Fostering Kittens: A Story of Love, Heartbreak, and New Beginnings

Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers, welcome to another episode of the story of my pet podcast. I am your host, julie Marty Pearson. As always, I am very excited to be here to open up and share a very personal episode with you. Some of you who are new listeners to the podcast probably haven't heard some old episodes from this time last year when I was fostering kittens for my local shelter. So this episode is going to tell a little backstory and talk about my fur family and my experience fostering. I'm thankful for you all being here and listening. Remember, share the podcast with friends and family and wherever you're listening right now, click, follow or subscribe. And to really help me out and to help the podcast grow and so more people can hear these important stories, please rate and review wherever you're listening to this. All of the reviews help this podcast grow and get to more listeners ears. And you can actually catch the podcast now on YouTube and I will link that in the show note so you can check that out, so you can listen to that as well and subscribe there. New episodes coming out from now on. I will be adding clips, short videos as well as full episodes on YouTube in the future. So, if you prefer watching and reading captions, that will be more available as we continue the story of our pets from around the world, educating and advocating for animal rescue, fostering and adoption. Thank you so much for being here. Now let's get into the new episode. Hello, my friends, fellow animal lovers, I am your host, julie Marty Pearson. Today I am sharing one of my own personal pet stories. I am sharing this on a very special day. Today is Wednesday, october 18th 2023, and it is my baby, my youngest cat, my youngest for baby, my cat pumpkin. It's her first birthday, that's right, my little baby pumpkin is a whole year old. It's crazy to think it's been a whole year since I brought her home. More on that in a minute. But in honor of her first birthday, I thought it would be really a good time to come on here and share a little bit more of my personal pet stories with you. I know I have a lot of new listeners that have come to the podcast in the last few episodes. You may not have heard some of my earlier episodes I put out on my own about this time last year, talking about my experience as a kitten foster and how that experience shaped me, taught me a lot and ultimately led to pumpkin becoming a part of our family. Today I'm going to tell you the story of little pumpkin, princess Pumpkin Spice, her official name, pumpkin the Calico. I did a couple episodes actually talking about my experience as a kitten foster, and so there is some backstory and I will give you a trigger warning there is pet loss in the backstory of how pumpkin became a part of my family. I'm just giving you a trigger warning that I will, in the backstory in the next few minutes, talk a little bit about some loss and grief I had as a first time kitten foster. If you want to jump forward in the markers to pumpkin story, you can do that. So as a part of my own education process since I started this podcast a year and a half ago, I became more involved with my own local shelter, kern County Animal Services. I started volunteering there. I had thought about being a kitten foster At the time. I had been doxining a lot in the summer last year 2022, but in the fall it really slows down. I was home a lot more and so we thought it would be a good time for me to try to be a kitten foster. I had been at the shelter volunteering and I was talking to several of the staff members, including the then kitten foster coordinator, and said that I'd be interested in taking a solo kitten. So my PSA, before I get into my story, is there's always animals in need. If you're thinking about becoming a foster or adopting a new pet, our shelters are full of amazing animals needing homes. I was at the shelter, I had done some volunteer work and I was talking to the kitten foster and I said do you have any solo kittens that maybe need a little extra care that I can help? They did have a few and she said oh, I have one. He was found alone outside and brought in. He was covered in fleas so they knew he was very weak and he was anemic and they really felt like he needed some one-on-one attention to make sure he was eating. I brought home a single male kitten, a little Siamese kitten. I honestly don't remember his shelter name because I almost immediately named him Binks Without me. I love scary movies, I love Halloween time and so Hocus Pocus has always been one of my favorite movies since I was a kid and so immediately I decided I'm gonna name you Binks. He did pretty well, he was definitely skinny. When I would hold him I could feel all of his little bones and his ribs and it just broke my heart to think, oh, how long he'd probably been outside somewhere on its own who knows how long or if he'd had a mom at what point. So I set up a little area for him with I set up a little area for him. I had a little play pin. I had a little zip top on it and I could put a heating pad in it with nice warm towels. It's always important with kittens to give them a heating source, because young kittens, you know, under six weeks old, don't know how to regulate their own body temperature. Yet that's what mom is for. She keeps them warm when they're nursing and when they're snuggling with her. They'd even given me a sock full of rice, which is one way that you can put it in the microwave and warm it up and then you place it under a blanket or a towel for a kitten and it helps keep them warm. I knew he was skinny, I knew he was weak, but he was eating, he was going to the bathroom, he was doing all the things he should be doing, but after a couple of days he started having some issues going to the bathroom, which is an uncommon in small animals. I was also giving him iron. They'd given me little syringes filled with liquid iron that I would give him twice a day. And so I was in communication with the foster team via email, and that's one of the great things about shelters and rescues they will be in contact with you if you have any questions about an animal you are fostering. There's a lot of support out there. So on the fifth day I noticed he was a lot weaker. He wasn't really eating. I was keeping him with me pretty much everywhere I went. I had him wrapped up in my shirt and my hoodie. I started wearing a robe around, which I don't usually do, but that just allowed me to keep him with me, up against me, helping to keep him warm. And so sleeping a lot isn't uncommon for kittens. Kittens do sleep a lot. They sleep a lot in those first few weeks, but it was later, that night on the fifth day, that I started noting some differences in him. Binks wasn't really holding his head up like he had been. He was walking around on his own holding his head up, even playing a little. The first few days I had him, so I knew he wasn't doing as well. And that night, as I was getting ready to go to bed, I could physically hear him breathing and having issues with breathing. So I knew something was wrong. I knew something was going on and one of the things that can happen with young kittens is what is called Fading Kitten Syndrome. So I had paperwork on that. I was reading through it, I was thinking maybe he had gotten too cold. I was trying to warm him up. There's things you can do. I'm not going to go into specifics I'm not giving anyone any kind of medical advice but there's different things you can do to try and help them when they're having a low like this. He only got worse. He was breathing very erratically, very loudly. He had no energy. He couldn't hold himself up. I called the emergency foster line and was waiting for a response. As he continued to get worse, I awoke my husband up, who was already asleep and he was trying to help me. It all happened very quickly. I was speaking to the person who answers the emergency foster line and she was calling the emergency vet. She didn't know if I could get in because they're so booked. He just got worse and worse and my husband actually took him from me and took him into the other room and, unfortunately, while I was on the phone speaking with her, my husband looked at me and shook his head and I knew that, unfortunately, little Binks was already gone. So, from the moment I noticed his breathing to him being gone was actually pretty quick, with maybe about an hour, so it happened very quickly. It was very difficult. I found even writing out notes to do this episode. It still affects me to think about it because it was such a shocking thing for me. So late that night on October 26th of last year 2022, binks unfortunately did not make it. Now we don't really know his backstory, and that is also common with shelters. We don't know where they've come from. What happens with fading kitten syndrome is that their little bodies just can't hold up. They're not strong enough. Their heart isn't strong enough, their lungs haven't developed properly, they don't have a strong immune system. They probably haven't gotten all of the important things they needed from their mom cats, all those important things in the milk that helped them build their immunity and grow. He was facing a uphill battle. He went downhill fast and there was nothing I could have done. There was nothing the shelter could have done, always tell myself that I was rather him being held in my arms for five days rather than just sitting in a cage at the shelter with little human interaction. And so my husband had wrapped him up and put him in his carrier and put him in the other room for me for now, and it was hard to tell people what had happened. I was questioning myself a lot, even though now I know there was nothing I could have done. It was a difficult time for sure, and it took me about a week before I could take his carrier back to the shelter. Now he wasn't still in the carrier after all that time. The next day we decided, my husband and I, that I'd already become very attached to him. If he had survived I likely would have kept him. It was kind of my deal with my husband if I fostered and it worked out that maybe that would be our new kitten. But unfortunately he didn't make it, and so my husband buried him in our backyard so that he would stay here with us, because ultimately we had been his first home and his only home. And so that way he is here with us forever, just like any other pet we have, and I was able to work through my grief. I bought a little rock painting kit and painted some rocks for him and put one with his name on it and things like that, and then put those outside near where we buried him. It was a difficult process for me to go through, but it also taught me a lot about why fostering is so important, because there's so many of these little kittens that need that extra care, that need that someone Giving them a bath, making sure they're eating and giving them warmth and giving them attention and all of those things. I don't want this part of the story to make anyone think that they shouldn't be fostering. It's very important and I don't regret doing it at all Because it led me ultimately to my little pumpkin. That's the backstory in that All of this led me to, about a week later after I lost being, to go into the shelter on November 1st of 2022 to return his carrier. I was talking to different people to shelter and then the kitten foster at the time said hey, I was just going to call you. I'm like oh okay, we just got a litter of kittens and we wanted to see if you wanted to foster them. I was like a litter Okay, maybe, wait what? So I went into one of the medical rooms with her and she picked up this carrier and these tiny little meows were meowing. Oh, they were loud. When I come to find out, there were six kittens in the carrier. They had just been brought in and they were too young to eat. We think they were about two weeks old and she said she needed someone to foster them, to bottle feed them and tell their old enough to eat on their own. You know, I thought about it. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm not sure about this. But ultimately something in me said yes, I said sure, I will say that I know with shelters, with both kittens and puppies, if they come in they're too young to eat on their own. They don't have a mom, cat or dog. Time is very crucial. They need fosters immediately to be able to feed them, to bottle feed them around the clock, basically. So you know, I'd bottle fed before both Charlie and Frenchie were bottle babies. I'd done it before. It's a lot of work, but I knew I could do it. But I also don't ever done it with one cat at a time, so I really wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I said yes because I felt like there was a reason that I waited those number of days to bring Binks's carrier back. There was a reason that those kittens were there now and I was there and be able to help them. So I loaded up with formula and bottles and I took the six kittens home and they screamed the whole car right home, which isn't very far, you know, as I kept hearing them and all of that I was thinking, wow, what if I'd gotten myself into? Luckily I already had some supplies ready. Obviously the shelters and rescues will give you whatever you needed. I had bought some things myself, like an extra heating pad and the little zip top playpin Just makes it easier getting them in and out. I'd already cleaned that out from Binks, so I set that back up and put clean towels in with the heater and everything and got them all into there. Once they were all settled into the playpin and I had made formula and I filled up the six bottles, I started bottle feeding them. I'm looking at their paperwork figuring out who's who and I realized I had three boys and three girls. The three girls were all calicoes. First was Pumpkin, who has almost full calico coloring. She has a little white on her belly and her paws. Her two sisters, also calicoes, were more white and then had spots of calico. They were named by the Shelter Butternut and Squash. I was like, yeah, I don't like those names, so I renamed them Sugar and Spice. Spice would live up to her name. She was super spicy when she was being bottle fed and she would let you know it when she was not getting enough. The boy I had won, who I renamed Harry, because he was white with orange on his face and head and his tail, and he was the biggest of the whole litter. He was a little chunk even before the bottle started. And then his two brothers were both tuxedos, so they were all black with a little bit of white on their faces and their chests, just like a regular men's tuxedo. They're super cute. There were two the smallest boy he was actually the smallest of the entire litter, so he was the runt and it would take him almost the full time I had with him before he caught up and got bigger than some of the other kittens. I named him George and his little brother Archie. So I had six kittens, three boys and three girls, and I started bottle feeding them. Now you have to realize kittens at this age they were approximately two weeks have to be fed every two to three hours, every two to three hours. This really did become my full time job as a foster. You have to be in the mom cat, which means you also have to stimulate them to go to the bathroom. So after I fed each one, I would have to wipe their little butts to get them to go to the bathroom, because they weren't old enough to do that on their own. So it was definitely a full process, because once you get to the number six being fed, number one starts to get hungry again. Let's just put it that way. But they were all great, they were all growing, they were all eating, they were all doing everything. They should be Made me feel good after losing binks, and it was worth it, though, because I saw all of them growing and being active. But one of the ways they were active actually made it a little more difficult. So it's not uncommon with a litter both kittens and puppies for them to suckle on each other, because their innate response is to find their mom's belly and find where they're supposed to suck to get food. But when there isn't a mom cat and they're curled up with their brothers and sisters, they start suckling on them. It's very normal and even though they were being bottle fed they still have that natural response. The problem with that is little kittens can suck really hard and if they're sucking on their same age young little brother or sister they can actually cause damage to them. They can develop sores, they can even be open wounds which can cause infection and all sorts of problem by the kitten being sucked on as well. As if there are any kind of diseases between them, then it's transmitted even that much more easily. So Pumpkin Ever the Cowico, was the first to develop this habit and it became so noticeable that I had to remove her from her siblings. I had to start keeping her in the carrier and the rest of her siblings in the playpin. Eventually I was able to get another small playpin so that she could have a little nicer place to sleep, but I had to keep her separated Pretty early on. It was within the first few days that I had to do this. So I was giving her more one-on-one time because I wasn't able to leave her with her siblings so pretty early in the beginning I became. I was attached to all of them and very attached to them by the end. But because I had spent more one-on-one time with her, I definitely became more attached and she definitely had her little personality from day one. Then I started noticing her sister. Sugar and Spice started developing the same habit and unfortunately they were doing it to their brothers in a place that was very dangerous. Sometimes they will suck on the different private areas, especially for a boy, and it can actually cause way more damage because they can actually cause the boy kittens not to be able to go to the bathroom properly as they get older. So at this one we've got three playpins, three heating pads I don't know how many dozens of towels we went through on a daily basis, but the three boys were in the larger one, sugar and Spice were in one together. They didn't seem to suck on each other at all, which was good, and then little pumpkin was still on her own. It was a lot keeping them separated. Now they all did hang out together as I was feeding them, allowing them to interact as they started walking around more, becoming more mobile. I just had to keep my eye on them and as soon as there was any suckling behavior. I had to separate them again. Once they started eating solid food, the suckling behavior really stopped, and that's what's good about it is that's typically what happens. As the kittens, or even puppies, get older. They're moving into eating more normally. Their teeth are coming in. Then that behavior lessens or goes away. They don't have to be separated as much. So it was a lot of work, but they were so cute. I have so many pictures to share with you guys. We'll be posting on social media and everywhere, and in the blog post I'll post along with this episode to share, because, gosh, kittens are just adorable. Even when you're exhausted, it's the middle of the night and you're having to make more formula, they're still super cute. So about a week or two I don't remember exactly A little over a week after I had had them, I started introducing wet food. So they started getting some wet food on plates. They were making messes, sticking their paws and their faces into it. Little Pumpkin and Harry took to it pretty quickly. They were at that point the biggest of the litters and they took to it fast and started eating the most. Now I'm still bottle feeding at this point because they still need all those nutrients, and it's a transition. They don't just one day go from a bottle to dry food and anything like that. There's usually a transition and they'll start with some wet food and they'll sometimes you want to mix it with formula so it's even more mushy, and eventually they start eating more of that and they're eating less of the bottle. You'll introduce some dry food as well. So over the next couple of weeks that was the transition they were all going through. They all took to it pretty well, except for little George. He had no interest in wet food. He was the runt. He was the smallest. I think. His body was just developing slower than the rest of them, so he just wasn't ready for it. His teeth maybe weren't in as much, so he kept on the bottle as long as he could. Now they also wanted the bottle, even though if they were eating wet food, kittens just want the bottle. So what it is, that's good, they want it. The little runt George held out for a while. It probably was a good full week or two before he finally ate wet food for the first time. I was so happy. They were all growing. They all started using litter box. They all had little litter within in their play pins and as they started eating more solid food they were able to use it more. I have to say, kittens are pretty easy to learn how to use litter boxes. They're pretty, it's pretty intuitive for them, which makes it really easy. It's much different experience than when you're trying to potty train a puppy. So the feeding and the growing and all of that was going really well. But at their first checkup at the shelter you take the foster kittens in every two weeks or so, depending on the shelter, for them to get checked, have their weights checked, get vaccines if it's the right time, and on their first check so two weeks later, we noticed that they were all showing some signs of upper respiratory infection. Some of them had crusty noses, which is a sign. I'd heard some of them sneezing. So I let the shelter staff know that they sent me home with eye drops and they sent me home with eye drops and liquid antibiotics. So that's what I had to start giving them all twice a day. So, along with bottle feeding them and getting them to eat wet food and transitioning them and getting them to use their litter boxes Twice a day, I had to put eye drops in all their eyes, which they did not like, and get them to take the liquid antibiotics. That wasn't too hard because you could just stick it in their mouth and they would just lap it up, but the eye drops they were not fans up. So unfortunately, with six it's a lot to keep up on with all the medication. It took a little longer for them to recover. So the next checkup they gave me another round. So ultimately, to get them all cleared up of their little cold, I ended up keeping them for six and a half weeks. Yeah, six weeks. I loved it, it was great. It was a lot of work, I was exhausted and in the end we were ready for them to come home back to the shelter. Definitely. There was a point at that like six week mark that my husband's like okay, when are they going? As you can imagine, six kitten, it's a lot of food, it's a lot of poop, it's a lot of litter. So I was having to go to the shelter probably every at least once a week, sometimes more, make sure I had enough wet food and dry food and litter and all of that. And we were at the point where they were old enough so they had free run of my home office that I've been right now. Unfortunately they weren't always going in the litter box, so my husband likes to say it still stinks like the hitman's in here. It probably does, but we were able to give them more room, but I would open the office up and block off the hallway and they could run around in the hallway. So as they got to be six weeks, eight weeks, six eight week old kittens it's a lot of energy, it's a lot of running, it's a lot of eating, it's a lot of pooping, it's a lot of fun it was definitely time for them to go back for their final checkup. And if they were over two pounds which is what often times shelters and rescues say, they have to be at least two pounds to be able to be adopted. Because they have to be at least two pounds to be spayed or neutered and the goal is to they're old enough and big enough is that they will get spayed and neutered and then they're available for adoption. So I had bought a little scale on Amazon that at least once a day I would check their weight. So I would keep it running, I would check on before I fed them. That way I could see that. Are they consistently maintaining their weight? Are they gaining weight? Those are two important things to know when you're dealing with young kittens and puppies is to make sure they're not losing weight. So that's something that I did, and so that's why I was able to know. That's why I knew the whole time that little George was the runt, because I was keeping track of his weight. But the good thing with him is he never lost weight. He was either maintaining or gaining. He just wasn't gaining as much as his siblings. So on December 14th of 2022, I took the two pound kittens all smushed into one carrier and took them to the shelter for their checkup and their next round of vaccines. But I had decided at this point that pumpkin was going to be my forever kid, and this was a hard decision for me. I was very attached to all six of them and, honestly, I could have kept any of them. They were all great, but ultimately, my husband and I decided it was best for us to just have one. You know, they're at that point in mid December. There's not a lot of kittens and shelters, so I knew they'd all be adopted pretty quickly, so I took them in that day they all got checked out. They all look good. They didn't seem to have any more upper respiratory. They all were over two pounds, which I knew because I was weighing out. They verified that. So I told them okay, there, no, it's good to go. But I wanted to adopt pumpkin. So after they'd all been checked out, they came back out and were like this is the one you want. I'm like yep, that's the one I want. So they gave her a microchip and I filled out all the paperwork and officially adopted her on December 14th. Pumpkin officially became my youngest baby and I brought her home that day and she's been here ever since. So that is the story of how pumpkin, little princess, pumpkin spice, came to be a part of my family. She's officially one year old Calico kitten. She is not full grown yet. She's gotten much bigger I think. I weighed her and she was almost nine pounds. I was shocked. She's in that teenager phase where her legs are a little long for her body but her head still a little bit small like a kitten. But she's the cutest thing ever and she's definitely a Calico. She is full of personality. She's very independent. She was much more of a cuddle bug when she was a baby she used to always crawl up onto me and then crawl up into my arms and go to sleep, and I had to hold her like a baby while she slept. But she grew out of that once in a while. She does all of a sudden all he feel this, and she jumped up on me in the morning and looks at me. I have to pet her and then she goes off. But I also know that all the other kittens were adopted by the time of Christmas. Little Harry, though, who I almost kept because he was so cute he was such a little permachine. He was actually adopted like within two hours of me bringing him to the shelter. That's how bad people were looking for kittens at the time. Hopefully there still are people looking now. Plenty of kittens at your local shelter. Cats go, foster and adopt. So I knew right away that he had already been adopted. And then Sugar and Spice and George and Archie were there a few days. They got them spayed and neutered and then, individually, all four of them went to their own homes, and I know that by the end of December they all had found their own forever homes, and that made me very happy. I had a hard time knowing they were in the shelter after being in a house. But they weren't there that long and they were off to their own forever homes. And so for me, having had a difficult first experience as a foster with Beinks and losing him to then raise six healthy, happy, very active kittens, was definitely a good ending to that experience for that period of time. It showed me that fostering Beinks there was a purpose. He taught me a lot, but it also made me willing and able to take on the litter of six, and without him I wouldn't have done that and without doing that I wouldn't have pumpkin now in our family, and she's brought a lot of joy and love. I love seeing her get Frenchy more active. They play together and roll around with each other. Charlie has taught her that anytime me Katmom walks into the kitchen means oh, it must be treat time. And she knows, just like Charlie, to walk over to her bowl and look at me with very sad eyes. He has taught her well, she is a part of the Ver family officially and they all have their bowls and they know that anytime I'm near the kitchen it must be treat time. So today, on pumpkin's official first birthday. I wanted to share her story for many reasons to let you know that it's so important to be involved with your local shelter and rescue, to learn about what they need, learn about the process. Most importantly, to be willing to, if you're in a situation that you can, to adopt from them. There are so many kittens and puppies and cats and dogs right now in overcrowded shelters all over the country, but especially where I live in Kern County in California, and they need homes and some of them, unfortunately, are not making it out of the shelter because there's just not enough space and they get full. They have to go and it breaks my heart and it's so hard and I've seen it more from the inside, having volunteered and fostered and worked there for a period of time. It can be difficult but can also be so rewarding and there's nothing that says if you foster you have to keep any of them. That was the journey I was on, because I had wanted another cat at that point, but you don't. I will say it's difficult to foster and let them go, but you also know that you're raising them and helping them become kittens that are active and healthy so that other people can bring them into their fur families and without fosters, a lot more kittens like the six of them wouldn't make it, because, unfortunately, if they're not able to eat on their own and they're brought to a shelter, they have to go to foster or they can be euthanized. And that's the sad truth and that's not at any fault of the shelter. Those are the laws in place. They can't be kept in a shelter overnight when there's no staff and they can't eat on their own. So that's why fosters are so important. So if you've ever thought about fostering, learn about the rescues and shelters in your area and how you sign up and how you might be able to try it out. Do like I did with one kitten. One kitten is easy, in a way, because you get to give them all of your attention. I've met so many people that have fostered individual kittens who needed that extra care, who had upper respiratory infections, whatever it may be, and just having them in a nice safe home, giving them extra love, help them to heal and be healthy and then go off and go on to their own amazing fur family. It really is an amazing experience. It can be a lot of work, it can be difficult, but it's so rewarding when you see those little babies even the older cats, older dogs and you see them become healthier, become happier. You see them grow and thrive and be able to go on and become parts of other people's families. It is really the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I highly recommend you doing it yourself, if you're able. Remember. Most shelters and rescues will provide all of the food and supplies. They provide all of the medical care. All you have to give is your time and some space in your home. I hope this story will inspire you to maybe think about fostering. If not, and you're ready, even better than fostering is adopting. Let me tell you the amount of joy and love that pumpkin has brought to my life in the last year. It's a full circle moment for me to be at her first birthday and realize how difficult of a start she had and how far her and her siblings came while they were with me. Then they've all been able to grow up and be amazing cats. I hope that pumpkin story will inspire you to get involved donate, volunteer, foster, adopt whatever works for you. It all makes a difference in the lives of animals who need us. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of the story of my pet. I hope you enjoyed this very personal story me talking about my amazing little pumpkin on her first birthday and sharing the story of how she became my foster kitten and ultimately adopted into my family. Thank you for listening, as always, and sharing the podcast with others. Remember, wherever you're listening, please hit, follow or subscribe If you haven't already. Give us a rating and a review. That helps the podcast get pushed to more people, so the more people can hear these stories and learn about the importance of helping animals in your community, whether it's at your shelters or through rescue organizations. You can volunteer, donate your time or supplies. You can foster or adopt and help save the lives of animals in need in your community. Until next time, my friends, I'm sending much love from me and my fur family, especially little pumpkin on her birthday. Thank you.