# Second foster batch of the season



## Venusworld21

I spent most of last fall/winter with 11 cats and kittens rescued from a property outside of town (private foster, not through the shelter). Two kittens had already died and the owners were willing to give the cats up to me. I went out with crates and traps and got all but 3 adults...one female and two males left on the property who were too smart for traps.

Last night I got a call that the female had shown back up just in time to give birth.

I went out tonight and picked her up....there are five two-day-old babies and their extremely attentive but half-wild mother now settling in to my garage (my other foster batch is in the laundry room, and will have no contact with them). I don't like doubling up on foster batches, but I can't just let them stay at the property to die. The good news is, this is the last female from the property and I'll be getting everyone spayed/neutered (they don't want her back, so I had them sign over ownership), so no more babies out there!


Pictures to come in a few days. Mom is black and babies are two grays and three blacks. I don't know sexes yet...haven't handled them long enough to look. Didn't want to stress mom out any more than moving her already had. They'll be up for adoption once everyone is weaned and fixed and healed up.


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## Hyper_cat_lady91

Awe what a great thing to do .. I find 2 kittens hard never mind the amount u have


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## Venusworld21

Yeah, it doesn't leave much time for doing anything else, but I don't mind and it means the world to the babies who now have a shot to live and actually have a good life. 

I have 5 permanent cats of my own, plus right now I have a mom and 3 five-week-old kittens from the shelter and this mom and her 5 two-day-olds, so I've got 15 cats here at the moment...8 of them infants. Who needs to sleep?


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## howsefrau32

People that do what you do are heros to me


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## Venusworld21

Finally got photos!

Mama Sanka is....a little skittish (not feral, but very wary of people). I've ziptied two crates together for her in my garage. One is for the babies. The other is for everything she needs...food, water, litter. I've had her 3 days now and she's almost stopped growling when I go out to see her.  Baby steps. She's got 5 fuzzballs, whom I've avoided handling. She's doing a good job, and right now my main focus is to get her to trust me enough that handling them won't stress her out.


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## Leazie

Momma is beautiful and the fuzz ball pile is perfect. 

In the pic where Momma is heading over the cardboard into the front cage you can see that there is an opening front the plastic cage. I wondered if a little fuzzy can get out of the opening. Maybe a piece of cardboard would cover it up to prevent escapes?


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## Venusworld21

The cardboard is taped to the crate, so unless mom brings them out, they cannot get out of the crate without climbing OVER the 12 inch tall cardboard, which they won't be able to do for a few more weeks. I've used that set up (without the wire crate on the front) for fosters with very young kittens before and it's always kept the babies contained. By the time they're big enough to come out into the wire crate (where you're right, they could escape from) they won't be confined to a crate at all because foster batch 1 from the laundry room will be gone so they can move in there. Also, the blanket was pulled back in that picture, but the leopard print blanket hangs down and covers that gap usually...I just moved it for the photo. So it doesn't "look" like a gap to her when the blanket is down, and she hasn't been challenging the crates at all. She just wants to stay with her babies like a very good mama. 

The wire crate for now is really only to keep mom from moving the babies somewhere dangerous inside the garage, and also to force her to stay in basically one spot so I can work on gaining her trust. She hasn't challenged the crate though...the doors on the wire crate would open if she put some effort into it (I've had to clip them shut in the past when I've had less mellow cats in there), and she hasn't tried to squeeze out through any of the gaps between the 2 crates. She's very attached to her babies and won't leave them, which makes my job much easier in several ways. 

The only reason we were actually able to catch her at all at her old owners' property is because we were loading the babies in the carrier and one started crying and she (who wouldn't come near us otherwise) ran over to see what was happening and we were able to get her in the carrier.


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## Venusworld21

Got a bit of a surprise tonight! I went out to feed them (well, feed mama) while my sister was visiting (so she came out to see the fuzzy balls of cute) and they have their eyes open! So they're older than I was told they were by at least a few days...they have to be about 10-14 days old, rather than 5. They're still tiny and adorable and not really doing anything except eating, sleeping and being wonderfully cute.


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## Jakiepoo

Such a beautiful momma! I love black cats! You do such amazing things with all of the cats you foster! it's definitely something I want to do when I have my own place that allows it.

Love kitten updates!


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## Venusworld21

I finally handled the babies for the first time tonight. Mom is a very good mom and extremely protective. I only got hissed at once though, so she's come a long way. All the babies are active and look healthy. One had a little bit of crustiness around its eye, which we gently wiped away. Everyone's eyes are open.

It APPEARS we have 3 boys and 2 girls....1 gray girl, 1 gray boy, 2 black boys and 1 black girl. However they liked to start crying whenever we picked one up to look at it and mom immediately came over to investigate, so it was hard to be certain. I'll check again in a week or so once they start running around some and mom is a little less keen on watching them every second.


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## Jetlaya67

So cute! Mom and babies are beautiful!


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## Greenport ferals

What a good mother she is. Very touching.


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## Venusworld21

Yes her being such a good mom makes my job much easier.  My other foster mom is NOT being such a great mom, which just makes me appreciate Sanka (this mama kitty) that much more.


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## JungliBillis

Aww that is so wonderful of you to take them in. And that is A LOT of cats to take care of at once. It sounds like you are doing an awesome job, taking care of both fosters. I really admire what you do for them. 

I hope all cats and kittens will find nice homes. I mean, they are all so adorable, so I am sure they will go like hot cakes!


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## Venusworld21

The first batch belongs to the shelter and they will be the ones screening for homes (though if I have someone who wants to adopt I can make sure they get priority  ). This second batch belongs to me now (their old owner signed them over to me when I picked them up) so I will be the one finding them homes. I feel like I've got a pretty good system sorted out though for screening good homes. Also, they'll all be spayed or neutered before they leave my house, so on the off chance that someone gets one who is less than stellar, at least these guys will not be out in the world creating more. I keep in contact with all my previous adopters though. My last batch of cats from the same property as these guys are almost 10 months old now, and I still get photo updates from their new owners.


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## spirite

Wow, what you're doing for these kitties - and the others! - is amazing. Mama kitty is beautiful. In one of the pics, it looks like you're able to pet her. Is she getting more comfortable around you?


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## Venusworld21

Yes, mama's warming up pretty well (she'll purr for me and let me pet her most of the time), though it's clear she's still really nervous around people. I refilled her litter box tonight and the crinkle of the bag made her run and hide. She hissed at me when I tried to handled the babies and didn't like the sound of my pant-leg dragging on the garage floor. She's sweet though, and even when she's afraid it's not a "bite and claw" type of fear...it's a "run away and hide" type fear, which is much "safer" for me. 

She was starting to get restless in the two crates, so since she's warming up so well I decided to give her free run of the garage. Her babies are still in the big crate, and she can come and go to them as she pleases. Babies are moving around lots and are within a week or so of "escaping" their crate I think.

Baby pictures!

Mama Sanka (she came already named---I don't change adult names if they already have them):





Checking out my pants



Keeping an eye on the babies


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## JustOneMore

They are adorable!!


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## Leazie

Love that grey fuzzy butt!


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## Jetlaya67

Tiny little fuzzy babies!Mom is beautiful too!


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## Venusworld21

Thanks!  For those who might remember my other thread about the black kittens with blue eyes and their mom, Tootsie (who was black with one blue eye and one yellow)....Sanka (this mama kitty) is Tootsie's daughter. She was born on the property they all came from and has lived there her whole life, up until 2 weeks or so ago when I was finally able to catch her. She's around 3 years old and has only ever had minimal contact with humans. She's come a long way already and her babies will never have to grow up like she did. This is her third litter, according to her former owners.


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## Venusworld21

Sanka's babies (who still need names) have graduated to a slightly bigger space now. The one little gray one is going to be a trouble maker, lol.

Back view of their crate:



Front view:



Mama Sanka meeting my wife...she's starting to meet people besides me and doing pretty good with it.







This little gray one is gonna be a troublemaker, lol


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## Jakiepoo

She's Tootsie's baby? :O No wonder she's such a good momma! I thought Tootsie was so small, how'd she have such a big baby  So excited to watch the babies grow up!


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## Venusworld21

Sanka's pretty tiny too...she looks big next to her babies, but she's probably only about 7-8 pounds. Hopefully she'll add a few pounds while she's staying with me though.


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## JustOneMore

I admire you for being able to foster year after year and even at all. I've always wanted to foster but I just know I would keep them all (or at least one) and have to stay away. My heart longs to foster though.


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## Greenport ferals

Wonderful, wonderful. Loved the photos. Those are happy cats.


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## Mitts & Tess

Sanka (love that name! Perfect) is really healthy looking and so are the kittens. so there have been no health issues? Very lucky for you. Sanka must have good genes! 

I laughed when I saw all the free USPO mailers used to make walls for the pen. Clever. I wonder what the USPO would say.... LOL. Atleast the mailers were put to good use! What an awesome job you are doing. You must feel overwhelmed with two moms and two litters. I loved all the photos. Fantastic job your doing!

My S/O said he would agree to foster kittens. I've been thinking up names. Bocephus is a funny, cool name. I heard it on a country western song. My group keep recycling same ole common names. I try to do ones that are unusual to catch people attention!


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## Venusworld21

No health issues so far, no. The other groups that came out of that same property last year (Tootsie and Lucy and their kittens) were all healthy, so I was hoping that these guys would be as well. Fostering is always a risk (though at least the local shelter I foster for screens first) but the alternative for these guys was growing up feral at best, or not making it at all. I've had fosters with issues too. Erek, a private foster (i.e. not through the shelter, so I was footing any and all bills) was born with pectus excavatum. I sold baked goods and did a pizza feed at work to raise money for his surgery. 


Those are old flat rate USPS boxes (like, over 5 or 6 years old I think) and aren't supposed to be used anymore anyway, as far as I know. I figure this is a better use for them than tossing them in the recycling.  And except for the one I cut apart to cover the gaps around the crate, they're all just duct taped together. I can cut them apart once the babies are done with them and reuse them for something else too. Waste not, want not, lol.


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## Mitts & Tess

I didnt mean using the boxes in a bad way. I found it humorous. I see them used in all different ways than intended. Like I said, clever! You should see the stuff weve jerry rigged together over the years. Were just a small TNR group. Were resourceful!


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## Venusworld21

Yay resourcefulness!  I was kind of impressed with that crate, lol. I made that in like 25 minutes. Duct tape solves everything!


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## pkbshrew

What a beautiful family. Bless you for taking them in. The photos REALLY make me miss fostering :sad.


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## Venusworld21

The babies are figuring out how to play:







High five







And best of all, Mama Sanka is really starting to warm up to people.


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## JungliBillis

OMG! Little fuzzballs! I love gray kitties. Ghhhhh why so cute!? Whyyy????

But then, 9 months later, those adorable kittens will surely turn into snobby teenagers like mine xD Why couldn't they stay cuddly kittens forever???


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## Lotu

Will you name the kittens or do you stay out of that? I like to think up names. When I see the name "Sanka", I think of coffee and could think of a few coffee-related names...Folgers, Starbucks, Java, Expresso, Maxwell. What a cute family


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## Venusworld21

I do name them. The moms are usually named after queens (though Sanka came named so I won't change it) and all my babies in each batch are named after a letter. My last batch was J (Jester, Jinx and Jasmine). I need to think of some "K" names for this batch. I like Kiwi for the girl. Gotta think of some boy 'K' names now too.


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## Venusworld21

Also...Sanka is incredibly friendly tonight...so she may not be "warming up" to us, so much as she's in heat. The good news is, she's not pregnant.


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## Lotu

Some "K" name ideas--Kava, Kona, Kip/Kipper, Kindred, Kiki, Keiki (Hawaiian for child), Koko, Kit. Looking forward to hearing what you decide. Kiwi is cute. 

Do some of the kittens have ghost tabby markings? I have a black kitten with ghost tabby markings, but it looks like at least one of the grays you have might have that, but difficult to tell from pictures. I just learned of ghost tabby markings when I noticed it in my kitten--curious if it is also in gray kittens.


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## NebraskaCat

Venusworld21 said:


> Gotta think of some boy 'K' names now too.


Go with NBA players for the boys:

Kareem (Abdul Jabar)
Kobe (Bryant)
Kevin (Garnett or Durant)
Kyrie (Irving)
Kirk (Hinrich)


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## Jakiepoo

Baby kitties! Look at them all in a line! Love it!
Sanka is beautiful, I want her.


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## Venusworld21

Both the grays have some tabby stripes on their heads. The smaller one actually looks pointed (He's slightly darker gray on his ears, tail and legs). The first picture with them all in the line seems to show that the best.

I can see some faint tabby stripes on the black ones too. None of the black ones has any white spots (and neither does Sanka). One of the black ones is mostly black. Another black one has gray on the hips. The third black one is like a gray and black, half and half kind of thing. It's very unusual. Sanka is Tootsie's daughter (and Tootsie had black kittens with blue eyes). 

There's definitely some unusual blood lines here. It's pretty cool. I'll try to get better pictures as they get a little older.


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## Venusworld21

So I wormed them tonight and went out about an hour later to check that all was still well. Found one kitten wandering around about 3 feet away from my handy little pen. Apparently they are officially big enough to get out of it.  So they now have free run of the garage. Sanka has officially had her last peaceful moment, lol.


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## Venusworld21

The kittens finally got their names last night, long overdue. The lighter of the two gray ones is Kosmos. The darker gray is Kronos. The only girl (with the gray on her hips) is Kiwi. The solid black one (which I am *mostly* sure is a boy) is Karma. The half and half gray/black one is Kricket. They've been running around the garage for over a week now. I only had to clean up about 10 messes before everyone got the hang of the litter box (which is really good, for 5 kittens in that big a space). Obviously Mama Sanka is still doing an excellent job with their educations. 

Pictures later on tonight hopefully.


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## Venusworld21

So I spoke to soon with the litter box training, lol. Oh well. They're still learning and there's nothing that can't be bleached back to cleanliness. 

Mama Sanka and four of the five. Excuse the nasty looking litter box.



This is Kosmos. Originally referred to as the little hellraiser. He's still living up to my first impressions and is quite the handful. 



His twin brother (though slightly darker), Kronos:



Kiwi, the only girl (I think):




Kricket:


Karma (I'm 90% sure he's a boy, but picked a somewhat ambiguous name, just in case). I love the way his ear tips still flop over a bit:


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## Jakiepoo

Mama Sanka is looking so happy in that first picture, little does she know there's a kitten waiting to pounce on her.


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## Venusworld21

These guys are so big already! I can't even believe their eyes weren't even open yet when they first came here. They're scheduled to be spayed/neutered on the 15th and will be up for adoption about a week later, once they're all healed up. Mama Sanka will be taking an extra 2 weeks of personal time for her milk to dry up, then will be getting snipped at the end of July and be available for adoption in August. These guys are private fosters (not through the shelter), so it's up to me to find homes for them.  

Adoption fee will depend on costs, but with so many boys (and neuters being less expensive than spays), I'm hoping to keep the adoption cost around $50 per kitten.


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## Venusworld21

Tomorrow is the big day! I just took away the crunchies and what was left of their wet food in anticipation of their surgeries tomorrow. All 5 babies are headed up to hopefully be snipped (the girl, Kiwi, I'm concerned might not be big enough, but the vet said bring her along anyway and they'll decide once they can examine her--if she's too small now, she'll just go in again with her mom in a few weeks). Updated pictures coming probably Tuesday night. I'm sure Sanka will be excited to have a baby break.


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## mumof7kitties

Good luck to the wee ones!


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## Mitts & Tess

All very cute and healthy looking. Good job with them!


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## Jetlaya67

They all look so happy and healthy! I admire you and all the others that foster cats and kittens. Seems like such a hard thing to do at the end when they are ready to go to their new families. Foster moms are a blessing, thank you for all your love for those little guys.


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## JungliBillis

Aww they are getting ready to fly out of their nest, so to speak. How is Sanka with humans now? Has she warmed up a lot?


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## Venusworld21

Sanka has warmed up considerably...she even comes inside with the babies to terrorize my kitchen. She's still a nervous girl, but she's getting better. Once the babies are adopted and my shelter batch goes back, I'll be able to move her into the laundry room (with the glass door, so she's constantly seeing the house and my permanent cats) and that should speed up the process considerably. Sanka will be going in to get snipped in two weeks.  (She HATES the carrier with a firey passion though, so I'm hoping she doesn't end up traumatized)


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## Venusworld21

All the babies came through surgery great.  Pictures soon.


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## JungliBillis

Oh yay! Can't wait to see 

It's awesome Sanka is warming up to people. Hope her vet trip goes well!


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## Venusworld21

Photo bomb!

Mama Sanka adjusting to life as an indoor kitty:



Size comparison. This is Papito, the smallest of our permanent kitties. He's about 13 lbs, next to Sanka the runt.



And the babies:



Kiwi, Kricket and Karma:



Kosmos and Kronos:


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## spirite

Could they be any cuter?!!! 

Wow, and the black fur and blue eyes is a spectacular combination. Mama looks tiny in the picture with Papito. Five kitties in that litter. Whew.


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## Jakiepoo

It's amazing everything you do for this cats! I hope I can do half as much as you manage to do someday! Amazing!

And Sanka is looking so happy, it's good that's she's finally going to get some free time.


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## JungliBillis

Mama Sanka look like a kitten next to Papito! If he's the smallest, your permanent kitties must be a big bunch! The kittens are so cute and have grown so much! I hope they all find wonderful homes


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## Venusworld21

I don't think any of these kittens will keep their blue eyes. I had another batch of kittens from Tootsie (Sanka's mother, so the grandmother of these kittens) who were black with blue eyes, but these guys' eyes are already changing and I don't think any of them will stay blue.

Sanka is a runt next to our permanent kitties---I'd guestimate her at around 8-9 lbs and she's got very small, delicate bone structre. Papito is our smallest at about 13 lbs. Our others are Persephone (17 lbs, and she's lost weight), Daytona (14 lbs), Diablo (16 lbs) and Erek (14 lbs, but he has enormous bone structure and is only 17 months old, so will add more mass before he's "full grown").


Sanka is learning how to prance around the house like she owns it, lol. Our guys are definitely teaching her how to be a cat instead of a baby machine. She gets snipped on the 30th and then the last cat from that property (except two adult males I couldn't catch) will be sterilized. 17 in total over the last 9 months! Whew!

Sanka will be looking for a home around the middle of August, if anyone knows someone in the area. Her babies are recovering really well from their surgeries and will be available in about a week.


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## Venusworld21

The babies are officially up for adoption! 


Mom and babies came to me when the babies were about a week old. They've been hanging out with me since, waiting for everyone to grow enough to find their new homes. They are now approximately 10 weeks old. All the babies were spayed/neutered July 15th and are healed and ready to go. They've been socialized with people, other cats and our dog (lab mix). Nothing seems to phase them.

There are 5 babies, 4 males (2 gray, 2 black) and 1 female (black). All are shorthaired.

*Kricket (black male): He's a joker. He likes to purr and love on people, but also loves to play and often combines those two. He's got a beautiful gray shimmer to his black coat and is very pretty.

*Kosmos (gray male): **** on wheels. Classic rowdy kitten. First of his litter to eat solids and first to venture out of the nesting box. He's a brave little fuzzball.

*Kronos (gray male): A bit more mellow than his twin, Kosmos. He's still feisty and likes to play, but will also snuggle and is more receptive to attention.

*Kiwi (black female): The runt of the litter. She's a delicate little girl and very sweet but absolutely keeps up with her brothers and none of them are able to push her around. 

*Karma (black male): The big guy of the batch. When he was smaller his ears were the last of the group to fully stand up and for a while he was dubbed "yoda kitten." He gives Kosmos a run for his money for the title of "rowdiest kitten of the litter." His favorite part of every day is meal time.



All of them will be adopted out with an adoption contract. Adoption fee is $60 to help offset spay/neuter, food, litter costs.

Mama Sanka has her spay appointment on Monday and she should be healed and ready to go up for adoption in mid-August. 














Family movie night (the big black kitty on the far right is our permanent kitty, Diablo, not their mother):



One of the babies (I think Karma) snuggled up with Athena, our dog:



Baby photo (about 10-14 days old here). I can't believe how small they were!:


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## JungliBillis

They have grown so much! And they look so happy and full of life. You and Sanka did such a good job, raising those kittens! I'm sure they will go like hot cakes with those good looks 

Your doggie is black, too! And so are Diablo and Patito. (And Sanka!) So many black kitties in your house hahaha. Are any of your the other kitties also black?


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## Venusworld21

We have 5 permanent cats: Diablo (black), Daytona (black--foster failure from the shelter), Papito (black), Persephone (gray and white) and Erek (black and white tuxedo--our other foster failure). 

Then we have the fosters: Sanka (black), her 5 kittens (3 black, 2 gray), and 5 from the shelter (3 black and 2 black tabbies). Plus the black dog.

So basically Persephone is the oddball, lol. We didn't set out to collect a bunch of black animals, it just kind of happened that way. Originally it was just Papito and Persephone (so one black, one gray/white). Diablo was on his way to be taken to the shelter when we decided to take him, sight unseen. We didn't know he was black until the lady dropped him off.  And Erek was born here, I was fostering his mother. We just fell in love with him. Same with Daytona...she was from a litter of 6 shelter fosters and one of our other cats (Tinners) had to be PTS when Daytona was still here. We couldn't let Daytona go after that. As for Athena, she was the last puppy from her litter at the shelter and the only pup there under 6 months. We'd just bought our first house and didn't have to ask a landlord for permission, lol. She had such a sweet and mellow temperament, we just had to have her.


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## JungliBillis

LOL you got a nice black kitty collection going! Is it confusing at times to tell which one is which? I guess you can tell by size and slight markings, but at a quick glance, they must look pretty similar. I'd totally have foster failures left and right if I ever fostered. I'd fall in love with every cat, I'm sure. Good thing I have a small apartment to stop me from having more than two!


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## Venusworld21

It's hard to tell who's just run across the bed and woken you up at 2 am, lol. But yes, we can tell them apart. All have different meows, different coat textures, personalities and slight marking variations. But we also make them all wear different colored collars, teehee.

Kosmos was just adopted by a nice lady with two teenage daughters. Someone is coming to meet Kiwi in an hour. Bittersweet weekend.


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## dt8thd

Venusworld21 said:


> Kosmos was just adopted by a nice lady with two teenage daughters. Someone is coming to meet Kiwi in an hour. Bittersweet weekend.


That's great news! But, yes, definitely a bit bittersweet. I always find it a little hard to say goodbye. Actually, when I dropped Dinah (my most recent foster) off at her new home I wore sunglasses because I didn't want her new mommy to see me tearing up like a total doofus when it was time to leave. Lol. I hope the person coming to meet Kiwi takes a shine to her. You're super awesome for doing all that you do!


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## Venusworld21

Surprise twist of events. The mother and daughter who came to meet Kiwi actually ended up falling in love with Karma instead (he's a huge snuggler and climbed right up and sat on the mom's shoulder). So he's off to his new home. Kricket, Kiwi and Kronos are still looking for their new families.  but also :sad



Three of my five shelter kittens (see thread entitled Third fosters of the season) went back to the shelter on Friday to go up for adoption also, so I've given up 5 kittens so far this weekend. I think I need some chocolate and maybe some wine.


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## Venusworld21

Mama Sanka came through her spay surgery really well and is now locked in the laundry room while she's healing up. She's feeling pretty good and has plenty of energy to tell me all about what she thinks of being locked up, heh. The whole family is now snipped, yay!


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## Mitts & Tess

Great job your doing with these kitties. 
Its so wonderful seeing someone who is responsible and not adding to the problems of the cat world. Prayers for good homes!


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## Venusworld21

Someone came tonight to meet the remaining 3. She really likes Kronos and will be back tomorrow (payday) to finalize the adoption.  Fingers crossed. She seems like a great home for him.


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## Venusworld21

Kronos is officially off to his new home.  Now it's just Kiwi and Kricket left, along with Mama Sanka (who is 1 week post-spay surgery today and just about healed up).


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## 10cats2dogs

That's good news! It wonderful how you 
find good homes for your fosters!


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## Venusworld21

Kiwi and Kricket are still looking for their forever homes. They're about 13 weeks old now. Mama Sanka is finally officially up for adoption as well.  Here's her photo:


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## Venusworld21

They're coming up on 15 weeks now. Still Kiwi, Kricket and Mama Sanka looking for homes. I'm hoping this weekend brings another adoption. 

Updated photos...I cannot BELIEVE how big Kricket is...

The kittens together:



Kricket likes dog food




Though it looks like someone may have slipped something else in there:











Kricket (lower left) and Mama Sanka (upper right):



How can he be this big?! Kricket's the one closer to the camera.


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## 10cats2dogs

Man...time just flys by way to fast!
Its so hard to believe they're all that big now! Great Job with all of them! They look so cute!


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## pepperthelauncher

Aaaaaw, I would totally take them if I can 
But good job though! They look super healthy and adorable!


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## Venusworld21

Exciting news! Kricket and Kiwi were adopted tonight. They went to a new home together. Their new owners are a really nice newlywed couple who drove all the way down from Seattle to meet them (about 60 or 90 minutes, depending on traffic) and liked them a lot. They even brought toys for them to play with on the ride home. I felt super comfortable with them right away and I think they'll be a fantastic home. The wife recently lost her cat of 17 years to old age and a two year old kitty to a freak accident. They have been looking for a pair of black siblings. I'm so excited for Kiwi and Kricket and looking forward to receiving updates on them over the coming weeks/years. 

Now it's just Mama Sanka looking for her forever home. I renewed the craigslist ad for her tonight, so let's hope her forever home turns up soon. She's such a good girl and really needs her own person to bond with. She's started coming out of her shell quite a bit recently, but can still be a bit shy and seems to get overwhelmed easily. She's a far cry from the hissy, spitty, angry cat I shoved into a crate 4 months ago, but she's not 100% relaxed yet either. We're still working with her lots and she's getting better every day. It will be interesting to see how her progress is affected by not having any of her kittens around any more.


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## 10cats2dogs

Its wonderful they got adopted together!


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## Venusworld21

Updated Mama Sanka photos. She's been super friendly (but still jumpy) since the babies left.












8 lb Sanka next to our 17 lb Persephone:


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## spirite

I'm so glad that the kittens were adopted! In the picture where Kricket and Sanka are eating, it actually looks like Kricket is bigger than his momma. Was he?

What a change in Sanka! I guess she's discovered how good life can be indoors.  

You've done amazing work with taking care of all of these kitties - how many in the past year now??


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## Venusworld21

Kricket wasn't quite as big as mom, no. Some of that was the angle of the photo. He was only about an inch shorter than her though, when he was adopted, and just about the same length. He was 4 months old, and weighed at least 4 lbs, so was only about half her weight. He was just going through a pretty good growth spurt and was considerably larger/lankier than his sister Kiwi.


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## Venusworld21

Sorry, I didn't see the second part of your post. In the past year, starting September 2012 and going forward:

Queen Anne (mama)
Gem
Gypsy 
Gus Gus

Lucy (mama)
Helios
Harley
Hope

Tootsie (mama)
Ichabod
Inky
Ivan
Igor
Iris
Itsy bitsy

Summer 2013:

Juno (mama)
Jinx
Jester
Jasmine

Sanka (mama)
Kiwi
Kricket
Karma
Kosmos
Kronos

Lotus
Lobelia
Legolas
Luigi
Luna

Minerva (mama)
Baby boy #1
Baby boy #2
Baby girl #1
Baby girl #2


So 35 I guess. Plus I've had 6 others stay here that I don't count as "fosters" as they were here less than week. 3 were shelter fosters that had a foster home emergency and were only with me overnight while the shelter lined up a new foster home (I had 3 other batches at the time and couldn't keep them or I would have). 2 I transported up to be spayed/neutered so they were here overnight and came back the third day. The 6th was a previous foster who stayed overnight while his family moved.


Since I started fostering (August 2010), I'm up to 91, including the current fosters. 90 cats and one dog. I keep an album with everyone's name and photo in it. It makes my heart warm to look through it.


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## Venusworld21

Mama Sanka was adopted today by some lovely, patient people. She's going to be an only pet and I think she's going to love her new life, if she can get through this transition okay. 


So foster batch 2 is officially done.  Start to finish, 4 months.


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## Venusworld21

This is Mama Sanka a few days before she was adopted. Hanging out with our crew on our bed:






Sanka is front and center in this picture. You can see how small she is next to our permanent kitties. The gray and white is Persephone. Clockwise from her is Diablo (green collar), Erek (long hair, tuxedo), and Papito (blue tag on his collar, bald on his belly). The smaller one in the midddle (who is still huge next to Sanka) is Daytona.


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## Venusworld21

I can't believe I forgot to update this. Sanka was returned about a week after she was adopted. They wanted a more cuddly cat.  However, they were really nice to me and Sanka. They sent her back with a fountain style water bowl that all our kitties seem to enjoy immensely and refused to let me refund her adoption fee. Sanka's been here ever since. She's allergic/reacted to Frontline and Revolution, so she was covered in scabs for a while, while I tried to figure out what else to give her for fleas (everyone else in the house got Frontline). I went with the pill version, Comfortis, and Sanka is now both flea and scab-free. Not to mention nice and shiny, and even a tiny bit chunky.  She's mellowed some, but not "enough" to be considered friendly, at least not with strangers. She's great with us. I had a family out to meet her last week and she was out long enough to say hello, but then went and hid under the bed and wouldn't come back out. We're starting to work with her on meeting new people, as she's pretty good with us now. She's been here 8 months so far, but at least she's an extremely pleasant and unobtrusive house guest. The search for her new people continues. If we manage to get a bigger place before we adopt her out, we may just keep her, but at this point, due to space issues, having 6 permanent kitties just isn't an option if I want to keep fostering. I have some updated photos of her too, I'll try to get posted soon.


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## pkbshrew

Naw poor puss. Thank you for being so patient with her and giving her a loving home until she finds her new people ..... or until you move so that you can keep her!


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## Greenport ferals

Ha ha, I love that photo of all the cats on the bed. Looks like my place. Isn't it great when they get along?


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## Venusworld21

Having her get along with the others definitely makes life easier. She's a very good house guest. Unobtrusive. 

Updated Sanka photos. Current within the last week or two


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## Tiliqua

Aww! Pretty girl! I hope she finds the perfect home where she is the perfect cuddly for her new family.


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## 10cats2dogs

Oh man...mama Sanka still hasn't found her home yet either?
Someone's got to fall in love with her!


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## Venusworld21

Nope, Sanka and Lotus have both been here for ages. 8 months now for Sanka, and Lotus has been on and off since May, so maybe 5 months for her.


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## Venusworld21

A lovely couple from 10 minutes down the road came out to meet Sanka yesterday and they're in love.  Adoption paperwork is done again and they're coming out today to pick her up (they wanted to get her room ready for her yesterday). I'm a little hesitant to say it's a done deal, after the last adoption fail for her, but these guys seem to really know what they're doing and I think it will be a great fit! We'll know more about this in a week or so, once she's had a chance to settle into her new home a bit.  Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly!


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## Mitts & Tess

Sending good energy her way. You've done all that is possible to ensure a good adoption. We learn as we go with a few curve balls along the way. Your doing great!


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## Venusworld21

Well they just picked her up and she's officially off to her new life!  Time will tell...but I hope this is the best move she's ever made.


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## 10cats2dogs

I pray Mama Sanka fits right in with these people!!
Hope you get some updates you can pass on to us!


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## Venusworld21

I have contact info for them, I plan on asking for updates and they've said they'll let me know how she's doing. I think she'll be a great fit, but at this point it's just a waiting game to see if that holds true or not.


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## Mitts & Tess

We usually do calls in about a week to see how things are doing and any concerns. I always struggle with that because so many on CF feel that is invasive. But then there are those on the other side who have accused me of not doing my due diligence if I'm not more pushy about information from the local rescue community (in my last experience). Mostly Ive gotten good responses of they were oK about me calling. What has been your experience?


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## NebraskaCat

We do a set of follow up calls at 3 days, 3 weeks, and 3 months.


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## Mitts & Tess

Jeff what kind of feed back are you hearing from the people receiving the calls. Are they appreciative your calling or acting like they don't want to talk?

Part of the no kill equation is retention. Helping people keep thier pets thru information on behavior issues, medical and food help etc


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## Venusworld21

I email, rather than call. I say up front (prior to adoption) that I WILL contact the adopters later. I've had a few people act like they didn't want to talk, but I've never had someone say they didn't want to talk to me. Most people appreciate the follow up and are happy to brag about their adorable fuzzballs.


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## Lotu

I've kept in touch with the rescue where our kittens came from and based on their facebook page, it appears others have too. I see them as a great resource. They wouldn't have needed to contact me, because I contacted them...sent pics when they got home, emailed questions when they came up etc. I plan to send a pic/update online on the kittens' 1st birthday. The kittens were in 2 different foster homes and I think they follow facebook and see the kittens they helped raise. Our kittens also have siblings/mama who were adopted out and I watch for updates on them.


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## Venusworld21

I got this update on Sanka today from the people who adopted her:

"Odd, I was just opening up my email to update you!
We have made so much progress with dear Sanka! It took a week and a half to make any contact, she was very nervous right after the move. But now she comes out every night demanding to be pet and purring like mad And, last night she slept in the bed with us for the first time!! She's even warmed up to and is quite patient with our little puppy. It's so nice, we're really loving her and she's happy and safe.
My next step with her is to get comfortable being in the main part of the house, she still doesn't like leaving her laundry room haven, but, we will get there with time.
Thank you for checking in and thank you for saving her she's wonderful."


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## 10cats2dogs

YAY! Way to go Mama Sanka!
Great Job Venusworld!
Happy Dance! :


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