Resident Ginger cat approves...............



Happy caturday!

I won a "Butterfly Garden" in a contest sponsored by a nursery. 6 plants, fertilizer and 50 lbs compost. We took a couple of old gates found in a junk store in Missouri and made it into it's own spot.

Happy Caturday all!

New foster kitty! Pumpkin's been staying with me for just over a week now. I'd guess he was somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks when I got him - his eyes were just open, his ears were mostly folded over, and he could walk a bit. Now he's gained 150g, can run and climb and stalk invisible things, and is starting to be more cat-like. He still thinks eating solid food, using the litter box, and taking care of his own hygiene are for suckers. I've never had an orphan this young before, so I'm so relieved to see him doing well.

My cat Coal is taking her usual approach. "I'm sooo mad at you. But that sad little thing needs a mom. Dammit," She had 2 litters before age 1 before I adopted her, and she's got a strong maternal instinct. Whenever the little guy cries because I'm cleaning him or waiting for his bottle to warm, she runs over to investigate and gives me this look letting me know I'm an incompetent cat mom, then grouchily grooms the kitten and sits on him. When he gets a bit older she'll play with him and teach him how to be a cat.

BTW, if any of you have ever considered fostering, this might be a good time to do i if you cant. Because of the warm winter, kitten season's started early and the shelter is packed. Orphans need a lot of care, but queens with kittens are relatively easy. Mom does all the work.

tigerose: angrycrank: New foster kitty! Pumpkin's been staying with me for just over a week now. I'd guess he was somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks when I got him - his eyes were just open, his ears were mostly folded over, and he could walk a bit. Now he's gained 150g, can run and climb and stalk invisible things, and is starting to be more cat-like. He still thinks eating solid food, using the litter box, and taking care of his own hygiene are for suckers. I've never had an orphan this young before, so I'm so relieved to see him doing well.

My cat Coal is taking her usual approach. "I'm sooo mad at you. But that sad little thing needs a mom. Dammit," She had 2 litters before age 1 before I adopted her, and she's got a strong maternal instinct. Whenever the little guy cries because I'm cleaning him or waiting for his bottle to warm, she runs over to investigate and gives me this look letting me know I'm an incompetent cat mom, then grouchily grooms the kitten and sits on him. When he gets a bit older she'll play with him and teach him how to be a cat.

BTW, if any of you have ever considered fostering, this might be a good time to do i if you cant. Because of the warm winter, kitten season's started early and the shelter is packed. Orphans need a lot of care, but queens with kittens are relatively easy. Mom does all the work.

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Good on you, and your kitteh Coal. My cat Eli came to us already fixed...All of my cats have been spayed/neutered..I even had my Guinea pig done...one litter was enough! And you are right kitten season is upon us. Our local no kill shelter held a spay/neuter clinic. The sold out all 200! Appts in less than 24 hrs. Shows people want to do it, but it needs to be really cheap...in this case 20.00...

The Toronto Humane Society's raising money for a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. It can't happen soon enough! It cost about $250 to spay Coal when I lived in Northern Ontario, and almost $500 (!) to do my second cat (actually, more properly Coal's cat :) Luna here in Toronto. Tough to raise on a freelancer's income, but it was a priority for me. You can get it done for around $100 through the city, but the location is almost completely inaccessible by public transit and appointments take months to get.

I love having the fosters, and because it's a slow time of year, I have time to do it - though I admit I'll be very happy when he's on solid food and can eliminate on his own. It's tough giving them up, but all of my fosters have either gone to great homes I helped find or found families within hours - sometimes minutes - of being made available for adoption by the humane society.

I do wish Pumpkin had a mom and littermates. He's kind of bored and lonely, and Coal will only tolerate him for a bit - he wants to nurse off her, and she's having none of it. This pic shows just how tiny he is.

ya gotta sleep sometime: Last picture, all three little guys together. Hopefully someone can come up with an appropriate caption.


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OMG the middle guy looks just like Pumpkin. congrats!