if I'm honest you come to mind but baby I'm not
Whew, I'm starting to get a little kittened out. That's probably common for foster mamas (and parents of actual babies as well). The kits are adorable and awesome, but they require constant supervision, and constant cleaning-up-after, and I often feel like I need a break.
Yesterday Ramona thought a piece of dried-up poo from the litter box would make a fabulous toy, so that was fun. And I have to vacuum out the cage and the floor around it at least once a day, because litter gets EVERYWHERE. Add this to twice-a-day antibiotics, making sure Hypatia is taken care of, and constantly having to teach the kittens not to claw/bite humans or cords, and it's kind of exhausting. I have to let them out every few hours to get their energy out, and I feel like I haven't had much time to take care of myself. Right now I don't have the energy for everyday stuff like doing the dishes, or cooking, laundry, or showering regularly. Let alone posting the 3247239734893489 kitten pictures I have in my iPhoto.
But I know it's only temporary, and I get like this whenever there's a break in my usual routine, so I'm not too worried. In the meantime I do like having the little monsters around. They're very sweet when they finally tire themselves out and come sleep on my bed. Oliver is still a little purr machine, and Ramona is getting to know what things will get her in trouble, so she's been slightly easier. I also figured out that the way to get her to use the scratcher was to lean it against the wall, and now she LOVES it. I might mount it on the wall permanently after they leave, for other kittens to use. (Although--how do you disinfect stuff like that?)
I do worry that she beats up on Oliver too much though. The vet says Oliver will catch up to her in size soon enough and she won't be able to bully him so much, but in the meantime he's always the one I hear crying for her to stop. They go after each other pretty evenly, but Ramona is more vicious and will never admit defeat, she just keeps fighting.
Last night they did something--not sure what--I heard a crash like something fell over, but I didn't see anything on the floor that wasn't already on the floor--and whatever it was, it spooked Oliver REALLY badly. He made himself into a big porcupiney puffball and hissed up a storm. Ramona, of course, still wanted to "play" (which means fight), so I put her in the cage to give Oliver some space to calm down. He walked around wide-eyed and was startled by everything that moved for a while, but eventually he was his usual purr-y self, and I gave him some extra pets to soothe him. I think he could use a break from his high-energy sis sometimes.
I've started to open the door a crack to let Hypatia see/smell the kittens, just to get her used to having tinycats around. She still hisses/growls at them every time, though. I can tell she really wants to come in my room, but not if THEY are there. The kittens themselves are super curious about Hypatia. Oliver puffs up a bit in reaction to her hissing, but Ramona is like "OH YAY A NEW CAT FOR ME TO PLAY-FIGHT," and she keeps trying to escape to pounce on Hypatia. She's pretty fearless. I realized today that she reminds me of Tanner when he was a puppy--he always had to be in charge, and could get pretty vicious if you tried to play with him, especially if it was a dominance game. He's much more mellow now, though, so maybe she'll calm down when she's older.
I read a site that said that in order to get older cats used to kittens, one of the things you can do is feed the cat treats when she's near the kitten room, so she associates kittens with good things. So I've started to do that. She doesn't like to eat when she's stressed, though, so I don't know how successful it'll be.
I'm a bit worried because both the kittens are still sneezing sometimes, and Oliver still has a constant runny/stuffy nose. I'm giving them their meds and food and water and such--not sure what else to do, honestly. If they're not better by the time I go in for their next checkup, I'll ask the vet if there's anything else I can do to speed up their healing process.
In non-kitten news... uh... there is no non-kitten news.
Oh, except someone on Tumblr posted a FULL TIME WITH BENEFITS library assistant job in Amherst, MA, and I am starting to have all these fantasies of moving back to the Berkshires and going contra dancing and seeing my New England friends more often and actually having a job that could support me. Even if I somehow got the job, though, I don't have any money to move, and I'd hate to leave Kate/Hypatia/my family behind, especially when I've just started this foster kitten gig. That's the dilemma of living here. I don't always like Milwaukee, and I sometimes dream of moving to a place I'd like better, but I have roots here, and the longer I stay, the harder it is to leave.
But supporting myself... that'd be so great. I could finally breathe that huge sigh of relief I've been holding in for seven years.
Yesterday Ramona thought a piece of dried-up poo from the litter box would make a fabulous toy, so that was fun. And I have to vacuum out the cage and the floor around it at least once a day, because litter gets EVERYWHERE. Add this to twice-a-day antibiotics, making sure Hypatia is taken care of, and constantly having to teach the kittens not to claw/bite humans or cords, and it's kind of exhausting. I have to let them out every few hours to get their energy out, and I feel like I haven't had much time to take care of myself. Right now I don't have the energy for everyday stuff like doing the dishes, or cooking, laundry, or showering regularly. Let alone posting the 3247239734893489 kitten pictures I have in my iPhoto.
But I know it's only temporary, and I get like this whenever there's a break in my usual routine, so I'm not too worried. In the meantime I do like having the little monsters around. They're very sweet when they finally tire themselves out and come sleep on my bed. Oliver is still a little purr machine, and Ramona is getting to know what things will get her in trouble, so she's been slightly easier. I also figured out that the way to get her to use the scratcher was to lean it against the wall, and now she LOVES it. I might mount it on the wall permanently after they leave, for other kittens to use. (Although--how do you disinfect stuff like that?)
I do worry that she beats up on Oliver too much though. The vet says Oliver will catch up to her in size soon enough and she won't be able to bully him so much, but in the meantime he's always the one I hear crying for her to stop. They go after each other pretty evenly, but Ramona is more vicious and will never admit defeat, she just keeps fighting.
Last night they did something--not sure what--I heard a crash like something fell over, but I didn't see anything on the floor that wasn't already on the floor--and whatever it was, it spooked Oliver REALLY badly. He made himself into a big porcupiney puffball and hissed up a storm. Ramona, of course, still wanted to "play" (which means fight), so I put her in the cage to give Oliver some space to calm down. He walked around wide-eyed and was startled by everything that moved for a while, but eventually he was his usual purr-y self, and I gave him some extra pets to soothe him. I think he could use a break from his high-energy sis sometimes.
I've started to open the door a crack to let Hypatia see/smell the kittens, just to get her used to having tinycats around. She still hisses/growls at them every time, though. I can tell she really wants to come in my room, but not if THEY are there. The kittens themselves are super curious about Hypatia. Oliver puffs up a bit in reaction to her hissing, but Ramona is like "OH YAY A NEW CAT FOR ME TO PLAY-FIGHT," and she keeps trying to escape to pounce on Hypatia. She's pretty fearless. I realized today that she reminds me of Tanner when he was a puppy--he always had to be in charge, and could get pretty vicious if you tried to play with him, especially if it was a dominance game. He's much more mellow now, though, so maybe she'll calm down when she's older.
I read a site that said that in order to get older cats used to kittens, one of the things you can do is feed the cat treats when she's near the kitten room, so she associates kittens with good things. So I've started to do that. She doesn't like to eat when she's stressed, though, so I don't know how successful it'll be.
I'm a bit worried because both the kittens are still sneezing sometimes, and Oliver still has a constant runny/stuffy nose. I'm giving them their meds and food and water and such--not sure what else to do, honestly. If they're not better by the time I go in for their next checkup, I'll ask the vet if there's anything else I can do to speed up their healing process.
In non-kitten news... uh... there is no non-kitten news.
Oh, except someone on Tumblr posted a FULL TIME WITH BENEFITS library assistant job in Amherst, MA, and I am starting to have all these fantasies of moving back to the Berkshires and going contra dancing and seeing my New England friends more often and actually having a job that could support me. Even if I somehow got the job, though, I don't have any money to move, and I'd hate to leave Kate/Hypatia/my family behind, especially when I've just started this foster kitten gig. That's the dilemma of living here. I don't always like Milwaukee, and I sometimes dream of moving to a place I'd like better, but I have roots here, and the longer I stay, the harder it is to leave.
But supporting myself... that'd be so great. I could finally breathe that huge sigh of relief I've been holding in for seven years.