Amy asked in my comments a week or so ago whether it’s normal for kittens to wiggle their ears like that when they’re nursing or if the Cookies are special.
Well, they ARE special, but it’s also normal for kittens to wiggle their ears like that. When the ears are wiggling, you know they’ve got a good latch going on and they’re swallowing formula like champs. The ear-wiggling is my favorite part of kittens this age.
Lorene posted a link to an excellent ear-wiggling video. That kitten is wiggling those ears so hard, he’s about to take flight, I think!
(But I would also like it very much if they’d transition over to regular food, because getting up at 4:30 every morning to feed them is about to kill me. I am not a morning person. At least not THAT much a morning person!)
What kills me about kittens this age is that sometimes there’s no consistency with what and how much they eat. One day last week it seemed like none of them were eating much at feeding time, which started to send us into a “OMG THEY ARE ALL GOING TO FADE AWAY TO NOTHING!” tizzy, and then the next day they all ate like pigs. One feeding time we’re all concerned about Pink (can you tell I still haven’t assigned them their cookie names yet? I will. Be patient.) because she’s so tiny (except that when I weighed them all, she was only an ounce smaller than the rest. They’re all edging up on 1 pound, which means they’re about the size the Wonkas were when we first got them!) and the next, we’re worried we’re going to run out of formula because she’s eating so much.
Sometimes they show interest in canned food, sometimes all they want is the bottle. A couple of times I’ve seen some of the kittens picking at the small bowl of Baby Cat (crunchy food) I leave in the room at all times.
By all rights, they probably should be contained to their cage all the time, because they’re not 100% on the litter box. Someone’s pooping and peeing under the desk, so our solution was to put a litter box there. Makes sense, right? They’re not at 100% on the litter box, but they’re getting there – maybe at 80%, most of the time.
We realized on Saturday that Pink had diarrhea that was so bad, her behind was swollen and fur was missing from the underside of the base of her tail. I’ve been keeping them as clean as possible, believe me – but apparently the diarrhea was worse than I realized. We’re treating it, and I think she’s getting better. I dabbed some hemorrhoid cream on her back end, and by Sunday afternoon it looked a lot better.
There are four Wonkas and five Cookies in this house, and I swear to god – it’s like we have twice as many Cookies as Wonkas. The Cookies have got lungs like Mariah Carrey and they USE them. You walk into the room, they flood over to you, and scream. And scream. And SCREAM. You snuggle them, they scream a little less often, but still – the screaming. Is it the Siamese in them that makes them scream, or what?
I want them to get the hang of the litter box 100% and transition to real food instead of the formula. But I also want them to stay this little forever!
I was rubbing her belly, and she was kneading in the air.
Crusty eyes. I’m sure she was taking a short break between screams.
“I. Haz. A. Complaint. LADY!”
Deceptively sweet looking. You wouldn’t guess she could shatter your eardrums, would you?
The least screamy of the screamers. Does he look like a Precious Moments doll, or what?
Could you just DIE? He looks like a toothless old man. An EXCITED toothless old man. Like, “I heard they was servin’ chocolate pudding at the Senior Center. Outta my WAY!”
Some afternoons, I lay down on the floor of the foster kitten room and take a nap. Veruca likes it when I lay on my side, so she can perch on the side of my legs. She naps, too.
Pretty, pretty Violet.
The many faces of Gus:
No True Bloods adopted this weekend, unfortunately. ::sigh:: Maybe this week will be their lucky week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
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Previously
2008: No entry.
2007: “Um, NO. There is NO ROOM on the platform, so move away. MOVE AWAY, I say!”
2006: No entry.
2005: Tragic.