Fostering Kittehs!: 2016

Saturday 8 October 2016

ADOPTED: FIREBIRD, VIPER & PORSCHE

It sure didn't take long for all my kittens to be adopted. As soon as they were old enough, my sister and her family swooped in and decided to take Firebird and Viper (now re-named Butternut and Oreo). I have another sister who named her cat and dog after food too ... the cat is named Kimchi, while the dog is named Tofu. I don't know what it is with my sisters naming their animals after food?!?

I was so happy when I got the email from my sister confirming that she wanted to adopt Firebird and Viper. I knew that her family was seriously thinking about getting a kitten, but their living situation was up in the air and they couldn't make a definite decision until that was somewhat settled. So, I guess they decided to bite the bullet and adopt Firebird and Viper before they were scooped up by another family. 1 kitten became 2, as Firebird and Viper were a bonded pair (meaning that they HAD to be adopted together).

I now get to see my two favorite kittens grow up together and my sister said that I am welcome to go over to her house anytime to visit.

You know that I will be taking her up on that offer!

ADOPTED! Viper & Firebird - Oct. 4, 2016

***

Porsche was adopted by a wonderful couple who had a Snowshoe Siamese at home already. They saw Porsche's profile on the *VOKRA website and noted that Porsche looked exactly like their cat when she was young.

Their cat has an awesome name - "Cat Benetar". I'll have to follow-up with them to see what they decide to rename Porsche.

How about Catnip Everdeen? Or Cindy Clawford? Drew Hairymore? Catalie Portman?

Okay, I better stop there because I could go on and on and then it would just start to get ridiculous.

ADOPTED! Porsche - Oct. 5, 2016

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Friday 9 September 2016

TIME TO WEAN

The kittens will be 7 weeks old this Saturday, so it's about time to wean them off their mom's milk and start giving poor Shelly a break from all the feeding. As you can tell from Shelly's demeanor, she's probably had enough.

Just waiting ...

Hurry up already!

I would have started to wean the kittens a week ago (at 6 weeks), but with Viper being so little, I thought I'd give him an extra week to fatten up. I have no concerns over Firebird and Porsche, as they are a good size and weight, but Viper is still smaller than his siblings.

Whenever it's feeding time, I always make sure that Viper has his own bowl to eat out of. I don't want his siblings charging in and pushing him out of the way. I have to make sure the runt gets his fair share of the nom!

Shelly is very vocal about being separated from her kittens, so instead of putting them into separate rooms, I have devised a plan to deny access to Shelly's milk by encasing her torso in one of my panty hose. I cut out holes for her legs to go through, but the rest of her belly is covered by the panty hose. She only wears this when I go to bed. I will take her out of it when I wake up and can monitor the kittens' interaction with her.

What is this thing?!?

As you can tell from Shelly's expression, she's quite perplexed with her new attire. Hopefully she doesn't gnaw through it.

I'm thinking it will only take about 2 weeks to get her milk down to a level that the kittens will not be able to nurse from her any longer. Then she will be ready to be spayed and up onto the *VOKRA website for adoption!

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Saturday 3 September 2016

SUMMARY: BATCHES #1 - 10

I am by no means a veteran foster mom, as there are hundreds (if not thousands) of other foster parents out there who have fostered for years and probably have lost count of the exact number of cats/kittens they have cared for.

The other day, hubby and I tried counting how many kittens we have had in our home since we started fostering back in November 2013, but we lost count.

So, since I am on Batch #10 (which is a nice round number), I thought I'd summarize all the batches right here and now to get a more accurate count. I am only counting kittens, not adult/mommy cats ... just to make for a more simplified count.

Batch #1: (5 kittens)

Starsky & Hana

Skooter, Luci & Malcomb

Batch #2, the "Happy Days" batch: (6 kittens)

Black Kittens: Shirley & Ritchie
White Kittens: Ralphie & Laverne

Tabbies: Chachi & Arthurelli

Batch #3: (2 kittens)

Hyde

Seak

Batch #4, the "Midnight Express" batch: (3 kittens)

Slate, Kole and Ebonie

Batch #5, the "Big Bang Theory" batch: (4 kittens)

Lennie
(Photo by Tania Hennessy)

Penee
(Photo by Tania Hennessy)

Rajesh
(Photo by Tania Hennessy)

Shellie
(Photo by Tania Hennessy)

Batch #6, the "Little" batch: (6 kittens)

Top to Bottom: Little Ewok, Little Panda, Little Snowball,
Little Masquerade, Little Twinkle and Little Cuddler

Batch #7, the "Semi-Precious Stone" batch: (4 kittens)

Left to Right: Miss Amber, Onyx, Opalescence and Alexandrite

Batch #8, the "Kittypants" batch: (5 kittens)

Top to Bottom: Chino, Bloomer, Corduroy,
Jean and Breeches

Batch #9, the "Chrono Trigger (video game)" batch: (6 kittens)

Black Kittens: Lucca and Magus
Tabbies: Dalton, Zeal, Crono and Frog

Batch #10, the "Sports Car" batch: (3 kittens)

Left to Right: Firebird, Viper and Porsche

So, if I add up all the kittens in the last 10 batches, that would make it a grand total of:

44 kittens!

I know of some *VOKRA fosters who have fostered kittens into the three digits, so you can imagine how long they have been fostering to get to those numbers. That`s a lot of rescued kittens ... and a lot of snuggles and cuteness!

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Monday 29 August 2016

DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT

When I was given this batch to foster, I was told to watch over Viper, the smallest (or the runt if you will) of the batch. He was smaller and definitely seemed more fragile than his siblings. He didn't eat nearly as much as his brother and sister did when it came to feeding time and he never seemed to suckle very long on his mother either.

Well, after a few too many days of not eating or drinking as much as he should have, it ended up culminating into a very scary 24 hours for me when I found him Saturday morning all dazed, barely able to walk or focus his eyes on me and seemed very dehydrated.

I called *VOKRA right away and rushed him to the Operations Centre where I met Karen, the President of VOKRA. She gave him a bunch of medications and fluids (a bit too many for me to remember or even list) and it brought him back a bit, although he was still very lethargic. I was sent home with some critical care food, drops and medication. Viper seemed to do better that afternoon and into the evening, but seemed to take a turn for the worst after I gave him his drops just before midnight. He threw up almost immediately afterwards and a couple more times after that and proceeded to go limp, with his eyes half opened.

It was an extremely frightening sight.

Although it was midnight, I made an emergency call into VOKRA and Karen called me back shortly afterwards. I gave her details of the situation, but Karen and I did not know what else we could do for Viper. He was breathing, but not responsive. Karen told me that if he was crying or whimpering in pain, then I would have to take him to the 24-hour vet and get further instructions from her after they assessed Viper. However, Viper was not crying or meowing at all ... he just seemed, well ... out of it.

So, I told Karen that I would stay up all night with Viper and give her a status report in the morning.

I then took Viper to my room, squeezed him into one of my micro fiber socks to keep him warm and laid him on a towel next to me in bed and I watched over him most of the night, ensuring that I had my hand on him to keep him warm and watched that he was still breathing. He would make a few sounds throughout the night, like little sighs and meows but never moved more than an inch or two all night.

At about 8 am, my husband said that Karen emailed me with this simple question: "Did he make it?"

I woke up to find Viper still breathing (*thank goodness*) and proceeded to get up to hand feed him his critical care food and give him warm water via a syringe. I proceeded to do this every hour until he gained back some strength.

I am happy to report that by late afternoon, he was wobbling around and playing with his brother and sister and by late evening he was back to his cute, adorable self.

All night, while I was looking after Viper, I had this feeling that it was not his time to leave us and I kept giving him good vibes and thoughts when I was caressing him. You can say I was almost willing him to stay alive.

Such a little fighter he is!

Viper looking so much better

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Thursday 25 August 2016

LIGHT WEIGHT

My current batch of now 4.5 week old kittens seem smaller than batches that I've had before, so I weighed them.

Viper is the lightest at 12.8 ounces, with Porsche at 13.4 ounces and Firebird at the heaviest at an even pound. Although the difference in weight is one tenth of a pound, you can definitely feel the difference when you pick each kitten up.

The quickest way to fatten these little guys up is to get them eating solid food. Porsche was already eating solid food along side her mom when they arrived, but I had to put food directly into Viper`s mouth in the hopes that he would continue eating from the bowl (which he did ... eventually). Firebird protested for the first few days and just spat out what I put into his mouth, but today there was progress! All the kittens were eating solid food. I guess they must have been really hungry.

It will be a couple of weeks before I start weaning the kittens off Mommy`s milk and have them eating only solid food.

Sometimes though, I wish they would just stay this small ... they are so much fun to play with at this age and size. And the cute little looks they give me are so heartwarming!

Porsche and Viper

Firebird

Viper giving me a quizzical stare

Although Shelly may look like she`s just pissed right off at me in this shot, her coloring and ear fluff just makes her look that way. She is a very loving, affectionate kitty and is constantly kneading the floor and purring when I talk to her from my seat.

Not mad at all

Shelly needs some fattening up too as most of my family members have commented on how they could feel the back of her spine when they pet her. I guess I`ll need to make a trip to Superstore to get her some roasted chicken!

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Saturday 20 August 2016

BATCH #10

*VOKRA is overflowing with mother cats and kittens (as we are smack dab in the middle of kitten season). So, as soon as hubby and I returned from our holidays, we put in our availability notice and was rewarded with our 10th batch of kittens.

The "Sports Car" batch:

Mommy Shelly is a 1-year old long-haired tortoiseshell, while her 4-week old kittens are: Firebird (ginger tabby), Viper (tuxedo) and Porsche (lynx-point Siamese). Shelly and her kittens are very, very social. They are not shy at all. Even if they were shy, with the onslaught of my family and friends coming over to play, cuddle and kiss them all, they would learn very quickly not to be shy of humans.

Oh, and did I mention how darn CUTE they are ?!?!

Pontiac "Firebird"

Dodge "Viper"

"Porsche" Carrera

The contrasting colors in this batch is absolutely gorgeous

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Tuesday 9 August 2016

BYE-BYE BATCH #9

It is always my intention to foster a batch of kittens until each one of them finds a new forever home. However, this does not always happen due to planned holidays or work-related travel plans.

With Batch #9, I had them all ready to be adopted out at 8 weeks of age. I had all their pictures taken and their bios written and uploaded to the *VOKRA website.

VOKRA has now changed their policy with respect to the age of adoptable kittens, from 8 weeks to 10 or 11 weeks. You see, all kittens were previously vaccinated up to 8 weeks old, but many kittens were having severe reactions to their vaccinations. So, VOKRA now waits until the kittens are 10 weeks old before they are vaccinated and their fosters must ensure that the kittens have not reacted adversely to their vaccinations. VOKRA wants to ensure that all kittens are healthy and happy before they are given to their new homes.

So, with the added weeks, the timing ran into our planned anniversary/birthday boat cruise and we were forced to transfer Trig and her 6 kittens to another set of VOKRA fosters. Believe me, hubby and I discussed the possibility of cancelling our plans so that we could stay home to continue fostering this batch, but it wasn't just any anniversary cruise that we would have been cancelling - it was our 20-year wedding anniversary, so we reluctantly decided to keep our plans intact.

I'm going to miss these little guys! I hope they all find wonderful, loving homes.

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Saturday 30 July 2016

KODAK MOMENT

For those of you that were born BEFORE the digital camera age, you'll understand what I mean by a "Kodak Moment".

For those of you that were born DURING the digital camera age, then I should probably explain that a "Kodak Moment" would be the equivalent to a "Perfect Social Media Moment" ... be it on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Periscope, Vine or a Blog.

Taking pictures or videos of a perfect moment in time is pretty difficult (especially kittens) as they are not easy subjects to capture. They are always on the move and never just 'STAY'. But if you have a good camera, or one that can shoot a ton of pictures in a split second, then you'll be lucky enough to catch more than a few "Kodak Moments".

Here are a few of mine:

Dalton taking a nap in the most adorable 'Superman' position

Trig and her kittens cheekily sticking their tongues out at the camera

Trig sitting still long enough for me
to capture her in all her beauty

Dalton on his back taking a nap on my lap

Magus from the perfect angle

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/adoption_application/

Monday 25 July 2016

KITTY AQUARIUM

I have a shower stall in my bathroom, which makes it an ideal place to put the kittens when I need to clean their litter and the bathroom in general.

Kittens are curious by nature, so if I am trying to clean their litter without first putting them into the shower stall, I will have kittens clamoring all over me to find out what I'm doing. Also, if I'm taking too long to get their food ready, I will get little nibbles on my ankle and toes. This batch is pretty quiet when it comes to their feeding times. I've had some batches of kittens meow so loud that my husband would ask what the heck I'm doing to them. No, I am not purposely starving them ... they are just impatient!

When I placed the video of the kittens in the shower stall on Facebook, a few people told me to put some ping pong balls into the stall with them and watch the mayhem begin. My goodness! Check out how much fun the kittens are having with those ping pong balls: