When we picked up our black and white cuties they were five weeks old, underweight and filthy. We hadn’t expected to come back from the shelter with five new foster kittens but the cattery was overflowing and AWL staff were keen to get them out of the high risk environment as quickly as possible.
So I added a bath for everyone when I went through my normal routine of weighing each new foster and noting their identifying features until I learnt to tell them apart.
Feeding time was interesting as it quickly became clear that they had terrible table manners, with the two biggest kittens, tuxie girl Nixie and Kaiser the only boy, wolfing all their food down and resisting all efforts to keep them away from everyone else’s share.
In the end I split them up at food time with Nixie and Kaiser eating theirs on the floor and the other three girls, Dia, Cookie and Tachie, eating on a table. At first I assumed Cookie, named for the Cookie Monster, was a quick eater as she dived into her food with such enthusiasm.
But I quickly realised that she despite looking like she was trying to inhale her food, which had caused severe staining to her face and chest, she was as slow to eat as Dia and Tachie. So up onto the table she went and lessons in not burying yourself in food and after meal Cookie cleaning was added to feeding routine.
Nixie No Whiskers is the first foster we’ve ever had with such extreme damage to her whiskers. When she first arrived most of them were bent or broken, I assume due to her eating habits and whatever type of feeding bowl she used before arriving at the shelter.
It was fascinating to watch all of her whiskers slowly fall out over the next couple of weeks and then start to grow back again as she grew up.
Kaiser and Tachie on the other hand was the whiskers king and queen. They looked quite similar being black fluffy moustache cats and it was hard to tell them apart when one of them would suddenly land on me and try to snuggle in under my chin.
All of the kittens were very affectionate, as kittens tend to be, but Kaiser in particular was an extreme cuddlier and would have to join in if any of the girls were being fussed.
Dia, the baby of the group, was the odd one out looks wise as we had two tuxedos in Cookie and Nixie and two black kittens with white moustaches in Tachie and Kaiser.
Unlike everyone else Dia had a lot of white and was the only cow kitten. As often happens with the baby of the group Dia worked all the harder to try keep up with everyone and was a confident and outgoing little kitten.
The Black and white cuties were fantastic to foster and I grew particularly attached to them. I took hundreds of photos of them while they were with us and a section of these are available for sale, on a variety of products, through Redbubble.
Slán abhaile little ones.
Nxx
Datcats 