More Fostering and an Update

First, the update.  Great news!  Beth, the mama kitty, and all of her kittens have been adopted and are in their forever homes!  We adopted one of her kittens and named her Lexie and we recently finalized the adoption right after her spay surgery.  So happy for them all, they were a really great group!  In the meantime, Lexie just keeps growing!  Trying to keep her quiet after her surgery was not very successful.  We managed it for the first 48 hours but after that, in spite of our best efforts, she was jumping and climbing and running. She has so much kitten energy to burn off! Luckily they say that kittens heal quickly.  She sure doesn't seem like she's bothered by it!

Soon after bringing Lexie's siblings back to the shelter, we were given another mama, Rose, and her three hissy male tabby kittens.  They were found living under someone's house so the kittens were feral and not comfortable with humans at all.  Mama wasn't feral but it was obvious that she had been on her own for awhile and had seen some scary things by how jumpy she was acting and seemed quite worried about her kittens.  She loved being petted though and would give head butts on your hand to pet her.  Any movement or noise made Rose jump and sent the kittens running for cover.  At first I kept them in the wire crate with towels draped around the outside to give them a feeling of security while they got used to the new environment with all the new sounds and smells.  None of the kittens enjoyed being petted, they were too fearful.  On day two I opened up the crate to let them venture out to check their surroundings a bit closer.  Every time we pet the kittens or pick them up, they stiffen up.  Which only means they need more handling, much to their dismay!  LOL  They also had to learn about playing and that toys were wonderful!  They learned to love their crinkle sounding balls and their crinkle tunnel, and their ping pong ball. 

After three weeks, I talked with my coordinator about bringing mama back to them to be adopted while I work with the kittens a bit more.  They were getting close to adoption weight but socially they weren't ready yet.  They agreed, so Rose went back to the shelter and now the kittens only had us to depend on.  What a difference that made!  After about 24 hours, they started running up to us as we entered the room instead of scrambling to run under the dresser.  They now enjoyed being petted.  And they purred!!!!  They would still look when you uncrossed your legs or other movement, but it no longer sent them scrambling for cover.  They also played with Lexie under their door.

Mama Rose

Last week I brought the boys back to the shelter and are there waiting for their forever homes!  They seem to be doing well there, they are busy playing and climbing and don't seem to be bothered by all the activity of the shelter at all!  Yay!  Rose is still there too, so hopefully they will find their forever homes quickly.  They have come a really long way in their development!