Happy New Year

I am pleased to be able to end my first year of fostering will all of our 35 fosters in loving forever homes. That is right, everyone is adopted. Simon, the last of my four feral kittens that I almost lost to two different bouts of pneumonia was adopted by a wonderful lady yesterday. That means that I am foster free for the first time since early March. I have really enjoyed fostering and after a short break in the new year, I will be back with more stories from the crazy animal house. Happy New Year.

Taking a Break

It has been a while since I posted because things have been crazy and the weather has been changing. Cold weather means an increase in my pain and tiredness so I do not spend as much time online. I am actually just at the start of a break from fostering so I thought I would let everyone know and post an update on all my fosters for everyone that has been following before I went on my break. So here goes:

Marley, Cali, Sophie, Nugget, Pumpkin and Patch have all been adopted. Parker (the bottle baby and sibling to Dana) unfortunately caught a bad respiratory infection at about two weeks old while in another foster home and did not survive. Since Parker and Dana's mom was so sick when they were born and we lost Dana after a few days, we were kind of prepared to lose Parker if he got sick. We all would have preferred another outcome, but at least Dana and Parker were well cared for and loved for the short time they were here. And the good news is that their mother has pulled through and is available for adoption and is so sweet we expect her to find a home quickly.

Jaz, Simon, Sophie and Tink completely recovered. During the spay process I did learn that Jaz had only one kidney, Sophie has a heart murmur and Tink ended up with a hernia from the surgery that had to be treated for the week leading up to the annual kitten adopt-a-thon. They joined many of the other kittens that were in foster care for a two day adoption event. Since the foster parent stayed with the kittens to answer questions about them during the event, I figured that they were social enough to attend since they were calmer with me around. 61 kittens found new homes during the two day event. And I am please to say that Jaz, Sophie and Tink were among them. Simon was not adopted during the event because he was very nervous.

I actually went into the event hoping to find either Jaz or Sophie a home. Jaz was the most outgoing and Sophie was sweet when she was not scared. So I would have been happy to have one of the four find a home. Jaz captured the heart of a nice woman who did not mind that she could be feisty and had only one kidney. Sophie caught the eye of a wonderful couple with out kids looking for two kittens to be companions to their older cat. I told them all about their history and told them that since Sophie got along so well with her siblings, she would probably get along with any kitten they chose. I was thrilled when they looked around and ended up coming back and wanted no only Sophie, but Tink. Tink had been so frightened they had not even been able to hold her. They felt that since they were looking for two kittens so that the first one would have someone to play with, they did not mind if it took Tink a long time to learn to trust them. It was the best case scenario that I could have found for both of them, but especially Tink.

Simon did not find a home during the event and I decided to take him back home rather than leave him in the shelter that was now crowded with the "leftover" kittens. He would not do well in our kitten cage with other kittens and would likely get sick again from the stress. I am going to keep him in my home and continue to build his confidence until the shelter is less full of kittens. Until then, the shelter is going to list him on petfinder and have me bring in him if anyone calls about him.

Since Simon is just living lose in my home with my own cats, I do not really feel like I have any fosters at the moment. And that is a good thing. I am tired after pulling Silvermist, Simon, Tink and Sophie through their illness and losing other fosters. So I am taking a break for the time being. I am not sure how long it will be, possibly just until after the holiday. No matter what, I doubt it will be long because every time I volunteer at the shelter, I see a new cat or kittens that need a foster home. So far I have stayed strong to my decision to take a break, but we all know I will not last for long, because I love it too much. See you soon.

Muffin - Finally ADOPTED!

I am happy to report that Muffin (my second foster mom and the mother of my foster failure Doyle) has finally been adopted! She has been at the shelter since I finished their foster time back in May. She was happy there, but was not finding anyone who was interested in taking her home. Thankfully, the shelter was able to recently transfer her to another shelter.

The shelters in our area often transfer cats back and forth if they are having trouble getting particular cats adopted. That way they cat gets a whole new group of people looking at them. And I am please to report that this was all Muffin needed. It only took about two weeks after her transfer for her to find her forever home! My family and I are so happy that she has a new forever home. I had considered taking her back into my home when she did not get adopted, but she did not get along with my current cats because the house was just not big enough two dominate female cats to get along. So I am very pleased!

Cautiously Optimistic

The vet check for Jaz, Tink, Simon and Sophie went well. They are improving. In fact, they look so much better (and larger) that the vet and staff at the shelter were joking that they did not even recognize them as my kittens.

I have been able to stop giving them fluids by IV each day and just monitor their hydration instead. So far, they have been hydrated and active and eating. The vet said to continue their antibiotics for another week just as a precaution against a relapse, but that they were much better. She actually seemed surprised that they had all made it to this point and that they were the sickest kittens that she had seen in a while that pulled through the illness rather than needing to be euthanized. It has been a lot of hard work, worry and stress, but definitely worth it to see four mostly healthy kittens playing together in the foster room. The vet actually told me that I saved their lives. It was a great feeling and went a long way toward curing my burn out.

They are still not totally out of the woods yet because they could relapse now that they are only on one medication rather than 3-4 and fluids and they still need more socialization before they can be adopted out. But, as the title of this post says, I am now cautiously optimistic that they will all get their chance at a forever home.

Burnt Out

Well, things have been crazy here at the animal house lately. I have had quite a few fosters in the past month or so and all of them have been very sick. I am currently down to four kittens that are struggling to recover from pneumonia for the second time in as many months. I love fostering very much, but after this last bunch, I am in need of a break so these will be my last fosters for at least a short while. I will update here as I learn of adoptions of the most recent fosters, but otherwise I will be on hiatus until I start fostering again. Don't get me wrong, I will still be doing fostering in the very near future because I know I will miss it as soon as my house is empty, but I think I need at least a week or so off. So here are the updates as of today:

Silvermist - is healthy and happy. She was spayed and went to her forever home on Saturday

Jewel - went to another foster home to finish recovering from her cold so that she could not catch pneumonia from my other guys. She has also recovered and was adopted on Sunday.

Marley, Nugget, Cali and Sophie - initially came to my home to be sure they were eating enough. They were old enough to be adopted, but the shelter manager suspected that they did not like the shelter food and needed something different. She was right. They were also transferred to another foster home to avoid pneumonia. They did have a slight cold so they will stay with their new foster mom while they are on meds.

Christopher - was a small black kitten that came home with me with some mild cold symptoms and then stopped eating and continued to get sick. Despite medications, force feeding and fluids he just continued to get worse. Last week I had to make the hard decision to bring him back to the shelter to be euthanized. He was in pain and too weak to stand up anymore. I was devastated by this because he was not one of the sickest ones that I was prepared to lose. He is also the first of my fosters that did not make it. I wish him the best as he plays with all the other pets at the rainbow bridge.

Pumpkin and Patch - are two orphaned baby kittens brought in my animal control. They were about 2 weeks old. One was orange and one was calico. I took them home to bottle feed them for the first 48 hours that they were with the shelter. I am an emergency bottle fed foster person. Kittens that young have to be fed every 2 hours around the clock. I can not do this long term, but since I do not currently work, I have the ability to go in on short notice to pick up a bottle fed kitten and take care of it until one of the regular bottle fed homes and come and get it. This was the case with pumpkin and patch. They are both doing well and growing in the new foster home.

Parker and Dana - These were two kittens born to a very very sick mother cat in the shelter. Her foster mother brought her in because she has gone into labor and already lost two kittens. We thought she was done delivery and set her up in a crate in an office to watch her. I left my drink in the office because I was distracted. When I went back a few hours later to get it, I could hear a kitten crying. I immediately searched for the kitten and found that the mother had managed to clean it and was keeping it warm, but it was not nursing. I grabbed a staff member who realized that the mother was so sick, she had no milk. We took the kitten, who I later named Parker, and I started bottle feeding it. I took it home that night and brought it back to the shelter the next day to continue bottle feeding while I was volunteering. Just as we were all getting ready to go home that night, I decided to check on the mom and tell her how her baby was doing. When I went it and went to pet mom, I saw a little tail sticking out from underneath her. It was another kitten. It was still wet and very cold. We managed to get it warm in the incubator and feed it a little. We all knew it was a long shot, but we had to try. That kitten I named Dana. Dana did survive the night with me since I took the incubator home, but I am sad to say that Dana did not make it once he/she was transferred to another foster home. Dana was just too sick and too little to survive outside an incubator. Parker however, is not only doing well, we were able to place him with a mother that just had a litter. The mother accepted him and treats him as one of her own which is the best thing for him. He and his new family is not with me, but I will update when I hear more. Parker and Dana's mom is also recovering slowly in one of the offices at the shelter.

Jaz, Simon, Sophie and Tink - these are the babies (who are over 8 weeks now) that have pneumonia for the second time in as many months. They are also the reason all of my other fosters were sent to other homes. We did not want the other to get pneumonia and could not take the chance that the babies would get exposed to even one more virus. They are slowly, very slowly, improving. It is still touch and go as to whether or not they will all pull through. They are on tons of medications and I am giving them IV fluids every day. Three of them are also still mostly feral and as you can imagine, all this medical care is not helping them learn to like humans. Sophie who was the runt of the litter is actually the healthiest and most social. I have high hopes that she will soon be well enough to go up for adoption. I think that Tink and Simon will pull through the illness, but am concerned about them being socialized the older they get. Jaz has lost a lot of weight and is very tiny. She is in the most danger of not making it through the pneumonia. They see the vet again this coming Friday. Depending on how they are doing, we will have to decide if we continue such intensive treatment, or if it is time to let them go. They have had intensive medical treatment for over a month now. Of course I want them to pull through and go to good homes, but at some point you have to think if we are treating them just to keep them alive because we do not want to lose them or if it is kinder to let them go. hey were actually looking a little better yesterday, so I am cautiously hopeful that we will have a positive outcome for them.

As I said - it has been crazy here in the animal house. I am sure you can see why I need a break. Although I have to say, even with everything that is going on lately, fostering is still one of the best, most rewarding things I have ever done. And I will be back with updates on these guys and information on new fosters once I start fostering again. I doubt I will be gone long. :)

Silvermst and the shelter

Silvermist is a little white Angora kitten with chocolate point markings. She is beautiful and has had a hard life so far. She was found alone in a local state forest at about 4 weeks of age. She has always had trouble with eating and came home with me to learn how to eat solid food and gain weight. At first I was feeding her with a medicine syringe while she learned to eat the wet cat food.

She never really was all that interested in eating and pretty much just laid around and slept. She did not play or run around like the other kittens I have had. She mostly wanted to sit on my roommate's chest and sleep. And while watching a little tiny white kitten sleep on the chest of a big tough burly guy is amusing to see, it was not quite normal. Being less active is normal for her breed, but she seemed more worn out than just relaxed.

She was one pound four ounces when I brought her home and I managed to get her up to 1 pound 9 ounces before she started losing weight for no known reason. This continued for a few days even though I resumed force feeding her. When she got down to 1 pound 2 ounces, I brought her back to the shelter for help. They decided to keep her to give her fluids twice a day and treat her for worms in the hopes that this would make her feel better.

After a few days, she was doing a little better and since she was craving attention, she came back home with me with medicine and instructions to watch her carefully. Well after only a day or two, it was obvious to me that she needed to go back to see the vet. She was trying to eat, but she was fighting off whatever worms she was dealing with and now she was showing signs of an eye infection and upper respiratory infection. I brought her right in because I was really concerned about her well being.

The shelter vets, who are always incredibly busy doing spay and neuter surgeries, fit her into their schedules to check her out just like they did when the babies were not doing well. The vet and the staff were just as concerned about her as I was and decided she better stay with them again for more fluids and they would continue the medication and force feeding that I was doing at home. At that point it was really a waiting game to see if Silvermist was strong enough to fight off all the problems she was dealing with. And she really needed to eat to get strong enough to survive.

Since I was so worried about her, I came in most every day that week and volunteered in the shelter. That allowed me to help out the shelter when they were short on volunteers and I got to check on Silvermist multiple times throughout the day. After a day or so the staff and I noticed that Silvermist perked up when I sat near her cage and talked to her. Eventually she even started to eat anytime I sat there and petted her. Apparently, she is a social eater and only likes to eat when "mom" is around. So, I spent every day there sitting by her cage for a few minutes as often as I could. It might have been a little weird looking, but if that is what she needed to get well, then that is what she would get. And the staff fully agreed and was wonderful about just walking around me without complaint while I was sitting in the doorway of their busy cat holding room.

Silvermist actually got well enough to come home with me again on Tuesday. I was initially concerned because she had not done well last time she came home and I was afraid that she was too timid to eat with the other cats. But, I am glad to say, she has done fine. For the first time since she came into the shelter and my home over a month ago, she is playing and chasing toys. She comes running when I open the can of cat food just like the other cats and runs away when she sees me with the medicine bottles. It is wonderful. She is still sick and has a way to go before she can be adopted, but she is on the mend finally.

And she has develop quite a few fans at the shelter. The staff and volunteers that got to know her while she was there were thrilled to hear that she is doing well. And the vet that has been watching her was also thrilled. That is what amazes me about the vets and staff at the shelter. They truly care about each and every one of the animals that comes through their doors. Of course, I am thrilled that Silvermist is doing well. She has been in my house for a while and I am quite attatched to her. But everyone at the shelter was just as thrilled as my family to hear that she wants to play and act like a normal kitten.

I have also really enjoyed the time I have spent volunteering in the shelter. I have learned a lot and gained a better understanding of the joys and challenges of shelter life. I really encourage anyone that loves animals to seek out your local shelter or rescue group and sign up to donate some of your time as a volunteer. You will not regret it.

Where are we now?

Sorry to have been away so long. Between caring for my sick foster kitties and volunteering in the shelter, I have not had the time to post. So here is an update on how everything and everyone is doing:

Walk for Animals - This went great! It was a beautiful day and there were tons of people and dogs there to enjoy it. Although having to get up at 6:30 to drive about an hour to get to the event at 8AM for set-up was not my favorite thing since I am so not a morning person, it was worth it. Everything went smoothly and the shelter was able to raise almost $64,000 to help all the wonderful animals in our care.

Jordan and Jack - Have both finished with their socialization and returned to the shelter for their neuter surgeries. The good news is that both of them were adopted the same day that they moved on to the adoption floor and are now happily in their forever homes!

Jewel and Midnight - these are two kittens that I took into foster since the last time I posted. Jewel is a little gray and white cutie and Midnight (as you can probably guess) is all black. They were basically waiting in a cage at the shelter until they could be spayed. Jewel was a little too light and Midnight was just not on the schedule until the end of the week. Since cage space is so tight, I offered to take them home and let them stay with me until their surgery dates. Both have been spayed by this time. Midnight was adopted right away. Jewel also has someone who is interested in adopting her, but after a day in the shelter, she started showing signs of an upper respiratory infection and so she needs medicine before she can go home. I saw her in the isolation room today and offered to take her back home until she is well. So she will stay with me a little longer and then go back to the shelter for adoption.

The Babies - a.k.a Simon, Tink, Sophie and Jaz. They are not really babies anymore. They are actually close to 8 weeks old which is normally the time they would go back to the shelter for adoption. However, Simon and Tink have been fighting pneumonia this whole time and Sophie and Jaz have been recovering from upper respiratory infections so they are not healthy enough or big enough to go up for adoption yet. Thankfully, they all seem to have gotten through the worst of their health problems and just need a little more time to get completely well. And since they were from a larger litter, they also need to gain more weight.

Christopher - He is also a new foster that came home with me to recover from an upper respiratory infection. Since all my other fosters have them, it is safe for him to be with me and I certainly know how to take care of a kitten with this condition. It is just much nicer for him to recover in a home with other kittens rather than stay in the shelter in a cage by himself so he does not give his cold to the other kittens.

And since this post is getting rather long, I will do another post to update you on Silvermist, my other foster that I have not talked about here. And I promise that I will be back soon with photos of all the new arrivals since we finally have a new digital camera. Now, I just have to figure out how to get the photos off the new camera and onto the computer. :)

Sneezing, Wheezing and Fundraising

I just wanted to give an update on how things are with my fosters. The majority of them have been sick and I have been trying to raise funds for the shelter's charity walk so I have not had much time to post here.

Jordan and Jack are my 9-10 week old former feral fosters. Their socialization has come along pretty well. I think I will be able to bring Jack in this week to be neutered. They will see how he does with them. If he stays social, they will put him up for adoption. If he acts feral with them, he will come back home to stay with me for a little longer. I think he will be fine though. Jordan is a little bit behind his brother in socialization because he has a cold and I have to give him medication. He will not be truly ready for adoption until he gets over the cold and learns that humans do not always approach you to stick medicine in your mouth.

Silvermist is now about 7 weeks old but is not gaining any more weight. I am currently force feeding her with a medicine syringe to get her to put on some weight. She does not appear to have any health issues so we do not know why she is not interested in eating on her own. It will just be a wait and see sort of thing. Hopefully she will put on some weight and begin eating more soon.

The babies are about 5 weeks old now. I started out with 3 of them, went to 4 and am now down to 2. How does that work, you ask? They were a litter of 5 that needed to be syringe fed until they learned to eat solid food. This is a lot of work, so the shelter sent 3 home with me and 2 home with another foster family. After about a week, the other foster family lost one of their two kittens. She just faded away. Since the remaining kitten was now all alone, she came home with me. So then I had Simon, Tink, Sophie and Jaz. Well Simon started getting sick and the medicine was not helping him. On Friday, the vet said that he had pneumonia and had to stay at the shelter because he needs daily injections to try and get over the pneumonia. On Sunday when I checked on the remaining three, Tink was breathing badly like Simon had, so I brought her in. She also had to stay at the shelter for the same treatment. Now I just have Jaz and Sophie and I am really hoping that they do not end up with symptoms soon too. It could just be bad luck or there could have been something wrong with this whole litter when it was born. We just do not know.

On top of all this I am try to raise money for the shelter's charity walk because without donations they can not give babies like this such extensive medical care and would have to think about putting them to sleep for the expense rather than just considering the animals quality of life. I am not doing so great so far with fundraising because my disabilities make it tough to get out of the house all that much to try and find people to ask. I have only raised $70 so far and the walk is on the 13th. But every little bit helps and if I had to pick between succeeding in my fundraising efforts and succeeding in getting all my current fosters healthy and adopted, well then there is no contests. The fosters win every time. :o)

To donate to my fundraising efforts, click here. I will update on the babies conditions as I have time and/or information.

Walking in Spirit - Please Sponsor Me

Anyone who reads this blog or who knows me in real life has learned by now how much I love being a foster mother to the various cats and kittens that have come through our home this year. But what many of you may not know is why I got into fostering in the first place.

Due to various health conditions, I have not been able to work since early 2005. Since I love animals and could not work, I wanted to volunteer. But I quickly found out that I was not physically up to going into the shelter even once a week because in order to drive I have to skip my medications and when I do that I am too sore and weak to be of much use at the shelter. Fostering was the perfect compromise because I could care for the foster cats at home without needing to drive very often. I was thrilled to find a way to help even with my limitations. There is just one thing that I have wanted to do for a long time and still can not do.

Many charities that I care about often have fundraising walks where people can sponsor you and then you go and walk. I am sure that you are all familiar with the concept, so I won't go into details. One walk that I really had hoped to be able to do is a walk for the shelter I foster for - The MSPCA Walk for Animals 2009. People will be walking with their dogs to raise money for the shelter.

I almost signed up to walk, but the reality is that even though it is a short walk, I am still just not physically capable of doing it. I am going to be there on the day of the walk as a volunteer because they have found me something I can do sitting down, but I was still disappointed that I could not join in the walking.

Then that made me think: I know that I am not the only one out there that can not do charity walks. There are others like me that are not up to the walking, or those who can not walk at all. People whose schedules are too busy, but wish they could find the time. And people who have cats, birds, hamsters and other pets that don't really go for a walk. So I have decide to reach out to my friends, family and cyber friends and ask you to sponsor me as I walk in spirit for this really good cause. With more and more animals being surrendered to the shelter every day due to the economy, they need help now more than ever.

To make a donation, no matter how small, please visit my participant page and donate online. The team I have joined is the Fabulous Foster Failures. Or to donate by mail, send a check to: MSPCA Walk for Animals350 S. Huntington Ave.Boston, MA, 02130 and put the team name of Fabulous Foster Failures in the note section. Thanks for your help.

Simon Says Hiss

I have three more new foster kittens. Two girls and one boy. They are so adorable! They are feral kittens that are just three weeks old. At this age they are just terrified more than truly feral and aggressive. I am currently teaching them how to eat solid food. This requires feeding them the food through a medicine syringe until they understand that it is food and then slowly getting them used to eating from a plate. So far they are doing OK and gaining weight even though they also have colds like my other foster kittens. My older feral foster that was feeling so poorly is doing much better now though, so that is good.

So now I have six sneezing kitten ranging in age from three weeks to nine weeks. They are Jordan, Jack, Silvermist, Jaz, Sophie and Simon. Simon is the only boy out of the three young ones and he does tend to hiss whenever I come near him, but when he is only 15 oz., the hissing is so cute it just makes me laugh.

On a side note, we lost our camera recently so until we get the new one that we ordered, this blog will be pictureless. But I promise to post pictures of all the new arrivals once the new camera is in my hands.

Feeling Useless

Well it is official - my feral kittens are boys. I was pretty sure that Jordan was a boy but could not really tell with the other one because it only has part of a tail and it kept the tail tucked down all the time. But I had to take them into the shelter today because Jordan was sick, so they helped me verify that they are both boys. I am pretty set on the name Jordan for the little brown tiger kitten, but have not really decided on a name for the black and white one. Now that I know it is a boy though, I will see if I can find a name that seems to fit.

Right now I am most concerned about Jordan's health. He has an upper respiratory infection that has gotten suddenly much worse. This is a common condition for shelter cats and feral cats in particular so it is nothing that I have not dealt with before, but Jordan was doing fine last night at this time and now he is struggling to breathe normally. I had him checked out at the shelter today when I picked up his medications and he just needs time to get better. I feel so bad for him and I wish that I could do more than I already have for him, but just like a person with a head cold, he just has to get through it.

He started on the medications tonight and I have been bringing him into the bathroom and filling the room with steam in order to help clear out his sinuses and help him breathe. (This works for people with a head cold too in case you were wondering). And if he keeps going the way he is, I will probably have to give him some food with a medicine syringe tomorrow because he is too worn out to eat like he should. I have held him to comfort him as much as he will tolerate, but since he is still mostly feral, I can't cuddle him as much as I have my other fosters that got sick. I will just have to keep an eye on him and help him through this, although it is hard because there is really not much I can do that I have not already done. I know he is getting all he needs, but somehow, when I look at him miserable and all huddled up in his cage, it just does not seem to be enough.

Purring is a wonderful thing

I decided to name my two feral fosters Jordan and Stormy for the time being. Oddly enough, they are not real keen on me checking under their tails to see what sex they are - imagine that. :)

They really want to get out of the cage and run around so I have been using this to my advantage. They can see that Doyle, my kitten and Silvermist, the other foster are loose and they want to be with them. So in order to get out of the cage, they have to let me pick them up and pet them for a minute before they can run loose around the room. Today, I actually got both of them to let out a little bit of a purr while I was holding them, so I am seeing that as progress.

So far I have to trick them to get them back into the cage each time I let them out. I decided to just let them be tonight and have the run of the foster room for the night. If they are more skittish and won't let me handle them again in the morning then it will be back into the cage for them. Hopefully they will be too interested in breakfast to run from me and I will be petting them before they realize what happens.

Silvermist and friends

I have three new fosters in my home right now. They are all too scared for photos at the moment. One is a 4 week old female who my niece named Silvermist after one of the fairies in the Tinkerbell movie. I was just happy it was not yet another one of Ariel's sisters. Silvermist is small, but beautiful. She appears to be either a pure Persian kitten or possibly a Persian Siamese mix.

She was found in a local state forest where someone had probably dumped her. She was too clean and unmatted to have been in the forest since birth. This makes no sense to me. Why would someone just dump a kitten that will be worth money when it is older. Of course, I do not understand why anyone would dump ANY kitten but even people who are not animal lovers seem to value animals that are worth some money. Oh well, I am just glad that she is now with us where she is valuable just because she is a sweet little girl. She is very timid from her time in the state park, but we are working on that.

My other two guys - at least I think they are guys - are feral kittens. They can not be handled at all yet which is why I am not sure yet what sex they are. They are the most feral kittens that I have had so far as fosters. In fact, the rest of their litter was sent to a feral cat rescue. These two were the only two the shelter felt had a chance of become social pets. The rest will probably end up in a feral cat colony that the feral cat rescue manages. They are around 8 weeks old and have been here for 5 days now but they are still terrified of me. I have had to move to the "tough love" method of socialization which I don't really like even though I know it does not hurt them and it works. What that means is that they have a comfortable cage, litter box, bed and water at all times, but they only get food, toys or a chance to get out of the cage when I am in the room. That way they soon realize that every time I come in the room, something good happens.

I did not want to try this method because I like to leave dry food down for my fosters at all times because so many are underweight or sick. But these guys are not sick or underweight and I was not making any progress just spending time with them. Since I started only putting food bowls in when I am in the room, they have actually let me pet their backs while they eat, so it is working. Of course, I am going down about every 20 minutes or so throughout the day and offering them the food, so they are not going hungry. Hopefully we will make more progress in the days to come.

Since I do not know their sex yet, they do not have names. I have never been very good at coming up with traditional either sex names for my cats. So right now they are just the brown tiger guy and the black and white guy. They are going to be a challenge, but if they come out of my home as social, adoptable kittens, then it will be worth it.

Meeting a New Mom

I volunteered at the shelter that I foster for today. They were having a special event and were going to need the extra help so I went in. I am so glad that I did because I got to meet the woman who was taking Darcy home. Darcy and her brother Julius had a special place in my heart because they overcame a lot of odds to become the social adoptable kittens they are now. They also looked like my previous cat Maggie did when she was young. I still miss her and it was nice to have orange kittens around again. I missed both of them when I brought them into the shelter.

Of course, I miss all of my fosters, but some are harder than others. Since Darcy was one of the hard ones to give up, it was really great to get to meet the person she was going home with. Her new mom promised to send pictures and updates to the shelter so I could see how she grows. And I am happy that Darcy is in good hands. :)

Just For Fun

This is Tiger. He is at the shelter now, looking for a home. Even though he is old enough to be adopted, he is still a tiny guy. Someone at the shelter found this hat and gave it to my 4 year old niece for him to wear. He is such a well tempered guy, he actually let us put it on. We had to take pictures because he was so cute. Everyone that saw him with the hat burst out laughing. :)

UPDATE: Tiger got adopted! I am so pleased because he had some problems that made it so he could only go to certain types of homes and we were concerned it would take a long time to find him a home, but he got adopted in less than a week. Yeah Tiger!

Cat Collar Safety

Our newest foster kitten came home with me on Friday. He is a little gray and white tiger. His name is Taro, which apparently is a Japanese name meaning first born son or big boy. We did not name Taro. He got his name from the foster family he and his brothers stayed with before he came home to us.

Both of Taro's brothers went up for adoption on Friday and may have even already found their forever homes. Taro was not so lucky. He was supposed to go up for adoption with his brothers, but instead had to come home with me to be given pain medication and an antibiotic. His situation has led to this post on cat collar safety. The basic rule is - too tight is bad, but so is too loose and Taro is a perfect example of why.

I was at the shelter on Friday morning dropping off Tiger and Arista so they could (finally) go up for adoption. As I often do after dropping off a foster, I stayed around to help the regular volunteers get the cat area cleaned and ready for the public.

When a cat or kitten is ready to go on to the adoption floor, a staff member checks it out, gives it any vaccinations it needs and places it in a carrier with food and litter. If the animal came in late in the day, it will spend the night in the carrier and be placed into the appropriate cage when the volunteers get in the next day. Most of the cats and kittens are perfectly happy to spend the night in these large carriers and in my opinion it is always better to have people around watching when you introduce new kittens to the kitten cages to make sure there are no fights or other problems.

Well, Taro and his brothers were a group of these sort of kittens. I was hanging their hello cards on the cage while another volunteer opened their carrier and put them in the large kitten cage. As she was doing this she noticed that Taro's temporary collar was caught around his lower jaw. Sometime during the night, he must have worked it loose enough that he got it into his mouth and got stuck. He was unable to get his mouth shut and the collar had been digging into his jaw all night.

We immediately cut the collar off him and checked him out. His mouth was so swollen that he could not close it and the sides of his mouth were all cut up and smelled like infection. He was also obviously in pain. Although it was not an emergency situation, we knew he needed to be seen by a staff member and probably the vet as soon as possible. The vet was doing spay and neuter surgeries that day. The less people that enter the sterile environment the better, so I just sat with him in my arms until we found a staff member who could take him in to the surgery area to see the vet.

Now Taro will probably be just fine and ready to go up for adoption by Thursday. Until then he is my guest and I am happy to have him. He is a fun, spunky little guy. The point of this post is to let people know to please check your cat's collar regularly. Most people think of an embedded collar as being mainly a dog problem, but cats can get them too. And they can happen quickly, even overnight. If you adopt a cat from a shelter please remember that their shelter collars are temporary and should be replaced with a kitten collar or an adult safety collar as soon as you get them home.

The problem with Taro's collar was that it was too loose, thereby allowing him to get his jaw stuck in it. The shelter I foster for takes amazing care of its animals and everyone who heard what happened to Taro was horrified. Each cat in that shelter is checked out closely at least once a day and if this can happen in that type of environment, then it can certainly happen in even the most loving of pet owner's home.

You should be able to fit one or two finger between your cats neck and the collar - no more, no less. Having it too tight or too lose can be dangerous and cause problems for the cat. So if you are not already checking the fit of your cat's collar once a day or every other day, then please start. Especially if they are young and growing or senior aged and putting on weight due to decreased activity.

I know I will be checking Doyle's collar daily from now on. He has been growing in leaps and bounds ever since I adopted him.

Adoption Updates

I am pleased to report that Magic, Duncan and Pixie have been adopted. I believe that Darcy has been adopted, but have to confirm it tomorrow. And while I was in the shelter getting Arista checked out, Chica was in with a family that wants to adopt her if the shelter can keep her for them until Saturday.

That means that of my latest crew, only Arista and Tiger still need homes. Arista has developed some complications from her spay and needs to stay with us a little longer. Tiger is still having some litter box issues, but they are getting better. He is going in to be neutered on Friday and then placed up for limited adoption which means he will only be allowed to go home with a family that is willing to take him home knowing he may have these issues for his whole life.

Muffin, the last mother cat I had is also still looking for a home, but all in all, I am pleased that so many of them have found their forever homes.

Griffin Goes Home

I am very happy to report that Griffin, my little gray and white baby, got adopted! He was my first socialization foster and even though he is a kitten, he was sitting in the shelter waiting for a home.

He did not get adopted quickly because he did not get along with other cats and could not go into the kitten cage. We needed to go to a home where he could be the only pet. With all the other kittens around during kitten season, he kept getting overlooked. It did not help that he spent most of his time with his back to everyone because he was afraid of the other cats.

My creative roommate made him a larger, scrapbooked cage card that explained his situation and asked people to take the time to get to know him away from the other cats. He was adopted a few days later. I am very happy for him.

Almost Empty Nest

Today I brought Arista, Darcy, Pixie, Duncan and Chica into the shelter. Pixie, Duncan and Chica have finished their medications and since they are already spayed and neutered, they will go right onto the adoption floor. Darcy and Arista are scheduled to be spayed and will go on the adoption floor as soon as they recover. That leaves me with just Tiger. (And our own three cats).

The place seems kind of empty right now because we have had so many fosters and almost all of them returned to the shelter at the same time. It is nice because it is a lot less work, but I miss them. Because of his litter box issues, Tiger is not allowed to roam the house, so we have no little ones underfoot right now.

Arista will be returning to us tonight and staying for a day or two while she recovers from her spay, but then she will go right back to go up for adoption. Both the foster people and I were concerned about Arista recovering on the adoption floor like most kittens do because she needs to be watched closely to make sure she does not have any eating issues. And of course, it is easier for the shelter if she recovers with me because then they do not have to deal with her recovering and eating a different food from everyone else at the same time.

I will not get any new fosters until we figure out what is the cause of Tiger's litter box issues. We think he might be afraid with so many other cats around, so we have been emptying my house of other fosters to see if that helps and they have also sent out a lab test on him to make sure it is not medical. Unfortunately, litter box issues like his - he has peed on my bed more than once - can prevent him from ever getting a forever home. So cross your fingers and send us good thoughts and hope that we can get this fixed.

I will update here as I hear about adoptions on my crew and will let everyone know when we do get a new kitty, but it will probably be quiet in the Animal House for a while so we can work on getting Tiger straightened out. Bye for now.

Julius - Update

Well, I dropped Julius off at the shelter for his neuter surgery on Friday and when I went in today to pick up some supplies, he had already been placed up for adoption and gone home to his forever home. I am so happy for him. Yeah Julius!

Magic is now on the adoption floor. He will not find a home as quickly because of his litter box issues. He has had a few people interested in him because of his great personality that have changed their minds once they learn about his issue. So I will cross my fingers for him and hope that someone will see that he is worth the extra effort. I will keep you posted.

Two Down, Six to Go

Two of my eight foster kitties went in to the shelter on Friday to be neutered and find their forever homes. Magic and Julius are now at the shelter and should be on the adoption floor by Monday. Darcy was supposed to go in with them, but the surgery schedule was full. I will miss them both, but had a soft spot for Julius because he had attitude. I wish my latest guys a good journey and good luck in finding their forever homes.

Looking for a Forever Home

Here are a few of my foster cats. All of them are looking for their forever homes. Some are in the shelter and some are still in my home. The shelter that I foster for is located in Massachusetts. For detailed information about each cat or kitten, click on their link. It will take you to my foster profile page where you can find out about the cat and find links to email me or to send a post to a friend.

Muffin Griffin - Adopted
Julius - Adopted Darcy - Adopted
Tiger Arista

The adoption fee for any kitten under 4 months old (all of them but Muffin) is $200. While this seems like a lot for a kitten, it covers quite a few things. It covers the surgery to spay or neuter the kitten and the shots and tests that most vets would do the first time you bring your kitten in to visit them. I do not know about other areas of the country, but around here getting the kitten fixed alone can cost you close to the $200 adoption fee.

Many of the foster kittens I have are not yet fixed due to either weight or age. However, if you adopt a kitten that is not fixed from the shelter, they will make an appointment for you to bring the kitten back for surgery when it is big enough. You are not charged anything for the surgery when you bring it in because the cost was covered in the adoption fee.

I will add pictures and links for more of my fosters when I get a chance. It is actually kind of hard to get a nice shot of a kitten's face because they never stop moving. I have four more kittens that I have not listed in this post yet because I am still trying to get photos of them. They are Magic, Pixie, Duncan, and Chica. Magic has a profile on the foster profile page. The other do not because they just recently came to my house and are too sick with the cat version of the flu to even be considered for adoption. Once they are a little better, I will add their profiles.

Now I don't really expect to get a lot of people contacting me actually interested in adopting the cats I have as fosters. What this post and the profile page is more about it letting people know how many different types of cats and kittens are in your local shelters or foster programs just waiting for their forever home. If you are considering adding a pet to your family, please go to your local shelter or rescue group. The animal there really need someone like you.

Crazy Cat Lady

It's official. I am now doomed to be known as a crazy cat lady. This is because I just turned 36, I'm single with no children and have 11 cats in my house. 11 cats? Did I just say 11 cats? Yes I did. I should have 12, but one is at the vet due to health problems.

I realize that I have lost my mind and need help but I am not sure there is any hope for me. :o)

Ok, here is the rundown of why I currently have 11 cats. My roommate has one cat (Fidget). I have two. Sadie, my 13 year old girl and Doyle, my former foster kitten. That makes three cats. The others are foster kittens.

First I have Arista. She is the kitten that stopped eating on me and had to be force fed for a while. Now, with a change in food, she is doing fine and just needs to gain some more weight. Next came Darcy and Julius. They are a socialization foster.

The Friday before the July 4th holiday I went into the shelter to get food and checked in with the foster people to let them know that I was actually going to be around for the holiday in case they got any "emergency fosters" that needed a place for the holiday weekend. Turns out they did. They asked me to take home Magic, Tiger and Dandelion. They had just that day come in from another foster home to be adopted out because they were 8 weeks. What was not mentioned until they were dropped off was that they had some issues with going outside the litter box. One kitten was also too small to be fixed yet. And the foster family they were with was leaving that day for vacation and could not take them back.

Well a kitten with litter box issues can not be adopted because they will just be returned. Since I have some LB issues around my senior cat due to her age, I have experience with problems like this and the supplies to deal with it. I agreed to take them home for the weekend and see if I could figure out what the litter box problem really was. It was a real good thing that I did. The most common reason for a cat going outside the litter box is a health problem. Withing 24 hours I realized that one of the kittens (Dandelion) had blood in his urine. I brought him back to the shelter as soon as they reopened after the holiday to be looked at by the vet. He has a bad UTI (urinary tract infection) which can be very dangerous for a kitten. He will stay at the shelter until this clears up and he stops having blood in his urine.

(For those of you keeping count we are now at 9 cats).

On the 9th, I took my niece to the shelter to visit. She likes to go in and visit with Muffin who was our foster when she was caring for her kittens. She is Doyle's mother. Mother cats do not get adopted out quickly so we visit her often. While I was there I saw that two of the foster kittens that I had recently returned to them to be adopted out were still there waiting for a home. I was not surprised that Griffin was still there because he does not like other cats. The fact the Lulu was still there was very surprising to me. She was adorable and great with kids. A kitten like that usually would go in less than 48 hours.

I went out back to check on Dandelion and could tell that they were packed to the rafters with cats, many of them kittens. I mentioned that I was surprised that Lulu was still there and they told me that people were not adopting kittens quickly like they had in the past and that they were running out of space for them.

Since I had just brought Lulu in from foster earlier in the week and still had her sister, Arista, at home, I offered to take her back home with me if they needed to free up space. They talked about it and asked me how many I currently had in the house. Lulu was already on the adoption floor and was likely to get adopted that weekend because she was so good with kids, but they had cages full of kittens in the holding area that were fixed and ready to go. There was just no room on the adoption floor. And since they had so little space, they had to put more kittens in a cage than they normally would which leads to them getting sick. (Think of how quickly the flu goes through a school. It is the same concept). Normally the shelter would not ask anyone to take on more than what I already had but they are desperate right now.

Being the sucker that I am, I went home that day with three more kittens. They are all fixed and old enoughto be adopted out. They just need a place to stay and someone to feed them until space opens up on the adoption floor. They are sneezing and get some meds as a precaution, but they are not much work. So Pixie, Chica and Duncan joined our foster crew.

So there you have it. 12 cats. I know I am crazy. But from what I could see, the shelter is soon going to have to start turning kittens away due to lack of space. Having this many in my house is a temporary thing because of the combination of kitten season and a bad economy.

Of course the real heroes in all of this are my roommate and her husband who are actually the owners of this house and have been amazing in putting up with me and my animal craziness even though it can be annoying at times. They did not even threaten to boot me out the door when I reminded them that we had agreed to watch my sister's Shitzu this weekend so her husband could take her away for her 40th birthday.

So this coming weekend it will be 2 adult cats, 10 kittens, one freaked out 5lb. dog, a thrilled 4 year old, a tired foster mother and two roommates plotting the foster mother's early demise. I will check back in with an update and pictures soon. :o)

Gaining Ground

Arista has started gaining weight again! This is making me very happy. She spent a few days at the shelter being force fed to keep her from losing even more weight. It was decided that she did not like the "good" food that the shelter provides and so she just stopped eating. Normally, a kitten would eventually eat any food if they got hungry enough, but she was little to begin with and so when she lost so much weight, she lost interest in eating even when she had the food she liked.

She came home to us here on Sunday and I continued to force feed her with a syringe. And let me tell you, pureed cat food smells nasty. It also gets all over you and the kitten when you try to hold the kitten down and squirt the food into its mouth.

Thankfully, after a long week of doing this two times a day, Arista decided to give us both a break and just eat the Friskies that I got for her. Of course, now her sister doesn't want the "good" food either so I have been feeding them both Friskies. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Friskies, it is just not what the shelter uses and so it makes feeding time harder for them when not all of their animals are eating some version of Science Diet.

Both Arista and Lulu were surrendered at close to 8 weeks old. Their owner kept two kittens from their litter and surrendered four to the shelter. Arista and Lulu were too small to be adopted right out like their litter mates. They most likely were eating Friskies at their owner's home and for some reason, Arista could not adjust to the change. I am optimistic that she will continue to get bigger now that we know the issue.

So the moral of this story for pet owners is - if you have to surrender an animal to a shelter or rescue group, give them all the information you can. Something as small as a food flavor preference can become a big issue once they get to the shelter.

And the moral for foster parents is - if you are going to have to force feed a kitten pureed cat food, just be thankful that your new washer and drier were delivered last Friday - cause you are going to need it.

Sick Baby :(

Arista is currently very sick. She has lost over 8 oz. since she came to be with us. That is 25% of her body weight. She no longer wants to eat. All she wants to do is drink water and curl up next to me to sleep. I am very concerned about her. I was up all night with her just watching her and trying every few hours to get her to eat anything with no luck. She looks very weak and so skinny. I am bringing her back into the shelter at noon today and they are going to keep her for a while and force feed her to try and get her stabilized so that she can eventually come back here to us.

I am also bringing her to the shelter today be cause I am heading down to visit my sister-in-law and her newborn twins for the day. While that makes me very happy, I did not feel right about leaving Arista alone all day because she is too sick. Thankfully, the shelter understands that and will keep her until she either is stable or until after I visit my niece and nephew and can be with Arista all day long to force feed her, which ever comes last.

They do not know what is wrong with Arista, just that she is not eating and that is a bad thing for a kitten. The good thing is that since she is over 8 weeks old, she has a better chance of surviving than if she were younger. I will update when I have more information.

For now, I am going to drop her off at the shelter into good hands and then try to put the situation out of my mind while I go be a happy new aunt and spoil my new niece and nephew, Shannon Grace and Liam Grant.

And the winner is . . .

With 50% of the votes, my gray, partly feral kitten is now officially named Griffin. And just in time too. He will soon be going into the shelter to be fixed and if he handles that OK, he will go up for adoption. There is always a chance that he will revert to his anti-social behavior once he gets into a new environment and if that is the case, he will come back here for more socialization.

And the Sisters Make Eight

As of tonight, my current feline occupancy count is at eight. I think that this might be the limit. LOL. How did I get to eight you ask? Well here is the run down:

First we have our two adult cats, Fidget and Sadie. They are our cats and we have had Sadie for a few years and Fidget for all her life. Next we have Doyle, my foster turned forever kitten that I adopted a few weeks ago. Doyle is almost 12 weeks old.

After that came "nameless cat" who is the gray kitty I am running a poll to name. He is about 8 weeks old and needs socialization. Following him are two more kittens who need socialization. They are 5 weeks old and little tiny bundles of orange fur. There is one boy and one girl. We have named the girl Darcy and the boy Julius. These kittens really need my help, but are not much fun for either my niece Paige or Doyle to play with but we were dealing with it.

I got a call from the shelter this morning to ask me if I had room for two more kittens. These kittens are also 8 weeks old and are very playful and social but they were smaller than their litter mates and do not weigh enough to be adopted out yet. They need a few days or a week, tops, to grow some more. Normally, outside of kittens season, they would just stay at the shelter for the few days they needed to grow with a note that they could not be sent home until they were the right weight. But since kitten season is fully upon us, they are quickly running out of room. When I went to get them today I could see that every single cage on the adoption floor AND in the holding area out back was full. What that means is that if they could not find someone to take these guys home for a few days, then they would have to make some tough decisions when they next got a cat that might be hard to adopt out, usually due to age.

So, although eight cats is a bit much, if taking these two home for a few days gives an older, less "kitten cute" cat a chance to find a new home, then it is worth it. Our temporary visitors are both little girls and we have named them Lulu and Arista. For those of you who read in my previous post that we were going to name one of the little orange ones Arista, we have changed our minds. Since Paige was the one who wanted to name a kitten Arista, we decided to give the name to one of the social kittens that would actually play with her. So the new arrival will be Arista and the little orange female kitten has been renamed Darcy.

And since our newest additions are not scared, I was able to get some photos right away. Here are Lulu and Arista:

"The only thing to fear is fear itself."

This famous quote from FDR really seems to fit my new foster group. I picked up two more kittens that need to be socialized because they had been found outside. They are younger than my current nameless kitty, only 4 weeks or so old and pretty scared.

They are two adorable little orange fluff balls. Pictures will follow in a few days after they have a chance to settle in. I have one girl and one boy. I have let my niece name the girl Arista since that is what she was dying to call the gray guy that I am running a name poll for right now. It is hard to explain to a 4 year old that a boy cat might not like the name Arista.

Arista, for those of you who are not aware, is one of Ariel's sisters in the Little Mermaid. Paige is a little mermaid freak. We have yet to name the boy, although my roommate has suggested Julius after Orange Julius.

The reason I say that the quote fits this kind of foster is because they are so terrified, but you can see in their eyes that they really want to not be afraid and be with us. They are such social creatures. All they have to do is overcome their instinctive fear and realize we mean them no harm.

Nameless kitty spent the night in my bedroom last night, much to the dismay of my own cats who had to be banished from the room for the night. He calmed down really quickly once I brought him in the room and actually was playing with a cat toy, chasing it on my bed for a while. I wanted to bring him into my room for a night because it would give him a longer period of time to be exposed to me rather than the 45 minutes twice a day he has been getting so far. I set up his bed on the far side of my room from my bed near a corner so he would have a place that he felt safe to sleep and also figured he could curl up under my childhood rocking chair like our cats do. He did that for a while when I was awake. I curled up in my bed and he curled up there and I turned out the lights.

My "bed" right now is just a mattress on the floor since my bed frame did not survive our recent move. (Actually when we went to take it apart to move it, I realized that the frame was broken and and only thing that was holding it up was the many under bed storage containers full of books I had under it so I tossed it - and kept most of the books.) I am perfectly happy with just the mattress until I find a new bed I like so I am not in a rush. Because it is just pushed up against the molding on the floor, their is often a small space in between the head of the mattress and the wall.

When I woke up in the morning and did not see him in any of the places I expected him to be, I went looking for him. I realized that although he was not brave enough to actually sleep on the bed, he did want to be closer to me and had left his hiding spot near the rocking chair for the space in between my bed and the wall. He spent all night and day there until I moved him back to the foster room to meet his new roommates.

The ironic thing is that the kitten that wants nothing to do with people suddenly became quite jealous of these new kittens being fed and touch and held by "his" person (me). He hissed at them and growled a bit and for the first time let me pet him on the back without having to scruff and swaddle him first. He was definitely staking out his territory. Oh well, I will use what ever works. The new kittens, being much younger, completely ignored him in favor of trying to figure out how to eat solid food without it going up their noses. :o)

My First Poll

Even though he is coming along, my new foster is still so scared that his personality is still unclear. This is making it hard for me to decide on a name for him. I have gone through quite a few names in the one short week that I have had him.

Since I am not getting anywhere, I have decided to reach out to the blogging community for help. This also gives me a chance to try the poll feature on blogger. Please help me out by taking a minute to look at his picture and cast your vote for a name.

If you have an alternate suggestion, please feel free to leave a comment with it. I will tell you that I have always tended to chose names for my pets and my fosters that are also people names rather than things like spot or shadow or fluffy.

I will post in a week to let everyone know what name was chosen. Thanks in advance for your help.

Getting to Know You

My new foster kitty is coming along. This is the kitten that I have been fostering for socialization rather than age or size. He has never been around people before and is terrified of us. He has been here since last Friday and we are making some progress. He no longer starts hissing as soon as I come in the room. I have to get too close to him too quickly for him to start that now.

I have managed to pick him up and cuddle him a few times now. In order to do so though, I have to pick him up by the scruff and wrap him in a blanket. He does not really like hands on him. Doyle has been helping out by playing and running and eating off my finger while the kitten looks on from his cage. The kitten seems braver when Doyle is around. Kind of the "if he can do it" mentality. He has started to purr when I hold him and pet his head and back gently.

Just yesterday, I cuddled him in my arms for a while and then slowly lowered him to my lap and let go. It was the first time that he did not immediately bolt back into his cage as soon as I was no longer physically restraining him. Then a little later in the day, I did the same thing again and he went back into his cage, but then turned around and came out again on his own to explore the room. When I was ready to go back upstairs, I locked him back in the cage so he would not freak once I left the room.

Today he came out and wandered around after I opened the cage, so I decided to just let him be for a few hours. When I went back down later he had not gone back in his cage. Instead, he had curled up on a pillow and blanket that was left over from another foster and was resting. Since he seemed to be doing well, I decided to leave him out of the cage tonight. He is still confined to the foster room, but at least he has more room to move. The cage is still set up and open so that if something scares him, he can go back to his "safe" place. Since he was a little more relaxed today, I took a chance and took a few pictures of him. So here he is, our latest visitor who we have named Griffin for the time being.





Doyle, showing Griffin that it is safe to eat in front of me.


Griffin giving eating in front of me a shot. This is the cage that he stays in most of the time. Although it seems kinda mean, he is in it because he feels safer in a smaller confined area. For this first few days, I had a blanket covering most of it so the only part you could see in or out was the front where the door is. You can also see from this picture that our foster room is also an extra toy room for the many many toys that my niece Paige has received from various family members. There is no way they would all fit in her room.


I think things will continue to go well, although I am prepared to go down there one day and see that we have had a setback because that's just the way these things go. I just think of it as one step forward at a time. Or would that be one paw forward?

Fun With Doyle

I know Doyle is no longer a foster kitty - he is mine forever now. But, I thought that I would post a few photos so that those of you who have been following him since he came to me at three days old could see how he was growing. Here he is now:



This is a photo collage I made of him "playing" Chutes & Ladders with Paige.



This is Fidget, my roommate's 13 year old cat. Doyle fell in love with her when he was still just a few weeks old and has been following her around ever since. She wanted nothing to do with him at first. She generally does not want much to do with the foster kittens and avoids them. He would not give up though and eventually won her over. She started to clean him and follow him around to take care of him. Now, they sleep together and play together (until she gets annoyed and swats him) and when Doyle gets himself trapped in the bathroom (it happens often) she comes and meows at me to get him out.



This is my cat - Sadie. She is also 13 years old and has no use for Doyle at all. She swats at him if he gets too close to her, but she is getting more tolerant of him the longer he is around. Of course, part of her annoyance with him could be the fact that she does not like to share me. He also likes to sleep in her spot on the bed and I have to keep moving him out of the way. When ever she gets too annoyed with him I just tell her "with out him, the kitten food goes away." She really likes the kitten food.



And a thanks to my roommate for this latest set of pictures. She has been taking many photos lately because she is trying to take a photo a day through out the summer. If you want to see some of the photos, including some great ones of her daughter Paige (who I refer to on this blog as my niece), just visit my roommate's blog, Seeking Imperfection, using the link below
http://seekingimperfection.blogspot.com/

Kitten Crack

I was looking online for ways to help my new foster become less afraid of humans. Right now he hisses and cowers in fear if you even go into the room with him. He cannot be handled unless it is really necessary because he will likely bite out of fear. He is this 2lb bundle of fear and fear based hissing. I feel so bad for him.

I knew that the easiest way to get an animal to start to trust you is by using food. I learned this with the many stray dogs I used to play with as a kid. Food and play is the way to gain their trust. But this kitten did not seem interested in his food, even the wet food. This morning I realized that he did eat the wet food, he was just to afraid to eat while I was in the room.

So I did some research online and came across some really good sites and videos on the best way to help socialize stray or feral kittens. In one video, the gentleman talked about what he called kitten crack. Which, in case you are wondering, is Gerber stage 2 chicken and chicken gravy baby food.

His video said that they just can't resist it. So I went to the store today and picked some up to try it. I was skeptical because so far even getting anywhere near the cage caused him to hide or freeze and hiss so I did not see him eating baby food off a spoon for me. But I opened the jar and just sat near the cage and read a book for a while so that he could smell the food. After about 5 minutes, I put some on a spoon and slid the spoon in the cage. It took him a minute or so, but he ate the food. After that, I was able to hold the spoon with my hand outside the cage and the spoon inside and he ate off the spoon. Then Doyle (my kitten) wandered in and practically jumped into the jar of baby food so I fed him some right near the cage. Then I fed Doyle some off my finger. The kitten relaxed even more once he saw Doyle interacting with me without any fear. Eventually I was actually able to get the kitten to take some of the baby food off of my finger. He prefers to eat it off the spoon, but getting him to lick my finger even once is progress.

Hopefully, we will continue to progress. I do not have a picture of him yet, because I do not want to scare him any more than his is. I will give him a day or two before I whip out the camera. So instead, here is a picture of his new favorite thing in the world:

Kitten Crack
(a.k.a. Gerber Chicken and Chicken Gravy)

On Their Way and A New Arrival

Dora and Nirvana went back to the shelter to find their forever homes today. I am happy to see them move on. The two of them combined were getting to be a handful and they were more than ready to go from being confined in one room (my foster room) for most of the day. They need to be in their own homes where they will have the run of the house for most of the day.

Normally, I would let them have the run of the place, but they were both dealing with upper respiratory infections (URI) and were on medications. They had real mild cases, but the shelter wanted me to keep them separated from Doyle just in case because a URI is what he had as a very young kitten that made him so sick and they did not think it was a good idea for him to get exposed again so soon after his symptoms finally went away. Although Doyle did miss playing with his friends. I am sure that both Dora and Nirvana will be adopted right away. They are both really cute.

I also picked up my next foster today because they happened to be looking for a foster home for this kitten when I came in to drop off my crew. This will be a different type of foster for me. This kitten is heavy enough and old enough to be adopted out, but he was found as a stray and needs socialization before he can be suitable to be placed up for adoption. I just got him settled in the foster room and am going to leave him alone for the rest of the day so he can settle in. I will post more about him as I get to know him.

UPDATE: Dora and Nirvana were both adopted the day after I dropped them off so they were in the shelter less than 24 hours before they were on their way to a forever home. I do not know if they went to the same house or not because I have not had a chance to check, but I am happy they are in their new homes.

Domino Goes Home!

For those of you who have been following this blog, here is an update on Domino. Domino is the brother of Doyle, the kitten I adopted. They both came to me when they were three days old, with their mother, Muffin. They were both really sick with the kitty version of the flu. Domino got so sick that he had to become completely bottle fed and eventually, I had to return him to the shelter for even more medical treatment. He actually had to be tube fed for a while. We were not sure if he was going to make it or not.

The good news is that he made it! He is now a healthy happy 10 week old kitten and has just recently gone to his forever home. He was never able to come back to us since we all felt it would be best if he was with an experienced bottle fed family. But the shelter nicely kept us updated and has even sent us some pictures of him all grown up that I can now share with you. Here he is all grown up and healthy. Isn't he a cutie?