Back from the V*T

 
Gracie spent most of the night tucked away someplace sleeping off the drugs.  About dawn she climbed up in the bed and cuddled with me until the alarm went off.  She seems a little sore, but is moving around OK.  The stitches are to be removed in about 10 days, if she hasn't pulled them out herself by then.  (Anne Bonny saved herself the trip by doing exactly that)

On the stray kitten front, I had a jar of baby food that I had no other use for, so I mixed that in with the Kitten Glop.  Figured stray kitten could use the extra protein, and it might start getting him used to the taste of solid food a little.  I tried letting him decide when he was hungry, but it looks like he wants fed anytime I try to cuddle or play with him, so I'm not sure I've gained that much.  But he is eating, and eating well.

At the V*T

UPDATE II: She's home.  A bit sleepy, a bit groggy, but she is home and kinda dozing in my lap.

Thank you for all the purrrrrrsss and kind thoughts.

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UPDATE: I just checked with the V*T (there are advantages to living next door to the clinic :-) ).  Gracie seemed OK.  I talked to her and rubbed her head a bit, but I'm not sure she noticed.  She was still petty stoned.  Plans are to pick her up around 4PM.


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Grace O'Malley is at the V*Ts.  No news at yet, which usually means good news.  Updates as they reach me.

I suspect I had the Glop a little too warm or something, or maybe the kitten just wasn't hungry.  He is eating better.  At the 5AM feeding, he almost turned the bottle inside out.

I'm going to have to move the kitten to one of the PTU's.  When I got up this morning to take Grace to the V*T, the little kitten was crying really loud.  I was talking to him, telling him i would feed him in a minute, when I realized WHY he was so loud.  He had climbed out of his box, and was about five feet away from it in the middle of the floor.  I had already put a screen on top of the box, to stop an earlier attempt, so the next step is a cage of some sort.

I've been thinking about names for the kitten.  Part of the problem is I'm not sure he is a HE at all, which complicates name selections.

I thought about just calling him My Neighbor's Cat, but I suspected I'd get tired of explaining the name every time.

V*T Visits

We could use some purrrrrss and healing thoughts for a couple of the kitties.

First, late yesterday afternoon the little stray kitten decided he really didn't like what I was giving him, or something.  He went from "gimme the food, I'm starving" to "meh, not in the mood" pretty much from one feeding to the next.  If I stick the bottle in his mouth and keep it there, he will swallow a little, but keeps trying to slide the bottle out of the side of his mouth.  Not sure if he is trying to tell me I need a new bottle, or he is tired of the Glop, or what.  I took him to the V*T, but I couldn't tell me much I didn't already know.  The kitten is still lively and noisey, so he just might be tired of me waking him up every couple hours to stick the nipple in his mouth.

Second, Grace O'Malley is scheduled for her Lady-Garden-Ectomy tomorrow morning, so she is going to be a very unhappy kittie this evening when I lock her in the utility room.  She'll probably be even crankier tomorrow night.

Think of us all if you get a moment.

Just some photos

Nothing significant new.  I stuck one of the Kitten Glop containers into the freezer, since it looks like Kitten Glop can be frozen.  I found an older heating pad that doesn't shut off every couple hours, which makes my life easier, and maybe the kittens, too.

Now, some photos of him.

He is starting to look like a kitten, instead of some sort of mutant hamster. :-)

For those of you with the time and inclination, a quick video of the kitten trying to decide what he can do with my left hand.

More of the same, in a good way

The kitten was around 7-1/2 ounces (212 grams) yesterday.  I've kind of given up on the daily weighings.  The only scale I have that'll work at all is an old postage scale, only readable to about a 1/2 ounce (14 grams) or so.  I just don't think the benefit is worth the hassle for me or the kitten. Most of the sites who insist on daily weights also tube feed the kitten, and I don't do that either.

In other news, I generated a mess of Kitten Glop, kind of combining the first two recipes from a page Save Our Savannahs sent us.  Several people said they preferred the Glop to commercial KMR, and I was about to run out over the weekend anyway, so I figured it was worth the effort.  The kitten seems to like it, and Grace O'Malley thought it tasted great when I let her try a dribble.  The only problem is the recipe generated a whole bunch of Glop, probably more than we'll be able to use before it spoils.  Does any one know, does Glop freeze?

The establishment kitties have been checking out the cardboard box some, although Grace is the only one who really seems interested in the kitten itself.  I let them sniff noses a time or two, but Grace runs off after a quick sniff.

Still hanging in there

Vital Statistics: I measured around 7 ounces (200 grams) for the kitten today.  I tried putting a little box on the scale, and adjusting the scale to register zero with the box on there.  Nice idea, but with the kitten in the box, the box kept bouncing around on the scale, so it wasn't any easier to read.

I am wondering how old this kitten really is.  His eyes are still closed, and he STILL has that little piece of umbilical cord attached to his tummy.  But he is starting to walk (or stagger) around, which is supposed to be something a week old kitten shouldn't be doing.

In other news, his toenails are growing in, and he can climb my shirt without any trouble.  I think he is starting to purrr when I cuddle with him after feeding him.

For your pleasure, a quick video of the kitten, crawling around in my lap from a couple days ago.  This was taken with an older camera with limited video capabilities, so it is not very clear, but I thought you might enjoy it.

So far, so good - II

Vital statistics: Minimal weight gain today, maybe up to 6-1/4 ounce (1/4 ounce gain).  I have an old, mechanical scale, and I suspect it really isn't that accurate.  He is still eating, so I'm assuming this is more a measurement problem than the kitten not gaining.

In other news, I found out my heating pad has an automatic shutoff (can't risk burning the customer, I guess).  Anyone know of a heating pad that I don't have to keep turning back on?  Do cat bed warming pads stay on?  Are they warm enough for this?

I have a plastic bottle full of water I heat in the microwave and then put in a couple old socks.  That seems to be helping.  Sometimes I find the kitten cuddled up against that, sometimes away from it, so I guess he is keeping himself comfortable.

I also stuck an old Tux the Penguin in the box with him, in case he wanted something to cuddle with that wasn't heated.

So far, so good

First, some vital statistics:  The kitten is still alive, and now weighs about 6 ounces (170 grams).  A postal scale and a squirmy kitten don't work very well together, so he could be a bit over or under that.

Watching this kitten, it is easy to see how he could wind up lost and alone in the middle of the road.  If he is not sleeping, he is crawling/rolling around.  I have him in a cardboard box, with a towel over the box at night to keep it a little warmer.  The towel is held in place with clip clothes pins.  At the 3AM feeding, the kitten was crawling on top of the towel, about ready to fall out of the box entirely.  It's not hard to imagine him crawling out of the nest and off into the night.

Does anyone know if is OK to reheat the kitten milk?  I haven't been, but I am wondering if there is any reason why I can't just put the leftovers back in the fridge for the next meal?  Anyone know?

I tried for about ten minutes to try to get a good picture.  This is the best of the lot.  Most of them showed about half the kitten, or my bare hand after the kitten had squirmed out of the frame entirely.  He was about to fall out of my hand in this shot.

Made it through the night, anyway

First, the good news -- the kitten made it through the night.

He is drinking, peeing, and pooping, so we know the plumbing is all connected OK.


I think he is a boy, but I am not sure.  Kittens this young are hard to tell sometimes, especially since I am not an expert on that sort of thing.


He weighs about 5-1/2 ounces (156 grams), and gained most of a half an ounce from yesterday.

I guess he is a week or two old, although that is a total guess.  He looks like the pictures of two week old kittens.  But his eyes are not open yet, and he still has part of the umbilical cord attache, both of which imply he is a week old or less.


Most of the time, I wake him up for feeding time, so I am not sure if I should let him sleep or not.


In a nutshell, the kitten is still hanging in there, and I guess we'll all just keep playing things by ear.


In other news, Grace O'Malley is in heat, and is starting to get a little desperate.  I'm trying to keep her inside.  With luck, I'll be able to take her to the VET in a week or so to get her spayed.


Anne Bonny & Mary Read are sleeping somewhere, like always.  Either they are a lot older than I thought they were, or they never learned to play.

Oh, well -- who needs to sleep, anyway?

I think a milestone has been passed, and not entirely in a good way.


About an hour ago, a couple of my neighbors came to my door, asking me if I wanted a kitten.

It turned out this neighbor found this little thing "in the middle of the road", and they were asking me it I wanted it.


The kitten seems reasonable healthy, but (s)he is very, very young -- her eyes aren't even open yet.  For sure (s)he has a good pair of lungs, and (s)he has no problems using them.  I have some kitten milk, and I am trying to get her to nurse, with minimal success.


Anyone out there with any kind of advise, feel free to comment.  I have no experience with kittens this small, and just hope she doesn't have something wrong with her that lead momma cat to abandon her.

Update on Grace O'Malley

In a nutshell, Miss O'Malley is doing well.

I have a little more medication to push into her mouth, or on the floor behind her, or someplace close.  (Liquid medication and a squirming cat do not go well together)  It must taste bad, because when I tried mixing the medication into the food, that bowl stayed pretty much untouched.


Gracie is starting to assert herself.  She is spending most of the the night sleeping on the bed with me, which annoys Anne Bonny immensely.  She also is a wrestler, and I have the scratches and blood spots to prove it.

Sad News - Part II

This morning there was another kitten, about where I found the two from Sunday morning.  This one was out of the sack, but it was dead too.


I took Grace to the VET.  He said it looked like that was the end of the kittens, but he thought there might be a lump in her abdomen -- he wasn't sure.  He injected some antibiotics, and gave me some more to give her every day.  We shall have to see what, if anything, happens the rest of the week.

Grace seems to be feeling OK, and is trying to get me to quit playing with the computer and start playing with her.


see you...

Sad News

It looks like Grace O'Malley is no longer pregnant, and not in a good way.


This morning I was cleaning out the litter boxes, and by one of them I found two new-born kittens, both dead, and still in their birth sacks (or whatever those things are officially called).  They must have been born sometime during the night.  I have no idea whether they were stillborn, or Grace just had no idea what to do after they were born.


Grace had a mess by her tail.  I cleaned her up, and for once she didn't struggle when I tried to wash her.  She is laying beside me on the table now, purring.  She might be a bit more subdued than usual, but  she seems to be doing OK.

I just thought you might want to know about this.