Good Times Right Now

It is the best of times in my house right now.  It makes up for the hard times where I am worried, scared and fighting for a baby.  They had a great play time this morning which means nothing else is happening in my house except for me watching the babies.  They all gained good weight yesterday.  It has happened!  They have found where I sleep!  Last night Kolton and Kimo joined Raleigh in my bed for lots of loving past my late bedtime.  Of course I can't say no to a baby when they want to be loved no matter their timing.  So it was a very late bedtime.  The "K" babies are eating much tidier so perhaps the bath sessions are done.  Some babies learn to eat very cleanly where others like the "K" babies think the food is better on the other side of the plate so they lay across the plate to get the "best" food.  They are learning to play.  Kittens all learn to play the same in the beginning which seems to be universal.  Boston was on the couch and got surrounded by playful kittens.  She is good natured and accepted their play with a gentle nature. Too soon they will be big enough to find their forever homes.
     Houston and Honey (now Fudge and Lulu) and Harvard (now Percy) went to their forever homes the middle of June.  They were perfect kittens, taking the bottle easily and making a gentle transition to canned food.  They are lucky babies and have great homes.

updates

     Raleigh is doing great.  She is coming out of her shell and even found where I sleep this morning.  I think it could be trouble ahead as she will soon figure out to climb onto my bed when I am sleeping.
     Kolton, Kimo and Keelan are growing up.  No more bottles, just very dirty kittens as they climb onto, over and through the plate of canned food.  No more formula making but a lot of washing in the next little bit.
     Sad news.  I had to take our 16 year old Wink to the vet this morning for his last vet visit.  He has been failing but we wanted him to have a few more rolls on the patio in the back yard.  On the weekend he could no longer jump onto my dresser which was his favorite place and where he spent the majority of his time.  It will seem empty with just his girlfriend Turtle sleeping there.  They were best buddies and joined at the hip when Turtle joined our household two years after Wink.  Losing Wink is hard but feeling Turtle's loss too makes it extra hard.  One day at a time.  Goodbye Wink and thanks for 16 years of love from a gentle souled cat.

Raleigh

Raleigh arrived on June 6th after being saved from someone throwing her in the garbage.  She is a quiet little one and has a very gentle nature.  She is a perfect kitten, eating canned food nicely.  She fits right in and is so gorgeous.
     I had struggled with Kenna for about 5 days.  She had diarrhea so was on antibiotics.  She got frequent washes and blow drying (to keep her core temperature up) to try and get her bum under control.  Slathering on the Vaseline was not helping much.  She was still eating canned food and sucked back a whopping third of a bottle.  I was off for a few days so gave her a lot of TLC.  I carried her around in a blanket.  She would look at me and put her nose out so we could rub noses and faces.  She purred a whole lot too so I know she was loved.  She died Wed morning which was quite surprising to me as she had gained 6 g the day before.  We are getting her body looked at as there were 2 blood clots in the cage.  She may have been injured when the greenhouse collapsed and killed her mom.
     Houston and Honey leave for their forever homes tomorrow morning.  Boston, Harvard and Daxia go to Petsmart tomorrow.  My house is going to be very quiet very quickly.  But then Keelan, Kolton and Kimo will be running around in no time.  And you never know when more will be arriving at my house.  Litters come in all sizes so it doesn't take long to have a houseful.

Honey, Houston and Harvard

These 3 have really grown up right before my eyes.  They are real little kittens now and are getting so big.  All 3 will be up for adoption next week if the Wed vet appointment goes well.

Daxia

Daxia is all grown up.  How fast that seems to happen sometimes.  She has been an easy baby once she figured out the bottle.  She has grown and gained weight exactly as she should.  Someone is coming to see her on Thursday and if they connect Daxia will be adopted.  If not Daxia will officially be up for adoption on Thursday.  She has gone from 306g to over 1000g.  Her motto is "No Fear" as she is not afraid of anything and loves to check things out.  She loves to sleep on my lap when I sit at the computer, funny how quickly she figures out I am on the computer.  She loves to be held now and has stopped being a busy, busy girl so she can enjoy some loving times.  Her favorite time is in the morning when she snuggles with me in bed (sometimes under the covers) for a tummy scratch.  She lays on her back with her head by mine so I can talk to her and tell her what a special girl she is.  She is a smart and lucky girl.  You can see that she has grown to love her three orange siblings that she was so put out with when they arrived. 
     I have had a huge challenge the last week.  I have taken on looking after a little baby boy for a couple who wants me to try and save little Duke. He weighed only 118 g.  Kittens are about 90-100g when they are born so Duke is very tiny for a kitten who was supposed to be 4 weeks old.  He was very frail, thin and failing.  His two siblings had already died.  He looked so forlorn that I almost cried when I first saw him.  I took him on knowing it was against the odds for him to make it but I was willing to love him all I could and do the best I could for him.  I got him on Sunday and on Monday on my way home from work all I could think is that the poor little guy would be dead when I got home.  One of the hard parts of my looking after babies is the rock that is in my stomach when I am scared of what I will find.  I burst into tears when I heard him crying as soon as I opened the door as I knew we still had a chance.  Weight gain was slow--118g, 128g, 126g, 134g, 136g, 146g, 144g, and 162g.  When he gained the 18 g I knew we had more than a faint chance that he would make it and I held him as I cried with relief and joy.  I held him for a while last night and talked to him.  He needed to know that he was loved and needed to keep fighting.  He is a bright eyed smart little boy and will break my heart when he leaves my house.