Note: If you’ve been a Love & Hisses reader for a while, you know that I write these posts the night before and schedule them to post. So it’s entirely possible that, while I slept, she gave birth to those kittens. If I wake to find that that has happened, I will edit this post to reflect the news so no one misses out. For that matter, if I wake to find that there are no kittens, I’ll add that information as well. (If she has them over the weekend, I’ll create a separate post.)
8:41 am: No kittens this morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Can you feel movement from the babies when she’s on your lap?
I can, and it’s VERY cool!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyways, how are the Les Chatons doing (especially Gabrielle and Josephine)?
and
No updates from Beauregard and Fleur yet? Hope they’re doing well. Miss them.
Gabrielle and Josephine are doing great! They’ve got a Facebook page.
Henri (who joined former foster Almanzo, now Cooper) is on Facebook and Instagram.
Mamas Margeaux (now Elfie) and Katriane (now Neko) are on Instagram. (Luc – now Reggie – shows up there from time to time as well.)
Jacques (now Mr. Sellers) and Francois (aka Da BAYbee – now Skyler) are on Instagram.
No updates on Beauregard and Fleur, but if I get one, I’ll be sure to share!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And there is a question I wanted to ask you for a long time. Have you ever had mamas that had less than four kittens (I mean the mamas that had their kittens here like Kara, Maggie, Lucy, Caroline, Margeaux)?
The short answer is no – the fewest kittens any of my mamas have birthed is 4.
The long answer: I finally got around to making a table comparing the mamas – first column is their name (obviously), then the amount of time we had them before they gave birth (Kara’s still the winner there), the the number of kittens they had (the +1 for Khaleesi and Lucy are the kittens they adopted. Khaleesi raised Norbie right along with the others; Lucy half-heartedly mothered Carlin for his last month or so, though she wasn’t pleased about it) and then the time of day they gave birth.
| Year | Month-Day | Name | Time lapsed | # of kittens | Time of day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 04-17 | Kara | 01 day (30 hours) | 4 | 20:00 (8 pm; early evening) |
| 2011 | 04-02 | Maggie | 22 days | 6 | 09:00 (mid-morning) |
| 2012 | 03-01 | Emmy | 13 days | 4 | 02:00 (very early morning) |
| 2013 | 03-19 | Kate | 23 days | 5 | 06:30 (morning) |
| 2013 | 05-01 | Khaleesi | 17 days | 4 (+1) | 17:00 (5 pm, evening) |
| 2015 | 04-01 | Lucy | 13 days | 7 (+1) | 17:00 (5 pm, evening) |
| 2017 | 04-03 | Nola | 12 days | 4 | 06:00 (morning) |
| 2017 | 08-09 | Mercury | 02 days | 6 | 02:00 (very early morning) |
| 2018 | 02-25 | Katia | 06 days | 4 | 10:00 (mid-morning) |
| 2018 | 03-19 | Kristi | 27 days | 6 | 07:00 (morning) |
| 2019 | 02-13 | Caroline | 27 days | 5 | 08:30 (Mid-morning) |
| 2019 | 07-10 | Margeaux | 43 days | 6 | 02:30 (Very early morning) |
| 2020 | 02-11 | Isabella | 13 days | 5 | 03:00 (Very early morning) |
| 2021 | 02-26 | Canasta | 47 days | 6 | 06:07 (morning) |
| 2022 | 03-02 | Mimosa | 34 days | 5 | 5:30 (morning) |
| 2023 | 03-18 | Daisy | 24 days | 4 | 20:36 (8:36 pm, early evening) |
As you can see, right up until Caroline, we had a pattern going on where, starting with Kara, the mamas alternated between 4 kittens and a larger number. So it was 4, 6, 4, 5, 4, 7, 4, 6, 4, 6, 5, 6. But then Caroline MESSED IT ALL UP with her 5 kittens (though Margeaux went along with the pattern as though Caroline had birthed 4 kittens), so maybe Isabella will pick it up. I didn’t realize until just now that we’re on lucky mama 13, so maybe all the rules and patterns are out the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How are the furs doing, with flea control and plenty of food?
The furs are doing great! In just a week, I feel like her skin improved a zillion percent. Almost all the scabs are gone, and her fur seems to be starting to grow back in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi do you know what dose of Atopica Frankie’s on? And how many pounds he is? One of my fellow foster ladies has a cat going through stomatitis too. Her teeth have all been pulled but it hasn’t helped her either. I told her about Frankie and atopica and their vet wants to give it a try too but is having trouble finding dosage info. Or if you have any resources about it I could share with her and her vet that’ll be wonderful.
I found dosing info on the drugs.com site, here that seems to be in line with what we’re giving Frankie. It’s hard to know for sure, because the Atopica comes with a syringe that you use to pull up the dose according to their weight (Frankie gets the 10 pound dose.)
I asked Fred, who reminded me that before we could put Frankie on the Atopica, the vet had him on steroids to get the stomatitis under control. Once his mouth looked okay, we weaned him off the steroids and onto the Atopica. Basically, the Atopica doesn’t “fix” the stomatitis, but it helps keep it under control. It’s worked well for us for about a year and half (maybe even 2 years.) The vet did say that it probably wouldn’t work forever, but so far so good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not to change the subject…did you see the video of the guy who was run over by a deer in a parking lot? Fred should be careful
Fred did not MEAN to terrorize those poor deer, he was just out for his morning walk. And yet, last week he terrorized them again. This time he was in the car, just trying to get home, and there were deer walking down our street. (The Ring camera did catch it, but it’s so short I’m saving it to post with other clips in a future video.)
Poor deer. I’m sure whenever they see him, they’re like “WHY is this human up so early? Doesn’t he know that the night belongs to US?”
(In case you missed the video and have no idea what I’m talking about, here it is again.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am very pleased to announce that as of now, the foster page is up to date. All the cats and kittens we’ve fostered are now present on that page – in the past month I’ve added posts and pages for these fosters:
Five sisters: Dulcinea, Elle, Skittles, Punki and Felicia.
The Bluths: Lucille, Lindsay, and Maeby.
HG & Smudge Bunny. (12 years later, Fred remembers HG with fondness, BY NAME, and you know how rare that is!)
And Splash, a very scared and skittish 6 month old kitten who we tried to socialize without much luck. (She went back to the Challenger’s House foster who’d asked for help. In retrospect, 2 weeks wasn’t nearly enough time, and if I had it to do over again, I’d work at it longer and differently.)
So if you want posts to read while we’re waiting for more kittens, there are links on each of those pages to where the posts about those particular kittens start. (And since it was in 2008, when we had lived at Crooked Acres for just over a year, there are plenty of chicken and pig pictures also!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Let a pregnant lady sleep, lady.”
Fred (his office is next door to the kitten room) coughed.
Her serious little “I-ain’t-foolin’-with-you” face kills me.
It’s a rough life.
“What you doin’, weird lady?”
“Come gimme a kiss.”
As of last evening, her appetite dropped off a little, she seemed a bit restless, and her milk was definitely starting to come in. It can’t be long! (I mean, it probably WILL be, but y’know. A girl can hope.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have I mentioned how popular that catnip toy is?
Newt’s a big fan!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2019: “I don’t know what’s going on here, but that’s okay.”
2018: I bet that fur would soak up half a gallon of paint in no time flat.
2017: “Woof! I’m a giraffe!” says Dennis.
2016: No entry.
2015: “Hello, sunshine, my old friend; I’ve come to warm my furs again.”
2014: “I just like to snuggle rather than roll around like brutes. Is that so wrong?”
2013: Obviously the cats can’t stay in their cages while the painting is going on, so Mercury, Kennebec, and Baby Beans are back here until Friday morning.
2012: Everett takes a break from jumping to show the correct waltzing form.
2011: Alice and Rhyme were both adopted on Saturday!
2010: Ouiser ultimately got the upper hand, and Drum ran for his life!
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: She became entirely liquid somehow, and flowed through my fingers and across the room, ending up under the bed.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.