Cat Party, continued

The cat party as imagined never materialized.  Which, in a way, is good, because I didn't know how I was going to procure mouse popsicles.

We did, however, take in 2 gray kittens to foster.  They came with the names "Taylor" and "Trudi" (which is funny because the kids have cousins named Taylor and Trudi), but we couldn't figure out which was which at any given point. We eventually settled into calling them Bitey and Snuggly, based on their behavior.

They were quickly adored.  They tolerated the kids' affections, and at night when the kids were in bed, they would snuggle up with me on the couch while I watched the Olympics, and often snuggled with each other.

evening snuggles

Laundry snuggles

Kindly tolerating affection

More evening snuggles

Find the real kitty!

They became party of our family.  But of course we knew we couldn't keep them- 3 kids and 2 cats already puts me over the edge.  So my mom found them a home through her synagogue listserv, and one day the family came over to visit, and a couple of days later, they came back and took the kittens.  The house felt strangely quiet without them.  The worst was when Asher got home from camp and Eric told him the kittens were gone.  He broke down crying, sobbing that his heart was broken into pieces.  It broke my heart.  Then we agreed that the fostering thing wasn't such a good idea, because we all got so attached.

Following the kittens' departure, we found out that our cats had fleas. (Ugh.)  Then we went to the Cape, and when we got home, Trouble was acting strangely- he wasn't spending time with us, didn't seem to be eating or drinking regularly.  After a week of this behavior, we took him to the vet, who found nothing wrong. Trouble improved almost instantly.  We think he was just depressed because we'd left him for so long.

So we decided to devote our attentions to our own cats, who are boring now that they are old and sedentary and pee in our shower when they are mad at us.  That lasted until two weeks ago, when we broke down and agreed to foster a little kitten named Walnut.

He wasn't quite as affectionate as Bitey and Snuggly, but he was sweet and super tiny and had a funny short tail.  He was also very energetic and would fly around the house and take everyone off guard.  Of course we grew to love him, too, and he would sit with me while I did laundry or on my chest in the evenings.  

Helping me with laundry

Then we found ear mites in Peanut, and he had to go to the vet.  So even though the cat fostering cost us nothing, we were out a few hundred in vet bills and vaccinations.  Not my favorite.  We decided Walnut needed a new home.

On his last night with us, Walnut figured out how to climb up to our bed, and in the morning I woke up with him snuggled up to my back.  I went to work, and while I was at work and the kids were at school, a family came to meet him and they loved him so much that they took him.  We didn't get to say goodbye!

When the kids got home, it was more hysteria, from Asher and Charlotte.  Big, fat tears.  Questions from Charlotte about why Walnut's forever home can't be with us.  I miss him, too.  Again we have agreed no more fostering- the cat party is certainly over for the time being!