They're loose in my house!!!

We finally made the decision to allow both of the kittens to have the run of our house at night.  We picked Saturday night because neither of us work on Sunday, so we could sleep in if we lost any sleep.  Well, we slept fine!  The boys, on the other hand, didn't.  I don't know just what they did all night, but come Sunday they both pretty much slept most of the day.  Now that they've had a couple nights out of their crate they are adjusting nicely!

Notice how fluffy Radar is getting?  He's hefty now, having filled in his ribs and no longer feels frail and bony.  His diarrhea comes and goes, but even that has seemed to settle down a lot now.  He's still on antibiotics, but other than that, the only other medicine he gets is .3 ml twice daily of kaolin pectin. 

TK is of course the ever present whiner!  He isn't sure what to make of Radar's new found health, so he doesn't want to be on the floor much.  He'd much rather be in our lap, so I let him nap in my lap for a bit, but as soon as I put him down I see this pitiful face and hear him whining.......he's a very sweet guy, he is just unsure and/or not used to having Radar get the best of him.  They'll figure it all out eventually.

Here they are playing with one of their favorite toys......a jingle bell ball that dh tied a shoestring to.  Usually one gets the shoestring end, the other gets the jingle bell ball, and within moments they're wrestling each other, the toy tossed aside and temporarily forgotten.

This is a good indication of their growth.  This bowl is my dog's food bowl and is about 8 inches across.  Yeap, they're certainly growing.  What I really love is when I return home from work, as soon as I open the door, they both come running to greet me!  Sure makes one feel good to know there's a couple fuzzy faces on the other side of the door that are eager to see you!

I've been trying to hunt down toys that I think both Radar and TK would like, but it's hard.  TK is definitely into movement, chasing a laser dot like no tomorrow.  Radar is into sound, but not all sounds.  For instance, I bought them a crinkle sack.........and TK won't have anything to do with it, Radar wants to nap on top of it.  I've tried seeing how they'd like catnip, but neither seem too interested in it right now.  But, they're just 3 months old, so maybe as they grow they'll develop more of an interest.  At least then I could get toys that have catnip scent and know that Radar can locate them by smell.

They still eat canned AD, but we are allowing them small amounts of other foods.  TK really likes dry Friskies, Radar will nibble at it from time to time.  TK is more adventurous in appetite, and more bold.  He'll get right underneath my dog as she is eating a milkbone just to grab at the crumbs!  Thankfully my dog lets him get away with that....she likes cats a LOT!

I haven't weighed them for several days because......well, they just don't like to hold still long enough anymore.  Oh, and we definitely know that Radar has at least one very small micro eye.........his eyelid has opened just enough to see that there is one now.  So as soon as he gains enough weight (local vets request at least 5 pounds) we'll have that taken care of so he'll never get another infection in there.

Talk with you soon! 

Feeling so much better now!

Hi again! It's hard for me to believe that my two boys are now 11 weeks old! They're growing like weeds.....I last weighed them on the 13th and Radar was 722 grams, TK was 852 grams. It looks like Radar is going to catch up to TK.

While I know they're growing, we still put them into the huge crate at night and when we're not here to supervise them. That'll have to stop soon, but for now I'm a bit worried that Radar will get himself into some sort of trouble if left alone. So far he's not as much into jumping up on things like TK is. I did teach him just after we got the boys how to get himself down off our chairs and couch. He can get up them fine, he climbs up easily, so I just reversed him and held him while "climbing" him down. He learned that in just three passes, now that's the only way he gets down.

Oh, an update on Radar's poo problem.......we actually had a nice, normal poo from him last night! But then, this morning both of the kittens were really wanting out of the crate, crying and yelling at us, after they ate breakfast they both got into the big kitty litter box and sure enough, TK's was normal but Radar's was liquid poo again. I'm beginning to think that when he feels stressed out his tummy gets upset, and that's the "end" result. Maybe this is something he'll eventually outgrow........

They love playing together in the morning when I return from work. TK used to get the best of Radar, but now the tables have turned. Most mornings while I'm here at the computer reading email I can hear TK's yelling and carrying on because Radar has pinned him down and is refusing to let him get up.

The kaolin pectin that I ordered came in this morning so I zipped off to pick it up. I left the two kids loose figuring that I wouldn't be gone too long, and when I returned they were both on the couch looking at me like "Hey, where'd ya go??" It was cute! I immediately shook the bottle up well and gave Radar his first dose. Of course, his response was "Ewww....yuck.....ewwww" and wanted down immediately. Oh well, I don't care what his mouth thinks of it, it's more important now to see what his other end thinks of it! LOL!

Oh, I should add that they are both completely weaned now. TK hasn't shown much interest in the baabaa for several days, and Radar took his final sip from baabaa Saturday morning. He hasn't looked back for it since! They're both still eating canned AD for now because I really want to give Radar's digestive tract a rest, let things heal and settle down, and then I'll start introducing small amounts of different foods. No sense in causing things to get all upset again.

TK doesn't seem to have a favorite toy, he'll play with anything that moves! Radar's favorite is a simple jingle bell ball that DH tied to a long shoestring! They both play with it, plus they have a ball in a plastic track thing that they like, various mice and balls, and a feathered tiger tail thing on a wand. In truth I think that one of TK's favorite toys is any of my other cats' tails. He'll be laying in a chair and as any of my other cats pass by he'll reach out and grab their tail, giving it a little chomp. They don't seem to mind at all, I guess it's some right of passage here.

Well, that's about it for now........next post I'll have a bunch of photos for ya!

Pics of the boys

I just weighed my boys tonight and it looks like Radar is trying hard to catch up to TK. Radar weighed in at 662 grams (1 pound 7.35 ounces) and TK weighed 812 grams (1 pound 12.64 ounces). That means that Radar has gained 136 grams in just 5 days, and TK has gained 10 grams in 5 days. I think that dear little Radar was a very, very sick kitten, and is working hard now at trying to get healthy! Plus, we really don't know exactly when this infection hit Radar, but it's obvious that he's had it for a while. Hopefully, they'll both continue to grow into the beautiful, loving kitties that they want to be. :)

We had play!

I finally was able to talk with my vet yesterday about Radar, his diarrhea, and the ER vet visit. She told me that he definitely needs to be on an antibiotic, but agreed that clavamox isn't going to be the best choice for Radar. I told her to get whichever antibiotic ready and I'd be up to get it shortly.

Well, it turns out that she decided to give SMZ-TMP a try, but because of Radar being so small, she didn't have any pills that could be cut down into small enough doses. Instead, she compounded it right at the clinic into a liquid (and they added a bit of cherry flavoring?!?!?) and I brought it home, immediately giving Radar his first dose. Oh man, talk about foaming, spitting, and sputtering! At one point he followed me around looking very much like a rabies candidate! With him being black, the white spittle/foam/slobber stood out clearly on his little face. And he insisted upon following me the whole time he was busy looking rabid, like he needed me to witness what I had done to him. Oh well.........

He is still on carafate 3 times a day, although now that I'm back to work (was off due to holiday weekend) the timing is way off, and yes, sometimes it's given too early after eating, or he'll eat too early after taking it, but I'm doing all I can with it. Plus he's getting 1/2 teaspoon of canned pumpkin at least 4 times a day. At times he'll have a nearly normal poop, other times it's a bit watery..........but the best news is:

WE HAD PLAY TODAY! Radar and TK played today together for the first time since last Wednesday! Oh, it almost made me cry to see them enjoying time together like this. At least now we know we're on the right track, finally!

I know we'll most likely have more ups and downs with Radar, but it's definitely worth it. To see him enjoying life like every kitten should just warms my heart. And TK, well, he's fine, doing great, talks a lot, eats a ton of food, and purrs like there's a big diesel engine inside of him.

In over a week I finally got a chance to relax a bit, not being so stressed out over Radar's rear end. And, I didn't need to give him a mini bath today either.

So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping with all I can hope with that both Radar and TK will eventually become the adult cats that they're meant to be, and continue enjoying their lives with us.

Kittens and clavamox don't mix!

Sorry that this update has been a little while coming, but things have taken a turn to very hectic here lately. DH had to take both Radar and TK back to the vet early Wednesday 9/02/09 morning (luckily he had the day off work) because they were both down with severe diarrhea and neither would eat.

My vet first ran a fecal check on them both, and found nothing. No worms of any sort, no coccidia, no giardia. So then she moved on to running bloodwork on both of them. TK's bloodwork showed slight anemia, Radar's showed a high white cell count indicating infection. Hearts, lungs for both kittens sound normal. So she gave them both another dose of dewormer (just in case) and then prescribed panacur, flagyl, and suggested we try feeding them canned AD for a little while, until we can get them eating reliably. She also gave us some clavamox drops for Radar's infection, and we got some Nutrical for TK.

Things started to look better for the two, TK has shown a very good response, no more diarrhea and appetite is great for AD. But, poor Radar! The clavamox really didn't settle well at all for him! I put in a call to my vet Friday morning, but she was out all day on farm calls and never returned a call to me. By Friday evening Radar had diarrhea so bad....he was just passing water with a few flecks of poo in it. I had no choice but to take him to the ER vet.

The vet at the er examined Radar and found nothing seriously wrong with him except the nasty diarrhea, which he thinks the cause most likely is the clavamox. He recommended that I stop giving that to him, stop giving him the kmr, and prescribed carafate 3 times a day and some powder (Neopref) for his bottom, which is very raw right now.

When we finally got home from the er vet about 3 Saturday morning, I immediately gave Radar the first dose of carafate and then had to wait an hour to feed him. My boy was hungry, and being a total pest of himself about it, so I put him in the bathroom to wait. I had let TK out of the crate when I got home, and he was laying in front of the bathroom door listening to Radar carry on in there. Next thing I knew, TK was throwing up! Poor thing, he just got stressed out and/or missed his brother while we were gone.

Don't worry though, TK is fine now. He just needed to toss his cookies that one time!

The rest of Saturday I didn't give Radar any kmr, and he didn't really seem to miss it too much, until real late Saturday night. His poop has started changing a little from watery liquid to pudding like, but once he started stressing out over the kmr the diarrhea returned, and was much worse. I finally gave in and gave him a baabaa with kmr, which he nearly drank all 30 mls hardily!

Some wonderful friends on the feline diabetic message board are trying to help me in many ways with dealing with Radar and his poop. They suggested I give Radar small amounts of pure canned pumpkin (the fiber might help), so I went to the store Sunday and got a can. Funny thing, as I picked up the can to read the label I found that it weighs more than Radar!

I gave him about 1/2 teaspoon last night, and it seemed to help a little. So today (Monday) I started the day out with giving him the flagyl and canned pumpkin, then gave both TK and Radar their AD. Ummm......well, make that gave them two servings.......they cleaned the plate with the first helping and insisted on having a little more.

TK doesn't seem to be that interested in the kmr, he'll take a little sip of it, but then he wants it away from it. Radar, for whatever reason, does have a need for it. And, I've tried giving it to him in a saucer. He'll readily lap it up from a saucer, but then he has trouble judging it's depth. He sniffed for it, then got a little up his nose. I don't want him to aspirate it, so I'll just continue giving him the kmr in a bottle. He doesn't "suck" the bottle, just licks while the kmr runs out the nipple.

And, so far today Radar has had just one episode of diarrhea dribbling out uncontrollably. For the most part his poops have has some form, not normal and firm, but still, it's been better than pure liquid. I did have to give him a half-bath today though, pitiful little thing. His hind legs, tail, and tummy were just so nasty......so I took him to the kitchen sink and wet him with warm water, then scrubbed his nasty places with a little Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo. He got real upset, of course, but I just held him and talked real softly and gently, and he quit struggling with me! Then I rinsed him with the spray thingy, toweled him off, then let him go for a bit. After he got over that excitement he wanted to be held, so I wrapped him up in a nice thick towel and held him....for a couple of hours! He got warm in the towel, and then TK came up and laid down on me too, and next thing I knew I was almost asleep with them! LOL!

I do need to see his vet tomorrow to let her know what happened with having to take Radar to the er vet, and to see what, if any, antibiotic she wants us to change to for Radar. I'd like to try baytril injectable.......after all, the main concern with baytril is the possibility of it causing blindness, and that's not really an issue with Radar because he's already blind, but knowing vets she'll most likely want to try either amoxicillan or antirobe. I guess I'll have to wait and see what she'll choose next.

So, this is what's been going on so far here at furry central! Let's hope that we can get these two kids onto the path of well-being and growing soon!

Hi, this is Debra, I'm TK and Radar's human mom. I rescued these two kittens from a certain death. A few feral females had kittens and eventually they brought them to live underneath my house. Most of the kittens were extremely afraid of people, with the exception of Radar and TK. Over several days we started noticing that one by one the kittens were disappearing. I don't know for sure what was happening, it could have been a tom cat, or a raccoon, but these two were the last ones and I wasn't about to lose them.

We got them on a Saturday evening and let them spend the rest of the night playing in our bathroom. We have 6 other kitties and a dog, so I got a baby gate to keep the kittens apart from our adult cats. At night we put them into a huge airline crate to keep them safe. The following Monday I took them to my vet where they both tested negative to FIV/FeLV/heartworms, got dewormer, capstar for fleas, and ears cleaned and treated for mites. The vet estimates them to be about 7 weeks old.

Once all that was done I brought them back home......to their forever home.

It's been a real challenge getting them both to eat. Radar was born with no eyes, but he does have working tear glands. At first Radar wouldn't eat any food, but he would suck KMR from a nurser bottle. And, even though TK has eyes and can see, he wants everything his brother gets. Radar would be well one day, sick the next, well the next........I finally figured out that Radar was eating cat litter because it was the one thing he could smell! So, my next task was to find cat food that Radar actually could smell. We're still in the "figuring" out phase, but so far he'll eat turkey cutlets sprinkled with canned tuna, and Meow Mix canned food. He still drinks KMR from his bottle, but that's happening less and less.

Best thing is that they are indeed thriving and growing. This blog is for them, about them, and the rest of my furry family. And life with a blind kitten.

Hi there! I'm TK. Mom says that that's short for Tough Kitty! I'm tough alright, I love to play. I can run and jump and pounce and bounce, and then I fall asleep.

I'm learning how to be a real kitten. Did you know that means both my brother and I have to learn things like what's good to eat? My brother is strange, he eats stuff that we poop in, but not me! I want good stuff.......I'm just learning though.

I like to run up behind my brother and jump on him. He can't see me, I run sooooo fast! I gotta say though that he can sure hear good. I'm glad that we now live inside a home, I used to get pretty scared being outside.

Mom feeds us good....we get stuff like baby food, turkey, tuna, and milk (mom calls it KMR). We're growing fast, and mom lets us try new foods, stuff that comes in cans. At first we didn't like it much, but mom tries so hard, so we try too. And you know what?? Some of that stuff in cans tastes yummy! I hope mom lets us eat this stuff forever!

My brother didn't tell you that when it gets late our people put us in a really big plastic box. We spend the night in there, together. I like to pretend that I don't want to go in there, but my mom must see right through me. She knows that as soon as she shuts the door to our box we'll both be asleep in no time! It's got our place to poo, water in a bowl, some toys, a nice soft furry thing we lay on, and food in a bowl. Mom says that she can sleep better knowing that we're safe, and it's not too bad, it's our night home.

When our people get up in the morning my brother and I start screaming at them. We want to come out of our night home and eat.........turkey and tuna, please!!! They're good to us, they give us food, and then Radar and I play.