The Kitten Chronicles, Redux

It’s kitten season! I love kitten season, and I hate kitten season. Kittens are absolutely adorable and so much fun. But there are so many of them all summer, and the sad truth is that when there are kittens available at the animal shelter, the wonderful adult cats tend to stay longer waiting to be adopted. Until the spay/neuter message really gets out there, there are more kittens than the shelters can care for. In steps the foster brigade, of which I am a proud member since last summer. The foster team at the East Bay SPCA, led by Joseph and Mimi, does awesome work facilitating the program.

After a short winter break, we have our new guests in the foster quarters, aka the guest bathroom. Mother kitty Mars came to us with her 5 babies on April 9 when they were about 4 days old. Of course, I immediately fell in love with them all!

Mars is such a devoted mother, after 2 weeks still only leaving them to eat and use the litter box.

And the babies, though still tiny, get bigger and more active every day. Their eyes are open now. Even though Twix is the smallest, she was first to see the world!

Their personalities are also starting to shine through. Dove is the loudest and the pushiest, always in best position at the milk bar and most likely to be on top of the kitten pile. Milky Way was the first to purr, and is like a cuddly, sleepy teddy bear. The orange twins, Reeses and Snickers, are always together. Snickers is defnitely going to be the Classic Orange Tabby. And little Twix, feisty and determined but still a mama’s girl. She’s the one who tugs on my heart strings.

The family has been with us 2 weeks now. The kittens had a weigh-in yesterday; Reeses is the biggest at 11 ounces, Snickers, Dove, and Milky Way all came in at 10 ounces, with little Twix pulling up the rear at 8 ounces. Just remember, great things come in small packages!

They change every day. More fun times and updates ahead!