Foster kittens in need.

TLDR: We are not officially registered as fosterers nor a pet charity anywhere but as so happened, we ended up being foster home for kittens few times in a row and our own resources, despite helpful hand from wonderful vet clinics and friends, are running low. This time, we have three kittens under our care and bills are slowly starting to overwhelm us.

If you think you could help us just a bit, to have the babies vaccinated, microchipped and neutered/ spayed before we could find them their five-star furrever homes – we would greatly appreciate any, even the tiniest donation.

Any possible excess will be saved for future foster bills or handed over to our local charities (such as Cat Action Trust https://www.facebook.com/corkcatactiontrust ; C.S.P.C.A https://cspca.ie/ or sent to one of many other amazing people we know in the Irish foster circle through the FB pages (such as The Cat’s Pyjamas https://www.facebook.com/groups/1126524177487039 ------ )

Our full, LONG pet story below:

Lily.

First, there was Lily. Eight-year-old, sweet, little girl that needed a new home. Decision to take her with us was made the moment we saw her. She is twelve years old now and honestly, I do not know how we managed to live before without her fluffy ladyship.

Loki.

Then, there was Loki. He was about 12 weeks old when he managed to get trapped inside our garden shed during a huge storm. Spent two days there and if not for Lily, he would probably perish. She heard him inside the shed and insisted on getting inside. Loki, the black scruffy kitten, was our first failed foster case.

We just couldn’t let him out back outdoors plus Lily decided to be his foster mum so it was a no brainer really. He managed to wiggle himself into the outdoors at 2 years of age, and spent almost a year roaming around our garden, always coming back home for the night. Until one day he did not come back.

Month later, after we gave up hope of ever finding him again, his dark highness blessed us again with his presence. He is now again kept as an indoor cat only, which breaks my heart a bit as he is still actively trying to get out, despite our efforts to make the indoor interesting.

Out of desperation, as I saw him slumping into a depression and lethargy, we even considered finding him new home, with secure access to the outdoors, but as he is not only a fully black but also adult and not so very social kitty – bit shy around new humans and cats – we were unsuccessful so far. Luckily, Mochi, our crazy teenager seems to have some good influence on Loki and keeps him entertained between naps in our wardrobe.

Coby.

In 2020 we made a conscious decision to get Lily a younger brother – Coby. Same breed, completely different kind of crazy. He is a special boy on so many levels, and I could probably write a small novel about him.

Odin.

And finally, one year ago, we were surprised with a wonderful request – could we try to help a new-born, abandoned kitten?

When I saw that tiny, helpless fluff hugging a sock filled with heated up dry rice to keep him warm… my heart just melted. That baby couldn’t be older than a day. His mum decided to abandon him for some reason – our guess, he was already the weakest of the litter, and she knew, she couldn’t care for all of them. She took the remaining babies and ventured off into other gardens somewhere… It was our first attempt at fostering such a tiny baby kitten.

And the most heart breaking one as well.

He was named Odin, by the amazing, compassionate boy that found him. Odin – tiny warrior.

We did all we could. Lived in a zombie state for nearly two weeks. Tried to have him checked in the mid of the COVID pandemic lockdown by the vets that would not even dare to take him inside the clinic in fear he would catch some virus or other nasties. Despite the odds he reached each milestone in his development while I did a rapid course on the internet and through social media on how to make sure he will be our success story.

Sadly, despite our prayers, work and funds that we pumped into this tiny creature, Odi left us at four weeks old, after succumbing to what the vet thinks was a viral infection or/ and a heart defect. He perished in one day. Died cradled in my hand, against my chest while I was driving like a maniac first thing in the morning to transport him from the emergency overnight vet clinic to the wonderful Dr. Clare Meade from The Cat Hospital (https://thecathospital.ie/ ), hoping against all hope, she can safe him somehow.

Odi was extremely special to us, and I promised him then and there – if need be, we will keep trying to help other babies like him.

Sushi.

Kitten from a litter of five babies, orphaned at three weeks of age. Litter was split in three and two kittens to allow two private fosterers take care of them as they still require bottle feeding. Sushi had an eye infection that if left untreated would have cost him that eye. We volunteered to take him with us as we had more time to properly take care of him at our place. And we were more than prepared, having all the kitten food and other paraphernalia left after Odin passed away.

He found his forever home with dear friends of ours and he is thriving there ever since. Even visiting us from time to time for secured walk in the garden and playdate with other cats we have currently home. He is a very special boy, very loved and perhaps just a tiny bit spoiled but hey… rightfully so!

Mochi.

Once Sushi was in his new home, we had to deal with some personal stuff that sadly took over our lives and stopped me from taking in any foster cats or dogs but as we are blessed with many dog owner friends, we had visitors from time to time to brighten our days. Even stay with us for a bit while their pawrents had to travel.

Fast forward to August this year – a text message from a dear friend, asking for advice and potentially help with a stray kitten rescued in the mid of the Irish heatwave and busy crossroads in the city centre. He was so tiny, the vet they took him to, evaluated him to be approximately 4 weeks old.

He had a nasty case of ear mites and bit of a lice infestation, but he was bright, curious and very, very hungry from the day one. Lily as always, took him in as her temporary baby, graciously passing him over to Coby once Mochi graduated into having zoomies.

Coby and Mochi are best buds now. Mochi is our second foster fail. We just couldn’t think of handing him over anywhere. He is a cuddle monster and has a weird habit of suckling on all the fluffy blankets. He also turned out to be the best big brother ever to our new foster babies.

Muffin, Kimchi and Noodles.

September, a month into having Mochi with us, while browsing Facebook, I saw a plea for help (no pictures), from one of the local cat charities. They posted on behalf of a veterinary clinic we were familiar with. The wonderful people working at that clinic knew us and trusted that we had enough experience with bottle feeding kittens to hand us those kittens. We drove there not knowing really what we will find and saw this rainbow of kitten fluffs huddled together in a kennel. They desperately needed around the clock care. My husband and I work full time, so we had to make a hard decision of only taking three out of five. Luckily, there was already another lady that declared she can help with the remaining two girls.

We were also blessed with our friends staying over at that time so we shared the feeding and cleaning responsibilities between the four of us for a while.

Babies are almost two months old now and thankfully, thriving. We will be looking for best homes for them soon.

What is it all about now?

The BIG dream is to either convert our attic into a nice, small cattery, that could help us to earn some funds that we could then use to take care for more animals in need or build a small cattery/ kennels in the garden where we would also put our home office to separate fostered animals from the home pets if needed (for medical of behavioural reasons).

There is also enough space in our garden to build a catio. We need it especially to keep our adult cats sane and happy. As I am a bit of a DIY freak, I plan to do it myself, but the costs of timber and other building materials needed for that are a bit too much to handle now.

That is a big, and very costly dream, so it will need to wait. For now, we just wanted to be sure, that the babies we take care of have the best start into their lives with their potential new families.

We used our own resources till now to neuter/ spay, feed and home all our pets and fosterers (purchasing cages and other enclosures, pet beds, litter boxes, litter, food both wet and dry, supplements when needed, toys, bowls, collars etc).

What we would need help with is to secure enough funds to have all three babies:

- Vaccinated and dewormed (already went through the initial treatment but need repetition soon) – this can be done in two weeks’ time from now once they will be eight weeks old.

- We would also love to give them a gift of additional vaccination against FELV

- Neutered/ spayed and microchipped

They also need a constant supply of food (wet and dry) for the time we have them with us and for the first week or so of going to their new homes as we would like to help with the transition to their later food in case the new pawrents will not necessarily want to continue feeding them the food of our choosing (brands like MAC, Purizon, Acana/ Orijin, Canagan and Applaws)

Adoption donation to a local pet charity or animal shelter will be required from the new pawrents, so we are not planning to ask for any money for the kittens.

Any possible excess will be saved for future foster bills or handed over to our local charities (such as Cat Action Trust https://www.facebook.com/corkcatactiontrust ; C.S.P.C.A https://cspca.ie/ or sent to one of many other amazing people we know in the Irish foster circle through the FB pages (such as The Cat’s Pyjamas https://www.facebook.com/groups/1126524177487039 )

What are our hopes for the future?

I would prefer to be more independent financially when deciding to take in future foster cats, hence our dream to turn love for animals and passion for helping others into a small home business one day. Home cattery/ pet hotel or small kennels seems like something we could potentially manage on top of our regular daily work and other responsibilities.

Thank you for reading this, all the best from Lily, Coby, Loki, Mochi, Muffin, Kimchi, Noodles and their humans.