Goodbyes suck

So I know I have totally sucked this summer with updates but after we got over the hump with toby, there really was nothing to say that you haven't already heard. Both babies left me on Sunday evening to go to a socialization home. Remember what I have said in the past about bottle fed babies, without a mom to teach them they will grow up without learning the social and important parts of a cats life, this makes adoptions hard, if not impossible. So anyway, they were picked up on Sunday evening. Tuesday only Toby was returned, poor we lad had the runs so bad his new foster mom spent an entire day washing floors, she was frustrated so she returned him. Josie was doing not to badly but she would not leave Toby's boy bits alone, she was constantly hanging off him, so they needed to be separated. Michelle kept Josie and brought Toby back to me so he could recover. he did quickly, by the time I returned home from my daughters baseball game Toby appeared to be fine. The next morning he WAS fine no more runs and no more issues...so we chalked up his diarreah issue to his sister stressing him out. He was ready to be returned Wednesday night, but they still needed to be separated and 24 hrs was not enough to break Josie of her addiction, so he went to another foster home. he is doing very well, has 2 other cats to play and romp with and appears to be a happy boy. I don't know what kittens I will have in the future but there will be NO new additions this week as my daughter and I are headed for a short vacation. I will return to blogging when I get more rescues.

it's been a REALLY Hard week

This week has been really hard, stressful and quite nerve racking. On Monday Toby started with some minor diarreah which is pretty common among bottle feeding newborns, but like with any newborn that suffers from this, it can cause dehyrdation really fast and within hrs can be fatal if you are not paying attention. I did everything in my power to make it stop, fed ground rice, kaopectate, diluting formula but nothing I did worked. For 2 days this continued and it wasn't terrible. But Wednesday things went south, both him and Josie had it, Toby with the worst of it, it was just fountaining out of him, it was so bad and such a mess. No sooner would I clean his papers and I would have to do it again. I took them to the vet who tested them for just about everything and came up with nothing, which was good news. She couldn't offer any suggestions other than to keep doing what I was doing and gave the usual lecture "Kittens sometimes just fail and die quickly, no matter what we do". Needless to say those were not the words I wanted to hear. She did say that maybe adding some canned food to their formula would help "thicken" them up some, I tried that it didn't work. By Thursday both babies had lost so much weight, I really felt like it was hopeless and thought for sure they would both pass. Friday morning they were still alive and still had the runs....as a last resort I decided to stop the kitten food, and remove the canned formula and give them just the powdered KMR....this I am happy to say has been successful and today they are eating beautifully and pooping so much better than they were. I actually started to see improvement by yesterday afternoon. I am SOOOOO relieved and my confidence has returned. This has been such a bad year and these 2 started out so healthy and did so well, that I felt they were just the 2 babies I needed to restore my faith in myself as a bottle feeder, when things started to crash so did the faith in myself and abilities. The crisis is far from over but for now it has decreased and both bubs remain stable, though very dirty from their ordeal and their tiny bums are so sore. There was no point in dunking them in water anymore to clean them, am gonna give them til Monday to restore some strength and recover a bit more, then I will bathe them and get them cleaned up. Normally I would start weaning at 3 weeks of age, by adding food to their formula and then from dishes a week later, but given this past week I am going to hold off on weaning them until they are more ready. I am just not feeling to relaxed about doing anything more to their gut as it heals. they will be taking probiotics for the next week or so and once they are "normal" kittens without any issues than and only then will I start weaning and I imagine that unless they protest I will go very slowly with it. So thats my update, no weights for today as I weigh at 4pm and you really don't wanna know how their weights were all week, as it would probably make you cry and feel as anxious as I do about it all.

They can see!

Ok so they can't really see quite yet, their eyes DID open yesterday morning, but the vision will remain a bit hazy for a couple of more days, they are also quite light sensitive so they are kept in the dark still for a another couple of days, probably Monday I will give them more light other then for feedings. With some vision there also comes lots more activity, they have just started interacting with each other, but like human babies their movements don't have a whole lot of purpose just yet. And of course with more activity comes the demand for more milk, yesterday they demanded to eat about every 90 mins, today they are back on their 3hrs schedule. They might go as little as 2.5hrs though. Their weights are coming along rather nicely and I am guessing that by 4 weeks they will have reached that magical 1lbs mark. Currently they are: Josie - 253G a jump from yesterdays 238 Toby - is 266 an increase from his 250 yesterday. So they are gaining weight and they are doing well.

growing up

I didn't post yesterday I got so busy and by the time i remembered I was to tired. I just had surgery on July 5th so I am trying to recover from that as well. In reality there was nothing new to post anyway other then weights, which were: Josie - went from 218 to 230g a gain of 12G Toby - went from 240 to 250 a gain of 10G I knew their gains would taper off now that they have fully functioning bowels, once that catches up to them their weight will increase hugely as before.

Great day with the duo

Josie and Toby are doing amazingly well, they have kind of restored my faith in my ability to do this job. It's been a year fill with losses but these 2 are so strong and gaining weight I KNOW they are going to be fine. Today they have the corners of their eyes open and they started purring today so they are right on target for my estimated age of now 6 days old. I expect that Josie will have her eyes fully opened by Saturday and Toby I suspect will be a day behind. I love their eyes opening, they are so hazy and still can't see so well but they look so crosseyed and goofy looking lol. Toby has a bit of an ear fetish, when I held him up to my shoulder to burp him, he latched right on my ear and started sucking away. Neither baby had pooped for me since they arrived on Monday, so today they went off to the vet and learned how to give little tiny enemas to kittens. The vet did it this time and the results for Josie were amazing, pretty good for Toby as well but Josie impressed me the most with results. You are probably thinking I am crazy getting excited over poop but it's very dangerous to not get rid of that excess waste so YES I get excited. As long as the clogs have been removed I shouldn't ever have to put into practice what I learned today, maybe part of my excitement is relief, I really wasn't relishing the thought of shoving something up their tiny bums. I was kinda worried that since they did finally go that their weight loss wouldn't be anything great and perhaps maybe a small loss but when I weighed them today I got a happy surprise. Josie weighed 209G yesterday and 24hrs later she weighs 218, not a big gain by any means but 9g isn't what I was expecting. Toby was 212 24hrs ago and now is 240 a 28G gain, now that's a HUGE gain. I do expect though that once his bowels are cleaned out, it won't be THAT much of a gain, but hopefully he won't lose ALL of those 28 so very important grams. Both babies have put themselves on their own schedules of feeding every 3 hours thru the day, I listen for them to wake me at night as does our parrot (who returns their hollers with one of his own) but they didn't get us up last night at all and were not overly starved when they did finally get me up at 6am, and their weight gains signals that they are doing fine and they do know when they want to eat. No pics tonight, maybe tomorrow.

2 new beautiful babies

I got a call yesterday asking if I would take in 3 babies, whose mother had moved the kittens than ran off and hadn't been seen for a few hours. There were 4 babes, 1 died almost instantly after being rescued. They were fed by the founders a proper diet with good timing in between feeds. Kittens were to be dropped off from Burlington to Kitchener and arrive at my home later that evening. Around 9 pm they arrived, one died en route leaving 2 really nice, plump looking babies. Josie is a grey female, she is so friggen cute and loves to snuggle and be held. her weight at admission as 194G Toby is black male He is a little bigger than his sister at 205G. They are about 4-5 days old, their cords have fallen off but they still have the stump right at the base, this will go away in a couple of days. Toby appears to have a umbilical hernia which shouldn't be to much of an issue. If he was a female they would fix this on the spay but since he is male.... I am beginning to hate blogger. It used to be so easy to find a post I started and saved but it took a good while this time. I may move to another site or even to facebook to make it easier, I am a facebook pro so no trouble there. Anyway here are some pics. This is Toby And Josie and the brother sister duo snoozing after a feed Their weights are pretty good, they have been here for about 15hrs when I weighed them and they are as follows Josie was 194 Last night and today is 209 Toby was 205 last night and is 212 today. Not a great gain for him but a gain.

This has been a crap year

This year has been so hard on my heart. Last year I had such great success with kittens I felt confident this year would be the same. Sadly that just isn't so. Last Monday Jack started to get sick so we went to the vet and got a/b for him, Lexi and Krissy. While there the vet mentioned that someone had called the day before asking about 3 kittens they found in their yard. The vet told them who to call and what to do but they did nothing. We got their info from the vet and phoned them, they brought the 3 babies to Mary's and I picked up about 4:15pm. 3 beautiful long haired kittens wailing at the top of their little lungs. Weighed them all, all were under 200G, gave them a bottle and settled them in the infant boxes. 2 hours later, Alex a little black girl was lying on my kitchen table dying. Alex died about 6:50 that night, just over 2 hrs of being on my care. Harper was a funny looking kitten she had a white body, but a calico head, she also was dying, though I did get her though the night and the next day, but she died early Wednesday morning. I went from 6 kittens to 4 in 2 days. Had the people who found them done something, even given them water, they might have survived, but they did nothing and left them paying in the hot sun for 2 days. Deyhrdation set in and organ failure started and I wasn't able to repair it, sometimes you can, sometimes you can't it depends on how far along failure is. Jerry another little black boy was just beside himself, he wasn't ready to go with the others and wouldn't stop screaming, I called another rescue who had a litter about his age so off he went. He is doing well according to an e-mail received today. yesterday morning, Lexi didn't want her bottle, she is weaning and they drop bottles so I wasn't concerned. Later that morning I noticed that she was having some breathing issues. So off to the vet we go....they took x-rays of her wee lungs and the vet explained that x-rayed lungs appear dark. Little Lexi's were white. She was diagnosed with FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) she was given less than a 20% chance of survival, she was working so hard to breathe she had no energy for anything not food, not purring, not anything. It was decided that my sweet Lexi should be put down as she was suffering. I am devastated. Just the night before I took a pic of them eating and playing all 3 of them, had I known that would be the last night I would kiss her head before going to bed, I would have held her a little longer. She was the sweetest little girl and I admit she had some anger issues, she was fiesty and demanding and expected to be treated like the little princess she was. She was snobby, prissy and loud, but OMG she was adorable. I couldn't go with her to put her down, I save kittens I don't help in their demise, So another rescuer Michelle was kind enough to take her for me, I bawled like a baby, never have I cried so much over the loss of a kitten, I still cry today thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not cold and heartless, the other losses bother me, but Lexi's was different and I don't really know why. I asked my 9 year old how she felt if I didn't do rescue anymore, she helps me sometimes and it affects her life as well. I expected her to say "ok" or something similar, but she didn't..she said "you can't quit, the babies need you" When I told her that the deaths were all so sad and heartbreaking she said "maybe for the rest of the year 100 million will live and only 1 more will die and that will make it better". The logic from her was pretty amazing, she is a special needs kid so coming from her that statement was huge. So again I wrestled with not doing it anymore, but as usual I will carry on, and maybe she's right, though I hope I don't have a 100 million kittens this year. very few kittens survive bottle feeding, so the fact that I have only lost 9 out of 44 in the last year isn't really bad. 36 kittens have lived, thrived and done well, so if I look at it that way it makes me feel more accomplished. I just honestly don't think I can handle one more death, but I know it happens, sometimes love just isn't enough, sometimes their bodies have been thru so much before I get them and sometimes they have diseases that don't show until kittens start to get active and busy. However I can honestly say that each and ever kitten that has died in my care, they knew human touch, they knew full bellies but most of all they knew what love was and they received so much of it.... Jack and Krissy are doing very well, krissy is fully weaned and Jack was having weaning issues, he didn't want to lol. He liked his bottles to much, but in the past few days he has come leaps and bounds. he refused all but his breakfast bottle today and I expect he will refuse that one tomorrow. Soon they will be on their way to bigger and better things. I am unable to weigh either of them, as they simply refuse to stay in the weigh buckets, but I can assure you that they are doing well, Krissy is a wee fatty, Jack is long and thinner with the biggest paws, his paws are about 2 sizes bigger then he is. Both ar close to a lbs now, but not quite, if Krissy keeps eating like she is she will be there by tomorrow or Monday and Jack is not far behind her. This will be my last entry for this litter as there really isn't anything to report now, both are pretty much weaned and met their "newborn milestones". So I guess you will hear from me next litter. Take care and to those who have followed me, thank you and to those who haven't well you are missing a ton.

1 step forward 2 steps back...

Seems ot be the way things go for this group of kittens. I ended up giving them some pumpkin today b/c they seem to have a bit of the runs and we all know pumpkin is a natural and healthy fix for that. I suspect it has something to do with the amount they are eating as they are not ill. They are active, hyper, normal kittens. We'll see how that goes. Nobody is to interested in eating as much solids as they did yesterday which is sometimes how it goes but they are still taking their bottles well. NOT 1 puddle of poop or pee on the floor today, dare I say that we are litter trained? Not yet they need a few more days of no "oopsies" before they can be considered trained. I had been putting them in the kitten box at night but leaving them in the small room during the day, last night i left them in the small room with the heating pad and they did well, they had me up at the butt crack of dawn but thats ok I was due to get up soon anyway. I won't be posting as often now as there really isn't many changes as now they have met their milestones and nobody really cares to read if they have eaten each day. I will however post big updates and a final post to let you know when its time for them to leave here and move on in their lives. Their weights are still not great but they ARE getting better Lexi weighed 281 yesterday and was 285 today, a small gain but with the runs its not surprising, not to mention their activity leval has increased 10 fold. Jack was 354G yesterday and today weighed 376G so he had a huge gain Krissy yesterday was 302, today she is 313, a minor gain but a gain none the less.

improvements

there have been improvements all around that excite me. Lexi the smallest of the 3 didn't gain any weight for 3 days, for a kitten that's a worrying sign. So I have been trying to really get some weight on her and it seemed no matter what I did, she just wasn't gaining. Today I weighed her and FINALLY she gained, not a huge gain mind you, but a gain none the less. Jack is really getting big and he seems to have a very high opinion of himself which can be a good thing I guess as long as that ego doesn't get bigger than him, which it seems t be getting bigger every day. Krissy is also doing quite well, she is so much more fluffier than the other 2, she is quite social and loves any kind of attention. All 3 are finally litter trained which is awesome and they have been spending days in a bigger play space which they seem to enjoy, but with our nights being cool still they must go back into the baby box during the night. They are all eating some now, this is great news as it means they are on their way to becomming big cats which is what we all hope for when we do rescue. Losing a life is tragic and heart breaking, but when we see good things it reminds us why we do this or at least why I do it. Their weights are as follows. Lexi - for the past few days has been 260G today she was 217 a gain of 17G Jack has slowed down in his gains and was 332G today and gain of just 5G Krissy is at 302 a gain of 17G as well.

been busy

I'm sorry its been a busy weekend here and by the time I am settled at night I have either forgotten or am to tired. I have been taking advantage of our beautiful weather as well. Jack and Lexi are one month old today and are doing pretty well. Its been fun watching them grow and change every day! Jack has started running and trying to jump a little bit, he is very snuggly and like all the attention for himself. lexi is cuddly as well though she is a bit more picky and it must be on her terms, and if she has had enough she will let out this god awful yell, that if you didn't know any better you might think she was being killed in the most painful way possible. I started them on solids yesterday and they don't like it much, its much more fun to walk in and thru it and than leave little kitten foot prints all over the floor, in their bed that I just cleaned etc etc. Both kittens are pooping machines today though so that might account for the lack of gain. Jack is using his litter box consistently while Lexi has just started to use the box, she is quite a bit smaller than jack so we had to make some modifications to encourage her to actually get in the box. She might be a bit prissy or snobbish b/c when you place her in the box, she lifts up her feet one by one and screams at you as if to say "wth are you doing to me now, this place stinks you silly human". She is catching on just not as quick as Jack. Jack has the most beautiful markings a circle on either side of stomach, a spotted tummy and striped legs he is stunning. Lexi is the same but she is a little more faded then Jack. Their weights concern me but I'm not going to freak out just yet. They have increased their feeds but you wouldn't know it by looking at the scale. Some things to remember are: Kittens who are weaning do tend to drop a little weight, now while they haven't lost they haven't gained tons. Their activity leval is increasing so they are burning calories Worms! most kittens have worms and one of the signs of worms is weight loss or lack of gain I de-wormed them today in hopes that they have some and this will fix the issue and they start packing on the grams soon again. Lexi's weight today was 260, the same the was on Friday. Jack's weight was 332 a gain of only 5G since Friday. If their weight doesn't improve by Wednesday I am afraid a vet visit will be in order for them. They do not seem sick in anyway so I'm not sure what the vet would do or say but for now I am just giving them another day to show me that they are in fact ok. Saturday we got a new addition. Krissy is about the same age as the other 2 fluffier and was starved for attention and affection. I will give you more details on Krissy tomorrow (I promise to not get to tired or forget) Now for some pics. This is Jack, how cute is he. The adorable face seen here is Lexi Jack loves the camera Little Lexi had to be held to let me take her pic she is a squirmy girl And Meet Krissy, a little fluffball Krissy again

wow!!

I was feeding lexi last night and had Jack in the baby box until his turn, I looked in on him because he wasn't doing his usual impatient hollering only to see that it was jack who has been leaving puddles in the litter box. What a good boy he is!! I squealed with excitement, he is not yet 4 weeks old and has been using it consistently for the past 24 hers or so. Lexi on the other hand has zero interest in the box and much prefers the opposite end of her bed ...sigh...I am hoping she picks up Jack's cleanliness sooner then later. She has finally pooped and things seem to be flowing normally again. I don't have much to say so am just gonna give weights. Jack yesterday was 289G today he was 302G a gain of 13G, not a big one but an acceptable one Lexi gained 20G and is now 251G, she is still dragging her butt on catching up to Jack but it will happen soon enough.

YAY Lexi

Lexi has always been smaller then Jack, but she is creeping up to him ever so slowly. She has surpassed the 1/2lb mark, way to grow Lex. They have adjusted to their feeds at every 4 hrs and their weight gain is awesome. Providing this goes well I may start to wean next week. Usually I start when they turn 4 weeks old but they need a little longer given their size. If they are accepting of solid food being given they may be fully weaned in as little as 2 weeks. They have caught up developmentally to kittens who are the same date as them rather than corrected age. They are walking so much better and someone, I'm not sure who but someone left me a puddle in the litter box, and of course someone left a puddle in their bed. I am hopeful that they will be easy to train once they catch on and get a little older. They are more interactive and really enjoy snuggles, both want more and more and neither like to share the time, but whoever taught cats about sharing. They are awake for longer periods of time and playing more with each other. Lexi might be the "little" sister but man she can give her brother a what for like no other. She is going to be the bully sibling, you know the one that never lets the other sleep, gets the other in trouble, blames the other for everything and than beams at you with these melting eyes. Their weights today are great and I am quite pleased. Lexi gained 16G and is now 231G Jack yesterday was 264G today he is 289G a gain of 25G

Moving right along

Sorry about no post yesterday, I had a meeting at my daughters school which took most of the morning and then they shut power down on my street for the afternoon. Don't worry you didn't miss much. Babies are doing very well and spent some time away from home yesterday because we had no power and no means to keep them warm, so they went and spent the afternoon at Mary's. Their intake seems to have increased, I had started today letting them go for as long as 4hrs between feeds. It seems to be working well for them. Lexi is a bit concerning as her bowels have stalled, so with a lot of stimulation and warm water baths not helping I gave her a bit of mineral oil. She was so unhappy with me for making her take such vile stuff, but better to be mad at me than backed up and run into serious problems. I am hoping this gets things moving along, if not something else will be needed, just not sure what at this point. Both are getting bigger and more active, they enjoy snuggles and play time with humans but also enjoy playing with each other. Jack has some tremors, not sure why or if he will outgrow this as he gets bigger but for now there are no plans to take him to the vet as he is still much to young and small to find out the cause. If they persist or get worse he will certainly be off for a checkup. Their weights over the past 2 days have been awesome. The last you read Jack was 227G, today he is 264G a gain of 37G over the past few days, he actually is growing into himself and looks more kitten like now. Lexi was 172 and 2 days later is 215G (some of that might be poop) a growth of a whopping 43G in the past 2 days. She as well while still smaller than brother is looking more and more like a kitten. The fur of both babies is getting much thicker and fluffier. I am very happy with the way these 2 have been grown and their activity levals etc etc. I will get some new pics and post them this weekend. so you can see a weekly change in the pair.

a little snuggle time

I decided that since they were doing well, I couldn't wait any longer to give some snuggles to Jack and Lexi. So they got some cuddles today and I wore lexi in my bra for a while before putting her and Jack in my snuggli pouch and carried them around for a couple of hours today. They were nice and warm and seemed to like it in there. Their weight gain wasn't as good as I had hoped this morning, but they still gained. I thought they both felt like they had fevers but I think they are fine, yes their bodies are quite warm but since they have less hair then term kittens its more apparent just how warm kitten bodies are. As well since they are eating so well and very active babies, it might be my nervousness from the last litter heightening my senses in a way that is extreme. I am sure as they continue to thrive and grow these will settle down. Their weights are : Lexi went up about 11G and is now 172 Jack jumped up 14G and is now 227G which I might add is 1/2 of a pound. at 4 weeks old kittens are typically about 1lb, they will be 4 weeks old on Saturday. He won't be a lb but he will be not as far off as I once thought he would be. I put a litter box in their bed today, I don't expect them to use it but it's there for them to check out just in case the mood strikes them, maybe the cut up pee pad with their urine on it will get them using it, maybe not. They are a bit young to be using it but you can never have it ready too soon.

both are doing great!

Lexi and Jack are doing well, I really couldn't ask for things to go any smoother. They eat regularly every 3 hrs and have no complaints in between. With the way things ended with the last litter, I don't think I have to tell you how relieved I am. I am pretty certain they are preemies, how early I'm not sure but would have to be not more than a few days for them to have survived without mama, its unlikely that even with mom they wouldn't have survived if they were more than few days early. They have the gangliest legs and the ugliest rat tails, but man are the sweet. They purr almost as soon as you touch them and are quite affectionate. Due to the prematurity we are not handling them other than to feed, toilet and burp them, I imagine it will be another week before we actually snuggle with them after a a feed. They are eating about 2-2.5oz each in a day which is great news, their appetites are way bigger than they are and it shows in the plump bellies. Lots of pics of them: A close up of sweet Jack's face Jack again This gives you an idea of their size, this is Lexi I have finally agreed to allow my 9 year old help feed them, she needs help getting bottles in their mouths but once they latch on she does great and she loves it She has always helped with burping them, here she is with Lexi And of course Jack needs to burp as well I know tons of pics but it was needed. There will be more to come another day. They are so cute. Who can't resist such sweet and innocent faces. Their weights were great today, soon they will have caught up to where they would have been had they been born on time. I love them already. Weights: Jack was 189G yesterday...today he was 213G a gain of 24G Lexi was 148 yesterday and today she was 161 a gain of 13G not a great gain for her but she exceeded the 10G the recommended daily gain, so I'll take it with a smile.

Congratulations, it's twins!!!

Sometime April 14 a mother cat was in a trailor having kittens, she gave birth to 2 little kittens a boy and a girl. Something scared momma off and she abandoned her babies . They were found and taken in by a woman and her daughter. Somewhere along the way they started showing failure to thrive issue, so they were taken to a vet in Snelgrove who took over bottle feeding for a short spell. However a family emergency made her unable to finish the task, Jack and Lexi were returned to their rescuers who were not able to finish the task, which is how they came to be here, in my house, in an infant box, in my living. First off, Lexi and Jack are adorable, but like all rescues they have issues, this time while they are healthy and well fed there is just something odd about them. They look really strange they are soooo tiny, hair is sparse and thin not to mention they kinda look like little aliens. I think these 2 are probably premature babies. Their tails look like rat tails, long, thin with not much hair. This changes thing for me as I have never looked after preemie kittens before. After the sudden loss of Joey, I am really nervous. The prematurity doesn't make me feel any better either. So we are just going to take it hour by hour and see how this unfolds. Both babies are active, eating and such so they are well on their way. Their weights are: Jack 189G Lexi 148G Keep in mind newborns weigh somewhere between 80-130G so these 2 are not much bigger than the biggest of a brand new minutes old kitten. I will get some pictures later on with my trusty coke can to make the tiny size more visiable b/c lets face it, you can't tell much from a picture.

Terrible ending

The friends group was scheduled to move to their next phase last Saturday. All were doing well, eating on their own and gave up bottles days before this...how everything went wrong so fast I have no idea. Friday everyone was going well, they were active, eating and doing normal kitten things, I had no reason to suspect that tragedy would strike later on that night. At 5pm my daughter and I fed them and as normal they all ate well and settled down for a nap. About 6:30 it was time to bathe them so that they would be nice and clean and full of good smells for the next morning for their journey to Kitchener. I got the towels, water, soap all ready and went to get the first one for their bath. I went to their area and Ross and Joey were in a heap sleeping. Phoebe was all alone by the litter box, I picked her up and knew right away that something was wrong. She was very sick. Not sure what was happening, I gave her some sugar water thinking that her blood sugars were low. Her jaw was clamped shut so tightly that if I were to try to open it I felt like I would break her jaw. I put her on the kitchen floor so I could see what she was able to do, and she couldn't use her back leg at all. I put her on a the heating pad that I always put kittens on after a bathe and called Mary. Went over to Mary's to see what she thought. We both knew that Phoebe was dying, we both knew that it was so close that the vet wouldn't be able to save her. I brought her home, kept her warm and watched and did a whole lot of praying for this little girl. I held, talked, sang and rocked her. I offered bottles b/c formula is a comfort food, but with a jaw so tight I was able to get very little into her. I put her to bed and got up a few times to check on her. The last time I got up with her was about 2:30am, she was still alive. I offered more formula and tucked her back into bed. I got up for the day just after 5am to find that Phoebe didn't make it. Jilly and I buried her in the backyard with a parrot of mine that died last year. Ross and Joey were set to go to their foster home in KW. I got them ready, they played on the kitchen floor for a while. When Mary showed up, I kissed them, reminded them to be good little boys and loaded Ross into the carrier. Took a good look at Joey just before I put him in and he didn't look well, something was clearly wrong with this little man. I decided to hang on to him for a bit longer and take him to the vet here in town. I sent Ross with Mary. The vet didn't see a whole lot wrong with him, suggested that b/c of his prolapsed eye lids he either had parasites or a neruo issue. He also gave fluid under the skin. I brought him home and found later on that afternoon that was constipated so I ran his bum under the kitchen tap to help him pass what was blocking him up. It finally passed and he perked up about 5:30. Sunday and Monday he seemed to be doing better. Plans were made for him to join his brother on Wednesday. Tuesday things didn't look so well, he was walking really oddly, his back legs were sliding out from under him. I called TCR and suggested that he visit the vet in KW before he was dropped at his new home the next day, they agreed. Loaded him up on Wednesday and off we went. We had to do some other things before our appt so we took food, water, wipes and extra blankets etc etc along. We arrived at about 12:30 and fed him, he ate like a champ and had a huge poop in the box and seemed ok. The vet didn't know what to say really so offered to keep him there for a couple of days to evaluate him. I called Thursday morning and he was doing well, he ate like a little piggy they said and were going to start him on some antibiotics and release him the next day. I was very excited he was going to be ok, I mean after all the vet wouldn't release him if they thought he had big issues. This was good news. Friday morning I got an e-mail about Joey. Sometime that morning he was really having a hard time breathing, the vet didn't think he recover so they euthanized him. I was devastated. this was the same little kitten that just the day before was doing so well and was going to be released this very morning. I have lost kittens before and while they all are sad and heartbreaking, the loss of Joey was the hardest loss I have had so far. I knew him, I loved him. He was almost 7 weeks old and had been with me a month. I have never had a loss after they had been here that long and not after they were weaned. I was a sobbing mess. I have been racking my brain asking myself what I could have done differently, what did I do wrong, what did I miss? He was also the first male I have lost. I know realistically I have done nothing wrong, I know I did the right things. I feel horrible about him dying at the vets office, even though I'm sure someone was holding him or comforting him it was still in such a cold place. He died without me there. I hope as he was leaving the earth to go to the bridge that he knew how much he was loved. When Joey got sick last weekend, I had said that if he died I was done with rescue. However I have an reason to keep going on....Mouse is my reason, if you remember the story of the littlest sickest kitten I did last summer you will remember how his life hung by a thread and many days his life was minute to minute, hour to hour (if you have't read Mouse's story you can find it by reading earlier postings). But eventually Mouse went from Mouse to Moose. it took a long time and a lot of vet visits and tons of love and time, but he lived and has been adopted and is doing very well. When I think that I don't make a difference all I have to do is remember my wee mouse man and know that I HAVE made it matter, I did the right things. I am a good rescue person and I do,and will continue to do a good job. Mouse isn't the only one, Hope, Jimmy, were also quite sick but they survived with the same love and care that everyone else got. I didn't do anything for them that I didn't do for Joey. Sometimes no matter what we do, kittens die. Sometimes we know why, but sometimes we don't. No matter how or why, sometimes they just die. I'm not expecting a loss to get easier and I will never be ok with it happening but sometimes no matter how much you do, how much you love them, they just die. So I will continue doing rescue, I will continue making a difference. Ross is doing very well in his foster home and we stopped by to see him last week. He has a big belly, is so snuggly and so happy and full of life. It was good to see him to see and know that he is ok, and that whatever killed his brother and sister doesn't seem to affect him in anyway. They will keep a close eye on him and watch for anything out of the ordinary, but he is doing very well.

winding down

My time with these 3 is running short. They are down to 1 bottle a day and are eating so well. As of yesterday they are fully litter trained and ready to learn how to be big cats. They don't smell near as bad as they did, they smell pretty normal now. I was watching them play today, I love to watch them go from helpless beings who really can't do much at all to running, jumping playing balls of energy.

I made the call yesterday that they will probably be ready to go to their next home, Monday or so a home is being searched for them. At the next phase they will get to learn all the things I can't teach them, things that they can only learn from another cat. they will need to learn kitten manners and what is acceptable and what isn't, when they are ready to graduate from there they are up for adoption, kittens generally get adopted pretty quickly due the fact that they are babies and adjust better than some adult cats who are pretty set in their ways.

This also means that my blogging for this group will come to an end, at this stage there isn't much more for me to write a they have grown up successfully and milestones all met.

I do however leave you with these 2 videos of them playing. Enjoy and next time you see me I will have a new batch of babies to raise and grow.

2 brothers beat up on little sister who does hold her own quite well



Ross has discovered that toys really can be and are lots of fun to play with, so is chasing words on a newspaper lol.

settling down

Weights are as follows

Phoebe : 324G a gain of 12G
Joey : 403G a gain 0f 10G
Ross : 430G a gain of 8G

As you can see their gains are not huge but don't panic, during a wean it is normal for their gain to slow at first and then pick up and take off.

I was happily surprised to wake up this morning to NO messes anywhere, They used their litter box all night long. They still smell bad though and I have yet to figure out why. I am guessing they will have another bath today or at the bare minimum a wipe down. I am going to get some pics tonight after my daughter comes home from school to help me handle the 3 feisty and very busy kittens.

I moved them into a bigger space last night, I had put them in there the day before for the afternoon but they were sleeping so peacefully last night and I knew a move would only wake them up and give them reason to scream so I followed the age old advice "NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY".

Will be back tonight with pics. Hopefully lots of them

so tired

I didn't update yesterday due to having a super busy house hold and I was up with my daughter the night before so I was exhausted.

I started them on solids as I had planned and so far things are messy but going as they should. They walk through the food, track it all over and then lick whats left off their paws. Weaning is a messy job and much more time consuming then bottle feeding as you need to make sure they are all getting some and learning. Ross so far is the weaning champ, he has taken to the kitten food like a champ. Joey much prefers to play in it, and Phoebe, well she isn't to interested at this point. They got 1 try yesterday, today another will be added etc etc. Until they are weaned onto food 100%. I typically do not take away their night time bottles until they choose to give them up, if they are slow on giving up I give them a boost by offering them a bottle of water instead of formula providing their gain is good and they have eaten well during the day.

Weights are doing well with Ross at 382G Joey at 393G and Phoebe at 312G. Phoebe is catching up slowly, but she is getting there. Now that solids have started they should start packing on within the next few days.

9:14pm

We have successfully completed 2 full solid feeds today, Ross is loving it and is now starting to refuse his bottle, I need him to hang tight for another few days so I can make sure that he is eating enough solids to grow. Joey has also fought his bottle all day long, he isn't to great on the solids so if he wants to be done and a "big boy" he needs to start eating more cat food. Phoebe, eats some but she still prefers her bottle over anything.

These are the 3 stinkiest kitties I have ever smelled, when I take the kid of the baby bucket all you can smell is them, it's in their fur. I bathed them again today b/c I just couldn't stand the smell, now all I have are perfumed stinky kittens, no idea why they smell so bad, but they do stink terrible.

All 3 have also been more successful today using the litter box, which is great news but they are still going wherever they are, and then they have no qualms about laying in it, this is unusual cat behaviour so it confuses me as cats as a rule DO Not sleep where they go the bathroom. I suspect it might have somethign to do with their mom and maybe not seeing her use the box enough to get an idea, or maybe they were born outside and mom just went wherever and they learned that, Who knows. I am going to get serious with them tomorrow on it as it is not acceptable to have a cat that will not use the box adoption wise.

Anyway thats all, I am off to bed.

clean kittens

if by chance you heard some kitten screaming from far away, it might be that you heard these 3 as I bathed them today and they were so unimpressed with me, but they smell so much better. They were not thrilled with the blow dryer so I had to let them air dry, it was a much better option than traumatized babies that would forever be terrified of a blow dryer, or vacum or anything else with that sort of noise.

none of the friends seemed to be huge suckers but when I got up this morning all 3 were lined up against the bunny, as I pulled each away for their morning weigh and feed you can see where they had each grabbed on to a tuff of stuffed animal fur and sucked away, there were 3 very tint but prominent circles with that tuft. Whatever works, would rather that than they start sucking on each other, which if you remember last years litters was a real problem for some of my females to the males.

Since they are only eating about every 6 hrs today but much more at one time, I will start solids tomorrow as planned, this is where it gets messy and gross, it never fails, kittens walk thru, and feed everything else but their faces the first few times they try it. You might remember Sabrina from last year, man that kitten needed a bath after EVERY FEED, she was so messy and gross, I hope that these guys won't be as bad.

their weights are good and here they are :

ROSS - went from 333g to 368g an increase of 35G

Joey - went from 330G to 353G a jump of 20G

Phoebe - 270G to 283G a small gain of 13G

I expect that by Wednesday Ross will be at that magical 1lb, Joey by Thursday or friday and Phoebe not until next weekend unless she really takes off on the solids.

More from me tomorrow night :)

Fiends DO argue you know

..I gave them a nice new, clean stuffie to snuggle up with today, a nice fluffy bunny. I cleaned their beds and put it in all 3 migrated to it, all 3 tried to snuggle with it. One of them was pushing the other 2 away, one of them was hissing at the other 2 when they got to close to the bunny....wanna guess who it was? Alright I will just tell you!

It seems ROSS has become quite possesive over this bunny. It isn't even a cute bunny, well it used to but the litters from last year have sucked, chewed and stained it, so it looks kinda ratted b/c of that and teh washing machine beats up stuffed animals something terrible. I put in another and the other 2 are ok, but they watch and when Ross walks away bunny is fair game for anyone else. It;s quite shocking that such cute and tiny animals can actually hiss and make "scary faces" lol. I love watching them try to act like big cats lol. Full of attitudes these guys are.

Their weights were good, I was worried b/c everyone had pooped so much yesterday but here they are:

Ross - Gained 7G and is now 333G

Joey - gained 9G and is now 330G

Phoebe _ gained the most with a 10G increase and is now 270G, now that she is eating well, I expect she will catch up to the rest in no time at all.

that's it, nothing much else to write. Tomorrow they will have their first real 'soaking" bath as the are some pretty stinky kitties right now. Providing the weather is nice anyway, if its to cold outside I will wait b/c the house gets chilled to fast even though they are bathed in the kitchen sink in my house.

phoebe blows me away.

yesterday Phoebe was really struggling to figure out how to suck from a bottle, try as I might she just didn't understand that chewing the nipple is really no benefit. She had to be fed by syringe a few times but she finally gets it and is now an eating machine. I was ready to try to find her a momma cat to try and help is out, but that would mean taking her away from her brothers and I hate to separate siblings. Now that she has things figured out this isn't going to happen. They guzzled back 6 oz in a 24hr period between the 3 of them so that is great news. Now that they are ALL sucking well the should do just fine and grow up to be happy kittens. In a few days I will start them on some canned kitten food, as they will be about 4 weeks old. I have them estimated to be somewhere between 26-30 days old now.

Their weights although not great are acceptable, considering their bowels are now working full strength which they hadn't been until today. I found this out this morning when a nice wet, stinky puddle was left on my lap by Joey. It wasn't a pretty site but it was a welcome one.

Ross is up to 326G which isn't a great gain at all but its much better than a loss.

Phoebe gained 10G and is now at 260G

Joey lost a gram and is now 321 BUT as I said he is a pooping machine today, if he is still lower tomorrow I will have to maybe thicken up his feeds so its a bit richer

a group of friends

so I got a call Tuesday night about 4 kittens left in a cardboard box at the end of someone's driveway. Most people have no clue what to do with an abandoned animal much less an animal that is so young. She called her nearest animal shelter who then contacted TCR who then contacted me and asked me if I was ready to start the season off with 4 little babies about 2 weeks old. Of course I was ready, nobody has to ask if I am, I am always ready, willing and so far very able.

the couple dropped me off 3 kittens last night, it seems 1 kitten went missing from their drive shed and they couldn't find it. I think momma is lurking about but since nobody can be sure exactly where the 4th kitten went i decided to keep the other 3.

They seem healthy are very noisy and their bellies were full (another fact that makes me think that mom was around at some point in the day). They each weighed over 300G, their eyes and ears are open and they can walk, though very unsteadily they can walk. It's my best guess that these babes are late 3 weeks - early 4 weeks old in age.

Nobody was willing to try the formula without some persuasion, so I tucked them in their bed and tried again later on. 1 kitten took a small amount but the other 2 were not impressed with the whole fake nipple and fake milk idea. I left them alone, prepared to get up in the night with them.

This morning, 2 out 3 ate pretty good, though not great, 1 still is disgusted with the formula. I hope by the end of the day they are all a little more accepting of the KMR and latex nipples. They are pretty friendly and not afraid of people, which tells me that these babies have been around humans. I suspect the humans threw mom and her babies out knowing or hoping that some kind soul would find them and take them in,.....SPAY your pets, to avoid this. A cat pregnancy like a human one is 100% avoidable....

I will update more later on with weights, and names. The only thing I know for certain is that this group will be named after the "friends" tv show. Last year we had, The "Arthur" group, "Raising hope" group, the "nemo" group (and a bunch of singletons that didn't have a group) so this year I decided to follow the same trend.

7:52pm

we have names and even know a bit of personalities so here is a bit about this group of friends:

ROSS - is the Tabby male, last night he weighed in at 314G today he is at 321G, once he caught on to a fake nipple and man made milk he was smooth sailing, he is the most quiet of the 3 quite content to just watch the world go by quietly at his own pace. He is probably my favorite of the 3, he lays on his belly and kicks out his back legs, his head swaying side to side b/c his little head is just so darn big and heavy. He is adorable.

PHOEBE - is the least receptive to the bottle, she finally DID take a small amount to night for me without any issue. Last night her weight wasn't written down, but today she weighs 250G. She is a peanut and like every other black kitten I have done, she resembles a baby chimpanzee, not sure why all black kittens look like that, I guess the colouring, their big heads and small ears maybe. She is pretty calm as well, she likes to snuggle and she can latch onto my nose better than anything.

JOEY - is a crybaby for sure, like Joey on the show he is a bit slow, not quite with it but doesn't seem to know it lol. He came in at 302G and today was 322G so he is doing very well also. He is a howler, and he isn't afraid to make sure that the entire toen knows when he is unhappy.

because nobody can resist such cuteness, here are our first pics of this group and the first rescues that I have had for 2012:

Ross bright eyed and looking around at his new world



And Joey hissing at me when i snapped his pic, I guess he is a little camera shy.

nope no kittens yet

But I felt I should post something. Some have asked if I will do rescue again this year and without any doubt in my mind I WILL for sure be doing kittens again this year. It will be done differently though as my kitten loving sidekick Ruby was rehomed a few days ago.

Ruby is a wonderful dog with so much personality. With all that personality comes a boat load of energy, energy that she didn't know what to do with which caused Ruby to get into lots of trouble. She needed to be with someone who ran, walked or at the very least had much more than myself. It wasn't fair to her to keep yelling at her for getting into trouble when she just couldn't help herself, all that energy had to go somewhere. Ruby also hated having to share me and everyone else with anyone else, Ruby wanted all the attention and love and would therefore go after Quincy if she felt him to be getting to much attention, even a little pet on his head would send Ruby reeling and chasing Quincy away. It was getting where Quincy couldn't do anything without Roo's approval, even sleep comfortably, and eventually he quit doing anything because he knew she wouldn't approve so he would just lay all day and unless she was sleeping or outside wouldn't move.

I am not one to rehome my animals as I truly do believe they are for life, but I also know that sometimes relationships breakdown to a point where there is no hope for repair. An animal/human relationship is similar. It broke our hearts to find her a new home, but I love her and really want her to be happy, I want her to have everything she needs to be a productive member of the canine species. I know some of you will judge me and say how selfish I was, or I should know better etc etc and your right, but until you meet Ruby there is no possible way you could ever know, she wasn't just a dog with excess energy, she was a little spitfire who had WAY MORE energy than normal.

She went with someone I used to hang with when I was younger. She will be the ONLY dog, she is with a runner/power walker. She will be Happy, all that attention she wanted for just herself will finally all be her's, I can almost hear her gloating about all the love she is getting and doesn't have to share lol. The person she is with has bi/polar and I believe that Ruby will help her with that, taking the focus off a mental illness and forcing it to be put into her and her dog. I was told that she could be brought for visits anytime I wanted, but I said no, not because I don't want to see her, but because how confusing would that be for her to see me and Jillian again but be taken away again, even if by the same person. It would also be very hard for me to watch someone "parent" Ruby, b/c I am so opinionated, I would surely leave her new mama in tears and filled with doubt lol....I felt the same way about Mouse, remember that wee sickly kitten that nobody thought would live and against all odds did? Mary offered to take us to see him several times but for the same reasons I don't want to see Roo I refused.

So now, I will have do the kittens all alone, and I will miss my sidekick, when I didn't know if a kitten was sick, she did, and she was right 100% of the time. She also was such a good mother to these babies, she did everything with the kittens, except feed them but if she could have she would have. I will miss that terribly. I miss under my desk being taken up with her bed. My house has been very quiet also.

Quincy, in the past 2 days has almost done a 180, he is playing again, he might be 8 but he still has the ability to play like a puppy. He is less neurotic than he was 3 days ago, and he is more content.

So thats the story on Ruby, I didn't want someone to ask me when kitten season starts and I wanted to be honest about it.

You will be hearing from me again as soon as we get our first litter of 2012 kittens. take care and enjoy the rest of the winter.