Kreb has been adopted

Well, that took a bit longer than I thought it would, but not nearly long enough in some respects. You know how it is, you get a kitty in your arms and they purr and you fall in love.. Neither my husband or I wanted to let him go, but we both knew that this was most likely not the right household for Kreb, so we both agreed, most reluctantly, to go ahead with adopting him out. 

The rescue that found a home for Suri found him a home as well. It is always a risk when you take in a cat with unwanted urination behaviors because you never know if someone is willing to give a kitty a second chance. I knew if no one else would, we would find a way to make it work here, but we were blessed to find a lovely young woman who appears to be the absolute perfect fit for him. And considering the initial reports of his sleeping under the covers with her the very first night, I would say Kreb totally approves.

It is such a fine line when you let a kitty go, wanting updates, information, knowing how he is doing, getting reassurances that all is going well vs respecting the new owner's privacy and her relationship with her kitty. I have opened the door (maybe a bit too wide, because I am just a wee bit obsessed with Kreb) and if I get updates I will be thrilled. 

I am so glad I got to know Kreb as an adult. He is such a magnificent kitty, full of spunk and charm and that boy next door qualities that are so hard to resist.. 

Good luck Kreb, best wishes, and you will always have a place in my heart.. 

The Nintendo Kittens have gone back to the shelter

Last I checked in with you, Princess Peach was spending her days in "jail". I was having the worst time figuring out why she was simply failing to thrive. She was generally okay, but she wasn't gaining weight. She was dehydrated for a while, had many days of good stool, a few bad days of good stool, some days she ate really well, others not so much. As time went on she became more and more lethargic after eating, and I was getting very concerned.  I brought her to the local vet on Friday and we tested her for Felv/Fiv and tested her stool. Both were negative. I was pretty much at the end of what I thought I could do and the shelter recommended that she go back to them for further diagnostics. There was talk about a liver shunt or FIP, and in the end, it really was in her best interest to be closer to the decision-makers so she and her siblings went back today.

Mario is doing extremely well. She has energy to spare. I swear if I could harness kitten energy I could power the world. She loves running at full speed and pouncing on anything that she can. She and Luigi would often run at each other and jump at the same time and crash in the middle of the air. I wish I could have caught it on camera as I probably would have won AFV.  She does like attention, but she is quite a busy kitty. She was the first of the group to figure out she could climb the cage Peach was in to investigate things I left up there.  She would often join in Princess Peach and Luigi's cuddle time with me and having all three of these kittens up on my chest was pretty awesome.

Luigi is a love.  He loves Peach, he likes attention, he is quick to purr and quick to snuggle up to me. he too has a lot of energy but wasn't as aggressive in burning it off. Right up to the end he still wanted to nurse on Peach. I hate that I couldn't recommend those two be adopted together because I think he would really like being with her, but it is in Princess Peach's best interest to not be with him.

On Friday, after the vet appointment, I was desperate. I hated seeing Princess Peach scream to eat and then eat and have to sleep for an hour or more after eating. She originally shunned eating raw food, but I decided to push it again, and I force-fed her a serving of it. She wasn't pleased, but she wasn't as exhausted as she had been. After the vet exam, she had a major .. um.. evacuation of her intestines.. and I guessed that it was the food that wasn't agreeing with her. I left her with some raw and some canned food and in the morning she had eaten it all, so I put her exclusively on raw all day Saturday and Sunday.  Come Monday morning she had regained the weight she had lost from the explosion and she didn't feel nearly as boney and she had so much energy that I was highly tempted to call off returning them.  I asked and the shelter still thought it best to bring her into the fold since I am more than an hour away from them.  I was sad about this, but I totally understand.   I just hope this wasn't one more false lead on the road to her health. I originally thought her only issue was being nursed on, then I thought it was this and that.. and I didn't even consider it could be a food issue because he stool was generally pretty good.  Time will tell.  I am hopeful she will get her happy ending, but if it is a liver shunt or some digestive issue I am sure they will do what is in her best interest. 


And now a few other adorable photos from the photoshoot this morning.  They really are super adorable. I do kinda wish they could be adopted as a trio, but I am sure they will be very happy wherever they land as long as they have toy mice, ping pong balls, and a warm lap to snuggle up into.

Princess Peach is in Jail until further notice

When the kittens came to me a few weeks ago, they were pretty normal and average kittens, no major issues, in good health, etc. Peach seemed a little smaller than the other two, but I wasn't stressed about that at all. 

I then realized her poop was a little bit softer than the others and it wasn't firming up. She wasn't gaining as well as her siblings, so I gave her some probiotics. Her stool firmed up, but she was still quite small. Mario and Luigi both gained weight and filled out while she looked pretty much unchanged. 

I know that kittens gain at different rates so I initially wasn't that concerned. She was eating and she was active, so it was something I was keeping an eye on not so much something I was worried about. 

I noticed that Luigi was incessant about .. um.. well to be direct, nursing on her genitals.  This is something very young orphaned kittens do for comfort. I had not seen it start up in three-month-old kittens so I was assuming it was something he had done regularly and it wasn't causing a problem. I had real problems with it because it is seemed so rude, especially as he got bigger and she did  not, but no outward physical damage was being done (it can get really damaging in little kittens who can't get away) 

Then one morning I went down to feed them and found four piles of vomit about the room. Princess Peach was showing signs that it was her. She was tired and just had that air of not feeling well.  I separated her out into the bathroom and consulted with the rescue and we gave her some metro to settle her stomach and we gave her some fluids.

Things seemed to be going in the right direction, then one day she spent the day out of the bathroom (either I forgot to close her back in or the Catman let her out not realizing) and she went right downhill. 

More consults with the rescue and my own vet, we increased fluids and I decided to move her into a cage so she could interact with her siblings a little more.  

While I can't know for certain what happened, I am guessing that Luigi pestered her to the point of some pretty severe dehydration that subq fluids could only take care of over multiple days.  At this point, she is putting on some weight and is active and self-grooming and playful.   I will continue fluids and supplements until she is 3lbs

She gets plenty of running around time twice a day. Luigi has become more respectful (thank goodness) and hopefully, she won't need to be isolated for the rest of the time she is here. 

As an aside.. I realized the other day that Mario is actually a girl. I did a quick gender check when they first arrived and in my hubris, I didn't double-check myself (I always should).  I am not going to worry about changing her name as they probably won't be here much longer. Besides, as high energy as she is (and I mean like a toddler birthday party on Red Bull high energy) I do think Mario fits her very well. 

Photography cards from Skyboy Photos

I was on Facebook the other day and was served an ad for Skyboy Photos offering me five free cards. I am highly skeptical of all Facebook ads, but the images on the ad were pretty so I thought I would check it out.  He had some lovely art, but even better he had a kitty photo, so I figured I'd risk it.  I ordered a number of cards that I could use as condolence cards.  

David Bayard, who runs Skyboy Photos is a photographer, poet, and woodworker with a lifelong love of the natural world. He is also pretty adorable. I had a few interactions with him on Facebook and it made me want to put this out there so people could check out his work.

The cards are photographs adhered to nice card stock and I was very happy with the quality of them. Individual cards are $3.50 and a box is $18.  I just checked out his page and it appears he is still offering five free cards, so check him out to see if that offer still stands. 

I was not compensated in any way for this post. I just really like David and his work and thought I would share it.

Remember Kreb?

Back in October of 2018 I fostered Onyx and she gave birth to four kittens. Among them was Kreb. Kreb was adopted into a home with his sister Romy and pretty quickly it seemed like it was going to be a problem. From the history I was able to get, he pretty quickly developed a habit of not using the litter box all the time.

I give the family a lot of credit for working with them, but over time they came to the conclusion that their home wasn't the best home for him and reached out to me for help. After some discussion, I offered to take him back here with me and work on finding him a new home. The rescue who took in Suri agreed to take him if we could figure out what his issue was, which was a load off my shoulders because I simply do not have it in me to handle the adoption process.

I brought him home and set him up in the bathroom of the kitten room. He was a little uncomfortable, choosing to spend most of his time in the carrier, but he was happy to see me and would purr and wanted to be a lap kitty but wasn't sure if I was okay with that so he would lay down next to me with his paws on my leg.. See, Kreb is a VERY big kitty, weighing over 20 lbs. 

I do not know what his issues were with his last house. I have some speculations but that doesn't make them true. All I do know is that he is always on alert when the kittens would make noise. He was also reluctant to eat when I wasn't around. It made for a rough couple of days for both of us, but he is eating pretty well now and since he has used the litter box for his duty, he has graduated into a bigger room and so far has been very good in there. I have given him a few soft surfaces (towels etc) to give him a chance to show me that he has bigger issues than the stress of his old home (whatever that was) and so far *knockwood* 

So he needs a home too. While he might adjust to something different, I think the easiest transition for him would be a nice quiet home with adults only (or introverted older kids) and being the only pet.

I am probably going to give him another week or two here to be sure that nothing pops up, but we don't have a single complaint about him - well except that he is a bit of a dry food addict.. 😸