Happy Boxing Day

I hope you and yours had/are having a lovely holiday. We had a quiet one; visiting family and then home to open presents.

It was a little hard, being the first Christmas without Kit. I had purchased a calendar and a mug for the catman that was covered in images of Kit which brought up painful memories. That is now past, we move forward to a new year without her and with our six kitties.

And hopefully some kittens in the new year. When I started this blog in 2002 I could not fathom a time when I was not needed to foster. It appears that time might be at hand and isn't that a fabulous thing?

If you didn't receive a Christmas Card from me, this is the one I sent out this year. I will admit that I ended up photoshopping the kittens to all be in a row. They would not cooperate. Since I wasn't sure I was going to have another set of kittens, I took photos with Elsie and Emma.. Prism, Pirate and Paris were never really in a good spot to do a photo shoot with.

We watched movies on Christmas and didn't get to the Doctor Who Christmas Episode.. no one spoil it for me 😉

Wordless Wednesday - saying goodbye

Getting to know the kittens

Since I didn't have to worry about Emma's health so much, I was able to spend the weekend getting to know the kittens a little better. It was nice to find out that my initial assessment of their personalities was pretty much on the money.

Elsie is still go go go and loves playing and loves chasing toys. She will pounce on a toy she is chasing but then she sits and waits for it to go running off again so she can chase it. I would take the fishing pole toy and put it on top of the litter box box and she would jump up there, grab it and bring it back to the floor so she could chase after it again. She is going to LOVE having an entire home to run around and not just one room.  I fear she is going to be too high energy for some households so I will send along an adoption card with her to let people know.  She has recently started attention seeking too, and really likes being petted and will lick you if you stop.

Emma is still a cuddler. She is also a nose licker. She wants to be all up in your business and getting attention. This is cute, but it is also an extreme a bit like Elsie's play, in that I am sure there are people who are not going to find this trait endearing. She is starting to play more and starting to finally fill out a bit. She made weight on Friday and is very quickly catching up to her sister. She is pretty particular about food. She seems to only like shredded (not paté) chicken food. This was quite frustrating until I figured it out. She also eats raw, so at least there was that.

While the girls like each other, I don't see that they are particularly bonded to one another, which makes it a little easier on me to send them back on tomorrow. As long as Elsie has room to run and Emma has a nose to lick they'll be just fine.

Emma tries to say hello

Don't let this innocent face fool you

Emma is pleased that she has fooled you all.. 

The post all about Elsie

Hi, My name is Elsie. I'm a good girl. I love to play and play and play. I have a LOT of energy and I love to play.. will you play with me? please??

Could you play with Elsie some more so she doesn't pounce on me again? 

Wordless Wednesday - Kittens are cute

These kittens seem to have motorboats for purrs

I am enjoying watching the kittens eating these days, but considering, can you blame me?  Emma still doesn't eat as much as I would like. She tends to have a few nibbles then walks away and then goes back a few minutes later and the cycle starts all over again.  As you can see in the above photo, she isn't much more than fur and bones. I'm still able to feel most of her little bones pretty easily.

Emma is now 1lb 12 oz. She was 1lb 9oz when she arrived, so she is putting on weight which is a good thing. Hopefully, this is just the start and soon she will be putting on even more.

Elsie is a bit of a wild child. It is kinda cute, but I think her exuberant energy is overwhelming to Emma. Emma will occasionally start a play session with Elsie, but on the whole, she just watches Elsie be a crazy kitten, like when she took on a dog hair toy and lost. Once Elsie's energy is drained she is a little cuddle bug who has a purr that reminds me of a motorboat. Emma loves cuddly and will purr as soon as you look at her and invite her up.

Last week I was asked what a butterfly infusion set was so I took a photo

The infusion set is what is attached to the bottom of the syringe. The tubing is soft and it makes it a lot easier to get the needle into the kitten and hold it there while you push the plunger and get the fluid in the kitten. Prior to these, I would have a long needle at the end of the syringe which gave no flexibility at all. If a kitten started to buck I was afraid the needle would do some serious damage. With this, the needle bucks with the kitten and the brunt of the energy is taken by the line.

Emma's very long day

Hello, Narnia, is my sister in there?

So Emma spent the day at the shelter yesterday because she wasn't eating. There was a bit of miss communication a couple of times, but in the end, once they had her they gave her some fluids and she started eating pretty quickly. The foster coordinator even sent me a photo of her eating which totally made my day.

My husband works near the shelter, so he brought her home when he got out of work and the reunion between Emma and Elsie was adorable. When I got home I saw the supplies they sent home with Emma.

They sent home a variety of foods to make sure she would continue to eat as well as three doses of fluid for her to keep things going. I adore that they gave me the butterfly infusion sets. It made giving fluids a LOT easier.  I opened up a jar of baby food and this happened.


Then I opened up a cup of chicken food and she dove into that as well. With all of that input, the next step was output and it was good. Feeling better, she then chased her sister around a little and then settled down to clean up and rest a bit. I am hopeful that this is the beginning of ... wait, no, I'm not silly enough to say this is going to go well.. but I can hope.

My new foster kitten, Emma, needs some good thoughts.

Emma hasn't started eating on her own, so she is going to spend today at the shelter and get some fluids and see the shelter vet. Hopefully, it is just a case of worms, or something else really easy - or maybe she'll just go there and eat because she likes their food better than mine.  Either way, I don't care... just so long as she eats and comes back quickly.

As you can see, she is painfully thin, so the fact that she lost an ounce that first day was a little frightening. I went and got some goat milk and hoped that she would like that enough to take it, but she wasn't interested. I started force feeding her, and she was not a fan. It looks like she even vomited up a little.

She is active but she isn't playing. Her activity is getting you to pay attention to her. She will climb right up on you and purr, and rub all over your face. She likes to lick my nose. A lot.

I am very hopeful that this is just a blip. I should know more at the end of the day.

So, I received this email...

and then this happened..

Well, that isn't exactly how it went, and this isn't exactly what happened (I couldn't find my photo of the toy in front of the kitten room door this afternoon when I was putting together this post) but basically that's what happened..

and you know where I'm going, don't you?

Elsie and Emma are transfers up from down south, and are just over a pound and a half, so they only need a few weeks here to bulk up and make weight.  They actually have a scheduled day to be neutered, so as long as they stay healthy, we know exactly when they are going to leave.

They are flipping adorable.  Elsie, the kitten that is white with black, had so much energy she could barely contain it all. She wanted to be everywhere at once. I'm sure she has spent so much time in cages and carriers lately that to have an entire room must have blown her little mind. Emma, the black kitten with white, is very needy of attention. She spent some time buffing my face and licking my face.  Having two cat people to spend time with, who wanted to cuddle and love her, must have blown her little mind.

Emma is very, nearly painfully, thin.  I had not seen her eat anything, and she spent some time rooting on me, so I am going to get her some milk to see if that won't help bulk her up a little. I've seen Elsie eat so I am not worried about her.  Unfortunately, someone went pee on the couch, despite being told where the litter box was... but I am hoping this is a one-time 'I'm new to living in a house' type of thing.