Their Story:
Two weeks ago this Tuesday our mother cat, Blossom Possum disappeared.  Where to?  We have no idea, as it’s not like a Queen to go far from her nest.  Beside the fact – this particular cat didn’t go far away from our home before becoming a queen.  We feel she was either stolen, a hawk came down and swept her away, or possibly even a coy dog came up to the house.  However, since it was during the daytime that she disappeared, we do not think it was the latter. Needless to say, I have been in mourning as I was quite attached to Blossom.  She was my alarm clock.  She slept with me at night. She had a great personality. She loved to be loved and loved to give love.  I was the one she chose to have her kittens with when she went into labor – waking me so I could help her.  Simply put – I was devastated she was missing.  My heart was broken for her babies.

Blossom and her kids – just beautiful!

So here we were with three crying kittens, no mother to be found, and they were hungry.  We had to act fast as kittens this small will dehydrate very fast – not something I wanted to see happen.  I knew we had a small animal baby bottle on hand, as I had nursed a baby squirrel my other half brought home years ago, that needed rehabilitating.  Therefore, I gave the kittens some milk to tide them over until I could get to the pet store to get kitten formula.  That worked.  Although the kittens had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the nipple at first, they actually caught on very fast once they figured out their food was coming out of that nipple.

Feeding time @ 3 weeks

                     
Being a mere three weeks old, my daughter and I continued to feed them, burp them, and stimulate their hind end to urinate and defecate…just as their mother would do.  We did all this every 2 – 2 1/2 hours around the clock for the first week.  Today, the kittens will go roughly 3 – 3 1/2 hours before eating and a good 5-6 hour stretch through the night without being fed, and will potty and burp on their own.  In addition, in the beginning we needed to keep them very warm, as when kittens are first born they cannot see, cannot hear, cannot potty on their own, and do not hold body heat. For about a week they slept with me…snuggling right into my body.  I tried using a heating pad in the bottom of a box covered with a towel but the kittens kept crying – therefore in bed with me they came so I could catch a few winks until the next feeding.  Talk about feeling like I had a newborn baby on my hands!

Feeding time at 4 weeks – look at her hold the bottle!

They’ve now learned how to hold the bottle, come crying at my feet when they are hungry or want someone to hold them.  They were sleeping in their litter box…which I don’t get why…but have since moved themselves out and on the shelf under my desk where they lie on the router.  They are being somewhat mothered by a 4 mo. old kitten we have.  He cleans them up as if their mother would and has begun to play with them.  They haven’t started to eat solid or wet food yet – they are very disinterested in both.  I am hoping their new friend will show them the ropes so that they can move onto self-feeding.

For now though, they are thriving and I don’t see why they wouldn’t continue to thrive, given the care and love they are receiving.  We’ve had several people wanting the kittens when the time comes – but these kittens are already spoken for by – ME!

Suggestions for names, anyone?  There are two females and one male.  The black kitten is the male.  I like different names – we have a Mr. Mu, BBG, Studley Dudley, Miss Fabuleau, Dr. Who, Mr. Snapples, Snickers, Ollie Ollie, Nuzzles, Ella, Butter Butt, TuTu, and Dark Vader.