What an emotional week it's been!

It's been a week since I updated, I know, but time has been strange for me.  This past Monday, the kittens turned 6 weeks old...the time has simply flown by where they are concerned.

Also on that same day, time stood still as a tough decision that had been made on the weekend was carried through.  To leave the world with her dignity still strong, we had a house call vet come over and our beloved dog Spice was put to sleep.  She had 14 amazing years, of which I was present for 11 of them.  I adopted her from Adopt-a-Dog, Save-a-Life when she was about 3 years old.  She was scheduled to be put down soon because nobody wanted her, and had been boarding in an animal clinic for over 3 months.  She had dog and prey aggression issues, but I gave her a chance and never regretted my decision.  Even when she bit a dog once, and I had to pay half the vet bill!  Later in life and with some hard work, she managed to get along with a couple of dogs.  I just avoided dog parks and things went smoothly, as she was the best behaved dog in other aspects that I'd ever seen or heard about (and I heard about a lot in the years I worked as a vet tech!).  She was my first ever pet dog (having been raised with cats) and will probably be my last, as I don't think any other dog could ever live up to her.  Here's the last picture I took of her:

She hadn't wanted to be in that chair for weeks, then all of a sudden wanted up there a few hours before her passing.   She needed help to get up and down out of the chair, couldn't do stairs without help, and she had stopped sleeping in our bed months ago:(  I've helped and counseled countless pet owners in making the right decisions for their pets, but honestly I never struggled more with anything in life than I did to make this choice.  I chose to give her dignity, and not wait until she couldn't walk at all and lost control of her body functions (which I've sadly seen numerous times) as she was losing nerve function and mobility.  She was diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy over two years ago, so it's really amazing that she hadn't lost control of her back legs until quite recently.  It's a progressive disease with no treatment or cure:(  As it was, she fell over at least once a day.  You can read more about it here:

http://www.caninegeneticdiseases.net/DM/basicDM.htm

Sigh.

Well, on to some good news!  Yin, my little luxating patella trooper, is doing SO MUCH BETTER.  It's hard to even tell she has a problem anymore, with her walking, running, climbing, using the litter box...all normal progressive things that kittens do best:)  Every now and then, one of her back legs slips to the side, or one of her knees kinda "locks" and she shakes it a bit.  But since her visit last Tuesday to the vet, she's made vast improvement, which makes me happy and relieved that she can probably have pretty normal mobility.  I must say, between my dog's leg issues and Yin's...I was going a bit mental, trying to do what's best for everyone.  Working with Yin to test her abilities (meaning: lots of kitten play time, hehee) and giving my dog all the love in the world during her last days, I barely had the time or motivation to do anything else.  Here's a couple videos where you can see how great her movements have been:

Now, I'm grieving for Spice, but focusing on the cats and getting my life in order.  Stitches now has the run of the house (except the room with Fluffy n' kittens) and he's happier than ever.  He will sit outside Fluffy's room sometimes, and I think it's a good way of slowly introducing them.  He loves the front windows in the dining room, as there are always birds on the front lawn and the sun comes in:) 
Here's a picture of him basking:

Fluffy is getting quite brave with me in the room, though she is still super shy when anyone else enters, and typically she will hide under the futon.  I've had some friends over for kitten cuddles, and she won't budge from her hiding spot.  The family who found and was feeding Fluffy came over on Wednesday to visit and meet the kittens.  Fluffy wouldn't come out to see them, which I know made the children unhappy a bit, but hopefully they can be happy with the fact that she's healthy and doing well being inside, where it's certainly safer for her.  They generously brought over toys and treats, and both Fluffy and the kittens are playing with the new toys:)  Fluffy sure does enjoy those treats as well! 

Here's a few pics I've taken over the last few days.  I have this ribbon for kitten play time, that I don't leave out when I'm not around.  I want to get them used to playing and interacting with people, and they LOVE that ribbon!  They also love to climb my legs and play with my feet, however...

Here's Fluffy and the kittens as well...she has no problems wandering about when I'm around, even will nurse them near me.  She still shies away from being handled, but I think it will be a long time before she's comfortable with that.  I had a dream last night, er, this morning, that Stitches and the family got along and were all playing together.  I hope it's a sign of good times to come!

Now to prepare for the start of a busy weekend filled with good friends, dancing, cats and kittens, and meeting new people!