Greta and Garrick

These babies are amazing!  They are doing better than I dreamed they could.  Greta (silver girl) and Garrick (brown tabby male) are growing before my eyes!  Greta arrived at 128g and was 220g tonight.  Garrick arrived at 138g and was 216g tonight.  10g gain per day is very good and they have surpassed this unwritten goal for them.  Their eyes opened fully yesterday so now they look like real babies.  They eat and eat.  This morning they ate so much their tummies buldged and I couldn't believe how big their tummies got.  They are starting to move around a lot more.  They still can't hear so really move a lot when you pick them up to feed them.  They purr alot too.  They are such strong good babies.  They are 9 days old today and have lived with me for a week.  They are a joy to love and look after.  I can hardly wait until they are running around and causing trouble.
     Pierce is doing very well.  His outlook was not very bright but I have been determined to have him be a survivor.  He loves the protein powder mixed with water and will drink it from a bowl.  He was eating boiled hamburger mixed with the protein powder and a bit of water.  Now he is a bit fussy and likes his hamburger freshly boiled--no leftovers for him.  I don't eat many leftovers either so I totally understand.  He is full of energy and it makes me grin when he is running around and playing with Paige and Pekko.  He looks wonderful.  I cried this morning when I weighed him and realized the protein powder plus eating a lot of hamburger enabled him to gain 40g.  He looks so much better now he has put on some weight.  He even really dug into the canned food when I got home from work.  He so enjoyed it and I hd not yet seen him really did into the canned food with enjoyment.
     Here is a peak at what my morning looked like today.  I got up at 6:30 am and planned what order I would do things as soon as I got out of bed.  I got up and fed Garrison, Pekko and Paige some canned food.  I got the bottle ready for Greta and Garrick and fed them and made them pee.  Then I got the bottle ready for Barnaby, Booker, Brazil and Boston.  I fed them.  I gave Paige her antibiotics.  I made myself a cup of coffee.  I whipped up a batch of muffins and baked them while I got ready for work.  I fed the "G" babies again, fed the "B" babies again, got my lunch ready for work and left for work at 8:40.  I felt like I had done well though every minute after I get out of bed is filled with things to do.  Change it?  Give it up?  Never while there are babies who need me.  My reward is when they are healthy, grow and are normal kittens.

Littlest Baby Update

These little ones are amazing!  They are doing so well.  The silver tabby was 128g yesterday and 144g today.  The brown tabby was 138g yesterday and 158g today.  They drank 80 mls in the less than 24 hours I have had them.  No wonder they are gaining huge amounts. They are very strong and very active when I wake them up to feed them.  They are getting lots of love and lots of milk and are very happy little babies.

Heavy Heart and New Additions Too

     I noticed Pierce and Pipkin were not looking 100% so on Thursday I took them to the vet who decided to do bloodwork.  On Friday Pipkin was worse--feeling hot, a little wheezing, holding his head to the side and sleeping awkwardly.  The blood came back as both were anemic with possible panleukopenia.  Okay, they can survive panleukopenia but it is contagious to the other babies.  Heather was very kind and took Pipkin to the vet hospital as per the two vets recommendations and since I had to work until 10.  The vet called me at work around suppertime to discuss Pipkin.  As I feared she said it was not paneleukopenia but FIP which is a death sentence.  She explained all the reasons why she thought it was FIP but I already had my gut feeling telling me for a while that FIP was rearing its ugly head.  So she had to get ahold of Shea to get authorization for the euthanasia.  The vet then called 30 minutes before I was done work saying he was sedated and the deed would be done soon.  She is getting me a plaster paw print of him after he was gone and it will be sent to Street Cat then to me.  I hardly made it through the last 30 minutes before I could go home.  I cried all the way home having a hard time believing the boy I had loved since he was about 10 days old, had hugged and cuddled just that morning was gone.  My heart is bruised.  I gave all my babies a huge hug so firm that I made them all meow.  I needed to connect with each of them to remind me why I do this job of looking after babies when sometimes bad things happen.  I never put Pierce down and carried him everywhere I went.  I want him to beat this challenge.  I even let Pierce into the bathroom when I took my bath.  He has no fear of the water (even loves the vaccuum) so keeping an eye on him so he doesn't fall in is a big job.  I just needed him near me last night.  I still feel numb.
     At 10:30 pm after work I got the two new additons I was expecting.  They are absolutely adorable!  One is a gray tabby with silver that really shines.  The other is a brown tabby with swirly markings.  They were born on Wed so only 3 days old today.  Their mom moved the other siblings but did not come back for these two after a long time.  They are so very strong and a little hard to hold onto in the blanket when I feed them.  They are going to do well, my gut says so.  I got up at 1:30 am to feed them which they appreciated because they ate well.  I gave them a little loving then tucked them back under the heat lamp.  It was good timing to have new babies to help ease the pain of the day.

The Babies Have Names

     Names have been chosen for my sweet babies.  The gray girl is Brazil, the black/white girl is Boston, the big fluffy gray/white boy is Barnaby and the white/black male is Booker.  They are doing great.  This morning I had a symphony at 4:40 am.  I asked but no one admitted to starting it and getting the others to join in.  So I got up and fed them, loved them then went back to bed until 6:30 am.  They are eating very well.  At lunch time when I came home they polished off a whole bottle.  Then when I got home from work it took 1 & 1/2 bottles to get them all full and sleepy and happy.  They all gained weight today, again made me smile.  They are doing great and starting to get busy even after just a short nap.  They are growing and before I know it they will be grown babies.

Bring on the Coffee

     The babies are doing well.  I came home during my supper break to feed them.  Then after working until 10 pm I fed them twice before I went to bed.  These kittens, too, know how to keep their lips shut and no one will tell me who got up first and told the others to all start screaming at 4:40 this morning so they could get a bottle.  They were hungry and certainly enjoyed their bottle.  Then at 6:20 they started serenading me again.  So I got up, made a coffee, warmed the split pea bag, got a clean blanket then fed them a bottle.  They were starving again.  It must be a growth spurt.  So I am sitting at my dining room table which is right by the big cage feeding the babies, sipping my coffee and laughing at Pierce who was on my lap purring and kneading on my lap as I am wearing my fuzzy housecoat since it is cooler in the mornings.  I laughed as it felt good to be loved and important to the babies. The babies used the litter box for the first time during the night.  Soon I can stop making them pee so they don't pee in their bed.  Names will be picked today when Street Cat opens.  They tell me which names haven't been used in the last 5 years then I pick the available ones from the list I sent in.

Little Update

I found the babies last night all sleeping with their heads in one direction.  Not often will kittens sleep all ined up.  They all gained weight again today and are a little more vocal.  I think yesterday was catch up day as they were eating well (all are drinking well from the bottle) and they slept a lot.

Happy, happy

     The newest babies are doing absolutely great!  It was a noisy start but they have indeed settled in and are being normal, quiet, happy babies.  I just weighed them and the gray female gained 32g, the gray/white male gained 30g, the black/white female gained 20g and the white/black male gained 16g.  Anything over 10g makes me very happy.  They are looking settled in too and enjoy being held and loved and spoiled.  Even Pekko is happier with the new additions.  Happy, happy.