We did manage to get two more kittens from the complex. Both are males, between three and four weeks old. Currently, they are being kept in the same foster home, but separate from the other nine kittens, until we’re certain they are completely healthy. As you can see in the picture, they are still pretty small. The one on the left actually has a white blaze which extends across his entire belly. He is also sporting white “mittens”. The one on the right is mostly white, with some dark grey/black markings.

They are currently eating solid (wet) food, but we’re supplementing with kitten formula. In a week or two, after they gain a little more weight and start feeling a little less nervous, we’ll give them a bath, which both desparately need! Right now, their white furr is dingy and grey with dirt. Can’t wait to get them nice and clean! It may sound funny, but after you give a kitten a bath, they really do act happier and more “bouncy”.

These little guys are dangerously cute, as all kittens are, but we’re starting to get a bit crowded at my place. I certainly don’t mind having them here. This is, after all, something I enjoy doing. The dilemma is all of our foster homes are bursting at the seams at the moment. Of course we’re happy when we manage to catch more kittens, but our feelings of joy are always tempered with the reality of simply running out of room.

We really need more foster homes. If you feel you are in a position to help, please feel free to contact us and we will let you know what is involved and discuss how you might be able to help out. Even better, try to meet us in person at our PetSmart adoption site any weekend from 11am to 4pm, so we can talk about what is involved face to face. We think you will find fostering to be a very rewarding experience!

Next time I’m going to talk a bit more about the original nine kittens. Several of them may be ready for adoption very soon, and I’m pretty excited to talk about who might be ready and how they are all doing!

This photo of Twitch sitting on the scale gives a slightly misleading impression about how this whole operation went. Even without the scale, getting one of these guys to sit still for more than three seconds before darting one way or the other is nearly impossible. Actually weighing them was an exercise in madness! Oh sure, Twitch looks nice and calm here, but approximately a half second later, he was flying off in one direction and the scale was flying off in the other.

We did manage to get them to hold still long enough to get weights on each, and as we suspected, Lucky is the lightest and Twitch is the heaviest.

Not even one of them has reached three pounds yet. Considering how much these little ones eat, you would think they would weigh at least twice as much! Unfortunately, this means none of them are ready to be fixed. We really like to see them at three pounds before they are fixed, and that probably won’t happen for at least another couple of weeks.

On a slightly different note, the scale we used was just a standard, inexpensive kitchen scale. These usually go up to 10 or 20 pounds, and gives readings to 1 or 2 ounces. If you want one for yourself, pick one that has markings for 1 ounce. The 2 ounce ones simply aren’t accurate enough. A nice one should cost you between $20 and $30 at any store with a “kitchen” section. I wouldn’t, however, recommend using it in the kitchen after weighing kittens with it!

As I mentioned before, I feed the kittens by preparing their food on a large platter. Since I got tired of them climbing up my legs while I prepare their food–one actually made it all the way to the counter, once!–I don’t let them out of the bathroom until after I put the platter on the floor.

Honestly, the commotion they raise while waiting for me to open the door is completely over the top. How is it possible that kittens so small can make such loud meows? And the pawing at the door! It sounds like a pack of wolves in there!

Just take a look at this picture of the kittens, their little paws reaching under the door. Look at Ranger (I think!) on the left in mid-meow. I believe that is Butterfly next to him trying to shove her face through the one inch gap between the door and the floor. Goodness only knows who is on the right. Victoria? Grace? Either way, I can’t find words to describe the fuss she was making. These kittens are serious about their food!

When I finally do open the door, the kittens literally pour out. All of them. At the same time. They don’t even wait for the door to open more than three inches before they dive out of there. The last time I fed them, I actually think I heard a sonic boom as they flew past my feet.

If you watch carefully… and don’t blink!–you will see that this time, Grace was the first to get to the food dish. Usually it is Twitch and Floyd. Grace must have used some sort of trickery to beat those two! They are almost always first on the food, and the last off.

For the next post, I want to try to capture some action shots of them playing. I would have done it already, but it is actually pretty difficult to catch them doing something cute. You think you got the shot of Lucky in mid-air, just about to land on Victoria, but all you manage to catch is Luck’s behind as he tumbles to the floor. Time to charge up my “good” camera, and maybe call National Geographic for some hints…

Sierra was the first kitten that was rescued from the apartment complex. Only her paws were covered in foam, but that was enough to let us know this wasn’t going to be a “normal” rescue. The president of Happy Home Animal Sanctuary, Amber Snethen, took Sierra back to the sanctuary with her and began coordinating the rescue effort with the rest of the volunteers. She was reunited with the rest of the litter a few days ago, so we could get her to the vet appointment with the rest of the kittens.

Sierrra started out as a bit of a shy girl, unlike her brother Floyd who has similar markings but is quite an outgoing character. Now that she is settled in, she is beginning to show her true personality. Generally a calm kitten, she has moments of pure joy when she discovers a new toy or simply decides to pounce one of her unsuspecting litter mates…

Next we have Butterfly, who was trapped while roaming around the infamous “foamed” wall. She was fortunate enough to avoid the foam. She was in the care of, Maryanne, another volunteer at the sanctuary who does a lot of foster work. We decided to reunite her with the rest of the litter at the same time as Sierra, so she could go to the vet with everyone else. Besides… the more the merrier, right?

As you can see from her picture, she loves to snuggle, and can really purr up a storm when she is nice and relaxed like this. Her play style is actually much like Sierra’s. She will often relax in a corner, and just when you start wondering where she went, she will rocket into action and pounce a wayward toy or another kitten.

Finally, we present Lucky, a sweet little thing who was very lucky to keep his tail! Some foam on his tail was reducing the circulation. After removing the foam and some dead skin, the vet determined that while the area was a bit beaten up and probably infected, there was enough circulation that his tail would probably be fine. He is currently on antibiotics, just to make sure we get rid of any infection that may have started to take hold.

Lucky, and his brother Ranger, are the only two all black kittens in the litter. He does, however, have little white “guard hairs” sprinkled around his legs and feet. We were a bit concerned about him at first, not just because of his tail, but also because he is pretty small and wasn’t interested in eating. That changed very quickly, and he can really be quite a little pig! Even after only a few days, his tail is beginning to heal nicely. He enjoys playing with his litter mates, but isn’t so much into the “pouncing” as some of the others.

You would think eight kittens would be enough, but we knew there was at least one more kitten at the apartment complex which we suspected was from the same litter. Last night, Kristina Wood finally managed to trap her. She was reunited with her litter–now nine strong!–late last night, so I don’t have any pictures yet. She’s absolutely adorable, and looks like a mixture of all of the kittens combined into one. I’ll have pictures for the next post, and maybe I’ll try to take some “action shots” of the kittens playing after feeding time.

We also had a few new additions to the litter. Sierra was the first kitten which helped bring this mess to our attention. She was in the care of Amber Snethen, the president of Happy Home Animal Sanctuary. Butterfly was trapped near the infamous foamed wall, and she is clearly part of the same litter. Finally, Lucky was picked up yesterday from the complex. A resident found him roaming around the wall as well. If you’re keeping track, that makes for eight kittens in this litter.

Lucky was particularly lucky… hence the name . He had a bit of foam on his tail, and it was a real mess. Under the foam we found blood, a bit of infection, dirt, and dead skin and we initially thought he was going to lose his tail. Fortunately, there was just enough blood flow, and the vet thinks he should be able to keep his tail. He is on a course of antibiotics to help fight off any infection.