A HAPPY AND HOPEFUL POST

After the sadness of the previous post, we have to show you the good that is remaining.  

This was the day after we lost the last of the four.

The vet recommended that we continue to bottle feed him since he has taken to it so well.  Babygirl has now shown complete disinterest.  She was good for a few times but we think she was so confused, she will just look at him, sniff him and then want back outside for her food.  He has at least nursed a little in the beginning and gotten some of her antibodies but the vet agreed that this was safest way for him to have the best chance.

He has settled in well.  This is him at 7 days old.

We brush him with a toothbrush (supposed to remind them of mama's tongue) after he eats and gets cleaned up and he will fall asleep in your hand...making little purring noises and kneading his paws.

He's starting to move around and working his legs.

So cute.

He's a wiggly worm when you hold him.  Hard to get a clear picture, ha.

Our neighbor "J" said he looks like a little old man in this picture!

We have him set up in a cardboard box (to retain heat), with a heating pad underneath and towels and fleece blankets on top of that which are swapped out daily while the used ones are being washed.

How cute is this?  Sleeping kitten!

But we saved the best for last (click to enlarge):

Look at that little freshly fed tummy, all cleaned up and warm in his nest, back legs drawn up, not a care in the world.  Trying hard not to get too attached.

We have a nickname we call him but no formal name though we are leaning toward something specific if we end of keeping him...stay tuned.

He lost four of his siblings but now he is apparently getting two grown men wrapped around his little paw.

#livinghisbestlife

A SAD POST

Thank you all for the kind words.   We are doing OK but it has been rough.

So a week ago yesterday, we went out on the porch to feed Babygirl and found a litter of five newborn kittens.  New in the sense of just maybe an hour or two before.  You can read about that HERE if you missed it.

We brought them all in and tried to get them settled.  The kittens were small.  The first thing we did was weigh them.  They ranged from 68g to 74g.

According to the vet, the average weight of a healthy newborn kitten is 85-115g. They were tiny.

We put a heating pad, blankets and everything else to get them all comfortable.  Babygirl came in and would try to feed them but she was so distracted and/or they couldn't latch on as often as they should/could.

The vet said to bottle feed them and we did, every few hours, day and night.  They gained a little weight but not much.  Mama's milk wasn't helping either.

Then Sunday night we lost the littlest one.  We wrapped him a clean white washcloth so he would be warm and safe.  He was at peace.

We were very sad but thought he was the smallest of them all and we knew we had tried our best.  We had to focus on the others.

Then, suddenly, we lost another the next day.

And then we lost two more at the same time a couple of days later.  We woke up for their feeding and they were gone. To say we were devastated would be an understatement. 

We had been talking with the vet and he said based on their weight and size, they were most likely very premature, maybe as much as a week or two.

We showed them that picture of Babygirl from the Monday before and he said that would explain why she did not look pregnant and why she just suddenly gave birth on the concrete porch without any nesting set up.  She may not have even realized she was pregnant.  After some research, kittens this small have an extremely high mortality rate, even with round the clock care.  They told us they were underdeveloped and most likely their organs weren't fully formed and probably were not able to digest properly.

It was a very long week...

We are sad for Babygirl but she seems to have not really missed them like we have.  She is her usual self.  Maybe she didn't really understand the sudden birth and have that connection, but we got lots of pictures for the memories in the years to come.  This is one of our favorites.  

There were five and we lost four.  We have one left...and he now has our full attention.

More on him in the next post and teaser, he's doing great so far!

He is getting us through the hard parts...

IT HAS NOT BEEN GOOD

More coming soon when we have more news, but long story short, we have lost some of the kittens.

To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.

More of an update coming as we try to keep the rest alive.  Vet is assisting us.

It is sad out here on the farm...

CAT SUNDAY SURPRISE

Are you sitting down?

 Let me preface this by saying that this coming Wednesday, Babygirl had an appointment at the Vet clinic for a spaying at 8am.

This picture was taken on Labor Day evening. In fact, this picture was going to be today's picture.  Does anything look different about her?  She looks normal right?  Maybe gained a little weight and maybe we overfed her a bit but she looked healthy.  Went out to feed her Friday morning and this greeted us:

A litter of newborn kittens!

WHAT THE HECK?   Did she LOOK pregnant in that other picture?  It's the weirdest thing.  We've seen pregnant cats before and it's usually pretty obvious. She did NOT look pregnant.

This picture was after we picked them up and put them in a box with a towel.  I didn't take a picture of the graphic moment we saw the pile of kittens as there was some blood and birth remnants.  Don't need to photograph that, seeing it was enough, ha.  Babygirl was sitting on the rocking chair cleaning herself.  The kittens were already clean too (though the porch was a bit of a mess, ha).

We immediately brought them inside along with her.

Here they are.

Five little kittens.  Four of them look healthy and have fat little tummies.  One (actually, #1 in this pic) is a bit weaker and had some blood around his mouth when we brought them in. We think she might have started giving birth on the rocking chair or table and this one might have fallen off.  Then she moved to the corner behind a pillow on the porch floor and had them there.

At first, we put them all on the screened in porch.   She went crazy being inside and decided that the screens might be an easy way out.  We stopped that right away (no damage, thank goodness) and moved the family inside.  We set up a cardboard box and some towels.  She fed them and we tried keeping her inside but she is not meant to be inside right now.  She will stay and feed them and clean them and then starts running around wanting out in a panic.  Per the vet, we don't want her to get so stressed that she abandons them or stops producing milk entirely.  We decided the best move is to let her in and out: she goes out on the porch and sleeps on the chair or table and stays outside...

...and we open the door, she comes in, feeds them, cleans them and then gets restless again and wants back out. We are NOT letting the kittens be outside for their safety, so this will have to work. After some more consultation with the vet, we decided to get bottles and formula so we can supplement them when she is not around or at 3am in the morning, etc.

It was off to Tractor Supply (love that store now) on my lunch break to get some supplies. 

 We got a can of KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer) and two bottle sets (one for each of us to use).  We figured the full set with cleaning brush and different nipples was better to have around instead of just a bottle, in case some other baby animals make their appearance out here someday, ha.

We also bought a jumbo plastic litter pan (to keep them contained, for now anyway, ha) and some pee pad liners and extra blankets and towels.

So, this will be our life for the next few weeks.  Already have one adopted out when they are of age.  Vet has graciously agreed to check out all the kittens for free and once she is at the right point after initial nursing, she will be spayed so she does not have to go through this anymore.  Vet said they will reach out to us in a few weeks.

Never a dull moment!

CRAZY WEEK AND EVEN CRAZIER SURPRISE

This week, short as it may be, has been crazy.  At my office, our A/C was out in the building and when we left on Tuesday midday, it was almost 90 in the office.  A six story building with no air conditioning in the middle of Houston heat/humidity.  Yeah, we weren't doing that, ha.  Our awesome boss told us all to work from home.  That is great but it has thrown off my routine.

Then the even crazier surprise happened yesterday morning.

I threw this post together suddenly yesterday to get it ready to post today but had to go get some things.  Don't worry, it's not bad.  It happened fast and it's fun, though as we said, very unexpected.  It will keep us busy for the next few weeks.

Will have a post about it tomorrow with pictures.  Lots of pictures tomorrow and lots of pictures coming in the days and weeks ahead.

I hope to get some yard work done this weekend and 2nd Man will cook some good food, that's for sure!

Hope you all have a great weekend started!

CHECK IN TOMORROW.

TWENTY FIVE YEARS

 No words today...

...just quiet reflection.

Twenty five years later.

GETTING THE GARAGE ATTIC ORGANIZED

It was rainy and overcast, so I figured it was a good weekend to get up in the garage attic and get our holiday decorations put up there.  Still hot but at least it was a bit cooler.

I sorted the containers (our color coded ones) on the garage floor and went to work.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

It took a couple of hours but I got them sorted and then it was time to get them up into the attic.

Put most of them at one end of the attic.  This was before I got more in but you get the idea.

At the other end (closest to the pulldown attic door) we put all the Christmas stuff. The several Christmas trees we have are laying on the sides of the attic across the rafters (but still on the floored part).

We got it all up there so it was out of the barn and garage and is semi-organized.  For the most part it's done, but when it's cooler this Fall/Winter, it will be easier to get up there and move things around to fine tune it all.  Feeling a bit more accomplished.

WE ARE STILL HERE

 Sorry for missing everyone this week (at least since Monday).  I just realized I had some posts scheduled to automatically go (as I sometimes do when we get busy) and I used the right date but used 2027 as the year, oops!  It'll be here soon enough, we sure don't need to rush that, ugh.

Boy we dodged a bullet with Edouard.  Wow, look at those totals!  Some areas over TWENTY INCHES of rainfall over the last few days.  We were so lucky.

It stayed on its forecasted track and moved inland and for a couple of days it didn't rain at all out here. 

 

Now of course, today, as I post this (we're both off today by the way) it's raining. As ominous as it looks, it's a nice steady slow rain.  Will be good for watering everything and maybe save me from having to do that this weekend.  

As we look at the forecast, it's 70% today, 50% tomorrow and 70% Sunday. 

So much for outdoor plans this weekend.  

But there will be a post or two...WITH the right year!

MOWING DONE JUST IN TIME

 I FINALLY mowed.  Well mostly, ha. 

I was going well, I edged everything first, which is a great way to start.  It was hot, "feels like" of 103 but I had to do it.  More on that momentarily. Anyway, I was finished with the back and sides and most of the front when I went to do the driveway.  The grass was pretty heavy, and it bogged down the mower blades.  Normally that's not a big deal, just turn it back on.  But I did that and the mower blades wouldn't engage.  I knew exactly what it was.

A clod of grass was wedged in between the end of one of the mower blades and the edge of the mower deck housing and it wouldn't turn so it automatically shuts off. That's happened before over the years and usually I just have to get under there and dig/pull it out and it works fine.

I drove it to the driveway and laid down and spend a good 40 minutes trying to get that. Scissors, pliers, a spray bottle of water, nothing could dislodge it.

I had this patch of grass left and I looked at the time, my heartrate, the heat and said to myself "I'm about 90% done, I think that's good enough, it's not worth risking it".  Drove the mower to the shed and put it up.  I am hoping as it dries, in a week or two (whenever I have to mow again) it will be easier to remove the dried grass/dirt.

Didn't cover as much as usual, but like I said, close enough, ha.  And best of all, it's DONE for now which is what I wanted because...

...we are on Tropical Storm watch!  It's not yet a named storm (as this posts) but if it does, it will be "Edouard".  They are expecting landfall tomorrow.

It will most likely be only a rain event, no heavy winds predicted, though that can change as a storm spins up into something bigger if it slows down.  At this point though, just rain. 

 Most of the heaviest rain misses the farm but if it wobbles a bit, we could get that.

Fingers crossed.

GOOD FOOD AND KITTY CAT SUNDAY

Another hot weekend.  Today will be some yard work in case we have some rain later this week (that's in the forecast).  But it will be done in stages, ha.

A good hearty meal is always good.  A salad to start and then some pan seared pork chops and fresh green beans, shallots and mushrooms.  Yummy!

Babygirl says hello.  She's a sweetie, still a little aloof but coming along.

Everyone stay cool this weekend!