Zilla took to food quickly, though some of the others had to be encouraged to eat. Everyone here lent a hand in the feeding, as you can see my daughter was quite dedicated to the feeding and I certainly could not have done all that we did with so many kittens without her help.
Zilla did love her bottle though. You could barely get it filled with formula and into her mouth fast enough, so it was good when we moved onto solid food.

FuzZilla. My daughter reminded me tonight that I should explain the name. When Zilla was just about two weeks old, she was quite messy from her bottle and we were cleaning her up with a warm wash cloth. You know, all 6 oz. of her and she was like holding on to a bumble ball (http://www.amazon.com/Cardinal-Laboratories-Bumble-Various-Colors/dp/B0002H3SCI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1231292181&sr=8-1) while cleaning at the same time. One of us remarked she was a little Godzilla, and I said no, she's too cute and fuzzy. So she became FuzZilla which we shortened to Zilla as time went on.
(many of my cats have at least 2 names). As time went on, it was apparent we named her correctly because she could be a handful of all teeth and nails if you were doing something she didn't want done, which was about everything except brushing her and feeding her and loving her.

I love to take pictures of all my pets, but I admit, I love to take pictures close up of their toes. I don't know why, maybe because they liked them rubbed, or because they are so soft. But I like cat toes. (I'll pass on human ones, though I do like baby feet ...very cute).

Zilla had very cute soft toes. She however was not as fond of you rubbing them as many of my cats are. Sometimes she would make the funniest little "urr" noise. Just letting you know that a nip was eminent should your undesirable behavior continue.

Zilla was VERY fiesty. She was Princess Zilla. I cleared off the bottom cabinet shelf in my bedroom by the bed so she could partake of her daily multiple meals in the cabinet by herself, away from the other "serfs" that would want to eat from the "zilla bowl". She'd sit by the glass cabinet door, and give you "the look" and chicken was to be served immediately.
I of course being a good cat slave, aquested to her demands. I knew in the back of my mind that because of all her health problems, my time with Zilla would never be what I wanted it to be, so we never missed a moment to spoil, love and enjoy this little furry spitfire.

When Zilla was about 6 months old, she developed a cough. Coughs in cats are always a reason for concern, as cats do not tend to cough idopathically. We took her to the vet and for the next couple of weeks tried antibiotics.
Her cough got better.
for the next few months her cough came and went and her adult teeth came in. I also noticed uveitis ( http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00526.htm ) in her eye.
By this time, I had already lost several cats to "disease" and upon necropsy of the second and third deaths, knew we were dealing with FIP. But I really did not comprehend the scope of the difficulties to come, but it was at this time my research into FIP really began.
Zilla's uveitis was intermitten and not severe, but clearly there none the less. IF you look at her eye in this photo, you notice that aside from it being slightly closed, it has a small discharge, but more importantly it looks slightly cloudy. Zilla's uveitis was very faint. It can be much more severe and is very typical of cats with FIP.

Zilla was the only kitten that came from the shelter with LadyMay and the only one the sparse records show she had. She was big for a kitten her age and she seemed to grow at a good pace for a few months.
She slept on my bed with a soft furry tiger that my daughter gave her and she loved. For her whole short life, she loved furry things. Particularly furry soft blankets. When Scott and I would go shopping, if we passed something soft, we'd call it a zillablanket. We brought home a variety of different blankets for our bed, mainly with the cats and Zilla in mind.
I think we'll probably refer to soft blankets as zillablankets for a long time.
Zilla was on whole foods now, and we discovered she would only eat chicken or turkey. She'd nibble on dry kitten kibbles, but mainly ate babyfood chicken, turkey and fresh roasted chicken and turkey. She had all her baby teeth in, but we also noticed her gums were always red and inflammed.
This picture is one of my very favorites. She loved sleeping with her tiger and dragged him around. We made "box" city for the kittens to play in and on now that they were all up and running.
Her tiger will always have a place on my bed, where she should still be if not for this terrible disease.

Zilla spent most of her time with me, but she liked Chartreuse (momma dweddle). Momma Dweddle had arrived with 4 of her own kittens, but was very dedicated and took mothering very seriously, so she'd carry Zilla off and put her in her own little nesting box we set up for her with her other kittens.
Zilla enjoyed the loving that Momma D gave her. Momma D was very protective. She'd chase off the other cats and any of the dachshunds that came to see the kittens. She is the best momma cat I have ever seen. But she didn't have enough milk for her kittens and Zilla, so they all got bottle suppliments. Her milk was sparse and she also got sick with a URI and fever. Typical type of URI that you see in shelter cats. We thought......

Zilla learned to take her bottle very quickly. She also ate very well. She could hardly wait for you to fill the bottle. Her teeth grew in and she learned to chew the tip off the bottle nipple. We went through quite a few bottle nipples once she got teeth.

I don't think I have ever seen a bossier kitten. She wanted what she wanted, when she wanted it.
She slept on the bed next to me in a blanket filled box so I could feed her every two hours.
She grew quickly. We had no idea at this time about the disease that was lurking waiting to strike.
We did know however that Zilla's mother had received both rabies and FVRCP vaccines when she was about 1/2 through her pregnancy. We didn't know what effect on Zilla's health this would have.
What we did know was how much fun Zilla was to have around. She was quite spirited. She chewed off so many bottle nipples that we started her on some babyfood chicken and soft kitten food soon after those little needle teeth were fully in.