With twenty-four hours of kitten fostering under my belt, I have to admit, it hasn’t been the cake walk I’d imagined. From the moment I woke up this morning, I was tending to their little lives, feeding them, cleaning up their playpen and scooping out their litter box. One of them hasn’t gotten the knack of peeing in the box, so there was a puddle to wipe up.
On my way home from the gym, I stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things; kitten wipes, a new some canned food and half a dozen “mice”. Before I took my shower, I gave them each a wipe down and brushing. Neither enjoyed the cleaning very much and both cried in protest as I wiped the yuck and flea dirt from their coats. Then I dried them with clean wash cloths and brushed them with a soft baby brush. To keep them clean, I put them in a net laundry basket and mopped out their playpen.
Not long after they were clean and returned to their clean pen, I noticed that Cayla was favoring her left front paw. I picked her up to examine her leg, feeling up and down the pencil sized appendage. Each time I touched that left leg she cried in pain. When I touched the right, she didn’t react. I reacted big-time and hurried downstairs to find the paperwork I signed with the Humane Society. I found the vet’s name and number and called him immediately. The vet was not in, but I left a message in his voice mail. Having the majority of my day so totally kitten-centered (except for my hour at the gym) I decided it was my turn to jump in the shower, hoping the vet wouldn’t return my call. He didn’t.
Two hours later, Cayla and Allie have just finished their second meal of the day, and are curled contentedly on their “blankie”. Whenever I go by and drop my hand it to pet them, they purr, and sometimes squeak. Oh, and Cayla doesn’t seem to be limping anymore.
I think I’ll head downstairs now and stretch out on the couch with Izzie and Purrl, neither of whom are interested in the babies. This kitten fostering is exhausting!
ps. Most of my fatigue could be a result of last night’s UVA vs. VCU Men’s Basketball game. The new hand-check foul rules really slowed the first half down; I think it lasted an hour and a half! In the end, VCU proved to be the better team and they were a joy to watch. Maggie and Jan and a whole lot of other Rams fans who made the trip north drove home with smiles on their faces. Me, I was more afraid the game would go into overtime than UVA would lose. It was a late night for us!