meet your new partners

Over the weekend the little kittens seemed to be doing much better and mom decided she REALLY wanted the bathroom back (nothing like tripping over 6 kittens at 3am if you have to pee).

So Saturday afternoon we had a round of "meet your new partners". And it was chaos.

The room suddenly seemed a WHOLE lot smaller with 11 kittens in it all at once. Plus the design kittens seemed to suddenly double in size.  MOL

Armani had to taste test someone....notice the outrage

Dior in the back checking out an interloper

By the way - it is nearly impossible to get 11 kittens in one picture. It is actually impossible to get any of them to look at the camera at any given moment.

Mom did some more research online and discovered before the "Sinatra Rat Pack" - there was another Rat Pack in the 1950s and she is going to use those names. Now she just has to figure out who is male and who is female and get them to hold still long enough to tell them apart. Girls: Bacall and Harlow (ok - not sure this is historically accurate, but mom likes it). Boys: Bogart, Flynn, Rooney and Romero.

The older kittens are being....pretty good with the little ones. Though mom would check the camera is she heard baby howling and sometimes they were just beating on each other. Chanel is VERY unimpressed with the kittens and keeps her distance when possible. Dior is better than her sister though she will hiss if she gets startled. Gucci and Armani are pretty much go with the flow. And Versace is pretty sure mom just blessed him with 6 new cat toys.

weekend report

Well, summer has struck. It was in the 80s this weekend and since we live on the 2nd floor, mom shut the windows and turned on the a/c. Mom asked if the kittens should go up to the center or if she could hang on to them for an event this coming weekend. There are lots of kittens, so the design kittens will be around a few more days.

Armani has turned into a wrestle maniac

Chanel is not impressed

 we don't want to know what Dior is thinking

These have been a great group of kittens. Chanel is still the most standoffish of all of them. Dior has started coming up and meeping for attention. Versace has turned into a part time cuddler...though there is No risk of him losing his nickname any time soon (ouch dammit). Armani is still the clueless charmer. Gucci is cute and he knows it.

Random Fridays

Daiquiri wishes you a nice weekend - warm but not too warm with open windows.

~~~~~~~~~~

Death to the spring toy

The design kittens had their spay and neuter surgery on Tuesday. Mom went to pick them up and had to hang around for about 20 minutes as Dior wasn't coming out of the anesthesia as quick as they would like. Her temperature was fine, but she was pretty out of it. Mom took her home in a carrier by herself (the other 4 kittens traveled together in a larger carrier) and left her in the carrier for a couple of hours to sleep off the meds. She came around well, but was a pretty mean drunk as she growled at her siblings the rest of the evening. Versace and Armani discovered the kittens in the sliding door (their reflections) when mom turned on the lights to check on them and freaked out putting on their stranger danger suits.

Here is the other news: Dior has an umbilical hernia. Mom never noticed it. Which isn't a big deal. However, the clinic didn't notice it either until AFTER her surgery. (argh) They said normally they would keep her overnight and fix it the next day, but considering her age and size and reaction to the drugs, mom opted to take her home and Dior will have it fixed in a couple of weeks. 

newbies

Tis the season for kittens.....lots of kittens. And in this case....lots of BLACK and WHITE kittens.

When mom was off on the Tuesday after Blog Paws, she stopped up to the rescue to pick up vaccines for the Design Kittens. She may have mentioned to the head of the rescue that those kittens are almost ready to go and she has space in the bathroom for the moment. Mom left with a carrier full of this crew.

From what mom was told, a guy picked up a truck from somewhere and when he got to our town found this litter of kittens. While he did the right thing but bringing them to us, he did refuse to help and see if mom could be found. These guys are about 5 weeks old....eating canned food mixed with goats milk and having some intestinal issues that mom is hoping clears up soon (they are on meds).

No names yet....there are 4 boys and 2 girls and mom is a little stuck. Using actor names from black and white films was suggested and mom needs to do some research to see if she can come up with enough workable names for this entire crew.

They were a little hissy the first day but settled in. The one below is certainly the friendliest. Unfortunately, they are ALL in need a bath....

Wordless Wednesday (mostly)

Mom moved the castle out of the kitten room. It has been mostly occupied
 Until last night when the top collapsed as Tommy jumped up. Mom is hoping duct tape will fix it.

surgery day

Time flies. The design kittens are 9 weeks old today (ok...give or take ...haha). Mom is dropping them off today for surgery. They did go to an adoption event on Sunday, but the store was very slow and there were no applications.

Gucci

Channel looking all judgy

Dior says no more pictures

Millie is doing well at the store. We suspect it is probably like a vacation for her. Paws crossed for a quick adoption for her. It is harder this time of year for adults since there are so many kittens available.

Dior stalking her momma

Mom spent a good deal of time with them yesterday. Since they are really the first set of kittens to head out this year, mom takes it a little harder.

They did get their second set of shots yesterday. Most everyone did well. Versace was a screaming drama queen and Dior tried to bite mom. 

lots of fun

Our final post about Blog Paws:

There is a running inside joke from several years ago along a few cat bloggers about cupcakes. When mom and Miss Julie (from Sometimes Cats Herd You) and Mom Paula (from Sweet Purrfections) found out there was a cupcake shop nearby, they took a road trip. The kittens got a cupcake of their own to try out. Dior wasn't interested, but the boys got a little bit of frosting to try. (not much - we know it isn't good for them).

Dior and Gucci hanging out in the room

helping the head peep from Sometimes Cats Herd You 

sell Rescued 2

no, he wasn't allowed to sample the candy

conferencing is hard

Thanks to everyone who was kind about handling the kittens and helped their social skills. Especially thanks to Miss Julie - we know she had fun with the kittens as roommates, but they were certain that morning started each day at about 6:30am.

We are back and settled into our routine. Millie was spayed on Friday and will be up at a partner store for adoption. The kittens go for surgery tomorrow and will either go to the adoption center or may hang around for a few days to go to a big adoption event.

meeting new friends

Among the other things the kittens got to experience, our friends from Kitty Cat Chronicles brought Sophie to the hotel room for a visit.

Everybody put on their stranger danger suits at first.

And then Gucci decided Sophie wasn't so scary. As she walked around the room checking everything out, he started following her. It was pretty cute.

*OK - some of you saw this yesterday....dang technology outsmarted mom again  MOL

Tidy Cats Direct litter box

  Chewy.com Influencer Review

We are a Chewy Influencer and got this product at no charge for our honest review. Receiving the product in no way influenced our opinions.

When mom got the email last month, she wasn't going to get anything to review simply as she wasn't going to be home during Blog Paws and was going to be running around trying to get organized.

However....the Tidy Cats Direct Disposal Litter Box showed up and mom knew that was perfect. No separate boxes, no containers of litter to drag around...everything all in one container. All mom had to do was bring a scoop and bags to scoop into. Chewy lists this at $26.60 and the information states it should last 1 cat for 1 month. We have NO idea if that is true or not....we sure don't have one cat and we go through a lot of litter in one month. That said, 3 kittens in one week barely put a dent in the litter (so mom brought the whole thing home and put it in the foster room).

Keep in mind, this is 13.5 pounds. The 8.5 pound container of light weight Tidy Cats costs $11.98.

Pros:
  - direct delivery
  - light weight litter
  - all in one container
  - the kittens took right too it no issues at all
  - the box is lined with a coating to keep it from leaking

Cons:
  - light weight litter (geez that stuff can fly around a room)
  - low sided box - if you have a flinger or a cat that pees standing up, this won't work

All in all, this is a great idea for traveling. Mom gives it 2 thumbs up!!

all sorts of fun

Mom headed off last week for the Blog Paws conference. This year it was in Myrtle Beach SC.

The drive was about 10 hours and mom made it in one shot. The kittens traveled pretty well - some protesting for the first hour or so. Once mom got there, she got everything out of the car and up to the room. First step was to set up the kittens in the bathroom and safety check the room. Mom and Miss Julie shoved pillows at the head of the bed, but then discovered the box spring was bigger than the platform on the floor. Which meant the kittens could actually get under the bed. Fortunately after the first day the kittens got comfortable and were usually out and about.

mom's roommate was the head peep from 

Sometimes Cats Herd You

 

Miss Julie  brought presents, including

this kitten sized camper

Mom loves that the kittens get a chance to experience so many new things when they travel like this. New spaces, new people, new smells and spaces. Harness and leashes and wide open spaces. Armani was the most bombproof and went lots of places. Gucci also did very well though the exhibit hall wasn't his favorite place. Dior was a little more hesitant out of the hotel room, but after a little more exposure, they did very well and seemed unfazed by the whole thing.

A quick note

Mom had a great time at Blog Paws. She got home yesterday after stopping to see her family on the way home. She took today off from work and hopes to get unpacked, laundry done and a couple of posts done. Of course to do that, she needs to remember where she packed the camera (or stumble across it as she unpacks).

the boys

Boy pictures....

Gucci

Versace 

(still known as "ouch dammit")

Gucci checks Versace for brain activity

we are pretty sure he didn't find much

Armani

yes, he always looks startled

(and yes their eyes are turning color...booo)

I keel you

I keel you more

Blog Paws

Mom is headed off to Blog Paws. She is going to try to get a few posts up in advance, but no promises. And she isn't taking the laptop, so nothing will get done while she is gone. Be sure you are following us on facebook, twitter and/or instagram as she will be posting. And follow the #blogpaws to see our friends as well. Mom is looking forward the most to seeing her friends again as she only goes every other year.