.  He was so disappointed that I took the hamburg away, I had to give him a little of the crew's raw.  Hopefully he's munching down on one of them and filling up his tummy.  He's just so skinny

Jabba the Hut or Miss Piggy?


I was taking photos of the cats sitting on our luggage, I'm sure it was their way of saying "NEVER AGAIN!!!", and I caught this one of Muffin.

At first blush, it reminds me of Jabba.  DH says she reminds him of Miss Piggy.

Monday, December 13, 2010

well stocked


I went to the shelter today.  They had their open house on Saturday (ended before I got back into town) and I love seeing the place well stocked.  It looks like they had a good turn out, because there was a lot of everything, and there was even overflow.  It is really nice to see, but it is a little sad to know that in just a few weeks it will all be gone.

I poked around a little. There was a cage full of five older kittens.  Friendly little sots, all vying for attention.  They'll get snapped right up. There was only one other cage with a kitty in it.  Poor little 8 week old boy who was found after he had apparently fallen into a vat of cooking oil.  Determined by the smell and the state of him.  He is all fur and bones, so I can imagine he was trying to get a little something to eat and got more then he bargained for.  He had already had two baths, and it was still not looking good for him.  He still smelled and looked pretty dirty.

see

 Yup, I snagged him and brought him home.  He is very freaked out by everything, so he's just hunkering down and trying to avoid everything.  He likes being patted, and he starts to purr, but he does keep eying me when I try to get him to eat.  He was not all that interested in kitten food, but he did enjoy a bit of the hamburger I brought home.

 This is his second plate of meat.  I checked his litter box when I was at the shelter and he had a firm stool, but he defecated in the carrier and it was soft and smelly.  Hopefully that is just a case of the squirts because I hate diarrhea.
He's hanging out in the bathroom as opposed to the kitten room because the kitten room gets cold, and he's going to need at least one more bath, and I thought it would be easier for him to not have to walk through the house.  He seems to really want to cuddle, but I don't really want to get that close to him until he's had another bath.  Yes, that's mean.  It shouldn't matter that he stinks and has some poop on him, but I'm still exhausted from the trip and I'm dealing with a cold and I just didn't have the energy to make sure I cuddled him and didn't get covered in debris.

Not sure what to call him.  I'm totally open to suggestions.  I figure I'll have him past Christmas, so a Christmas name doesn't seem right.  I was thinking Noel - as I have a cousin with that name but it is probably too Christmasy.  Then I was thinking Tiny Tim, but again too Christmasy. TT's brother is Peter, so currently that is what he is being called, but I doubt it will stay that way.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

This explains a LOT


funny pictures-Fud Dispensr Manual:  Troubleshooting
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This morning was a lot of fun and full of cats (and yes, feeties on my bladder).  I didn't mention it, but I was on vacation last week.  We went to Florida, did a cruise to the Bahamas and then a few days in Orlando.  I do not travel well at all, and so I do it as infrequently as possible.  DH loves to travel, and he got an opportunity to go to FL back in October for work, and this particular instance was being held at a fancy hotel, and when we get that opportunity I usually spring for a plane ticket and go with him.  Well his mom took a turn for the worse, and we ended up not going, so we had plane tickets and the such so we rescheduled once she passed.

So we scheduled and my uncle passed a few days before we were supposed to leave.  So in my stress of leaving my kitties, and traveling, I had some grief to process as well.  Fortunately my sister and my Aunt (and their son) all told me I should go on my trip and not feel bad about it.  Didn't help, I still did, but I did go.  (to top off the guilt, they lost their other son a few months prior to a blood clot which I believe was a complication to cancer they didn't realize how bad  he had until after he passed)

I was worried most about Ollie and the progression of his tumor.  When we got home, he was obviously uncomfortable, so I started the metacam again.  I can see where he's starting to give into the fact that this is going to be his life now.  He is by no means ready to give in, but I see the possibility of it, which I hadn't seen before.

Jack woke me up giving me kisses and pawing at my face.  He very much acts like an adoring lover in the middle of the night.  Unfortunately I came down with a cold while traveling home and the exhaustion of the cold and the trip, I couldn't give him the attention at 3am that he wanted.

In the morning though, we were COVERED in all of the cats.  DH got up and went out for a bit, and the nine of us just snuggled into the bed to catch up on the TV I had missed.  through out the day, every single one of the kitties came up for their own one on one time.

I got a call from the shelter while we were gone asking us to take new kittens.  I wanted to get up and go see them and see if they still  had them but I just wasn't up to it physically.  I didn't think I'd have the opportunity to get new fosters again this year... but maybe there will be more.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Holiday Spirit


 Kit, you are so pretty in your nice festive bow!
 It's a box of J*O*Y.. aka a box of Fleurp
Fleurp, what a pretty holiday collar you have on.. thanks for sharing
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