When I first sought out a kitten for my home I went to a rescue foster home where I was dumb struck by the number of cats that could be contained in one house.
I came home with three; a very poorly tabby cat (who sadly only lived a few more months), a black girl who had followed us around the whole time we were there and clearly wasn't going to let us leave without her and Mickey (the kitten we had gone for - see him on my family page).
This year when I saw an advert asking for fosterers for the Cats Protection I made enquiries and was soon signed up.
I have had to be very careful about keeping everything separate from my own cats due to possible diseases being brought in, so it has been some work at times but I think well worth it.
This is Tiggy. As I had experience of kittens being born my first foster was Tiggy who had been left behind when her owner moved house and had been living in a neighbours greenhouse. At her vet exam she had been pronounced pregnant.
Tiggy was adorable, so affectionate, just a shame she didn't like dogs or she would soon have moved in with the rest of the family.
Well we waited and waited and no kittens came. Eventually we decided it had been a false pregnancy or she had reabsorbed them due to living rough.
Before being rehomed the CP get adults neutered so I took her along to the vet for her op. He only got as far as shaving her when he found that she was in fact already neutered and so had never been pregnant at all - one very embarrassed vet!
Tiggy was then adopted by a lovely couple in Manchester who already had another young cat in need of company.
This is Calista who was found looking after her kittens under a hedge. Sadly they were found by a dog on his walk who picked up a kitten and took it to his owner. That kitten didn't survive but there were two more.
These two babies that we named Samson (the short haired boy) and Delilah (the long haired girl) were approx. 5 weeks old when they came to me and extremely nervous. They were still feeding from mum but Delilah was very under nourished and it was important to get them weaned as soon as possible.
Another way I've been helping the CP is doing home visits in my local area. This involves going to the homes of prospective adopters and filling out a questionaire with them. The purpose of this is to check the cat will be going to a safe home, checking things like whether they live on a busy street, meeting other pets and children in the home.
Gradually over the weeks the three of them got used to me. It took a lot of time getting them to trust me enough to stroke them.
The babies had to be tempted by a game of string to brave coming near me. Eventually though they were brave enough that they could be picked up and Delilah would even settle down on my lap.
Samson and Delilah were adopted together by a young family locally.
Calista has been much harder to tame and although I did manage to get to a stage where she would let me stroke her and she would purr when she saw me, the process of getting her in a carrier and through her op at the vets has put us back to square one.
Great News - Calista has gone to a new home. We had thought that she would not be tame enough to find a home but she is going to a lady with patience and I hope they will be very happy together.
We have new guests, they are four kittens who are approx. 10 weeks old, already tamed but given up to Cats Protection to find homes for.
I have wormed them and taken them to the vet for a check over and their first vaccinations.
It is making a lovely change for us to have tame kittens to play with and the only area I need to work on is picking them up which they don't seem at all used to.
We have given them names appropriate to the time of year so here they are.
I waited until christmas was out of people's way and then put an advert in my window and all the kittens were gone in a week. As three went very locally and I did the home visits I will be able to keep in touch and know how they are getting on. In fact Robin and Mistletoe have moved close enough that I may meet them out on their prowl in the future!
March 2006 and we have Babe, a young black cat, whose owner left neutering her too late and she surprised him with 4 bundles of fluff in the botton of his bed! Babe and her babies have come to live with me until the kittens are homed. Babe will then be neutered before returning home.
All these kittens have now left and gone to their new homes. We have really enjoyed having Babe and her babies as they have all been so affectionate, especially Frodo who has been a real character.
more new CP kittens over the page
