That is green-collared Nirvana’s leg sticking out in front, and the rest of the paws belong to Nikolai. They had gotten very cozy, but polite (no butt-sucking). Noir often sleeps with one eye open, twitching away and looking rather scary.
They all eat kibble now, although only Nirvana and Noir eat it crunchy dry. Nelly and Nikolai still like it sogged.
And, in recent news, google developed an artificial intelligence that watches cat videos.
Not the cutest picture, but a story. On the 20th, when Bob was feeding them, Nikolai lets the bottle free and—no nipple tip! Bob gave up on the BEBHS phone tree and phoned me at work. I figured choking was the main hazard and that hadn’t happened, it might be elsewhere in the room, or one way or the other it would pass. It’s not something that would show up on an X-ray. Nikolai showed no signs of distress then or since then, no straining to poop, no reduction in appetite nor bloating. And eventually he’d get big enough to pass it. I hadn’t thought about it getting bigger or softer.
Yesterday, they had shots and worming. This morning, there’s the swollen nipple, in what I think was a bit of spit-up. The diameter is about 30% bigger on the ingested portion, and it’s more flexible than before its long soak. Nikolai’s appetite is still good.
The “power failure report” just provided a white background; it was an Uninterruptible Power Supply printout from 1994, which has been sitting in our scrap paper for a while.
The laundry basket became a carnival ride with one kitten, Nelly, on top, rolling it around. That’s Nirvana inside. This was a little deck outing before their vet visit. They’ve now been wormed and had their first vaccinations.
They learned climbing right away. These ties are sewn to the cloth strips that are sewn between the carpet rectangles and they’re holding better than twine or tape have. Plus they’re apparently fun to chew.
The kittens are loving having extra space to run and new things to explore. I’m enjoying being able to put things on table tops and not having them swept off.
The kittens had their last bottle last night. They are eating pretty well, although they do enjoy having food from my fingers instead of having to get their face down in the food dish.
They also got to play out on the deck for a while and get some sunshine. The downstairs room has better window placement for getting sun, but the extra space is worth the move.
Misha and Masha got taken to another foster home today–turns out they did have other names: Frida and Wesley. You can see them up for adoption at http://www.cattownoakland.org/cats.html.
Then I spent 2 hours cleaning out their room and installing the N kittens, and cleaning the former N kitten room. I figure for a day or so I’ll keep them caged except when I’m with them, to make sure they know where their things are, especially the litter boxes. I’m weaning them too; they had a bottle this morning and I guess I give them one tonight, and then it’s foodville from then on. They all can eat, but they still like the bottle.
Misha and Masha may be getting a new foster home Saturday sometime. They’ve become very social with just me in the room. Even Misha comes to me on his own. Plus he’s a total sucker for a brisk brushing. Masha does a lot of tagging me with head mushings. They both do a lot of furniture rearranging: the plastic step stool, the cardboard scratcher, the trash can.
They still get shy when new people are in the room. Masha will come out to play with the leopard cloth strip. Misha turtles in the carrier. He doesn’t seem terrified, just uncomfortable.
The little N-kittens are starting to eat more–I should have them weaned this weekend. Noir started eating kibble on his own, just crunching away. I gave them a bowl of water to trip in. So far, they’ve not made a mess of it. They’re also all finally gaining weight well. It was too discouraging to plot for the first week, when they just oscillated around their initial weights.
Misha and Masha freaked when a crow flew close by the window. I then cleared a window space and provided a way up to the sill and they spent much of the afternoon studying birds–they’d not entirely comfortable with finches even, chasing flies, and being beautiful. For naptime though, there’s nothing like my test computer boards and cords (covered to reduce idle chewing). I’ve been doing a lot of programming lately, and I have the computer just in front of this, so they can reach out and pat or nibble my mousing hand.
Bob gave them the N cats’ science diiet canned food by mistake Sunday night when I was out and they loved it. They didn’t want their old stuff after that. I had some felidae canned food for them and they accepted that. I think they like a little variety.
I’ve jerry-rigged the little ones a longer space in Mackenzie’s room. Nikolai showed me he could climb the drawers to get on the bed, so I blocked that route with folders. The C&H bag covers the cord to their heating pad, as do the towels. They really will need a more secure place soon; there are too many nearly inaccessible places in this room.
Most of these kittens will not take a bottle if they had one within 3 or 4 hours, but most will take chicken pieces any time. I’m mixing some home-cooked chicken with their uninteresting food, working on the incentive business. Nelly and Noir will sometimes eat food on their own. Nirvana and Nikolai often require prying their mouths open enough to get a taste in. Cheese was not a miracle for all 4, and chicken is healthier anyhow. The upstairs cats think chicken is the most amazing thing in the world, but they only get a little bit, as a treat.
Brushing is magic for Misha (as for Nora). He even approached me this morning, getting close enough for me to put him on my lap and brush him. He starts grabbing my legs, which he’s learning I don’t like, but he’s much more relaxed about being held or petted.
Yesterday though, he barfed twice and was low on appetite. They finished the Science Diet kibble, and Cattown brought some other brand, which they like a lot. No barfing today, back to normal activity, a little less chowing down on the canned food, but that may be because they’re eating kibble.
The little N crew continues with ups and downs, sometimes gulping down a bottle full, sometimes refusing. Nelly and Noir have enthusiastically eaten canned food, I think once each. They’re not gaining much nor losing much, which is worrisome but not alarming. The butt nuzzling may be toning down a little.
I opened their area out a little further and put in a real litter box. They like the scamper space.
They all ate better yesterday than today, but I imagine they’re just settling in. Some will eat food off a finger or even off the plate, some of the time. Some will suck at a bottle well, some of the time. They all took their 2nd dose of panazuril nicely, although they weren’t pleased. They use the litter box some of the time, and most move off to a corner to squat but not necessarily the litter box corner. Because their area is small, I just set up a small cardboard box and lined it with newspaper for their interim litter box.
I hope Misha and Masha get a home or alternate foster person soon because it’s harder to focus on 2 sets. The little guys need frequent but not constant attention; the big guys need support for being social.
So These are The N kittens–yes, they’re black, but their names are Noir, Nirvana, Nelly, and Nikolai. They’re about 3 weeks old, starting to be weaned, and the girls have some issues with butt-sucking. I’ve set them up in an area of Mackenzie’s room until Misha and Masha move out, with a little area to wander in and no carrier so I can swoop in and say “Hey! Cut that out!”
So far, I’ve just moved them in, given them a bottle, tidied butts, and weighed them. I’ll start pushing food later.
yetMoreFosterKittens 