The Oregon Humane Society, where Pearl and her kittens spent the day yesterday
Thanks to the Oregon Humane Society's Spay and Save program, Pearl and her kittens were well taken care of yesterday.
It took a bit of preparation. More below the orange fluffy toy...
First, Pearl's milk needed to dry up so that she could have the surgery. This meant preventing the kittens from nursing on her for at least five days. We started a week ahead.
It wasn't easy, with these voracious babies.
So we pretty much had to block Pearl from entering the room with the kittens unless we could supervise. She wasn't happy about this -- but boy, she did pick up energy and became much more comfortable after the milk began to dry.
And the kittens do not need her milk anymore. They inhale, the four of them together, six cans of kitten food a day. And they can now eat kibble.
Hold still! I'm washing you!
The night before, Pearl could have no food past 10pm. So she spent the night with me, with only water in her bowl. In the morning, I just dropped her into a cat carrier. We had to box up the cats by 7:30 am to get them to their 8am appointment. We startied at 7am.
Catching the little ones was made much easier with catnip. We placed a Pootie Pad in the carrier and two kittens walked in on their own. Then Ann and I each caught one of the remaining two and bam! We had them! Ann lost a little blood but we were relatively wound free on our end.
Check in was easy at the OR Humane Society -- although it was a bit stressful for our kitties as there were a number of dogs in the queue. We waved goodby to our babies and went to get some breakfast.
Pick up was from 5pm to 6pm.
We now have a sheet of paper on each cat. There are two boy kittens, each weighing 2lbs 12 oz. The girls are smaller, one 2lbs 8oz and the other (the one we call Shy Shy for a reason) weighed in at 2lbs. 3oz. They are all perfectly healthy. Mama weighed in at 7lbs, a gain of 14oz since we had her blood checked for communical diseases the other week. She got her innoculations, was wormed, treated for fleas and had her claws trimmed, as well.
All was very quiet in the car on the way home. But once we got there, everyone wanted to eat!
Anytime this coming week, these kittens are ready to go to new homes. They've come a long way from a rough start under an old trailer in a storage yard. They are growing fast and are much more used to being handled now. Each and every one should make a fabulous pet. And Pearl? She's staying with us and fitting in very well with our other girls.
Thank you for following this family's journey. If you missed any of the prior diaries, they are here:
First diaries in the Catnip Chronicles series:
The Catnip Chronicles: The Perils of Pearl
The Catnip Chronicles: Pearl Comes In
The Catnip Chronicles: Pearl, at Home
The Catnip Chronicles: Socialize!
Thank you for your help!
Your kindness in buying Pootie Pads has really helped us out with this project. We are still buying cat food at a swift rate -- the kittens go through a case of kitten food so quickly. So the sale of our Pootie Pads (extraordinarily potent, organic catnip pads for cats)in honor of Pearl and her babies continues, with our thanks!
Consider treating your cats to some of our catnip -- or think ahead to the holidays for the purrfect gift for the cat owner in your life.
Pootie Pads come in three sizes. Fabric choices for original and petitie sizes are here - or let us choose for you.
Original: 23" x 17" $30 plus $5.60 shipping (regularly $35)
Petite: 13.5" x 9.5" ONE for $15 plus $5.60 shipping (regularly $18) OR TWO for $30 (regularly $35) plus $5.60 shipping
Play Size (let us choose for you): 8" x 4.5 Four for $30 plus $5.60 shipping (was $35)
We also have Pootie Pads for dogs -- filled with soothing organic lavender and thyme.
You can find the dog pads here.