Adventures With The Felv Fosters

[shadowsrescue]

What a beautiful picture. She is precious. I hope she finds a loving home soon.

 

[Norachan]

Senior Cats for Senior Laps! I love that, what a great idea.

 

[SheriB]

Well it’s official, I’m not going to be able to stop until I have completely run out of room! Friday I heard about some ferals the shelter is trying to trap this weekend. They think there are two females in the group of six who might be pregnant. They were worried about placing them because most fosters don’t want wild feral kitties. Before I knew where I would put them I said I would take them. The pregnant ones, that is. They have a gentleman who takes the others and is very good at taming them.
So I heard that they got three cats Friday night and that one of them is probably pregnant. They will let me know tomorrow if she is and if they got any more. I am scrambling to secure my greenhouse for her or them, putting hardware cloth up and reinforcing the doors. I will have them in one half of the greenhouse so that I can enter via the other half and they won’t be able to slip by me directly to the outdoors. It’s not large, two six by eight hobby greenhouses linked together. I’m excited about taking in my first Mama cat, scared, and thinking I am crazy at the same time. But now I’ll be able to apply for that Friend of Ferals badge!

I got the DMG supplement and have started putting it on the FeLV kitties’ food. They don’t seem to notice it. It did come in a plastic bottle. It was the small size. Next time I’m ordering the bigger bottle.

Bette finished her Panacure and antibiotics without any noticeable change. She will have a few days of just soft stools and then a day or two of very runny stools with mucus and blood. I will have to ask the shelter director what to do next. She seems very healthy, active, excellent coat quality, eating well except on her worst days. It’s perplexing.

DuckDuck is now up to 200 mg of Zylkene, given half in the morning and half in the evening. She was doing better but then began over grooming again. Also Goose has become more aggressive toward her, probably that does not help. I keep them separate as much as possible.

 

[shadowsrescue]

Wow! You will have your hands full, but what a wonderful thing you are doing. These kitties are all so luck to have you. Keep us posted on the possible pregnant moms.

 

[SheriB]

Three, count ‘em, THREE very pregnant feral mommas currently in my bedroom! And I slept on the couch last night. I worked on that greenhouse for two days but still don’t have secure doors on it. I’m not a carpenter but I sure am learning! So the kitties are in cages in my bedroom and now I am wondering about putting them out in the greenhouse, whether that’s the best idea. I guess I really have no choice since I can’t continue to sleep in the living room but my dogs and my own cats would freak if I went to bed in there and closed them out.
The greenhouse will be set up with a kitty tube
With a heating pad under half of it, and a video baby monitor I can watch them on. I know it will be okay, it’s just when I was still working on it as it got darker and colder last night that I thought I couldn’t put them out there. I think I’m just tired and worry too much. A friend is coming over this morning to help me finish it. All will be well.

 

[Norachan]

Wow, three! Are they all from the same colony? It would be great f they all got along well and could help each other raise the babies.

That's going to be a very luxurious green house.

I have a bit of good news. I finally found something smelly and delicious enough to fool Happy into taking her L-lysine every morning.

She gets one of these, warmed up and then cut into tiny little pieces with the lysine mixed up with it. She doesn't have any teeth, but luckily they do an extra soft version for elderly cats.

 

[SheriB]

The tuna filet looks yummy! I’m glad she’s going for it.

Yes, the three mamas are from the same colony. I do expect them to get along. They are still in their cages in my bedroom, with the help of a friend I finally got the greenhouse to where I feel it is secure. But I don’t want to release these girls in there until I have a few hours to observe them and see if they find any trouble spots. So I intend to do it tomorrow afternoon. Right now I’m watching one of them on the baby monitor. For the first time she ate her wet food (human baby food chicken because they were not eating the canned food I gave them) and now she is testing the cage. And yep, she just dumped her catbox. But i think it’s a good sign, she’s not just frozen in a crouch. I’m going to start a new thread for these babies and their babies, called Three Feral Mamas. I get to name them and so I am going to choose names that are words for love and friendship in languages other than English.

 

[Norachan]

Wow, she's pretty! Do you know when they are due?

The Japanese for Love is Ai, pronounced the same as eye. Aiko means Child of Love, Ai Chan means Little Love.

The Japanese for Friendship is, Yuujoo, pronounced Youjo.

 

[SheriB]

I agree, she’s so beautiful! It’s 2:30 AM and she just had two babies, I don't know if she’s done or not. I’m watching on the baby monitor because I don’t want to stress her more than I have to. Of course she keeps turning her back to the camera. She will be Aiko, and the babies Ai Chan and Yuujoo, thank you!

 

[SheriB]

Two more babies now, I kind of think she’s done, she seems much more relaxed. What shall we name them? I know Tomodachi from having Japanese friends after college, eons ago. I think that could be cute for a male kitten, but I won’t know about that for a while I think. Maybe something equivalent to sweetie or cutie pie?

 

[shadowsrescue]

So exciting and what beautiful names! I hope all continues to go well.

 

[Norachan]

Tomo is a nice name for a boy, it means the same as tomodachi. I actually know a little boy called Tomo.

Konomi would be good for a girl. It translates as something like favourite.
Mirai means hope.
Kawaii means cute.
Kireii means pretty.

Oh, how about Sakura? That means cherry blossom, very good name for a spring kitten.

 

[SheriB]

I love these names, thank you so much! I think Sakura is lovely, maybe for one of the tabby moms.

 

[Norachan]

How's everything going SheriB ? Did we have a safe delivery? Hoping for some itty bitty kitten picture soon.

 

[SheriB]

Hi! It’s been sort of a whirlwind the last few days. A girlfriend and I knocked ourselves out securing the greenhouse, it took three days instead of the three hours I planned. Then Mamma Aiko had her babies in the middle of the night in my bedroom and after that I decided I could not have them having babies out there, even if they might prefer it. So, as quietly and gently as possible, I moved out of my room, secured all of the places they might get into, and let them out of their cages. That was yesterday. I have been working so hard on this and I was going to start their thread tonight but I am so tired it’s probably not going to happen until tomorrow. There are four babies in the picture, but the two black tuxies are hard to see. Aiko is still very growly so I have not tried to touch the babies. She hasn’t moved them out of the cage they were born in, even though the door is open. I have food and water in there for her and she eats ravenously, while still growling.

 

[SheriB]

Here are the two identical (as far as I can tell) tabby mommas in waiting.

 

[Norachan]

That's wonderful.



So you've given up your room? That was very nice of you. I hope you're not sleeping in the greenhouse.

 

[SheriB]

Haha Norachan ! I wish I could sleep in the greenhouse! We have a futon in our front room and I am sleeping on that.

 

[shadowsrescue]

You are just the best allowing the cats to have your bedroom. The kittens are just adorable. I hope you can get some rest.

 

[SheriB]

Here’s a link to my new thread, Three Feral Mommas
Three Feral Mommas

A quick question, I just copied the address and pasted it here, but how do I do it so that it shows the title if the thread instead of the whole address?