Kittens

Jeremy and I have been fostering 2 mama kitties and their litters. We have a momma tabby (Tabitha) and her 4 kittens who are now 3 1/2 weeks old now. We also have a black foster momma kitty and her two orange tiger striped kittens, (Pumpkin and Tiger Lily). The kitten's mother got lost or forgot where she put her kittens when they were found so they were placed with this momma kitty to see if she would accept them which she did, however it's been a struggle for her a bit because she's already raised her kittens and was very low on milk when they brought these kittens to her. They're all very adorable but a lot of work. Up until last night the tabby kittens have been sleeping in the upstairs bathroom bathtub. They are now in our bathtub in our bathroom. We originally had the other mom and kittens in the empty bedroom across our room but it was getting to be too noisy with so many cats so close at night and too much upkeep as the 3 week old kittens hadn't figured out what a litter box is, (they're still working on it, but it has gotten much better). We relocated the family to our downstairs laundry room and it has worked out much better for all involved. We soon discovered how loud the black momma kitty is so it really has been a move for the best.

This last weekend Tabitha got an infection and consequently can no longer nurse her kittens. Jeremy and I have had to bottle feed them about every 2-3 hours and try to keep them away from their mom so she can heal. Monday night at about 2am we were wakened by distressed kittens coming from our closet. Tabitha had been moving them to our closet to get our attention. Monday morning we were surprised to be greeted by the family in our family room. I had fed them there the night before which is the only reason we can conclude she brought them there. So I got up and fixed them some bottles. The best way I can describe the event was a feeding frenzy you normally witness sharks doing on nature channels. After about an hour their tummies were full and they went back to sleep until about 6am when they decided they were hungry again. Last night we weren't going to risk their mom depositing them in weird places or having to worry about her trying to nurse them and hurting herself more. She isn't supposed to nurse with the medicine we've been giving her. We moved the little family into our bathtub and kept the mom out of our room which worked for about 5 minutes until she drove us both crazy and we let her in our room. We fed them one last time around 11pm and they slept through the night, however we didn't. Tabitha was upset we wouldn't let her go to her kittens and told us all about it. She slept off and on upon our bed but made sure that we knew she was there by getting us up every hour or so.

Since her babies are only 3 weeks old and they can't be weaned for another 5 weeks, we're basically stuck being kitty parents full time. The black mom (we still can't find a good name for her that she'll pay attention to), has been our helper, cleaning and nursing when needed which I greatly appreciate. Tabitha can't really bath her kittens because the vet put a cone around her neck which she has let us know she doesn't appreciate one bit. Both Jeremy and I are totally sleep deprived and practically cringe when we hear demanding mews. We thought cats were supposed to be easy!