Tigger Thursday

Just in case you missed it... We're famous!  Connie at Tails from the Foster Kittens included us in her series "Interview with a Fosterer" yesterday.  Click the link to read all about it.

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Mother Jefferson made the trip to the vet Wednesday to be spayed.  I learned a few very important things about her throughout the experience...

The first thing is that she apparently was an opera singer before the kiddos were born.  She had quite a bit to say along the drive, but it was all quite musical and pleasant sounding.  I hope her forever family will encourage this talent and help her get back into the business.

The second is that our kind sweet Mama remains a kind sweet Mama even under the stress of a veterinarian's office and surgical procedure.  She shocked the techs by refusing to give them "tortie tude" even once during the day.   She purred coming out of the anesthesia and was interested in playing and eating almost immediately.

The third is that our Mama wants to be a Mama, no matter what.  The vet recommended that we separate Mama from Lionel and Willie Rae for a couple of days to allow her to recover in peace, so we relocated the babies into the main house (allowing them some wandering time, but putting them in a bedroom for the evening).  Mother Jefferson, ignoring her physical condition, spent her first few hours home at the glass door to the foster room.  She meowed loudly, knocked on the door, tried to paw her way out, and bounced as if she were riding a pogo stick.... right up to the moment that we gave her babies back.  Lionel and Willie Rae ran to Mama, who gave them both thorough inspections and baths.  She flopped over to nurse them and then they settled into a cat bed to sleep through the night.

She is such a good Mama.  

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With Mother Jefferson gone for the day, I opened up the door to the foster room and allowed Lionel and Willie Rae to have their freedom.  After a few shaky, fraidy cat moments, they blossomed into brave adventurous kittens.  They ran and jumped and played for hours.  After a few hours, Willie Rae went back into the foster room and called loudly for Lionel.  When he arrived, they cuddled up in a sunny spot and took a nice long nap.

I didn't take pictures yesterday because I was having too much fun with the babies.  But there was a song running through my head all day that I thought I might set to pictures....

Oh, the

wonderful thing about kittens

is kittens are wonderful things!

Their tops are made out of rubber.

Their bottoms are made out of springs.

They're bouncy,

trouncy,

flouncy,

pouncy,

Fun,

fun,

fun,

fun,

FUN!!!

But the most wonderful thing about kittens

is that there's always another one!

Always..... another one!

The earworm

You're welcome

Cruzie Tuesie (Well, Kind Of...)

As you'll recall, our Miss Mally had issues with Cruz cramping her style in yesterday's Mally Monday post.  So little brother took matters into his own hands for today's post.

Seems to me that I remember another brown tabby who insisted upon chomping on the camera lens...

Dear Henry Washington had similar tastes.

And speaking of the Washingtons...

Eloise and Porter were adopted over the weekend!!!!!

Our teeny tiny tabby princess Eloise was adopted on Saturday.  

After weeks of waiting at Petco, Eloise finally met her match.

"When will they ever come for me??"

Wheezy's new mama brought in her two sons, 10 and 13 years old, to pick just the right kitten for their family.  The boys spent close to an hour carefully handling and interacting with the girl kittens (it had to be a girl) and thought our Eloise might be just the one.  They spent another hour alone with Eloise... petting, playing, snuggling, cuddling, and falling in love.  It was a done deal.

Bye Bye, big girl.  Don't forget to write.

Our sweet baby Porter (aka Porkchop) went home on Sunday.

Our gentle little lamb found the perfect new mama.  She's an older lady who lives alone and was looking for someone special to keep her company.  She found two special someones.... Porter's new buddy Danny from Petco went home with him to be his new kitty brother.

"I hope their feet smell better than yours do, Lady."

Porter's new mama lives very close to Paula, the lady who runs the rescue.  She has already invited us over to visit Porter whenever we like.  I'm sure we'll be hearing more about our boy in the future.

I can't wait to see more of him as he grows.

That just leaves one Washington at Petco...

What on earth is taking Henry's family so long to find him???

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Health Update

The Adams kittens visited the vet on Monday for their 8-week-old vaccines.  Thankfully, they were all big enough to get a dose of Capstar while they were there (okay, Hudson was technically one ounce too small but they fudged it).  The dreaded f-word should be on its way out of our house now.

Right before we left, I sanitized and sprayed down their room with a flea treatment.  We stayed gone until the Capstar had done the deed.  Each one of the kittens appeared to be clear of hitchhikers on Monday evening.  Think good thoughts that the spray keeps the bugs away.

After coming home, I vacuumed/sanitized/sprayed the rest of the house room by room.  Beds have been stripped, sheets washed in hot water, animal beds and toys washed and freshened.  The spray says it kills fleas/eggs/larvae on contact for seven months.  I'll settle for a couple weeks when everyone can have another dose of Frontline.  Just in case, I plan to sprinkle some diatomaceous earth into the carpets, upholstery, and litter boxes in the morning to keep any new friends from visiting.

The permanent residents have been on regular Frontline since late winter, so they should be in the clear.  Mother Jefferson and the midgets cleared a round with the flea comb.  Good news is good news.  Just hope the news continues to be good...

Tuesday Morning Edit

I should have thought to give an r-word update while I was typing last night.  The fungal culture that the vet's office is running on Norman and Charlie takes 7-10 days to produce an accurate result.  I'm told that the r-word generally grows quickly and that most positive results become clear by day 3 or 4.  We are on day 8 and the test still reads negative.  The vet says he is inclined to believe it will remain negative, but will not feel safe to call it an absolute negative until the end of the week.  In the meantime, Norman's spot is growing its fur back (which would make me believe it's negative).  Charlie's is not yet, but the swelling is going down and the skin color has returned to normal (another good sign).  I'm just hanging on for another few days...

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Moving On Down...

Mother Jefferson and the kittens left the upstairs bathroom Monday evening... and moved on down to the master bathroom instead.  (They will be moving into the front foster room once I'm certain that all of the bugs have checked out of the hotel and that the Adams clan is clear to move to the family room).

The kittens started by exploring a Charlie bed, lining the floor of the open shower.

Mama Isabel wasn't certain that she approved of this set up.

"No... This won't do.  It won't do at all."

Apparently 3-week-old kittens can climb out of a Charlie bed on the floor of the open shower.

It didn't take Mama long to relocate the babies.

You've got it... they're on the floor of the linen closet.

Willie Rae had all sorts of complaints.

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Tuesday appears to be a long, interesting day.

The kids have the day off from school for a teacher professional development day.

(I know... on a TUESDAY???)

I've promised to spend part of the day shopping for a 10th grader's dress for the Homecoming dance.

Dear Lord, help me to return with most of my marbles.

The rest of the day will be at football practice and a soccer game.

If I don't make it back to post tomorrow, here's a video of Mama and the munchkins to tide you over...

  

Oh Look, It's a Basket!

You know I'm tired (make that mentally and physically exhausted... big shout out to back-to-school complete with THREE school open houses, fall sports season, and life in general) when:

A. I fall asleep on the sofa at 8:30 p.m. and continue to sleep there until 6 a.m. the next morning when my husband turns on all of the lights and starts yelling at the kids to get out of bed (Hmmm... I wonder when they actually went to bed last night.  I'm just not asking that question)

B. I mentally compose an entire post about the Adams kittens discovering Eloise's basket yesterday afternoon and spent quite a bit of time taking pictures of them enjoying said basket (you remember this one, right?)

And then when I upload the photos to Blogger at 6:30 on Thursday morning because I took a really long nap last night, I discover that it's not the same freaking basket!!!

So anyway.... here's a bunch of pictures of the kiddos in a basket.  Enjoy :-)

"Hey Look, Shelby.... It's a basket!"

"Bentley likes this basket.  Bentley claims this basket and will call it 'Bentleyland' "

"Hi Lady! Please focus your camera better next time. The picture will be much cuter."

"Bentleyland, Schmentleyland.  Hudson will sit in the basket if he wants to sit in the basket."

"Excuse me, pardon me... Shelby's coming through."

"Hudson will teach you to walk all over him while he is enjoying a basket.  HE GET YOUR TAIL!"

**chaos ensues**

"NOW look what you did!!!"

"HEY!  What happened to Bentleyland?"

"Bentleyland??  I thought we were calling it Shelbyville."

"Possession is 9/10s of the law."

"And I'm not getting out, so there."

"Cruzie isn't getting into this argument."

"Cruzie will, however, have a snack.  This basket is delicious."

The following morning when the Lady wakes up from her several hour long nap on the sofa, she spied something through the door.

It appears the kittens have reached some sort of agreement and, perhaps, have learned to share.

A basket full of tuxies!

Everything's better with a brother.

The R-Word

We're banishing it from the vocabulary like the nastiest cuss word imaginable (Actually there's only one cuss word that I will never, ever use.  The others are fair game in mature company. But the R-word is joining that word on my never-to-be-used-again list)

Porter hated the R-word.  So did I (and I still do)

Monday was spent traveling back and forth to the vet's office, with heavy-duty household sterilizing in between.  Mama and her five kittens went in the morning for their eyes and other assorted maladies.  Norman and Charlie went in the afternoon to be checked for the R-word.

I'll start with Norm and Charlie because theirs is the biggest dilemma and, therefore, the biggest news.  You'll remember that yesterday I only mentioned Norm, but Charlie developed a wound and a scabbing overnight to Monday morning and I was quite ready to have a conniption if I didn't have answers.

This is what our poor Normie's face looked like on Monday morning.

Charlie wasn't sitting still for a photo.  I guess he would rather you didn't see him that way.

50% of R-word infestations will glow under a black light.  Neither Charlie's nor Norman's pretty large and unsightly wounds glowed.  So now we're at less than a 50% chance that either of them have the dreaded R-word.  The vet took a culture that they will grow in the office over the next 7 to 10 days.  If it is positive, they will give me oral anti-fungals so I can avoid the ritual bathing that ruled my summer with the Washingtons.

"Henry was not aware that baths were optional."

"OPTIONAL?? Lady, no amount of chicken baby food will save you from the wrath of the Wheeze!"

But...  The vet tells me that his gut feeling is that it is NOT the R-word.  He believes Norman was injured somehow (possibly in a tiff with Simba) and is scabbed over.  He's leaning towards an allergic reaction with Charlie, some kind of contact dermatitis.  We're going to treat them with an over-the-counter topical miconazole cream for now.  It won't hurt them if they do not have the R-word, but it will help protect them and us if it is.  Holy Relief, Batman.

I, however, do have a confirmed R-word spot.  Not surprisingly, my younger daughter and I have passed it back and forth since the Washingtons were still with us.  We have a pretty strong topical prescription that usually knocks it out in 4-5 days.  Animal R-word is generally weaker and easier to treat in humans.  Now we just need to get it to STAY gone.

Thanks for keeping me company on the R-word roller coaster.  I really would like us all to be able to get off soon... promise.

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More Vet News

Mother Jefferson and her babies also traveled to the vet.  The babies' eyes were crusty, yucky messes... 4 out of 5 were having issues by this morning.  Mama, who has been ridiculously gassy since her arrival ten days ago, began having diarrhea issues overnight... an exceptionally lovely mess greeted me this morning (yuck!)

Their diagnosis was easier to reach.  All six of them were given dewormer and Mama was placed on a prescription that should clear her up shortly.  The babies are on Tobramycin drops (all except Roxie, who has yet to display the goop).  I'm getting to be quite an expert at kitten eye drops.  This litter, however, seems to have been born experts at avoiding having these drops actually land in their eyes.

Lionel sticks his tongue out in the general direction of anyone who thought a trip to the vet was a good idea.

Roxie has been labelled at a "Seal Point Siamese" on her health certificate.  She is getting darker and darker every day.  There's a debate over Clay's coloring... he may very well be developing light orange on his tail.  I am rather inexperienced when it comes to Meezers.  What would we call an orange tipped one?

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Size Comparisons

Our three litters of kittens came in a wide range of sizes.  I realized the other day that our Adams kittens are now roughly the same age and almost the same size as Eloise was on the day that she took up residence in the front room.

How was she ever this teeny?  Something not quite so teeny?  Those ears.  They're still too big.

Our Jefferson kittens have a mama in residence to make sure that they're fat and happy.  She weighs 7 pounds 13 ounces (one pound less than Norman, one pound heavier than Porter).  Her kittens at 2 weeks old are comparable in size to our Adams babies at nearly twice the age.

Today's Weigh-In Results

Florence     10 oz

Roxie     11 oz

Clay     11 oz

Willie Rae     12 oz

Lionel     12 oz

The teeny tiny Adams babies at 3.5 weeks?  They ranged in weight from 11 oz to 1 lb, 2 oz (and that Bentley was a huge outlier)

"There's nothing wrong with being a teeny tiny tabby princess."

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As long as everyone (Adams, Jefferson, Permanent Residents) stays healthy over the next couple of days, I'm planning a shake-up in room accommodations.  The Adams kittens will move upstairs to the family room while the Jefferson clan takes their spots in the downstairs foster room.  I hate making them live in a bathroom almost as much as I hate sharing my bathroom while they're in there ;-)

Unfortunately, the family room lacks the vertical blinds that our kittens enjoy so much.

It also lacks easy opportunities to annoy Uncle Norman.

For the time being, visits between the Adams babies and their best buddy Charlie have been curtailed.  I feel safer doing this "just in case" the R-word is indeed rearing its ugly head.  Hopefully we'll have good news before the time comes for the munchkins to move to Petco.