Frugal Friday

a few months ago PetSmart had a pretty good deal that if you bought $25 worth of their brand of litter you got a $25 gift card.  You could do this twice, so I did.

so I had $50 worth of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket.  Last week we visited PetSmart out of town to see if they had Wellness canned food (for kitties) in large cans (they don't either.  Apparently no one does) I saw they had a cat tree on sale for $70.  I also had a coupon for 15% off any purchase, and two $5.00 off any bag of their brand of cat food (dry, yes, but I feed dry to fosters so buying the $5.99 bag was irresistible)

So, for about $65 I got $50 worth of litter, $100 worth of a cat tree, and $12 worth of dry food.  what fun!

not to mention a brand new cat tree is the next best thing to cookies around here.  We haven't been able to move it from the middle of the great room because there is ALWAYS a cat on it..

Muffin Time

Muffin, I so want to zerbert your belly

I would prefer you not..

Do you qualify?

http://www.petproductssettlement.com

If you purchased Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise, Mother Nature or Karma dog or cat food during the time period from March 20, 2005 to July 8, 2011 you could get a payment from a class action settlement.

quick update

Minerva's babies are doing so well.  This past Friday Crookshanks was 1lb 8 oz, today he was 1lb 12 before breakfast.  So I sent an email off to the shelter to let them know they will be ready to be neutered later in the week.  I'm torn between wanting them to go back sooner so Minerva can have the larger room once again and wanting to keep them because they have become so people friendly and swarm me when I go into the room.  They give me ankle hugs, which just slays me every single time.

Minerva's "add on" babies are doing well.  I believe she's back to nursing them because they were so fat this morning and wanted almost no additional food.  I made them all go pee (which except for the getting peed on part is a lot of fun because they throw their paws up in the air and are just so darn cute) and gave them what they wanted for food, but they were quite content to just play

This video comes closest to what I do to make them pee, but I don't hold down their front arms, so when you see the kitten throw up it's arms in the first few seconds that is what kittens generally do. I also use a cloth - right now it is a human baby cloth diaper.  I know when they are done peeing because they start moving away from that position and wiggling to get be let go.

Gratuitous kitty shots

Fawkes

Crookshanks

Hedwig

You can see Hedwig's stripes

another midnight visit

I was awaken last night by a screaming kitten.  I was tired, and frustrated, and I went to take care of it, and it turned out that Mickey left the box and Minerva got in and he couldn't get back in.  She was nursing.

I am very glad.

I doubt this is the end of the frustration until they are able to eat solid foods, but I'm glad she hasn't given up on them all together.

In and Out and Under

In

Out

What is under here?

That would be Hedwig

a development

I walked into the bathroom last night and Rory had escaped the box  I put in there to contain them (and Mickey was really trying).  I wasn't happy about that and neither was Minerva.  After I realized he had escaped I realized the bathroom smelled pretty strongly of urine.  I thought it was Minerva's litter boxes even though I scoop them regularly.  Turned out the towel at the bottom of the box was covered in urine and unfortunately so were most of the kittens.  Minerva wasn't keeping up with the urine output.  So I changed out the bedding and put them all back in.  They wouldn't stop screaming so I made them all go pee, and they were all quite full.  More screaming and Amelia looked like she was nursing on her brother's genitals so I realized they were hungry so I went and got some kitten milk.  Yup, all quite hungry.  I guess Minerva is done nursing.  I'm hoping she isn't completely done and will nurse a little if they aren't starved.  I fed them, made them pee, cleaned them up the best I could and put them down for the night.

Also Donna seems to have something going on with her tongue.  It looked like a bruise last night but this morning it looked better but this afternoon it looked like there was a bit of a blister.  I am so hoping it is not calci.. please, do not let it be calci.    Other then Minerva sniffling a little and Donna's tongue they seem in very good health as they feel heavy for their size and are eating well and are quite active.

Around 2am I was awakened by kitten screaming.  One of the boys had made it out of the box again and was following Minerva around wanting to nurse.   Since I was up I spent some time with Minerva.  I gave her a once over, and her nipples look just fine but she does not carry nearly as much milk as she used to. 

This afternoon I fed them again, and they were all quite hungry again.

I worry that I am not home enough to get them enough food.  I'm going to have to keep a close eye on their weights and make sure they are gaining. 

LOL..

Trapped

This morning I took another shower in my bathroom.  After the great escape I have been a bit more careful going in and out of that bathroom so I took in her breakfast with me, hoping that the thought of food would keep her in the room - which it did.  I gave her the kitten milk I had (she likes it, and it helps get more calories and fluid in her which is important for nursing mothers) and she started right in on that.  I then gave her the can of food which she preferred and started eating that instead.

I jumped in the shower and all was quiet.. for about two minutes.  Then she started telling me off.  I couldn't figure out why (because I couldn't see through the shower doors well because I wasn't wearing my glasses) when I realized the dark splotch I was seeing was Minerva standing on the carrier and the edge of the shower trying to get in.

I had no idea how she would react to water, so I cautiously opened the door and made sure the water was spraying down that way so she wouldn't be tempted to jump in because she didn't know there was water in there.  (I don't know her history, so I don't know if she knows what goes on in a shower)  She was more curious then anything.  The water would hit her on the head and she would just move back enough so she wouldn't get hit.  I was so concerned she would try to jump in and slip and freak and scratch me at my most vulnerable.. so I shut the door.  She complained loudly about that so I opened the door again and quickly hurried through my shower.

When I was done I shut the door on the far side and opened it up near the faucet side (because that is the side I get out on - and there is no carrier there) and she came right over and started to climb in.  She saw the water dripping from the faucet and started licking the water.  So I turned the faucet on to dribble to let her get some fresh water.

Now, I'm standing there nekked, cold and dripping.. watching a cat drink from a faucet perched rather quite oddly in order to do it.  Part of me wished I had my camera, but then I thought how peverse of me to want to have a camera in a shower :)

well I got bored standing there wet and cold, so I tried to reach around and grab my hair wrap, and I was able to and so I wrapped up my hair.  Minerva was still licking, but she was getting cramped so she moved so she could lick from the under side of the faucet.  It was really quite fascinating.. but not so much that it made me forget I was cold and wet.  So I reached over and grabbed my towel and tried to dry off.  When I was done, she wasn't.

Since she is a nursing mom and has now taken care of two back to back litters I figured hydration is very very important and if she wants water that badly I should let her drink.. but I was cold and wet and now late for work.. so I tried to carefully leave.  It wasn't easy as she was taking up almost half of the space left by the shower doors.  Still cautious not to freak her out because I've been on the receiving end of her claws when she has freaked out before.. I moved slowly - which isn't really safe in a wet shower... but I was able to get out.

I figured if she was that thirsty I would provide her a bowl of water to go with the kitten milk I gave her and I left and got a bowl.  When I got back she was in the shower itself licking at the drain.  I caught some of the dripping water in the bowl and she moved her head under where the water was going, so when my bowl was full she got dripped on but she didn't care, she just kept licking.

I didn't want to shut the water off if she wanted to drink it but I had to leave for work and I didn't want to leave the water running all day.. so I left again and got dressed ate breakfast, fed the other kittens and went back.  Fortunately by this time she was out of the shower, so I shut the water off and left.  She was content enough that she didn't try to escape...  this time.

*giggle*

Wordy Wednesday

I've been tired lately and haven't gotten my camera out.  Kinda sad too because I have a coupon for a free photo book that expires tonight.  Not sure I can get enough photos of The Crew together and edited by this evening.  Hopefully  *crosses fingers*

Lets see.... Lets start off with this:

I saw this on the Sunday Morning show this week.  I thought it was brilliant!  If only more photographers would offer their skills to get great photos of the animals out there.  I mean seriously, if you watch the segment you'll see what a dramatic difference the right photo of an animal can make.

The Hogwarts kits are doing well.  They have a bit of diarrhea that won't seem to clear up.  It happens some times.  I sent in a sample and didn't hear back. Not sure if that means there was nothing or they misplaced the results.  They are happy and active and eating and gaining weight, so I'm not really concerned about that.  What I am concerned about is one of the kitten's desire to poop on the floor if it is available.  I was always pretty sure it was Crookshanks.  Kittens with messed up tails can have issues with litter boxes.  Not saying his tail is causing problems, because when the litter boxes are where they are "supposed" to be he uses them.  See I have a large box covering the area the litter boxes are kept.  If I keep the litter boxes close to the walls and far back in the corner so they are 'neat' and he can't get into the corner, he uses them.  But I have to pull them out to scoop them and if I don't push them back all the way he'll poop in the corner.  Not sure if this is a kitten issue, a stubborn-ish issue, or tail issue.  But since he does use the box when everything is where it should be I'm not going to worry about it, but will make note of it in his adoption info (I do write ups for each kitten so the new families will know what the kitten is like - well if they read it)

Crookshanks is the smallest at 1lb 10 oz, so it looks like probably next week they will go back.  Won't be a minute too soon for Minerva too.. she's getting a little stir crazy in the bathroom.

For the past few days she has wanted to look into the hall when I come and go.  Before when she was in the basement she would growl at my cats if she ever saw them.  Now I think she is looking for these kitten's mother because she doesn't growl, is very interested, and wants to get out.  This morning she even did.  Jumped right over the gate in one fluid motion.  Fortunately she froze because my hands were full of mugs that I had brought kitten milk in with.  I was able to get them down and grab the gate and contain her enough to grab her (as she was just considering which way to go when I used the gate to block off one route and my hand got her as she was about to dash the other way).

While I have a LOT more trust in Minerva at this point, I most certainly do not trust her interacting with The Crew, and I don't trust her if she were to get out and about and get into a fight.  To show how much trust I have in her right now (warning TMI) I actually went into the bathroom and took a shower.  I swore a while back that I would NEVER go near her with bare legs again when she previously grabbed my ankle and bit at my foot (opened mouth, scrapped teeth across the top of my skin) I can hold her now, push her away from the door, give her kisses and offer my forehead for head bumps.

I am a little concerned about the kits at this point.  Minevra is getting skinnier and the kittens are starting to feel light and they are meowing a lot more often  It is such an odd little difference between a well fed solid kitten and one that is a few calories short.  They might not weigh any different, but they just FEEL less substantial.  I have confirmation of this odd little skill of mine because when I brought kitten milk in to supplement them, the ones that felt underfed ate the most.

Jack seems a bit better in the urinary department (doesn't seem uncomfortable in the body) but he is sick of being sick in the head.  I can see him wishing he wasn't sniffly.  He certainly is better then he has been, which is good.  He's eating, which is good, and he loves attention, which is good.  I'll be happy when this is gone.  Fleurp started sneezing the other night.. I'm hoping it is just because I told her that Jack got treats because he is sick.. *fingers crossed*

I know someone said treats...

'bout time!

and yes, I am stealing bandwidth.  Figure if I'm going to mention their products, they can pay to have the image there.

I was always quite peeved at all the cute puppy things at my local PetSmart when I would stop in to see Peter and Tinsel.  I wondered where all the cute kitty things were cause I KNEW Martha owned and I would presume loved cats.. Just didn't seem right to not have kitty products..

Now they are out.  Can't wait to see what "she" created.

Not that I'm a huge MS fan, but the puppy things were awful cute, I'll give them a look..

Edited..

well I went and checked them out, and at this point I'm disappointed.  Six toys, and "feeding" things (treat jar bowls, can covers and a scoop).  I remember the racks of adorable stuff for dogs.. Why so few things for the kitties?? 

I'm still holding out hope there are more things in the stores..

Jack a doodle doo

My boy is almost as stubborn as I am.. He also still sounds so horrible with his snuffly nose.  I'm also letting my paranoia run away with me.

He refused to use the box last night so he had the bedroom all to himself.  Muffin was NOT pleased with that and spent a great deal of time banging on the door. He snuggled into my spot in the bed, and when I snuggled around him to get in to bed, he got up and took DH's spot.  DH tried to snuggle around him and he got annoyed and went and slept on the floor, which broke my heart.. something about sick kitties on hard floors.. I can't handle it.  So I brought him to the box and put him in it and patted and coo-ed at him.  No go.

This morning I tried new food, warmed up.  He had a nibble.  So I got his 'medicine" out again and tried to give him that as quickly and easily as possible.  Well he wasn't having any of it and tried to gently get away.  Unfortunately he ended up kicking me a pretty 'low blow" which fortunately didn't really hurt and I could only kiss him because it was my fault.  I finished giving him the pills and he trotted off to the litter box, climbed in and deposited a nice sized ball of pretty ordinary looking urine.  I have color changing litter when it is too alkaline it shows it and it didn't, so that wasn't an issue.  No blood either.  Just a snuffly Jack who was now annoyed that I wasn't following through on my promise to let him out if he would pee in the box.  I was hoping he might eat a bit more since the rest of The Crew had breakfast already and any unattended food would be eaten immediately... and it was.  He ate decently enough yesterday, a skipped meal won't kill him.

As I was leaving for work, I noticed he was in his favorite box by his MirrorWorld..

Hopefully the cold will clear up soon.

Take your kittens to work..

Well the older kittens went to work with me last week.    They were wonderfully destructive.  Fortunately my boss loves it and enjoys their company.  It does wonders for kittens self confidence to get out of the house and explore new places so I really appreciate that they don't mind.  Unfortunately the owner of the company is allergic so I can't do it when he is in town, which is going to be happening soon.

they had fun with the paper clips and knocked over the lamp.  Even tried to chew on the speaker wires.. Then they fell asleep.

I haz scarf

it was really sweet.

I also noticed that Hedwig has a small spot on her neck, it is about the size of a quarter, of frosted fur.  It's very light gray with darker guard hairs coming out of it.

as you can see she also has some white guard hairs under the spot, and she also has some on her legs.  She's such a cutie!

Names

I have come up with names for this band of kittens.  It started when the little tiger kitten left the group yet again and came after me.  Every time I get a wandering girl kitten I always start calling her Amelia after Amelia Earhart.  Which got me thinking about Amelia the traveler.. and since I was watching all of the episodes of the new Doctor Who (from when he met Rose Tyler, to Mickey Smith, to Donna Nobel,  to Amy Pond and Rory Williams (Fez are cool!)

So, we now have Amelia, Rory, Mickey, Rose and Donna.. (too bad we don't have too more girls for River and Martha.. or Sarah Jane.. )

Now I tried to get them all lined up to take a photo to tell you who is who.. I think this is a good time to mention I am quite in awe of Laurie at http://www.theittybittykittycommittee.com and how she gets her kittens to all line up and SIT THERE for photos..

Rose,  Mickey, Donna, Amelia, Rory

Mickey and Donna broke ranks and were making a break for it..  and Mayhem ensued..

Donna likes to sit there and observe..

Rory and Mickey (and I believe Donna's head)

So I tried again..

and I gave up...

My boy Jack

Look at that Jack, two posts so quick together.. I must love you very much :)

Actually I do, but that isn't the reason for the post.  This blog is for sharing fun kitten things, but it is also for my documentation of what is going on so I can keep a record of things that have happened and go back and search for it if need be.  And as such, since Jack isn't feeling well, I wanted to document it.

It started earlier this weekend.  He was snuffily and sneezing.  DH mentioned it first, and when he mentions that one of the kitties isn't feeling well they must really not be feeling well (he misses a lot of the nuances of sick kitties) By the time I got the info he was basking in the sun with a little snot on his nose but no major sneezing, no snot bubbles, not even really any snuffling.  I decided to just keep an eye on him.  Yesterday he was sleeping a lot and you could hear him breathing.  Fortunately it is all up in his head and not in his chest.  So I started him on "medication" and an hour later he sounded much better.  I have a feeling he has now got what Skippy has.. which I believe is bordatella.

But because he wasn't feeling well, I gave him quite a few "cookies" (dry food given as treats) then for some reason The Crew were all edgy and jumpy and so I gave out cookies to help calm them down a bit.  Well apparently I over did the cookies because this morning there was a little urine in the bath tub with a little blood in it.. *ACK!*

I checked Jack out, he didn't seem blocked (didn't have a full bladder).  He did sound horribly snuffily though, and seemed a *bit* uncomfortable for a few minutes. (but later on he was back to looking like is old self)  So I locked him up in the bedroom today with a litter box and some low carb canned food (to get more hydration and protein in him)

This is disconcerting but not yet something I am going to let myself worry about.  This is the third such incident (with the pee... first snuffily incident though)  Jack is apparently VERY sensitive to eating plant based ingredients and even the super premium dry food I dole out as treats is still very high in it. I'm going to keep a VERY close eye on him and get him to the vet if this progresses even a little.

There is a slim chance it is another one of The Crew, but I wouldn't know who.  Eli blocked once, but he's been fine since the switch to raw.

Don't hate me because..

Petfinder is having a promotion to get less adoptable pets adopted.  Truly a wonderful cause.  People often want a pet for love and companionship and they don't realize that pets that are specialty abled will actually make better pets because they NEED you.

Often people don't like cats because they seem so independent.  They don't realize how completely dependent they can be (and if you want examples, come over to my house.. half of my cats are worse then the most clingy dog you've ever known)  A kitty with special needs often means you have to interact with them more, which in turn causes them to be 'better' pets.

The bond you have with a specialty abled pet is unique.  I had it with Em after she became diabetic.  While I'd never wish diabetes on any pet, it certainly changed our relationship and our connection was special.

But

I have to say I'm not overly thrilled with the "Don't hate me" aspect of this campaign.  I mean who hates pets... and if they do, then do you really want them adopting ANY pet?  I know I know, it's a play on the whole "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" campaign that was on TV, but still... it just rubs me the wrong way.

Although it can rub me any way it wants if it gets more pets adopted..
They had a number of badges to share here but I didn't much like any of them, but I did like the Special Needs Special Love one but I couldn't seem to get it to work with Blogger..

Jack's Mirror world

I could have sworn I posted on this in the past, but I couldn't find it  *shrug*

Anyway.  My lovely boy Jack LOVES to sit and stare into the mirror world just beyond the one spot in the kitchen that opens up to "MirrorWorld" (and it is only in the kitchen, no other mirror world is apparently fascinating enough to capture his attention despite a plethora of mirrored doors in our house)  He will sit there for hours watching the MirrorMommy and MirrorDaddy and the other MirrorKitties.

MirrorMom is taking a picture of MirrorJack

I often wondered if he realized it was a mirror or if he really thought that the images he saw were different.  One day when MirrorMom threw down some treats and he tried so hard to get into MirrorWorld to get them.  I was laughing so hard, because he knew he couldn't walk THROUGH the mirror, but he couldn't figure out how to get to them.  Finally I got close enough to get him to turn around and he realized real life momma threw some down too and he was in heaven.  So that answered the question of if he knew that MirrorWorld was the same as real life.  Although what exactly he thinks is still a mystery.

This was quite some time ago.  We thought he had figured out that MirrorWorld was just that, real life copied.  But Jack still liked hanging out with his "best friend" and watching over his world while his "best friend" watched over his.

So this morning my husband comes into the bedroom (he wakes up hours before I do) laughing.  I'm still mostly asleep but I ask him what is up.  He starts telling me that as he was making his lunch the kitties weren't begging at his feet like they normally do.  He likes to reward non begging behavior with treats - which I totally agree with - so he walked over with some of his roast beef to give to the kitties who were just hanging out.  Apparently Jack thought that MirrorDad was way cooler then Real Dad, because he noticed he was coming over with roast beef for his best friend, but his best friend was ignoring it.  So Jack tried to so him a favor by trying to get to MirrorDad and get some roast beef.  DH said that he had to actually touch Jack to get him to focus on real life roast beef instead of MirrorRoastBeef.  *giggle*  my silly boy.

Play time photos

These were taken the same day as the video... I thought you'd enjoy them

Look carefully, there be two kittens here

What am I supposed to do with that??

oooh.. attack.. I get it now..

Or I'll at least give it my best flying shot!

it tasks me..

OK fine, you get the toy, I'll get your tail!

Is it my turn yet?? says Minerva

Not even close momma..

I get it.. I swear..

I don't want the toy, I want to wrestle!! ~Hedwig

So now is it my turn??

YES!! I love bird hunting, I just wish this bird had a bit more flesh on it

Can I play again momma??

She really is good with them, and is very cautious about playing when they are in the middle of the room (she doesn't want to jump on them) and hangs back and lets them play when it is very obvious she wants to.  She loves throwing herself up in the air with complete abandon  to catch the "bird" I'm sure she has caught a fair number of them in her day - and will again if she is ever anywhere near one..