Going to "Forever Homes" (Day 60)

Tonight is the last night that most of the kittens will spend to us. Tomorrow we are taking the kittens back to the SPCA where they are all going to be vaccinated, and Seven and one of the kittens are being put up for adoption. We are taking four of the kittens home with us, as they we are adopting them for friends' of ours.

It has been a fantastic adventure, and we look forward to doing it again (soon!).

So, in leaving, allow us to leave you with a bunch of pictures of the kittens.

Looking up at me from the cat bed

Cute Tabby Curled Up

Orange Tabby Sleeping on Chris

"The Boys". These two kittens are going to the same home

Playing with ... something. Everything is a toy to them!

She is standing in the food bin. I don't dare remove her from there!!

Why eat of your dish when you can jump right in the container??

Another trick: when the food bin gets low, tip it over for easy access

Cuteness!!

Play 'n Nap (Day 38)

Wow - 38 days old already! The kittens are growing in leaps and bounds. They are now pretty well full-grown kittens. They can run and climb, and they are learning to jump and pounce. They nurse from time-to-time, but it usally doesn't last long. Most of the time, they fall asleep after a few minutes of nursing.

Kitten destroying my rug

Seven in general leaves them alone, but calls them just to make sure that they're okay. The kittens no longer sleep in the nest. We have found them under the bed, on a blanket, and asleep in the laundry basket.

"I promise I'll be good if you let me go!!!"

They have discovered a kitten's worst enemy - an 8-year old child!! We babysat the daughter of friends of ours, and she played with the kittens all afternoon. The poor things were poked, carried, pet, and made to do tricks. The kittens finally managed to sneak away and find a nice quiet place to nap.

"Help! I'm being abducted by an 8-year old!!"

The kittens are making friends - with Titan! More than once we have seen Titan dancing around a kitten, trying to play with it. He really is a gentle giant. Tonight, one of the kittens curled up with Titan and took a nap. We managed to snap a picture before Titan awoke and realized what was going on!!

Titan and the kitten napping

Playful Balls of Fur (Day 33)

The kittens are now playful balls of fur. They spend all of their waking hours either playing with each other or exploring their surroundings.

Kittens at play

They have mastered climbing UP things, but the DOWN part hasn't come yet. They have two ways of getting down: either they stick their claws out and let themselves slide down, or they use the "gravity" method and just hope for the best! There are frequent "thumps" as they hit the ground.

Kitten watching a napkin

Like all litters that came before them, they have discovered our shoe rack. I have no idea why, but they love to climb in the shoes and play with the laces.

"Pinned ya!!!"

Seven now lets them play out of our room, but she keeps an eye on them. If she feels that one of our other cats is getting too close (usually Titan), she will intervene and put herself between him and the kitten.

The picture of cuteness

The kittens now eat solid food as their main source of food. They have quite interesting eating methods: they often stand directly in the food dish! They make a BIG mess as they tend to spread the food all over the floor. They still nurse from Seven, but it's more of an calming and comforting action than it is a sustanance action. Seven is starting to lose interest, too, and will get up and leave if something catches her eye.

Big food mess!

They are using the litter box most of the time, as demonstrated by the kitten-sized presents.

The kittens don't always sleep in the nest now, and they tend to sleep in a big pile wherever the fall. Often, it's also wherever Seven was nursing them last. We have to be careful with the laundry basket, as the kittens have figured out how to climb the basket and sleep in it. They also tend to "play and sleep", meaning that one minute they are playing on your lap, and the next they are sound asleep. They are so cute.