Both Summer and Spike's eyes have been open for a couple of days now, although we went through a short spell of crusted over eyes with Spike. Christy fixed him up with work and now we're doing triple antibiotic ointment 3 times a day to keep them looking good!

We're getting to be little chunks - Spike is 195 grams and Summer is 205 after their last feeding. Good stuff.

On another note, Frank's sister, Stein, was returned to the shelter today. She is officially the first of my past fosters to be returned and pretty much stinks. She's now almost an adult cat - ok she looks HUGE compared to Frank - and is probably going to have a hard time getting adopted because she's not a "cute kitten" anymore.

Stein's adopter was in the shelter several months ago and said she may be moving into a dorm and would not be able to keep Stein if she did. After talking with her for awhile, it seemed as though they hadn't really bonded like most animals/people do, so I suggested she go ahead and return her to the shelter sooner rather than later, as it is easier to adopt out a kiten than an adult cat. It was in Stein's best intrest. She told me she wanted to keep her for as long as possible.

It's very frustrating when people don't understand what's best for the animal. I wish she would have brought her back sooner. I kind of feel like I failed in picking a good home for her....

So for those of you that have never had kittens this young, they can not urinate/deficate on their own. Usually the momma cat stimulates the baies by licking them afte reach feeding, causig them to go potty. It's now my job to rub a cotton ball on their rears to make them go. Not the most fun thing to do, but it's not a big deal. I've been peed and pooped on a lot lately. haha

But here's the thing. I have a 10 month old male cat named Franklin. I got him when he was ten days old and went through the whole bottle-feeding thing with him. He is my baby and so far the only foster I've kept. Turns out, he's the BEST mommy I've ever seen. He licks the babies until they go potty - givin them a full bath. He wakes me up in the middle of the night when they want food. He crawls into their crate while I feed them and lays with them, keeping them warm. Today he actually picked Spike up like a momma cat does and took him away from me to give him a bath. I just can't believe a male cat that hasn't really ever had a cat mommy knows what to do.

I took pictures this morning and will post them on here later today if possible. My computer is not working so I'm using an older one.  I'll also get their weights.

Here is Frank and his sister, Stein, a couple weeks after I first got them. Frank is on the left.

Here he is a few weeks ago. Such a cute little man!

After watching them get frustrated trying to suckle on the syringe the first 3 feedings, I tried the bottle with much caution. Kittens this young could easily aspirate the milk into their lungs. They took to it REALLY well, both drinking until they were full and quiet. They both pottied and then...to my surprise....Spike began purring!

I figured out my scale I just bought tonight. Summer is 101 grams and Spike is 108. Hopefully we'll see that number increase and won't ever see it go backward.

Off to sleep for a couple of hours. ...