Debilitating heat

Yikes! Those cats are active at night! It sounds like they are shredding the underside of my bed – all night long! I woke to the entire family lying at my feet – on the floor, next to the bed, on side opposite to their nest! All cute and innocent!

Oh, and – silly me – I forgot to pick up my freshly laundered bathroom mat last night, after I had bathed. I found it scrunched up, filled with another fragrant deposit! I was low on potting soil, so I guess there wasn’t enough inside the box for them to do their usual ‘turn the whole bathroom into a litterbox’ act. I guess I better fill up tonight with some soil from the garden.

Neither cat demanded to be let out – although Silver did go for a stroll. I’m hoping that plenty attention will keep her indoors, though she really does not seem to like any form of play – at least, not with me. Nor does she like cuddling – just stroking and brushing. We’ll just have to keep working on it, and pull together somehow.

My but it is hot today! Stepping outside our container I’m hit by a heat like opening the door of a baking oven! My neighbour warned me last night – she watches the weather report, and hers is pretty accurate – so at least I’m dressed lightly; but even that is not enough! The short walk to the toilet burns – I may get sunburn from just taking that short walk once too often!

Back at home first play with the kittens. We’ve tried them on the tinned mousse – they’re loving it! Well, they weren’t all hungry, but one of the twins in particular finished nearly a teaspoon full! I got done what needed doing – but the heat is quite debilitating. I can’t even think what needs doing or what I should do.

On a positive note, though, Silver seems to begin to appreciate the joy of playing. For the first time ever she didn’t give the mouse on the elastic quite the deprecating look – and later she made some attempt to play with the scratching post I’d built! She also no longer demands to go out after dark – no more querulous whines and cries! And when she does go out, she stays within hearing distance – and comes when I call. I’m growing more and more hopeful to be able to keep her.

I also heard today, that there the client has requested some work done over Easter – which could mean that I’ll have work – albeit part-time – till after Easter. That would mean I’m not likely to have to move to Pretoria, but could move from here to East London, when that starts.

Well, I better pay some more attention to Silver – it’s unpleasant keeping doors and windows closed in this heat, but I’m adamant at doing everything in my power to keep Silver with me. I have a feeling she’s unlikely to bond with another human again – and it would break my heart to break her trust.

Walk-about kittens!

It has come – the day of kitten wandering! When I put them down next to my bed, they immediately proceeded to go walk-about! When I came to bed, it was kittens wandering everywhere – and mommies helplessly trilling in their midst! They had wandered under the bed and out the other side. Just before going to sleep, I plonked each one back in their nest, the mommies following. Ten minutes later mommies call in distress – kittens are back under the bed where mommies can’t follow! Interesting times!

Pre six am wake up call – which I ignored. So Silver went ballistic – as in: pretends to be a bullet shooting through my room! By the time I get up there’s bits of fur everywhere! I let Silver out. She doesn’t stay long, and once she’s back – since Shadow is making no move to go for a turn, I close the door. It doesn’t take long for Silver to decide that the kittens are no longer easy to manage and she’d prefer to get out. Nope! Door stays closed. Half-way through my coffee I look in on them – to find both mommies perched on the edge of my bed looking down on the frolicking, cavorting kittens!

They are almost 4 weeks old. Two have started purring, baby teeth have come in and they evidently eliminate voluntarily (as in: pee without stimulation). I think it is time to introduce them to a litter box. Golly, ain’t I the lucky one!

I’ve just re-read some of the articles on kitten development first few weeks – and they all agree that the mother will be practically inseperable from her kittens the first couple of weeks – only leaving them once weaning begins. Ha! Meet Silver, Rabenmutter! She barely spends any time WITH her kittens! And Shadow is not much better these days – which I think may be linked to her milk drying up. Seriously, Belinda was a much, much better mother!

Back at home the gardener was there. He’d put up the last roll of fencing and cleaned out the rockery. I’m afraid I didn’t have the time to inspect and look. The kittens are no longer wobbling about, but striding confidently everywhere! Both mothers were sitting by the door awaiting my arrival – but neither went running outside. Instead we all went into the bedroom to look for the kittens (Notice the difference? Not to look at but to look for them?). They are happy and doing well.

I took out the litter box and both cats followed me downstairs for an outdoor frolick. My neighbour and the gardener came up to play with the kittens, I’ve had to cut her visit short, as I had a host of chores to take care of. As I picked the garbage bag out of the bin, I saw it had torn – so instead of filling it with the paper-waste in my lounge, I carried it straight out. Then I put the bedding into the washing machine and set that. And then I packed away the laundry.

I placed two towels on the floor in the bedroom and put the flower pot tray in the center, filled with potting soil – it’s low enough for the kittens to easily access and big enough for them to experiment. Well, about that: remember how the females showed no interest in food? Yeah, they both climbed into the litter box and enthusiastically tried eating the potting soil!

Both mommies want lots of attention, and I think that may be the key to keeping Silver. The kittens spend a lot of time under the bed – I don’t know why – but Silver wriggles under there as well to join them, so at least they are getting fed.

In between fussing over the cats I’m cleaning the bathroom floor, vacuuming – I vacuumed my bedroom as well. The Cats were out, but the kittens were looking at this with big eyes. One even tried to play with it – I’m glad to say they don’t go bananas at the sound.

Cooked dinner, ate, bathed and it was half past nine already! Last chore of the day: putting up barriers to keep the kittens out of the lounge and out of the kitchen! I thought about just locking them all into the bedroom – but that would mean the cats’ litterbox would have to go into the bedroom as well, and that’s not going to work. Even if I put newspaper all around on the the floor, the carpet will still end up with some splash or more. So, instead, I put up barricades to keep the lot out of lounge and kitchen. I thought about closing off the spare room as well – but decided to leave that space for the mommies to escape, as there are some high places the kittens can not get to. Yet.

I had forgotten my USB Stick, with this document, at work – I was rather glad, since I really did not have much time to write and post. And I didn’t even get time to even consider further cat furniture.

Kittens again, still not much else

Five am wake up call by Silver. Hit snooze. As in grab cat, pull under duvet, let her struggle free … gives you time to snooze while she recovers enough to try another wake-up call. By half past five I give in and open the door – pick up the kitten caboodle and place it on the bed next to me while I snooze some more. It was a lovely three hours of kittens climbing, cuddling, exploring – family time!

My neighbour came to visit with her daughter, we had a lovely and long visit!

It was actually a lovely day today, yet I spent it indoors. Why? Kittens! You know? Fluffy cuddly cute little kittens! The garden will still be there next week, and the week after and the week after that. It will always need attention – and there’ll be more sunny days inviting me out. But the kittens will not be this docile much longer. They’ll be a handful very soon – there’s weaning, feeding and litter-box training to look forward to! Plus, of course, they won’t be with me forever – so I’ll spend my time with them now. I’m very tempted to open a tin of baby food and see whether they’ll eat. But once they do – they’ll start pooping as well, and I don’t think the mommies will clean that up! So I better wait.

First, however, chores are done and I’ve moved the plant shelf back up outside my front door. All the plants in those pots were doing so well, and now they’re dying. So they’re back where they did well. I’ve had to cut a lot of wilted herbs and palm fronds – let’s hope they recover.

I’m trying a new incentive with Silver – I only put down tinned food for her at dusk, to motivate her to come inside when the sun goes down. Guess what? She came in and turned her nose up at it! Ditto Shadow! Later on they ate, so I guess they don’t like it cold-from-the-fridge.

Oh, and the negligence of their mommy duties has led to a lovely wet patch on my bed! So I plonked all kittens – in their blanket – on the floor, while I changed the bedding. And guess what the mommy’s did, with the wandering kittens? Right! Ignored them and settled down to eat – followed by attempting to get back onto the bed! They didn’t like the hair-dryer’s noise – but I have to dry the patch somehow! Sod them!

Well, tomorrow it’s back to the grindstone. Everything’s ready, lunch is packed – bed is made; so I better enjoy the kittens some more before I’m off to sleep. Sorry, no photos today.

Cats and kittens and not much else

Bad night. In the middle of the night dire rear shot me to the bathroom. Cats reaction? Yay! Playtime!

In the morning both cats are eager to go out. I have to exchange some harsh words with Silver for her to stay in while I sneak out to go shopping. First stop, petrol (relieved that it’s no longer on my account!), second stop: Vet. I get lucky and the CatCare Lady is in. I ask her how adoption of the kittens through CatCare works, I’m still not 100% sure, but I’ll take the first step and see how it works. I also ask her when the kittens should start eating food, and she advises when they weigh about 500 gr – which should be at about 5 weeks old. Ha! 5 weeks? The puniest of this lot weighed 295gr at 2 weeks! We didn’t weigh them again, but I’m sure they’re either at or over 500gr already! So, even though they don’t have a single tooth among them, yet – they’re ready! I could just mush some of the special kibble I have – special since it’s for lactating queens and her babies; but while they’re with me, I like to spoil them. So I get some tins of kitten wet food as well. The 4kg kibble is already almost finished, so I get another bag as well – those cats eat better than I do!

Next stop, groceries, then home. The ‘unpacking of the groceries’ is watched with great anticipation by both mommies – and they stalk off in a huff, when nothing is placed in their food bowls!

Speaking of which, they’ve started a new game where they overturn their bowls and cover the food with the towel I place underneath their dining-area! What’s that about?

Right, so the kittens weigh: Tabby (m) over 500 gr (my scale only goes to 500 gr): Short Sleeve (f) 470 gr, Calico (f) 470 gr and Long Sleeve (m) 440 gr. Tabby was very interested in the kibble I held to his nose and eagerly started licking it, but without teeth that’s as far as he can go. So next, I’ll experiment with some mush.

That was fun! Both mommies are highly disgusted at this atrocity of food that ONLY the kittens may eat! Short sleeve and tabby were interested and licked like champions – while I had to fight of both mommies who were adamant that food is exclusively for THEM! They attempted to steal the single mushy kibble out the baby’s mouth – and got their ears flicked as a reward! The complained bitterly at this incredible insult, jumped off the bed in a huff and sat by my feed venting their disgust. Of course the dish got stepped in, the liquid soaked their bedding which the mommy’s licked dry within seconds. Calico was not too keen … yet. When the kittens showed no further interest, I put the dish in the cupboard above the sink. Wise precaution, as I just caught Silver inspecting the sink! She’s really a clever cat, albeit very willful.

I just had some great fun with Shadow. She loves that mouse on elastic string on a stick toy – jumps, rolls, pounces, anything to play with it. I moved the scratching post to the play area, and Shadow would cling upside-down to it and work her way up like a monkey – it’s quite fun to watch! When I dangled the mouse in front of Silver she just gave me a look and turned away.

That scratching pole is really quite a simple one: I just took a 40mm PVC pipe, sawed half the diameter off at the one end, sawed an angle to the opposite end (Ok, so first I didn’t line it up with the top and had to re-do it) then stuck three strips of double-sided tape down the length of it and wrapped rope around it. Ok, so I did it in three steps – as in, stuck three strips down a third of the pipe, wrapped the rope around it, then the next third and so on. I had sawed a cleft into the top end, where I fastened the rope with a knot on the inside of the pipe, and at the bottom end I pulled the rope through two wraps and knotted that as well. I used one entire rope, which covered 1,32m of 40mm PVC pipe. If anyone wants to know exact how-to details, comment on this post and I’ll bore you with the details J.

As a mother, Silver is really bad. For example, this past hour: She’s outside frolicking or whatever leaving Shadow to settle the kittens and look after them. When they’ve all settled down and gone to sleep, she comes strolling in, announcing her arrival with loud trills then plonks herself down on top of her babies! They all start crying, she licks them till they’re quiet and when they’ve nestled in for a good feeding session – she gets up to go to her food bowl – leaving the kittens crying with their meal so rudely interrupted! Eats a few kibbles and goes outside again! Leaving poor Shadow to try and calm them and settle them down again. I don’t think Shadow has any milk left, though. They keep trying, but never stay on her. Silver behaves like the queen, making occasional guest appearances in the nursery – but leaving the real work to her lady-in-waiting! No wonder Shadow tries to follow my neighbour home every day! She really has a much sweeter temperament than Silver. I am hoping that getting spayed will have a positive effect on Silver’s nature as well. I have grown extremely fond of her, and don’t want to loose her. She may be a bad mother, willful and not very cuddly – but she is such a fascinating character! And she is attached to me as well, I would absolutely hate to have to crush her newly formed trust in humans. I don’t know if I could bear that.

Curious Calico sitting up to watch what I'm doing

The weather looks quite lovely, but the wind is quite cold. Too cold to spend time in the garden. I did take some photo’s though.

Fed some of the kittens more mushy kibbles. Tabby is quite keen, as is Long Sleeve, but neither Short Sleeve nor Calico show any interest. Trust the two males to be the first to expand their food experiences! Although it’s Short sleeve who first started purring – so far, she’s the only kitten who purrs. Her eye has cleared up nicely. I had to clean some crust out of it today again, but at least it was open. And I’m happy to say there are no more fleas nor any other parasites. Neither on kittens nor cats.

My neighbour came up for her daily visit and I showed her Shadows favourite toy – which she enthusiastically took to engage Shadow. And showed her how two of the kittens already eat mushy kibbles. Her daughter wants to come look at the kittens tomorrow – she said she’ll bring her dog to choose one of the kittens!

It’s been a pretty unproductive day for me, lazing about, playing my online game a bit and spending most of the day with the kittens – on and off. Oh, and Calico started purring as well! So, both males are first to eat, but the females are first to purr!

One other interesting observation – when left alone for a while, they are always three in a cuddle and one a way off. A different one every time – but for some reason they don’t like to bunch four together. Strange, but there you are!

Calico was sleeping with her siblings, when she got up and
just climbed into Shadows arms to sleep there - too cute

Yin and Yang - the twins

First cat to walk the pole!

The right front paw of Long-Sleeve - the stripes go all the way to the paw

The right front paw of Short-Sleeve - the stripes end somewhat higher

Cat plans

Silver was quite restless again this morning, demanding to go out – then coming back inside soaking wet (because it’s raining!), then sitting by the door demanding to be let out again.

This worries me a great deal, because I cannot see any chance of keeping Silver if she stays this ‘wild’. I need her restricted to either indoors – or at worst, no farther than my garden. I think the first stumbling block is the litter box: a) the ‘standard size’ is too small, uncomfortably small for someone used to an open garden and b) the litter itself. I’ve looked from sand-like stuff, but I’ve come to the conclusion that potting soil or compost would be best. I’ll just have to put down some mat to prevent it being paw-carried too far around the flat.

And then I still don’t have any indoor scratching post. Forget the furniture for now – let’s keep it simple. I’ve put a Tecoma log down for them, which both use enthusiastically, so that was a start – but it’s a short log, on the ground. They also like to stretch and claw – like they do on the trees outside ... or my bed, inside.

Back at home I put my plan into action. I’ve dumped the gravel-litter over the gravel left by the builders and filled the litterbox with potting soil. After the customary hour of playing with the kittens and fussing over the mommies, I started working on the scratching post. Now it’s nearly nine and Silver is driving me bananas demanding to go out – she meows, claws up onto the door, paws me, and fights with Shadow. But I’m planning to stop all outdoor excursions after dark. She’s running around like a caged animal, faffing around in the litterbox, and when fighting with Shadow she’s not careful of kittens looking for food in between the fight! Eish!

Half past nine, the scratching post is finished and up. Silver has settled down – for now. The real problem with her is that she’s a very alert cat. She’s not amused by the mouse on a string – which keeps Shadow happily entertained. My neighbour will have a much easier time with Shadow than I ever will with Silver.

Anyway, here are the promised photo’s.

A water-shiny pink version of my favourites!

These tiny beauties are almost hidden by the Cornflowers

Still opening more and more blooms!

Held down firmly while being cleaned

Trapped under a mommy-leg

Our surrogate angel!

Mommy resigned to lying still while the kittens are nursing
never for long though - she regularly gets up
littering kittens everywhere, who are never amused
by this rude end to their feeding!

Notice the difference in the left eye's pupil?

Complete happiness!

He's the only one with a pink nose

We have a bit of an eye infection
fur-granny needs to clean that!

She's Little Miss Curious - unless she's nursing
she's always walking about, exploring
And just loves climbing!

Captured moments before she made
another attempt at climbing
Mount Freya

Up close and personal

See what I mean about the pupil? Like it's pulled open in the middle to the one side.
 And there's a black spot at the bottom as well
It's been there since she first walked into my home