Mega Monday

Hi Everyone!  When we last left off, I was in a tizzy of stress and cleaning up after three rooms of foster kittens.  While I've been gone, I've had both a breakdown and a breakthrough.  Along the way, I've come to the conclusion that I am allowed to be human (i.e. less than superhuman).  Instead of focusing on the stress around here, it's my new mission to bring you nothing but the cuteness... and boy oh boy, do we ever have a lot of that to go around.  But first, the updates...

The Adams Family

I bid so long, but not farewell, to the Adams kittens on Saturday.  As seems to be the case, they did not leave in the way that I expected (and under less than ideal circumstances).

On Friday, I started to notice a problem.  By Saturday, I was back at the vet.  Our girl Mally is sick.  Before you worry, it's nothing life-threatening and she will be fine and completely back to normal within a couple of weeks.  She is, however, exceptionally contagious and that necessitated her separation from her brothers and sister.  As luck (?) would have it, another of our foster homes has a similar condition in residence so Mally packed her little bags and moved there for the time being.  As I was expecting her departure under happy circumstances, to say I was devastated would be an absolute understatement.

Because Mally's condition was so contagious, we could not be certain that her brothers and sister were completely in the clear.  The vet advised waiting and watching for a week before proceeding with their move to the adoption center.  Since my house was already overcrowded and overstressed, we made the heartbreaking decision to move our Adams foster babies to another foster home.  They went to a great foster mother who was bringing her current litter to Petco on Saturday when I was supposed to be dropping mine off.  As long as the rest of the Adams are symptom-free next Saturday, they will make the trek to Petco then.

Bye Bye, my sweet boy.  I'll see you very soon.

The kittens were at Petco for a short time Saturday afternoon while we made the moving arrangements.  They drew considerable attention from three separate families who were interested in adoption.  Once these babies return to Petco, I have absolutely no doubt that they will be snatched up in a flash

**I'm being purposefully vague about the diagnosis because, truthfully, it doesn't really matter as long as it's treatable.  My new view on life includes not focusing on the drama of the "what" (i.e. the f-word or the r-word or whatever other word it might be).  Instead, we just need to do what we need to do to get through it.

Henry and the Girls

Henry, Abby, and Tika (known in shorthand around my house as HAT) continue to improve.  I can no longer hear Henry breathing from across the room.  They are playful, sweet, loving little beings who have absolutely no business being left unadopted for so long.  They're suffering from "Brown Tabby Syndrome".... people think they're a dime a dozen and forget to meet the personality behind the stripes.  And believe me, these guys have loads of personality to spare.

Upon entering the upstairs foster room (aka my family room), you are assured of three things:

***The first is that Henry will try to escape.  He will probably succeed which then necessitates running down and up the stairs to return him to the proper room.

"Henry has absolutely no idea what the Lady is talking about..."

He looks calm and sweet in this picture.  Looks can be deceiving.

Oh heck, he is still an exceptionally sweet boy... with an escape fetish.

***The second thing is that Abby will be rubbing herself on whichever body part of yours is easiest to reach.  She is the sweetest kitten I have ever met.  All she wants to do is love you (Are you listening, Universe??  Get this kitten someone to love!)

Our Miss Abby has those same big round bug eyes like Baz did.

***The third thing is that you will step in a large puddle of water and that the kittens' water bowl has usually been emptied courtesy of Tika.  No idea what makes the girl feel the need to splash and spill three-quarters of the water bowl on the walls and floor before she drinks, but she had this reputation at Petco and she's living up to it here.

"Does this face look like the face of trouble to you?"

Why, yes... Yes, it does.

A bonus video for you:

The Jeffersons

The Jeffersons would like to have moved on down to the deluxe foster room on the first floor, but we're in a period of sterilization before they can move in.  The current plan is to move them in on Wednesday.

While we were gone, the kittens acquired upright ears.  One day last week, I walked into their room after an absence of a couple of hours to find that their ears have boinged right to the tops of their heads.

Florence the intrepid explorer found her way out of the linen closet.  She was closely followed by Lionel.  Roxie, Clay, and Willie Rae stayed behind straining at the plastic crate in their way and mewing pitifully to join the adventure.  We've done a bit of rearranging to give our developing kittens more freedom.  Mama's not so sure she approves.

"Yeah, Florence found the escape hatch.  Did the Lady think we were going to live in a closet forever??"

Hanging out under the bathroom cabinet by the door to the hallway.  I guess Miss Flo is plotting another escape.

"No, Lady... really... Lionel wasn't going anywhere.  You can put him back down now."

Clay is developing darker flame points.  His eyes are clearing up, too.  And while he seems rough and tough and big and brave while exploring the bathroom... he looks a teeny bit scared of it all.

((Yes, those are my flannel pajama pants stuffed under the door.  I put them there when I was flea treating the carpet outside the bathroom and didn't want to affect Mother Jefferson and the babies.  Clay has decided they make an excellent place to sit... so I left them there.))

"Hey!  Clay is NOT skeered!  Clay is just amazed and horrified at the state of this bathroom!"

Yes, Clay... so am I.  Who knew how messy you were?

Oh yeah... and we've got trouble:

"Hey Roxie... you've got funny ears.  You know what that means, don't you?  Your mama dresses you funny!"

"Fight, fight, fight!!  Clay's got next!"

Your Saturday Story of Cute:  Clay followed Mama over to the kibble plate.  Mama scooted over so Clay could watch her eat.  Clay sniffed the kibble.  He looked at Mama.  Clay began pushing himself under Mama because he apparently prefers milk to kibble.  Mama scooted over so she could continue eating.  This could have continued all day... well, except for the point where Mama ran into the wall and had nowhere else to go.

Your Sunday Story of Awesomeness:  What a difference a few days make.  Our babies went from helpless little creatures, scared of everything but Mama, screaming every single time a human picked them up to curious little beings, tumbling out of every corner of the room to greet their visitors, demanding attention, and trying to climb into laps. Willie Rae was the first to accomplish the lap sit on her own Sunday morning.  

Porter

Just don't get me started about people who adopt kittens without thinking about what it means to have a kitten... let alone adopting two kittens without thinking it completely through.  Porter is back at Petco through no fault of his own.  The reasons don't really matter.  I'm bummed for my sweet boy, but this just means that he was meant to find another family.

How could anyone not want this sweet baby boy?  Seriously... I'm staying away from Petco for now.  First, it would break my heart to see him back there.  Second, I would have to fight myself from bringing him home too.

In a way, I'm glad that the Adams kids aren't at Petco at the moment.  They're so much smaller than him that they were bound to be unfair competition.  If you could send good luck vibes to our little Porkchop, I would very much appreciate it.

Epilogue

I nearly quit fostering on Saturday.  I cried.  I threatened to walk away.  Actually, I threatened to drop all of the foster cats currently in residence off at Petco and let someone else deal with it.  Letting go of the Adams babies was something I had to do.  It was best for their healing and it is best for my stress level.  I felt guilty, as if I had done something wrong.  Truth be told, there is still a part of me that does.  I blew off a major amount of steam laced with a considerable number of curse words.  And then it was time for me to get back to work.  But I've realized that I can only do whatever I can do.  Then it's "let go and let God".  I took the rest of the day off to enjoy my daughter's first high school dance (no, I didn't chaperone and horn in on her good time but I did enjoy the process and the picture taking).  I put my feet up and let things be for the night.  Tomorrow is always another day.

But if I'm not here with a new post tomorrow, just know that I'll be back sooner than later... and that we're all just fine.  I'm merely taking the time to enjoy my babies a little bit more (the furry and the human kind).

PPS--- I figure I'd better wrap up the things over which I have been specific in the past.  Charlie and Norman's r-word tests are now officially negative.  Their fur is growing back without treatment anyway.  We'll never know for sure what it was, but at least it's gone.  We f-bombed three rooms in the house on Saturday night... the front foster room, the basement, and the garage (Do the basement and garage count as rooms?)  I'm not certain if everything is gone from the main house, but I do know that with determined vacuuming, lots of laundry, and carpet/upholstery treatments there is definitely less to deal with.  The permanents can have another topical treatment on Friday... I'm told by several sources that you can do 21 days safely instead of 30.  I'm also hearing that Frontline is less effective this year, so gang will be getting Advantage II instead.  If those little f's are not gone already, we will diligently remove them over the next week.

Happy Fall!  Let's celebrate!

"Simba will help with the snacks."