2 weeks after adopting Enya and Thomas

What have I learned after week two with Enya and Thomas? That there are not only extreme differences between the severity of each kitten's CH, but there are also big differences in their performance day by day.

Thomas runs circles around Enya. You can see a little hint of CH in his clumsiness, but still - he is able to run, flip, jump and climb and basically perform like any other crazy kitten his age. The only difference between him and a "normal" kitten, is that he is a little clumsy and will sometimes fall off the couch a little, or maybe not have perfect aim when jumping. None the less, his ability to be independent and mobile is far more active than anything poor little Enya can do.

Enya does flip flop around the house when she is feeling active, and she loves to play with her active brother and with us. Her favorite thing to do is slide her way over to the fluffy rug I have under a chair, where a blanket hangs over the side. She loves to play with the blanket fringe and wait for her brother to come romping through so she can swat him into a good wrestle.

I keep toys next to her bed, for the times when she WANTS to play but can't. You have to think of them as infants sometimes. Just as you would put a mobile over a baby's crib, CH kittens NEED visual stimulation because they are still developing. Some days are better than others. Yesterday for example, she just wanted to be held. And her head shook - a lot. I was worried it would be a permenant thing, but there wasn't as much head shaking as yesterday. I bought her more kitten milk, thinking perhaps her sugar was low. Maybe she still needs the extra nutirents in the milk vs. the adult cat wet cat food she's been eating.

Eating was getting easier with my "boot" method of support. There were a few days when I didn't even need the boot, she managed to learn how to spread her back legs enough to support her body, and she ate well on her own. Messy, but well. But again, yesterday was a bad day for her - and as you can see in the video, without support she just fell over and couldn't manage to get herself back and stable enough to eat on her own. After the video, I just picked her up and basically had to hold her and hand feed her like I did when she was smaller. I've just come to expect now that there will be those days when she requires more help than others.

The same was true for the cat box - some days, she is fine getting into the paint tray I set up and is able to lean on the sides on her own. Other days, she needs me to hold her over the cat box while she goes in order to avoid falling into her mess. She is very well trained, and will go almost every time I bring her to the box. I bring her to the cat box every morning first thing, 15 minutes after each meal, and a few times at night before bed. During the night, if she has to go, it's easy for her to slide or flop over to the paint tray kitty pan I set up next to her bed. A little more mess? Yes, but I have not had to clean up one "accident' yet! So that, is a blessing in and of itself which makes me not mind the dustbusting I have to do around the kitty pan.

All and all we are all learning to adapt to the CH, and despite the little bit of extra work with feeding and potty time - her cuddliness and purring while we watch tv together at night - or the moments I see her playing with the other cats and snuggling in a big cuddle puddle on the floor make it all worth it.

She is happy, she's healthy and I look forward to seeing her and Thomas grow each day. I hope documenting their progress, despite the occasional "one step forward - two steps back days" - will help other CH kitty parents.