The Kittens are Purring!

The kittens purred for the first time when we fed them this morning. A milestone!

We also found out that the black and white kitten is a male. Not so certain about the calico.

They seem healthy and eat heartily and sleep soundly. After gently stimulating the black and white kitten's bum with a cotton ball this morning, there was a single tiny drop of blood on the cotton after s/he defecated. We researched this and, if it is an isolated occurrence, it is nothing to worry about, but if it happens again it could be anything from a parasite to distemper. Our fingers are crossed. The kitten has no other symptoms, which is a good thing.

The calico's eyes continue to open - still not fully - but black and white's eyes are not opening yet. We did read that some litters of kittens can contain kittens of differing ages, suggesting that once a mother cat conceives, she is still fertile for at least a few days and can conceive again. If that is true, we suspect that is the case -- the calicos are older than the black and white(s).

We washed the SnuggleKittie in the washer on the gentle cycle and then dried her in the dryer (sounds so cruel!). It took two hours to dry her! But she is nice and clean for the kittens now. Next time we will place some piece of fabric - a sock or shirt - in or on her and we will NOT wash that when we wash her, and we will place it on her when we replace her in the nest after a washing, so her scent is not so foreign to the kittens after being washed.

The outside temperatures were warm today and forecast to be warm tomorrow, which is good news for the kittens, who do like warmth.