Poor momma cat....

Here is a photo of Number 2 and Number 4 sitting beside each and behaving nicely. This is a rare photo, because this NEVER happens! They had been nursing, when Katie got tired of it and stood and walked away, leaving them sitting there. It took them about 5 seconds before they started getting into trouble again, so luckily, I got the shot right in time!



And here's a photo of Number 1 with his face at his momma's butt as he watches closely while she uses the litter box. Poor Kate, she has no privacy! I'm suprised he got away without any poop on his nose, he was that close!

And here is Katie nursing her gigantic kittens! Actually, they are not that big, it's just that she is small adult cat, so they are gaining on her quickly. I can't imagine how she has any energy left after nursing those wild kittens several times a day!

updated kitten profile pics

Number 1 (trying to give me the sophisticated pose):



Number 2 (always ready with a good pose, right before he tackles someone...):



Number 3 (was a little camera shy today):

Number 4 (getting fluffier every day!):

Kitten Adoption Information

Now that the kittens are nearing 8 weeks of age, it's time to start finding homes for them. I have had several people express interest in them, in fact I've had more people interested than I have kittens. My cat consultant, Marla, has developed an application and contract to help me with the process. If you are interested in a kitten, please email me and I will send you the forms to see if you are still interested. I don't think the kittens will be ready right at 8 weeks, but hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks. They are still nursing, though not nearly as often as they used to. I still can't really tell which sex they are, so I'm thinking about taking them to the vet to get their first checkup and vaccination and find out for sure. If I do that, there may be a small fee to adopt a kitten to help pay for my vet costs.

Kittens Week Seven

Today was a big day for the kittens! I had decided to let Katie in the house for a few hours this weekend so she could have a break from the babies. On Saturday, it worked for a little bit, although Number 3 snuck in the house for part of the time, and Katie kept going back and forth between the garage and the house the whole time. I decided to try it again on Sunday. I put a barracade (suitcase) up to block the door so Katie could come inside, but the kittens would stay in the garage, but the door was still open to help air it out (which just ends up stinking up my house). This time, the kittens all climbed over the barracade, so I gave up and let them all inside, and just tried to block off the basement. They had a blast checking out a new space, and while that was happening, they also had lots of visitors. We had the Castelli family visit first, which got them all excited, then the Scharping family came by. I think the kittens got a little overstimulated because they soon ran back in the garage and starting hiding behind boxes. But I was able to get this cute photo of Lizzie holding all the kittens, and a video of the kids with three of the kittens (one took off for the garage). After all the visitors left, the kittens nursed for a minute, then crawled in their baskets and crates for a long nap (see photos below)!

Wrestle Mania and Nap Time

Today when I came home from work, Number 2 and Number 4 were sleeping in a basket (they were sleeping together in the top photo, then they split up as you see in the video below). Number 1 and Number 3 were having a serious wrestling match, which I caught a little bit of on video. It went on for a long time, so I didn't get the whole thing. Momma Kate just ignored them all, as any good mother would do.

I wanted to post this picture below, of Number 4 nursing, to show how big the kittens are getting! This photo made me think about this episode of Oprah that I saw about ten years ago. Oprah was doing a special on breastfeeding and she was interviewing these moms who were still breastfeeding their three and even four year olds! I remember one mom complaining that she couldn't get her kid to stop nursing and that he would just come up to her and lift her shirt and ask for a drink. Oprah pretty much told her to take charge of the situation and not let the kid be pushing her around! So I was thinking about poor Kate, who is having to nurse kittens who are going to be as big as she is soon! She's pretty small though, so that's not saying much. But I think she's in control of the situation, as she cuts off the nursing often, even if it means the babies start crying and following her around wanting more. She's a good momma, so she won't have to go on Oprah to learn how to take charge of her babies.

Kittens and late night stupid meetings

Kittens waking up from naptime. I am only up this late (midnight), because my friend Kelly called an emergency meeting for a group of our college friends on facebook for ten o'clock her time, forgetting it was midnight my time. I asked her what the meeting was about, and she said it was just because it was funny. I can't pass up on a purposeless meeting just for laughs :) Especially with my friends Kelly and Tracey.

Kitten Profiles

When I got back into town tonight I spent some extra time with the kittens since I had not seen them in two days. I have finally figured out how to tell them all apart, so I worked on getting some individual pictures so i could post my first "kitty profiles". I'm too tired to give them names tonight, so I gave them numbers instead. I'll let their future owners pick names for them. By the way, they are six weeks old today! Here they are:


This is Number 1. I like to call this kitten Number 1 because it has been the first to do everything. This was the first kitten to try the liter box, the first one to venture outside the walls my mother put up, the first one to start using momma's liter box, and now it's the one who is ahead on the weaning process. In fact, in this picture above, the other three kittens were nursing, but this one was just hanging alone. It is showing less interest in nursing than any of the others are, and can be found eating the kitten food fairly often. I think this one is a boy, but they really look all alike to me, so I'm not sure about that. That will have to be my next task. But this kitty is definitely the risk taker and most independent one of the bunch.

This is Number 2. This one (I also think it is a boy, but again, I'm not sure) is almost as adventureous as Number 1, but just not as quick to be the first one to do all the new things. This one is really ornery and is often found wrestling and biting the other kittens. It loves to play and I rarely see it alone. It is frequently found sleeping on or under another kitty and seems to be very social. And very busy. It also seems to initiate human contact more than any of the other kittens. It comes up to me often, has tried climbing up my pants, and likes to lick my fingers.

This is Number 3. Number 3 and Number 1 look an awful lot alike, but Number 3 has more gray hair on it's belly, while Number 1 is more of an all black cat, with a very shiny coat. Number 3 is very timid and seems to be the most afraid of human contact. It likes to sleep and play with the other kittens though, and will let me pet it as long as I don't sneak up on it. It's very jumpy if I pet it from behind, but warms up pretty quickly. For those of you who remember some of my earlier pictures, I'm pretty sure this was the kitten yawning in the photo I took during the first week, with it's legs propped up on it's sibling.

And finally, Number 4. This one has a much thicker coat than the other three as you can see from this photo. I think this one is a girl, but i'm not sure. It also is somewhat timid, but not quite as much as Number 3. I often find this one sleeping alone somewhere, while the other three are piled on top of one another for a nap. It still likes to play as much as the others though, but I was thinking if there was any cat that would want to go to a single cat home, it would probably be this one. It also is a little weary of human contact if I try to pet it from behind, but it warms up to me quickly.