Family Portrait

The kittens are over eight months old now, and they got together for his family portrait. At the top is Vinnie, below him are No-No (formerly Bear) and mom Callie, with Buster at the bottom right. As you can see the "kittens" are now all considerably larger than their mother.

Callie and Her Kittens - They're Six Months Old

The kittens at six months are all bigger than their mom, Callie.
In this video, we also meet our dog Duke, who gets very emotional when he's around the kittens.

Brushing the Kittens' Teeth

Good dental hygiene is very important.

Kittens In Sink

Vinnie and Buster love to play in the bathroom sink - in fact, they're "in synch".

Also, we see Callie at bedtime, who loves to sleep with me.

Pictures

Flying Kittens

The kittens, now three months old, have amazing jumping skills (especially Bear).

Callie was first with a cold and sneezing, and the kittens all caught it soon. We suspect they might have caught it from a kitten they travelled with to FixNation. In any event, all are well now, thanks to Dr. Kim's medicine.

Kittens at Ten Weeks

Callie's remaining three kittens, at ten weeks, are becoming her playmates. I believe that she is only about a year old herself.

And Then There Were Three

Lily and Flower have settled into their new home with Carrie, so only Bear, Buster and Vinnie remain with Callie (new names for the boys). They seem a little big to still be nursing but Callie puts up with it for a short time.

Callie and Kittens Have Been "Fixed"

On Wednesday, Callie and the kittens made the trip to FixNation, where they were spayed and neutered, and received all their vaccinations. Actually, one of the males, Buster, will have to wait a couple more weeks as he wasn't judged to be anatomically ready.  The kittens rapidly recovered, in fact we had to try and prevent them from playing so frenetically the next day. Callie was uncomfortable for two days, but now is pretty much back to normal.

FixNation's main purpose is to sterilize feral cats, and their standard practice is to clip one of the cat's ears to identify it as having been sterilized. We had thought this would be a fairly innocuous marking, but were disappointed that the tip of the ear was significantly clipped. As, in time, the regrown fur covers the area, it will be less conspicuous. Unfortunately, this was the trade-off for a huge savings over what would otherwise have been well over $1200 in fees. Of course, the kittens are as cute as ever.

Now that that's taken care of, and they are nearly ten weeks old, Carrie will be taking Lily and Flower, the two calico kittens, to their new home today. (I'll try to keep my composure.)

Incidentally, a great (and expensive) toy for kittens is the Apple iPad. There are many apps available that are designed to provide cats with hours of entertainment, such as swimming fishes and flying bugs. They make appropriate sound effects and reactions when the paws make contact. Below, four of the kittens are having great fun with it.

Callie's Movie Coming Soon

Thanks to your support, Callie and her kittens are now Stars in a Big Hollywood movie. This is the preview of that upcoming blockbuster!

Kittens in a Cube (and in a Drawer)

The kittens' favorite toy is this cube (at least it was a cube originally) which we got at Walmart for about four bucks. Time to get a replacement.

They often sleep in dresser drawers as shown in the picture below. They access it by crawling underneath the dresser, and getting into the drawer from behind.

Kittens at Play

The kittens are now eight weeks old and are playing more, sleeping less.

Kitty Condo

The kitties have a new condo, and we are getting our money's worth from it. And, at night, all five sleep together in the penthouse.

Keep Watching the Skies

The kittens are watching a strange, unidentified flying object.

Callie with the Patience of a Saint

Dora Visits Callie and the Kittens

Today, Dora, from Queen of the Valley Hospital, paid a visit. She has been a wonderful supporter of the cause and has posted several comments to this site. I believe she is holding Em here, who is nearly identical in appearance to Oopsie.

Five Weeks Old

Lily, Flower, Oopsie, Em and Bear will sleep soundly after they settle down.

The Kittens have Visitors!

Callie and her kittens entertained four visitors from the Queen of the Valley hospital food service department, on Friday, left to right, Jessika, Camille, Carrie, and Debbie. They were well behaved for their first official visitors. (Visitors are always welcome, email Lilian).

Recently, Callie and the kittens visited the vet for a well mother examination, and he pronounced them all to be healthy. Callie had a full blood workup, and the lab results showed everything to be fine.

Below, Carrie holds Lily and Flower, who she'll be adopting when they are ready to move on.

Four Weeks Old

Callie's kittens are four weeks old today. They're still working on their climbing skills.

Flower and Lili (calico) are females; Ooopsie and Em (striped) are males; Bear, the black kitten, is yet to be determined.

Kittens Finding Their Legs at 3 Weeks

Callie's kittens are starting to get around the kennel, although somewhat wobbly. You may notice at one point that Callie seems concerned about something she sees outside the pen. That was Shadow, one of our other cats.

16 Days Old - Starting to Play

Mini-Me and Flower learning to play.

The Kittens Thank You

Lilian and Kittens - Twelve Days Old

The title on the video says "Ten Days Old", but I realized they're actually twelve days old today (Saturday, March 10), as they were born on Monday, Feb. 27.

Nine Days - Eyes Just Starting to Open

Click on photo for large image.

It's day 9, and the kittens are doing great - eating well and, of course, sleeping most of the time. Today the eyes are just starting to open for a couple of them. Callie seems very content. She eats three times a day and drinks her special milk for nursing cats.

As the picture shows, there are two calico, two striped, and one black kitten.

Five Days Old

Feeding (and fighting).

Three Days Old and All's Well

Their eyes should be opening soon.

Click on photo for larger image:

One Day Old

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Callie's Litter

Number Five was born at 11:00 am. Looks like that's it. Callie and kittens are resting comfortably, but I'm exhausted. So much for that brand new bed.

#4 at 10:40 a.m.

This one also looks multicolored, but with more white features.

#3 at 10:20 a.m.

It looks pretty much like #2 in colors.

Kitten #2 at 9:55 a.m.

Kitten #2 seems to have some calico markings.

Delivery Has Commenced!

Kitten #1 was born at 9:20 am today. Updates to follow.

A New Bed

Lil bought Callie a new bed last night. It's orthopedic!

How to Post Comments

If you've attempted, without success, to post a comment to the Blog.... my bad. I had neglected to set the comment preferences to allow all users to write comments, not just Google account holders. That should be fixed now.

To comment on one of the blog postings, click on the link at the bottom of that post. This example shows that there has already been 1 comment, it may be another number or, 0 comments.

That will take you to a repeat of that posted message, but this time with a Comment box at the bottom. You can type in your message, then select your "profile". If you don't have a Google or one of the other online accounts listed, you can select "Name/URL" (which will bring up a box to enter your name and, if you have a blog or website, that URL. If you don't have a URL link to include, just leave that blank). Or you can select "Anonymous."

You can then cick the "Preview" button to see how your comment will appear and, finally, click the "Publish" button to add your comments to the blog post.

So Far, So Good

Callie seems to be adapting well. She's eating the canned food we offer, and especially likes tuna. Our other cats are curious about her of course, but there's been no hissing or expressions of hostility, just touching noses through the kennel bars. Callie really enjoys having her tummy rubbed.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:S Sunset Ave,West Covina,United States

Callie - In from the Cold

Callie grew up on the grounds of Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, California, and especially liked to be near the cafeteria where her human admirers often gave her leftover scraps of food. But when she became pregnant, they realized that her environment would not be the ideal place for her babies, with the frosty winter nights, as well as possums on the prowl. So they set out to try and capture Callie, with an eye towards finding homes for her and the kittens.

The street-smart cat proved to be very elusive and it was beginning to look like the attempts might be futile. But Callie's love for scrambled eggs proved to be her undoing. With Callie absorbed in eating the favorite dish, a quick employee scooped her up, and another literally contributed the shirt off his back to cover her, but not before Callie managed to inflict a bite and scratch or two.

Callie was put into a pet carrier and brought to our home, so that she can have her litter safely, and then homes can be found for all of them. The first night of her stay was traumatic for Callie, and she cowered in the back of the kennel. However, we are happy to report that, last night, she ate all of her food and water, and this morning we even gave her some scrambled eggs.

This blog will continue to report on Callie's progress, and it appears from her bulging stomach, that the blessed event probably isn't too far away.