8-9-12 – I’m a slacker!

Posted on by Robyn

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Y’all, I apologize – though it’s Thursday, I have no Crooked Acres pics for you. I’ve been super busy the past couple of days (all week, really!), and so today I am slacking on my post (’cause I still have a bunch of things to do today!)

Just a few pictures, and back to normal tomorrow, I promise!

Hey, remember the Pickles that I introduced you to yesterday? Were you, like me, all “Well, this is a first! There are NO black kittens in this litter. This aggression will not stand!”

Well.

Meet Tony Rocky Horror Pickle.

The story, real quick: TonyRocky Horror Pickle was actually found at the same time as the other Pickles. A friend of the lady who found them decided to keep him, but her animals were picking on him, and so after a few days she returned him to her. So he came to join his siblings!

He is teeny tiny, the runt of the litter. The biggest Pickle weighs 1 pound, 5 1/2 ounces (actually, Polly and Petey are tied for heaviest). TonyRocky Horror Pickle weighed 10 1/2 ounces on my scale yesterday. I would be inclined to believe that he’s from a different litter, but he actually looks like he’s the same age as the other Pickles – ears standing up straight, same teeth, eyes changing color, pretty well coordinated – so I’m inclined to believe that he is the tiny runt of the litter. He’s got some diarrhea going on, so he’s in the cage (in the same room as the rest of them) for the next few days. Once it gets a bit better, he’ll be released into the wild. Uh, the Pickles. When I’m in there with them, he’ll be allowed to run around all he wants.

Okay, so that’s today’s news. I may be wrong, but I think that 11 is the highest number of fosters we’ve ever had in this crazy house.

See you tomorrow!

PS: Yes, clearly Fred got his way on this name. I am not in love with it, but eh. I suppose I’ve gotta let Fred have his way every now and then.

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Previously
2011: The many moods of Harlan Peppers.
2010: On vacation!
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: Yes, miss Maryanne has made herself at home here, but no – we’re not keeping her (I know y’all don’t believe me – but we’re not!).
2006: No entry.
2005: I think he might be all talk, though.

Comments

63 thoughts on “8-9-12 – I’m a slacker!”

  2. This makes me wonder if you’ve ever had a Rocky Horror litter. I need to see a kitten named RiffRaff 😀

  4. Black kittens are the best!

    And speaking of black kittens, I have a question for you – my almost 4 month old kitten is OBSESSED with people food. She’s turned into a huge food thief, sneaking up and grabbing stuff off my preschooler’s plate when his back is turned, snagging bites from my husband’s plate when he gets up to get a drink, running to the fridge and HOWLING when I open it.

    I am not encouraging this behavior! And she has PLENTY to eat at all times AND gets morning and evening snacks. I have never had a cat act like this before – my dog, sure, but a kitten??

    Is this normal? Will she outgrow it? Will I be guarding my plate forever? She out eats my 22 pound tabby, and is HUGE for her age, btw, so maybe she’s just hungry?

    1. She won’t outgrow it but it can be untrained with work. Try squirt bottle, compressed air, penny can, etc. I have sYs who are obsessed and I never did anything about it. Bad me.

    2. Our Kasey is a bit of a food hog, but only with cat food, never had the problem with people food. He gets scheduled feedings throughout the day. I don’t have any advice on breaking the people food habit, but did want to put out a caution breaking him of it. Kasey would steal food from his sisters bowl and we thought we were doing good training by spraying him with water whenever he went to eat her food. Unfortunately cats do not make associations like we do and instead of thinking..I get sprayed when I eat out of this bowl..he thought I get sprayed when I eat..so he stopped eating! I feel so terrible that we did this and it has taken me a long time to get him back on track. Once in a while he goes for Roxie’s bowl but I divert him back to his bowl and give him a few kibbles to show him that he gets food in his bowl. He is getting so much better than he was and having him on scheduled feedings has also helped.

      If anything it has taught us that positive re-inforcement works better than negative. 🙂

    3. I had a cat that liked all kinds of people food and I settled for her waiting until I gave her some rather than snatching and running. She’s hang out waiting like a furry vulture.

      The one time she backslid was when I got a phone call while eating a hamburger. When I got back she had flipped the top bun off and ate a big chunk of what was left. Well I *had* left it alone, so there wasn’t much of a scold.

      1. Once I was eating potato soup. My kitty was sitting to my left staring at my spoon intently as I was blowing on it to cool it off. She must not have been able to take it any more cuz she smacked her paw straight in the center of the spoon….and then licked her paw clean. 🙂 She was my vulture….for 17 glorious years. After she passed, it was actually unsettling to eat in peace. BUT now I have Sidney…Kitters reincarnated! 🙂 Things feel back to normal! Ha!

      2. That actually reminds me, I had a different black cat years ago that once climbed into a box of pizza and helped herself when we left the room for a moment. Perhaps I should just never leave food unguarded!

        1. I’d never leave food unguarded around here, that’s for sure! If for some reason I need to get up in the middle of a meal, I either bring my plate with me or ask Fred to guard it. 🙂 On the other hand, all the cats KNOW that they’re not going to get anywhere by bugging me while I’m eating. I always tell them “Mama doesn’t share!”, and I’m definitely consistent. When the fosters attempt to get my food, I spray compressed air in their direction to scare them away. They learn quickly.

    1. From what I’ve seen over the past day, he pushes right in there with them and seems fairly able to hold his own!

  6. They are so cute! I love Tony, but then black kitties and orange kitties are my favorites!

    1. Reminds me of Gamera! “The Monsters” would be a good litter idea: Mothra, Gamera, Godzilla…

    1. I was thinking RH Pickle was a pretty cute nickname too!! Fred can’t be too mad if we honor the spirit of his chosen name! 😉

      Love the little runty black behbeh!! Hope your tummy feels better soon sweetie!

  12. I LOVE the third picture of him in the hand (Fred’s?). He’s looking like, “What is this place? How did I get here?”

    Such a sweet little pickle-niblet. I am in love.

  13. Oh! What a sweet little boogin! He is just so bitsy I might die. I hope the little love feels better soon. The little tiny guys just destroy me when they gallop around, acting like they own the world. I second the request for a Rocky Horror themed names for a litter. It could be fun for one near Halloween.

  14. I wondered if you ever got kittens with diarrhea and how you treat them. I have only been reading your blog for a few months. It seems at least 50% of my foster kittens get here then two days later they erupt with the big D. Do they think he has parasites and how are you treating him? any meds? specific food? It is so much work to clean, crates, floors, bedding & kittens when this happens. Sometimes it goes on for a while and with worming of various meds some still don’t work. Just curious as how you treat. Looking for tips.

    1. get a stool sample, get it tested. Do it more then once because internal parasites don’t always shed, and even when they do you might hit on a sample with out any evidence of them. I’ll often give up at three stool samples – aka three samples means it isn’t internal parasites.

      After that, if it isn’t parasites, then I consider there is a problem with the input. Sometimes there is a problem with the gut, aka not enough good bacteria and supplementing with a probiotic of some kind or another will be helpful. Full fat plain yogurt is one. General probiotic capsules from the drug store is another (the higher the count the better)

      But back to the input. A lot of cats have a very hard time digesting carbohydrates aka any plant matter. Finding a diet low in plant based ingredients and high in animal protein and fat can go a long way to help firm things up. The reason cats on dry food have large odours stools and cats on raw have small dry stool that barely smells is because they lack the digestive enzymes to break down the plant material so it passes through the colon and basically ferments. It is a pretty short transit time so it isn’t really fermented, but you probably grasp my meaning.

      I have had several foster cats with explosive (dripping out of them as they try to sleep) diarrhea and putting them on a raw diet fixed it almost immediately.

      Some people suggest putting them on dry food to clear it up. Dry food is very dehydrating to begin with (since cats don’t have a high thirst drive they generally don’t consume enough water on an all dry diet and are chronically dehydrated) and a cat with diarrhea – well I can only imagine that it ‘fixes’ the problem by getting rid of all the excess water in the cat – which is completely contrary to what is suggested when you or I have diarrhea.. not to mention if it is the carbs that are causing the problem…

      well anyway, I’ve written a book here on Robyn’s blog. Forgive me. One of these days I’ll learn to not do that..

  15. This itsy-bitsy blue-eyed baby took my breath away (and then I saw his tail and had to pick myself up off the floor) Don’t tell the others, but I think he might be my favorite foster of yours… ever.

    About the name… now you know why the next foster baby girl will be named Wilhelmina. Brian insists. Little does he know that I’ll actually be calling her Willie Rae (after Brenda Leigh’s mom in “The Closer”) 😉

      1. I’m still in shock. Such a good, quality show (and such an emotionally draining moment). I will miss it. Perhaps Willie Rae needs a brother named Clay?

  16. Awwww — love little Tony RH Pickle!!! Still not getting the Rocky Horror reference, but he’s a cutie!

  18. Awww he’s adorable and black kitties are the best! Seriously of all the kitties I’ve raised my black kitties have always been the most even tempered and cuddly. So pretty when they are sun bathing and the light makes them look like a deep chocolate brown coat.

  21. Ohhh, I do love me the little basement cat babies. The only trouble with them is tripping over them in the dark XD Never understood why people don’t love ’em. They’re sweethearts.

  22. He very well could be from the same litter and not necessarily the runt. You feed your kittens several times a day and it can be very quick the difference between getting good nutrition regularly vs not.

    I’m not saying the person who kept HRPuffNStuff miss treated him in any way (pretty awesome for them to choose the black one of the group!), but I’m not saying they knew what they were doing either. The diarrhea didn’t help.

    1. I am REALLY wondering if the reason they returned him is because they didn’t want to deal with getting him healthy!

    2. Two of my four fosters are litter mates. Eloise was a full pound smaller than Henry when they arrived and now there is a nearly two pound difference. She’s a teeny little runt, but doesn’t shy away from the food bowl. Vet pronounced her perfectly healthy on Monday (well, except for the upper respiratory). She’s just going to be someone’s midget cat. Her little short legs just slay me (still!)

      I wondered the same thing, Robyn. A sick kitten can be incredibly overwhelming for someone who is prepared for it. Perhaps they were just not up to the challenge. As far as I’m concerned, you make a commitment and you follow through. But then again, if they stuck it out we wouldn’t have Tony.

      1. The little ones really seem to turn out to be particularly scrappy!

        I love a scrappy kitten. 🙂

        And you’re right – I think Tony’s lucky that the lady who had him knew she was in over her head. God knows he’ll be spoiled rotten here. 🙂

        1. Trixie was half the size of her three litter mates, which is why I held her in my lap to eat while her siblings ate their food. Spoiled now? Oh yeah… but you do what you need to do to catch the runts up!

  24. That third pic is freaking me out. He looks likeh is face is melting or it’s been photoshopped as his face is SO FAR BELOW his ears. I’m sure it’s the angle but it’s bizarre looking.

    1. It’s just the angle – and probably the fact that he is absolutely skin and bones doesn’t help, either. In person, he looks fairly normal… though maybe a bit bat-like. 🙂

  25. Never fear about 11 fosters, you’ve done it before: When the 5 Cookies moved in, you still had the 4 Wonkas, and Terry/Sookie left over from the True Blood 6…. that’s 11 right there. Easy Peasy, right? …………Kiddin!

    I love these new guys, especially Rocky Horror Pickle, that teeny tiny tail in the bird’s eye view is too darn adorable! Oh, and I love Petey the gremlin kitten too. I totally see the resemblance with the extra large, extra pointy ears.

  26. Me too. With digital cameras, the field is actually scanned from one side to another or from top/bottom to bottom/top. If something moves, it can get stretched out like that in the half-second or so it takes the camera to scan the field. At least, I hope that’s what it is!

    Otherwise, maybe he has a skull deformity. Let’s hope that’s not it!

  28. Tony’s such a tough guy name for such a little guy. He’ll need it, and if he’s shoving right in there for food, he’s already living up to it! Rocky Horror, quirky, entertaining, I’m betting that fits too!

    By the way Katherine: GHERKIN!! Love it!!

  31. Little Tony RH Pickle is such a cutie-patootie! Give him a big hug and kiss for me! 😀

  32. What a touching little tot he is. Glad he’s romping and stomping and eating, and fingers crossed that his tummy troubles are nearly over. And who doesn’t love an extra Pickle?

  33. I think, were I to adopt him, I would be compelled to call him by his full name at all times, but do the “Rocky Horror” part in a whisper, just due to the font size you used. I started doing it in my head half way through. When he was naughty, he’d get the full “Antonio ROCKY HORROR Pickles the Third!” treatment. (Saying the ROCKY HORROR in a SUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAY monster truck announcer voice, of course.)

    For sheer comedic value I have to say I’m with Fred on this one, but you brought it to the next level with the font thing. 😀

    1. Heh – I’m glad you’re enjoying that, I TOTALLY cracked myself up with it. 🙂

      And I love the idea of calling him by his full name at all times! I’ve been calling him Ant’ny today ’cause it makes me laugh. 🙂

  34. Aw, Tony rocky horror Pickles is going for Stompers’s little “cute as a button and must squish him immediately” crown! His name is superb! and like Kalieris says, you’d have to use his whole name every time but self-conciously whisper “that” bit. Good naming, Fred. Good fonting, Robyn. 🙂

  35. Awww, Tony [mumble mumble (Heh, GD)] Pickle will now heal our little Stomper-missing hearts. Hope your intestines calm down, Tony, so you can Time Warp with everybody else. I love that picture of him in Fred’s(?) hands! They’re all so sweet. Kalieris, I will forever hear his name in my head, the way you described it.

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