Itty Bitties

This is my current group of itty bitties. Only 2 are related. That would be Noah and Natalie. Of course there is Robyn. Robyn has had some poop issues. Poor little thing had a butt like a faucet with a steady drip. She is better now, but still the loose stools, and she is not the only one now. I spoke too soon about this group being healthy. They seemed to be until today. Everyone but Sullivan is losing weight. Noah seemed lethargic, and had a little fever. I gave him some subQ fluids. Another thing you learn with babies...they get sick fast, but they also get better fast. I learned to give fluids because the faster you catch a dehydrated kitten, the better chance you have to get him well. He hardly notice I stuck him. Usually kittens scream like you are killing them when you do it, but Noah was good. Natalie treated me with a loose stinky plopper while I was in there getting weights. Sullivan climbed all over me like I am a kitty condo, and Reuben was attacking everyone. That's what he does.

June and July

These guys are my just past, and current group. The just past group are all either adopted, or still on view at the shelter. They would be as follows: Mary Lou, Floyd, Spats, Yoshi, Missy and Robyn. Current group is Robyn again, (yes, same kitten) Sullivan, Reuben, Natalie and Noah. I believe the photos are in order.

Looks like I can only load 5 at a time, so the next post will have the current group. Anyway, Missy was older than the others, and Robyn younger. Obviously not all from the same litter. They did pretty well together, and were gentle with Robyn.

Missy was much less socialized, and was quite scared. I called her "Hissy, Pissy, Missy. She would hiss at me whenever I picked her up. She never tried to bite or scratch, but would kinda roll up in a ball, like an isopod, or pill bug, rolly-polly...whatever you called then as a kid. I would scratch behind her ears, and under her chin. She tolerated it, but I can't say she was happy about it. She liked to look out the window. She would uncurl, stretch out her neck, and look around. Finally one day I had a break through. I had set her on my lap, and was just stroking her...and a miracle happened! She purred! I felt like I should have kept her for another week or so, but I had to go out of town on an emergency, and she was past due to go back.

Mary Lou and Floyd I named after my mom's cousin and his wife. Floyd came to me with that name, and I could not help myself. The only other Floyd I knew was Floyd the barber from the Andy Griffith Show. Just didn't fit. He was a real sweet boy. Loved to sit on my lap. Come to think of it, they all did.

Spats is a beautiful cat. She and Mary Lou are Manx cats. They were born with no tail at all. Spats got her name from Joy, because of her 4 white feet that look like shoes. Yoshi is sort of a Manx. He has about a quarter tail. He was undoubtedly the cat in this group with the most personality. Then Floyd. Floyd looks a lot like Mary Lou, but he has a tail.

Joy's sister adopted Yoshi and Spats. Last I heard is they just can't get enough lap time. How perfect is that?

and the rest...

I guess there is no way to talk about every single kitten I have fostered in the last 3+ years, so I will sporadically ad stories of our past litters.

Of all the kittens I have fostered, I have only adopted one of them. That would be Buck. Buck's photo is on my profile page. His charms were just too much for us to resist. (My friend Deb adopted his two sisters)

So, now you know the story of Ripley, and Buck, but we have another permanent resident. Bishop. (For you movie buffs, you may recognize the names Ripley and Bishop. Think Alien) Bishop was adopted from the shelter, but he wasn't my foster. This is a picture of Bishop.

Ripley was only 4 months old, and she was crazy! She had no one to play with, and she was driving us nuts. She scratched us no end when we came home from work, so we knew we needed to get her a playmate. We were asked by another foster provider to please consider her kitten, who had been on view for a few days, and had not been adopted. We checked him out, along with another kitten that looked a lot like Ripley. That kitten had an application, but we put one on him anyway. Bishop was our second choice.

Needless to say, The first application on our first choice went through, so we took Bishop. His name was actually Yoda when we got him. I guess it was meant to be. My cat of 19 years we lost that February was also Yoda.

To make a long story short, they got along great. The very next day when i got home from work, I picked up Ripley and instead of a spastic scratching, biting ball of fur, I got a calm, purring bundle of sweetness.