Foster Kitten Friday

That's right, I've started fostering kittens! But the story really starts on a Thursday. Actually, it starts about two years ago when I picked up an application to foster kittens. I don't have any idea what day of the week that was, but let's just say it was a Friday. It could have been. The application sat on my desk for a good long while, until I finally submitted it this spring. Fast forward to a week ago Thursday. That's when I got the call:
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"Hello? Is this Karen Pokras? Would you be able to take in four bottle fed babies? They're just a couple of days old. Can you come get them tomorrow?" 

Just to clarify, we're talking about kittens, not humans. Also, I said okay. Then I hung up the phone and wondered what exactly I just I just agreed to. Then I watched a million YouTube videos on caring for newborn kittens (Thank you Kitten Lady!)

The next day, I cleaned my entire house from top to bottom in anticipation of their arrival - as if I were expecting the most discerning company. I have no explanation for this. I went to go pick them up. I received a hands-on lesson on neonate kitten care, bottle feeding supplies, and a box of four squiggly furry jellybeans. 

So you can see how tiny they are!

 Here's the thing about three day old orphan kittens: they have to be bottle-fed every two hours ROUND THE CLOCK. I took solace in knowing that every week this time frame would stretch out by an hour and that eventually they'd switch to soft food. Plus, someone had done this for my orphaned fur babies, and I really wanted to give back. Somewhere around the 4am feeding I may have even mumbled to myself, "This was your idea." I powered through, but it was only the first night. 

​The morning of day two, I received an unexpected phone call:

"We found and trapped the mama cat. Can you bring back the kittens? We want to see if she'll nurse them."

So back we went. The mama cat was beautiful, shy, scared, and totally missing her jellybeans! Before the day was over, we were all headed back to my house, this time with a new pile of supplies to take care of the reunited family.
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​We're now one week and one day in. The jellybeans are a week and a half old. A couple of them have started opening their eyes. After watching two different videos, I still cannot figure out the sexes, so I've given them all gender neutral names:

​Grey Jellybean: Parker
Black Jellybean: Teddi
Orange Jellybean: Jamie
Brown Jellybean: Avery
And we can't forget mama to Jellybeans: Chloe

They are eating like champs and have all doubled their weight. Chloe is still shy and scared, and not sure about me, but she seems to trust me a little more every day.

​Also ... my two big guys have been awesome!! They haven't seen the fosters (they're behind closed doors in an unused bedroom), but they know something's up. They're getting lots of love and extra treats.
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For even more updates, follow me on Instagram @karenpokras_author, because even though I have the best intentions of having regular "Foster Kitten Friday" updates here, we all know how that will probably turn out :D  Also ... these cute jellybeans will be up for adoption once they are older through ForgottenCats.org

xo,
Karen