BEST News Ever!!

Myrtle's test results came back NEGATIVE!! We're thrilled, obviously!

Here's to Myrtle's long life! :D

Saddest News Ever

Our Baby, Pinky (the gray and white on the left, shown in a baby picture with his brother, Charlie) passed away early this morning at home.

We found out on Tuesday that he had FIP, an infection that has no cure. You can read more about it here: click for article

He was only 13 months old, and we are devastated to lose this kitty that we hoped would be in our family for many years.

When he was a baby, he followed us around everywhere, and was in the middle of every activity, especially in the kitchen... Every time either one of us leave the bathroom after taking a shower, there's Pinky standing guard outside the door, making sure we "made it" through all that horrible water. Whenever Joe came home, Pinky always ran to meet him.

OH - and he fetched! When he was a really little guy he taught us to throw the little plastic thingy that comes off a gallon of milk for him, and he'd always did this funny little prance, so proud, when he'd return with it.

Tomorrow we bring Myrtle, the new kitten, in to be tested for FIP. Let you know the results on Monday.

Introducing Myrtle!

I finally got a good picture of the new kitten!

We named her Myrtle, and yes, this is the kitten formerly known as Stewart! The kittens seem to know when it's time to leave our home, and get super-loving on the last day - happens all the time. But she had grown on us even though she was the guilty party in much carpet-crapping, and we decided to keep her.

Pinky is not sure we made a good decision! He pretends to be irritated by Myrtle, growling when she plays with his tail, but continues to wag his tail in enticement of more playing...

Myrtle wants to be loved by her big brother Pinky, and she'll sit near him, maybe 6 inches away, and roll on her back, acting both shy and playful trying to win his affection. And I'll be darned if she doesn't get bored and go play before I can get the camera out to capture the moment.

Two batches is all we could handle this year!

It looks like we're done fostering kittens this summer after only two batches. We just can't take the pooping on the carpet anymore!

Last year, the kittens all came knowing how to use the box. It's innate for them. You put them in the box when they first arrive, they dig around a little, and instinctively return to it to leave little presents in a variety of forms. But that was last year....

(Pictured above is pumpkin poop.)

This year, as you have read, it's been a whole different story and when it was time to bring these last two kittens in for weighing (we knew they'd be up to weight and ready to go), we decided not to take any more for now.

I'll miss the time with the kittens as they come around from shy little ones to rambunctious healthy bigger ones.

But I'm not gonna miss all the poop!

Princess

Here is Princess, trying to hide behind a blanket after Stewart trashed the pen...

Don't let that shy pose fool you - she is quickly coming out of her shell... She and Stewart play and roughhouse all day long, and she's getting better about shoving back at her rambunctious roommate when he tries to nudge her out of the food bowl.

One thing about her, though, like all the friggin kittens this year it seems, is that she likes to crap on the carpet! We tried keeping her in the pen more so she'd use the box, but Joe took it as a personal "FU" when she pooped next to the box, in the pen.

You might be wondering why we even let the kittens out of the pen at all at this point, and if they weren't so gosh-darn cute it might be possible. Of course we let them out to socialize, play with them, help them be less-shy around people. And the minute you take your eyes off of them, someone craps.

To be continued...

Three little kittens...

On June 6, I brought Lorelei to the shelter to get a vaccination. The supervisor there said that Lorelei needed some friends, so a pair of brothers joined us. I went in with one kitten and came home with three! Surprise!

They got along immediately with Lorelei, but we had some trouble naming them... They went through several, but the orange one ended up being Mario after the red-headed chef Molto Mario on FoodTV, and the little black one we named Barak, because it's a great name for a black cat - a name of honor, if you will.

Now they were nice kittens, very friendly, but unlike most cats who instinctively "know" about using the litter box, three out of three had issues with it...

Our first batch of the season, and Barak pees wherever he is when he gets the urge, Mario refuses to crap in the box, and poor Lorelei has diarrhea, not always in the box.

Kittens have diarrhea if you didn't know that. Well, many do. It has to do with worms, sometimes... (A great tip: feed canned pumpkin (plain) to firm them up!)

Keeping the catbox clean is always the first step. No problem. We tried changing the kitty litter type/brand, and even put a makeshift catbox in the sheltered corner outside the pen where the kittens preferred to shit, apparently. Lot of respect they showed, they just crapped half in/half out of that box, right down the sides.

And what's with scratching the carpet around your new poop? You're not burying it, silly... If you'd use the box, the ol' scratch routine might work. Sheesh!

Joe was unsure if we should even have a second batch after all the time cleaning up, all the Resolve Carpet Cleaner, but when it was time to return them to the shelter for adoption there were two kittens ready for us....

Stewart

We're on batch number two now, two unrelated kittens. They came to our house on July 1st.

Stewart got his name within 2 minutes.

(Stewart's picture is a bit blurry because I can't seem to catch him sitting still... He's a tortie, and is the bigger one.)

We have a 4'x4' pen for the kittens' home base, and as soon as we put them in, this cat freaked out! He jumped on his hind legs and twisted (hilarious!), sprung from one end of the pen to the other, flung the dry food all over, skidded through the box spilling a wave of kitty litter out the other end, and generally was a goof!

When jumping up and down on his hind legs he reminded us of the character "Stuart" (Stewart?) from MadTV - "Look what I can do!"

Unfortunately, he has discovered the corner in which the last batch preferred to shit, and has continued their tradition.

Now that's our fault. We tossed the (makeshift) catbox in the corner for the last batch when they were returned to the shelter to go up for adoption. Their reaction was lukewarm, as they would go half in/half out of the box.... Literally down the sides of the thing. Not bright kittens.

Apparently Resolve Carpet Cleaner cleans the carpet, but can't get rid of whatever makes that particular space such a magnet for kitten poop.