Oh!

[justginger]

It's been a while since I've shared any of our foster kitties here, but this one is just too cute! She was discovered with her feral mother and siblings, at about 4 weeks old, in the garden of my coworker's aunt. My coworker and her other family members managed to catch them, chose a kitten each, but were unable to capture the mother for sterilization. Unfortunately my coworker's husband turned out to be very allergic, so without other options, after 5 days of caring for the kitten, she handed "him" over to me for my rescue organization to assume care.

Initially this little one was petrified - hissed and spat whenever you approached. No playing, no fun, just scared. With a week of patience, introduction to feather toys and a nice soft brush (long haired, of course), and some tasty treats, SHE's really come out of her shell and turned into a snuggly motorboat (and a girl!). She can still be caught off guard and doesn't really like our big dogs, but she's currently asleep on my lap on the living room couch while I play on my laptop, content with the world. Her biggest complaint now is that she can't seem to get any milk out of my diamond earrings, nor find a nipple anywhere on my scalp.

Her name was chosen to be gender neutral, but is Oh, short for Oliver - since she was a street urchin!

Another 2-3 weeks and she'll be big enough for sterilization...and then on to her lucky new family!



Sorry for the terrible iphone photo, in dim lighting and she'll hardly keep still unless totally asleep.

 

[JewelFreak]

What a little sweetie pie! Halo for you! Hope she has a wonderful life with a family that truly loves her.

--- Laurie

 

[GlamMosher]

She is very cute! Do you foster for SAFE justginger? We just got a rescue kitty from SAFE last weekend.

 

[justginger]

I DO foster for SAFE, glam! I'm thrilled to see someone here that's not only heard of us, but has got one of our babies!! Which kitty did you adopt? Post a photo if you can, I'd love to see.

I really do love our organization - there are some extremely passionate, enthusiastic, and devoted people in it (especially the head of dogs, who is so busy saving the world from multiple directions that she must only sleep about 3 hours/night!). I am unsure what sort of ratio there is for the dog side of things (we've fostered 3 dogs, but can't continue to do so, as it's too taxing on my elderly great dane)...but for the cats, we have around 80-odd cats in care among 25 individuals. We're steadily raising money to build a central adoption area (and have emergency space in case of dire straights with no spare foster carers) so hopefully that will happen sometime in the future.

 

[GlamMosher]

Oh justginger, I think you people do an amazing job!!! When we went to pick ours out, the house was full of tumbling kittens and they had a backyard full of the cutest puppies.

This is our new girl. She is driving our other big boy mad at the moment.

First meeting


Keeping an eye out for the big brother, in case she misses an opportunity to pounce on him


Passed out from chasing her brother around


Edited to say she was called Delfi, but we have called her Dolly.

 

[justginger]

She's just gorgeous! I love kittens.

Your adult cat looks like a Blue. I actually fostered and subsequently adopted out one that looks very similar to my mother in law. He was at the Cat Haven, along with 3 siblings, his mother, and his mother's NEW set of kittens (approx 5 days old) and it was euth time. They were all to be put to sleep, but I took the mother, him, one of his sisters, and the new kittens (4 of them). The two siblings I left behind had serious aggression issues...and sadly, you simply can't save them all.

Having all of them in my house was NUTS. Thankfully the siblings were adopted in a couple of days, as were the other THREE cats we were currently fostering (though that's a lie...one of those three has never left and was my 'foster failure'...now the ruler of the whole household!), the new kittens were moved to another foster when old enough to be weaned, and the mother was adopted by a coworker.

I like the name Dolly. We really try to choose unique names, as it gets difficult with record keeping if you have 11 cats adopted out that were black and named Midnight. Our last batch of kittens were desserts -- Brulee, Pavlova, Eclair, and the like. 12 scrumptious desserts from a mother tipped to only have 3 kittens!

 

[iheartscience]

Aw, what a precious baby! Good for you for saving her! MOAR PICTURES PLZ!

And GlamMosher, I LOVE the pics of naughty Dolly, especially the one of her all puffed up meeting her big brother!

 

[lulu]

They're adorable. I just got back from our local shelter and one of ours was giving birth. Two and counting.Kitten season begins.

 

[movie zombie]

very very very cute......

 

[tyty333]

She is so CUTE! Where do you live? I'll be by to pick her up .

 

[stargurl78]

Oh my goodness! So cute!!!!

 

[madelise]

What a great thing you do for feral cats! I think OH is a cute name lol!

 

[Amys Bling]

Sooo cute

 

[justginger]

lulu, one hemisphere's season ends, the other begins. Thankfully our's wasn't too horrible this year - last year was far worse.

Ty, we're in Perth, so you can have a lovely holiday AND get a new family member!

 

[GlamMosher]

One more pic of Dolly & Puss (that's her brother's name, not his original name but what he ended up getting called). He likes to groom her but she keeps looking for a nipple and then he gets mad and bites her.

He is a blue, but more an oriental, shiny blue. She is a fluff ball scrag bag at the moment. I was looking for a silver tabby as I wanted them to not clash, but ended up with this bundle of madness.

 

[lulu]

Justginger-So many people are giving up older cats here because of the economy. Florida has really been hit hard.

 

[Gypsy]

Oh justginger, I think you people do an amazing job!!! When we went to pick ours out, the house was full of tumbling kittens and they had a backyard full of the cutest puppies.

This is our new girl. She is driving our other big boy mad at the moment.

First meeting

I love this picture!


Ginger you are doing a FABULOUS thing. I'd love more pictures as well!

 

[ZahraLeyla]

Glam and justginger - you two are so inspirational. I am on the volunteer list for The Cat Haven, but haven't received my training yet, so I feel really useless watching all you wonderful foster parents taking care of the poor cats while I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs. How does fostering work for you? We have two cats at home, and they're both Scottish Folds, and one in particular seems to be a carrier for the flu virus. I would love to foster kittens, but don't know whether that would be appropriate given Dougall's sneezing and spluttering.

 

[GlamMosher]

Glam and justginger - you two are so inspirational. I am on the volunteer list for The Cat Haven, but haven't received my training yet, so I feel really useless watching all you wonderful foster parents taking care of the poor cats while I'm sitting around twiddling my thumbs. How does fostering work for you? We have two cats at home, and they're both Scottish Folds, and one in particular seems to be a carrier for the flu virus. I would love to foster kittens, but don't know whether that would be appropriate given Dougall's sneezing and spluttering.

hi ZL, (holder of the Most Amazing Ring title), you will have to reserve your admiration for justginter, as all i did was adopt a little furball. I would love to be able to foster, but alas, one little crazy chick is almost too much for me. I honestly can't wait till she grows up to be a fat, lazy cat like my other one and stops tearing all over the house like a possessed puss. She is as mad as a cut snake, I swear...

As a side note, we did go to the Cat Haven before we adopted Dolly, and fell in love with a little white kitten. We were then told he had cat flu, in fact ALL the kittens in that enclosure did! They should really tell you that before you fall in love with one. Our big boy hadn't had his latest booster (as he is an indoor cat, and I am slack), so I felt it too much of a risk to take him home, even though they assured me it would be fine. The vet there had nicked off early so they couldn't even give me his medication. Talking to our vet after, it wouldn't have been fine at all.

So yes, it would be best to check whether Dougall would be OK with other cats/kittens around. Maybe he just has an allergy? Puss has to have special hypoallergenic food as he can't digest protein, and he tends to have a weepy eye and sneezes. My friend had 2 Scottish Folds (one now) and they are just adorable. Do yours have the funny meow?

 

[tyty333]

lulu, one hemisphere's season ends, the other begins. Thankfully our's wasn't too horrible this year - last year was far worse.

Ty, we're in Perth, so you can have a lovely holiday AND get a new family member!

Perth...oh my! I guess I wont be stopping by soon . I'm afraid she will be full grown and well established in
her new home by the time I make it to Perth! She is still a cuty-patootie!

 

[missy]

Oh how sweet! I am in love with all the furbabies! Thanks for doing what you do justginger!!!

 

[justginger]

Zahra, I appreciate the work that the Cat Haven does, but I find it such a depressing place to be. In the heights of Jan and Feb, they put about 60-70 cats to sleep every. single. day. I just can't deal with that - hence ducking in to pick up ONE cat, and walking out with 7! I couldn't abide the CRATES of cats stacked on each other, with post-its saying "Euth me."

Now, don't quote me on this, but I am relatively sure that a cat flu carrier is only contagious for a period of something like 6-18 months after showing clinical symptoms - I don't think their carrier state lasts forever. One of our SAFE vets would be more than capable of answering that - my favorite is Adrian at Ocean Keys Vet Hospital. That man is a saint.

If you wanted to foster with your resident cat in carrier state, you would have to foster cats old enough to have been vaccinated. That is NOT an issue - SAFE has so, so many cats of every age and disposition that only need a bit of love and attention. You could still have "kittens"...they would just have to already be sterilized and vaccinated, so perhaps around 12 weeks old? And, of course, if you receive info from one of our vets about your cat passing the state of being a carrier, you could move on to the younger ones. My DH and I try to get the mums when they're first noticed to be pregnant so they can comfortably settle into our home before going through the stress of birth. That way we can handle the kits from Day One (some breeders seem to discourage handling at the start, but I've always done it with excellent results) and ensure they are exposed to everything from vacuums to washing machines, and our big, drooly dogs.

If you are genuinely interested in speaking to someone about fostering, I'd be more than happy to get in touch with you in person, or refer you to our cat coordinator.

 

[yssie]

Ohhhhh justginger, Glam, Oh and Dolly and Puss are so precious


You, Glam, Zahra, and others who foster have my greatest admiration and gratitude I would love to, but I know it would stress our girl Mina terribly There's also the fact that I'd want to just keep them all! So DH and I settle for shelter time.


Thank you for starting this thread justginger! Volunteering regularly (in a no-kill shelter that was stuffed to bursting point) was a real wake-up call... I couldn't stomach working in a kill-shelter, but I also couldn't keep avoiding the awful fact that those are the ones most in need. We'd get the "most promising" cats.