The above pictures of Smokey and Bandit -- who will turn a full four weeks old later this evening -- were taken just over an hour ago. In these pictures, they are each sitting in a pouch I made by sewing up the two corners of an old Iam's cat food T-shirt, and looking up at the camera and my face. I am, of course, wearing the T-shirt. Sometimes I carry them around the house in the pouch, and they often fall asleep in it. As you can see, Smokey's one eye appears watery due to the conjunctivitis. I cleaned his eye with boiled water just prior to taking his picture.
But on to the good news . . .
I am pleased to report victory at last! Earlier this afternoon, dear little Bandit finally discovered the wonderful world of solid food.
As I have mentioned before, unlike her younger brother Smokey who has been eating solid food for about a week now, Bandit has been extremely resistant to consuming anything but mother Socks' milk. Regardless of how many times I have set her in front of the plate of soft, moist, mashed chicken-tuna mix while her mother and brother are eating, she has backed away from the plate. Placing a small bit of food on my finger tip has also been met with resistance by that little rebel.
Well, earlier this afternoon, my daughter and I were sitting on the kitchen floor enjoying the cute antics of Smokey and Bandit, as their mother Socks watched over them. Bandit had nuzzled up to my daughter, who then decided to try the food-on-the-fingertip trick. Lo and behold, a light must have gone off in Bandit's head, because she finally got the point, and proceeded to eat the bits of food off of her finger.
My daughter then placed Bandit next to the plate where Socks and Smokey were feeding. After a momentary pause and sniff, Bandit went to it, chowing down just like her mother and brother; and she didn't stop for a good while. Naturally, we were both quite happy, as we were beginning to grow a bit concerned by Bandit's resistance, even though she has apparently still been getting enough milk from her mother Socks.
Oh gosh . . . I think our food bill just went up! But you know what? I don't mind. These kittens -- and their mother -- are very special to us both. 
That was our first surprise of the day. The second surprise came about an hour ago. While Bandit often climbs into the litter box and walks around in it, or watches her brother dig and take care of his personal business, today for the first time I actually observed her urinating in the box. Bravo Bandit! Well done!
So Bandit gave us a double surprise today, and we are both very pleased about it. With her two victories, both kittens are now fully litter box trained and eating solid food at four weeks of age.
However, the score isn't quite even just yet between Smokey and Bandit. As I have already mentioned, Smokey took his first BM in the litter box yesterday night. Given that Bandit has now discovered the yumminess of solid food -- she just ate a second time for today about an hour ago -- I anticipate that she will even out the score -- with her own BM in the box -- very soon. Only a cat person would celebrate something like that!
Finally, a short while ago I scheduled an appointment with a local veterinarian so that we can take care of Smokey's infected eye. I will be so relieved once we have overcome the conjunctivitis, or whatever his affliction happens to be.
That's it for now. Until next time. I hope that you enjoyed the post.
