Author: annagoebel

Tex just joined our foster family! He is Sylvie’s brother, and the farmer described them as “inseparable,” so we felt he should stay with her. He just arrived today, and is adorable!

He was brought from the farm, neutered – and quarantined for a couple of days at a different house because he had lice. Now he and Sylvie have both been treated, so he’s able to join her.

He is also very strong and athletic! George tried him with the Cat Dancer and he went nuts! He was bursting with pent-up energy and was thrilled to have a game to burn some of it off.

He seems to understand about a lot of things: what toys are for, what doors are for, and that you should be gentle with humans.

So Sylvie is in the Jiro Palace, and Tex has the run of the big room the Palace is in. They can talk through the bars, and when I’m in the room I open Sylvie’s doors so she can join him – but so far she has just watched.

I believe Sylvie is quite young, and she is very playful. She seems very familiar with people and toys for a kitty who lived on a farm. Someone must have spent quality time with these kitties. I wonder if the farm family had kids. Anyway, someone did a wonderful job, and I’m very grateful!

The kittens are making progress!

Well, last night and this morning the kittens had me very worried. Last night the little one who looks like her mom was panting.

This morning Coda was doing it, and then one of the black ones.

I did quite a bit of research, all of which said panting (without an obvious cause like overexertion) could signal something serious: congenital defect, upper respiratory infection, heart issue. So I called the vet and waited for a call-back. Then I came across something interesting. Someone had posted a video on YouTube showing kittens about the same age, and they were doing what mine were. He talked about how there was a disagreement about whether this was panting – or hissing! He illustrated his conviction that it was hissing, by showing how they did it when he put his finger in front of their nose. Smelling him triggered it, but when he stepped back they stopped. I tried the same thing with mine, and the same thing happened. The adorable little babies are hissing! It seems like panting because it’s prolonged – usually a hiss is a single effort that stops. But they’re doing the best they can to be fierce!

The thing about fostering is that I’m always learning. I hadn’t encountered this before. It’s pretty strange to me that it’s these kittens who hiss, and none of my previous ones have, since their mom is so super friendly. But I’m happy to find out it’s not a major health issue for these little guys.

When our own little feral kitty, Jiro, was first rescued from our back yard, where he was eating bread crusts, George and our daughter build the kitty palace for him. It’s a cage, but it’s roughly a triangle, six feet on a side. It has small, triangular shelf, another set of shelves, and a cat tree my daughter built. And – the best feature – two large windows. The Jiro Palace.

It took over three months, but Jiro the wild kitty turned into Jiro the friendly kitty, and no longer needed his palace. Now his place is on the heating pad on my bed, or playing “box,” or stirring up chase games with Misha, “his” kitten. Here’s Jiro today:

Today we moved Sylvie to her new home in the Jiro Palace. The babies were transported in their shallow box, and Mama just trotted after. In the new space, she left them sleeping and explored. She seems quite content there, and loves having windows to look out. Welcome to your new home, everyone!

When I woke up at 6 am, George was awake, and we went to check on kittens. He’d had an adventurous night!

About midnight last night Sylvie decided to move her kittens. This could go well or badly, and she chose badly – luckily George heard them mewing and rescued them, or I hate to think what would have happened!

Sylvie and the kittens were in my big, wire dog crate, with the door open so she could go out to her food, water, and litter box. The crate has a nice pad with a bumper all around, so I thought it was an ideal set-up. But I hadn’t reckoned on her trying to move them!

Around midnight, she got restless and went to work. She picked up one, and carried it to a cardboard box nearby. What is it with cats and boxes? It would have been fine, but the box was filled with books. When George came in, she had moved three, and they had fallen down into the cracks between the books. He had to carefully remove books and rescue each one from its little crevasse.

Then he found a couple of low boxes and lined them with towels. He put one in the crate and one just outside – and after that she settled down. When we checked in the morning, they were all still in the crate.

She tried again later, however. George had moved the book box up onto the desk, and closed it. But she tried for it anyway. When she couldn’t get into the box, she took the kitten and put it in the paper grocery bag right next to it! It didn’t like this plan, and was squeaking loudly!

Time for lockdown. Once everyone was safely in the crate I shut the door. This arrangement wouldn’t work for very long, because I would need to go in and let her out often, so she could get at the necessaries – but it’s only temporary. Our foster kitties, Nico and Ninja, are leaving with their new mom today, and Sylvie will move to the “Jiro Palace” later today. Whew!

Mom and babies are doing well. Sylvie is new to all this, but her instincts seem good. She’s nursing them enough, because they look full – and I swear they are stronger then they were yesterday.