weekend report

 

we have hit the messy stage

 

Dyson - so very judgy

The vacuum kittens are still jumpy. They will let you hold them and at least are no longer as squirmy to get down immediately, but they are still a work in progress. Miss A went in with mom on Sunday and Bissell HISSED at Miss A something fierce. But...she then backed off - she was never aggressive, but hissy - and did come over for pets and scratches. Definitely one of those times when you wish cats could talk. 

 

the decoder kittens in the pen in the living room

The kittens got to socialize this weekend - Saturday night our friend Miss Z came over and Sunday morning Miss A came over. Since the decoder kittens are in the bathroom and it will never fit 2 people and 3 kittens, mom moved the pen into the living room and let the kittens hang out in that. It actually worked really well. Mom would never leave them unsupervised, but it gives them a little more space to run around and a different environment to check out.

They spent the first few minutes being weirded out by the different space and the ceiling fan and then got into playing and climbing on the ladies. They are now 10 weeks old and about the same size as the vacuum kittens so they are pretty little for their age. But eating and active and social so that is more than enough for us. Mom needs to weigh them, but isn't worried about them at all. They are no longer sneezy and snotty and have their first round of vaccines. Their neuter surgery is scheduled for May 20, so we have a few weeks with them yet.
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Daiquiri was having a case of the crazies on Sunday morning. She doesn't get them very often and they don't last long, but when she does:

decoder kittens

Chanel getting all flirty with the boys

They are doing well. Mom gave them dewormer preventative and it gave them....the runs. However, it seems to be clearing up so hopefully that is over. Yuck. They are still super friendly and VERY vocal about what they want. Daiquiri went over the gate the other night and hissed at them (which is rude considering she is in there to steal their kitten food). The boys just stared at her.
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tuxedo girls

always looking for trouble

Chanel has recovered. Her foot looks all healed up and now she just needs the fur to grown back. She has been chasing Goldfish around the house (who is very glad the bandage and the cone are gone) and Chanel also pounced on mom in bed the other morning, so she is obviously feeling much better.

Ivy has decided to spend the weekend like this

she suggests you find something similar to do with your time

vacuum kittens - 5 weeks old

Dyson

He is our scaredy boy. He hissy at mom and takes the longest to come 

over when she is in the room (unless she just grabs him). He actually

got startled the other day and spit at Bissell which was pretty funny.

Roomba

Our bold intrepid girl. She is the first to come over for attention 

but gets squirmy being held. She is all about beating up the boys though.

Hoover

Oh he is a lover. He will come over with some encouragement 

but will let mom flip him right over and rub his belly.

Dyson - king of the scratcher

Roomba in her cave

Love Dyson's expression - "stop mom"

da boyz

All the kittens are doing well. Bissell is too though she certainly still has some hand issues that mom is working on with her. Bissell loves to be scratched and have her ears rubbed, but move your hands to fast and she will slap you around.

The kittens are all eating canned and dry food. Mom is having to limit the canned food as we seem to have an ant invasion. Mom got some advice and seems to have thwarted their efforts for now. (she cleaned the threshold to the sliding door with a lemon cleaner and put down cinnamon along the base boards and also along the wall in the garage where she feeds Allie).

weekend report

We have birds that build nests in our gutters and also bang occasionally on the windows. While it drives every cat a little nuts, those birds seem to be taunting Chanel and Goldfish.

Chanel got the cone off this weekend. She is just so terribly pitiful and mom isn't sure she is eating with it on anyhow. Dr F took off the big bandage on Friday. She suggested a sock to cover it and keep stuff out while letting it breathe. She even gave us some vet wrap to use to keep it on. The sock didn't even stay on overnight. MOL But is looks SO much better and seems to be either healed over in one spot or scabbed over, so mom gave up, left off the sock and removed the cone. As of last night Chanel was doing laps around the condo chasing Goldfish, so we are sure she is feeling fine.

Can you stand the cute??

Roomba and Hoover in one of our Kitty Kasas

Hoover LOVES to have his belly rubbed.

The vacuum kittens are still a little shy. Mom has to sit with them for a few minutes before they will come over and act friendly. They are having a blast playing in the kitten room however. In fact, Bissell was playing with them the other day and the floor pads were all over the place.

The decoder kittens are doing well also. They are pretty small though so mom is making sure they get plenty to eat. And....their mom was spayed so that problem is taken care of. Mom got to see her last week - turns out she is only 9 months old. And she is pretty tiny.

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Could you all do us a favor and send some purrs to our friend Miss Connie over at Tails from the Foster Kittens? She had 2 momma cats from not great starts and the one was pretty sick. That mom seems to be doing better, but all of her kittens have since passed away. It is so very hard as a foster to love these fragile lives and do everything we can only to lose them.

Random Fridays

the windows are open and Ivy plans to sleep away the weekend

not sure what Goldfish is looking for in the basket

apparently Daiquiri wonders the same thing

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Mom is going to have to come up with some sort of airlock system for the foster room. Wednesday morning Bissell shot around mom, out the door and slapped a couple of cats until mom was able to herd her back into the room. 

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Mom and Chanel had an "exciting" weekend. Saturday evening Chanel came down the hall with blood all over the foot where she lost the nail. Mom grabbed her and it wasn't the nail bleeding but from the top of her foot. WHY ON A SATURDAY??? Chanel was shoved in the carrier, mom grabbed some stuff, and off they went to the ER vet (along with a friend to keep mom company). Turns out that in addition to the nail, Chanel must have also been bitten by Bissell and it abscessed. Several hours later, she was released from the ER vet. Bandage change on Sunday at a local vet and then saw our vet on Tuesday. The problem is that it looks like she got several teeth involved - there is a wound on the bottom, the top and the side. Which makes keeping it clean a challenge. SO it has been bandaged since Saturday and we see our regular vet this afternoon for our next step.

somecat has perfected the pout

vacuums

Roomba

Hoover

Dyson

Bissell

That momma cat is still pretty slappy with mom. The other morning mom had finally has enough and gently shoved Bissell out of the way when she was getting grabby. Bissell stood there and looked a little confused but did stop and think about it. So she is definitely still a work in progress.

The clear baby box is out of the room. Everyone had figured out how to get in and out and it seemed a little crowded in there, so mom spread out the blankets and removed the box. Of course, she walked in Monday morning and....no kittens. They were all curled up with each other in one of the kasas we have.

The kittens are doing very well. Dyson has a very large opinion of himself and seems to think he can hiss at mom. So she picks him up and kisses him. No accidents in the kitten room and mom has seen kittens in the litter box - so YAY. Plus she gave Bissell some canned food last night and Dyson was over there "helping" his momma with dinner (and growling at her - that boy is a brat).

Oh, but before the box was removed.....

where did those come from??

Before anyone even asks:
No - they are NOT in with Bissell and her kittens
No  - they will more than likely not meet Bissell and her kittens

Why not?
  1. these kittens are older and on a different vaccination schedule
  2. these kittens have runny eyes and the little ones should not be exposed to that
  3. no one has ANY idea how Bissell would react and mom would never risk these kittens (or herself) to an angry momma cat

Here's the story....mom got a text from our vet tech friend Miss A. A client of theirs had a cat who got pregnant and she needed to find homes for the kittens. She agreed to turn the boys over to us, her sister is taking the one girl, and mom will be spayed.

They are all black (mostly - a little bit of white on the underside of two of them) and all male. They tested negative for FeLV and FIV. They are 7 weeks old today but very small for their ages. Thankfully they are SUPER friendly. Unfortunately they are nearly impossible to tell apart. MOL

Miss A put vet wrap on two of them when they were being tested so she could tell them apart. Since it doesn't stick to the kittens and is stretchy, mom is leaving it on for now.

Mom did put up the play pen as a barrier into the hall and gave them some room to bounce around with her sitting there. Since Bissell is in the foster room, these guys are in the bathroom. As mom sat there, the girls all wandered around. Ivy really doesn't care, Daiquiri and Chanel hissed at them, and Goldfish really wasn't sure what to think. 

Names have not been specifically assigned, but we have picked them out. Meet: Cipher, Enigma and Puzzle. AKA the #decoderkittens

Random Fridays

Mom is slowing learning a few things about Bissell. She is still weird about hands and those cats outside the kitten doors. However, she must have lived in a house before since she KNOWS what a bag of treats means. And...she is very food motivated. Chanel was standing outside the foster doors and Bissell got "the look". But mom shook the treat bag and Bissell was all "oooo....cookies". Mom did get Bissell's nails trimmed. YAY!!! For a momma cat, she is a little weird. The kittens can scream about being lonely or held or whatever and she doesn't seem to get wound up. One sign of a cat on the other sign of those doors though and it is game on.

We have teeth coming in, so mom is going to make sure there are baby litter boxes and plenty of food available. Kittens that are nursing seem to take longer to decide they want to eat on their own so they will start when they get motivated. Bissell is spending more and more time outside of the box and away from the kittens, so it is definitely time for them to start learning. 

26 days old

we had a friend come over on Monday

she thinks both tabbys are boys

Dyson says "pfft"

Roomba isn't sure about being the only girl in this bunch

maybe it will be better OUTSIDE the box

Mom cleaned up and spread out more covers on the floor. As she was sitting with that same friend, they moved the clear box out of the way. Hoover walked over and climbed back inside. Twice. Clearly if they want to get out, they probably could. Next step is set up a small box for the kittens and add the non-clumping litter.

No new weights, but they are all growing like weeds. It was a little funny to watch them on the vinyl floor. Roomba did her best maneuvering in reverse. Though once she got the hang of it, she moved pretty quickly around the room.

And of course we have hit the bitey stage:

really Crash??

a post from the mom

Let me preface this whole thing with a couple of thoughts. First - Chanel is special. No doubt about that. She gives me a run for my money on any given day. She doesn't process the world around her like any other cat I have met or lived with in my life. What fascinates her from day to day is a mystery so trying to stay two steps ahead of her just isn't going to happen. I adore this cat and this is her forever home....but there are days she makes me bang my head on my desk.

A little background - the foster room is what would normally be the dining room in the condo. I split it off using 3 screen doors screwed together to make folding doors. There is a pass through from the dining room into the kitchen. I have tried various methods to block it but still allow light to come through. Daiquiri went over a couple of years ago in the middle of the night and ticked off a momma cat. However, it has been safe since then.....until last week.

I spent the weekend at my parents' house and was on my way home Monday morning when the pet sitter sent a text that he came in to cat screaming and ran upstairs to see a certain tuxedo cat climbing over the screen doors making her escape. He checked everyone as much as he could and everyone seemed fine.

Upon getting home, the resident cats were VERY jumpy. In fact, about an hour after getting home, Goldfish came out from under the sofa and went slinking down the hall. I can only presume she had been under there all day. No one else was coming into the living room for very long. And upon checking the foster room, there were tufts of black and white hair all over the place. Chanel had definitely gotten her butt kicked.

She was acting fine and all seemed well though she would sit with her right front foot held up from time to time. However, she is weird about having her feet touched, so I couldn't get a good look at it.

Then Thursday night I was petting her and a scab came off of her ear (with the hair being black I hadn't notice until then). I grabbed her, pinned her down and gave her as much of a once over as I could by myself (I swear that cat is part octopus). Turns out she has a puncture wound in one ear. And...she pulled out a toe nail (probably climbing over the doors). Friday morning I called the vet and made an appointment for that afternoon.

Turns out Miss Adventure (see what I did there?) has a puncture in one ear, several scratches over the back of her head and shoulders, and pulled a toe nail out. She was on pain meds for a couple of days but thankfully it will grow back.

Everything seems to be back on an even keel, so hopefully there will be no lasting effects. I did laugh though when the vet tech mentioned that maybe Chanel learned a lesson. Before I could say anything, Dr F laughed and said "I doubt it."

Random Fridays

Fortunately they can't get out of the box yet. Mom does have a confession though....she got the genders wrong again. In her defense, she claims it is the first litter of the year and she is out of practice. Whatever. So: Roomba is a girl, Hoover is a girl, Dyson is a boy. Oops

wait for the end...apparently Bissell ate just a little too fast

happy gotcha day

HAPPY 8th Gotcha Day Junior

toes

Dyson and Hoover at the milk bar

Roomba wandering off

oh look - back toes

Mom loves the "stick 'em up" position kittens will do when they are nursing.

19 days old and everyone is doing well. Mom said good morning to everyone yesterday and Dyson jumped, so the ears are open.

Mom was gone for a couple of days and it seems Bissell was all in love with the pet sitter. Mom came home and got slapped around again. MOL

Mom has been handling the kittens as much as she can. The girls are all sorts of screamy while Hoover is just kind of "whatever". 

a good defense

Bissell is still pretty jumpy. If she thinks there is a cat on the other side of the door, she will charge it. In an attempt to help, mom put a towel over the one door. In the shelves above, Chanel and Goldfish like to sit on that bottom shelf and look into the foster room. It makes Bissell nuts. Mom also refilled the Comfort Zone defuser. Mom went in Friday afternoon and did learn that Bissell is a little calmer if mom sits on the floor. Mom sat with her and got some pictures and loved on the kittens and Bissell was fine. Once she relaxed and was feeding the kittens, mom got up to fill dishes and clean boxes and Bissell was fine. Cross your fingers that some defensive maneuvering and time will help Bissell learn she is safe and can relax a little bit.

 

Hoover and his momma

 

Dyson and her momma

 

Roomba

 

snack time