The (Almost) No Photo Update

My laptop is in serious need of a complete wipe and re-do. That was never more obvious than this update that's been nearly three hours in the making thanks to Windows Explorer crashing every time I tried to copy my latest set of photos from the camera. Regardless, I was determined not to let yet another day go by without posting an update, so I finally manage to grab two of the pictures off my camera (probably not the best two), and here goes...

As much as Fluffy hates having to take medicine before her meals (I have the scratches to prove it), it has worked wonders for her. Her eyes are cleared up, and she obviously feels better. She's finally started to come out of her shell a little, and is becoming very playful, and yes, even loving. In fact, she's been out-doing Squeaky on the purr-ball meter the past couple of days.

She's also found a new favorite toy. After weeks of waiting for the kittens to take an interest in the little feather teaser I bought just for them, they've both finally started playing with it, especially Fluffy. She'll even play with it when it's just lying on the floor without human assistance to make it "go".

The kittens now have a new challenge to overcome. Their little game of "beat Mommy out the door" was probably a lot of fun for them, but after it resulted in a few instances of "let's get lost behind the washer and dryer", not to mention a near ugly encounter with my resident cat, I decided to put an end to this game for now, and rigged up a gate in front of the door. Now when I open the door, the kittens can't dart out into the hall. Of course, it's only a matter of time before they figure out how to get over my little gate, but in the meantime, it's nice not having to go track them down every time I open the door to feed them.

Quest for the Perfect Fluffy Photo

There's a reason why Squeaky seems to get more than his fair share of top billing around here - the camera loves him, and he seems to love it right back. Or at least, he's capable of doing cute things in conjunction with having his picture taken. Fluffy? Not so much. Part of it is because she's had some trouble with her eyes matting, for which she now has to have medicine three times a day. As a result, she's usually not presentable for a photo to begin with, with the goop around her eyes. Which is unfortunate, because she's really turning into quite a gorgeous young lady. Her eyes have turned from baby blue to a blueish gray in the last 48 hours, which matches her light gray fur perfectly. At first glance, she appears to be a solid, smokey color, but if you look closely, you'll see a few faint tabby markings on her sides. All in all, she's looking like she's going to be a beautiful cat.

Squeaky is still a typical boy. His favorite game right now is to run out the door to their room when I come in for feedings or to play with them. He usually comes back, though, once he figures out all the fun is going to happen in the room!

Both kittens appear to have crossed several milestones in the past couple of days. I've seen both drinking water from their dish, and they have finally figured out that the little brown kibble is for eating, not playing in. However, the biggest milestone appears to have happened today -- all poops were covered up. Apparently they're finally learning to bury it, not step in it. It's about time!

Six Weeks and Growing

Apologies for the long delay in posting. The day after Squeaky's great adventure, I woke up feeling sick to my stomach, and in general like something was "not right". It felt like I was both hot and cold at the same time, and I had a bad pain under my right rib cage. As the day progressed, it got worse, not better. I finally decided to go to the doctor. Turns out, I had a gall bladder infection, caused by gall stones I didn't even know I had! To make a long story short, my gall bladder had to be removed. After the surgery, I spent several very painful days in the hospital (I thought this was supposed to be an "easy" surgery!) until finally, I was able to keep food down so they could send me home. The recovery is going well now, after a slow start, but today is the first day I've been up for spending an hour on the floor trying to get a good picture of the kittens. Many thanks to my good friends and neighbors, Becky and Jay, for looking after the little ones while I was away.

Squeaky and Fluffy are now six weeks old. They grew a lot while I was in the hospital. They're fully weaned, and are starting to be more active, playing with toys and each other. Fluffy has a bit of a shy streak, while Squeaky is still the adventurous one. Both could use a bit more training with the litterbox. They still struggle with the concept of not stepping in the poo after they go! Hopefully they'll start associating those baths they hate so much with this unfortunate behavior soon, because despite what they may think, I actually don't enjoy "torturing" them with water every day! It's maybe my least favorite part of raising kittens. (OK, it's a close second to those middle of the night feedings).

Squeaky's Great Adventure

Oh my.

I knew letting the kittens have run of the bathroom before they fully mastered their litterbox skills was a bad idea. I just knew it. I didn't know how bad an idea or why, though. Yes, they did make a big mess of the floor, but that was the least of the problem. While I was cleaning up said mess, I suddenly noticed that Squeaky had vanished into thin air. He was nowhere to be found. At first I thought he'd managed to get into the garbage bag, despite me having it faced away from where they were playing and on the other end of the room. But after going through the garbage piece by piece, and no Squeaky, I was stumped. The door was closed. No way he squeezed under it. Fluffy was acting really weird too, crying and walking around in circles. Something was very wrong.

I noticed Fluffy was hanging out next to the right end of the cabinet, kind of cowering in the corner, maybe from the shock of being without her brother in sight for the first time ever, or maybe because she sensed there was a serious problem. Then I realized that the cries I was hearing weren't just hers. So I got down on the floor and looked to see if maybe there was a hole under the cabinet or something. Sure enough, there was an opening just the size for a small kitten to fit through, and for extra fun, with a drop-off too far down on the other side for him to get back out again. And that's where he was. Ugh.

Mind you, this wasn't a hole that you would notice if you, say, looked around the room from a standing position to verify it was safe before letting two young kittens have run of it like I did yesterday. That would be too simple. Nope, this hole was straight up and completely obscured from view to anyone taller than three inches. The only way you'd notice it is if you got down on your hands and knees and reached way up under the cabinet, which of course, I didn't do. Apparently, Squeaky had somehow (maybe with a boost from Fluffy's back?) gotten up through that hole and ended up wedged into a small space on the other side between the cabinet and the wall. Problem was, he couldn't get back out again, and the area was far too small for human hands to reach in and get him.

I waited for a bit to see if maybe he would come out on his own after all, but once feeding time came and he was clearly hungry and struggling to get out, it became obvious he wasn't going to be able to do it by himself. He was stuck. Plain and simple. And so, it was time to take more drastic measures. I tried calling the handyman that had done work on my house recently to see if he could make an emergency visit to get Squeaky out, but wasn't able to reach him. Since I'm new in town, I wasn't sure who else to call, and Squeaky was really starting to worry me with his behavior. At one point, he seemed to go completely limp and wasn't moving--at least the tiny part of him I could actually touch wasn't moving. I had no visibility into that hole, so I wasn't sure what was back there. Sharp nails? Another hole in the wall that he could follow and get himself thoroughly lost? With the view I had, I couldn't even check to see if he was injured, let alone feed him. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

With the help from my neighbor's niece and nephew, we were able to open up a gap big enough to get my hand in to pull him out. He was OK physically, but really shook up by the experience. He clung tightly to my shirt with all four paws for a full ten minutes until I finally pried him loose so I could feed him. His ordeal didn't hurt his appetite, though--he downed almost an entire bottle!

Needless to say, the kittens have temporarily lost their floor privileges, and are back in the tub until I am satisfied I have that hole (and the one just like it on the other end of the cabinet--ugh) completely inaccessible. This fine mess was brought to you by a new homeowner's unfamiliarity with her new surroundings, and a young kitten's insatiable curiosity. Wow. Just wow.

Moving Up

Against my better judgment, the kittens got some bigger digs today. I couldn't stand watching them futilely trying to climb out of the bathtub one more second. So, I moved them and all their stuff to the bathroom floor, knowing full well that I'll probably have one ginormous mess to clean up tomorrow, since they still haven't mastered the complex art of pooping in the litterbox without stepping in it and tracking it everywhere. So far, they've used their new-found freedom well, but I'm not naive. They'd already had their daily poops by the time I moved them. I fully expect to be mopping up little brown footprints by morning. Ew!

The kittens are eating so well off the plate now that I could probably discontinue the bottle altogether if I wanted to. I'm giving them a couple of bottle feedings a day, anyway, though because if they had a real momma cat, they'd still be nursing occasionally at their age. Besides, they've been such good little kitties they deserve to have a nice warm "dessert" of KMR as a reward for cleaning their plates!