Hi, I am hoping for advice or someone to help me. As a forenote, We have very little money. My boyfriend is a musician and I am self-employed. We live in a studio apt. thats actually an attic converted into two studio apts. to really give u an idea of how little space there is available. Now to explain the situation/predicament.
Back in February a female orange tabby showed up on my doorstep. She had a sweet demeanor and seemed fairly domesticated. We let her come inside and started feeding her when she wanted to go back out we'd let her out. After a couple weeks we realized she was pregnant.
I've never been a pet owner before but we had become attached to "Ginger" and after doing alot of research about feline pregnancy and cat ownership in general we decided to keep her strictly indoors to keep her safe. I did what I could to keep her happy in our small space. She got a window perch, cat toys and now a cat tree takes up a majority of my kitchen...vet costs are not really in our budget I know that's not ideal but we love her and believe that we are better for her than living on the streets. About 2 weeks before she gave birth, we did discover she had parasites so we scraped the cash together and took her to get dewormed. As far as everything else goes I basically have relied on extensive googling.
She gave birth to a litter of 6 kittens, 1 did not make it. The remaining 5 kittens are (seemingly) healthy, she has been a very nurturing mother. For the first 3 weeks they stayed in the kittening box that I had placed in the bottom cabinets of the entertainment center in which I had cleared out and removed the doors from.
As i said there is very little room in our place, because of this it's next to impossible to kitten proof our home. Every extra nook and cranny is storage; behind & underneath furniture, in baskets hanging from the ceiling, on shelves and bookcases. There is no where to put anything away even our closet is packed full. There are no separate rooms that I could use to contain the kittens. I tried building a barrier wall with boxes and random items to close off an area that I already have semi-sectioned out as a dressing/beauty room and it worked for about 4 days but they are very slick and getting more agile everyday and kept escaping. (I might add I think mama was coaxing them to do this cause shed sit on my makeup case/portion of the blockade above them and just look down at them and m...rroeww as if taunting them to scale the wall and make a break for it lol)
So anyhow she is now weaning the kittens (they are 6 weeks old) and keeps her distance most of the time these days. To keep the kittens safe, I ordered a large popup pet playpen and as a result, I no longer have a kitchen. (It takes up the remaining space that the cat tree didnt) I don't mind really but it is only temporary. Inside there is a small litter pan, a diy hidey-hole box that they love to play hide and attack in, some featherballs, and a cat hammock for cozy snoozing. Whenever Ginger wants in we let her in but most of the time she just wants back out once they start trying to nurse.
The kittens are already using the litter tray and eating wet Kitten food in which I've started mixing a bit of kitten kibble with. They are very active, playful, and social. We let them out of the enclosure a couple at a time so we can keep a close eye on them for atleast about 30 min-an hour a day sometimes more than once if we can, so they can get more exercise, become more familiar with us, learn lessons from mama, and experience the world (or at least our livingroom/kitchen) for themselves.
I am trying to save up the cash to get them to the vet for their shots and a checkup but it's difficult to do with our budget and the additional expenses of high quality wet and dry food, non clumping litter & extra pan, and the additions like the playpen and the litter genie/bags. Not to mention, even though we're gonna continue to keep her indoors, we plan on getting ginger spayed asap.
They are all growing rapidly and are at a healthy weight. We do plan on keeping one of the females and have already found a trusted home for one of the males. Which leaves two males (both orange tabby one with a white face) & one female (calico) that need a home. I do have a friend that said she'd take the female but at this time I haven't gotten confirmation.
My initial plan had been to just advertise that I was giving away free kittens. However, she. I started googling to find out where to post the ad I came across many articles that advised against it and educated me on the many dangers of giving pets away for free. It's recommended to charge an adoption fee to minimize the risk of them ending up in a unsafe situation. I'm worried that this might take longer than I had initially expected but I'm not willing to put them at risk by giving them away.
I'm not sure how much longer I can get by barely being able to squeeze by to get to the fridge and to the bathroom. I need to find a home for these kittens soon but how do I find them a good home and charge a fee for kittens that, although smart, sweet, adorable, and well behaved, haven't even been to the vet yet.
What can/should I do? I'm trying my hardest to provide for these lil ones as best as I can but unfortunately even though I'd like to do more I'm just not equipped with the resources or finances to continue looking after these sweeties for much longer. I'd like to find the quickest yet safest route to help find a family for them.
I wouldn't mind keeping them a while longer if I could afford the vet visits and provisions because I think if they were up to date on the medical stuff it would be much easier to charge an adoption fee so they'd have a better chance of going to a happy home.
I believe that taking in mama cat and keeping her and the kittens safe was the right thing to do and I'd do it again in a heartbeat but honestly i wasn't prepared for the whole ordeal. I've just been winging it as I go, trying to improvise with what I have. Please help us!
Back in February a female orange tabby showed up on my doorstep. She had a sweet demeanor and seemed fairly domesticated. We let her come inside and started feeding her when she wanted to go back out we'd let her out. After a couple weeks we realized she was pregnant.
I've never been a pet owner before but we had become attached to "Ginger" and after doing alot of research about feline pregnancy and cat ownership in general we decided to keep her strictly indoors to keep her safe. I did what I could to keep her happy in our small space. She got a window perch, cat toys and now a cat tree takes up a majority of my kitchen...vet costs are not really in our budget I know that's not ideal but we love her and believe that we are better for her than living on the streets. About 2 weeks before she gave birth, we did discover she had parasites so we scraped the cash together and took her to get dewormed. As far as everything else goes I basically have relied on extensive googling.
She gave birth to a litter of 6 kittens, 1 did not make it. The remaining 5 kittens are (seemingly) healthy, she has been a very nurturing mother. For the first 3 weeks they stayed in the kittening box that I had placed in the bottom cabinets of the entertainment center in which I had cleared out and removed the doors from.
As i said there is very little room in our place, because of this it's next to impossible to kitten proof our home. Every extra nook and cranny is storage; behind & underneath furniture, in baskets hanging from the ceiling, on shelves and bookcases. There is no where to put anything away even our closet is packed full. There are no separate rooms that I could use to contain the kittens. I tried building a barrier wall with boxes and random items to close off an area that I already have semi-sectioned out as a dressing/beauty room and it worked for about 4 days but they are very slick and getting more agile everyday and kept escaping. (I might add I think mama was coaxing them to do this cause shed sit on my makeup case/portion of the blockade above them and just look down at them and m...rroeww as if taunting them to scale the wall and make a break for it lol)
So anyhow she is now weaning the kittens (they are 6 weeks old) and keeps her distance most of the time these days. To keep the kittens safe, I ordered a large popup pet playpen and as a result, I no longer have a kitchen. (It takes up the remaining space that the cat tree didnt) I don't mind really but it is only temporary. Inside there is a small litter pan, a diy hidey-hole box that they love to play hide and attack in, some featherballs, and a cat hammock for cozy snoozing. Whenever Ginger wants in we let her in but most of the time she just wants back out once they start trying to nurse.
The kittens are already using the litter tray and eating wet Kitten food in which I've started mixing a bit of kitten kibble with. They are very active, playful, and social. We let them out of the enclosure a couple at a time so we can keep a close eye on them for atleast about 30 min-an hour a day sometimes more than once if we can, so they can get more exercise, become more familiar with us, learn lessons from mama, and experience the world (or at least our livingroom/kitchen) for themselves.
I am trying to save up the cash to get them to the vet for their shots and a checkup but it's difficult to do with our budget and the additional expenses of high quality wet and dry food, non clumping litter & extra pan, and the additions like the playpen and the litter genie/bags. Not to mention, even though we're gonna continue to keep her indoors, we plan on getting ginger spayed asap.
They are all growing rapidly and are at a healthy weight. We do plan on keeping one of the females and have already found a trusted home for one of the males. Which leaves two males (both orange tabby one with a white face) & one female (calico) that need a home. I do have a friend that said she'd take the female but at this time I haven't gotten confirmation.
My initial plan had been to just advertise that I was giving away free kittens. However, she. I started googling to find out where to post the ad I came across many articles that advised against it and educated me on the many dangers of giving pets away for free. It's recommended to charge an adoption fee to minimize the risk of them ending up in a unsafe situation. I'm worried that this might take longer than I had initially expected but I'm not willing to put them at risk by giving them away.
I'm not sure how much longer I can get by barely being able to squeeze by to get to the fridge and to the bathroom. I need to find a home for these kittens soon but how do I find them a good home and charge a fee for kittens that, although smart, sweet, adorable, and well behaved, haven't even been to the vet yet.
What can/should I do? I'm trying my hardest to provide for these lil ones as best as I can but unfortunately even though I'd like to do more I'm just not equipped with the resources or finances to continue looking after these sweeties for much longer. I'd like to find the quickest yet safest route to help find a family for them.
I wouldn't mind keeping them a while longer if I could afford the vet visits and provisions because I think if they were up to date on the medical stuff it would be much easier to charge an adoption fee so they'd have a better chance of going to a happy home.
I believe that taking in mama cat and keeping her and the kittens safe was the right thing to do and I'd do it again in a heartbeat but honestly i wasn't prepared for the whole ordeal. I've just been winging it as I go, trying to improvise with what I have. Please help us!
And you've been doing a WONDERFUL job caring for the whole family!!!!
Find out which shelters are truly "no kill" - -and if at ALL possible, go to visit them and tell them your story (you can just call on the phone, but speaking from experience - - you'll be paid more attention and have a much higher chance of getting a "yes - we'll take them" if you are actually standing in front of them (that's my old "worked at/answered the phone at many shelters tip!). The other thing to do RIGHT NOW is to find whichever friend you know that's the best photographer, have an afternoon "kitten photo shoot" (you can send me a note re: what makes a good shot that grabs attention and tugs at the viewer's heartstrings! I'd be happy to share tips with you). Get that out immediately on your social media - - ask friends share as much as possible (I've had "friends of friends of a friend's lawyer" get a note about kittens I'm fostering - -and they made a WONDERFUL adoptive kitten parents!!!!!). But DON'T say "free" - ask for a small amount, and when they come to see them, have a form for them to fill out (it really will make them feel more responsible!). I can send you what I use, if you like.
