Cone and Craziness

It's been 2 weeks since Lyra was spayed (at age 10 weeks!) at the animal shelter. We adopted her and Koto (he was neutered too)just about 24 hours after the surgery.

For reasons unknown, we were not given any post-op instructions from the shelter when we adopted the kittens. Both seemed completely up to speed when they came home, so we didn't restrict their activities, above trying to keep Lyra from jumping too much the first few days.

About a week later, I noticed Lyra's incision was weeping -- just a little, but a cause for concern. A trip to the vet confirmed an infection. An antibiotic (Clavamox) was dispensed, and she was given a plastic Elizabethan collar (e-collar) to keep her away from the incision. They had to cut down the cone just to get it to fit around her teeny lil neck.

She adjusted surprisingly well to the cone -- barely bothered her at all, even from the start. And the antibiotic took care of the infection. Unfortunately, the healing hasn't been going as well -- yesterday I thought the incision was healed enough to take the cone off, that is until what appeared to be a scab fell off and I saw that about a 1/8 inch wide area in the middle of the incision was still raw.

In retrospect, maybe the old "scab" was some litter/pus that had gotten stuck in the incision. But a new, real, scab has formed, so I have hope that in another week this will all be history. Meanwhile, she is still on the antibiotic - and still in the cone.

Don't feel bad for our little lady, though. She continues to romp about with her brother as if the plastic around her neck didn't exist. The worst part of the whole thing is that she is not able to clean herself after bathroom duties. So, some human intervention has been required to remove undesirable...er...substances from the fur at the base of her tail.

Both Lyra and Koto have proven to be sweet and affectionate...they transitioned into their new living situation without any problems at all. They purr like crazy, and Koto especially has this bird-cooing-like sound he makes when he wants either human or feline attention.

They play like maniacs and some of their favorite "prey" are balled up paper or paper towels -- which they will carry about in their mouths after vanquishing.

Koto protects the family from a vicious couch.

Meanwhile, at night and when we are out, the kitties remain confined to a bathroom -- I'm afraid to let Lyra roam freely unsupervised with the e-collar on. While they slept in the carrier for the first few days, lately they have taken to sleeping here:

Prologue: April 16, 2008 Adoption Day

Leaving the shelter with kittens in carrier...ten weeks old, and spayed/neutered the previous day.

The female kitten peers up curiously during the ride home, while her brother tries to make himself as small as possible in the corner of the carrier.

Once home, our new little girl comes out as soon as the carrier door in opened...
I pick her up and she starts purring - loudly - and I am thinking, "Yeah, this is going to work out just fine...."

Then it's time to explore (and catch herself some yarn.)

Ten minutes later, the male kitten is still curled up in the carrier;that is, until he is bribed out with a plate of food.

And sister joins in...

Eating is followed by three hours, yes THREE hours, of two kittens chasing yarn and string like crazy. Turns out our seemingly timid young male is a maniac.

They didn't even pay attention to the Obama-Clinton debate.

Kitten as blur:
It's been almost a week since we brought these cuties home. The first night, they spent so much time playing with the kids (while parents watched from the sidelines) that they didn't even seem to remember the older generation the next morning. But it wasn't long before they began to seek me and Esteemed Husband out for petting and playing.

They adjusted amazingly -- the shelter and/or fostering before adoption had them completely litter trained and used to human contact. And at this point they are still content to spend every night in the powder room without complaint -- until they are bigger, I'm afraid to let them roam free at night -- they do get into everything. But that's what makes them so much fun.

Of course, I didn't mention the worms in the poop the first night. Why ruin a nice heart-warming story with tales of parasites? A quick trip to the vet and all has been taken care of (I hope.)

Prologue: Monday, April 14th

I went into the cat room at the Animal Welfare Association, looking for the long-haired kittens I had seen listed on Petfinder the day before.

Instead, I found two cages of adorable short-haired kittens...

Walking out to ask someone at the front desk which of these friendly and playful grey kitties was available for adoption, I finally spotted the long-haired trio I had been looking for in the first place, in a crate that had been partially obscured by the door.

The artists formerly known as Whispers, Buttons, & Pugsly

Two of the three 10-week-old black kittens - one male, one female - were still available. Yay! A cell phone call later, my husband and daughters were there...although I was already hooked, we needed a consensus.

No convincing was necessary. All agreed that we would adopt "Whispers" and "Buttons." And that we would be changing their names as soon as possible.

Site Under Construction

Kittens this cute deserve, nay, demand their own website.

Meet Koto and Lyra, 10 week old kittens...

...coming home with us tomorrow.