An empty room

That's what I have tonight as the kittens were returned to the shelter today. I'm always a bit sad to leave them there but they seemed quite happy playing and eating biscuits. I was just looking through their photos and thought I'd do a before and after for them, so you can see how far they've come, it's their baby picture first on the left and their grown up picture underneath on the right.

First there's Daisy. She was my fussy eater, she must have tried every cat food on the market! She would eat her dinner for one day like it was her favourite and then refuse it the next! Thankfully she ended up eating the same as everyone else in the end. She loved to be combed and would purr and purr, if we could have kept her then we would have!














Then there's Hits, what a champ. Throughout he's been my most consistent kitten. He ate every meal, he was never fussy, never ill, always full of life and looking after the others. When you have an ill litter you always need a Hits, one you don't worry about, one who loves you and loves fuss and is just ok and well. He really wants to be a hairdresser I think as he spent so much time on my shoulders doing my hair.














Then there is Dave, he was just fluff and bone when I got him, there was no meat on him and I think he weighed a tiny 400g. He was just so tiny and I was very concerned for him, especially as he would only eat ham. Along the way he turned grey too! It was his and Daisy's fluffiness that gave me the skunks tag name for them!














Lastly but not leastly there is Sissy, this was when she wanted to just be by the water bowl all the time. I eventually set her up a bed there as she was just sleeping there all the time too. She later became really crazy and biting me all the time but managed to get to stop that. Today when I took her to the shelter, I held her and she padded my chest, she knew it was goodbye.















So farewell my skunks, it's been really lovely having you for the past two months, may the rest of your lives be wonderful and happy and filled with love and ham.

the date is set

and it's Monday when my skunks are going back to the shelter, I'm going to drop them in there before heading off to work.

It was back in early June when I was first asked to take the skunks home. When I went to collect them they were in seperate pairs in the isolation unit and they were really crummy. If I remember right Daisy and Dave were together and I held Daisy and she fitted in the palm of my hand. Sissy and Hits were also together and Hits ran straight up to me and started climbing on me (he still does this now!) and Sissy was trying to eat some fish and not doing a very good job of it. When I took them home they were eating just coley fish which I was having to warm up in the microwave several times a day.

It was quickly apparent that Sissy really wasn't very well, she was constantly dehydrated and everytime she ate her tummy ballooned. She was also very very thin. I had to start getting them to the shelter in the morning and then getting them back home in the evening so that they woulc have round the clock care. It was a nightmare, the shelter isn't even on my way to work! She spent a lot of time sleeping next to the waterbowl. Dave was also very poorly and sometimes wouldn't even get out of his bed when I went in their room. Thankfully with a lot of time and support they began to do better and get strong and start playing.

Since then they have continued to thrive, Daisy and Dave getting more fluffy, Sissy getting more cuddly and Hits pretty much being the same crazy and lovely boy only bigger.

We've come a long way in two months and to foster kittens this old for two months is quite unusual, as they were about seven weeks old when I got them; so I guess they are about three and half months old now.

I also just want to mention their mum, who sadly died. Although I didn't foster her, I did see her rushed through the shelter on the day she passed away and I just want to remember her too because she brought the skunks into the world and did a great job with them too. Apparently Daisy kitten looks just like her, so thanks skunks' mum.

Just pictures today

Not much to update on the kittens today. They are enjoying making a racket and charging round their room. I decided it was time to dig out my good camera and get some good shots of them in as much natural light as I could. Hope you enjoy.

The fabulous four are still here

Well my fabulous four are still with me for another week. The shelter has luckily got some good local media coverage this week, couldn't embed the video for some reason, so I hope their rehoming is picking up. I don't mind another week with my skunks though. I just can 't believe how far they have come. When I got them Sissy and Dave were taking turns at having very upset tummies and refusing to eat, Daisy would only eat one type of catfood and at one point all Dave would eat was turkey ham. Thankfully Hits has been a star throughout and he's still a lovely affectionate little pea. I can hear them charging round their room every night and then singing in the morning for their breakfast!

Wood Green currently have a moggy midwife appeal to get more fosterers so I'm wishing them lots of luck with it. To any prospect fosterers the comment I get the most is "I'd never be able to give them back". But obviously you do otherwise I'd have over 100 fully grown cats in my house. Admittedly my first foster kittens did include my cat Tink but she's is truely lovely (picture is of her). The thing is by the time they reach the age when they are ready to go, they are climbing up your legs, using your jeans as a scratching post and trying to escape. And besides when they go off to a new home you have space to help some more.

the fabulous four

Well I've not had much of a chance to update on these kittens. I've been very fortunate that despite Dave and Sissy initially being very poorly, they've really perked up and are doing so much better. They are now wayyyyyy too big for my spare bedroom, also known as the kitten room! So this weekend, as long as there's space, they will be heading back to Wood Green where they'll be off for the next stage of their lives.

But I've got some pictures to share! Haven't they grown?!

A new litter arrives

Last week I got some new kittens from Wood Green. These four have been very poorly and remind me a lot of a litter had last year, where they'd been so poorly that they'd lost loads of weight and kept trying to die. Thankfully the litter last year, Bert, Ellie and Maureen made it through and off to new homes. This is Ellie eating a duckSo my new kittens' story is that their mum was struggling to feed them so I took the kittens on foster and their mum stayed at the shelter. Sadly after not even a week of having them their mum had a fit and died. They don't know the cause of death so I have implemented a barrier nurse system where my husband and I are washing our hands and changing our socks a lot!!!

So anyway, introductions! This dear thing is Daisy, she's exceptionally sweet and loves a cuddle.

This is Dave, he did come with a fancy name but I can't remember it so I've been calling him Dave, he looks like a Dave. He's just the sweetest pea ever. He's been quite quiet so I think he's been feeling a bit poorly but hopefully we're getting there.















This little cheeky chappy is Hans. Heaffectionate and has taken to jumping on my shoulders and giving me a new hairstyle, he's been very creative and so far we're had the Rachel from FRIENDS look and the just been pulled through a hedge backwards, the latter is more popular!















Poor old Sissy doesn't look well here at all, and in her defence she has been really poorly. She's taken to sleeping next to the water bowl so I've had to install a bed right next to it. She's just very thin and has a constant upset tummy but I am hopeful, I've had kittens like her before and I hope she'll pull through.