Last night with Wyatt

Now comes the hardest part of being a foster, the last night with your little one. Wyatt has been a trial and a joy, just like every kitten I've ever fostered. There's the time he smacked me in the face with claws, the time he bit me on the nose, the accidents we have to clean up. But for every rough spot or frustrating moment there's moments like that one above, where he's full and clean and safe and the person he wants to be with most in the world at that moment is you, the one who has been his mama for the last few weeks.

I hear a lot of people say that they don't want to foster because they couldn't give them away. I'll be the first to tell you giving them away sucks. It hurts, you cry, you miss them terribly at times. These little creatures worm their way into your heart and each one leaves little paw prints behind. So you may wonder, why do it then? If it's so hard, if it's so painful, why even bother? Because without foster homes kitten's like Wyatt wouldn't have a chance.

Shelters are not good place for extra tiny kittens. Their little immune systems just can't cope with the stress of being in cages plus the close quarters is a breeding ground for germs. Also many shelters don't have staff there over night, which means the extra tiny ones that need to be bottle fed have to be put to sleep, unless there's a foster home willing and able to do the work of caring for them.

That makes some people overwhelmed, to hear that and to know that there are so many tiny babies out there that need our help. They pull away because they just can't handle it. It can be overwhelming, to really be on the front lines of our pet population problem. It always helps me though to keep in mind the little child that was throwing starfish into the sea. The adult came up and said, "Why even bother? There's too many to help them all!" But the child looked down at the starfish and flung it back into the water and said "It makes a difference to that one."

That is what keeps me going, what keeps me from begging to keep another one. I can continue to make a difference in the lives of these little kittens, but only if I still have the room and ability to do so. I love my three, my Cali, Casper, and Theresa but I know because of space restraints and the needs of my cats that if I take on any more I won't be able to foster, there's simply not enough room in our tiny house. So I have to give them away, knowing that in doing so it opens another spot for the next kitten that needs my love and support.

No it's not easy, and tomorrow will be hard, as always, but the purrs I've received over the last few weeks and the excitement his new family feels to receive what they know is a wonderful well adjusted kitten makes it more than worth any difficulty on my part.

Pet Store Visit and Kitty Snuggles

Wyatt was running low on food so we visited the pet store again. He really enjoyed looking around until a big dog walked by, then he wanted to climb on my shoulder. This allowed him to discover my hood, which he decided made a pretty awesome place to hang out in and spent the rest of the time I walked around getting him food curled up there.

He also enjoys rides in the car and behaves really well. He's not really afraid, like most other times all he wants to do is play play play. Traffic noise freaks him out a bit but he doesn't try to run away, just snuggles in closer which is good since he's too tiny for a harness at this point.

Most nights for at least part of the night he sleeps with me, sometimes with the other kitties sometimes not, depending on their mood. He likes to cuddle up close at first, often getting right up under my chin. Very sweet and snuggly when he's sleepy.

If you get up though watch out, he'll take your spot and try to make you feel guilty when you come back and move him.

He's been playing with toys for a while now but he discovered the toy box the other night. He spent a long time digging through it and flipping out various toys that caught his interest. He wanted to play with him all at once!

Post Christmas Relaxation

Today Wyatt was happy. Christmas took us away most of the day, leaving Wyatt to his own devices far more than he enjoyed and he let us know that when we got home. Lots of zooming around the house and pouncing on us and everything else around that he could get to. He was wound up today too, every picture I got of him was blurry. His batteries have only just started to run down where he's felt like cuddling. He wore both Cali and Theresa out at various points in the day, then proceeded to play with me for a while and still wasn't wore out. If I could bottle this energy I could make a mint!

Here Theresa had given up and hidden in the warm blanket. It didn't stop Wyatt though, now she was double the fun. Plus I was sitting nearby so he could pounce back and forth between us. Theresa was not amused with this game of course.

Wyatt was very curious about the bubbles in the bath I was going to take. I was afraid he was going to jump in at one point but luckily he decided against it. Theresa is making a cameo in the background, she usually has to check on what he's doing. Little guy usually has three chaperons with Theresa Cali and me!

Wyatt finally relaxing cuddling up in the warm purple blanket on the couch. It's so cute that he sits like this. I think he thinks he's a tiny person!

Christmas Festivities

Last night we did Christmas with our god daughter and her parents. Wyatt hasn't really been around kids seeing as we don't have any so this was a good experience for him as well. He was definitely freaked out at first. Being two our god daughter is loud and has lots of energy. She loves animals though and is extremely gentle with them. It took a little coaxing but once we got some toys involved we had some very happy kitties as they finally found someone willing to play with them as much as they wanted!

They played pretty much the whole evening. Wyatt was so tired he slept until nine this morning, usually he has me up no later than seven! I had to wake him up and feed him and now he's back to napping some more. It'll be a quiet day for him to recharge though, so I'm sure he'll be back to zooming around the house in short order.

Rough day!

Even with how good he's been Wyatt had a rough day today. First he kept getting into the wires around the entertainment center, trying to chew my mouse cable and just generally going places he wasn't supposed to. Then when he climbed up in my lap he turned around and swatted me in the face! I have several small scratches now and he spent some time in time out. Then he tried to make an accident behind our entertainment center. Everyone has bad days, even kittens. So he spent some time in time out, a while at the end because he was having such behavior problems. He took a nice nap and when he woke up he's been much better all evening, which is good.

With feral kittens you have to keep in mind that everything they're learning is new. They haven't spent time around people, and in cases like Wyatt's, they don't have a mom around to show them the ropes like domestic kittens would. Plus since he doesn't have siblings he's having to learn all the play boundaries with us and my two calicoes  This means there is a bit of a learning curve that a kitten from domestic stock just doesn't have to deal with. Luckily feral cats are often very intelligent, they have to be to survive and he is learning so fast! A bad day once in a while is still to be expected though. And it's had to stay mad at that little face as it is!

On a side note Wyatt found his tail today and also met the vacuum cleaner! The tail was hilarious! I tried to get pictures or a video but I never could grab the camera fast enough. The vacuum meeting went about as well as could be expected, he ran and hid and was pretty terrified, but that's most cats, including most of mine. Except for Theresa, not sure why but she likes to chase it. Maybe she'll be a good example for Wyatt and show him there's nothing to be afraid of. Here's more pictures of the little devil!

Oh Hai!

Action shot!

Fat Belly!

Lazy day....

We really just had a lazy day today.  Wyatt is so well adjusted now that I forget that he's really only been living with people a week or so and even I'm surprised now when things scare him. For instance today he had followed me to the back of the house where I then was going to change the sheets on the bed. That really freaked him out for some reason. He puffed up and hoped backed and hissed. I guess the sheets seemed like they were a big scary flying monster!

That makes sense, a lot of feral cats have problems with ceiling fans because their mothers teach them to watch for hawks. The blankets flipping around as I pulled them off the bed probably triggered this for Wyatt. Still he learns very quickly what is a legitimate threat and what isn't. Every thing he sees happen in our house is something he is learning from and that will help him be better adjusted in his future home.

Christmas Pictures

Yesterday I took Christmas pictures of Wyatt with our nice camera :) These are the ones that turned out after it was all said and done.

Pet Store Visit

Wyatt needed more cat food so I headed out to the pet store today with him in tow. It's a good way to get him used to strange situations and people and lets him be used to car rides too. He didn't really like the buggy and preferred to climb out and ride in my arms instead. He was definitely freaked out at first with the Christmas music and the strange smells and the construction going on in the adjacent store. He soon calmed down a good bit though and allowed himself to be petted and held by several people who couldn't resist his cuteness!

One part he really enjoyed though was looking at the various animals that were for sale, the fish and mice and birds. They kept his attention for several minutes as he watched them in their cages.

I was also able to find a tiny collar that fit him as the red one in these pictures is really too big. I just like to have a bell on him so that if he darts away from me in the house I know which direction he's gone. It also helps me know when he is getting into something he shouldn't be, which with a curious kitten is often of course!

Daily Kitten

http://www.dailykitten.com/2012/12/wyatt/

Wyatt is the daily kitten! On a side note the message boards there are AWESOME for getting help with any of your cat related questions.

Company

Last night we had a Christmas get together with friends. This was really good because it let Wyatt be socialized with a lot of different people at once. He gave everyone lots of love and purrs and tolerated being held and passed around really well. He got wore out though after a little bit and he took a nap. Once he got back up though he was ready to go! He spent a good part of the evening after we opened presents playing in the tissue paper from the bags with his foster sisters, Cali and Theresa.

When he gets tried though he always wants to snuggle with foster mommy. He's mastered climbing the blanket on our couch and he gets up and snuggles down to take a nap. He loves to snuggle and be cuddled when he's sleepy. They're always so sweet at this age.

Wyatt at play

Wyatt has discovered the joy of toys. He loves to pounce on whatever toy is nearest. I think he might be a carrier later when he gets bigger because he already tries to pick them up and move them around. He's getting used to people so quickly, you'd almost not think he came from feral stock! He did really well last night when a friend of my husbands came over.

I think Cali is helping a lot. She's always such a good foster mom to the kittens. She does growl and hiss but some of that is necessary to teach him his cat manners. He had to learn what is rude so that when he goes to his forever home and interacts with other cats he doesn't have behavior issues later.

One wonderful thing about Wyatt is he is so good with the litter box already! While he did kick litter everywhere out of it yesterday morning he uses it consistently and doesn't have accidents, which is amazing for one as tiny as he is. He's very smart for his age.

I think nutritionally he's doing a lot better too. He's starting to fill out and his voracious appetite is slacking off. He ate breakfast this morning and I offered him lunch but he just sniffed it and walked off. He's still round from breakfast so I think he'll be fine! I'm starting to feel less bones too, which is wonderful.

We're also starting to get lots of purrs which is so sweet. He likes to be cuddled when he's sleepy and will just purr and purr while you hold him. He also purrs when he eats and hes' getting better about getting more food in him than on him.

Fostering

I've been fostering kittens for years but decided maybe I should start putting all my stuff in one place rather than scattering pictures randomly across Facebook, Google  Photobucket, message boards and various other locations.

I just got my 12th foster kitten since I bought my own house. I'll put up some pictures of the past kittens as well. This was the first picture I received of Wyatt. He was spotted as a single kitten with his mother as part of the feral colony at the university where I work. He was decently tame still being so young and plans were made to catch him. Things happened faster than expected and I received the call the next day to come pick him up.

Working with feral cats before I've had several where you needed gloves to deal with them in any fashion for the first few weeks. Even my own precious Cali who came from the same colony drew blood when I caught her. Wyatt was perfectly handle-able however, making my job much easier.

In the last two days he's had a bath, luckily only a single flea was found, and while offered formula he prefers wet food at this point. He earned the name Wyatt because he needed a strong name to go with his huge personality! He shows no fear, jumping off the couch, approaching my other cats and when hissed at for being rude he puffed right up and hopped around like he was big stuff.

We do still have some work to do. Household noises are terrifying, and when people approach him standing his instinct is to run away and hide. Not to mention that under all that fluff you can count every one of the little one's vertebra and feel his little hip bones. Luckily eating is one of his favorite things to do.