Update Meet the Kittens Up Close and Personal / Pet Bloggers Blog Hop

The kittens climb all over each other all day long. If they aren’t sleeping or eating they are climbing and creating a kitten pile. It is almost like they are playing and then in the middle of switching positions within the pile they fall asleep.

This is Bear Cub – no not his official name but I think his little face makes him look like a grey bear cub. When I first brought them home he was the kitten that momma kept pushing away and I kept giving back. Eventually momma accepted him and has been happy with him since. I thought as the only boy and what seemed to be the runt of the litter that he would be the last one to open his eyes – He actually was the first to begin opening his eyes and today 2 days after these pictures were taken is all bright eyed and ready to party.

This is big girl. Almost from the beginning she was the biggest. There were times in the past 12 days that she was double the size of the other babies but when we went to go say hello at the shelter and get weighed because I was worried that some of the babies might not be nursing enough she weighed in at a whopping 8.5 oz. while the two smallest weighed 7 oz each. She no longer fits in the palm of one hand in order for her to rest in my hands I need to hold my two hands together. This is also the baby that from the 2nd day I had them home my dad has had his eyes on and wants to keep. We aren’t sure if that is going to happen but my parents are thinking about it. She looks like their cat they had before I was born and so kind of fell in love at first site.

I call this baby Broom also an unofficial name. Though there are some moments when I think it is a good name for her (being that she will be going home to her forever house around Halloween). She is still available if you are interested. The reason why I call her Broom is because I had to save her with a Broom at 4:45 one morning. The dogs and I were fast asleep one night and woke up to a kitten screaming. They were all safe in the bathroom in the bathtub so I couldn’t figure out what the problem could be. So I ran out of the bedroom and opened the door to the bathroom. Momma cat walked out and I was looking all over the floor to find the kitten that was screaming. It sounded close and then I realized that the screaming kitten was now behind me as momma ran down the hall and down the stairs. I thought we were safe as long as she didn’t drop the kitten down the stairs. I raced after them and then the screaming stopped in the laundry room which I thought was fine no harm no foul and I could just pick the baby back up and put her back in the bathtub with the rest of the kittens. Oh no momma being a small cat herself likely not a year old is small enough even post kittens to fit behind the washing machine and dryer and drop the kitten back there and came back out to say hello to me. Kitten was silent I could see her but couldn’t get to her. I saw the broom sitting there and needed to get her out immediately so momma didn’t try to hide her under the washing machine where I had no chance of getting her. So with kitten screaming and momma trying to block me from getting her out I managed to pull the kitten towards me with the broom. I still had to get momma out of the way without her picking the kitten back up and pushing her further away from me again but the Broom won and I had the little kitten back in my hands.

This is Calico kitten. Compared to Broom she is a quiet little thing who likes to sleep and nurse and sometimes climb to the top of the kitten pile. I am sure her personality will come out more now that her eyes are almost fully opened.

This little one is sort of my favorite. I am trying not to play favorites and pick them all up just as often and kiss their little heads so that they get used to being touched and held and played with. But time and again I reach for this little one first or let her sleep while I pick up the other kittens first. She is an opinionated little thing and one of the smallest now. Earlier today she started trying to open her eyes. She was the last one to open her eyes so now all the little kittens look at me with their little blue eyes or try to. Like this little one they have not all opened their eyes all the way yet.

At one point this week I thought that momma was not feeding her babies enough and that she couldn’t manage all 5 of her little ones. She can nurse 2 at a time or 3 at a time but because she is so little herself the kittens can’t get to her nipples on one side of her body and so they can’t all nurse at one so she was separating them into two groups. Which I think is what she was trying to do with Broom when she put her behind the washing machine she wanted to nurse her separately. After our visit to the shelter to get the kittens weighed and pick up bottles and kitten formula momma decided that she could let the kittens figure it out and nurse when they needed to but has kept them all in the bathtub since.

I am actually at a conference right now at a hotel in Atlanta and momma cat is in the bathroom nursing her kittens in the bathtub. I brought them all with me and they are just hanging out in there growing while I attend the conference. Momma and the kittens had two visitors today that wanted to meet them and they all did really well. Momma was purring the entire time and the kittens rested.

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