The Respiratory Infection Strikes. Again.

It seems to be a necessary rite of passage that at least one kitten out of every litter I foster ends up coming down with a respiratory infection at some point. Sedona got tagged with it this time, which is unfortunate because she was finally getting over her instinct to hide whenever she saw me coming. Now, she doesn't know if she's going to be petted, fed, or be given some icky-tasting medicine when she sees me, so she assumes the worst and runs. Since these infections are obviously a common problem for young kittens, I wonder why they can't figure out a way to make a medicine that tastes like chicken or tuna?

Vegas and Phoenix have to take the medicine too, but so far, it hasn't affected their progress in becoming sociable kittens. But Sedona truly hates it. She acts like I poisoned her when I give her the medicine! Fortunately, they only have to take it a few more days, so hopefully Sedona will regain her ground quickly. She was really doing great before this.

The kittens did catch a bit of a break, though. They were supposed to have their vaccinations yesterday, but that got postponed until after they're done taking antibiotics. I'm sure they're not too upset that they didn't have to go in for shots this week.

Everybody Loves the Shoes

I'm not sure what it is about sneakers that fascinates kittens, but they can't seem to get enough of them. Phoenix, Vegas, and Sedona, just like every one of their predecessors, love to climb on my shoes, and especially, to use them as a scratching post. Of course, that second thing is a habit I'll be trying to break them of very soon, but for now, I'm taking it as a good sign that they're comfortable enough with me to crawl around on the size 10's and even scratch them a little.

The kittens continue to improve their courage daily. They still scurry away sometimes when I reach out to pet them and catch them off guard, but more and more, they have started to stand their ground. The two boys even approach the door now when I come into their room, and Sedona usually comes out very soon after. The little Samsung cell phone strap that provided hours of entertainment to Benny last year was a critical tool in helping them become more comfortable with my hands. I could get all three of them chasing it while I dragged it around the floor, and every so often, I'd sneak in a scratch behind the ears. That exercise was especially helpful to Sedona, whose social skills are finally catching up to her brothers'. The last three sentences were written in past tense for a reason, by the way--the Samsung strap has mysteriously gone missing. Apparently, one of the kittens has hidden it!

Too bad for them that they didn't think to hide the toenail clippers too. Clipping their toenails was something I was really dreading, but they needed it desperately, and so did my feet, which were getting scratched up when they "missed" the shoe. I didn't want to undo all the hard work of gaining their trust, but it finally just had to be done. They actually did better than I thought they would, and I made sure to feed them immediately afterwards so they hopefully would remember "yummy food", not "mean Mommy clipped my toenails"! They don't seem to be harboring a grudge, but their toenails have grown back so fast, that I'll probably have to clip them again before the end of the week.

Speaking of food, I have cut them back to just one soft food feeding a day. With their gorging on the dry food between feedings, they were having diarrhea from over-eating. Since the shelter wants them mostly on dry food anyway by the time they're ready for adoption, it didn't make sense to backtrack and cut out the dry food. But we make the one soft food feeding count. I give it to them from a saucer on my lap. It's helped them become more comfortable sitting there, and in the last couple of days, they have started to linger around a little after their feeding for some cuddling. Sometimes they'll even come sit in my lap when I don't have food.

Now that the kittens are fairly comfortable with me, the next step will be to introduce them to some other people. Hopefully, I can enlist my neighbors for some help with that.

Really Big Baby Steps

Given all the hissing, growling, and cowering in the corner the kittens did when I first brought them home, I am amazed at how far they've come in such a short time. They are behaving a lot more like "normal" kittens now, playing and wrestling with each other, and in general just seem a lot happier than they did on Saturday. The keys to breaking the ice with them have proven to be food, playing, and apparently, giving medicine. Little Phoenix, who I expected would be the last to warm up to me since I was having to put medicine in his eyes twice a day, is actually the leader of the pack when it comes to being brave around the big scary human. He still gets shy when I'm standing up, but otherwise, he has almost completely stopped shrinking away when I reach for him, and even comes up to me now on his own, whether I have food with me or not. He likes to sit right in front of me, and seems to really like being petted. He's quickly becoming Mommy's favorite.

Vegas enjoys being petted too--in fact, once he gets going, he's the best of the three at really getting into it. He still tries to run away when I first reach for him, but if I catch him off guard and start petting him, he purrs, and even rolls over on his back so I can scratch his belly. Both he and Phoenix will sit in my lap now occasionally.

But what Vegas really likes to do is play. Now that he's coming out of his shell a little, he's becoming active and adventurous. Teasers, balls, little pieces of paper--anything he can find he'll play with. The boxes that I have never gotten around to unpacking from my move have provided hours of amusement both to these kittens and to Squeaky and Fluffy. I may have to purposefully leave a few in there permanently. It's way too cute watching them stand on their hind legs on top of a box looking out the window.

Little Sedona is learning quickly, but she was, and still is, lagging a bit behind her brothers. She's had a very good day today, though. During their last socialization session, she apparently got tired of watching Phoenix and Vegas getting all the attention and decided to find out whether there might be something to that petting thing after all. She let me pet her and even purred. Hopefully, having a pleasant experience with it will be a bit of a breakthrough for her. Until today, she took off running if she even thought I was going to try petting her.

So far, half so good on the litterbox usage with these three. They've got poop down pretty well. They all use the box, and even cover it up afterwards. They're not even kicking much litter out of the box. However, at least one of them still needs to work on wee-wee a little. I keep finding puddles of it on the painter's tarp I covered the floor with (at least they're going on the tarp and not the carpet!). I finally put a second litterbox in the room today over the top of where they've been going. So far, as near as I can tell, they're using it, or else the puddles on the floor are drying before I get there. I did spot one of them going in the box today, so maybe they'll all follow his example.

Meet Vegas, Phoenix, and Sedona

My latest tiny house guests are three brown tabbies between four and five weeks old (I'm guessing closer to five). Their original shelter names were Sun, Sunshine, and Sunset, but that was way too confusing. So, I stuck with the sun theme, but renamed them after three of my favorite sunny places in the US. From left to right they are Phoenix (male), Vegas (male), and Sedona (female).

Vegas is the biggest and also the bravest of the three, but that's very relative. All of them are extremely shy and afraid, and even seem a little sad. They probably miss their mommy.

Phoenix has an eye infection, which unfortunately means I have to get off on the wrong foot with him a little by giving him medicine twice a day. So far, he just sits motionless in my lap while I'm giving it to him, but that's likely a sign of fear, not fondness for the situation. He did seem to enjoy having his chin scratched a little, but he still shies away from initial contact.

Sedona is the smallest and shyest of the three. She's adorably cute, but spends most of her time hiding when she's not eating. Hopefully, she'll get tired of missing out on all the fun soon.

When I first got them home yesterday, the kittens wanted nothing to do with me. Phoenix and Sedona even hissed and growled at me if I got too close. They have made a tremendous amount of progress, though, even just in one day. They have already started to associate my presence with food, which is the first step in earning their trust. I was able to get all three to eat food from my hand, and even got them to play a little with the feather teaser. Vegas, especially, was into that. Underneath his shyness, I think there may be a personality similar to Squeaky in there.

Vegas, Phoenix, and Sedona obviously have a long way to go with their socialization, but it looks like they're going to be fast learners. Because the camera frightens them, I will probably not take any more pictures of them until they are fully comfortable with me, which may be a couple of weeks.

Squeaky and Fluffy Available for Adoption Soon

Squeaky and Fluffy returned to the Nevada SPCA for the final time this morning. They are scheduled for their spay and neuter today, and I'm told they will be available for adoption as early as tomorrow. After having run of the house the past couple of weeks, they're going to hate being cooped up in a single room (albeit a rather larger room) while they're awaiting their permanent homes, but they'll have lots of friends their age to play with. Somehow, I don't think it's going to take these two long to find that special family. They're very sociable and playful.

Squeaky and Fluffy made good use of their final week at Mommy's house. As is obvious from the picture at the top of this post, they discovered the cat tree. Squeaky also discovered the Starchaser--a toy that consists of a big plastic circle with a ball that rolls around the outside and lights up when moved. I have a funny (and very brief) video clip of him playing with it. He accidentally moved it across the tile floor and it made a noise that startled him. He jumped off and ended up jettisoning the Starchaser across the room.



Squeaky is without a doubt the most adventurous kitten I've fostered to date, and he was at it to the end. Yesterday, I was making homemade brownies, and saw Squeaky climb onto the nearest object he could find to get a good view (which happened to be the TV stand). He stood on his hind legs contemplating whether he could make the leap from the TV stand to the counter. At first I wasn't worried because I thought "no way he tries that". But next thing I know, there's a kitten on the counter quickly making his way over to see what I was stirring in the big bowl. I put him back on the floor and resumed brownie-making, but he immediately repeated his jump, and after a couple more iterations of this, I gave up and just moved to a different counter that he wasn't able to jump onto (yet). He definitely has a very outgoing personality, and isn't afraid of anything or anybody. He's also got a snuggly side. When he finally got sleepy, he'd settle into my lap for some snoozing.

Fluffy got very sociable there at the end. She never could sit still long enough to fall asleep in my lap, but she would "visit" me on the couch over and over again throughout the day, and would usually purr the second I touched her. She does still have a shy streak, though, especially around people she doesn't know well, and she was a lot more timid than Squeaky about trying new things (like the cat tree). The up side of her timidness is that I never had to rescue my cooking from her! She still doesn't like to be picked up, even by people she knows well, but if you sit there and be patient she'll eventually make her way over for some attention--or just dangle a toy and she'll come running. She loves to play.

Squeaky and Fluffy were in my home for 12 weeks. They were probably about two weeks old when I got them, making them about 14 weeks old now. It's amazing how much they've grown and how different they look, especially Fluffy. She's now a gorgeous silver beauty with golden eyes and faint tabby markings that give her a rather exotic appearance. Quite the change from the porky, carpet-fuzz little thing she was when she first arrived. Looking back at a photo I took of them on July 21, she's not even recognizable as the same kitten!

Squeaky's physical appearance hasn't changed as dramatically, but his personality sure has. When I first got him, he was timid with the bottle, and I ended up using a syringe to feed him to make sure he got enough to eat. Now, he goes after everything in life--including food--with reckless abandon and joy.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Squeaky and Fluffy have lived in my "new" Las Vegas home almost as long as I have. When I mentioned how sad it was for them to be leaving after being here so long, someone at the shelter asked me if I'd ever considered adopting any of my fosters. The answer is: Yes, every single one. But I remind myself that if I were to adopt every kitten that stayed in my home, I would eventually no longer be able to foster. Because Squeaky and Fluffy are moving on, my home is now available to three five-week-old youngsters who have been waiting around in a cage at the shelter for the kind of one-on-one care and socializing that only a stint in someone's home can provide. Their story will begin in a subsequent post, but for now, here's wishing Squeaky and Fluffy a quick recovery, and a safe and happy journey to their next destination on life's train.

Stretch Run

Squeaky and Fluffy got their second set of vaccinations on 9/24, and are now in their last week at my home. This Thursday it will be time to schedule their spay/neuter, and they will return to the shelter to begin the next phase in their lives--finding a permanent home.

It didn't take Squeaky long after my last post to finally get the confidence to attempt the leap over the gate in front of their door. Now, he jumps it the minute the door is open, so the game of peek-a-boo around the door has ceased. Their new favorite game is "jump over the gate before Mommy catches me".

Since it was becoming clear the kittens needed more space to roam around, I have started letting them have free run of the house during the day once my resident cat, Pablo, has eaten and gone into his favorite cabinet to nap. They usually start out with a lot of energy, chasing each other up and down the hall as fast as they can run. Then, they make their way over to Pablo's dish to finish up whatever canned food he left behind. Eventually, they settle down a little and spend most of the rest of the day hanging out in whatever room I'm in.

Fluffy is still far from being a lap cat, but her social skills have improved immensely in the last couple of weeks. She purrs instantly when you pet her, and she has begun to sit in my lap for short periods. She's still not a big fan of being picked up, and will usually leap down immediately if I do. But as long as it's her idea, she will sit in my lap and purr until something else gets her attention (which takes about 15 seconds max--she has the attention span of a 2-year-old human child!).

Squeaky continues to show his adventurous side. If there's a way to climb it, crawl into it, bat it around, or knock it over, he'll figure it out. He's a typical, rambunctious boy. He's also a real sweetheart. He really enjoys being held and petted, and for some reason, he likes to follow me around the kitchen when I'm cooking. Maybe he thinks I'm making food for kittens!

Assuming my initial estimate of two-weeks-old when I got them is correct, Squeaky and Fluffy will be about 14 weeks old when they return to the shelter for adoption. They have been in my home almost as long as I have--I moved in on July 11, and the kittens arrived on July 18. The house is going to seem strangely empty when they're gone.