So much has happened.

Well, I'm officially a blog failure. Things just got so busy... I had no idea that essentially the last post I made was after I lost Trixie and Karen. Wow have we come a long way!

Diamond is perfect. She's alive. She got her FVRCP vaccine ever 2 weeks, was spayed at 2.5 lbs, and finished her kitten rounds of FVRCP and Rabies around 16 weeks. She learned how to play with ET and Lacey, endured hours of forced grooming by Lacey, learned that biting and scratching hurts, and just became a fantastic, fantastic cat. She has the loudest purr and absolutely loved to snuggle.

I can't explain my happiness when my boyfriend offered to take her for me as a companion for his shy cat, Baby. So, up to Boston she went, and she's doing fantastic. She's fluffy, happy, putting weight on, and enjoying life. I finally got to see her again over Thanksgiving and again this past weekend. I don't think she remembers me, but she's such a fantastic, well socialized cat that I still got a lot of snuggles. Now that he has 2 cats and I have 2, we're both at our max for "permanent cats" for we're not sure we could have more than 4 in our future home :) I'm so glad that Baby is now learning how to be more social, too. It's so win-win, and one of my most rewarding fosters.



After Diamond went up north, I think I waited about 3 days before getting the itch to foster again. I stalked the Philly Urgents facebook page for a few days and kept going back to another cat, ironically named "Diamond." I think that is initially what attracted me.



"Diamond" was found 2 weeks prior in South Philly, as a stray. "She" was having trouble getting around with bleeding, blistering wounds on the bottom of all four feet. She was taken into intake at ACCT, sedated and had her feet scrubbed. She was given pain meds and advocated in urgent emails. Nonetheless, she waited 2 weeks, during which time she came down with a cold. I went in, asked for her, and was told that she wasn't Urgent, and had finished her meds.

(Here I'll say that "Diamond" actually was a neutered male, so I will now refer to his proper sex!)

I found him in Isolation, pissed off with a cone streaked with medicine. He had a cold, a soft meow, and was a challenge to shove into the carrier. I took him to the clinic to get him a new round of medication for his URI, and to have his feet looked at. All of his feet were caked in litter- in his original photo he had shredded newspaper for litter, but now he had clay, and it was completely filling his wounds. He tested negative for Feline AIDS and Leukemia, got antibiotics, topical feet meds, and was determined to be a neutered male.

I took him home :) Set him up in the bathroom where he proceeded to leave little bloody footprints around for a few days. I changed his named to "Achilles," wanting a name that was a bit of a play on words to describe his odd injuries (which I think were caused by walking across hot asphalt). I took his cone off- his coat was dull and in gross shape from the street and then from lack of grooming. He kicked his cold pretty easily and had a great appetite.

I could go on and on, but I will tell you where we are today. Achilles is a fully integrated member of my household :) He gets along FANTASTICALLY with ET and Lacey, is a huge snuggler, has a super endearing chirp meow and loves to play. He's put on weight, was microchipped, and is totally ready for his forever home. It will not be easy for me to let him go because he is SO perfect, but I know that there is someone out there who needs a perfect cat, and for that person Achilles will be perfect :)

First day in foster:









ET and Lacey are fantastic. I will (really try to!) update later with some photos and updates about them :)

I'm still here!

I know a few people read this, so I will apologize for not updating. I had a bit of laziness that turned into school chaos! I have my last exam of this round on Friday, followed by quite a nice lull, so I will update on Lacey, ET, Diamond (going strong!) and my Pen Pals within a few days :)

xoxo

Panleukopenia

I guess it had to happen sometime. This litter was my fourth (fifth time fostering if you count Lacey); something bad had to happen eventually :(

On Wednesday, Momma and her baby were euthanized at the shelter :'(

Momma cat had a slow downhill course. She ate ravenously on Saturday, was a bit pickier on Sunday, would only eat baby food on Monday and on Tuesday she wouldn't eat anything, and was vomiting. She went from laying on the plus rug on the top of the crate, to the open window, to the space behind the toilet. I tried syringe feeding her Pedialyte and baby food, but she couldn't keep it down sufficiently enough to stay hydrated. On Wednesday morning, her kitten (Trixie) was limp. She would stand if I picked her up, and she tolerated the fluids and food a bit better than Mom. After a cookout on campus I took them both (along with Diamond, who had been fine) to the shelter to get them checked out, and hopefully for them to get some subQ fluids.

When I got there, the shelter clinic was packed. I got talking to a friend and fellow volunteer about what was going on, and she immediately said "sounds like panleuk." My heart dropped. It did sound like panleukopenia, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it.

Panleukopenia (aka. distemper, feline parvo virus) is a virus which attacks the white blood cells and all rapidly-dividing cell lines. It causes vomiting (a nasty mucus, yellow color, which both cats had), life-threatening dehydration, bone marrow failure and gastrointestinal ulceration. Very, very nasty. So nasty, in fact, that there is a vaccination against it: FVRCP (aka "the distemper shot"). The "P" stands for Panleukopenia. Every cat that enters the shelter is vaccinated against it, but it takes some time for immunity to develop and the cat may already may be infected, and in both cases the vaccine doesn't do any good.

The vet tech did a fecal swab on all three kitties to test for the virus; Momma and baby came out very strongly positive, and Diamond completely negative. There really is no treatment for panleuk... you can give supportive fluids and antibiotics, and even blood transfusions, but the success is widely varied. After talking to the tech (who also was a friend) we decided that euthanasia was the fairest course for these two little ones. It was an awful choice to make, and I was bawling my eyes out. Had they been in better condition (both were borderline emaciated to begin with) I may have given it a shot. Regardless, kittens under the age of 8 weeks have only a 5-10% chance of survival, and cats under 1 year (like Momma- she was probably only about 7 months) have only a slightly better chance.

It was very sad, and I was (and still am) devastated. Because of shelter policy I wasn't even able to be there while they put them to sleep. I needed some way to honor their little lives, and once the tech handed me back their paperwork, I noticed Momma's (Karen) rabies tag taped to it; she was the only one over 16 weeks old, so she received a rabies vaccine. I have ET's tag from the PSPCA shelter (he was wearing it when I adopted him) on my key chain, and it occurred to me to do the same with this tag.



On the back, I wrote:



This way I can "carry them with me," a little memorial to two innocent souls. I find comfort in that, and in the fact that they did not have to die an unrecognized or unmourned death, and that they got to spend a few days in a loving home with open windows, high places, and yummy food.

Now on to Diamond, my little negative girl.

The tech advised that I euthanize her; even though she was negative, it was likely she would become infected as well, if she wasn't already. I couldn't bring myself to allow that, Di looked great, was playful, and NEGATIVE. So, I took her home.

It's been 48 hours since we lost Karen and Trixie, and Di still looks great. She's eating, drinking, and playing all normally. Because Di has a different mother, it is very possible that she was born with antibodies, if her mom was vaccinated or otherwise immune. This means that she HAS the ability to fight the infection, which hopefully her shelter vaccination only improved. The vet says it can take 5-7 days for symptoms to show up, so she is not out of the woods yet. I'm going to enjoy her and give her lots of love, and see how far that gets us :)

Here is Diamond, in the window (she can't get up there herself, but I put her up there for a bit yesterday)



This entry is long enough for now. I did take ET to the vet today and will update about that another time. I am excited, though, as tomorrow is my first day back at the Cube!!!

In love with my foster family

My little family is doing GREAT! I was very worried the first night that momma would be loud, but I've hardly heard a peep from her. She is a really great mom and is now letting the singleton nurse on her as well :) . I scheduled momma's spay appointment for 2 weeks from now, so I can get her spayed and recovered separately from the kittens. I'm going to see if I can find her a home and if I have success, I'll adopt her out before the little girls are ready, since mom will be good to go. We'll see- lots to think about! I'm really enjoying them a lot, though. Moms with babies are great!!

Mom (Karen) is so sweet, and loves any bit of affection you give her.




Trixie biting on Di's tail while mom watches from a safe place atop the crate


Nursing kittens!


Trixie (mom's baby) was full so she snuggled with mom while Diamond (singleton) nursed happily :)

We're back!

Yesterday my "traveling circus" and I made the drive from Boston to Philadelphia. Thankfully my apartment wasn't hot so ET and Lacey went up with the first load. They immediately found their favorite spots and it was like they'd never left.

The situation at ACCT is always so desperate, and it was tough for me to be unable to help while I was out of the city. So, I headed over after about 2 hours of unpacking to meet my new dog Pen Pal and pick up some fosters. Shawn had strongly suggested I only get one cat, to minimize mess and hassle to me. I should've listened to him! I made a compromise in my head to just get 2 (a mom and baby, or 2 babies) but of course when I got there I couldn't just take 2. Thankfully, I didn't deviate too far... I pulled a mom with one baby, and a single baby around the baby's same age. So, I have a mom and 2 babies, one of which is hers.

I brought the family home and put them in my bathroom, and mom howled for about 15 minutes. I already was emotional from being overtired and just the general transition of going back to Philly, and I was pretty upset for a while, convinced I'd made the wrong choice or acted too quickly. I don't mind having my bathroom slightly "out of commission" while I have kittens- I don't even mind giving meds- but I can't have a screaming cat or kitten in my apartment. It makes me way too anxious to think about a neighbor hearing and complaining and making a big hassle.

Thankfully, mom seemed to settle down after that initial period. I worry she might be in heat, so I'm going to try to schedule her for a spay in a week or so. Her baby is still nursing, but she is eating on her own too so milk is not critical (most mommas lose their milk supply after they are spayed). Then I can try to find mom a home or have her placed in an adoption center, bringing my foster household down to 2. The kittens are both about 4-5 weeks, and as soon as they reach 2lbs they can go in for spay surgery.

Everyone did great last night. I was very worried about mom howling, but I only heard a few squeaks and squeals from the kittens as they wrestled! Mom found a great spot to lounge- on the top of the crate on the fluffy bath mat. The kittens can't get to her when she is up there! When I went in this morning to feed everyone the momma was so happy and purring and making "happy feet" (opening and closing their toes, sometimes kneading into a surface or just into the air) all over the mat. She did great eating as did the kittens.

Mom's name is "Karen," which I kind of like and I think I will keep. The babies both have crazy names, but I think the daughter is going to be "Trixie" and the singleton "Diamond." We'll see :)

Below are some pics of them on their first day with me.

Singleton:



Mom and Baby:




Thanks for reading! I have a new cat Pen Pal too. I'm hoping to meet her today and will post about her later :)

"Love a Philly Cat"

Just wanted to share an OUTSTANDING new website dedicated to Philadelphia's homeless cats, launched by the PSPCA. It's a beautiful site and appears to be updated regularly. The PSPCA and ACCT have done really great things for the cats, most recently a $1 adoption special, where you can adopt a altered, vaccinated, microchipped, flea-free cat or kitten for just $1. This adoption special will run for just a few more days until July 31. I can't wait to hear how successful this event has been.



Click here to be directed to the site =^.^=

Everyone is doing great

We have reached a pretty reasonable level of peace... and as I predicted, just in time for me to head back to Philly. Well, I still have about 2 weeks but it feels like no time at all.

I've discovered that a big way to avoid evening/early morning roughhousing is to ensure that my cats (basically ET) receive a big enough dinner so that they just slip into a food coma and sleep most of the night. This seems to work. Baby cat also has adjusted nicely and now spends all of the evening out from under the bed, usually sleeping up by my head for some reason, and other times lying on the bedside table. She's very good at growling to alert/wake us up when ET is starting to get some bad ideas and tries to come bother her!

Despite these successes I know that my cats (especially ET) can't wait to get back to Philly. While I wish the time never had to come, I'm at least glad to know that SOMEONE will be happy about our return.

Another positive to my return is that I'm going to foster again :) I'm not sure what situation would be best... it was pretty tough to have those short-term litters as I wasn't able to keep up with the cleaning as well as I should've been, and it was difficult to keep meeting new personalities. Having short term kitten stints definitely is the best way to make a difference, as it keeps open a "revolving door" but I'm thinking about a different situation now. For several months I've wanted to have a momma cat with babies. Right now I'm thinking I may get a mom with just one kitten. The tough part about that is that takes me "out of commission" to take in more animals for several weeks... but it would enable me to help out an incredibly high-risk population. Another thought is to just take in 2 tiny, maybe 4-week old kittens. We'll see!

Despite the looming start of MS-2, I am looking forward to getting back to Philly and getting myself settled. I think I developed a formula for my own success by the end of last year and I'm anxious to get started, and get it over with!

Below are some pics of the critchers over the past few weeks :)

Lacey passed out across my waist


ET and Lacey "snuggled up" on the bed


Baby snuggling up with me while I'm passed out and Shawn is playing the Sims!!


Shawn likes to play with the cats and sometimes he will "force interactions" by sticking ET and Lacey together... it often results in a very entertaining battle, haha. My cats are so tolerant :)

Diego Summer Update

It has been a while since I contacted Diego's new parents, so I sent them an email last night. I got an amazing reply, as I expected :)

"Diego is awesome and we love him more and more all the time. He's started fetching toys on our stairs! He's endlessly entertaining. He has so many little games he plays, like getting in a mood where he very gently wrestles with our hands, or playing with a penny or water bottle cap on the floor. He has a strip of paper he likes to carry from room to room for whatever reason. You know, logical cat games. It's so much fun!

He has a lot of nicknames. "Little Dickens," "Pajama Ninja," "Little Tiger," "Little Man," "Prowser," "Little Prince," "Jerk," things like that. He's got a mischievous streak with my boyfriend - he jumps up on his messy desk, makes eye contact with him, and then slowly bats small objects off one by one. It's hilarious. They are so cute together, my boyfriend is very fatherly with him and Diego seems to like confusing him. Diego definitely acts like I'm his mommy, follows me everywhere and always wants love and petting and he chirps and pyows at me much more, and he's more playful and silly and rammy with my boyfriend. And his parents consider themselves Diego's grandparents :) We take him to visit pretty often, and he loves it there, since their house is full of windows with birds and squirrels and chipmunks outside. We're about to go on a 3-week road trip, and he'll be staying with my boyfriend's parents then.

Everyone who meets Diego loves him. He's really such a great cat! So handsome and charming and fun :) And never any bad behavior habits besides teasing my boyfriend every once in a while. We can't even fathom how we got along without him anymore, he's such a vital part of our lives now. Thanks so much for introducing us!"

So, I'm thrilled. Diego sure won the jackpot. Below are some pictures of him that his parents included :)





(I love this one!)


I will update soon with new photos of my crew- we've gotten some great shots recently I just haven't remembered to upload them!

Summer is halfway over :(

I have been having such a wonderful time living in Boston and I can't believe the summer is nearly halfway over :(

I can tell you that both ET and Baby are ready for summer to be done. For the most part, tension has cooled in the apartment, but definitely is still there. Thankfully, Baby and Lacey are doing GREAT together, so Baby is getting a lot better in general with other cats. ET is doing a bit better with leaving her alone, but sometimes he does go after her. Lacey is just perfect, Shawn is trying to convince me to let her stay, but I told him that if I left her here that means I need to get another cat ;)

So, below are some photos from the recent weeks.

One of Shawn's and my projects is to build a cat tree. My mom works in retail and always tries to grab the old displays before they can be thrown out. A few months back she managed to grab 4 very nice, sturdy cubes. I haven't quite decided how I'm going to lay them out yet, but here is a photo of ET in one of the possible layouts.



We recently won several items from a local auction. Shawn really enjoys restoring furniture so he bought a very large lot of lots of miscellaneous hardware. We spent one morning photographing, bagging, and cataloging what he won for future use. Here is Lacey lending a helping hand.



Here is one of miss Baby sitting pretty! She's spending most of her time out from under the bed now. Here she is playing with a new catnip fish toy (thanks Mom!) in the "safe space" between the bed and the wall.



And even though ET is her arch enemy, Baby and I still make time for snuggles :)

Some pics

Below are a few photos taken since ET and Lacey moved in with Baby. Things are going better; all 3 cats have been out together for the past several days. There is still some hissing, but Baby is making moves out from under the bed, which is great. ET has his moments, but right now Shawn is playing with a ribbon toy with Baby and Lacey, and ET is passed out under the coffee table.

Lacey hanging out on the top of Shawn's desk


Baby hiding out under the desk!


The bathroom door, behind which ET spent the first several days


Baby in her favorite spot- the window!


Lacey being cute, laying inside one of the frames Shawn found while antiquing

MIA!

Ah! I have been seriously MIA.

Well, I finished first year, went on vacation with my boyfriend, Shawn to West Virginia (amazing!) and now I'm staying with him and his cat near Boston, MA.

There has been quite a bit of cat-related happenings, all unfolding in Shawn's studio apartment. Both ET and Shawn's cat, Baby, have pretty strong personalities. Despite the fact that they both met in Philly a few months ago and all went well, there has been quite a bit of clashing. Most recently, Baby and Lacey are well on the way to becoming friends, although Baby is learning how to play without getting all freaked out and hissing. Lacey is extremely non-reactive (in contrast to ET) so she is being a good, patient teacher. All are out together during the day but we usually have to do some form of separation at night, for ET and Baby will often scuffle which can result in great noise- not good at midnight! I think that as Baby gains more confidence with Lacey, she'll be better at handling ET. They really just all need to become more desensitized to each other.

We're also contemplating picking up a product called Feliway which contains relaxing pheromones for cats. I've read a lot of reviews on it, and many people swear by it for cat introductions. Maybe it'll level the playing field a bit.

We took some rather entertaining pics and I will upload them later.

Oh! I never did a formal post about her, but my cat Pen Pal Bailey was adopted sometime last week! It wasn't someone who emailed me, so I had no idea. I posted a Craigslist ad for her and got a quick message back from a fellow volunteer who let me know the good news. I confirmed it with the adoption staff- YAY! I wish I knew more about the family that adopted her, but I'm sure all is well. Below is a pic of the little lady at the shelter. She was so wiggly it was hard to take a pic of her without pinning her!

Done!

On a personal note, I finished my first year of medical school today :)

I sent an email a few days ago to check in with Diego's family. I of course don't want to bother them, but it had been about a week so I wanted to see how everything was going. Below is the reply I got!

"Diego is still perfect! No behavior issues at all :) After about the third day with him he started chirping and trilling when he comes up to us for petting or while he follows us around to see what we're doing, so he's actually pretty vocal! And he's sooo snuggly, and always curious and entertaining. He's really made our house feel complete. My boyfriend said he doesn't know how we got along so long without him, and I feel the same way. He's really a dream cat! We love him so much and we're so happy we found him!

I've attached my favorite picture of him in his favorite box :)"



I have been emailing back and forth with a woman about my new cat Pen Pal, Bailey, but she hasn't been replying fast enough so maybe she is busy, who knows!

The kittens are still a bit sneezy but they're being placed at a local adoption center (with meds!) tomorrow morning. Horray!!

ET + Lacey Photoshoot

I had a bit of free time (gasp!) this weekend, and the weather was beautiful which means open windows and occupied cats. I was able to snap a few nice shots of them, featured below. I'm interested in photography and definitely would love to take some classes in the future to really learn how to work with light :)











I was finally able to volunteer for a few hours at The Cube yesterday, and it was great to be back. We didn't have a ton of cats (~30 I think) but I imagine that is because there are now several other clinics operating in the city. As long as they are getting spayed/neutered, I don't care where they go! We did have one kitty come in that a local rescuer took in the night before when a house burned down. I'm not sure exactly how she got the cat, but she said that a firefighter pulled her out of the house and brought her to safety. She got a few hours of oxygen at the Cube but was having tremors and he balance was very off. I really hope she recovers... she is a calico like Lacey, and I have a soft spot for sick calicos ;)

There also was a huge (I think record-breaking) adoption event called "With Love- Super Adoption Day" sponsored by Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia held in the city yesterday. I didn't attend, but from what I've heard it was a great day with a fabulous turnout. I believe ACCT had 2 dogs adopted from the event and several more with serious interest in them. Hurray!



I had planned to go to an adoption event today at a local park with ACCT, but the weather is crummy so we canceled it :( The last one I was scheduled to go to was canceled as well, so I'm pretty bummed. Guess that just means I have the morning to study now... ugh! I am going to the shelter later this afternoon to walk a few dogs and attend a dog-handling seminar. While I'm pretty comfortable handling dogs, I definitely need to learn some training tips :)

Another Diego Update

I woke up this morning to find another email from Diego's adopter. I'm just so happy for him. I went to the shelter to take the foster kittens in for their sniffles and saw that his cage had been filled. 2 lives saved. It's amazing.

"Diego has been completely charming. He's really a great looking cat, especially now that he's all cleaned up and brushed and relaxed. He looks like a little gray tiger :) We had a few friends over to meet him and he was sociable and sweet, saying hello to everyone. He's just so perfect. He comes whenever we call him, and is such a cuddler! He's exactly what we needed, and my boyfriend is totally thrilled with him which is great since it's his first pet :) He's found a bit more of his voice and has meowed a couple of times, once at the wall (I guess he thought he saw something) and once when we made eye contact from across the room and I said "Hi, Diego" :) And he is very into the laser pointer. He keeps looking for it long after we turn it off.

We are so happy with him. He's everything we wanted in a cat! Thank you so much, without your craigslist ad we wouldn't have found such a wonderful pet. I've attached some pictures of him being cuddly and awesome :)"

Below are some photos from Diego's parents. Sorry they are fuzzy- must be camera phone!





In other news, the Pen Pal who I was assigned is already being pulled by rescue! When I was at the shelter today I went in to take some photos of her and found the "Confirmed Rescue Pickup: PAWS" tag on her door. Yay for Spring! Hopefully I can be assigned another Pen Pal so I can get advertising before I leave!

That post-adoption high :)

Well, I've been horrible about updating as I've been sooo busy. Thankfully I have a few more exams behind me and have begun catching up... 2 more days of testing next week and then I'm DONE!

I finished my Gross Anatomy class yesterday after pulling an all-nighter. In fact, during my all-nighter I received an email from a woman interested in adopting my Pen Pal, Diego (see a few posts below). I had been posting on Craigslist and had listed him on Petfinder for several weeks, but got nothing but spam mail as a reply :(

The email I got was a legitimate inquiry, and this couple sounded amazing!

"My name is ____. My boyfriend and I are looking to adopt a cat. I've had cats for most of my life, but he's never lived with a pet, so we think we should get a nice, laid back older cat, someone very affectionate and easygoing. We are both artists and make our livings working from home, so our future cat will not be lonely, although we do occasionally travel we already have a cat-loving friend who has volunteered to cat-sit for us when we are out of town.

If Diego is still available, he sounds like a great fit for us. Would we be able to come and meet him tomorrow (Tuesday)?"

It sounded perfect, and although it was ~3 am we corresponded a few times and made arrangements to meet later that day, after my exam. I took my test, napped for a few hours and then headed off to the shelter. We had agreed to meet around 3pm, but by the time 3:40 had come around they didn't show up. I was worried they would be a no-show but thankfully we exchanged phone numbers before then. I put a call into them and the woman answered and said they were lost. Within a few minutes they showed up.

They had never been to the shelter before and I was concerned they would arrive and be drawn to another cat. I wouldn't have cared, of course, because a cat saved is a cat saved, but as soon as they met Diego their eyes didn't deviate in the least! It's tough to show a cat in the shelter as their isn't a great place, but we found a large storage room and let Diego roam and interact. The woman had said that they would likely "sleep on it" after meeting him, but within about 20 minutes they were in love, adopting him, and even made a donation to the shelter.

A few hours later, I received this email:

"Wow, Diego is amazing. He was very good in the car, and then had absolutely no fear or nervousness at all in our house. He's just walking around, checking things out, stopping for a cuddle break, then on to more exploring. No adjustment time at all, it's his place already! He's fantastic!"

And after another few hours, this one:

"Yep, he's eating his food (he seems to like an audience for that) and drinking water just fine, loves the cardboard scratching thing we got him, and has been walking back and forth between my boyfriend's and my computers to get some scritches, and is already following us from room to room to make sure we're ok :) He did love the brush and it really brought out his gorgeous stripes! And he was totally fine when we went out to buy his food and get dinner, came back and no surprizes, he'd just taken a nap while we were gone, and he did not care at all when I put a collar on him... He's so easygoing this whole process has been unbelievable, I thought it'd take days to get to this point."

I'm ecstatic. What a high to know you've helped a needy shelter kitty hit the jack pot. Diego's "case" exemplified exactly what the Pen Pal program is about... showcasing fabulous cats who would otherwise get overlooked in the shelter setting. I'm so happy, and hope that I continue to receive more updates from Diego's new parents.

I have just been assigned another Pen Pal. Although I'll only be in Philly for... 10 more days (yikes!), hopefully I can get photos and advertisements running for her and then someone can easily step in after I leave.

In other news, my "zoo" is doing well. ET had a nasty cold of sorts for a few days earlier in the week, but he seems to be over that by now. I'm going on vacation for a bit after school is over and I'm in the process of arranging things with a pet sitter so that ET and Lacey don't have to be boarded at the vet. I think it will work out great.

Thanks for reading :)

Litter #3

Here are photos of my third litter of foster kittens. They've been on the verge of getting a cold, so I've held off placing them at an adoption center yet. I'm going to try to give them extra food, be diligent about cleaning, and hope that they feel better quickly so I don't have to put them on medication (which takes time and is hard on their little stomachs).

The longhaired black female and the "classic" thick-striped tabby male are littermates. The tabby female was a singleton surrendered by her owners. They were put together after their surgeries and although the singleton was left out for a few days, now they are all best friends :)