Janice placed the 3 kittens at a vet for checkup and handfeeding and thereafter looked for us to help foster for a longer term. We are already very maxed out in space, but there is no other fosterer in Janice's social circle who can help hand-rear the 3 kittens. We decided to try Bree out as a foster mom as her own kittens are also almost 2 weeks of age. If Bree rejected either one of the kittens, we would hand-rear them ourselves and use a carrier as a makeshift kitten pen.
So last night, Janice brought the 3 kittens to us from the vet and we introduced the weakest one first to Bree. The fostering was successful. We decided to try the other 2 kittens with her as well, one at a time, and Bree accepted all of them - and to our amazement, can nurse them all well together with her own 3 kittens despite being in a kitten-sized pen and being a very big mother cat.
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| New arrivals - 3 black with white kittens, with Bree |
With the arrival of the 3 Spottiswood kittens, we have officially now have 18 foster cats, first time ever we broke our record, and we are now teetering on overcrowding. Our ideal threshold is at 12 foster cats maximum. Thankfully, Bree's kittens and the Spottiswood kittens are healthy so there is no risk of health problems at the moment in Bree's pen.
We are really hoping that more cat lovers and owners will learn to foster kittens on their own, because overcrowding in a cat shelter jeopardises the kittens' welfare more than if you were inexperienced at fostering. There will always be kittens to rescue, and there will always be limited space in catteries - as a cat loving community we can protect the welfare of rescue cats better if more of us will step up and become foster parents in times of need.
