The mystery of the Possum kittens

Our unthrifty kittens are still unthrifty. An adopter, whose aunt is a veterinarian, sent some ideas, and we will be checking them out with our veterinarian. I have a family member who also needs support, so I won't be able to get them in right away.

Here is Tank with one of the kittens that came in after he was admitted. The black kitten is 4.5 months old. Tank is six months old.

In addition to having scruffy fur, drinking tons of water, variable stool consistancy, periodically gagging (not throwing up), and failure to grow, they seem to have a lousy immune system, which isn't surprising. They catch EVERYTHING but luckily got their entire vaccination series and seem to slowly get over the URI's they have come down with. Currently Tank is walking around with a winky eye.

They are active little monsters. While they don't play as much as the black ferals, Nod and Blyken, they still motor around pretty rapidly. Tink, the smallest one, follows me everywhere. Tank, the larger kitten, got his paw stepped on accidentally by hanging too closely to my feet, so he has learned to keep his distance. Luckly, even though they are skinny, they are solid muscle. It's like having two animinated poorly taxidermied kittens running around.


Here they were as normal little babes. The other three kittens in the litter did just fine, but at about 8 weeks, Tink and Tank just stopped growing.



Luckily, they seem to fall into the "so homely they are cute" category. Two visitors have expressed interest in adopting them, but I do want to try to find out what is wrong with them first, if at all possible. Something like a liver shunt might be fixed (although it probably would drive me into the poor house). No worries at this point, however. My vet is curious about these guys as well, and she really has been helping out with donated services and tests.

Hang in there little Possums!

They do need better names than Tink and Tank, however.