7:57 PM Growing and learning

Well, this evening the real food adventures of Charmin and Matchstick weren't as successful as this morning. I need to keep working on them. Matchstick knows she wants to eat any food on my finger, including my finger, but she hasn't made the connection yet that the food is in the bowl. She also hasn't discovered the litterbox yet. I need to teach her how to climb out Somebody tinkled in it this afternoon though. I can only guess that was Charmin as I witnessed Matchstick tinkling outside of the box on my lunchbreak home.

But in addition to food and litterboxing there is another development. Charmin is "running". I put that in quotes because it's sort of a pounce, wobble at the moment. But the point is that she's moving faster on purpose and that's Fantastic! I think she may have even attempted to play with some fuzz. She's the middle child of the group, almost a full week younger than Matchstick and almost a full week older than the original litter. But she's the most advanced health and skills wise. Matchstick is just a touch behind. Although Matchstick is trying to socialize with the Torti Girls, Nabisco and Taquita. Part of me is amused because it's the Attraction of the Tortis, hehe, "Torties Unite!" But then again, Roz and Dunbar Flee in Utter Revulsion at the sight of any of the kittens coming their way, so it could just be that the Torti Girls are the only ones acceptable. It is cute, though. I caught Matchstick shadowing Nabisco a minute ago.

9:38 AM Excitement in the house

I have so many pictures to post I'm just going to have to wait until the weekend to wade through them for posting.

There's so much going on with the kittens its Insanity!

First, we have a 2nd orphan. Wednesday the shelter brought over a little Torti girl who had refused bottle feeding, had refused at least one mother for nursing, and refused being syringe fed. So we tried her with Nimue. Of course she decided she liked Nimue. She's 3.5 weeks old, so she's got teeth. Nimue is adjusting to that. Her babies are only 2.5 weeks old and so she wasn't prepared for that. Charmin is 3 weeks old and she is only just now getting teeth to break through her gums. The new orphan's name is Matchstick.

Little Matchstick is doing pretty well with the rest of the household. I'm proud of her. She drank a little water this morning out of the water bowl, but she's not yet shown any interest in the cat food. I'm going to see what I can do about that this weekend. Maybe if I douse some food in KMR she might show some interest in it. Although I suspect that due to her Already showing some of that Torti characteristic hardheadedness, this will not go as planned. It never does with Tortis after all. I'm supposed to be coming up with a better name, but I kind of like Matchstick. And here she is:




I just mentioned above that Charmin is teething. How do I know? Well, I caught her gnawing down hardcore on Nimue's food bowl this morning. That is the bowl, not the actual food Then after that I caught her trying to chomp on the dry food in the bowl. So I put out her own shallower bowl and watered down some of the kibble to make it soft and even put some wet food in the bowl. She slurped the water in the bowl with the kibble and licked a little at the wet food. So I think we are fast on our way to eating food and not nursing so much. This will be great for Sir Lancelot and Guenivere as they seem to always be hungry right now. Especially Sir Lancelot. I think he's getting pushed out of the food bar during nursing time.

Speaking of Sir Lancelot, he came to visit me this morning. I was attempting to do some Pilates in the living room and he decided to come explore. And cry. And explore. He came straight to me (aw) and tried to nuzzle me Everywhere. He as in my hair, in my armpit, in my elbow, in my side, in my face. He was hungry of course. But it was sure sweet of him to come to me when his mommie didn't want to nurse. I think it's possible that my morning floor exercises could be regularly interrupted on a regular basis now.

Sir Lancelot is a very vocal guy. He cries about everything. Last night I got home and noticed that Maizy had scooted the kitten barrier out of place and the kittens had discovered the escape route. So as soon as I came in the door, the Mewing was Deafening. I had to make a phone call to the shelter about Matchstick and I could barely concentrate on the conversation due to the sheer volume of the mewing. The person on the other end laughed. And as soon as I got off the phone with her I called my mother and let her hear what it was like to live at my house. She laughed too.

Guenivere is hanging in there. She's moving along at a normal rate. She is rather unassuming. She doesn't cry all the time, she doesn't demand attention, she gets her spot at the bar for feeding time and she's wandering around a little although she's not a serious explorer. She's still just as cute as a button, she's just not a squeaky wheel. Sir Lancelot holds that title all on his own.

3:46 PM Um, Surprise!!!

I have a LOT of pictures from the weekend, including a Nabisco "look at me!" dance. I wish I had time to put them up today. Maybe tonight during Heroes commercial breaks.

But I couldn't let the day go by without posting the latest news and at lease One picture. My foster cat is a foster mom. Yep, Nimue took in an orphan. Just one, her name is Charmin. She was named before she got to me, so no Arthurian connections. She's 2.5 weeks old, so about 5 days older than Nimue's real kids.

So, here's Charmin:

12:49 PM I need a video camera!

I'm over in the cat closet looking for an inspirational sewing DVD and I hear this Loud Mewing. I turn around and Sir Lancelot is in the Living Room! And Nimue is trying to figure out how she's going to get him back to his closet.

Gawain is about a day behind in development, so he's trying to explore, but is a bit timid and can't go as far.

But it's official, the kittens are Bustin' out! And they do NOT like being redirected when getting into a corner.

Whoops! Maizy just got a whack on the nose by Nimue for putting her nose in too close. Again, Maizy has shown just how good she is with the fosters. She barked just a touch, but didn't make any move to defend herself. And in fact, she bark she gave Nimue was nothing short of the backtalk I used to get from her as a puppy when she would be told "no" or the "hurry up, I've got to PEE" talk I get sometimes when I come home from work.

I just placed the kittens back in the closet. They were clearly looking for lunch and Nimue was too frazzled to let them nurse in the living room. This litter is most definately Not like Flo's litter. By this time, Flo had taken up residence with her kittens on the couch and they were not allowed to move off the couch. I had to line the floor with pillows just in case any of them went overboard, haha!

I took pictures of the adventure today, but my iphoto is acting funky, so uploading them to the blog will just have to wait until Monday when I can do it at work.

8:27 PM Great News for Nimue!

She had her combo test today and she is Negative/Negative for FIV & Feline Leukemia!

This is wonderful news!

Not only does this mean that she has two less hurdles to jump for adoption, but it Also means that our current feral cats in the area may Also be clean. You have no idea how happy that makes me!

2:46 PM Sir Lancelot's 1st Day Out

Oh what a momentus morning we had today! As we have seen over the last two days, Sir Lancelot's eyes are opening. Well, as of this morning all but the bitty outer corners of his eyes are opened now. I'm sure they'll be fully opened by the time I get home. Anyways, with Sir Lancelot's new eyes, he managed to escape the crate this morning and send his mother into a rather confused frenzy.

I have, of course, commemorated the moment with pictures.

Here's Sir Lancelot and Gawain hanging out near the edge.



And here we see the progression of Sir Lancelot "thinking" about it.







Whoops! There he is! Outside of the crate!



And here's where he's wobbling around worrying Mom.






At this point it was just too much for Nimue, she had to get out there and try to bring him back.




But apparently he was too big for her to figure out how to get in her mouth, so she went into protective mode, which also doubles as wrestle/play mode. I'm tellin' ya, she was very confused. One minute she wanted to relish the room to play with him and the next she didn't want anybody to see him and she kept getting up and laying down and overall just had trouble making up her mind what to do.







Roz wasn't sure either.




And all this time "still blind" Gawain stayed in the crate like a good little boy



Sort of. He TRIED to come out, but he ended up going right back in because he just couldn't see, but he could hear Sir Lancelot crying and going for breakfast, so he decided breakfast was better for now. Gawain's eyes are Starting to crack open. I'm sure he'll have his eyes fully opened by Sunday or Monday.

10:19 AM squinty eyes

Those sweet little eyes are beginning to peek open!



For Sir Lancelot they are anyways. Gawain's eyes haven't started opening just yet, but that's ok, they're still only 1 and 1/2 weeks old, so he's not due to open his eyes for another several days. I remember Flo's litter had one kitten, Virgo, who opened his eyes rather early, and the rest of the litter opened their eyes within the next 3 days or so.

They are both, however, beginning to actually stand up on those wobbly little legs and move around. It won't be very long at all until they are wobbling all over the place. And then they will be impossible to contain, hehe.

Nimue is scheduled to have her combo testing either tonight or Friday. I am unsure if she's ever been tested or has ever had any shots. I assume neither as she was not spayed, but I could be wrong. I knew her past owner and knew that she had some serious early upper respiratory issues, but other than that I do not know what vet care she has received. I am actually quite positive that she never saw a vet for the Upper Respiratory because I was able to give her information on handling it until she was able to see a vet. I believe Nimue cleared up without a vet. I am crossing my fingers that she is clear of Feline Leukemia and FIV. Once we are sure on all accounts, I can let her freely roam within the apartment. She's begun to try to venture out of her area and I've allowed that on a controlled basis, but it will be nice if she can have free reign so she can continue to become socialized with the other cats and Maizy. Especially since she may very possibly have a home once she's weaned the kittens and that home comes with a dog.

Well, that's all the news for today. Here come the pictures.

9:06 PM One week old!

Well, the babies are officially one week old as of this morning. This is very exciting. This means only one week until little kitten eyes are opened. And only one week until they start attempting to wander around. And the countdown to adoption day is one week shorter. Having kittens is a wonderful feeling, however placing kittens in the Perfect home is even better!

This evening Nimue decided to be bold. Not only did she venture out of her room and hop onto my sewing machine table and sniff around there, but she came to the table and investigated my dinner with all the cats and Maizy around. In addition, she walked over to Maizy's corner of the couch and peered up at her. And didn't throw a spitting fit. She also laid down at the far end of the apt and watched our goings on from there as opposed to from the entrance of her room. This is all major progress in her socialization.

So I'm thinking that Lancelot is Most Assuredly a boy. He has Kahones. Gawain is still up in the air. Some days I think he's a boy and some days I'm sure he's a girl. Oh, and due to there being a past Lancelot at the shelter, Lancelot is officially Sir Lancelot. Perfect!

As per usual, let's end with pictures.








Compared to their first day

9:38 AM And she emerges from her cave

Right this very minute I'm sitting at my computer, which is right next to the door to the bathroom/closet, and Miss Nimue is sitting beside me. Yes, Beside me. Not in the doorway, not next to her food, not in the actual bathroom, she has actually decided to forsake her safe little personal area to come out and socialize with me. And this is definately for socializing with me and me only we're talking about here. She's still not getting along with the other cats. But she's relaxed a little bit when it comes to them. She doesn't charge the door anymore claws flying if they peek their noses into her sanctuary. So that's some progress. Whoops!!! Nimue just tried to jump on the Tower of Power and Taquita decided she wasn't having any of that. Hmmm. Well, at least she's trying.

I'm still not positive about the sexes of the kittens, but I'm leaning more towards the tabby being a boy, and the jury's still out on the russian blue. However, I have settled somewhat on names once I'm comfortable settling with sexes. The Tabby will be Lancelot and the Russian Blue will be Gawain if they are boys. If they are girls, the Tabby will be Morgaine and the Russian Blue will be Guenivere. Although I tend to change my mind about the girls' names back and forth, so I'm really only committing to the boys' names.

11:31 AM Day 3

Last night I finally took down the cage. Nimue is happy as a lark with the new carrier setup. It gives her more coverage/hiding for the kittens and herself, but she can get out and away from the kittens if she wants a break. This morning she did just that as I was getting ready for work. I saw her just stretched out in the closet on her own. It does mean that I have to be more watchful of keeping that door closed to her area though when I'm not home. Here's what the setup looks like now. Still a little crowded but not near as bad.

Speaking of that door, this morning Taquita succeeded at coming to visit me while I was getting ready for work and Nabisco Miserably Failed. See, Taquita can mind her own business and walk straight to me and straight out the door again without nosing into Nimue's business. Nabisco can't help herself. She has always joined me in getting ready for work, but since the kittens are here, she mostly wants to stick her nose in their business. And she'd Really like to steal one like she did with the last litter! I don't believe Nimue is going to allow that like Flo did.

Oh, and remember me mentioning Nimue's habit of flinging litter everywhere and the kittens ending up sleeping in it? Here's what I mean. I think she flung nearly half of her litter from that small box onto the kittens' bed.



The new suprise project is put off until well into next week. My equipment didn't want to work, so I need different equipment. But I promise I'll work on getting it up as soon as I can!

I STILL can't tell what their sexes are. I peeked again this morning and was almost convinced they were both male after for the last two days I've been convinced they were both female. I'm hoping that when the shelter director comes by to take a look at them next week, we can get a final decision, because I can't decide.

Here's the pictures of the day: