the yard!

When we have kittens in the house, they do not have full run of the house until they prove themselves. We do however lock them in the living room a few times for about an hr every day. I refer to this as the "yard". So most of the time they are in their "cells" which are really quite comfy, at least no cat has ever complained about them, but they also need the freedom of open play and they have a right to explore their surroundings. Here are some pics I took of them today in the yard during their 10am playtime.

I have a thin rope attached to the parrot cage, sometimes I add toys and things on them just to give Echo a change of a toy. However NEMO has claimed this rope as his own and he pretty much plays with only this while he is out. Why I spent so much money on kitten toys is beyond me, they almost never play with them but can find other toys from just about anything, including a piece of frayed blue rope. Nemo is a ham, he swats, swings, chews this rope.


And if Nemo allows it, MARLIN likes his turn with the rope.


DORY much prefers the peace and quiet from the gentle hum of a computer tower. She is pretty laid back, but getting more and more bold every day.


Than we have NIGEL and CRUSH who love to sit at the window. Nigel will be a great hunter 1 day, he likes to stalk his prey (be it a string, a hair, a dogs tail) than pounce on it and "kill it". He would not do well in a home with birds as he does often stare at Echo and if he could find a way to get closer I have no doubt he would.


After a good run about SQUIRT likes to find a place to cuddle. He is an amazing cuddler, but it seems no matter how much you give him, it's never enough. You can spend 24/7 snuggling with him and he would still want, need and demand more.
I don't think Squirt would do well in a home where his people are gone all day. Though given his age this could change in a heartbeat.

CORAL is very brave and out"spoken" she will not hesitate to pounce onto Ruby's back or grab her by the tail. She has timid moments but for the most part she is so outgoing and so darn easy to please.


After he has attacked everyone else Gill will settle down for a nice snooze. He doesn't care where, just as long as its comfy. This bunny basket seems to work well for his napping place today.


I hope I got everyone in these pics. This will be my last entry for the Nemo Group as they will be on their way to live in Toronto on Tuesday. What makes this probably the best move ever, is that with there being 8 I wasn't hopeful of them being able to go the same home, but they have a foster home that wants all 8. The hard part of that will be my home going from 8 to 0 in one day. I will miss these guys, just like i miss all the others, but this is the biggest group I have done at 1 time and even though it took us a little longer to find a routine that worked for everyone, it really went well. I am impressed.

My next post will be when I get more kittens. Nobody knows when that will be, but I imagine it won't be to long into my future.

had to come back again

and post this pic.....When we have kittens, Jilly chooses to sleep on her crib mattress on the floor, so that the babies don't fall off her big bed. So yes she is sleeping on a mattress but it's her choice and she does have a real bed lol.

Anyway, heard a big bang, checked on her and found this instead.....awwww, makes my heart melt.



the kitten who you see just the eyes glowing at you is Gill,
The kitten at her face is Nemo
the next one down is Crush
and the one staring at me is Nigel, I interrupted his sleep and he isn't impressed when that happens lol

some observations

So we moved 4 of the bigger boys into Jillian's room yesterday and the 4 smaller ones (2 boys and 2 girls) into the room where the big boys were. We have discovered that the 4 boys are just like human boys, full of energy and into trouble ALL.THE.TIME. the 4 wee ones pretty much eat and sleep mostly still, they do get up and play for a spell but than konk out again. Dory makes me laugh, she has the amazing ability to fall sleep in an instant, sitting up, laying down, playing, whatever. Its like she has that sleeping disease narcolepsy, she just goes to sleep. They no longer sleep in that baby huddle but now spread out to get as much free space as they can. They also no longer snuggle up to the stuffed animal they have. Well squirt does but mostly it's because he likes to suckles its butt, better a toys butt than another kittens.

We let them have run of the house today a few times, just to see how they would react. The first time, they were a little scared and kinda just skulked around, peering behind corners and ducking under the couch when they felt the need. The 2nd time, they trashed the living room...they found toys out of anything else that wasn't intended for a toy, extension cord, corner of the couch and they decided that the parrots molted feathers were the best toy of all, I just vacummed and I did a good job so I have no idea where they found these feathers, but we spent about 6 mins picking feathers out of everyones mouth.

I am also considering keeping one of the kittens until she gets adopted. Echo doesn't need to bother the kittens, they bother him but he just watches them and walks away, when they get close he takes off to find my shoulder or the back of the computer chair. He was my biggest fear when I started doing this...not anymore. I think he is probbaly not going to bother them, even when Hope would sneak up top of his cage, he never attempted to bite, he just sat there and screamed his head off until I moved the cat. Hope didn't hurt him, just scared him. I am teaching him to say things like "here kitty kitty" "kitty get down" etc etc, I find with him the more he can express himself the better off he deals with things. Rubys' barking drives him crazy and he tells her so "Ruby, Ruby shut up" Ruby, knock it off" lol he makes me laugh as well.

So I am thinking about it, but we'll see, my issue is the longer they are here, the harder it is to let them go for both Jilly and me. But not having kittens over the winder doesn't make either of us happy. So we'll see what I decide and what happens with that. Not even sure if it would fly with the rescue because I do have Echo.

and then there were 18!!

NO I don't have 18 kittens, But I did get my 18th rescue today. A little boy and his sibs 4 or 5 of them were all thrown away into a dumpster. A young girl found them and tried to raise them on her own, she however realized just how much work newborn kittens really are and handed them in to a local vet this morning. There were only 2 left. This boy and his brother were both found with maggots (one of my biggest feared insect). the vet gave them something called capstar and started to bottle feed them. Then they called their sister vet who called Mary, who then called me. I picked this fella up ths afternoon. What an event that was.

I opened up the carrier, pulled out one pudgy orange boy, he promptly tanked me by pooping all over my hand lol. Cleaned him up and reached in for the 2nd, only to discover that the baby had passed. Not sure when but the other vet said they were fed at 1 and this was about 3:30. Sadly he was to gone to have died on the way, the vet didn't check before sending them off :( there sat 1 lone living kitten trying to snuggle up to and stay warm with his brother. Got ab and headed home with baby. Still more to this story...

Got home and went to feed him, discovered that his back leg is being held up really close to his body and his other leg is dragging behind him. Nobody seems to know what happened to his legs. I think he might either have a broken leg or hip. It may be that when he was thrown away he twisted his knee or leg or foot...or when other people were tossing things in his leg was injured. At any rate he will be heading to the vet tomorrow to try and find out what is wrong with his leg and hopefully it can be fixed or splinted.

The other 8 bigger babies, have been enjoying their roughhousing, playtime in the kitchen before and after each meal. Dory likes to watch but she just want to get involved at all, though she will run and chase someone else. The 3 or 4 big boys were set to leave tomorrow but circumstances have changed so they will reside with me until things at their prospective foster home settles down.

Anyway here are a couple of pic of the dumpster kitty, but he needs a name, SOOOO please help me name him.

he looks like he is packed in tight because he is. He isn't to be able to move around to much until he can be evaluated tomorroew.



A little bit more of a closeup, but because he is bundled snuggly it's hard to see him, but his face is so cute.

everyone is .........

Healthy!! yep you read it, 8 little kittens are all healthy. The 3 boys at the beginning of the week were sick, the other 5 started on Wednesday. Mind you I can't say that the other 5 were actually sick, b/c a few hrs after their 1st dose of a/b they were all fine, back to normal etc etc...I think those 5 are just conspiring against me to see which one can do me in first...well I showed them NONE of them did :)

Mouse left us on Thursday. It was heartbreaking at the minimum. I have sent 6 other kittens on their way and didn't even bat an eyelash, but sending mouse off broke my heart. I could actually feel the pain in my heart. Jilly and I were both very upset about it. Got word though that he had settled in quite nicely. As hard as sending him off was, I also know that it was the best thing for him, I could never financially afford to keep him as he will need quite a bit in his lifetime.

The other day I posted mini profiles on the kittens.....well it seems they have all changed their ways. So I am going to post new profiles and I actually have pics of everyone, named and all.

Here goes :

1st up is Crush, he is one of the bigger boys. He is learning that snuggling humans is a nice thing. He loves to eat and is quite playful.


2nd is Dory, she is the smallest of the 2 girls, a quiet personality. The only concerns i have with Dory i sher shyness, she is quite introverted. When I set them all down for food, the others bolt for the dish, she just saunters over and if the dish she wants is busy, she walks away and waits. She will not squeeze herself in there, but will wait until a dish is free. I have resorted to feeding her off on her own to make sure she IS eating and judging by her weight gain, she is doing very well. Because she is so shy and reserved, I worry about her.


3rd up is Squirt, He is the littlest male but he perhaps is the most demanding attention wise, he will climb up pants, sit on knees, do anything he can to get your attention and if that means climbing to the top of he is 3ft box only to fall out, he will do it (trust me on that one lol) He is running up to climb on my knee so the pic isn't the greatest. Shoudl add that when he eats, he puts his paws around his dish in a hug, and if anyone gets to close he growls and swats at them.


4th to bat is Coral, She is the squarest, shortest pudgiest wee kitten I have ever seen, but she is beautiful. After she eats her belly gets HUGE. A short body and huge belly looks like so funny lol. She likes to snuggle but she MUST eat first. In her mind, she can never get enough food. Her most favorite place to run off to after eating is under the fridge, however she no longer fits so now runs to the table and sits under there.


5th is Gill, Gill is pretty hyper and independent, I don't think he is much impressed with people. I suspect a human at some point in his short life has scared him and maybe scarred him as well. We are working on it and it is getting better. he does play very well with the kitten group though, so this is good.


6th up is Marlin, he has to be the most sweetest laid back kitten ever, nothing phases him. He takes everything in stride and nothing seems to bother him. he doesn't demand a lot of anything is quite content to just be.


7 and 8 I had to do in a video simply because I could not get Nigel nor Nemo to do what they were told and stay still for a minute. Nigel is the one at the food dish, he is a pretty active little boy. He loves to play, run and eat.

Nemo who never liked cuddles before is all over them now, he isn't great about cleaning himself up and needs a few more lessons on the cleanliness of a cat. He does use the little box well and thats pretty important, he just doesn't seem to concerned if his bod is dirty. Both these guys had the worst of whatever the illness was that they had, their coats were just awful, the runs, etc etc but they both recovered amazingly well. On one hand Kittens are so fragile, but on the other they are also pretty durable beings.


So there you have it, the "finding Nemo" group. Pretty impressive I would say, I would expect the 8 to leave either sometime this week or early next week. Not all at once though, probably the 3 boys, Nigel. Nemo and Crush at one time, but the other 5 will probably be staggered.

3 little kittens...

Nigel, Nemo and Crush are all sick. With what we don't know. Crush started bleeding yesterday from his rectum. The vet has no idea what it is. I weighed the other 2 only to discover that they had lost huge amount of weight, despite that they are eating everything in site. They were wormed last week, so pretty sure it isn't worms but it sure is something. All 3 boys are on Chlor-palm for 7 days. I also started squirt on some meds as well, simply because he came in the same carrier as the other 3. He doesn't show any symptoms at all and is quite content and he has gained weight. As a precaution he will get his 2x daily dose as well.

I am hoping to get the healthy ones out of here before they get sick as well, 3 sick kittens is enough I don't want 8....Mouse I am hoping will go soon as well just so he doesn't pick up anything, I don't need him sick as well.

thats all I have to update for now, will post again if anything changes.

I am slowly going crazy 1.2.3.4.5.6 switch....

Crazy going slowly am I 6.5.4.3.2.1 switch.....

Yep it's been crazy crazy around here. 8 kitten plus mouse, so 9 in total, means more food to prepare, more pens to clean, more litter boxes to clean and more often BUT, the bright side is it also means 9 kittens to cuddle and love!!

Our days start with feedings, than I putter around the house, than its cleaning time, than feeding time, than putter time, then feeding and cleaning time, than dinner time, then cleaning and feeding time...lol lots of cleaning.

I enjoy it though. I love watching the babies grow. Watching them play is a hoot. You would be surprised what would entertain a young kitten, wait if you have no children, you would be surprised. Paper bags, rolled up newspaper, foil balls, fingers, toes, each other..you name it and they will play with it.

We finally named them, after losing 1 little girl this week, i was hesitant in giving them names. Losing one seems to hurt more when they have names.

Their names and personalities are:

Nemo: he is one of the oldest , doesn't much like to be snuggled, would much prefer to run around than sit still. He is a very mess eater.

Crush : He is one of the smaller oldest ones, he is a real sweetheart. He comes with some anxiety and this seems to come from the dark. When the lights go out he will cry and cry. He will vomit. Finally he will settle down with the others but he still doesn't like the dark.

Coral : She is one of 2 girls, a younger one, a snuggly one and a crier, she cries just because she can.

Nigel: is an active boy, one of the older ones, he doesn't sit still for much of anything. He loves his food, and you can tell by his face after a meal, it is usually all over his face, the floor, his paws, the wall. etc etc

Dory: is a wee scrap of a kitten, she likes to jump, run and as soon as I step in her box, she will be the first one trying to climb up my legs, she doesn't care if they are bare or not, she feels they are her personal tree.

Squirt: he is the smallest of the oldest, he is also a jumper, he loves to snuggle and just cannot get enough of it. It doesn't matter to him that there are 8 others that want some loving, in his mind, it's all about him and nobody else matters.

Gill- He is also one of the older ones, and he doesn't understand what good humans are, unless of course they are offering food. In his mind he doesn't need us "stupid humans" and would much rather be left on his own than in my arms. He does though enjoy playing with the other kittens.

Marlin: he is one of the younger kittens but thinsk he is much older than the rest, he seems to be king. He isn't great about sharing, nor does he appreciate when anyone insists that he does. he guards his food by holding his dish in his paws and will use a paw to push anyone else away.

Peach: This is the baby we lost, I decided that even though she passed, she needed a name. Everyone needs a name especially her. I didn't have a chance to get to know her well, but she was my favorite, she seemed quiet and playful and man was she full of energy.

So there you have it, the "Nemo" group. OF course you need pics of this group, I will try to give names as best I can but there are some that I cannot tell who is who until I look at their ribbons with their names that are around their necks, but I will do my best


The one walking away is Crush. The kitty behind the first kitty with 2 cats eating is Squirt. The one with him is Nigel. Not sure who the lone feeder is..sorry


The dish with 3 at it, the one at the back is Peach, not sure who is in the middle, but Nemo is the 3rd one there.


This one is a litter easier to know who is who, but not much.
The one laying across the stuffie is Nemo. The little one at the end of the stuffies legs is Peach, The one beside peach (not teh one behind) is Crush (I think?), The white faced is Nigel...I know I missed a bunch but some are so similar looking. I will have to get individual pics this week for you.

Anyway thats it for tonight!!

been a busy week

On Monday Mary called and asked if I would take in 8 kittens from the Hamilton shelter. OMG 8 babies, how could I say no. Later that afternoon she showed up with 9 very smelly baby kittens. We bathed and weighed them, then tried to feed them. Much to my surprise not 1 single baby wanted a bottle....they all fought it tooth and nail. SO I tried some food in a dish and low and behold all 9 babies ate. These were not bottle feeding kittens, but weaned kittens. That makes it a bit tougher. Bottle feeders are very easy to care for, don't need a ton of space and in general are much easier to manage (for me anyway). Got them all settled in and at 10pm, tried the bottle again, and again they all refused. So they have been eating soft food from dishes. I have tried the smallest ones a few times since, but not have taken it. Tuesday was a bit chaotic, trying to coral 9 running babies to make sure they all got fed and ate enough. So we decided to do this in shifts of 3, that way it was less to watch and certainly less to run after. This worked much better, took 3x as long but at least it was easier to know who was fed and who didn't eat well or at all etc etc. BY Tuesday night we had it down to a science and all was well.

Yesterday my mouse went for his first needles, poor guy was less then impressed with the thermometer they shoved up hi butt but he did very well. He will be on his way soon.

Today was difficult. I got up at 6:30, the kittens were running around and playing, normal kitten play. I commented to Jilly at how active they were at such an ungodly hour. Quickly after that 1 of the little girls fell over...she died about 45 mins later. Not sure what happened, I was shocked. She was JUST playing and now she is dying on my kitchen table. The vet did a post mortem and found that one of her lungs were collapsed slightly, and one of the walls of her heart were thinner than it should have been, Diagnosis: probable congenital heart defect :( she was one of my favorites.

As you can imagine, I won't have much time to blog this litter but I will try to do my best, given the stage they are at, there won't be much to blog about, nor will they be here a long time, I expect by next weekend we have all 8 placed in a home better suited to older kittens.