Port Oranges

Port came to Kitten Academy on Saturday, March 13th. Mr A picked her up directly from the transport from Georgia, meeting them at a McDonalds parking lot. She settled into the KA Annex, and DJ named her the day after she arrived. Port was noticeably very big when she arrived, and she had a vet appointment the next Wednesday, however the night of Sunday March 14th, she began labor! All of Ports kittens were orange, so the exact birth order is not known. She gave birth to 8 viable kittens, and one not viable. The birth of Port's Oranges only lasted about three hours, making it one of the fastest births in KA history.

The kittens began to grow and become active in the annex. Not only were they all orange like their mother, amazingly they all were male kittens as well! This made it very difficult to identify each kitten. Mr A and DJ first tried shaving a small spot on each kitten, however it wasn't the easiest method of identification and looked a bit odd, so they switched to marking each with a dot of gel food coloring in a unique spot for identification. While all of them were nursing well, some supplemental feedings were needed to keep weights up for the large litter.

At the end of March, Dover's breathing was noticeably heavier than the other kittens, so he took a trip to the emergency clinic and x-ray confirmed he had aspiration pneumonia, most likely caused by congenital defect or lack of development. He got treatment with antibiotics and a nebulizer, however there was not much else to do. Unfortunately, Dover passed away peacefully early on Saturday April 3rd.

    The other 7 kittens continued to grow and learn how to be kittens. Sydney was the first kitten out of the box. All the kittens got collars on April 24th, and could finally be easily identified on the stream. Rio learned to climb Mr A, and even loved to sit on top of his head! just a few days later, on the 27th, they moved downstairs to the main room as well. They all had their first vet visit in early May for their 6-week vaccines. Around the same time, Mr A and DJ let the kittens out to explore the rest of the house, and also began to take a few kittens at a time upstairs for "spa nights". Port also began to have a fascination with mylar ball toys, and loved to pick them up and move them in and out of the room when the doors were open. Millet of the Bready Bunch joined the Port Oranges as he was still recovering from his surgery, and bonded with them

Port was spayed on June 1st, and all of the Oranges were scheduled to be neutered on June 22nd. However Dr Katz noticed that Rotterdam's tounge was slightly ulcerated, and after some further investigation determined that Rotterdam has calicivirus, also know as FCV. Besides the tongue ulcers, he was acting just the same as usual! All the faculty were vaccinated for FCV so they were not at risk of getting it. All the other Oranges also got their first set of vaccines against it, however were not fully protected so Rotterdam was put in isolation for a little while. Meanwhile, momcat Loom and her kittens were not vaccinated against FCV, and in fact Mr A suspected Loom might have brought the virus, which was later confirmed when the Catterns also got sick. All kittens did not have any serious cases, and fully recovered.

    Port was adopted on June 29th, Rio on July 1st, Puget (renamed Zagreus) on July 4th, and Halifax and Antwerp adopted together on July 5th. Bombay's first adopters had to back out because they actually found a kitten at their local shelter they adopted, and his next adopter was actually the same adopter who adopted the momcat Tessa before! Bombay was adopted on July 9th. Rotterdam was fully recovered and had his neuter on the 12th, and then adopted on the 17th. Sydney was adopted with Millet, and also picked up on the 17th.

Unfortunately Port passed away from FIP on September 15th, 2021.