Meet my new foster: Hope!

Hello -
As you know, I was going to get a foster girl, Hope, from the rescue lady I adopted Bugsy and Lucky from. Hope is the name of the newest family member, and she is finally home!
She is very skittish, but has eaten a little wet food already.
She is currently residing on my hallway (it has 3 doors I can close, making a nice, clean room), hiding inside of a little closet, the same one Lucky hid when she first got here.
Before I took here there, I put the carrier open in the living room, and Lucky and Bugsy introduced themselves - no hisses, just sniffs, but she was too afraid to leave the carrier.
From time to time I let Bugsy and Lucky into the hallway, and I see they are completely fine with her - I can already tell there will be no fighting at all; the whole process is on Hope's court, which is good! I am SO proud of my kitties!
They just go to her, and politely smell her, and leave... no big deal.

So, without further ado, here is Hope: (sorry about the boring pic, she is still in the closet...


I am going to work on socializing her, and in a few days, when she feels more comfortable around the house, I will call my neighbor to visit - She might adopt her!

On another note....... Next Saturday I start volunteering with my rescue lady - she needs volunteers, and I have been looking to volunteer for a while, so.....

So, isn't my foster baby cute??

You know, I forgot to ask the rescue lady! I sent her an email... I would think a surrender, but not sure. She has been with my rescuer since February.

Good one AddieBee - I will try!

Oh Boy - Bugsy started hissing. He hissed at me when I gave my hand for him to smell the scent of the new kitty, and hissed twice at poor Lucky, when she startled him wanting to play. The weird thing is that Bugsy hasn't been in the house for as long as Lucky, and he is having more trouble than her with the new kitty.
She is in the other room, and I already started doing the scent exchange... Let's see what happens in the next few days.

Poor thing.... She is WAY too skinny.... I sent the rescuer an email, asking what might be the problem with her weight loss... I have her paperwork from the vet, dated mid February, and her weight was 9.6lbs, which was quite low for her size and breed (she is a Maine Coon, and quite long and tall).
Today I took her weight,and it is only 7.2lbs!
I am giving her a high calorie supplement in addition of kibbles and wet food. She is eating very little, which I am not too concerned for now, as it makes sense since she just got here yesterday...

This is the response I just got from the rescuer:
"Yes, I dewormed them several times. I suspect that because she was so timid, one of the reasons I wanted her in a foster home, that she has not been getting to the food bowl often enough. It happens sometimes with the shyer cats. Normally, we move them into the shy room (my sister's bedroom), but Hippolyta hates other cats, so I haven't been able to put anyone in there with her.
Also, I took them off the really high protein food. I may have to reconsider that, despite the expense, since she and another one have lost weigh on this other food. They went from nearly 50% protein to 32%. I didn't thinkt hat would make that much of a difference but it may have.

Bugsy will get used to her, but I am glad Lucky is already taking it well. Feliway will help. Do keep me posted, and again, thank you. You revived my interest yesterday in encouraging more volunteers to come help with socializing and working with the cats here."
I do think she is going to be ok - I have plenty of love to give to this girl.
I will however, reconsider adopting her out until she is better socialized and has gotten back to her proper weight - so I will need to pass the opportunity with my neighbor, at least for now... I think it is the responsible thing to do.
I am sure with her sweet personality I will have no problems placing her when she is in top shape. It looks like I will have a kitty for a while

Here is another picture of her:

She is cute.... she is so weak though... Tiny tiny... Bugsy and Lucky look like giants!
Well, today I offered all the good foods.... she wanted none... since I was worried about her not eating at all, I decided to give her some dry FF I had home... She ate it as though she hadn't eaten for the last month! I hope she doesn't get sick from it... I guess it is better than no food at all...
I will get some nice and tasty kitten food tomorrow for her though.
Well, another development: she did have Tapeworm - I saw it, and ran to the vet for some Drontal - she has been medicated... This has probably something to do with her losing weight.

Well, she doesn't really have poor appetite - apparently she doesn't like Orijen . She ate some wet food last night, and tonight she ate quite a bit of FF.
She is really shy, and for what I saw at the rescue center, it kind of does make sense that she was not eating as she should. Don't take me wrong, it's a great place, but a shy cat doesn't do well with so many other kitties. So..... I am about 2 minutes away from my vet, and I am going to keep a VERY close eye on her. I am home 24/7 this week, and will give her lots of TLC.
On another hand: Of course she loved FF, and I don't want to feed this junt to her tomorrow - what is a good kitten food that is also very tasty and well accepted taste wise?

Ok, She survived her second night home
I decided to feed her Nutro Max Kitten, and later transition her to Orijen, when she gains some weight. I calculated her weight, and she is at least 8 lbs underweight (for a medium Main Coon Mix). Really sad... She is eating ok, not as excited as FF, but ok. I can not leave the food down, as Bugsy also likes it a lot, and the last thing he needs is to gain weight. I am feeding her every hour or so, small portions. As far as wet goes, I will feed her the same as Bugsy, Mulligan's Stew - just easier for me, and the bulk of her nutrition is going to be dry. The wet is going to be more for mixing in the vitamins than anything else, really.

She got out of the bathroom and started to explore the house. No more hissing from Bugsy; I think the Comfort Zone is helping a lot. Lucky still could care less! It's like she doesn't even notice there is a new cat around the house .

So, as far as I can see, she is eating well, and normal on the litter box - actually boxes, because she uses all three litter boxes in the house . I am not sure if she is drinking well, but I think so...

Her personality is starting to shine through. She is very skittish, but also very curious - ah, and goes bunkers with catnip!

Thanks for the tip about roundworms Laurie! She has been treated with Revolution, and also been dewormed at the rescue (but their dewormer don't treat tapeworms, hence the problem). Lucky is also on Revolution... Bugsy is the only one not in it, as he is allergic to it - he is on Advantage.

Yep, I am SO happy she is exploring!!! Right now all of them are in the living room - she is on the window perch, Lucky in the scratcher, and Bugsy with me on the couch. I also saw her drinking out of their fountain .
I think she is going to be just fine!!

She is a cutie... She has a lot of energy too . Very skittish with me; not so much with my kitties... Below are some pictures of her exploring:

First and best find in the house: Bugsy's catnip pillow


Meowmy: There is a visitor in the bookshelf!


Watching TV


Ready to jump down

Yeah... you can feel all the ribs, spine, bones under that long fur... She is quite long though - huge funny neck!
I do hope she turns around nicely........ and that I can give her up afterwords!