- Joined
- Aug 23, 2021
- Messages
- 7
- Purraise
- 29
I live in Southern California and just started fostering cats & dogs about a year ago. I first had two feral kittens that were rescued from a hoarders trailer and were still too wild to be adopted after 4 weeks in another foster home. My 8 year old daughter and I gave them patience and love and after 3 weeks they were ready to be adopted.
Then I fostered puppies, one litter of 2 and then a litter of 4, but I quickly learned that cats were more my passion.
A few weeks ago I was contacted about a very malnourished pregnant cat that was about 3 weeks from giving birth.
Needless to say just a couple hours before the transport picked her up she gave birth to 3 very tiny kittens. When I met the transport she was worried the kittens weren't going to make the trip.
But....they did survive. I took good care of mama cat and she has been taking good care of them. I named mama cat Onyx and the 3 kittens were temporarily named Diamond, Pearl, and Jade. They are currently just over 3 weeks old.
While I wish my life were that simple...it never seems to be...
Abruptly my 16 year old daughter moved in with me last week and with her came her cat, Ash. Ash is a sweetie, she's just under a year old and is spayed. She is a permanent feline in my house and right now she stays separate from Onyx and the kittens.
But just two days after Ash arrived I was given another mama cat and her 7 kittens...not through a rescue. I just have too big of a heart to refuse. This mama cat was different, didn't want anything to do with the kittens. On night one the new mama cat broke out my office window screen and escaped, after trashing my office area quite a bit.
The reason I have the 7 kittens in the first place is because an 18 year old friend of one of my neighbors thought it would be "neat" to bottle raise kittens. This was her 2nd set from the same mama cat and of the first litter only 2 of the 6 survived, so she decided to try it again. But didn't have the money for formula or the patience to feed them every few hours. The mama cat was a stray and didn't even stay in the house with the kittens, which she didn't bother to mention before I contacted her to tell her that she escaped.
I felt really bad about mama cat escaping, I walked the neighborhood until 4am trying to find her, but I am a stranger to her, so I had no luck. Her kittens are not even 2 weeks old. She has not come back.
I brought the box of kittens in to my room to bottle feed them and Onyx cried from my walk in closet where I have her set up. I let her out and curiosity got the best of her and she jumped right in and started cleaning them and as she began feeding 3 of them I finally felt they were safe so I could try to sleep a couple hours before work. (I work from home FYI)
But just minutes later loud kitten cries woke me...my exhausted imagination overtook me and I hurriedly jumped up to turn on the light...but rather than a crime scene I found mama Onyx carrying her 2nd kitten from the closet to the box of kittens, she put all 10 together before laying down to sleep. (I obviously was relieved and embarrassed with myself).
So here we are 5 days later and the older kittens are healthy and playful. And......are all boys. So Pearl became Little Pete, Jade became Jayden, and Diamond became Neil.
The 7 younger kittens are doing well. They nurse some and get bottle fed on occasion. One little guy isn't gaining weight so he is being watched and fed closely.
Ya. So that's my story. In less than a month I went from 0 cats to 12 cats, and I love love being a foster and helping them out so very much.
Then I fostered puppies, one litter of 2 and then a litter of 4, but I quickly learned that cats were more my passion.
A few weeks ago I was contacted about a very malnourished pregnant cat that was about 3 weeks from giving birth.
Needless to say just a couple hours before the transport picked her up she gave birth to 3 very tiny kittens. When I met the transport she was worried the kittens weren't going to make the trip.
But....they did survive. I took good care of mama cat and she has been taking good care of them. I named mama cat Onyx and the 3 kittens were temporarily named Diamond, Pearl, and Jade. They are currently just over 3 weeks old.
While I wish my life were that simple...it never seems to be...
Abruptly my 16 year old daughter moved in with me last week and with her came her cat, Ash. Ash is a sweetie, she's just under a year old and is spayed. She is a permanent feline in my house and right now she stays separate from Onyx and the kittens.
But just two days after Ash arrived I was given another mama cat and her 7 kittens...not through a rescue. I just have too big of a heart to refuse. This mama cat was different, didn't want anything to do with the kittens. On night one the new mama cat broke out my office window screen and escaped, after trashing my office area quite a bit.
The reason I have the 7 kittens in the first place is because an 18 year old friend of one of my neighbors thought it would be "neat" to bottle raise kittens. This was her 2nd set from the same mama cat and of the first litter only 2 of the 6 survived, so she decided to try it again. But didn't have the money for formula or the patience to feed them every few hours. The mama cat was a stray and didn't even stay in the house with the kittens, which she didn't bother to mention before I contacted her to tell her that she escaped.
I felt really bad about mama cat escaping, I walked the neighborhood until 4am trying to find her, but I am a stranger to her, so I had no luck. Her kittens are not even 2 weeks old. She has not come back.
I brought the box of kittens in to my room to bottle feed them and Onyx cried from my walk in closet where I have her set up. I let her out and curiosity got the best of her and she jumped right in and started cleaning them and as she began feeding 3 of them I finally felt they were safe so I could try to sleep a couple hours before work. (I work from home FYI)
But just minutes later loud kitten cries woke me...my exhausted imagination overtook me and I hurriedly jumped up to turn on the light...but rather than a crime scene I found mama Onyx carrying her 2nd kitten from the closet to the box of kittens, she put all 10 together before laying down to sleep. (I obviously was relieved and embarrassed with myself).
So here we are 5 days later and the older kittens are healthy and playful. And......are all boys. So Pearl became Little Pete, Jade became Jayden, and Diamond became Neil.
The 7 younger kittens are doing well. They nurse some and get bottle fed on occasion. One little guy isn't gaining weight so he is being watched and fed closely.
Ya. So that's my story. In less than a month I went from 0 cats to 12 cats, and I love love being a foster and helping them out so very much.