Happiness is..., originally uploaded by estacey.

Not dogs this time, but instead... cats!

I was on doggy doody duty on Monday and these people came to the back door of the shelter with a big Mt. Dew box. Inside? Kittens. It seems that they were on their way to the beach and stopped to get some gas and discovered kittens in the garbage can there. Like, right next to the pumps. The lady said other people were just ignoring them. Tiny kittens! Ignoring! So the shelter lady said she would take the kittens and she brought them inside.

I got to thinking about how it would be nice to take them home. The kittens are just so tiny and scared, trembling, and the shelter is SO LOUD. I moved them into a cage with their little Mt. Dew box to hide in (and hide they did) but kept thinking about them. So I asked if it would be a good thing to take them home until we go out of town next weekend. YES! was the answer. By then, they'll be old enough to vaccinate and adopt out.

It's just a perfect situation here for now. We never, ever use the bathroom off the one guest bedroom, and it has a bathtub with a door. So, they're in a room we don't use anyhow, and it's quiet and cozy in there. Plus, if we have them when they are old enough to jump, we can just shut the bathtub door.

They are just so tiny, and so dirty. They are going to be tuxedo cats someday, I gather... But right now all that stuff that should be white is a yellow-brown. They're filthy. I have no idea what happened to their mom, but I don't think she's been around for a while. They spent their entire day yesterday eating and sleeping.

So one of them is terrified of us. He hates us. He got away from me yesterday, and ran away, and threw a fit when I caught him. And then I noticed his little leg is all... I dunno, like the skin has been torn off? Chris cleaned him off and said hopefully he'll be OK, but it was worrisome. As of today, it looks better, and he's spunky and feisty, and he already has a belly on him. So that makes me happy; I think he'll be okay.

The second one actually likes me. She's the only one who has busted out a purr so far. She was mewing tonight, I think because I had just set her down. Sweetie. She is also a good eater. None of them have played though. Weird, right? Kittens that don't play. I guess they were too busy surviving to figure that one out. Hopefully soon they'll become happy, playful little cats.

The third one, though, is really, really in bad shape. Probably half the size of the other ones, and twice as dirty. You can feel every notch on his backbone... there's just nothing to him. I noticed he hadn't been eating when the other ones were, so I got my secret weapon: Whiskas wet food. The first two actually sat IN IT to eat it, and went crazy over it. The scrawny guy sniffed it and then laid down to go back to sleep. :( He doesn't have much energy, and has some green stuff coming out of his one eye. I gave them all baths tonight to make them a little less dingy, and afterwards he just plopped down on the towel. So sad. I gave them a warm head compress to snuggle with... which they did... Then afterwards, when I was holding the scrawny one, he just went limp in my hand. Eyes half open, but just limp. Poor little fella.

So I'm feeding him some kitten formula I have. Not exactly sure how much to feed, but I figure some nutrition is better than none; I give him as much as he'll take right now since he spits about half of it out. He hates me for feeding him, but that's okay. My reward for forcing his little mouth open is getting a peek at his tiny kitten teeth. I've given him a little Pedialyte too. I hope it gets him through whatever he's suffering through right now.

I took a few really bad pictures, but am so tired that I don't even want to think about loading up pictures... I was at school from 8 a.m. until 6:30 tonight, then came home and cleaned up the kittens' bathtub, and fed the little guy, gave them baths, etc. It was 9 before I ate dinner. I find this amusing because when I asked Chris if it was OK to bring the kittens home, I was like, "And they're old enough to feed themselves, so they'll be, like, no work!" Compared to the last kittens, you know. But tonight they were 2 hours of tending and 2 loads of laundry. No work, ha ha!

Anyway, say a little prayer or whatever for the little guy. I think he needs it.

¶ 11:29 PM