Gratuitous kitty pics

Fostering Kitties

We got very depressed after losing Kelly and Leo in short order, but the rest have been doing very well and have been looking after us.
And then we were asked to foster 3 kittens, whose mother had a litter of 7 and could not cope.  So 3 little boys arrived.  initially dubbed Huey, Dewey and Louie they quickly got other nicknames ... Biggles has flying goggles; Gimlet, grey and white, really went with Biggles, in literary terms, and the third is a little dark grey panther who has lavender toes and is definitely part blue ... and so as he also has a merlin engine of purr, the reason Merlin was Merlin, he became Hurricane.  If he'd been a girl he would have been Spitfire; and Lancaster, the other plane to have the engine, was a very big name for a very little boy.

And the first night we thought we were going to lose him. He is definitely the runt of the litter.  Simon cuddled him all day, giving him little and frequent meals suitable for a younger kitten than the 3 weeks old they are.
Well, he seems to be doing well, but where Biggles and Gimlet burst suddenly out of being balls of floof into being regular kittens, learning to play, he is still a bit like a drowned rat. 

Hurricane ...

Biggles and Gimlet

 Biggles, all foresquare and at the front of all things

Gimlet still a bit behind Biggles but working on that

Ace adopted Hurricane and helped nurse him

And now some gratuitous pictures of the others

  As you can see, they are enjoying the room of doom becoming the rumpus room - note Cecil's lion cut for the summer! 

I appear to be missing pics of Rebel and Pixie ... will have to rectify that. 

RIP Leo

Dr Jeremy fought hard for Leo, with steroid injections every month to keep him happy and eating, and not losing weight but on Monday, suddenly he started sicking up phlegm, and drinking a lot, and he stopped eating, having been losing weight over the previous week or so.  we decided that it was time.
He was comfy when the vet came, having eaten a little, and had some milk and some water and a wee.  He was so very light. 
We miss our brave little lion whose life has been so hard.

I haven't had the heart to post ...

.... because Kelly suddenly developed Kidney Failure just before Christmas and we had to have the vet in to put him to sleep.  We always knew with the privations he had been through that he would not have a long life but we did not think it would be this short.

Leo is still with us, he has had a bladder infection as well as his kidney failure but he is maintaining his weight, and when we had a few brief days of warmth he was enjoying the sun on the windowsill outside while the others went out in the run.  Otherwise life ticks on.  Pixy is a bit more cuddly and a bit less knacky to the others.  And you know it is cold when the cold nose on the back of the neck causes a flinch response to let Tom down the duvet and you realise you have Tom and Cecil down your back and Worrals and Rebel down your front all pretending not to see each other.

last pic of Kelly with Leo and Ace - lucky Simon 

Leo on the penthouse of cat storage

Polly has been cuddling Kelly's brothers

Gypsy has been perching on the heater behind my map storage