First let me start with a little shoutout to the dads out there today, in whatever iteration of “dad” they are. Happy Father’s Day!

Now. Kittens. We still have both Juice and Fleabag, who has been renamed Florence. Florence, thankfully, has become an official foster through the shelter. The Venmo we received from the woman who found her paid her intake fee, and it was all quick enough that we only had one out of pocket vet visit. Whew! She has continued to mostly thrive, first coming out of her shell to become a wild and crazy orange kitten as we all expected. After a couple days, she decided that I’m her mama, and began to cuddle on my chest at night. That was okay until she further decided that as her mama, I needed to comfort-nurse her, and she began suckling on my neck. I don’t mind letting her do it for short periods of time but she would do it for hours if I allowed, so I had to lock her in the bathroom at nights for a few days until she learned how to behave while I slept.

She’s also dealt with a tapeworm infection, a secondary flea outbreak (must’ve missed some eggs), and loose stool, which she decided meant that she needed to go on my carpet instead of in the litter box. Grr. This is why we don’t normally keep kittens in my bedroom! But it is what it is. There’s now a second box and pee pads in the part of the room she was using, and meds are clearing up the loose stool issue.

Meanwhile, she’s not allowed to be introduced to Juice, even though both of them fight too hard and could use a kitten playmate for both fun and learning. Juice is…still Juice. We introduced wet food one day to get him prepared for weaning, and he loved it so much that he point-blank refused the bottle afterwards. Unfortunately, he decided that the way to eat said wet food was to face-plant into it and suck it up like it was milk. Between that and the diarrhea he still had despite his first round of med treatments, he’s the messiest foster we’ve ever cared for. Thankfully, his new round of meds is helping, so at least he’s now only messy on his face! Usually. We do worry about him a little, because he doesn’t seem to be learning age-appropriately. We’ve had plenty of dumb kittens (especially the orange ones, ha!) but this feels more like a neurological or brain-damage kind of issue (head trauma? nutrition issue?). He’s 6-7 weeks old but still acts/learns like a 3-week old kitten.

We are all overwhelmed. Having a foster group of two or three or four kittens has been fine in the past, but in that case, they’re all in the same room and able to entertain each other. This, instead, takes two rooms, two foster parents (or just me running double-time on the days Jason goes into the office), and a whole lot of work. Add to that my lack of sleep some nights because of Florence’s issues, and Jason’s because of Juice’s, and the household has fallen into complete chaos. It’s a wonder things like dishes ever get done. Sometimes I’ll go four days and realize I haven’t showered because said days all blurred into one. This is absolutely and definitely not a situation I want to invite again in the future!

Both kittens get checkups tomorrow, and I’d guess that, assuming they make weight, they’ll be turned in on July 3rd for surgeries and such. They are both, thankfully, gaining weight regularly now with their latest med treatments halfway through. I’m hoping to talk them into taking Florence in on the 26th instead, because she’ll be the right age and likely the right weight, given her trajectory. But we’ll see. Either way, once these two are gone, I definitely need a week or so off from fostering after this madness. It’s the worst time of year for that, since kitten season is insane at the moment, but that’s what happens when I end up with two needy singletons at once!