Because we humans are a very eye-contact-oriented species. It’s hard to bond with something when you can’t look into its eyes at all.
Anyway, I don’t blame ya. It would be more than a wee bit sociopathic of you not to feel a bit of a bond after all the time you’ve spent together. 
Sending what I hope are oodles of good luck and good health in your direction.
Oh, and I’m sure letting her crawl and climb around as much as is safely possible is good for her developing muscles and joints.
I’m not going to say nothing can go wrong at this point, but your chances are good that the Little Complainer is going to be complaining for a while. Kittens who have never nursed from MommaCat were always the most difficult for me to raise successfully - and I damned near raised kittens for a living for about 10 years. Between working in a vet’s office, managing a shelter and running a feral cat TNR/rescue, I had kittens more often than not. You have done very well. I’m proud of both you and Little Fighter!
Of course you’re getting attached; I don’t see how you could spend as much time as is required for her care and NOT get attached! It’s been my experience, backed by several vets, that “bottle raised kittens is the weird”. I don’t think they completely realize that they’re not human or that you’re not a cat, expecially if there are no littermates. But it’s a good, fun weird.
Diet tip which stood me in very good stead: get some plain active yogurt and mix a bit into her formula. It helps with digestive enzymes and makes the poo a bit less stinky.
What color is she? Have you been taking pictures? I can’t wait to “meet” her.
I know she’s not completely out of the woods so all appendages are crossed. Hard to type like that, too!
Thank you for being such a good kitty mommy!
Well, I think its an advantage, albeit a small one, that this little one was able to nurse from its mom for 12 hours before disaster struck - at least she got a little bit of her mom’s colostrum! Funny you should mention it now, but I just got some plain yogurt at the grocery store yesterday and added just a touch of it to her feeding today. Probably just a coincidence that she nursed especially aggressively!
She is gray. Mostly gray. Tabbyish… But she has a white face and white legs and a white belly. I have a few pics - perhaps someone more internet savvy can pm me and I can email the pics for posting? I’m not trying to be deliberately obtuse - I just don’t have an internet pic site and I’m too distracted right now to try to set one up. Well, the truth is, I’m just not as smart as I like to think I am and I have been too lazy and too unmotivated up til now to make any attempt!
Seriously, if someone who can host pics wants to pm me, I will send what pics I have…
Update? How’s she doing, Lily?
And how are you doing?
I sure hope the long silence is not a sign of sad news…
Sorry for the delay - it’s been a busy weekend and when I have been on the computer, I’ve had some issues staying connected…
Anyway, super kitten is now two weeks old and still alive and well - I hesitate to say ‘thriving’ because it may jinx me! But she is still vocal, still active and still a fuzzy little butterball! One eye has opened and the other is trying to…
I’m keeping this short, lest my connection drop out again - but fingers crossed, everything seems to be going well! Thanks for your interest and concern… 
Glad to hear that the wee one is still trucking along.
Pretty soon she’s going to need an official name, I’m thinking.
Wow, I’m so glad that the kitten is still hanging in there. Hope that things continue to go well.
Lilly
So grateful for the update. My heart would break to think of you losing the little one. Stay strong lil fighter!
Lilif.
“Little Fighter”
I wish I knew how to post pics; I’d really love to see that fuzzy little darling.
Well - I wish I knew how to post pics! Thanks to help from Foggy, I was able to set up an account with an image hosting site, and I did manage to upload a few pics to it - but I’m still not sure how to post these pics to the board???
Anyway, kitten is now 17 days old - both eyes are open! I was a little concerned that she was late in opening her eyes since the first did not open until she was 14 days, which seems late according to most of what I have read on the net. (And, no - the ER vet gave me very little info about hand raising kittens, said he didn’t have any handouts and advised me to ‘google it’.) However, I also read that long-haired cats tend to open their eyes later than short-haired cats, so maybe…maybe she’s going to be long-haired?? Maddie was short-haired, and I’m not sure about Billy Bob, the most likely sire at this point (since I only saw him once or twice, briefly and didn’t really notice his coat length, not sure if it matters, could be a recessive trait?). Or maybe she was just delayed because of her unfortunate start in life??
As far as a name, she has rather unofficially been called ‘Banshee’ - as in, she would vocalize so loudly every time I picked her up for feeding that I would say, ‘Geez, chill for a second, you little banshee!’ Well, that and the whole ‘harbinger of death’ thing that banshees are all about… So for now at least, we have been calling her Banshee.
When she was blind, she was a total reckless maniac, belly crawling her way to the edge of the bed at breakneck speed - I was continually saving her from crashing to the floor! But now that she can see a bit, she has become much more cautious and much more curious and has slowed down in her explorations. She really is amazing! She squeaks, squalls, crawls and climbs over pillows and blankets - she is fearless!
After the death of her littermate, I remember telling my brother “I don’t think that she will last long enough to use up the kitten milk I got from the vet.” I am happy to report that I was wrong - I have had to replenish that supply! She has now reached the point where she spends more time crawling around, exploring and questioning her world than she does nursing…
She is a warrior. She continues to amaze me.
I’m only familiar with Photobucket, so YMMV, but:[ul]
[li]Each picture on the site should have a link (URL) associated with it. Finding this URL may be the trickiest part (with Photobucket, it’s an entry titled "Direct link’ in a dropdown that appears when you hover over the picture). Once you find the URL, highlight and copy it.[/li][li]Type a word or phrase into your reply that you want to use for the link. For instance: Ms Alainn.[/li][li]Highlight the word or phrase, then click the ‘Insert Link’ button above the reply window (it looks like a globe with a chain underneath).[/li][li]Paste the URL you copied in the first step into the window, replacing the ‘http://’ that’s already there.[/li][li]Click OK. vBulletin will wrap code around the word or phrase so that it appears as a hyperlink (Ms Alainn) that links to the picture when you preview or submit the reply.[/li][/ul]Hope that helps, at least a little. And apologies if I’ve muddied the waters even more.
Ah, the purrfect name comes to mind = Xena: The Warrior Princess. :D;)
I once named a kitten I was bottle-raising “Heathen Buzzbutt the Yowler” for similar reasons. Then there was the litter of 7 who were collectively referred to as “The Terrorists”.
I’m so happy she’s doing well!
kitten pics - hope this works…if it does, its thanks to Foggy (and Otto)! If its screwed up, I’m afraid that’s all on me… 
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5237/121rc.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6682/146ic.jpg
Great Pics.
Aww, I’ve been waiting for these! So cute!
Keeping good thoughts that the little loudmouth continues to thrive.
squees at Banshee
Squee! Kitteh!
I’m glad you included the pic of Maddie, even if it does make me sniffle. That’s actually a pretty amazing pic.
