What's New Kittens?

I apologize profusely for my lack of updates.

I have never been very good with deadlines or doing things consistently. I have hopefully wrangled in the help of a bud RubyRein (you know who you are) to kick me in the butt if I leave it too long between sharing pictures of the little darlings.

So what's happened since last time?

Do you know how HARD it was getting this picture?
(pulls hair out)

Well they're still growing like weeds. Still, yes we all know weeds just don't stop growing...

Simba is trying to win a body builder competition that only he's entered and he's tipping the scales at well over 700. Our time with this little cotton ball is nearing the end just over 150 grams or a tiny less and he's off to find his fur-ever home.

Simba wandering over to tackle my foot

Kimba has overtaken Hank and earned a vaccination at the last vet check. Her eyes are still pretty blue and its easier to tell her apart from Simba. Easier but not all the time. Prime example below.

Which one is it?

Truthfully I don't know for certain if that is Kimba or Simba. I'm leaning towards Kimba since there seems to be a bit more blue in the eyes and Simba's are clearly yellow now. Her ears are also longer but she's lost some of that pixie look to her face. The other pictures in sequence seem to be Kimba so that's who I think it is but there's always that tiny grain of doubt and I wish there was some definitive way to tell in each picture who is who...

Comparison. Simba left, Kimba Right.

We cant check yet but there's a possibility that she may be deaf or at least partially deaf. Apparently there is some genetic thing that means white cats with blue eyes are deaf. There have been some instances where she's responded on the actions of other kittens rather than hearing or seeing the danger herself.

Kimba looking pretty...gee she's grown

There was also the car ride where she burrowed under the blanket in the crate. The vibrations of the car may have caused that since the other kittens seemed fine.

Hank

My fuzzy little love bug

Oh boy. Another of the reasons why its been such a long time between updating is the fact that there were nearly three Wanderers instead of four.

This week we very nearly could have lost little Hank. We still do not know what caused the sudden and dramatic change. He had vomited early on the Wednesday morning before work. I thought little of it as he often gorges on his food and then gets hiccups.

Love the fuzz halo

When I got home my mother came out of the room with Hank wrapped in a towel looking less than healthy. He was lethargic, dehydrated and not at all his perky little self. I went on mad mothering duties seeing if I could have made it to Wednesday check with him or not. The vet was in a rush and pretty much done so I called the shelter manager to get the okay for a emergency vet visit.

Hank~ I sleep on your foot

She advised me to try keep him warm and get some food into him. I would have been fine doing so and had already organised the hot water bottle but when trying to get anything into him and he wasn't swallowing. I just felt helpless and wondered if it was anything more severe.

That whole guessing game drives me nuts. When his pupils dilated and he wasn't swallowing the milk, knowing he'd vomited at least four times I needed to get him in to see someone and got the okay from the shelter manager to take him in...or rather took the whole family in...

Hank was checked over, his temperature was fine (that was a relief) and we had originally worried that mum treating him to licking pasta sauce off her finger had contributed to this random illness. The vet assured us that there was nothing in the sauce that could have done this and that he'd just gotten into something or something had disagreed with him. The main factor in his behaving so sick was dehydration. He had nothing in his belly anymore and had used up any liquids.

The vet said he'd give him some fluids under the skin and some glucose syrup for energy. All other kittens checked out fine and we were advised to keep Hank separate overnight to monitor his bowel and food intake.

huh? a night alone? ~ Hank

Between offering milk, force feeding tiny amounts of weight builder and reheating a hot water bottle Hank and I spent quality time together for the rest of the day. To the point when my 6 am start for work caught up with me and the stress of a sick kitten that I fell asleep with my hand in his little dome bed and him snuggled up against said hand because when I removed it he peeped at me until I touched him.

I woke to Hank staring at me in the face peeping and looking brighter. He never ate what I'd consider the right amount but he wasn't struggling to lift his head. He did drop in weight but not by the dramatic amount I thought he would have. In the following days he got stronger and stronger and his appetite returned.

Crisis averted...thank Gosh.

*chomp* I wasn't sick ~ Hank
(There is 3 kittens here)

Josie and her cuteness overload shall be here for quite awhile longer after the two cotton balls return. She is the runt and she has a petite frame.To lift the over 700 gram Simba and then pick up little 500 gram Josie...the difference considering they're from the same litter is amazing.

Josie~ I can't help if I'm cute

On the other side Josie isn't lacking in personality. She is the tiny kitten with torti-tude. I always saw right in the first days when she was the first one to do wandering that she'd always strive to be bigger and better than her siblings despite being the tiniest in size and weight.

Planning her next battle

Getting 'the look' from the kittens

Being 'attacked' by said kittens

Kittens success, zonked out after taking down their prize...me

That strength has got her this far and will likely win over a family within seconds.

She's not one to be pushed around by her siblings and their now frequent wrestling matches she's usually in the thick of it.

Josie is still one of the first to greet me when I step into the room. She is so gosh darn cute. This little mite is the only one that doesn't freak out if held away from a persons body. All others tend to scream bloody murder even when you have a safe grip on them.

Fran

Escaping kittens (one of said kittens has found her)

Mother duties are gone pretty much. The last vet check Miss Fran Wanderer could have returned to gain weight and then find her own home. On the unfortunate side there has been an outbreak of flu again at the shelter so sending her back at the present would pretty much be putting her life in danger of contracting it. Therefore sweet mother Fran has to deal with her kittens during the day now and gets the entire night free of the tiny little blood thirsty monsters. I think she particularly loves this me time that she now gets.

I have put her back on adult wet food...for some annoying reason the kittens go nuts for her food but pretty much go meh at their own food. Their weights are still increasing so its not all bad I guess but I will be mentioning it to the vet to see if I should remove all temptation as the adult food mother gets lacks the nutrients growing tiny tots need...

Fran soaking up some lap time

They all had a spoil-you-moment last night when we got some fish and chips. I am glad I escaped said room with all fingers intact. Mother was pretty much 'get out of the way kittens the fish is mine!' and little Josie was legs splayed over her portions on the ground and I swear if a sibling stepped too close a tiny growl emitted from her. I was swarmed to say the least and long after it was all gone they were begging for more...

Fran~ Get me out of here and bring more food!

Unfortunately no video.(I wouldn't want to be in it anyway)

Now on a side note I love comments on the blog...or even on the face book post that sends people to here.
To comment on here this is what you do.
1. Scroll to bottom of post (or read as you go...whatever you prefer)
2. Click on the little blue words that say comment
3. A large white box should be visible. Write in your best wishes for the kittens or awe over the pictures
4. Below the large white box should be a comment as....If you click on the drop down menu select anonymous if you do not have a Google account or any of the other types of accounts. Feel free to write who you are in said comment example (Thanks for updating - RubyRein ...or more to the point Get your butt updating more often - RubyRein).
5. Re-read what you've written (I'm horrible for spelling mistakes, I nearly wrote dead instead of deaf)
6. Click Publish.

If the above step by step does not work please bear with me and I'll go interrogate other blog members to find out how they get people to post in their comment sections.

*big kitten eyes* Please comment.