2011 Kitten Season has Arrived!

Anyone who has been around me the last two months has seen my increasing irritation at not having a batch of kittens to foster. In reality, I’m always glad when there aren’t unwanted orphan kittens around, there are definitely too many of them. On the other hand, there ARE too many of them, and I want my share to foster, raise, and find great forever homes!

Last week it got bad enough that I stopped at a couple of new vets to drop my Moo Cards off and let them know I’m available. My friends, who are always looking out for me, started sending me links from Craigslist about possible kittens. One such link wasn’t really what I could help with (she had a singleton who was rejected, and was looking for a lactating mama) but I sent her an email of support just in case. It turns out she was local, had a ton of experience, and really was just as qualified as I am to raise the little one she had. But she was delighted to hear from me, and we emailed back and forth. It turns out she lives right by my school, and only about 3 miles from my house, so we arranged for me to stop by and meet her the following day.

I got to meet tiny little Stryke:

And also her adorable litter of three six-week old marmalade kittens:

They are lovebugs! And they kind of put me into high alert for the beginning of KITTEN SEASON!!! This is unusually late in the year for kitten season – it usually starts by February or early March. But this year, with all the rain, it’s been … well, let’s just say that I’ve been jonesin’ for my foster kitten fix and leave it at that!

So yesterday, I saw this ad on Craigslist:
A friend of mine found a paper bag on the side of the road in the Oakland hills yesterday containing 5 newborn kittens (nice people, I know). They’re VERY young (under 3 days old, their umbilical cords are still attached, and eyes are still closed.) She brought them to me because I am an experienced foster and have cared for many litters of orphaned kittens, but unfortunately the timing is very wrong, even though I’d love to help these little ones. I have two kids, a job, and attend school and don’t have time in my schedule to feed them every 2-3 hours, etc. There were 5, but my friend gave two of them to people at her church group, so now there are only 3. They take the bottle well, and seem to be in good health given the situation. I am looking for preferably a rescue that would be able to take these babies on and eventually place them in loving adoptive homes. Would consider an EXPERIENCED foster that can do the same but would really like them to go to a reputable rescue (I’ll be calling around as well) to ensure they are placed with a foster that will provide them with proper care. They’re definitely little heart melters, as all kittens are! Please reply by email as soon as possible, I’ll be checking it often. Thanks so much for the help!

So, yes, I emailed. At least twice. And this morning I woke up to a response saying she thought I’d be a good fit, so I went to get the little tykes!

They still need names, but please meet my new tiny foster kittens!

A tiny black boy (I think this is him):

A porker of a black girl:

And a female tabby:

(All genders may be reassigned as needed as better information comes in.)

They’re eating and sleeping and pooping well, so I’m pretty happy with how things are going so far

Name suggestions welcome!