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The West Kittens

02.17.08

A Final Update:

My husband and I had several family emergencies at the end of 2007 (his father passed away, my husband was in the hospital several times, I was laid off) and we took them over to my stepmom's house for a while until we got on our feet again and knew we would be home again. Unfortunately, our lives did not slow down. We finally made the decision to move back home to our families. Since we knew we could not take the babies with us (we were driving, they weren't fixed yet, and had never traveled) and we would not be able to have them in our home when we got to our families. So we made the decision to find them a home there in NC.

Last known info about them, they were happy and healthy. We can only hope and pray that they will continue to be that way for all of their nine lives.

10.16.07

I haven't updated on our kittens for a while. A good update, dedicated just to them.

As I said before, we are potty training them. This means we are training them to use a toilet, not a litter box. They are already box trained, and we are making the transition from box to toilet. Naala has picked up the concept with no trouble. Sarabi, well, she's another story. She understands just fine. We know this already. But she is stubborn. But lately she has been waiting until she goes outside to do her business. We think she learned it from Piper, because Piper has done that for years. It's not exactly what we want, but we aren't fighting it. We don't want her to feel she can ONLY go outside. We want her to be comfortable going inside. They are making progress though, and we are pleased with that.

Today, they decided they were monkeys. Instead of playing on the ground and chasing each other horizontally, they enlisted a trees help. They would chase each other up and down and up and down.

They are growing so much! They are now four months old, and more than half way to their adult size. They spend at least half the day sleeping. When they are active, they are very active! The morning and most of the afternoon and evening is spent outdoors. They sleep inside at night. We will still put them outside when winter is here, but I am working on a box for them to be in if they need some extra warmth.

Naala is still dealing with some stuff. She no longer has worms, and is finally gaining the normal weight. We were scared for a while. As for her eyes and nose, they are still runny. At this point, it probably won't ever go away. It is more like allergies now than a sickness. Simply watery eyes and a runny nose. I clean her face about once a day, to keep it from building up. Other than that, she is much better.

Our home was sprayed for fleas about three weeks ago. All three cats have been receiving their regular flea treatments. We don't anticipate any more problems with that.

Soon, they will enter a new stage of adult-cat-hood. It is the stage of being fixed. I hate the thought of tearing up their poor little baby bellies. lol But we certainly do NOT need any more babies around here! I am looking into some discount vouchers to help with the cost, and then I will be making an appt to get them both fixed. We are hoping to get them fixed on the same day, so their recovery will be at the same time. I really hope it doesn't change their personalities to have them fixed.

Sarabi is learning to sleep on her own- finally! I can't tell you how much sleep I have lost. It started when her mom was taken to her new home. Sarabi would come to my head at night, snd snuggle her way into my hair. Not on top of, not underneath, not next to, I meant into. So that her little body was surrounded by my hair. (I pull my hair off of my neck and up onto my pillow when I sleep.) Then she would take her claws and "nead" my head. This would probably be relaxing- considering my love scalp massages- if she wasn't using her claws. And finally, she would purr. Really loudly. Like, 40 decibels loud. So in some, she would pull my hair, claw my brain, and blast my ears with purring. Not a restful nights sleep if you ask me. Anyway, between Hubby and I, we have changed her sleeping habits. She will now sleep next to us, by our feet, or snuggle us- which is fine. Great in fact. Come winter time, we are all going to enjoy the extra warmth.

I think Naala is camera shy. Sarabi loves to pose and play in front of the camera, but Naala is always hard to grab. I've taken a few pics, but they are mostly Sarabi. I will try to get a few more of Naala. Enjoy!

09.13.07

Two steps back, one step forward. I hope anyway. We found out that at least one of the cats was using under the bed as their litter box. Although after cleaning that much up, we are betting it all that there was more than one cat involved. Three to be exact. So we thought about it, and we gave in- for now. What we think, is that Naala has picked up on the poop in the potty thing, but Sarabi hasn't. (And Piper just doesn't like the litter box anyway. She'll wait all day to go outside before using the box.) Sarabi would pee in the potty, but she wouldn't poop there. We put the potty seat away, and put back the litter box. Once she is good and comfortable, we will go back to the potty seat. I know the changing back and forth isn't very consistent. But it's counter-productive to leave it there when she isn't using it. She has been using the litter box again- even though it is on top of the toilet seat. So we are pretty sure she will pick up the potty seat thing after a while.

Soon, I am going to take more videos to put up, and I am going to get the current pictures up. Eventually.