I’ve been slow to post this past week because I’ve been busy temporarily expanding my family of one human and one cat to one human and THREE cats!  Well… one cat and two teeny tiny itty bitties to be completely correct.

Meet Almond Joy and Reese (the shelter named their entire litter after candies). Or I as like to call them Officer Fuzz Nugget (The Fuzz) and Reese. Or Little Boy Cat and Little Girl Cat.

Officer Fuzz Nugget conducting an investigation surrounding the untimely demise of a green mouse

Reese is a peanut-butter cup of sweetness and purrs.

I started volunteering for the Washington Humane Society back in May working primarily with dogs and in the adoptions office and it is one of the best things I could have jumped in to. My passion for this work is worth a separate post but – for now – suffice it to say that I’m hooked.

So after weekly visits at the shelter for 3 1/2 months – knowing it is a slippery slope – I decided to try being a foster fur-parent.  The main reasons were:

1. The shelter has been overrun with cats needing fosters for a while now.
2. I harass other people about fostering and figured that if I’m going to bug friends about doing it, I should try it myself – excuses be damned!
3. I love Fabian but eventually I want to expand my menagerie so I figure this is a great way to test the waters and see if she’d be OK without any permanent commitments in place.
4. The news cycle as of late has been depressing so… KITTENS!!

This is why last Wednesday night I brought home two 5 week old 1 lb-ers.

In 5 days we have had 1 visibly sick kitty; 1 emergency vet visit; 1 poop in the cat carrier; 1 vomit session; multiple scratches up and down my legs from kitten-climbing; 1 stinky bathroom (to last a month or more); 1 poop outside the litterbox; 1 planned encounter with Fabian; 2 jailbreak encounters with Fabian; 10 medicine feedings ( 5/kitten); and a lot of pouncing, purring, squeaking, fuzziness, shoulder-perching, pooping, playing, and general kitten-ness.  It’s a lot of work. Kittens are A LOT of work. And they also like to pretend to be boots…

KITTEN-BOOTS!

…which is kind of painful. Painfully ADORABLE!

Fabs is not taking it so well.  When I got the kittens home the first night, I placed the carrier in the middle of my hallway – which is really just a tiny room where all the doors to other rooms are.  I was told to let my “resident cat” (foster terminology) smell them in this safe situation. The below is footage of this momentous meeting.

Clearly love at first smell/sight/hiss.

The kittens are super duper cute and I think fostering is VERY important; if you take one foster, it saves two lives – the life of the animal you are fostering and the life of the animal you provided space for at the shelter by taking another OUT of the shelter. So technically by taking two kittens, I’m helping to better four lives.  That being said, considering my 500 square foot circumstances and the kitten-realm that my bathroom has become in order to keep them isolated for health/safety reasons – I don’t know how often I’ll be able to do this.  Maybe once a year.  Maybe twice.  But probably no more than that.  Plus it is A LOT of shuffling to do things that are second nature. Like going in and out of my bathroom.

There is a whole new routine I have in the morning now:

• Wake up
• Good morning cuddles/scratches with Fab
• Close Fab into the family room (she’s been heading in there on her own so far…this is good)
• Get kitten meds from fridge
• Mix kitten wet food and kitten dry food in tupperware; close up for use later
• Open bathroom door
• Get Reese from the kitchen where she has inevitably escaped to
• Pick The Fuzz up at the open bathroom door where he is inevitably lingering
• Close bathroom door
• Look to see if poop in litterbox is healthy
• Scruff kitten number 1 and give meds; some fighting ensues
• Scruff kitten number 2 and give meds; some fighting ensues
• Let kittens run around for a few minutes pouncing etc.
• Pry kittens off of legs
• Put kittens in carrier and place carrier in hallway
• Move kitten food dishes, kitten toys, and kitten bed away from tub base and take step stool out of bathtub (placed there in case a kitten somehow got into the tub and needed help getting out)
• Shower while contained kittens cry
• Do as much primping/prepping for the day as possible as contained kittens cry
• Put kitten food and fresh water in dishes and move everything in the Bathroom Kitten Suite back to kitten-ready positions as contained kittens cry
• Put carrier back in bathroom and close bathroom door
• Unleash the kittens
• Supervise feeding for a few minutes making sure there are no fights and no one kitten gets all the food
• Sneak out of bathroom while kittens are distracted by food
• Continue getting ready until the bathroom is needed again
• Sneak back into the bathroom hoping kittens are still distracted by food
• Get Reese from the kitchen
• Get The Fuzz from the bathroom entrance
• Do make-up while kittens treat legs as trees; try to hold off on mascara until kittens are pouncing on one another away from legs
• Pry kittens off legs
• Get eye-makeup remover and re-do mascara (wash, rinse, repeat)
• Take one last look around at bathroom and make sure all things that can be done are done
• Pry kittens off legs
• Close bathroom door
• Open family room door
• Let Fabs sniff/hiss at where the kittens have been; including hands
• Give Fabs treats and pets if she wants them
• Remember one last thing in the bathroom
• Close Fabs in the family room
• Open bathroom door
• Get Reese from kitchen
• Get The Fuzz from bathroom entrance
• Close bathroom door
• Brush teeth, grab earrings, get lipgloss, take rings off holder or whatever other thing I forgot to do previously
• Throw tinsel ball into corner away from door and sneak out of bathroom
• Close bathroom door
• Open family room door
• Say bye to Fabs
• Leave while contained kittens cry

It’s kind of exhausting. And even going to the bathroom is a challenge.  Let me tell you, it is an interesting thing to be going about your business while a kitten scales you in attempt to sit on your lap or perch on your shoulder…

But it will be worth it when these two little balls of fluff and energy get to go to a forever home; I’m hoping they’ll get to go together because watching them play and cuddle is awesome and they clearly benefit from one another’s company…

Almond Joy (foreground) and Reese (background) first night in their Bathroom Suite at The Apartments of Eternal Christmas

…and I am convinced that Fabian turned into a semi-psychopath because she didn’t have a friend. So let my little demon feLion Fabian Raven be a warning to you all: if you get a kitten, you might as well get TWO kittens.  And if you are looking for two right now, I have some that would love a forever home with you!