During the February 2019 National Adoption Weekend, more than 30,000 pets found homes. Yes, in one weekend! Sad that there are that many homeless animals looking for homes. But, always wonderful to see adoptions, and these were all through local PetSmart Charities adoption events. At the Vista, California event, our friends at Love Your Feral Felines (LYFF) had quite an interesting time. Upon arriving at the location on Sunday February 24th, 4 one-day-old kittens who’d been abandoned in a box, were discovered outside the store. If these tiny neonates survived their first days, that would be three more souls eventually needing homes. Fortunately for this “appreciation litter”, they found their fighting spirit!
So once again, another litter of “box kittens” were lucky enough to be given another chance at life.
The rescue teams jumped into action and the abandoned kittens were taken into LYFF foster care. They were so young when found, their umbilical cords were dry, but still attached. This means that they were likely only about a day old!
Luckily there was a fosterer who had a nursing mother cat, so she took in the newborns. It’s always best when they can nurse instead of having to be bottle or syringe fed. But alas, the kittens refused to latch onto the mom, or the syringe! Weight gain is very serious for newborns. So when a kitten can’t, or won’t eat, extreme measures are needed immediately.
A message was put out to another experienced LYFF fosterer, Amanda Hodder founder of Kitten Rescue Life. She dropped everything to drive the few hours to and from the location to pick them up.
Here, the babes would get immediate dietary attention and hopefully, a yummy meal would be eaten!
They had a rocky start, they were my youngest bottle babies so far, at one day old and the smallest one being just 80 grams. They had tummy issues, problems keeping weight on, started to lose appetite and began losing weight. After about a week of subcutaneous fluids, albon, and karo on the gums they started to perk back up.
Sadly, there is no way to find out what may have happened to their mother. She may have been a stray, hit by a car and the babies were discovered afterwards. She could have been a house cat that was impregnated and the humans just didn’t want to deal with kittens. Either way, these four would have a dedicated team of saviors now.
Amanda decided that they would be dubbed an “appreciation litter”.
Since the first days of their lives would have been their last if not for donor help, why not let them play a larger role in their recovery?!
We’re pleased to introduce, named by generous donors…(drum roll please):
Nicodemus the II Sakura
Sierra
…and Fat Boy the II.
As for the costs associated with rescuing and fostering, the 501c (3) non-profit organizations are ALWAYS greatly appreciative of donors. So Amanda and others are always trying, even in a small–but extremely meaningful way–to show them thanks.
She did this here, but letting donors name the kittens! Many do so with names of their former feline companions, and this was the case here.
We dubbed these four the appreciation litter, named by four of our donators. One of the coolest feelings aside from saving lives, is forming bonds with people and seeing them bond with our fosters too. We may not know some you personally. But all your kind words and all your help gives us the encouragement we need to keep going when it’s so easy to give up.
For the purrpose of this article, I want to feature the “appreciation litter” kitten that drew me to this group’s story–Fat Boy the II.
Fat Boy was happily settling into Amanda’s foster home and loved snuggling with the others.
The weeks went by and eventually it was time for his “big boy” surgery. Although it’s procedure to have them fixed when they reach 2 pounds / 2 months of age, Fat Boy was hiding a secret.
Fat Boy is finally coming around. Unlike his siblings he was very shy and it took me longer to gain his trust and snuggle time. So what better way to celebrate, than by chopping his huevos off tomorrow morning?! Poor FB, I don’t have the heart to tell him yet. For now I’ll just sit here with him and enjoy the moment while it lasts. His appointment is at 8:45 tomorrow morning, wish him luck!
But in a surprise turn of events, he wasn’t living up to his name. Little Fat Boy didn’t make weight like his siblings the day surgery was scheduled! (Ugh, as a former kitten fosterer, you never want to see a big poop the morning of surgery! HAHA We’ve rescheduled surgeries too because of the ounces of weight they lose.)
That and he clearly needed time to come to terms with the fact that any Fat Boy the III wouldn’t be a direct descendant.
“They’re doing WHAT to my peanuts??! I thought you said this is where the wet snackies come from!” So FB is feeling the shock and horror of our neuter news. He’s nice and healthy and ready for his surgery.
Once he was up-to-date with his kitty milestones, Fat Boy watched as his other “appreciation litter” siblings were all adopted out around him.
Not at all understanding why the loving kitten was overlooked, Amanda sent him to another foster home @miss.binx so he would have a feline friend to play with. Although, here he was called Fancy Boy during his stay. I think it’s safe to say he didn’t care what he was called at all, as long as there were snuggles.
They also got to attend some fun adoption events held at the local cat cafe, Cat and Craft. But for Fat/Fancy Boy, it was his photo that got him some special attention.
In the world of animal fosters, the network of others you know seems to multiple with each life saved. So when another foster woman saw the photo of Fat Boy on LYFF and KRL pages, she knew what she needed to do. She shared the pic of him with her friend Mallory @needmoreacres.
In February, Mallory had experienced a devastating loss when her beloved cat Woody passed away.
Today is a hard day. It’s been one month without my perfect lil Wooders. There’s a permanent hole in my life and heart that will never be filled. A part of me hates every day without him here. But I know he’s happy and healthy across the rainbow bridge. I can’t wait to see him again.
And wouldn’t you know it, he looked pretty darn similar to Fat Boy!
Mallory contacted LYFF and they discussed possibly adopting him out, but there was a catch. Mallory lived in Reno, Nevada. But they all knew that they were a purrfect match. So plans were set into motion and he was officially adopted by Mallory’s family!
Amanda drove her last “appreciation litter” kitten to his new forever home herself just this past weekend.
During the more than 9 hour journey, Fat Boy was a wonderful traveler. Meaning that he slept the majority of the time and sat quietly during the rest. Amanda even opened the carrier door and had him on her lap but he stayed comfortably put.
He must have known he was off to a loving home of his own.
We got to his adopters home last night and he immediately settled in. His adopter Mallory sent this video shortly after we left. He already ate, drank, used the litter box, and started to play!
This was amazing in so many ways and was fun too. I love being on the road. And I loved uniting a former foster with an amazing adopter who will pour every ounce of love she has into him. Thank you @needmoreacres for giving Buzz the best home ever. I’m so happy we can keep up with all your adventures together!
Be sure to follow Mallory, Buzz (formerly Fat Boy) and his new brother Bolt, for all the sweetness that this precious soul has to share. And don’t forget about Love Your Feral Felines and Kitten Rescue Life! Stop by to see all the adorable rescue stories, donate or adopt one, two…or four yourself! =)
Thank you to EVERYONE involved in saving these lives because sadly, there are always more boxes to open.
