UPDATES

You know that amazing and exciting feeling you get when you receive a letter in the mail that you were not at all expecting? That's what it feels like for me when I get updates on kittens that I have fostered in the past.

I love receiving emails that provide updated pictures of my past fosters and reading all about their kooky little personalities and their likes and dislikes. Although I already get a general idea of how the kittens' personalities are during the 2 - 3 months that I am fostering them, the eventual owners have a lot more insight into their true personalities.

Here are some updates:

EWOK (now Charlie):

Charlie (Batch #6) all grown up with
adorable ear fluff!

Ewok as a kitten

SNOWBALL (now Ella):

Little Snowball as a kitten (Batch #6)

Ella all grown up

Adopter's Update:

Here are the kittens you took such great care of in their early days.

Ella is an easy going kitty who is usually the first on my lap in the morning but is more cautious with new sights or sounds.

Charlie is always keeping an eye on things.  He adores his sister and becomes very stressed if she gets closed into a room or cupboard.  He is slower to jump onto a lap but follows me around until he gets cuddle time.  Lots of fun to have around.

Thanks for your early care.

Admiring the view together ... forever

***

Still named PANDA:

Panda as a wee little one (Batch #6)

Like most kitties, grown up Panda seems to
enjoy resting in the bathroom sink

TWINKLE (now Oreo):

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Batch #6)

Look at how so very big you are!

Adopter's Update:

Both kittens are super playful and full of energy. Also, I have never seen two cats more friendly in my life than these two, from the beginning would approach and cuddle up to anybody who come to visit. 

Panda constantly has a surprised look on her face due to her markings which is perfect for her personality. She started off a lot slower than her sister as they were suspecting a heart murmur (which is all clear and good now).. in the beginning she would just trot behind her sister and follow everything she did (those two definitely cannot be apart from each other for a minute) she is constantly looking for new adventure and somewhere new to explore.

She loves the water, and does not matter where she is in the house, the second I turn on any tap she comes running to investigate and play with the water. Its quite fascinating, however she absolutely hates plastic bags.  If I am ever changing the garbage or bringing home groceries, the second she hears a plastic bag rustle, she goes running, however loves tissue paper (which I noticed over the holidays).  She hops on the tissue paper and tries to slide as far as she can go. She loves to play and wrestle but she is the most gentlest kitten ever, never puts her teeth on you just rests her mouth, and grabs your hand but never with her claws. She is quite the gentle soul.

Oreo is beautiful, her personality shines so bright, she definitely took on the big sister role of the two. Teaching her little sister to jump, play, wrestle.

The cutest thing is when its bed time, and Oreo will crawl up on Panda to sleep, and lick her head until they both fall asleep. She is a fur ball full of energy, she is a little bit more laid back than her sister, but when its time to play Oreo will outplay anybody and loves her toys around the house. She is definitely more attached than Panda, she loves the security of being as nestled into someone as possible. 

They sleep with me at night, and she loves to just get herself as much tucked into me as possible before she feels comfortable to sleep. Its quiet cute... and when she awakes from her sleep, she has these bags under her eyes that I have never seen before on cats. Its adorable, she looks like a little old lady who didn't seem to get enough sleep, its very funny.

I couldn't be happier with these two, and cannot wait to see their personalities grow over time, and watching them grow. Its been a real joy. 

In Mommy`s loving arms

***

OPALESCENCE (now Sparrow):

The little gem we nicknamed Opal (Batch #7) 

Sparrow in her most relaxed pose

MISS AMBER (now Patches):

Little Miss Amber striking a very serious pose (Batch #7)

Patches and every cat`s favorite resting spot - a paper bag

Adopter`s Update:

Kitties are doing great and we love them to bits. They can be troublemakers (we've gone through 2 iPhone cords, 1 laptop cord, 1 broken vase). But when they're not getting into things, they are lovely. 

They both have such different personalities. Sparrow (previously Opalescence) is the more timid of the two, and more agreeable to being manhandled by little children. She is a little sweetie and loves cuddles. 

Patches (previously Miss Amber) can be a little feistier. She has a toy that she love love loves. Whenever we take it out, she grabs it, runs away with it to the bathroom, and growls whenever someone tries to get close, including Sparrow. She also loves cuddles! 

They are getting so big compared to when we first met them at your house! I miss the days when they would both cuddle right up around my neck.

Thanks for taking such good care of them before we got them from you. 

The wonderful comfort of snuggling up ...

... with your sibling in your forever home!

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

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

CATS OF INSTAGRAM

When it comes to social media, which one do you log into first when you wake up in the morning? My normal routine is email, Facebook and whatever depths of the internet that my news feed draws me into.

I have recently just started an Instagram account. The internet loves pictures and videos of cats, so why not make it easy and accessible and open up an account to go along with this blog? It`s great to see how quickly an Instagram account can build a following when you are posting pictures and videos of cats and kittens.

My followers have now exceeded 57, but I liked how the numbers looked that day: 57-57-67. And for every picture that I post of my foster kittens, I find that I gain a new follower.

With it being the slow season for foster kittens right now, I have not posted any pictures lately, so my rate of followers have dropped from a new one each day to a new one every week or so.

I'll probably have to look back at all my pictures and post a bunch of #TBT pictures. Ah, the memories ...

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

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

KITTY LITTER TRAINING

I am back from holidays and am on the wait list to foster more kittens, so at the present time I am kitten-less.  With it being the slow season for kittens (Spring/Summer being the high season), I thought I'd just share some experiences I've had with my various kitty batches with respect to kitty litter training.

*VOKRA uses pine pellets as kitty litter and boy do I wish I knew about this product when I had my own cats. The cost of the pine pellets comes at a fraction of the cost of conventional kitty litter. If you can handle all the saw dust that eventually results from the kittens stammering all over the pellets, then you are good to go.

How Slate got this all over her face is beyond me

*VOKRA instructs all their fosters to only put enough pellets in the litter to cover the bottom of the pan, so essentially the height of one pellet is sufficient enough. Any more than that and the kittens may not be too stable when standing on the pellets and may avoid using the kitty litter all together.

Once one kitteh uses the potty, then they`ve all got to use the potty

Then there is little Lennie, who is waiting patiently for his turn

Kittens that have come to me with their mommies are usually just copying what Mommy does in the litter box.

The only issue I had with kitty litter training was with Onyx (my latest batch). He would use the litter box periodically, but would then resort to using the sink as his bathroom facility. I think Onyx was confused as to where he was suppose to relieve himself.

What I did to discourage this behavior was to take his No. 2s and put them into the litter box. I then took Onyx and put him in the box and gently took his paw and showed him how to bury it in the kitty litter box. Of course, I had to discourage him from using the sink so I just filled it up with a bit of water. Also, any time that I saw Onyx using the litter box, I would praise him and pet him and told him that he was a GOOD BOY!

If, however, your fur baby is using other areas of the house as their litter box, then there can be some underlying problems that you might want to speak to a vet about. Also, when cats are doing their business, they are vulnerable and therefore you should not situate their kitty litter boxes in areas where there is a lot of traffic or loud noises (like a laundry room). The litter box should sit against a corner so that the cat can feel safe while doing their business.

And above all - keep the kitty litter CLEAN! Nobody wants to walk into a room with a stinky kitty litter box and the kitties absolutely do not appreciate having to use a dirty litter box. So, on behalf of all the kitties out there, please and thank you for keeping their litter boxes clean.

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

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

ADOPTED: ALEXANDRITE & ONYX

This past Monday, I brought Alexandrite and Onyx to *VOKRA Headquarters to get their booster shots. I had been telling Karen (the co-founder of *VOKRA) how Alexandrite had been laying with our black Lab, Hockey, in his bed lately. My dog wasn't thrilled about having to share his bed, but having that picture of Alexandrite and Hockey on the *VOKRA website sure helped! It seemed like as soon as the updated pictures went up, I had a viewing for the two kitties that very evening! Call it coincidence, but great pictures can do wonders to focus interest on your foster kitties.

Hockey having no choice but to share his bed with Alexandrite

The family adopting Alexandrite and Onyx have a teenage son that was very excited about getting two new kitties for Christmas. He noted that both kitties had Christmas trees on their noses. How cute is that?!

Christmas tree noses!

The family had already decided that they were adopting the siblings even before they saw them in person, but just wanted to come by and meet them. They are hoping to pick up the kittens in a day or two, which is just in time too! We are headed off on a 3-week vacation next month.

Hopefully there will be kittens to foster upon our return in January. We'll just have to wait and see.

ADOPTED! Onyx - Nov. 24, 2015

ADOPTED! Alexandrite - Nov. 24, 2015

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

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

COLDS BE GONE!

Colds have their way of affecting a whole litter once one kitten catches it. Alexandrite was the first kitten to show signs of a cold when she first started sneezing.

Little Alexandrite sick with a cold,
with her trusty companion, Baby Hockey

Resting up

Alexandrite's sisters, Miss Amber and Opalescence, then caught it and finally her brother, Onyx, succumb to the dreaded cold.

Onyx, Opalescence and Miss Amber pre-cold attack

Miss Amber and Opalescence had been adopted and picked up by their new family when they suddenly started sneezing, so when I checked up on them a week later, I was told that they were getting worse and were sneezing all over the place. *VOKRA gave them antibiotics for their colds, so I'm sure they are all better now.

Onyx never got a full blown cold like Alexandrite, but he was constantly sneezing and was very wheezy. The first night I let the kittens sleep with me, every time Onyx would sneeze, he would wait until he climbed up to within inches of my face before he sneezed right into my face. After the 5th time of getting sneezed on, I thought it would be best to put them in their room ... and then I went and washed my face off.

I was alarmed to see a few days later that Onyx had a bloody nose after he sneezed so I immediately spoke to Maria (co-founder of *VOKRA) to ask if this was a huge concern. She told me not to be worried as all the sneezing was causing Onyx`s nasal passages to be irritated and inflamed. She told me to put Onyx into the bathroom and steam up the room so that the steam would soothe his nasal passages. I immediately did that, but realized that I did not want to waste too much hot water keeping the room steamy, so I plugged in my stand-alone clothes steamer and left it in the bathroom to keep the room steamy. I also opened up a jar of Tiger Balm and put it high on a shelf so that the kittens could not get to it. I also gave Onyx the balance of Alexandrite`s Azithromycin medication, which (surprisingly enough) only took 2 days to be effective. They are now both back to their regular cute selves, so onto the adoption website they go!

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

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

SNEEZY KITTY

Poor little Alexandrite has caught a cold. She had been sneezing here and there since she came to me, but I thought it was just random little kitty sneezes.  It was only when her eyes started to water did I realize that she actually had a cold.

I separated her from her litter mates so that she would have time to rest, but she started to cry. I had to bring in a stuffed toy dog to keep her company.  The stuffed toy resembles my black lab, Hockey.

Alexandrite stopped meowing and relaxed when I put Baby Hockey next to her. I guess any company is better than no company.

Alexandrite and her trusty companion, Baby Hockey

Hockey

I went to *VOKRA to pick up some medication for Alexandrite in the hopes that she will get over her cold more quickly:

AANGAMIK - supports immune system function and better utilization of oxygen at the cellular level.

ACONITE - shocks the illness and brings rapid recovery.

AZITHROMYCIN - an antibiotic that attacks bacteria by disabling its ability to reproduce.

NOSODE - homeopathic remedy used to immunize the body against a viral or bacterial infection.

TOBRAMYCIN - antibiotic used to treat eye infections.

It's only been a day and a half, but Alexandrite is already getting better. She still sounds a bit stuffed up, but she's eating, drinking and even playing now. I'm glad I nipped this cold in the bud before it got any worse. We need to get Alexandrite and her brother, Onyx, adopted!

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

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

ADOPTED: OPALESCENCE AND MISS AMBER

As we approach the fall and winter months, the amount of kittens available for adoption drops as cats normally come into heat in the spring and summer months.

Batch #7 already had a viewing lined up even before I could get their bios into the database.  The adopters had been pre-approved a week and a half ago, so as soon as the *VOKRA coordinators knew that my batch of kittens were ready to be viewed, an appointment was set up.

I met with the lovely adopters tonight and they totally fell in love with Opalescence and Miss Amber.  They were initially thinking about only adopting one kitten, but were informed that adopting two kittens was better.  Firstly, the kittens would keep each other company while their owners were at work; and secondly, a lonely kitten can make a lot of noise meowing if it is left alone at home for too long. 

It`s always a happy day for me when two siblings go to their furever homes together.

ADOPTED! Miss Amber - Nov. 1, 2015

ADOPTED! Opalescence - Nov. 1, 2015

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association

https://www.facebook.com/VOKRA

Adoption application:

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