Tristram couldn't poo a couple of days ago, no matter what I tried, but with the help of a laxative from the vet his blockage got solved quickly. Getting them to poo hasn't worked out just once, I've never done that before and in their previous fosterhome the dogs took over that job. Peeing wasn't a problem at all (and they now do that themselves), but the pooing... Made me feel quite bad tbh, especially when I noticed he had a blockage :/ It's still not going great with that for him, but the others have picked up on that a lot more luckily. And in the last few days they started to eat more on their own, so hopefully all 4 bellies will start taking care of themselves more as well soon!
Lancelot has been crazy about food since he discovered it, but his belly has to get used ot it as well. I wanted to do some serious cleaning yesterday so I had them upstairs for a little bit, in a little room packed with baskets and boxes with holes and play tunnels, scratching poles, you name it. And then he got bellysick under a closet, then walked through it and started to discover the whole room... I'm not sure for who I felt more sorry, me or him! :D Not the most pleasant topic to post here, but it's part of the journey I've been on with them, the worries about their pooing, lol!
They all gained weight like mad and will be 5 weeks old tomorrow, and in the last few days they made huge jumps forward, they start to practice kitten attacks and such, but it isn't going as well yet, haha! And at times they plan an attack on one of their brothers, then forget what they were doing again, they're so easily distracted :) They also start to learn that you can climb pants, which I'm not allowing them (it's cute as kitten, but you don't want an adult cat to climb you like that!), but when they're trying to climb you just to lie down with you, naaaww, that's just extra cute :L Last evening all 4 came to sleep on me, too adorable ♥
But I've also noticed that little Perceval isn't doing as well, he was a bit wobbly on his legs from the start, but they all were (so cute how tiny kittens move around and can already fall over from just shaking their heads too enthusiastic, lol!), so I didn't notice it too much. But the last few days of them jumping forward pointed out that his wobbly backlegs are much worse, and it feels like it has gotten worse over the last few days as well.
I filmed it, and the vet and shelterstaff thought of something neurological straight away, and right now there's not much we can do besides support him with specific vitamins and just hope for the best. The vet explained a little about what it could be, and chance is that he'll grow over it and will end up just fine, it should start to improve in the coming weeks. But the vet also warned me that it could possibly be a symptom of other things, and that it could quickly take a turn for the worse. There's a few more little things about him that could mean nothing at all, or could mean more, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope for the best :( Luckily he's been doing great with other things though!
So yeah, so far it's been quite a journey with these little kittens, I'm used to a bit bigger kittens, but I quickly learned that tiny kittens come with big worries! :) Here are a whole bunch of photos from their first days of bottlefeeding here, I'm too lazy to sort them out further (and based on the little meows, they want attention!), so I'll just post them all :P
Lancelot has been eating great from the start, always the first one that's awake, always eager to get his belly full, and he's now the heaviest!
Arthur is the one that discovered food first, started to use the litterbox first as well. But he still loves his bottle though! This morning he came out of the bench and onto my lap, and just took his position, waiting for the bottle :) And he takes little breaks when drinking, walks around for a bit on my lap, then starts to drink again.
Tristram loved to lie on his back or else on his side, he's really relaxed when drinking like that as well, but I learned that they can easier get fluid in their lungs like that, so he has to drink on his belly now. Little stubborn just starts to move up more and more while I'm feeding, till he's standing on his backlegs, and if I let him he'll just lean back till he's on his back again :D
Perceval drinks fine, but it always takes him a bit of chewing on the bottle before he grabs onto it properly. But once he does, he won't easily let go anymore! :D I have the least drinking photos of him, he just drinks so well and likes attention during drinking, so I often just sit with him, gently patting while he drinks :) Added later: Perce started to suck so hard on the bottle that he got it vacuum more and more often, so I had to make an extra hole in it to prevent that. But at some point I had a bottle which I didn't do that with yet, and the vacuum that he created actually pulled the yellow top inside the bottle, had to unscrew the whole thing to get it loose, haha! What can I say, they sure love their bottles :)
I'm so good that he's doing well
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