# My fosters are finally ready :)



## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Had this batch for roughly 8.5 weeks now. They're finally all spayed/neutered and healed up, wormed, de-flea-ed and ready to go. I love the blue eyes!


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

Lovely bunch of kittens. The white stripe on Ichabod's nose is interesting. Ivan's expression makes him look like the terrible.


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## Lilykit (Nov 12, 2012)

awwww soo adorable!


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Aww, didn't you post a pic when there was just a jumble of little blobs of black fur? They all look great.  Ichabod has the hugest blue eyes! But I think my favorite is Inky - I don't know why.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Ichabod just got adopted by an absolutely wonderful family.  The other 5 are still looking for homes. I have another family coming out tomorrow to meet them, so hopefully 2 kittens will get forever homes this weekend.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I do have a pic of them as black fuzzy blobs...











They were about 5 weeks old in this photo.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

I want them all.  I don't think I could foster kittens for that reason...

I think they'll go fast, hopefully not everyone is just interested in the blue eyed ones, although they're very striking!


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## Elvie (Nov 21, 2012)

Haha, little army of ninjas! 
They are awesome.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

Great job with these kits - they look happy and healthy.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Thank you.  Iris just got adopted, so that's two blue eyed kitties down. But for what it's worth, the people who have been to meet them so far loved all the kittens and had a really hard time deciding, as everyone was super playful and friendly, so even if the blue eyed ones go first, it shouldn't spell doom for the brown eyed ones, as they're good kitties in their own right--just not quite as strikingly gorgeous as their siblings.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Itsy bitsy got adopted yesterday morning, so that's all the blue eyed kittens gone. Another person came out today and adopted Inky, so score one for the brown eyed kittens! I've had a few nibbles on Ivan and Igor, but as of right now they're still looking for their families.


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## Mrgnx11 (Nov 29, 2012)

They all look so healthy and lovable! I didn't realize you could spay/neuter at such a young age. I should research! My vet told me to wait til 6ms. I wonder why?


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I think the new standard is as long as they are 8 weeks and 2 lbs. Between fostering, the shelter I work with, and my own pickiness, I've dealt with 10 local area vets and every single one of them has the above (8 weeks and 2 lbs) guidelines for spay/neuter. 

This is the vet I used for these kittens' surgery and their approach to the age question:

Coalition: HUMAnE -- Low Cost Spay Neuter Tacoma

Be very careful waiting until 6 months. They CAN get pregnant/are fertile at that age.


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

Venusworld21 said:


> Be very careful waiting until 6 months. They CAN get pregnant/are fertile at that age.


And they can get pregnant even younger. When we took Momo in, she was five months old and seven weeks pregnant. We had her spayed and had the kittens aborted. Normally, I am VERY against aborting kittens that late in pregnancy, but Momo was a very tiny little girl and the vet said we made the right decision. If we had let her give birth, she and her kittens in all likelihood would have died. As it was, she had six kittens in her when she was spayed. And the vet said they were big, too.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Venusworld21 said:


> Itsy bitsy got adopted yesterday morning, so that's all the blue eyed kittens gone. Another person came out today and adopted Inky, so score one for the brown eyed kittens! I've had a few nibbles on Ivan and Igor, but as of right now they're still looking for their families.


Aww, I'm glad Inky was adopted - he was my favorite.


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## jadis (Jul 9, 2011)

Venusworld21 said:


> Be very careful waiting until 6 months. They CAN get pregnant/are fertile at that age.


Yep, my current foster is estimated by the vet to be 10-12 months old now, she has been with our rescue for 6 months and had just had kittens when we got her. They all died and she nearly died  She's doing great now though.

I was just about to say I like Inky with his tufts of hair in his ears, then I read he was adopted. Hope the others get homes soon!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Inky is a girl.  Her brother Igor has matching white tufts in his ears too. The only way I can tell them apart is that Igor has a white spot on his chest and Inky is solid black except for the white hair in her ears. Well, and the girl vs. boy bits are a clue too, I suppose. It's much easier to check their chests though, lol.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Ivan was adopted last weekend and someone is coming on Saturday to meet Igor. Fingers crossed it's a good match for everyone.  I still have Helios too, who is from the same property as these guys, but a different litter. He was adopted but came back and is now up for adoption again. 6 months old, solid gray tabby (gray with darker gray stripes), neutered of course. 


He's the one on the left in this photo:


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

Ivan looks like a troublemaker.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Aw, why did Helios come back? Look at that sweet little face! I wish I could take him.


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## lausa (Sep 23, 2012)

Iris is just so adorable!!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Helios came back because of litterbox issues. He had used it fine with me, but wasn't using it in his new home. He was a very nervous guy, so I think it was stress related. He's had 3 accidents since being back here, but none at all in the last 3 weeks and has moved into the house full time (he was staying in the garage). He's gotten to the point where he really seems to like and trust people (even strangers) so I really think his problem was nerves related. He's much more outgoing now, and hasn't had any accidents recently, so is back up for adoption.


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

I'm curious. If Helios ends up having litterbox issues again because of nerves and you get him back again, will you just keep him? If he doesn't have issues with you but does in other homes then I'd think he'd be better off with you.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I don't know what I would do if he comes back again. His first home he went to with his brother, and he was a very nervous guy. When he came back, he was much less nervous, but still really jumpy. He's calmed down tremendously in the last month or so and I really think he'll be "okay" now. I screen homes differently for each of my cats....Ivan went to a house with a somewhat rowdy 5 year old and a woman who had never owned cats before but is very willing to learn and take advice. He's a rowdy kitten himself and "durable" enough that won't be a problem for him. For Helios, I am screening for a quiet home, no small children, no other pets, preferably indoor/outdoor, previous cat experience. He doesn't have all that here with me. I think it will work wonders for him. I've had two emails so far that sound promising. 

If he comes back again, it depends on what the problem is. If it is a "relapse" he may need to stay with me. If it just doesn't work out for some other reason (allergies, moving, personality) I could try rehoming him again, or as an outdoor only cat, or depending on the time frame (we are trying to buy land and build a bigger house, which will influence how many cats we can have), we may end up keeping him. 

At this point it depends mostly on him. I'm screening for a specific home for him, but it'll be up to him what happens next. No matter what, I will always take any of my fosters back at any point in their lives for any reason. I am a permanent safety net for them. Of course my goal is to do what's best for them, so if that's what he needs, that's what he'll have. I don't think he's so "damaged" that he'll need to stay here forever though. He had a specific problem and I think we've got it fixed. Only way to know for sure though is to try it out.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Igor did get adopted this past weekend, so it is just Helios left here with us now. Here's a pretty recent photo:


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Helios was just adopted by a nice lady and her grandma, so that's all of my fosters adopted, for now.  Yay, Helios!


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

What a great job you did! And I hope Helios has really found his forever home!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Me too!  I explained to them exactly what's been going on with him, they signed my contract, and I told them at least 4 times that he is welcome back with me if for ANY reason they cannot keep him. They only live about 15 minutes away and I have both their email and phone #s, so I should be able to keep track of him. He's the only pet right now and will eventually be indoor/outdoor (they know he has to stay indoors only for a while to get used to his new surroundings first). It's as good a fit as I think he'll find and I'm very pleased with it. 

Now I'm just nervously hoping he does as well as he should. I told her I'd email to check in after a few days. Fingers crossed he behaves himself.


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## MyBabiesDaddy (Jan 1, 2013)

Great job Venus  Iris looked like such a little princess, very cute!!! Out of curiosity, was that their mom in the first pic? Was she also fixed after she had the kittes?

Also, to address the poster who asked about neutering/spaying so young; the vet who did the "pediatric" neutering at my shelter did it when they were very young as well. I've read that some vets don't do it because they feel it leads to more UTI's later in life. I read that after around 8 weeks of age, neutering the males doesn't effect their growth anymore, so it's ok to do.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yep. Their mom wasn't spayed at the same time as the kittens because she was pregnant again. The backstory: my coworker's mother had a shop full of unaltered cats. I was unable to persuade her to fix them, so after 6 months I went out and collected as many as I could catch (she didn't want to deal with it and granted me ownership of all but one. I ended up with Lucy the gray tabby and her 3 kittens and Tootsie the black DSH and her 6 kittens. (There were 14 cats all together...I couldn't catch the last 3, but am still trying.)

Tootsie's kittens were 3 weeks old when they came here. Cats can get pregnant as soon as 48 hours after giving birth. Tootsie was already pregnant when she came here (none of my guys are equipped and she did not leave my house). Her kittens were all spayed/neutered November 8th, but because Tootsie was so far along by then, we decided to let her have the babies and then get her spayed. She ended up aborting on her own, so she was spayed a few days before Christmas. Merry Christmas Tootsie!  She'd had 5 or 6 litters in as many years and seemed thoroughly sick of being a milk trough. 

She's a happy girl now, running the house. She's going to go back to her people (they're paying me back for her surgery) and going to be an outdoor kitty again, so I'm not in a hurry to send her back. I'm dawdling until the weather warms up a bit...probably March-ish. They aren't in a hurry to have her back and Tootsie is really enjoying being a pampered princess in the mean time.


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

Venusworld21 said:


> _*They aren't in a hurry to have her back*_ and Tootsie is really enjoying being a pampered princess in the mean time.


This worries me. Do her owners really want her back and why are they not in hurry to have her back? If she were mine, I'd be knocking down your door to get my baby back...just sayin'. ;-)


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

That's because you are a good cat owner.  

They do want her back....originally they weren't going to let me take her (just the babies) because they wanted to keep her because "she's a good mouser." I told them she really needed to be spayed and I was going to have it done at a low cost place ($50), so they agreed they'd pay me for her surgery (they have the money, they just don't care much about their kitties). 

They are not an ideal home for her, I realize that...however if I'd refused to give any of the cats back, they would have either 1.) not let me take any of them or 2.) Gone right out and got another cat, probably unspayed, and the whole problem would have started over again. 

Tootsie is at least 5 years old and has lived her whole life at that property. She knows how to survive there. I wouldn't send a cat who wasn't experienced with that out there, but since she is, it seems like the only option I have. Since she's now spayed, she won't be popping out babies the rest of her life and by her presence there, can keep other non-sterile cats from taking up residence in the shop.

I'm not 100% happy with the situation, but again, Tootsie knows how to survive and while she won't be a spoiled princess out there, she will be able to live and in exchange 10 other cats get bright new futures. It's the best I can do with this situation, unfortunately. 

If you have a different suggestion, I'm wide open to hearing it. I'd love for her to remain a pampered indoor kitty the rest of her life...I just don't know how to make it happen without jeopardizing the three cats still living on the property and possibly facing the same problem all over again (a few cats and a bunch of kittens) at the end of next summer where 10 or 20 new cats end up needing rescue.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I had an email update on Iris yesterday and I thought I'd do an update here on these guys.  

Ichabod (now Joe Cat) is running his new house. They've sent me periodic pictures of him and say that one of his favorite things to do is wear tee-shirts. He's a 2T size (baby clothes) and seems to really enjoy it, by the pictures. He also likes to sleep on the keyboard...I got a picture of that too. 

Iris is a lovely kitty and doing very well. They are so pleased with her that they'd like to adopt a friend for her, and are wanting to know when I will get kittens in this year. I told them it will be a few more months and I will keep them posted. 

Itsy Bitsy has a big brother named Skittles (also a b/w tuxedo) and the two of them are inseparable. She is the favorite kitty at her vet's office because of her great temperament and striking blue eyes (they did stay blue, after all). 

Inky was a bit of a handful for her new owner at first ("I'd forgot how much work kittens are!"), but she's settled down now and is quite the sweetheart.

Igor is now re-named Buddy. He has a sister, Febe, and lives about 20 miles away. His owner has a third floor apartment, but his kitties wanted to go outside, so he bought a small greenhouse that fits on his balcony. He has sent me pictures of both kitties lounging around "outdoors." 

Ivan (the terrible) is now named Jasper and is the one I get most frequent updates on. He's a rowdy guy, but also quite handsome. I've been sent photos of him playing with his new family and also of him sleeping on the kids' homework. He's a stinker, but they love him. 

Tootsie's owners decided after all that, that they didn't want to cough up $50 to get her back. They signed ownership over to me and I placed her with a really wonderful lady I met through the horse rescue world. She now lives about 4 hours south of me. Her new owners had a white cat with two different colored eyes that had passed due to old age, and they were really struck by Tootsie's black coat/different eyes. She's doing great, still a little shy, but is definitely the pampered princess I hoped she would get to stay. 

I don't often get updates on Helios, but last I heard he was still an indoor kitty and loving being the only cat. I got a photo of him perched on a cat tree and looking very pleased with himself.


So, a year later, that's where everyone is at.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Great update Venusworld!
And good news for Tootsie!!


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