LostWoods Blog

Yes, time for three week photos of the Winter Gifts. And so there they are on their litter page of the website. And yes, I know I’ve said it before, but this age is sooooooo hard to photograph. While the fur babies are interested in my voice, they aren’t into posing or paying attention when something else catches their attention. For example, Ohanna Ariane thought the fuzzy blanket I was using for a backdrop was her mama and she kept sucking on it! Anyway, I managed to get an acceptable — if not good — picture of each kitten and a kinda cute shot of them together in their bed. So stop by and take a look. Also, I added a face shot of Keona to the home page.

Tucker and Caboose (the garage kitties) were neutered and spayed today. Tucker decided to chew his sutures out and started bleeding, so they had to attend to that. He now has an e-collar so he can’t chew and is a little bit sedated to keep him quieter. It figures. Tucker is a live wire. Dr Jennifer said he needs to be kept quiet for the next few days, so I will pick them up tomorrow evening instead of at noon like I normally would and once we’re home, Tucker will get to live in the large crate for the time being. I’m sure he won’t be very happy about that, but he needs time to heal. Caboose is a pretty quiet cat, so she will be fine hanging out in the stud room with Fin.

Speaking of Fin and the stud room… I’ve sent Kali to stay out there with him for the duration. She’s in heat again, but still refusing to have anything to do with Fin. So she’ll just stay out there until she gets used to him and is willing to let him be her mate. I do hope that’s soon. I don’t know why she’s so opinionated. She LOVES Peanut. She HATES Fin. Maybe she just remembers him as the pesky kitten who played with her babies all the time. Maybe she’s forgotten him since he’s been in the stud room for several months. But you’d think she’d get used to him after spending a couple weeks out there last month. But no. She still thinks he is unworthy of her.

One minor problem I still haven’t fixed with the website… I lost the links for the Cat Tails on the main Cat Tails page. I’ve recreated part of them, but still need to do the rest. Maybe tomorow night. And Rand and Avi — although I keep promising photos — have been unwilling to pose. So I’ll keep trying.

It started snowing yesterday morning and is still coming down. Slowly, gently, with tiny flakes, but snowing all the same. It was fairly warm yesterday so it wasn’t until about 5 or 6 p.m. that it started sticking to the driveway and streets. Overnight a small layer of snow built up and now that a base has been established, it’s still collecting.

I spent the weekend doing pretty much what I do every weekend — cleaning house, running errands, and enjoying the kitties. Plus, I spent a number of hours converting web pages. I have a good part of my own site done (for now) as I was using it for test purposes. Tonight’s agenda is to get the Rockatts and Chinua site changes done so they will still work on Wednesday. I’m also going to get new pics of Avi and Rand tonight, providing nothing sidetracks my plans.

The babies have been very interesting to watch the last couple days. Natane is starting to discover the world around him. He has been trying to wrestle with his sisters and chomped Ohanna pretty good on Sunday. She let out a yelp and wiggled away from him. He proceeded to try to chomp both Keona and Isadora after that. Natane is also trying to groom himself. He lies on his back and licks at his front paws. Or rather, he starts on his side, trying to lick his paws and ends up rolling all over trying to get them. It’s so funny to watch his efforts. I haven’t seen the girls trying to wash themselves yet, but they are probably trying, too.

They all are getting interested in doing more than just eating and sleeping. Kefira is spending a little more time away from the bed — she doesn’t leave the room, but she lies on the floor about a foot or so away from them and watches them or takes a nap. The kittens crawl all over their bed and each other. Ohanna got out of the bed on Friday — but more because she had her front paws on the side, trying to see me, and toppled over the side. Their weights are all excellent and they are gaining like expected again. Natane and Keona had some big gains over the weekend — like they are trying to catch back up from the days they lost or only had tiny gains. It is so good to see them being normal, healthy kittens again!

It’s a happy day! For the first time since Sunday, all four of the babies had good weight gains. Keona gained .8 oz; Isadora .3 oz; Natane 1.0 oz, and Ohanna .4 oz. Average at this age is about .3 to .4 each day so everybody is back on track and Keona and Natane exceeded my expectations. They will remain on the antibiotics for another six days just in case, but I’m no longer holding my breath every time I go to check on them. I might even be able to convince myself to go back to daily weigh ins instead of three or four times a day.

I have a lot of stuff to do this weekend — mostly housework and web site updates. Need to get the Chinua and Rockatts sites modified before the 26th so the impending changes at our hosting provider don’t make them unusable. Actually, most of what I have to do for them — initially — is fairly easy and will only take me an hour or two. It’s revamping all the pages to be easier to update as we go forward that will take time.

Also, we have a local family coming to meet the cats and kittens tomorrow, so I’m certain part of the day will be taken up with showing off the fur family and answering our visitors’ questions. I’m glad to have visitors. It’s important for the babies to be handled so they’ll be better socialized. Had they still been under the weather, I’d have restricted the visit to the older cats and a visit to the babies would have had to wait. But after the great progress everybody made in the past 24 hours, I’m okay with them having visitors now. That is one of the things I miss about living in Colorado. With friends nearby, the kittens always had plenty of visitors. Here in Helena I don’t know that many people, so the babies mostly get handled by me, Ken and Jeremy. It hasn’t seemed to impact them much — especially since I love on the babies all the time. But I still think visitors are good.

I started working on the website tonight. This is going to be a long process with many evenings spent messing around with stuff, I fear. I’m self taught when it comes to web design and pretty much just dig in and start trying things. Then I decide if I like how it looks/works. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all and I start over… So please be patient. You may not notice any real changes, but the behind the scenes workings are making a dramatic change.

The Winter Gifts are doing fine. Natane has decided to gain weight like a champ while the girls are still gaining little bits at a time. But I am happy with any gains at all right now. In a few days, I’ll be expecting them to get back to the normal weight gain pattern, though. They are now starting to respond to my voice. When I come in the room and talk to them, they perk up and look toward the closet door where I’m standing. Unless they are eating, of course. Some things are more important than lisa-mom!

That’s about all I have for tonight, but I figured someone (or more than one someone) would be asking for an update if I didn’t tell you how the babies are. I know this was a short update, but I’m getting tired of sitting at the computer. Enough for one night!

The good news is that Keona and Isadora gained quite a bit of weight today and are both above what they weighed when this started. More good news is that Natane also gained weight today — not as much as the girls, but any gain is good. So-so news is that Ohanna held her own since the noon weigh in. Now if she’d just start gaining, I’d be a very happy woman.

I did get their pictures taken this evening so new shots are posted on their litter page. Here’s a funny bonus shot of Ms Attitude, Keona Nevada.

Isn’t she a cutie? I have my fingers and toes crossed that she will develop as nicely as I expect and Brenda will fall in love with her. I think Brenda is already falling, so perhaps, maybe this little girl might remain in the LostWoods family.

Hope everyone got the chance to see the eclipse tonight. It is cold and clear here in Helena so we had a great view.

Also, I’ve been meaning to thank everyone who posted comments and wrote me privately about my vertigo. I promise I will go to the doctor about it if it occurs again. After all, I intend to live to be 100 like my grandmother did, so I can’t be falling down and breaking my neck!

Once again I’ve been MIA when it comes to blog posts. We had a quiet — mostly — long weekend, although we did go to Missoula for the day on Sunday. Ken had cabin fever since he hadn’t been out of Helena all winter and this was a good chance to see how the new car did out on the highway. It’s definitely more comfortable than my Escape was. With the hybrid techonology it gets about the same gas mileage as the Escape did — this in a larger, more comfortable car. I’m glad we got it — remind me of that when I write the check for the payment each month…

But I digress…

My hands, head, and heart have been full of worries about the Winter Gifts. At the Sunday night weigh in time Keona had lost a little weight rather than gaining. (Two grams — hardly cause for panic, but a reason for caution.) On Monday evening she’d lost another two grams and Isadora had also lost a small amount. I also saw evidence that one or more of the kittens had diarrhea. Kefira keeps them so clean that I couldn’t tell who, but the blankets were messy in spots. Yesterday morning I weighed them instead of waiting for evening like I usually do and Natane had joined in the weight loss. Ohanna was still gaining, but she was the only one.

I had some suspicions about the problem and did some research after calling the vet’s office and asking either for a time to bring the babies in ASAP or a call back from Dr Jennifer. When she called me back, we discussed the symptoms, likely diagnoses, and possible treatments. We suspect an e.coli overgrowth, although it’s still not certain. (I will try to get her a fecal sample for definitive testing, but with Kefira cleaning up the babies so promptly and the messes that are left on the blanket being so liquid, there’s not much to work with.)  I ended up running over to the vet’s office and picking up a bottle of Clavamox and then going home to give everybody (including Ohanna) medicine yesterday morning.

I also mixed up some Kitten Glop (a mix of goats milk, Pedialyte, and some other goodies) with which to supplement the babies. At Dr Jennifer’s suggestion, I’ve also added a bit of probiotics to help settle their digestive systems each time I feed them. They aren’t terribly interested in taking a bottle, but are nursing well with Kefira. I only persist in getting some of the glop down them because I want to give them a boost from the Pedialyte (to prevent dehydration) and the probiotics.

Last night and this morning were mixed good and bad news. Both Keona and Isadora started gaining last night, although Natane lost a couple grams and Ohanna also lost weight. This morning Keona, Isadora, and Natane all gained. Keona and Izzy are back at or above the weight they were before this started. Natane has a ways to go to get back. Ohanna had lost more weight as of this morning. I’m trying to convince myself that Ohanna got sick just yesterday, so she is going down like the others before bouncing back.

Kefira and the babies are isolated from everyone else, so this shouldn’t spread — and Kefira has shown no signs of problems herself. I am being super careful with washing and taking care of the blankets I take from their room. I do know from reading over the past seven years that this isn’t terribly rare. E.coli exists in everyone — it’s when it gets out of control that it becomes a problem. It can lead to kitten deaths, but usually not if caught early and treated. The first time I heard about e.coli in kittens was from MC breeder friends. They’d had a litter of eight kittens and shortly after birth the breeder went in to check on them and found what looked like someone had taken a bottle of mustard and squirted it all over mom and the kittens. They washed the kittens and warmed them up and thought everything was okay. It wasn’t. Before they found the cause and started treatment, they’d lost five of the eight babies. They’d never had the problem before or since, but shared their experience for others to learn from. and learn I did. There is a chance that this is just some other bug, but given how the babies are responding to the antibiotics, I think our suspicion is correct.

Well, I’m headed home in a few minutes to check on everyone and weigh them again. Much as I’ve preached to others about no sense weighing kittens more than every 12 hours, I can’t help myself when I’m worried.

BTW, I should be able to get some pictures of them this evening. Their eyes are mostly open and they are starting to look so cute!

I’d gone downstairs this morning after checking in with Kefira and the Winter Gifts. Everybody was happy and well, but Kefira was out of food. So I came back a few minutes later with a container of food. When I looked into the closet, there was Keona halfway across the floor on a mission to explore the closet. Never mind that her eyes aren’t open yet. One can still explore a lot using the sense of smell.

I filled Kefira’s dish and she went over to have breakfast. While she was out of the bed, the kittens (I’d put Keona back with the others) were busily creeping around the entire area. A couple of them were getting up on their paws a bit rather than just scooting around on their tummies. Soon their eyes will be open (I can see them starting to open now) and they’ll be off to the races. Well, maybe not races quite yet, but certainly making the rounds in the closet.

If you haven’t already noticed, I posted one week photos of the babies last night. I was under the weather on Wednesday, so I was a day late. I was hit with a severe case of vertigo for an unknown reason. I was out in the stud room cleaning litter boxes and filling food dishes when all of the sudden the room started spinning. I finished what I was doing and went in the house to sit down. The spinning continued. After a little bit I decided to just go upstairs and lie down. I ran into the wall by the door, confirming that I shouldn’t be doing anything physical. And even though taking photos isn’t physically demanding, I was worried I might drop a kitten or fall. And focusing the camera with the room spinning isn’t all that easy! I felt better yesterday morning, although I was still a bit dizzy until mid-morning. Like I said, this was out of the blue and I have no idea what caused it. Had an episode — not as long lasting, though — a couple weeks ago, too. The next (if there is one) occurrence will result in a visit to the doctor if Ken has anything to say about it. He’s good at making me go for anything and everything — and terrible about going for himself. Men! 

This weekend I’m downloading some new software and starting to learn a new way to do websites as our hosting company is discontinuing FrontPage extensions. Not surprising since MS support for FrontPage ended awhile back. I’ve just been too busy to spend much time learning something new. Now I have to. Initially, you shouldn’t see anything too different with the sites, but over time there will be changes. Brenda’s future site may be my test site for awhile since she doesn’t have her cattery registered yet and doesn’t need it available all the time.

In cat show news, those of you in the Denver area should stop by the Front Range Cat Fanciers show in Brighton at the Adams County Fairgrounds this Saturday and Sunday. Brenda, Sondra, and Heidi will be there showing off the fur kids. McCoy will be looking for some additional grand points after picking up 85 of the 200 he needs at the Loveland show. Danica will be there to get her winner’s ribbons.   I will be there in spirit, but my next cat show in person will likely be in mid-March.

That’s what the Winter Gifts have – warm, round tummies. Last night they weighed between 5.5 and 6.2 oz. That’s above average for our kittens at three days old. Not the biggest we’ve had, but big. And they are bigger than the Leprechauns were at the same age. All four of them are active and feisty little kittens. I think all of them have hissed at me now. It is interesting to see how their instinct to scare off potential danger is so strong at such an early age.

We had a quiet weekend and I spent some time reading in my chair in the living room. (What a luxury!)Every time I’d sit down for more than a few minutes, Basia would come over and take a nap on my feet. She didn’t want to be on my lap, but she wanted to be close and touching me. That’s typical of her. She can be a lap kitty now and then, but mostly she wants just to be touching. She’ll stretch out between Ken and me in bed with her back next to one of us and her front paws touching the other.  

Shira and Dilan have apparently not been getting enough of my time, as both of them (at different times) jumped up in my lap for a nap, too. Since neither of them — well, really, none of the wegies — are much for lap sitting, I know that when they insist on lying on my lap that I have not been paying enough attention to them. Zeke is the only cat in the house who regularly sits on my lap. If he had his way, he’d be on my lap most of the time. So it was good I spent more time being lazy this weekend. It gave me some time to just enjoy the cats and catch up on loving them.

Cyra the Fish went to a show this weekend where Helmi Flick was taking pictures. So Jim and Donna had Fish’s picture taken. Donna is sending me some of them, so I’ll post one or two when I get them. Fish had a good show with six finals. Basia’s brothers Mr Wickett and Treat also took a bunch of finals. A good weekend for the ForestKatz crew.

I had concerns about Zane Zilar as he had been losing weight since birth. The first 12-24 hours don’t worry me too much, but beyond that I start worrying a lot. I fed him several times yesterday with a bottle and while he ate and held his own weight-wise, I still thought something was wrong. I already had a vet appointment set for Rand and Avi this morning so I bundled Zane up with a Snuggle Safe and took him with us. Dr Brenda confirmed my fears — Zane had a cleft palate. Prepared as I was for the diagnosis, I still cried at the vet’s office and again when I got home. I made the decision to have Zane euthanized while I was there rather than bringing him home and making him suffer for a few more days.

Cleft palates can be caused by many things. I’m not going to write much about it, but here’s a link for a brief article about it: http://www.showcatsonline.com/x/cleft_palate.htm I’ve wracked my brain to see if there was anything different with Kefira’s pregnancy this time around, but nothing really comes to mind except the possibility that the same virus that was the initial cause of Rand’s ear infection may have affected her. She was never sick — no sneezing, nothing — so I doubt it. I think in this case it was one of those “mistakes” that the article refers to. Still, we’ll watch future litters from Kefira for similar problems. Beau has been neutered so he will not be used for breeding again, but I think there’s very little chance of it being a genetic problem with him. I’m very familiar with his parents and grandparents and there haven’t been any other problems with their offspring — and those of other cats of similar lineage that have gone on to produce kittens. It’s always a concern, but in this case, a reason for watchfulness, not panic.

On a happier note, Rand and Avi have been declared ready for new homes and have all their vaccinations. I didn’t get health certificates today, because I’m not sure if I’m going to get a warm enough window in the next 10 days to send them to their new homes. But if I do, Dr Brenda will issue the certs and I’ll stop by to pick them up when needed. Rand’s head tilt is improving daily and there is no sign of continuing infection or vestibular disease. His muscles in his neck are still supple and have full range of motion, so the tilt should completely go away over time.

Avi didn’t want to be left out of the fun, so while Dr Brenda was examining Rand, Avi climbed up my leg to sit in the window by the examining table to watch. Of course, she wasn’t nearly as excited about being examined and complained loudly about her vaccinations.

The other four Winter Gifts are thriving. They have all gained weight like crazy since birth. They are clean and content, with round, full tummies. I pick them up and give them kisses every time I go in there. Keona Nevada rewarded me with a little hiss when I startled her this morning. So cute! Kefira is a wonderful mama again. I gave her the opportunity to leave the bedroom this morning, but she declined. She’d rather take her breaks on the floor a foot away from the babies than let them out of her sight.