Goodbye my plants, Hello Designers...

Well my last set of fosters is gone :( They were so overwhelming when they were all together, but each one was special and unique. It is harder to get to know them personally when there are so many.. I'm sure Ivy and Huck have some great qualities I never really got to know.

I hope my little Blue loves his new home. My first impression of the people who adopted him were not quite what I wanted for him, but they are going to keep him indoors, and the little boy LOVED the idea of Blue being all over him... so I can't complain. Apple and Dandi went to a home who is going to let them outside.. :( I gave her my 'inside only' speech, and can only hope that it got in there somewhere.. or if not, they are very lucky and beat the odds. (I know I know.. a lot of cats do very well outside.. I must learn to be more open minded) Ivy and Fern went to a woman who was in the night before and saw them. She also adopted another kitten, so I bet that house is mayhem! Peony is still at the shelter. Its too bad, she's such a good little kitten.. but solid black little kitties don't grab attention like the others..

I got a call today from the shelter asking me to take another set from a woman who was overwhelmed with medicating them. Five little girls, all in tabby and tiger coats. The previous foster mom and daughter named them after designers. One of them is named Dior.. I've forgotten the rest, but she gave me a cheat sheet. there is a mom cat, who apparently isn't even their mom. She is very young and very thin. She apparently is very protective, but teh whole act of moving to a new place, with the new smells and everything sent her off the deep end, and she was attacking everything that moved, growling and hissing and spitting.. so she is in my cage cooling off at the moment. I'll have to get photos right quick because they are beautiful cats.

bye bye plant kitties

Well Fern, Blueberry, Apple, Peony, Dandelion and Ivy are schedualed to go in on Wednesday for their surgery.. *Sob* I shall miss my little Blue. My little shadow.. and Dande.. her fierceness while she plays - but in a good way, and Pea and her soft soft fur and her seductive ways of getting you to bend to her will.. and Apple's... well how she's stuck on fast forward.. lol.. she never fails to make me laugh.. Fern's well rounded socialization, how she's up for anything.. and Ivy's cute little French manicure..

Sigh

I can't keep them forever, and honestly I don't want to, and I'll get new kittens right quick to fill the void.. but the void will be there, and they will be missed.

I hope Blue finds a home who is willing to dote on him until he gets sick of it (which he wont) And Apple gets a home who is forgiving, and / or takes a second kitten to try to keep her distracted and off the curtains :D

Welcome Back Bear

ugh! he's back (ok I don't mind at all)(well mostly)

I thought he was doing so well, and with my BG reading of 81, I thought they would want to take him and put him on the adoption floor.. no such luck.

He had a BG of 245 at the vet.. they were impressed, but I'm not. Although if he has stress issues, and releases glucose that would make sense. maybe I should keep him for two weeks and then ask them to do a fructosimine (man I wish I could spell) on him to show his BGs over the past two weeks..

I brought him home last night. I put the carrier down while I checked the answering machine, and my kitties investigated. Since there was no hissing involved, I thought I'd let him out for a little exploration. Well he slinked around for a bit, and waited till my back was turned and took off. could not find him ANYWHERE..

now if you remember, my husband's aunt's cat did this while staying at my house. I swear there is some invisible sign that is visible to visiting kitties that says "HIDE HERE!!"

Searched and searched and called out and searched some more.. no Bear. My own kitties followed me around and laughed at me. Finally I gave up and went to bed. I knew he had access to food (although it was my own cat's food) and litter (again, my own cat's litter box) so I figured nothing bad could happen..

At 1 am I heard some growling. It woke me up - as it always does - and I figured it might be the elusive Bear trying to get into bed.. but no Bear. I get up, and find Bear laying at the end of the hallway all sweet and innocent. I scoop him up and throw him in his room, where he proceeds to pound on the door for the next two hours!!


when picking up Bear, I visited with Huck, Bil and Zale. They were quite groggy. Lovey was very awake, and wanted OUT of her cage. The kits just wanted to crawl up on my lap and go to sleep.. talk about your guilt trips. I felt bad, but it needed to be done. Must say taking care of six kittens is WAY easier than 11! or even 10. Although they were quite frantic for food this morning.. don't know why, they got more than they usually do (I feed one large 13 oz can have for both 11 and 6) the kits were much more me orientated than they had been before. Previously they were too busy playing with one another.. this morning they were ALL over me.. made me giggle.

Hey Mom, it's your Birthday!

So let me FINALLY come out of my shell, and POUND on the door and scream at you all night long..

OMG Bear was a total PITA last night.. he finally decided he wants out of his room - he must be feeling better - so he was pounding on the door and meowing. Fortunately his meow isn't that loud, and I FINALLY wised up and stuck a shirt in the door to make it tighter so it wouldn't bang against the frame. But twice in the night I got up and opened the door to see what his issue was. The first time he poked his head out then very cautiously walked down the hall. Ended up in the bathroom where we feed our cats. He was walking low to the ground, so he was still a little unsure of himself. He ran into my cats, started hissing, so I put him back. an hour later he started pounding again, so I opened up the door and this time he went very quickly in the other direction. I didn't want him to go into the room where I keep my rabbit, so I shut that door on him. He went and explored the back bathroom, then went back to the original bathroom. My cats hissed first this time, but he didn't slack off in that department, and after my last experience with Dovey I was a little reluctant to let them 'work it out' so I grabbed him and put him back, and in another hour he was pounding again - which is when I stuck the shirt in the door. He kept at it for a while, but it wasn't enough to really get to me. I had also gone in to visit him, and he was all up in my lap, licking me, and head butting me. OMG I could easily fall in love with this cat..

Speaking of Dovey, she went back to the shelter today. I felt so bad, but it needed to be done. Friday I took the kittens in to work... no wait, let me digress a little further. Kit has wanted to play with kittens since the last set went back, but I really didn't want to let the kittens out in the house, so I put her in the kitten room. Lovey didn't care but Dovey went off the deep end. Actually attacked Kit. Fortunately I was very quick to break them up, but she was quite upset for a while afterwards.

So I took the kittens to work on Friday, giving Lovey and Dovey some time alone. The kittens were very reluctant out and about, and overly concerned. Fern was fine and quite the little show off, but the rest would have rather gone home. So sad. they are going to have such a hard time with adoption.. *shrug* they'll get over it.

When I brought them home, Dovey once again went off the deep end. Growling and hissing and spitting at the kits. I tried to corral her to try to calm her down, but my attempts only sent her further off into la la land. I was actually afraid of her. I finally got her, and locked her up in the cage. I called the shelter to see if I could bring her in, and they said I could, but I then thought a little better of it and thought I'd let her calm down a bit. After an hour or so she was eating treats out of my hand, but overly concerned and growling when I showed her a kitten of either her litter or Lovey's. I took all of the kits weights and emailed the shelter asking to bring some of them back, and told them how Dovey was done being a mom. They told me to bring her back right away, and I have Huckleberry, Bilberry and Azalea scheduled for surgery on Wednesday. I am not a fan of doing this, splitting up groups, but I am getting horribly overwhelmed with them all and Bear.

Dovey did not take well to the shelter. I was able to capture her pretty easily but not with out some torbi-tude. When I got there, she was shedding up the wazoo, and her eyes were as big as saucers. I gave her some food and tried to comfort her, but then again she was never my biggest fan.

I checked up on Licorice while I was there. He's still there. very mellow boy. However he's either got a food allergy or ear mites pretty badly. His ears were a MESS and he was tearing them up as well as the back of his head. I know that it is hard with so many cats, but you'd think they'd take a short amount of time and touch each one each day or two.. Yes, I'm ranting, I just feel bad for him.

ok so I feel bad for all of them, but some adjust to shelter life better than others. It is a crying shame there aren't homes for all of them.

what really got me thought was a pair of kittens they had in the manager's office. OMG they were so full of personality that I was drawn to them before I even knew they were there! So brighht eyed and social. the one (they were both black and white) that I saw first had six toes on each back foot. The other bit is that he had one foot all bandaged up, and the other was bent inward at a 45 degree angle. The other had both front feet bandaged up. I will admit they looked a little pathetic, but I didn't feel sorry for either one of them. They were just so happy and wanted attention. I wanted so badly to take them home, but I'm stretched pretty thinly at this point that I didn't think it was fair to anyone. but I so totally want!!

for compairison

I thought it would be fun to get photos for compairison from the kits, my kids and Bear.. in case you can't see the weights, Apple is 2lbs 2 oz, Ollie is 10lbs, Bear is 15.

Apple

Ollie

Bear

Fern and Apple - I just liked this photo

more progress

I got Bear belly last night. Sent DH in to spend time with him too, and he got Bear belly too. he then hopped down, scratched around in his box, and laid down to go pee.. such an odd little boy.. although I bet he'd LOVE our litter boxes..

We are going to have a Kitten Friday at work tomorrow. I can't begin to fathom the trouble they are going to get into!

Break through!!!

This morning I went to pill Bear, and then cuddled him a bit. I told him that I was sorry for all he was going through, and that I wanted him to feel comfortable here. I also apologized for what I was going to do tonight, which was pill him, trim his nails, test his blood sugars and give him some rescue remedy.

When I went to pill him tonight I moved the chair, and instead of having to tip the chair over and physically remove him from it, he actually came out!! on his own!!!

This is HUGE!!!

I gave him some more antibiotics, a bit of RR, and a pill to help stimulate his appetite. I forgot to test his blood sugars, I'll try to do that tomorrow.

And then just now he sat at the door and cried out. I opened the door and he looked around, but then saw Muffin and hissed and went back into the office and sat under the desk. I tried offering him treats, but he wasn't into it.

I'm so freakingly impressed!! This really is huge for me... well and for him! now if only we could get him to stop hissing at the kids, we'd have a nice happy house hold. I'd love to bring him to bed with me for some good cuddling.


Since I pulled out the nail trimmer, I decided it was time to do the kittens too - since someone caught me on the neck last night. They don't mind getting their nails trimmed, but they really hate being locked up in the cage.



They much prefer to be free! only problem is they need to be in a cage to find a new home in a couple of weeks. I'm sure they'll be better when they are at the shelter..

the count is now 18

So my six, the two moms, their eight babies, the one orphan, and now I've got another foster at the house.

Yes, I swear the word "sucker" is on my forhead, but only animal rescue workers can see it :)

Five yr old, long haired 20lb (I'm guessing) black kitty. Declawed. Has a urinary infection, and high blood sugars.

so he's here on antibiotics and DM food to see what happens. He's had a rough couple of days apparently. He took his bath from the shelter very well and he drove to the house just fine as well. As soon as we let him out from the carrier, he tried to shove himself under the kick plate of my computer desk. It is barely big enough to fit a kitten.. not the big huge male that he is..



The kits downstairs are progressing nicely. Two pounds four ounces.. so it is just a matter of time before they are ready to go. The question is, do I send them all back and keep Fern, or do I keep them all and wait for fern to catch up with them. she is pretty much half their size at this point.. she's going to be a really small kitty just like Kit.. might take FOREVER.. which wouldn't be fair to the rest of them. Hopefully she'll have a growth spurt soon, and catch right up and I won't have to worry about it.

behold the power of steak!

We had steak yesterday, and we had a few left over pieces, so I took them to the kitten room to give the moms a treat.

It was SO FUNNY!! the kittens really didn't understand, but they wanted to investigate. Lovely got a small piece, then went to get the bigger piece, but there were kittens all around it, so she very subtly stuck her nose in there, and slowly pulled it away from them.

Dovey.. I almost fell down from laughing. She grabbed her piece, and tried to find a quite place to eat it.. but in one 12x12ish room with nine kittens there really is no place that they can't get to, so she just sat on the floor holding the steak in her mouth and growled. She kept looking left and right as if trying to decide where would be a good place, and growled when anything moved in the room - which again with nine kittens was pretty much constantly. I finally left her sitting there growling.. I felt a little bad, but I knew if I tried to intervine, there would be no good solution. If I pulled the kittens away, she'd want to save them, and if I tried to rescue her to a safe place she'd just run.. I'm sure she got to eat her steak though..

Kitten's first nail trim

Kitten nails are horrid. They are like little needles.. and when they hit about five weeks of age, they realize they can use them to climb things. For a while now I knew I needed to get them trimmed, but they were doing so well and not hurting me that I wasn't worried about it. Well over the past couple of days I've walked out of the kitten room bleeding, so last night I went down with nail trimmers.

Usually kittens freak at being held down and having something done to them. They get through the first paw ok, but then start squirming and making the second paw very difficult. I have to say though, this crew wasn't bad at all. There were a few that were squirmy.. but I was able to get through it rather quickly.

But once again I put them all in the cage to ensure everyone got done. Well caging does not go over well. Dovey came over to try to comfort kittens.. I got knicked a few times by kittens reaching through the bars to remind me they were locked up.

This morning I went to feed them, and I left with all the blood I went in with.. it was so nice!

A few of the kits have liquid stool. I am going to have to do something about it.not sure what the issue is, as they all used to have firm stool, and half of them still do. I wonder if the half that have issues are nursing on Dovey, and are getting the antibiotics and pred.. *shrug* not sure. Will need to talk to the staff and see what they recommend.

Picts!!

a really cute video
A second video

oh the cuteness!!

I decided to name the boys Blueberry, Huckleberry and Bilberry - all three names for practically the same fruit.. and it works with the plant theme I have going on there :)

I rarely name with themes.. I did it with the Muppet crew a couple of years ago - but those names totally fit the personalities of the kits. Kermit was the peace maker, Miss Piggy was all about her, Gonzo was a laugh riot, and Fozzy was fuzzy and liked to be cuddled.. (ok so then there was Peanut, but I never believed he'd live)

The kits are such a re-affermation of life. It is amazing sometimes. I mean I have nine kittens... five of which look exactly alike from more than three feet away, but they are all so individual and unique. Ok granted, they are kittens, so they like to play, climb and eat.. again, all looking the same from three feet away, but you sit down with them, and you are immediatly struck with how Dandelion loves to get up and lick you.. how Blueberry just wants the back of his head patted. How Bilberry just will let you hold him belly side up and just hangs out totally trusting. How Azeala is so reserved and sits back, and how Apple is on fast foward ALL THE TIME! that girl has no idea what she is doing half the time, she's just on GO!!

They recently started getting up on the window seat. These little kits LOVE sun beams.. they just drink it in and totally enjoy the warmth. Up there I have stored the carriers. One of them I took the door off of, incase the moms wanted to hide in it to give birth. well the kits are now sleeping in it.

They are eating a large 13 oz can of food twice per day. They have access to dry food, which I don't know if the kits realize is food or not. Lovey and Dovey partake of it. I have a lot of 3 oz cans as well (for some reason the shelter likes to save those for fosters.. I think they are just a pain, cause I have to feed so many) and I opened up 8 of those, all the same flavor - Nutro Kitten. They weren't that thrilled with it, so by dinner time there was quite a bit left, so I opened up a couple of canned of something fishy, and put a small amount of it on each of the left over plates, and they were clean come morning :) We are still going through a LOT of water, but I'm not getting the huge pee piles that I used to, so I think Dovey's UTI is doing better.

Last night I was trying to medicate Dovey and give the kits attention, when I remembered once again how easy it is to give back kittens. Granted, there is usually one or two that worm their way into your heart and beg not to leave, but when you have nine little kittens biting your toes and scaling your leg, and you know they have at least another month with you, you are so ready for them to find new homes!! Heck with four I'm often ready for them to go before they are ready to go back.. I can't imagine I'm going to have any hair left in my head come the end of June :)

where did the kitten get steroids??

Well it has been six weeks. So today was the day they got their first deworming. It is always amusing to see the reactions of kittens to the deworming meds. Some just took it, some reacted, and some reacted violently. Just too funny.

Since so many of them look so much a like I decided to put them in the cage and pull one out at a time. One of the boys felt a little big, so I decided to weigh them to see. Most of the kittens weighed out at 1lb 5oz.. but one of the boys is up to 1lb 12 oz!! I asked him where he got the steroids, and he just looked at me like "So what are steroids?? and how do I get them?" it was just a cute look.

Lovie reacted badly to the deworming as well. Kinda hurt when she clipped me with her back paw, but she didn't break skin. Dovey has resigned herself to getting meds. I peeked at her teeth, and things seem to be progressing and are bright pink instead of red. She's also missing the small teeth between her lower canines. I am kinda hoping that she's realized that the meds are helping.

names

Well we have all but the boys named at this point. Ivy (calico), Apple (smaller B&W), Azlea (Larger B&W), Fern(tabby), Peony (Soft black), and Dandelion (the solid black girl).

One of the boys has a smokey undercoat on his chest, he's also obnoxiously friendly. I think he's different from the other two, but it is so hard to tell. :)

Dovey's trip to the vet was eventful. They think she has stomatitis, and a urinary tract infection. So she needs to be on pred and baytril. *rolls eyes* this is going to be fun. It was suggested I isolate her and give her a small plate of food.. HA HA HA.. when i walk into the room she hisses at me and hides under the couch.. This morning was interesting, because she sat just out of reach.. I fed the kittens, and then gave her a plate of food. so maybe that would work. Bring in a smaller plate of food for her, feed the kits, then give her the food.. HOPEFULLY that will work. I mean I can grab her and pill her, but I would like to have some modicum of trust with her. Stomatitis is not a bad diagnosis, but a chronic one. Don't know who is going to want to adopt that (other than a shelter worker) *sigh* Means she's probably going to be in the system for a while :( Hopefully I'm wrong, but I really shouldn't worry about that until we get there. One step at a time.

Picts

Dovey's bad teeth (she's going to the vet on Wednesday)



I just love this pict, no idea who it is.


I'm thinking I'm going to name them all after plants. Started with Fern. The little soft one I love I'm going to call Peoney, the little round headed B&W I'm going to call Apple. and the calico is going to be Ivy

When I fed them this morning they were all clamouring at my feet, chewing on my ankles, playing with my pant legs, it was so cute.. :)

it is really sweet, but nine kittens is just too much. I can't get to know them, I'm sure some of them are being left out on the attention department.. If I were unemployeed it would be ok, I could spend several hours a day, but I can't.

medical issues and a new addition

Well after a week of medicating Dovey, her mouth still looks pretty nasty, so I took her into the shelter this morning to be felv/fiv combo tested. Thankfully she came back negative for both, but that doesn't explain why her gums are all inflamed and why the antibiotic didn't help.

I decided to stop giving it, because it is abosolutely ruining her quality of life. Every time I walk into the kitten room she hisses and hides. Its quite sad.

While I was at the shelter, one of the staff members asked what I had for fosters. Reason being she had an only kitten who was being a pain. Pooping on the bath mats, and suffering from only kitten syndrome. so I said I would take her.


so she showed up.. and immediately started eating the food off the floor, so I put her in front of a bowl of wet food, and she chowed down. the kittens interest her, but the moms kinda scare her. they on the other hand are fine and quite interested in her, which is nice. I was a little fearful they would be unaccepting of the new one.

So I'm sitting down here in the kitten room for a while. Annoying thing is I just cleaned up down here, and some how misplaced the remote for the tv (and heaven forbid I actually get up and touch the TV) so I'm stuck watching what ever channel came up. appears to be TNT, and is some movie I'm sure I've seen ages and ages ago, but I don't recognize it. DH is out mowing the lawn making a lot of noise. Fortunately the kitties really just don't care.

Ok.. I'm seriously in need of some names..

kittens at work

I brought the kittens to work on Friday. Was quite an intesting event. Most of them went into a corner and hid there, hissing and being quite scared. the calico was outgoing wanted to visit though. The fluffy black one who loves me was loving on me, along with one of the black triplets.

Finally got them all out and about, and I took four to my desk while my boss kept four on hers. they all just found a quite corner and took a nap.

My four eventually found their way onto my lap, which was really sweet, only problem is I have a two kitten lap, so if they tried to readjust, one of them would fall almost fall off. I had to keep catching kittens.

I have some great photos, unfortunately my camera once again went off the deep end. I just got it back after having to send it in to be worked on, so I am NOT happy. I don't know how to get the photos off the camera with out the usb cable working through the camera. I guess I would need a card reader... *sigh* Guess it is back to the old one again..

they came back from their trip, got used to being at home again, and became quite outgoing little kittens. its amazing what a trip out then a return to a secure environment will do!

three out of five steps isn't bad :)

there are quite a few steps involved in using a litter box.

you have to acknowledge that you have to go
you have to walk over to the box
you have to get in the box
you have to produce what ever it was that sent you over to the box
you have to finish producing it.

:)

well one of the kittens came over to the boxes (step one and two) that I was scooping out last night.. she sat down in front of them, looking at the ground like she was expecting something to happen. I finished scooping out the box, and she was still looking at the ground.. so I put her in the box (missed step three) and she started digging, and then you could see her visibly tense up(step four). well after a moment, she was done, but uncomfortable.. she was trying to figure out what was going on, and so was I.. so I picked her up, and saw a rather large poopie still sticking out rather prouncely from her anus.. meaning she pushed it out, but didn't get the concept of squeezing it off.. (missed step five)

Of course I'm on the wrong side of the room from the paper towels.. so I have no idea how to help her. I wasn't going to pick it off. I tried to help, and felt absolutely useless.. after a moment it fell off.. which was a good thing. I was about to get up and get a towel.. but she saved me the trip.

We have several eating out of the bowls now. I'm going to have to get more bowls here soon. Most of the kittens are now interacting with me, climbing up on my lap, being cute. Work is lucky I come in at all.. :)

speaking of which.. it is kitten field trip on Friday.. they'll come in with me for a little bit. Kittens need to get out of the house while they are young to help round out their socialization.. Never had eight kittens here at once.. should be interesting!

Dovey and the kits

I think the new medicine is helping Dovie. I went in Friday morning and told the staff what her issues were, and I got some new liquid anitbiotics. Because I can inject it into her mouth in a place that isn't as inflammed, it is easier to give to her, and she's not as scared of me. But she's still leary of me, and quickly runs and hides when I'm around or moving. Fortunately she's very into protecting the kittens, so she is quick to come back and be with them.

Amusingly enough I had one of the black and white girls on my lap the other night, and the kitten didn't want anything to do with me, so she kept crying out. Dovie came over and looked up from the ground matching the kitten's meow with her own grunt/cry. she was bothered, but not distressed...

I've never had kittens that were so reluctant to be with humans. Its very bizarre.

Several of the kittens are ready to eat solid foods, but they just don't get the concept. One was chewing on the bowl the food was in instead of the food. Quite agressively too. I offered the kits some wet food on my fingers. That went well.. only problem though is now they are licking and biting me even when I haven't been touching food. Although last night the smaller of the two black and white kittens was eating wet food out of a food bowl all on her own.

what ever issue dovie had earlier - the goopie eye and the nasal discharge - escaped from the kitten room. Tweedle was blowing snot bubbles and had mucus in her eye, and Jack had a goopy eye as well.

I saw a few kittens at the shelter yesterday I wanted to kitten-nap and take home. One was a five week old kit that was a part of a group that was smaller than my kits. They were fluffy, but all bones. another was an orphan that was a fluffy tiger kitten, five weeks old maybe, but had the lightest blue eyes I'd seen on a kitten. He was stunningly pretty. I keep wanting to add to my household.. but I do honestly know better. Six is enough..

HELP ME!!!

I'm over run with kittens!! they have ALL escaped, none of them are going back in the cage, and they were ALL piled up against the door this morning.. so I need to clean the kitten room, but with 10 cats running around it, it isn't going to be easy!

gack!

Ok, who's brilliant idea was it to take two pregnant cats??

Dovie is scared of me and is hissing at me now. I'm kinda concerned about her. I need to spend some time with her, but I'm not exactly sure when that is going to happen. should probably get someone to look at those teeth too! those can not be comfortable..

One of the kits used the litter box I put in the cage.. so that is progressing nicely. however I forgot the stage where little paws go into EVERYTHING.. they are all litter coated.. *sigh* looks like baths might be in their futures!

Hopefully the kits will get braver, and stop looking at me like I'm the enemy. They are starting to play, so when I become a big kitty gym, I'm sure they'll get over that unease real fast :)