A Mom Named Natalie

Look what I made!

It's been quite some time since I (or I should say my parents) have fostered a group of kittens. By quite some time, I mean about a month or so really, but that's a long time if you ask any foster parent. When I moved out of my parent's house I immediately took over my old room as a foster room, much to my mom's dismay (she wanted her sewing room back, but who can turn down kittens?). So when a skinny, runty little momma came in with five of the fattest babies I'd ever seen, I knew I had to jump on the chance to care for them.

Seriously, these kittens are FAT.

Since this is the first group I've taken since I started this blog, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to show everyone the steps of kitten hood. These pictures were actually taken over a week ago, and the kittens are now open-eyed and wobble crawling all around the carrier. In these pictures they are, in fact, five days old, which even one of our most experienced fosters couldn't believe. They weighed half a pound and had fat little heads. For comparison, most kittens come out with a birth weight of 2-4 oz. These guys were 8oz. five days in and are only getting bigger. I only wish I could bottle some of Natalie's milk because she must have some magic going on in there!

Smooch.

Natalie is a fantastic mom too. Many people don't realize that being a mother isn't always the most natural thing, especially the younger a cat is. Natalie is a young momma- just around a year if not under, and I've seen so many teenage moms ignore, smother, or downright attack their own babies. They don't know what to do, have no interest in being a mom, and are often careless with their babies. Natalie, however, feeds them diligently and one day when our big cat jumped in the room by mistake she ran out of that carrier so fast she scared the heck out of him. She went right into defense mode. It helped that Bacardi is a huge coward anyway though.

Mine!

Over the next eight weeks I will keep everyone posted on how the group is progressing, and hopefully have some wonderful adoption stories to share by the end!

Happy Tails!


Update on Aubie: Remember Aubie, the little orange tiger named for Auburn after they won the BCS championship? Well, the Huntsville newspaper in Alabama ran a story on our humble shelter and the woman who adopted him, who is not only from Alabama but is a major Ducks fan!! She's named him Oliver, thank goodness. Happy dance!

Once again, thank you Nancy for the awesome pictures of Natalie and her muffins.

OMG Kittens!

News From Kitten Headquarters presents a very special post today: A compilation of both adoption success stories and cute, cute pictures of babies who are in foster! Are you ready for the adorabless-ness? I think not!

Meet Sugarplum.

Now called Holly Noel.

Holly N. came to us from Multnomah County Animal Services. Because she had lost some weight between when I got the notice and when she was actually transported, she had to spend some time in foster care. Fortunately she went to one of our best and most constant fosters, who immediately fattened her up and got her preadopted!

Mommy is the best bed.

Apparently Holly's new momma is the mother of a woman who adopted two fosters from the same parent several months earlier and decided it was time for a little sugar of her own! She spent exactly two days in the shelter- the day she came in and the day she got surgery. This is the ideal we go for for all of our kittens. And she was our last foster of 2010!

Looks like she's made herself right at home.

This is Aubie.

Wait, wait, get my good side.

Most of us know Monday as that fateful day when Auburn cheated and won the BCS championship. While good sportsmanship was not on the table, it did help one little feline earn himself a home, and fast!

There's a place out east of here where animal control is "go round up cats and shoot them". Fortunately there are kind people out there also who are fighting this form of control, and we often take in the result of that fight. Aubie was a kitten from just those people, and he sprang from his carrier and into my arms in a flurry of purrs and cuddles.

Love me!

Someone decided it would be a good idea to bet with a shelter out Auburn way that if Auburn won, we would name a kitten Aubie. On the flip side, if Oregon had won, they'd have a kitten named Oregon right now. While I protested this bet (I didn't even want to think about the game after we lost), I made good on it and named this little tiger-like darling after them.

He lasted 5 hours on the floor. That very evening a very nice young woman came in and fell in love with his lovey-dovey self. She didn't even mind that he was named after Auburn. ;)

Way to turn up the charm buddy!

You Are Not Prepared

If you aren't sitting down, please do so.

 

 

All together now: "D'AWWWWWW"

We had two groups of kittens come in from out east that needed to go into foster homes. That cutie above came in with two siblings and momma, below:

I'm a great momma!

Hang in there, baby!

RAWR!

 

 

Okay, okay, I could inundate you all day with adorable pictures of these guys, but I won't. Needless to say, they are now in a wonderful foster home where the sneezles and goopy eyes are being well taken care of.

It's actually kinda hard to clean tiny kitten eyes.

Here is our second group of young-ins, a little older but no less cute:

Yes?

We's sleepin here.

I know I'm cute, gosh.

Okay, one more:

Please, no more pictures!

Big shout out to Nancy, who puts up with my constant requests to take pictures of my darlings.

Success!

Because I don't Adoption Counsel as much as others, I don't always get to hear back about the wonderful homes my kittens have found (yes, they are all mine!). But every so often a staff member or volunteer will pass along a heart-warming story like this one and it will filter back to me, which always makes me happy!

Audrey was a lovely black and white momma who came in with her four big babies from someone who rescued them but was unable to keep them. She was understandably scared her first days here, but fortunately her babies were all bundles of joy and seemed well socialized. They went out on the floor the day they came in and two were adopted to a wonderful loving family right before Christmas!

Wolfman aka "Gucci" and Husky aka "Louis"

Here is the story from the adopter in her own words:

Our kittens are bonding with us and a complete joy! Wolfman (black, tuxedo white bib and toes) has been renamed "Gucci".  Huskey (tabby with white face and feet) is now named "Louis" (like the fashion icons Louis Vuitton and ). The kittens sleep together and play together. They are developing distinctive personalities.

Gucci with his daddy.

Gucci purrs a lot and likes to cuddle on laps if anyone is sitting still. He loves to be stroked from head to tail and enjoys being carried around the house. He is very loving and sweet. He is also very smart and aggessively plays with toys... he'll pick up a fake mouse and run with it in his mouth to keep it away from his brother. He shows good kitty hunting techniques and will try to outsmart the laser pointer...hiding and springing out at it. Gucci usually instigates the wrestling and tag sessions with Louis. He appears to be the more dominate kitten.

Louis with his daddy.

Louis loves to be closer to your face if you are on the couch he wants to be on your chest or under your chin... purring. He loves the petting from head to tail and will put his head under your hand and push up, encouraging you to keep petting if you stop. Louis is more of the follower of Gucci... whatever Gucci does Louis will go along with it. If Gucci takes off exploring in the house, Louis will meow and call out to him and then sprint to where he is at. If he can't find Gucci he is content to be with one of us. Louis is not as sharp or quick when it comes to playing with toys. He'll watch Gucci and half-heartedly join in. If they start wrestling or playing tag.... then Louis and Gucci are more equals. 

Naps for all!

My twins are doing a good job of loving and caring for their kittens. Both of the kittens got "kitty-colds" so we brought them in last week and they got meds. My twins are both taking the responsibility seriously and the each administer the meds to their own kittens (eye-drops, syringe of liquid stuff and then the powder in the canned food). The boys have taken to what they call "kitty-time".... one on one play time or cuddle time with their kittens. I refer to them as "kitty daddys" because they brag about what newest trick or funny/cute thing their kittens have done with their friends. Everyone is shocked to hear that the only thing my boys wanted for Christmas were these kittens. Especially because they are 6'-3" and 6'-5", 17 year olds, who are big and tough, athletic type of boys who play high school Varsity football and basketball.

Sleeping on daddy's legs.

We are enjoying our new members of our family and we love them very much. I have attached a few photos for you to see and share with the Cat Adoption Team. I especially love the one that my twins insisted we take Christmas morning in front of the tree with their kittens!

Gucci and Louis' other two brothers are still here, but they are on a medical hold and are waiting to go home once they get healthy.

And now for the best part: Momma Audrey was adopted yesterday!

Happy Tails!

Carl Jr. and Cuter Than a Hamburger

What do you do when cute walks through the door? Snuggle it, of course!

Yes... worship me.

As I was about to leave work last night I got a message from our intake coordinator about a man who was close to being evicted if he didn't find a new place for his kittens. Of course, even though it always hurts to hear, it's a story I'm quite used to. We are fortunate enough right now, however, to have an abundance of space and a drought of kittens, so I didn't even wait until the next day to pounce on these guys. I called that night and made him an appointment for the next morning.

Well, the next day he brought me a lovely Siamese Chocolate Point, who was quite beautiful but clearly not a kitten (he's two). However, the other little thing in the carrier with him was cute enough for three kittens. He was cowering behind his "big brother" and hissed at me as I went to reach for him. I admit, I'm a sucker for the kittens with attitude.

Plus no one on earth could get mad at that face.

He was furious through the blood draw and mad again when I poked him for his vaccine, but once he was snuggled against me in this purple blanket he was as content as a kitten in a rug. The poor thing was skin and bones, but now he's happily settled with one of our wonderful fosters, who I'm sure is currently stuffing him with food and spoiling him rotten.

When I make appointments I never really know what's going to show up at that door- but days like this make it totally worth it.

You will tremble before my cuteness!

Thank you Nancy for the awesome pictures!

HOW Many Kittens?

From Left: Monkie, Yuffie and Emmie

Out of all the silly, strange, or just misinformed things people believe about cats, this one even I thought was true until I started working at the shelter and reading behavior books. Here's the story:

A young couple comes in looking for a kitten. They want something calm but playful, snuggly and affectionate. Because doesn't everyone want a kitten like that? But they don't have a lot of time in the day- they both work full time and have busy lives, so they just want one kitten. After all, cats are independent, solitary creatures who are perfectly content by themselves.

Only they aren't.

Cats have earned themselves a reputation as being the "easier" pet because they don't require as much attention, care or time devoted to them. None of those things are true. Cats are highly social creatures that need companions and care just as much as any other pet to be well adjusted, healthy, and happy.

I inform this couple that if they don't have a lot of time to spend at home, they are better off with two kittens. Of course they look at me like I just spit flaming gas balls at them. Two kittens? We barely have time for one, they explain. So I go into my "Why two kittens are better than one" speech.

We'll still eat your shoelaces.

Kittens, like any other baby anything, are in full on learn mode. This means when they see something small on the floor, they eat it. When they see toilet paper, paper towels, or your homework, they assume it's a toy for them to shred and enjoy all over the floor. Clean laundry is their bed. Curtains are for climbing, legs are for climbing, and hands are for biting. How do they learn not to do all that? How do we?

From others. A kitten with a companion learns from the ear piercing squeal of its mate that he or she has had enough of that biting. They forgo the toilet paper and pounce on their friend. They decide running after a sibling is infinitely more fun than climbing your leg/curtains/couch. Does that mean they won't cause any trouble? Of course not. They're kittens.

It goes against our modern logic of "less is more". But a bored kitten is a destructive kitten, and two kittens together are %100 less likely to be bored while you are gone or busy.

The couple decides to get a single calico kitten. She's cute, friendly, and a total terror. She's a hand-biter and a wiggler. She'll shred your pants before you can get one foot inside. But she's cute, and she's friendly.

Two weeks later she's back. The return form states that she "kept them up all night yowling, was too active and wanted attention constantly." They didn't take another kitten, and as far as I know never came back for another cat. A day later she went to a home with her sister and joined an older brother and a doggie.

If you don't have time for two kittens you don't have time for one. That doesn't leave you cat-less though. There are hundreds of adult cats in our shelter alone that are still young and vital, but without those kitten destructive tendencies. So be sure to weigh all your options before adopting, and please, every now and then, listen to the professionals.

Or you might end up with this!

Foster in the New Year!

Cat Adoption Team

Buffy, my very first foster momma, and her babies.

It's almost 2011, and almost everyone else here has a blog of some kind, so it seemed appropriate to finally start my own. Here's a little about me- I work at the Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood, Oregon. It's a no-kill cat shelter, and I run the kitten foster department, started by my boss, which has one of the best foster programs in the states.

I'm originally an English major, but my passion for animals has always been with me, in fact, I volunteered at my first shelter when I was 12 years old. So working here is kind of a dream-come-true. Don't get me wrong, it's not without its ups and downs, but first and foremost I'm here for cats, and all is fine if I just remember that.

I'd like to use this blog to post about everything cat related- I'm studying to be a feline behaviorist as well, so I anticipate a mish-mosh of behavior tips and foster stories, and featuring some shelter cats too, in case you live in the area.

Have a behavior question? Ask me!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2011.