"I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."
- Henry David Thoreau

The CATcher in the Rye

So a few things happened in Kittyland this week ...

Sweet, playful Nimbus, the kitten who was rescued from outside, went to his forever home with some wonderful friends who are also great cat people. We will miss him, but we know he will be happy and loved in his new home, and he'll even have a kitty near his own age who will match his energy level and play with him to his heart's content. Happy tails, Nimbus!

Nimbus surveying his new kingdom

In other ways, it was a tough week. Ian, our resident "ambassador cat," who's usually the first cat to help socialize the foster kittens, developed an abscess, perhaps from a scratch from roughhousing with Nimbus or another cat. One more vet visit we can't afford. :-(  Ian is on antibiotics now, and we're hoping he's back to his usual happy and healthy self soon.

Feel better, Ian!

The kittens enjoyed a few visits from admirers and adopters, and it looks like Mama Opal and Galena will be going home together! We love it when that happens.

Sleepy Jasper

Meanwhile, Jasper and Onyx have also been spoken for, and their adopters are planning to each take another kitten, so we may have only one kitten left for adoption!

What about me, and my cute little bean toes?

But that won't be until mid-September. In the meantime, they still have lots of growing up to do. We just introduced a mini litter box (actually, a cardboard cat food box) for them to try out. At last look, it seemed to have been used, so they're learning! Next we'll try to get them interested in solid food. Right now, Mama is still nursing six kittens, which means she's eating as many as 7-8 cans of cat food per day, plus dry food. In fact, we were getting worried because we were almost out of food (and funds), when an Amazon package of Fancy Feast came in from an anonymous donor.

A box! YAY!

The kittens are too young to enjoy the food, but they definitely loved the box it came in! And we always appreciate donations, either through our Amazon wish list, PayPal, or our GoFundMe page.

So, this morning I went in to the kitten room to feed Mama and check on the kitties. I found Jasper and Onyx playing together in the kitten drawer, while the other four kitties had climbed out and were sleeping in the cat bed. After Mama ate, I brought them up on the bed to play with their new box and other toys, and soon enough they gathered around Opal to nurse. She lay right at the edge of the bed, so I curled my arm around her back to keep her from falling off, and there I sat, holding Opal, watching the kittens nursing and kneading, hearing them purr, hearing Mama purr, and she looked at me and gave a slow blink of contentment and trust, as if to say, "I know you won't let me fall. I know you'll take care of me and my babies, no matter what."

And suddenly it occurred to me: I'm the catcher in the rye. I can't end all war, stop discrimination everywhere, end world hunger. But I can do what I can, in a small way, in my own small corner of the world, to keep a few little lives from falling off the edge. A catcher in the rye, for cats.

Ian, the Ambassador Cat

When foster kittens get past the baby age, it's important for them to meet other cats so they learn social skills. At Miri's House, we have three resident cats--Duncan, Ian, and Molly--who help kittens in training extend their social circle beyond Mom.

Duncan doesn't usually mind the little visitors, as long as they don't go near his food.

Molly can take them or leave them, but generally prefers to leave them. (Molly, by the way, is a foster failure.)

But Ian--Ian is the Ambassador Cat.

Former foster kitty Luna with Ian

He's always the first to greet kittens with a friendly nose-bump, and he doesn't mind if they take a curious sniff of him, or even his food dish.

Thanks, Ian! You are patient, mellow, and friendly, the perfect feline role model.

She Likes It! Hey, Moondust!

Ember (on scratcher ramp), Moondust (in scratcher ramp), and Shadow (on track). 

Okay, a kitten taking her first taste of non-Mom food may not seem like a huge deal, but since we've been worrying for weeks about the kittens not wanting to eat, it's a pretty big deal around here.


The kittens are six weeks old, and still not weaned. Most other litters we've fostered have shown interest in food by around four weeks.

"What's this stuff?"

Of course, all kittens develop at different rates, and our current crew--Shadow, Ember, and Moondust--were smaller than usual at birth, with a very young mama cat. We even think they might have been slightly premature. One kitten in the litter, little Dusk, only lived one day.


But they are growing well, and they are beyond any doubt active, playful, and healthy. Still, we couldn't help worrying: were these kittens ever going to eat?

"She likes it! Hey, Moondust!" 

Today, Moondust, the smallest of the three, took the plunge. She came out from her new favorite hidey-hole in the scratching ramp to investigate a dish of KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement)--and she decided it was worth a taste. Once she got started, she licked up nearly the whole dish!

We're hoping her litter-mates follow suit. And we're pretty sure Mama hopes so, too!

Cute of the Day

 

Cute Rule #1: Big head + huge eyes + floofy little body = CUTE!

We let the kittens know that they are famous model kittens, featured on Good Morning Kitten. They seemed to take it in stride.  After all, they're used to being worshiped for their cuteness.

The kittens are in their adventurous phase. They're no longer content to stay in "the kitten room," and when the door opens, there they are, ready to march out, single file, either following Mom or leading her. When she wants them to go back, she'll chirp to them and lead the way home.

This is fun to chew on--but not as fun as Gale!

They've also managed to create their own jungle gym by pulling some drawers out of a small storage dresser, then climbing all over it. They still think the broom and the litter-box scoop are toys, and they don't understand why anyone would use them for cleaning up messes when making new messes is so much more fun. They've already managed to bury one toy mouse in the litter box (bye-bye, mousie!), shred another mouse, and lose various toys under the bed or under the dresser.

Since they started eating last week they actually cry when they hear the can open---well, mostly Peeta cries, but they wake up and drop anything they are doing to trot over for the food game. All five of them gather around the two bowls I have emptied the can into and start chowing down. Many times Mama has to push her way in just to get a bite. Today Katniss ate almost a whole dish by himself. Rue is least likely to get a seat at the table, as she is the littlest and her kitten sibs think nothing of shoving her out of way. Today Rue ate most of her dinner spoon by spoon as I encouraged her to nibble bite by bite.

He followed me home. Can I keep him?

Gale continues to recover from his bite wound and exhibits no fear of--well, anything! Today he leaped from my shoulder, bounced off the side of the bed, and then bounded to the floor and ran off, not at all bothered, as I cringed and gasped. He is seemingly unaware of his hair scar and thinks he is the cutest ever--which of course he is!

Stay tuned for more kitten antics in the days and weeks ahead.

Welcome to Miri's House!

Miri's House is a small rescue that specializes in fostering mother cats with kittens. We occasionally foster older and hard-to-place cats.

The Miri's House blog features our adorable, adoptable foster cats and their seriously cute kittens. We love sharing photos and stories of our kittens growing up, and we especially love sharing our success stories of cats and kittens adopted into loving homes.

In addition to our fosters, we also have three resident cats, Duncan, Ian, and Molly, who may make an appearance from time to time.

Visit us for the cute. Support us for the animals.

 

Help us feed the Kitties! 

We are always in need of Royal Canin Babycat Instinctive canned food, Royal Canin Kitten dry food, non-toxic cat litter, and help with kittens' first vet visits and shots. Please send your donations  through PayPal. We appreciate any help you can give--from $1.50 for a can of kitten food to larger donations to help with medical care, cat supplies, and our dream goal: a safe, fenced-in cat enclosure.

Because we are a private residence, we prefer not to publish our address, but if you'd rather send a check, email us at mirishouse (at) gmail.com. Because young kittens are vulnerable to infection, we cannot accept donations of used bedding, litter boxes, cat trees, etc. Thank you for your support!