Holy Hannah!!

Their weights today are INCREDIBLE. I will post them at the end of the update as usual.

They are getting so big, it makes me sad to know they are growing up so fast, but yet thrilled that out of 4 I have 3 that are doing very well. Tomorrow they will be de-wormed. Hopefully back on KMR as well. The just born formula is terrible stuff, I would never suggest it to anyone unless you had no choice but to use it. The only good thing I have to say is that their weight gain on it has been better than KMR but they are also eating so much more of it, which doesn't make it cost effective at all.

They have grown out of my newborn file box, so I put them in a big tv box, they outgrew the big tv box, so today I got a plastic rubber maid tote thats about 4ft long and maybe 20 inches wide. It's huge. The pluses are that it is 100% washable and disinfectable, so all the babies can live in there and I can just sterilize it between litters. getting rid of anything that the previous kittens may have. the other thing I like is that b/c it is so long, I can get a divider in it for brand new babies and gradually increase their space as they grow, making it so much easier on me and them.

The bad thing is, is that it isn't quite high enough to keep Ruby out, remember she thinks these are her babies and she feels that she should be with them ALL.THE.TIME, while I don't mind, I do find that at times it's very inconvenient, especially now that she keeps putting her own bed in there and jumping in and sleeping with them. 2x she has dragged her own bed over, worked it over the edge and hopped in and slept. The babies don't mind and it really is kinda neat to see my hyper poodle snuggling with baby kittens lol. As long as the kittens don't start barking and the dogs start meowing, it's probably harmless though lol.

The price of kitten formula is crazy, not sure about anywhere else or if it's the same price everywhere but a 6oz can of powdered KMR is nearly $30 a can 0f 8oz liquid is nearly $9 a can lasts at most 3 days but even with only 3 babes, it lasts just a day and a half. 6oz of powder makes 30oz mixed up, again each of my guys drink about 1-1/2oz in a day, so it doesn't go far. This prompted me to call pet-ag and see about getting discounts on the price or coupons or anything to lessen the price. They directed me to several distributors. I spent the afternoon yesterday on the phone and I have a fellow who will sell me cases of formula for a good price. If anyone who reads this is interested in going in on the cases with me to cut costs even further please let me know. It's crazy to have to pay such prices for formula, b/c of the cost it makes me wonder how many people feed their kittens human formula to save money? How many of those kittens are healthy and growing at a normal rate? what if any health issues do those kittens have in life because of a poor dietary start in their lives? It makes sense to feed them what is meant for them, but when moms milk isn't available, than why should the next best thing cost so much money?? So if anyone wants to go in, let me know.

They are getting fun now, they all have they preferences about how they are fed, which way they are facing, which blanket they are laying on, how warm the milk is....kate likes her very warm while Muffy likes hers pretty cool, and Arthur well as long as you feed him he doesn't seem to care how it is. Some like to potty before they eat some after. It seems that Muffy may have a bit of a temper, after feeding today, they were playing and I'm not sure what happened, but for some reason she freaked out on poor baby Kate, it was quick and nobody was hurt and probably for kittens its all normal, but for me it wasn't lol.

And finally, their weights.

Muffy - Sunday she weighed in at 223G...today just a little less then 48 hrs weighs in at 260G. thats a big gain for her.

Arthur - Sunday weighed in at 262G, today at 298G

Kate - Sunday 239G, today 284G

Now when you are looking at this and thinking OMG what is she feeding them, keep in mind, that their weights may be a bit higher this time simply b/c they were contained in a tub and unable to walk around, so the fact that they were still may have made a difference. As well the container that was holding them was much smaller and fit better, so again that may cause some fluctuations in weight. These are also 2 day weights as opposed to my usual 1 day so on average its about a 15G a day increase. Which is usual for everyone except Muffers who has always been a slow gainer.