Pardon the Interruption

Okay... so as you all know, Friday was supposed to be Henry's big day on the blog.  As seems to be the case each and every time that it is our Henry's turn, life intervened in a big way to make the expected somewhat more difficult and the unexpected the big news of the day.  With so much news to share, I humbly beg Henry's forgiveness as we will be postponing his featured spotlight day until Monday.

"Henry is beginning to feel... unloved and most definitely not the favorite.  It is a very good thing that you lock Henry in a separate room while you sleep."  

(If Henry only knew how I really feel... He might talk me into never letting him go)

Thursday afternoon was the big vet appointment that we've all been waiting for... you know, the one where all of our kittens were declared totally free from the dreaded ringworm and healthy enough for adoption.  Well.....

WE ARE RINGWORM FREE!!

WOO HOO!!!!  100 PERCENT RINGWORM FREE... SAYONARA, SUCKER!  DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT!

Photo re-blogged from Oso de Madre, who re-blogged from Piss and Vinegar

But....

UM.... HOUSTON?  WE HAVE A PROBLEM...

4 kittens may be ringworm free, but we do not have 4 kittens ready to leave our nest yet.  One, and only one, kitten was cleared to go to Petco this weekend... and it's not the one you might be expecting.  They are all adoptable and will all be added to Petfinder on Friday and made available for adoption, but due to various issues cannot be exposed to the Petco crowd for a while.  I may or may not be doing a secret happy dance at getting to keep my babies around for a bit longer.

Before you get the specifics, let's recap our adventure...

Four kittens loaded up and made their way to our fabulous veterinarian's office.  Three kittens decided they were interested in seeing the outside of the carrier.  One chose to stay where he was, thank you very much.

Kitten craziness pervaded every corner of the room.  They showed off their incredible floor-to-counter and counter-to-counter leaping ability.  Ben thought about trying a counter-to-ceiling jump, but thankfully thought better of it.  Porter remained in the carrier, thank you very much.

He eventually came out, but only if I promised to hold him.  ((If this photo had been taken a split-second sooner, you would see two back feet on the table, two front feet wrapped around my neck, and a kitten head buried in my chest... Oh how I love my timid boy))

THE VITAL STATISTICS WE ALL CRAVE

Ben     6 pounds, 2 ounces

Porter     6 pounds (even)

Henry     5 pounds, 10 ounces    

Eloise     3 pounds, 1 ounce

I was thrilled today that MY vet was there.  You know how it is to have a vet that you connect with and completely trust?  Well, she wasn't in the office on the day that I brought my kittens home (July 2nd)... and she was in the surgical suite on the day I brought the babies in for their ringworm diagnosis (July 5th)... and she wasn't in the office 2 1/2 weeks ago when I took the kittens in for their upper respiratory infections.  She has been there for me every step of the way (offering immense support and advice between visits) but she had never even seen my babies yet.  She came to a few interesting conclusions...

Conclusion #1... Probably not sister and brother (at least not by blood)

A. Their sizes are just too far off and always have been.  We were going on the word of a hoarder that didn't keep good records.  Chances are that our Eloise was switched with Tika (the Henry look-alike at Petco).  And I am not sorry the mistake was made.

B. Henry's dental development when compared to Eloise's makes him several weeks older than she is.

C. When they were rescued from the "rescue" in July, we went on the assumption that Henry and Eloise were littermates and only Feline Leukemia tested one of them (Henry).  Eloise had her own test this afternoon and came out blissfully negative.

Conclusion #2... None of them are the ages we thought they were and their birthdates are (probably) a mess.

Our original thought about the fearsome foursome's birth order (again, going off the records of a hoarder/"rescue") was Porter as the oldest, Ben a few weeks younger, and Henry and Eloise two weeks younger still.

After examining their teeth (over and over again to be sure), the vet questions ALL of this.  True, kitten teeth develop at individual rates just like human teeth.  But also, just like human teeth, there is a general pattern and usual pace and order to their dental development.  If we were to go off their teeth, HENRY is the oldest kitten in the bunch and might be older than we thought.  He is the only one with all of his adult teeth.  

Ben is still considered the second child, with Porter and Eloise taking up the rear.  In fact, our little Ellie Belly might be so much smaller because her teeth place her as being roughly three weeks younger than the first vet thought she was.

"See??  There's a reason I'm so teeny.  I'm just a BABY!!!"

Conclusion #3... One of them is still fighting an mild upper respiratory and needs to stay home with me to finish another ten-day round of antibiotics.

I'm not one bit upset that my love staying with me.  I am upset that our Henry started wheezing again on Tuesday.  The vet decided he's big enough to try Batril this time, which should knock the last traces of this illness out of him.

Conclusion #4... Two of them are still fighting a goopy eye and really shouldn't leave for Petco until it clears up.

Shocker, huh?  I am happy to keep Porter, as was the original plan, to work a bit more on friendly hand touches.  This does get more challenging, however, when I need to dose him with Tobramycin drops three times a day.

"Where's the other goopy eye kitten?"

That would be you, Ben.  One more week of kitten snuggles for me!

Conclusion #5:  Our one and only kitten cleared to go to Petco is the wee baby of the family.

She's not going either.  We're going to wait until Porter and Ben are done with their eye drops and send the first pair then.  Ellie's not going by herself and that's all there is to it.  So they are all still with me for another week... and I am ever so happy to postpone the tears that I know I will shed when it's time to send them to their forever homes.

If someone finds them on Petfinder before they are ready to go to Petco, they will be made available for adoption as long as the adopter is willing to medicate and keep the kitten(s) separate from their own animals for the time being.  But I'm trusting that the karma that keeps stalling kittens at my house will work for another week or two.

IN THE MEANTIME...

The kittens are sleeping off their new round of vaccinations. 

"Henry thought he put out the Do Not Disturb sign."

We indulged in lots of stinky cat food.

We broke out the new kitten beds to celebrate the end of ringworm.  Hooray for no fungus among us!  ((Henry was the only one willing to try it... brats!))

No pictures of it, but Eloise got the all clear to roam the house for a short time Thursday evening.  She sat on my shoulder during Project Runway, watched the fish swim, played with a few cat toys,  tried to climb into the fireplace, and was thoroughly sniffed over by Charlie.  Not one hiss, from her or the adult cats.  The boys are j.e.a.l.o.u.s.

Have a great weekend, everyone.