Tiny Tots Plus Two

After I took back the M's I was looking forward to kicking back with five kittens for awhile.

The tiny tot's were looking more like squirrels than chipmunks getting bigger every day. Their spines became less easy to feel and they began to have constant little round bellies.

In the last few days they've been given free reign on the floor for short periods of the day. They still go too fast and forget to turn corners but they're getting much better.

I offered them cat mince when I still had the four M's but only Cookie and Mittens had really shown interest. I offered it to them last night and I got swamped.

Not sure if it was because I heated it a little to take off the chill or what but they were climbing all over me and even into the container.

Mittens ran off with a slightly larger chunk and she was growling at anyone who dared try and take it off her.

Mince is yummy ~ Mittens

The tiny tots may not be so tiny anymore but they're still pretty darn cute. Today Koda and Cookie went to the vet for a check and first vaccination having reached 600 grams.

Needles? I don't like the sound of that ~ Koda

Cookie being cheeky

Mittens and Tigger may reach that milestone next with little Zorro holding his own but still lagging behind.

Hey that flashy thing ~ Tigger

Cute, Pretty Zorro

Mittens perching on my shoulder

I was advised to worm them all again so they're not very happy with me at the present.

Stay away from me with that worming syrup ~ Tigger

Zorro's impression of a Halloween cat

When I returned the M's I mentioned I wouldn't be taking on any more kittens until at least Friday. First I need to clean the room and five kittens were still quite a handful. Thankfully their runny poop has ceased and they're doing proper A-grade little stools now.

Here's a few pictures from one of their floor romps...

Mittens pausing for a moments thought

Cookie considering sitting still for a picture...

Koda cautiously investigating flashy thing

Tigger looking mildly concerned

Mittens taking a break

Koda tackled the human (me) to the ground.

Zorro working on his cute face

Friday of course turned up with vaccinations for the two and an inquiry for who else needed foster care.

I had quite the choice.

A tabby-tortoiseshell long haired mother cat (like a grown up Mishka) she was absolutely gorgeous. She had one little kitten maybe a week and a half old. It looked to be dark ginger tabby with white.

A Calico (or Torti and white) mother cat (who decided to pop one out in the sales room...OOPS) she had a very pale ginger tabby with white and she's extremely protective of it.

A white with grey spot mother cat with three kittens. She's quite lucky. She'd given birth to one dead kitten on Monday morning and it was only during an emergency spay that they found she had any live ones left. We'd expected them to all be dead. She has an assortment of grey tabbies with white.

Lastly were two brown tabby kittens possibly 5 weeks old but weighing low to mid 400's. Since the other three lots of kittens weren't doing anything more than eating and sleeping I decided to take on the two orphans.

Cotton is a little brown tabby girl with a very loud voice.

Cotton being quiet for a change...

Cotton pulling a silly face

Percy is a brown tabby and white boy that was only found and brought in this morning.

Cotton would like you to know that her brother Percy is shy

Cotton says photo time is up (reaches for curtains)

There may be more from this group as the person that keeps finding them in their back yard expects they are hidden not too far away.

Until Next Time....

No More M's

Well first foster group of the 2013 season has returned.

The M's went from this....

To this during their time on foster care...

On Monday since all kittens were 800 grams they were due to return to the shelter for their sales check and then finding their own homes.

I'd managed to show a neighbor the little cuties I was currently fostering and within a few hours one of the M's had secured herself a home. Can you guess who?

As expected all the kittens passed sales check and then it was an absolute whirlwind of trying to get them into the sales room for about a dozen eyes to check them out.

The shelter had school kids helping out with chores and a few visitors as well as the rest of the animals that were due to be checked by the vet for vaccinations. To say it was busy was an understatement.

Merlin, Marlowe and Mishka were pretty much taken from their traveling crate and handed off to some of the school kids that were melting at their cuteness. I was a bit worried at how they'd respond to such confrontation for their attention but it seems I didn't need to worry.

Merlin's made a buddy.

Mishka sought comfort from one of the girls holding her. She seems to calm down if she's held close to a person's chest until she gains the confidence to assess her situation.

Pretty little Mishka's settled in...

Marlowe was all 'yep, attention' and was soon playing and running around the room like she owned it. She didn't even turn all Halloween cat (what I tend to call kittens that arch up and try to make themselves look big) when she was investigated by one of the adult cats also occupying the room.

Marlowe still such a poser

Merlin absorbed being held by the kids like a mini sponge. He loved the attention.

Now I think you may have guessed that Misty is the lucky little kitty that I may get to catch up with as she gets older.

Here is her story. To give her story justice I have to go back...

Way back in 2011 I had my very first group of foster kittens. They were all tabbies and there were two boys and one little girl. They really didn't need fostering but I wanted to see what would be involved.

L to R - Fatty Pumba, Little Boy & Little Miss

On the very day they were being returned for sale checks I crashed into a neighbor that had lived in my street and she was in the market for a kitten. She soon fell in love with the little girl previously called Little Miss (oh so original) and then named Mitzy in her new home.

Little Miss (aka Mitzy)

Little Miss

When Raelene bought Mitzy she had her own small apartment and had missed the companionship of a cat. Due to unfortunate circumstances she had to shift back to their original home in my street with her grown up son. Mitzy had to deal with an older cat Violet who also lived at that residence.

Violet

Mitzy and Violet ended up tolerating each other but weren't best buddies. Sadly some time not long ago Violet passed away (she would have been quite old).

Grown up Mitzy

Raelene plans to shift out again in the near future and she didn't want her son, Tim, coming home to an empty house so they figured if they bought a kitten now it'd be settled in and nearly a year old by the time she moved out with her cat.

The minute she passed sales check Misty was sold. Tim did hesitate for a few seconds looking at Mishka but the way little Misty flopped over his arm and seemed totally relaxed he ended up sticking with his first decision.

I got to bring Misty home that night where she bunked down with the five tiny tots. It seemed she enjoyed having other kittens to hang with.

Misty hanging with some of the tiny tots

The next morning I dropped her off at the vets for her spay surgery where her new family would then pick her up from the vets and all the M's would no longer be under my care.

I dropped in briefly the next afternoon. Misty now has a new name Ash, and she's settled in extremely well. Her little motor was only just kicking in around people when I had the four but she wandered around playing in her new surroundings with her purr going no matter what she was doing.

A brief moment of pause for little Ash

Mitzy is a lot bigger now being two years old and she's not quite fond of sharing her house with a new tiny invader.

Mitzy all grown up

If her new grandma doesn't spoil her I'm totally sure her daddy will.

So Farewell little M's I hope you all the best in your future homes

Armfull of kitties....

Disaster And Departures

Been awhile since I updated again and I'm now a nine kitten household instead of eleven. Unfortunately the nine that remain are the ones that take the most feeding/cleaning so it doesn't really feel like I've dropped numbers.

These kittens are Oh so stressed....

Last Friday Smudge returned to the shelter and went directly into sales. From what I heard he was going to have two other kittens he'd be sharing the room with that he would be whipping into shape quick smart.
In his time pretending to be a litter mate of the M's he did fall quite a few notches on the pegs, especially when they got a tiny bit bigger and managed to flip him and bite him. Such a cry baby when he wasn't winning a fight.

Smudge ~ Nothing to see here, just patting at a tail

He also got quite the wake up call when he tried playing with Madeline's tail and got the old paw of doom that he wasn't expecting. The tricky little blighter also escaped his cage one of the nights during the week so he spent the night hooning around in the same space as mother cat. He was alive by morning but much more respectful towards Madeline so I'm sure some words were shared. Smudge learned a big lesson, don't mess with an adult cat.

Smudge claiming a blue sparkle ball as his.

Smudge was relatively shy with people in the beginning but once he warmed up he was fine. By the time he returned he was climbing all over people the same as any of the M's.

Smudge having some down time without biting or pestering the M's

His relationship with the M's went well. I feel he's better burning off some energy with a feather toy because if he does get ratty he tends to go ape on poor unsuspecting kittens that turn their back on him. He returns to the bite, bite, bite and doesn't let them go.

The M's learned that double tagging him and pinning him down worked well as they could send him running from them on occasion.

Smudge got on the wrong side of Merlin.

I may be small but I can be tuff ~ Merlin

Marlowe ~ Hold it there Smudge you cant ruin my photo shoot moment

Smudge was over 900 grams in the beginning so he was only a short term foster. I wish him well in his quest for a new home.

Its quite typical that after a vet visit symptoms of something turn up.  It's always over the weekend when something hits so its an agonizing wait until Monday for the next check. (In emergency cases I can go directly to the vet but it has to be life threatening).

I thought the Quintuplets (now named the Tiny Tot's) were heading towards formed poop and happy days. I hadn't had to syringe feed them as they'd learned to eat their weight builder and milk formula pretty well. They also got a bit of time nursing on the ever patient Madeline at least once a day.

Lots of fighting going on in search of prime place

I was a bit shocked to find increasingly pale, soft and some near white poop the Friday night. With the M's they were either holding still with no weight gain or dropping down. I called the shelter manager to ask if worming them could at least help, she said yes but give her a call the next day with how they were going.

On the advice of a much respected fellow foster carer - even millions of air miles don't mean anything when we share a common interest -  she advised me to put the M's back on milk formula as well. She also talked me down from my panic about the white poop and said wait and see, it could be nothing. (wholehearted thanks to Connie) (P.S if you don't already know of her blog please click over to Tails Of The Foster Kittens).

Well the worming syrup caused some screwed up faces on part of both the Tiny Tots and the M's. The milk the M's guzzled down like they hadn't had a drink in days. Especially Marlowe has the tendency to just sit at the bowl and drink until it's all gone or her belly is ready to pop.

I love that milk stuff, and that flashy thing *pose* ~ Marlowe

The Tiny Tots never changed in their eating habits but seemed to eat with more gusto. They completely ruined their bath the day before pretty much the instant they were dry. I swear its wash them then turn around and they've walked through poop or gotten food all down their chins so they'll probably be due for another wash in a few days.

And here we see why they get so dirty...

Thankfully crisis was averted and poop slowly moved to a more acceptable color. We do still have some less than formed bowel movements but fingers crossed they'll be turning out perfect little piles soon.

The M's since being on milk as well have gone up by quite astonishing numbers. One gained a whole 63 grams in a day. Their toilet habits are getting much better, I allowed them a little time running free without supervision and there were no accidents. Later this afternoon Mishka ruined their clean record and piddled on the carpet (*bangs head against wall*).

I took all the kittens out to a vet check today. Just to be safe. All temperatures were fine and the vet found nothing wrong with them so its a wait and see. Madeline didn't have much milk left, if any, and was becoming more and more reluctant to nurse even her own kittens so she too has now returned to the shelter.

Madeline ~ Find a happy place, Find a happy place...

Lastly the long awaited introductions of the Tiny Tots. I proudly introduce.....


Zorro - only tabby with white on his face correctly guessed as a boy

Cute little pretty boy. So thought he'd have been a girl just looking at him.

Cookie - biggest kitten. Has white on toes and what I'd call back stockings (could not for the life of me find any site online labeling body parts of a cat for some reason). Girl

For teeny tiny kittens they have some energy took ages to get this pic

Picture showing Cookies hind stockings and little white toes.

Koda - The easiest to tell apart. Little floof ball with long hair and is overall a darker tabby than the rest. Boy as well.

Bleh. Koda did have a bath not even a day ago and he looks like he can't manage his fur...

Tigger - No extra white. Also a boy.

Worried little Tigger. Also a squirmy little dude

Mittens - Nearly identical to Cookie and also a girl. Sort of has the same back hind stockings but her brown tabby color drizzles down the inside of her back legs.

At a glance can't tell this one from her sister Cookie.

Can see the dark running down the inside of both back legs. 

It won't be long until the four M's are big enough to return (sad face) but a glimpse peek at behind the scenes when I left Madeline behind tells me kitten season is well on its way to a big boom.

I'll probably have the Tiny Tot's until around Christmas or so fingers crossed all the M's are in loving homes by then.

Until next time.