CURRENT KITTENS

I usually don't photograph kittens til they are over 2 weeks old.  However, since Aria is used to me taking the kittens for a few minutes at a time to take photos early (because she often has large litters and I need photos for myself to tell them apart!) I decided I'd go ahead and post them.  These photos are taken in a hurry with poor lighting, but I thought a sneak peek would be fun anyway. 

I am likely to use these photos and the later photos of these kittens in the "coat development" section of this webpage later!  They will change a lot over the next week and beyond.  The larger spots will lighten in the centers to turn into rosettes. Spots that are connected now will spread out to be separate spots later. 

Another thing to note about this litter is that since Hikari had a single kitten in her litter a few days before Aria had this litter of 6, I decided to foster 2 of Aria's kittens to Hikari.  It is better for Hikari's kitten to have littermates and Hikari can easily raise a litter of 3.  Aria will have an easier time raising 4 kittens instead of 6.  Sometimes we do that for the betterment of both kittens and mothers when the kittens are close enough in age.  Aria didn't know I took the kittens when she'd hopped out of the nest box to eat.  Hikari immediately took the extra two kittens I gave her as her own.  I mention it because that's why the photos of this litter won't always be consistent between the two groups of kittens.  For the next 6 weeks or so Hubble and Hopper belong to Hikari along with her birthed kitten Haruka.  The other 4 belong to Aria.  Once the kittens from both groups leave the nursery and move into the main area of the house in a few weeks, they'll all integrate and become siblings regardless of parents/litter as all our kittens that are raised together do.