Throwback Thursday

I thought it would be fun to see how far they have come..

Sunsweet then

Sunsweet now

Slate then

Slate now

Agate then

Agate now

Marble then

Marble now

Midnight then

Midnight now

Happy National Kitten Day

And don't get me started with "but every day is kitten day".. look, this one is labeled as such, so let's just smile and move on 🐱🐈

This past weekend there was a request for help on FB from the woman who I deal with at the rescue I foster for. Kittens were being transported up to her and she needed some help getting them. I asked about helping but someone had already stepped up. I was fairly certain that someone was my new friend Sally so I reached out to her to see if she wanted company on her trip.  It was her and she was very open to having someone join her, so off I went. (okay, fine, Sally was super nice and came most of the way to get me for the trip)

The transport had some mechanical issues so they were very late in arriving, but once they got there we were to pick up a mom and her kittens and a group of kittens without a mother.

We met up in an abandoned Burger King parking lot (next to a well-lit gas station) and when the van rolled up Sally brought the carrier to them. They closed the door, put the kittens in the carrier and I put that carrier in the car while Sally gave them the second carrier and got the paperwork. It is a very interesting experience I must say. It was nice to be a small part of their journey to their home..

After being in a van all day in a carrier with their litter, they didn't smell the best, but that's okay. At one point I heard a bit of scrabbling and saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I reached out and found one kitten had forced their way out of the carrier (the kitten unzipped the carrier just enough) and I got to snuggle it and give it what for kisses as Sally pulled off the road to make sure no one else had escaped.

It made for a long night, but that's okay.. because kittens..

Kitten graduation photos

Slate

Agate

Midnight

Sunsweet

Marble

Five little kitties, all in a row

We have just passed the ten-week mark and Sunsweet is holding on to his "I'm the BAYBEE!!" status.. he is the littlest of the group and has yet to hit the two-pound mark. Agate hit that weight a couple of weeks ago, but she has always been larger than the rest. Sunsweet was aided in his quest to stay here by having a day when he wasn't feeling well. He lost two ounces and I was about to start to panic when he said "haha just kidding" and started eating well and being his obnoxious self.

Actually, I think the dry food I had put back down wasn't agreeing with him. I had removed that from them again when I saw soft stool in the litter box and right after seeing the soft stool he started being quiet/losing weight.

I am overfeeding them and giving them bonus meals of raw food because I know I have people anxiously waiting for them. Although, considering all of the food disappears, I guess I can't really say I am overfeeding them...

So, Sunsweet is currently 1lb 13.5 oz.. so I am hoping that this week or this weekend he'll make weight. And if not, I'll stick rocks in his pockets.

An update on Hedy

I have been willing to share more of Hedy on my facebook page recently because she is starting to look more like a cat and less like a fur covered skeleton. Even so many people have commented that she looks very skinny so I thought I would do an update post on her so you all know where she stands.

I don't remember the exact weight Hedy came to me at but I believe it was in the low 9lb region. She arrived at the beginning of April and didn't give birth for three weeks.

Hedy when she showed up
 I had to check twice that this wasn't Butters.

Three weeks later after giving birth

She arrived with a URI and some stress shedding. After a few trips to the vet, she started doing well and we had a fairly uneventful pregnancy by April's standard. I know we had some food issues, but once we got her URI settled she seemed to eat well and I don't remember any major issues with diarrhea at the start.

After the kittens were a few weeks old, Hedy started losing weight quite dramatically. She was eating but she had horrific diarrhea. I swear for every ounce of food she ate she produced three of "nacho cheese" looking diarrhea. She was filling up two litter boxes in twelve hours. We tried several different dewormers and had her in the vet multiple times trying to figure out what was going on. I tried offering her raw food and she didn't want it.

Skinny Hedy

After the third round of "well, I have no idea", we tried premium foods. One day I walked into the kitten room and the stool odor was incredibly strong and almost fruity smelling. I looked at the food she loved and that she licked up the gravy first of and saw it was full of potato starch. It was then I decided to remove the dry food and any food that has plant-based ingredients in it; wouldn't you know it.. nacho cheese turned into toothpaste.

So, I fed her only fancy feast kitten food as that was the only food I had in the house that didn't have rice or potato or other plant-based ingredients. She ate it because I gave her no other option. She wasn't a huge fan but she ate enough that it should have put weight on her despite nursing five kittens. Her weight slowly fell down to under six pounds.

eating well and losing weight

the only good use of the phrase "Calories in / Calories out" 

At that point, I freaked and tried raw again. This time she ate it with gusto. she would eat two or three times what she would eat of canned (where she put it I have NO idea) and slowly the weight started to creep back on.  She didn't poop for three days - which is pretty normal for a raw fed cat. I had no idea if she was gaining weight because she was holding in stool or if the raw was doing its job.

Hedy hiding from the kittens

Finally, poop showed up and while it was not the typical dry raw fed poop, it showed me that the weight gain was her own and things were finally FINALLY going in the right direction. Even at six and a half pounds, you could almost see the bumps on her bones through her fur.

Slowly, all too slowly, weight came back on. She started looking a bit better. The fur that remained on her back (since she lost most of what was on her flank) started feeling softer. Something is still not right because she never developed that bone dry poop that comes from eating raw. She might need more medical support she might just need more time on a carb-free diet, I'm not sure.

I am out of here! - Hedy

But she is leaving me today. We are going to neuter her and see if the hormones running through her body is adding to the problem. Since she has started hissing and biting the ears of kittens she has shown she is ready to move on so she will stay with the rescue until a home is found for her. She has been spending most of her time up on the cabinet where the kittens can't reach, only coming down occasionally to use the box or lick the back of the head of a distressed kitten.


The kittens are still with me and will be until they reach weight to be neutered. Agate is there (she is such a little bruiser) but the rest of them need a little finishing. I wish I could keep them at least a couple more weeks because there is so much more for them to learn in their family unit. If I had my way I'd keep them until they are 16 weeks.. they are still super cute at that age and I think it makes for better adult cats, but I get that people want their kittens, and since I have people who are chewing their fingers off waiting for them, I won't fib and keep them longer than is necessary.