Remember Lily, the little foster kitten we have had here since mid July? Well, the past week I've been looking at the back of that cat thinking it looked like "she" had the same plumbing in the back end as her two brothers. I took the kittens back to the shelter Wednesday afternoon so they could be spayed and neutered on Thursday. I forgot to tell them that I thought perhaps Lily was a male. Thursday morning the shelter called me to inform me that Lily was a BOY! Ha! I told them I suspected as much. We cracked up because on the bottom of the form for Lily was a section for Comments: "Sex Change: Lily > Lyle" says the vet's office. ;o) It feels very strange now thinking of this kitten as a boy instead of a girl. Our daughter has chosen the name Lalo (pronounced Lay Low) for him. We're trying to remember not to call him Lily. Think maybe we've given him a complex?! The last batch of kittens had one male and two females except Claudia looked like she was packing some testosterone makers and they confirmed it when we took them back. Claudia became Claude, just like that. Why can't cats have their plumbing in different places, like dogs and llamas?
Lily - Doing her best "Diva" pose
The foster kittens are growing now by leaps and bounds. Lily (above) is almost a pound and a half. Axel (below) is two pounds one ounce (as of yesterday). They are gaining almost an ounce a day now. I started feeding them a grain free all life stages cat food moistened with warm water and that is when their weight started to increase. Out of 30 photos that I took this morning only two were good enough to tweak and post. Julian never did slow down enough for me to get a photo of him! My camera shutter speed is sooooo sloooooow that most of the photos had a blur in them or nothing at all because the kitten had bounced out of the frame before the photo completed. 
Axel - King of the Jungle
I waited until the kittens were sleeping to get some "non-action shots" of them. Above is Axel (left) Julian (right) and Lily (back). Axel is the coolest steel grey color with black ears, legs and tail and the most beautiful green eyes. Julian is a darker grey color all over with blue/green eyes. Julian is a lover boy - he will climb to my shoulder and purr like crazy. He adores attention. I think they're missing their momma because I gave them one of my alpaca slippers and they lay on it kneading and purring and suckling. Thank goodness they have each other because I think it would be a lot more difficult for them if they were by themselves.Someone asked if we are responsible for finding homes for the foster kittens. The answer is NO! The shelter takes care of everything: food, litter, vet bills and advertising. My only job is to feed, water and socialize the kittens. So, we get our kitten fix (we forget in between foster kittens how much fun it is to play with them) and the shelter frees up space for cats that are already adoptable. The kittens need to be at least two to three pounds before the vets will spay or neuter them. Several vets in the county offer services to the shelter at a discounted rate and only one vet in the county will spay or neuter them before they are three pounds (our vet, and he's awesome!)
I managed to get another shot of Lily that isn't an "action shot". Here you can see her beautiful blue eyes and her coloring better. She is such a sweetheart. She loves to play with her brothers and the other cats but she also loves to snuggle and lay in your lap. She will roll over on her back and want you to scratch and rub her belly. Our daughter and her boyfriend have fallen in love with Lily and want us to hold her until they get a place of their own. We'll see how it all works out. I'm sure Lily will have a home in a heartbeat as soon as she gets back to the shelter (if she doesn't end up staying here).
As you probably know or remember from past posts, we are a foster family for the local no kill animal shelter. We foster young kittens until they are big enough to be spayed or neutered and then adopted. This morning we picked up three kittens from a litter and this is Lily, the little female. I had a really hard time getting any photos of the kittens because they were soooo active all I could get were "action shots" until Lily climbed up my leg. She looks like a little seal point Himalayan only her fur isn't as long. She has the most incredible blue eyes I've ever seen in a cat. I fell in love with this little girl at first sight and know it is going to be really hard to give her up when the time comes. Lily has two brothers, Axel and Julian. Julian is a dark charcoal and black kitten with green eyes and Axel is a lighter charcoal gray with deep blue eyes. Of course, you'll see more photos and hear more about their antics over the next few weeks!
