Animal update

**Update -- We took Lincoln to the vet yesterday and at 14 weeks he weighs 33 lbs -- the same weight as Seppy! Put Missy Blue on the scale too and she weighs two pounds less. He is growing fast and will be a big dog, which is what we wanted. It is funny though, as being a labrador that is from show lines he looks different than a typical lab. Our vet has not seen a dog like him before and keeps thinking he must have a mix of something like a bulldog in him as he has a big head. But no, he is a purebred and what the breed originally looked like rather than the more lean and lanky we often see.

While I have a few things I have in mind to blog about, time is lacking so I'll save those for another day. Instead, I'll update you on the animals around here.

Lincoln has adjusted so well to being a part of our family. He is now 14 weeks old and is growing so big! He is such a sweetheart and mellow for the most part. He thankfully has slept through the night since the first week we brought him home, although he does wake between 5 - 6 a.m. usually by 5:30 a.m. so I am up a lot earlier than normal (John leaves the house at 5 a.m.) but it is becoming routine for me and I am actually even enjoying it. I love to see the sunrise when I take Lincoln out and smell the fresh morning breeze. I love that I have so much quiet uninterrupted time in the Word which I have so needed. Here is our lovable puppy with Seppy, who is finally enjoying playing with "my puppy" --

You may remember that a year ago a few cats showed up and we ended up keeping them outside and then the Mama had two litters of kittens that summer which was quite an ordeal. In the end we kept three kittens. Two of the original cats are no longer with us. So, we have 4 cats who are very friendly and hang around much of the time on our porch. They are outdoors but have shelter in a garage during the winter. They are very handy for keeping down the mice population, although they have also taken to birds this spring. :( So here is a picture of the three kittens (Butterscotch, Twix, and Blackie) who are now all fixed so that we don't end up with any more kittens!

 

Newest Addition

Meet the newest addition to our family -- Honest Abe "Lincoln"!  We picked him up a week ago and were surprised at how well he did on the 4 hour ride home. He is the sweetest little puppy and likes to give kisses. His favorite position is on his back for a belly rub. Here is our first day home with the gang.

I am finding having a puppy to be more work than I remembered it to be and having Lincoln is similar in many ways to having a baby. The boys try to help out with feeding him and taking him out but at this point Lincoln cannot keep up with them and often will lay down in the grass with a stick to chew on and so they get bored with him. It also takes a bit more planning before we leave the house for any period of time, which I need to get used to.

Thankfully Lincoln only had one night where he needed to go out at 2 a.m. but otherwise he is sleeping from 10 p.m. - 6 a.m. He will wake earlier if he hears John leaving at 5 a.m. but John has taken to sneaking out -- although this morning it took him 10 minutes to walk down our hallway! :)- Tonight we are covering the front of the crate with a blanket.

Our two children who were afraid of dogs have adjusted well and I cannot tell that they were afraid with how they love on Lincoln. Only Seppy is our holdout and is not sure. He will pet him when he is sleeping but gets out of the way when Lincoln is raring to go. I suppose he will get used to him in time.

I have a sleeping, snoring, puppy at my feet as I type. Lincoln tends to like to sleep at my feet when I am in the kitchen and such.  John calls him my "foot warmer" which I certaintly can use! Here is our Lincoln (after rolling in the dirt) looking so handsome -- the next subject for my camera. :)

Which Puppy to Choose?

This weekend we headed north (a 4-hour drive) to pick out our puppy. Initially we did not have a choice and yellow boy was going to be ours. But when I talked to the breeder again she said that we did indeed have a choice between the black boy and the yellow boy as the family who wanted a black lab would take either a boy or a girl. And so we needed to decide which puppy would come home with us so that the other family would know.

We were excited, although George was set on a yellow lab as he had the perfect name and really liked yellow. I told him not to count on that and asked him what he would do if the black puppy took a liking to him. I had a feeling all along that with a decision to make not everyone would agree and of course that was the case.

By the time we arrived the puppies were getting sleepy and that was a bit of a disappointment as they weren't quite as playful, but not much you can do and they still were fun. It took Missy a bit to warm up to them and Seppy wasn't too sure either but they did get used to the puppies running around. The boys also played with one of the little girl puppies who was very "spunky" and we were told her energy is limitless. (The rest were sleeping).


By the end of our time we had not come to a decision and it was pretty much split 4 to 4, although I don't know how much we can count the two little ones.  The breeder has said from early on that the two boys were favorites of hers and they are both so similar in their sweet personality. We tossed around the option of getting both and John was not opposed to that. The funny thing is that George, who wanted the puppy in the first place now was set on getting the black puppy because he "liked me more". After thinking it through overnight we decided on the black puppy and will bring him home in two weeks! We are SO excited!

We have a name in mind for him but aren't set on it so if you have any black lab names that are unique, please pass them my way.
Re-Pete (who doesn't like dogs) and our pick.

And then there were...

If you have wondered where I have been I have found it easier to keep up being on facebook and only writing a line every few days rather than posting. Although, I have been wanting to post for the past week about our kittens but was busy getting ready for a trip and in the midst of that trying to take care of kittens.

It began early last week with one kitten dying -- and then there were 4.

After that I really took a look at them and found that another kitten also seemed to be getting weaker. I began to supplement first making my own formula but then ran out to the pet store and picked up kitten formula but it wasn't long and it died -- and then there were 3.

I was determined not to loose anymore and as I looked at our little black kitten he seemed to also be getting skinnier and I began supplementing with formula using an eyedropper. I think we fed him for two days but he never perked up and while my friend was attempting to hand-feed him he died -- and then there were 2.

So, we were down to our little orange kitten and white kitten and they had been the strongest from the beginning always pushing their way in and getting to the food first. I thought they would be fine but the orange one developed a weepy eye and I began to wonder but gently washed it with warm water. Sure enough, the next day he began to stop nursing and seemed much weaker same as the others had. I again supplemented with formula but was getting really tired of trying to keep up with this and had no idea what we would do seeing as we were leaving the next day for a race. I know that people go either way on this and some say "whatever happens happens" which is the route that John would take but when I would go in the garage and hear them crying I couldn't stand it and felt like I needed to try something. We prayed for wisdom in this and the little orange kitten died the next morning and I was a little relieved to have one less worry  -- and then there was 1.

Our neighbor agreed to come and check on our little white kitten while we were away and while I had my doubts of having a kitten when were returned I did hold out hope as he seemed strong and had been the only one with it's sweet little blue eyes open. She called while we were away and didn't think he would make it and that he was getting weaker. When we came home Sunday we found that he had indeed also died, and possibly soon before we arrived. The Mama cat didn't know what to do. She kept rearranging herself as if trying to figure a way to get the kitten to nurse. After I removed it from the box she kept looking around the garage trying to find him and was meowing like crazy. All evening long she would go back to check and still the next morning she lay outside of the box as if she still needed to protect them. So, that was kind of hard to see.

The kids have been fine with this. They didn't get too attached because it was too early for them to interact with the kittens and so they only had watched. Pete and Re-Pete did help me with the feedings while holding a kitten in a blanket so it was a good experience that way. I was probably the most emotionally-involved as I had given a lot of my time to them. And so our garage is quiet again and Jumper is out and about much more as nothing is holding her as close to home.

I had called the vet during that process and they thought the Mama passed something onto the kittens. Others had warned me that the first litter doesn't always make it and so I was prepared to loose a few but had hoped for at least one. I talked to a friend who wondered if they had worms and now in researching that think it probably was the case. I had not been able to de-worm Jumper early on as she got pregnant not long after she arrived. Anyway, it has been an experience and I learned so much. Not only about cats and how to care for them but about myself and realizing I can do things that I didn't think I ever would. Strange for a person who didn't like cats in the first place.

My favorite picture of the three kittens when they were thriving.

Hand-feeding one of the kittens.

Kittens have arrived!

You may remember back in March when we found three cats in our garage who seemed to have adopted us. Well, they won me over seeing as they are the sweetest lovable cats (I thought all cats were snobby as some I have known) and have stayed ever since. Seeing as I am allergic to them they are outdoor cats. When I posted about them I mentioned how we found out if they were male and female and how we assumed that Jumper would be having kittens. Evidently that did not take the first time as if it would have she would have had them around Memorial Day. Anyway, we did know she was expecting as we watched her belly get larger and saw other signs also. We knew it was getting closer as she managed to sneak in an opening door almost faster than you can blink and somehow managed to locate where the beds were. We did begin to keep our old garage open and prepared locations for her to have the kittens and tried to get her interested.

Sunday evening we came home and the boys went outside to play. They came running in saying that Jumper was skinny now which had been a question I asked them every morning when they fed the cats. Sure enough, she was and her tail was really wet also so we knew she must have just recently delivered. Next came the task of finding them. Jumper was all over us and obviously wasn't going to lead us to her babies. John heard mewing noises and found that she had delivered them in an old couch we had that was tipped upside down (don't worry, it was junk anyway). Somehow she managed to get them under the cushions three on one side and three on the other. She could not get to any of them to nurse so just sat there watching. I got her out and we closed the door so I could get the kittens put into the box we had prepared. I did not think that I would be able to do any of this but with my plastic kitchen gloves I can touch anything (I think).

She had six kittens but one did not make it as it had never gotten out of the sack and it seemed quite small to me. After we had the kittens settled we let Jumper in and she lay down by them but didn't seem to know what to do so I helped position the kittens near her to nurse. What a sweet little sound!

Jumper did not remove two of the placentas and I had hoped that she would get around to it but she didn't and as I saw it was starting to slow one down from getting to where it wanted to go I removed them for her with the assistance of my animal lover -- Pete. He did think it very gross but he stayed by my side anyway. She had two black, two orange (I guess technically called red), and one white kitten.

The children are so excited and wanting to hold the kittens but it is too soon so they only watch quietly. This evening unfortunately John found that one of the orange ones had died. He tried to revive it by rubbing on it but nothing. The children each took a turn holding it and studying it's features (yes, they did wash their hands after). The other four kittens seem to be vigorous and now do fit much better in line while nursing. We'll have to keep an eye on them.

Very exciting. It will be fun to watch their development each day.

Taken right after they were moved into the box and Jumper joined them. You can see some are still a little wet.

I loved this sweet little orange face. Unfortunately that is the one that died this evening.

Julius, NOT Julie

Well, the cats are still here this morning. We found them curled up together on the old blanket George had put out for them. I felt guilty last night as we were all in the house and the cats went from window to window watching us. No, I do not want the cats in the house but yet, having those eyes looking at you longingly is not easy.

Yesterday I was trying to figure out if the cats were girls or boys and I couldn't quite get a look at the orange cat. I leaned toward a girl probably because Missy kept calling it "Orange Girl". Well, we found out last night that "Julie" is really "JULIUS!" Would you like to know how we figured that one out?

The boys were saying "Goodnight" to the cats and I asked if they were curled up on the blanket. Pete and Re-Pete said that they were but that the bigger cats sure curl up in a strange way. I asked what they  meant and they said that the orange cat was on top of the gray cat! Oh No!!!

I went to see and sure enough, it was plain as day that the orange cat is indeed a boy! So, the kids are all standing around watching and I told my husband that we have a boy cat. He came to see and started pounding on the door saying, "No, Stop!" The boys asked how we knew it was a boy cat and we gave a brief explanation which satisfied them. My husband just pulled the curtains on them so we wouldn't continue to watch and then kept shaking his head as if to say, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

I got online trying to find out how long a cat is in heat and such. It is obvious to me now that Jumper is in heat as she was very loving yesterday and is all over our legs to the point she is tripping us up and it is hard to ditch her when trying to get in the house. We'll have to see what transpires but we could have kittens in nine weeks. Oh my!

Pets For A Day?

Living in the country we frequently have cats visit. They come and go, look in our windows, and dig through our garbage but usually run as soon as we open the door. The boys have wanted a pet, a dog to be specific, for a long time. Having started out with dogs, before we had children, we know that we are not ready for that kind of commitment right now. Cats have never been a favorite of mine mainly because spending too much time with them I am sneezing up a storm and have itchy eyes.

Today the boys found three cats, one is a kitten, in our storage garage. My husband and I had thought that it might not be bad to have cats for pets as long as they were outside and could come and go as they pleased. My in-laws ended up with a cat when they began to feed it and so we fed the three cats, gave them water and the children have been playing with them for most of the day. As soon as they come in the house the cats are at the door meowing. The children have named them and grown quite attached already. We'll see if they return tomorrow but I have a feeling they might.

George has been enjoying the cats the most and they seem to really love him too.

This is the kitten they named "Zebra" because of the stripes. It follows Pete everywhere.

The one on the left was named "Jumper" when he jumped off the deck. The orange one is named "Orange Julius" (a favorite drink of ours) but "Julie" for short.