u/Several_Value_2073

Ugh. You guys…I think it happened and you were right. I was so adamant I wouldn’t foster fail Micro, but… This tiny girl just wriggled her way into my heart. She’s so bonded to me I just can’t bear to say goodbye, so… I think I’m keeping her. 😬🤦🏼‍♀️

I mean, just look at her! She goes everywhere with me! She goes to my shop, she visits clients, she even goes into the convenience store and the post office with me; just sitting on my shoulder like it was made for her!

Good morning from a chaotically large number of kittens! 😂 Mama Jewel and the babies are all doing great! I did end up putting all 8 babies in with her and she is taking wonderful care of all of them!

More info:
~Mama Jewel is getting high quality, high calorie kitten food - wet and dry. She gets a constant supply - as much as she can eat!

~Jewel and the kittens are in a large wire pen with blankets, food, water, and litter available 24/7. The cardboard box is the one they arrived in. Jewel could easily move the babies out of the cardboard box, but she chooses to keep them in there and I don’t feel the need to coerce her to do anything different.

~The babies are weighed twice a day. Whichever 2 gain the least in 24 hours will get supplemented with formula. If any begin to lose weight, they will be put on a more regular supplementation schedule.

~ Jewel is being monitored very closely. If she shows any sign of distress, weight loss, or illness, we will immediately intervene to take some of the burden from her.

~Once her babies are weaned, Jewel will be spayed, vaccinated and available for adoption. When the kittens weigh 2lb., they will also be spayed/neutered, vaccinated and available for adoption.

Please consider donating to u/malanimalscatcoll (link on our page - this sub does not allow me to post a link) or any rescue of your choice! This summer has been absolutely insane with the number of cats needing help, not only for us, but it sounds like, for everyone in rescue!

Hi guys! I’m fostering one litter of 4 newborn kittens that were abandoned and one litter of 4 kittens who came with their mom. All under a week old.

Mom cat happily accepted 2 of the orphans. Is 8 kittens too many for her? I’m not sure how many nipples she has. Should I try all 8? Should I rotate through and bottle feed 2 different ones each day? Should I leave her with the same 6 all the time and exclusively bottle feed the other 2? What’s best for mom and babies?

The calls for newborn fosters just never stop! I posted a day or two ago with a litter of 4 who were abandoned by their mother. Yesterday, we (u/malanimalscatcoll) took in ANOTHER litter of four; this one with their mother (whew!). We offered Mama Jewel a couple of babies from the first litter and I will be bottle feeding the remaining two. More pictures in comments!

Good morning from Micro! She’s still doing great! She’s definitely discovered the perks of being a lap cat. I do in-home caregiving (as a side job) and some of my clients are overjoyed to have Micro come visit. Since she isn’t big enough to be vaccinated yet, I don’t really let her play outside, but yesterday was so beautiful that I decided to see what she’d do in the grass. She was very brave, but hopped right up onto my bag as soon as she got to me! More photos in the comments!

Just Micro being a menace! 😂 The soup belly and scrawny legs kill me! ❤️

Reposting from my u/MalanimalsCatColl profile because either that account is f’ed up, Reddit is f’ed up, or I’m lousy at social media.

Not much news to share and that’s a good thing! Micro continues to thrive. She’s just over one whole pound now! Still pretty tiny for her age - just over 8 weeks now! She gets to free roam with the bigger foster kittens and it’s quite the ruckus! She eats regular kitten food, purrs with her whole body, and - still - yells at me constantly! 😂 I feel like she’s going to grow up to be a scrappy little thing; like a little girl who grows up with only older brothers. 🤭 I’ll try to post more often, but you know, life and stuff.

Here’s just a quick video for you all!

There have been lots of questions about the trembling seen when Micro was a bitty baby. Some just weren’t familiar, some were concerned, and a couple of lovely participants insisted that Micro had a neurological condition and would be special needs and should not continue to exist. For the first 2 groups - thank you for the questions and concerns! We love when people are curious and compassionate about all living beings, but especially those who need a little extra help to get going! For the third group - get bent.

The trembling seen in neonatal kittens is normal and is due to muscles that haven’t strengthened yet and a nervous system that is continuing to mature. As you can see, Micro’s trembling has completely resolved by 6 weeks old! Yay Micro!

6 week old foster kitten.

Hi guys! Sorry it’s been a minute - I finally got to take a week off and go on vacation. Micro came with me! Because she was still needing to be bottle fed (her pre-molars hadn’t come in yet) it was easiest, and best for Micro, to join me at my family reunion! It was really good for her. She got to meet a lot of new people and even some young(ish) kids! At first she was very wary, but after about 24 hours, she decided that people seemed to be generally ok! She got lots of naps, cuddles and even new toys!

Once we got home, Micro’s pre-molars had fully erupted (that’s the actual term for when teeth come in) so she is starting to learn how to eat real (soft) food! Lots of kittens need time to learn to like the taste of kitten food, but Micro actually really seems to like it! Kittens are similar to human infants in that, while they are weaning, they still want to have a bottle, even if they don’t actually need it. It’s a source of comfort and familiarity for them. She definitely still yells at me to bring her a bottle, which I do give her a few times a day, but she will often eat some kitten food once she’s done with her bottle. So cute! 🤗

Micro is 6 weeks old now and is starting to interact with her foster siblings, though I do have to supervise carefully because the bigger kittens are much rougher than is safe for Micro. I’m still hoping to find her a similar-sized friend. 🤞🏻 Thanks to everyone who checked in on us - we love you all!

Please read comments!

Look at this big girl go!