Up to Our Ears in Kittens!

Marmalade and Jasmine take a break from playing together.

Kai meets Marmalade
Marmalade loves to rub Will's hair before bed!

Giving goodnight kisses

Marmalade's Companion

Marmalade got himself a new companion on Friday. Will is calling her "Jasmine" after his friend. She is a bit skittish and shy but is warming up quickly. She is also looking as though she is going to be rather fluffy. Her feet are like little dustmops and her coat is almost tortie colored with shades of orange and brown throughout. She also has some tiny white flecks here and there.

The first night they slept on opposite sides of the box and then by morning they were washing each other, cuddling and playing.

Dan's 70th Birthday Party

The above photo is Will asking Dan about his green hat. This made quite an impression on Will who now announces to people that his birthday "is on August1st" and he will be able to "wear a green hat just like 'that man'."

Follow Me

I still can't believe how similar in coloring Marmalade is to Mandarin. They look like siblings!
Tomorrow Marmalade goes for his bloodwork and will come home with a companion "sister" kitten who is just a week or so older. The rescue director tells me that Marmalade is only about 2 1/2 weeks old. Let's just say that I'm very thankful that she only called to say that there was ONE companion for him. This is enough work as it is!

Marmalade has two boxes that I keep for him with fluffy snuggle blankets inside. I wash and warm them each night in the dryer and since there are two boxes we can rotate them each night with a freshly clean and warmed box before his nighttime feeding. He has his litter changed daily and at this point he seems to have gotten the hang of using his litter box. He peed on Will's mop today but otherwise does pretty well.

Francine came over tonight and is in love with tiny Marmalade. She is hoping that her mom is interested in adopting him.

Hammering

Today I looked out on the porch and Will was hammering with his tiny hammer replica, his discarded shirt laying across the floor. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I took off my shirt because the book says that you need to hammer without a shirt on." I asked him to show me the book and sure enough there is a photo of a man hammering without his shirt!

Cat Update

Marmalade is getting stronger and stronger. Yesterday he drank a couple bottles of milk with ease and after a little bit of help he seems to have figured out how to use his litter box. Last night he spent about an hour with Mandarin playing in the kitchen. Mandarin was charging him gently and swatting at him a little bit. They were playing peek a boo around corners and sniffing each other too. So long as Marmalade does not try to nurse (which he tried a few times) or cuddle, Mandarin seems willing to be around him.

Marmalade Cat

We are the foster family for a tiny orange cat. He needs to be fed by bottle every 2-3 hours and sleeps inside a small cardboard box in Will's room. We are putting our toileting skills to work to train Marmalade to learn how to use his cat box. So far he does an awful lot of loud scratching in the box and then he pees right beside it!

If anyone wants to adopt this cat, I think our friends and family members have priority. Next week he'll likely be joined by another kitten friend. We have no idea what happened to his litter mates or his mother but he seems to be doing just fine. Tonight we put him on Paul and he walked up and licked his nose! He really does seem to love Will and follows him around. I think he is most interested in Will's tiny pink toes at the moment and Will scrambles around the room trying to keep the kitten off his feet!