In a Prickle

Events of 13th January 2016
Well there always comes a time in the season where its a juggle between kittens that need care and ones that don't. In the perfect world I'd love to foster every kitten that comes through the doors but thats just not possible.

I had a call about a 4 to 5 week old kitten that was skinny and needed fostering. Well I went out there to find the kitten is a reasonably chubby and quite hefty 700 grams. 

Tommy is well and truly over the 800 gram mark, Sheldon is dropping a bit again and Babs is refusing to gain that last 50 grams before she can get her first vaccination.

It seems I'm keeping Miss Muppet for her quarantine period. I don't mind at all. Well Allie doesn't mind at all. They're having a ball chasing each other around the house during supervised visitation. 

Unlike Leo, Allie is a bit more full on with kittens and likes to topple them over or pounce on them. I don't quite trust her to not hurt them but with Miss Muppet being nearly the same size and (sorry Allie) brighter than my cat its quite hilarious to see them together.

Miss Muppet will outrun and is way more agile than Allie. In the course of a game of tag they will circle a chair chasing each other before Miss Muppet will jump up on top of the chair and just watch as Allie keeps running around the base. When Allie gets the confused "Where'd she go?" look on her face Miss Muppet will pop up out of nowhere and spook her. *Sigh*

The new 700 gram bundle of black fur is called Nettle. Here he is...

Milestones, Returns & Intakes

Events of 11th January 2016

Major Milestones would be Timmy finally weighing enough to receive his first vaccination. It knocked him out for the better part of the day and he dropped at night weigh in but I expected that.

You didn't tell me there were needles involved ~ Timmy

Baz & Sheeba also went out for a check over.

Sheeba was well over 800g so she was checked over and passed for adoptions.

Poor girl, so many moves so close together.

Baz is now Babs because he is a she. Now that Sheeba is gone I hope she'll begin to gain a bit better.

Of course I'm a girl! ~ Babs

Word has it Esmeralda was adopted. YAY.

I signed the papers and got myself a home ~ Esmeralda

My friend Michelle finally had luck catching the stray roaming at her fathers place. 

Such a pretty girl

Gotcha

In all her possibly close to 4 month glory is Miss Muppet.

Making herself at home already

She had a lot of cursing to do at the other kittens and cats. She's also not impressed with her new confinement and change of surroundings. Despite this she LOVES people.

Tommy and Sheldon have either broken the 800 gram mark or are very close to doing so. Looks like more goodbyes are in the near future.

Tommy still intent on getting out.

What do you mean leaving? ~ Sheldon

Quick Learners

Events of 7th January 2016

I combined Sheldon with Timmy & Tommy. He survived having roomies all night and they romped on the floor during the day.

What on earth is going on!? ~ Sheldon

Oooh that looks interesting ~ Sheldon

KAPOW!! This cracks me UP! (I think this is Oscar quickly putting Sheldon in his place)

Tommy and Sheldon become thick as thieves

They're quick little learners and like trying to zip out the door when anyone needs to go in for feeding or litter cleaning. Tommy must have got some pointers from Oscar at some stage because he's extremely close to learning how to scale the door frame and get over the half door. (No Kitten! It's too early for you to learn that!).

(Take note of those claw marks up the sides of the door frame)

I inherited two fosters from another carer Lisa. She was going on holidays and needed someone to take over. Since I had 3 I didn't see the problem with two more.

This is Baz

Looks so much like Sheldon

The two kittens I received on the 8th of January were Baz and Sheeba. Baz could pass as Sheldon's twin and is in approximately the 500g mark while Sheeba gets to 800g but drops back to 750g a few days later.

Not entirely sure why I have so few pictures of Sheeba

My good friend Michelle also contacted me regarding a stray kitten roaming her father's property. She was aiming to catch the kitten and sign it over to the shelter where I would foster it for its quarantine period. It seemed friendly but as with all good plans, cats tend to have a mind of their own and the kitty conveniently vanished right when Shell wanted to catch her.

On the 9th January Sheldon, Timmy & Tommy were given a brief run around the lounge/dining area. 

This is FUN!!!! ~ Sheldon

This lap is mine

Mine! Mine I tell you! ~ Sheldon

Keep your dang lap, I gots my own ~ Timmy

Tommy was suspiciously absent playing until his heart was content on the floor so I didn't get any pictures.

PS. Timmy broke 600g YAY!

Cya Later JoJo & Oscar

Aw Man, 2017 now so once again a year behind in updates *sigh* One day I'll be reporting current activities...

OMG finally reached the current years events!!!

Events of 1st January 2016

Uh Oh. The marker of when-a-kitten-is-due-to-return has been reached by Oscar & JoJo.

There's a marker? ~ JoJo

What Marker? ~ Oscar

Oscar even though he just scrapes by the weight requirement of 800g has conquered the half door. When they learn to escape its time to return.

Oscar trying to be big when he realizes Allie is on the other side of the door

Oscar ~ Fear me! I am huge in my floof suit!

Timmy is convinced he's 'just a baybee' (A term I've grown to love from another blog I read Love & Hisses which you can see here) *PS her captions to her photos crack me up!

Timmy ~ But I am the Baybee...

He did finally break the 500g mark but he's still not convinced that food comes in different forms other than liquid. Tommy however is embracing food of any kind and is doing extremely well.

Now don't you go learning how to get out off Oscar.

I said goodbye to Oscar & JoJo on the 4th January.  Tommy & Sheldon were big enough to get their first vaccination. YAY.

I love it here, there's boxes here ~ Oscar

I like boxes too ~ JoJo

This is my Box ~ JoJo

Nope, It's mine ~ Oscar

As I leave this post I was thinking I'd finally weaned Timmy off milk....

Goodbye Casey

Events of 23rd December 2015

Casey had had enough of being a mother. She'd would nurse the babies for shorter and shorter time before starting to growl and attempting to bite them.

More often than not she would be roaming the room. She no longer needed to be on foster.

She was returned to the shelter for the next stage of her journey. 

There's too many big scary cats here, I wanna go back! ~ Casey

Besides Annie all the way back when I began fostering I've not had a mother cat that wants to look after her babies until they are 8 weeks old.

*Sigh*

27th December I was able to report that Timmy & Tommy were eating on their own and all three were having gains again.

Look I finished my saucer ~ Timmy

I get snuggles ~ Timmy

Timmy is however still a bit in denial. His food still has to have near-water consistency for him to equate it with something edible. He hasn't yet figured out that dry food is something he can eat as well. In that aspect his sibling Tommy is a quick study and has been doing great.

Where's the better tasting stuff? I'm a big boy now ~ Tommy

I get snuggles too ~ Tommy

Weight Woes

Events of 20th December 2015

Hot days. Summer is here.

So far Casey and her kids are the least of my problems with nothing outstanding happening. They're normal active little bundles of fur that get time to roam the room.

However...

Sheldon, Timmy & Tommy are doing my head in with weight loss.

I mean I expected it with The Twins. It'd be quite the adjustment going from having a mum to not having a mother. They would roughly be just learning to eat but would still greatly rely on their mothers milk.

LADY! FOOD!

Tommy Playing

Tiny little Timmy, in denial about needing to grow up

I'll keep plugging along though and hope we get over this bump sooner rather than later.

Most of the other kitties were of age to be fine being left on their own but Timmy and Tommy got dropped at the shelter while I went on a day trip to Warrnambool for some Xmas shopping.

On 22nd December Jojo & Oscar got their first vaccinations. Sheldon got looked over to see if there was any underlying issues to explain why he was dropping weight. I was told to continue doing what I was doing.

Sheldon & The Twins

Events of 16th December 2015

Sheldon was doing good until his first course of wormer. I'm not sure if it was just his body finally catching up to all the food he was now getting.

Size comparison, little saucer, little kitten

He is getting better with interactions. I think it will take a long time before he stops running for cover or hissing when something new turns up but he's not ripping people apart to get to food anymore.

Loves people

Rare picture of me and my new little shoulder parrot.

Also, he has some new buddies to grow up with.

Two kittens came in that were being given away free at only four weeks old. Much too young to be away from their mother but unfortunately several of their siblings had already been handed over to new homes. :(

Meet Timmy & Tommy.

Cute little mites.

I tried getting Casey to take them on as Jojo & Oscar were at better weights to be weaned than The Twins. Unfortunately Casey wasn't wanting to extend her motherhood duties and after nursing them twice she stated "No Thank you".

Oscar & JoJo doing fine

No more kids please.

So supplementing and teaching The Twins to eat is next on the agenda.

Tommy "You're our mum now?"

Timmy "This is comfortable"