# My Babies



## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Here are my babies:

The original 2, Papito (black) and Persephone (gray and white). They were adopted a week apart from our local shelter at roughly 4 months old. They are now 7.5 years old.










Persephone has the most adorable milk mustache:










Diablo was found by a coworker of mine and on his way to the shelter when we decided to make him part of our family. He was about 8 weeks old when we got him and is currently about 3 yeas old.










Our fourth cat Daytona was a foster from the shelter. She came to us at about 8 weeks for "socialization" and 2 months later we decided we could not send her back. She was our family Christmas present last year and has just had her first birthday.












A pile-up in front of the heater: Diablo, Papito, Daytona. 











This is our sweet girl Tinners. She came to us as a 2 year old, lost a leg as a four year old, suffered an attack of pancreatitis as a 7 year old. I tube fed he for a month and she recovered. The pancreatitis recurred a year later and rather than put her through all that again, we decided to let her go. RIP Tinners (11-11-2011). 










She was 3 legged and 17 pounds and was affectionately known as "a bowling ball on a tripod"










Our newest addition, Erek, came to us as a foster. His mother was up for adoption on craigslist at 8.5 weeks pregnant. I took her in and 4 days later she had 5 kittens (Euphoria, Echo, Encore, Elvis and Erek). I found homes for everyone else, but Erek had a rare and severe birth defect called pectus excavatum that was life-threatening. He ended up needing two major surgeries to repair it. He is now 8 months old and nearly 10 pounds. Happy and healthy. This first one is right after his first surgery:










Here he is post-surgery. He's quite a goof ball:











And finally, my fosters. 

These guys came from a shop where they were reproducing at will.

Mama Tootsie and her babies (3 boys, 3 girls): Igor, Ivan, Ichabod, Iris, Inky and Itsy. 










I am afraid Mama Tootsie might be pregnant again. Top view taken 5 days ago:











My other foster, Mama Lucy:










Her three kittens (Helios, Hope and Harley) were adopted out this past weekend. 

I name each foster batch after a letter, alphabetically. The mothers of these last two batches were already named and I did not change them.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

I can't believe how adorable they all are - and I love your system of naming. Let me guess, you're partial to all black kitties.  Is Daytona still young, or is she just that much smaller than the other kitties?


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I do love me some black cats.  We also have a black lab mix (Athena). She and Diablo were babies together and the dog has no idea she's not a cat. They definitely rule the house.

Daytona is a year old now. In that picture she was only about 5-6 months, which is why she looks so small compared to the other two. Now she is almost impossible to tell apart from the boys at first glance, except that everyone has different colored eyes. Papito's are yellow, Diablo's are green and Daytona's are brown.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Good thing for the different colored eyes! I'm just looking again at the pic of Mama with her 6 black kitties. Since I can't think of 6 different eye colors, that could get confusing...


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## MortyMathers108 (May 16, 2012)

so so so pretty i like your cats a llot and i like there names they remind me of love


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## Leazie (Apr 14, 2007)

So many kitties, such cuteness. It must be heaven to live in your house.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Luckily mama and the six black kittens aren't all black. Three of the kittens have some white on their faces that lets me tell them apart. Of the other three, one does not have any white, and two have white spots on their chest (one male, one female) so it's not nearly as easy to tell them apart, but is possible. 

I love living here except when it comes time to clean, lol. That's a lot of litter boxes.  When I first got the Tootsie and her kittens, I also had another batch (Queen Anne and her 3 kittens Gem, Gus Gus and Gypsy) from my local shelter. I hadn't planned to take Tootsie yet, or Lucy's group at all, but 3 kittens had recently died out at the shop where they were at and they couldn't wait for my shelter group to go back. For a while there were 20 cats in the house. I was also bottle feeding/supplementing Tootsie's babies as she wasn't producing enough milk on her own for all 6 of them. Just feeding and cleaning litters in the morning took over an hour. 

Fortunately the shelter cats have been adopted, my "H" batch has been adopted and I'm no longer bottle feeding the "I" batch so I'm back down to about 20 minutes to feed and clean everyone and I can spend more time playing with the babies again.


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## minikin44 (Aug 25, 2012)

<3 You have your hands full but in such a wonderful way :-D


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Wow, that's incredible commitment. :worship The shelter's lucky to have you. I've always wanted to foster, but one of my girls hates other cats, and the other one is afraid of all other cats. :?


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

One of mine (Persephone) hates just about everything, lol. She just stays away from the laundry room/garage though, which is where the fosters stay. Diablo and Papito don't really care one way or the other and the babies Daytona and Erek like to keep extremely close tabs on the tiny home invaders.


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## ericthegreat (Oct 10, 2012)

That's...a lot of cats!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

It is indeed a lot of cats. I was able to get some better photos of the foster kittens tonight. 

Almost the whole group photo:










This is Iris (mostly white face) and Itsy (the runt). Both females:










Thin white stripe is a boy, Ichabod. The other two are Ivan (male on far left) and Igor (male in the middle):










The other female, Inky:


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## Leazie (Apr 14, 2007)

They are all so cute, but Ichabod with his little white stripe is very unique looking. I'd take him in a minute if I could.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I love that the three with white on their faces (Iris, Itsy and Ichabod) still have blue eyes. Their mother has 1 blue eye and 1 yellow. Since they're already over 8 weeks and still blue, are they likely to remain blue? I know they can change up until 3 months, I'm just wondering if that's likely at this point?


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

I don't know, but wow are they cute!!!


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## Crazymama (Oct 15, 2012)

I love Persephone's markings. She should do a "Got Milk?" commercial!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Erek turns 1 year old tomorrow! I can't believe how big he is (over 12 lbs now and not "filled out" yet). He's the only one who was born here, so the only one who's birthday I know for sure. I wrote this for him tonight:

I can't believe that tomorrow my tiny little Erek turns 1 year old! I remember finding his mom on craigslist four days before she gave birth to five beautiful kittens. I remember going into their room several times a day those first few weeks just to count them and watch them sleep. I remember when they first learned how to escape their box. I remember discovering that Erek's chest seemed to be oddly shaped, and asking for advice and doing google searches. I remember finding someone in England who was studying pectus excavatum and bouncing questions off her. I remember how scared I was when the vet didn't know what the problem was (but that there was clearly something wrong) and I remember the relief I felt when another vet at the office told me she'd done the corrective surgery four times before. I remember bottle feeding him 3-4 times a day trying to get enough weight on him for him to be a surgical candidate. I remember the agonizing wait on the day of surgery (I didn't know if his lungs could take the anesthetic, or if he would wake up from the surgery at all). I remember sleeping in the living room next to his crate and giving him pain meds that made his tongue flop out. I remember when he grew so fast he cracked the cast and the surgery had to be repeated. I remember bringing cookies and pizza to work (and to my mom's work) to raise money to help with his surgeries. I remember lots of kind people donating. I remember how fast he grew after the surgery, and I remember his new homes falling through. I remember realizing one day that we wouldn't be able to give him up and calling the vet to schedule his shots. I remember discovering that his favorite toys have bells in them, that he loves to sleep sprawled out flat on his back, that he loves sunshine but hates the heater. My littlest boy turns 1 year old tomorrow. Happy birthday Erek!!


Erek at 2.5-3 weeks:










Erek now:


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

It's hard to believe that the tiny, sickly 3 week-old kitten could turn into such a stunning cat. He is absolutely gorgeous.

And what a sweet tribute to your first year together! Wow, what you did for him took an amazing amount of courage and commitment. 

What exactly is pectus excavatum? From the name, it sounds like it might have something to do with a lung that's too shallow, or concave?


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

Happy Belated B-Day Erek! What a handsome man and a fortunate one to have such good care.

How is Persephone and the rest of the crew?


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

spirite said:


> What exactly is pectus excavatum? From the name, it sounds like it might have something to do with a lung that's too shallow, or concave?


Ah, I went looking for this old thread to find the picture of all the cats in front of the heater and saw this question I never answered.

Pectus excavatum is a deformity of the chest/ribcage. In a normal cat, the sternum (the bone at the bottom/front of the ribcage) is parallel to the spine, with the ribs arching between them to form the ribcage. In a cat with Pectus, the sternum points up, toward the spine. This compresses the lungs and causes them not to function efficiently. 

It's a birth defect and the degrees can vary. "Mild" pectus often requires no treatment at all and the cat is not generally considered special needs. Moderate might require treatment and the cat tires easily because of reduced lung volume/oxygenation. Severe pectus is fatal unless treated and the only treatment is surgical, as you have to change the bone structure of the ribcage. 

My understanding is that treating adult cats is possible, but not recommended. Since the treatment involves breaking bones, the younger the animal at the time of surgery, the better the chances of recovery. Plus cats with pectus severe enough to require surgery usually don't make it to adulthood. 

The surgery involves breaking the sternum then applying a cast to the kitten, and sewing the sternum to the cast, to hold it in place while it heals. In Erek's case, he was so stunted and the surgery helped him so much, that after 3 weeks, he actually grew enough to break his cast. The vet's terminology was "He hulked out of it!" They had to repeat the surgery and make a bigger cast in order to keep his sternum at the right angle until the break fully healed. 

Pectus excavatum literally translates as "hollow chest." Erek was long haired, so there was nothing to "see," but from the outside it looks as if the chest is hollow and the ribs have collapsed into the empty space. You could feel the dent. He still has one, but it was corrected enough by the surgery to be considered "mild" now and no further treatments are needed.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Everyone here is good. Persephone had a dental in february and had four teeth pulled. The poor kitten had severe gingivitis as a 6 month old when we adopted her and has always had tooth issues. She's feeling pretty good now. 

Papito is our compulsive licker and is currently bald on his stomach and back legs. We've got to get him in for his steroid shot. But he acts like a very mellow kitty otherwise and likes to snuggle.

Diablo is 4.5 now and as big a terror as ever (he earned his name!). He has never really outgrown the kitten phase and still tears around the house like he's 4 months old. 

Daytona keeps Diablo on his toes. She's his best buddy in the house. She's just about two now and also seems to have no idea she's no longer a baby. 

Erek is huge. Over 14 lbs last vet visit and not quite two years old, so still filling in. He's not the least bit fat. Due to his special relationship with the vet who did his surgery, he gets to star in a special Christmas card for her every year. He's a very handsome and regal boy. 

Fosters currently are Sanka (shy girl, we're socializing her to be adopted--she was once, but was returned to me), Nala (mother of my "N" batch of kittens. She's here for another week or so while her milk dries up, then will go to the shelter to go up for adoption) and Lotus Blossom (another shelter foster who wasn't doing well or being adopted at the shelter, so she's back here with me to hang out and wait for her people).

I may have three more coming in this week. A mom and two babies from the same place as Sanka (long story...I ranted about it on here somewhere already). Still, down to single digits for the moment.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Loved reading your story. You definitely have a house full!

Erek is such a lucky cat to have you. Ive never heard of pectus excavatum! Plus you found a vet which was familiar with the condition and had done the surgery. How fortuitous! Special needs cats always teach us so much about life and compassion and perseverance wed never know otherwise!!

You do amazing work with kittens and cats. The world needs a million more people just like you! :thumb


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I'd never heard of pectus either. The first time I took him to the vet, she said she could tell something was wrong, but had no idea what. Fortunately, it's a multi-vet practice and when she talked to her colleagues, one of them was familiar with it. I did tons of research on my own also and connected with a lady in England doing a study on pectus and she gave me lots of helpful info. 

It was a scary time and there was about 2 months there (3 weeks to 11 weeks or so) where we didn't know if he was going to make it. I leaned in really close at one point and just whispered to him that if he wanted to let go, I'd understand that. But that if he wanted to live, I'd do whatever it takes to get him well (I was mostly thinking of money at that point, because the surgery could easily run into the thousands of dollars, but his entire treatment ended up being around $500, because my vet really wanted to have this case and gave me amazing pricing to help me out).


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

There are awesome kind hearted vets in this world who really want to help animals. Tell her we think she is wonderful. Were you able to spay the mom which produced this genetic defect?


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## TinyPaws (Jun 23, 2013)

Such beautiful babies! Erek is adorable!


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## Catlover Danielle (Jul 31, 2013)

Wow, Venus - I know I've seen you around here quite often - but it's so nice to read the stories of your beautiful babies. I didn't even notice the dates and how long ago this was. Erek is completely adorable (as are all of your kitties) but he's just got such a touching story - he's lucky to have you. Great job taking care of him!

I have a kitten I am working on socializing.. maybe you could give me some tips?


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Mitts & Tess said:


> There are awesome kind hearted vets in this world who really want to help animals. Tell her we think she is wonderful. Were you able to spay the mom which produced this genetic defect?



Yep. The people who owned her didn't *want* to give her up, but there was two small children in the house and "the last time this happened, they had a hard time giving away the kittens." *eyeroll* I said I'd take care of the kittens if she spayed the mom. I dropped mom off at the vet after she was all done with the kittens and the owner picked her up after the spay, so there was zero chance of her getting pregnant again. I had all the babies snipped too, before I adopted them out. Nothing of mine leaves my house that isn't fixed.  The shelter cats I don't control, though they have a spay/neuter policy as well, they just do it after the cats are adopted.


I'd love to help with socialization tips. Is kitty just jumpy or full on feral?


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## Catlover Danielle (Jul 31, 2013)

Venus - this kitty is approximately 10 to 11 weeks of age now. He is absolutely adorable, but was born outside. We want to give him a great shot - it's just hard to do. We were told by rescue to basically force him to like being petted by picking him up and wrapping him tightly in a towel and rubbing his face as much as we can during the day. 

Elvis isn't completely feral, I've left him in a cage for a bit and kept him separate from everyone, and anytime I'd go to the cage he sort've would just freeze, but he lets me pick him up and hasn't ever fought me to get down and run away or anything, he lets me hold him and pet him, but he's definitely scared. I have two other foster kitties, one named Thomas O'Malley, who is also a little timid but he is wonderful with me, just skittish of noises, and they have hit it off. Thomas brings out the braver side of the little kitten - the problem is they're in a very quiet basement so it isn't helping them get used to loud noises, or anything. [the basement is a finished basement. meaning kitties are safe there.] when Thomas is around Elvis rubs him and loves on him and is definitely a little more 'secure' but when Thomas isn't he kind of just is nervous and freezes. I want to make him comfortable enough to come up to me and hang out with me, too. 

I had started letting him out of his cage - and he never runs away and hides, he just sleeps in the cage I have set up as a bed (it's left open all the time) for them to go in and out whenever they please. He's usually in there with Thomas, so I've been leaving him out. BUT, the next step (or so I thought) was to move the cage upstairs and get him used to the sounds, etc. [My cats are NOT being very welcoming what so ever. I feel bad for the little guy!] I have been taking him out of the cage and holding him on my chest/lap and petting him and like I said he doesn't try to get away, but you can tell he's just not comfortable. But every single night (it's only been two nights - we brought him up on monday) he meows on the top of his lungs.. so I have been bringing him back downstairs while we're not home/asleep and getting him when I get home and leaving him in the cage from 5:30 to 10:00pm ish when we go to bed. 

I'd really really love your help. or anyones advice is greatly appreciated too!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

You can sit down there and read to them. Or put a radio or TV on down there, so they're hearing human voices (TV or radio are great, so they can hear different types of voices...men, women, children, barking dogs, etc). If you're trying to get him used to people, bringing him out with the other cats might be a step backwards....just one more thing for him to worry about (the one he's getting along with sounds fine though). I keep my fosters in a separate room for the first several weeks and always get pretty comfortable with them (and them with me) before I start trying to put other cats into the picture.

I'm not a fan of "forcing" cats to do anything as a way to get them to like it. In general I find that food is the best way to win over shy kitties. The ones I've worked with also seem to really like being scratched along their spine (rather than reaching for their face/head). In terms of petting, I try to get them to REALLY enjoy a good backscratch. Once they figure out how good that feels, the rest comes more easily. Routines are good too....Sanka, our semi-feral mama kitty from May, has figured out that dinner time is roughly 8 pm and now she presents herself for food every night at that time (whether she actually gets food every time or not).  Lotus, who's been back less than a week, has also figured that out and accompanies Sanka to the food bowl each night now.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Its not so much forcing as it is nudging. Gently pushing their limits. Each of the kittens sound like they can easily come around quickly and they each sound very adaptable and will come around with consistent work each day. Food is always a huge motivator.

Try reading thru this thread for tips. http://www.catforum.com/forum/56-feral-cats/239538-heidis-kitty-boot-camp.html 

Several of us use these techniques and they really work.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

We've been working with his highness (Erek) to get his photos for his annual christmas card to the vet who did his surgery.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Erek is Sooooo CUTE!
His little yellow ribbon looks good on him!
(I think Tuxies are adorable!)


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yes, that's our favorite picture too, despite the death stare, lol.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Erek:







Persephone:



Daytona:



Papito, Persephone, Diablo:


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## Tiliqua (Jan 22, 2013)

They are gorgeous!! BIG kitties, and gorgeous!!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yeah, Erek was the smallest last year (around 13 lbs), but he's gained and filled out some since then. I think Papito at around 15 lbs is the lightest now. Persephone at 17 lbs has historically been the biggest, but she's lost some and Diablo found it.


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