red tongue

I got 2 kittens to foster yesterday. They are both female. One is black and white the other all black. I'm guessing they are around 10 - 12 wks. Their mother was a ferile/stray? who got hit by a car late last week.

The black cat has the brightest red tongue I've ever seen - not dark pink - red. She has also been VERY aggressive and will leap across the cage at me when I look in at her. Is the red tongue a sign of some illness or could it be from increased blood supply because of her agitated state. Her sister does not have the bright red tongue but she doesn't get as agitated and will let me pick her up and pet her.

Wendy, how is the ferocious feral kitten coming? Your story reminded me of a black kitten who inspired the term, 'pink hisses.' Though in your case (and hers, as well), the hisses were more than just noives.

What you might try for Red Tongue is isolating him/her in cage with you as the only contact. Physical contact is very important to kittens; you just may start to look pretty good to this kitten after a day or two 'in stir.'

Separating the fractious kitten from its siblings may well help settle the other kittens down as well.

Sharon Talbert Friends of Campus Cats

Thelma (aka Red Tongue) is coming along slowly and her tongue is no longer bright red. I guess it must have been from her being so freaked out. She no longer launches herself across the cage at me and tolerates being picked up.. She puts up with the tickles under the chin and every once in a while almost looks like she's considering whether to enjoy it or not. Then she catches herself and down go the ears. Her sister, Louise, OTOH has become a traitor and gone over to the other side. She cries for attention and does a fair amount of purring when picked up and snuggled for a bit. We also now have her brother who is very shy but does like the chin tickle and isn't afraid to show it. He isn't wild about being picked up but will tolerate it as long as it isn't for long. So I'm at least able to clean out the cage without risking skin and don't have to resort to the welders gloves. I've been able to worm all of them and get their ears cleaned out and treated for ear mites.

I never would have thought of isolating her. I would have been afraid that might have upset her more. Do you think that still might help her? If so I'll certainly give it a try.

We have 7 kittens from that 'colony' and 4 are pretty friendly and the other three are still works in progress. At what point do you start showing them for adoption?

I would try it, for this little one. It just might make her focus on human company instead of her siblings. Also, her negative energy will not be affecting her siblings. She is probably always going to be high-strung; let's hope you find a sympathetic home for her, even if as a companion to a lonely housecat.

Another trick would be to put her in a highly-trafficked space (such as your living room), but caged and separate from the other cats. Then hold her in your lap every chance you get. Isolation is my vote, though.

As they become socialized, put them on the adoption block as soon as they are old enough (8 wks min.), healthy and sterilized. Works for us!

Sharon Talbert Campus Cats

We're doing an adoption weekend this weekend. I took the two little ones, Louise and one of the older ones, Tonto. We didn't even get all the cages set up when someone was filling out an application for one of the little ones. I didn't figure he'd be around long. I think I might take Harry down if that adoption goes through. He has pretty much stopped hissing on GP and enjoys his chin tickles. He can be picked up and handled and doesn't lower the ears. If we can find a home without young children (or even better no children) I think he'll come around. When I get my cages back I'll try isolating Thelma and see how it goes.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed the friendly ones are adopted this weekend so I have more time for my shy guys.

Yee hah! Now may I send you a couple of growing kittens from Campus Cats who haven't yet found homes?

Sharon Talbert Campus Cats

Sharon, Sprocket's vet says he's too young to be tested for Feline Leukemia. She says there are a lot of false negatives when they're tested this young. He was 4 weeks old when she saw him, and she's seeing him again at 8 weeks of age. Do you know when he'll be old enough to test effectively?

Thanks!

I'm interested in this answer too. I've had conflicting info on this. The vet I usually see won't do it until 6 mos. which isn't helpful when you're fostering - or introducing a new kitten for that matter. Another vet tested some of my fosters when they were only a couple of weeks old. Another vet said they had to be 8 weeks. I've read conflicting opinions online as well. Guess I'm not the only one confused about this.

We did really well this weekend. I think we adopted out 12 or so cats. Three of them were adults :o) which is always exciting especially with all the kittens we were showing. Not bad when you take into account the number of applications which were refused for various reasons. There are some real nuts out there. We had one woman who already had 16 cats that she was trying to find homes for so what did she want with one of ours? Another figured it was ok to let her cat outside (in a busy traffic area) because the cat knew it's name.

My two little gray and white fuzz balls got adopted (no surprise there) and so did Tonto, the brown tabby. I did take Harry and he kept his cool and I think all but Thelma will be ready to show by next weekend.

Sorry; I didn't realize how young he is. Our vet tests at 8 weeks. We re-test if the results are positive.

Sharon Talbert Campus Cats

Thanks. I'll ask again when we take him in for his 8 weeks checkup. (That's in 1.5 weeks.) I want a reliable result as soon as I can get it, because I think it's about time to start some direct interaction with my big cats. Da Queen Bitch has been hissing at him only when he has something she wants, and if she accepts him, that's the barometer of whether he can stay with me.

He's getting so big! I've been taking him up to the guestroom for an hour or so a day to run run scamper run (thud thud), and he's discovered the kitty condo up there where he can climb up inside and get to the top. From there he progressed over some stacks of boxes to where he found a mirror, and he is quite interested in the kitten in the mirror, with whom he's now boxed a bit. He's also stolen one of my good sneakers. I suspect he pulled it under the bed by its laces. I recline on the bed and read while he gets his exercise, but he periodically climbs up the hanging bedspread to get in a tussle with me or to collect some pets and reward me with his extremely loud purr.

Don't worry, he's got plenty of room in his palace to climb and wrestle, too. It's got four levels now, with ramps, but he mostly climbs the walls to get to the upper levels. He seems particularly fond of the top shelf, which is level with the bottom of a big window from which he can supervise the back yard and the big birdfeeder while he catches some rays.