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??

She's adorable....but then again, I'm biased based on color!

So, where'd she come from? Stray, surrender?

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.

Amazes me the cats who sit homeless....but then again we had a gorgeous white boy - front declawed & fixed, sweet as pie....he sat for 6 months before being adopted. And he was a LH too!

Now, Carolina... don't fall in love.....

Oh wow, she is pretty!

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Now, Carolina... don't fall in love.....

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Good one AddieBee - I will try!

Oh she is BEAUTIFUL! I'm sure she'll come around with your love - and with the help of your sweet kitties!



Laurie

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.

awwww she is lovely

Hope is a doll. She looks like she has a sweet personality.

What a beautiful girl!

Awww, what a sweet little girl!

She is beautiful Your awesome for fostering her

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:

Look at her - she's beautiful!

If you want to try to put "emergency" weight on her, try feeding her kitten food. Very dense in calories and protein for a growing kitten, and it has a flavor that most adult cats will do anything to get.

Makes sense to me that Bugsy is more unsure of her than Lucky. He's newer in the territory, so not as comfortable with a newcomer as Lucky. She's also been through this "new kitty" thing, and it turned out OK. Or it could just be that he takes longer than she does to get used to a newcomer.

Originally Posted by valanhb

Look at her - she's beautiful!

If you want to try to put "emergency" weight on her, try feeding her kitten food. Very dense in calories and protein for a growing kitten, and it has a flavor that most adult cats will do anything to get.

Makes sense to me that Bugsy is more unsure of her than Lucky. He's newer in the territory, so not as comfortable with a newcomer as Lucky. She's also been through this "new kitty" thing, and it turned out OK.

Or it could just be that he takes longer than she does to get used to a newcomer.

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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.

She sure is a pretty girl. I love the color of her eyes.

I am a little worried at such a large decrease in weight, two pounds is too much to loos in such a short time period. Has she has her liver functions tested since the weight loss? With the poor appetite and the weigh decrease she is a prime candidate for Hepatic lipidosis. Best to catch this early to reverse it. It is good she ate the FF.

How old is she do you know?

It is great that you decided to foster her, she sure seems to need the quieter, calmer home you can provide. You are going to be her saving grace.

Originally Posted by kittymonsters

She sure is a pretty girl. I love the color of her eyes.

I am a little worried at such a large decrease in weight, two pounds is too much to loos in such a short time period. Has she has her liver functions tested since the weight loss? With the poor appetite and the weigh decrease she is a prime candidate for Hepatic lipidosis. Best to catch this early to reverse it. It is good she ate the FF.

How old is she do you know?

It is great that you decided to foster her, she sure seems to need the quieter, calmer home you can provide. You are going to be her saving grace.

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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?

I used Purina One Kitten to put weight on some adult rescues. Again not the best food, but it helped get them to eat and gain weight. They seemed to really like the taste. I transitioned them later to California Natural Chicken and Rice then to Taste of the Wild. They got wet food at night.

You are doing a great job of caring for her needs. She will thrive with your help.