Monday, October 13, 2014

Part 4 Baxter, Begonia, Berkley, Biscuit, Bram and Bronson












So many babies to love.  These babies are precious because they are so small and doing well.  Biscuit had an eye infection which showed up yesterday.  Her eyes weren't even open yet, just little spots in the corners of her eyes which is where the eyes start opening.  They were crusty yesterday morning and pus came out when I was cleaning her eyes.  I used polysporin eye drops and contacted my vet.  She is doing much better this morning and is eating again on her own again and only didn't drink on her own yesterday.  She worried me but it is all fine now that she is gaining back the 8g she lost yesterday.  All the babies purr for me which makes my heart sing.  Their eyes are starting to open and one has eyes all open.  Soon they will look like real baby kittens.  Bronson is doing great after his brush with death.  I have never seen a kitten so cold.  I think he is destined to be special in some way so I will be watching to see how he is special.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Part 3 on Callahan, Cavana, Charles, Chiclet and Crackerjack















Here are Callahan, Cavana, Charles, Chiclet and Crackerjack.  They are doing fantastic.  They were very hungry when they came but soon had enough in their tummies and were warm under the heat lamp.  When they hear me get up in the morning or peak into their room during the day they let me know that they are hungry and I am taking too long bringing their bottle.  Today I let them out to stretch their legs (they will be out of quarantine tomorrow).  They came into the kitchen (no contact with any of the other kittens) so are very adventuresome.  They dug into the canned food and did pretty good for the first attempt at eating.  They all gained a decent amount of weight when I weighed them this afternoon.  Soon they will be off the bottle and I will have less to feed one at a time and one step closer to being "big" babies.

Part 2 on Benjie, Bijou, Bonnie, Brandi and Bridget















These are the "big" B babies since I ended up with 2 litters that are the letter B.  They have settled in quickly and are good babies.  They are eating on their own and have figured out I am their mom now.  Some of the babies have figured out that if I am sitting (not that often and not for very long) that I have a lap that would love to have a baby or babies on it.  Bridget looks like she has food on her face but it is just orange spots as I washed her face twice before I took her pictures.  My house is a busy place filled with love and happy babies.

What A Week!!!!! Part 1 of a Few Parts



It has been the most incredible baby week I have ever had.  A week ago I got two babies who were in bad shape.  The littlest one was very dehydrated and even though I gave it fluids it died 5 hours after I got it.  The bigger one seemed to have a chance then suddenly he started declining on Sunday and died between 11 pm and 2 am when I got up to feed him.  They purred for me during their time with me so knew they were very loved.
     Then on Wed morning I got the littlest B babies (pictures in a future post today).  They were very tiny and 6 days old.  One was stiff and cold and thought dead initially.  The lady left and I went into fast action mode.  I put the 5 babies under the heat lamp then worked on the still baby as I had detected a little sound.  I wrapped him in a blanket then wrapped my split pea bag around him and wrapped all this in a big blanket.  I carried him around and was frantically rubbing him and telling him to come on, come on.  He was as cold as milk from the fridge.  He started moving a bit more and making more sounds.  I held on to hope.  Within 30 minutes he was warm, moving, crying and seemed okay.  I then got a bottle and fed all of them.  He maintained his warmth when under the heat lamp with his siblings (not all babies warmed up can maintain their heat if they have been so cold to the point of no return).  They figured out how to suck on the bottle within 12 hours.
     Then on Thursday I got the 5 big B babies who were over their contagious eye problems and needed to be in a real home not a cage.  They immediately became a family with the 5 M babies.  Had found out 5 young babies needed my help desperately so I also got the 5 C babies.  So I went from 5 babies to 21 babies within a week.  Fortunately they have all settled in and are drinking from a bottle well.  The bigger B babies were weaned which was a blessing as so many still needed the bottle.
     Then on Friday I received a call that two single babies in two situations were needing me.  One the people are waiting a little longer to see if the mom comes back which is the right thing to do.  I got Daffodil (pictures above) last night.  She is 3 weeks old and enjoying the company of the C kittens as she is close in age to them.
     Whew!   The first 24 hours is an adjustment time so might as well get it all over at one time.  Good thing I now have 4 days off so can get everything settled before I go back to work.  I will be putting up a few more posts today as I have time to take pictures of the babies.  So keep checking back.