Baby kitties
My daughter thought that fostering kittens on a volunteer basis for an animal rescue organization would cheer her up. She promised to do all the work. My wife asked for my opinion. I said I didn't mind it, if I didn't have to do any of the work. I expressed skepticism that my daughter would do all of it, and if she slacked off, my wife would wind up having to do it. I said that if my wife decided on that basis to refuse my daughter's request, I would totally respect and support that decision.
My wife decided to go ahead with volunteering for Charles River Alley Cats. They didn't give us kittens to start with, but a full-grown sweetheart, a recently-neutered tom with the sweetest imaginable personality. He got adopted in about ten days.
And now we have two kittens; they came to us very very tiny and still needing bottles. They needed to be fed every few hours around the clock. Sure enough, my daughter mostly flaked out and left my wife doing most of the work.
They came to us with stupid names that I am not going to dignify with repetition here. They're a boy and a girl, both with a congenital missing right rear foot. Three-footed cats seem to do fine if the missing foot is in the rear; see examples on YouTube.
When they came to us a week or so ago (maybe longer; my time-sense is misbehaving) they were very scrawny and helpless, and the boy seemed apathetic to me; I was pretty sure he wouldn't make it. But he learned to eat on his own first, and has been improving steadily. Then yesterday my daughter redeemed herself by sitting down with the little girl-cat and teaching her to eat from a dish. She was very patient although her pupil was convinced that this solid-food stuff was way overrated. But the message got across, and now suddenly life is much easier for my wife and daughter, since the babies feed themselves in the nighttime when they get hungry. And they are growing very fast now. The boy got ahead of the girl in weight while she was insisting on bottles, but now she's catching up. She's ahead of him in motor skills, and actually runs around on her three feet. The boy still is a little staggery.
They will make great pets, I think, because they'll think of people as mommies. When they're out of their cage (where we keep them at night, mostly to keep them from getting into trouble) they follow people around, always wanting to be where the action is. If anybody will be looking for cats in the next few months, keep watching this space. I would be willing to keep them myself, but it would be unfair to our existing two cats.
Oh, the girl is grey and white and the boy is black.
My wife decided to go ahead with volunteering for Charles River Alley Cats. They didn't give us kittens to start with, but a full-grown sweetheart, a recently-neutered tom with the sweetest imaginable personality. He got adopted in about ten days.
And now we have two kittens; they came to us very very tiny and still needing bottles. They needed to be fed every few hours around the clock. Sure enough, my daughter mostly flaked out and left my wife doing most of the work.
They came to us with stupid names that I am not going to dignify with repetition here. They're a boy and a girl, both with a congenital missing right rear foot. Three-footed cats seem to do fine if the missing foot is in the rear; see examples on YouTube.
When they came to us a week or so ago (maybe longer; my time-sense is misbehaving) they were very scrawny and helpless, and the boy seemed apathetic to me; I was pretty sure he wouldn't make it. But he learned to eat on his own first, and has been improving steadily. Then yesterday my daughter redeemed herself by sitting down with the little girl-cat and teaching her to eat from a dish. She was very patient although her pupil was convinced that this solid-food stuff was way overrated. But the message got across, and now suddenly life is much easier for my wife and daughter, since the babies feed themselves in the nighttime when they get hungry. And they are growing very fast now. The boy got ahead of the girl in weight while she was insisting on bottles, but now she's catching up. She's ahead of him in motor skills, and actually runs around on her three feet. The boy still is a little staggery.
They will make great pets, I think, because they'll think of people as mommies. When they're out of their cage (where we keep them at night, mostly to keep them from getting into trouble) they follow people around, always wanting to be where the action is. If anybody will be looking for cats in the next few months, keep watching this space. I would be willing to keep them myself, but it would be unfair to our existing two cats.
Oh, the girl is grey and white and the boy is black.