Out! Out! Out! say the kittens...

Kittens are doing well. They are running amok, but did take a few minutes out to snuggle with Jon. A couple of them are over 2 lbs and the rest are very close. They have consistently been gaining weight for the last few days. They are still basically refusing to eat dry food out of the bowl, but they eat what I mix in with the wet--at this point I'm mixing in about the same amount of dry as there is wet. I have started a second water bowl also because they are drinking it so fast.

They decided the kitten room is old hat and they want something new. Trying to bring food in yesterday I had to chase 6 kittens down the hall (yes, we only have 5.) So far this morning there have been 2 escapees. I put the baby gate up, which usually slows them down enough we can get in and out....one only got partway away after that. The next few days are going to be interesting!

Unfortunately, their litter box problems haven't cleared up. We're running 3 little boxes--which might be low for 5 cats but for 5 kittens it's at least one over. Since they all have to be cleaned every day this is taking a lot more time than normal. Until they get their problems worked out, though, they make such a mess of the box they need all 3 to be comfortable going overnight. Poor Esme is really having a rough time of it.

Sometimes kittens just have diarrhea for no apparent reason. It eventually goes away. For everyone involved's sake, we hope that happens soon.

Twilight litter

Well, I've mentioned them and talked about them, but here they are one by one. They are doing better--they have started an upward trend in weight gain even if it's not as consistent as I'd like. They are still making an utter mess of the litter box, unfortunately. We have an antibiotic to give them. The lab says sometimes the biology of the gut gets out of whack, but otherwise they're running out of ideas other than time to fix it. Since they seem to be overall going up in weight it isn't as large a concern as it was. We still need to get them actually healthy, but they are growing again.


Bella: Long haired gray. Very much a fluffball.


Jacob: Shorted haired black. Very active, very vocal.



Esme: Short haired tabby. Has been lethargic recently. Likes to lay atop things.




Alice: Long haired tabby. She was one of the hissers when we first got them but has turned into a very sweet kitten.

Edward: Long haired black. Loves people.

Twilight saga

It's been an exciting weekend for the kittens. We took them in on Saturday afternoon for treatment for the most common cause of diarrhea. Their weight loss had slowed by Sunday but not stopped and the litter box was getting worse. The fecal sample also came back negative, but we made an appointment for Tuesday morning since the problem was clearly still going on.

Monday just confirmed they still had something wrong. The diarrhea started showing blood as well (kittens are cute...a lot of caring for them isn't!). I fed them extra food in the afternoon, which is why some of them didn't lose a lot of weight that evening since they were still trying to digest it. That night we did spot something moving in the litter box--ah-ha, worms of some type.

Some types of worms they'd already had the first treatment for, since it's done automatically. The second half of the treatment isn't due until tomorrow. We were supposed to take them in on Thursday, but since we were in this morning we have the doses sitting on the counter and will give them ourselves. They hadn't been treated for tapeworms because they'd shown no sign of fleas. However, tapeworms are notorious for not showing up in fecal samples, and fit the symptoms. So, they got shots for those today.

The CCHS's lab's opinion is they've been treated for about all the parasites that would be causing the problem, so hopefully the next couple days the kittens will recover. They'll be happier and so will we--healthy kittens cause less of a icky mess of the room, though they do tend to knock stuff around more.

On the bright side, all the kittens like people and run over to say "hi" to anyone who comes in their room. They didn't mind the nearly 1 year old that hung out for a while either. They all like climbing on people, most don't mind being picked up. We're still working on Alice and Esme to be calmer about being held; they put up with it but we'd like them to be more relaxed and calm. They are making good progress!

Kittens of the Twilight

We took a break from helping set up the CCHS garage sale (Going on today! Bag sale at 3:00. So much stuff!) a couple days ago to go pick up kittens. Posting about them had to wait until the setup was done!

Here are Edward, Jacob, Bella, Alice, and Esme. We have them because they were under 2lbs and were hissy at the society.

They were very skittish when we got them and stayed that way most of the first day. I think the spots on the carpet were scaring Esme at one point. While it took until the next day, they did finally relax in the kitten room and are now running about like mad kitties chasing balls.

I think the hissiness was merely because the humane society was a very new location with lots of strange things and beings and they were in a cage. Since they've relaxed and taken ownership of the room they've mobbed every person that has come in to visit and are purring easier and easier.

We'll probably be back at the society shortly, though--they are losing weight and have diarrhea. The latter causes the former and isn't uncommon among kittens, but we'll pick up some meds to fix it so they can go back to getting bigger!

(Bella is demonstrating what kittens think the self-petter is for. That and chewing on... I picked that up at the Garage Sale a year or so ago. This year's new toy is a bag of mice and another tree-like scratcher that I'll show a kitten atop soon. There are still plenty of cat toys left, both big and small, if you need one!)

CCHS Giant Garage sale - Donations now, sale next weekend

No fosters right now--it's been a slow spring. I'm hoping this means more people are spaying & neutering their animals. As much as I enjoy fostering kittens, this would be a good thing!

However, today I wanted to talk about the upcoming Champaign County Humane Society Giant Garage Sale next weekend. It's held at Kessler Hall in the fairgrounds north of Carle in Urbana.

Donations are accepted this weekend (Saturday, May 22: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday, May 23: noon – 3 p.m. No drop-offs will be accepted after 3 p.m. Sunday, May 23. Please see: http://www.cuhumane.org/events/gs/index.html for what is and is not wanted.)

The sale is Memorial Day weekend (Friday, May 28 - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., $2 donation until 3pm. Saturday, May 29- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m, $3 bag sale starts at 3pm).

This sale really deserves the title Giant. It FILLS Kessler Hall and spills out into the surrounding grassy area. The days between drop offs and the sale are needed to get everything organized and priced. If you want it, there's a good chance you can find it!

Volunteers are welcome. Help unload cars this weekend, sort books by genres, price housewares (put out priced housewares), sort donations into the proper areas, cleaning check people out, etc. This is the largest single need for volunteers the shelter has during the year. It's also just a lot of fun.

Take a look at the pictures from last year to get a feel for the variety of items available then come on out!

Pictures from last year: http://www.cuhumane.org/events/gs/GS2009/index.html
More info on the sale (including maps & volunteering): http://www.cuhumane.org/events/gs/index.html

Kittens Available

The four kittens are back at the society and up for adoption. They are easily large enough for spaying/neutering which will happen shortly then they just need their forever home.

I leave you with a picture of Lily, who found a nice warm place to curl up while Jon was sitting at the computer. She was purring away until she dozed off.

Busy days with many people

After having half a dozen people or so come in on Saturday to play with them, the kittens were quite tired. So was one of our friends who usually works night shift, but got up early (for him) to come see a guest from out of town. He laid down to take a nap and three of the kittens joined him.

The kittens have behaved basically the same with all of the guests--Chester climbs all over said guest (including trying to go up the inside of a pants leg at one point), Jamal purrs very loudly, Lily wanders over to say 'hi' by squeaking, and Jackson watches from a little ways away.

We even had a slightly under a year baby come see the kittens. The kittens were not quite sure what to do with the baby, staying a couple feet away and watching this new introduction intently. Chester eventually sniffed the baby's feet and the others decided the baby wasn't that interesting and went back to chasing balls around the room. The baby does have a happy noise that resembles a hiss, and Jackson was not pleased when she happied at him (he hissed while backing up--we picked him up and pet him for a bit and put him back down and there were no more problems). The other kittens just cocked their head at the strange noise. If you have a young child, Chester is probably the best choice. If you have a baby/toddler, I'd strongly suggest a CAT instead of a kitten. For children, the oranges should be fine, and Jackson would be fine with a quieter child.