Category: Foxfire and kittens
Woolly Bear adopted!
Floofy little Woolly Bear has been only half a week in his new home, and he’s so excited to have a new big brother! Woolly Bear is an extremely social little kitty, and he is so happy to be Liz’s kitten, and Linus’s little brother. We’re very happy with the reports and pictures Liz has sent, and wish all three of them a very happy life together!
Woolly Bear available
Woolly Bear is an extremely cute kitten born August 8. He was the first of his family to be adopted, but it turns out he’s not happy at all being an only cat. Woolly Bear is looking for a home with another kitty to be friends with. He gets along fine with adult cats and other kittens, but would probably most appreciate someone young enough to be playful!
Woolly Bear is very playful, snuggly with people, and adorable! He is part Maine Coon, and will be magnificent as an adult.
We are pleased to say that Woolly Bear is available for adoption. He can go home next week, but is open to visits this week! If you are interested in adopting Woolly Bear, and have another cat for him to be besties with, contact me, and submit an adoption application to 9 Lives Rescue.
Below is a gallery with more Woolly Bear pics.
Fauna and Olympia
Flora and Fauna, who are unrelated to the rest of my foster kitties, have been with Foxfire and her kittens for a few weeks now. Flora mostly stays out of the kittens’ way, but Fauna has always found them entertaining. Lately she has picked a favorite: Olympia.
Flora and Fauna are sisters who are gradually recovering from whatever abuse they suffered from in the past. (for more about their history, click here.) Fauna is getting quite friendly and accepts pets now. Flora is still very shy but is making progress towards trust. They are quite beautiful, probably about 2 years old, and very playful. They are not technically available for adoption yet, but if anyone is interested in this pair of sisters, be sure to contact me. Support can be provided (techniques, method) to anyone interested in continuing to work with these kitties to regain their trust. It will be worth it.
Floofs in a bathtub
When our foster kittens get old enough, we often let them into the bathroom down the hall to play in the bathtub. You wouldn’t necessarily think it was a great playground for kittens, but every group we’ve had have loved it. For one thing, the toy can’t escape!
TECHNICAL NOTE: For some reason the videos don’t play in my laptop browser (I get sound but no picture), but they do on my phone. I’m curious if they play for you. Contact me to let me know.
Foxfire’s family has a new tower!
It’s not new, but it’s new to them – a small tower they can climb on. And they love it!
Foxfire family portraits
Raw Kittenhood
My little kitten that I helped by bottle supplementing inspired a poem. It is also published on my Patreon account here. Read her story here.
Twenty feet away, beyond the door,
Five kittens start their brand-new lives.
I listen, and try hard to let them do their job,
Not make it mine.
Give them a week and they’ll be cute; tonight
Their tiny, mighty bodies
Strive
With all the fire of urgency they brought into this life.
There is no fluff, no cuteness, only this:
Get there. Find mom, find milk, or die; there’s nothing else.
Who knew the tiny ones, still
Birth-wet from their mother’s womb, came armed with
All the power of Earth, of Life itself.
And, sometimes, only sometimes, it’s enough.
—copyright © 2022 by Anna Lisa Goebel
Bottle-feeding the tiny one
We didn’t realize it right away, but one of the kittens was not getting food. Foxfire was very protective, and curled tightly around them. We intended to weigh them, but we only managed two the first day, and two different ones the second day. They were all nursing, so I didn’t realize until day three that the smallest one was not actually growing – she was losing weight, and she was only 80 grams to begin with. She was now down to 65 grams – 2 and a quarter ounces.
Sometimes with fostering kittens, you suddenly find yourself needing to know things urgently before someone dies. Last year it was my first experience with Giardia, and what severe dehydration looks like; that resulted in a trip to the kitty E.R. This year I learned that 80 grams is a very low birth weight, and I should have been watching the little one especially closely. I chose to respect her mom’s stress, and not insist on taking them away every day to weigh them – so it was already almost too late by day 3.
9 Lives Rescue is very supportive of their foster families, and I got immediate and excellent advise on how to proceed. Syringe feed her until another foster – an expert on bottle-feeding kittens – could take her. I had bottle-fed once before, and I had milk replacer in the freezer. I mixed a tiny amount with warm water and put it in a syringe without a needle, from which I could dribble a tiny bit into her mouth and see if she would take it. My goal was to feed her every 2–3 hours around the clock.
What an opinionated little bean! The first time she was pretty limp, just holding on. But she struggled mightily when I carefully picked her up, yelling loudly. “Help! Help! Mama! It’s a horrible monster! They got me! Help! Ma…! Oh. Food. Well. I could do that.” Every time. She was noticeably stronger the second time, and could struggle harder and yell louder – until she tasted the milk substitute. She was good at swallowing when she was hungry, and adamant when she wasn’t. She would turn her head to the side, struggle, and clamp her tiny mouth shut.
In less than 24 hours the bottle-baby expert could take her – but I declined. It would have been good to turn her over to an expert, but moms and families are so important, so I didn’t want to orphan her unless I had no choice. So I left her with her mom and siblings, and took her out frequently to make sure she got fed. I fed her every 2 hours during the day and got up twice every night.
I still have no idea why she wasn’t getting nourishment from mom. She got latched on, but apparently couldn’t suck properly. Mom’s milk is rocket fuel, because the other four kittens have been little butterballs from day one. She wasn’t getting pushed out by the bigger ones – she has always been tough and determined. She seemed to be doing all the right things, but it wasn’t working.
She started slowly growing, 5 grams a day, and then sometimes 10, and she started looking round. And she became happy – sleeping well in the kitten pile with her siblings. After a few days she broke 100 grams, and I started cutting back on the feedings, and a couple of days later stopped completely. She’s over 150 now. That’s less than half the size of most of her siblings, but for her it’s awesome. She may stay tiny, become a small adult – but her small body will always house a might heart.
I wrote a poem that she inspired, called “Raw Kittenhood,” that you can read here on my Patreon account.