Wet Dog - 'Nuff Said

Duck!

As I was saying, the shelter takes in all kinds of animals. These two ducklings showed up yesterday. They looked a bit more sgraggly before their TLC made them all fluffy.

Last Photo of the Day

Isn't she the sweetest - that's my yellow sweater that she's holding. Well, actually it was Misty's until I shrank it by accident; now it has a couple holes in it, so I gave it to Tasha.

Wilbur and the Ponies

Your local humane society/animal shelter may have more than just dogs & cats. We have bunnies, ponies, and a pig named Wilbur. Of course, they have also seen opossums, barn owls, and goats. Guess that's what you get out in farm country. Wilbur is enjoying a molasses and peanut butter in the first picture.

Weird

Well, so much for Motka hating the newer kittens. Maybe they played with hers long enough that they don't smell all that different. Whatever the reason, she's taken them in as part of her brood...even to the point of nursing them. Serenity is okay; she's just not in the photo above (probably enjoying a bottle).

Motka is also a bit overprotective and still tries to carry her babies away when they start crying. Problem is, they are too big for this and she either keeps dropping them or, as in the case of poor No Name below, she drags them along rather than carries them.

Why not make it an even dozen?

This little black guy above brought our neonate (just-born) number up to an even six and gave us our full dozen on total kitten count...but luckily only for a day. Another foster home took all 6 of the neonates, so we are back down to just the lucky 6 kitties that range 4-6 weeks old. Some better pictures of the other 5 neonates are below (finally got them out of their kitty pile).

Cuties

Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't have favorites and they are ALL just so darn cute...but I am partial to Serenity (below; pocket pal). She's just so sweet and needy. Saphira above is just plain gorgeous.

Shelby's New Duds

We made another trip to Petsmart and came away with goodies. I got Tasha a plastic bone that you fill with say chicken broth, freeze, and then give her in the morning so she can snack all day. Shelby obviously got a life jacket. Didn't slow her down at all - she loves that spring means she can finally go swimming again.

Don't Even Ask!

So, you already know kittens 1-6...
Kittens 1-3 are from the very first batches:

Kitten 1: Serenity; has not figured out how to eat kitten mush yet, so she still nurses on mom AND gets bottle-fed. She has figured out how to use the litterbox though, so I think she’s just playing us and really likes formula

Kitten 2: Denver, our first boy; he’s head of the class and was the first of the original group to figure out everything: kitten mush eating and litterbox using. Good boy!

Kitten 3: River, a week older than Serenity & Denver, and a little porker – she is ALWAYS eating!

Kittens 4-5 were the next bunch added (see post about last Thursday)

Kitten 4: Saphira, female, such an adorable little thing

Kitten 5: No Name; no, we didn’t actually name it “No Name”, but we are waiting on our neighbor to name him

Kitten 6 was added Friday night

Kitten 6: Squishy, another little porker; she loves to eat. Smaller than Saphira, No Name, and River, probably closer in age to Serenity & Denver

Finally, the new group…added Saturday night (and may not stay past this weekend if there is another foster home available)

Kittens 7-11: Names coming soon; they were all named by people at the shelter and look very similar, so it is hard to tell you who is who just yet. I do know there is only one boy, the lightest one (#11), whose name is Quicksilver.

HAPPY EASTER!

We decided to try the "natural dye" method for Easter Eggs this year. The yellowish ones were done by putting flowers on the egg and then wrapping with red onion skins and boiling. The blue ones (the picture below doesn't do them justice) were done with boiling crushed blueberry sludge. It was a mess, but kinda fun.

Tasha's Trial Day at Doggie Daycare

Sorry for the quality of the pictures - they are from the online webcam that lets me watch Tasha for half the day. Big mistake, since I actually DID sit at my computer and watch her for half the day. In the above picture, she is just above left of the big red star. Below, she is just left of the star (above the grey Weimaraner). At the dog park, she often wanders the perimeter by herself, but I was quite pleased to see that she did actually run around with some of the doggies at daycare.

When I picked her up, she had been moved to the geriatric side (behind the check-in desk with a couple other older dogs and all the people). She was quite happy "supervising" feeding time and didn't want to leave. Yay - she was happy there! She even willing went into the crate at naptime (she's never been crated before). I got a report card that said who she played with and what she did, plus two pictures from the "Easter party". One is her wearing bunny ears and the other is her enjoying the spoils of her Easter egg/treat hunt. I'll try to scan them in and put them online. Since she did so well, we've signed her up for every-other Wednesday.

Not done yet...

Meet Squishy (yes, from *Finding Nemo* as in "aw, look, he is squishy and so I shall call him squishy; hello, my squishy!" or some such). She came on Friday night. Supposedly feral, she clings right to us and seems to enjoy people. Motka doesn't like her either, but she's about the age of Saphira and No-Name, so she hangs out with them. Now, it is three and three.

Oh, but Misty just called to say we might have some extreme neo-nates...but only for the weekend. ;-]

More Kittens

Misty brought home two more kittens on Thursday night, bringing us up to 5 (see above). These two were littermates and a week or two older than the ones we already had. Motka did not think adding more to her litter was okay anymore, so we drug out a dog crate for these two. They seem pretty cozy: blanket in back where they sleep, toys, and a dual food bowl so they can both eat at the same time (luckily, they are eating "kitten mush" of wet food + formula, so it is okay that mama cat didn't take to them). On to introductions:

This is Saphira (for the Eragon trilogy stories; it is the name of a girl dragon). She is another girl and very cute. Pictures don't do her unique coloring justice - she reminds me of a rag doll for some reason: black & brown & white, with hair that almost looks crimped. She's a sweetie and likes attention, but seems to be able to hold her own with the boys.

And here is another boy. Misty gets to name him and hasn't done so yet, although she seems to be leaning toward Everest or Denali (mountains). He is all black, but we can tell him apart from River b/c he also has the crimped hair look. He's pretty quick and adventurous.

Three Left

These three beauties are all that are left from the original six (4 Motka's own; 2 were add-ins).

Left-to-right they are:

• Denver: the only boy and a follower
• River: 1 of the add-ins, so she is a week older than the others; adventurous
• Serenity: 1 of the ones that we thought would die and was solely bottle-fed for weeks; she bounced back, but is much shyer and gets trampled by the other two; still gets bottle-fed as a supplement since she's so small

These three seem healthy and play throughout the day, so I think they should all make it. YAY!

RIP Cheyenne

The above was taken a few hours before little Cheyenne passed away (around midnight last night). She'd been sick from the very start, but we were trying so very hard to keep her with us. Misty, in particular, grew very attached to the struggling little girl and is heartbroken that she didn't make it. At least Cheyenne was in Misty's hands, nice & warm & loved, when it happened.

The Cat's New Pad

We got this great deal on a cat tower off eBay. Including shipping, it was only about $65, but it could easily go for $250 in a store. Considering making our own still cost about $60+, we figured we'd go all traditional and store-bought this time around (especially since the one we built is starting to lean to one side). As you can see below, the cats love it!

Sati, the lazy cat

"I've fallen and I can't get up mom....oh well, guess I'll just take a nap"
(thought you'd like a breather from the kittens - the 4 left are still with us)

Motka, the flirt

Well, at least one is getting fed. Misty said the eye infections in the kittens are most likely Kitty Herpes. Don't worry if you've visited and handled them - Kitty Herpes is not transferable to humans (nor is the human version transferable to cats/dogs/etc.).

As if that wasn't enough, we're pretty sure Motka is now in heat. She's chirping and rolling around, presenting her butt to who knows who (she's kept apart from our animals). We can't have her fixed until after the kittens are weaned, though, because she would stop producing milk...and they need what little they can still get from her.

Now, don't you want to be a foster too? ;-]

RIP Lilly

We lost another kitten, little Lilly here, in the morning before I went to work on Friday. It took us by surprise b/c she seemed to be doing okay (well, not great, but no worse than any of the others). We've been very busy trying to save the four that are left.

River (#6; the large black one) we're certain will make it, and we are pretty confident about Denver (Misty fiinally named #1; the black one with a white streak on the face), b/c these two are still nursing with mom and gaining weight. Like every one else, they have a kitty cold and eye infections, just not quite as bad. Serenity (#3) is still very sick and not nursing, so she's getting bottle fed. I have hopes for her b/c she has stopped losing & started gaining a little weight and has definately been getting the hang of the bottle. Cheyenne (#2; the little black one) is the sickest and has been since the very beginning. Misty is bound and determined to make sure that little one makes it; I really hope it does. But both of Cheyenne's eyes are infected (vs. just one eye on everyone else) and breathing has been labored for days. She's not losing weight anymore at least, but she's not gaining all that much either. Keep your fingers crossed and prayers said for her; I can't handle so many deaths.