Sara and Ben purchased some other tiny kitty goodies - squirt a little in and hopefully jumpstart their digestion.
We mixed up some kitty formula to a watery consistency and loaded up a syringe. In a 2-person operation, we took each kitten in turn and gave them about 2 tsp each. They did get the hang of sucking the goodies out of the syringe. To make sure Mama Kitty didn't get too upset, we removed 2 kitties at a time.
When the temperature stayed warm and the rain held off, the gang was fine in our shed. But by Thursday, we needed another answer.
Chuck and Carol volunteered their garage and fabricated the kitty corral. Mama Kitty, now at least temporily named Bristol after Sarah Palin's pregnant teen daughter, could jump in and out of the kitty corral, but the plastic container w/ kittens stayed inside and the kittens only got out when we took them out.
We were a little concerned about the littlest. She seemed a little more wobbly than the other three and was awkward sitting, standing and walking, but improved in steadiness each day.
With Carol and Chuck, kitten names emerged: Mini Mom, the black and white polydactyl, very close to Bristol in looks; Blackie, a small all black quiet kitty; then Thing 1 and Thing 2, the wildest and most energetic pair.
Carol and Chuck spend at least three sessions per day socializing and watching kittens at play. The rest of us stop by for evening and weekend play.
With the denim pillow in place, the kitty corral is also a good reading corner for Chuck, as the kittens climb the Chuck Mountain, balancing along his legs and leaping on unsuspecting siblings below.
Favorite toys: The Kitty Cave, The Kitty Cavern, a few wooden blocks covered with a towel and used for climbing and hiding, a cardboard box used as a hiding place and chew toy. Later we added an oatmeal box with the bottom cut out. When we're in the corral with them, they also like the fishing pole with some leather thongs to chase and Carol's zipper pulls seem to be very intriguing. Bristol's tail is also a big winner. She's very patient - to a point. If their sharp little teeth or claws get too much, she'll give them a bat with her paw and pin them with some assertive licking.
We weren't sure about how many were boys and how many girls and did some internet research to try to figure out the methods for identification. However, descriptions of various punctuation marks didn't really seem like anything we could see. Then, one day, it was pretty clear that three of them were male and Mini Mom was the lone female of the litter.
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