So many kittens.. It's kitten season

Since April we have been busy. SO busy I haven't been posting anything. We have had 10 fosters since April and I almost don't know where to begin!
I guess I can go back to May and Marco.

Well, May and Marco, as hard as I tried, just didn't like us. Or our home. Or our cats. They never lost their wild fear and panic of anything human as much as I tried.
They were just too old when I caught them it seems or possibly, as my vet suggested, they have a genetic disposition for being wild.

We had them both fixed (trapping them was terrifying in order to get them to the vet) and thought the best option for them was to re-release them where we picked them up. Any shelter would have put them down within 10 days for lack of adoptability and being too feral. I hate that I was unable to successfully socialize them but then once I came to my final decision, I was glad that they hadn't lost their wild instincts.

So after having them fixed we caught them both back into our cat carrier (which was difficult and terrifying, if I hadn't mentioned that yet) and took them outside. We went to the bushes where they had lived as kittens and where we caught them. We put down the carrier and waited a few minutes for them to smell their surroundings and get their bearings.

May was right at the door and shot out like a rocket once it was unzipped. I watched her run along the bushes and then across the small parking lot towards the other bushes in front of our apartment. I tried to keep her in my sights but to no avail.
Jaywon was watching as Marco slowly walked out went under the building and then back into the bushes where we fed them when they were kittens.

I saw them two nights later and every night for the week or so after that, May following her mom around the parking lot, hopping from rock to rock she seemed very happy.  I have been feeding them and I continue to put food out for them, seeing them now every few days. I know they found each other and since they are both fixed, they should stay together, hopefully for the remainder of their lives. Not a success, but the best possible outcome given the circumstances.

Just before letting May and Marco out, their mom (who I know had given birth a few weeks earlier) came to me for food one afternoon and while she was eating I peeked in the same bushes where Marco and May used to spend time with her. I spotted a white kitten, then two. Probably about 3-4 weeks old. I instantly called Jay to see what his reaction would be. He was encouraging me to get them if I could, so, it began again.

I went up to get the cat carrier and a towel and when I came back I found not two but four kittens. I was able to grab them all quickly and easily, putting them in the carrier and rushing them upstairs to a box with a towel. Luckily they were at that perfect age where they, if necessary, could begin eating wet kitten food. They sucked it for the first few days, getting covered in their food from face to chest to stomach. For a week at least, they all smelled like tuna until they learned to eat without being so messy.

Did I mention Mr. Peaches? There was also a week of a very wonderful man (young cat, 8 months?) who came up to my husband outside and laid at his feet. Mr. Peaches went to a wonderful family who was so excited to adopt him after just one week in our home.

Then there was June. At the beginning of June my husband was again on his way to work and heard a horrible crying. He found this kitten in the drizzling rain, alone and heaving with sobs. As other commuters walked by my husband leaned down and picked this baby up. He used a half day of work that day to stay with the kitten until I came home from work and met at the vet when they opened. Jun was so sick and weak, he lived just a few days and died at the vet two days later. At least he had some comfort and love before he passed on.

And I guess that brings us up to present. A house of 6 cats/kittens. Some pending adoptions and a new kitten in the back room.

I get to that next time. Photos to come.

An update soon to come...

May and Marco are both in our home and I want to talk about them.
Soon.

But since I have little time right now I will just add that another cat has found us. He walked up to my husband on Friday morning on his way to work and laid down on my husband's feet.

He is so sweet we had to bring him in.

His name is Mr. Peaches. He is a "peach" as far as attitude and he is fluffy and the colour of a peach.

More to come soon!

April's last day

Well, just before sweet, beloved April went to her new mommy's, we were able to catch April's grandmother's new kitten. One of the two. Of course we named her May. But before I get to that here are some photos I took of April and I before she left! 

And here is April's grandmother eating with her two kittens near the bike racks outside our house. 

This is a photo taken just before I was able to snatch up "May". More on them to come! 

One more week with April!

What a cute face!

She found her toes!

April, when she takes a break from playing, loves to sleep on my chest! 

April will be moving in with her new mommy next week! It's going to make the house feel very empty again, but allow us to open up our house to other rescues. April's grandmother (Little mommy's mommy) had a litter about the same time and has two tabby's we just found last week that are about the same size as April and tabby striped the same way, but a bit more brown than gray.

They have come to our doorstep almost with their mom and haven't shown too much fear. The mom will actually close her eyes and nap as I sit in front of her kittens while they eat.

I will post next week, maybe with new kittens but definitely with the farewell to April! 

Little Mommy is home safe and April is amazing!

So Little mommy was only gone a few days, but I was so relieved when I saw her back again and every day since, eating breakfast with her brothers. I have a feeling a Tom got to her and there is a chance in 60 some odd days we might be meeting another little one of hers.

April is just adorable. She is finally eating wet food and hasn't had a bottle in a few days. She doesn't seem to miss it at all! Also, I feel like she has to eat less frequently now that she is eating solid foods.

April is so funny when she is tired she just walks herself, her tiny, tiny self, over to her bed and takes a nap. Then when she is done she stumbles out on her own, eyes squinted from sleep and walks quietly into the living room.

April is still to small to get up or down from the bed or couch but loves being picked up and played with. She likes to spend hours a day playing now, with us, alone, or with Gorri or Biya. Gorri is a good big brother. Biya could care less about the little girl right now though I see her give April a lick from time to time.

So "Boxer" might be "April" and where is her mommy?

So to finish about Boxer and his mom and uncles. "Boxer" was born in this box. It's a box I gave them in the beginning of the winter to huddle together in. Now that spring is almost here, his mommy gave birth to him in here. You can see he was just born. I think I heard and found him maybe hours after his mom gave birth. The blood looked fresh and there was some fresh blood on the path. So I was excited but worried about her being so young (10-11 months old herself and small for her age) and that she only had one kitten so it might be more demanding. 

After hours of searching for her and the baby one night after a heavy rain and noticing she had moved him from the box my husband and I found him in a dirty hole under the building. She must have stuck him there. She kept checking on him, but it didn't look safe and he wasn't moving or making too much noise. After a call to the vet and much deliberation over what would be best for us all (little mommy, baby and us) our vet said his chances are very good if bottle fed and so we decided to take him in. He is bottle fed baby number 2! (Homer was number 1). 

I gave "little mommy" extra tuna for the next week and she didn't seem stressed or even to notice that anything was different in the following days. She might not have understood where the little guy had come from in the first place! 

 Surprise! 

 Cute when sleeping! 

Learning to walk! 

Napping on a mouse I crocheted. 

The rest of the family checking him out. 

Well...  as of today we went back to the vet (4 weeks) and had Boxer's claws cut (I can't do it alone and Jay is in Chile on business) and they informed me that "Boxer" might be a girl! 

So Boxer would be "April" since we picked her up on April 1, 2013. 

But also, I was out to feed his family, I mean her family last night when I heard some cat screaming and climbed over a fence (at 24 weeks pregnant no less) to get to where I heard it and I called to the cats. Then I saw his I mean "her" mommy, small and white and sweet, jump out of a bush with a gray, tabby Tom right on her heels. 

Luckily they went in different directions but I haven't seen "Little Mommy" since and I am worried that she might stay away out of fear or be hurt. 

I know I might also be exaggerating and that they often come and go and hide, but if it goes more then a few days, I WILL begin to worry. "Little Mommy" is a morning breakfast customer in rain or snow or shine, even if one of the brothers aren't there, she is. Speaking of rain, there was quite a lot of it this morning. I saw "Little Mommy's" "Mommy" this morning where she used to always eat by this one wall and she was drenched! Maybe "Little Mommy" just stayed wherever she slept to keep dry? It was clear and sunny by noon.

I hope I see her in the morning! 

A new baby! Just two Weeks old!

I will post more later, but "Boxer" is here. Since I am living in South Korea right now, I'm going to post more later after all this has settled over the weekend. 

So here is Boxer! 

Boxer came to us after much deliberation.

 I have been taking care of a family of cats since last July. I had noticed a mother near our apartment nursing 5 babies outside a nearby apartment. They were too young to take away from her but as soon as they grew some, they were too afraid of me.  After a month or so there were only 3 babies. I walked past the place they lived everyday under an overhang of an apartment. So from last July until this very day I have been feeding them. The mom has moved on and I still feed her closer to my building. The 3 litter mates come to me when I click my tongue and meet me at 7:30 every morning when I am walking past to go to work. They love their big breakfast. There is an all black male, a beautiful tabby (I think male) and a sweet, petite, white and tabby girl. 

Here is Tabby on the path I walk next to the building he lives under.

Little mommy looking at me through the trees.  

 .

Little Mommy (Boxer's mom) eating cat food. 

 Blacky, walking in the snow. He reminds me so much of Zero and they were about the same age. Blacky has so much personality and makes me laugh. He runs so fast when I call to him and comes right up to my hand to eat, though he would hiss and scratch if I tried to touch him. 

Tabby, hanging out after eating out of the dish of food I give him everyday. 

I hate to see them in the winter, but these 3 siblings stuck it out together and never left each other. They are almost 1 year old and still spend all their time together. It's a strong bond I haven't seen with cats on the street. 

More to come....