The Babies

I have lost my heart to this little minnie. We call her Angel. And she is one too.

The ring of the doorbell a few weeks ago was kittens being delivered, three of them. There were four but one was adopted the night before so I was taking over as their foster mother.

Indeed, I really was taking over as their mother. These little ones, at the time 3 weeks old, had lost their mother. She was outdoors raising them (a stray cat, most likely a drop off) and she got hit by a car. Caring neighbours took her to the vet in an effort to save her life but they were not able to.

So she died and her babies, still nursing and three weeks old no longer had a parent. The neighbours called the animal organization and that's how I got involved.

Kittens are pretty sweet but these kittens are downright adorable. A little bit dirty and smelly, I did my best to towel them off to give them their mommy bath. I tell you Mommy cat does a much better job keeping kittens clean than I do. I felt like the parent with the dirty children. I've had a hard time keeping up.

I'm pretty sure that the littlest one, the black and white female, is the runt of the litter. She's a little underweight and I wish she'd eat more.

They all love a cuddle and want some time to cuddle with me on my shoulders. For the first two weeks they kept looking for a spot to nurse. My heart just broke for them because I knew although their tummies may be full, they were seeking that special comfort that nursing could bring.

They're seven weeks old now in the photos, and four weeks old in the video.

I've had them in a spare room for their safety and also as a quarantine. Normally the mom cat is tested for the contagious cat diseases and if she's found disease free then we can usually assume the kittens are healthy and fine.

But in this case there was no mother cat to test so we're having to wait for the kittens to be eight weeks old so they can be tested.

In the mean time, I'm learning to play mother to my little pride of dirty faced sweeties.

Look - BEFORE you Leap!

I just have to share with you about Jay's absolute fascination with water.

I've learned that growing up kittens go through phases of interest. They paw at little bits of string and dangling things, then as they get more mobile they head to the bathroom.

I'll walk in and find half a roll of toilet paper pulled off the roll and dragged around the room. A very brief Crime Scene Investigation quickly proves the culprit: Tiny teeth and claw marks. The perpetrator: A black and white kitten, male.

Jay got a little "snip snip" last week and so he is now neutered. But he doesn't seem to mind. All he wants to do is play, play play.

His latest fascination has been a little frustrating and a little funny. It's WATER.

I can't turn on a tap anywhere and remain alone for long. Jay will show up. He started by pawing the stuff and shaking his paws. He progressed to licking his paws from there. Then my toilet conveniently won't flush on it's own so I had to take the cover off the tank.

This tank has become Jay's new play area. He puts his paws in the water, he drinks it and lately he's starting chewing and pawing at the parts inside--I think he's trying to work out how I make the water go by touching something in there.....

Soon he'll be flushing the toilet by himself.

I always put the seat down though because I don't want any cat drinking from the toilet bowl. It's bad enough that they eat mice and lick their bums and then come and lick my face.

Once I was cleaning the tub so I had about 3" of water in it. I had to leave for a bit and come back. I did have that little voice speak to me--you know that one that you ignore because you're busy but later you'll regret not listening too? Yeah, that one. Anyway, about 10 minutes later KER-SPLASH! Yes, Jay just had to investigate this water and in doing so he fell into the tub.

I have a new deep tub and in his panic he couldn't jump out. I grabbed him up and put a towel around him.

That was his first bath.

The other day he tipped over the water dish and I found a pond of water on the floor.

He also licks at the tub and bathroom sink facets, trying to catch the drips.

But the biggest laugh of all was last night. I was in the bathroom and Jay came charging in to play with the water. He jumped right up on the toilet seat .....except that I forgot to put the seat down.

That was Jay's second bath.

I think the third time will be charming :)

New Room Mates

It's true what they say about words hurting more than broken bones. When I fell down the stairs I was very distracted. I wasn't feeling like my normal self. Shortly before that incident someone had been saying some pretty hurtful words.

It was done publicly in front of people I know. It reminded me so much of primary school. I do my best to respond with grace. I can't let myself stoop to that primary school level.

The broken arm is healing well, it just takes time. I'll be back to work on graduated hours as the arm permits and from there my issue will probably be more to not push to hard or try too much too soon.

Often I wear the sling just to make sure the arm is removed from use so I'm certain to rest it.

That's the hard part, giving up plans for spring in the garden.

It's a busy time of year for me that I look forward to it every year. I love working in the garden and getting my hands in the dirt.

A saving grace is that I also love sitting outside and reading books and observing nature and that I can do quite painlessly as long as I don't look at all the garden work that I can't do right now.

Photo - bags of soil from last fall and plans to finish the back yard with a curving path from the swing to the bench at the back. This is the view from sitting on the swing.


My niece has stayed the weekend and she's helping me with my new room mates - A mother cat and her only kitten.

They've been rescued from the city's animal pound and I'm fostering them until they're adopted. But first we have to get them healthy.

The downside is that they've been sick, really sick. Animalert had them at the vets where they got lots of care and now that Mom has improved she's in isolation with her kitten in a spare room at my place. She still has her meds which she gets twice a day.

It's that stress related thing--upper respiratory infection, gone bacterial so she needed heavier drugs. Her kitten is coming along but he's got the sneezes too. Unfortunately he got the illness from her but will also get the cure by being medicated via drinking her milk.

The problem with city animal pounds is the same as hospitals - too many sick people in one location and the germs just spread, despite everyone's good intentions. The down side is that it can often lead to the pound doing a kill because treating gets to be too expensive for the city budget.

It just makes me wish I was as rich as Croesus (the spelling may not be right but I mean that king that could turn everything to gold with a touch of his hands). I'd open up a huge animal shelter with the best of everything to help stop the spread of disease and viruses.

This brings me to tell you about Nancy. Nancy is a stray female cat that has been visiting my 'kitty corner' neighbour Mary. Mary has been feeding her for a while and has worked to tame her. Of course Nancy grew fatter, quite fat actually and we knew it wasn't just the food Mary was giving her. She was pregnant. Mary watched and kept an eye on Nancy and then she disappeared for a few days only to reappear thinner. We knew she'd had her kittens.

Mary did her best to find the kittens but Nancy had them well hidden so it took a couple weeks. Finally they were found, across the street in a rhubarb patch. Next to the patch was a plastic drainage tube which they crawled inside like a cage.
Mary brought them all home and put them in her basement bathroom. She planned to take Nancy to the vet and then she would keep her, letting her be a third cat in her home and then finding homes for her 5 kittens.

I got the call from Mary the next day in tears. Nancy is positive for FIV Leukemia and it's expected that her 5 beautiful kittens will be as well. Unfortunately the FIV would be transmitted by the Mom to her babies.

Mary managed to find a some friends who will foster these cats until homes can be found. Let's hope for a positive outcome for this small family.

There's never a shortage of need for a miracle.