Kitteh Committee

Momma cat on a shelf making it clear that she in no way plans on breast feeding anymore.  Hell, she wanted to bottle feed in the first place, damnit.

What?  Food where?  I'll get it.

This is the little evil one.  The climber of legs and harasser of siblings.  Notice the little half 'stache, not food, the mark of evil. 

This little kitteh speaks.  No really.  When I brought in the canned food for their last meal of the night, she said and I quote "Dude, carry me.  It's like really far and stuff."  She rolled over onto her back and meowed as if to literally, be picked up and carried to the plate of food.  Erhm, no.  You, stoner cat, can walk.

Now onto the more... pathetic looking kittehs.  This is the sibling to the little black kitty, which Beth at http://journals.aol.com/luvrte66/nutwoodjunction/ has dubbed LBK.  He could actually be a really pretty kitteh if I could keep his face clean.

Yes, little LBK, really is THAT homely looking.  And yes, this was the best photo I could get on my own.  He wants to be BESIDE you, NOT in front of you.  He is gray under the black, which should explain the funny looking fur to some extent.  I will try for a better photo tomorrow.

More Kitten updates

I'm still very concerned for this black kitty.  He's eating, drinking, pooping but there's just something wrong.  The only outward signs that there is need to be worried is his overly distended abdomen (he waddles!) and the fact that the never plays at all, just eats, sleeps and poops.  I feel like I'm doing the best I can and at the same time trying to let him rest as much as possible.  I don't know what else to do at this point.  He gets a bath a day, which I hate doing because I'm so worried he will become chilled.  I have no choice for fear of ulcers from the poop that still gets stuck to him.  At least I know when he sleeps, he's warm, as all the kittens have started sleeping in one big pile.  I don't want to give up on him and hand him off to someone else to try to foster but then again, maybe that would be best if I'm in over my head.  I feel like, aside from taking him to the vet, I'm doing everything there is possible for him.  (except for putting a heat lamp in the bedroom, which I won't do for fear of burning down my house)  I figured out today that I'm spending about 3 hours a day on kitten care, give or take a half hour.  The morning and evening take the longest as that's when I'm either washing a kitten or cleaning the room.  At the same time, I'm trying to keep one eye on Jasmine and make sure she is behaving herself with the rest of the kittens.  She's pretty good about being gentle but occasionally, she gets a little too rough.  She forgets that they're much smaller than the last bunch of kittens we had.  Particularly when the rambunctious one of the group climbs her bare leg.  That kitten, is a handful and then some.  He's always climbing something (or someone), getting into something and just in general, causing mischief.  I can't help but laugh at him, particularly because I know I won't have a lifetime to deal with him. 

Where has the United gone in all of this?

I don't talk of politics on my blog, mostly because you're bound to seriously offend someone.  I don't like being called a dumbass just because I'm a democrat and I'm sure the republicans don't want to hear me call them the same.  That being said, it's hard for me to continue to read some blogs that are extremely republican and make it clear that if you are not, they think you're, well a dumbass.  I don't have all the facts.  I don't watch the conventions.  Therefore, I'm not one to be spouting off about which candidate is right for president.  (although I almost always believe a democrat is better than a republican)  I understand that there are strong feelings on who should hold that powerful position for the next four years.  You should feel strongly.  If you don't, then don't bitch when things don't go your way.  But I don't believe that full out attacks on common folk are warranted.  We all have our reasons for being republican, democrat or independent and we're not all going to agree.  I can't wait till it's all over personally.  I will be voting in November and it will be for Obama but I will not be openly attacking anyone (at least on my blog) who decides to vote the other way.  Although, should the old guy win (haha) and screw it up, I will be full of I told you so's.  That's not to say I don't enjoy reading some views on this election but I tend to enjoy those more that share my views.  (of course)  Most of those that I do enjoy, whether they share my views or not, have been very tactful and try their best to stick to the facts with a few jabs here and there and the other candidate.  No matter who wins, we're all in this together.  If the new guy screws up, he screws us all, not just his political party. 

Yes, in the box, good kitty

All the kittens are still alive as of the last time I checked on them.  And the little black one that looks like it came straight from a sewer, actually pooped on his own today IN the litter box and then attempted to clean himself.  I literally did a happy dance as I watched.  Probably didn't help his concentration with a pregnant woman, wobbling around the room and screaming good kitty.  I really think the two small ones are going to end up hating me.  I have to bathe them every night to get all the poop off their little bodies.  Feces have a far higher amount of acid in it than urine and quickly burns the skin.  Leaving any fecal matter on them could cause sores and for the skin to be irritated.  It's something you learn very quickly after you have kids.  A peed in diaper is ok to leave a while, a poopy one must be changed quickly or you'll need to add some diaper cream to a red butt.  (and a pissed off baby with an irritated rear end)  I have hope for the little ones but I'm trying not to get too attached as I know the chances of them surviving are slim.  The little black one could be really gorgeous if he didn't look so homely.  One day at a time.

Jasmine had a free for all the few days that she wasn't feeling well and now she isn't listening at all.  It's made for a very trying two days.  It's like talking to a wall, she doesn't even acknowledge the fact that noise is coming out of my mouth.  I really hope she starts to turn around in a day or so.  At least it didn't seem to mess up her sleep schedule much.  She's asleep by 2am every night now.  May not seem very early to most but it's a huge step in the right direction.  It's 2-3 hours earlier than she was going to sleep.  I'm not quite there yet but at least I'm asleep before the sun comes up.

Progress is still progress, even if it's icky BTW this is an ICKY entry

We seem to have moved a step or two forward with the kitty situation.  After writing this we'll probably go two steps back but there's more hope now than there was a few hours ago.  When I received the two smallest kittens, they were both impacted with poop, although the black one was far worse.  The black one was swollen a full of poop but with no mother there to clean him, it was just sitting inside his body, building up.  We (me and Jasmine) spent quite a great deal of time gently trying to coax some of it out with warm water and paper towels.  I still felt defeated at that point but was planning on trying a few more times later.  I would take him out and wipe him a few times and then let him go back to the other cats.  By this point and time he's getting pissed at me any ways and the claws have started coming out, I figure quickly is the best way.  This is the weakest cat you've ever seen but seeing those claws, tells me he's got more fight in him than we've given him credit for.  I checked on them for the last time (I swear, I won't touch that door again till after I've went to sleep and woke up... Promise... ok so I obsess over babies a little too much) and his rectum was actually able to be closed.  Now it still doesn't look normal but no butt would after having a constant flow of really ucky poop coming from it.  I'm just relieved we've gotten that far AND I saw him licking his legs while I was in there.  At least he's trying to keep himself clean.  (although FYI kitty, you'd be a whole lot cleaner if you didn't climb onto the plate of wet kitten food and eat from the center on out... I'm just sayin)  The orange sibling, seems to be doing good as well and with minimal intervention on my part.  He's got a lot of spunk and I've only got so many fingers to spare.  He could be cleaner but a this point and time I'm just concentrating on keeping everything moving through their bodies so as to not become deeply impacted.  So, I'm allowing myself a little bit of hope at this point.  I really like this little black kitten and would love to see him pull through.  I just know once he's better, he's going to be all spunk.  (I'm hoping he's a boy (can't tell since everything is swollen to hell down there) because I've got his name picked out already) I've named the male stripe, Axl for now (although I may change it to a different band member depending on how many boys I have versus girls) One of the female calico's gets to be Rose.  And hopefully I have enough boys for Iggy, Duff and Slash.  I was going to use the Guns N Roses old band manager that they had years ago for momma's name, although I would have to look it up.  I could use her name as Tracy for Tracy Guns but he wasn't really a big part of the band, only the band name.  And Tracy kind of sucks for her.  She needs something with a little more flair and sass.  By the way, thank god my nose is plugged up because I KNOW those little butts stunk.  Jasmine left the room and said mommy they stinky, you need to clean their butts.  Fingers crossed that they all come out of this alive and then cross them again that I don't get too attached to the little half dead one.  (and go figure he's the ugly duckling of the group... I always pick the ugliest ones to be my favorite)  I really like the orange one too.  He looks like he has some Persian in him somewhere.  Just a slightly mashed face but that a could change as he gets a little older.  The striped one is the trouble maker with a capital T.  He's the first to get into everything and the first to run up your legs.  The two calicos aren't far behind him though in their antics.  I can't help but love kittens.  They're little monster but I think they're so cute and now that I'm doing it more, I can pick them out pretty early on as to what personality they will have when they're older.  (I've been pretty accurate so far!)  Ok, to sleep now for me.  The ambien is making my typing funny so that's a signal to me that I should go try and do this sleep thing.  Thank god for those Ambien, I absolutely cannot sleep when I'm stuffed up. 

Today is the worst I've felt yet.  I broke down and took a benadryl in hopes of drying up some of this crap, even though I know it could backfire and make everything worse.  I just need to be able to breath for a few hours. 

On top of feeling awful, I got my litter of kittens today.  I have a momma cat, three of her kittens and two kittens from another litter.  The two separate kittens are much smaller and I wouldn't guess them to be over 3 weeks old and both are having problems.  They seem to be having issues with pooping, the small black kitten in particular is not well.  I don't know that he can go to the bathroom on his own at all and was rather nasty looking when I first got him.  He still is pretty gross but better than he was.  I think he'll be very lucky if he lives.  His sibling (I'm not sure if these two are boys or girls as I've been to busy trying to get them cleaned up to pay much attention) is orange and seems to be slightly healthier and actually has quite a bit of spunk.  The hope was that momma cat would take on these two new kittens but at this point, I'm doubtful.  She hisses at them and seems disinterested in all the kittens and sleeps on a shelf where none of them can reach her.  I think her three are probably nearing 5 weeks.  They're all good looking kittens, two calicos, a tiger stripe, an orange and the little black one.  Go figure, the sickest one is the one that I liked immediately upon seeing.  I am really not equipped to handle these two smaller kittens.  They need a lot of work and I could use some kind of heating pad to keep the little one warm.  Right now he follows the others around till one lays down and then he curls up on top of them.  For now I've turned off the a/c to that room.  Hopefully things will look better for those two in the morning.  I really hope little blacky makes it. 

Catching a cold

I may be MIA for a few days.  I seem to be coming down with a bad cold, thanks to my brother, passer of germs.  ;)  While at the Blueberry Festival yesterday, I had a scratchy throat but I thought it could've just been from dry air or something.  Today it was worse and then there was the sneezing, runny nose and in general crap-like feeling.  Jasmine has it too but I'm willing to bet that she feels a little better than I do.  You won't see me jumping around like I'm practicing karate anytime soon, which is what she's currently up to while she watches Bee Movie. 

I have some pictures from yesterday but they're all of Jasmine except for one that was supposed to be a picture of two hot air balloons but Jasmine ran into the frame as I snapped the picture.  It went fairly well considering it was nearing 100 the entire time we were there.  I only got really pissy two times.  I just feel like being in large public packed areas like that would be a whole lot easier if I was wielding a chainsaw and swinging like a maniac.  I think people would get the gist to stand back.  I'm going back to laying here staring at the wall in a medicine induced state till Jasmine decides to lay down and pass out.