It's the play post! Kismet is now - well, we once again don't know how old Kismet is. We took the kitties to get tested for FIV/FeLV yesterday (they're negative!) and Kitty Connection decided that he's big enough to get neutered on Monday or Tuesday! That indicates that he's actually seven weeks old. Which, according to the Kitten Lady's milestones, makes sense. Here's what she says:

• At six weeks of age, a kitten's deciduous teeth will have fully emerged, and she will typically be perfecting her weaning onto wet food. Weaning is a sensitive time in a kitten's life and should be handled with care; provide supplemental feeding and ensure that the kitten is maintaining a healthy weight and body condition.
• Six weeks is a standard age for the kitten to receive her first FVRCP vaccine.
• Average six week old kitten weight: 650-750 grams

• At seven weeks, kittens will have all of their baby teeth. Most seven week old kittens will be fully weaned onto wet food.
• At this age, the adult eye color will begin to emerge. Kittens' eyes will change from baby blue to the eye color they will keep permanently. Kittens with grey, green, or yellow eyes are likely 7 weeks or older.
• Average seven week old kitten weight: 750-850 grams

Well - Kismet's eyes are no longer blue! It's true. Kismet seems to be ALL over the place when it comes to milestones, but his eyes and his weight say he's a seven-week-old kitten. Which means yes, next week is neuter time. And then we have to give him up!

In the meantime, life with cats has been a lot about play. Shadow is a very energetic cat. Play with her is all about quick movements and a jumping cat. She is definitely our mighty huntress! Turns out that it's really hard to get video of that, so our video of Shadow playing is very short. I took four different videos and this is the best of the bunch.

Kismet has finally learned how to do interactive play. For a bit now he's been a bundle of energy running around the room and playing with toys on the ground (I swear his favorite is the packing paper, though he also does love the catnip rat), but he's finally learning to play with toys that are off the ground. Katrina was the first to get him to interact with the cat dancer, and I got video of it. It was very exciting!

The video above might be the most boring video you will ever see of Kismet, but it is really exciting to me! See, Kismet is now five weeks old. The Kitten Lady says this about five-week-old kittens:

• At five weeks of age, a kitten's teeth will continue to develop. The premolars will start to emerge, indicating that a kitten is ready to be introduced to weaning onto wet food. Weaning is a sensitive time in a kitten's life and should be handled with care; provide supplemental feeding and ensure that the kitten is maintaining a healthy weight and body condition.
• Average five week old kitten weight: 550-650 grams

We've been attempting to wean Kismet but it's hard. When we put wet food into the room, Shadow immediately eats it. When we tried putting wet food near Kismet the first time, Shadow went to eat it. When we tried feeding wet food to Kismet a couple nights ago, Kismet wasn't interested. Also, Kismet is still nursing. We've seen Kismet nursing. How do you wean a kitten who won't stop nursing?

Turns out, you don't. When I went to check on the cats today I found that they were out of food. When I refilled the wet food, Shadow went for it. When I refilled the dry food, Kismet went for it! According to The Kitten Lady, this is okay! Some kittens prefer dry food and as long as they're also drinking water, it's fine. We've seen Kismet drinking water for a while, so I'm not worried. However, it seems Kismet may not be that picky. Once mom left the wet food alone, Kismet decided to eat some of that too. Of course, then Shadow wanted more. The video below might be the most adorable cat eating video you ever see.

It's been about a week since I've posted and that's mostly because I've been having trouble getting decent video of the kitties. It turns out that active kittens are hard to video. It's even harder when you've just started filming and mom decides it's grooming time (see video below), which happens a lot, and your phone keeps switching from video mode to photo mode and you manage not to notice. Thus, the above still, which was supposed to be a video.

Kismet has reached the age of play! He doesn't seem to like wand toys; he's much more comfortable with anything that's on the ground. He likes to play with the plush rat (pictured above) and a plush treasure chest that we have in there (both filled with catnip), but he also improvises with basically anything that he can get at. The litter box. The blanket edge that comes off the futon onto the floor. My water bottle, if I forget it on the floor when I'm feeding Shadow. Mom's tail (see video below). Anything he can get his paws around.

Did you notice I'm using "he"? That's because Kismet is finally old enough that we could examine his genitals and determine his sex! You tell what sex a kitten is by the shape and space between the genitals, and because a young kitten's genitals haven't developed much yet, the younger the kitten the harder it is to sex them. However, Kismet has finally developed enough that we can stop playing guessing games and be confident in the fact that he has male genitals. Now, we don't know whether kittens have gender and if they did whether Kismet would identify as a boy cat, but we're going to use male pronouns for him. Pronouns don't mean the same thing to a cat.

Next on the developmental road map: getting Kismet to use the litter box and weaning him. His side teeth don't seem to have come in, or they hadn't two days ago, which means he can't eat meat quite yet. When he can, the trick will be feeding him without Shadow trying to eat the food.

Speaking of Shadow, you can no longer feel her ribs when you pet her! She's still happily hunting flies and she's also playing with Kismet (when she's not grooming him), which I take as a really good sign. She's spending more time on top of the futon instead of behind it, though she does still like that behind space. Also, she's a purring machine! Her purrs are loud and can be felt through her side. It makes petting her extra rewarding.

Today is all about Kismet. Surprise! We think Kismet is potentially around FOUR weeks old now! Yes, I know. We skipped a week. But! The Kitten Lady says:

• At three weeks of age, a kitten's first teeth will begin to emerge. The tiny teeth at the front of the mouth, called the incisors, will start to come through the gums.
• Three week old kittens will have ears that point upwards, like a miniature cat.
• At this age, kittens will be walking, exploring their surroundings, and even beginning to explore the litter box.
• Three week old kittens still require a heat source, but will be more active and may stray from it when not sleeping. The kitten's environment should be around 75 degrees at this time.
• Average three week old kitten weight: 350-450 grams

• At four weeks of age, a kitten's teeth will continue to develop. The long tooth next to the incisors, called the canine teeth, will start to come through the gums.
• Four week old kittens will be confidently exploring and developing more coordination that allows them to walk, run, and even begin to play.
• Around four weeks old, the kitten develops the ability to retract the claws into the paw.

• Continue providing a heat source for four week old kittens, although they will likely use it only when resting. The kitten's environment should stay comfortably warm and never colder than 70-75 degrees.
• Average four week old kitten weight: 350-450 grams

Kismet is definitely starting to master the whole walking and exploring thing, as seen in the video below. I call it "Kismet is starting to act like a real cat" - but of course, as the end of the video shows, ze is still just a kitten in need of some washing from mom. Hir ears have also reached that mostly upright stage.

450 grams is just under a pound, a milestone which Kismet reached this morning. (1 lb 1 oz, to be exact.) Hir claws also retract now and those canines are popping up. This goes to show that a) kittens don't all develop of the same timeline and b) we don't actually know how old Kismet is. We're just guessing. However, it's definitely time to make some changes to the foster room, starting with a kitten-friendly litter box!

Speaking of changes, the newest addition to the foster room is a replacement for the box. No one really liked the box. It was just what we had around the house when our surprise guests arrived and Shadow never took to it, no matter how we positioned it. Last week we replaced it with a cat cave which Kismet seems to really be loving. Shadow won't do more than stick her butt or head in it, but Kismet goes in and out and can generally be found in it. See below for some adorableness.

Off to fill a kitten-friendly litter box!

We're now in our second week of fostering and both cats are developing well. Shadow has become much more comfortable and seems to have learned her name, as evidenced in the video above. Of course, while she loves attention, she also loves her food. Just a few days ago you could feel every rib when you pet her, and now she's gaining some weight. Shadow is pretty much on an "all you can eat" diet right now as we try to give her enough calories to build up both herself and her kitten!

Kismet is also gaining weight. As of this morning, Kismet was 14.6 ounces (414 grams)! Kismet is also starting to react to the wider world, though ze can't see much at this age. As evidence see this video from two days ago:

and this video from today:

That's all the cuteness I have for the day! I hope you enjoyed!

I entered the fostering room this morning to another case of an empty box. This time, I found Kismet behind the futon, which is Shadow's safe space. I know I should be upset about this, but I'm not. It means that Shadow brought Kismet there, which means she's mothering Kismet without us in the room. She just doesn't want to do it in any spaces that we set up. The futon is easy enough to move so I was able to grab Kismet for weighing fairly easily.

While Shadow ate her morning wet food, I pet Kismet and got my first looks at Kismet's face without having to hold the kitten up and try to get hir to look at me. Ze is 12.6 ounces today, which is up from yesterday morning's 11.39 ounces! That is one big kitten. We're not sure exactly how old Kismet is, but we're pretty sure she's around 2 weeks old. Here's what the Kitten Lady says about a two-week old kitten:

• At two weeks of age, kittens' eyes will be fully open and baby blue. Her vision will still be developing.
• The ear canals will be open and the ears will be small and rounded, like a baby bear cub.
• Two week old kittens will be wobbly on their feet and attempting to develop coordination and movement.
• Average two week old kitten weight: 250-350 grams

At 357 grams (converted from lbs and oz) Kismet is a big kitten, but the other milestones are definitely there!

I'm autistic and generally do things by instruction. I read all the books and all the websites and follow the knowledge. My partner has the instinct. Last night, Katrina pulled Shadow from under the futon and sat her down in the box with the wet food. I hadn't seen Shadow all day, but it worked! The above video is from the beginning of that night in the safe room with the cats. We were in there for a long time after this, petting Shadow, convincing Shadow to nurse Kismet, and (for Katrina) cutting the mats out of Shadow's fur. Shadow was a sweetheart and an attention hog through all of it. Before we set them nursing, if I went to pay attention to Kismet she came over demanding my attention instead. Shadow wouldn't nurse Kismet unless we were also petting her; if we stopped, she would get up and Kismet would start to cry. It was a long night in the safe room, but it was worth it for all the progress we made.

This morning when I came into the room Shadow was hiding again. When I opened a can of food and went to weigh Kismet, Shadow came out. I don't know if it was the food or the kitten crying, but I managed to weigh Kismet and put hir back down and Shadow went to eat.

Then, miracle of miracles, I got to see Shadow being motherly! Last night we found out that Shadow's preferred place to nurse is on the futon, which we're fine with as long as we're in the room because it's easy enough to clean. I brought Kismet out onto the futon and Shadow jumped up, got some pets, and settled down to nurse. Above is just three minutes of that process. Kismet nurses for a long time - about 45 minutes - and Shadow wasn't this patient the whole time this morning, but it was good to see it at the start!

About the kitties: background

Shadow and Kismet were found on Sunday, July 28th under a car in Everett during the middle of a thunderstorm. We don't know if there were any more kittens, though it's likely there were and Shadow was only able to save the one. Shadow stayed with her rescuer for one night before coming to us. According to animal control, Shadow is a known entity; she's had one other litter in the past. In that case she let animal control take the kittens, but she was elusive. We think the storm is the only reason she allowed herself to be caught.

Shadow and Kismet are settling in with us. This blog will follow their progress and I promise adorableness along the way.

We were giving Shadow and Kismet some space to settle in for their first couple days here, so this is the first day I've really spent time in their safety room, otherwise known as our enclosed back porch and green light therapy room. Thus, a deluge of videos. You really see the cutest things when you're not popping in for a few minutes just to make sure everyone's okay and fed.

Kittens do a lot of napping. Above is a video of the a mid-afternoon kitten dreaming away. Below is Kismet napping peacefully this morning. Those paws might be the most adorable things ever.

Well I had a scare this morning! I came into the room and Kismet wasn't in the drawer. "Where's Kismet???" was going off in my head. Turns out Kismet was curled up on the floor, next to the litter box, completely fine. Okay, so Shadow moved Kismet. Not a great thing to have happen when we have this nice nest set up, but okay. So much for the drawer. I put Kismet in the box since mom obviously doesn't want Kismet in her space. Then a bit later I look over again and Kismet is gone again! Turns out, Kismet overnight Kismet has learned to move on zir own accord. This time I didn't need to move Kismet to the box; ze did that on hir own accord. This is video of Kismet once ze made it into the box, because I wasn't fast enough to actually catch the crawling to the box. That kitten is fast on hardwood!

The box has since been turned up so the walls are too high for Kismet to get out of. The last thing we want is to have a missing kitten.

When we went to take Shadow and Kismet to the vet, we found that Shadow's preferred hiding place was this drawer under our futon. It's not actually connected to the futon and the back is lower than the front, so there was just enough space for Shadow to get in. We figured - hey. If mom's not going to bring kitten into her space, we'll just put hir there! So we did. Here's Kismet in a drawer! I have no idea what that mouth movement is, but we're assuming the vet saw it and it isn't a problem. Katrina maintains that it's a yawn, but a few minutes after this video ended I saw a real yawn and a roll over so I don't think that's it.

Welcome to momcat! Since the kitties were headed to the vet, we needed to settle on names for them. Mom is now Shadow and kitten is now Kismet. They have no idea what is about to happen.

It turns out that vets are swamped right now! We had to drop off Shadow and Kismet first thing in the morning so they could be seen whenever the vet could squeeze in the time. The good news is that they're healthy! They did an x-ray and there are no more kittens inside Shadow, just "milk and poop." We're good with that. However, the vet did say that Shadow is an inattentive mom. We've seen that as well.