9/19/19
While making arrangements to drop off the 4 fireworks girls to get spayed, IBR asked me if I was interested in fostering another litter. YES!
So when I picked up the girls after their surgeries, I was also given 3 new kittens. These 3 boys had just been trapped and were pretty skittish. The creamy guy with the slight siamese markings was definitely the loudest and boldest, but all 3 preferred to huddle in the back of the crate or their kennel, as far away from humans as possible.
With their colors and their wild background, the husband suggested we name them after the 3 night lights from the How to Train Your Dragon series. Now, the white one is supposed to be a girl and none of them have official names, but we had once named the 3 Night Light plushies I own. Still, those names wouldn't do, as we called the girl Aurora- which was just too feminine... so I went searching for other astral phenomenon. Still, I wasn't quite happy with them, as most of the cool sounding ones were also just not easy to say. But my searches showed that a other HTTYD fans were using different variations including Dawn, Dusk, Twilight, and Eclipse.
And so- we have:
Eclipse- the creamy siamese with the tan spot on his side as if something is blocking his fur on that side
Dusk- the gray tabby
Twilight-the slightly darker gray tuxedo
It broke my heart to see them spend so much time cowering in the back of their kennel or crate. They are easy to handle, once you can grab them. They don't fight- but Dusk will tremble for a long while as you hold him. When we gave them a bath, they treated us to the loudest kitten yowls I have ever heard, and I've raised a lot of cats! But mostly, they just hid. Both of the gray ones would hiss when I approached. They wouldn't even eat from my hands!
They were completely at ease with the house cats and didn't even react much to the dogs. In fact, if we were not in the room, they would follow Katsu Kurry, who LOVES kittens, around. I bathed them on their second night here, when I still had the 4 girl kittens headed to adoption the next day- and they relaxed a lot when those 4 kittens came around to see what was going on. The 4 fireworks girls climbed all over us while I was drying them, and each one gave the newcomers tiny kitten kisses. Eventually they settled into their purrito bundles and relaxed a bit.
Saturday night (last night), after the girl kittens were dropped off for adoption, I explained to the husband that these 3 kittens needed human companionship more than they needed kennel training. He agreed to let me keep them in the bedroom for the night, since they were all hiding in the cat tree.
By this time, they'd all begun to accept hand feedings, though the dark two would still shrink away from me. Dusk still hissed every time I approached, and he'd run if he wasn't inside an enclosed space. But Eclipse would let me approach and pet him or pick him up, as long as I did so quietly and calmly. He didn't even wake up when I took this picture and pet him on his side and belly, which was a good sign.
I didn't realize our grumpy old house cat, Roxas, was also in the bedroom until 2am when I woke up to angry growling. Roxas was looming over them as they were on top of the cat house. Poor kittens! I took Roxas to the bed, but he stalked to the door and demanded to be let out.
I pet each of the kittens gently, and for once they all seemed to be comforted rather than scared. I decided to purrito Eclipse and bring him into the bed. But he wiggled out and decided to curl up on his own, right on my belly! I was so happy, despite the early hour, when he started purring and making biscuits- switching back and forth between me and the sleeping hubby before jumping down off the bed.
In the morning, Eclipse and Twilight both allowed me to approach them and pet them. Twilight was still a little wary about it, but Eclipse was completely relaxed. Dusk still hid and flinched, but when I finally started to pet him, he settled down.
I hand fed them throughout the day and Eclipse has already started coming to me even if I don't have food. He also rubs along all my house cats that visit them, including the grumpy old Roxas who hasn't hit them at all today, as far as I know! He seems to tolerate this group much better, but perhaps because they're not very active (yet) and don't steal his toys.
Twilight has also approached me when I'm hand feeding them. It's a start!!
And TWICE, Dusk has let me pet him without hissing first.
All 3 are extremely gentle and very passive. I'm in the next room, watching them through the glass door (kittens are kept in our attached sun room, connected to the house with sliding glass doors) and I'm so happy to see them all scampering about! They're estimated at 7 weeks old and Dusk is already past the 2lb weight minimum to get fixed, so I have to get them socialized very quickly!!
UPDATE 10/3/19
It's been a short two weeks with these boys. My first two litters came to me as they were being weaned from the bottle, around 4 weeks and spent over a month with me before they were old enough for adoption. This crew arrived around 7 weeks, with Dusk already at weight and the other two weren't far behind.
This little stick is a "kitten molar chew"...it's supposed to be good for their teeth. We just got it in last night and my cats and these foster kittens have gone crazy for it. I'm pretty sure it is laced with catnip and my grumpy old man cat and his sister are high.
10/5/19
I worried about my Night Lights. They were the sweetest kittens once they trusted you, but they were very slow to warm up to people and skittish still until they were caught. I dropped them off this morning with all my hopes for them, but I planned to pick any of them up tomorrow night if they didn't find a home. I was already planning a fun sign for their kennel to say they were back in a home being socialized, but could be brought back for weeknight adoption.
By chance, I returned to Petsmart tonight to drop something off to the adoption team lead. When I arrived, she was busy with customers and I peeked in on my boys. My heart sank when I saw them all there, but I was confused. Their adoption cards were missing!! I wondered if they were being moved from the rolling cart into the main window.
But the adoption lead spotted me and came to tell me ALL THREE were adopted... and the families were in the store AT THAT MOMENT buying supplies! I got to meet both families and even got a hug from a very excited new mom. My heart burst with happiness. My eyes watered, but I managed to save the sobs until I got into the car.. then I just wept with joy!!
Eclipse's new family is thinking of calling him Ike. Dusk and Twilight got adopted together.
They got very little time with their brother and sister (still un-named), but they had a last minute cuddle session before leaving for Petsmart (Twilight is hiding in the blue hanging teepee in the back).
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