This weekend is an adoption event. I have helped at these events before but this one is different because I will be bringing my foster kittens to be potentially adopted. It’s bittersweet for me because on one hand, these kittens have been part of my daily life for the last two months. I have watched them literally grow up before my eyes. On the other hand, getting them to the point where they are ready, socialized and healthy, to find their forever home, is the entire purpose of fostering.
For the last 2 months, I have been fostering two kittens. They came to me at 5 weeks old, underweight with eye infections. Less than one pound each, I could hold one in each hand and have room left over.
At first they didn’t do much. Their eyes were crusted over with infection which impeded their vision. The smaller one only slept the first day. At one point, I found myself wondering if she was going to make it.
The main goal at first was to get some weight on them. I tried everything from kitten formula in a bottle to wet food mixed with kitten formula. Soon they were eating like champs and I was able to use less and less formula as the days progressed.
I didn’t want to keep calling them “the little one” and “the bigger one” or “the one with orange” and “the one with black” so I needed to come up with names for them. I made a list and tried out a few. I landed on Mango (the bigger one with orange) and Coconut (the little one with black).
After about a week, their infections were starting to heal and they became much more active. They were running, climbing, tackling each other. Many times, after an excess of energy was expelled, they would both end up laying on my legs or shoulder. I would sing “Baby Mine” to them until they fell asleep.
I weighed them daily and charted the results. As they grew and became more active, it got harder to weigh them. Active kittens are always on the move and don’t have time to stand still in a bowl on a silly kitchen scale for you. I found that the best time to get their weight was about an hour after they ate. By then, they were usually a little sleepy and more willing to sit still.
Mango, the bigger of the two, is more reserved. She’s the follower. She watches Coconut barrel through new challenges and is happy to try it afterward. She’s also more submissive. Occasionally, Coconut would finish her food first then trot over to the Mango’s bowl, and shove her face in. Mango, being submissive, would allow this and patiently wait for Coconut to finish before eating whatever was left.
Coconut, of course, is the smaller of the two with the large personality. Despite sleeping most of the time when she first arrived, it became clear once she started to feel better, that she was an adventurer. She was bold and not afraid of anything. She is a take charge kind of kitten which is good because she is the example for her sister.
So today and tomorrow will be hard. Putting them in the cages, letting other people hold them. It will feel like a betrayal. I don’t want anyone else to have them. I don’t want to watch anyone else carry them away. They know me. They trust me. And therein lies the crux of the matter. They trust me and I’m essentially handing them off to a stranger? They don’t know them like I do. They can’t take care of them like I can.
Even now, they are running around here in the living room, playing. Unaware of what this day will bring. Truth be told — I hope they don’t get adopted today. I’m not ready for them to be someone else’s family.
The Cat Lady Speaks 