Flora and Fauna, August update
I posted when we got Flora and Fauna, in mid-July. They are two females who had had some bad experiences, so I knew gaining their trust would be a challenge. Fauna got progressively more comfortable with us, but in three weeks I only saw glimpses of Flora three times. They live in a huge popup with a blanket draped over a box, and Flora didn’t come out from under the blanket during daylight hours even if we weren’t in the room.
There is a lot going on in that room. Nalia and her kittens have the run of the room, and in another popup are Foxfire and her kittens. People come and go – feed, water, clean litter boxes, weigh kittens, play with Nalia and family – and with Fauna – and make general people noises. From under her blanket, Flora monitored it all.
Flora, after several weeks, decided it was safe to be somewhat visible, and would sit in the box and watch things. Although she had never seen most of it, nothing she saw seemed to surprise her; she knew all about it from sounds and smells.
In the meantime Fauna was becoming very bold and playful. She loves the kittens and would very much like to come out and play with them. She loves toys of any kind, and begs for us to play with her. She loves Churu and other treats as well. She is beautiful and has tons of personality. She is leery of being touched, but she will come close for treats, and is getting more confident all the time.
Flora now comes all the way out. She will sometimes come for canned food, but the real way to her heart is with playtime. Like Fauna, she is super playful. The best way to lure her out is with a peacock feather, but she loves other toys as well. After playing she will usually flop down at the back of the popup and just chill. Such a joy to have our “ghost” kitty out and about!
One of the fun things about the popup, from the point of view of Nalia’s kittens, is that you can climb it. It’s one of Spike’s favorite pastimes. Nalia once jumped up to see what Spike was doing, and half the popup collapsed; she didn’t do that again! It takes all three kittens to collapse it – although they’re growing – and luckily it’s usually just Spike cruising around up there.
Sometimes one of Nalia’s kittens will manage to get past me and into the popup. Fauna and Flora are very used to them and don’t seem to have a problem with it. The only reason they can’t be together is that the kittens have had Giardia. Once they are over that, and they’ve been vetted (tomorrow), they will be allowed supervised visits. I think everyone will enjoy that.
For more pics, I’ll be posting a Gallery shortly.
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.
Foxfire and her kittens
Foxfire is part of the “Farm Kitties” group we currently have. It includes her sister Nalia and her kittens, and also Felix. There is an excellent chance that Foxfire, Nalia, and Felix are all sisters from the same litter.
Foxfire was pregnant when we brought her home on July 20. I originally put her in the Jiro Palace with Nalia and her kittens, but she didn’t seem to like being cooped up with the kittens, and didn’t seem to have a close bond with Nalia. After a few days I noticed her growling at the kittens, so I decided I had to move her. It might have been a low-key warning that she wanted space, but I didn’t feel I could take the risk.
Foxfire was moved into a popup by herself, but in the same room as Nalia and also Flora and Fauna. I didn’t like cooping her up, especially by herself, but she seemed to handle it ok. I knew she would prefer it once her kittens were born.
Foxfire is a very pretty kitty who is part Maine Coon. She has long hair, but not all over. She also has ear hairs that are very long and stick out, and a very fluffy tail. She’s only 7 pounds pregnant, so she’s like a miniature Maine Coon. Her face is pretty, and delicate, but from the side it has something of the Maine Coon shape. She has tabby stripes on her face and legs, but her back has more of a flecky pattern. Very unusual and quite pretty.
Foxfire’s kittens were born on August 8. It’s her first litter, but she has good instincts, and she did well. There are five and they range from a dark tabby with white feet to a couple of sable ones. These guys are going to be beautiful cats.
One of the kittens needed bottle feeding (click here for her story, and here for the poem she inspired), but she’s doing well, as are the others. They are 3 weeks old tomorrow, and really starting to move around on wobbly legs. They have started playing with each other a bit, and are becoming very cute!
Guest kitties – Ducky and Agatha
We have guest cattos to feature today! These two are in a foster home with Cayla, a specialist in cats with trust issues. Cayla is developing a system for working with feral and other fearful cats that is showing excellent results. We’ll be hearing more from her in this blog. Today we are featuring Ducky and Agatha.
Meet Agatha and Ducky
Agatha is a sweet and silly girl. Her favorite thing in all the land is a solid cheek rub; she’ll lean in so hard that it’ll nearly squish your hand against the floor. She struts around to receive pets and gives the most preciously adorable meows for more. Agatha enjoys every style of ball track and is enthusiastic about catnip. Agatha loves treats, so she likes to clicker train, but wants pets so badly that she’ll often lean her head into a hand gesture instead of performing the commanded skill. Her cutest skill by far is to “sit pretty” like a squirrel.
This sweet girl is initially so shy that she’ll hide for a few days in a new place, but then she’ll suddenly realize that she is safe and will come asking for her beloved cheek rubs.
Agatha is spayed, tested negative for FeLV, and vaccinated.
Ducky is a funny character with a silly meow and adorable coos. She’s full of energy and darts faster than lightening when she has zoomies. She loves pounce toys, hunt wands, and play with her best pal, Agatha. Ducky is highly treat motivated, enthusiastically participates in clicker training, and learns new skills quickly. She may not become a lap cat, but she does thoroughly enjoy pets, rolling around the floor while receiving pets, and rubbing herself against you and Agatha. Ducky becomes scared, skeptical, and skittish in new places and with new people, but she’ll certainly be willing to play and train in her new home, and she’ll accept pets from new people with time. Ducky is spayed, tested negative for FeLV, and vaccinated.
Ducky and Agatha must be adopted together, as they have a strong bond. They often play with each other and can be found grooming one another and cuddling as well.
Ducky and Agatha are available for adoption through 9 Lives Rescue. Visit the Adopt page and scroll down to adult cats. Their adopter will be provided with virtual post-adoption support to aid in their smooth transition of becoming comfortable in their new home.
UPDATE: Ducky and Agatha have found their furever home! We wish them the best future!
Welcome Lady Felix!
On July 31 we brought one more young cat from the farm that Nalia and Foxfire came from – very likely a sister or half-sister – and they seem to be the same age. “He” was named Felix and then discovered to be a girl. For 9 Lives, we settled on Lady Felix.
We’ve had her now for three weeks, and she’s a real sweetheart. We didn’t have room for her in the big room, so she is a guest in George’s study. It turned out to be a good thing we did that, because she tested positive for Feline Leukemia Virus, which can be transmitted to other cats. More on that here. We are hoping it was a false positive.
Felix is probably a bit under a year old – and it shows in the way she plays! She is still wary and a bit jumpy, but at the same time she loves pets, and will get in my lap. She has gotten gradually more comfortable, and she loves to play more than she likes food! She loves the Cat Dancer especially, and plays like a kitten – rolling on the floor, jumping after it, zooming around.
We brought in a yoga mat for our own comfort when joining her on the floor, but Felix has no doubt it’s for her. She rolls on it, balls up part of it and kicks it – and it gives her a better grip when playing.
She certainly has come a long way.
Philosophical post
Transitions. Highs and lows. Felix, one of our current foster kitties, has been a case study in the challenges of this rescue work. I, and I think most rescuers, question all the time whether they are doing the right thing. Sometimes it’s obvious – if someone is threatening to shoot the cats, and you can get permission to go in, taking them away is clearly the best thing for them, even if it’s a huge change and a huge transition for them. Taking in an abandoned and injured cat is a no-brainer. But when you take in a cat and she pushes a screen out and jumps from a second-story window to get away – as Felix did – you wonder if you did the right thing “rescuing” her.
The answer is “yes” in her case – but it is for sure a time when you wish you could explain to the cat: “Remember the coyotes who came to the farm and tore apart your relatives? There are no coyotes here. Remember the farm owner you were very fond of? She’s feeding cats because it’s the right thing to do – even though she’s stretched thin doing it. She didn’t ask that cats be dumped at her farm, pregnant ones, but she takes responsibility because she is an honorable person, unlike the people who dump their problems on someone else to deal with. She was fond of you and wanted you to be safe and have a better life. Adjusting is hard, but there are good things ahead.”
She was recovered from her adventure, thanks to the farm owner dropping everything and driving into town to walk through back yards and call her. Felix came running. Such a relief to have her safely back! But from her point of view, she was just brought back to the room she had gone to great lengths to escape from. Transitions. So hard.
On top of that, there was good news and bad news when she went to be spayed. She was declared healthy, and the procedure went well – but she tested positive for Feline Leukemia Virus. The first thing that means is that she has to be isolated from other cats. For a friendly, sociable cat this is hard. So she lives in George’s study by herself, and has company when he’s working, and listens to him practice the flute in the evenings. It could also mean – if it’s true – that she will not live a normal lifespan. FeLV compromises your immune system, and cats who have it don’t often live more than a few years; most die as kittens. And it’s contagious to other cats. But false positives are not uncommon – so we can hope for her.
And in the meantime, in three weeks she has come a long way, settling in and starting to think things might be ok.
Welcome new kitties!
It has been quite a week, and sadly full of more examples of how horribly human beings can behave. We have seven new foster kitties from two different situations.
Flora and Fauna
On Sunday, July 17, we transferred two sisters here from another foster. The two cats are adults, probably about 2 years old. They were found abandoned in a house with no food or water, and one of them had three kittens. Someone pulled a sofa out and kittens fell out. Eventually they ended up with 9 Lives Rescue, but not without someone threatening to shoot them all first. The kittens seemed to be doing well for a few days with their new foster mom, and were gaining weight, but died the sixth day. No one really knows why – perhaps there were delayed consequences from their earlier treatment.
The adults are called Flora and Fauna. Flora is a light orange tabby, and she was the mom, and Fauna is a brown tabby with tortoise-shell markings: a torbie. They’ve been here six days and I have only had a few quick glimpses of Fauna; I haven’t seen Flora at all. They live in a big “popup” pen that is 7 feet across and octagonal, and 3 feet tall. They have a fleece blanket and hide under that all day. I’m going to do my best to convince these kitties that there are good people in the world, but they’ve had some pretty serious trauma – plus they are grieving from the loss of babies. Having each other is a great thing – they have a tight bond and are probably sisters.
Farm kitties
On Wednesday I went with the director of 9 Lives to visit a farm that asked us for help. Less than 20 minutes north of Madison, it is a tempting distance for humans who want to dump cats they don’t want and can’t be bothered to surrender humanely. As an example, the owner watched as someone drove by and just threw their cat out the window of the moving car.
With some of the cats pregnant and also an active tomcat across the highway – who loves to visit – the farm ended up with more cats than they could afford to feed. Cat populations get out of hand so fast! So they reached out to 9 Lives for help.
The fact is, 9 Lives Rescue is not taking new cats in, because all the foster families already have more cats than they are comfortable with. I agreed to take some, because I had openings, but the farm has many more cats that need new homes. We’re going to try to help, but, like most of the rescues in the area, we’re overburdened already.
On Wednesday we brought home a young mama cat, her three kittens, and also her sister – who is pregnant. I think that will make me officially over-extended with foster kitties, and yet there are so many more!
None of these kitties will be ready for adoption soon – but I invite you to follow along if you’re interested in watching their progress. I’ll be posting more photos soon!
Please surrender your cats humanely! Please spay and neuter your cats!
Pippin adopted!
Pippin went to his new home last night, and he already feels pretty at home!
