Changes - Day 24

I'm not sure why, but today just seemed like there was a lot more going on than the other days.  Phoenix is growing, and it's amazing to see his progress.

Changes

It seems like a number of things changed today.  Some things were expected.  Other things were not!  This morning during his 6:30am feeding, I noticed a pretty nice poop in the corner of his pen.  It made me realize that it might be time to start introducing him to a litter box.  So, we finally put that out today and here it is!  It became pretty clear that the litterbox dominates the pen.  So at least during the day, I left his pen open so that he could come out and use the box.  Not that he actually used it 😓. I'm not concerned - it's a work in progress.  We have been helping him go to the bathroom above his new litter and into the litterbox to help encourage going to the bathroom.  So let's see where this takes us.

Some notes on the litter.  The litter you use for kittens cannot have fragrance and cannot be clumping.  This is because there's a risk of the kitten eating the litter.  The fragrance would be no good for them, and clumping litter would cause plenty of problems inside his tummy.  So we're using a pelleted type of litter.  So while he hasn't learned how to use it, I have placed him in there just to get used to it!  Check out his first litterbox experience (not very eventful, so don't put your expectations too high)!

My next change was finally using frozen pedialyte for the first time!  I had roughly measured each cube before putting it in the freezer.  They're a bit under a tablespoon each.  So I was on top of my game this morning and took these out at 7am, and then went back to bed at 7:30am.  I had an extra hard time waking up, so I finally got up at 8:58am with just enough time to get to my morning meeting at 9:00am.  I figured I could prep a new batch of food for Phoenix during the meeting as I had before.  Unfortunately, I realized that I only took out half the number of cubes I needed.  So all my pride in being on top of my game went out the window.  Hah.  But on the positive side, the frozen pedialyte works well, and we should now have enough pedialyte to get us through until he transitions to wet food in about 2 weeks.

It was during lunch-time that Phoenix woke up a bit earlier than expected, and was sitting outside his pen just waiting.  He must have only been there for a minute or two, but he was staring at me.  Seemed that the little guy was ready for an early feeding.  So we fed him a bunch, and then the little guy stayed up for the next 50 minutes!  It seems that Phoenix has started becoming interested in things going on around him.  He's explored around the room and he's also shown some interested in playing.  He suddenly "jumped" at one of the stuffed cow's feet at one point.  I also have a little crinkle ball that I held in front of him.  He batted at it twice, before moving on.  So it seems that alongside the curiosity and explorations, he's starting to generate an interest in playing!  This means that our lives are about to get more interesting.

My last discovery of the day unfortunately does not have a photo to back it up.  I'm not an expert enough to figure out how to snap a photo of the inside of his mouth.  But during a feeding, Phoenix was doing his customary hunt for food when he found my finger and took a bite.  Guess who has some teeth?!  This is another milestone that kittens would be hitting at three weeks.  So this is a great sign!

Photos and Videos

Not too much from today.  I was thinking about getting some more, but I'm exhausted.  So I'll just put what I have for today:

Phoenix on the hunt for food.  He's also gotten super confident and coming out of his pen.

It still makes me nervous when he does this sometimes.  Did he freeze?  Has he gone unresponsive?  Will he every move around again?  Don't worry, he does this a lot now.  It seems that this is what happens when he's starting to fall asleep but doesn't quite want to give in to the explorations.  That's my guess anyway - if you know what's going on in that little head of his, let me know.

Found him sleeping like this this afternoon.  Curled up under the cows leg.  Of course when I leaned in to take the photo, his eyes popped open.  He does that a lot.  Am I just noisier than I think I am?  Or do I smell enough that he knows when I'm getting close?  I have no idea.