# First fosters of the season



## Venusworld21

I picked up my first batch of fosters yesterday. Mom and three four-week-old kittens.

I name each batch after a letter and the moms after queens. Tentatively, I think mom will be Juno (wife of Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Hera). She seems very young to me...less than a year old. Maybe around 10 months.





Babies are two boys (darker of the two tabbys and the mostly white one) and a girl (lighter of the two tabbys). Tentatively calling them Jester, Jinx and Jasmine.






All will be available for adoption through the Olympia, WA shelter in about a month, if you're local and looking for a cat or kitten.


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## Leazie

Juno looks like a love, and her babies are adorable.


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## Mylita

Oh, cuteness overload!! They are all beautiful kitties!!

Mylita


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## ccw

Oh my heart!! Babies! <3 <3 And Juno is so pretty and looks so secure! <3 
Do you know theyr story?


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## Venusworld21

I don't...I know nothing at all about their history. I picked them up from the shelter and will have them for 4 weeks or so, until babies are big enough for adoption.


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## ccw

If the kittens are 3weeks now, and you are having them untill they are ready to be adopted you`ll have them for nine weeks


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## Venusworld21

Kittens are four weeks now (three four-week olds, as in there's 3 of them who are 4-weeks old, not that they're 3-4 weeks old  ) and will go up for adoption at 8 weeks, when they are old enough to be spayed/neutered. So I'll have them from age 4 weeks to age 8 weeks. That is the policy of the shelter I foster for.


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## ccw

Excuse me, this is not meant against you personally at all! It is intended to center. I quit at the first center I worked at simply because they had this policy. Kittens need to be with their mother until they are 12 weeks. Until they are 8 weeks so they need their mother for their physical development. from week eight to week 12, they learn to be a cat! I myself have cats who lost their mother too early (not because I adoprterte they so early, but because theyr mother died) and I see how poor they are talking to other cats. They go okay along with the others here, as it is they who raised them. But when we are out then they are really bad to use proper cat body language.  I get so sad when center adopts away so early, they do a good job of helping and then they do such a big mistake


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## Venusworld21

I understand where you're coming from and have also read that 12 weeks is the ideal age. However, they can be spayed/neutered at 8 weeks and it becomes a space issue after that. That is, the volume of animals through the shelter (around 120 per day) is such that it becomes impractical for them to keep them through age 12 weeks when they can be adopted at 8 weeks. One because they need the space, and two because the risk of disease is so high at the shelter. For foster situations, space is also an issue, even though they are away from the shelter. The shelter I work with is a kill shelter, so if every kitten stays an extra 4 weeks in foster care, that means newborn kittens would be getting euthanized as there is no space for them. 

Also, while my fosters are with me, I do my uttmost to socialize them thoroughly. They spend the first 2 weeks in quarantine with their mother (or longer, if they're very young when they arrive). The quarantine room has a glass door, so they can see my other animals, but not make contact with them. After that they can venture out into the kitchen. I use a baby gate so they start getting used to seeing and smelling other cats besides mom (I have 5 of my own cats). Before they leave here they'll have the run of the house. They'll also meet my dog (lab mix) and be getting along with my 5. 

I also have an open door policy with the shelter if any of my fosters ever need to be returned for any reason. I've had one mama kitty come back because she bit someone (and the shelter agreed that it wasn't her fault) but never had any of my kittens come back at all. 

8 weeks is not ideal, but it's much better than the alternatives, I think.


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## ccw

Now I'm really shocked. First off all; 120 animals every day?? OMG! And killing them?   So extremely terrible! Here they euthanize none as long as they are not too sick to live. Can I ask where you come from? How many people live there, and how many center is in that city?


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## Venusworld21

First off, sorry, I misspoke. I remembered the number but not the rate. I cruised the shelter's website again and they state 135 per WEEK (not day, so sorry!). However, that number is an average of roughly 20 animals per day. Lower in fall/winter and higher in spring/summer. During kitten season (now), much higher numbers are not uncommon.

I'm in Olympia, that's about an hour south of Seattle. It's a city/county-run shelter serving all of the county. They do their best to place all adoptable animals, as space permits. The trouble is space doesn't always permit. Dogs have a much easier time being adopted here than cats, so it's cats that need the most help. 

Since it's a county-wide shelter, here's the stats for Thurston County (from wikipedia):

"As of the 2010 census, its population was 252,264. The county has a total area of 774 square miles (2,000 km2), of which 727 square miles (1,880 km2) is land."


They (the shelter) does all the intake in the area, plus all animal law enforcement for small animals (including dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, etc. and excluding things like horses, cows, etc). 

There are rescues in the area who are also allowed to pull from the shelter (and can do their own intake), but there still just isn't enough space or homes for them all...the no-kill group I also work with has a waiting list about a year long right now to get a cat in. A lot of Thurston county is rural, which does not help. And we're actually much better off here than the next county south, which is Lewis County. Roughly as big, but mostly rural and much less money.


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## ccw

Wow, that is still very many animals! But you got animal police over there, right? We do not have that here. here is information about where I live from wikipedia; Bergen (Norwegian pronunciation: [bærɡən] is a city and municipality in Hordaland on the west coast of Norway. As of 19 May 2013, the municipality had a population of 269,100 and Greater Bergen had a population of 395.600, making Bergen the second-largest city in Norway. the municipality covers an area of 465 square kilometers (180 sq mi). 

Here we have 3 centers. Two center for all kinds of animals (one center for the county of Hordaland, that second only to the city of Bergen). and one special center just for cats, named "the cat protection". Plus we have an organization called "House for cat" which has no center, but that captures homeless cats and castrate them, and unleashing again. dogs are hardly adopted from centers here, the Norwegian laws are much stricter about dogs than cats. centers here helps totaling approx. 1000 cats a year, divided between the four organizations. So we have a much smaller problem here than you have ower there. in the Norway we have NO wild cats(only lynx), only homeless cats that have been thrown out of the bad people.


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## Venusworld21

Yes unfortunately the problem is much bigger here and TNR has only started to be widely used in the last 10 years or so, I would say. It is slowly decreasing the number of animals euthanized in shelters every year due to lack of space, but we still aren't down enough yet that there is room for every pet. I hope there will be soon!


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## Venusworld21

More baby pictures:

Jinx: 


Jester:






Top to bottom: Jinx, Jester, Jasmine:




Mama Juno:


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## Jakiepoo

*Squeeel* I LOVE BABIES! Can I have them all? Please and thank you! And mama is absolutely gorgeous as well!

And yeah, it is unfortunate about the kill shelters, but having a no-kill shelter is not something every shelter can afford to do. The only reason our shelter can do it is because there are many branches across the province, as well as every pet store in the province was forced to stop selling cats and dogs from mills, and so they instead use all that space designed to sell "purebred" puppies and kittens to host shelter cats. If we had a similar shelter situation I think a kill shelter would be the only option to maximize adoption rates.

I mean, most adoptions, at least around here, take place around Christmas, which is good, but not the prime season for the shelters.

But good on you for fostering all of these cats! It's definitely something I want to look into doing when I move out if I get a landlord that allows it. Especially since I'll probably only personally be able to afford 1 or 2 cats, and having kittens around sparingly would be entertaining!


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## Jacq

Love the pictures! To be honest, I prefer mama. Juno is a stunningly beautiful cat. I hope she can find a forever home 

I'm just going to brag that I live in a city of 1.2 million people and is no-kill. It's possible, it just takes education, compassion, and licensing.


> Bruce [head of Calgary's animal shelter] was able to achieve no-kill *… without *doing any of the following: demonizing pet owners or by imposing kneejerk and ineffective legislation (e.g., breed-specific bans, mandatory spay/neuter, and arbitrary limits set on the number of animals in a household).
> Rather, Bruce’s focus was on the QUALITY of pet guardianship … to engage the public to be good pet guardians.
> ...
> Calgary now has a 95% dog licensing compliance rate and a 50%+ licensing rate for cats. (Yes, Bruce successfully convinced cat owners and politicians that licensing cats is the right thing to do.)
> His shelter takes not one penny from government money. Operating funds come from licensing fees. Using those monies, Calgary has built a state of the art shelter and veterinary clinic (Calgary vet specialists donate their services for special-needs animals), provides no-cost spay/neuter services for low-income residents, and has professional educators who teach humane education curricula in the public schools. Moreover, Calgary pet guardiams who license their animals receive a variety of discounts and services with a long list of participating merchants (including restaurants). If the Calgary shelter picks up a stray (but licensed) dog or cat, that animal is immediately driven home and reunited with its guardian.
> Feral cats aren’t neglected, either. The Calgary shelter partners with an organization called The Meow Foundation. If a feral cat ends up at the Calgary shelter, it is immediately transferred to the protection of the Meow Foundation [where it is returned to its colony if at all possible].


Bill Bruce and his Calgary No-Kill Model | shelterreform.org Blog


Mini-Rant/brag over. LOVE the fosters.


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## Venusworld21

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of being no-kill. I'm just not sure what additional steps I can personally take to make that happen here. I'm doing foster, outreach and rescue work as much as I can. And I'm building good, solid relationships with the local shelter and rescue groups that may come in handy down the road.


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## Venusworld21

Photo update 

We've had a bit of a scare with them the last few days. Mama Juno apparently either dried up or has been refusing to feed them. They lost a bit of weight and got very weak. I've been bottle feeding them, then they got the runs so I've also started them on pumpkin and yogurt. They seem to be doing better tonight. I'm hopeful they'll pull through okay, but we aren't out of the woods yet. Fingers crossed for the little guys.

Jinx and Jasmine:



Jester:



Mama Juno:


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## Venusworld21

They seem to be doing better. They've been gaining weight slowly. I've had them on a mixture of meat baby food, yogurt, pumpkin, KMR formula, probiotics and ground up crunchies 4-6 times a day for the last 4 days. They've each gained an ounce in the last 24 hours and 2-3 ounces over the last few days. The biggest (Jester) is up to 1 lb, 5 oz and the other two (Jinx and Jasmine) are up to about 14 oz. Very small, considering they're about 6 weeks old, but at least going in an upward direction now. 

More photos in the next few days.


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## Jetlaya67

They are all beautiful, but I am pretty partial to Jester.


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## Yuki'sMum

Juno and her babies are adorable!  

Jacq, it's great that Calgary is no-kill. I wish Edmonton was but I don't think it is yet. I've heard of the Meow Foundation  I bought one of their tshirts years ago. I love how Meow stands for "make each one wanted" 


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## Venusworld21

Jinx, my stubborn adorable boy, is finally eating without a syringe!  He plunges his whole face into the formula though...it's completely adorable. Practice makes perfect, lol.

Everyone is eating well and gaining weight steadily. As of last night (I haven't weighed them yet tonight), Jasmine and Jinx were both FINALLY over the 1 pound mark and Jester is closing in on 1.5 lbs. They're about 7 weeks old, so still way behind, but moving in the right direction. They're finally starting to really PLAY like 7 week old kittens should, rather than just sleeping and eating like they were. Definitely progress! They're still on the formula/baby food/probiotics/wet food/ground crunchies diet 4 times a day.

Size difference between Jinx and Juno (mom):




Jinx's cute little belly:





Jinx, failing spectacularly at trying to eat his dinner:


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## Carmel

That last picture made me laugh out loud! In a very quiet house... :lol: What a fantastic shot! Poor guy. He'll get the hang of it!

They're all adorable, and Juno seems to have some really vibrant coloring to her!


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## Venusworld21

When I saw how he was eating I laughed pretty loud also and literally ran out of the laundry room for my camera. Luckily he was too hungry to pay much attention to my craziness and hadn't moved away from his bowl before I got back. 

Also note the paper towels in the background, lol. I've been wiping them all down after every meal 'cause they're all little messy fuzzballs who manage to wear nearly as much of the food as they eat.


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## Venusworld21

Jinx finally graduated to solid food last weekend and now everyone is gaining weight at a steady pace and I'm not having to do the lovely KMR formula mix 4 times a day, win!




Juno is still Juno:






Jester has cleared the 2 pound mark and is now officially available for adoption.  He is also apparently a huge ham for the camera:








Jasmine does whatever brother does (and is now up to 1 lb 8 oz, so still half a pound to go):



And Jinx (who is up to 1 lb 6 oz, so just over half a pound to go):


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## Jacq

Ph gosh, it's probably a good thing you're out in Washington.

I want to take Juno into my house, feral or not. I love her far, her fur, everything about her just screams "Pick me!!!"


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## Venusworld21

Juno's not feral at all...she's very sweet (my other foster momma kitty, Sanka, is the feral-ish one). Juno is just a little "cage crazy"...she's young and antsy and being confined for the last 8 weeks hasn't suited her at all. She runs up and down the kitchen when I let her out of the laundry room and generally acts like a crazy kitten herself. She's really sweet though and hasn't ever clawed us or broken skin in any way or acted any kind of mean or aggressive. She's a sweetie who wants LOTS of attention, lol.


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## JungliBillis

Juno is a torbie! The whole family is very good looking. Must be good genes from mama.


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## Jetlaya67

The whole family is adorable. The kittens look great! You have done a great job.


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## Venusworld21

Juno is too smart for her own good! She came sauntering into our bedroom at 7 am today...apparently she's figured out how to open the laundry room door. I've never had a foster do that before, lol. The good news is, she didn't get into any fights with our five resident cats, and she ignored the dog (the shelter told us when we first picked her up that she HATED dogs). She's such a big kitten!


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## Venusworld21

All the kittens are finally 2 pounds! They'll go back to the shelter on Tuesday to go up for adoption (unless I can find adopters before then) and I'll get a new batch. I'm going to hang on to mom until her milk dries up so she can go directly up for adoption too once she does go back to the shelter.


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## Venusworld21

Jasmine was adopted today. Her brothers are still looking for homes if anyone in the area is interested or knows someone who is interested.  

And while I was at the shelter, three separate people came in asking for kittens. Apparently there aren't any up for adoption at the moment...so her brothers should go like hotcakes when they go back on Tuesday, if I haven't already found adopters for them by then. Yay Jasmine!


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## MTTS88

Very cool!

I myself am thinking heavily about doing this exact thing. I had no idea that "foster" programs existed until about a week ago when I was researching my local shelter here on the eastern side of the state. Ours is a kill shelter as well. Way too many animals in there and I felt terrible leaving a single one. I may be adopting 2 more myself, making 4 at my home. I love cats and hate seeing them killed for, in most cases, irresponsible owners.


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## Venusworld21

Fostering is great...the worst part, of course, is saying goodbye to them when the time comes, but if you're strong enough to do that, then it's a great experience. I'm hoping to make it to 100 on my "foster count" this year. I'm currently somewhere in the 80s and have another new batch from the shelter coming on Tuesday when this batch goes back. Just one little life at a time, but it adds up.


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## Venusworld21

I stopped by the shelter on my way home tonight and the J babies have all been adopted and gone to their new homes. Now it's just Mama Juno hanging out here with me while her milk dries up.


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## Leazie

Maybe Mama will just continue to stay at your house until you are so used to her being around that you could never think of her going off to someone else (I know that is not the idea being fostering but I am a romantic).

You did a really good thing by taking in this little family.


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## Venusworld21

Lol, mama has not had much experience with other cats/animals. She's driving my permanent five bonkers right now, though is getting better every day. She really needs this extra baby-free time to learn about being a good kitty citizen, and I'm happy to give her that time.


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## Venusworld21

Mama Juno has moved into the main part of the house and is learning how to interact with other cats.


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## Jacq

I love Juno so much. Look at her face. She just can't bring herself to be too trusting yet. I'm sure she'll come around eventually though.


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## Venusworld21

She likes people just fine....but she'll charge at the other cats. It looks to me like she's trying to play with them, but they're a bunch of pansies who panic and run crying down the hallway (which just makes her want to chase them more, unfortunately). She is also learning the word "No" (like when she jumps on the counters, or takes off after one of our permanent kitties at a dead run) and she's learning that love bites need to be gentle or the humans won't be happy. She's perfectly friendly....she just has NO IDEA how to behave around anyone but herself. Even with her kittens she would sometimes get too rough. She doesn't understand boundaries at all. My guys are sorting her out though.


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## Jacq

LOL I guess she just has a grumpy face then!

I still adore her.


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## Venusworld21

It's been two weeks without babies. Juno is dried up and ready to go up for adoption. She'll be heading in to the shelter tomorrow.  Wish her luck!


She's doing really well with our cats now (she spent the first week or so chasing everyone around the house and generally tormenting them) and the dog. She's in a raging heat though and shrieking at the top of her voice for several hours a day. Can't wait for her to be uterus-free, lol. She's a really good girl and I hope she gets a wonderful home. She's going to make a great little kitty for someone.


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## bae

so cute


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## Venusworld21

I stopped by the shelter on my way home and visited Mama Juno while I was there. She's up in the adoption room and seems to be doing well. Hopefully she'll meet her forever family soon!


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## spirite

Congrats on getting all of the little furballs healthy and adopted! I hope Juno finds a good home too. Was she ignoring her kittens or just not feeding them? 

Wow, one group out, another one in! You're certainly keeping busy!


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## Claiken

ccw said:


> Excuse me, this is not meant against you personally at all! It is intended to center. I quit at the first center I worked at simply because they had this policy. Kittens need to be with their mother until they are 12 weeks. Until they are 8 weeks so they need their mother for their physical development. from week eight to week 12, they learn to be a cat! I myself have cats who lost their mother too early (not because I adoprterte they so early, but because theyr mother died) and I see how poor they are talking to other cats. They go okay along with the others here, as it is they who raised them. But when we are out then they are really bad to use proper cat body language.  I get so sad when center adopts away so early, they do a good job of helping and then they do such a big mistake


I wonder if thats why Simba is kind of a DogCat. He was 4 weeks old when we got him (we got him early though, he was a barn cat with ticks all over... so it was early but in the end a good thing. the barn lady didnt know about them.) But, point being, from weeks 8-12 he was becoming friends with our dog Max. He even used to fetch when he was a kitten too! He didnt meet Boo, our second cat, until he was about a year old. Makes me think!


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## Venusworld21

She was ignoring them....wouldn't lay still for them to eat even when they were crying, wouldn't groom them and was rough with them when she did pay attention to them. She really hated being locked up (I keep all my fosters separate from my permanent kitties for at least a few weeks) and she was young and inexperienced. She was a pretty lousy mama, but she's a great cat. 

And yeah, on the fast turnaround time. The shelter is overflowing right now with kittens needing fosters. I have a private batch in the garage (a "project" I started last September to get all the cats off a rural property up here) otherwise I'd probably have two shelter groups. I'm going on my honeymoon in a month, so the shelter knows I get a break for a week. I'm sure they'll load me up with more as soon as I get home. They need the help desperately and I want to do whatever I can to help.


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## spirite

There are some human moms like that...I guess being spayed is a particularly good thing for her.  

Honeymoon! I'm sure the shelter will miss you, but I hope you have a great time! 

All of you who foster are incredibly dedicated and generous with your time. I considered it a long time ago when I had one cat and was less busy, but during the semester, I work sometimes 90 hours a week. The bigger problem is how easily stressed Celia is. Margaux's unfriendly (hiss, growl, swipe), but she'd deal with it. Celia would just be miserable.


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## Venusworld21

Yeah, I'm lucky that my permanent kitties put up with it so well.  I sort of accidentally walked into my first foster (a kitty showed up on our front porch and moved in for 2 months) but when everyone did really well with her--me and the 3 kitties I had at the time--I decided to take the plunge. My other two permanent kitties now are foster failures, so I kind of got to "test drive" them with strange cats and they did really well.


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## Venusworld21

I went by the shelter today to check on my L kittens. Juno is still there, but is on "hold" and has an adoption pending. With luck, she'll be adopted and into her new home by next week! (The shelter is closed sunday/monday, so adoption couldn't finish now until Tuesday.)


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## 10cats2dogs

How exciting, sure hope she finds a really good forever home. Thank you for doing what you do! 

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## Venusworld21

I had an email from the shelter today. Mama Juno was adopted! So now the whole family is off on their new adventures.


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## 10cats2dogs

How wonderful! I'm glad she's found a home! 

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## spirite

That's great news! Congratulations.  Going to move on to your post about the 2nd batch now.


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## Tiliqua

Wonderful news! Mama Juno is gorgeous, so glad she found a home quickly. Thanks for the great story!


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