Brave Little Rue!

15-oz. Rue faced her captors bravely.

What kind of birthday is this?

The kittens are one month old today. They are growing, romping, meowing, and starting to get braver and more playful. They're ready for adventure!

But going to the vet? That's not really the kind of adventure poor Rue had in mind. Rue was showing signs of an eye infection, though, so she went for her first car trip to see the kind and cat-loving people at Acoaxet Veterinary Clinic. And just so she wouldn't be scared at being all alone, Mama and the rest of the kittens came with her.

The other kittens weren't all that happy about having to go in "the cage" to a strange building, even if they did get to have lots of strangers ooh and ahh over their amazing cuteness. The vet techs had a hard time figuring out which kittens were male and which were female because they were "just too FLOOFY," but Dr. Mailloux blew the floof aside and determined that we have THREE boys and only one girl--little Rue. So Gale, Peeta, AND Katniss are all boys, which means we may need to come up with a new name for Katniss. Any ideas?

Meanwhile, Rue was very brave through her ordeal, even though she had to have yucky yellow dye put into her eye and have the vet examine it under a bright light. The good news is, she has no scratches or structural damage. The bad news is, she does have an infection, so she's now on antibiotic treatment. So far, none of the other kittens show signs of anything, so we're hoping that by catching and treating it early, we'll make sure the infection doesn't spread.

Orange (Cat) is the New Black:
Felines behind bars!

 Through it all, Rue was a real trooper and barely made a peep. We can't say the same for Peeta, alas. He screeched loudly whenever anyone dared pick him up: Mama's boy all the way!

We were hoping to get the kittens dewormed today, but they're still too small, so we'll have to wait and give them their medicine after they pass the 1 1/2-pound mark. Here are their official one-month weights:

Katniss:  1 lb. 4 oz.
Gale:      1 lb. 4 oz. 
Peeta:     1 lb. 1 oz.
Rue:       15 oz.

The vet scale, I'm sure, is more accurate than the food scale we've been using to weigh them. But it's all good. According to Dr. Mailloux, one-month-old kittens should weigh about a pound, so everybody's right on target, and they all look healthy. And cute. And, of course, FLOOFY.

So, as the vet said, "Good job, Mama!"