Crouton's TinyBreads

Crouton came from a shelter in West Virginia, where she was called Violet. She was transported up to Connecticut and came to Kitten Academy on April 16th, 2022, where she settled into the first annex. She enjoyed cuddling with Mr A and burrowing under blankets, and was friendly enough with other cats to visit the KA spa (master bedroom) with Yurt and faculty cats. She was scheduled to have an x-ray and vet checkup on the 25th, however Mr A and DJ could tell she was ready to give birth any day, so they cancelled the vet appointment to not stress her out.

In the early hours of April 26th, Crouton gave birth to her six kittens! The Puppy Academy kittens also had their graduation surgery scheduled for that day and needed to be dropped off at the vet that same morning, so after some debate DJ dropped off the Puppy Kittens and was a little late to work, while Mr A stayed at home to supervise Crouton's birth. The birth went smoothly, and birth order was Morsel, Nugget, Crumb, Smidgeon, Chunk, and Tidbit.

Crouton and the Tinybreads stayed in a birthing box for a few days, then Crouton started to occasionally move the kittens elsewhere in the room, including the litterbox once. Mr A and DJ negotiated with her over the course of a few days, moving her kittens back to the box to try and convince her to stay there. But Crouton was persistent, and they eventually compromised by putting some blankets down and helping her move her kittens to the bottom level of the cardboard cat condo tower. It was a smaller spot, but Crouton seemed happier to have her kittens there.

The kittens nursed and grew and started to open their eyes, ears, and started to learn to eat solid food and walk around in early May. Crouton still wanted to keep them all in the same spot, despite them becoming more mobile, and continued to pick them up and move them to where she wanted them. But as the kittens became better at walking and running around, she finally stopped the kitten moving. The kittens began to play with each other, and with toys. It was noticed that Tidbit had a bit of a belly button hernia, however Dr Katz said it wasn't anything to worry about for now and would be corrected later with her graduation surgery.

In mid-May the cat door between the first and second annex was unlocked, and the kittens and Crouton began to explore and live in both rooms, until Ocean moved into Annex 2 in the beginning of June, and then a couple days later Crouton and the TinyBreads moved down the hall to what used to be the spa/master bedroom, now a larger main room for the kittens with a climbing wall. The Spa was relocated to the other side of the hallway where Mr A's office used to be, and Mr A put his office in the third annex room, sometimes referred to as Brook's room. The TinyBreads enjoyed the bigger space and climbing wall!

The TinyBreads went to the vet for their first vaccines on June 8th, and originally Crouton's spay was scheduled for the same day, but Dr Katz thought that Crouton needed to put on more weight, so she did not get her spay after all and after the vet Mr A put Crouton in a suitical suit to keep her kittens from nursing, which would help her keep some calories in her body. She went back to the vet again on June 11th for more tests, and was found to be a little anemic, but recovered with some more weight gain over time. The TinyBreads also started to be allowed out in the hallways with the faculty.

Crouton and the Tinybreads enjoyed the company of the KA-Con committee and some previous adopters after KA-Con 2022, on June 19th. They continued to be allowed to wander the house often, and continued to grow up into small cats. They had their second vaccines on June 29th. On July 1st, the group's home base room was relocated once again to the downstairs main room, so that Mr A could make space for the upstairs rooms to be guest bedrooms for his family who visited the next weekend. The kittens and Crouton all enjoyed the company, and Mr A's Nephew especially liked to play and cuddle with Crumb.

Crouton went to the vet again on July 18th to see if she could have her spay surgery. She passed her pre-surgery tests, and was spayed! The TinyBreads were also brought in the same day to be examined before their graduation surgeries the next day. All except Smidgeon were cleared for surgery, and graduated the next day. Tidbit's hernia was corrected, as well as a mole removed on Chunk's shoulder. All the kittens recovered well. Smidgeon passed her tests and had her graduation surgery on August 3rd. Adopters for the TinyBreads were announced on the 8th, and Morsel and Nugget were the first pair to be adopted on the 13th. Smidgeon and Crumb were adopted together on the 23rd, Crouton adopted on September 1st, and Chunk and Tidbit together on Sept 2nd.

Unfortunately Crumb passed away at his adopters house on April 3rd, 2023.