Welcome New Momcat Hazelnut!

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Hello, Kitten Academicians!

Say hello to Hazelnut, our newest momcat!

Hazelnut figuring out that headbutting chicken baby food maybe isn’t the best plan.

Hazelnut is a local lady who we originally heard about through our vet, Dr. Katz, a little over a week ago. Dr. Katz was telling us about a man who took in a stray cat to be friends with his resident cat. After taking her to the vet to get checked out, they learned she was pregnant. The man wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep her or not and decided to take her home for a few days to think about it.

Fast forward to the following weekend. Michelle at DAWS let’s us know she’s got a potential momcat for us; they’re just waiting for the owner to sign the paperwork. She then let us know that the cat has already been confirmed pregnant by Dr. Katz.

Lo and behold, it’s the same cat!

Late Tuesday morning, on July 16th, Hazelnut came to the Academy. She’s only been with us for a few days as of writing this so we don’t know all that much about her personality yet. What we do know is that she’s pregnant and the x-ray showed at least two kitten spines. Because skeletons can be seen on the x-ray, we also know that she has 2-3 weeks left of her pregnancy at most. We’d guess less.

That’s it for now! Stay tuned for an eventual birth announcement post as soon as Hazelnut is ready!

Introducing Gadget and Her Gearbox!

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Greetings, Kitten Academicians!

Gadget arrived to us, like most momcats, on a transport via DAWS from Georgia. Right away, she made it obvious that she is a snuggle bug who loves attention. Headbutts, rolling on her back, purring, reaching out for us with her paw, climbing into our laps—all the adorable things that tell us she loves people. A few days after arriving to us, on June 11th, Gadget welcomed four kittens.

While we are committed to our no-sads rule, we have always made it a point to keep you aware of the facts. When you're ready, click “sads” for an update on three of the four kittens.

Moving to the positive news, Gadget and Crank are doing well! Gadget has come out of her shell even more and has revealed herself to be a super energetic and talkative cat. Crank is gaining very well each day, starting to explore quite a bit and interacting more and more with her environment, which is perfectly on par with what we'd expect from a kitten her age. Crank has a vet appointment next week on the 25th for a general checkup and her first round of vaccines.

You may see Gadget carrying Crank around or seemingly playing a bit rough with her, but rest assured, we’re keep an eye on them. If it becomes necessary, we won't hesitate to separate them if that’s what we determine to be the best option. In the mean time, they’ll continue to be in the annex together and we’ll bring them to the spa from time to time.

For now, here are some random photos of Gadget and Crank. We’ll be back with a follow-up post when we have more to report on these two.

Welcome Cuddles' Snugglers

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Hello, Kitten Academicians! 

Although a little late, allow us to introduce Cuddles and her Snugglers!

On the morning of March 19th, while taking Holiday for her spay, Aristokatz received a phone call from a homeowner wanting help with a stray cat who had just given birth in their garage. We didn’t get too much information on the momcat, but the homeowners did let us know that she would rub on ankles but did not tolerate being petted or picked up. Sure enough, she had given birth to four healthy kittens in a bag full of leaves and was definitely showing some really protective mom instincts. 

Given her protective nature at the time, we needed to get creative to collect them all safely. Ultimately, we decided to grab the three nearest kittens, place them in the back of the carrier, and wait patiently for her to check on them. After a little bit of time she did just that, and the door was closed behind her. The fourth kitten was then retrieved and placed in the carrier, which then went into the car and back to the Academy!

Upon arriving at the Academy, the carrier was placed in Mr. A’s office bathroom and set up to be their home base. Under normal circumstances, momcats would typically go into a larger room, but she's really not our typical momcat. Given the description of her temperament provided by the homeowner and a few attempts to hide kittens, we deemed the bathroom to be the safest starting location for her. In those first few days, we worked really hard to very slowly push her boundaries tiny bits at a time while keeping her stress level as low as possible. This has worked out well so far, and we’re happy with her progress to this point. She’s still a little spicy at times, but we’re more confident now in understanding her body language and communication style. We want to be clear that she’s not aggressive by any means; her way of communicating is just slightly different than that of the average momcat we’re used to seeing around here. She enjoys attention and pettings, but wants it to happen in accordance with her terms & conditions.

Cheatsheet created by is.a.momo on our discord

A day before their relocation to the second annex, DJ gave them all names! Momcat Cuddles and her kittens: Cashmere, Pajamas, Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow! To us, it appears that Cashmere and Marshmallow are boys while Pajamas and Hot Chocolate are girls. Cashmere and Pajamas also look quite similar, but they do have slightly different white spots on their chests and bellies, which allow us to tell them apart. Pajamas also has a little bit of white on her back toes.

Cuddles and her Snugglers are now living in the second annex and doing great! The kittens are gaining exceptionally well, Cuddles is eating well, and overall everyone is happy.

Now, how about a few photos?

Welcome Skylight and her Skyscrapers

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Greetings Kitten Academicians! Today we’re introducing Skylight and her Skyscrapers!

Skylight came to us on the evening of February 24th from a barn in Kentucky via DAWS. Apart from being a little stinky and having weepy eyes, she was very talkative, sweet, good-natured and definitely a good eater. To get a general sense of her health and confirm her pregnancy, we brought her to Dr. Katz of Aristokatz on February 26th. While her x-rays didn’t show much, it was confirmed that she had what looked to be 3–4 kittens on the ultrasound. Nine days later, at a follow-up visit on March 6th, she got x-rayed again and we saw skeletons forming! This let us know she was roughly 14–21 days away from giving birth.

Sure enough, 15 days later, Skylight gave birth to four super-fuzzy kittens. Will they be long-haired? We don’t know for sure but we’re thinking possibly, maybe, perhaps! Skylight gave birth to the first kitten in an elevated pineapple bed, but when discovered, the duo was moved to the much safer birthing box to have the remaining kittens.

Skylight and her Skyscrapers

Cheatsheet provided by is.a.momo on our discord

Names, they’ve got names! It almost never happens this quickly but DJ spent some time with the kittens and assigned names the same day they were born. See the cheatsheet to the right and photos below. At this point, we’re somewhat confident in saying that Joist, Rafter and Alcove are girls and Gable is a boy.

If you’ve been following the stream at all, you may have noticed that Joist looks pretty tiny compared to her brothers and you’d be correct. In fact, she’s the smallest kitten born at Kitten Academy so far, weighing in at just 2.1 ounces–about the same as two AA batteries or roughly 12 sheets of paper!

For those of you keeping an eye on the weight sheet, you may have seen she’s received some supplemental feedings. This has mostly been to make sure she’s meeting what we would like the minimum gains over 24 hours to be. Rest assured, we’re happy with her ability to gain and equally as happy to help supplement them as needed.

Now for some photos! These were taken while labor was happening so there’s just a few quick shots of each kitten. More photos will come in a later post!

Joist - Female

Rafter - Female

Gable - Male

Alcove - Female

Welcome Callie and Her Timey-Wimeys!

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Greetings, Kitten Academicians!

Say hello to our newest momcat whom DJ has named Calendar, or Callie for short!

Callie arrived to us on December 2nd, on a transport via DAWS all the way from Georgia. We aren't exactly sure about her age but we guess she's about one year old. She's super loving, playful and enjoys calm lap time, too. One of the more unique things about Callie is her waggly, bobbed tail but we'll go into more detail on that topic a little later!

On December 5th, we took her in to our vet, AristoKatz, for an x-ray with Dr. Katz. The x-ray confirmed she was pregnant with 5, maybe 6 kittens, and due anytime! The x-ray also showed her tail but we were unable to definitively conclude whether it was genetic or an old injury at that time. Turns out it's genetic! And we know this because...

A couple days later, on December 7th, Callie welcomed six healthy kittens to the Academy! Of the six kittens, two have bobbed tails which tells us that her bobbed tail is, in fact, genetic! It hasn't been all that long yet but so far she's proven to be a great mom, very attentive and quick with the cleanup duties.

For now, we’re pretty sure January and Holiday are the only girls but it can be hard to tell this early.*

*Edit: This time we’re almost certain, Holiday is the only girl in this class!

Cheatsheet provided by is.a.momo on our discord

Finally, here are some photos of the Timey-Wimeys for you to enjoy!

Monday - Male

Julian, bobtail - Male

Gregorian - Male

January, bobtail - Male

Holiday - Female

Friday - Male

Group Photos

Callie (before she had her kittens)

Repost: The Adorable Adootables!

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Greetings, Kitten Academicians! We are re-publishing this post to remind everyone of the adorable kittens still available for adoption. Since the original post, Raindrop does have an approved adooter!


The Adootables!

Let’s start right here; forget anything you think you know about these kittens!  Okay, not everything, but the time they’ve spent at KA has seen them all through many changes.  So if you’ve heard us say things in the closeups like “I think so-and-so would love being adopted with so-and-so” keep in mind these things can change pretty quickly – and easily – at this young age.  

All the cats and kittens we’re discussing here are ready to go and as always, you can adopt from anywhere in the continental USA, but you have to pick them up from Monroe, CT, in person.  If you have any trouble with the application, please let us know.

 

The Tabby Sisters

Raindrop, Sprout, and Drizzle are sleek and lovely mackerel tabbies who are very well-adjusted and love play and snuggles with humans as you’d expect from KA graduates.  They came to the Academy as the “April Meowers” and their mom and other siblings have already gone to their adopters.  They have lovely satin fur and play responsibly – you can pet that belly!  All three of them get along just great with the other adootables and any pairings would be great choices.  


Of the three, Raindrop is the most attention-seeking, both from cats and people, and tends to be the quickest to get along with new cats and new situations.  She does have a fixation on fingers and wants to help you type by biting on them, but is very gentle about it.  

Raindrop

Sprout


Sprout is a free spirit who can’t be collared – literally!  Even when the sisters got their sparkly new collars, Sprout rejected hers quickly.  She’s independent and of the three, probably would best tolerate time alone while her human is at work.


Drizzle is the most conservative, and can be quite growly at new kittens initially, but learns to get over it in due time.  Drizzle jealously guards her favorite toys and loves to play fetch – if she brings you a toy, try throwing it, but make sure she’s watching where it goes (or use a toy that makes noise)!  

Drizzle

All three tolerate endless snuggles from their humans and being held like babies, as long as they’re getting petted in the bargain.  

The DLC 

Squall & Wellingtons

When Dr. Katz at Aristokatz discovered a litter of newborn kittens on her doorstep, she offered to let us care for them.  A late addition to the April Meowers, these Darling Little Cats had a bit of a rough start but have grown into the fuzzy marshmallows they are today. Circumstances saw them hand-raised by Mr. A and their attachment to humans is particularly strong as a result.  We’re pleased to announce that Wellingtons and his sister Squall have both (mostly) outgrown their need to lick noses, just as their tongues are becoming extremely abrasive.  They still cannot get enough snuggling and carrying and prefer to sleep near – or on – their human’s heads.  They aren’t particularly fond of other cats – they’re well bonded with all the current Academy residents and other adootables, but very skeptical when meeting new cats and kittens and take a little convincing to come around.  

Wellingtons has become a “typical teenage boy” who is extra rambunctious and lately his waking hours are spent almost entirely focused on roughhousing with his sister, the Tabby twins, or anyone else he can.  He reminds us of teenage Tommy, or Custard, and like them is likely to grow out of it – mostly – in a few years.

Wellingtons

Squall


Squall is much more focused on human affection and there’s never enough.  She and her brother both will need humans with lots of time and affection to give, but Squall more so.  She’s a little quicker to come around to new cats than her brother is, but still a bit wary. 



Serenity Now!

Serenity

Serenity arrived at the Academy a momcat and a kitten herself.  While she didn’t become a momcat in the end, she is still a playful kitten!  Serenity is quite shy but also energetic like a kitten, and loves human affection.  She’s a wonderful bundle of contradictions – a cat.  We find she can be hand shy and especially wary of people standing over her, but if you are on her level and patient, she will reward you with endless affection and play.  It took Mr. A some effort to get her to come around, and the resulting snuggles are all the more enjoyable for it.  He still can have a hard time catching her when it’s time to go to her room – and of course she’s well-known for being an escape artist capable of operating door handles to let herself out again.  As a kitten, she has a lot of energy to work out, and zooms and wrestles with the other adootables all the time. While she did learn to get along with all of the kittens at the Academy after a normal adjustment period, we notice that she really appreciates having her own space, too. We think she will be very happy in a home that has a more normal human-to-cat ratio.

Lastly, here are some bonus photos of everyone mentioned above, some more recent than others.


Raindrop

Sprout

Drizzle

Squall & Wellingtons

Serenity

Introducing Till's Petty Cash!

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We’re catching up on our debts of recent class introduction posts, and so here is Till’s Petty Cash! Till came to Kitten Academy on July 15th, from a previous foster in West Virginia. Her kittens were born on the morning of July 26th.

On September 14th, an additional kitten joined the group named Bill. While we stand by our "no-sads" policy, it has always been our intention to inform you of the facts when these, thankfully rare, sad things happen. When you're ready, click the “sads” button for our facts-only update on Bill.

Now onto the Cash at hand!

Till

Ledger

Farthing

Quid

Doubloons

Also, another quick update: Teaspoon is doing well! He will be having surgery in November to correct his heart condition (pulmonic stenosis). Once he is confirmed to be doing well after this procedure, he will be able to undergo his graduation surgery. His pre-surgery appointment is coming up on November 7th.

Lastly, here’s some more deposits of Petty Cash, and Teaspoon with Uncle Loganberry!

The Adorable Adootables!

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Greetings, Kitten Academicians!

It’s been a while, but we’re here with plenty of good news!  The most important stuff is all about the cats and kittens that are ready to be adopted, but before that, let us take one moment.  

We’ve been working on better communication and so we’ve started putting things in place to bring in some extra help.  I only bring it up to mention you may see some really positive changes in the coming days and weeks.  Thank you so much to the wonderful people who have volunteered – and I know many more of you have offered help in the past.  Once we sort things out a little, we’ll be greatly expanding the program.  We’re super excited to share it all with you, but first things first!

The Adootables!

Let’s start right here; forget anything you think you know about these kittens!  Okay, not everything, but the time they’ve spent at KA has seen them all through many changes.  So if you’ve heard us say things in the closeups like “I think so-and-so would love being adopted with so-and-so” keep in mind these things can change pretty quickly – and easily – at this young age.  

All the cats and kittens we’re discussing here are ready to go and as always, you can adopt from anywhere in the continental USA, but you have to pick them up from Monroe, CT, in person.  If you have any trouble with the application, please let us know.

 

The Tabby Sisters

Raindrop, Sprout, and Drizzle are sleek and lovely mackerel tabbies who are very well-adjusted and love play and snuggles with humans as you’d expect from KA graduates.  They came to the Academy as the “April Meowers” and their mom and other siblings have already gone to their adopters.  They have lovely satin fur and play responsibly – you can pet that belly!  All three of them get along just great with the other adootables and any pairings would be great choices.  


Of the three, Raindrop is the most attention-seeking, both from cats and people, and tends to be the quickest to get along with new cats and new situations.  She does have a fixation on fingers and wants to help you type by biting on them, but is very gentle about it.  

Raindrop

Sprout


Sprout is a free spirit who can’t be collared – literally!  Even when the sisters got their sparkly new collars, Sprout rejected hers quickly.  She’s independent and of the three, probably would best tolerate time alone while her human is at work.


Drizzle is the most conservative, and can be quite growly at new kittens initially, but learns to get over it in due time.  Drizzle jealously guards her favorite toys and loves to play fetch – if she brings you a toy, try throwing it, but make sure she’s watching where it goes (or use a toy that makes noise)!  

Drizzle

All three tolerate endless snuggles from their humans and being held like babies, as long as they’re getting petted in the bargain.  

The DLC 

Squall & Wellingtons

When Dr. Katz at Aristokatz discovered a litter of newborn kittens on her doorstep, she offered to let us care for them.  A late addition to the April Meowers, these Darling Little Cats had a bit of a rough start but have grown into the fuzzy marshmallows they are today. Circumstances saw them hand-raised by Mr. A and their attachment to humans is particularly strong as a result.  We’re pleased to announce that Wellingtons and his sister Squall have both (mostly) outgrown their need to lick noses, just as their tongues are becoming extremely abrasive.  They still cannot get enough snuggling and carrying and prefer to sleep near – or on – their human’s heads.  They aren’t particularly fond of other cats – they’re well bonded with all the current Academy residents and other adootables, but very skeptical when meeting new cats and kittens and take a little convincing to come around.  

Wellingtons has become a “typical teenage boy” who is extra rambunctious and lately his waking hours are spent almost entirely focused on roughhousing with his sister, the Tabby twins, or anyone else he can.  He reminds us of teenage Tommy, or Custard, and like them is likely to grow out of it – mostly – in a few years.

Wellingtons

Squall


Squall is much more focused on human affection and there’s never enough.  She and her brother both will need humans with lots of time and affection to give, but Squall more so.  She’s a little quicker to come around to new cats than her brother is, but still a bit wary. 



Serenity Now!

Serenity

Serenity arrived at the Academy a momcat and a kitten herself.  While she didn’t become a momcat in the end, she is still a playful kitten!  Serenity is quite shy but also energetic like a kitten, and loves human affection.  She’s a wonderful bundle of contradictions – a cat.  We find she can be hand shy and especially wary of people standing over her, but if you are on her level and patient, she will reward you with endless affection and play.  It took Mr. A some effort to get her to come around, and the resulting snuggles are all the more enjoyable for it.  He still can have a hard time catching her when it’s time to go to her room – and of course she’s well-known for being an escape artist capable of operating door handles to let herself out again.  As a kitten, she has a lot of energy to work out, and zooms and wrestles with the other adootables all the time. While she did learn to get along with all of the kittens at the Academy after a normal adjustment period, we notice that she really appreciates having her own space, too. We think she will be very happy in a home that has a more normal human-to-cat ratio.

Lastly, here are some bonus photos of everyone mentioned above, some more recent than others.


Raindrop

Sprout

Drizzle

Squall & Wellingtons

Serenity

Hello and goodbye to The Cutensils!

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Greetings, Kitten Academicians!

Sorry it’s been a while, but Syl didn’t want to post two art blogs in a row, so we had to do something. Of course we hope to do this more often, but you probably know how busy we’ve been!

If you’re checking in and haven’t been to the Facebook fan page or had time to watch the (infrequent) close-ups, we should mention that all the Cutensils have adopters and will be going home in the next few weeks… except Teaspoon. His adoption is on hold for now. We’re scheduling surgery with the cardiologist in a month or so, and after that we’ll have a better idea when he’ll be ready to be adopted!

Back with more photos soon… or… in due time?

"Welcome" to Cahooligans!

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Greetings, Kitten Academicians!

Today, we’re catching up on a few of the photos we’ve taken of Cahoots and her kittens since they arrived at the Academy in Spetember. Technically, they all turned up around the 12th, but we didn’t get to see most of them until the kittens were born on the 24th of September.

Here’s a couple early photos of Cahoots!

Here’s some photos from shortly after the kittens were born:

You might need a cheat-sheet to tell who’s who here! We certainly did. Thanks to “@is.a.Momo” on our Discord server for compiling these:

Next we have a handful of photos from October 21st — we think there’s a missing set of files from shortly after their eyes opened, which we hope to find “in due time” —

Finally, we’d like to share one last set of photos today, taken just a week or two ago, but before we do, we’d like to mention that our friends at DAWS are responsible for today’s blog post in a couple of important ways:

First and foremost, DAWS is the shelter we work with here in Connecticut and they find our momcats and also process applications to adopt the kittens and momcats that we foster.

Secondly, they asked us if we’d mind mentioning that they’re running a huge fundraiser today, on “giving Tuesday.” We believe, of course, that giving to DAWS doesn’t need a special day — it’s always a good idea. But the kind of people who make sure the lights stay on like to make an event of it. If you’d like to participate, today’s your day - just click here to go to the Giving Tuesday donation page. Today’s blog post wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t ask us to give the event a plug!

If you missed the moment or if you would love to support DAWS and the cats and dogs, but feel a bit of dissonance about the idea of a special day for your generosity, you can click here to go to the regular, everyday donation page.

Supporting DAWS or your local shelter is always a good idea, whatever the day!

Finally, here’s some Cahooligans posing for their Christmas photos! (and maybe a bonus or two…)