The Catterns

Loom came to Kitten Academy through DAWS on May 15th, 2021. She was transported from a shelter in Huntington, West Virginia, and thought to be about 1 year old. She was settled in the KA annex. Mr A was skeptical she was pregnant, so Loom was examined by Dr Katz on the 19th, she had an ultrasound and confirmed to be pregnant! She went back to Dr Katz on the 24th and got x-rays, and Dr Katz believed she could give birth very soon! Just a few days later in the early afternoon of the 27th, Loom had all 5 of her kittens. They were all named on the 29th.

All kittens were confirmed to be very healthy, and Loom was producing milk, however nursing on her didn't seem to provide the kittens with all the nutrition they required. Therefore all the kittens were tube fed supplemental feedings around the clock for the first few weeks of their life. The supplemental feedings helped keep them fat and happy kittens as they grew old enough to start walking around and exploring things themselves! Herringbone was the first to leave the box on June 14th, then all the kittens left their box on June 16th.

Rotterdam of the Port Oranges was diagnosed with Calicivirus in late June, and despite efforts to make sure it didn't spread to the unvaccinated Catterns, a few of them seemed to have been infected. However it didn't slow them down while learning how to play and chase each other, and with some treatment they got over it quickly. On June 30th, Mr A was still tube feeding some of the kittens, when Chevron accidentally bit off and swallowed a piece of the feeding tube. Mr A took him to the local emergency vet, however they did not have an endoscope small enough to remove the tube, so Mr A then took him to the closest clinic that did, which is in New York City. They were able to remove the piece of tube with the endoscope, and came home the next afternoon. Chevy acted like nothing was wrong!

All of the Catterns visited the vet on July 8th and got their first round of vaccinations. The next day, they were moved downstairs to the main room! They continued to grow and learn how to kitten, and all the kittens got collars on the 19th. on the 21st, Herringbone fell off one of the cat trees and was limping a bit, and therefore got a trip to the vet. Dr Katz thought there might be small fracture in his hind leg, but needed an x-ray to be sure. Herringbone went back to the vet on the 26th, along with Loom who got her spay that day! It was confirmed Herry had a small fracture, and got a splint. All kittens also got their second vaccines on the 29th.

Herringbone wore the splint for just about a week, until it was removed because of the pressure it put on his toes. He went to the vet a couple more times to check on the healing process of his leg, but no further issues came up and his leg healed completely. On August 17th, all the Catterns got adopters! Unfortunately Basketweave's first adopter had to withdraw, but got a new adopter quickly, the same one who adopted Draper and Squire from The Working Class! They kittens all got their graduation surgeries on August 27th.

Argyle and Chevron were adopted together, and picked up the week after their graduation, on September 3rd. They now live together in Florida! Loom and Herringbone were also adopted together by a couple more local to KA, and picked up on the 12th. Princess Paisley's adopter is a long-time member of the KA community, and flew from Ohio to pick up Paisley on the 19th. Finally, Basketweave's adopter (also a long-time member of the community and previous adopter!) flew from Chicago, IL, to pick up Basketweave on the 22nd.