Borrowed Kittens

The End of an Era

2009-10-29T19:50:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-15T10:10:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-27T13:18:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-12T12:37:00.009-04:00

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

2009-07-09T21:14:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-24T21:16:00.005-04:00

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

2009-05-13T12:41:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-03T14:01:00.002-04:00

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

2009-04-27T18:45:00.002-04:00

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

2009-03-31T18:48:00.008-04:00

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.

The naming is complete.

2009-03-25T14:36:00.007-04:00

We have at last found the names of all of our current set of foster kitties. Forgive the mediocre photography, but I am a mediocre photographer, so it is what you get. Allow me into introduce (from left to right) Cinnamon, Thistle, Apollo, Artemis and Major.

And Geneva.

I opened up the crate a little while ago, and butted the front of both halves together to create a sort of run.

There is some space for the kittens to try moving around and Geneva can get out and have a break if she needs it (and use the box which no longer needs to be closed in with her), but the kittens cannot get far. Not a bad setup at all. I will definitely have to remember this one.

Geneva is a good mom. She tries very hard to take good care of her kittens, but there have been some issues. I let her get at some KMR I was feeding one of the smaller kittens, and although she liked it very much it did not agree with her. The resulting flatulence earned her her name -- for a little while she was manufacturing weapons grade gasses, and we had to invoke the Geneva Conventions on her. Luckily for everybody, we are here to pick up the slack, and although the kittens' weights took a bit of a hit we got everybody back on track.

The little ones have just come to what we refer to as the "triangle kitten" stage. Their ears have unfolded and just started to move up their heads and their tails have begun to lose the skinny ratlike shape they had just a few days ago. At the same time they are getting sturdier, and soon they will start weaning onto solid food. We are rapidly approaching maximum cuteness for minimum effort. Once they are eating on their own and using the box it is all downhill from there.

Major is coming to get you, and showing off his triangle kitten status as he does so.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.

(although, if you wanted to wait to be very afraid until they actually grew teeth,
I am sure he would understand)

They still pile pretty good, but nothing like the kitten piles they made when they were still tiny. They have a little more shape now I guess :)

What is progress?

2009-03-18T17:13:00.007-04:00

Today we will consider two kinds of progress.

You may have noticed by now that there have been no names forthcoming. Well, as the man says, it is not simple. As you can see from the chart below, the first progress is that we have found the names of two of the kittens.

This is Major:

and the little black one is Thistle:

On the other hand, Thistle decided not to follow the First Rule for Kittens (weight increases daily for at least 16 oz). Her loss of 1/8 oz was Not Progress.
Fortunately, it was nothing that some extra food (in the form of 1 ml of KMR several times a day) and a little nursing encouragement could not turn around.

We are still short of names for the male and female orange kittens (the male is the one with the darker head. I think...):

although I am thinking Apollo and Artemis. We also need one for the tortie

whose belly featured so prominently in the picture of Thistle above. And for the mother, too. So much to do...

Feline Maintenance

2009-03-13T06:07:00.005-04:00

Tiny kittens sleep a lot. And they sleep intensively -- you can sometimes pick one up and if you don't let it get too cold it will stay asleep in your hand. Which is very sweet, but hard to take a picture of.

As opposed to passed-out kittens in their bed. That is much easier.

But hark, is that an eye opening on the round-bellied kitten below?
Why, yes it is! The babies are growing quickly. We had the first one try to get out of the bed yesterday:

Little did he know, he was volunteering to be the first to get medicine! They are all rather sneezy, and since upper respiratory infections can be very serious for cats, some antibiotics are in order.

To properly drug a kitten, pick him up in your off hand,

and gently insert the tip of an oral syringe into the corner of his mouth.

The ear is not an appropriate delivery location for oral antibiotics.

NOOOO! Do not want!

We also weigh them every other day or so. It is important to be sure they are growing, because if they are not then they may not be getting enough to eat, or becoming sick, or otherwise in need of intervention.

All care is given under the watchful maternal eye, of course.

These guys are growing about a quarter ounce a day. This is good.

OMGKITTENS

2009-03-08T18:05:00.008-04:00

Have I mentioned before how adorable tiny, blind helpless kittens are? No? Ok, um, very. Very would be how adorable tiny blind helpless kittens are. See for yourself:

Tiny, blind kitten. How cute is that?
Wait, what if we threw in a tiny umbilical cord fragment!?

Now, if you think you might pay $19.95 for this quantity of adorable, look what happens when you get a complimentary set -- they stack!

and at *no extra cost to you* there is maternal attentiveness,

confidence,

and eventual nursing

while cuddling

and maybe some tiny, high contrast nursing action

HOLY CRAP, they have cute toes...

Tiny kittens, a slightly less quick look

2009-03-05T14:49:00.004-05:00

I just love making new friends. Our latest friend was given a bad name by the shelter, which is not surprising. If you had to name as many animals a month as they do, you would come up with some seriously bad names I assure you. We will give her a proper name once we know her well enough. Here she is, guarding the entrance to her temporary lodging, the Mother Who Is Yet To Be Named:

And here are her babies all nestled into a cozy spot. They are in a medium dog crate for now, so MWIYTBN does not decide to shift her nest to an inconvenient place, like under a dresser or some such place.

Lets have a closer look, shall we?

Considering the number of similarities they actually have with worms, they are awfully adorable. They are clearly eating well, and MWIYTBN keeps a sharp eye on them when we let her wander around the room, but is not driven crazy when we pick them up a bit and they start complaining. They should open their eyes in another few days, and then they will quickly become uncontainable. Good times ahead.

I leave you now with a closer look at the tiny, closed up face and minuscule pointy toes of the little one from the bottom left of the above picture:

Teaser -- TINY KITTENS!

2009-03-03T08:22:00.003-05:00

So, all I have so far is a crappy photo from my blackberry, but it is a crappy photo of four day old kittens! We will be bringing them home tonight. Better pictures to follow.

Kiki is on the adoption floor

2009-02-17T08:11:00.002-05:00

Kiki ~~is on the adoption floor~~ has been adopted! Less than a week from frightened and hiding under her chair to gone to her new permanent home. Good luck, Kiki, and thank your new parent(s) for us!

Kiki came back to the shelter last Friday. She is all better now, and ready to find her permanent home. I went down to see her this morning, and she is still a little frightened. I had to coax her out from under a chair, but she was happy to see me once she was out.

A happy ending for Marshall

2009-02-13T07:53:00.004-05:00

This is Marshall. Marshall was with us in August of 2008. He had a upper respiratory infection to get over, so he was only with us for a few weeks while he got better.

While he was ill he was a quiet, studious kitten.
You can see here he is studying. I am not sure what topic it was, but it was not proper cat behavior. I think it may have been abnormal psychology, and he thought it was instructions.

As he felt better, Marshall turned out to be a very, very active cat. Like pounce on your head and bite you active. He never calmed down enough to really be a happy house pet, so we were very worried for him and his potential for adoption. And his appetite for camera lanyards.
We ended up placing him with a friend of a friend who had a barn which needed a cat. We have had a couple of updates since then, and apparently he is a very happy barn cat now. Hooray for happy endings!

Catching up -- May 2008 -- Ursula and family

2009-02-08T11:04:00.004-05:00

KITTEN FIGHT!

And then something to eat

and a nap.

These are Petrov

Michail
and Ursula.
We hosted them during May and June of 2008. They were healthy, just too small to adopt, so after some growing time we forced ourselves to bring them back to the shelter. Except for Ursula. Ursula was snatched up by my brother and is now called Noodles. You can see more of her on his more or less abandoned cat blog Bob and Noodles (bobnnoodles.blogspot.com) and on the Sunday Cat update of his food blog called Cooking Stuff (icookstuff.blogspot.com) where he, um, cooks stuff. And takes pictures.

I think poor Michail was the kitten who languished the longest in the adoption room of all of our foster kittens. I think it was almost six days before he got picked up. Kittens just move faster than adult cats -- you would think they were cute or something.

Puffy is no longer available

2009-01-23T05:51:00.002-05:00

Puffy finally got adopted! Yay! He spent a long time waiting for the right person to come by, but at last Puffy has found his permanent home. That is one of the reasons I like kittens best -- when you bring them back to the shelter they get picked up very quickly...

Kiki update

2009-01-16T08:00:00.004-05:00

Kiki is feeling much better now. She is grooming properly again, so it looks like we are not going to have to give her a bath after all. Which is good. Another thing which has surfaced as she gets stronger is she appears to have an archeological bent. When she uses the litter box, she spends a considerable amount of time digging around as though she were trying to excavate Pompeii. If you are thinking of adopting her, a covered litter box would be a prudent investment...

But on to current business

2009-01-06T08:15:00.006-05:00

It is not all kittens in the foster program. Currently, we are hosting Kiki, a beautiful two year old (seven year old? There is some confusion in the records...) who is stricken with calicivirus, and needs to be quarantined for six weeks. She does not feel well, so we have had a hard time getting her out from under the bed to give her medicine to her. Until last night.

There is a wonderful moment in fostering where the terrified, possibly slightly wild, likely ill cat suddenly realizes that you are one of the good guys. We call this the moment they "break". We have experienced this with feral kittens, and it can take anything from hours to weeks depending on the condition of the animals and how badly they need you. Bottle feed kittens break almost instantly (it never hurts to be the food bringer).

Sick two year olds take a few days, but it is worth it. I will see if I can get some good video with the monster purr she produces.

UPDATE: There will be no video, for Kiki has returned to the shelter. She is going into surgery today and should be available to adopt this weekend.

Puffy the Cat

2009-01-06T07:46:00.005-05:00

Say hello to Puffy. Puffy came to us with an eye infection. Have you ever tried putting antibiotic ointment (like neosporin) in the eye of a strong cat? Not lots of fun.
Here he is squinting at you so that you know his eye is uncomfortable.

The rest of him on the other hand, is squishy, fuzzy and large. Look at that vast expanse of belly!

And here he comes to say hello to the camera. Not shy, this one.

I would also like it known that even though the shelter named him Puffy, we resisted calling him Puff-Kitty, P-Kitty, Sean or any other such thing. Nope, never even crossed our minds.

Update on Purrsimon and family

2008-11-01T18:19:00.004-04:00

They have been returned to the MSPCA, ready for adoption. They have some special needs, being a bit timid and easily upset, but considering the progress they made here we think they will do fine once they settle in to their new homes.

Update 2, long overdue

Everybody got adopted. Periwinkle had a touch of cerebellar hypoplasia, making him a little wobbly. He and Purrsimon got adopted together, which is always heartwarming.

Latest friends

2008-10-07T08:24:00.001-04:00

Our current crop of babies: Mom (Purrsimon) and three kittens, about a pound and a quarter each when we got them.

Say hello to Poptart, Periwinkle and Pirate.

Pirate on his own. He has a foot fetish -- do not come in with bare feet!

Poptart gave us a scare -- in the four days the others added two ounces, he lost half an ounce. This is not acceptable kitten behavior. Turned out that a little KMR got him back on track. Good morning, kitties! They are so adorable when they all pass out nursing. And so easily confused upon waking...
Periwinkle has a literary bent.

Previous entanglements, January 08

2008-10-01T10:08:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Borrowed Kittens. We take in cats from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter which are too young, sick or otherwise need time in a quiet, nurturing environment before they can be adopted. Here you will find pictures of these cats which we want to share with friends, coworkers and strangers.

This batch was from January of 2008; a mom with six kittens. She was skinny and tired, but very sweet and loved us immediately. Her name is Minerva:

This is why she was so skinny. Her kittens out massed her, and were still nursing...

Her babies, as they are wont to be, were sweet and adorable.

This is Custard:

Chip:

Charlie:

Harley:

Dale (after Dale Cooper):

And Bermuda:

They did all the usual kitten things. They had a voracious appetite for their own tails:

Mastered the "Cat Loaf" stance quickly:

And generally hung around daring anything to be cuter than they were: