About 10 weeks ago a friend of mine called me in a panic, and said
that her cat had given birth to one kitten and that she (the cat)
refused to do anything with it. She asked me if I could take the baby
and raise it, and put him up for adoption after he was weaned. I
agreed, and Teddy came to live with me, my DH and the clowder. He
weighed about 4 to 5 oz, and had a healthy set of lungs. <G> He is a
b/w tuxie, with big feet.  Fast forward 3 weeks - I found a kit at one
of my feeding stations, emaciated, eyes all closed with gunk and nose
plugged solid. Poor baby couldn't nurse, and was starving to death. I
guessed his age to be about 5 weeks. I brought him in, cleaned his
eyes and nose out, and fed him some formula via eyedropper. He got the
name Batley because he looked like a tiny bat with his big ears and
big eyes. After we fed him, he looked around and was very intent on
what ever was going on around him.  I didn't have a scale at that
time, but bought one a couple days later, and he weighed 8 oz at that
time. We kept him and Ted separate for about a week, just to make sure
that everything was ok with him. He gained weight quickly, and now is
up to almost 2 lbs. Ted is heavier, at 2.3 lbs.  Those two are always
playing, either with each other or one of my other cats.  It is a riot
to watch them in action. <G>

Today, I left them in the kitchen while I took a shower before going
to work. I came back downstairs, and heard a very high pitched growl -
Ted was telling Cody, one of the clowder - to stay away. Cody was just
sitting there, watching Teddy, who was hiding beside their bed crate.
Batley aka Batman was in the crate, taking this all in. Teddy spit at
Cody, who hadn't moved a muscle, and kept growling at him. Just then,
Batley came bouncing out of the crate. He goes over to Ted, sniffs
him, then came jumping sideways at Cody, making himself as big as he
could, halloween cat style. He gets up to Cody, stops, then slaps Cody
as hard as he could on the leg, and went back to Ted, acting like he
was saying "See that? I took care of him for you!" Cody gave me a
disgusted look, and then went upstairs.  I cuddled both of the babies
and praised Batley for taking care of his 'brother'. <G>

Now, to go feed them before bedtime!

MIshi
(sorry this is so long!)