Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 14

I bathed three of the four Xmas kittens today – Miss Tortie-and-White has a little way to go before she will accept me as her friend as well as her personal shampooist, but the other three were no trouble at all. As I've discovered previously, kittens appear to be conflicted when it comes to having baths – they don't like the water but they love getting massaged. I use a special kitten shampoo, which also serves to bring all the nasty fleas to the surface of the wet fur. They were pretty obvious on the white kitty and less so on the two black ones. A flea comb does the job in every case. I gave the kittens a towel down and then they retreated to their separate corners and began to rewash themselves. Miss Tortie-and-White helped them all out by tongue-bathing them too. Within an hour or so they coats were even softer and shinier than they were before.

Despite the fact that Miss Tortie-and-White has not made the full transition yet (she is about 40% there), all four of them run to greet me at the door whenever I come in. The other three are sitting in my lap accepting cuddles and purring their little heads off. I have one person interested in the bi-colour male, but will just hold back a little – it would be great if they can go off in pairs.

I took the two black ones to the rumpus room yesterday. I put them in a cage and then walked about 20 metres to another outside room on the farm. They both adapted pretty well to their new environment – black kitten 2 just climbed up on the table and lay down near the window all day. Black kitten 1 explored the room and hid if a stranger came in but then within minutes came out to investigate so as not to miss out on the action. I'll test the bi-colour male in a new environment tomorrow to see how he goes. We mustn't forget that Miss Tortie-and-White came in about 7 to 14 days behind the other three because I caught them all at different times.

I started drafting an adoption flyer today which I will begin plastering on the notice boards of shopping centres, farm supplies shop and vets' offices tomorrow and the next day. It will be difficult for me to say goodbye as they are quite adorable, intelligent and wonderful company but I have no choice – I am looking after 21 cats already and four new ones have been born.