Meet twelvefurrypaws: Charlie, Indie & Cali

Charlie, Indie and Cali are our three rescue cats.

Charlie and Indie are siblings who began their life feral. One year in late Spring, two stray cats thought my friend's backyard was a safe place to give birth. They chose the protective cedar hedges lining the back of her yard to hide. It wasn't until my friend noticed kittens scuttling around her backyard that she realized what had happened. Unable to take in any of the cats or kittens herself, she contacted a no-kill cat shelter in our area who agreed they would take them in once they were sure the mothers wouldn't feel threatened. A few weeks later some volunteers from the cat rescue showed up while my friend was at work and picked up the mothers and their babies. Two days later however, my friend heard crying from the backyard and found two kittens in the grass. Since there were two mothers and so many kittens, neither my friend or the rescue had known just how many cats needed saving. Since the rescue was overrun, my friend asked my husband if we could take them both. So on the day after we returned from our honeymoon, my new hubby disappeared for a while and came home with two darling kittens.

Charlie and Indie were given a clean bill of health by the vets but it took a few months for them to become used to their new home. They were terrified of us scary humans, terrified of being indoors and terrified of starving. Charlie would willingly give over her meals to Indie, who would scarf both down, so we began feeding them separately. We also dedicated a room in our house to them so they could get used to their new surroundings slowly. Within a month or so they were playing with us, enjoying cuddles and venturing to other areas of our home.

Now Charlie is a complete snuggle bug. She loves to cuddle and always wants to be the centre of attention. If I'm not upstairs for bedtime cuddles by 10:30pm she comes downstairs looking for me. She loves to sleep on my shoulder, purring away. Indie has warmed up a lot but still seems wary of us. He wants to be cuddled but will always sit just out of reach. He is also a big talker and could carry on an entire conversation with you if you let him! Charlie likes to venture outside with me to sit in the sunshine whereas Indie is nowhere to find when a door opens.

Cali came in to our lives unexpectedly. I found her severely dehydrated on a hot summer day near our home. I was able to revive her, let her sleep in the garage and began leaving food and water out for her. She was incredibly thin and we had seen her out at all hours of the day and in all weather so we were sure she was a stray. After speaking with some neighbours we found out that Cali had been ditched by a neighbour down the street. Cali had been at a shelter her teenage daughter volunteered at and was scheduled to be euthanized. The daughter didn't want her put to sleep so she brought her home. Neither her or her mom wanted to accept responsibility for her so they put her back on the streets, not fixed and not vaccinated.

After a few weeks of feeding Cali and letting her sleep in our garage we decided to keep her. In the short time we had known and fell in love with her, it was also becoming more and more evident that Cali was pregnant. So we helped her raise the kittens, found them safe and loving forever homes, then had her spayed, vaccinated and made her part of the family.

Cali is such a sweetheart. She is incredibly affectionate and thanks us every day for giving her a warm home, love and proper meals. She is much younger than Charlie and Indie and loves to play and run laps around the house. Occasionally she will get Charlie and Indie in on the fun too! She has become the perfect addition to our family and we feel so blessed that we found her that hot summer day.

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Kittens Week 6!

We can't believe how quickly the time has gone!  Hubby and I have purposely been spending less time with the kittens only because they are so adorable that it's impossible not to get attached! Now that they are full of beans though, they have become pretty overwhelming! 

Jumping, climbing, pouncing and bouncing - I don't think these guys ever sleep! Even Cali looks stressed! They are both eating solid food, drinking on their own and using their litterbox which is great! Most importantly though, we have found them good homes! 

An Aunt and Uncle of mine will be taking Pudge. My Dad and Stepmom will be taking Like Her Mama. It is tearing at my heartstrings to know they only have a few weeks left with us but it's comforting to know that they'll be going to good homes and that I'll be able to visit every once in a while!

Now that they are fully weened, we are going to book an appointment to get Cali properly vet checked and vaccinated so she can become a proper part of our family! 

I'm really going to miss these little balls of crazy!

Kittens Week 2!

The kittens eyes have opened! They continue to gain weight and are crawling around a lot more! 

Eyes Open! 

 Like Her Mama has quite the personality! She hates to sit still and is constantly crawling all over Cali, sometimes even batting at her face! We think she's going to be the little trouble maker!

Like Her Mama Getting A Bath!

Pudge on the other hand is as darling as can be. She loves to eat, sleep and cuddle!

Mmmm Mommy your footie tastes yummy!

We are thoroughly enjoying watching them grow and change every week!

Losing Little B

It breaks my heart to write this, but Little B is no longer with us.  We began weighing the kittens Tuesday morning and although he weighed the least of the trio it was only by a few grams.  He was active and vocal and moving around a lot so we just thought we'd keep our eye on him.  As Cali only had three kittens they were also fairly big compared to other newborns from larger litters.  On Wednesday he had lost 3g.  Nothing too drastic but kittens are delicate and in their first week should gain on average about 10g daily.  The other two were well surpassing that.  We took it to mean he was the runt of the litter and began giving him time alone with Cali to feed so the other two couldn't push him away.  I did notice however that he seemed to be having a hard time latching on.

On Thursday he stayed the same in weight so we began bottle feeding him a supplement.  It's hard because Hubby and I both work full-time but we were determined to help Little B out.  Of course the other two continued to gain weight  and get stronger and bigger.  By Friday he was noticeably smaller.  Even with us bottle feeding him continually and trying to give him the time he needed with Cali he dropped 8g over Thursday evening.  My heart sank when I weighed him Friday morning but he was still moving around and crying so I mixed up fresh formula and fed him twice before I left.  Hubby was working the afternoon shift and fed him twice before he went to work as well.

When I came home from work Friday evening Little B had passed away.  I held him in my arms and cried, frustrated that we couldn't help him.  I was angry.  Angry that Cali had been left to wander the neighbourhood unfixed and angry that for at least 4 weeks before she came in to our lives she had gone hungry and pregnant.  I had felt all of this had been meant to be so why had we lost one of those precious kittens?  And after the anger came the What Ifs.  What if I hadn't brought Cali inside that first night?  What if I had started feeding him the minute I noticed his weight wasn't increasing?  It's hard to not let the anger and the What Ifs overcome you.

In the end I try to push these thoughts from my head and instead believe it was for the best.  Something had been wrong with him and it was best that he didn't suffer any longer than he had to.  I know animals have multiple babies because of this and so the chance of their species' survival is higher but it doesn't make the pain I feel in my heart any less profound.  And I try to remind myself that Cali and her two kittens are strong, healthy and still need our love and support to keep them that way.

Before taking Little B from Cali I let her sniff him.  She made a little meow and nuzzled his cheek and then I wrapped him in a blanket and took him away.  When Hubby came home from work he brought a box he had made to put Little B in.  He had even made a nice label on it that said L'il B on it (the box wasn't that big so he'd shortened the name to make it fit).  Then we said our goodbyes and laid him to rest down the side of our house.  And cried.

Kittens Week 1

Cali has 3 beautiful kittens!

We tell them apart by their markings.

One is getting beautiful Calico colouring so we call her Like Her Mama.

The second is roly-poly and mostly black with a little white near her neck and lower stomach.  

This one we call Pudge.

The third is all black.  We call him Little B as he is the smallest of the three.

We don't want to give them real names because they won't be staying with us.

They are all beautiful and doing well!  

Cali is being an excellent mother!

The Kittens Are Here!

Well we certainly underestimated Cali's due date!  Hubby and I had thought by her size that kittens would be coming around the beginning of September so we were shocked when she delivered so early!

Our area got a lot of rain last week so we started leaving the bottom of our garage door up just a little bit so Cali could run in and out as she pleased.  At night we were closing it completely to keep her safe.  We didn't think the garage would be suitable when she had the kittens as we couldn't control the temperature and it's windowless so we decided we would put her in the office when the time came.  That way she was safe but we could keep the door shut and her safely away from our other pets.  At this point we're pretty convinced that she isn't carrying anything but we'd rather be safe than sorry.

Friday night the skies were finally clearing up and Cali was enjoying our front porch when Hubby and I left to go out for dinner and a movie.  He asked me if we should close her up in the garage for the night but it was still pretty early and I knew she'd be antsy to get some fresh air so I said to leave it open and we'd put her in the garage when we got home.  She hadn't left our house in 3 weeks so I wasn't concerned.

During the movie, we got another round of thunderstorms and when we came home, Cali wasn't in the garage.  We went around the neighbourhood looking for her but it was late and pouring rain so we thought she'd taken shelter somewhere and would come back in the morning.  Well it rained all day Saturday and even though we went looking for her, called her, left the garage opened a bit with soft food for her and kept checking to see if she had shown up, she didn't.  I was having panic attacks about the awful things that could have happened to her so to keep my mind off it, I began cleaning and organizing the office and upstairs closets.  The office always becomes my junk room - when I can't figure out where to put something it gets tossed in there.

By the end of the weekend I was finished my cleaning and there was still no sign of Cali.  After dinner Sunday night I told Hubby I wanted to take a drive around the neighbourhood to make sure she wasn't on the side of the road somewhere.  I was terrified to do it, but also wanted the peace of mind.  We were just about to get in the truck when up walks Cali, noticeably thinner.  She started rubbing up against our legs and purring like crazy so we led her in to the garage so she could have some food and water.

Then we debated on what to do.  The first thing we thought was - it's too early for her to have the kittens and if she did have them why haven't we been able to find them?  The next thing was that she didn't look like she'd given birth and her nipples looked normal.  Also she hadn't gotten big, just a little tubby which could have easily been explained by the proper meals she'd been getting.  And since she'd been gone for 48 hours it was possible if she didn't eat and had been roaming around she could have lost the weight easily.  Although it's rare she could have also had a false pregnancy or a miscarriage.

At first we didn't force her to stay but after about 4 hours of her sitting outside our house we decided to bring her in to the office.  We didn't think she would have left the kittens for so long if she'd had any and it was looking more and more like she hadn't.  We were thinking we should take advantage of the fact that she wasn't pregnant, bring her somewhere safe and call the vet to book her vaccinations and spay before she did end up pregnant.  We were both so glad to have her back and she was happy to be indoors.  She snuggled up to me on the bed, purring and fell asleep.

Then today after work, some neighbours across the street popped over to our house to tell us they had crying kittens in their backyard!  Hubby had previously told them about Cali and how we thought she was pregnant.  We ran upstairs and grabbed Cali, then brought her to their daughter's playhouse in their backyard where 3 beautiful kittens were squeaking!  I gently laid Cali beside them and they all snuggled in, eager to get the meal they'd missed in the last day while she purred away.  I have never felt so bad in my entire life but am so grateful that everything worked itself out.  After leaving her there for about an hour we decided the safest thing to do would be to bring them all back to our office.  Our neighbour lent us some gloves and we ran back home and got a large cardboard box to put everyone in.  We were nervous about touching the kittens but Cali has been great with us.  She watches what we do, but seems to know that we're there to help them and her.  She had a small litter that we are so grateful for as it means there will be less homes to find for them and that hopefully they will all be healthy and strong.

Hubby has never really believed in fate like I do but tonight he told me this has made him believe that everything happens for a reason.  I was meant to find Cali in those bushes that day so that she could find a good home and so that she got the nourishment she needed while she was pregnant.  He was meant to tell those neighbours in passing that she was pregnant so they knew who to come to when they found the kittens.  And although it seems less important than the miracle of birth I had that office ready at just the right moment to become a safe haven for a cat and her babies.