I stopped at McDonald’s to get a cheeseburger on my way home yesterday (DON’T JUDGE ME, I WAS STARVING), and while I was waiting in line at the drive-thru, Fred called to make sure I was still alive (I’d had an appointment for an iron infusion that turned out to take 6 hours rather than the 2 we’d expected, due to the fact that the insurance company proclaimed that they had to use a certain kind of iron).
“I have a surprise for you when you get home,” he said. “And I think you’ll like it a lot.”
“Is it food?” I said, being very very hungry.
He laughed. “Well, I guess in some countries you could eat it…”
Which is when I HIGHLY suspected that it was a kitten, and if not a kitten, then something living. Maybe a duck or a goose.
I got home, and Fred met me at the door.
“This is the rash I got…” he said, holding out his rash-covered arms. “From the sticky bushes…” He led me inside. “Where I found these.” He opened a box, and there were four small kittens. Four little faces turned up to look at me, and all four of them hissed and spat at me.
(I suspect they didn’t get the memo that there’s nothing cuter and LESS threatening than a hissing kitten.)
Someone who works with Fred had spotted these four kittens under a bush near the window of his office. He watched them for the better part of the day, and then just as Fred was going to leave work for the day, this guy thought “Now, who do I know who has the word SUCKAH written on his forehead when it comes to cats? Hmm, who who who?”
And Fred rode to the rescue.
“I hate you,” I said to Fred. “And I hate your coworker and I wonder why the universe is insistent that we have another set of fosters in our lives?”
(Remember Ike from a few weeks ago?)
So I looked them over and then weighed one of them and then set them up in a cage with some soft blankets and a place to hide, and a litter box. I called the Challenger’s House manager and blamed it all on Fred, and told her we’d foster them, and she agreed that they could be Challenger’s House kittens.
(One of the women who works at the office near where the kittens were found has already said that she wants the little gray one.)
I think they’re about a month old, given that they weigh around a pound. They’re in really good shape, very clean, and I didn’t see any fleas on them. And most telling of all, their eyes are not goopy in the slightest.
It’s my very strong suspicion that they were dumped there, and that likely they weren’t there for long because they’re in such good condition. I don’t think I’ve ever had a set of fosters who didn’t come to me with goopy eyes.
So we tried putting some canned food on a plate in the cage, and they were uninterested. Then we tried bottle feeding them last night, and they were uninterested (though if they got some formula in their mouths, they’d swallow it). There’s one friendly calico and one hissy-spitty calico, the little gray one spits at Fred, but this morning he clung to the front of my shirt and let me pet him for a long time. The black one is hissy-spitty, but s/he’s not hissing and spitting like s/he means it.
We know the calicos are girls, but aren’t sure what the black and gray ones are. Fred’s the one with the kitten-sexing skills in this household, and he glanced and couldn’t tell what they were, but he’ll look more seriously tonight.
This morning we tried giving them bottles again, and they chewed on the nipples and swallowed the formula that came out, but didn’t really latch on and suck. We got some formula into them, though, and I wiped each of them with a paper towel to make them urinate, but later on one of them used the little litter box I’d put in the cage.
The gray one, as I mentioned, latched onto my shirt and let me pet him/ her for a long time (even purred a little!). Then I got out a jar of chicken baby food and tried smearing some around his mouth. I ended up getting him to lick some off my fingers, but none of the others were interested.
So, they’re cute, and they’ll be here for at least another month. We haven’t named them yet, but I’m sure once we figure out what the gray one and the black one are, Fred will come up with names for them.
This one has a few white spots, and has a kind of “frosted” look.
This one’s spoken for – and the biggest of the bunch.
The hissy-spitty calico. She’s all “UNHAND ME, SIR!”
The friendly calico.
Eyelip count: Hoyt’s left eyelip came off yesterday, and Lafayette’s got one that’s hanging on (I think it’s actually still attached by some tissue, which is why I haven’t snipped it off). This means that Sookie and Terry have both (all four?) of their eyelips still (and they’re looking good!), Lafayette has one and a half, and Sam’s left eyelip is hanging on for dear life – it’s not even pretending to want to come off.
After I said on Sunday that we’d probably start letting the True Bloods out into the house “later this week”, Fred came upstairs while I was with them, and they all crowded around the temporary door and looked up at him with hopeful eyes, and he said “Come on, let’s just let them out!”, so we did.
So far, everyone’s behaving. Kara’s had to put the smack down a few times, and the True Bloods respond by immediately going docile, because they’re no dummies. Mostly, they run around and play with each other, and explore the house. Yesterday, they discovered the toilet paper and pulled it all off the roll. (They were QUITE proud of themselves.)
I haven’t gotten any pictures of them out and about, but I will, I promise!
Sam shows that rope just who the boss is.
Terry (before surgery), hanging out on the upside-down cat basket.
Four of the six.
Six of the six!
Bath time: so annoying!
Sleepy Sam.
Hoyt, stretching and trying to decide whether to go wake up Sookie.
Jake’s all “This is FOOD and thus it is MINE” and the True Bloods are all “Think so? ‘Cause we don’t see it that way.”
Sweet Sam.
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Previously
2008: My little peanut is sitting in a cage by herself!
2007: No entry.
2006: She’s so cute it hurts, she really is.
2005: Awww, it’s baby Sugarbutt and baby Tommy (and their brother and sister)!
Who would want to abandon cute kittens like these ones (Not the TB6)??
Pox on people who do that – Glad that one of the kittens has a forever home already!!
All I have to say is: “SQUEE! Kitten head-fuzz!” – Wow. They’re cute. I honestly don’t know how people can just dump off a box of kittens in the middle of no where… it seriously breaks my heart.
I had to chuckle a little bit at your ‘misfortune’ of being stuck with another litter (and I use misfortune -very- lightly ;))… It was really nice of you to take them in though, especially when you’ve been so busy with the True Bloods.
As for the True Bloods, they seem to doing well! Can’t wait to see the out-and-about pics.
Oh the newbies are so cute – I think “friendly calico” has a tiny lead for me (like the Terry of the group!) That is so funny that they were in a prickly bush – I know somone recently was talking about the same thing with kittens they found (but I can’t remember who it is right now). Weird. They all look very scared – I am sure the hissing will stop once they realize they are somewhere they will be loved and well taken care of.
Oh, and there is no judgement for the McD’s – if you look at Barney’s first day home on my blog he is standing next to a McD’s bag in the first picture (it was his first day – I wasn’t cooking).
And as usual the TB6 look great – although I have to say the idea of the hanging eyelip almost freaks me out more than the falling off part. I am really not good with eye things though (even cartoon eye weirdness freaks me out).
So the next question will be – what are the names for the newbies? That is the fun/hard part – I was all set for a girl when we got Barney, who is all boy. So if you need a girl name suggestion, I would like to recommend Trixie, which is what I will use for my next girl cat (oddly, that was Lola’s name when we got her but I had my heart set on Lola). I kind of like the idea of a truck stop waitress type name for kittens.
What a big and fuzzy household you’re going to have with the new arrivals!
Between eyelips and bottle-feeds for the new babies, i’m sure you’ll be kept busy (and entertained)! You’re doing an amazing thing for these kitties…
lol, love a conversation that begins with “this is the rash i got…”
my babies have that same brown pawed water bowl, and the weenies have the matching food bowls. 🙂
btw, i was so tickled to get a thank you card from the tb6!!
Oh, I will first say, thank YOU for the Thank You card from the TB6. It was a nice surprise and it actually goes in the forever keep collection. 🙂
Secondly, this sort of thing happens to me all the time. I use to joke that there was some sort of underground group that handed out paperwork containing my home address and license plate number along with the make and model of my car. All the abandoned and desparate furry ones found their way to me…one way or another. Seriously, once I opened my front door and on the mat was a tiny wet kitten….I lived on the second floor of an apt complex at that time. I now know that God leads them to those with loving hearts and who will help them. So…think of yourself as fortunate for many reasons: 1) You are a good person 2) God will smile upon you for taking care of his creatures 3) You can sleep soundly at night – guilt free 4) Your home will always be filled with warmth, love and unbearable cuteness.
So…how good is life? And to Fred….God bless you…you are a GOOD MAN!!!!
Hugs to everyone one in your home and kisses to every kitten and cat!!!
Yes, thank you for the thank you… you really shouldn’t have. I think I speak for everyone when I say it was our pleasure.
Being late with comments means you can also say… what they said!!
Fred, God loves a sucker and Robyn loves you because you’re one, don’t let her kid you. 🙂
They are just precious. The poor mommy cat… I’m sure she was frantic when they disappeared. I second Martin… a pox on the miserable people who dumped these precious kittens. You’re up to this, Robyn! You were sent a nice, healthy litter just so you wouldn’t really go on overload!
There should be more suckers in this world like Fred!
Hissy-Spitty is so cute — what a face on her. You can just tell she’s pissed. Haha. And honestly, I love Sam more today than I did yesterday.
You two are AMAZING people! I can’t wait to read and see more of the new little ones.
Fred, you are an AWESOME guy 😉 Us crazy cat ladies love hearing about wonderful “crazy cat guys” like you! Robyn, you of course are also AWESOME, but we knew that anyway 🙂 I am totally in love with all four, but I think I love the hissy spitty calico one just a tiny tad more because I’m just cracking up over the “UNHAND ME SIR” look! I actually dragged my husband over to the computer and kept pointing and mumbling “kittens…kittens…” over and over…good thing he’s used to my insanity by now 🙂 Oh, and can I also agree with Martin and Lisa! A pox on their head indeed! Also on the head of ANYBODY who abandons or abuses poor defenseless animals.
Last but not least, I love that the Truebloods have shown the proper amount of respect to the resident kitties, but yet seem rather unafraid of the “old timers” 😉 Love those eye-lippy little babies 🙂
My goodness – it’s kitten palooza at your house! What wonderful kind people you are. We are so lucky there are people like you in the world that help out whenever you can. Your Fred is a ‘keeper’ I think – as are you for taking such wonderful care of all those kittens. Cats kits lips and eyes!
Eat all the cheeseburgers you want, Robyn! You have special dispensation from the Kitteh Goddess!
Thank you for taking in yet another litter of itty bitties and your continuing care of the Truebloods and their eyelips sagas.
Let us all know if you need anything! Even cheeseburgers!
I always forget until I see a group picture that there are, like, a dozen True Bloods.
Okay half a dozen. But it’s a lot! I’m so glad they are doing well after such a rough start. It looks like some of them will always have squinty eyes but as long as they have clean edges and the fur doesn’t irritate the eyeball, NO BIGGIE, right? I’m sure they will find homes with kind people who love squinting kittens and live very happily.
And BONUS kittens! I’ve always wished to find kittens like that; people I know have, but it’s never happened to me. On one hand it would be sad that someone ditched them in the first place, but on the other, it would be like winning a spot prize, or proof of favour from on high!
DEEP RUMBLY GOD VOICE: YOU ARE DOING WELL. IN RECOGNITION, I BESTOW UPON YOU FOUR FREE KITTENS.