These 5 kittens will be forever known as "The Five Kittens".
They were born March 20, 2000.
My cousin accidentally ran over their mother, a Siamese mix, when the kittens were about 2 wks old.
Their father was a stray Tabby.
When my cousin decided to leave her husband quite quickly, our aunt, not her mother, told her she could not leave the kittens for fear her husband would do harm to them. She suggested putting them in a laundry basket and bringing them to me, as she knew I would take care of pretty much anything. Boy, way she right!
No sooner I laid eyes on these little 2 wk old kittens, I had fallen in love with them. They had names within the week! And, everyone knows... once you name'em, they're yours forever!
Because of their age, they had to be bottle fed. There was little sleep during this time, but the time seemed to speed by. In almost no time at all, they were being weened off the bottle and starting kitten food.
Unfortunately, in 2008, Mittens was the first of The Five Kittens to become seriously ill and pass away.
She is buried in the St Francis Paws4Critters Cemetery out behind the dogs' fenced in yard.
Here is a brief description of each of The Five Kittens...
Carmel Taffy
Taffy is a carmel colored Tabby with black tips and gorgeous green eyes. She looks like a smaller version of her sister, Mittens. She has the Siamese build, as she is the smallest of the group and barely weighs in at 9-10 pounds. She is the talker of the group... and the house. She will have a conversation with herself if no one else is inclined to listen! She loves dogs and will use them as a ladder to get where she wants. I have a photo of her "riding" on Hershey's back. Although her name is Carmel Taffy, she answers to Taffy, Taff & Taffarini (I have no idea if she has any Italian in her, but I do!) 
Tammy Sue
Tammy Sue is a silver Tabby Siamese with beautiful blue eyes. She is the only one of the group that is cross-eyed. She doesn't let it bother her, as she is one of the best bug hunters. She takes after the Tabby with her build and is a fairly large cat at about 14 pounds.
Ted E Bear "Teddy"
Teddy is a Blue Point Siamese with some Tabby markings, albeit very slight markings.He has the typical Siamese slim build with beautiful blue eyes against his silvery gray color offset by some white on his chest and toes. He loves the ladies even though he is neutered. He is affectionate and clingy. He suffers from separation anxiety when left without human companionship and will follow you everywhere once you return, making sure your attention is on him, and only him. In general, he is very shy around other people.
Teddy occasionally suffers from Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). This is a crystallization of urine in his urinary tract. These crystals can cause a blockage, which is extremely dangerous. The condition needs to be monitored and owners need to be aware of the symptoms. When symptoms occur, action must be taken immediately to rectify the problem. The number one symptom is difficulty urinating or not urinating at all. In Teddy's case, when I begin to realize he is having trouble urinating, I start him on vitamin C. He gets 1/4 of a 500mg chewable vitamin C tablet crushed and blended into his can food 2x's per day.The vitamin C helps his urine be more acidic. Interestingly, Teddy likes the watermelon flavored vitamin C. I give him the vitamin C in his food until he becomes fussy with eating his food with it in it, usually about 2 weeks.
For more info on FLUTD, please click here: The Pet Health Library
Frosty Punkin
Frosty for his icy blue eyes. Punkin because I was trying to grow Lumina Pumpkins the previous year, and then again the year he was born. Never did get them pumpkins to grow, but Punkin, boy did he ever grow! Weighing in at a hefty 26 pounds, he is the heaviest of The Five Kittens! Punkin is a Fire, Flame or Red Point Siamese with reverse Tabby markings. Reverse because he is white to cream with orange Tabby stripes, which are becoming darker as he gets older. He was the largest kitten and he never stopped growing. Taking after the Tabby build, his fiery points and killer icy blue eyes are the only hint at his Siamese background.Because of his sister, Mittens, and Misty, who I spoke of in another post, I am leery of putting him on a diet, for fear of him losing too much too fast and turning his liver to fat. I have asked 2 vets how I could get him to lose weight safely. Both vets expressed the same concern as I do. Fatty liver disease in cats is extremely dangerous and putting him through losing the weight is not worth the alternative... death from fatty liver disease.
He does have a health issue because of his weight, and it must be kept under control. He has chronic constipation. Because he is so large and because he has never been that active a cat even when he was younger, he does not have regular bowel movements. When this occurs, it builds and builds in their bodies. The longer it sits; the harder it gets because of lack of water/moisture/fluid. This causes constipation. When he finally has the feeling to go, he can't. The first time it happened, the vet explained to us how to give him an enema. We use generic water-based enemas equal to Fleet brand. He gets 1/2 the bottle at one time and then wait. Sometimes, it takes 3 enemas. We know keep enemas on hand at all times as part of critter maintenance. In addition, he has been prescribed lactulose. This liquid draws fluid into the intestines and keeps his poo soft; so, he does not become constipated. It does work, and thank God he is not diabetic or lactose intolerant, as it is related to the milk sugar, lactose.
Recently, he once again had a severe constipation. I, again, took him to one of my vets. She took x-rays to make sure he did not have another condition, megacolon, which is another very serious condition. He did not have megacolon. I discussed what I could possibly do more than I already was with the vet. I told her he primarily eats dry cat food, but I have been trying to get him to eat more canned cat food. She said if he will not eat just canned cat food; then, he needed more fluid intake and more fiber. She suggested using a syringe filled with water several times per day to get him to drink more.
This is because he has an issue with water. I do not know if he knows how to drink, as he paws at the water to spill some out on the floor. He, then, drinks off the floor. I have a plastic tray under the water now because of it. It seems he copied Gizzy, who I already posted, with his drinking. Gizzy used to drink by pawing at the water, as he was used to having the old Coke bottle waterers, where you have a bowl that fits a Coke bottle upside down in it. It releases water as the bowl empties. Gizzy knew the water in the bottle was fresher; so, he would paw at the bottle opening to get the water to come out, and he would only drink from near the bottle opening. Towards the end of Gizzy's life, he didn't have that style water bowl either, but he continued to paw at the bowl. In addition, his eyes were starting to fail him; so, he couldn't see the water as well. I have a feeling Punkin copied his pawing without realizing what he was doing, as Punkin never had that type of water bowl. I suppose, with his blue eyes, Punkin may have difficulty seeing the water, as well.
Anyway, I didn't end up needing to give him water with a syringe, which is a good thing. I don't think he would have liked that! I leave a bowl in the sink now, and he drinks from it. If he paws at it, it just goes down the drain. I use to flavor his water with the gravy you can buy to add to the food to make it enticing, but it got old quick. I did switch his food. I searched and read many, many food labels. I found Blue Buffalo makes a "Healthy Weight" food that is high in fiber. It is the highest in fiber I could find. And believe me, I read a lot of labels to find out! It comes in an orange bag. I told my vet and wrote the brand and name of the food down for her because she had another cat with the same problem.
Silver MittensOne day, I noticed she began eating a little less than normal. Over the next several days, I noticed nothing out of the ordinary except her eating less. Within the week, she went from eating less to not eating at all. I scheduled an appt with the vet.
The vet thought maybe she had a bug and gave me some amoxicillin. I tried to hand feed her to make sure she ate. Nothing. I called the vet again in a couple days to let them know there was no improvement.
They had me bring her back to run some blood work. Her red blood count was almost non-existent. Seriously. He should be the test tube with her blood separated. There may have been a small drop of red cells at the very bottom of the tube. He said she was extremely anemic. Well, that was obvious. He suggested cancer, but before we had a chance to figure that out for sure, we had a secondary disease take hold... cirrhosis of the liver, better known in kitty world as fatty liver disease. He ran some more tests for Feline AIDS and Feline Leukemia. All the tests came back negative.
We were now trying to figure out what was wrong with her and had to deal with the fatty liver disease. We knew this illness... Misty passed away from it. I knew I didn't have much time. Misty died within 2 weeks.
I desperately tried to get Mittens to eat while trying to figure out what made her sick in the first place. I never did find out what she became ill with, but as I said, it is believed she probably had cancer.
I said when Misty passed away from this dreaded disease, I would never let another critter suffer like she did. I was beside myself. I still couldn't bring myself to have Mittens euthanized. I prayed for guidance. I prayed, I prayed and I prayed. As a last ditch effort, I brought Mittens to another vet for a second opinion. When they examined her, they, too, came to the conclusion it was probably cancer, but in her condition... about 2 weeks into fatty liver disease, there was nothing they could do. They said they could only recommend euthanization. I said I would have to think about it. I cradled her in my arms and brought her home. I spent all afternoon and evening with her. She stayed close, but she was restless. She wanted to lay on the floor; so, I let her. I laid down beside her. She hardly meowed at all. A couple times she may have whimpered a little, if a cat can whimper. I curled up beside her, and she beside me. We stayed like that until just after 11pm when she finally drew her last breath. Her body went limp and she passed away.
The first of The Five Kittens was gone... Mittens passed away May 19th, 2008 at a little after 11pm.
Her death changed everything.
I no longer rely on one vet. I no longer wait to see if they get better.
When any of the cats stop eating, I give them 1 day. On the 2nd day, they go to the vet.
I always have more than one vet. I do not rely on one to "fit" them in. I will keep calling vets until I find one who will see them...now!
For more on Fatty Liver Disease, please click here PetPlace.com
I will try to post some info on this topic soon.
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