Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Attack of the Killer Kittens (aka read if you like loading times)

Mist being silly.

The short of it:
Cloud was adopted.
Chico was moved to another foster home while I was away, Mr. Attention did not enjoy the store.
I have to submit Flip's bio tonight.
Ashes has a gooey eye.

The long of it:
First, cute photos!!


Mist!


Juliette & Ashes!

Post vacation...look how huge they are!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Teh Stress

I feel terrible doing this, but I am really freaking out looking for someone to watch my kitties while I go on vacation.

I absolutely, from the bottom of my heart, totally promised Julien that my insane fostering would not impact negatively on him in any which way whatsoever - and now the time is looming overhead where I am supposed to be in Montreal in a few days - and I don't know what I am supposed to do!

Julien, if you read this I AM COMING, DON'T WORRY OR SAY "I TOLD YOU SO"!

In other news, all the pig-Os (that is apparently what I have taken to calling the kittens) are doing well. Everybody is at the very least trying both wet and solid food, and Mist looks ridiculous when she nurses. Litter training is...I saw a kitten use it once. So, they must be kind of doing it some of the time.

I feel really bad, and I have really been trying to not play favourites...but it's hard sometimes. Mist looks up at you with her scraggly fur and her pathetic whine and you just have to hold her. Julien (yes, I named a kitten after my boyfriend) has this amazing Gizmo from Gremlins face, and he's so fuzzy, and he rolls around and purrs like a maniac when you rub his tummy or head. Piglet (formerly Crystal...but with a penis), goes into the cuuuuuuuuutest little ball and cleans his face when you snuggle with him. He's also the smallest kitten.

Julien (the person) nicknamed the other two kittens "The Explorers"; they hardly ever sit still, and they're always MIA hiding somewhere. I'm trying to spend more time with them, and not just give in to the cuddlier ones...but Julien (the kitten) seriously has a face that makes me go "AWWWWWWWWWW" every five seconds and makes me not want to put him down.

In the last week, they've all gotten a lot more independant. They all run and -kind of- jump, and they're quit happy to play with one another or harass Chai's tail.

Heather told me she'll put Chico & Cloud in the Pet Valu tomorrow - and as sweet as those two are, I cannot wait. Chico has developed a habit of trying to nurse on my ear at night - I don't know why or how - but I am regularly awoken in the middle of the night to loud sucking noises and an ear full of saliva. I will not miss that.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

You know what I'm excited about?

GARBAGE COLLECTION TODAY!

GARBAGE MOUNTAIN SHALL FINALLY BE NO MORE!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Mini Update

I just wanted to quickly update, because things move so quickly.

I said last week that, you really do see the reasons you put up with all the death and sadness when you have a little army of kittens following you down the hall.

Last week Mist was all about the climbing, and the kittens, at a week behind, are getting into just that. I find them always trying to reach new high places - although they haven't reached Mist's affinity for it quite yet. That girl, seriously would climb anything, just for the sake of climbing. I perpetually found her on and in baskets, in the bathtub twice (although I assume Chai moved her), on my makeup case, on my vacuum... When you go to the washroom, there have been a few times I have discovered several kittens as high as my waist (they like to climb pants!).

It's just so amazing how fast it all goes. This week Mist has learned to run and jump, and she is just freaking hilarious because she'll jump in the air for no real reason. "Oh, a penny on the floor? That deserves a jump!". Not to mention this makes it harder than it already was to rewrangle the kittens. Mist knows to "run for the door" when I am trying to get them all back in place, put her in her box and she'll just take off for the hallway.

The feral kitties are doing all right. I gave up on caging Flip, the brown tabby, as he kept getting out god knows how. He hides from me still, but if you catch him while eating and hold him for a moment, he'll settle down around you and purr for more rubbing. Of course, 10 minutes later this is apparently all forgotten. Chloe is hilarious. She still hisses at me every time I approach her crate, and then as soon as you reach in and touch her she is purring like a motor and rolling around on the floor looking for more. Samba, the orange kitty, still hates my guts. What can you do!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Case of the Mondays

So, I freaked out.

The kitten, who I named Chirp, was being fed 1mL + every hour, and try as I might I could not get her to take any more...which necessitated the hourly feedings.

At 3am, I decided I needed to go to sleep...so, of course, I called a taxi and took her back to the VEC. The doctor was really sweet, and waived some of the fees for me to keep costs down as he knew I wasn't going to be reimbursed...after having 4 kittens die three weeks ago, I was just kind of like "fuck it, I am not losing another one".

Anyway, I left her there for the night, and I just got the call that she passed. She was like my little sidekick all day today, always snuggled to my chest, purring when you handled her. My little calico baby :(.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Madness!

Ok, so let me try to get this all written down in the minor calm that exists right now.

Where to begin?!

So, maybe Thursday it was, I became *that* person - I lost a cat.

I have a sliding door in my room. There were a few small holes at the top of the screen, but in the three years I've lived here, nobody has ever gotten out. The cats *love* lying against the screen, and that's about it. I put two of the feral kitties and the two grey kitties in the room with me, and while the grey kittens were fine, periodically I would see the feral ones climbing the screen. To err on the side of caution, I closed the door when I was asleep, or not in the room.

Of course, one day I went to the bathroom and forgot to close it. I came back to see the brown Tabby kitten perched 8 feet up, balancing his body on the thin bit of mesh. This was my "oh shit" moment - I knew he was pretty much gone at this point, as his incredibly slow socialization process meant that if I got any closer he'd bolt from me. So, I stood back and watched, and seconds later he was on my roof, followed by my neighbour's roof...

&oh, of course, the joy in this process was two fold. For not only did I have to check the trap Heather loaned me for him every two hours, during this adventure I rediscovered two of Mist's original kittens. That had apparently been dug up. &Half eaten. &Left in maggot infested state for me to discover. That was not a great day.

On the first day, I caught someone else's cat. The weather, knowing my predicament, decided to let loose every time I reset the trap. Which washed away all the food, and made me travel at 11pm in the downpour to my neighbour's yard, to try and eek by a palette of building materials, to reclaim my trap so that if by any chance an animal had been caught, it wouldn't be waiting in the torrential blanket of rain until morning.

Long story short, day 2, 11pm, I found him in the cage and in the midst of four raccoons. I was so pissed off at that little kitten.

I wasn't sure if I was being nuts about Chai not nursing well. Some people told me that she'd be nursing them less often as the kittens aged, and so just because I didn't see it, didn't mean that it wasn't happening.

This is where I got a 24h flu, and was essentially unable to remove myself from my bed. I worried, and called my friend to come and supplement feed the kittens for me, and as the day wore on he still hadn't shown, so I decided I could find it in myself to give them at least something until he arrived.

I found the calico kitten fairly close to death. My mother, whom I hadn't spoken to in almost ten years, had my brother call me to see if there was anything that they could do for me, because apparently they had read on Facebook that I had the flu. I don't even know how to describe how I felt, so I was just like "You know what? You can take my kitten to the emergency veterinary clinic." &that's what happened. With how sick I was, there was just no way I could properly care for her at that point.

So, after 12h of monitoring and feedings, she is back home. Cloud & Chico (my half brother named them) are ready to be put on the site, except I don't have a moment to try and take decent pictures, or write a bio...and my house is an absolute nightmare. 36h of not changing cat litter pans - when you have 6 of them - does not equal a good time. Not to mention that the kittens can now evacuate on their own, and so there is a new tiny poo every time I walk into my bathroom. The calico kitten also came home from the vet covered in feces, so I need to give her a bath too! &oh lordy, then I have to go spend time with Chloe (one of the ferals).

Stress??!!?! :P

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Early morning rambling

Oh lord, so much has happened in the last few days. I haven't had a moment to sit down and write it all down yet.

On a shorter note, two things I hate:
1) Chai's nursing habits. One day she's all "I am nursing all the tiiiime" and the next, it's like she can't be bothered with her kittens.

2) How quickly kittens deteriorate. I found the calico kitten fairly lethargic yesterday, so I started supplement feeding her. She seems to have improved a good deal over the last 24h, and of course when I get up to feed her, I find Mist considerably lethargic. I prepared 2x the formula and away we went - until one of the grey kittens knocked the bowl over. I am just going to start feeding them all and try to get Mist weened asap. Oh joy ><.