Oh my goodness, I cannot express how excited I am about this post. 5 weeks ago when he he arrive unexpectedly he was a scrawny, sneezy, sick little kitten. Nobody expected him to live, not even me. We lived 1 day to the next, sometimes 1 minute to the next. He has been by far my most neediest, sickest and scary baby every to look after and raise. It seems like he has been here a lifetime (mine not his), it's really been just a short time.

Mouse has made huge accomplishments, yes he is blind in one eye for sure, not sure about the vision in the other, but I think he CAN see, I am almost certain of it. He plays and chases things like any other normal kitten. I no longer have to give him a toy so he knows its there, he is able to seek them out on his own. I no longer have to force feed him every 2-4 hrs, he does this on his own. I no longer have to potty him, he does this on his own. Of course I still get all the great stuff, the cuddles, the loud purring of contentment, the play time and yes even the odd bite.

Those of you who have met Mouse, will agree that he has come so far. He is 100% a normal little kitten. He still gets congested from time to time but its much better and he might always have rhinitis. the vet explained that in his nose are little spiral type thingy (great description eh lol) and when a kitten gets stuffed up sometimes they unwind and lose their shape. Chances are they may never go back to normal and he will be congested, not always. As long as he is able to breathe with his mouth closed the vet assured me that he WILL BE FINE. He will learn to live with it and will adapt.

I had a terrible time getting the boy to eat on his own, I spooned food into his mouth many times a day assuming that he would be like the other kittens i have done and catch on in a few days, but not Mouse. He was stubborn and/or lazy. Now while I don't agree with how I got him eating, it didn't hurt him, or hinder his progress in anyway, in fact after seeing the change I feel it was the best thing I did for him. I had to let him get a little hungrier than normal, he was never starved, so don't think it, all I did was make him wait a little longer for his bottles. I also went and bought several cans of different kinds of cat food for him to try. After a few failed attempts I offered him a can of that fancy feast cat food...and low and behold after a few bites being put in his mouth he ate on his own. He has been going strong ever since. He would only eat fancy feast for a bit which in no way impresses me, but he is now finally eating pretty much anything soft from a can. he is also down to only 1 bottle a day which I will be attempting to drop within the few days. if he can handle it great, he will be a fully weaned kitten. if not I will continue with the 1 a day until he is ready.

he also is up over a lb.....he came at 130G and is now over 460g. Thats some pretty impressive weight gain from a kitten who was supposed to die. he still sleeps on his back much of the time but he also likes to sleep on his side. Today I caught him playing and the little bum was trying to climb my door...my door, I couldn't believe it. He jumps, he chases, he hunts, he is a normal baby except for vision. I am so happy and proud of his success. He will probably be my biggest kitten accomplishment ever. It was good for me, it did a lot for my self esteem and my confidence. After losing those puppies and DW (my first rescues), I don't think I could have dealt with another loss. he will be an awesome pet someone and all I can say is I better get updates on this guy.

Mouse's story would not be complete without some visuals. So here goes:

This is mouse with another litter just 2-3 days older than him, this will remind you of how little he really was. He is still stunted and he may be forever but he has come so far, and as a mom of a child with a type of dwarfism, I can honestly say that great things come in small packages.

this is my mouse with a litter just 2-3 days older than him


He eats, on his own. Now I did feed him from the spoon to get him started, lowered the spoon until he was at the plate.


It must be a man thing, feed em full and they lay down and go to sleep lol


another sleeping pic, but he is just so sweet snuggled up to his stuffies. Don't mnd the litter all over, not only is litter good to poop in, but when you kick it out of teh box apparently its a great play thing as well, thank good he kickes out clean litter lol.


And a video of mouse playing. He has his really hyper peroids they don't last long but I enjoy watching him play.



Once he is weaned, he will be on his way to his next phase..socialization and learning how to be a cat and good cat manners. Since he is an only, this will be vital for him as he will need some basic cat skills if he is to become a family member for someone. This will be happening in the next week or so I imagine. Out off all 9 kittens i have raised this season, he will be the one I remember the most, he is also the one that has a huge place in my heart.

Thank you all for reading, and sending good thoughts for his recovery, they obviously worked and I think you will all agree that he is a pretty darn good looking little boy.

not the way one wants to wake up.

Just after 4am this morning I am woken by a really loud shrill noise. Wasn't sure what it was until after I had rushed out of my bed to find the shrieking. It was my poor parrot, freaking out, he was in hysterics. Still didn't know why, so I turned a light on to see Hope was sitting on top of his cage batting at him. I opened up his cage so he could get away and he took off like wild fire. Grabbed Hope and locked her in the dogs kennel. I sat with my poor Echo bird who was really quite scared, panting and shaking. I was MAD. Not fair for me to be angry at the kitten who right from day one has shown some great prey instinct. It's my fault my Parrot nearly lost his life. With the heat as it was yesterday I didn't close the bedroom door, I didn't want to make Jilly or Hope to hot so I left it open. I didn't know she was able to scale the baby gate that blocks her in the room. Called Mary this morning and let her know that Hope needs to be placed now, due to this change. She agrees and I have faith that she will find another placement for her very quickly.

Mouse is doing well, he is getting very active. Again today he has been a bear to feed, the only way I can get him to eat enough is to bounce him while he is eating. He has always been quirky in his feeding positions but never did I think he would need to be bounced to eat lol.

Getting his weight is getting harder, he no longer will stay in the weigh bucket so I cannot get an accurate weight on him. Considering how well he is doing now, I think it's time to back off on the weigh ins every day. Maybe a few times a week now.

Because he is growing quickly and I cannot weigh him daily anymore, I will also back off on my blog. The days I weigh I will post. I will also post if anything significant happens with him.

update from last nights update.

It's a crappy world we live in when our malaware protection allows malaware in. What a hassle, more like a royal pain in the rump. It's fixed now, or it seems to be though.

Monday I planned to move Mouse into the bigger room for the daytime and put him back in his infant bed at night. However, he is doing so well in the room that I chose to leave him there full time. he is happy and is starting to play a little bit. He still refuses to even try solid food on his own. I am gonna start getting tough on him and letting him miss one feed. Probably the 2nd feed of the day bc its the shortest interval, in hopes he will decide to try eating on his own. Typically momma cats will leave the nest for longer periods of time in hopes of teaching her children how to survive without her.

he has been a bugger to feed the past 2 days, I think probably the heat is the cause. At any rate, either my scale is not working right or he has done some major gaining.

yesterday the scale said he was 413g
Today the scale said 423g

I'm not sure that it's accurate, a 27g gain in 24hrs is possible but I didn't think he was eating all that much. I will see what it says tomorrow, but if he has truly gained 37g in 48hrs than he is doing amazingly well.

A story about Hope~*~

last night my daughter fell asleep with her tv on, I stepped over her gate to turn it off. Hope was the pillow watching me. As soon as I stepped over the gate, she stood up, put her back in that famous cat arch and started hissing and spitting at me. Either she is very protective or else I startled her when I stepped over the gate. I'm not sure which idea I like better. I love the fact that she adores Jilly but it also worries about when she leaves here and Jilly doesn't that she will miss her and stop eating etc etc until she gets settled. I hope I didn't make a mistake by allowing the 2 to be room mates.

broken computer

Things are ok. My computer was attacked by something. Using my daughters computer for this. her desk is to short so not able to post much tonight. But did want to let everyone know that things are good :) look again tomorrow for a true update

Hope goes to the vet.

Hope had her first set of shots today. She did great at the vet's office and new something was up the minute the vet put a pole of treats down in front of her. She was wise real quick and would have none of it, no amount of bribery was going to give her a reason to be happy about that thermometer that was about to be shoved up her behind. She has a great holler on her though, she wasn't impressed with me, and continue to holler but then Jillian came to make her feel better and instantly she settled and was calm. My daughter might have magical powers.

the vet was thrilled with how she is coming along and I think she was a bit surprised that Hope lived. You might remember Hope got very sick the 2nd day she was me. The vet gave her a/b but basically said "she didn't know and if she was no better in 24 hrs she might not be a savable kitten" that was about a month ago and yet Hope is alive and well and doing very well. It makes me feel really good when something that sick gets healthy and does well and doesn't do what everyone thought she would.

I moved mouse into the bigger room today. I am only going to put him there in the daytime. AT nightime he can sleep in his kitten bed. that way I know he is safe and not scared in such a big space all alone. He still isn't impressed with solid food but today he at least was willing to walk through it, whereas yesterday he wouldn't do that. he will still only eat it if I spoon feed him. I have had to do this with all kittens since they do not see mom eating it, they have no idea that its food. Usually it doesn't take them long to catch on to the idea. I am hoping he catches on soon.

His weight is good. Almost to 1lb. That will be a huge milestone and party worthy for certain.

His weight yesterday was 366g
His weight today was 386g

Both kittens are coming along. Teh next step for Hope is her spay and finding her a forever home.

the great escape of 2011

So this morning i needed to run downtown to get bread and milk. I just fed mouse and tucked him into his bed and off we went. We were gone less than an hr, usually he sleeps for 2-3 hrs at a time so I didn't figure there was much to worry about.

When we walked back in the door, I checked on him like I usually do and OMG he wasn't there...his bed was just an empty bed, no mouse, no nobody just his stuffies, blanket, litter but he was gone. I freaked out, there was no way this tiny kitten could have gotten out on his own free will. I called for him, he didn't answer, no mewing, no nothing. I looked for him, couldn't find him. I spent about 10 mins looking for him getting more and more anxious as to where he went. Looked in Ruby's kennel thinking she was snuggling with him but nope he wasn't there either. I let the dogs back into the living room, (they get locked in the kitchen when we go out)..Ruby started sniffing, and scratching the ground and the rolling around..kinda like she does when she rolls in dead things outside (the gross dog that she is). By now I am crying and in such a state. I am sitting on the wondering what the heck happened to my little boy who was fine and there just over an hr ago....then it happens....I feel someone touch my foot, I look down and sure enough there is my mouse. OMG I was so relieved that he was ok. Now the only question that remained was how on earth he got out....so we watched him for the day and it didn't take long for him to show us how.

In his box he has a stuffed dog which he loves dearly and a stuffed bear which he also loves. The little bum figured out that if he stood on the dogs head, and reached up just far enough his front feet would catch the lip of the baby bin. Once his feet were caught on the lip he climbed out. He did this many times today, so now I am forced to use the lid to keep him contained. Who would have thought that such a tiny wee guy (and blind) could figure out such a feat on his own. I was very impressed that he was able to do this. A milestone of sorts, but one that I wish he had of done it while I was here the first time to prevent my near fatal heart attack.

I was finally able to get some pics of Hope sitting still, that almost never happens and when it does it's only b/c she is sleeping lol. She is a bundle of energy and so very playful. I find it rather funny that she can make an amusing toy from just about anything, a piece of paper, a bed tie, a paper bag, a pair of socks etc etc.

She has such a beautiful face, whoever adopts her will be very lucky, on her own she is a great little kitten. Amazing and cuddly and sweet.


This is Mouse being cleaned by Ruby. I guess Ruby's figures he is a really dirty kitten and needed a major face wash. As you can see Mouse doesn't seem to mind one little bit.


A quick video of Mouse trying to entice Ruby to play, Ruby again thinsk he is dirty and just wants to clean him. While Roo isn't impressed with the sharp nails, she tolerates Mouse more than she has any other rescue kitten. She doesn't leave when the nails get to be to much. Ruby I think is a bit smitten with mouse.


and the final pic "kitty hugs" it looks like Mouse might be trying to hug Ruby. I think he is just as smitten as she is.


Ruby has pouted each time a litter has moved on, I suspect she will actually mourn when Mouse leaves to his next phase, which isn't going to be for a while yet, thank goodness b/c she will be totally miserable without a purpose. They always say give your dog a job. No matter how much I tried to do that, she was just never interested....this job she chose on her and this job she is great at, she was meant to be a surrogate mom, even if its to a different species.

I don't have a weight on Mouse, he was so hungry this morning, that I decided that since his gain has been so great that it would be ok to miss 1 weigh in and just have breakfast instead. Not to mention that with hi new found mobility weighing him will so pose a challenge much quicker than I expected.

Growing up!!

When we have our human babies we wait for them to grow up. We watch that first step, we wait til they sleep thru the night. We really hate to miss any of their "firsts". If we miss it, we may feel cheated or might even feel like we didn't pay enough attention.

Today I feel cheated. I have been working with mouse for a few days on litter training, its been a struggle and more a battle than litter training a kitten is expected to be, we expect that it will be instinct and most of the time it is. But sometimes, it becomes a bigger job than we had planned on. Mouse has some very strongly sensitive feet, he isn't impresses with any texture other than soft and even. he doesn't like anything that his feet might sink into even just a little bit. He has always been like this, he is very tactile in his arms he likes to touch and grab. Litter just I guess feels yucky and not a safe surface.

I woke up this morning to find that even though the box was right there, he soaked his bed, not sure how he can hold so much urine at his size but man he flooded it again. So this time, I moved his box a bit closer (right to the edge of his bed) and blocked off the rest of his bin. Low and behold, he started using his box. He doesn't want to be dirty obvioulsy since he is not messing his bed when the box is close enough. I am hoping to get him used to the texture. Up until about an hr ago I still had to put him in the box until he went....I looked in and holy crap...there is a poopy and a pee in the box, totally unassisted and prompted. I missed it :( I am disappointed that Missed it but am thrilled that he is finally getting the idea or seems too anyway. When he is succesfull on a constant basis I will move the box so he once again has more room. I hope in that time he learns that the texture is safe and not gonna jump up and bite him or swallow him whole!!

We moved hope into Jilly's room full time yesterday. Kitten proofing a room of an 8 year old is tough. She has so much stuff legos, clothes and paper stashed, it took a good 2 hrs to make it safe enough. we also put all her china dolls and such away fro now as Hope has a habit of jumping on the dresser and knocking things over etc etc. This failed, what we didn't think she could reach, she can jump to. SO gonna have to figure something out about miss Hope.

Mouse's weight today was 343g an increase of 14g

could it be??

We are working on eating solids and litter training, both are going as equally well.
I started 2 days ago with about 1/2 a tsp of canned food mixed with water or formula and trying to convince him that it's yummy. Mouse is no idiot, he doesn't want to eat it any more than I do. He pushed it away, cried and refused to open his mouth. So I gave him a wee bit on a spoon and shoved it in...at first he was disgusted about the new squishy, gooey stuff I was making him swallow, but now he doesn't mind it. He still won't take it on his own, but will now sit there with his mouth open waiting for me to put more in lol....

The litter box..well, thats a whole other story. I just started with this day before yesterday and since he can't smell we used hopes box, in hopes the smell would be strong enough for him to smell it and get the idea of what it was. Poor we lad was horrified, he went from a warm safe loving lap with hugs and snuggles to a plastic box with hard little rocks, what on earth was I thinking subjecting him to such punishment. He would be put in the box and instantly up would come his feet off the ground. He hates the texture. This was going to be a test of which of us is more stubborn. When he finally put his feet down and tried to get out, I put him back...we went on like this for probably 5-6 mins or so, each time i put him back. Both of us gave up so we snuggled for a bit and he went back to bed.

Last night, at bedtime, we did this routine again but for a little longer, low and behold the cheeky monkey peed....I let him put of the box where he promptly pooped in his bed...yeah this wasn't going to be quite as easy as the other 3 litters. Cleaned up the poop and put it in the box.

4:30 this morning he had me up so we went thru the same routine and again it took a while before he went, but he did finally pee in the box (no pictures this time sorry lol). tried a few times this morning and of course he wouldn't perform, so I left him be, he hasn't messed his bed yet so I am hoping he is maybe getting the idea, even just a little bit. Without smell its proving to be a challange, but I believe it can be done. It's a matter of being stubborn and perservering.

His weight was great at 329g am increase of a whopping 25g..I believe this has been his biggest 24hrs gain since he arrived.

Dear Mouse

Dear Mouse,

It was 3 weeks ago tonight at about 10:15 that you arrived at my door. I wasn't expecting you but that was ok. Mary knew me well enough to know that I wouldn't turn you away. You were a tiny wee thing, you looked so funny b/c your eyes and ears were opened and you could walk, but yet you were the size of a newly born kitten. You weighed 130g. I tried to feed you and as hungry as you were it was a fight, Mary in the end was the one who ended up feeding you by syringe that night, drip by drip, and drop by drop. The next morning was very similar except now I was on my own, it took me about an hr to get the smallest amount into you. You also had a vet visit that day who declared you about 2 weeks old...since you have been here 3 now, that makes you now 5 weeks old.

You haven't ever been an easy baby to raise, you fought the bottle and syringe, I didn't think you would live. I was never sure if you would be alive 1 minute to the next. I checked on you constantly just to be sure I could see you breathing. I never knew if that last kiss or snuggle I gave you would be the last bit of love I would give you. I often wondered if you were comfortable and ok and have done everything I can to make sure that you were, I can only hope I have done a good enough job.

Every day, I feed, snuggle, talk to and cuddle. Everyday I hope that there will be an improvement and most days there are. everyday I wake up hoping that the bad eye is open and that you can see the human who loves you. Every feeding, I hope you would take just a bit more, every bed change I wish you would just use the box as easily and readily as other kittens. Everyday I know you are closer to going to a forever home and everytime I think about that I get sad, but excited for you b/c this will truly mean that together you and I did it and you are ready to be a big boy cat. They say that miracles do happen but to believe in them you have to see one...I have seen one in you. I am certain you were not going to make it, that there were just to many issues and that you would only fight for so long. You never gave up and you continue to be the smallest, scrappiest, toughest 5 week old kitten around.

Every morning I set you in the weigh box I hope for HUGE jumps in weight and everyday the past 2 weeks i have seen a gain of some sort. A little gain is better than none and 100x better than even the smallest loss.

I hope when you are done growing up in my house, that you get to finish growing up in another with someone who will love you and care and tend to your needs as much as I do and have. I hope you will continue to grow and I hope that one day down the road, I get an update on the kitten I once called Mouse. An update that says you are doing well, a big boy and a wonderful, loving pet. Many humans could learn from you, I know I have, and I hope many others will.

Your weight this morning was 305g an 11g increase from yesterday!

If anyone told me I would resort to this

I would have run off gagging and refusing. Sometimes you do what you gotta do out of desperation.

Last week I found some 2 oz bottles and 2- 5 french tube feeders that you see taped onto a preemies face to feed them via a tube. There are 2 sets of 2 tiny holes at the bottom and the top has an adapter in it to feed formula or breast milk thru. Since they came in a package together I now have the 2 tubes that just are kinda sitting there on my dresser with no purpose. I put them to use today, NO I didn't tube feed Mouse, nor would I ever even try that as it is really dangerous and with no training, its to easy to drown a kitten instead of feeding it. They have another purpose and I found it tried it and it worked. Wanna know what it is/

If I insert the tube tip into Mouse's nostrils and suck on the other end, it draws out some of his snot. Not worried about going into my mouth as the tube A) is really long, I would probably end up sucking his brains out before it got to my mouth and B) there are a 2nd set of holes so what I suck out is drained out the 2nd set of holes. he doesn't like it, I mean who would want a tube in your nose...it only goes in about 2mm (just the tip) so not far at all but just enough to suck out his crud. It doesn't get it all but he was able to eat much better and he doesn't sound so snotted up and it did cause him to sneeze so he was helping me clear him out. I'm talking big sneeze, not tiny pathetic ones that do nothing. I will try again tonight to see if it helps again, and will probably enlist the help of Mary to hold him as its no easy task getting it in just that little bit.

I am sitting here watching Hope chase Ruby, Ruby catches her and hope gives a swat. Ruby goes back and gets another swat...Ruby is a loving poodle (cat mom) but she doesn't take clues to well lol....by the end of the night I expect she will have a scratch on the end of her nose lol.

Mouse did a good gain the past day and is now up to 294g. So about 12g. He is now catching up on his growing!!

Stevie Wonder!!

This is an early update, if anything changes between now and tonight i will post.

I will do hope first since she is so grown up now, she doesn't take up much time or space.

She is still sleeping with Jillian at night, Both of them seem to very happy with their sleeping arrangements. I decided to not mess with it, it's working for both of them. I am trying get some more weight on Hope so she can be spayed then go up for adoption but it isn't easy to make her eat. She doesn't have a huge appetite as it is. I am giving her some sort of calorie boost but that doesn't seem to be helping much yet.

Mouse man is doing awesome, took him for another visit to Mary today, we just hung out on her grass, his first reaction to the grass was quite funny, he wasn't sure about it, I guess b/c while it is a solid surface it probably doesn't feel like it when you weigh so little. He was willing to have a little nibble though and that was impressive, Impressive enough that I think I am going to try him on some solids and see how he does. We figure he is coming up on 5 weeks old and 99% of kittens this age will have already done some experimenting so we'll see. The biggest issue with this is that b/c he is so snotted up he won't be able to smell it, so I am thinking some really smelly foods warmed up to make them stronger will be the best way to go.

He may very well be referred to as Stevie Wonder, I am convinced that Mouse is probably visually impaired, while he may have some vision, it isn't enough to be able to see, I think he can see lights but thats about it. Anyway, he is always looking up at the sky like and waving his head like Stevie wonder does at the piano...it's really very cute, but than again he is totally cute.

His weight didn't go up as much as I had hoped, only 5g or so, it was hard to get an accurate reading this morning b.c he was so darn fidgety, but it looked to be about 282g, which is still a gain.

He DID IT!!!!

WHOHOOOOO my wee mouse man finally did it....can ya guess what he did?? come on I dare you to try....ok here's a hint......scroll down....


























Keep scrolling....





















once more..thats it keep going....
























He FINALLY doubled his admission weight and it only took 18 day!! He came to me at just about 2 weeks (nobody knows for certain how old he was, eyes and ears were opened) at 130g (my last litter at 4 days old, the smallest was 133g)...today he was over the 260g I have been waiting for. I am so proud of him, he has done such a great job at growing. Yes he is still scrawny and yes he is very stunted growth wise. But with a little perseverance, added with some stubbornness from both of us (me refusing to let him die and his will to live), lots of love, snuggles and cuddles, kisses and all that stuff, he has finally done what i have been waiting for....the next goal is to make it to 1lb, with the way he is growing, I suspect it will be a bit yet. He is going to be my biggest accomplishment of the summer, I don't think i will get any other kitten that needed me as much as he did. He is so worth getting up at night (mind yo he sleeps thru most night snow) every bit of kitten poop he has shot on me, every snotty sneeze, every bed change etc etc has been worth every minute. Inevitably he will be a hard one for me to send on to the next phase, but I'm pretty sure he will be here for at least 4-6 more weeks.

This is a pic of him with the other 3, who were all just days older than him.




you can look up yesterdays post to see how big he is now....to me it doesn't look like he has grown that much in 18 days, but when I hold him in my palm, he doesn't quite fit anymore without hanging off a bit..he used to fit right in my palm, so I know he has grown. Can you tell how excited I am about this wee guy??

Anyway, enough bragging. His weight as I said more than doubled....in fact he is 272g today for a 12g over his double and a 15g gain in 24hrs.!!!! Keep on growing little man.

soo close

I really expected Mouse to have doubled his admission date by today...He however did'nt but he is so very close. Tomorrow for certain!!

Hope is eating again today, she actually started yesterday after I was complaining about it in the blog. She slept with Jillian all night long and as been so much less lonely today. Mind you she is feeling the heat I think because she has slept most of the day.

I don't have much to say, as nothing has changed. I did however want to post some pics.

This is Hope yesterday, My daughter took her out to entertain her as she was really lonely.



This is Hope again, in the kids climber with 4 little girls. She really did seem to enjoy herself and now that she is alone she really is a nice cat.



Last week I took a pic of mouse with a can of coke. His tiny size was really hard to see in pics so the coke can is universal in size I think, that should help "seeing" his growth.

This is this weeks;


This is last weeks. I will post his week by week pics weekly. he really is a miracle and such a trouper. So this is last weeks



It may be hard to see, but he really has gotten bigger. He has such a little belly now and his arms and legs are looking less gangly.

His weight this morning was 257g A 10g gain.

company for the weekend.

I'll get to the company later on in the post.

It's been over 24hrs since Hope has been alone, and at first she really did seem to enjoy it, but today poor baby is so miserable. She doesn't want me to play with her anymore. She did ok this morning. Jillian decided that Hope should go outside with her for a few minutes. So I made a tiny collar and attached a leash to it and told J that cats are not like dogs on leashes, but of course until she saw what I was talking about she didn't understand. When we first put the leash on Hope did great, she was running and playing, chasing J's feet mostly. Then when J thought they should move to a different spot, hope wouldn't follow her, J gave a tiny tug and hope fell on to her side in stubborn mode. LOL. She just flopped over, looked with a look that says "if you think I am going to degrade myself to this leval you clearly are crazy). She was ok when J picked her up and moved her. She was out about 5-10 mins and then I made her come back in. Neither kitten nor girl were impressed with me, but oh well, learning in short spurts works much better than long time spans, not to mention it's pretty darn hot out there today. Since she has come back in Hope is pouty and cross, she is refusing to eat her lunch. I will take her back out in a bit but the fact that she refuses to eat is a little disconcerting to me. Logic says she will eat when she is hungry, she is a smart girl. If she refuses still in about an hr I will have to give her a bottle or something. She is to young to go all day with no food. Since she is weaned I don't think a bottle will be taken as easy as it was last week but we'll see. I think she is just lonely and misses the others.

We had a houseguest delivered this morning. Ryley will be staying with us for the next 24hrs or so while his foster mom is doing work at the holstein rodeo this weekend. From what I understand Ryley was a rescue picked up yesterday. AT first they had thought he had an anal prolapse but the vet says nope, not it...so I think he has something called "anal imperfecta" While it's pretty serious, its something that can be repaired. Ryley's Anus isn't normal, his opening, is quite small, so that poop doesn't pass well or easily. He is on lactulose to soften his stools and watered down canned food to give him the extra water needed to make stools easier to pass. He is a really good boy, he has been in his kennel for part of the day, in my lap for another part and he loves affection. Such a handsome boy as well, grey and oh so soft. I was shocked at how soft he was. He has a big voice and as his foster mom says ..if he feels like he needs more attention he will make lots of "music" for you...she didn't lie or exaggerate, he can be quite loud and vocal lol.

Mouse is doing fabulous, I feel my guard coming down a bit but I keep pulling it back up, he will be one kitten that I will worry about constantly when he is in my home. He gained great and had his first full bath today. Now the bath wasn't my choice, but he was so covered in poop, I didn't see any other way to fix him up. he was so not impressed with me and made sure I knew it. His teeth met my fingers many times, his nails introduced to my skin. But all in all it went ok and he is a clean baby now. He has eaten REALLY well today polished off 1.5oz and he still has at least 3 feeds left before bed time.

His weight was 228 yesterday and today was 247g for a gain of 19g he has been here 16 days days and in total has gained 117g while here, so almost doubled what he came at. Most of that has been all in the last week. Last Saturday he was 166g so in 7 days he has gained 81g...they say 10g a day is typical and should be expected, so if we follow that rule, he is 10G more than he would be expected to be. THIS IS GOOD!!!! and if you count what his lowest was 127g, than it could be said that he also only lost 3g since he has been here..again THIS IS GOOD!

very quiet around here

Jimmy and Sabrina were on their way by 9:30 this morning. The house has been very quiet, almost too quiet. Hope seems to be adjusting well being on her own. I think she is impressed with having the toys all to herself, as well as the bed. We will see how she does tonight. Jillian is asking that she sleep in her room tonight, and I really can't see any reason why that can't happen, so at bedtme I will move the litterbox in J's room and see how it goes. J is going to sleep on the floor, to make sure that Hope doesn't get lonely or fall off the bed and has access to the litterbox.

Mouse has had a quiet day, he is really fussy today, not sure why, nothing for him has changed but he just seems off, not quite as content as usual. Maybe he is pissed off that I took a video of him last night lol. I am hoping it's the heat thats bugging him and nothing more.

He did gain weight but 6g was less than I was hoping for. Not gonna stress about it though, he DID gain, and it was an ok gain, so I have left him again to decide. However little or no gain tomorrow means my schedule.

His weight was up to 228g...an 6 gram increase

yep, it's an eye!!!

Mouse's bad eye is finally starting to open again, and it appears that HE Does in fact have an eye there. WOOT. I knew all my wishing would pay off eventually.

Since he has been gaining so well, I decided that today he could call the shots on feeding time, he usually was awake every 2.5-3 hrs wanting to eat but that changed a few days ago where I was still getting him up and feeding him. Today he ate more at a time then usual, (almost 1.5oz today so far and he has 2 feeds left before bed) but less often. If his gain is good tomorow I will let him set his own schedule, but if there is little, none or a loss than I go back to being boss.

tomorrow we will say goodbye to Jimmy and Sabrina as they head off to their next homes. My plan is to bathe them to get them all clean and smelling good, so if you hear a cat screaming at the top of its lungs, you will know that Jimmy is having a bath and hates it. Sabrina will scream as well but she just isn't as loud or as persistent as her brother, he NEVER gives up and will scream til he gets what he wants.

Hope will be all alone, and I am a little worried about how she will be, especially at night. I hope she is able to take this time to break her sucking habit and learn to be a nicer cat. Mary told me today that there is someone who thinks that chiropractic medicine might help her, so she will be heading off to see a specailist soon...I'm not sure how I feel about a cat seeing a chiro but if it makes her nicer than it will be worth it and who knows how she was taken from her nest by that woman, it may have been very gentle but it also may have been very rough, so I guess its worth a shot and since the chiro dr will see her for free....

anyway, thats my update.

Mouse weight this morning was 222g...20g up from yesterday WAY TO GROW MOUSE!!

200!!

We made it past the 200G mark, mouse weighs 202G as of 6:30am this morning. I am so proud of him. His good eye is fully opened again and it looks good. Not sure if he can see or how much he sees out of that eye yet.

He has been a little piggy all day, I am assuming he is going through a growth spurt, which is great news as he does need one. he was quite interactive today, more today than he has been to date.

Jimmy and Sabrina will be off to the next phase of their lives it looks like on Friday. Hope will be staying with me until they can find a person who wants just 1 to foster or until she gets adopted. She will be old enough for a juvenile spay very soon, the trick is to getting her to 2lbs, she should be there sometime soon I hope, mind you my scale is no good to weigh her on due to her inability to sit still..I may have to suck it up and weigh myself (no worries I will have 911 on standby lol) and than weigh again with her. My daughter has been asking lots of questions about adoption events and how they work so hopefully we will be attending one soon so she can see just what happens, I don't even know really so it will be a learning experience for the both of us.

I don't have much to report, nothing has changed with any of them.

Mouse's weight was 192 yesterday and 202 today.

Before I go, here are some new pics....and a video, maybe 2 if both will fit.

People ask why Sabrina gets washed so often....this is why, she gets right into her food, this is after EVERY meal.



I was checking in on mouse this morning and he was having a "kitty dream" it was so cute.


Mouse resting in my lap after his feed...not sure how well you can see it, but do you see the eye??



Mouse and a his stuffed dog

pork bellies!

My new nickname for mouse is Porker belly. He came to me so scrawny you could seriously count his little ribs. NOT anymore, his belly is fat and he is filling out quite nicely. Now that he is gaining on a steady basis you can see it. He is pretty particular though, when he takes his bottle he likes t stand and lately he doesn't like the bottoms of his feet to touch anything, and he MUST clutch my thumb or finger between his 2 front paws. If you try to put his feet down he stops eating and hollers at you. He has made a friend with a stuffed dog that I have put in with him, he sleeps on this dog and snuggles up to it.

His weight this morning was awesome, almost at the 200G mark. His eyes are doing a bit better, his good eye seems to be light sensitive and will only open in low light situations. I am hoping this is because of the infection and not something for him to have forever.

The other 3, well what can I say. They are certainly 3 very mischievous little beings. They very much enjoy their 1-2am play sessions, and I have to say they are not very respectful of us humans trying to sleep lol. The gate was a bust, they have figured their way out of that and will be moved back into the kennel. It sucks but they escape so much and have discovered my parrot, I am not so much worried about them hurting him but him hurting them. I have tried to keep them in their area but the 3 just refuse and I need to keep everyone safe.

nothing much to really update tonight. But Mouse went from 179G to 192G this morning, I am getting more and more excited about his weight gains and stand by my word that one day he will be named "moose" instead of mouse :)

mani's and pedi's all around!!

The 3 bigger kittens, Hope, Sabrina and Jimmy are nearly weaned. All 3 are taking only a bottle at night and not very much at that. Currently they are eating softened and crushed up kitten chow. At the beginning it was a very messy job, however it isn't quite as bad now. Except for Sabrina who really gets into her food, she is such a mess after every meal, she needs a wipe down, but at night she gets a good cleaning. She is getting neater though. Hope has always been a very clean eater and almost never needs a cleaning or wipedown.

My dog groomer came today for the dogs, so I asked her to trim some really sharp kitty nails as well, of course all 4 of them were not impressed and maybe even a little ticked at me for holding them and making it get done.

Mouse had a great day, he gained some again and has been eating on a pretty regular 2.5-3hr schedule today. His infected "good" eye is looking a little better. His bad eye is starting i think to look better. He had it open a crack today and I think (but am not positive) that I did see an eye or part of one. I am anxious to see what will happen if that eye ever does open on its own all the way. he is such a funny little guy, he is so wee but yet is such a big boy in some ways. When he wakes up he just sits there, looking around (even though his eyes are sealed by infection) as soon as my hand goes into his bed, he practically attacks it lol.

His weight today was 179G so up 10G from yesterday...his progress is exciting, almost makes me giddy exciting.

graduation day

for mouse. I have 3 rubber maid bins that are that tall but are great for newborns and sick babies who need to be confined. I have cut the middle out of the lids and attached some screening so they can breathe. Anyway, mouse has been living in one of those for the past while. He is as old as the others but apart from small play sessions with all, I pretty much keep him on his own, just b/c there is no way he can hold his own against a kitty like Hope.

he got me up at 5:50 am screaming his wee head off, I got up to see what the trouble was and discovered that the poor guy had wet his bed so badly that he had nowhere else to lay that was dry. I swear he flooded his bed, everything was soaked. After cleaning him and the bed up, I decided that it was time to move him into my big bin, its about 3.5-ft long and about 2ft high, this will allow space for a a litter box, but will also allow him more space to get away if he wets his bed again. Got it all set up and put him in and OMG he looks so lost, and so small. People have been surprised when they see him in person just how small he is, so I took a pic of a toddlers size 5 slipper and a coke can to give a better idea of his size.

I put him in with the others last night for a short spell, and Sabrina did the best with him, Hope wants to attack him, she was actually stalking him. Jimmy wants to kick him and jump on him and pin the poor bugger down. needless to say the play date was short and sweet. I will probably do this daily until the others go just so mouse gets a little social time with other cats. He wants to join them and he might very well be fine, it's me who has the issues with him and his difficulties against 2 very kittens who have proven to be quite aggressive....Lots of pics today, I have been not so great at posting pics of this litter, my camera is being a pill, so when it finally started working again, I went a bit crazy lol. Sabrina is still super hard to photograph, she doesn't like to be in the limelight.

~*~* pics~*~*~

Mouse in his new bed, see how lost and little he looks?


Mouse with a coke can


Hope has such a pretty colour of blue eyes, I suspect she has Siamese in her due to her face shape and temperament so they may stay this colour, I hope so.


The best shot of Sabrina she would let us get...


Hope and her stalking, chasing, hunting ..


This pic of mouse was just to cute to NOT post.



A rare moment these days but they finally decided to have some nap time.



So there you have it. Mouse only gained 3G in the last day BUT he IS and I suspect this is partly due to all the pooping he did yesterday and the big flood of urine from this morning.

He was 169G

sometimes all it takes...

is a little perseverance and a string desire to prove people wrong. Mouse gained another 15G since yesterday. He is now at 166 making him 36 MORE grams than when he arrived just over a week ago looking so scrawny and unloved. Poor wee man has had his issues. Nobody even me thought he would live, but the more people that doubted the more stubborn I became.

I couldn't take it anymore. The 3 bigger kittens being locked in such a small place was breaking my heart. So I spent the $40 for a piece of nice looking white coated wood and made them a better gate. Because it's coated, they won't be able to climb it easily if ever and it's fully washable. There is now only a small space that if they find it could probably fit through. My house is old and things are not exactly square anymore, if ever they were. I am hoping the space is to small for them to find it and try to see if they fit. IF they do, they will have to be returned to the kennel. eventually they will learn how to jump over it but for now they still keep all 4's on the floor.

Tomorrow I plan to NOT offer their bottles in the morning, if they cry and are persistent I won't refuse them but I am hoping they won't miss it. Hope doesn't even suck the bottle anymore, she chews for what she wants, Jimmy is getting to be the same way. Bottles are not as exciting for them as they were last week. Which means we are well on our way to being fully weaned and being "big kitties' instead of newborns. Weaning is very exciting for me as it means that the chance of loss of after weaning goes right down to almost zero.

We are having a thunder storm so I am off for the night but mouse this mornign weighed 166G.

uphill but stable

Ok, so I have been slacking off the past 2 days. I will explain.

Monday night a friend I provide daycare called me, her moms dog had puppies on Saturday 7 of them. Sunday the mom quit feeding them, the humans didn't feed the babies either. Monday morning, 3 puppies had passed in the night. They took the bitch to the vet, she had an infection and were told by the vet that the humans would need to handfeed these puppies if they were to survive. They bought formula went home and then decided to NOT feed them and let them die. My friend grabbed the 4 left puppies and called me, asking me to feed them for her, they were pretty dehydrated etc etc...of course I couldn't refuse, these puppies needed someone and it seemed I was it. So she brought me 4 pups, another had passed on its way here. I got them fed and bedded down. 2 more pups died later on that evening, leaving 1 little girl. We named her Sarah, she passed on Wednesday afternoon. SO thats where I have been.

All that being said, there really hasn't been much to report, the 3 bigger kittens are unweighable now due to the inability to stand still for 30 seconds lol. I have been weaning them and they are down to 2 bottles in the daytime, 1 in the morning and 1 just before bed. I will likely drop the first bottle on Monday and see how they do.

They are a feisty group and if I am to be honest I have to say that the 4 kittens I have now have NOT been easy. Sweet and loveable for sure but they have also been very high maintenance. All 4 have been on antibiotics, all have been to the vet, 1 was rushed in after hrs on a Sunday night. But amazingly enough I have 3 healthy kittens that will soon be placed in their next home for socialization with other cats. Sabrina is the ring leader and yesterday she decided to teach the group how to climb over their gate and run amuck in the house. No matter how many times I put them back, they had other ideas...for their own safety they have been put into the dogs kennel, however with their litter box, they only have about a 12 inch by 6 inch space to play and sleep. Thank goodness I am home enough plenty of playtime outside the kennel but they really shouldn't be stuck in it to begin with, But weighing the pros and cons, it's the best, and safest solution for now. I am hoping they will be placed super soon b/c living in a cage isn't fair, nor do they enjoy it one bit. getting out to play will prove harder on Monday when the weekend is over and i have little kids here again, that will be sure to step on them by mistake.

Mouse update ~*~

what can I say about my mouse man, he has been through so much in his few weeks of life, he has already been through more than most adult cats will ever have to deal with. He is a trouper though and is still doing well. After his first gain this week he started to lose weight again just a gram a day but to much for someone who is so little already. Yesterday he did a great job eating, up until then it took me all day to get a tbsp of formula into him, seriously no word of a lie. yesterday he started taking a full tbsp on his own not once but about 3x ...I knew that if I didn't see a gain after that, that he likely had some metabolic issue and probably would pass on much to young. I worried all night, kept waking up to check the clock to see if it was time for his weigh. Finally at 6am, I was fed up with waiting, got up, got him up and weighed him......he DID gain...about 15G since yesterday. OMG you should have seen me doing the happy jog across my kitchen floor, if anyone had seen me I'm sure they would have called the men in the white coats to come retrieve me. It was exciting, I felt the uphill battle I/him have been fighting might finally plateau and we would see nothing but improvements with him. He isn't eating as well today as he did yesterday but he IS still eating quite well. His good eye seems like it may be getting infected, so I am putting drops into it to try and stop whatever is happening to him. The wound on his face at his lip, seems to have also stabilized and doesn't appear to be eating his face any more. All in all things with him are going quite well, I am to nervous to get to hopeful but I still have loads of hope for him. My biggest worry is the attachment I am getting with him, I suppose it shouldn't be a worry just yet as he will be with us for quite some time still but still, I am already thinking about the fact that one day Mary is going to come for him. I would adopt him myself but with the parrot it would be a stupid move on my part.

His weight today was 151G a 15G increase from yesterday and a 21G increase from his first weigh in at my house, the night he arrived....