Playing Catchup

Today marks the halfway point of the kittens' stay at my house. A quick survey of the photos and video I have taken up till now tells me if I try to do a post for every day they've been here so far, I'll still be working on their first week by the time they're due to go back to the shelter! So, here's a summary of my notes and photos for days 1-11. I'll post some of the videos at a later date.

Day 1 - Arrival (09/04/08)
Yeah, we're cute.

Day 2 - Settling In (09/05/08)
Eating? Check. Drinking water? Check. Using the litterbox? Check.

Dwayne has a slight runny nose, and seems to be very quiet and sleepy. Benny mostly hides although he did come out to play a bit. Possibly they're both just adjusting to new surroundings. After spending most of their lives in a shelter cage, my house must seem overwhelmingly enormous!

Day 3 - Dwayne vs. the Tapeworm (09/06/08)
I've been wondering why Benny is so much bigger than Dwayne, and seems much further along developmentally. Supposedly, they're both within a day or two of being the same five weeks of age. I chocked it up to them being different breeds, but perhaps it's because Dwayne has been sharing his meals with tapeworms! It's a good thing he spends so much time sitting in my lap--I spotted a worm when he "pooped" it out right onto my shorts! (Ewwww)

So, a trip to the shelter for the wee one to see the on-site vet technician. Poor little Benny had to get treated too. Dwayne clearly isn't feeling well, whether from the worm or the car-sickness he got on the way back home. At least he's finally eating again, thanks to a brilliant suggestion from the shelter's hotline to try giving him Gerber chicken baby food.

It's been a rough day.

Day 4 - Benny the Entertainer (09/07/08)
Dwayne is feeling a lot better today. He's eating regular kitten food again, and it's obvious that he kept down enough of the worm medicine that it did some good. He's even playing and purring some today.

It's becoming obvious that the way to Benny's heart is to play with him. It isn't all the neat little kitten toys the shelter sent home with me that piques his interest, though. It's items like a paper bag, a plastic cup, or a little strap that came off some unidentified Samsung device that was lying on the floor of my office. Here's a shot of him going after a sock. As my sister says, it's just like with kids. You buy them all kinds of neat toys, but they really want to play with the box.

Day 5 - 90% Pint-Size (09/08/08)
I got some food scales and weighed the kittens tonight.

Benny: A very squirmy 1 pound, 6 ounces
Dwayne: About 14 1/2 ounces. He's not even pint-size. he's only 90% pint-size!

Day 6 - Benny vs. the Steak 'n Shake Sack (09/09/08)
It was worth blowing my diet for all the fun Benny has had with the paper sack my calorie-packed dinner from a couple of nights ago came in.

Coming soon: A video of Benny kicking around the bag like a soccer ball.


Day 7 - Becoming Brothers (09/10/08)
I have to admit I was skeptical at first that Benny and Dwayne would bond as brothers. Their personalities just seemed so different when they first got here, and Benny's standard response to Dwayne's attempts to make friends was to either growl at him or hide. But in the last couple of days, I've caught them sleeping next to each other a few times, and since the worm medicine got Dwayne feeling better, they've even started to play together some. Their favorite game seems to be pouncing on each other and biting until one of them cries "uncle"!

Dwayne, being the smaller and less coordinated one has slipped into a little brother role in the relationship. He seems to look up to Benny as a role-model, and has even started trying to wash his face after he eats like "big brother" does. In today's photo, an unsuspecting Dwayne relaxes on top of the infamous Steak 'n Shake bag while Benny is sneaking up behind him to pounce.

Day 8 - Officially Pint-Size (09/11/08)
Dwayne now weighs a full 16 ounces. Benny has picked up an extra ounce too.

Day 9 - Meeting the Niece and Nephews (09/12/08)
The kittens met my niece and two nephews today. Benny was a little shy, and reverted to hiding when all three were on the loose. He seemed a little more comfortable, though, once he was safe from the four-year-old wielding the tennis racquet! Dwayne didn't seem phased at all by the smaller version of humans running around. He tried to make friends with all of them. Based on this very short, completely unscientific experiment, I would say Dwayne would be fine in a home with children of any age, while Benny would probably prefer his human companions to be six years or older.

Day 10 - Matter of Perspective (09/13/08)
It's been a lazy afternoon, spent sitting around following the latest news on Hurricane Ike, catching up on some work, and setting up this site. I did take a quick photo of Dwayne standing next to a tennis ball and volleyball my four-year-old nephew dredged up (I swear that kid has "future professional athlete" written all over him!).

Day 11 - Sleepyheads (09/14/08)
We had another trip to the shelter to see the veterinarian today. Turns out Dwayne's sniffling nose that's bothered him since he got here isn't an allergy after all. He has an upper respiratory infection. Unfortunately, the delay in proper diagnosis means that Benny has caught it too. Both kittens were bounding about like nothing was wrong this evening, but not before sleeping off the post-vet-visit miseries in my lap.