RIP Puss in Boots

Misty just called me at work to say that we lost Puss in Boots. Poor little guy. I had this cute picture of him sleeping ready to post...just wish it wasn't in memoriam.

Golden Birthdays and Kitty Colds

I've been meaning to post, but I wanted to wait until I could pictures up as well. But then I keep leaving the camera at home in case the kittens do something cute while I'm gone (maybe we just need a 2nd digital). So, I'll update now and maybe add photos tonight.

Ever hear of a "golden birthday"? It occurs when you turn the age of the date of your birth. Mine was yesterday, so I turned 27 on the 27th. For some reason, I find this very cool. I worked and Misty didn't get off until 8:30pm, but it was still a nice day. Enough about me...on to kittens!

Two of the sixpack are very very sick. Pretty much every one of them has a kitty cold (aka upper respiratory problem), but these 2 are much worse than the others. Bad enough that mama cat moved the others away from them (survival of the fittest and save the ones she could mentality). So, we've taken to bottle feeding them, every 3-4 hours. Misty has also been giving sub-cutaneous fluids (under the skin of the back) and a drop of antibiotic. The antibiotic has never been tried before b/c you just don't give meds to a kitten who is only 1-2 weeks old, but at this point, it couldn't hurt: they'd certainly die without it. We're praying and trying our best...even Tasha. She gingerly picked the sickest out of the carrier to try to care for it. She's such a good foster mama.

We have been coming up with names for the kittens as well. Misty gets to name 3 and I get to name 3. She's picking Indian names, while I just picked ones I liked (though Sarah might catch a connection to 2 of them). If you look at the numbered picture below, I named #3 ("Serenity"), #5 ("Puss in Boots"), and #6 ("River"). I'll put Misty's names later b/c I don't know them all. The very sick ones are #2 (I think she named it for the sun) and Puss in Boots (#5).

A Day in the Life of Fostering...

Did you count them? That's right - there are now SIX kittens! Misty was sent home with 2 new ones the other day to see if Motka would let them join her pack (it is far better for everyone if the kittens can latch onto a nursing mom than for us to feed every couple of hours). I'm pretty sure #2 and #6 are the new ones (they are the all-black ones). We still have to name them, but for now I'll use the numbers so you can see who's who.

Okay, so there is some variation to the following (like when Misty is off, or I get out early), but I’d say this is a pretty good picture of what a typical day is like for us:

• Get up (this may take several attempts), shower, get dressed
• Feed all the cats (our 3 + Motka) and clean the litter boxes
• Take Tasha and Shelby out to go potty
• Fill water bowls
• Go to work (~8-9hours/day)
• Home: drop bag on floor and take Tasha & Shelby out to go potty
• More than likely, lay down towels on pee accident spot (use poop bags if there's been the other kind of accident)
  
• Feed all cats and clean litter boxes
• Change out of work clothes, if needed, and take dogs on ½ - 1 hour walk (bring lots of poop bags!)
• Feed dogs and fill water bowls
• Clean pee accident spot(s)
• Kick other animals out of our room and allow Motka some space (she’s usually locked in our bathroom with the babies; this way she can get a little more room)
• Give babies some attention/handling (this will increase as they get older to ensure good adoptability)
• Take Tasha out again
• And again
• Misty gets home
• Weigh each kitten and record numbers on their personal notecards
• Figure out who didn’t gain weight from the previous day (it won’t be a huge gain, but we have a kitchen scale that goes down to 0.01 oz, so even a tiny bit will show up)
• Prepare KMR (mix powder with water = formula) and feed those that didn’t gain weight – there’s usually at least two
• Take Tasha and Shelby out
• Feed all the cats and clean litter boxes
• Make sure Motka is set up for nursing and lock her back in the bathroom
• Let the rest of the rugrats into our bedroom
• Try to sleep

Shelby's Weekend Adventure

Okay, so the pictures will have nothing to do with the following story, but they are cute pics of the still-to-be named kittens. The top is a "kitty pile" with all 4 in Misty's hands (can you find each one?). The last I picked b/c one has its arm around another. Our current guess is the 2 almost solid black ones are male and the 2 black and white ones are female. But, of course, we could be proven wrong (as we were with Peanut).
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We took the dogs to Petsmart this weekend, intending to go for a long walk afterward. Shelby has a tendency to eat everything in sight, including dust-covered food off the floor, so we usually put her in the cart. She’s very calm and sits still, so it works out well. Unfortunately, the cart we put her in this weekend was broken (it is a bi-level cart; the lower 1/3 had pulled away from the upper 2/3 of the cart, but we didn’t realize it since it didn’t look broken). Shelby had the misfortune of stepping on that broken lower part and getting her foot wedged between the two levels. She started screaming and wet herself because she couldn’t get it out. Misty and I were both bitten (dogs will bite at anything in the vicinity when scared) before I got a hold of her head. It was wedged in really bad and it actually took two people pushing down on the broken piece of the cart and one person underneath pushing up on her leg in order to get her out.

Petsmart was wonderful though. They immediately took us over to the in-store vet place, Banfield, to have Shelby’s leg looked over. Misty carried Shelby and Tasha and I ran behind them. The doctor took a look and nothing appeared broken, “just” a sprain. She was given pain meds for a few days. All was paid for by Petsmart. They also brought us a $25 gift card, which was conveniently how much the dogs’ food cost. We got Shelby a stuffie b/c she was shaken up so bad, but she seems fine now. The Petsmart lady said she’d complained to upper management about the carts before, but the higher ups refused to replace them. I told her maybe they would now.

Motka and her babies

Welcome to Motka (Polish for "mother") and her babies. They will be named shortly (we have the honor of doing so). The kittens were born sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, and Misty brought them home with her on Wednesday night. Of course, we also had a full house of visitors from out of town that night as well. Thursday night was the most packed: 6 people, 2 dogs, 3 cats (2 our own), and 4 kittens. We loved it!

Motka wasn't exactly prepared for mama-cat-hood. She had the usual kitty cold, but she also seemed very confused as to what she was supposed to do with these 4 crying "things". Took about 2 days of pushing her on her side, attaching kittens to teats, and lots of praise, but she finally figured it out. She's being a great mama cat now. She keeps a close eye on her babies and will even take them away (carrying them by their necks in her mouth, as she's supposed to do) if she feels they are in danger. She readily feeds them now and we caught her stimulating them to urinate just tonight (kittens can't urinate/defecate on their own - it is a way nature keeps the nest clean and sanitary). Mama herself wouldn't eat the first day or two and had to be force-fed, but she is more than happy to eat whatever we set in front of her now.

We will probably be fostering everyone for about 8 weeks, so look for lots of new kitten pictures in the days/weeks to come.

Cutie Sleeping

I haven't posted in a while - it's been crazy busy at work. The shelter has been getting puppies, so once a week I've been stopping off to play with them. They need the social interaction, ya know. ;-]

The first group was a mom with 6 pups! Every last one, including mom has been adopted. The next group came this past weekend (I think). This is a mom and 3 pups. Two puppies and mom have been adopted, just one little guy left. Puppies usually aren't hard to place, it's the older ones that are tough. But, a companion pair of 10+ year old dogs just got adopted too. Yay for adoptions!

Peanut is fitting in well. He and Sati love to beat the crap out of each other. We are working on teaching Sati the difference between "playing" with Peanut and "being mean" to Boulder (he's our old guy and not fond of their bouncing, hitting, or biting type of play). Peanut is still missing the fur on the sides of his neck, so he gets this mohawk thing going. It is half-cute and half-pathetic.