Fall 2010 - Gray Kittens
The shelter got an urgent call in the fall of 2010 for a group of nursing moms that were set to be euthanized at a local animal control facility. Initially there were four but before they could find shelters to take them, one mom and her litter were euthanized. One of the moms, Gloria, had a litter of two black kittens who were 6 weeks old. Also in the group that was brought over from animal control was a litter of 2 week old kittens with no mom. So, the decision was made to take the two older black kittens and continue to foster them with another group of older kittens and take the 2 week old kittens and put them with Gloria. At least it seemed like a good idea. Gloria had other ideas.
We rubbed the babies together to exchange the scents of her original two with the four new kittens and made the switch. She didn't blink an eye and the babies began nursing almost immediately. Her two babies were playing and napping with their new siblings just as quickly and didn't seem to miss their mom at all. However, things didn't go as smoothly once I got them home.
Gloria did not bond with these kittens and with the available space of the bedroom at her disposal, she quickly separated herself from the babies and refused to spend time with them. When I tried placing her on the floor near them, she'd hiss at them. The only way I could ensure she would remain accessible for the kittens to nurse was to put her and the babies in a kennel. Unable to get away from the kittens, she would let them nurse. She did not, however, attempt to tend to their grooming needs so that task fell to me. As soon as the kittens were old enough to start learning how to eat and drink from bowls, I quickly went to work getting them trained. I figured the sooner we could get them eating and drinking on their own, the sooner the reluctant mom could go back to the shelter and work on getting adopted. She was also not terribly patient with them and I was concerned she might inadvertently hurt one of them.
The four kittens were all gray or gray and white tabbies. I named them Fletcher, Gareth, Raisa and Soren. No particular theme this time. I just liked the names. Oddly enough, the four kittens actually looked more like their surrogate mom than her own kittens did. Initially, mom and babies were kept in the kennel except when I was in the room with them. The babies were so young that they still needed ready access to her milk and to cuddle for warmth. Once they began eating on their own, I would put Gloria and the babies in a large carrier while I cleaned so that they could nurse without Gloria constantly trying to move away from them. However, I let them roam free even when I wasn't there. The kittens were getting to the stage of needing to explore and I figured it would make Gloria less stressed if she wasn't cooped up with them all the time in a small area.
A couple of weeks later, Gloria pretty much stopped nursing them. It's about the time she would have weaned her own kids if they were still nursing. As the kittens were doing well on the kitten formula and solid food, the lack of milk from Gloria was not a problem. At that point, I returned her to the shelter so she could have her spay surgery and be put up for adoption.
The kittens continued to thrive and didn't seem to miss Gloria's absence. They were very cute and particularly photogenic so I ended up getting some very cute photos of them. Before long, they joined Gloria at the shelter and were soon adopted.
We rubbed the babies together to exchange the scents of her original two with the four new kittens and made the switch. She didn't blink an eye and the babies began nursing almost immediately. Her two babies were playing and napping with their new siblings just as quickly and didn't seem to miss their mom at all. However, things didn't go as smoothly once I got them home.
Gloria did not bond with these kittens and with the available space of the bedroom at her disposal, she quickly separated herself from the babies and refused to spend time with them. When I tried placing her on the floor near them, she'd hiss at them. The only way I could ensure she would remain accessible for the kittens to nurse was to put her and the babies in a kennel. Unable to get away from the kittens, she would let them nurse. She did not, however, attempt to tend to their grooming needs so that task fell to me. As soon as the kittens were old enough to start learning how to eat and drink from bowls, I quickly went to work getting them trained. I figured the sooner we could get them eating and drinking on their own, the sooner the reluctant mom could go back to the shelter and work on getting adopted. She was also not terribly patient with them and I was concerned she might inadvertently hurt one of them.
The four kittens were all gray or gray and white tabbies. I named them Fletcher, Gareth, Raisa and Soren. No particular theme this time. I just liked the names. Oddly enough, the four kittens actually looked more like their surrogate mom than her own kittens did. Initially, mom and babies were kept in the kennel except when I was in the room with them. The babies were so young that they still needed ready access to her milk and to cuddle for warmth. Once they began eating on their own, I would put Gloria and the babies in a large carrier while I cleaned so that they could nurse without Gloria constantly trying to move away from them. However, I let them roam free even when I wasn't there. The kittens were getting to the stage of needing to explore and I figured it would make Gloria less stressed if she wasn't cooped up with them all the time in a small area.
A couple of weeks later, Gloria pretty much stopped nursing them. It's about the time she would have weaned her own kids if they were still nursing. As the kittens were doing well on the kitten formula and solid food, the lack of milk from Gloria was not a problem. At that point, I returned her to the shelter so she could have her spay surgery and be put up for adoption.
The kittens continued to thrive and didn't seem to miss Gloria's absence. They were very cute and particularly photogenic so I ended up getting some very cute photos of them. Before long, they joined Gloria at the shelter and were soon adopted.