Tatiana and the Tinies

Some of the littlest kittens in the Feline Rescue foster system are currently known at Tatiana and the Tinies. I brought back the momma cat, Tatiana, and her five kittens from an animal clinic at Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. The babies were so young they still had their umbillical cords, which usually fall off by day two or three, so I believe they were born on August 18. The vets at the clinic went ahead and spayed Tatiana even though she had weeks of nursing ahead of her. They did a "flank spay" for which the incision is made on her side instead of on her abdomen. This means less problems for the mom cat when the kittens are pushing and shoving to get in place to nurse.

Tatiana is a pretty dilute tortie (blue and cream) and she has a very sweet personality, but the poor girl is very skinny and she's not able to gain any weight while she's nursing evening though she is eating four small cans of food a day plus all the dry food she wants. Her shaved hip where the spay surgery was performed shows off her thin body even more.

The kittens are a motley crew. We haven't named them yet because we haven't been able to determine their genders for certain. There is a dilute calico who is the biggest and a bit of a slug. There a gray kitten with wavy, fluffy black ticked fur that doesn't look like any kitten I've ever seen before and a black and white tuxedo kitten that seems to be getting less black and more gray. There is a grey tabby with white trim and one solid black kitten who looks the smallest, but has the biggest personality. S/he wasn't getting enough to eat a week ago and would race around in the bathtub screaming. I did some syringe feeding and panicked just thinking about taking all of the mom cat's jobs, but once we found a food that mom liked and she relaxed into her new role as mom -- I'm sure this is her first litter -- all the kittens are now content and clean.

They are old enough to race around and play now. Soon they'll be ready for the litterbox and some formula and canned kitten food gruel to supplement the milk from Tatiana.