For Mothers Day -- the Little Momma

Last summer I kept the back door open a crack so my kitties could get in whenever they wanted.  That, coupled with the food and water I kept out, started attracting other critters.

One of them was a tabby girl I started calling Little Momma, mostly because she had two kittens with her, and wasn't a whole lot bigger than the kittens she was raising.  Little Momma wouldn't let me get close to her, or her kittens.  But she wasn't bashful about using the supplies I set out for the crew.

The Little Momma, finishing someone's breakfast

in the kitchen.

Little Momma taught her kittens to use the Clowder's litter boxes and eat their food.  But the Clowder finally got their revenge, sort of.  Little Momma's kittens started playing with Grace O'Malley and Billy White Shoes, and eventually both of them moved inside.

One of the first photos of Little Momma's boy kitten.

He's staying under the far side of the car, just in case.

 

 

And a totally gratuitous video of Billy White Shoes as a little kitten.  I thought I had lost it, but I found it the other day.  Enjoy.

Watch Billy's ears.

They don't show up as well as I'd hoped, but they do wiggle.

Kitties checking out the Ham-Mick

So far, Billy White Shoes and Grace O'Malley are the only ones using the ham-mick, mostly because between the two of them, no one else has gotten a chance so far.

Anne Bonny found the box before I even got around to opening it.

She decided this was kind of nice, anyway.

Grace O'Malley got first crack at the Ham-Mick itself.

Billy White Shoes, checking out the Ham-Mick.

Billy & Gracie negotiating over who gets to use it next.

...and, the winner.

Outside of a few hours when everyone decided they HAD to go outside, no matter how cold and rainy it is, the Ham-Mick has been in pretty much continuous use.

Thanks, 40Paws, you have another satisfied customer.

 

The traditional 'last gasp' of winter is upon us

Grace O'Malley checking things out outside.

If you look close, I think there is a robin flying /landing in that bush.

Weather Underground says we have a Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 7 PM CDT this evening.
 
yuck!!

PS: In somewhat related news, a prosecutor in Ohio has indicted Punxsutawney Phil for fraud, and is seeking the death penalty.

V*T Visit

Both kitties managed to survive the V*T trip OK.

Billy White Shoes didn't struggle very much going into the carrier, but spent the trips to and from the V*T meoowwing his head off.  Dr. Van De Berg was the first V*T who saw Billy with his broken leg, and the Doc was quite pleased to see how Billy was doing.  He thought Billy's bald spot was just Billy over-grooming out of boredom while in his cage, but he did give Billy an anti-allergy shot.

Grace O'Malley was quiet on the car ride, but it was a battle getting her into the carrier at all.  (Actually, that isn't quite true.  It was easy to get her into the carrier, but a struggle to get the door closed before she turned around and ran back OUT of the carrier.)  Gracie was running a bit of a fever, and seemed to have some infection around her backside.  Dr Van De Berg expressed her anal glands, and gave her an antibiotic shot.

They both got vaccinations, and deworming.

So, two of the crew are fine for the year.  (pending)  With luck, next month, I can get a couple more of the Clowder in for their yearly checkups.

No photos, sorry.  Forgot to grab the camera before I left.

Don't warn them

Hi.  Don't warn them, but Grace O'Malley and Billy White Shoes are going to the V*T Monday afternoon.  They both have bare spots on their skin, and the spots don't seem to be healing.  On the other hand, they aren't expanding, either.  So I might be getting upset over nothing.

But I decided I needed someone to take a little more professional look at things, to find out if we have a problem or not.

I am beginning to think I should have named Billy White Shoes something more along the lines of 'Homer Simpson' or something.  Little Billy seems to spending his life careening from one problem to the next.

Kittenmonsteritus is spreading

Billy White Shoes is getting more like he is than he's ever been before. or something

He likes catching cicadas.  So far he's carried four or five of them into the house.  He chases them around for a while.  Eventually they quit making noise, then Billy gets bored and wanders off.  (if they're still alive at this point, I put them back outside)

He's unrolled two rolls of toilet paper.

He's decided it is kind of fun to take a running start and jump up on my back.  Sometimes, this is a first step to getting someplace else higher, sometimes he just hangs on for a while, then jumps down and runs off.

It looks like kitten-monster-itus is spreading.  A few minutes ago, Grace O'Malley hopped up on the table along side of me, and happily destroyed a roll of paper towels I keep around for general cleanup.

Someone, not sure who, caught a live chipmunk and left it in the middle of the living room floor.  I didn't know it was alive until I bent down to pick it up.  At that point, the chippy bounced back to live and ran under some furniture.  I never saw it again, so I can only hope it found its way back outside.

Billy, then and now, for comparison.  Maybe a little bit as a reminder.

Billy, about the second week here.

Billy, now.  Same hand, for comparison purposes.

Billy is entering the kitten monster stage

Billy White Shoes is starting to enter the kitten monster stage.  In the last couple days he has knocked over my water glass twice, drunk from it three times that I caught him, and pushed my track ball off the computer table five or six times, just so he could watch the ball roll around the floor.  That doesn't count all the things I find on the floor when I get up in the morning.

He's also has taken over the top perch in the cat tree.

Billy and Grace O'Malley still play together, but I seldom see them cuddling together when they sleep.  Billy keeps trying to play with Anne Bonny, but Annie just swats him until he runs off.


The obligatory Billy photos -

Billy still fits under the keyboard tray, if he works at it.  It's hard to remember that not too long ago, he could just walk under there, and didn't even have to duck very much.

A rare photo of Grace O'Malley not trying to grab the camera strap.

Billy White Shoes is getting bigger

At the rate he is growing, 'little' Billy White Shoes is going to be the biggest kittie in the Clowder pretty soon.  He is already almost as tall as Grace O'Malley, and might actually be a little taller than Anne Bonny.  He is still skinny as all get out, but filling out is just a matter of time.  Billy's still just a bit over four months old.

Billy gave me a bit of a scare the other night.  There is a little gas station/convenience store about a block away.  Billy decided to follow me there, but he was gone when I came back out.  About half an hour later, Billy was back by the back door, trying to decide whether a raccoon family eating some of the cat food was a playmate or not.  I may need try him with a harness, see if I can take him for walks.  At least, I'll have to remember to look around for Billy before I take a walk anywhere.

A couple photos:

Billy has pretty much taken over the top perch in the cat tree.  Anne Bonny won't stay there even when I put her up there.

Billy and Gracie playing in the yard.  It was like 98°F (37°C) out there that day.  If you look close, you can see Billy panting like he's about to collapse, and he was still pouncing on Gracie, climbing trees, and running around like his tail was on fire.

Everyone is still hanging in there

Mostly an update to tell everyone nothing much has changed.  We were off-line for a couple weeks (long story), but things are more or less under control again.

Billy White Shoes doing fine, although a couple of his favorite hidey-holes are starting to get a little small for him.

For example, I have the monitor on a keyboard storage shelf, and Billy likes to hide under there, and swat at the mouse.  He still fits in there, but he has to work at it now.

Weather this week has been hot, with highs around 95°F (35°C) or so.  But all the kitties insist on spending most of the day outside, anyway.

A quick video, showing Billy White Shoes & Grace O'Malley trading bowls a few mornings ago.  They do that almost every morning.

Two months in

Hello, again, all.  No real update, just bringing everyone up to date.

Billy White Shoes has been part of our lives for just a bit over two months now, and almost in spite of me he is starting to turn into a cat.  Once in a while, he'll act like he seems to want some Kitten Glop, but about half the time, by the time I have it out and warmed up, he'll have forgotten about it and run off again.

The original idea was to keep him in the house, at least most of the time.  That attempt lasted until Billy was big enough to get down the stairs to the back door.  I spent another week or so working harder and harder to keep him in the house, than I gave up.  At first I tried to keep an eye on him, or at least make sure Grace O'Malley was around to keep an eye on him.  Now I let him go out whenever he wants during the day.  It usually isn't too long before he's back in the house, chasing a ball or sleeping somewhere.  Not perfect, but when the entire crew started as strays, you've just got to assume some street smarts on their part.


A few photos (didn't think I was gonna forget that, did you?)  Most of them are stills of Billy & Gracie rasseling.  I tried to get one of them sleeping together, but they don't seem to do that much anymore.

Billy, in the 'off' position.

Update on Billy White Shoes

For the most part, no news is good news.  Billy is still running around the house chasing everything he can get to move, and rasseling with Grace O'Malley.  He isn't quite as weaned as I thought he was, though.  Once or twice a day, he starts following me into the kitchen yelling his head off until I give him some Kitten Glop.  I'm not sure he really needs the glop all that bad, but he likes it, and I still have some.  This way at least he is staying topped up on nutrition.

I keep forgetting he still isn't even two months old yet.

I suspect Grace lost track of Billy last night.  Billy had crawled into bed with me, and was asleep against my neck.  About dawn I woke up to Grace crying and running through the house. I called her, and she came running up on the bed.  She found Billy, and they started rasseling and ran off together.


A couple photos of Billy:

Billy, sleeping a bit after inhaling some Kitten Glop.

Billy, exploring the top level of the cat tree.

That is usually Anne Bonny's spot, but she wasn't there at the moment.

Finally, Billy in a life and death struggle with a stuffed penguin.  For size, that is the same penguin that was in the box with Billy when he was just a week or so old.

Just for a little variety, this is Grace O'Malley trying to grab the camera strap off my wrist.  About 80% of my photos of her show some variation on this.

 

I think Billy is weaned

I think Billy White Shoes is pretty well weaned.  He still complains once in a while, like he is hungry.  But when I feed him, he only eats a little, and seems more interested in the cuddling and sucking on the mouthpiece than he does in actually eating.  I have some kitten glop left, and I'll offer it to him when he seems to want it, but beyond that, I think I can figure Billy has yet another milepost toward becoming a big kittie.

He's started climbing into bed with me at night, which is kind of a mixed blessing.  On one hand, it is nice having him cuddling with me.  On the other, he's still so small, I'm almost scared to fall asleep when he is cuddled under my arm.  I got folds in the covers that are bigger than he is.  It can also be a bit disconcerting to wake up at 3AM because Billy & Grace O'Malley are play-fighting on my stomach.

The photos are not very good today.  Billy was feeling more frisky than usual.  I finally decided "that was what I got, live with it".

One quick video of Billy eating some of the dry food.  I give him canned stuff with the rest of the crew, but I haven't seen him eating that yet.

Billy seems to be weaning himself

So far, I haven't had much luck trying to wean Billy White Shoes.  But just like he litter trained himself by watching the big kitties, he seems to be weaning himself.

A few days ago, I had a few slices of deli ham I was eating.  Billy came up to check out what I was doing.  I tore off a couple small pieces, held them in my hand, and offered them to Billy.  He sniffed them, and then scarffed them down without any hesitation.

I've seen Billy grabbing some of the dry food out of the bowls.  I'm not sure how much he is actually swallowing, but at least he has gone from just sucking on the kibble to chewing/crushing it with his jaws.

I'm not sure how much credit I can claim, but Billy seems to be growing up.

A few photos. 

A mini-gotcha day, sort of

Hard to believe it was only a month ago Billy White Shoes was sort of tossed into our lives. At the time he weighed around 5 ounces (140 grams) and was about the size of a candy bar.  He spent almost all his time sleeping and crying for food.

Remember this?

Now he weighs (guess) around 1-1/2 pounds (680 grams), and is happily running around the house like some sort of miniature whirlwind.  He doesn't fit on the postal scale I have any more, and most attempts to weigh him end quickly when Grace O'Malley comes running to find out what I'm doing to her kitten.

I've also gotten into the habit of looking down before I take a step, just in case Billy is underfoot again.

A quick video from a day or two ago.  Think of it as the 'after' picture of the kitten.

Billy, reminding me he has tuf!

Billy is using his litter box fine now.  I would probably try to rig up some sort of ramp or step so he could get into the big box, but the big box has clumping litter in it, and I'm not sure I want Billy crawling around in that just yet.  Like with most things, there is some question whether the clumping litter actually hurts kittens, but if he is going to eat litter, a clump of dirt is probably less harm than a lump of chemically treated whatizit.

Billy does have one habit I could do without, though.  When feeding him, he will suck up his formula fine for a while, then all at once he will start smacking at the bottle, my fingers, and anything else in the area.  He acts almost like he is choking, or is suddenly not getting anything, or something.  Sometimes he will crawl over the bottle like he is trying to get away from the nipple, other times he will clamp on and refuse to let go.  When I check, the nipple doesn't seem to be plugged, and there is formula in the bottle, so I'm wondering if anyone has seen anything similar, or has any suggestions what the heck is going on.  FWIW, Once he starts doing this, he never starts nursing again, and when I feel his belly, he feels pretty well full.

He doesn't seem to be having any other problems, so I am not too worried yet, but the kitten clawings are starting to get painful.

Got one end working, anyway

I'm not sure how much credit I can claim for the change, but Billy White Shoes is starting to use his litter box now.  I finally decided that if Billy really wanted to go where the big kitties went, I would have to find him a box small enough he could use.

Billy's custom litter box

After a little hunt I found a little aluminum tray, probably a left-over from a frozen something-or-other from once upon a time.  I put some clay litter in the tray, put it next to the big kittie box, and Billy has been using it ever since.  Billy is a digger, and he has all kinds of fun when he's getting ready to use his box.  I swear, one time he was digging with all four feet, each in a different direction.  If he had a little more litter to work with, he'd raise a dust cloud.

Billy doesn't cover very well, though, so Gracie usually finds winds (corrected a typo) up burying things for him.

A couple photos of Billy & Gracie playing.

A short, choppy video of Grace and Billy play-fighting.  I saw them wrasseling with each other a couple time, but every time I grabbed the camera, Gracie started chasing the camera string instead., which sort of defeated the point of grabbing the camera.

I Has Tuff

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/11/13/funny-pictures-wif-me-i-has-tuf/

That isn't Billy in that LOLCat, of course, but he is starting to have the same attitude.  The other day he was trying to rassle with Grace O'Malley.  Gracie was about half way between 'Oh, yeah, bring it on' and 'HUH?'.

I'm not sure how much progress I'm making on getting Billy White Shoes weaned or box trained, though.  If I put some Kitten Glop on my finger, I can get Billy to lick it off once in a while.  But most of the time he swats my hand away and ignores me.  I haven't gotten Billy to have much of anything to do with the little litter box I put together for him, but he keeps heading to the kitchen with the 'big kitties' box.  I keep finding little puddles in the area, so I kind of suspect he is trying to go where the other cats are going, and is just too small to make it into that box.  I'm about to track down a couple bricks to give Billy some steps up there, and see how that works.

In other news, Grace O'Malley got her stitches out Friday.  She didn't appreciate being stuffed in the PTU, or being held that tight, but otherwise she didn't seem bothered much at all by the process.  The only thing left is for the fur to grow back, and that is coming along fine.


And now some totally gratuitous kitten photos.

 In that last photo, I heard Billy yelling and struggling, so I went and checked on them.  Gracie was sitting/laying on Billy's chest, and Billy was fighting to get out from under.  When they saw me, the both stopped, and looked at me like 'Well?  What do you want?  We're fine!'.

Looks like Gracie likes the kitten

It looks like Grace O'Malley is interested in the kitten, not just the kitten glop.  After feeding everyone this morning, I took the kitten and lay down on the bed for a while, mostly just to find out how he'd react.  He crawled around a little, then lay down for a quick nap.  About then, Gracie joined us.

After sleeping a bit, Billy started exploring again, and managed to fall off the bed.  Gracie jumped down and ran after him.  By the time I located everyone, Gracie had him out from under the bed, and he was running around like nothing had happened.

A couple photos, mostly just because.

That last one they had noticed I was taking photos, and were decided whether to complain or not.

If I'd waited a little longer to get Gracie spayed, she might have saved me a lot of stress.

No real news on the kitten front

Just a quick note, mostly about the gray kitten.

So far, he is doing fine.  He now has teeth, and is willing to use them.  Sometimes I have to fight him to get the bottle back.  He is running around the house with no problems.  When he gets tired, he heads back to the PTU and the heating pad for a nap.  I still lock him in the PTU at night, mostly so I know where he is in the morning.

I've tried a few times to get him to try baby food, with little success.  I usually wind up smearing the food on his nose, or cheek, or chin, if he'll let me get that close to him.  Grace O'Malley thinks Kitten Glop is just the greatest thing, so I haven't had much success trying to leave glop or kitten food out for the kitten.

Grace is starting to play with the kitten a little, though I'm not sure yet if she is more interested in grooming the kitten, or intercepting the kitten's meals.

I've thought about calling him 'Billy White Shoes' (after the football player of a few years ago).  Depends whether Billy Sweet Feets gets unhappy about another Billy in the mix.

aannddd, of course, a short kitten video, for those of you who've read this far and help so much.  Movie is a bit dark, but it is Grace O'Malley & White Shoes checking each other out.

We've got eyes

Of course, the eyes are attached to the same squirmy kitten that we've always had, so photos showing the new eyes are a bit hard to collect.

I was starting to wonder, just a little.  Most places said the kitten's eyes would open sometime in the first week or so, and we are starting the third week with this little gray mouser.

In other news, Grace O'Malley seems to have forgotten all about her V*T trip, and is running around like nothing happened.

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.