bob kitten

bob is an 11week old kitten that's being fostered with kendra and their mother. they're all now ready for adoption.

when they all came home with me, the kittens were just a week old and i couldn't keep track of which was which - they were all tiny, ears not fully developed, were hardly able to move on their own and getting increasingly sick. they were easy to tell apart because they were all different colors and patterns, but who was it that last sneezed? did kendra start biting on bob or was that karen? who just had breakfast? who should i make sure gets some food next?

while they all shared the same symptoms at first, one morning i noticed one of bob's eyes would not open. it was a little encrusted and bob was meowing miserably. that's when bob and i started to get to know each other very well and i never again had problem tracking his progress....

every morning, every afternoon, everytime i noticed his eye (left) sealing shut, i had to get a clean towel under warm water and use it to loosen open that sucker, and wipe away any of the gunk that was there. and because he was sick bob wouldn't eat - so each time i opened his eye up, i'd have to sit there with kitten formula and a syringe or bottle for at least 20 minutes before he'd keep down a few milliliters of the stuff.

while none of the kittens liked being hand-fed, they all ate even as they angrily chewed on the syringe ends. bob, on the other hand, would put up a real struggle to escape. then he'd stay stock still, offering no resistance at all. but feeding success would not come easily even then...bob would decide not to react at all - not even to swallow! so food would go in, and then dribble right back out of his little mouth. eventually, bob would accidentally eat some food and i could stop the torture a few hours.

i started to think that bob was a very, very irritating kitten who did not AT ALL appreciate the things i was doing for him! and bob in turn, did not appreciate it when the daily routine had to be stepped up; i had to start opening up BOTH of his crusted over eyes AND give him eye drops several times a day on top of everything else. but his pouting was so ridiculous and cute, i found myself looking forward to these appointments with my little emo bob...the little dark grey smudges on his nose, the grey chin contrasting against his mostly white face, it was like tears had smeared his mascara and chalky face paint. robert smith momentarily re-incarnated as a tiny, whiskered, stray.

his eye infection started clearing up after a couple of weeks (!), but the originally infected eye was healing very slowly...it was still sealing shut every once in a while, and when it was not crusted over, it was barely open and inside his eye was irritated and cloudy. what if this eye had been damaged beyond repair? would his vision be impared? would he have to get surgery and lose an eye!? being so young, and still sick, i'd have to wait until he was much better before any further treatments could even be considered.

happily, bob's eye began clearing up and at 7 weeks, both his eyes were crystal clear

[the black lipstick is still there tho]

bob happily left his days of illness behind him and is enjoying his kittenhood. he likes to say hello when you come into the room, then meow to himself a bit longer as he gets back to his exploring. when he gets a bit of extra energy in him he's ferocious with his toys, and will leap onto you, hang on and then start sniffing. little bob is a about 3.5 lbs, a little over 2 months old, and although he likes to respond to your close approach like it is a tactical attack, he'll purr like a madman when you rebuff his defenses and rub his neck and chin and belly.

don't worry, he hasn't lost his edge, bob still likes to show just how terribly he's "suffering"