Dear Diary - taking care of the kittens

As I told you, Greta had six kittens. Just four of them seamed to fit to eat at once. Of course those that were the smallest were always pushed away by their siblings So I found myself having to choose between feeding them myself, from a bottle with kitten milk formula, or going once every hour and moving all the kittens around so all of them had a chance to eat.

Newborn kittens are soo small and soo limp, and their umbilical cord is still raw. So I wanted to avoid having to touch and handle them too much. Feeding from a bottle has the danger of not feeding enough or overfeeding, plus you have to burp them, but the biggest danger is for them to inhale the milk (if too much is coming from the bottle) and damage their lungs.

So I chose to try to rotate all the kittens at the mom nipples. I had to stay on my knees and hold the little ones while they were eating. And they would eat for few minutes and fall asleep, and their brothers would push them away and take their places, and then they would fall asleep. So then I would put back at the nipples the little ones. I was both worried and physically hurting. Theoretically I knew I would have to weight them all every day to see if they indeed gain weight. But after the first two days they seemed to gain similar weight (the starting weight was very different) and I just didn't have the energy to weight them every day, so I developed the "squeeze test", I should patent it, it worked great... I would gently squeeze the kittens belly to be sure they are plump, so full...

An interesting thing I found on the internet, is that each kitten puts its own pheromones on the mom nipple, and each of them goes and eat from that specific nipple all the time. So after the first days, I tried to be aware of which kittens eats on what nipple. They seemed to be only four easily accessible nipples. But, as I kept moving them around, one of the biggest kittens gave up on its nipple and went  underneath its siblings. The place that s/he gave up was just under the back leg of mom, protected.  So one of the little kittens found its safe place to eat. I've tried to put the other little kitten on the nipple near the moms front leg, but it wasn't such a success, s/he was moved as the others were moving. So I had to go to them for the whole week, really once every hour, to be sure everybody is eating and to help the one that was always pushed away.

So it was hard work, but they are all doing fine and getting cuter and cuter!

Dear Diary - the kittens were born

Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.

Sooo, Greta gave birth.

At first I put her in the closet in the spare bedroom. Moms with kittens seem to enjoy living in a small space, they feel safer. But Greta wasn't a mom yet so she didn't really enjoy to stay in the closet, especially as my other cats went to that room and to the closet door. So I left Greta roam in that whole room, but by herself. She was very happy and very cuddly. I visited her every hour or two.

And at some point in the afternoon I caught her giving birth... in the litter box. Two kittens were born already, one looked fluffy, the other, probably just born, was wet and FULL of litter. I firstly cleaned the baby a little so mom wouldn't lick him with all the litter on... Then I moved them in the closet. The last born still had the amniotic sac attached so I was extra careful to not pull the baby umbilical cord and get him hernia. Usually the mom eats the amniotic sac and cuts the umbilical cord. But with the litter situation going on, I disinfected a scissor and cut it myself. They already were staring to eat, and while I was there she popped out another one! The first two were black and white, the last one white and black. I closed the closet door and let them be so I would rest my back and knees a little...

I checked on her probably every 15 minutes. In less then an hour she had another one, white and black. The bedding was quite soiled at this point, so after she cut the umbilical cord I changed it, I thought she was done... Nope, here came a back one! I waited for mom to clean him and changed the bedding again. I thought that surely she was done. Nope, here came another black one. This one was very tiny, and all the others were already eating so I went to check on him repeatedly, obsessively. I had to see him eating. I actually had to place him myself on her nipples and hold him so the others won't get him on the side.

Greta ate very well before giving birth, now, during birth she hasn't eaten much. A cat that I helped with giving birth a year before, was eating and drinking water continuously. At some point I changed the bedding and put the dirty ones in the washing machine.  I put two types of canned food and some dry food, and I went to sleep! It was almost midnight.

Dear Diary - hanging in there with a pregnant fairy

Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.

We continue the feeding with no problems during this stay at home time.

We also have no problem in finding food to buy. There were maybe few times that we didn't find specific items, but no biggie. I'm still careful to have a week supply of all the cat food I need in the house, just in case.

And the news... My husband brought home a pregnant cat, He was so regretful he couldn't get the other one that I mentioned in my previous post, and now she has the babies outdoor, I couldn't say no. He said she is friendly but he didn't sound that convincing...You know from my previous post about Lizzy not getting to be friendly enough for adoption, after a whole year, so she lives with us.  She seems happy, just not interacting with us much. The new one is black and white so we named her Greta (after the black and white movie star Greta Garbo). She is soo big, I think she'll explode....  any second now. And I'm relieved that she is actually very friendly!

And that's all we do for now, all we can do for now.

Dear Diary - spay and neuter

Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.

I'm so terribly worried. As all animal help organizations are closed, we will have absolutely no support. We were having a good rhythm in getting the friendly strays into Org T for adoption. And we were in contact with few organizations to get help with TNR (trap neuter return). Now everything stopped.

What makes is even harder is that the mating season is ongoing. We already saw some pregnant cats. We also saw the males being more aggressive and the young females more scared.

Last week we took to be spayed Lizzy, Petra and one from outdoors. Lizzy, we took in when she was very very pregnant, she is the mom of Anthracite, Brave Heart, Bennie, Peaches and Little Lizzy. It's a long story. I'll tell you now shortly, that she wasn't friendly enough to enjoy to be touched, but she also wasn't making any trouble in the house and she seemed very happy in the house. We haven't taken her earlier to be spayed because there is no unfixed male around the house to get her pregnant and we didn't want to stress her with the surgery. But then she got in heat, and she was very vocal and we were afraid that the neighbors will eventual complain. The good think about that in heat period was that she was friendlier, so I was able to pet her and hold her. 

Petra is the sister of my first baby kitten saved, Maya. And there is one more sister, Mimi, that we got in with her baby Tzompi, during the winter. We always wanted to adopt the whole Mayas family, but it finally happened because Mimi had the baby, after having another litter that hasn't make it. 

One from outdoor was Cookie, she is a beautiful black brown with a little white long hair one. We suspected she was a little pregnant. All the animal care organization spay the pregnant cats, even the very pregnant ones. We are against spaying the very pregnant ones, but we agree with spaying the ones that don't really show much belly. Cookie was friendly outdoor but we couldn't put her in a carrier. We had to trap her. 

I don't know how to handle the recovery from spay/ neuter surgery for unfriendly cats in an apartment. I mean I don't have the space. The truly feral ones should be kept in the trap as they recover and they eat and pee and poo there. I understand people use their garages, but we don't have one.

Cookie, I was sure I can handle in the house for few days, I put her in the empty room. The plan was to see if she is friendly enough for adoption. And I was prepared to put her back if she was not...  Lizzy, took more then a year to get friendlish, I don't even think they are ready now for adoption. Mimi seams to be the same, she was very protective of her daughter Tzompi. Petra meanwhile had no worries but to allow us to spoil her. Anyway  I cannot keep more cats  for months in the house to maybe...  acclimatize. I want to have that room (and closet) to help others. But, Cookie is friendly, so she is in, please don't count how many I have in... now I really need the shelters to open to take some off my hands.

My husband wanted to bring one of the pregnant ones that was very friendly, home, I said OK, I still have a closet empty. But he couldn't get her. It seems that as they get closer of the due date they get more cautious. And then, she wasn't pregnant anymore. And...we had some usually cold days for this time of the year to "help" the kittens.

Dear Diary - the coronavirus lockdown

Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.

This are very very strange times. This week, slowly, everything closed. The law was that gatherings over 500 people are illegal, but many institutions closed voluntarily to play it safe and they closed even if they weren't serving 500 people. Then the law changed and made illegal the gathering over 250 people. The restaurants were asked to close with the exception of serving take out and deliveries. The fashion stores closed. There is a recommendation for social distancing.

The food stores are open and will stay open of course, but there were rumors of people buying all they could find. It is not clear if pet stores could eventually close. So I made a shopping trip on Tuesday to buy basics for 2 weeks: flour, rice, pasta, pasta and tomato sauce, oil, all kind of beans and... cat food of course, lots of it, because we feed lots of outdoor cats. I forgot the litter and I sent my husband to buy it later. I found everything I wanted, but truthfully, not in my regular store and not the brands that I usually use.

We confirmed on Wednesday that Org A. was still doing the spay/neuter for 3 cats the next day. Later we received an e-mail that they are closing. We called again and they said they are closing from Friday, so they can still help us. In fact they said to also bring the cats scheduled for the next week. We decided it's over our head to nurse 6 cats from surgery. We also have just 3 carriers. We got that done, but as per now, they'll be close for one whole month.

Today it was announced a complete lockdown, or shelter in place. All non essential businesses are closed. My heart was shivering at the idea that we will not be able to feed the strays. But it is allowed, at least for now. My husband business, is also considered essential, for now, so he is able to move around. He says that there is absolutely no traffic, and the stores are relatively empty. On some stores the security lets in a certain number of people, as people get out, others get in. Everybody is keeping 6 feet distance. I keep asking my husband to get everything he needs from a store for few days so he won't keep going into them.

And me, I'm stuck in the house for a week now, with at least two more weeks to go, as my activities are in the artsy side and considered non essential.

Dear diary - the coronavirus is slowing us down

Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.

Strange times are happening... Around the world there is a very contagious flu that spreads aggressively and kills aggressively. My area is just starting to have the first cases. In an effort to stop the spreading, the school closed and gatherings of more then 500 people were made illegal. That means that all entertainments venues, music, dance, sport competitions, closed.

On Thursday my husband stopped the Org T. to  borrow trap. he saw a very pregnant cat, friendly too.  Hagrid, new name Tuber, former name Phoenix, the one the I last took for adoption there, was on the floor. Not even in a cage, but walking around proudly! He is gonna get adopted so quickly, I just know it! My husband also postponed the appointment for admission for adoption for Happy and Sunny because both me and him were busy on the time of the appointment. Also Sunny hasn't made any progress.

Saturday, my husband stopped by Org T to visit Hagrid and to make another appointment. First the bestest news! Hagrid got adopted!  Now, the very bad news. They said they'll just care for the cats they have, they won't work with the public anymore, so no appointments for adoption, and no spaying/ neutering also. They are still welcoming people that want to adopt, but by appointment only. At least, now, Sunny will have the time to come around.

I have 3 appointments this week, and 3 appointments next week for spay/ neuter with Org A. I hope at least they will continue doing this, because the cats outside are starting to get pregnant...

Dear Diary - the kittens trough the winter

Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.

I was telling you that while feeding the outdoor cats, my husband still sees kittens outside. Few months old kittens. Some of them, somehow, made it trough the winter.

Two of them seem to be the same age as Tesla and Volta, around 5- 6 months and they are at the same location, they could be siblings. At that location my husband goes twice a day as he goes that way anyway. So they were well feed all winter long and they had access to shelter in a garage. They are still shy and I think the chance for them to get friendly enough to be put for adoption is closing.

Two of them, at another location, were smaller, around 2 months old and last seen a month ago. They were in a garage but the owner of the garage was determined to cut their access. My husband asked permission to get into the garage and get them and he did, but he couldn't find them. They were either hidden either gone already. He still went few days to look after them but he didn't see them or their mom. He left food and found it untouched.

The other two kittens that we were aware of, were in the 3rd colony we found, the colony near the knight S.  These kittens were 5-6 month old too and relatively friendly, so we decided to bring them in the house, keep them for few days so they relax a little and then take them to Org T. to get adopted. My husband had just one carrier with him and was able to get one of them.  He was afraid to open the carrier to put the second one in, because we did that before and the cat in the carrier escaped. That colony has a caregiver, the knight S, that gives them food and lets them in the garage on the really cold times. He does good. he just doesn't spay/ neuter them and he was saying that he knows and accepts that the majority of the kittens will perish. But when we made him aware of the possibility of spay/ neuter and adoption for some of them, he was happy to adjust. My husband called the knight S. and let him know that he took one of the kittens and will come next day for the other one. He went the next day, and the next, and the next but he couldn't find the other kitten.  So, my husband called and asked S. if he saw the second kitten and S. said that he put the second one in the garage. Why? So my husband went to get the kitten and S. asked if he can "borrow" 30 bucks. That's why... It is not a wealthy neighborhood, people are needy, on the other hand we are not rich either, we stretch what money we can to feed and spay/neuter the cats. This kind of spending surprised us emotionally even more as the spending per se.

The other problem now was that the brothers (yes they are boys) lost the connection between them. The first one was already adjusted in the house, and so happy that we had to name him Lolo (because he is very very pretty, we first thought he was a girl, so it was Lola, then changed into Lolo) . The second one, from what S. said, was very unhappy without his brother, plus was locked into the garage, and as he came into the house he went straight under the bad. We caught him few times, hold him and pet him. He was very very sweet, we named him Sunny. And I made appointment for them with Org T. for adoption for  last Friday. But come Friday, I couldn't catch him...  I called and canceled and I've made another appointment for next Friday! Fingers crossed...