Little Sky and her 2 kittens

CatNamedPanda said:

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I know he is just too cute, and sweet too.:heart3: I am so glad he is doing better. The fleas are so bad in this area right now, I think it is because we never had a winter and the fleas are just thriving. I have never heard of the Anise Extract, good thing to know about most of the cats I rescue have fleas. I do use the blue dawn dish soap, and I know that is safe on young kittens. I decided to give him a bath with dawn last night I just made it really warm in the bathroom with a space heater, and kept rubbing him till he was dry, he actually purred the entire time, I think the warm water felt good and being really clean probably helped too. He loves to be rubbed so the towel drying was heaven for him. He dries really fast too, so no harm from having the bath, and he is so fluffy and clean now. Still am finding fleas on him today and I have been changing his bedding daily. If dawn is safe on them would the extract be too? I can ask my vet, but I doubt they will know. And by pop the fleas, do you mean they are going to explode if I use that? :lol3:

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Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. YOU ARE FUNNY.... No the fleas do not explode (although that would be absolutely wonderful :lol3 in the dawn/Anise mixture. I pop them in between my nails because some of the fleas can revive themselves after awhile :shocker: Gross, I know, but when you hear the "crack" - you know that one is gone for good. Use about 1 tbsp. of Dawn to about 16 ounces of water.... add about 3 to 4 drops of Anise Extract. Shake and then shampoo. Put a drop of mineral oil in each eye so the soap will not get into the eyes. The eyes will be protected that way. Always start applying the shampoo right behind the skull bone and work it around the neck. The fleas will flee to the head immediately and try to get into the ears, nose and eyes .... that way your have the neck covered with the shampoo.

I am glad to hear that all is going well. I think it would be wonderful for Sky to have Chloe as a friend. How wonderful that Chloe loves Sky!! Absolutely, let them be together!!!!! :nod: :heart3: Glad to hear that Cloud continues to improve, grow and become stronger each passing day. MORE ix: when you can. :rub: :heart3:

Quick update before I run off to work.

Chloe enjoys visiting with Sky and Cloud during the day, but she wants out to sleep with me at night.

Cloud is getting bigger and stronger every day. He now weighs 12oz, still small but that's ok. He is up and walking and into exploring everything. He has no interest in toys yet, but my feet and fingers are fun chew toys apparently, ouch! We are working on learning to not bite, and he bites hard. His eyes are so blue right now I think he may end up blue eyed like his mom. He is 5 weeks old today.

Oh little Punkin..He does look like a flame point. They are my very favorite. I had a flame point Himalyan..He lived to be 14. He loved only me He was so funny and really sort of a gay cat. Really..he was such a femmy little boy..lol. I loved him so much. You are doing good work..keep it up. I admire you

Singletons can sometimes develop bad habits with biting as they don't have a sibling to bite them back. Make sure you don't

let him bite on you. Buy a tiny stuffed animal and encourage him to wrestle it. When he does bite, verbalize that it hurts.

It will hurt even more in a couple weeks when his teeth are bigger! lol

Yeah, my baby Zoe was a single survivor from her litter. She used to bite too. It is funny with Cloud when he starts biting I yelp, and he will get startled and stop and just look at me with the cutest expression. I didnt ever think about stuffed toys for him to wrestle with, I will have to go get some for him. I don't remember how long it took to stop Zoe, but hopefully it will not take too long with him.

OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS :lol3: CLOUD... you are THE cutest little prince of all time.... I can't stop looking at his picture. He does look just like a red flame point. He even has a little tiny black spot in top his head. OH you have to keep posting these photos. How in the world are you going to give him up :dk: :lol3: I guess we can't keep them all I was also going to suggest a small stuffed animal for his to roll around with. Give that little guy a kiss from me. His picture just made my night :happy3: :bigwink:

I'm glad you enjoy his pictures. Im not sure how I am going to give him up he is such a cutie, but I always tell myself if I kept every cat I rescued I would be a hoarder so I think I need to avoid that. Not to mention it always makes me happy when they go on to be someones very well loved, spoiled baby.

Cloud is doing well,  he is using the litter box on his own now! And today I finally got him to eat some wet food for the first time today. I will get some updated pictures of the little guy and post them soon!

I hear ya...... It is hard to give them up, but if you can find a great home then that is for the best. Then you can keep rescuing and saving more lives. If we kept them all, then there is no room left for taking in another needy kitty. But, boy, Cloud is really special. I would take him in a heartbeat..... :heart3: :scratch:... He just tugs at my soul. :lol3: YES, more ix: How is Sky doing?

I know, I promised him for adoption before I even had a chance to get attached, but he will be well loved and cared for in his new home, after he is old enough to leave. We still have a few weeks. He is hard to get a picture of right now, he just wants to run and play.

Sky is doing well too, she is putting on weight and getting stronger every day. She was really freaking out in the bathroom every time I went in there, it started after she started to really began to feel better. I have since moved her into a large dog crate, that is beside the bed, and I sleep on the side closest to it every night. So now, she sees me and hears me more, and is becoming less afraid of me, she doesn't always hide anymore when I am around, she will lay out in the open, but she has a hiding spot that she can retreat to if she gets spooked. She is so much calmer now in the crate than she was in the bathroom. I felt bad when a friend suggested it, but it seems to be doing the trick to calm her down.

I finally got some cute pictures of Cloud where he is not a blur. Can you believe he is 7 weeks old this weekend!

Very cute, and getting any half-decent photo of a kitten when it's not asleep is a major achievement!

Thanks! I have a harder time getting a picture of him sleeping because he sleeps inside of Sky's hiding place, and when he is out I swear he is the energizer bunny, he just plays and plays for hours and doesn't stop till he has to go back with Sky and then he just crashes. I am slowly working him up to being out full time, but my other cats are rough with him if I don't watch, he is still so small I worry he will get hurt. But while I am home he is always out, unless I am sleeping. He also knows how to use the litter box when it is close, but if he has to go, he is just going to go where ever he is, which most of the time he happens to be on my bed.

I think I am making some progress with Sky again. I sleep on the side of the bed I have her crate next to and she has been staying out of her hiding place and watching me at night. I have been spending time talking softly to her, and blinking at her and she has been blinking back! She will let me open the crate and reach in without bolting to hiding. I can reach out and let her sniff my hand, and I can get two strokes in before she changes her mind and starts getting upset. I back off and let her have her space, I don't want to push her too far and ruin this newly regained trust, that I am not sure how I lost in the first place. Lily was kinda the same way, after she was gaining weight and was healthy again she regressed and would allow no one near her, or to even think about touching her. It has been a year, but I can finally walk up to Lily and pick her up and she is fine.

I got the cutest picture of Cloud today.

He is just so cute, and 8 weeks old now, he is still pretty small, he has been moved in with the other kittens, which the mommas are very accepting of him. In there he has more room to play and run, and the mothers there groom him, and snuggle with him. I was going to wait to separate him from Sky, but he was going stir crazy with her, and he was never near her, they were always as far away from each other as possible so I think she was ready for him to leave too, she has never been maternal toward him anyways. He has been so happy since I moved him too.

 His nose is dirty from eating dry food that has been soaked in formula to make it mush. He loves it, and I figure he needs all the fat and nutrients he can get.



Just to show you how little i think he is, this is him next to a 3 week old kitten. Still bigger, but not as big as I think he should be.

TOTAL CUTENESS OVERLOAD!!!!!!!! I am going to miss seeing pictures of little Cloud after he goes to his new loving home. (I wish it were mine :lol3 You have done such a fantastic job in caring and raising him. He IS so tiny too... :heart3:

The crate was an excellent suggestion for Sky. :nod: YES....by setting up the crate right next to your bed is one of the best ways to gently force a cat into seeing you, smelling you and watching you and then eventually trusting you. I am so glad that Sky is doing so well :rub:

I am completely heart broken to write this post. Sadly Cloud inexplicably suddenly passes away this morning. I am completely in shock and am devastated, I start crying every time I think about him, and lost it again when I went to go feed him dinner. He was perfectly happy, seemingly healthy little kitten when I fed him his usual wet food before bed. When I left the room he was playing with the other kittens he has been with for the last 2 weeks. Sometime in the 6 hours I was gone he passed away. He was waiting a few weeks to get a little bigger so he could go to the adoption center and now he is gone. I have been trying to figure out all day if there is something I did wrong, or should have done. How does a kitten go from eating and playing to dead in that short a period of time? The only thing I can come up with is his body never grew strong enough to support him, like maybe his heart was weak and I just didn't know it. I know he wasn't poisoned or injured or even sick with any illnesses. I guess I will ever know. He is buried next to Rainbow, and they can play together at the bridge now. They each have take a piece of my heart to the bridge with them.

CatNamedPanda said:

I am completely heart broken to write this post. Sadly Cloud inexplicably suddenly passes away this morning.

I am completely in shock and am devastated, I start crying every time I think about him, and lost it again when I went to go feed him dinner. He was perfectly happy, seemingly healthy little kitten when I fed him his usual wet food before bed. When I left the room he was playing with the other kittens he has been with for the last 2 weeks. Sometime in the 6 hours I was gone he passed away. He was waiting a few weeks to get a little bigger so he could go to the adoption center and now he is gone. I have been trying to figure out all day if there is something I did wrong, or should have done. How does a kitten go from eating and playing to dead in that short a period of time? The only thing I can come up with is his body never grew strong enough to support him, like maybe his heart was weak and I just didn't know it. I know he wasn't poisoned or injured or even sick with any illnesses. I guess I will ever know. He is buried next to Rainbow, and they can play together at the bridge now.

They each have take a piece of my heart to the bridge with them.

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Sweetie, I have seen this happen time and time again, where seeming healthy, perfect kittens suddenly pass. There is NOTHING you could have done. These things happen, especially in kittens where you don't know mama's background. This baby knew LOVE thanks to you.

How sad for you and the babies. Unfortunately, kittens are just too fragile. If he was premature, there could have been numerous things wrong with him that wouldn't show up until much later. In all honesty, it could very well have been his heart....if it wasn't sufficiently developed, he very well could have 'grown out of it". It's awful I know. But at the end, he experienced love and care and went peacefully with a full belly, surrounded by love and warmth, something he never would have gotten if you hadn't taken him in.

Was Sky vaccinated? During the pregnancy or soon after with a live vaccine?

We had the same thing happen...six totally healthy kittens. Momma had been vaccinated with a live vaccine while she was pregnant at the shelter. Kittens seemed perfectly healthy...until they started the weaning process. Apparently the vaccine is too strong for them and acts like a ticking time bomb. They are totally fine, until they start not taking in Momma's immunities through her milk. Then they get sick suddenly and are gone within 3-10 hours.

It's scary. I watched one of the boys playing with me at 2pm...by 7 he could not walk anymore and by 8 he was gone. There is nothing you can do to help it...we only had 2 of the six survive.

The other thing is Kitten Fading Syndrome- it's where they just weren't born with what it takes to survive- but their instincts tell them to push themselves to act normal.

My little Hermes left us at 8 weeks...he was unusually tiny and thin, like Cloud. Extremely small compared to his siblings. He just pushed his little body until it gave out. He went down in just 2 hours- from totally normal to the vet being unable to find a pulse. We held onto him for just a couple more days while he was under 24 hour critical care at the vets...but there is nothing you can do about this either. They just weren't born with what they needed to live.

So sorry about your loss. I hope the other kittens are doing well.

Thanks Kailie, RAMF, and ClaraAdele. I still can not believe that he is gone, but knowing y'all have seen this before too makes me feel a bit better that I didn't do something wrong. He was definitely very loved, and I am thankful that he at least got to be a very happy kitten for his short time here.

Clara, Sky was never vaccinated for 2 reasons. I will never vaccinate a mother cat while her kittens are still around. Back in October I had a mother cat and her kittens I pulled, the kittens were beautiful 5ish week olds. The vet vaccinated mom and wanted the kittens back in a week or two for theirs. Shortly after before the kittens went back to the vet they suddenly were very sick, it became apparent a few days latter it was calicivirus and I lost the entire litter by the end of it. I was so heartbroken over it, and believe that it is the vaccine that caused it. Although they could have picked it up in the shelter, but they had been with me for just over 3 weeks before they came down with it. Plus Sky was malnourished when she came to me and even if she didn't have kittens I would have wanted her to have a chance to put on weight and get healthy before I vaccinated her.