Poopgate!

Nice comfy pillow! That’s me “chained” until he moves

Dear Humphrey- historically always first to the food, he was also along with Basil, keen to get started on the recovery food & so dear H was first with a runny tummy at half past midnight last night. Bless him, he walked backwards into it too in his attempts to cover it over, getting it squished up between his footpads and consequently it now also contained litter grit.

As he jumped out of the tray and ran off it was flicked off in little lumps! Catching him up, with all the grit, using wipes to clean would have hurt so he had a spa treatment with his feet washed off while under the running tap before being set free. 

I’m switched on high alert for who would be next as Basil had also eagerly tucked in alongside Humphrey. He went off to the litter box a couple of hours later, and I followed  so that I could pluck him out after he had performed in attempts to stop him burying it and doing the same. Not quite quick enough, Basil too received a little foot spa treatment. I was awake all night. 

Come morning there was an excellent sound as I went to the kitchen for a cuppa as 16 galloping limbs came excitedly too. So, appetites were returning it seemed!

I mixed 1 pouch of NM with some recovery food and stolid back to watch them tuck in. Grogu & Vincent still have less strong appetites than their brothers walking away having rated little but I’m pleased that they choose to eat some rather than sniffing & walking away. In later feed attempts through the day, I used a syringe to aid Grogu and Vincent. I was rewarded at 8pm when Grogu only followed me to the kitchen and meowed to demand food. I offered him the mix but he sat and looked at it. I then offered just the recovery food and he ate some. The exact same thing happened tonight with Vincent too. This food will help them bounce back, regain their body weight & get them keen to eat again. 

I do expect the diarrhoea to continue a bit with them even when I get them back in to NM only just because of the antibiotics but defo improved today I feel.

They’re all drinking lots, Basil in particular likes to experiment on each spout as the water travels down each of the water fountain’s 3 levels.  

Vincent is the climber of the group, he seems to particularly love to shimmy his way up the back of my dining chairs to sit at the top watching me (like when I’m cooking or making a much needed cuppa!)

Grogu I’ve noticed particularly over yesterday & today as I have fed him is stubborn and will voice his objection! I think he maybe learned this particular moaning from Madam Floozy who always has something to say each time I pick her up to remove her from the scene of the kittens food! 

So, while things are not perfect today, they are improved (despite poopgate)  . There’s been lots of sleep but there’s also been a return to wrestling, some (albeita more subdued than usual) exploration & play. I can feel that things are on the pathway to resettling things back to healthy normal. 

I am always in awe of animals how amazing quickly they recover or deal with pain. There’s not a whimper when giving birth, the way Noodle lay with her kittens feeding after her two C-Sections.  One of her kittens in its blindness kept trying to latch onto/suckle her stitched & puckered wound! Her tummy was scratched to heck bu those needle claws, but she allowed it. I helped by laying on hot flannels to help her engorged chest. They bounce back following an operation (like a C-Section) or neutering, tooth removal etc too soon leaping about as I’d nothing had happened. We would be swallowing pain killers, slow moving gasping & ouching as we go! . 

Veterinary recovery food is like rocket fuel. I’m so glad I asked my vet for that to be dispensed yesterday.  Deciding for them to be seen & subsequently being given antibiotic cover as well might be us both being over cautious but we are both aware that kittens this young can tip over into needing more invasive help pretty quickly. While I can treat this kind of emergency if it’s needed (the life saving magic of Manuka +15  honey and kitten milk by syringe of by tube feeding or in hydrating by administering subcutaneous fluids) the ideal care plan is not to reach that stage & is preferable for them to be able to eat & drink as normal. 

I will take a bit of poopgate to get them back on track.

By tomorrow all four will I’m sure be keen to eat regularly throughout the day & we can enter the weekend with raucous enthusiasm for mischief & play.

Cautionary Vet visit

It’s been almost a week since the boys and their mum visited the vet.

On that visit, the kittens & their mum were vaccinated, and the chaps had their microchip implants. At home,  the chaps and adult cats were all wormed. ✔️ ☑️ ✅. 

Over the last few days however, the appetites of the lads has dropped quite significantly & while they are still drinking & feeding from mum (when she will allow them) and though at times I’m energetically run in front of as I head towards the kitchen when given their food they are either just picking at it, or completely walking away. To go from 8-10 pouches hoovered up in a day to eating almost nothing is of great concern. Since yesterday I’ve been mixing up kitten milk again, offering that as well if they’ll take it.

They’re bright eyed. Inquisitive. Playful. But less so. 

I wanted to see the vet with them before anything got out of hand and so rang earlier to ask to see them and get some recovery food. This is a food in a mousse that is calorie dense meaning they can eat less but still get all of their needs met. 

Each lad was examined & weighed & each has lost a little weight. A slight oss of weight can happen when weaning from mother’s milk occurs and we know of course that Prune is trying to discourage them from suckling her so this could have impacted them. 

Another possible is that the worming over three days may have associated the nasty taste of that with their food thus making them refuse it. And again, this could have merit. 

However, bearing in mind that they just had their first exposure to the outside world, plus the 3 day worming , their vaccinations and add in mums vaccine booster and worming which is likely crossing over slightly into her milk - the combination is likely to be affecting them in some way. Any of this should wear off and they should pick up but I didn’t & don’t want to take chances with these precious babies.

The vet was pleased that there was no other physical signs of concern (other than weight loss). She liked that they were alert and bright eyed. She has given me the recovery food I asked for plus 5 days of a broad spectrum antibiotic to cover them just in case they have picked up anything from being outside or even from being in the vets surgery when we were there last week.

I’m giving the antibiotics from later on this afternoon evening as it’s to be dosed to them twice a day. She says I’m to continue to offer their usual food, and I can continue to offer the kitten milk as well and now I’ve the recovery food and if necessary can give that by syringe. 

Things to watch: The sudden change in diet (different food) & antibiotics are likely to cause them some diarrhoea so I’ll also give a kaolin paste called Pro-Kolin which will help with that aspect of things. Pro-Kolin btw is a useful standby product to have around for cats/kittens to give if they ever suffer diarrhoea symptoms (and it doesn’t require a prescription, Amazon sell it even!). Some vet supplier stores offer their own (cheaper) take on this too! 

I hope that a day of the recovery food will perk them up and reinforce their appetite again getting us over this slump. This is not uncommon & I’m ever watchful of my little beauties.

I’m sure that I’m being overly cautious & that tomorrow will bring positive news (apart from diarrhoea!) 

{little update: Basil & Humphrey came asking for food but declined the offer of their usual food, however, they hoovered up half a tub of the recovery food! Grogu & Vincent were offered it, sniffed it and declined. Each of them have now been syringe fed a few ml of kitten milk replacer & they will be topped up every couple of hours this evening. All kittens have also now had a first dose of the antibiotic cover. As whatever has upset them dissipates, I’ll look to see a definite upturn in their appetites}. 

On another subject: 

I had a viewer /new overnight subscriber to my you tube channel who left a comment on yesterday’s video which read “I love that one of these little raisins is named Grogu!” She hadn’t of course picked up that Vincent is Vincent Poe from the same film - but it did make me smile because it’s such a coincidence that two kittens in this litter have names given them that are inspired by the same film and that Vincent’s big brother is also named Gilbert Grogu. I also loved them being termed as Raisins. Raisin would be a good name for a Sphynx -maybe I’d consider using it one day if I didn’t detest that particular food ! 

A day of play

I’ve noticed over the last couple of weeks Prune increasing her provision of (toy) mice as she calls softly to her sons. I delight in the instinct that somehow informed her that, while she has NEVER seen a rodent in her life, she somehow recognises these toys (of various material & size) as mice and that this is the natural prey species to start her kittens on. There are other creature toys (fish & birds) but always it’s mice she delivers to them. Having watched outdoor going mothers who must regularly hunt, bring indoors a live shrew or mouse and holding it down with a paw while her kittens learn to become little predators, that Prune is doing this for her litters is fascinating to me

Over the last 2/3 days when as asked for suckling time (i.e every time she stops and her tummy is visible) she is now beginning to refuse it or allowing for seconds before stopping them, she has obviously decided that it’s time they stopped milk feeding. She will get up to walk away or, fed up with the barrage of greedy muzzles has taken to lying tummy down rather than being able to relax into sleep on her side. To give her a break, and help form a barrier for her I’ve popped on a long t-shirt. She wasn’t keen to be dressed (she dislikes any form of restraint hold (as it needed to dress her) as she is a very timid girl and sees danger in being caught (such as to be put in her carrier to go out to vet or heart scanning, get a bath, be giving worming meds etc), but I hope that she realises now that I was attempting to help her. It doesn’t stop them totally as you’ll see in the images below, but makes it harder and hopefully starts to encourage them to take the next step to independence. Well, that’s the plan. 

In one image you’ll see Prune’s posture looks decidedly uncomfortable, as if she is biting her lip and counting to 10 before walking away - which she did! And yes in another she does look oddly headless! I know they will still suckle a bit until they leave, I’m just trying to give mum a break!

The adults and kittens were all worked at the weekend (the kittens are currently wormed at specified intervals whereas the adults are on a 3 monthly treatment) and, I’m not sure if it’s this, the effect of the jabs having hit them or if they are stealing & filling up on the adults Orijen dry food, there is a lot less Natures Menu being eaten than before. The litter trays are fine but I did find a little puddle of vomit last night suggesting that one of them (& so probably all of them) are feeling a bit off (or had gorged on the unfamiliar dry food). I’ll give it a day or two more and see if I can catch them eating the dry food as an alternative (when the adults get their timed/auto dispensed portions). If things don’t alter back to their previous levels of gluttony I will visit the vet. I’m keeping a close eye on tummies, fluid intake and general appearance, and if their appetites are still as poor tomorrow I’ll need to weigh them too. Another source of change to them will be that mum was wormed & had her vaccination the same day they did and so something may be crossing the milk barrier that they are not used to. 

As you’ll see in the video taken today for their new families to see their new pets daily lives, despite being off their food a bit, they are still engaged and active, either in play together or up to something else alone. Play involves engrossed life skills (such as you’ll see in the film, learning patience in stalking their prey, or in their laying in wait (inside the box) for a passing brother/aunt they can hook. When playing as a pair or group it’s either dashing around chasing each other - climbing, jumping and building strength, agility & ability or they wrestle.