Day 36/128 Visit to the Vet

On Saturday the kittens went to the Vet to have their first set of vaccinations. The good news is that they are all healthy and have gained weight since the last time they were at the Vet.  The not so great news is that Violet didn't get a vaccination because the Vet felt she was too little and thought the stress the vaccination would put on her system might be too much.  Dahlia is the biggest kitten at 1.4lbs and Violet is the smallest at 0.6lbs.  The last time the kittens went to the Vet Violet and Marigold weighed 0.4lbs and now Marigold weighs 1.2lbs so she has caught up to Dahlia, Lily and Rose!

Violet on the other hand just doesn't seem to be growing very quickly.  Mom and the Vet discussed her in great length and there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her so they're just going to monitor her more closesly and make sure that she is gaining weight.  She hadn't gained any weight in the week leading up to the Vet visit but Mom weighed her last night and she's gained about 1oz in the past 4 days.  This is great news! It would be better if it was twice that much but at least she is gaining weight.

Violet might be little, but she's pretty brave.  She is less crazy than the other kittens, but she can certainly do everything that they do.  Mom says Violet is her favorite because she doesn't use Mom as a chew toy.  I think she smells really good because I'm always going up to her and sniffing her.

Mom hasn't taken nearly as many pictures of this bunch of kittens as the last, but she says that's because there's been more playing and less picture taking.  She has managed to step up the picture taking a bit.

Try as one might, it's quite difficult to see inside a kittens mouth...unless you've got a camera and it's nap time.

Pleeeeease can't we go outside!  You'll note my legs in the background of the picture.  Not to brag, but only one of the five of us got to go outside after this picture was taken.

Day 28/120 Valentine Has an Adoption Application!

That's right blog readers, Valentine has an application.  A nice lady from St. Albert is interested in adopting Valentine.  In fact, Mom says she's pretty sure the lady is already completely in love with Valentine and she hasn't even met him yet. She doesn't even know half of how great he is!  Mom says St. Albert is really far away and therefore the lady is coming down to see Valentine on July 1 or 2.  Mom says that's alright with her because Valentine is very busy taking care of the kittens!

As you can see, Valentine has been teaching Kenna how to take over once he leaves.

The kittens have grown quite a lot in the past couple of weeks.  They have really filled out and are pretty much the size they should be for their age.  All except for Violet, she's still half the size of an average 8 week old kitten.  She is gaining lots of weight and isn't skinny any more; she's just a really tiny kitten.

Mom has been trying to take a picture that gives a perspective of how small Violet is.  This isn't great, but here she is beside an avocado.  Which Violet was hoping was food and was disappointed that she couldn't eat. For a little kitten she is hungry all the time!

The kittens are rarely awake and in the same place at the same time so this is the best picture that Mom has taken of them all together.  Even if she did have to wake them up and Violet is giving her the stink eye.

Kenna has decided that she likes the kittens too. They're big enough (and brave enough) to play with her so she thinks they're ok.














Well I have to run. Sierra is staying with us for a few days and I have to get in all the doggie play time that I can!

Day 16/108 Growing Up

A lot has been happening over the past couple of weeks and Mom has been very busy!  Firstly, I'd like to say that Kenna is my new best friend.  We have started to play together and sleep beside one another on the couch.  I just wish that she could go outside with me, but Mom says that's not allowed.  Oh well, we'll just run more inside the house!

Beaker and Honeydew have moved to another foster home.  One of Mom's work friends decided they'd like to give fostering a try so they took them last Friday.  The couple that took them are Oscar's first Mom and Dad so I know they are going to be well taken care of until they can find their forever homes. I hope that Meg and Kent like fostering and will continue to do so because that would be like an extension of my wish and means we could help twice as many animals.

The younger kittens are doing very well.  Mom started to feed them some milk with a syringe because she was concerned they weren't getting enough liquid.  They LOVE it!  They scream and fight with one another to get up on her lap first.  She's cut it back a bit since she first started because now that the kittens are all eating well she wants them to learn to eat and drink on their own.  Mom figures it's mostly the ceremony that they like because they won't drink the same milk out of a bowl.  Mom says that because they don't have a Mom she understands that they still need that comfort of nursing.

All the kittens went to the vet last week to get checked out.  The Vet said they are all healthy, but quite small and thin.  The littlest ones only weigh 0.4lbs. That was the day after Mom had started to supplement with the milk but now they all have full bellies and are growing like weeds.  Violet is still really small and thin, but she spends the most time in the food bowl.  She doesn't like to drink as much milk as the others, but she's drinking more every day.  She is very active and playful so Mom says she's sure she will catch up to the others.

Dahlia is the biggest of the kittens and the most mischievous.  If there can be any kind of danger involved in what she's doing then that is what she does.

Marigold is one of the tiniest kittens.  Mom calls her Bobble Head because her head seems to be so much bigger than the rest of her body.  She's grown quite a bit in the past week and now she's got long skinny legs.

At first Kenna didn't like the kittens at all!  She'd hiss and swat at them.  Then she'd walk around growling at them.  Now she's decided that they're OK.  She's started to play with them and groom them.  Which they really need because they are messy little kittens and no matter how many times Mom washes their faces they still look ratty.

Of course Valentine loves the kittens.  As you can see they have a lot of growing to do before they'll be as big as him.  Actually, Mom says it's highly unlikely they'll ever be as big as him.









Lastly, we have one more cat that is staying with us.  Her name is Zoe and she's not very happy to be here and therefore doesn't want her picture taken.  Mom brought her to see if she would nurse the kittens since she had 8 week old kittens of her own.  She wanted nothing to do with the kittens.  She also don't like Val or Kenna.  She loves me though!  But then again, everybody loves me.  Mom says hopefully another foster home is going to take her in the next few days. It's unfortunate that Zoe hangs out by herself all day.  She is very, very friendly towards humans, she just doesn't like other cats.