cat in heat

Katie is in heat. I ended up taking Lewis to stay with my parents and letting Katie and the remaining two kittens into the house to stay tonight. She is miserable, pacing and rolling on the floor and sticking her butt in the air. I thought at least she could be more comfortable in the air conditioned carpeted house instead of the hot garage. And I think the kittens need a break from her while she is in this state, so at least there are place they can run and hide :)

The good news is that apparently cats in heat are very affectionate. She keeps coming up to me and has been letting me pet her alot (the first time she's been okay with petting) and even let me pick her up to move her. I'm hoping this whole episode will speed up the weaning process, make her more comfortable with petting, and then I can take her in to get her spayed soon.

Here's a pic of Willie and Topher resting (the only time they are still enough for a picture) from about a week ago.

The meeting of the cats

The blood has dried and my face doesn't sting anymore, but I won't be trying to introduce Lewis and Kate again for a long time.

Katie had kind of a crazy day yesterday. Her second kitten left to go to it's new home, she had lots of new visitors she had never met, and we had loud fireworks in the evening. Today things were calmer, but I think she has noticed the missing two kittens as she was crying some today off and on. She always calmed down when I would go in the garage, so I think she just wanted some company.

This afternoon I decided to try to introduce Kate to Lewis. I put the two remaining kittens in the carrier (which made Katie meow a little bit, but she didn't get too upset). Then I opened the garage door, went inside and picked up Lewis while he watched Kate. Kate immediately came inside, squatted really close to the floor with all of her claws out, and looked at Lewis ready to attack. Lewis scratched his way out of my arms and jumped to the floor ready to attack back. I quickly pushed Katie back in the garage, let the kittens out of the carrier, and closed the door. Then I came back in and noticed blood dripping down my neck from where Lewis scratched my face. It wasn't too bad, just a small battle wound. I went back out to check on Kate and the kittens later and they were doing fine. I'm not sure what my next plan of action will be though....

Here is Topher (formerly Number 3), taking his afternoon nap on the boxes.

And here is Willie (formerly Number 1), taking his afternoon nap on the chair...

And here is Lewis taking his afternoon nap by my side while I work on the computer :)

Number 2 gets a new home!

Just a day after Number 4 got a new home, Abbey and her brother Colton arrived to pick up Number 2 and take him to his new home in Hutchinson. Rafiki (formerly Number 2) will be going home to live with Taj, another playful cat in need of a new playmate, so I'm sure he will fit right in!

Katie seems to be adjusting pretty well to having two of her babies gone. She cried a little bit tonight as she looked around for them, but seemed to settle down pretty quickly once I went to check on her. Tomorrow I'm thinking about introducing Katie and Lewis to see how that goes....

Number 4 gets a new home!!!

Today was a special day for Number 4 - he got to have a bath, get his nails trimmed, meet his new mom, and go to his new home! Here is a photo of Ninja (formerly Number 4) with his new mom Erin. Below are some photos from his bath with Marla. It was little scary for him, but he was very brave and did just fine.

Playing in the house

The kittens are really getting big now! I let them play in the house for a couple of hours today because it was getting stuffy in the garage again. Lewis took a nap locked in my room upstairs. Here's a photo of mamma and Number 2 on the stairs, and then a short video of clip of Number 4 playing on the stairs.

Four Boys!

The babies went to the vet today for their first visit. They are 8 weeks old, and one of them is not weaning as quickly as the others, so I wanted to get them checked out. The vet gave them their first set of vaccinations, which they took very well, and checked them out only to discover they all had ear mites, in varying degrees. The vet gave them a treatment and said to check them again in 30 days. I'm afraid this is probably from living in my garage, unfortunately! But the big news of the day was finding out their sex. I was pretty sure I had one girl and three boys, but I was wrong. All boys! No wonder they like to fight so much! I think Numbers 2 and 4 will be ready to go to their new homes next weekend, and I'm still looking for homes for Numbers 1 and 3, which is probably okay because Number 3 is the one who is not wanting to wean as quickly. Here they are on the table at the vet's office, not wanting to get out of their carrier :)

I also had them weighed, and despite appearances, they were all pretty close in size. Number 4 looks so much bigger, but it's really just from all that fluffy hair! He weighs 2.3 ounces, the Numbers 1 and 2 weighed 2.2 ounces. Number 3, the one that won't eat the canned food yet, weighed only 1.7 ounces. But the vet said he was fine, just probably taking his time.

approved homes found for 2 kittens!

The kittens had a fun evening when Marla and Craig came over to visit. They got to come in the house for the second time, and then Craig played fun games with them in the garage (see picture below).


Another highlight of the evening was the announcement of the first approved home! Craig and Marla's friend Erin has completed the application process and been approved as the new owner of Number 4 (below). As soon as the kittens are ready, off she goes! We go to the vet on Saturday to determine their sex, get their first immunizations, and make sure they are all healthy so they can hopefully go to new homes in a week or so. I'm sure this one will enjoy all the attention Erin will give her, as she already thinks she is the princess (thanks to Marla constantly telling her how adorable she is!).

After the fun guests left, I received another application, so now we have an approved home for Number 2! He will be going to live with Abbey and Colton in Hutchinson. This little guy likes to play and jump and attack the most, so he will have a great time with 14 year old Colton and their other pets. Lots of people and animals and to stalk and pounce on!

After all the activity, the kittens chased down their mom for some more nursing (I've got to work on this weaning stuff since they are 8 weeks old today), then three of them settled in the trash can for some rest.