The End of an Era

Alas, we will not be fostering for the foreseeable future. Certain complexities have entered our lives, and we are a) forced to move to a new location, and b) have taken over the care of an entirely non-feline person which will make fostering essentially impossible. I implore my two or three avid readers to not delete their bookmarks though -- I intend to scan some older, pre-digital age images and post them eventually, but my rapid-fire posting rate averaging just under two posts per month is not guaranteed...

In the meantime, this is Arbor. He was picked up in the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. He was another tough case, with some pretty bad manners. Get a load of the tail on him, though:


If that thing were prehensile, nobody in the universe would be safe. He was a very sweet boy, seriously -- very sweet:

Cat levels have returned to normal

The little ones are back in the shelter, and ready for adoption. No more fosters for us for a little while, since we are going to be too busy to take proper care of little ones for a while. We will just have to make do with the rest of our cats for a month or two.

The kittens get bigger

These are some of the best kittens I have ever taken care of. They are happy and friendly and healthy. They love their attention, too.

Even though Amelia is from a different litter, they are quite fond of one another.


With many kittens, this posture would be followed with pouncing, but not so much with Jasper.
He is the most relaxed kitten ever. He is also the biggest now.
Did I mention how very relaxed he is?
Amelia on the other hand is always on the go. She loves to be picked up, and to ride on your shoulder. She is also not shy about yelling at you until you do pick her up.



These kittens are clean, too. They do not spread their food or litter around like so many we have had. It is fairly normal to have to change the comforter on the bed in the kitten room at least every few days, but with these guys it was a couple of weeks before it got too dirty.



So very sweet, the kittens are.

The fourth horseman of the Catpocolypse

Indeed, bath time has come for our filthy new friends. Kittens without their mom can get pretty gross. Of course, kittens with their mom get gross too, but it is her problem. Not this time. This time we have a box of dirty kittens, and a mandate to clean them.

Formal introductions: Adoring Universe, these are Amelia (white/tiger), Pluto (black), Persephone (gray) and Jasper (orange).

Kitten washing is a bit of an exercise in endurance (and blood replenishment). They have very pointy toes, and do not much care for the whole "being washed" situation. Each one needs to be wetted, shampooed and rinsed.
Then you let them drip dry a bit
before gently toweling them off. This part they do like.

Kitten burrito!






Pluto thought he could get away by hiding behind the pipes. This did not work very well.
It is important to keep the little ones warm -- these guys only weigh 12 oz or so, so they can get cold quickly. One nice place is on the backs of your legs while you are hunched over the tub washing the others. Just don't forget a towel or you will have little kitten tracks etched into your legs where they slide.
Once dry, a little more warming up,
And then maybe a bite.

Mixed litter

We have a fresh set of babies. Three are siblings, the other is a bit older. They are all just about able to eat on their own, but they are still awful tiny. There are four of them, about 3/4 of a pound apiece. The most adventurous is white with tiger spots (behind are the gray and orange kittens)


Behind the gray and orange kittens there is a black kitten, who is shy:


We are keeping them crated at the moment, just to help them get used to the new place, and make sure they will not try to hide from us. That should not take long -- they are all quite sweet. A little skinny and skittish, but with high potential. Soon I will post pictures of the bathing of the kittens. You see, in addition to being adorable, they were also filthy and disgusting. We have the ability to fix this.

Updates of an assorted nature

Fact One: Geneva is no longer available. On or about Thursday afternoon, someone else fell in love with Geneva. Friday morning, Geneva got spayed. Friday afternoon, someone took my sweet, loving (possibly crazy -- not that there is anything wrong with that) girl home.

Fact Two: Tulip is now available for adoption. She is a very sweet young girl, and seemed to get on fine with our cats once we let her about. She is seems pretty easygoing for such a crazy girl. Come see her and you will agree...

FURTHER UPDATE (if very, very late): Tulip did not stay all that long in the shelter either. She has also been taken to her new permanent home (some time ago...)

Introducing Tulip

Here comes our newest friend, Tulip.

Tulip will only be with us for a couple of weeks. She has an upper respiratory infection to get over. These sorts of things tend to be both contagious and very dangerous if not treated, so she is getting some quiet time and daily antibiotics in our isolation room.


She has a cute little round head, the shape of which makes it look small for her body.


Or maybe it is the weightlifter neck she has going on...


Tulip is very friendly and active, even while she is sick. She is still a young girl though, and will likely settle down somewhat once she feels better and has a bit more room to play in. She has not reacted to our cats outside the door at all, but while she is in isolation she will not be meeting them formally.

That did not last long

The fosters returned to the shelter on Friday, 5/1 at noon. When last I heard (Friday mid-afternoon), only Cinnamon and Geneva were still not adopted. What can I say, we make seriously good kittens. I will check in on Monday, and see how the others fared over the weekend.

Almost big enough

So, I am asked often how the kittens are these days, what with not posting for the last month or so. As you can see, they have a very trying life.


What with having to be aggressively cute all the time,
and on a strict diet of feet.



Learning to be a proper cat is not simple. Apollo is trying to learn to groom himself properly.


Hm, he seems to have broken.


They still like the sheltered nook that half of the crate provides, but as often as not they pile up on the floor, the spare bed, or wherever else exhaustion might propel them.

They are almost ready to go back -- Major is over 2 1/2 pounds and even Artemis is almost two. If everyone is over two pounds Thursday night, we will be bringing them back to the shelter Friday.

Rapid growth

This is what the kittens look like this afternoon (3/31).



This is what they looked like about one week ago (3/23).



A bit less than a week before that (3/17)


And a bit less than a week before that (3/11).


They were born on about 2/23, so they were not much more than two weeks old in that last picture. Now, just three weeks or so later even the runt is up and exploring.

She has some dribbles of our Special Kitten Growth Mixture (that would be a/d high-fat food mixed with Kitten Milk Replacement) still clinging to her face, mainly because Geneva is off to the right cleaning Cinnamon's face.

When they are out of the run at this age I keep them all up on the bed (which is covered with an easy to wash blanket and copious towels), but Major is thinking about getting down soon.


Cinnamon is wondering if there is any more of that slurry left. She had saved some (all over her face), but since Mom took that she is all out now.



They are becoming very impatient with their confinement. As soon as I come into the room they start yelling at me and trying to climb the wall of the run.


Soon, little ones, soon. But not quite yet. We will probably take down the run this weekend when we can sit and watch how they behave out in the wide expanses of the foster room, just to be sure they will be able to handle it all. And for the pictures.

In the meantime, I think Geneva is very happy to be able to get away from them periodically. Their teeth are coming in, and I cannot imagine that makes nursing tiny carnivores a lot of fun.