The big cloudy-eyed tortie expired in the nursery nest sometime between 10 and 11:30 pm on Wednesday. On Tuesday she'd been the strongest of the three surviving Les Miserables.

We'd thought the little feisty tortie-girl would go first, but her big-cat attitude kept her alive until Thursday. When I force-fed her and injected subcutaneous fluids Thursday morning, the fluids leaked out through her skin. There's something haunting about the look a very sick kitten gives you when you place it on a counter for treatment… as if it knows that you represent its only chance at recovery. Little tortie-girl gave me that look many times with the one round eye she could open. I drove her out to the Fairfax shelter for euthanization around 11am, and she was dying by the time we arrived.

The last survivor – "gray guy" – seemed to be holding his ground (even though his breathing was audible and labored), when I put him in the carrier Thursday morning to accompany tortie-girl on her last trip. But on the way home he had significant diarrhea, and within hours he seemed to be melting away. His good eye started closing and his ability to swallow diminished. We drove him back out to Fairfax Thursday night so they could put him down before he suffered further.

We never named, weighed, or even sexed the five Les Miserables kittens, probably because we knew from the start their prognosis was grim. But we spent a lot of time treating them this week and couldn’t help getting attached to them. Watching them decline and die despite all of our efforts made for a very sad and draining week.

OK – back to the living. We've spent much less time in the villa than usual this week, but we hope to make up for that to some degree over the long weekend.

The Reggae-Rats are getting sassy and more athletic, and Samantha seems to enjoy just hanging out and observing – even if the boys sometimes decide to stalk her or use her as a swatting bag.

Unlike her predecessor Minnie, Samantha doesn’t stand near the door and mew for access to the world beyond – she's happy strolling around the villa and rubbing her whiskers against its protruding surfaces. (On the other hand, she's only been in the villa for 10 days; Minnie was there for three months.)

And Samantha is a gorgeous little cougar, though since she always squints at the flash, our camera never captures the sapphire color of her eyes.

While I’d be happy to keep her, we'll probably need to transfer Sam to another foster home so we can take in more kittens. But as soon as she attends an adoption event and shows her personality and style to the public, I'll bet she's snapped up in a heartbeat.

filed by: TS