Kitten fostering? Fostering kittenens? Whatever. I haz kittehs.
I mentioned earlier that I have 4 foster kittens. Not for long. All have been adopted and 3 are going off to their adoptive families tomorrow morning. The fourth kitten will stay with us for the month of November until her family returns from Thanksgiving. This is good because having 4 adorable kittens for 5 weeks can do strange things to your system and the withdrawals are BAD. You don't want to cut that off cold turkey.
Last year when we had foster kittens we immediately named them, we let them sleep with us and we nursed them from near death to super, fuzzy cuteness. They all left within 48 hours of each other after 6 weeks and I'll admit I was very depressed and lonely that first day they were gone.
This time around I tried a different tactic. I didn't name the kittens (only then I realized I needed to call them something so they ended up with silly nicknames), they slept in their own room together, and I tried to treat them like a nurse would treat a patient.
"Hello, kitty. Here's your food. Oh, look at that poopy. Let's clean that. Here is a toy."
That kind of treatment lasted about a day. Kittens need socializing! And they need love, of course. So, sure, I kissed them and snuggled with them and let them all pile on me when I watched tv. I let them bat at my knitting needles and I made aluminum foil balls for them and I let them assist in pumpkin carving (no, not really) and I let them melt my heart. Somehow, I think this time I'll be okay. I'm prepared. I know they are going to great homes. I know that soon enough they will be big kitties and will not ooze the drug that I need. The kitten drug. Sorry, it's true. I'm addicted to kitten.
Tomorrow Tortie and Nurse Kitten will go off with their family and Paul will go off with his family (related to Tortie and Nurse Kitten's family btw, which is awesome and I so hope they stay in touch -- do cats care about staying in touch?) and Sister will hang out with me and she'd better ooze a lot of kitten goodness to make up for the rest of them. I think she can handle it.
Tortie (also known as Taco, Enchilada and Mexican food):
Nurse Kitten:
Paul:
Sister:
I'm always SO tempted to foster kittens, but my husband and I would both have such a hard time letting them go. I'm afraid we'd adopt one from every litter.