Author: annagoebel

By now I’ve had three of the four kittens out into the big room, one at a time. I’m keeping careful watch, because Tex is a big question mark. He has mostly ignored the kittens, even when he has gone into their area to look out the windows.

But we need to find out how he will handle having them in his own area, because that’s a different thing entirely. And they’re going to outgrow their smaller space pretty soon. And they want very much to come out where the big kids are!

I didn’t know how Tex would react. I don’t know if he would feel territorial, and not want them in his area – and even if he likes them, he is big and strong and could play too rough. So I’ve been trying them out and keeping an eye on his reactions. Meeting two of the girls went pretty well, with no big problems.

Today it was Coda’s turn, and Tex’s reaction was definitely different. Even at 5 weeks old, Coda is definitely a boy, and Tex seemed to feel a little less happy about him being there than the girls. He followed him around and took a swipe at him once. Coda didn’t seem too concerned, nor was Mama Sylvie. I have hopes that they will coexist pretty well once they’re used to each other.

Food! The kittens are between five and six weeks old, and two of them decided it was high time they were eating solid food. Mia was the first to get interested in what Sylvie was eating, and wanted to push in and have some. Mom was not over-eager, so we brought in a separate plate. Pretty soon Smoke joined Mia and they were really chowing down.

I’m really glad they’re starting to get some nutrition from somewhere other than Mom. Sylvie has struggled to keep weight on, and has even lost some. I’m feeding her three times a day, with good-quality food and supplemented with goat’s milk, but it’s a tough job when she has to keep producing milk for kittens who keep needing more!

And then the kittens turn into whirling dervishes! Zooming around, believing they’re invincible. I’m the “fly on the wall” – or in this case the living mountain that they climb up and around and over. Mia discovered the joys of shoelaces, which is why my right shoe is untied.

The kittens get super excited when one of us gets in with them. They go crazy: zooming around, running into each other and wrestling, pouncing on things or nothing at all, and climbing everything in sight. Usually it’s me, but today George climbed in and was swarmed!

They think a warm, friendly jungle gym is the best thing ever. As you step into their area, one (usually Coda) or two of them are already half-way up your leg before you even step your second foot over the gate. As you very carefully sit down, one is already on your shoulder, one in your lap, and two are ducking through the openings and tunnels made by your legs.

It’s kitten crazies! If a sibling zooms by, attack! It’s a melée! Jump in! Run away! Bite someone’s foot! Pounce! They sometimes get so excited that they puff up their tails and arch their backs, as if zombies were after them.

I brought Smoke out into the bigger area to wipe her eyes. Two of the kittens have been fighting an eye infection. It’s getting better, but their eyes get a little goopy and it tends to glue them shut! I wipe them off so they can see. This is something kittens often get, and it’s usually not a big deal – they fight it off and then develop an immunity.

Once Smoke was cleaned up, I set her down to see what she would do. This is Tex’s area, but she wasn’t a bit overwhelmed or afraid of him. He’s rather nervous with the kittens – they’re so clumsy and zoomy and unpredictable (kind of like you, Tex!). But he let Smoke come up to him, and even licked her a bit. When he walked off, she followed right after him.

These kittens really like people, but I’m not sure they realize we’re living creatures. Sometimes I think to them we’re just ambulatory playgrounds.

The kittens are still getting everything they need from their mother’s milk. They’re not interested in canned food yet at all – but they are intrigued by water.

I’ve thought that these kittens are remarkably similar in size, except for Coda, who has seemed bigger and stronger since the day he was born – although born last and a day late!

Today we weighed everyone, and it’s verified. Each of the girls weighs in at almost exactly one pound. Coda weighs 17.5 ounces. Little butterballs, all of them. They’re not, of course, actually fat, just appropriately roly poly for healthy kittens just over four weeks old.

Tex weighs about 9 pounds, although I’m not sure how accurate our read was, since he wasn’t interested in standing still.

Mama Sylvie weighed in at only 6.5 pounds. She’s such a tiny girl! A baby kitty with babies of her own. She had lost some weight from not eating much for a couple of days. When you’re nursing, you can drop weight really fast! The kittens never stopped growing, but Sylvie took a hit. Now she’s packing in the food and putting the lost weight back on, thank goodness. I’m feeding her three times a day and supplementing with goat milk.

All the kittens together weigh 4 1/8 pounds, and Sylvie weighs 6.5. When they’re nursing, they are a huge mass compared to her – 2/3 of her weight!

These healthy kittens are growing entirely on mama’s milk. I have started feeding her in their area, so they can try some solid food, but so far, at 4 and a half weeks, they have no interest.

This weekend was pretty exciting for kitties, because we vacuumed their area for the first time.

I’ve been doing low-key sweeping up and spot cleaning in the cats’ room, because I didn’t know how – coming from a farm – the kitties would react to the vacuum cleaner. All the foster kitties we’ve had have found it quite scary. They need to get used to it, but when you’re working to develop trust it can be a setback. Tex and Sylvie don’t have trust issues at all, but I still didn’t want to freak them out.

I knew the kittens would find the noise frightening – they go into panic mode at loud noised, so we moved them out in a carrier to a different room, where they would be able to hear the vacuum but not be right up close. Sylvie came to make sure they were ok.

Then we brought the big monster into the office. It’s an upright, and for a cat it’s pretty big and loud. Tex and Sylvie were quite curious, and stood their ground to investigate. I took it a little away from them and flicked it on and off. No reaction at all! So I turned it on and started vacuuming. Sylvie went up and lounged on the cat tree having a bath! Nothing seems to faze these guys! Tex was quite excited and ran around, obviously excited at this new entertainment.

The kittens have been so entertaining as they learn to walk, then run, then climb. They’re not good at each thing as they first try it, but they persist, and keep getting better and better.

Yesterday evening we upped the ante, by giving them a small cat tower to climb. They circled around it briefly, and then started to try it out. One climbed right to the top! Well, up is easy. Soon all of them had made the climb – but it’s the down part that is the real challenge!

They peer over the edge, leaning over to see what happens. One decides that head-first might work, so she goes over, clinging to the top edge with her back toes as long as she can before letting go and landing on her head.

By this morning they’ve worked out different descent options. One or two have learned to go down head-first but use the wall and the cupboard to support them, like “chimneying” upside-down. A couple figure out how to go down sideways, controlling the descent quite nicely. I’m sure Mia has figured out a way, but this morning she sits at the top and mews until I lift her down.

Kittens are making progress in all directions – including up! They’ve gotten the idea that humans are exciting and fun to climb. Coda is almost always the first one to rush over when I step into their space, and would climb to my lap as soon as I have sat down. Now they’re not waiting for me to sit down!