Thanks to everyone who submitted name suggestions for our angelic foursome. As usual, there were more good names than we needed. Here’s what we chose:

Ariel is based on J in IL’s suggestion. It’s a little more familiar and easier to pronounce than Asriel, and Ariel actually is the name of an archangel.

Farrah Fawcett was the name of the late actress (and blonde shampoo model) who played Jill in the original Charlie’s Angels TV series, which CatonsvilleCats reminded us about. So naturally we named the blondest kitten Farrah.

Hope is derived from the names of two of the first kittens we lost: Hobie and Poe. Things we learned from them have helped us save subsequent very sick kittens.

Ursula was one of Webbthistle’s many suggestions. We chose it because we liked it. The name briefly made me wish we’d opted for Bond Girls over Angels as the theme for this litter!

The Angels have been here for five days, and from the start they’ve been active and apparently healthy. Our first instinct is always to check for upper respiratory infections, since those can be deadly, but this litter showed no sign of congestion, weepiness, nose goop, etc. And they’ve all been pretty good eaters from the start.

So what’s the problem?

On day 4, Ursula only weighed 0.2 oz more than she had on day 1, and the other three Angels weighed 2-4 ounces less.

A closer look at the litterboxes showed some really loose poop. The pine-pellet litter does a good job of hiding it, but diarrhea was pushing the Angels in the wrong direction.

We dewormed them and started them on Metronidazole yesterday morning, and today’s weights show what a difference two doses of anti-giardia meds can make.

We’re going to keep a close eye on what goes into and comes out of the Angels over the next few days, but I think this weight-loss problem is already in the rear-view mirror.

In fact, we’re comfortable enough with their health that we’re taking them to an adoption event tonight, at a fancy-shmancy new apartment building in downtown DC. We’ll see if any of our angels decide to grow wings and fly home.

filed by: TS

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