First Foster Family of 2014

[Barry2013]

A lucky black cat!
Well done

 

[carolkoh]

Ahh... I see I have not mentioned their names. This is the Grey family.

Mum is Jean
Black boy is Earl
Grey boy is Dorian
Tabby girl is Jane

Orange orphan is George as in... "I want to hug him and pet him and take him home and name him... "
The new orphan black boy is Tex

 

[carolkoh]

George went home with his human parents over the weekend. He's eight weeks and I trust the couple to get him neutered at the right time. He is still tiny at 1lb 9oz. To be expected since he was sickly and delicate being orphaned at such a young age. Whether he will grow beyond 8lbs... who knows? I will have to check when he's a year old to see how much he's grown.

Mother cat Jeannie is now spayed an up for adoption. She is also a small cat and young.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Jeannie is a pretty tabby! Yay for little Georgie.

 

[carolkoh]

Look who made it to the tippy-top of the cat tree. The other levels are easy enough to get to. The first is a big jump can be got on off the easy chair, then up they climb to the others, but the top is only through jumping through the hole and pulling themselves up!



Dorian on the left, Earl on the right.

 

[Barry2013]

They look lovely.
Well done you and Mum.
How is Tex?

 

[carolkoh]

Tex is doing just fine, thanks for asking.



Here's the happy little boy. He's more comfortable when I get close to the ground, but he will come around soon.

 

[carolkoh]

All kittens neutered. Yes, "Neutered" - Jane turned out to be a Zane. I am not surprised. He was the one kittens who's gender I was not totally certain.



Hello there, little boy!

They are recovering at home with me right now and will go up for adoption on Saturday.

 

[es347]

Carol...at what ages did you have them neutered? Thanks..

 

[carolkoh]

At two pounds. That's the minimum weight accepted for anesthesia. Age is anywhere from 9 - 12 weeks. These guys got neutered a day after their 9th week birthday. However, they were all 2.5lbs. Tex is about 12 weeks and weighed 3.5lbs.

They are done by the Feral Cat Spay and Neuter Project up here in Seattle. The vets there do 4 clinics a week where they spay and neuter up to 40 cats a day. Man they are good and fast. The boys had a strip shaved across their lower bellies about half an inch wide and I could not see the incisions. The mother cat had the whole of her lower belly shaved and an incision of less than an inch.

A long time ago, when I moved out west from the east coast, a good friend who also happened to be a small animal vet told me to trial veterinarians by asking them their criteria for spay/neuter of kittens. "If they say 6 months," She said, "They are not skilful surgeons." (Well she was a little ruder.)

The ASPCA likes to say "Fix at four" - that's because cats and dogs can go into heat at four months. The rescues do it at two pounds because they will not let kittens be adopted without being spayed/neutered and they cannot afford to keep them longer.

 

[es347]

Thanks our brother and sister are about 12 weeks...

 

[carolkoh]

Aww... how cute. I weigh mine on a kitchen scale. Maybe I should get one of those electronic scales. It will be easier to weigh myself and pick one up than getting them to sit still on a kitchen scale.

If you want them to get a little older first, you should be fine. It's the late female kittens - the ones that are born in the fall like October/November that go into heat at the first sign of spring. But do them by six months. That's when the males start putting on the male cat characteristics. They put on the muscle, the heavy jowls and start getting stinky.

 

[carolkoh]

Kitten news:

Tex went back to my neighbors - their old lady cat seem to be less aggressive towards him this time around. They want him enough to want to try again.

Dorian found his very own humans to shed on.

Zane and Earl are still available!