Well-Versed Kittens

Verse arrived pregnant to Kitten Academy on August 15th, 2018, along with three older kittens who made up the First Verse class. It was obvious she was very pregnant, and was assumed to give birth soon. When she went in for a pregnancy check up, the community was shocked to hear that the vet thought she had around 10 kittens in her! x-rays later confirmed she actually had 9 kittens. This was the largest class the Kitten Academy has ever had with a single family. So while she was already quite large, it took a few weeks of anxiously waiting for her to give birth, and Verse stayed in the annex for the meantime.

Finally, in the early evening of September 16th, Verse gave birth to all 9 of her kittens, with no complications. While the order of birth is not exactly known, due to there being 5 gingers that look similar, it is assumed that Erudite was first, then Prodigy, Wise, Flair, Astute, Poise, Bookworm, Ace, and lastly Nine. Ace, or Eight as he was known then, became an early favorite due to immediate silliness in attempting to nurse backwards. The 5 gingers were marked with food coloring to tell them apart directly after their first weigh-in. Unfortunately, Nine passed away after about a week due to unknown circumstances.

The other 8 kittens grew up in the Annex, and Bookworm was the first to leave the box on October 10th. All the kittens left soon afterwards, and began to explore. As the kittens learned to eat real food, Erudite, or Rudy, demonstrated her technique in standing *in* the food she was eating, causing an adorable mess. The kittens continued to learn how to cat in the annex, starting to run and play. The kittens were moved to the main room later in October, and enjoyed tropical decorations for their class, as well as a few decorations to support the game Tropicats.

Ace, and also Poise and Rudy together were the first to be officially announced as adopted, in early November, and Ace joined KA Alumni Faucet. Verse and Bookworm together, and Astute got approved adopters soon afterwards, although Verse and Bookworm's adopter eventually fell through. Later in the month, Flair was approved to be adopted by KA alumni Tahini in her home, and Ace, Prodigy, and Flair were the first to reach graduation weight. Prodigy and Wise were then approved to be adopted with another KA alumni, Bilbo Tweedgins.

At Kitten Academy, Mr. A and DJ decided to remodel the kitchen towards the end of November, which meant that the kittens moved back to the annex, as the construction noises might bother them in the main room.

On December 5th, a new kitten was brought to Kitten Academy, to hopefully integrate with the other kittens and learn to cat. This kitten was named by DJ on the same day, and is called Parable. She spent some time in the spa to get used to the kittens in small groups, but was slightly overwhelmed. She was fine with the faculty, but Verse did not like her. Parable spent about a day in the master bedroom, playing with Q-tips, but eventually went back to Cari Anne's home, where she would continue to be fostered. She is still considered a Kitten Academy graduate, and was adopted on the 16th. Ace and Astute went to their new homes on December 8th, followed by Rudy and Poise on December 13th, then Flair on the 16th.

On December 17th, Mr. A and DJ took a trip to India to visit DJ's family over the holidays. To take care of the faculty and the remaining kittens at Kitten Academy, Groundskeeper JimmyD was over to run KA. The only three remaining kittens at the time were Prodigy, Wise, and Bookworm. While the kittens had a fun with JimmyD, including some piggy-back rides, adoptions were put on hold during this period. Mr. A and DJ returned on January 2nd. Bookworm was adopted and taken home locally on January 11th. A couple days later on the 13th, Prodigy and Wise were picked up and taken to their new home, originally in Indiana, but now in Minnesota. Verse "interviewed" potential adopters on the 12th as well, but decided they were not the people for her. On the 13th, she interviewed the woman who originally rescued her and her first litter of kittens, liked and recognized her, and Verse was officially adopted that same day.