Raising kittens, for Dummies

The book doesn’t really exist, but if it did, it might look something like this:

image

The kittens continue to be delightful, if not a bit painful.  My toes are not chew toys!  When I raised the last set of kittens it was winter and I was wearing long pants all the time, and I seem to remember thinking it was cute when they tried to climb my legs.  In contrast, today I was threatening to buy a pair of hip-waders to deal with this latest batch of fur balls.

They’re extremely energetic and playful, and it’s fun to let them out of the bathroom so they can run around after me as I work in the kitchen preparing their food—I’m like a Pied Piper of kittens.  They’re pretty good with their litterbox habits, especially peeing, but still have some pooping problems so the bathroom isn’t always pristine when I go to feed them.  Still, we’re moving in the right direction—now if only they’d show some interest in solid food!  I know they want to chew, because they chew on me and chew on the bottle, but they’re still bewildered about things like baby food.  I know that weaning was the toughest part of raising the December kittens, so I’ll try to be patient about it and I’m sure they’ll catch on.  I enjoy the bottle-feeding, but once they get teeth they stop wanting to drink from the bottle, and it makes dinnertime less enjoyable for all of us.  This is just a transition stage that we’ll have to work through.

Missy Mae enjoys the company of the kittens, while still having enough sense to hide from them every now and again so she can have some peace.  Since I put the kittens in with her, she’s started to groom herself (as well as them), and she moves around a lot more.  Last night she came and sat beside me while I was on the floor, and that was a major step for her.  The kittens are the first things she’s shown interest in since she came to our house, and I’m glad everyone gets along.  I’ll try to take the kittens’ “four weeks old” photos tomorrow.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 07/07 at 09:35 PM

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  1. I love your Dummies graphic. I will definitely link over. You may want to put out a largish bowl of dry kitten chow so it is constantly there while they grow, as long as Missy Mae isn’t a chubby girl. Sometimes kittens will get the hang of dry food before wet food. Looking forward to pictures!

    Posted by Susan  on  07/08  at  05:16 AM

  2. Wonderful! Now…I really want those two little kittens I am trying to talk my husband into adopting! Your “book” is great fun…would that there were one.

    Ciao…

    Posted by Teri  on  07/08  at  02:03 PM

  3. Two kittens are better than one!  I’ve heard people say that for years, and now having kittens of my own, I know it’s true.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  07/08  at  11:07 PM

  4. Susan, I don’t know if Missy Mae is chubby or not—all she seems to be is hair, plus a big butt.  She only weighs 10 lbs., which is small compared to some of our other cats, but I’d really love to see her shaved down so I’d know what was going on under all that fur!  She seems to ignore kibble (her teeth are bad, and we need to have a few extracted), so I think it’s okay to leave it out around her.

    Also, you were right about the kibble… the kittens were eating pieces out of my hand last night, although wouldn’t eat out of the dish yet.  Thanks for the tip :)

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  07/08  at  11:11 PM
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