Just Kittens! (Lots of pictures)

2 days old. I turned a heat lamp on their box and they all lined up nearest the warmth trying to nurse the towel.

As most of you know, I raised a litter of kittens recently. I've been posting snapshots along with the Friday quilts, but I wanted to make a big upload for all you cat lovers.

They have ice cream themed names. From L-R in the photo above: Praline (Leena) is a mostly black calico, Waffle-(cone) is a dilute orange boy, Sundae is a grey tabby girl, and Fudge is an orange tabby boy.

Estimated birthday 9/20, found lost in a puddle 9/21, fell into my hands 9/22.  They were each about 4 ounces at first, umbilicals attached, eyes and ears closed.

Baby Leena, taking about 3-4 mils at a feeding, every 2-3 hours, around the clock.

Baby Sundae, 2 days old

Waffles, about 5 days old.  They can actually purr already and it's the sweetest sound.

Leena

Fudge

Sundae

1 week, getting chubbier

Fudge was first to get his eyes open

2.5 weeks. All eyes open and they were upgraded from a big plastic container to the bathtub!

Fudge discovered his feet early and sometimes sucked his toes like a pacifier!

3 weeks! The magical age when kitten begin to morph from fuzzy jelly beans into tiny cats

Leena-bean! Her coloration is so subtle it has been really difficult to photograph

Fudge and his feet...

Although their eyes had been open for a while it was at this point their eye sight developed enough to really see me. Sundae actually hissed at me! They said, "You smell like our mama, but you sure don't look like we expected!"

Milk mustache ;)  They were eating every 3-4 hours by this point and I was sleeping much better

4 weeks

Beginning to introduce real food and the litter box, with mixed success

New digs after outgrowing the bathtub.

Victory! Right at 5 weeks all 4 kicked the bottle for good (they still get supplemental milk poured over their food)

The boys are interested in becoming quilting inspectors

 

It's been so much fun to see their individual personalities develop.  Sweet Leena-bean is a cautious kitty. She seems to be almost more attached to me than her brothers and sister.  She seeks me out in new situations and observes from safety for a while before leaping in to play.  She's the calmest (although with kittens that isn't saying a lot). The first to lay down for a nice nap and the last to get up. The bigger she gets the more orange comes out in her tortiseshell coloration and I can tell she's going to be strikingly beautiful cat.

Fudge (below, and on the left above) is a typical little boy kitten. He plays like a wild man, but he's also a great cuddler. He is the quickest to try to escape from wherever they're supposed to be and prances like he think he's really something when he succeeds. He is best buddies with Sundae and the two of them wrestle constantly.

Sundae (above) has turned out the smallest of the litter, but big on personality.  Oh. my. word. This cat. She loves to climbs, and will race up my legs in a flash. She is the first to explore a new place, the last to lay down for a nap. She jumps on the others constantly and holds her own in kitten wrestling. She is getting harder to photograph, since she so rarely holds still.

Waffles has been the biggest all along, since they were 2 days old. I haven't weighed them recently, but he feels like he weighs about half as much again as the girls.  I learned that his dilute orange coloring is called "buff". He's a bit of a bully, which I'm hoping will turn into an advantage. I'm planning to keep him and I think he has the attitude to handle our 2 older, ornery, female cats (Rory and Rey, aka Fluffy and Demon). I love his big, goofy clodhopper feet, which still look too big for his body. He's just a big, sweet lug!

Sundae and Fudge, partners in crime

And after the playing comes the napping.

They look so innocent and sweet, right? Don't let them fool you. This was after I caught them peeing under my bed in my UFO drawers and they lost their bedroom privileges.   Nothing to motivate finishes like cat pee! I've finished about a dozen quilts in the past couple weeks so that I could get everything washed ASAP.  It's a good thing they're so cute.

I repaired this cat tree a couple weeks ago and they have thoroughly enjoyed it.

My sweet, handsome Waffle-pie

Sundae, ready to pounce

Who, us? We weren't doing anything, honest.

Jr. Quilt Inspector

Family Portrait

They've been running amok in the living room as I typed this post (and occasionally running across the keyboard, so if you see any typos, that's why.) Now they're tuckered out, Fudge asleep across my lap and Waffles, Sundae, and Leena snuggled up to my left.  Occasionally a loud round of purring breaks out from the kitten pile.

If you've ever been fortunate enough to have a bottle-baby cat you know they're special. They have no idea they aren't human and remain your babies forever.  I had a bottle-baby named Thor when I was in high school. Even at 7 years old he would beg to be picked up and wrap his arms around my neck in a hug.

I think, I hope, that Fudge and Sundae have a home together. Waffles is going to stay with me. But Leena still needs a home and she needs the perfect one since she's such a people-oriented cat. Those of you who living within driving distance of east Texas, contact me if you're interested! I'm looking for inside-only or inside-mostly homes. I didn't loose sleep for 5 weeks bottle feeding so they could be coyote snacks.  It's going to be hard to let them go after so long, but I know they are going to bring a lot of happiness, snuggles, laughs, and purrs to their future homes.