Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Holding food for ransome of cuddles didn't work so well..



So I figured if the kittens were hungry they would come up and sit on me and ask for food.. well as you can see they simply sat around the bowls waiting for food to appear. I even tried picking them up and snuggling them, but they went and sat by their bowls some more.


So I gave in.. and there was much rejoicing.  I am sure they will become cuddly again soon, they usually do.

Lena is still very food possessive and will growl and push Lori out of the way. I put the exact same food in two bowls, and Lena will push Lori out of what ever she is eating, no matter where I put the second bowl. All attempts to break her of this have failed. Normally I pull kittens off the food and make them watch the other kittens eat, but Lori won't eat when she gets growled at and waits for Lena to walk away.

I decided to try to introduce dry food. I am not a fan as you all know but since they are shelter cats and the shelter feeds dry food,  I know it is important for kittens to know that dry food is food so they do not starve. Because of their poor health and the slow healing their colons have done, I went slow and gave a small handful a few days ago.  Lori LOVED it and snarfed it all down. The next morning there was some diarrhea in the litter box, so I waited a day before offering some more. Now Lori is the one possessive of the dry food - which I think is quite humorous and a bit annoying because these are supposed to be obligate carnivores. I have to remind myself to take their rough start into account and I have no idea what foods they were living on before they got to me. I know it was not filet mignon, as there was long fibers in their diarrhea.. Maybe Lori found a bit of dry food somewhere, or someone gave her some and she has memories of eating it when she was starving.. *shrug* it makes her happy so I will give it to her... but we are going slowly.  The two of them got another handful last night and this morning things seem okay, so they got some more this morning. Lena's intestines feel a little ropey so she might end up getting some probiotics if I can get them into her.

I was also asked if I have an Amazon.com wish list, which at the time I didn't, but I do now. I went ahead and linked that bad boy to the side bar if you are interested. Please remember I am not an independent fosterer, so all of my supplies are taken care of by the shelter, but I have to rely on what I can scrounge from them for specific things I like.  This time of year the supply closet isn't stocked as well as it is in the spring and summer because there are fewer kittens in care, but this is the time of year the kittens need the better options for nutrition and what not.  I generally use items up until they can't be used any more. The food bowls I have I've been using for at least five years if not longer. The towels I have were all once mine and are slightly stained but still work fine for wiping up spills and providing soft bedding for mother cats to lay on with kittens. I would love a new scale so I can stop sharing between my own cats and the kittens... basically what I am saying is those are all wants.. not needs.

And if you made it through the entire post, I appreciate it :) This year I have about 30 Christmas cards left after sending out my Christmas card exchange. I'm not sure if there is anyone out there reading this that wasn't on my list, but if you would like a card, feel free to email me your address to connie at kittyblog.net

7 comments:

  1. Kittens are so much work - I don't know how you foster humans do it!

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  2. They sure know what they want, don't they? Fierce little floofballs

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  3. They are just so darned cute! Thank you for all you do for these little ones, Connie, to help get them ready to find forever homes. You are awesome!

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  4. love it...and mom is trying not to snicker. why come to you - food comes from food bowls of course. :)

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  5. MOL at Random Felines. That's EXACTLY how we feel about it, too. We're cuddly AFTER dinner, not before. We have to wait by the eating place beforehand.

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  6. When humans think they can negotiate cuddles it's time to re-write the constitution! MOL

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  7. Well my youngsters are really aggressive when they're hungry - Louie and Wilbur attack each other and race around the house, especially in the morning. And I can't seem to figure out what everyone likes to eat, although they all seem to come running when I sprinkle dry food in their dishes. Go figure. I have noticed that they usually eat most of their food eventually, if I leave it out overnight.

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