January 2019 Notes

on January 2, 2019

Who’s in care with TinyKittens as of January 31:
♦ Shelly’s basement: Mama Lorelai and her five new kittens (Luke, Paris, Lulu, Sookie, and Lane) are in the nursery
♦ Shelly’s home: Mason and Auracuda are in the main part of the house with the Tiny Tuxies (aka Teens and Cassidy)
♦ Shelly’s sun porch: Salia, Madelyne Pryor, Stanley, and Lorelai’s daughter Rory from a previous litter
♦ At Kimsies’: Moustachio (aka Stashie Bumblepants — see Kimsies’ Leo, Bobbi, Bowie & Big Brother Jager Facebook page for updates)

→ Comparison weight chart from the Country Superstars to Lorelai’s Gilmore Girls ←
(Note: The chart now includes all of the TinyKittens litters from 2013 to now whose weight charts I could find. It doesn’t include Molly’s kittens, Sophie’s kittens, the Fairy Kittens, or Petunia’s kittens.)

January 31

Jean Grey went to an experienced foster home today, where she will get more socialization time. Madelyne Pryor and Stanley are available for adoption as a bonded pair.
Rory is now upstairs on the sun porch with the gingers and Salia. Hopefully she will more easily find an adopter up there, where she can potentially be seen more than she was downstairs.
Dr. Ferguson was at TKHQ to check on Mason, who has stage III chronic kidney disease.
- They’ve noticed recently that his red blood cell count is down to 20%, when it should be around 30%. They’ve consulted with internal medicine specialist Dr. Merkovic and have decided to add some medications to his usual regimen.
  - They’re adding darbopoetin, which is a hormone to stimulate red blood cell production, as well as an iron supplement. (He’ll get another injection of darbopoetin next week and then some additional blood work to see if it is helping. He will get the injections once a week for four weeks.)
  - He also has idiopathic hypercalcemia, or high calcium levels in his blood with no identifiable cause, and will be getting one alendronate pill a week to help bind the calcium.
  - He will also be getting a medication to reduce protein in his urine.
  - And he will be getting a phosphorus binder in his food.

January 29

All of the Gilmore Girls kittens are gaining weight and thriving. No bottle- or tube-feeding needed for last couple of days.
Kim T posted pictures and video from her trip to the Happy Forest today.


(The “new guy” is, I believe, Chester, who was brought in from the colony in March.)

January 28

Kimsies posted videos from her visit to the Happy Forest today.

January 27

Shortly after midnight, Lane used Lorelai as a ramp to unexpectedly and accidentally exit the nest through the back hatch. After listening to Lane mew for several minutes, Lorelai went out to the wedge to give Lane some private dining. Shelly came down at about 00:35 and put Lane back in the nest. She also added a ramp outside the hatch so that anyone else who gets out will be able to get back in again under their own steam. And she put a makeshift barrier in the bottom part of the hatch, making it harder for tiny kittens to get out but still allowing mama to get in. (Lorelai is not helping by choosing the area right in front of the hatch as her favourite milkbar spot.)
Trivia: this is why Shelly’s second iteration of this style of nest — the one currently up on the sun porch — has a higher hatch. Lessons learned from precociously scampy kittens. 😉
Kim T. posted pictures and video from her visit to the Happy Forest today.

January 26

Shelly is home (and hopefully well-rested from her well-deserved break).
The kittens have all made really good gains since yesterday. They are also looking more and more like proper little kittens, with their ears starting to unfurl and their legs starting to actually take them places.
The Bradner gingers are back from their little field trip to Shacara’s. Shelly has put them back in their old spot on the sun porch, but has left Salia in there as well. She’ll keep an eye on things to make sure everyone is getting along. Stanley’s abscess is healing up well; he has a follow-up visit with the specialist on February 7, and they are still waiting on some test results.
In the evening, Shelly spent some time playing with Salia and Maddie. Salia stayed out in the room while Shelly was there, near Maddie, without getting growly…and without Maddie getting whappy. (Salia went back into her nest safe place not long after Shelly left, but it was lovely to watch her out in the open for as long as she was.)
Kathryn Jane posted pictures and video from her trip to the Happy Forest today.

January 25

Gwen and Suzanne during the days and Lorie during the nights have been holding down the TKHQ fort while Shelly is away.
Gwen has been bottle feeding Lulu today rather than tube feeding her. Lulu seems to be making better gains and has taken fairly well to the bottle.

January 22

Gwen is still holding down the fort while Shelly is away, with Suzanne helping with snuggler visits. Lulu is still not getting much from the milkbar so Gwen has continued to tube feed her (often not without a fight from Lulu). The litter still has the smallest average weight and Lulu is back to being the smallest kitten at this age. Otherwise, everyone is doing great, getting more mobile. Everyone has eyeballs and they seem to have hearing.

January 21

Salia is now on the upstairs feed. When no one is in the room with her, she tends to hang out in the Cabinet of Solitude, but she’s sweet and playful when Suzanne is there.
Shelly is away and Gwen is looking after things at TKHQ while she’s gone. She’s been tube feeding Lulu who is back to not making great gains. She’s not the smallest kitten today, but only by the smallest margin. And the litter still has the smallest average.
Kathryn Jane posted pictures and video from her trip to the Happy Forest today.

January 20

The Gilmore Girls appear to be on the upswing after their virus issues over the last few days. Everyone had dry butts this morning, no diarrhea. Lorelai spent a lot more time in the nest overnight, and the white blanket that Shelly put in yesterday is still clean, which further demonstrates that the diarrhea might be a thing of the past. Everyone made really good gains over yesterday — they’re still the smallest litter at this age and Lulu is still the smallest kitten, but that won’t last long if they keep gaining like they are now. Very good news.
The tabbies all have eyeballs (Lulu’s left is still a work-in-progress but it’s mostly open.) I’m not sure about the panthers — it’s hard to see their eyes against their black fur — but I think theirs are open or well on the way to being fully open. Shelly thinks they might actually be able to hear now — one squealing now sets off the rest, even it the initial squealer is not in the kitten pile.
♥♥♥♥♥ 12-days old and starting to become proper little kittens. ♥♥♥♥♥
The upstairs Bradner teen feed is still showing reruns.

January 19

Lulu’s weight went down overnight. (The litter continues to have the lowest average weight of all litters at age 11 days, and Lulu is by far the lightest kitten at age 11 days — Munchkin, the next smallest kitten at this age, was 24 grams heavier than Lulu; and Tip’s Eep, who is often thought of as the tiniest of TinyKittens, was 54 grams heavier than Lulu at this point.)
Shelly gave Lulu some private dining with mama. After the private dining, Shelly wasn’t happy with Lulu’s weight gain so she gave her some supplemental formula feeding. Lulu held her own fairly well the rest of the day so there were no further tube feedings.
Eyeballs are starting to appear right on schedule — Lane has a right eyeball and her left eye is partly open, both of Paris’s eyes are partly open, and Luke’s eyes are starting to open.
The Bradner Teens room upstairs is so much quieter without Groot, Herbie, and even the tabbies there. While there was some playing overnight, there was a lot less scampiness than normal. Stanley went to the vet in the afternoon to have his drain taken out. His temperature has been normal for the past couple of days, and everything is looking pretty good. He still has meds to take, though.
All three gingers went off for their week-long field trip with the vet tech friend of TinyKittens at around 6 PM tonight. (I believe the vet tech is Shacara, who works at Boundary Bay/Animal Emergency Clinic of the Fraser Valley. She has taken part in TK fix-a-thons and looked after TK cats/kittens who’ve been at Boundary Bay or AECFV.) The plan is for them to come back next weekend.
Stanley has a follow-up visit with the specialist on January 23 regarding his growth issues.
Kathryn Jane posted pictures and video from her trip to the Happy Forest today.

January 18

Herbie (renamed T’Challa by his new family) and Groot (forever Groot) went to their forever home in the US this afternoon. As noted previously, their new humans previously adopted Ros, the mama of the Purrfect Pals/Critter Room/Foster Dad John “Roswell Litter”. (Trivia: One of Ros’s kittens, Spock, shares a home with Amelia Hayloft Flyer from Nano’s colony.) Their Facebook page is Lady Ros & the Marvels.
Lulu is now officially the lightest 10-day-old kitten that has ever been at (and had their weight recorded at) TK. The Gilmore Girls also now have the lightest litter average at this age of all TK litters. (See the comparison weight chart for details.)
Kathryn Jane posted couple of pictures and videos from her trip to the Happy Forest today.
Cole & Marmalade wrote an article about Lorelai and the Gilmore Girls. (If you haven’t heard of them before, Cole and Marmalade are cats owned by Cat Man Chris, who used to make the videos for Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida.)

January 17

Aunt May and Anelle were returned to their Bradner barn colony a day early, since Aunt May was getting really whappy and Anelle had healed really well from her spay.
The Gilmore Girls are now tied Ramona’s Beverly Cleary kittens for lightest kitten average of all TK litters. I expect that they will have the lightest kitten average and the lightest kitten (Lulu) by tomorrow given the current weight trend.
Stanley weighs 2.31 kg today, which is a nice increase over the plateau he’s been stuck at for weeks. Hopefully this means he’s feeling much better and is starting to absorb the nutrients from his food now. He’s been playing more, even with the collar on, which is also a good sign.

January 16

The Gilmore Girls kittens are still not making really good weight gains. Shelly has been trying (over various sessions) to collect 5 grams of poop from the tabbies to send out for testing. This litter is currently very close to having the lightest litter average and lightest kitten at this weight. (Ramona’s Beverly Cleary litter’s average weight was only 2 grams lighter than that Gilmore Girls at 8 days old, and Munchkin was only a single gram lighter than Lulu currently is.)
Lane lost her green collar overnight or this morning and is currently “naked” (i.e. collarless).
Groot and Herbie have been adopted. (Yay!!) They went to the vet today for their medical certificates, needed because they will be travelling over the border into the US. Their new humans previously adopted Ros, the mama of the Purrfect Pals/Critter Room/Foster Dad John “Roswell Litter”. (Trivia: One of Ros’s kittens, Spock, shares a home with Amelia Hayloft Flyer from Nano’s colony.) Their Facebook page is Lady Ros. The boys will be packing their tiny suitcases and heading out around 2PM on Friday, January 18.
Aunt May and Anelle are still scheduled to head back to their barn colony on Friday as well.
The Bradner Teens (Jean Grey, Maddie, and Stanley) will be heading out next week to stay with a vet tech friend for a bit so that Salia can be on cam more and hopefully find an adopter. (Perhaps TK will also be TNRing the remaining Bradner cats during that time since Salia’s current half of the sun porch — where is where the previous Bradner TNRs stayed — will be empty.)

January 15

Anelle was spayed today. She will recover at TKHQ for a couple of days, and she and Aunt May will be returning to the colony on Friday.
Stanley went to Mountain View this afternoon, with Groot as his support kitten.
- His fever has been coming and going, and the abscess just isn’t draining enough for the antibiotics to work well or for his fever to come down and stay down. They increased the size of the drainage hole in his neck and installed a drain. They also removed a lot of granulation tissue and cleaned out the various pockets of pus, including one that was at the back that just wasn’t draining. There wasn’t any sign of a foreign body in the wound in his mouth.
- They also checked out his belly, which has been getting big. There was no sign of fluid, but his bowels are still inflamed. They still don’t know why he’s so small.
- He has more meds to take, including a long-acting pain med injection that Shelly gave him after the stuff given at the vet’s wore off.
- Poor Stanley has to wear a soft collar (aka “cone of shame”) so that he doesn’t scratch at the drain. The collar is the shape of a colourful flower. It’s very cute, and he looks adorable in it. (He also doesn’t seem to mind it too much, so win-win.)
Kim T posted a couple of pictures on the welcoming committee at the Happy Forest today.

January 14

The Gilmore Girls kittens aren’t gaining as well as they should be. Shelly is continuing to monitor and to micromanage the milkbar to try to get the kittens not gaining well (mostly pink-collared Lulu and purple-collared Paris) better/more access to the prime spots. (Blue-collared Luke is not having any trouble gaining weight.)
Shelly posted video of Stanley playing this evening. He seems to be feeling better, but his fever keeps coming and going, and the wound isn’t draining as well as hoped.
Kim T posted pictures from her visit to the Happy Forest today.

January 13

Lorelai‘s kittens continue to make good gains. They’re still on the small side as TinyKittens litter averages go (see comparison weight chart), but they are healthy and growing and thriving.
Stanley weighed 2.045 kg this morning, which is at least a steady higher plateau if not an actual gain. His temperature was elevated again in the morning, because the abscess stopped draining properly again.
- His abscess has a good amount of pus coming out now, which means it is draining well. Shelly continued to give him compresses (with warm water and Hibitane) and flush out the wound. He’s also continuing to get good pain meds and antibiotics.
- By noon, his temperature was already down a bit.
- By 3PM, his temperature was down to 38.8° Celsius. (Normal temperature range for cats is about 38° Celsius to about 39.2° Celsius so his fever has broken.)
Shelly showed viewers the bruise that Aunt May‘s punch yesterday left on her arm.

January 12

Stanley seems to be feeling better already — overnight, he was actively playing and hanging out with everyone instead of in the nest, and during the day he also has been spending more time out in the open with everyone and not in the nest.
- Shelly is continuing to put compresses on Stanley’s abscess to help it drain. (She also flushes it when it isn’t draining well, and cleaned out the inside of his mouth with Q-tips during one of her visits today.) His temperature is still elevated: it was 40.1° Celsius yesterday, up to 41° Celsius this afternoon, and then down to 40.3° Celsius (still fever-level) in the evening. His abscess is still filled with pus. Shelly took pictures for Dr. F, who says the fever will probably be down by tomorrow.
- No word yet (as far as I know) on Stanley’s liver function tests from earlier in the week.
Aunt May “punched” Shelly hard when Shelly came to get Stanley for one of her visits, further underscoring how far Aunt May would need to go to be socialized enough for adoption.
Someone new was in playing briefly with Jean Grey. Was this the mystery person who is interested in maybe adopting her?
Rory decided to redecorate the inside of the nest and pulled down the corner of the vinyl “upholstery”, which Shelly repaired when she came in to weigh the kittens. The kittens are all continuing to make good gains.
Lorelai‘s kittens now have names: blue-collared boy = Luke; purple-collared tabby girl = Paris; pink-collared tabby girl = Lulu; yellow-collared panther girl = Sookie; green-collared tabby girl = Lane
Shelly posted a video clip showing weird activity in Stanley’s abdomen, most likely just peristalsis (Stanley’s shaved and pale belly and lack of belly pudge makes the actions of his digestive system more visible from the outside), but it sure looks a little freaky.
Kathryn Jane posted pictures from her trip to the Happy Forest today.

January 11

TK noticed that Stnaley had a large abscess under the left side of his jaw. They took him into Mountain View (with Groot as his support kitten), and Dr. F drained the wound. Stanley is on pain meds and antibiotics, and TK will apply warm compresses to help the pus continue to drain.

January 10

Dr. Ferguson came by at around 12:45. She drew blood from Stanley. Then they gave him some nice, rich food to eat. They took another blood draw at 14:45 — both vials will be sent to a lab to test his liver function. Dr. F thinks she’ll have the results back on Saturday. Stanley had gained weight initially after his last vet visit, but has plateaued between about 1.9 kg and 2.0 kg since; and he still isn’t as active as the others in the room, though his appetite is good. They will be starting him on a second round of Panacur today, and he will continue to get metronidazole.
- Dr. F mentioned that Aunt May‘s uterus was well used, possibly the most well used one she’s seen.
- Dr. F did an ultrasound on Anelle and confirmed that Anelle is NOT pregnant. She will be scheduled in for her spay as soon as an appointment can be booked. Anelle and Aunt May will then return to their barn colony.
- There was some small talk that someone is possibly interested in Jean Grey, but nothing official at this point.
- Off-cam, Dr. F also took blood from Mason and checked out Aura.
- After that, she went downstairs and checked over Lorelai‘s kittens. She gave them the all clear — no heart murmurs, no concerns. All are growing like weeds. (A very cute moment in the video below occurs at about 2:08 PM on the on-screen clock, when Lorelai decides enough is enough and takes the pink-collared kitten back to the nest herself.)
- Shelly had hoped to have the kittens’ names decided some time today, but we’re still waiting for that news.
Suzanne had a lovely play session with Rory this morning.

January 9

Lorelai‘s kittens are all doing well, growing and active.
Rory returned to the nursery tonight. Her mama greeted her with head licks, and she spent several hours hanging out in the nest with her younger siblings and mama.

January 8

After a few days of teasing Shelly and viewers, Lorelai finally went into active labour this morning and very quickly popped out five lovely kittens. (The first three kittens were born before any of their placentas were; the last two kittens’ placentas were also a bit tangled.)
- Shelly was able to blood type them all as their placentas were born (despite some placentas being tangled with others), and all kittens are also type B. So there is no danger of a blood type mismatch and the kittens can all nurse to their hearts’ content.
- Kitten #1: black boy, now wearing a blue collar; 102 grams at birth
- Kitten #2: tabby girl, now wearing a purple collar; 97 grams at birth
- Kitten #3: tabby girl, now wearing a pink collar; 79 grams at birth
- Kitten #4: black girl, now wearing a yellow collar; 91 grams at birth
- Kitten #5: tabby girl, now wearing a green collar; 89 grams at birth
- As of Shelly’s 5PM visit, all kittens have gained a few grams on their birth weights: #1 is 107 grams, #2 is 102 grams, #3 is 82 grams, #4 is 96 grams, and #5 is 92 grams.
Rory had her spay surgery today.
Dr. Ferguson will be coming to TKHQ on Thursday (time TBD) to give Mason and Aura a checkup, draw more blood from Stanley, and do an ultrasound on Anelle live on cam.
Kim T. posted pictures from her trip to the Happy Forest today.

January 7

Aunt May had her spay surgery today.
Kathryn Jane posted pictures and video from her visit to the Happy Forest today.

January 6

Early this morning, Rory had a little tumble off the top of the nest box (or landed hard on a deliberate dismount) and was a bit unsteady on her feet for a minute or so. She appeared to be fine after that, and Shelly checked her over when she came down about 90 minutes later.

January 5

Shelly visited the upstairs Bradner crew in the morning for snacks and meds. Stanley weighs 1.94 kg now, which is back on an upward trend.
She dropped snacks off to the Gilmore Girls in the morning and then came back in the early afternoon to hang out with Lorelai for awhile, in case she was looking for company before reporting to the nest. (Lorelai enjoyed the visit and may be in light labour, but is not currently interested in the nest. Shelly moved Rory out of the nest and into the outer room for awhile in the hopes that the now-empty nest would be more inviting to Lorelai. It was not. ;-))
Rory’s spay is scheduled for Tuesday, January 8, 2019.
Liz Purser (with help from Andrea Carr) wrote and sang a birthing song for Lorelai, “Birthemian Catsody”. It’s as awesome as it sounds. (YouTube is being a pill, and has pulled Shelly’s video. Boo! Shelly has posted her video of the song to the TinyKittens Facebook page, but Facebook won’t let me embed it despite it letting me copy the embedding code. Weird. Thankfully Liz Purser has also posted the audio with lyrics to the TinyKittens Facebook page.)
Kathryn Jane posted pictures and video from her trip to the Happy Forest today.
Kristi Chong has again posted her Exit Procedures (and annotated diagram), this time updated for Lorelai’s kittens and their special situation.

January 4

By late evening, Stanley’s weight was back down into his plateau area, 1.82 kg. He had his vaccine booster yesterday so that may be making him feel a bit punky. (Herbie weighs almost as much as Stanley now.)
Shelly revamped the inside of Lorelai‘s nest box (Cabinet of Solitude or CoS), covering up the camera bay openings and lining the walls and doors with a freakishly realistic champagne/grey-coloured quilted pattern vinyl wallpaper. (All the better to (a) clean up the nest and (b) see dark cats and kittens.)
She had a nice little visit with Lorelai in the last evening. Lorelai is a very insistent cuddler, climbing onto Shelly’s should from the ledge in order to get better pets.
Kimsies posted a picture of her visit to the Happy Forest today.
Kristi Chong posted an annotated picture of Lorelai on the ledge, speculating about the conversation the in utero kittens might be having at the time.

January 3

Aunt May will be going in for her spay on January 7.
The Bradner gingers are getting more and more comfortable playing with humans, particularly Suzanne. All of them are officially available for adoption.
During Shelly’s morning visit with Lorelai and Rory, she mentioned that the same people who are fostering the possible baby daddy who was blood-typed yesterday were also fostering a pregnant cat from that same hoarding situation. That pregnant cat (who I believe is the one shown below, in the care of Cat Therapy and Rescue Society) gave birth to four kittens this morning.

All of those kittens were healthy, with no Neonatal Isoerythrolysis issues, so there’s a good chance that, with all the inbreeding that must have gone on, all or most of the cats from this hoarding situation are blood type B. Shelly will still be trying to blood type Lorelai’s kittens if she can, just to be safe.
Shelly feels that Lorelai’s kittens will arrive any time now. Lorelai is still pretty comfortable and not really showing any of the signs that labour is very near or underway, though Shelly thought she may have seen some light contractions during her visit and the kittens are very active.
The plan for Rory is to arrange her spay as soon as possible and hopefully get her adopted sooner rather than later, both because it would be nice for her to not have to hang around TKHQ for a couple of months waiting and because Shelly’s not sure how well Lorelai will continue to tolerate Rory once the new kittens arrive.
Kim T. posted pictures from her trip to the Happy Forest today.

January 2

Kim T. posted pictures from her trip to the Happy Forest colony today.
Shelly posted a video (on Facebook and Instagram) of the alleged baby daddy of Lorelai‘s kittens. (He may not be the only baby daddy, though.) The now-neutered brown tabby and white was brought to TKHQ by his foster mom for a blood test. He, like Lorelai, is type B so any kittens he fathered will not have a problem with Neonatal Isoerythrolysis. Shelly will still be blood typing the kittens as they are born just in case.
Shelly also posted an adorable video of Aura playing with a toy while wearing a lion mane.

January 1

Kathryn Jane posted pictures and video from her trip to the Happy Forest colony today.

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