Well. After six weeks, our little posse of kittens is gone. Some of what’s in this post is repeat of earlier posts, but at this point, I don’t know what I’ve said where, so I’m just going to write as I wish and if I repeat myself, that’s just too bad. Heh.

Juice arrived in late May, 3.5 weeks old and bottle-feeding every four hours. From the moment he arrived, he was pure chaos. We had to wrap him up in a blanket in order to feed him because he was so exuberant that he couldn’t keep the bottle in his mouth. Even after his claws could physically retract, he never learned how to pull them in completely. When he weaned onto wet food, he ate by face-planting into it and sucking it up like milk. He needed so many baths from food-covered face, neck, and feet, not to mention diarrhea-covered tail, butt, and feet. Like with food, he struggled to learn how to properly aim in the litterbox, and at times, would decide to go in a different spot altogether.

It did get better as he got older, though not as quickly as with other kittens. Juice was a bit…slow. Honestly, for awhile there, we were concerned he may have had a head injury or some kind of nutrition-deficit-based brain damage. He didn’t show neurological signs of trauma, but he didn’t learn nearly at the same rate as most kittens. I mean, there’s a joke in the cat world that there’s kitten-dumb, and then there’s orange-kitten-dumb. Orange cats all seem to share a single brain cell, so they rarely have a smart day. Juice wasn’t even orange-kitten-smart. No thoughts at all, just pure vibes. All he wanted to do was wrestle, on his back, getting his belly pet while he clawed and bit at the hand that pet him. I’m sure he’ll grow into a calmer being as he gets older, but likely there will never be any kind of complicated thoughts there for him. He’s just…Juice. Shrug.

But speaking of orange cats, we have the other half of our foster duo, Florence. When she dropped into my lap, she was scared-feral (rather than aggressive-feral), no experience with humans and probably separated from her mother too young. Flo is an intrepid explorer, and I suspect she explored a bit too far, leading her to the road, where she almost got hit by a car before she was rescued. Once in human care, she was extremely timid, quiet and cuddly and compliant. The vet tech we first saw wondered when she would develop the wild-orange-cat gene. Turned out that would be about a week after she arrived, when she was healthy enough and comfortable enough to come out of her shell.

Flo alternated between bursts of crazy activity, often with a feisty, bite-heavy slant, and insistent cuddles that involved suckling on my neck. She slept next to me at night, except when she got too exuberant and I had to lock her in the bathroom for a few hours. When she was in a playful mood, she would puff up to make herself look big and scary for the toys or people she was wrestling. She bit and clawed too hard in the beginning, and had to learn appropriate boundaries (which tbh she’s still learning). It was easy to tell when she wasn’t feeling well because she’d become cuddlier for longer periods of time (often the entire night sleeping next to me without playing). Originally, she was meant to be in to the shelter around the 26th, but a few days before, developed a severe case of diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. We actually had to get her tested for panleuk (eek!) but thankfully it was negative and we just needed a normal round of meds again. (Why do all the fosters always need multiple rounds of meds??)

Both Flo and Juice went in to the shelter on Monday. Both were up to 2.3 lbs and ready for surgery and adoption. Honestly, I had mixed feelings about letting these two go. Because they were separated and both needed full time care, I spent far more time with Flo while J spent far more with Juice. I never had a chance to connect with Juice all that much, but at the same time, Flo got overly attached to me. She believes I’m her surrogate mom, and she would get distressed if I wouldn’t let her suckle on me when she wanted to sleep. Poor girl is going to struggle to adjust, and poor Juice is going to be so confused as to what’s happening. But I’m also glad they’re off, because two in two rooms really was too much. This allows us a little break. Jason and I went into deep-cleaning mode on both our rooms so that 1) our other cats could enter them without getting sick, and 2) we could pick up more fosters when it was time. Now we just need some time to clean the rest of our poor neglected house before we bring in another batch to care for!

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Note: This was pre-drafted. I have a few more posts pre-drafted that will auto-post, but I may be sporadic after that. Last night, a longtime family friend passed away, and my best friend in the world became a widow. Chris was diagnosed with ALS almost two years ago, and it was an unusual case with very rapid progression. I spent yesterday afternoon holding Natalie, and shortly before midnight, she saw him into the next world. I never know how I’m personally going to react to grief, and in terms of the blog, that sometimes means too much writing, and sometimes means long breaks without. So whatever comes next, comes next. There are posts scheduled through this Sunday, but if I disappear after that for awhile, I’ll eventually be back.