Archive for March, 2012

It sounds like a fun job!  Darling, cute kittens to cuddle and watch play, learning about developing personalities!

Fostering kittens, whether they have a mother or are orphans is a big job and not for the faint of heart. With Pet Haven you will have experienced kitten fosters backing you up and answering questions, providing you with their best advice and medications prescribed by the vet.

Feeding:  Not all moms and not all kittens are fit enough to eat as much as they should.  Living on the streets and trying to find food for yourself or extra so you have milk to feed babies is more than a full time job.  Females that have been abandoned have often not had vaccinations, no regular source of food and are very thin.  We sometimes say that mom gives ‘skim milk’.  She is worn out, even before the babies are raised. Because of this some babies do not weigh as much as they should. We do everything we can to get everyone over those hurdles with food, both canned and dry – high in calories and protein or low in fat if that is what works best.

Colds and tummy upsets are common.  Mom and kittens with stuffed noses don’t eat because they can’t smell their food.  Sometimes hand feeding 4 times a day is necessary for those babies.  Sometimes the babies just don’t figure it out and need to be hand fed because mom is becoming thinner and thinner and really needs to have the babies eating on their own.  It isn’t unusual that mom or kittens will have soft stools and diarrhea at some point.  We provide meds, different kinds of foods to help get through this but each is different and one kitten doesn’t always respond to the same things another does.  Kittens who weigh 2# and under can dehydrate quickly if they have diarrhea.  Lethargy and lack of appetite are not good signs.  We chuckle and listeners react in dismay when we say we like to see ‘tootsie rolls’ in the litterbox!  Cleaning that box 2-3 times a day to make sure that is what you are getting is part of the job.

This group of kittens were called ‘Pig Pen’ before they got their own names.  Mom was gone, they were starving when they came to us and it took many weeks of adequate food before they finally figured out they didn’t have to absorb it through their skin as well as eat it!

Baths, sometimes more than once a day, are common.  Sticky faces lead to hair loss under those chunks of food and sticky feet hold litter and track food everywhere!

Sometimes you need to call on another foster to meet you with your group or one or two and get them to the vet clinic asap. Kittens who are failing can often not wait until the next day if we are to pull them through successfully.

Mom may have been exposed to panleukopena or distemper before we get her.  The kittens are exposed because she was and can develop it up to 3 weeks later.  Panleuk is similar to parvo in dogs but the survival rate, even with a lot of supportive vet care, is higher in dogs.  For whatever reason, cats and kittens rarely survive.  Thankfully we do not see this happen very often.

One of the hardest things we do is take that baby in, realizing that we have tried and tried and we aren’t going to pull it through.  We’re there for the long haul, to hold it while it grows healthy and also if it must be euthanized. It doesn’t happen often but it does happen.  Again, you’ve a supportive network of experienced people to guide you and step in with extra care in their home if needed.

Soon, however,  the kittens will know what a litterbox is for and can be out and about in the house more.  It’s lots of fun to introduce them to the rest of the house so they get used to household noises and you walking around.  You can play and cuddle to your heart’s content.  They’ll learn about the refrigerator and other doors opening and closing, you’ll learn about them chasing after your feet and doing the kitten shuffle for those who insist on walking underfoot. You’ll learn to always put the lid down on the toilet so no one goes swimming and can’t get out. There will be lots of picture taking and we’ll put them up on the website once their vet work is completed.

At 9-10 weeks of age you’ll bring them in to be tested for feline leukemia and fiv and they’ll get their first vaccinations.  You’ve already been deworming them and that continues.  We hope upper respiratory infections stay away and schedule for spay and neuter and microchipping.  Recovery back at your home in familiar and loving arms (they hardly seem to notice they had surgery) and you’ll be bring them to adoption events every 2 weeks so we can find homes!

All of the above is more than we expect or ask from a first-time or inexperienced foster.  Not every experienced foster wishes to take on a mom with babies or orphan kittens until they are eating well and we’re all on the right track.  As the kittens mature and we get in more kittens who are closer to 3 months of age, they can go to newer fosters or experienced ones who love those babies, just not the infants – you’ll have all the fun and leave the worry to those of us who have been down this well-traveled road before.