The First Night

The kittens and their mom and I all made it through the first night.  They were all fine.  Me? I had a very restless sleep, worried about what was or wasn't going on on the other side of the closet door.

I'd gone in to say goodnight around 10.  Three of the five kittens woke up and came to say hello. Two of them stayed sleeping and at the time, I didn't think anything of it. Mom was still tucked into her secret corner - I always say hello to her, hoping she'll get used to my voice, and then leave her alone.  I made sure everything was okay, closed the door on the little cat family and went to bed.  About an hour later, after a not very deep sleep, I woke up worried that maybe the two that hadn't woken up earlier were ill.  Lethargy is one of the symptoms you are to look for in a sick kitten, according to Jean, the foster care coordinator who had stopped by for a visit yesterday afternoon.  I couldn't go back to sleep, I had to get up and check.  Luckily, and of course, they were fine. 


4 out of 5 sleepy kittenz

 That was about 11 p.m. and what followed was a kitten free-for-all.  All five kittens woke up as soon as I opened the closet door and came out into the bedroom for a rousing session of what I like to call "battle of the bedskirt".  They take turns running in and out from under the bed, hiding behind the bedskirt and jumping out at one another.  It is hilarious to watch.  After about twenty minutes of carousing, I tucked them all back in the closet (not easy to do) and once they settled down again, we all went to sleep.

Around 2:30 a.m., there was a crash in the closet and I knew that the ceramic cereal bowl I had used to feed them had broken.  I'm guessing someone stepped on it.  Sure enough, when I opened the door, it was neatly broken in two.  There were 5 sleepy kittens looking at me, so I wondered if it was the momma cat who might have done it but she was back in her hiding place.  No worries, I cleaned everything up, sent the now awake kittens out into the bedroom to play while I swept the floor (just in case there were any little shards of ceramic that might injure a tiny little padded paw - definitely wouldn't want that), emptied the litter box, put fresh water in their water bowl and brought in a bit more food.  (Late night note to self - buy metal bowls tomorrow.  The ones I have are too deep for a little kitten's neck to reach down.  The supplies I have are for adult cats.)  The kittens played another equally energetic game of bedskirt battle while I did all this, didn't pay any attention to what I was up to.

Afterwards, back into the closet until morning when I woke them up around 7.  They all seem to be totally healthy and happy, thank goodness.  No side effects from being transported here and there yesterday.  The momma cat is still hiding, which worries me, but I know she has used the litter box and I hope she has been eating and drinking.  Hopefully she will feel safe enough to come out and make friends soon, I'd really like to be able to pet her and tell her everything is going to be okay.