I have always stated that my work with Friends of Rescue (FOR) was easy compared to what foster families do every day. This past week I confirmed my comments by joining the rescue efforts from the “other side”.
Two Saturdays ago, a neighbor told us that she had seen a kitten among the flower beds near our condominium. Sure enough, my spouse and I easily found a light orange kitten, about six weeks old, between buildings. While it did not let us get too close, it did not run away when we offered food and water. A second neighbor saw us and mentioned that he’d seen the kitten a few days earlier. However, the kitten ran away after he gave it some food. We talked to some of our FOR friends, who offered guidance on how we could trap the kitten. As we tried to get closer to it, offering more food, we noticed that a second kitten was watching us from a distance! This one was smaller than the orange kitten, with gray and white fur. To make a long story short, a few hours later we had captured them and brought them inside. We placed them together in a big carrier with food, water, and a litter box overnight. Though we searched the area, no additional kittens were found, and there was no sign of a mother cat.
The next morning, we carefully evaluated our new charges. We carefully worked with them (using gloves at first) to judge their reactions. After we deemed that they could be safely handled, without biting and scratching, we gave them baths. These were definitely not feral kittens! We reported our interactions to FOR, offered to cover the initial costs for their care, and to keep them for the mandatory Huntsville Animal Services in-home stray hold period. An experienced foster parent would take care of them until they are adopted.
It has been a while since we’ve had kittens in our household, and working with them was fun. Even knowing that they were going to be at a great foster mom’s home, letting them go was harder than I thought. I hope to see them again before they find their forever home (hopefully together), and update their images to help with their adoption. A very lucky family will take two wonderful kittens home.
By the way, their foster mom has named them Picasso (white/gray kitten) and Degas (orange kitten). They should be ready for adoption in a few weeks. Inquiries can be sent to info@forrescue.net.
