Breaking Bad

Just a few days of good food, safe housing and care and these two are acting like normal kittens. They are still underweight but are thriving.

Very frisky and full of energy

Even the tabby is opening up and getting around instead of hissing all the time. Lots of soft touches, petting, talking are working to bring him out of his hissy mood.

 

The kitten Boxtrolls

These two are on their last day of medicine to clear out the Coccidia they developed from the stress of abandonment, new home then a vet trip. They are each a month old and underweight for their age.

But with kitten food, Forti Flora and quiet time they are slowly acting normal. They still hiss at me but less often. They were found in a box and a box is with them in their tent. They are truly Boxtrolls. They hiss, love music and eat a lot. 

Male black and brown with stripes

Brown spotted tabby male.

Both the vet and everyone else asked if I would be keeping them. That is always hard as I love black cats and have never had one I kept. I want them to both go to the same home together as they are longhaired littermates. No, these two just stumbled into my life. I never name them and always try to rehome them. With the exception of the two we did keep, fifty have gone to new homes. So these are 51 & 52 and that is what I call them.
 

Kittens in a box

So yesterday evening after a long day of house restoration and old door donation delivery we were driving home on the back roads and I saw two kittens dart across the dirt road and run into this heavy wood box on the corner of a property. We pulled over and I stayed with the heavy wood box box and my husband went to pick up a cat carrier at our house about 3-4 miles away. I looked around for any other kittens and a mama cat, nothing. This corner is a forest and cattle pasture, no houses. The property owner came to see me as she was putting out hay for her cattle and I showed her the box with the kittens. She had just moved hay from that lot and that box was not there an hour ago. We had also been by that same part of the road and that box was not there. She did not want the kittens so I offered to take them to foster and apologized for being on her property. We got them home, flea removal, washed, fed and in a kitten tent for the night with a heating pad. They have teeth so about 3-4 weeks of age longish hair, one is black and one is a brown tabby. They are not photo ready as they are as tired as I am. I do not know who left this very heavy wood 15lb wooden cage/box but there was no food and no water just this box the kittens ran to.  I got two very tiny very thin weak kittens. Today, they will go to the vet an hour away to get evaluated and wormed. From there we have to decide on keeping or putting up for adoption. These will be the first kittens I have fostered in three years. I still had all my kitten supplies saved just in case. I shall have to call them 51 & 52 after having fostered 50 thus far.

This is the 30 inch long wood box with a heavy mesh flap that the kittens ran into when I walked up on them. I could not ret my arm down to reach them, so I brought the box and the kittens home in it.

UPDATE: this is called a rabbit trap by the old-timer trappers. I was told this box was missing some parts but I was shown how to use it. It was overkill for kittens but was probably used to catch them.

I was electric long staple gun assembled out of old barn wood. It is about 8 inches tall and 30 inches long. The wood is very old dry barn wood about 2 inches thick! The whole thing is about 15-20lbs of weight.

I have always wanted a black cat. I have fostered 4 and never kept them as they were adopted quickly. These two are a bit feral but use the litter pan. It will take some time to figure out their personality. I will post photos after they see the vet. Just too busy this time of the year on the farm.

 

And they are outta here

Silver boy was a rescue of 10 weeks got adopted on a farm.

Three stooges hand raised from birth are now all living in new homes.

Bobtail and Torti live together in a new home/farm.

My Frosty cleaning the kittens.

This deaf boy got a special home. The adopter drove in 2 hours away to pick him up. She had raised deaf cats and was looking for a very rare flame point Siamese.

Always boxes of food and pee pads also great kitten cubbies.

Frosty can now rest after helping to teach the kittens how to eat, use the litter box and clean themselves. He is a great mom cat. Frosty is a kitten no one wanted one winter and so I kept him. He is a priceless silver tabby and my constant companion.

Furry Spuds

Foster Kitten update they are getting fed every 3-4 hours, so happy for the extra time at night. Day time is more frequent feeding and activity. They are crawling all over their kitten tent. The white one is the only male of the three. Have to say that having a baby wipes warmer nearby is wonderful. I can clean the spuds after feeding and they do not get shocked by cold wipes anymore.

And their eyes are opening. This is the tortoiseshell female and the first to open up its optics.

Meanwhile my silver tabby Frosty is a great surrogate for the older foster kitten. No name is 12 weeks and still small for his age. He was found starving between walls of an office and covered in fleas and ticks. But he is doing great at our place.

Foster Kittens day 6

And then there were three, Curly Larry and Moe

The white runt did not live after the first 48 hours. The rest of the litter is thriving including the other white kitten.

Torti is a female.

White one is a male.

Bobtail is a girl.

I am busy feeding and cleaning them around the clock. Being a mom cat is hard work.

Exit Stage Right

Well after posting flyers at all my local vet clinics I got three calls for our foster kittens. We offered them for free even though we spent the money for vaccinations and vet visit. We want healthy kittens instead of sickly ones.

Here is Frosty and the orange male kitten. Frosty was an only kitten found inside a wall that no one wanted last year, so we kept him. This was his first foster litter. He misses wrestling with them and eating their kitten chow.

This is our first Missouri cat Poppy. He was run over in a parking lot. We picked him up and brought him to a vet 8 years ago and we kept him after that. He wants no part of the foster kittens. He likes our dogs and cats Frosty and Melon and that is about it. He lives outside most if the summertime.

Kittens feasting for weight gain. I wormed, vaccinates and wormed them again after the de-ticking and flea removal. My husband cleaned out their ear mites while I restrained them. I bathed them three times to get all the fleas and ticks off before setting them loose.So happy I have the puppy tent for just this kind of emergency. With so many foster kittens and illness that comes into our home we have to stay on top of pest control and clean up.

This was the prettiest of the trio. She got adopted by a young girl who could not choose one.I picked this one for her.

All three have new lives now instead of becoming road carrion. After three weeks we were concerned about finding homes for them. One way to do that is the local farm auction. But that is very stressful for them and they most likely will not have a good ending. But it is done here with dogs and cats along with rabbits, goats, poultry. Put in a cage and sold. There is no shelter nearby and the closest ones are full/kill shelters. But I did not have to worry. These kittens got news homes to  grow up in.

All kittens and cats love our washable vintage sofa.

This is the best part of fostering sleepy happy safe kittens.