It’s been a busy, busy day for me. I didn’t want to say anything until it was a done deal, but Fred and I are now foster parents, at least for a little while.
Last night we cleared out the guest bedroom and set it up for our new foster children.
Today I went and got supplies, and now the children are comfortably installed in the guest bedroom.
There are FIVE of them. Plus their mother, obviously.
The others were sleeping, but this one was awake and let me hold him – her? – for a little while.
Strictly speaking, I guess you could say we’re not actually foster parents, since the mom is still around.
The mom’s story is that she lived at a junkyard, but when she came up pregnant, the owners of the junkyard didn’t want her anymore. So they gave her to a vet clinic way out in the country, and one of the employees of the vet clinic has been taking care of them.
They are awfully adorable, and I have a feeling they’re only going to get cuter. I know I didn’t get any really good pictures of them, but we’ve only been home for about half an hour, and I wanted them – the mother, at least – to get comfortable in her new home before I snap ten thousand pictures and harass them. The mother is very very VERY protective of her kittens when it comes to other animals. She was perfectly happy to have me petting the kittens and holding the one, but before that, when we walked into the house, she saw Mister Boogers and went into protective-mommy mode, hissing and growling and spitting at him.
I’ve mentioned before that we’ve never seen Mister Boogers knead or hiss. Well, today? He hissed like a big ol’ goober.
I’m not going to be required to do much but scoop litter boxes and make sure they have plenty of food and water. The director of the shelter said that oftentimes kittens who are with their mothers will go directly from mother’s milk to hard food, but she gave me canned kitten food, just in case. I have to keep an eye on their eyes to make sure they don’t get goopy (and if they do, I have drops). I have to give them deworming medicine once a week, keep an eye on the litter box for bloody poop, and at six weeks I start giving them vaccines. Other than that, the mother will take care of making sure they have enough food, and know how to use the litter box.
The mother isn’t terribly friendly, but she did let me pet her. She’s very sweet.
There are four boy kittens and one girl kitten. The woman who’d been taking care of them said she thought the girl was going to be a real spitfire.
Oh, and I have to check with the director of the shelter to be sure I heard her right, but I do believe I get to name them. I may need y’all’s help with that!
Okay, I’m going to go check on them and make sure they’re settled in okay. You KNOW there’ll be more tomorrow! See you then.