A new litter arrives

Last week I got some new kittens from Wood Green. These four have been very poorly and remind me a lot of a litter had last year, where they'd been so poorly that they'd lost loads of weight and kept trying to die. Thankfully the litter last year, Bert, Ellie and Maureen made it through and off to new homes. This is Ellie eating a duckSo my new kittens' story is that their mum was struggling to feed them so I took the kittens on foster and their mum stayed at the shelter. Sadly after not even a week of having them their mum had a fit and died. They don't know the cause of death so I have implemented a barrier nurse system where my husband and I are washing our hands and changing our socks a lot!!!

So anyway, introductions! This dear thing is Daisy, she's exceptionally sweet and loves a cuddle.

This is Dave, he did come with a fancy name but I can't remember it so I've been calling him Dave, he looks like a Dave. He's just the sweetest pea ever. He's been quite quiet so I think he's been feeling a bit poorly but hopefully we're getting there.















This little cheeky chappy is Hans. Heaffectionate and has taken to jumping on my shoulders and giving me a new hairstyle, he's been very creative and so far we're had the Rachel from FRIENDS look and the just been pulled through a hedge backwards, the latter is more popular!















Poor old Sissy doesn't look well here at all, and in her defence she has been really poorly. She's taken to sleeping next to the water bowl so I've had to install a bed right next to it. She's just very thin and has a constant upset tummy but I am hopeful, I've had kittens like her before and I hope she'll pull through.

Spotlight on....Claude and Maggie

I fostered Claude in 2006 and she really tested all the experiences I had as a fosterer. She came from North London from a charity I helped there sometimes. A petrified feral who was also heavily pregnant. She just needed somewhere to be to have her kittens. I could never touch Claude or get close to her but I did my best to reassure her and be there for her.

She went into labour late one Saturday night and by the morning it was obvious something was wrong as she'd not had any kittens. I took her to an emergency vet where my worst fears were confirmed. As she was only a kitten herself (five months old) her body wasn't ready to have kittens and they'd got stuck trying to come out. Sadly three kittens were still born but a fourth lived. I named the kitten Maggie and she struggled through for two weeks before passing away quietly.

I feel like I owe it to Maggie to write about her, she's the kitten that has affected me more than no other that I've fostered. Most kittens I am lucky and they pull through but it wasn't meant to be for her and I still blame myself now.

Claude was spayed and returned to her feral colony. I always take comfort it that Claude won't have to go through it all again and also if she'd not been in my care, she would have probably died herself.

Little bundle of monkeys

Here's my little bundle of monkeys, now at about 5 weeks old at a guess. They're just doing so well! I'm so pleased for them, all are eating solid foods and apart from a few upset tums here and there they're developing well. Admittedly the sight issue makes the litter trays and tracking from it terrible. They obviously can't see the poos in there and either tread or sit on them but at least they're going in the tray!

Smitten is doing well too, she's eating a lot more and looking less drained as the kittens are taking less milk from her. She's still incredibly skinny though but very friendly and happy. She loves to play fetch and this is a bit of an action shot of her carrying her much loved catnip candy cane back in the nest in one of our fetch games.

This is Tulip, she's doing great. Eating lots and thriving. She responds really well to my voice and screams when I come into the room. She's got real ragdoll characteristics and literally turns to liquid when you pick her up as she's so floppy and silly.



This is Cesc, she's a girl :)
She's got the best sight of the lot and runs all over me and was in fact doing laps round me the other day. She's a bit of a rat for not eating her dinner but she's getting there and is a really lovely girl.


This is Percy, not a great picture of him I'm afraid. He's the shy one of the litter and can get a bit freaked out which is sweet because he's a bit chubby and it makes it extra cute. He's doing great though, prefers a bit of Sheba over the good ol' Whiskas kitten food though.





And this happy little squeaker is Jazz! Isn't he lovely. He's so noisy and just cries so he knows where you are. Jazz is a bit mental and runs about all fluffed up and does the sideways crab run too. He's great!


So yep they are all doing great. I think they are going to have to be homed in pairs, I think it'll be a big committment for the new owners but they seem to rely on each other so much for getting around and knowing where things are.

Dinner for all

Last night all the kittens had some proper cat food dinner for the first time. Tulip has been eating for about five days and the others have recently started trying to chew things, like cat litter and the edge of the litter tray. Last night I put out Smitten’s dinner and Percy and Cesc just went over to it and started eating it! I’d been trying to get them to eat for a couple of days but I was very pleased they just went and started eating on their own.

I wanted Jazz to eat too because he’s always chewing things and also likes to have a drink of water; in fact when he has a drink it’s very adorable. He knows he’s at the water bowl so he leans forward to have a drink but he always ends up putting his whole nose in the bowl and spluttering a bit! So I put a little food in Jazz’s mouth and he eventually got the hang of it and ate some food too, until Tulip came along and wanted more dinner and then I had to hand feed them both which was really tricky.

They are all still in their big nest area when I am not at home and overnight. Although the room they are in is quite safe and kitten-proofed, there is a book case in there which I worry they will climb into and knock something out of and because they are wobbly and run into things I just want them to be safe. But they love coming out the nest and charging round the room, Cesc in particular goes really loopy and bounces about. Talking of Cesc I am going to have to make the sides of the nest higher as she’s getting close to climbing out.

I also found out last night that Smitten likes carrying toys around in her mouth. I found her favourite catnip candy cane toy in the nest and didn’t remember putting it in there, so I took it out and played with Smitten with it and then she just picked it up in her mouth and jumped back into the nest and put it in there! She’s very chatty at the moment and really interested in my cats but she’ll be staying in her own room until she’s ready to go to a new home.

A good weekend

Well we’ve had a considerably better weekend with the kittens. Little Tulip has at last started to eat and what she’s eating is cat food!!! When I went to check on them on Friday night, Tulip was crying a lot again and when I went to pick her up she bit my fingers which made me realise she might want cat food. So I opened a tin of kitten food and the next time she meowed I put the kitten food near her mouth and she just started eating! And that’s what she’s been doing all weekend. She went from a 2g increase in three days, to putting on about 60g over the weekend. So that’s great news.

On Sunday Bev from Wood Green came to check on them for me as I’d been worried about them due to their funny behaviour. She tried a few different tests on them, like looking at their reflexes and looking in their eyes and said that it looks like they might have some sight problems. Cesc’s sight is the best, as she seems to be able to see some things and can nearly catch a toy. Percy’s sight is not great, but not awful and he seems to cope ok. Tulip has responded well to my voice and her sight isn’t great but can work well with sounds. Jasmine (who is now definitely Jazz as he’s a boy) has the least sight it seems, as he tends to fall over a lot and bump into things. He also likes to lick things like the wall or floor… But in a few weeks I’ll take them to the shelter for a proper check up to see what their sight is like.

But they’re all full of life and running around meowing and playing. Cesc likes to be picked up and cuddled and held really close and they’re all enjoying human company. Smitten is also doing really well, she’s now up to five to six sachets a day and I’m no longer keeping a food diary for her anymore. She loves being combed and brushed and chatting to me. I’ve been trying to get her to sit on the windowsill to have a look outside but she’s not that interested. She does however love her catnip candy cane!

Tonight I am going to build an extension to their nest as they are getting bigger to give them more room to run around and play in safely.

Wobbling around

The kittens do a lot of that, wriggling around, legs in the air and I get to tickle their tummies. They all seem to be doing ok.

Little Tulip is struggling to put on weight, she's only put on 2g in three days. I'm trying not to worry about her too much and focus on the fact she's not losing weight. She is feeding well and looks like she's suckling, I'm just a little worried as she's nearly 100g less than her sibling Percy. Cesc is also quite light but she does put on a little weight each day. Each day I put Tulip on the scales I hope it's the day she'll have gained weight but only a 2g increase yesterday and the same weight for the two previous days.

It's hard to tell how old the kittens are, they must be at least two weeks old as their eyes are open and they are walking around. I am thinking they are more three weeks old but they are quite wobbly. But I don't know if the wobbliness is actually due to the fact they can't see and they're struggling to work their way round the nest. I don't know, I can't help feeling a little lost with this litter as I've never seen kittens that cry so much and I've not seen kittens behaving like them either and I've been doing this for years!

Fingers crossed for a weight gain for Tulip tomorrow

Two day update

Well the litter continues to do well, another weight gain last night and Smitten managed to eat five sachets of catfood yesterday which is her new record. It's hard to take photos of young kittens because I don't like to use the flash for risk of damaging their retinas. With these kittens I've been told there's a chance they might have sight problems. This would make sense for a another characteristics they show. For starters they are very vocal but obviously getting enough food, but this could be a breed characteristic. They also wander around the nest crying and looking upwards and on more occasions than I can count I've seen them walk directly into each other or a wall. But all this said, they are young on wobbly legs, they've been through two homes in their short lives so a lot has happened to them so far.

What's really great about these kittens is that they really like me! Most young kittens don't mind humans but these ones really like me. They meow and squeal to be tickled and picked up. They hold onto my fingers and fall asleep on my hand when I leave it in their bed. They are truely adorable.
Now this lovely little black and white girl is Tulip. She's so lovely and loves to be picked up and have her tummy tickled, a real cutie. She might be my favourite, I know it's wrong to have favourites but the last black and white kitten I had was 2005! And as I've got two black and whites of my own, I've got a real soft spot for them.

This is Tulip, with Cesc/Jasmine next to her - it's Cesc/Jasmine as her paperwork says she's a boy but I think she's a girl. I'm calling her Cesc still because I don't want to mix up her with Jasmine on the weight charts, this also because Jasmine looks like a boy - it's all a bit confusing. And these two are using Percy as a pillow.

This is Tulip at the front with Jasmine yawning at her, Cesc at the back and again everyone lying on Percy.

And this is the best mum cat in the world with her little wiggly kittens. Percy on the far right wriggling around on his back and Jasmine doing the same. Happy kittens :)