I don't think I've mentioned my latest batch (ok, fine, "litter" -- as G says, "They're not cookies!") of kittens much. I have the best of intentions of introducing them with a nice set of photos, but somehow when I go up there, with two plates of wet food in hand, with possible additions like the scale and notepad, a plastic bag, a bag of food, or the water jug, a camera never seems to make it to the top of my mind. So I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination.
Don't worry; visually speaking, you can use a lot of copy-paste. The mom...it's G's turn to name them, and he hasn't, yet, so we'll go with nicknames, like..."Mom cat"...is a long-bodied, long-necked shorthair gray tabby, with a sweet, gentle personality. Her kittens are four female gray tabbies. See what I mean? :-)
I've had them for...two weeks? Three weeks? Mom cat was terribly skinny; she's ever-so-slowly putting on weight, now. I'm hoping that she'll put on even more now that they're weaned. She mostly lies down somewhere in the foster room and absently watches her kittens zip around; when I'm in the room, she may come by to say hello and get a few strokes. I try to be gentle, since she's got so little flesh on her bones and it can't be very comfortable. She swatted at some string for the first time today. :-)
I haven't been able to spend much time with them since I got them; I was glad that so many people wanted to visit them during the BBQ, as it gave them exposure to different scents and voices. They did all right, though they scattered any time someone walked in. When I walk in on my own, they don't usually move, waiting to see what I'll do. If I move around the room a lot, they'll get up and skitter around; one or two will come over to see what I'm doing.
Yesterday I put aside an hour and a half to spend with them; it's what I call "working on becoming cat furniture". I put on some pants and socks, get my camping floor chair, the kind that's two square pads strapped into an 'L', the length of string composed of two of G's old round shoelaces tied together, the kitty nail clippers, and a book. By the time I was done, I had "Blue" and "Solid" happily playing on my lap. "Grey" and "Stripes" spent most of their time off in corners, either playing with random things (in Stripes' case) or stalking and wrestling Stripes (in Grey's case). Stripes is the runt of the litter; there always seems to be one. There's nothing wrong with the runts, it's just that the rest of the litter end up being more or less the same weight, while the one kitten is short several ounces, and tends to lose any wrestling matches. Stripes doesn't *mind* people that much, she's just a bit wary of sudden noises and changes. Grey has the most distinct personality of the four; she's standoffish but self-assured, and prefers to watch me from a distance rather than participate. She sort of has the "Okay, I see this human thing, fine, but I don't get it." cattitude. Blue and Solid have converted into people cats fairly easily. Solid's actually rather laid-back; when I bring in the wet food, I usually get Blue and Grey coming over to eat, with Stripes trailing behind. I then go looking for Solid, who's undoubtedly sprawled somewhere, blinking sleepily at me, and when I stroke her she gives a big PURRRRRRR. Yeeeah, that one will be adoptable. :-)
I spent another hour and a half with them tonight, starting with a front nail-trim for all of the kittens so they wouldn't be as likely to rip me to shreds when I visit in shorts. :-) I also do it to encourage them to jump and wrestle their way onto things rather than claw their way. Then I sat down in my chair on the floor, d'oh'ed that I'd come in shorts, nabbed the big towel I'd padded my lap with for the nail-trimming, and spread it over my legs and feet. Voila, instant fun-tent and claw pad, all in one, if I could keep it in place. :-)
An hour and a half later, Blue had fallen asleep on my lap, Solid was on my lap but determined to stay....awake...mostly. Grey had retreated to the top of a cat tree, but was visibly enjoying my stroking, and consented to being stroked to sleep. Stripes was being a bit fidgety; I'd eventually tempted her into hopping onto my lap with confidence, but I think the aggressiveness of the play of the other kittens tended to make her seek other distractions. She let me stroke her when she was within reach and standing, though, and that's progress. I even stroked her tummy a little bit when she was getting sleepy and finding areas of towel at fingertip's reach to sprawl on.
They're gaining weight quickly; I'm betting they'll get another set of shots in...two weeks? And surgery the week after that? I'll need to find time to keep working on Grey and Stripes, though, but at least right now they don't mind being held, and they don't struggle when being transported by their middles. Grey still hisses when surprised, and I'm still not yet at the "charge at the human when she comes in with food" or "charge after the human when she leaves" phase. This ba...litter is taking a bit more work than the previous ones, but it's nice to see them so much happier than the little group of hissies I started off with. :-)
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