So, we took in the stray our neighbour saved and had two kittens in the first night at his place.
Which wasn’t suitable, because he already has a cat and is a bit too small for all of them.
Those two kittens are now approaching their week 3 age (tomorrow) and already have more than 400g each.
They’re over performers - probably because it’s only 2 - but that brought some problems with the little red one.
When they’re growing so fast, they sometimes have trouble walking.
White one was already crawling all over my wife, while red one was doing frosh legs.
Mother invited me into the nest, waited for the kittens to be in my arms and left for a bit, came back and sat down on the other side of their nest room.
I didn’t know that this is possible, but it seems, she can selectively call them.
So she called the red one to her, to train walking.
(She already tested both of us, by leaving us alone with the kittens and monitored us from some distance, so she wasn’t just trying to get her kittens back)
I watched red one quite closely and he had troubles getting his back feet under his body.
So I started some physiotherapy with him, by just holding my hand behind his legs, to give them something stable to push off from. And sometimes I gently corrected his feet position, to get them under his ass.
4 sessions later (just 1,5 days) and he proudly showed off, how he can walk :-D
Until he reached my hand, let himself fall into it, laying there on his back and holding a finger of mine with his feet.
You could just tell how happy and proud he was :-)
By now, he made it into and out of the basket alone
Mother is getting a bit over motivated though and I have to keep an eye on her to not do something stupid.
She was really thin and had an abscess, when we got her.
By now, we’re training her up by playing and she already got visible muscles and is much more steady on her feet.
But with that, I have to take care, that she isn’t getting adventurous on the balcony…
Which is giving me quite some stress, because as a stray, she is used to be outside and I can’t just lock her in.
But she obviously has to follow some rules, if she wants that freedom.
We’re working on that - with me monitoring and sweating ;-)
Bonus pic
That’s how they’re usually sleeping - having each other as a pillow
Although a few days old, it’s hard to have a good one without us on them - and especially without them moving too much in the dark nest room
You’ll need a cat web for your balcony.
Yeah, I had a cat, that knew it’s boundaries and we have chosen a apartment on the first floor on purpose - if anything still happens
I just talked with my wife about it today, but in her (mother cat) current mood, she’s would probably start climbing the net, which wouldn’t give me much trust either
She is very well behaved, especially for being a stray, and I only have to tell her once and then she stops doing the stupid thing - like jumping on the kitchen counter, which could be dangerous
I actually think, for the first steps, I’ll go with her in the stairway and garden
So maybe with that, she doesn’t have the urge anymore to try herself out on the balconyBut yeah, I’m currently not sure what to do.
I actually don’t like those nets and I know, she’ll start to climb them.
If something happens there, it’s a sudden loss of control and nothing I can prepare her forI … I’ll make my mind up, when the emotions are a bit more settled
You’ve been chosen. Socialize these kittens well and they will be some of the best cats of all time.
We also require hourly updates
Hourly updates won’t happen, but have another picture :-)
And… Maybe another ;-)
And, the mother cat was saved by my neighbour, who still has a special place in her heart.
They belong together and we will make that work out.If we can emotionally manage to keep a kitten, will depend on their behaviour and how good we can handle it.
Losing our loved cat just a bit more than a year ago still leaves us with quite some unprocessed feelings.
Helping this family is very therapeutic though.awwww nuggets
