If I had written this update a mere week ago, it would have read something like this:
Kitten season is just now beginning. This month, we welcomed our first wee ones of the year. Simba, Timon, Nala and Pumbaa were found in a nearby apartment complex, and they’re currently in the loving foster care of a Tabby’s Place volunteer. Grey Simba and black-and-white Nala are already on hold to be adopted; they’ll go home once they’re old enough, which should be in the next couple of weeks. Grey-and-white Pumbaa and grey Timon (pictured at right) are sure to follow soon.
Meanwhile, Bertie, Ernestine, Coco and Chanel continue being gently socialized to trust people. Coco and Chanel have taken up residence in the Community Room; these two beautiful girls are still a bit wary, but really, they just need you to give them a little time to warm up. Zoey, on the other hand, is completely over being at all shy and is chirping up a storm in the Lounge.
That’s what I would have written a week ago. But oh, how a week of kitten season can change things. Thanks to our hugely awesome Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program, in just a few short days we went from just a few kittens to over twenty! Four feral mamas are now in our care, along with their litters. In some ways, that can be more work for our staff, since feral mamas can be, well, feral. But these girls are doing a wonderful job caring for their little ones, which means that we don’t have to do it all for them.
I stopped by to meet the new babies the other day, but once I saw the two little families in the holding room, I changed my mind. Mama #1 was hunkered down in a crate covered with blankets on the floor, and Mama #2 (pictured here) locked eyes with me before I could even get in the room. I couldn’t even see her little ones, because they were obscured by the cardboard barrier in place to keep them from tangling in the cage door. She was clearly not interested in having yet another human being come poking her nose in the kittens’ business just then, though, and I didn’t want to stress her out further.
I’ll give it another try this week, so I can give you a first-hand account of how unbearably adorable the kittens are for next month’s update…though if our rate of kitten acquisition continues on this past week’s trend, we will have dozens of bundles of joy by then! Clearly kitten season is taking off – are you ready for the ride?
Thank you so much, for your support of the little ones we have in residence already, and of the many more sure to arrive soon. Stay tuned!