Highlights from Kitten Season 2013

We are gearing up for Kitten Season 2014 so I thought I'd do a compilation of all the kittens we fostered last year.

For those who aren't aware, Kitten Season is the time of year, usually spring, when nature decides unaltered cats will begun breeding kittens.  If you think about all the feral strays running loose and add between six and 24 kittens in a single year who will grow up to live brutal short lives (parasites, disease, human cruelty, predators) or survive (5 months) to breed MORE ferals, well, that's the philanthropic reason we foster kittens for a local rescue organization. 
In 2013 we fostered 22 kittens!  That's 22 kittens that will not breed more street cats and all have forever homes.

The other reason is because we get kitten fever and if we foster, we can have constant kittens pitter-pattering around the house, half the year.  Hot and cold running kittens!  It's a lot of fun! 


So here's a collection of our 2013 kittens! 

Our first foster family.  Mimsy and her kittens

Forest, Bubba, Jenny, and Lt Dan

She was a trilly cat and always spoke in pretty trills.  We adopted one of our 2nd fosters and he grew up with Bubba (black cats have a hard time getting adopted) so our boy learned to trill too.  Even though Mimsy and her babies have all been adopted, our Professor Fuzziewinkle trills pretty songs to us as his normal language.

The Professor!

Previous Blog Entries for 2013
All about fostering kittens
Naming kittens is serious business (grey themed kitten names)
Military themed names for kittens
Kittens are being adopted!
Mardi Gras themed names for kittens
How to make super cute collars for kittens!
The BEST most AMUSING nail caps for kittens that I found on Amazon!

Cutie pie, Miranda loved to nurse!

Her brother was so pretty and got adopted so quick, we never had a chance to name him

Comet and a couple from the grey litter.  That little fella with the blue collar was a teddy bear, wasn't he?  We always called him Chub-Chub.  

fur like a dandelion

Our last litter was our Mystick Krewe with Mardi Gras names

Do you want to know how long Zydeco lasted?

That boy was adopted so quick, I never even knew what his favorite toy was!

Has this made you want to foster some kittens this year?  They are precious, aren't they?

The List

Undoubtedly, you're going to need a few things if you're about to accept a kindle of kittens into your home, especially if you already have cats.  Now some of this, you can buy in your grocery store or your pet store.  But sometimes the prices are much better on Amazon. 

• Be sure your own pets are all current on their shots.  Kittens off the street can and usually do have some issues.  Most importantly until the street urchins have been tested for Feline Leukemia, keep them quarantined and separated from your pets!
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• Sprinkle your carpets and furniture with boric acid.  Fleas jump off and will hide in the fabric and then jump right back on your animals.  And you.  I used to be able to buy this locally but now it's all boric acid mixed with roach pesticide and I don't want that all over the house.  Boric acid isn't a pesticide, it's a mineral, mined out of the ground.  It clogs up the fleas and they dry up and die.  Don't get it wet and don't vacuum it out too soon.  
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• Have a flea comb and Dawn dishwashing liquid.  Little tiny kittens can't be treated with chemicals for fleas.  You can't flea dip them.  You can bathe them with Dawn which will choke the fleas out and use a tiny comb to find those nasty parasites.  As long as you keep a clean house (boric acid, your own pets flea treated) the fleas won't spread and the infestation may die out completely by the time the kittens are old enough to be treated. 
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• Buy a box of Large Dog Advantage II and get a needless syringe from your rescue org, they have tons of these so don't be shy.  The flea treatment is the exact same formula for cats AND dogs!  So you buy in bulk and save money and if you apply it exactly, with a syringe, there's no waste! .  I bought mine on Amazon, best price I've seen, but look around and check.    Here's the formula:

Cats up to 9 pounds - 0.4ml
Cats 10+ pounds - 0.8ml
Dogs 11-20 pounds - 1.0ml
Dogs 21-55 pounds - 2.5ml
Dogs 55+ pounds - 4.0ml

• Have extra litter boxes.  More animals in the house mean more poop.  And if you're not willing to scoop twice a day, deal with messy kitten bathroom blunders, and cajole your pets who now don't like newcomers in THEIR sanctuary, then DO rethink how you're going to foster kittens.  And we do have a kitten-sized litter box.  Sometimes you don't need it but when you do, it makes a huge difference. 
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• Have some L-lysine supplements.  You might even have some already, just be sure that it does not contain propylene glycol.  I have some that I bought locally at the grocery store.  They also sell it at GNC.  You can buy it in small amounts FOR cats all flavored and everything, but it's expensive and you'll use up a bag in a week.  Why do you need L-lysine?  Herpes.  Cat herpes.  Sometimes your own cats might get that drippy eye thing?  If it gets really bad or they're young (or old, or sick) it will spread to both eyes and they eyes can then get infected and it's just a mess.  Have you seen it?  Well, it's extremely contagious so if one little kitty gets it, I can assure you that the rest will get it too.  Kittens have no immune system so if one widdle bitty eye starts running, it's going to get a lot worse in a short amount of time.  Been there, done that.  You can buy it in powder or gel or treats.  Like I said, I just buy the human pills locally.  Full size cats get half a pill.  Kittens get 1/4th of a pill.  If you absolutely can't pill a cat, buy the lysine treats and hope they like the taste.  If you kitten's eyelid gets all pink and swollen outside of her normal eyelid, that's infection.  See your rescue org's vet right away.  They'll give you a cream for the eye.  Don't worry, it's very very common.  They see this one allllll the time. 

Are you ready?