Hi 😌 your friendly social media fostermama here 😌 Update #1 is that everyone is doing great. Esme was very growly/hissy last week, then turned into a snuggly sweetheart again within hours of Ficelle dying between my fingertips. I think she knew. In hindsight, I could tell something was off with her from the first weigh in I did at one week old, but it's so hard to tell at that age what is a normal wobble from what is an abnormal lack of balance and slower development. The buns are starting to walk around and have eyeballs (for the most part, a couple of crusties). Radish is still perfect and still on a mission to search and destroy all the plants I'm trying to grow for the spring fundraiser. Update #2 is that I feel incredibly burned out. Between work, my mental health always being iffy (thank god I have Aura), kitten season being so rough.... coming onto social media involves doom scrolling through posts of my fostering community losing more kittens, or my personal friends posting about the atrocities happening in the middle east and the loss of innocent lives on either end of an unfair conflict. I make a point of steering clear of politics on this account but all of this has taken a big toll on me and I need a break 🫶 so I'm going to hop off of IG for a little while. I'll try to boop in if any big updates are necessary. In the meantime, please keep volunteering and donating. Animals and people are hurting, locally and internationally. I don't know how to fix any of it, but if everyone tried their best to live with heart, maybe things would get a little better. With love 🫶 Caro

Much needed happy news: my two wildflowers made it through their surgery ok and got adopted over the weekend. I'm so happy that these two sweet boys finally got a happy ending together ❤️ what a journey they've been on 🌸🌺

💔ficelle💔 09.22.2023-10.14.2023 I was supposed to post a happy caturday update saying that my two surviving wildflower boys had made it through their observation period healthy and had gone for their surgery and adoption this weekend. Instead I've been crying on the couch for the past few hours because one of Esme's babies faded right between my fingers. It happened so fast. I didn't see it coming. I tried everything, karo, heat, electrolytes, cpr... this kitten season has really been hitting me hard.

Esme's Buns are 9 days old, chunky, healthy, and they have names!! I present to you: Mouna, tabby, 223g, female Sheermal: black, 227g, male Somun, tabby, 220g, potentially a male (?), first one to receive the presents from the eyeball fairy! 👀 Petri, 224g, potentially F (?), received 1/2 of the eyeball fairy blessings 👁 Ficelle, the smallest, female, 177g Ciabatta, female, 223g. I'm peeping some peepers peeping 👀 I waited this long to give an update because 1. I have been SO busy 2. Mom is being extra protective and I don't want to risk one of the kittens being rejected due to over-handlimg, so I go in only for feeding and cleaning, and once a week for weights, and 3. It's still hard to determine sexes at this age and I couldn't decide on names 🙃🫠 Esme is the bestest mom. I don't know how she's feeding them enough for all 6 of them to be this chunky at 9 days old. There's no way I could compete with a bottle. I'm so glad they all get to be fed by mom. It makes such a big difference to keep them with her.

It's been a rough week at the inn but today is a happy Caturday. I'm happy to report that Esme gave birth to six (6!!!) healthy, squeaky, wiggly fresh little buns last night, between 6 and 10:30pm. We got so lucky that they were no complications and all the kittens saw the light of day healthy 🤍 She is SUCH an amazing mom. She handled the birth like a pro, she was relaxed the whole time, didn't skip a beat when contractions started or when each of the kittens came out. I'd like to think that my Yarrow and Susie angels were looking over the inn last night 🤍

💔 Just received the heartbreaking news that another one of my Wildflowers has wilted 💔 After doing fine during his fix, sweet Yarrow was adopted over the weekend. He apparently became very ill rapidly, his new parents brought him to an ER, but there was nothing they could do. I'm so sorry little soul 💔 Yarrow was a real lady's man. Anyone of my friends who came over to meet them were in love with him. For now Cardi and Aster are still doing ok, but I'm terrified I will lose them too. After chatting amongst ourselves, we've realized that the Wildflowers came from an overcrowding situation from which multiple litters/kittens presented congenital malformations, illnesses, and did not survive. Please spay and neuter your pets. Please 😔 so many shelters offer these services at such low costs. I beg you. Syringe feeding and raising 2 week old kittens just to see them die three months later is not an experience I wish on anyone, but fosters and shelters take it on all the damn time because of people who chose not to make the time to neuter their pets. I hope kitten heaven is cozy, warm, and filled with treats, my Yarrow angel 🤍

We're patiently waiting for Esme's fresh furry buns to come out of the oven. 🍞🍞

Still no fresh buns but our visiting baker is in great spirits! I thought Esme's ears were a bit cold yesterday, she was ignoring her food, and acting a bit more territorial, so I thought she would start delivering within 24 hours, but it was a false alarm! She still hasn't been nesting and started eating again quickly after that. One thing I noticed from finally having the fostercam set up is that she still seems to be on alert. She tends to only eat and fully nap when I'm with her 🥺 She also cries for me when I leave the office and close the door 🥺 I don't know if cats get pre-labor anxiety, but since it's most likely this mama's first litter, I feel so honored that she has chosen to trust me with her protection 🥺🥹🥲 She has even allowed me to touch her belly a few times while purring. I'm not doing it unnecessarily, but it's reassuring to know she would let me if I needed to do any kind of handling to help her out during the birth. Note though for those not familiar, that it is actually often detrimental to be overly involved in kittening. They know what to do better than we do. My job is to hang out with her, make her feel safe, and intervene only if something is going wrong. It's also a job she and I wouldn't have to worry about if she had been spayed and her mating partner had been neutered. So please fix your pets 🫶 these days it is SO cheap and quick to do, there really isn't any reason not to do it. Much love ❤️ Caro

Esme rolled over and showed me her tummy today and that's a BIG deal for a pregnant mama. Sweet girl is such a sweet loaf 🥹 she's definitely being protective and has some tender spots that I'm not petting, but her appetite and energy are great. No nesting behavior yet!

Happy #caturday surprise from probably the most intense week of fostering i've ever had. Two of the wildflower boys are back with me. Yarrow got surgery yesterday and is doing awesome, but Cardi and Aster are not quite there yet so they are staying for a couple more weeks. I also got an update from the tiny tater tots I was temp-fostering this week and they are still hanging in there 🫶 The recap of the current residents in order of arrival is: Radish, still doing awesome, still in WUO observation. She's the definition of the perfect cat. The two wildflower boys, for a couple more weeks. And finally, mama Esme, about 5 or so day away from baking us a batch of minibuns 🫶 The foster wishlist will be updated shortly if you'd like to contribute to our supplies in the coming weeks 🥰 Much love 🤍

💔 rest easy sweet girl 💔 Susie - Summer Wildflower - 07.20-09.20 🌼

Update! A few: I just picked up these SUPER tiny (1-2d old) tater tots from @arlboston for the night. They are staying with me until their real foster can take over tomorrow. Kind reminder to never move kittens if you find some. Ever!! Especially if they look healthy. These three were moved by the person who found them (and had good intentions), but as a result, mom could not be found. Suringe/bottle babies have considerably lower odds of surviving the first few days than with their mom. I'm just going to stay up all night trying to give these three the best possible chance they can have. Wildflowers: I still have the three boys until the end of the week. Unfortunately Susie had to get some surgery today. She is being monitored closely by the ARL vet. Radish the Screechure: she's still awesomely purrfect and reigns over the house. Aura: still does not comprehend why all fosters can't just be her puppies. FoaterMama: running on little sleep, much stress, and little time for cleaning the Inn today. It looks like an apocalypse. Thriving in Chaos? Maybe? As long as all the months are fed, right?