Four Little Kittens and Their Mama: Our Foster Litter is Two Weeks Old!

Dill

Welp, I couldn't actually get a hole in my head, so I did the next most unreasonable thing: I picked up the phone even when my caller ID clearly stated that the call was from our local animal shelter's foster program.

And then I did the NEXT most unreasonable thing, which is agree to take four two-week-old kittens along with their mother.

Welcome, Ginger, Clove, Dill, Fennel, and Sage!

Clove and Fennel

Ginger and family, with Dill in the foreground

All we know about them is that they were removed from unsanitary conditions in a hoarding situation. We're not even sure if Ginger is the kittens' biological mother; apparently, there were three mother cats and a lot of kittens all found in the same area, so the shelter workers estimated ages, grouped the kittens accordingly, and offered each set to a mother. Ginger accepted this set of four who were thought to be about two weeks old, so now she's their mama, they're her babies, and they're all here with us!

Dill

Clove

I've assured Ginger numerous times since then, though, that if she's missing any babies, they're with the other mama cats in other homes and having just as nice a time as she and these kittens are with us. I don't want her to worry.

Sage getting weighed, with Ginger growling at Jones on the other side of the door

Ginger and family

Kittens with their mama are a lot easier than kittens without, and for the first few days, they were a LOT lot easier. The mama takes care of all of their input and output, and it's only in the last couple of days that we've really had to think a ton about litter boxes and kitten food. They're definitely starting to get a lot messier now, but I don't think they'll ever be as messy (I hope!) as that litter of six four-week-old kittens last summer. How we managed without just burning the house down behind us, I do not know.

Fennel

That litter did inspire some new innovations for this time, however. I started them right off with lots of small, shallow litter boxes to explore, and lots of these puppy pee pads laid down everywhere. They're really not too messy yet, but it is SO infinitely easier to toss a pee pad than it is to wipe pee off the floor.

Dill

Clove, Dill, Fennel, and Sage

And now that the kids' bathroom has its new shower and new flooring--all tile! No cracked linoleum!--it's a great place to tuck away the entire family. In the mornings when I come in to clean and sanitize, I shut Ginger and the kittens into the shower and she scrabbles at the shower door, outraged, while I pick things up, sweep and steam mop, and restock, lecturing her the entire time that if she just kept the room tidier, it wouldn't take me so long to clean. I'm pretty sure that every time she's in the litter box, she picks up a couple of paws-full of litter and flings it across the room.

Dill

Ginger and family

The family has to stay quarantined away from our family pets for two weeks before we can even think about letting them out into the rest of the house, and even then I'm not quite sure how we'll manage that--I don't trust four-week-old kittens to be out of sight of their litter box, and I can already tell that Ginger won't get along with our adult cats. So let me know if you've got tips! They're also under ringworm watch at the moment, as they were definitely exposed to it in the hoarder's house. Fortunately, none of them are showing symptoms, but it does mean that we also have to change into foster family-only clothes when we visit them and change immediately when we leave, so it'll be VERY nice when that additional annoyance is done. 

Dill

Ginger

It's such a treat to have kittens in the house again, though! These are by far the tiniest babies we've ever had, and when you look at them in relation to someone holding them, they're so unbelievably small that it looks like the perspective is off somehow. I am loving every second of giving them a safe place to grow and spend a few more precious weeks with their mama. 

Clove and Sage

Fennel

I sure wish Ginger would stop flinging her damp litter around the room, though!