Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Full house


Lots of excitement in our household these days. A few weeks ago, a woman who said she was referred to me by my vet called and asked if I could foster and/or adopt a pregnant cat who was about to have kittens any day. Her neighbors had moved and abandoned the cat, she couldn't afford to take of it, and with winter coming on she was worried about the babies.

So what could I do? I couldn't let the little ones freeze to death. So I agreed to go pick them up on Nov. 1.

The woman called that morning, and said Sassafras, the mom, had her babies the night before. There were SEVEN of them, all boys. One was a runt, which she had bottle-fed through the night because the mom kept pushing it away. So I was getting a lot more than I had bargained for. I would have to keep them until they were old enough to be adopted, and then find homes for seven kittens--if the littlest one, which the woman had optimistically named Hercules, survived.

Sassy, as my boyfriend and I call Sassafras, and her boys are keeping me extremely busy. Sometimes I feel like it's just too much, especially with the holidays coming up and so much to do, and my cats are rather put out by all the commotion.

But these guys are so sweet, and little Hercules is fighting so hard to get stronger, I feel blessed to be able to care for them a little while. I have to watch Herc all the time to be sure he's getting enough to eat, since his brothers tend to push him away from the "dining table," and Mom ignores him much of the time. I'm supplementing his mother's milk with several bottle feedings a day, which seem to be helping him put on a little weight. He's unbelievably tiny. He loves to be cuddled up against my chest, and will just stick like Velcro while I walk around the house, doing chores or whatever. I pray all the time that he will survive and thrive.