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Knights Out, Cap Loose, Gems Uncovered

Sunday
4/17/2011

Yesterday was a day of lashing rain and wind, and we started it by packing Rex and the Knights into carriers and delivering them to PetMAC in DC, where they reclaimed the spacious store-front enclosure they'd inhabited for a weekend last month. They immediately made themselves at home by scaling the six-foot cat trees and leaping between them. With knee-to-ceiling windows facing the street, floor-to-ceiling chicken wire facing the store interior, and over a dozen cool lounging spots, the PetMAC space is perfect for older kittens like the Knights.

Despite the weather, the store saw a steady stream of visitors. We talked to a couple who'd lost one of their three cats to a heart attack recently and was looking for a kitten to replace him, and a mother and pre-teen daughter interested in adopting one or two kittens. Lancelot and Percy both allowed visitors to hold them in the store, and other potential adopters entered the enclosure and spent time with Rex and the girls. We're not sure how things will play out, but we heard last night that Rex and at least one of the Knights may be heading to separate homes soon. Exposure really matters, especially with black kittens whose charm is hard to capture in photos.

After we got home, we scrubbed the villa, dismantled the crate stack, moved a wicker chest in to hold towels, and set up two new nests. By late afternoon we were on our way back downtown for cocktails, an early dinner, and then Homeward Trails' Pawcasso extravaganza – a combination of cocktail-party (with dogs invited this year!), silent auction, and live auction. We didn't walk away with any artwork this year, but we did buy lots of wine by the glass, and HT appeared to have a very successful night of fundraising.

Georgia Ann took the day off from canned-food chowing yesterday, but she's nibbling again today. She also spends more and more time outside the nest, and consistently approaches us to rub our legs when we visit. We're still finding little sprays of blood droplets on the bunkhouse floor several times per day, so the three doses of Azithromycin that GA has received so far haven't solved that problem yet. But she still seems to be feeling better, and her fur feels silky, poop looks normal, no signs of vomit, lethargy, or anything else. So we're hoping the bloody-sneezes just reflect a waning sinus infection. We'll keep an eye on it and take her to a vet if it continues or worsens.

OK – on to the good stuff! Tamara and Tamara and Tamara creeps in her petty pace from day to day… (there's your culture dose for the day – now you can go outside and play!) Actually, she creeps and toddles and bunny-hops in an outstanding pace from day to day. We just wish she still had a Bottle Cap sibling or two to creep and wrestle and bunny-hop with. Georgia Ann is a big furry punching bag, but we're sure Tamara would like to pick on someone her own size once in a while.

If we moved her down to the bunkhouse (which we can't – it would be too risky), she'd have her pick of seven nameless little furballs who look a lot more like her than Alex or Ovi or Nick did.

That's right – our to-be-named mega-litter has landed – and they all appear to be super-cute gray tabbies, two of whom have white markings on their faces and necks.

First we have to figure out how to tell these guys apart. Then we can name them and start monitoring their health and growth as individuals. So far, they all seem to be clear-eyed, uncongested, and well-fed, though I think the biggest of them weighs less than a pound.

Their two young moms (who their previous fosterer named Diamond and Dazzle) are apparently sharing the nursing duties. We hear that they're friendly, but the first thing they did when we let them out in the villa was hide under the futon. When I checked on them an hour later, the moms were still MIA and five of the kittens had somehow migrated from the nest back into the adjacent carrier. So there's definitely some shyness at work right now.

Here's hoping that shyness is the biggest issue we face with these guys, who we're tentatively calling the Gems. Individual name suggestions welcome (though we haven't sexed them yet!)

filed by: TS

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