Eat kittens.. EAT!! we can't have skinny kittens

Well sadly the fab five are 'failing to thrive'.  They aren't getting sick and they aren't obviously dealing with this in any way other then they weigh the exact same amount today that they did when they showed up.  They are happy, they are playful, they are obnoxious.. so I'm not anywhere near worrying about them.

But someone or two someones has diarrhea (there are many well formed 'tootsies' as well as your poop-poop platters) and there has been some vomiting so I grabbed as good of a sample of the PPP as I could and took it down to the shelter.  They said they would call me if they found anything out of the ordinary (and no call came) and they sent me home with some dewormers for round worms (pretty standard - all kittens get strongid) and tape worms (cestex) so the kittens got their first taste of getting stuff shoved down them last night.  It went pretty well.  Only Niki overly reacted (why am I not surprised)

They also have not been eating well at all.  (did I mention these kitties have severe ADD??)

this is a toy right?

They are eating maybe a can and a half of Fancy Feast a day.  I give them a wide variety of flavors and textures and nothing really interests them.  So while I was at the shelter I grabbed a few different textures and I found a huge box of Honest Kitchen dehydrated food.

I have seen lots of recommendations for it lately and it was there so I figured it was fate.  I have tried it for The Crew, and they were less then impressed with it.  When I got home I mixed up a cup of it and let it sit for the recommended time and then dished a small amount on to a plate.  The Crew did the "YIPPIE!!" dance and sung and danced until I put the little plate on the floor.  In turn each one sniffed at it and then looked up at me as if to say "Are you freakin kidding me?  What is this??"  They all walked away.  Eli came back a few minutes later and gave it a few licks but even he was unenthusiastic.  I had higher hopes for the kittens.

Maybe if I hadn't called it 'slop' before putting it down??

So after I medicated them I gave them all a forced taste of it (by putting a little on my finger then putting it on their noses) and they all turned their noses up at it.  It was a little funny because they kept coming back to try it, and when one went to sniff at it, the others thought, hey, she is eating, it must be good, but no one got past the sniff stage.

Yum yum, you kittens are gonna LOVE this.. (right?)

Well this smells different

I'm not eating that slop

*sniff*

*sniff* *sniff* Why are you sniffing this??

I have no idea!

I also brought home a case of Royal Canin Gastrointestinal High Energy diet.  High energy, yup, they need that.  Something with their gastrointestinal tract in mind, yup, they need that.  I am NOT a fan of the ingredients, but I am a fan of anything that will work, so I popped open a can and gave it to them.  Yeah, thanks lady, but no thanks.

Fancy feast kitten.. Forgetaboutit..

Seriously guys, what on earth do you want???  Play is not food.. hey, get back here!!

*headinhand*  *sigh*  I am seriously hoping that deworming them will spur their appetite and it will be nothing but awesomeness from here..

Don't you wish this was you?

Does anyone feed Honest Kitchen?  Is there some magic trick to it??

Toys for Kittens (because they obviously don't have enough)

For those of you newer to the blog, I don't think I've mentioned in a while just how 'special' my Twee is.  Her official name is Tweedle because certain people were throwing around "not so nice names for the mentally challenged" when we were trying to name her and someone joked Tweedledum..

Twee on left, siblings top and right.

See she just could NOT figure food out.  it took her WEEKS beyond her siblings, and then only because I gently pushed her nose into the food day after day after day.  So then for the next few months she could only eat if her entire face was buried in the food.

I had an animal communicator talk to her when she was a few years old.  The woman said she 'talked' like a kitten.  She is as sweet as can possibly be, she's just a few plants short of a catnip mouse.

Anyway.  Since being 'banished' from the kitten room (no, seriously Twee, you GRADUATED, you weren't banished!!) she has often sat in front of the door that has kittens behind it after bringing toys for them to play with.

Hello.  I brought you a toy

It's a good toy.. 

so much fun..

We want to play!

Unfortunately for Twee, I do not mix foster kittens with my own resident cats.  I know many foster homes do, but having had first hand experience of what can go wrong, I no longer risk it.

Wordless Wednesday

Spider Cat, Spider Cat, does what ever a Spider Cat does..

So when I was little and I heard the expression "You put your pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else" I worked quite hard and succeeded at putting my pants on both legs at once.  These kittens are NOT content to walk on the top of the climbing tree in the kitten room, they very much want to walk on the under side of it (where the rope is attached)  I can't figure out for the life of me why they do it, but then again why on earth would I ever want to put my pants on two legs at a time??

Just because they can.

They have some incredible mad skills and some incredible upper body strength.  It is quite amazing and a little stunning to watch them.

Names for the ADD Kittens

So when I asked you guys for help, you certainly came through.  I took the names and wrote them all down on the wall in the Kitten Room in dry erase marker.    I have a feeling I'll be using these for a while.  Some of them will be taken down for the simple fact that I've already used several of them already.

I've already decided I wanted to have a set of 'triplet names' and a set of 'twin names'  I really REALLY wanted to call the fluffy black boy Foster, but he just seems more of a Theo and thus his sister became Thea.

Theo and Thea.

This sweet little kitten (NoWhite) took the name Tiki after I heard it. Which simply meant that some other iki names would need to be decided for her sisters.

Don't blame me!!

Sigh, whatever, as long as you don't call me late to dinner.

Meet Riki (LittleWhite)

and Niki. (LotsAWhite)

Of course this leads to the issue, is Tiki pronouced like you would if it was a Tiki Torch or Rikki Tikki Tavi. Actually it really depends on the situation and my mood.