I wanted to start this blog so that the people who adopt my new fosters will know about every aspect of their lives from the time i get them, until they find forever homes. Therefore you won't find much of anything about me or my family as it is strictly for kitten blogging.
First off, lets start at the basics, my name is Barb. I am a 30 something year old woman (if I'm smart I will remain 30 something for the next 60 years). I am a single mom to an 8 year old Jillian. I also have 2 dogs, Quincy is my hairless chinese crested, he will be 8 in June. Ruby is our 2.5 year old mini poodle. Echo is our 14 month old quaker parrot. So thats the quick run down of my family.
A long while ago, I called around and let people know that I would be willing to foster baby kittens in need of bottle feedings. Why did I chose this age? Well, having parrots and dogs in the house, with a full grown cat can be dangerous for the cat as well as for my own animals. Kittens can be contained for a few weeks until they are big enough to be running a muck and getting into all sorts of trouble. I got a call about 2 months ago from 2 local rescues asking me to get my apps in so I could start as soon as it was needed. Of course you are always hoping that you won't be needed, but you know that eventually you will.
Sunday evening (Easter Sunday) I got a call from my neighbor asking me if I would consider taking a mom and her 4 newly born babes. They had been born on a porch earlier in the day. I hesitated, not b/c I was interested, but was wary of bringing a mom and her 4 new borns into my already loud and crazy home. My fear was that she would bolt out of fear and being moved and abandon her babes. Thought about it all night, all the possibilities and what ifs, and how I would handle each situation. I decided that to keep mom feeling safe and not threatened it would probably be sensible to have her in my mudroom, I gated off a portion of it to keep dogs and kids out and set it all up for her.
Monday we picked her and her youngsters up in a town not far from my own. Mom was surprisingly friendly and lovable. She was pushing into the hands of anyone who would pet her and give her some love. So we came home, set them all up and just watched for that first night. She did great, she is a great mom, who doesn't leave her kittens for long periods of time.
Once she seemed settled and content I had a look at all babes and weighed them in, it's important for me to know that they are gaining weight a steady pace.
We had 4 beautiful kittens. I have them numbered for now but will give them names in a few days:
1) is a stripped female her admission weight was 113 grams
2) is a black with white legs Female admission weight was 124 Grams
3) is a black with white feet Female admission weight was 113 Grams
4) is an all black male just like the mom, admission weight was 126.2 Grams
Tuesday morning weights were : The morning weights were all great except for #2, I ended up pulling her and giving her some supplement for the day, I put her back with mom that night after I had seen that she did gain quite a bit more during the day. She was hard to feed at first, but after that first bottle feed, she took it well and did well, putting her gain in a 24 hr time span up to 10 grams. Perfect.
1) 133 Grams
2) 134 Grams
3) 133 Grams
4) 144 Grams
Wednesday we had some trouble, we had a huge storm move thru the area that brought with it lots of lightning and some pretty loud thunder booms. Momma cat apparently is terrified of thunder and the one loud bang we had sent her running about 10:30am. I waited until about 1:30 than started to panic, that she wasn't coming back, had gotten lost or worse. I called the vets office and let them know she was missing, I also called Mary D and bunch of my friends and got the word out that momma was missing. By 3pm I couldn't wait anymore, I had to feed the babies, they ate some but not great, so I let them back to rest again. At 4, i fed them again, this time I gave them each a bit of glucose to give them some energy so they could suck productively. They all ate and did great.
Jilly and I went out to look for mom again about 5:30, no luck in finding her, I am really worried by now and wondering what if she doesn't come back. I figured I was in for a long night. I got a live trap in hopes that she would be trapped and I could bring her back in to her children....we did trap something but it wasn't the cat, Ruby the poodle was very unimpressed with getting stuck in the trap. Set it up again and left it, took it back in before bed and got up every few hrs to feed the babes and see if by chance she was on the porch waiting to get in...no such luck. At one point there was a black cat who came in when I opened the door, she went to the baby area and laid down, since I haven't had mom long enough to really know if it was her, I decided to get a baby and see if it was her....It wasn't, when I got close to her with the babe, she started hissing, growling and swatting. Couldn't have been mom so I sent the cat back outside. She hasn't been seen or heard from since yesterday morning. It's looking less and less likley that she is going to come back and even if she does will she accept her children?
Wednesday weights were:
1) 133 Grams
2) 147 Grams
3) 138 Grams
4) 150 Grams
As you can see they are doing well.
I will continue to post updates daily on the babies.
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