Looking back, I’m not sure how we did it. Due to the aftermath of Covid, shelters and rescues had no room. Funds for spaying and neutering were depleted. Somehow, we weaned the entire brood together, fed them three times per day, cleaned their litter boxes twice per day, and gave them attention, toys, and started them on solid foods. They lived in a spare room in the basement. The mother cats were all locked up until, they dried up, and then were spayed. Two went to live with a neighbor as her barn kitties (Victoria and Louisa) and Polly stayed with us and became Ralph’s best friend.
At the height of the kitten madness:
Meanwhile, we put up flyers and screened adopters for the fourteen kittens. We assisted the aid of a local cat rescue when no more suitable adopters were found (we insisted on inside homes). We became the foster family for the three remaining kittens and the rescue selected the homes. It worked out great for two kittens, but one last kitten, Miggy, had no takers. He went to another foster family. Meanwhile, we had to put down two of our indoor kitties. The first was Jacob, the disabled cat that we had rescued as an abandoned kitten and needed twice daily medication. His neurological injuries were getting the best of him. The other was our sweet older cat, Tiger, whose hips were going and her health was too fragile for corrective surgery. Our house seems suddenly empty with the kittens off to their new lives and two of our own cats gone. We still had Rocky and Audrey (the elderly cat that stayed in the hotel room with us during our trip north). Miggy, the one remaining kitten still didn’t have a new family. We brought him back home and adopted him ourselves. He cheered us all up. At the end of summer, we had one new barn cat and one kitten to keep for ourselves.
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