SIX WEEKS OLD!

Big news!  Our kittens turned six weeks old yesterday, and to celebrate, Mom let them come out of their room for the first time.  And what was more important was that I got to go in the room and check out the food dishes and the litter boxes.  Sadly, the dishes were pretty much empty, but I did find a few goodies in the litter boxes.  And I found a few more yummy little tidbits on the floor.

Here I am, checking out everything in the Kitten Room
while Eliza just kind of hangs out.

Jason also went in the kittens' room, and he ate some food out of Eliza's dish, which is on top the crate where I can't reach it.  Mom was afraid Jason and Eliza might be all hissy with each other, but they got along pretty well, except when Eliza growled at Jason because he was eating out of her dish, and then he whapped her on the head with his paw, and she shut up.

Meanwhile, the kittens were out exploring the dining room and part of the kitchen.  Whenever one of them got too close to Mel, he snarked at it, so then the kitten would scamper away.  These kittens are at the age when they think they are really hot stuff, and you can tell that by the way they run around with their spiky little tails straight up.  Then if they get scared by something, which happens a lot, they get all puffed up and they bounce sideways.  No self-respecting puppy would act like this, but kittens do it a lot, and people think it is cute, for some reason.

Anyway, Mom took some pictures of the kittens running around, exploring.  Here's Erica.  She's probably the bravest of all the kittens.

Of course, Esmé is pretty bold, too.  I think girls are not such scaredy-cats as boys are.

Esmé and Erica

Elton is like a tiny tiger, stalking through the jungle.  Except he has lots fewer stripes than a tiger.

Here's Esmé playing with Eliza's tail while Elton checks to see if the milk bar is open.  Poor Eliza just gets skinnier and skinnier because she keeps letting the kittens nurse.  Yesterday she only weighed 4 lbs, 14 oz.  Mom is trying to feed Eliza some extra-special food in her own dish so that she will eat more.

Etienne is the biggest kitten, and he did a lot of exploring yesterday, too.

Etienne even got a little acquainted with his big brother Jason.  When Jason started eating Eliza's food, Etienne got up on the crate to see what was going on.

After the kittens had been out for a while, Mom realized that she had not seen Edward anyplace.  Edward is kind of the shyest kitten, so Mom thought maybe he was behind the piano or hiding someplace like that.  Of course, I knew where he was all along, but I didn't care because I was still busy vacuuming the floor around the litter boxes.  Finally, Mom looked the big cardboard box where the kittens first got born, and there was Edward, all by his lonesome.

Mom took him out of the box and put him down in the dining room, and then Edward started exploring, just like all the other kittens.  So we think maybe he just didn't understand that was what he was supposed to be doing.

Okay, so that's my report about the kittens and how they turned six weeks old.  In just two or three more weeks, we hope they will be big enough to get their surgery, and then they can get adopted.