I'm late starting this blog....about 2 weeks to be exact. But I wanted to leave a trail of fuzzyjoy to share with all of those brave souls who foster home animals for rescue and humane societies all over the world. This is my first go at fostering, and I'm sure that the experience will leave me feeling all sorts of wonderful and mixed emotions.....
My first foster cat is Oona (self-named), who came to us 3 days after she had given birth to 6 kittens....six!! Was I out of my mind??!!! The foster coordinator at the local human society told me that she was young...so I was expecting oh, maybe 3 or 4....six!! It was like I should have been going to St. Ives or something!!! So we dove in head first, and it has been awe-inspiring, scary but over all, a huge blessing....
The reason I decided to foster a cat was because my furry best friend of 19 years had to be put to sleep in February. I missed having a fuzzy being in the house, and since she was a VERY ornery only cat, there was now space for a new pet....problem is that it is WAY too soon. Going out and choosing another would have felt too rushed....like I was attempting to replace teatea (which can NEVER be done...she was certainly a one and only....see my blog www.teateasbestfriend.blogspot.com ) for the tale of losing my best furfriend....but this is a new blog for new things.... 7 to be exact. [=
The humane society was wonderful. Checked the kits over after they were born (seems that they're having trouble with cleft palates and other anomalies due to the chemicals that folks are using in their gardens, fields and lawns these days) and then loaded me up with a carrier, cat food, litter, litter box and 7 little faces. Wow. For those who have kittens before, it will be no surprise that for the first 2 weeks there was just alot of nervousness....are they all eating? gaining weight at the same rate? Does the mom have everything she needs? Is it too cold? Too warm? The usual worries. We had to watch the 2 runts, making sure that they got equal nipple time as their siblings. I'm not sure if it's because there are 5 boys and 1 girl or not, but the boys will really take any nipple that's available, although they do have a favorite. The girl? Eh, not so much. So we had to remove usurpers from her place to make sure she was gaining at the same rate....but Oona is such a wonderful mother, that our work was limited to that, building Oona's trust and watching them grow. It's astounding how much they grow in those first 2 weeks!!!! And now the changes are coming like lightening!! All their eyes were opened between 10 and 13 days....the 2 runties, Ayla and Gobi were last. At the 2 week mark, they started tracking each other with their eyes, watching others learn to use their legs....they're mostly up off their bellies now, creeping around, bonking their heads into the side of the cardboard box and practicing their tiny mews as they wobble around......
Day 16 brought play fighting and the very first kitten going completely beserk with energy...I was surprised it happened this young!! It was Nutty Buddy who's tail was straight up and fuzzy, running over siblings and mom, tumbling and running some more (I use the term "running" very loosely here!) [= It also brought one of the runties, Gobi, up to speed with his walking with no belly drag. Ayla (the grey female) is still a little behind the boys. Oh, did I mention the rest are orange tabby males? Yep, 5 of them. Thankfully all but 2 are different shades, but the 3 in the middle are pretty dang close... so we'll be relying on personalities to tell them apart from here on in!
