Monday, November 17, 2008

Little Annie's Orphans


Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," sacred to the Egyptian pantheon! If there's a Goddess of Cats out there, She is Mighty.

Just the other day I fretted that my three foster kittens would languish in the shelter like enemy combattants, times being what they are. Nevertheless, on Sunday I had to take them in. When they start galloping, it's time.

On the way to the shelter in their coop, they did every single gross thing a kitten can do. I will not elaborate. Let's just say I was glad that the shelter stocks plenty of hand sanitizer.

So I told them goodbye and good luck. And some bored goddess was listening.

Four hours later the shelter manager called. All three had been adopted. Two went to a couple newly moved into a home. The other one went to the couple's mother-in-law, who couldn't stand the idea of breaking up the litter.

Two or three times I've had people come to the house to see foster kittens prior to adoption. But this was the first time I ever dropped a litter off and saw them adopted out before they had to spend a night under the shelter roof.

Here's to happy beginnings!
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7 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

i see the goddess has been busy...taking care of anne's pussies.

sageweb said...

Bummer I was really hoping the kittens would have been a xmas giveaway.

Anonymous said...

Cats never fail to amaze me with their uncanny ability to survive and thrive. You done good! They done good! And the bored goddess of cats done good!

Erik said...

Good on that mother-in-law! That's how we wound up adopting two - they had been fostered together and were the last of the fostering group. (The third was thrust on us one day when Bastet was *really* bored. :)

KrisMrsBBradley said...

Hurray, hurray! I was worried about those buggers. I had already started buttering up Mr. B. that we might need a new cat or three... I'm so glad they all got a home and that they'll be at least somewhat together.

-Fred. said...

What good fortune!

This summer my wife and I "adopted" a stray mama cat just days before she had a litter of six kittens (well, seven, but one didn't last more than a few hours). It was fun taking care of a cat and her kittens for the first time, but as they got older we fretted about what we were going to do with them.

We got lucky; when they were old enough to go, we were able to adopt the kittens out in pairs to friends and co-workers. Whew!

Now, we're laboring through the long and drawn out process of socializing the mama cat with our two established cats. Not an easy feat with a territorial (previously stray) female in each group!

Got any tips for taming a scared (therefore overly aggressive) cat?

-Fred.

Anne Johnson said...

Fred, that was a good thing you did. Sadly, if the over-aggressive cat is an adult, there's not much you can do to change its behavior. My adult rescue cat came with a warning: "cannot get along with other cats." After two years we were more or less forced to take in a second boarder, a homeless teenaged mom cat. It's now 6 years later, and they still hiss and take swipes at each other ... every day.

If your mama cat is feral and shy, give her a part of the house to call her own and just let her hide in the corners. Some cats live their whole lives that way. It's heroic of you to give her a chance.