I'm going to be a foster mum (granny?)!

[TwigTheWonderKid]

We lost our beautiful, gentle DC Amber at the beginning of May and have been patiently (and not so patiently) waiting for a pair of kittens to fill the massive cat-shape hole in our home and hearts.

Waiting lists for kittens at resscues where we live a ridiculously long so I found myself the other day respnding to a Facebook message asking for foster families for mums and kittens and I've just found out we are picking up a mum and her 4 babies tomorrow!

Super-excited but also a bit nervous. Poor mum gave birth a week ago and now is being uprooted into a unknown home. Just wondering if anyone has any tips?

@mostlydrinkstea

We are on our third litter of fosters. I love them all and it is very rewarding to see them off into their new homes. Last year we were a ten cat household with mum, six kitts and my three. That is a lot of cat poo.

And a lot of Dreamies!

Oh how lovely.

We lost our beloved cat recently and thinking about a new fluffy family member maybe Christmas time.

We do still have another cat though (old male) so not sure on the logistics of age/gender.

I've never had a kitten (always fall for the ones no one else will adopt) but wondering if it might cause the least cat fights.

Your fosters are just so gorgeous. Especially mum, please do keep her, what a gorgeous girl. I think I'd be tempted to keep her and one kitten.

I think you have to be a bit careful with young kittens and elderly cats @CarrieFour as a boisterous kitten can really piss off and older cat. But probably a pair of kittens would work?

Yes I think you're right.

We'll wait and see what happens. I'm not in much rush for a new one but it would be nice as I do prefer having 2 cats.

I'm wondering if maybe a smaller cat of a year or two old who will allow existing cat to be the dominant one might work better? Just wasn't sure if a kitten would prove to be less of a threat to him?

He's 12 and very lazy but is pretty social so it's so hard to know what's the best for him.

@CarrieFour if you have a decent independent cat rescue place near you, I'd talk to them. These people are complete cat experts and should be able to advise you generally and then hopefully find the right cat or kitten for your situation.

This is the most gorgeous thread.

Are we taking bets on Mr Twig becoming a very proud and devoted foster daddy and then refusing to let them go?

@TwigTheWonderKid I heard it works best if you keep all of the cats...!?

😛

oh oh, look out Twiglet family! We fostered a mum and three kittens. One kitten got rehomed and we kept the mum and the two others. That was many years ago and we have one of the kittens still with us - he is 13 years old now.
Bet you keep them all!

Oh! The eyeball fairy is making her visits! I oboe watching foster kitties. Thank you for sharing, OP!

Oh good god autocorrect. Not Oboe. Love!

So in today's kitten news Mummy Cat has relocated all the kittens to the far corner of under the bed. There is a spare mattress under there, so we can't get at them at all. Not sure why, they were all in the cage last night when we wentt bed and she's still as friendly as ever but it's a right pain. So I have just spent the last hour or so constructing the cat equvilent of The Ritz (The Kitz?!) , with kitten bedroomand a separate chill out area for mum to have some "Me Time", all in a lovely, spacious, yet cosy, tented area. What's the betting she'll have none of it?!

Hmmmm. Cat mum knows what she wants!

How are you all today, twig?

They are all still under the blooming bed, which is fine except I have to execute a commando-style crawl and roll thing to extract them for weighing but more worrying, little Tabby's eye is still not open so I think I'm going to have to separate him and take him to the vet . I'm so worried that he'll find it really stressful and also very worried about how Mummy Cat will feel.

On the up side they are starting to stumble around under the bed, which is very cute to watch! (and at least I get a lie down while I'm doing it...)

Oh no, poor Tabby. Are you bathing it in saline? I hope he's okay.

They are gorgeous.This thread has made me broody for kittens but I don’t think my boy cat would tolerate one so it wouldn’t be fair on him. I’ll just have make do with pictures so keep them coming!

So, Tabby's second eye finally opened on Wednesday! Hooray! But then Little Black & White looked like it had an eye infection. Boo! So Mr Twig, who as you may remember was a bit grumpy about all of this to begin with, insisted that I take the entire litter and mum to the vet to be checked over. Honestly, I don't thnk he was this attentive to his own children when they were newborns. Anyway, vet thinks it's probably conjunctivitis and confirmed Tabby, Snowy and Smudge are all boys and Little Black & Whitey is the only girl of the litter. Feel like she should have a proper name now!

So cute and photogenic!!

Well I do declare! Mr twig is in lurve with the gorgeous grimes of his parish.

I quite like the name Scarlett?!

This is like dh insisting I ring the cattery every morning to check ours was ok. Mr Twig is a big softy.

Felines not grimes! Sorry it’s Friday.

Wow, beautiful!

Ahh they are gorgeous , hope their eyes are ok ,

But you know you really reallly have to let them go , there are ( apparently ) huge waiting lists for kittens ( I wouldn't know , my female cat has Spider Senses and comes over to bite head bopp me if I even type a Rescue search into the computer )

Your mission will be complete and you can apply yourself to the next Mum/Kitten group that will be desperately waiting for your help .

'Tis a good thing you do

So pleased to see more lovely photos! Have you decided which you will keep, OP?

@Judystilldreamsofhorses

So pleased to see more lovely photos! Have you decided which you will keep, OP?

Nope, still no idea. Though little Tabby Two-Eyes is very friendly.

They are so lovely! I do hope you keep mummy cat, she is so like our girl who is the most gentle, funny cat ever.