1532 Florida's Kitten Foster Frenzy

We left for an awesome trip last week, but there was a bit of panic regarding what to do with the kittens. I need to keep them until they are two pounds and this litter took a pause from growing right around a pound and a half. To make matters worse, I was deeply in love with the eldest two of the set (who were just barely two pounds.) Somehow, hours before leaving, everything worked out.

Jensen and Robz were adopted by a wonderful woman from our burningman camp. Not only do I know they’ll have a truly fantastic home, but we can also visit! Fuzzy – the one I spent the past two weeks thinking he was about to die since he pooped twice his body weight a day – got handed off to another foster. That foster’s brother fell deeply in love with that stinky little poop machine, so he adopted him. My two littlest black ones did have to go back to the shelter, but they’ve been watched over by foster-in-charge lady and should be adopted by now.

I recently received an e-mail from the adopter of Mia and Ampere. They are doing well and are now huge. Just look!

Normally when I tell people I foster kittens they have one reply; “I could never do that, I couldn’t give them up!” It is true that I fall in love with each little kitten, but it is rare that I think to myself “these are the kittens I’m keeping!” My loving partner has a rule – we can have infinite kittens or one cat. In those circumstances, it is easy to pass along the kittens to loving homes and welcome new kittens into our lives.

But, sometimes, very rarely, there are kittens that make me doubt this process. Robz and Jensen (named after our good friends Rob and Jen) are the first kittens since Zooooom and 12 Step we’ve considered keeping. We aren’t going to keep them, as we are about to go on vacation, and holy crap there are a lot of kittens that need fostering right now, but, man oh man, did we consider it.

Thus as I turn to try and get them adopted, I’m full of concerns. Will the adopters be wonderful? Will they love them like I love them? Will they get love, lots of food, and playtime? I’ve yet to have a bad experience finding adopters off craigslist, but I just don’t know. I loves them so much!

Are you the perfect adopter for these perfect kittens? Will you care for them, love them, and let them nuzzle your nose? One – Robz – is a lover. He puts one paw on each of my cheeks and touches his nose to mine. He purrs when touched. Total lovebug. His brother, Jensen, is the player. He attacks string, climbs the highest mountains (er, couches), and is always up for a round of ‘chase the thing.’ Together they form a loving pile of purring wonderfulness. They eat fine, are healthy, litter trained, up to date on shots, etc. I foster through San Francisco’s Animal Care and Control so all adoptions happen through them.

Enough words. Let’s get to the pictures.

Robz:

Jensen, feirce:

Jensen, cute:

Robz and Jensen together:

The blog has been quiet due to our last litter. We got them when they were super small and a bit sickly. Since we weren’t sure of their survival rate I wasn’t super excited about updating a blog about kittens that might not make it. I shouldn’t have been so worried – five out of the six kittens pulled through and are now have their forever homes! We had one of them for several months and we might have got a bit attached. But he ended up being a Chanunkha gift for a nine year old girl; what could be better?

Kitten season starts soon. Only one more month until we are swarmed with kittens again.

Name: Oliver
Age: Eight weeks. Tops.
Color: Black. Green/brown eyes.
Likes: Food, playing, squeeking, food, playing, food, and playing.
Dislikes: Holding still, being bored, dirt and mess.
Best feature: Greets humans when they enter, comes willingly to be played with.
Worst feature: Overeater. Loves food. Getting fat.
Seeking: An active, fun household. Will do best with lots of people and stimulus.

Oliver is a great playful kitten. He runs to greet me whenever I enter a room and loves to hang out wherever we are.

Oliver likes to be played with and adores attention but he’s not really sure about this being picked up thing. He squeaks and complains the whole time while making half hearted attempts to run away. It is hard to take him seriously because he promptly returns and demands more attention. He’s also the most trusting kitten ever. (He is asleep in this picture)

Oliver is very good with the litter box. He’s healthy, eats well, and will be fixed, microchipped, up to date on all vaccines and dewormed before he’s adopted. Squeek, meow, my name is Oliver and I like to play. If you have toys and love, please take me home!

My friends and I are big dorks. Every other Sunday our house hosts D&D. We roll dice, battle bad guys, and save the world. Good times. D&D is also the best feral kitten socalization ever. Six of my friends patiently wait for their turn to hold the cute fuzzy thing. (”Dude, it is your initiative, give up the kitten.” “Hey, your mark went off, don’t you want to teleport? Not if it means I have to hand off the cat.”) Our DM has become accustomed to “awwww” moments distracting all of his players. Not all kittens are good at D&D. Some want to explore, some want to hide, and others attack our figurines with the ferocity of a rabid mindflare.

Oliver, however, is a D&D mastermind. For those of you who don’t play D&D, it is a roleplaying game which has a heavy strategic (read: pretend combat) element to it. This means we have a map on which the environment is drawn, miniatures (or whatever we have handy) to indicate where our characters are, other miniatures (or, in our case, dice) to indicate the bad guys, character sheets that tell us what our character can do, cards that explain our powers, and little colored styrofoam squares to indicate what effects are present on each character. Below is a picture of the game actually in progress (normally we put the squares under the figurines, but the ooze we were fighting was represented by a snapple cap, so it was easier to put them on top.)

Oliver found D&D very relaxing. He curled right up between our Wizard and Cleric and took a nap. This is Oliver sleeping next to our Cleric’s character sheet. Note how carefully he positioned himself to not block any information. An expert D&D kitten indeed!

Of course, sometimes D&D combats can take a little too long and attention spans can be rather short. Distractions occur and playtime happens. I speak not of the kitten but rather of the aforementioned Cleric and Wizard. Remember those little styrofoam squares? Soon the kitten was dazed, prone, on fire, and marked a whole bunch.

Oliver was so down with the effect marker squares, he ignored them even as our Cleric took his turn. (Which is good, because we sure needed the Cleric’s healing!)

Cutest. Gaming. Kitten. EVAR. Maybe I should take Oliver to the local gaming store and see if he can get a home there! Any of you gamers interested? He purrs as he attacks the darkness!

We got Alladin a bit over a week ago. He was supposed to be with us for seven days but he’s smart. He bit me and that means we’ve got to keep him for ten days to make sure I don’t have rabies (if he gets sick in ten days then I get lots of shots. Today is day nine and he’s fine.)

I’m going to be sorry to see him go. Alladin loves me more than food (literally.) Such a change from the kitten who bit me a week ago! Now that he’s socialized, he heads back to the pound (animal care and control) to wait in a cage for a family to adopt him tomorrow. I’m bummed about the cage part but he’s going to make someone very happy. He’s a lap kitten of the first order. Doesn’t play, doesn’t run, just sits and purrs.

Today the pound gave me two new kittens to socialize. One is a stunning grey tabby that the pound no longer has room for. She’s almost ready to be adopted but failed her behavioral test – she shakes in fear. We’ll get her purring and happy in no time at all.

In honor of some very nice finns I hosted, I decided to name our next kitten the Finnish word for kitten. I should have checked what it was first! Meet Kissanpentu!

The second kitten is a well adjusted little black kitten (the universe keeps giving the goth couple black kittens – I wonder why?) I don’t think he even needs to be fostered; I suspect he just got thrown in since they low on space. His intake paperwork shows he was dropped off on 9/17 at 4pm. I picked Kissanpentu up at 4:30pm. I think Oliver is just part of a bonus package. He’s a surrender, meaning someone gave him to the ACC. He’s well behaved, named, and already playing.

Kissanpentu is not yet so well adjusted. She’s spent her first hour here hiding behind Adam’s head. She really likes Adam. I’m pleased by this; Alladin loves me and isn’t so sure about Adam, so its nice to have the tables turned.

Yay, kittens! As always, if you fall in love with anyone pictured here, you can have them! Just contact me for their ACC number and the pound is happy to let you adopt them. I can already tell that this grey one – Kissanpentu – is going to steal hearts.

D got a new feral kitten which spent all day hiding behind the fridge.  Apparently this kitten is practicing to be a ninja:

Triple sSs’s (now Shadow) Mom writes:

It’s unbelievable how easy her transition seems to be! She hasn’t hidden from us even once and, like you said, just wants to be held all the time. She slept in (cute girl’s) bed all night. When I checked on her at 3am she was awake but sitting and watching (cute girl) sleep. She’s perfect!

McGurken and Lady Tiberius’s (Percy and @@) Mom writes:

The kitties are fabulous, by the way… they are getting bigger, and are still fluffy, and I’ve started training them not to play bite while I’m trying to sleep. It has definitely decreased the frequency in which they try to get me to play, although it has not completely eliminated the behavior. They are SO adorable, and (Daddy) and I have agreed that we are super lucky to have such well behaved kittens. I’ve taken them to work a few times (they are here now enjoying the large space and the attention and all the people they can climb on and switch their tails under and all the laptops they can sit on). They are so bonded it’s amazing, and Percy has started talking a little bit. Too bad I don’t understand. She’s got a pretty cute voice.

We LOVE them and they are SO cute, I feel like I’d be a terrible mother because I tell the kittens ALL the time how cute they are and how much I love them. So thank you so much for introducing us!

We await ZOOMMM!!!! (Lilly Destruction) and Twelve Step’s (unknown) Mother’s reactions. She picks them up at 11am tomorrow.

Today Triple sSs met her new mom. She seems very nice. Triple sSs will have her paws full keeping three children in line. She’s got so much energy I think she can handle it.

She gets picked up on Sunday. Yay!

I am 12 Step, the world’s best kitten. Foster parents aren’t supposed to fall in love with their kittens, but, well, I’m just so special that I’ve wrapped my foster mother around my little paw. I play rambunctiously with the rest of my litter, am super gentle when playing with my adults, and wait for my foster mom on her pillow. When she’s upset, I come running to her lap to see what is wrong.

I like string and naps. I really like naps with people. My favorite thing in the world is sitting next to my human on the couch. Bonus points if the couch has a sunny spot. I’m pretty mellow about most things – dogs and kids don’t really bother me – but the wet/dry vacuum is the devil. I don’t care what they say, that thing is going to eat me.

12 Step thinks her sister ZOOOOMMM!!! is the best thing ever. They really, really want to spend the rest of their lives together. Unfortunately 12 Step tested positive for FIV and this might give some people pause when adopting her. It would be bad of me to deny ZOOOMM!!! a forever home just to keep her with 12 Step. I’m looking for a hero to adopt them both, but I’ll take whatever (as long as whatever is a good, loving home.)

What is FIV? FIV is kitty HIV. FIV cannot be transmitted to humans, or dogs. FIV can only be transmitted in utero or through saliva entering the muscle tissue. Unless your cat gets bit hard enough for teeth to enter muscle, your cat is safe from FIV. Therefore all FIV cats must be fixed and be indoor animals. FIV tests in kittens can only tell if a kitten is NEGATIVE for FIV. The positive test is inconclusive. Kittens have all sorts of crap in their system from mommy that can screw up tests. At six months old 12 Step will need to get another FIV test to find out if she really has kitty HIV or if she is free and clear.

12 Step is looking for a human that doesn’t care that she might have FIV. If she does have FIV all it means is that she should be an only kitten or with other FIV kittens and kept indoors. She would be completely unable to infect anything that isn’t a feline.

Do you have space in your home for 12 Step? She has space in her heart for you!

$100 donation to Feral Cat Foundation required for adoption, $150 for ZOOOMMM!!! and 12 Step together. Must agree to keep 12 Step as an indoor cat and not declaw her.