well peanut didn't loose any weight last night. The boy tiger is now up to 4oz. I was weighing him, and charlie was getting some attention from my hubby, but the boy didn't like being pulled away from the other kittens. So he started crying.. so mom got up, and went over to him. she tried to pick him up but couldn't seem to get a good angle.. since he was in a shallow tray. She eventually got him by the foot, then carried him, by the foot, back into the cage, where she curled up with him and looked at me as if to say.. what were you doing to him!!. She didn't seem to mind I had the rest of them still. So I gave them back to her after a quick weight check. I didn't write it down, but they all seemed to have gained weight except peanut. *sigh* I hope there is nothing wrong with him, and that the others are just knocking him off his nipple
weights.. Girl was 3.4 is now 3.3 boy tiger 3.3 is now 3.6 black 1 was 3 is now 3.3 black 2 was 2.7 is now 3 peanut 1.9 is now 1.85
This morning peanut was 1.7.. I supplemented him with some KMR.. he immedately went to sleep. Tonight he still seemed a little small so I gave him some more kmr. His tushie was a little dirty... so I cleaned him off. he went pee. but not all that much. neither did anyone else, so mom must be taking care of that, which is good.
I just sent my husband down into the kitten room cause I forgot the bottle in the room. Charlie actually left the cage to see him. She's hasn't done that for me since she gave birth. and now we have kittens wandering around the cage all lost.. there is one that always seems to go off in the wrong direction.. Im thinking of calling that one magellan.
Charlie is a way better mom than I thought possible. I went in just now and opened up the cage, and she came out for some attention, but on the way she disturbed one of the kittens and it started crying, so she went back in and sat down. of course she sat on peanut, but I give her credit for not leaving screaming kits.
I weighed them last night. the girl is 3.4 oz, the boy tiger is 3.3. the two black ones are 3 and 2.7 oz, and peanut is 1.9 but he's doing well. got a full tummy. looks like they are going poop. Will have to check on that today sometime, make sure that mom is stimulating them to go pee. wouldn't want their bladders to burst.
oh great.. muffin just threw up. poor thing. we have had a run of very loose stools around here lately as well. Don't know whats going on, we haven't changed their diet recently. I did start adding vitamin c, but I stopped that the minute it started, which was a while ago.
Hubby just checked in on the kits, they seem to be nursing well, and mom seems content.. that's good. I think I'll go check on him, and then take a shower.
soon after that last post, I decided I needed to go to sleep. I put peanut down with his brothers, and slept till just past two. Just went down and checked on him. he was sleeping off to the side. I let mom out of the cage, and attached peanut to her. Man that kit can hold on. she got up a few times and rolled around (with some help from me so she didn't crush him) and he didn't let go once. Not till she went back into the cage to lay on the other kits.. prompted I think by one of them crying cause he was out looking for her and was going the totally wrong way and was lost. So peanut has eaten... and is currently routing around for a teet. So he'll live for at least another two hours.
there are going to be a lot of posts today.. kitten lives are very minute to minute.
I left them in the carrier with mom for a couple of hours. The others seem to be doing ok, but peanut was just sleeping and unresponsive, and cold. So I brought him upstairs, and tried to get him to nurse on one of those pathetic kitten bottles they sell at walmart.. and he ate!! He's currently sleeping in my sports bra.its qutie cute. Id take a picture of it for you, but Im sure that would be WAY TMI. *looks down at him* well not really, but kinda. so I wont.
man I want to go to sleep.. its just not going to happen for a while..
They called the vets and they said there was nothing they could do. they offered me KMR and nipples. I asked if they could shave Charlie's belly cause everyone was having a hard time finding nipples this morning. Bobby came and said that it was too early to interfere, that they had reserves, and that if I just left them alone in a small dark place they would probably nurse. I asked about her crushing them, bobby said that it wasn't a concern. I mentioned the issues with peanut and she suggested that I should let nature take its course in that matter. I took the kmr and the nipples, and put the kittens in the carrier with Charlie and brought them home.. and wouldn't you know it.. they are all nursing. but Im not sure what to do for the rest of the day. Mom only takes care of the girl kitty.. takes her and puts her under the desk, and leaves everyone else to fend for themselves. I suppose I could lock her back up in the cage.. oh wont that be fun.
one of the kitties is extra small, Ive nicknamed him peanut. He has an amazing will to live.. can hold on to mom's teet like there is no tomorrow. I sat up and watched them for two hours last night, charlie hadn't nursed, So i mixed up some supplement and attempted to give it to them. Very hard since their noses and mouths are in a spot the size of your pinky fingernail. I eventually worked up a method where I dropped the supplement right above where they were latched on. Seemed to work. I got peanut to eat something, and everyone else nursed for a while, so I went to bed.
This morning peanut was unresponsive, and I thought I had lost him. But he moved ever so slightly. He was quite pink, and Im assuming he was over heating. I wiped him down with a damp cool cloth, and he started responding better. I got him to eat a bit more.. (man that kit knows how to latch on!!) and now Im going to run them down to the vets.
Both muffin and eli are responding nicely to medication. Not that they like getting it at all, but at least the sneezing has been reduced considerably. Eli's weight was the same.
I couldn't sleep tonight.. so I got up and exercised, then caught up on my email. I went to check on the webcam to the kitties, and saw it was down. Went downstairs to fix it (cause the laptop is ME and it crashes daily) and saw there were kittens. Six in total, five are alive. Two black, three tiger. I think charlie crushed the other one. She has not been a good mother at all. One is horribly small, so I kept putting it up to her belly so it could nurse, but she kept rolling away, and rolling over on to her kitties. I have left the room to see if she'll pay attention to them when there is no one there to pay attention to her, but that's not looking like it is going to happen. *sigh* They are all double pawed too. So cute to see the paws all deformed like that when they are so small.
Oh great.. the web cam just shut off. guess charlie went exploring on the desk top..
Well.. Eli has taken a turn for the worse.. both eyes are watering, and he is sneezing up greenish snot.. so back on antibotics he goes. Muffin has started sneezing as well, and her eye was quite watery this morning. I thought I saw some green in the corner of her eye, but by the time I got to her it was gone. I tried taking eli's temp a second time, it went about as easily as the first time.he's still not running a fever which is good. I don't have many antibiotics though.. going to have to get some soon. Might bring Eli in for a weight check as well. Just to be on the safe side.
Muffin has started doing one of my favorite kitty manuvers.. she uses her paw to help food into her mouth. man its adorable, and even more so on her. Emerald does it as well.
Still no kittens. Got home from the movies last night and I could have sworn I heard kitten howls, but alas, no. Just charlie being uber affectionate.
