But Where's Charlie Brown...

You’ll be happy to hear that everyone from the previous litter has returned to the shelter and been adopted, even my buddy Dewey here. Hooray!

Those guys were immediately replaced with a batch of 5 orphans. Their names are Lucy, Linus, Sally, Violet, and Peppermint Patty. Yup, named after the Peanuts characters. Unfortunately we have no Charlie Brown. Mom originally thought Patty was a boy. Since she has a nice round head she was supposed to be Charlie Brown. On second look everyone realized “Charlie” was a girl so her name got changed. You never know; we are always taking in orphans. A Charlie Brown might show up yet!

The litter was about 4 weeks old when they got here and were just learning to eat on their own and use the litter pan. They all had intestinal parasites and got sick shortly after they arrived. There was lots of special food, medicine, diarrhea, and baths. Kittens don’t like to take baths; did you know that? Unfortunately, Violet was too sick and did not make it. Poor Violet.

A few days after these guys arrived they were joined by 1 more orphan. He was the same age as the litter that was already here so we added him to the group. He doesn’t look anything like a Charlie Brown so he was named Schroeder. Schroeder was very scared and hid under the radiator (we have old-fashioned cast iron radiators) as soon as he was let out of his crate. Mom was afraid he might be stuck. She had visions of Dad having to drain the heating system and remove the radiator to get the kitten out. In a moment of sanity she decided to leave the kitten alone and, of course, he came out once things quieted down and he got hungry. Schroeder was not used to humans. He hid in the back of his crate (when he wasn’t jammed under the radiator that is) and hissed at everyone. Susan, one of our stupendous foster moms and an expert in fostering ferals, says she carries her ferals around in a baby sling. It keeps the kitten warm, safe, and gets them used to being near you. Mom gave it a try and it worked amazingly well! Within 48 hours Schroeder was much more confident, was playing with the other kittens and climbing on Mom’s lap! He’s now the most cuddly of the bunch and is going to be a great kitten for someone. Whoo hoo!

Everyone is feeling much better now and starting to act like regular kittens. Linus and Sally were the smallest of the bunch. Now that they have their appetites back they are chow hounds! They run as soon as they hear the food dishes being removed from the cabinet. (I do too and try to steal their food every chance I get!) Lucy and Patty don’t have any trouble keeping up either. Schroeder doesn’t have quite as hearty and appetite as the others and now holds claim to being the smallest of the litter. No worries – he should catch up quickly!