From mid-March to mid-May, Raz and her Pi “Boys” occupied the villa as probably the healthiest and cleanest litter we’ve ever fostered.

How many poops did we find outside the box during that time? Zero.

How often did we need to bathe or clean the kittens? Never.

Upstairs in the 50K playground, Raz is still holding up her end of the deal (though she does enjoy pawing dry food kibble out of her bowl and onto the placemat.) During the day she can lounge on our bed or beside one of four windows that overlook the street and both sides of the house. At night she prowls and chirps and sleeps beside us.

But elsewhere at 50K, the pendulum has swung hard in the opposite direction. The Palindromes are still installed in the pigpen, er bunkhouse, where they are solidfying their status as the messiest litter we’ve ever met.

After watching them wade into and plow through their wet food, we brought out the cylindrical metal feeding trough (designed for puppies) that we use for litters of six or more kittens. That reduced the food wading a little. For about a meal.

Then Hannah realized she could climb over the rim and swim the trough circumferentially, like a gator in a gutter. When Hannah goes all in and bellies down, the other Pals have to at least get their front paws into the swill to avoid getting pushed aside.

So our bunkhouse feeding frenzy continues, despite the puppy bowl. Yesterday we moved the bowl into the shower, so we can at least get a break from scrubbing the floor.

This is what Hannah looked like after dinner, before her nightly partial bath in the sink.

Downstairs, our gray mom-cat and her kittens (three black, one gray) are civilized, fastidious eaters, like their Pi predecessors. They don’t even scatter dry food outside the bowl.

The problem comes from the other end. Mom and the whole litter had liquid diarrhea when they arrived a week ago. Their butts were caked with clotted poop, and they were moderately dehydrated and severely underweight.

After a week of Clavamox, Metronidazole, and consistent eating, they’ve all gained weight. Their poop is still loose, but more like cow pies now than soup. And their butts are (mostly) clean. But we continue to find drops and streaks of dried diarrhea on the walls beside the litter boxes, and distributed randomly across the villa floor.

When this group leaves, we’re looking at a serious, hands-and-knees, scrubbing marathon in the villa.

But that may not happen as soon as we thought, because both gray momma and the long-haired black male kitten have developed full-blown URIs over the last 48 hours. Mom has eye discharge and sneezes occasionally.

But we’re more worried about the kitten, who sounds badly congested and emits a stream of snuffles and sneezes and snorts. He lost weight yesterday, and for a while I thought he wasn’t eating.

After consulting with the HT cat manager, we started the whole litter on Azithromycin (for URIs) and Albon (to tag-team the diarrhea issue).

Today the black kitten is eating again and a bit playful, even though he struggles to breathe through his nose. Our fingers are crossed that his siblings will avoid this virus, but it’s more likely they won’t. So we’ll keep mom and her foursome until they’re all on track and safe to transfer.

I guess that means we need names – for the litter, the great-looking and friendly gray mom, and her well-socialized kits. They arrived on 5/20. Any ideas?

filed by: TS

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