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Three Little Kittens + One Week

Well, the kittens have been with me for a little over a week. They are such sweet little balls of fur. There's nothing as cute as an eight week old kitten. Multiply that by three, and you have my middle bedroom.

"Shadow," the German Shepherd, is really taken with the kittens. She thinks I brought her three new living play toys. She knows that they are off limits. She can't go in their room--but since I keep the door cracked, she can stick her head in the room and watch kitten play, until she can't stand it anymore and she has to let out a big bark. They jump in their tracks a little, and I think I do too. "Shadow" can't bark quietly. I don't think she would hurt the babies, but she's scared two of the little curious ones who escaped from their room of protection for a little escapade. It's "Shadow's" job to keep up with the babies. She sleeps in the hall outside their room.

"Angel" has left the room twice. Once she went in the direction of the bathroom, and was playing this-side and that-side of the toilet with "Shadow." Poor baby lost some poop, but she was in the right room. "Shadow" scared the crap out of her for the moment, but she didn't stay frightened long. "Angel" and "Stella" have both taken a journey to the bedroom where "Emily" stays.

The old kitty is treating me like a traitor for bringing the young ones. So far, she gives a "hiss" about the babies. It took almost three years for her to warm up to "Shadow," so I can hope for more friendly behavior in the future. In the meantime, she really seems to appreciate the attention she does get. During commercials, I take kitty breaks to brush "Emily," who is usually lying on top of the bed, or pop in the nursery and all three come running to me.

I bring the kittens to the sofa in the den to sit with me, one at a time, in the evenings. I decided that "Lily," whose name got expanded to "Lilyput," is a little boy. He's the reserved one of the bunch. I'm going to have to come up with a better name for him. "Lily" may leave him feeling emasculated.

The only negative aspect to having three little kittens is the amount of poop in the litter box. I'm leaving them dry food to eat when they want, so there's no regular pooping schedule. It seems like somebody is always in the box. I bought them a bag of Nutro Kitten food, which is advertised to decrease the strength of the poop odor. Things are getting better, as the diahrrea is becoming less puddlesome. I still need to clean the box out once a day, and I'm totally changing the litter twice a week.

I haven't taken them to the vet yet, and the white twins seem to need medicine for their pinkish-blue eyes. I think I finally got all the fleas off of them. I used a flea comb, and a cotton ball of alcohol. If you can smother the flea with an alcohol soaked cotton ball, they're a lot easier to comb off, and the fleas get killed for sure--instead of being recycled on to another critter.

Amber, who I got the kitten from, has sent me an e-mail with the cat family history. The mother was a creek cat, a feral who came in Amber's house to have her kittens. "Nellie" came from a feral mother too, so I feel like I've helped the feral population. And, I'm getting lots of purrs too, which really makes me feel loved.