Tails from the Foster Kitten Calendar 2023

 If you are interested in purchasing a calendar of my foster kitten for 2023 you can get one here 

I was contemplating making one about Xena and her boyfriend but I'm not sure there is enough interest in one.. 😻  Let me know if you are interested and I can get it uploaded.. 

Since people like to see the photos beforehand, here they are:

Caramel and the Sundae Kittens

 

 

Sunday I picked names and took the first set of baby photos to share them with you. 

So,  without further ado:

Cherry - female

 

Maraschino (she has a white front paw)

Hot Fudge - female

Sprinkles - male

Fluff (first born)  male

Butterscotch - male 

Monday afternoon we had eyeballs 

Caramel and her kittens

 

In the beginning of August, I was offered a pregnant kitty.  I was itching for more than two kittens at a time so I jumped on it. 

She came to me with the name Cammie but I considered renaming her Caramel since she was so sweet.  My husband suggested w could name one of the kittens Hot Fudge and I was sold. 

Caramel took her sweet time with her pregnancy.  She was with me three weeks before she went into labor. It was a difficult time as Caramel had multiple issues.  The biggest was that she continually urinated and dedicated on the couch. I'm not sure if it was because she was afraid of what might be outside the window or if she was trying to leave a message for my neighbor cat.  After a few days of it, and her plaintiff cries while staring out the window,  I decided to try limiting her space.  My kitten room is rather large and large amounts of territory can be overwhelming.  I put her in the bathroom instead and she seemed to be much happier. She didn't scream at the window anymore and all output was appropriately contained. 

We did run into another issue.  She was getting so large she couldn't clean her rear and she had quite a bit of diarrhea.  I had to clean her behind frequently and the smell was pretty bad.  I had the feeling that the diarrhea was kitten related either hormonal or the kittens rolling around on her intestines.. I was working on seeing if we could get her fecal tested to be safe when babies happened. 

The difficult part of fostering a pregnant cat is you can't be with them 24/7. On Wednesday I got up and went to feed her.  She didn't eat her dinner but other than that I didn't see any initial signs of labor 

I sat with her for a few minutes.  She seemed off. I sat with her a few more.  Finally I saw a contraction and Caramel looked a bit tired.  She wasn't keen on letting me get a good look at anything and I really needed to make a decision if I was going to go to work or if we had a problem  so I pulled her out of her carrier. No discharge visible. No kittens born.  Her rear end was all wet and it almost looked like there was puss. I was trying to assess what I was looking at when Caramel said no more and left.  She walked away just fine and went into her box and had another contraction. 

I let my coworker know that I was probably going to be late to work, and while I was doing that she had another contraction and something felt off. I pulled her out of the box again and more wetness and there was a protrusion but it still didn't look right.  I've gone through a lot of births and I was uncomfortable with what I was seeing. It was almost as if the kitten was being pushed out but it wasn't actually coming out. 

I called the after hours number for the rescue and was looking for permission to bring her to work with me to watch but if there was an issue we could deal with it or if they wanted me to take the day off work and bring her down to them.  They opted for the latter and so off I went. 

Long story short,  because details aren't really important, about 45 minutes later we had a kitten delivered naturally. I may or may not have been over reacting. All that matters is we had six healthy kittens and Caramel did an amazing job.  She's been overly protective and didn't want me to touch them for the first day and then she didn't like it when I made them mew

Even now she's not a fan but she's tolerant.

The kittens aren't that large, but they do seem advanced in motor control.  And since we now have eyeballs (they opened while I was at work today.   Day five if you're counting)  

I've picked names and I'll share those with you tomorrow 

Geoff and Gina need food

 Geoff and Gina are doing very well without Gabby. There was a small incident where Gina started losing weight and wasn't eating well, but we got her through that with some simple supportive care and they are currently at weight waiting for a spot on the schedule to be neutered. 

Sadly, we have a little bit of a problem.. 

Yup, we are running really low on food.  I drove down to the shelter (111 miles round trip) and all they had was shredded food.  They were originally eating that so I was hopeful that would be okay, but they are not fans of it.

I have done fundraising here before offering up my Amazon wish list but I have been having real issues with Amazon - both personally (not a fan of some of the stories of the working conditions I have heard) - and physically - as I don't have mail service to my house and my Post Office is currently having some real issues getting mail to people in the community (me included). I toyed with the idea of asking for gift cards to Petsmart but that seemed like too much of a stretch. 

I reached out to an independent pet store I adore.  Cats Kingdom in Manchester NH is a catcentric pet store. Cathy has a great selection of food as well as things like cat trees, water fountains, and toys. I make the trek down every couple of months to buy things as I really want to support them and I thought this fundraiser might be a good way to support several causes I care about at once.

Cathy is entirely willing to work with me, and you, on this. If you would like to purchase something online, you can do that here.  If you would like to buy a gift card or anything else by phone, you can reach them at 603-935-8321 and she will store it for me there and I will drive down to get it.  Cathy said in an email:

Your friends can call to get a gift card, they are not connected to my online store. If you let me know what you want to accomplish, I can make anything happen on my end. Also please note, that all sale items are in-store only. While the online store is a great tool and can be ordered off of, 99% of my business is in-store.

Emailed invoices are also an option. A gift card bought via phone or emailed invoice can then be mailed out /saved in-store.... If you see a sale item, I can send you an invoice, it can be paid and then held at the store. 

Cathy is currently having some cool sales at the store.  You can see them on her Facebook Page. She also runs an Instagram page. Geoff and Gina have a strong preference for pate food in poultry flavors, but any other flavors will be saved for future kittens, which I am sure to have. Cathy often has my favorite cat toy in stock, and I could use a few more of those as well.

If you would like to support me by sending a gift card for cat litter, that would be great as well. It is amazing how much of it they go through.. lol  

I often say that my followers are vital to the success of the kittens I foster because it is your support and encouragement that help get me through some difficult times.  Being reminded that there are "cat people" out there who value the lives of kittens and unhomed kitties lets me send out my fosters out into the world trusting they will land with good people. Thank you for spending part of your day with me, and for even considering helping out

Gabbi, Geoff and Gina

Sometimes fostering doesn't go the way you want it to.  

I don't like to admit defeat and I'm pretty bad at admitting that something that fell like defeat really isn't. 

I know this post is starting as a downer, but you'll understand why I'm a bit. 

When I brought Arthur Dent to the shelter for his final checkup before being neutered, I asked for more kittens.  I was offered a pair of kittens: Geoff and Gina

and would I mind taking a third kitty. Gabbi was a young (six to eight months old) cat who demanded that the kittens be put with her.  I was happy to take the little family. 

Sadly, it wasn't that easy.  Gabbi was totally freaked out and hid on me immediately.  When I wasn't in the room she cried horribly, pooped on the middle of the floor and peed in the middle of the couch.  It was two days before she ate.  I was about to return her thinking it was damaging to her to be here.  I've fostered feral cats before, none of them were THIS upset. 

As I was considering it,  she ate.  I know it can take a few days, so I decided to give her two more days and if she wasn't showing signs of improvement I would reasses.

When finally

She decided I wasn't half bad.  She would still hide when I entered the room but she came out and was attention seeking.  I still had issues because her eyes were still "hard" (wide, round, unblinking) and she was twitchy. She would turn on me, never trying to bite but using that same motion. 

And that is when the real problem started. Last night I found this

She was literally chewing on the window.  I attempted to block it off overnight but she went right through it and was even more destructive. 

I don't blame her.  I feel horrid that she is being driven to it.  I can only assume that she's in heat and she was trying to "sneak out" and find a man.. (even though other cats in heat have not done this) 

Part of me feels selfish for sending her back so she stops tearing up my house.  You hear "people in rescue" tell people how mean they are for "giving up" on a cat because of a little disorder. That guilt spills out all over me making me feel like crap. It doesn't help that having her rip up the window had me thinking that is going to be stupid expensive to replace... if it has been just the sill that is easy to replace I probably wouldn't be feeling so bad...

But I have to focus on the fact that chewing up the wood was not good for her.  If she ate any of it, it could be bad.  It was clearly a sign she needed more than I could provide. I could have put her in a cage, but bringing her back and getting her spayed, logically seems like the kinder option.

I will remind you I'm in an area that no longer has an overabundance of unhomed cats and the shelters have the resources to do what is in her best interest. The chances of her being euthanized over this is minimal.  

More on the kittens later...

The Hitchhiker's Kitten

Several weeks ago I was asked to foster a singleton. A little kitten found on the side of the road. A hitchhiker's name seemed appropriate, so I named him Arthur Dent.

He was underweight, about a week behind in growth,  and had copious amounts of diarrhea.  Like "where on earth did you store all that" diarrhea. 

But he was a sweetheart 

As most single kittens are want to do,  he treated me like a sibling. While we did a lot of cuddling, he could not help himself when it came to play. He wanted to bite and wrestle with me constantly. He was much more persistent in this than the kittens I've dealt with in the past, save for Edgar the Obnoxious. After a while it was easier to snuggle him and he was less likely to put aggressive play when it was clear I wasn't interested 

I would redirect Arthur Dent to a sock monkey I had in the kitten room that was about his size that I named Zaphod.  He enjoyed beating him up and bunny kicking Zaphod silly. 

Arthur's diarrhea eventually cleared up and he continued to thrive and made weight. He was still a little small for his age,  so despite only being two pounds, I was comfortable sending him back to be adopted 

He was adopted today and is off to start his new life.