Bath Time part deux

The day after I wrote the previous post the 2nd grey kitten crossed the rainbow bridge. At this point I closed and locked the gate that lead to the bridge. I had to take drastic measures to get on top of the flea problem that was plaguing my house and my fur children. I somehow convinced my sister to come all the way out from Riverside to take Ashleigh, Uncle Daddy and the 3 remaining kittens to a groomer. This story is actually very long and eventful but I will shorten it as much as I can. My sister and her kids put the kittens in the stroller and figured that Ashleigh would gladly go where ever her babies went. Not so. Apparently Ashleigh scratched my niece to smithereens and little did we know that she was just getting started. It took a while but they managed to get her and Lorenzo in to the stroller. Then they loaded the stroller in to the back of the truck and were on the road like a herd of turtles. I was at work in a seminar while this was going on. I had sent Tori the address of the groomer and she got a Mapquest map with driving directions. So, as I sit in the very quiet seminar room...my cell phone starts to buzz. I answered it as quietly as I could. It was my niece. She needed my address and drivers license number because she was filling out forms at the vet. The vet? I figured that maybe the groomer shared space with a vet. I whispered the requested info and went back to my seminar. The cell phone buzzed again the instant I put it in my purse. This time it was the groomer. "Hi, This is Noah's Ark Grooming. Aren't you going to bring your kitties in this morning?" I paused for a second and whispered..."My sister is bringing them in...and she just called and said that they were there and they were filling out paper work." The groomer told me that they had two locations and maybe they had gone to the other location by mistake. I told her that I'd call my sister and try to find out exactly where she was. I dialed my sister's number and, of course, no one answered. As soon as I put my phone back in my purse...it was buzzing again. "You're in the wrong place", I whispered in the form of a greeting. "We're in the wrong place", my niece said not hearing what I had said. "Where are you?", I asked. "We're at the vet but we're right around the corner from the groomer." Annnnndddd...we'regood! Right? I put the phone back in to my purse...1 second. 2 second...BBBBUUUZZZZZ. "Hello? This is Noah's Ark Grooming. You re kitties are here, they were at the vet's office down the street. I just didn't want you to worry." Ok, now that everyone was where they belonged the mystery was solved and I could get back to my seminar. BBBBBUUUUUZZZZZZZ. Me,(still whispering)..."hello?" "AUNTIE, HAVE ASHLEIGH OR LORENZO HAD ANY OF THEIR SHOTS?" "no, bek, they've never been to a vet or a groomer. ok?" "OK, AUNTIE. MAN,I HATE ASHLEIGH. SHE HAS SCRATCHED ME SO MUCH..MY ARMS.." I attempted to whisper but I had to raise my voice which caused me to have to get up and walk out of the seminar.."I'm so sorry Ashleigh scratched you. But now that you guys are in the right place I need to let you go so I can pay attention to the seminar." click.

2 minutes later; BBBUUUZZZZZ. "hello?" "AUNTIE, HOW DO YOU SPELL HUNTINGTON?" "ohmygodrebekah...you spell it with an H. just ask your mom.. ok?" "OK, SORRY AUNTIE."

5 minutes later...BBBBUUUZZZZZ. "hello?" "THIS IS NOAH'S ARK PET GROOMING. THE BABIES ARE ALL WASHED AND THEY ARE DOING JUST FINE." "ok. thank you."

5 minutes later...BBBUUUUZZZZ. "hello?" It was my sister. If she asks me how to spell 'Huntington' I'm going to hang up on her.. "Ashleigh won't let the groomer get her wet so we walked her down to the vets office. The vet was examining her and Ashleigh scratched the vet so deep that he's bleeding purple arterial blood. Anyway he said that he can either sedate Ashleigh and then give her a flea dip and you will have to separate her from the babies for the next 24 hours and it will cost you about $125.00, or he can give her an Advantix treatment and you will have to separate her from the babies for the next 24 hours but this will only cost you about $50.00. I think it would be best to give her the Advantix and plus it's cheaper that way, but I wanted to know what you wanted to do..."

They wanted to separate her from her 3 week old babies? She was still furiously and mournfully trying to locate the two babies that died and now someone wanted me to purposely separate her from her remaining 3 babies? URGH! By now I felt so bad for everyone involved that I just wanted to say 'forget it!', however if I had said that then everything they had all gone through so far would be for naught. So I agreed on the Advantix treatment, although now in hindsight I see where it might have been easier on everyone if Ashleigh had been sedated and wasn't able to cry and call out to her babies once they all got home.

When I got home from work that night I was greeting by 3 fluff balls and a gloriously clean and bright white Uncle Daddy.
They were all exhausted from their big day at the beauty parlor.

Then I saw Ashleigh.

It was pretty obvious that she hated me and the horse I rode in on.


She was incarcerated in the big dog kennel and she was not one bit happy. Everyone else was sleeping like kings on the couch and she was stuck in a cage. A dog cage.

I did my best to spend time with her but she was far too busy plotting my death to entertain the likes of me. When ever I would relent and leave her alone she would start crying this deep guttural cry. How sad do you think it was when her babies didn't react because they couldn't hear her? I don't think she knows they have a hearing deficit. Once they all woke up and mom wasn't there they set out to find her. They were able to find her with no trouble but for some reason they didn't even try to get in to the kennel even though they could have easily fit between the bars. They chose to sit on the outside of the cage wailing while Ashleigh sat on the inside of the cage wailing.

My sister had bought powdered kitten milk so I mixed up a batch and tried to feed it to the babies. They made it perfectly clear that that stuff didn't smell or taste anything like their mama and they'd rather starve that let even a drop of it dribble down their tiny little gullets. Lorenzo on the other hand was acting as though I had liquid gold in the dropper and he was doing everything in his power to get near it. He was knocking babies over and pretty much flinging them out of the way. He was possessed! After failing at even getting the babies to lick a little bit of it off of their noses I relented and just let Lorenzo and Ashleigh drink it. Uncle Daddy Pig Dog actually burped when he was finished devouring his share.

By about 10:00 that night the kittens had decided that there were actually hungry enough to eat what was being served. It is amazing how quickly those tiny bellies fill up. Andrew gets the blue ribbon for being the best kitten wrangler in the house. He figured out how to pick them up so they wouldn't wiggle and then make them drink without letting the kitten milk run down their chin. While I was doing my best to do what he was doing Andrew put his kitten down and went running in to the kitchen. He came back with a soaking wet kitten who had apparently decided to take a swim in the water bowl. I am very happy to announce that our very own "Thorpedo" didn't inhale any water and was just fine after it was dried off. (apparently he told his siblings of his adventures at the water park because by the next day all 3 of them were trying their hand at drinking water out of the bowl. Here it is 4 days later and they still have a bit of a problem with knowing just how far stick their head in the bowl.)

The trauma of the baths and the Advantix seperation is behind us. Lorenzo is feisty as ever. Ashleigh has been down right pleasant and the babies have learned how to chase and play and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. They like to pummel and tumble and swat at each other then in the middle of all the fun they just doze off.

PS I didn't mention that when the fur children were out at the groomers/vet...Andrew stayed home and set off a flea bomb in the house. So we should be flea free for at least a couple of weeks. Then Ashleigh and Lorenzo will be getting an Advantix treatment.