Please forgive how long it’s taken me to get this group of pictures online. Sometimes life comes at you nonstop. -JMH
The kittens started their third week of life still living in my bedroom closet, but they finally began exploring the world outside the closet on their own. I started taking pictures of the individual kittens, and I used some in the article where I introduced the kittens.
14 Days Old: The kittens are two weeks old!
As the kids get another momma meal, you can see how big they’re getting. Of course, if the kittens aren’t eating, it would be a very safe bet that they’re sleeping. But at two weeks old, we’re finally able to spend more time with the kids, letting them get used to the big creatures and finding out that, as Ford Prefect said about our planet, we’re mostly harmless.
15 Days Old: Hi Grandpa
Bobby, Babe’s primary human/daddy, was sitting in front of the closet with Kathleen (who would later be named Kenny) on his lap. She was so comfortable, that Bobby feigned sleep so I could get a picture of the two of them. Kenny would end up being the first of the kittens to find a new home after slipping outside when either Bobby or I were coming inside without us catching him. It drove us crazy for a few days that we couldn’t find him anywhere, but we’re hoping that someone found him outside and adopted him. The alternative could be so bad that we can’t even consider it very long.
Vera (also called Vito and Vivi once we realized she’s a he) got into the floorboards via a gap under the kitchen cabinet. It took a day or so before we were able to rescue him from under the porch when we heard him meowing for us. I always hated the gap under that cabinet, and we ended up shoving an empty jar into the gap to keep anyone else from getting through the gap.
We tried for days to find Kenny, who could be pretty vocal when he wanted to be, but we never could. One thing’s for certain, whoever has him now has a pretty cool cat. 😿
16 Days Old: Sleep snuggling
The kittens still need a lot of warmth, and it’s so cute when they snuggle together while they sleep. As I write this, the kittens are 11 weeks old and it’s amazing how much bigger they are now. Of course, they still like to sleep together and they still sleep in a mound at times. In some ways, the kitty mound has gotten bigger, yet a little smaller. As much as I wanted to keep Lulubelle, she and I never bonded properly, while Chuck made me his human pretty quickly.
This past week, Lulubelle went to live with a doctor that Bobby knows, making our feline family even smaller. I got to tell Lu goodbye, but the other three kittens stayed away from me for a day or so. We decided that they connected spending time with me like I did with Lu and their leaving, but we’re back to all being buds.
Next weekend, Dave and Vito will go to live with Max, and I’m hoping Chuck won’t hold it against me even for a couple of days. After all, once they go live with Max it will just be the four of us, Bobby and Babe and me and Chuck.
17 Days Old: Let the explorations begin!
Chuck, Kenny, and Dave set out from the closet to see what the rest of their world is like. They’re still pretty wobbly, but it’s good to see them out and about on their own. You can see Vito and Lulbelle hanging back in the closet, wondering just how safe it is out in that big room.
18 Days Old: There’s nothing like Momma’s milk
Sometimes you’ll hear about momma cats that won’t nurse their kittens, but Babe has no problem feeding her babies. Her two humans just had to make sure she got lots of noms and water so she had enough nourishment to pass along to her children.
It’s getting to the point where you can tell she’s getting a little tired of being a milk machine several times a day. Don’t get her wrong though, because she loves her kittens and will fight anyone who tries to keep one from nursing.
Day 19: Wat? Iz comfy like dis.
There’s always one that likes to sleep in an odd position, and today it’s Kathleen’s turn. You can tell it’s Kathleen by the white around her mouth and the line of black on the outside of their right eye. Vito has a black line outside of his left eye, and I called them our New Wave kittens with the “mascara” by their eyes.
Sometimes we’ll see the kittens sleeping either in a pile of fur, one on top of another, or in weird positions. We have to wonder how comfortable they are like that. Other times we get jealous that they can sleep in any position they find themselves in and not get up with a crick in their neck or their backs sore as hell.
Day 20: Hi there, Chuck!
I started trying to get the kittens on my bed one at a time so I could get pictures of each kitten, but Dave wasn’t too keen on getting his picture taken yet. On the other hand, Chuck was willing to let me snap a couple of shots.
He’s so adorable, and now he’s a cuddle monster with a very loud purr when he approaches me. The other day I told Bobby that I need to record his purring and work it into a song now that I finally have my new laptop.
It’s almost hard to believe, but the kittens will be four weeks old with the start of the new week of their lives. My, how time has flown by. I almost wish we could have kept them this size a while longer, but I love how they’ve grown into being their own felines.