fuzzyonyx kittens -- the rescue

FuzzyOnyx is still a very young cat, and she tried very hard to be a good mama. There's a lot of competition for hiding spots around here, and the best she could find was a boarded-up cabinet in the walkway under my apartment.

Tux: On Saturday, Aug 26th, I discovered that a wee tuxedo kitten had more or less fallen out of the nest. After hours of watching, it became clear that mama would nurse him, but she wasn't going to take him back, so I brought him inside. He was roughly 4 weeks old, his eyes were open, his ears were still curly, and he wasn't walking so much as tottering around. He was a wee hairy gargoyle of a kitten, with splotchy black and white toes. I managed to keep him going until Fostermama Mary took over on Monday.

Pip: The following Saturday, Sept 2nd, a wee ocelot with white socks fell out of the same nest. It's amazing what a difference a week makes in something so tiny! Her fur was so thick and soft it felt like velvet. She was so cute that she literally caused Leftie to stagger backwards. On Monday, she reuinited with her brother at Fostermama Mary's. After half an hour, they were beginning to play.

McG & Nif: On Tuesday, Sept 5th, FuzzyOnyx moved the rest of her litter to my back deck and into the shelter. The kittens were a little over 5 weeks old at the time, and were still nursing. By the end of the week, FuzzyOnyx was working to wean them by providing them with ENORMOUS DEAD PIGEONS that I had to clean up. Oh, what joyous fun that is, first thing in the morning!

I decided to take the kittens on Sunday, Sept 10th, because they were really getting mobile, and I didn't want to risk them falling off the deck. And miracle of miracles, FuzzyOnyx let me catch her and install her in the crate with her babies. The stripy one is a girl, named McGonaghall, or Wee McG, after her daddy. I thought her daddy was a girl for a long time, and by the time I discovered my error, the name had stuck. The FOOFY! black kitten is a girl named Niffles. Niffles is ridiculously foofy, and I am completely failing to get a good picture of her.

On Wednesday, Sept 13, I brought Tux and Pip home. They were fully weaned, and happily settled in with their siblings. FuzzyOnyx nursed Wee McG and Niffles until that Friday, when I had her spayed. The kittens are now 9 weeks old, weaned, litter-trained, and sociable as all get out.