KITTENS AND CATS UPDATE

Carole took a small  grey kitten away to give it the special attention it needed. It's equally small black sister is still with me and noticeably smaller than the other two siblings who are thriving. I did take all three plus the mother to the vets for checking out. Twice in a week I noticed blood in the mother's stools. Wendy suggested adding a quarter teaspoonful of sugar to the reconstituted kitten milk I'm giving to the small kitten. The mother got a booster jab and the other two are fine.

I am, however, growing to hate feeding them as I have to hold one in a hand with a plastic milk-filled syringe in the other. As I'm slowly getting the milk into the mouth, the other two are usually clawing their way to try and get at it using their small but perfectly formed sharp claws and perfectly formed tiny but very pointed teeth. As a result the backs of my hands and fingers are pitted with small red dots and covered in somewhat longer scratches. After each feeding (like now as I'm typing) I end up washing my hands and dabbing away the still flowing blood. I'll be glad when they are old enough and have learned to lap. It's another week before I can try the larger two on solid kitten food. Can't come soon enough.

This one is spoken for.

There's another tiny black kitten in there somewhere.

One thing though, as soon as they see me they run straight at me to try and climb up my legs or any other body parts they can reach which sometimes includes my face. Whoever gets them will end up with kittens which are used to and actively seek out human contact.

Ziggy the timid black and white female is still timid and still runs from me, though she is a little more relaxed and will permit me to stroke her briefly before running off. She also spends more time out from under the armchair in my bedroom and when it's nearly feeding time will come looking for me to remind me with a miaow before haring off like the hounds of hell (me) are after her.

Maybe she's a ladies cat.

Then there's Daisy the tabby and white cat from hell whose reaction to me when she arrived two weeks ago was to hiss, spit, growl and attack. Now she won't leave me alone. As soon as I sit down, she's on my knee purring softly and making an odd sound that isn't a miaow but is much more than a purr. I can't see her right now but I can hear her. I used to think she was a horrible cat but she was just scared and showed it with aggression. Unfortunately she still asserts her dominance by peeing on newspaper, on carpets, on my kitchen workbench, my bed, etc. I'm sure, however, that she wouldn't do this if she was the only cat. She is a very pretty animal, lean with features which resemble her Egyptian ancestry, especially her large ears.

I'm sure there's a perfect home for these two somewhere, it just isn't mine.