Our Ears Finally Grew

Lily finally has some ears. She is expecially lovable and likes to be the first to greet me each day.

This is Lily and Poppy's first time in the den. They enjoyed smelling the carpet.

Hello, Miss Darling. I need to find a first name for you.

"Hey, I don't like the flash." says Cosmo.

Hawthorn says, "I smell another cat."

Did I mention that Miss Darling is a great mom? The foster kittens are lucky to have her. She likes to get in my lap and knead her paws and get undivided attention while her babies are scampering around.

What's In A Name

I like a theme. This batch of foster kittens are going to be named for flowers. This little lady is Poppy. Not long after she was born, her eyes started getting matted together. She is the only one who had this problem. I started getting worried about her. Every day, twice a day, I took warm, wet cotton balls and cleaned her eyes. Poppy is all better now!

The two boys are named Cosmo and Hawthorn. I pretend to know which is which.

This is Poppy before her eyes got better. The other little lady (the gray one) is Lilly.

I still need to come up with a few more names.

These foster kittens have especially beautiful eyes. Right now, their eyes are blue. Hopefully, they will stay that way.

Foster Kitten Pictures

Since the foster kittens are so small, they sleep a lot and spend most of their time inside the crate. Abbie decided to join them!

Maybe I just have a bad memory, but this set of foster kittens have seemed to do everything earlier than the last batch of foster kittens. The Darlings have opened their eyes already.

6 foster kittens = 5 orange kittens, 1 gray kitten, 4 girl kittens, 2 boy kittens

"We're identical!"

The Darlings

Until we come up with names, I've been calling her Miss Mama. I've been so lucky to get such sweet mama cats. She is very tame and lovable. After her meal, she starts purring loudly to let me know that she is ready to be petted.

Look at those little ear nubbins! This is the only foster kitten that is this color - similar to the mom's coloring but yet a little lighter with more orange.

There are 5 orange kittens - I cannot tell them apart! This is my pretty niece who is going to help us name the foster kittens.

TA - DA!

We've given the foster kittens a last name - Darling.

Day 2 with New Foster Family

I've got to come up with a last name for the new foster kittens.

Not much to report today - no pictures either.

I started feeding the mom canned food today. THAT really makes her happy! The kittens look fine. I've been to visit them several times today, and they are always asleep in a heap. I like their new set up - the shelter had the foster kittens in a huge dog crate, and they let me bring the crate home. The crate keeps them off the cold concrete floor, and there are several thick layers of blankets in the crate. I checked - by crawling in - and it's warm and cozy in there.

I can't wait until the kittens get more active.

Friday Jones Has A .....

Friday Jones has a ............ home!

This home - he's staying with us! I officially adopted him today, November 2.

Second Foster Family

Meet our new foster kittens!

This, of course, is the mom.

Today, we drove to the Unicoi County Animal Shelter to pick up a new batch of foster kittens. The babies were born on October 26, 2009 so they are about one week old.

We haven't named the foster family yet. I don't think the shelter named the mother yet - if they did, they didn't tell me.

It is actually difficult to say yes to host another batch of foster kittens. I was a little hesitant to say yes this time. Not sure why.

But once you get to the shelter and SEE the foster family, all the doubts fade away. A sense of purpose and happiness floats in and digs itself in your heart on the drive home.

While I was at the shelter, Paul was at Lowes buying the supplies we would need to make a better enclosure for the foster kittens and to keep our cats away from the family for now. Mother cats don't particularly like strange cats - especially males - around their kittens. For health purposes, we also need to keep everyone separated.

The mother cat is sweet and agreeable. The foster kittens are tiny and one or two are starting to open their eyes. Last time, we had five foster kittens. This time, we have SIX foster kittens. So far, 5 of the kittens appear to be the exact same color - I don't know how we'll tell them apart. One kitten looks just like the mom.

I'll keep you posted!