Kurious Kitty...

Today, I blogged about an adventure with Ash over on my scrapbooking blog as it fit into my blogging class prompts from yesterday and today. You can find the post Kurious Kitty here. Just a hint of Ash in the photo but it is very typical for his curious nature to show up in my photos like this.

A change of times for kittehpile!

With Mydnight's departure to her new home this week, we are now entering a change of times for kittehpile!

Ash and Smirk remain with us and are in the process of becoming Guenthers. Smirk attached himself to us early on and let us know that he wanted to stay with us and we caved. Ash, originally had a home to go to but as I believe I informed you, due to allergies, that fell through. We haven't received any further inquiries about him and he has taken Smirk's path of twisting us around his little paw. They are two of the sweetest and biggest cuddle monsters ever so we have caved and are in the process of teaching them to be permanent Guenthers.

We took a vacation recently and had a cat sitter in to look after them. That seemed to be exactly what was in order for the kittens and older cats to come to an understanding when the humans were away. They appear to have sorted out their problems and we came home to a much happier and cohesive household. The kittens and older cats are co-existing & interacting with one another more rather than keeping distance from one another.

The last few months have been both trying at times to also being extremely emotionally rewarding. Clousette and 4 of her 6 kittens have all been adopted out now so we have achieved our mission; seeing them find loving, forever homes.

Therefore, kittehpile will now be taking a slight change for the times. It will still feature updates on Ash and Smirk (as well as any other updates I get about the others' from their new parents) but it will now also expand to include our 3 adult cats. Cosmo - our 6 1/2 year old orange tabby grumpy but cuddly boy. Piccolo - our 3 1/2 year old blue russian proximity girl. Tasha - our ~ 2 year old orange tabby girl stray rescue from earlier this year. They all have distinct and amusing personalities and quirks so hopefully you will still continue to enjoy following them along with the kittens as they grow up.

Clousette & Mydnight update

So it has been a few weeks since Clousette went to her new home. She has continued to be the so sweet and lovable cat we came to hold a very special spot in our hearts for. Her new mamma is showering her with lots of love.

Mydnight had her surgery a couple of weeks ago and was ready to have her stitches out & rejoin her mamma in her new home this week. She made the journey and rejoined mamma on Friday. They picked up where they left off and had a beautiful reunion.

Their new mamma is really enjoying having them in her life and we are so thankful that she was able to give them both a home so that they could stay together.

I received a few photos of them today and will try to get them posted shortly.

Kitten & Mamma update

Today, mamma Clousette is on her way to her new home via an overnight trip to her new mamma's friend's house. Her new mamma, Robin, works with a lady, Amy, who has picked up Clousette and is taking her to her home for the night. Amy works in the same office as Robin on Fridays up in northern Georgia so is acting as transporter for us.

In a couple of weeks, Mydnight will be rejoining Clousette in her new home with Robin as well. Mydnight is scheduled to go in for her surgery the middle of next week and then needs a couple of weeks recuperation time before the stitches come out and she is ready to travel to her new home.

We think that they will be happy in their new home and are anxiously awaiting news as to how Clousette adjusts to her new home tomorrow. She adjusted very well to ours so we expect it to go well. She is such a loving kitty and hope that she will continue to show her sweetness and love to her new mamma.

The remaining kittens have been with mamma for almost 14 weeks now so should have a great beginning and ready to be without mamma. They did fine when she went in overnight for her surgery and even were cuddlier with us while she was at the vet's so we are excited to see how they are now with her gone.

Ash playing dog

A little video of Ash playing with Mike... we are beginning to wonder if he has parts dog to him. The sounds isn't the greatest but if you listen closely, you can hear him growl from time to time when he has the toy in his teeth. He does this when playing with toys, he will grab it in his mouth and then pull at it & shake it about, growling the whole time. It is his play style. He does it to his little octopus toy all the time and is adorable to watch.

Due to unforeseen allergies, Ash is still looking for a home. Wouldn't he make a lovely addition to yours?

Some new kitteh layouts

Here are a couple of new kitteh layouts. Thank you Lauren for the photos of Nugget & Brit!

Computer Kittehs!

It turns out that we've managed to raise a bunch of computer obsessed kittens. Smirk is always watching my screen and then going for a nap on top of the router. Both Mydnight and Ash will also watch the computer screen intently and bat at the moving things.

Kitteh Update

Ash is still with us. Unfortunately, his mom to be found out this weekend while looking after friends’ cats that she is much more severely allergic than she realized so is unable to take him afterall.

Ash, Mydnight and Smirk are all doing great and having fun playing around with one another. Our other cats are beginning to warm up to them more and more everyday.

Clousette has been going in and out of heat this last week or so which has been annoying but also informative. While she is in heat, she is friendly to the other cats and they just think she is an annoyance but get along with her better. When she is not in heat, she gets more protective and the other cats avoid her like crazy. She has been going in and out of heat every couple of days.. fertile little girl but she is not going to see ANY action! We have been very careful to make sure that she doesn’t get out looking for boys.

Her appointment to be fixed is this Tuesday so that will take care of that issue and hopefully, her mood will be better once that is out of the way. However, it is not looking great for being able to get our other cats to accept her as she has been so nice and then smack them protective insane mamma.

She is an absolutely amazing people cat. So cuddly and attentive and wonderful personality. But other cats near her babies is a completely different story. So we are going to see if we can find her a home with no other cats as she would make someone a fantastic companion!!

Sad but Happy Times

It is sad but also happy times... 3 of our little guys are headed off to their new homes this weekend and another one is heading out in another week.

Nugget and Brit will be the first to head out tomorrow afternoon. Originally, Nugget was just heading out tomorrow but the lady adopting him has decided that she would like Nugget to have a companion. She had originally been debating between Nugget and Brit and then decided on Nugget for sure as his photos just tugged her emotions hard as being the one. Today, she inquired about whether Brit and Nugget were good friends and they are best buds. So she has decided to give them both a home with her. I am sure Brit and Nugget will appreciate being kept together as they are often playing with one another and have similar personalities. They both love to play tackle and sneak up unsuspectingly on the other one and then chase each other.

Then on Sunday, Masq is headed out to his new family and home. He is going to a couple’s home with their other family member, Maggie, a 38lb dog. Maggie and Masq seemed to get along well when Maggie came over to meet him. At the time, Masq was more interested in playing with his brothers than with Maggie but was one of the few kittens to not be phased one bit by Maggie and even was curious and investigative as soon as she came in. Once he had investigated her and determined she was okay, he went right back to playing with his brothers. So as kitten and dog combos go, we think they will work things out fine and become good companions for one another fairly quickly.

It is going to be nice to know that they have new homes to go to and people to love and get attached to them. We love them and are fairly attached but we have known from the beginning that we would have to let them go so have been preparing for this day... it is just still hard that it is coming now. Time has flown by!

On Thursday, the boys went in for their “special vet visit” to be fixed so we only had mamma and Mydnight home as we have decided to wait longer before having Mydnight fixed as the female operation is a lot more involved and we would like her to be a bit older first. It was amazingly a LOT quieter just having our own 3 and mamma and Mydnight around. Mamma and Mydnight are both pretty calm kittehs so it didn’t seem like much difference with those 5 home as our normal 3 seem. When the boys returned on Friday morning, it was back to the fun but chaotic times of a full household. With the boys around, Mydnight plays a little more and the boys definitely play a lot more.

So having 3 boys leaving this weekend, the 3 most active boys, it is going to be a noticeable difference come Monday morning I am sure.

Ash has a home to go to but won’t be leaving until about Labor Day as he is going home with our friends Amy and Jared. They are taking him back to a friend and coworker of Amy’s who fell in love with Ash at first sight. He is an adorable and cuddly “little” guy. Hard to really call him a “little” guy as he is by far the sturdier build of all the kittens. He is built differently than the rest and such a different coloring than anyone else. He is a mix of cuddle monster and play with me monster. He is an adorable monster and I am sure is going to make Dana a good kitten.

That leaves the two that Mike and I have been going back and forth on wanting to keep for ourselves, Mydnight and Smirk, without homes yet. We are playing it by ear. If we find them homes, we will try to as we believe it would be more fair to them and to our other cats if they had families of their own. However, they are welcome to stay with us as long as is needed to find them good homes.

We think it would be best if we went back to just our 3 so will continue trying to find Mydnight, Smirk and Clousette homes. We love them all but those 3 really have bonded much more with us than the 4 that have found homes so it will be especially hard when it comes time to let them go off to new homes.

So it is sad times but also happy times... new families, new beginning, everlasting in our hearts and memories...

Oh noes! The hidey hole is blocked!

I tried to get back into the bed hidey hole today and daddy blocked it! He was all "You don't have to go in there!" and "Hey! Stop trying to pull that out!"

Spreading Out

A bunch of us are spending a lot of time sleeping in the biiiig cat tower out in the living room. The pink people are always surprised that we can get all the way to the top :)

At night, we took a vote and we are trying to take as much of daddy's side of the bed as possible. No more piles for us! Yay for spreading out all over!

Weight update

Today, we gave the kittehs another weighing to see how they are coming along nearing the 8 week mark when they could be fixed. We need them to be at least 8 weeks and 2 pounds in weight in order for them to be able to handle the anesthesia.

Their weights are deceptive as some of them appear to be much larger than the others in build and some appear quite petite. However, when weighed, they are all fairly close in weight. Ash looks the biggest in structure and fluffiness and as expected, is the heavy weight of the litter at 2 pounds 4 ounces. Masq looks the smallest in stature however, he comes in just slightly ahead of Mydnight to stay out the light weight spot. Mydnight, the only girl of the litter, is the light weight at 1 pound 15 ounces. Masq is next at 1 pound 15 1/4 ounces. Nugget also looks small but weighed in at 2 pounds. Smirk was 2 pounds 1 ounce and Brit weighed in at 1 pound 15 1/2 ounces. By this time next week when they are officially 8 weeks old, they all should have surpassed the 2 pound mark.

We aren’t rushing to get them fixed as soon as they pass the 8 week mark as it is still a bit of a risk doing it so young but will make sure that they are fixed before they go to their new homes. Being mostly boys as well, it isn’t quite as risky as the more involved surgery that Mydnight will need. She can wait a little longer as we haven’t lined up a home for her yet... surprising a bit as she is such a beauty and sweet little girl.

So far, we have potential homes for Ash and Masq. Ash won’t be going to his new home until the beginning of September so we knew he had time to put on weight if needed but Masq’s prospective parents are coming to meet him tomorrow so we wanted to see how close he was to being able to be snipped once he is old enough and he is doing well.

Oh! There are more rooms!

We found out that there are more rooms and some more cats outside the bedroom through the climbing door.

After much exploration and play we had a nap on the big cat tower and then more play. Momma was worried and kept following us all over the place.

Been a good day for 'sploration. Having another nap now!

Sleepin' on the people

People are interesting to sleep on. They are warm and soft, but you have to be careful if they move. They also don't appreciate sliding down their back with claws.

Smirk

The Daily Kitten

The kittens are now being featured on The Daily Kitten. Yesterday was Ash’s feature day and today is Brit’s. Over the next few days, each kitten is going to be featured on their own day.

They are continuing to grow and play more and more and snuggle more and more.

Will update more over the next few days but today I am trying to get through all of the photos of my wonderful weekend away with friends.

Peaceful & Sweet Mydnight

When Mydnight takes a moment to rest, she looks like a little angel. A precious soul full of love and desire to be near you. She loves to make sure you know she is at your feet and is tickled happy if you pick her up and let her see the world from higher up.


Scrapping Note: More of MaryAnn’s new products over at twopeasinabucket.com in addition to some familiar favorite items from Anna Aspnes, Katie Pertiet and Lynn Grieveson over at Designer Digitals.

Silly Smirk

A layout about Smirk and his fascination with getting his paws wet in the shower after we leave and then shaking them off and having a little slurp session of the shower floor water. He is so adorable and such a sweet kitteh! even making funny faces, he is adorable.



Scrapping side note: So happy to see that designer MaryAnn Wise has a new home over at twopeasinabucket.com so I don’t have to lose out on her great designs. I really am loving her new antique sewing machine journal boxes! and isn’t that date stamp just gorgeous?! Click the photo for a larger size including credits.

Feet! ack wet! ... Feet! ack wet!

Found dadeh's feet and started playin, then I gots wet! I went off to play with Ash and then came back to attack dadeh's feet again and got wet AGAIN! I'm leavn da feets alone for now.

Nugget

(I started using the water spray bottle to teach them not to attack socks/feet. It seems to be working)

Sleepless in McDonough

Tonight, our goal was to play all over the bed and keep dadeh awake as looooong as possible.

At one point Brit, Smirk, Mydnight and myself were all tussling on the bed aaaaaalllll over dadeh's legs. It was most awesome.

Ash

Kittehplay!

The kittehs are definitely more active and playful lately, especially anytime we come in the vicinity of them. They grab their kittehnaps while we are off doing grown up things. Clousette is even now getting in on some of the fun. In this video, she is mainly just watching the kittehs and making sure noone is beating up on anyone else excessively. She does get into letting them play with her tail and swoosh it around for them to pounce.

It has been easier lately to get some video of them than it has been to photograph them as you may notice from this short video, they don't stay put in any one place for long.

Hopefully, I have figured out this video thing a little better and choosing music to go with it, uggg.. but think that the fun playful toon of this is fitting for their fun antics.

Kitteh Checkup

Clousette and the kittehs took their first family trip to the vet today. Their vet today was Dr. Anne Rudd who was the same vet to see Clousette on her first vet visit when we brought her in from being a stray. We really like her as a vet and was the reason we have switched over from going to another local vet office to the McDonough Animal Hospital. The entire office seems to have a much friendlier, animal loving feel to it. It is about the animals first and foremost which puts us to ease.

In addition, to the clinic staff, we have found that the other clients are friendlier and engage in conversation when you are there. At the other office, it was like a quiet doctor’s office where noone spoke to one another much. We are happy we gave it a try the day we brought Clousette in and our old vet’s office couldn’t see her because it was surgery day. Had it not been for that, we may not have tried them and certainly would be missing out. Anyone in the McDonough area, I highly recommend the McDonough Animal Hospital on Jonesboro Road! Prices are reasonable and the care and environment are fantastic.

The kittehs weren’t so sure at first about the soft sided travel case but mamma was good and told them everything was going to be okay. She stayed with them in the travel case (a big, pop up, soft sided pet carrier which worked wonderfully to put all of them together in) but once in the office and after her first shot, she was a shoulder cuddler for the rest of the visit. She shot up onto Mike’s shoulder but then settled in with my shoulder so that Mike could hold the kittehs for the vet to have them checked out and their medicines.

Clousette got her remaining shots and another set of deworming which should have her all set now. Another week or two once she is completely finished nursing and she can go back on her flea medications to make sure that she doesn’t get any unwanted visitors. Likely could go on it now but to be safe that none of the kittehs lick it off of her, best to wait they suggest. Her last trip to the vet when we first brought her in from outside, she weighed 9 and a half pounds. Today, a day shy of 5 weeks after giving birth, she weighed in at 8 and a half pounds of pure sweetness.

The kittehs all had their check ups and weights taken. They got their first deworming which they weren’t all so keen on the flavor of... I guess they don’t love banana cream like I do. They took it but then most of them stuck their tongues out spilling bits of it onto Mike’s fingers holding them.

Today’s weights - day 34
Ash - 1 pound 8 ounces - all that fluffy hair makes him the heavy one of the pack
Brit - 1 pound 4 ounces - not quite the runt anymore but not much ahead of Masq
Masq - 1 pound 3 ounces - the runt of the pack but then he scurries everywhere so is burning calories as quickly as he is putting on weight
Mydnight - 1 pound 5 ounces - right in the middle there girl, holding her own amongst the boys
Nugget - 1 pound 6 ounces - trying to catch Ash but mamma sure would like you to be a little less of a mamma’s boy
Smirk - 1 pound 4 ounces - okay, so if Ash is claiming he is heavy because of all of his fluffy hair, what is your excuse for being one of the little ones, little fluffy Smirk?

It was looking like we weren’t going to get confirmation on their sexes because the vet wasn’t definite on some of them either and their resident expert on sexing little kittehs wasn’t around. However, just as we were getting ready to pay and leave, Tabatha, the resident expert, showed up. She quickly was able to sex them and we have some “definitely boy!” boys and one girl. Mydnight is the lone girl amongst the litter!

They are all home and roaming around the bedroom again. Hoping they all do well with the deworming and mamma with her shots. We will make sure they have a quiet afternoon to rest and recoup from the stress of their visit to the great outdoors and vet office.

Softnwarmnhighup

And MADE IT up onto the bed! Yay! Hmm, this looks comfy. (patting down the covers). Nap time!

Brit.

(Brit decided to have a short nap beside me on the bed last night.)

The Weaning

Just a quick update. The kittehs have started eating solid food (right out of Clousette's dish). The next step is the make sure they are eating the KITTEN food and not the adult food the Clousette prefers.

Oooh, like wow. You smell great!

Heard from Clousette last night:
(lick) don't move. (lick) let me just (lick) clean you up (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) (lick) Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

(Did you know that peppermint oil in lotion attracts cats and makes them want to lick you clean? It's true! It acts kind of like catnip.)

I know you're there, I can see your paws

I can reach under the door! Where are you momma? I can bap you with mah paws!

(little grey feet whooshing back and forth under the bathroom door)

Ash

haican'tstoptotalkgottarun

(The only noise heard is the air whooshing around as Mydnight runs around the room)

Up the leg, down the leg

Today, I climbed up the pink man's leg about half way. Then I got put on the lap. Got scritches for a bit and then climbed down the leg to the floor. Climbing is fun!

Nugget

Wazzis food stuffs over here?

Nom Nom Nom crunch munch nom

Ash

(Ash decided to try solid food today by raiding momma's food bowl. I'm not sure that she is ready for solid food at 4 weeks, but dang, she just dug right in. We've had no luck getting them to drink milk from a dish, so this looks promising.)

Gravitational pull? No, Footatational Pull.

It has been discovered with much scientific observation that kittehs are attracted to toes and ankles. When entering the "Kitteh play zone" it is expected that your feet will be investigated and played with.

Kittehpile

Mommaaaaaaaa

Put me down Put me down Put me down!

/em runs to his momma.

Nugget (a MAJOR momma's boy)

Mydnight... the climber

Mydnight has become the one most interested in climbing. She (we now believe he is actually a she but still unconfirmed so for now, going to call her our best guess of she)... has become very interested in climbing. She will come to you as soon as you are in the room with her and begin trying to climb your leg. She wants to say hi and get closer so she can make sure you know she is there and excited to see you.

We now they need to learn how to climb yet are also a big uncoordinated about it and don’t want them falling and hurting themselves, nor climbing fabrics (aka leather!) that we don’t want them to. Therefore, we have been giving them access to things that we are okay with them learning on - scratching posts and an old blanket falling over the sides of the bed.

Mydnight started really getting the hang of climbing up the blanket and scaled it in no time flat last night when we were in the room taking pictures. However, she isn’t totally sure how to get down things yet. She had learned how to scale the towel over the tub side and then get back down but so far, has only figured out how to get up the bed, not back down.. but knowing her, it won’t take her long to figure it out and if she gets stuck, mamma is always nearby to help her babies.

Here are a couple of photos and a layout I did about Mydnight from last night.

We haz a new bed!

The pink man put out a nice warm bed in the new room for us to sleep on. Mommy had to show us where it is cuz we were sleeping by the poop box.

Brit

Things to explore, legs to climb

I've been all over this room and have found many things. So far the best is to follow the pink person around and climb up their leg.

Mydnight

Nugget da explorer!

We're here today exploring the great outside-o-da-tub. So far, it seems calm... too calm.

Nugget

They are a climbin'!

It has been a couple of days that we have been busy with some non-kitteh specific activities. We have spent a lot of time still with the kittehs, just other things like Scott Kelby’s 2nd Annual Worldwide Photowalk, buying a new car and working on a bathroom renovation have kept us from taking many photos of the kittehs or reporting about them.

The biggest news, they are now just over 3 weeks old and all rough housing with each other more and getting very interested in climbing things. We have a towel over the side of the tub to cover the gentle heat, extended time heating pad. It is also secured a little firmer by having a shelf placed over part of the tub giving them a little covered area to play under out of the light. It is to serve as additional space where we can place the scale and litter box for when they are big enough to start using it.

They have been climbing the towel along the side a lot and some are getting very, very good at it. We are nearing the end of their time of knowing they are in the tub and not out and about somewhere in the bathroom or bedroom.

Mydnight is extremely quick with his climbing now. He will scale up the side in an instant when you come to see them. He isn’t too sure what to do when he gets up to the side so that is usually as far as he goes.

We do have a little kitteh ramp on the other side covered with another towel in case they want to try their hand and descending down to the bathroom floor. So far, noone has really given it a try.

Smirk would have to be the closest to give the ramp a try but only goes part way on the top. She seems to be more interested in getting on top of the shelf over the bathtub. She went for an exploration all around it this morning with a very watchful and chirping Clousette telling her to be careful and being nearby in case she needed to assist her. Smirk took her adventure carefully and didn’t need any help to move around or get back into the tub. She checked out the edges but made sure not to go over anything that was too high for her.

Ash is also getting to be a good climber so if she is, we know they all are ramping up to make outside the tub adventures as she has been the last to try everything.

They are all walking a lot better and some almost running. It isn’t quite a run but a fast walk with the occasional bounce and back legs jumping sideways to catch up to the rest of their bodies.

Mike is gone for a few days for work so I shall see what I can do to get some more photos. However, I am not sure how well that may work as we have been finding it increasingly more difficult for Mike to keep a handle on them all on the bed. They are quick and all like to take off in different directions at the same time. It is cute but definitely a handful and only bound to get to be more of a handful but we are loving every minute of it. I may have to fall back to taking video this week which may be a better alternative for practicality as well as just as cute as their climbing and antics are adorable to watch. Just the tub isn’t all that exciting to see them play in.

We are trying to introduce them to kitten replacement milk to get them used to lapping up things as we can see their little teeth coming in and mamma is likely going to try to start getting them to not use them on her. Mamma loves the replacement milk that the kittehs have hardly gotten a chance to see what it is. I tried giving her a bowl of her own so that she might give the kittehs a chance to investigate theirs but they had different ideas... they wanted to see what mamma was having and mamma was hogging it all lapping it up in pure happiness. If it keeps her nursing them better and longer, we are all for it but trying to be sure that when she thinks enough is enough, the kittehs have another avenue and know how to do what they need to do.

It is continued good kitteh times...

Just a little creepy... in a cute way?

Heard the pink man saying 'morning to mamma. When he said hai to us, we all were staring at him.

Mydnight

Instigator

I made it out today! I MADE IT OUT!! Lemme back in lemme back in!

Brit

(She climbed out of the tub onto the edge and then climbed right back down) (The other kittehs soon followed up the side)

Oooh, Milk.

(Heard after a bowl of stage 1 kitten milk was placed in the bathtub)

Slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp,slurp

(NOT the kittens)

Want OUUUT!

Tub-Log 2009.07.17

Getting tired of staying in this tub. I want to see what else is out here!

Brit

Lightweight

Don't know what the big fuss is. Ya, I'm a little bit little, but I'm big on cute!

Masq

Day 19 Photos

Last night we tried out some new lighting to see if we could get sharper photos as even though my nifty fifty lens is good in low light, it isn’t able to keep sharp in really low light and quick kitteh movements.

Ash was happy to be set in the fluffy bag and instead of staying awhile and then moving on to investigate other things, she was happy to stay put and just chill out for the entire photo shoot. She would get up and move around in the fluffy bag a little but there was no leaving it. She was comfy!




Brit decided it was a good night to try out what climbing was all about. The tub hasn’t given her a good chance to try it out yet but Mike on the other hand proved to be quite handy... and he was thankful that he was wearing jeans and her nails are still tiny. She managed to climb her way up, get onto his leg and then promptly took a little tumble down the side of his leg back onto the bed and her siblings which were watching her intently to see what she was doing. Always the first to do anything, she kept her track record in tact with climbing developments.


Masq is a total dadda’s girl. She is happy to chill out and cuddle up against Mike. I think she was wanting him to give her a little more head room though.


Mydnight was being a bit of a little poser not letting Ash have all the lime light. However, he was proving to me that I still need to work on my lighting arrangement especially when I am trying to get his photo. Being pure black sure plays havoc with trying to get him lit well and in focus.


Nugget thought he would see what all the comfy fuss was with the fluffy bag but Ash was not budging. He could join her to check it out but then she was quickly there telling him it was time to leave. He gave me this little look of “but, I want some time in it too...” pout and look cute. He quickly forgot about the bag and was back off wobbling around investigating things.



Smirk decided to try her hand at mimicking their fluffy bear friend with a “i’m peering over the edge of something in wonder” impression. She is proving to be quite the impressionist. The other night she gave me her Mydnight impression and now her Mr. Bear impression. You are impressive little one... and a camera lover... if I hadn’t been in the wrong mode and captured the photo in tiny resolution, I would post the photo I have of her checking out my camera and lens when I put it on the bed for a moment to use Mike’s camera to take a short video of them playing.


You kids are getting more and more adorable everyday and beginning to really show individual personalities.

Day 18 Photos

Recently realized that I was a day off in my counting of days so revised the posts from Day 14 to Day 15 adventure and Day 16 to Day 17 photos. I guess I was counting full days not the American standard of counting the day they were born as Day 1. Corrected now and moving forward with a handy spreadsheet.

Mike tried giving them the little kitteh toys to see if they were interested in checking them out yet as they are really beginning to move around and be curious about things. Ash looked a lot but didn’t really get what they were yet.



Brit was more interested in chatting and giving dadda a little kiss.



Masq was of a similar feeling as Brit. She just wanted to curl up with dadda and watch the others move around and play with their wobbly legs.



Mydnight gave the toys a go... or rather a little prodding and chew. He decided he didn’t think they tasted very good but were still fun to push around a little and investigate closer.


Nugget was busy wobbling around investigating things and didn’t feel like pausing to have his photo taken until I was taking Masq’s and then he wanted in the shots and even gave that adorable little look that even fuzzy, he steals the shot from Masq.



Smirk was a posing little princess at times as well. She did have fun wobbling around the bed but every once in awhile she needed a break, she would sit down and beg you to take her photo. Photos need to be on her time table and so worth it when they are.

Mike's favorite part of photoshoot time...

Mike’s favorite part of photoshoot time is that he gets to snuggle and corral the kittehs to make sure that they don’t go for a dive off the bed. Every once in a while, one of the kittehs will come up close and have a chat with him or give him a little kiss. Yesterday, Brit wanted to have a dadda chat and Mike throughly enjoyed it. She is a little sweetie but then so far, they all are.

Day 17 Photos

Disclaimer... their gender is based on our best guess at the moment but neither confirmed nor disputed yet by a professional

Time is just flying by it seems. They continue to grow everyday and are getting better at moving around on their own.

Last night, we brought the family out onto the bed again for another photo shoot.


This time, however, Mydnight decided that he had a cute enough photo from the previous one so hid from the camera most of the time or stuck close to siblings. He did not give me much choice in choosing a photo for him as I have only a handful of him from yesterday to choose from... so for his shot, he is sharing the limelight with his sister, Brit.


Brit on the other hand, she doesn’t seem phased by the camera much... a little curious about it even. Curious is a good way to describe Brit at the moment. She seems to be the first one to check things out and learn new things. She had a little chat with dadda last night and told him that he was doing a good job filling in for their furry daddy who isn’t around.


Masq was also an elusive one last night and tried to hide behind siblings or their fluffy bear friend. She is also curious but a little more subtle about it and sneaky. She seems to live to investigate hands and tails. The pink people still kind of confuse her as to why we are here.


Ash had a little chat with their fluffy bear friend. She wasn’t sure she liked the fluffy bag that bear was investigating at first but then warmed up to it or rather it kept her nice and toasty warm and cuddly which is what Ash is all about these days. She likes to cuddle up to her siblings or even better, to mamma. She is a mamma’s girl.


Nugget also had a chat with bear. His conversation was a little more listening than talking as Nugget likes to take in everything happening around him and quietly listen. The fact that he sat still for this long to chat with bear was a great feat as Nugget likes to quietly move around checking everything out. Not a flashy one making it known what he is up to but definitely one to know what is happening at all times.


And then there is Smirk. She was the queen of the photo shoot last night. She posed and posed and waited patiently in each pose to make sure that I had enough time to get the tough focusing on her dark features captured. She loved hanging out in the fluffy bag with bear. Smirk even gave us a couple of poses where she hid her mustache in the fluffings so that she looked like her brother Mydnight who was hiding from the camera. How thoughtful but you didn’t fool us Smirk, we knew it was you and not Mydnight but you did a remarkable job at trying to convince us.


Their latest weights are sitting in a note on Mike’s ipod so I will update those once I grab it from him tonight. We will also see if they are up to being weighed again tonight... they aren’t always too willing to be weighed. They may take after their mamma and be weight conscious.

Clousette has been a little funny for her eating likes and dislikes. We had switched her to kitten food just before she gave birth and she was eating some but not a lot. This wasn’t surprising to us from what we read about cats getting ready to give birth. However, she still wasn’t eating a lot right after giving birth and you could tell that she was pretty weathered from all the feeding she had been doing with the babies. She snuck out of the bedroom one day early on and made a beeline straight to the other cats’ food dishes. She gobbled up their food... the DIET food! We guess she wanted to get her pre-kitteh figure back quickly.

We knew that wasn’t going to be a good idea for her and the babies so we started mixing the foods and she has been extremely happy with that. She now gets a mix of the outdoor full nutrient cat food, the kitteh food and the indoor diet food. She perked back up again and looks no worse for wear for feeding 6 little kittehs many times a day now. Mamma is looking good!

Smirk.. must look pretty for the camera

Smirk showed us tonight that she believes she must look pretty for the camera.. she is the first one we have noticed grooming herself.

Sorry for the less than stellar quality... our upload connection stinks and this was about as good of quality we could upload without waiting hours for it to load.

Me Time

Been spending more time with the daddah getting pettins. I can finally spend more time away and not getting sucked on.

Clousette

I's balls

I can see! I can SEE! WOAH! ahm all fluffy!

Ash

New beddings!

Yay! got new beddings again! The red person put in nice clean towels today.

Ash.

Day 15 Adventure

{click to go to larger version}

Need to correct this as I recently realized that I believe these photos are from Day 15 not Day 14 actually.

Quick update

Mike hasn’t done a lot of kitteh whispering today as he spent the day golfing and subsequently, has been nursing a good case of sunstroke tonight. He resembles more of a red lobster than the pink humans that the kittehs have come to recognize.

However, the kittehs are all doing well. We took weights last night but did it via photographing them on the scale so I need to go back through the photos and record the weights. They appear to mostly be between 9 and 11 ounces now. Brit is back to being the little one of the litter at just over 9 ounces but she is gaining just as all the others are too.

Ash is the last one to open her eyes and they are almost fully open now... just a little squint left to open up. Apparently, longer haired kittehs take longer, up to twice as long as short haired kittehs, to open their eyes so it isn’t surprising that Ash is taking so long. We can already tell that she is going to be a big fluff ball.

Last night, we had an interesting development... we were awoken around 4am by a crying kitteh at the foot of our bed, Ash and subsequent other kittehs crying in the bathroom so she knew where she needed to head. And then mamma chirping to tell them all it was all alright.

We aren’t really sure if she got herself out of the tub, across the bathroom and to the foot of our bed or if mamma decided to bring her to us for some reason. We suspect for some reason mamma was bringing her to us as Ash isn’t moving well enough to get that far without help we don’t think but we aren’t sure why she would be bringing her out to us. Maybe she was thinking of bringing them out to us so that she could sleep on the bed with us and not have to keep running back to them... don’t know... we do know that mamma loves to cuddle and get scritches so maybe that is what she was trying to do but the kittehs weren’t so sure about the idea.

Mike returned Ash to the tub with the others and mamma joined them all. Everything was then fine again.

We have been alternating which nights mamma has access to our bedroom from the master bath and which nights she is confined to it so that our other cats can come for some nighttime cuddling that Cosmo adores. However, we think that tonight we are going to give her access for a second night in a row to see if she tries to do it again.

But it does bring up a question that has been brewing in my head lately.. what is it with cats and 4am?!?! it seems that if we are going to have any exciting nighttime adventures from the cats, it always seems to happen between 4am and 5am....

More kitteh photos to come shortly but I have been trying to catch up on some other subject matter photos which I have had sitting on the back burner for a week or two.

Seen yelling up out the tub

Hay! Need some clean bedding in here! Can you hear me pink people? BEDDING!

Masq

Waddle >> x 2!

Starting to move around a lot faster. Still having to deal with all these speedbumps.

Brit.

Ooooh, I see what you did there!

Ah HAH! So this is what eyes are for... I see what the fuss is about now.

Smirk.

I'm gonna be a fuzz ball

No eyes for me yet :( But mebbe I'll be big and fuzzy like dad!

Ash

Uber squint

The eyes! They're getting there! Still not open, but starting. Now if only our bedding was clean, I could work on this some more.

YAY! Clean bedding!

Masq

Eye goo ick!

Mah eye feels icky. It won't open and I feel poopy. The pink people cleaned my face and got it to open tho. <3

Mydnight

Day 10 Photos

If you check out the photo slideshow to the right, you should see the new addition of kitteh portraits from yesterday, Day 10: July 6, 2009. Clicking on them should take you to larger copies of them at Flickr.

These photos have also been linked to their individual names in the Adoption Status section on the right, which will be updated as they grow and change in appearance.

Most of the way there

Things are looking better, but still a bit squinty out mah right eye... Will keep working at it after this nap.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Mydnight.

Lookin' around.

Saw my siblings this morning right before momma came and sat on me. (blink)

Nugget.

I haz walkies!

Went for a walk around tha' tub this morning! Nuffin' to it!

(Heard as Brit waddled around carefully)

Kitteh Growth Report

Today’s Kitteh Growth Report:

Ash is 9 1/4 ounces and snuggly
Brit is 8 ounces and wiggly
Masq is 7 3/4 ounces and the new little lightweight of the litter
Mydnight is 8 3/4 ounces and waking up with opening eyes
Nugget is 9 1/4 ounces and vocal
Smirk is 9 ounces and a little butter ball

They are all continuing to grow each day. We didn’t manage to weigh them the first couple days as they were awfully new and our kitchen scale needed new batteries. However, we could visibly see their size greatly increase those first couple of days to know that they were managing to feed properly. Since then, we have tried to keep fairly regular weight records but whether we weighed each one depended on whether they were feeding or not at the time so some days, we only managed to weigh a couple of them. I will chart their growth when or rather if I can figure out how to make the type of chart I want with Numbers... think I used to know how with Excel but Numbers is still foreign to me and I don’t remember enough about how to do the combined ones to get the look I want yet. So until then... here are the raw stats on their growths.

June 30, 2009:
Ash was 6 1/4 ounces
Brit was 5 1/2 ounces
Masq was 5 1/2 ounces
Mydnight was 5 1/4 ounces
Nugget was 6 1/4 ounces
Smirk was 6 1/2 ounces

July 1, 2009:
Ash was 6 3/4 ounces
Brit was 6 1/4 ounces
Masq was 6 1/4 ounces
Mydnight was 6 3/4 ounces
Nugget was 6 1/2 ounces
Smirk was 7 ounces

July 2, 2009:
Ash was 7 1/2 ounces
Brit was 6 1/4 ounces
Masq was 6 1/2 ounces
Mydnight was 6 3/4 ounces
Nugget was 7 ounces
Smirk was 7 1/4 ounces

July 4, 2009:
Brit was 7 1/2 ounces
Mydnight was 8 1/4 ounces
Nugget was 8 1/2 ounces
Smirk was 8 1/4 ounces

July 5, 2009:
Ash was 9 ounces
Nugget was 9 ounces
Smirk was 9 ounces

Welcome to Kittehpile

Our friend, Amy, started referring to our pile of kittens as a kittehpile and the name stuck for us. Being as we are Canadian and often teased about saying “eh”, it seemed very fitting for us and thus, kittehpile.blogspot.com was born.

Mike will be acting as kitteh whisperer reporting what the lil tikes tell him they were up to that day and what they have learned to do now. I will be reporting on the general progress of the kittens from our perspective and updating the photos and layouts detailing their progression.

Clousette, the mamma, was a stray that has been visiting our house for months. We have been keeping an eye on her (originally thought was a he thus the odd name... originally Clueso for her white mustache marking). We were attempting to gain enough trust with her that we could take her in for a check up and make sure that she was fixed however, mother nature had other ideas first. By the time we had gained enough trust with her, we discovered that she was pregnant... quite pregnant! so our plans changed.

We got her in for a vet check up to make sure she and the babies were in good health. Thankfully, she and they all seemed to be in great health.

Unable to find a no-kill shelter in our area with room that they would take her and her babies, we discussed the matter and decided that we would take on responsibility for her and the babies. We brought her into our home, set up our master bathroom and garden tub as her nesting area. She seemed quite happy and very affectionate and sweet. She remained separated from the rest of the house and our cats for a full week and a half as ordered by the vet to ensure that she wasn’t coming down with a cold and neither were our cats.

Our own cats were getting along alright with her, the usual original tension and figuring out order, when we first introduced them. However, within a couple of days, she got more defensive and protective of her state. We decided it was best to re-separate them as she appeared to be getting closer to birthing.

As it turns out, she was definitely getting closer as only a couple days later, we awoke to a bathtub full of 6 little kittens and a very proud mamma wanting to show us what a great job she did on her own while we slept.

That was the beginning of the kittehpile. It has now been just over a week since they were born on Saturday, June 27, 2009. They have all gained weight as expected and on schedule according to everything we have read. They are weighing in around the 8-9 ounces each now.

Brit was the first to open her eyes on her 7th day in this world, July 4th. Nugget is beginning to open his eyes but hasn’t fully decided that keeping them open is a good idea. Mydnight is our eater and sleeper but today decided to also show me his cute little pink tongue.

So there you have our kittehpile background and can sit back and enjoy the journey with us as Ash, Brit, Masq, Mydnight, Nugget and Smirk grow up and begin looking for adoptive homes.

So Cooooold!

Wuz cold this morning. Momma drugged the blankies over us and we were warmer. Back to sleep. Zzzzzzz.

Mydnight

Morning Kittehpile!

Woke up this morning surrounded by warm an fuzzy. Surrounded by bothers and sisters. Right where I'm supposed to be.

Nugget.

Circle of Kittehs

Today we worked on a new formation. A circle!

We lined up side to side in a circle and had a nap with mommy!

Masq.

Ewwwwwwww!

Heard from Ash, Mydnight, Smirk, Masq, Brit AND Nugget this afternoon.

Ewww!

Ugh!

(Momma had some stinky litter!)

Suspicious

Mommy left us for quite a while this afternoon. I heard her purring. I'm beginning to suspect she's seeing someone on the side.

Ash.

Mmm.

nom, nom, nom. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Mydnight.

Squinting

Hmm. I'm not sure, but I think I might be starting to see things. I'm a little worried, everything has been nice and warm and black up till now.

Masq.

!!!

I've been picked up THREE times already today! This indignity must stop or someone will pay!

Smirk.

Zzzzzz.

Zzzzzzzzz

Mydnight.

Pink Heffalumps!

Some big pink people stuck me way up high and the sky got really bright! I found a non-mommy that was all brown and furry. I waz scared but didn't cry until I got lost under the not-mommy's bum.

Brit.

OMG! Eyes!

I can seeeee! Woot! Wow, surrounded by big green fuzzy mountains.

Brit.

Planning Ahead.

I go to climb on mom's head again this morning. Should have her trained to carry me around soon.

Nugget.

My mommy!

Spent some time alone with mommy this morning. I can't seem to find my brothers and sisters, but it's nice to have food all to myself.

Ash.

Hay! I waz sleeping here!

Got yanked out of my cave and stuck in this fluffy hamper. Found all my brothers and sisters.

Smirk.

2 hours later...

Ash: Aieeee!

Nugget: Ooooo, soft.

Brit: Elevator go up! and down!

Mydnight: Zzzzzzzz.

Masq: Woah!

Oooo, a cave

Crawled up the side of the world today. Found a neat little cave that I can sleep in. Having a nap.

Smirk.