Hiatus

I hope someone has noticed this ceased being updated. I'm afraid that's likely to stay the situation for a while.

Jon & Kat now have a new baby. The end of pregnancy was a bit rough (not horrible, but Kat wasn't comfortable sitting at the keyboard, which is why this wasn't posted then) and now we're trying to learn this entire parenting thing. It would be easier if a full night's sleep was an option.

We do expect to go back to fostering, but we aren't sure how quickly. It will probably be at least a couple months and then on a limited basis--preferences for adult cats with URIs rather than large litters of tiny kittens!

Thank you to everyone who has been reading our attempt at blogging, and when we do start taking cats in again I will post again. Until then we'll stop by the humane society and socialize cats from time to time--I encourage you to do the same.

I leave you with a picture from a little bit ago. Kittens thought it was great that Kat was pregnant--they fit on her belly and it was nice and warm!

Bieber & Binx

Two little kittens moved into the cat room. The black & white one is Bieber, the all black is Binx. I'm not sure where their names came from, but they are funny and seem to match the kittens.

They like people and in the morning acted as if they'd NEVER had any attention, falling over themselves to get to us. Which isn't really a figure of speech--they aren't the most graceful kittens we've seen, especially for being 3 months. They seem to realize this, and haven't tried any acrobatic stunts or fancy climbing (yet).

Thy were up for adoption for a little while, but Binx was barely picking at his food and lost enough weight they decided to send him into foster care. Bieber came along for the ride--it does make our lives much easier if the young kitten has another young kitten to play with. The shelter is so full of kittens right now that it was probably easier to send the entire cage worth anyway. (If you want to see a kitten in a hammock you should stop by the shelter. One of the cages in the hallway has a hammock and often ferrets, but right now there are kittens and one was hanging out in the hammock when we picked these two up).

Their appetite has dramatically improved--at least "picking" is not how I'd describe what they do to wet food, especially when they then howl at me for more. We've seen them eating dry food as well. So hopefully they'll be fat and happy kittens again soon.

Mountains for adoptions

Everest and Kea are back at the society. They, and the rest of their litter, are up for adoption now. We wondered if they were part of a larger litter and after spotting the rest of the mountain-based names on the society's adoption page, the question was answered. Kea's picture was hard to snap since she isn't fond of being held. She likes people and is fine being near them on the futon, but doesn't like being picked up. Jon had to sit down instead of holding her up, and then she finally looked at the camera...before jumping off to go play. Kittens!

We did have some good news--all the last litter of kittens have been adopted. Yay! So the only foster of ours left (other than these two who just went up) is Josie. A sweet cat, but she does nip, unfortunately.

If you are thinking about adopting a cat or kitten, the society currently has LOTS to pick from. Stop by!

Personalities

Kittens are doing well. Everest is over 1000 grams and Kea is over 900. I expect they'll be fine for going back on Sunday, though I'm hoping she has some good gains to put her well over 2lbs by then.

Their personalities are very distinct. Everest is well described as a bold kitten. He explores, he runs up and howls for attention, he checks out any new item on the floor to see if it can be used as a toy and shows no fear.

Kea never quite seems to know exactly what is going on and is therefore usually hesitant. She touches new items from as far away as possible and gingerly. She watches new people coming in and considers. She is as likely to run away as towards you.

They do both enjoy play fighting with each other. It's their most common activity. Kea isn't hesitant about attacking her brother, but fortunately neither of them show any inclination to bite us.

Kea & Everest arrive!

Two new kittens have come to visit! Everest is the tabby and Kea is the half tabby, half white. Her coloration is fascinating.

They have a ways to go to grow into their names. They are supposedly 3 months old but are a bit under 2 lbs, so we are trying to fatten them up so they can be spayed and neutered.

They love to play with each other and are quite friendly after settling into the kitten room. We did notice a sore on the side of Kea's mouth and have mailed the humane society to ask about it. It doesn't seem to slow her down in eating or bother her at all.

They also both eat dry food. Hooray! We are giving them wet as well to encourage weight gain, but if they are eating dry on their own I don't have to mix the dry in with the wet.

That's about it for now. So far, they've just been cute, adorable, slightly small kittens.

Twilight of the Twilights

All kittens are back at CCHS and up for adoption. Looking at their available pages they apparently had several litters come back at once.


Jacob the exploratory and noisy.


Esme needs a lot of attention. She won't ask for it, but she was much calmer and a better kitten when she was getting lots of attention both with a toy and from people.

Edward the kitten who loves to sniff toes and people.

Bella who is simply adorably fluffy. Not the brightest of the kittens, but has excellent balance and usually near the middle of what's going on.

Alice who is very sweet, but I'd avoid putting her in a high stress house. She has more problems with stress than the other kittens do.

Busy weekend

It's been a tiring weekend for the kittens. A friend of ours was visiting and elected to sleep in the cat room. They thought it was great--both overnight and the futon being down with a pillow on it during the day! He also ran them a lot, so they spent a lot of the time sleeping when they had the chance!

He's much more up for being kitten furniture than we are. He couldn't quite get a third one on his back without starting a scuffle, though--which since we hadn't clipped their claws in a while got them summarily back on the floor!

We did clip their claws again. They put up with it, but it is definitely a two person job. Their climbing our jeans was much more comfortable afterwards. It doesn't seem to slow them down at all for running or jumping, but it does cut back a little bit on the scratching and is much more comfortable for the humans.

Today we picked peas before the rain, and set the empty pea pods in the kitten room. Jon's parent's cat loves to chew on pea pods. The kittens didn't do that, but Edward did pull them one by one out, and Alice managed to dump a bunch at once--then they all had new toys to bat around.

They're all well over 2lbs at this point. They'll be heading back tomorrow morning to the shelter and we expect them to stay. An adorable litter!