Skippy

On that nice warm day we had last week we opened up the windows and Skippy spent some time "reading the news" and enjoying the sun.  Being the lowest member of the "pack" he doesn't often seem to enjoy things because he is waiting for others to take it from him.. (we often take him aside to let him enjoy snacks)  He still carves out part of his days, sadly not every day any more, to spend cuddling and drooling on me, and it always makes my heart sing when he does..

GFS

Have I mentioned lately how much my cameras LOVE Fleurp??? I swear this cat can't take a bad photo.. (well there are some that aren't as good, but they are all still lovely) I have to try hard to get good shots of most of my other cats, but Fleurp... well she must have been a supermodel in another life..

So here are a few Gratuitous Fleurp Shots

March goes out "like a lamb" with my sweet girl.. She hasn't quite lost her entire mane, but I'm sure it will be gone soon..

Kitten Time

Hey, can you help a kit out?

We want out.. we want to 'splore

Miriam and I need to get away from these boys!!

Don't worry Miriam, she'll help..

You will?

And if she won't, I WILL find a way..

See, I told you!  Hey, Ludwig, what are you sniffing??

I smell it too..

Now that's not right..

Time to nurse.. stop your walking practice and come eat..

We aren't walkin, we are runnin!! (very badly I might add)

Well if the boys are eating..

That last picture just cracks me up..
By the way, there was nothing wrong with the blanket, it was just clean and didn't smell like them..

Edited to add that these pictures were taken earlier.  At this point the kittens can crawl out the laundry basket (Miriam was the first one) and as a result I took it away.  Meira was actually quite stressed once she realized the basket was gone, and when I went to leave the room she went and charged at my cats on the other side (fortunately I predicted this and had interference)  The kittens are also no longer listening to her when she calls them to her.  I'm sure they will when they are hungry, but it is a riot to see kittens hear the call and decide to ignore it for the first time.  I also realized the kittens have had teeth for quite some time now and will most likely be eating pretty quickly..

Another Kitten Video

Don't you just love the "stop touching me" game??

Meira

I often find myself at the end of a fostering situation with very few posted pictures of the foster mom.  Since Meira seems to have such a unique situation (needing a very unique diet) I thought I might try to find her a home through additional methods (anyone want a raw fed Nebelung??) and as such, making sure I got good photos of her will be important..   Cause this one just won't do..

OK, so lets see what we get..

Not bad, but couldn't have kept your mouth closed?

Probably not your best side

Now you look like an Elf..

not too bad, but there is a kitten butt showing..

Much better cropped..

Another fairly good shot..

So not bad :) Meira is so sweet, she wants attention, but she needs to be able to get to her kittens on a whim so she doesn't much like being 'held'.  If I gather her all up and snuggle her she lets me for a few moments before being asked to be put down (and then runs to sniff the kittens) so I bet she'll like it a lot more when they are older.  She loves to get kisses.  I can't wait to see her personality bloom when it isn't weighed down with the responsibility of motherhood..

That and once her fur grows back in.  The shelter did a clean up shave on her when she came in.. probably due to the diarrhea..

and she has the tiniest feet.. it ALMOST looks like her legs just stop at the floor because her toes only come out a wee little bit..

Kitten play

Last night when I was visiting the kittens and encouraging them to climb (they want out, but they haven't quite figured out climbing yet) Ludwig started playing with the toy that is in the basket with them.  Even picked it up in his mouth.. it just killed me.

When I turned on the webcam this morning I saw this.. I thought you'd like this.  Or maybe not, maybe you don't like having your head explode from cuteness.. if not, you might want to look away now..  You were warned, and if your head explodes don't expect me to clean it up :)


I think that is Ludwig belly up, but that is a classic Miriam move.. frustrates me this camera isn't clearer..

Speaking of frustrating that the camera isn't clearer.. can you see Petra sitting on her mom's head?

Moose is being licked by Meira, just a second later he was biting her and trying to get her to play.. she proceeded to ignore him and went to lick Petra

Wordless Wednesday - Girls Night Out Edition

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Weighing kittens

I've said almost from the beginning that these kitten's dad (well except Miriam) must have been huge.. (you do know that a litter can have more then one father right?) and because of it I thought there was something wrong with Miriam.  Well Robyn posted her kitten's weights the day after I weighed these four.. The Noms were born only a day after Meira's kittens.. and well..

Ok, I'll admit it, they are huge..

The boys are VERY easy scruffers, meaning if you just rub the back of their neck they start going limp.. so getting them into the bowl was kinda easy and it took them a few seconds to 'come to' and realize they wanted out.  Musa was perfectly content to sit there and I started to worry about him a little..

Petra throws her hands in the air like she just don't care..
but she does, notice she is resting her head on the floor so the weight is off.

I'm fluffy!  so there

You want I should sit in this bowl?  OK  *shrug* ~Ludwig

I don't wanna!

I'm out of here, I've got things to do! ~Miriam

Just add bubbles.. ~Musa

What??

Miriam thought she'd check out this thing her mom keeps visiting..

No one is even remotely interested in food yet.  No biggie.  Several of the kits checked out Meira while shew as eating but I don't think they've made the connection that food can come from anywhere other then mom, and that is just fine for another week or possibly even two.  Neither Meira nor I are all that interested in rushing the process :)  Meira because she loves the endorphins (that and I think she's got a fondness for "recycled cat milk".. )

and I'm just afraid to feed them.  I really shouldn't make them exclusive raw fed kittens (it makes them less adoptable in a shelter environment) but the last mom I had with a sensitive system produced Bug who ended up being returned to me for the same issue Meira had..

Why fret over something that isn't happening yet.. later.. we can worry about that later.

On a personal note, I'm trying to expand my palate.  There are four things I won't eat.. Fungus, Seafood, organs and anything cute.. Well I've been told that lamb is very good for me, and the universe seems to be smacking me on the back of my head to try it.  Well I told the universe if I could buy just a little of it ground, I would try it... and almost immediately I ran into a meat department that sold it ground by weight.. so I got a quarter pound.  I put off eating it, and put off eating it.  When I wasn't near cooking time, I was all brave and had on my big girl pants, I made great plans on how I was going to cook it, but when it came time I just couldn't do it.  Well Sunday I decided if it stressed me out that badly I was just going to give it to the cats.. Fleurp was BESIDE herself.. Jack also was so happy.. I had it unwrapped and was about to put it on the cat's plate when my husband mentioned that I probably ate lamb in Gyros.. Which of course I immediately gave him the stink eye, but I turned around and got out a fry pan and cooked up a wee tiny bit of it.. about the size of my thumb.  Fleurp was still doing the happy dance, chirping away.. Jack was just doing his normal scream.. which distracted me to the point where I over cooked it a little on one side.  Well I was brave and took a bite.  I did not mind it.. it was a bit like ground beef, just not quite so beefy.. but it still made me sad to consider it (not to mention I kept thinking it was rabbit - and since I've owned rabbits as pets I won't ever eat rabbit) so I gave the rest to the cats.  Jack and Fleurp LOVED it.  Skippy - not so much.  In fact most of the other cats weren't into it.. so I brought most of it down to Meira.. and I have found something Meira won't eat.. Odd since she ate beef.. but that's OK..

There is a darn good chance we have a name change going on.. Musa has become Moose.. cause frankly he is one.. It was that I just wasn't pronouncing the a, but now it seems to have stuck.. and my husband joked that I should rename Ludwig to Squirrel.  Cause you know...

Moose and Squirrel..