Kitten invasion

When we got up this morning, we had four cats but no kittens.  Tonight, as I write this, we have four cats AND three kittens!  No, seriously!  It’s 28 degrees outside, and sometime during the last couple of days a female cat gave birth to kittens in the engine of a truck at our local Dodge dealership.  The dealership went to work on the truck this morning, and found three kittens inside - no sign of the mother or other kittens, I guess, although perhaps I don’t have all the details (and I may not want to know).  The dealership took the kittens over to our vet’s office, and then they phoned us to ask if we’d be interested in caring for them.  They’re just a few days old, and their eyes aren’t even open yet:

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They’re all so very different, even so young.  The smallest (the white one) is 3.4 ounces, and the largest (the black one) is 4.4, which makes quite a difference in strength and “heft”.  The black one already climbs out of the plastic tub they’re sleeping in if you give him enough towel to climb on, so I have to really watch him and keep him away from the edges (tomorrow they go into a crate or carrier of some sort).  They can make an incredible amount of noise by just piling on lots of tiny “mew” sounds.  I can get them to pee but so far, no poop.  We’ll have them through Christmas, I think, as their usual caretaker is going out of town, although we might need a sitter for the evening of the 19th because we have hockey tickets.  More pictures will come eventually, but first, I have to get some sleep!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 12/16 at 06:36 AM

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  1. Brace yourself.  In order for them to poop, they need anal stimulation.  The mother cat would do this with her tongue, but that is not recommended for human caretakers.  Instead you can wet a cotton ball with warm water and gently stroke the anus.  Then stand back.

    Happy to be of service.

    Posted by Nurse Ann  on  12/16  at  11:06 AM

  2. This is why I should be living nearby - so you can dump the surplus animals on me and I can take care of them (or ask Toby to take care of them since he’s pretty good at being a mommy) while you folks go watch your Quidditch game or whatever.

    Have the other cats seen these new kitties?

    Posted by celinus  on  12/16  at  11:37 AM

  3. I was doing the “anal stimulation” thing (I sure hope I don’t get porn traffic out of this :p), but wasn’t getting any poop.  I called the vet and she said not to worry about it on the first day, as we didn’t know how long it had been since they’d eaten/eliminated.  This morning the problem was fixed—during the night, one of them dumped a huge load of the stuff on the other two, and two of them have pooped today with my help (meaning I know who the Midnight Pooper was—I’m talking to you, striped cat).  I appreciate that they don’t stink yet… Nancy says they smell like hamsters.

    And Celine, yes, we’ve missed so much Quidditch without you!  We have to keep our older cats separated from the kittens, as the kittens aren’t vaccinated, and they also don’t have very strong immune systems.  We also don’t know what they might be carrying in terms of parasites, viruses, etc.  I keep them in their own room, and wash my hands a lot.  I’ve taken to calling them, “Wynken, Blynken, and Ned” in my head, but they don’t have any names set in stone.  Nancy calls the black cat, “Grape Ape”.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  12/17  at  12:17 AM

  4. I WANT THAT PWECIOUS KITTEN!  The black one, which will match the panther I already have.  I will be flying to Vegas to fetch them as soon as this “anal stimulation” phase is over.

    PS my word verification was “image51”. Is that anything like Area 51???

    Posted by Helly  on  12/17  at  02:33 PM

  5. Helly, we named the black kitten “Tie Domi”.  Come and get him, but do it before April, okay?!

    Posted by Leigh-Ann (aka Mudpuppy)  on  12/18  at  06:13 AM
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