New to kitten fostering

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Chris Jung - 02 Sep 2003 17:59 GMT

Hi,
I'm new on rpch+b but I'm an old timer on the dog newsgroups. I'm married,
have a 5 year old son, two collies and I've volunteered to foster orphan
kittens for our local SPCA. Last week, the volunteer did the home visit and
spent an hour going over the fostering program.

I was approved and later today I will be picking up three 5 week old
kittens. They will stay until they are 8 weeks and 2 lbs. I have a dog crate
set up in my studio (a bedroom) with sleeping area, food and litter box.

My collies are very mellow and gentle. One is a very dignified 13 year old
lady, named Zeffie. My other collie is Pablo, a sweet 6 year old. When
Pablo was born, his breeder had a cat ("Aunt Kitty") who was very maternal
and would sleep with the puppies and even clean them. Because of his Aunt
Kitty, Pablo has warm feelings towards cats and I think he'll be a good
"Uncle Pabby" to these new arrivals. I fully expect Zeffie to be appalled by
the kitten's antics (how undignified!) and will probably come to me or my DH
to tattle and scold. :-)

I'm excited to have some kittens visit us. It's been a long time since I've
taken care of such young ones. I worked for a humane society way back in '78
to 82 in Iowa. Back then we would sadly get young kittens all the time but
unfortunately we didn't have a fostering program. This is a much happier
situation.

I'll probably have questions in the future about kitten development and
fostering. Wish us luck with our first group of babies!

Chris and her smoothies,
Zeffie and Pablo

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~*SooZy*~ - 02 Sep 2003 19:07 GMT

good luck with your new babies :-) keep us up to date

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*~*SooZy*~*
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> Hi,
> I'm new on rpch+b but I'm an old timer on the dog newsgroups. I'm married,
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> Chris and her smoothies,
> Zeffie and Pablo

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Chris Jung - 04 Sep 2003 16:03 GMT

> I was approved and later today I will be picking up three 5 week old
> kittens. They will stay until they are 8 weeks and 2 lbs. I have a dog crate
> set up in my studio (a bedroom) with sleeping area, food and litter box.

Hi,
Now a follow up: I now have the 3 five week old kittens. They are Black
(male), Tortie (female) and Tiger (female). I'm sticking with simple names
but my five year old son, Soren, gives them new names every day.

Everything has been going well. They have good appetites and are pooping
fine.
My collies are proving to be good auntie and uncle to the kittens. We've
done some socialization. Last night for example, they spent an hour in our
laps while we watched a video. They are not happy when my husband practices
his euphonium - I think low tones are scary to them. I suspect by the time
they leave, they'll be cool about all sorts of sounds.

The first day I noticed that Black and Tortie would occasionally sneeze
but otherwise they were hell on paws. Tiger has always been mellow and
would rather snuggle with us than play with her siblings.

This morning, I noticed that Black has a snotty nose and the inside corners
of his eyes look gummy. He's much quieter. Neither Tortie or Tiger look
sick (clear noses and eyes). Tortie is still a wild little stinker. Tiger
sleeps a lot and I'm keeping a watch on her. I noticed that Black had
crawled under my reading light to take a nap. I have a cozy box set up in
their crate but I guess it's just not warm enough for him. So I set up a
heating pad (set on low) with a thick towel over it in a box. Both Black
and Tiger are in it now and seem very content.

I called the SPCA foster coordinator for advice and they are prescribing
oral antibiotics which I'll pick up in two hours.

Any additional advice to caring for little kittens with upper respiratory
infections?

Chris, her two smooth collies and the kitten trio:
Zeffie, Pablo, Black, Tortie & Tiger

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Bill - 04 Sep 2003 19:03 GMT

>"Chris Jung" <cjung@twcny.rr.com> wrote in message

news:PuI5b.34724$yG2.10705@twister.nyroc.rr.com...

> > I was approved and later today I will be picking up three 5 week old
> > kittens. They will stay until they are 8 weeks and 2 lbs. I have a dog
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
> Chris, her two smooth collies and the kitten trio:
> Zeffie, Pablo, Black, Tortie & Tiger

Upper respiratory infections and eye infections are rather common in kittens
that have been in a shelter. The infectious agent is passed rather easily
in crowded situations.

Oral antibiotics and antibacterial eye ointments are common treatments.

It would be best if you can separate the sick kittens from the healthy ones.

Watch out for any unusual symptoms, such as noisy or labored breathing.
Feline herpes can look like a common upper respiratory infection, but it can
be fatal.

Good luck with your charges.

Bill

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Karen Chuplis - 04 Sep 2003 19:17 GMT

>> I was approved and later today I will be picking up three 5 week old
>> kittens. They will stay until they are 8 weeks and 2 lbs. I have a dog
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
> Chris, her two smooth collies and the kitten trio:
> Zeffie, Pablo, Black, Tortie & Tiger

If they get too stuffy, set up a vaporizer in their room. They should get
over it quickly with the meds.

karen

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