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- Oct 9, 2017
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Hello!
After two weeks of spending countless hours on cat forums, I decided to finally join one. My husband and I just adopted two little kittens from a young woman who was fostering them. The short story and some pictures are up top, long story below if you care to read it. I've had cats my whole life, but never young kittens and I am so thankful to have this forum as a resource as I help these two boys navigate the trials and tribulations of kittenhood.
Short story: I have had Cookie for about 11 years, and I love her to bits. She grew up in a multi-cat household, but has lived alone with me and my husband for about 2 years now. I worry sometimes that she gets lonely and bored while we are away at work and had been toying with the idea of adopting another feline companion for awhile now. We actually did adopt a beautiful white kitten in Rhode Island, but it turned out he was quite feral and we ended up taking him to a no-kill shelter with very specific instructions for his new owners (definitely no other cats in the household!).
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Now, we're trying again - this time with two little kittens. They've been with us for two weeks and we named them Terrence and Marcel:
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Long Story:
Cookie was a gift for my 13th birthday and she has been with me for over 10 years. She is one of the most lovely cats I have ever known, full of personality and sass. She was adopted from the Idaho Humane Society at about 14 months old and she grew up as an indoor/outdoor cat in Boise, Idaho. When she joined the family, we had a much older orange tabby, who never full came around to her and would bully her from time to time. Nothing violent, but he would sometimes chase her and just stand over her while she laid on her back and they would sort of talk at each other, though sometimes they also groomed each other. She has always been afraid of loud noises, and we suspect she may have had a traumatic past. I loved her to pieces, but unfortunately my parents found her behavior to be "neurotic". That, coupled with her inability to learn just how much is hurts when she kneads meant that when I went off to college, I suspect she didn't get a whole lot of attention. I brought her to Rhode Island to live with me the moment I could. However, a few months after I brought her to live with me (not only did she have to endure a plane ride across the country, we had to move apartments about a month after she arrived) she started exhibiting behavioral problems. She was testy, very sensitive to overstimulation and eventually didn't like to be touched at all, and she hid under the bed a lot. I thought that maybe getting her a companion could help, since she did have our old tabby back home (even if it hadn't been the closest of friendships). We did adopt a new cat, which ended in disaster and is a story for another day. But surprisingly all her problems improved dramatically, both while we had the second cat and especially after it left our family. Since then she has moved with us again. She has really taken to an entirely indoor life and never tries to go outside. She seems to like this new apartment much better than the old one, perhaps because it is on a much quieter street. She never hides, seems to not be as bothered by loud noises and is back to her very affectionate and vocal self. She loves new people (used to hate strangers) and she has an adorable meow that sounds like a dinosaur noise. She also like to "swim" (lays on her side and stretches her legs around) when people are paying attention to her. It all sounds great, right?
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Come fall: we had to leave her for an extended period of time while we were getting married back in Idaho. We had amazeballs cat sitters, who visited her and played with her every day. She looked very healthy when we got back and was happy to see us. But....I started to see subtle signs of those same behavioral problems coming back: sensitivity to being touched for too long, agitation at seemingly nothing. She would also roam around the house like she was looking for things to do and then sit down in the middle of the floor, not sleeping, just staring. Still never any interest in going outside (I couldn't leash-train this girl in a million years). Then, my boss mentioned her cat had just had a litter and she was trying to get rid of one of the kittens (don't even get me started on how irresponsible she is/was about her cat - you don't even want to know the details). She said I could have a kitten, but then her daughter promised the kitten to one of her friends so...no kitten. But I had gotten so excited about it that I decided I would get a new kitten anyways, and not only that - I had read online that maybe it's better to get two kittens so that they can play with each other and leave the older cat alone, so I promptly found myself two kittens.
The circumstances of their procurement, I'm sorry to say, are slightly sketchy as I was getting that "yearly kitten itch" (sometimes around the beginning of fall, I always want to add a feline to the family - I was actually promised a kitten and then the woman changed her mind, so I was feeling a little desperate...) and really really wanted to adopt some new kittens. I sent out a couple of applications to local shelters and also looked around on Craigslist. I got an immediate response from one of the Craiglist inquiries, telling me I could have two kittens for dirt cheap, but I had to pick them up that night. Sketchy? Yes. But the desperation in me won out and we were on the road to pick up our new kittens from a couple towns over. (side note: after I had already agreed to pick them up, I got a couple more responses from other people on Craigslist and began to wonder if I had made a hasty decision (yes-yes I had), but my husband insisted that we couldn't go back on it.)
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The girl who fostered them was not very forthcoming about their history, but told us that their mother had been hit by a car and she bottle-fed them from an early age. These two were the last of the litter to be adopted out and she was pretty desperate to get rid of them (she didn't want to wait a day or so for us to pick them up). She told us they were 7 weeks old, and they were tiny, barely over a pound each.
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These poor kittens had a voracious appetite and loved to play. They were also really sweet, and never hid from us or our house guests (I suspect this could have to do with bottle-feeding). It's easy to fall in love with their pathetic meows and little white mittens. However, they were exceptionally tiny and Marcel, they grey one, had a particularly unhealthy-looking coat and a rounded belly. He had diarrhea from the moment he arrived and it hasn't really stopped, even now. On top of that, they had fleas and hadn't received any deworming or vaccinations. I took them to the vet several days after we got them, but Cookie definitely got a flea or two.
I brought in a stool sample, which was actually clean but we started them on a deworming schedule anyways and a round of Revolution. The vet decided they looked too small for their first round of vaccines, so those were scheduled two weeks out. They also got their FeLV/FIV test, which was wracking. The next morning I found a tape worm on Terrence's bum so it was back to the vet for tapeworm meds for all three cats (since fleas are an environmental infestation, even though the cats were separated, Cookie was at risk of getting tapeworms from the fleas). I learned a lot about diarrhea, fleas, and tapeworms from the internet in those three days and also decided I was not happy with my vet for various reasons (perhaps a topic for another forum). I had to take Cookie in because the vet clinic wouldn't dispense the medication until they had seen her once (the recent move meant she hadn't been to a new vet yet). I saw a stand-in vet, who turned out to be fantastic. He answered a ton of questions about the kittens, even though they weren't there, and he prescribed a medication that treats diarrhea and coccidia for the kittens (why did the previous vet not do this, I don't know).
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Needless to say, I've had lots of doubt about whether I made a good decision, adopting these cats from a random person on Craigslist. It turns out my application to one of the shelters was accepted a few days later, and I couldn't gotten a pair of older kittens from them - however their system of adoption is weird. Instead of letting people visit the shelter, they post pictures online and make you fill out an application. If it's accepted, they bring the kittens to your house for a "house visit" and if "all goes well" they let you adopt them - I have never been in a situation where I did not get to visit the kittens at the shelter before deciding whether to adopt them of not. What is their temperament wasn't good with Cookie, could I really turn them down if they were already at my house? Were these people also judging my apartment? But then - I had just blind adopted these other kittens so those points are sort of moot. Of course, kittens from a shelter at least have been dewormed and (maybe) tested for FIV/FeLV, and generally don't have fleas and probably not diarrhea either. These were all the thoughts swirling around in my head as I desperately tried to control the parasites and digestion of these kittens.
If you actually made it to the end of this post, wow. I'm sorry. I think I just needed to write it all down because it's been a heck of a ride. I don't think we're out of the woods yet, but the kittens are looking healthier everyday and have almost doubled in weight. They are slowly stealing our hearts, and I hope Cookie can learn to love them so that they can have a permanent home with us.
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After two weeks of spending countless hours on cat forums, I decided to finally join one. My husband and I just adopted two little kittens from a young woman who was fostering them. The short story and some pictures are up top, long story below if you care to read it. I've had cats my whole life, but never young kittens and I am so thankful to have this forum as a resource as I help these two boys navigate the trials and tribulations of kittenhood.
Short story: I have had Cookie for about 11 years, and I love her to bits. She grew up in a multi-cat household, but has lived alone with me and my husband for about 2 years now. I worry sometimes that she gets lonely and bored while we are away at work and had been toying with the idea of adopting another feline companion for awhile now. We actually did adopt a beautiful white kitten in Rhode Island, but it turned out he was quite feral and we ended up taking him to a no-kill shelter with very specific instructions for his new owners (definitely no other cats in the household!).
View media item 420027
Now, we're trying again - this time with two little kittens. They've been with us for two weeks and we named them Terrence and Marcel:
View media item 420021
---------------------------------
Long Story:
Cookie was a gift for my 13th birthday and she has been with me for over 10 years. She is one of the most lovely cats I have ever known, full of personality and sass. She was adopted from the Idaho Humane Society at about 14 months old and she grew up as an indoor/outdoor cat in Boise, Idaho. When she joined the family, we had a much older orange tabby, who never full came around to her and would bully her from time to time. Nothing violent, but he would sometimes chase her and just stand over her while she laid on her back and they would sort of talk at each other, though sometimes they also groomed each other. She has always been afraid of loud noises, and we suspect she may have had a traumatic past. I loved her to pieces, but unfortunately my parents found her behavior to be "neurotic". That, coupled with her inability to learn just how much is hurts when she kneads meant that when I went off to college, I suspect she didn't get a whole lot of attention. I brought her to Rhode Island to live with me the moment I could. However, a few months after I brought her to live with me (not only did she have to endure a plane ride across the country, we had to move apartments about a month after she arrived) she started exhibiting behavioral problems. She was testy, very sensitive to overstimulation and eventually didn't like to be touched at all, and she hid under the bed a lot. I thought that maybe getting her a companion could help, since she did have our old tabby back home (even if it hadn't been the closest of friendships). We did adopt a new cat, which ended in disaster and is a story for another day. But surprisingly all her problems improved dramatically, both while we had the second cat and especially after it left our family. Since then she has moved with us again. She has really taken to an entirely indoor life and never tries to go outside. She seems to like this new apartment much better than the old one, perhaps because it is on a much quieter street. She never hides, seems to not be as bothered by loud noises and is back to her very affectionate and vocal self. She loves new people (used to hate strangers) and she has an adorable meow that sounds like a dinosaur noise. She also like to "swim" (lays on her side and stretches her legs around) when people are paying attention to her. It all sounds great, right?
View media item 420023
Come fall: we had to leave her for an extended period of time while we were getting married back in Idaho. We had amazeballs cat sitters, who visited her and played with her every day. She looked very healthy when we got back and was happy to see us. But....I started to see subtle signs of those same behavioral problems coming back: sensitivity to being touched for too long, agitation at seemingly nothing. She would also roam around the house like she was looking for things to do and then sit down in the middle of the floor, not sleeping, just staring. Still never any interest in going outside (I couldn't leash-train this girl in a million years). Then, my boss mentioned her cat had just had a litter and she was trying to get rid of one of the kittens (don't even get me started on how irresponsible she is/was about her cat - you don't even want to know the details). She said I could have a kitten, but then her daughter promised the kitten to one of her friends so...no kitten. But I had gotten so excited about it that I decided I would get a new kitten anyways, and not only that - I had read online that maybe it's better to get two kittens so that they can play with each other and leave the older cat alone, so I promptly found myself two kittens.
The circumstances of their procurement, I'm sorry to say, are slightly sketchy as I was getting that "yearly kitten itch" (sometimes around the beginning of fall, I always want to add a feline to the family - I was actually promised a kitten and then the woman changed her mind, so I was feeling a little desperate...) and really really wanted to adopt some new kittens. I sent out a couple of applications to local shelters and also looked around on Craigslist. I got an immediate response from one of the Craiglist inquiries, telling me I could have two kittens for dirt cheap, but I had to pick them up that night. Sketchy? Yes. But the desperation in me won out and we were on the road to pick up our new kittens from a couple towns over. (side note: after I had already agreed to pick them up, I got a couple more responses from other people on Craigslist and began to wonder if I had made a hasty decision (yes-yes I had), but my husband insisted that we couldn't go back on it.)
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The girl who fostered them was not very forthcoming about their history, but told us that their mother had been hit by a car and she bottle-fed them from an early age. These two were the last of the litter to be adopted out and she was pretty desperate to get rid of them (she didn't want to wait a day or so for us to pick them up). She told us they were 7 weeks old, and they were tiny, barely over a pound each.
View media item 420028
These poor kittens had a voracious appetite and loved to play. They were also really sweet, and never hid from us or our house guests (I suspect this could have to do with bottle-feeding). It's easy to fall in love with their pathetic meows and little white mittens. However, they were exceptionally tiny and Marcel, they grey one, had a particularly unhealthy-looking coat and a rounded belly. He had diarrhea from the moment he arrived and it hasn't really stopped, even now. On top of that, they had fleas and hadn't received any deworming or vaccinations. I took them to the vet several days after we got them, but Cookie definitely got a flea or two.
I brought in a stool sample, which was actually clean but we started them on a deworming schedule anyways and a round of Revolution. The vet decided they looked too small for their first round of vaccines, so those were scheduled two weeks out. They also got their FeLV/FIV test, which was wracking. The next morning I found a tape worm on Terrence's bum so it was back to the vet for tapeworm meds for all three cats (since fleas are an environmental infestation, even though the cats were separated, Cookie was at risk of getting tapeworms from the fleas). I learned a lot about diarrhea, fleas, and tapeworms from the internet in those three days and also decided I was not happy with my vet for various reasons (perhaps a topic for another forum). I had to take Cookie in because the vet clinic wouldn't dispense the medication until they had seen her once (the recent move meant she hadn't been to a new vet yet). I saw a stand-in vet, who turned out to be fantastic. He answered a ton of questions about the kittens, even though they weren't there, and he prescribed a medication that treats diarrhea and coccidia for the kittens (why did the previous vet not do this, I don't know).
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Needless to say, I've had lots of doubt about whether I made a good decision, adopting these cats from a random person on Craigslist. It turns out my application to one of the shelters was accepted a few days later, and I couldn't gotten a pair of older kittens from them - however their system of adoption is weird. Instead of letting people visit the shelter, they post pictures online and make you fill out an application. If it's accepted, they bring the kittens to your house for a "house visit" and if "all goes well" they let you adopt them - I have never been in a situation where I did not get to visit the kittens at the shelter before deciding whether to adopt them of not. What is their temperament wasn't good with Cookie, could I really turn them down if they were already at my house? Were these people also judging my apartment? But then - I had just blind adopted these other kittens so those points are sort of moot. Of course, kittens from a shelter at least have been dewormed and (maybe) tested for FIV/FeLV, and generally don't have fleas and probably not diarrhea either. These were all the thoughts swirling around in my head as I desperately tried to control the parasites and digestion of these kittens.
If you actually made it to the end of this post, wow. I'm sorry. I think I just needed to write it all down because it's been a heck of a ride. I don't think we're out of the woods yet, but the kittens are looking healthier everyday and have almost doubled in weight. They are slowly stealing our hearts, and I hope Cookie can learn to love them so that they can have a permanent home with us.
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Cookie is a beauty! And Marcel and Terrence are so appealing! Bless you for all you've given to these needy little kittens. 
Now Welcome to TCS. 
I agree with everyone else that Cookie is indeed gorgeous. I will cross my fingers that she enjoys the kitten antics and company of Terrence and Marcel. 
I too read your entire post. Cookie is beautiful. And Terrence and Marcel are cutie pies. 
Sounds like you're getting things under control. Hope all 3 kitties will soon be best buddies. 
