Before I introduce my latest two pint-size house guests, a brief announcement is in order. As of July 11, I am now living in Las Vegas, Nevada. That means, of course, that I can no longer foster kittens for Texas-based Operation Kindness. I would like to take a moment to thank them for allowing me to volunteer, and for teaching me the ropes on how to care for young kittens. It was a blast taking care of their wee ones in my home, and socializing with the not-so-wee ones at the shelter.
I am now fostering for the
Nevada SPCA. Much like Operation Kindness when I first signed on to volunteer, the SPCA wasted no time putting me to work! They sent me home with two bottle babies right away. Squeaky and Fluffy were probably around two to two and a half weeks old when I took them home on July 18th. The pictures above were taken two days ago. My tardiness in updating this blog is a combination of (a) unpacking, (b) having company, and (c) somehow catching a cold despite the 110+ degree temperatures that define Las Vegas summers.
Bottle feeding kittens while simultaneously trying to settle in to a new home is obviously hectic, but I had lots of help that first week. My sister, niece, and nephews made the trip with me to help with unpacking and prepping the house--and of course, they pitched in with the kittens too. They also gave them their names--Squeaky because he makes squeaking noises and Fluffy because she's a big ball of fluff. A big shout-out to Melissa, Duncan, Bekah, and Dave. It was really nice having some extra hands to help out. The kittens were mostly past the middle of the night feedings by the time all my helpers went back home to Texas.
Squeaky and Fluffy are now nearing their fourth week. Their personalities are really starting to show. Squeaky is by far the more sociable of the two. He's definitely a "mama's boy". Every time I'm in the room,
he starts carrying on at the top of his lungs and trying to crawl out of the tub. He's not a particularly voracious eater, although he's the one who puts up the biggest fuss when it's meal time. Maybe he's named after the proverbial squeaky wheel that gets the grease!
Fluffy is a bit stand-offish, but she's a total pig when it comes to food. I seriously considered overriding my nephew and naming her Double Stuff for her attempts to down a whole bottle in under 10 seconds.
The kittens are now sampling soft food, although they still rely on the bottle for most of their feeding. They've also learned what that big box of sand on the far end of the tub is for. A couple of days ago, while I was trying to make Fluffy poop after their feeding, I noticed Squeaky going to the litterbox. He did it again the next time too. It's like a light came on for him, and he figured out if he goes on his own, he doesn't have to endure the wet paper towel over the bottom routine (which these two seem to hate even more than the other bottle babies I've worked with). By the next day, both kittens were making regular trips to the litterbox. So, the icky part of this process appears to be over.
So much for the icky part being over with! I have been greeted by two hungry, poop-covered kittens the past two mornings. They have the hang of going to the litterbox now, except for one thing--they haven't figured out you're not supposed to step in the poop after you put it in the box! The good news is, adding the soft food to their diet has pretty much cleared up their constipation problem altogether looks like. They've been regular like clockwork since I started giving it to them. As expected, Fluffy is the more vigorous eater of the soft food much like she's the enthusiastic one with the bottle. She posed for a nice "food mustache picture" after eating this afternoon.
