Lost & Found

I mentioned in my last post that I'd started a Kinyarwanda course twice a week at my friend Katie's café in Kacyiru. Halfway through the second session (a week last Wednesday), Katie came in with a couple of tiny kittens. They had been dumped in a bag outside.

She asked whether anyone could take them, so I said I would. I have a couple of spare rooms in my home and plenty of cat food and toys since Cat One moved in.

There's four in total, and they all have really different personalities already. Two of them are larger than the other two, so I have one big boy, one big girl, one small girl and one very small boy. The very small boy is the runt and he needs a lot of cuddles. His internal heating hasn't quite kicked in yet, so he shivers a lot.

I'm so grateful to the kindness of an expat who donated kitten formula and to WAG, who rehome abandoned dogs, but kindly lent me a kitten-sized hot water bottle.

They've been with me for one week now, but it feels a lot longer as they require so much care. When they're very tiny, you even have to massage their bums with warm water to help them to poo. It's a lot of work.

Just Arrived

Lap Full of Kittens

No, she doesn't have some hideous disease, she put her face in a plate of tuna and avocado.

Food tastes so much better with bottom...

Feeding Time Carnage

Sleeping it Off

 

Thanks to WAG for the hot water bottle, mum for donations towards food,
and Staples for sponsoring the kitty litter tray.

That said, they're progressing really well. The vet said they're all healthy. He reckons they're about three to four weeks old. They don't appear to have fleas, which is unusual for abandoned cats. In the space of seven days they've all made the transition from hand-feeding formula to solids. The two larger ones took to it no problem, but the smaller two, and especially the littlest, took slightly longer. Now that they are all weaned and using a litter tray, this makes my life much easier. Kitten formula does not smell good, and neither did I.

The eldest are also learning to eat from the side of the food tray, rather than sitting in it. This is helpful, as we tend to have cuddles after food and cat food doesn't smell good either. It also means I have to do less cleaning to get the gunk out of their fur.

I was hoping Cat One would help me out. We've been getting on really well lately. Two weeks ago, she let me stroke her for the first time. Now she regularly sits on my lap for a cuddle.

Unfortunately, she took one look at the kittens, arched her back, hissed, and ran off into the night.

Oh, well.

Essentially, I have started my crazy cat lady collection.

I'm going to raise the kittens for a couple of months, until they're old enough to rehome. I'd like to rehome them in pairs if possible, but I know that might not be an option. They are lovely little scamps and really playful - fluffy balls of tooth and claw.