October 18, 2023 • 37 mins
Ever wondered what it's like to foster a litter of kittens? Journey with me, your host, Julie Marty Pearson, as I share a deeply personal tale about my own adorable fur family. You'll hear about my experience raising six two-week-old kittens and the challenges that came with their round-the-clock care. But first, I’ll account the journey that lead me to fostering this litter and how a tiny kitten named Binx is the reason why I ended up at the shelter on the right day to help these kittens in need.
Fostering kittens is an adventure, indeed! Have you ever tried to transition a kitten from bottle-feeding to solid food? I'll recount that roller-coaster ride, especially the struggles with little George, the runt of the litter, who showed no interest in wet food. But amidst the trials and tribulations, there were countless moments of joy, batches of formula, plates of food, and bags of litter, and finding my forever friend in Pumpkin the calico kitten.
On Pumpkin’s first birthday, we'll reflect on this incredible journey together. You'll learn about the importance of volunteering, donating, and fostering, or adopting animals in need. It's more than a tale of love and loss; it's a call to action. After all, what could be more rewarding than opening your heart and home to a pet in need? So, let's celebrate Pumpkin's birthday with a heartfelt message of love from me and my fur family to you and yours. Join me in this unforgettable journey of love, loss, and new beginnings!
Remember to share this podcast with your friends and family, follow or subscribe on your preferred platform, and leave a rating and review to help us reach more animal lovers like you. You can also find us on YouTube, where we'll be adding clips and short videos of our pet adventures. Together, let's make a difference for our furry friends and spread love, compassion, and awareness of the joy that pets bring to our lives.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers, welcome
to another episode of the storyof my pet podcast.
I am your host, julie MartyPearson.
As always, I am very excited tobe here to open up and share a
very personal episode with you.
Some of you who are newlisteners to the podcast
(00:28):
probably haven't heard some oldepisodes from this time last
year when I was fosteringkittens for my local shelter.
So this episode is going totell a little backstory and talk
about my fur family and myexperience fostering.
I'm thankful for you all beinghere and listening.
(00:49):
Remember, share the podcastwith friends and family and
wherever you're listening rightnow, click, follow or subscribe.
And to really help me out andto help the podcast grow and so
more people can hear theseimportant stories, please rate
and review wherever you'relistening to this.
All of the reviews help thispodcast grow and get to more
(01:11):
listeners ears.
And you can actually catch thepodcast now on YouTube and I
will link that in the show noteso you can check that out, so
you can listen to that as welland subscribe there.
New episodes coming out fromnow on.
I will be adding clips, shortvideos as well as full episodes
on YouTube in the future.
So, if you prefer watching andreading captions, that will be
(01:34):
more available as we continuethe story of our pets from
around the world, educating andadvocating for animal rescue,
fostering and adoption.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Now let's get into the newepisode.
Hello, my friends, fellowanimal lovers, I am your host,
(01:55):
julie Marty Pearson.
Today I am sharing one of myown personal pet stories.
I am sharing this on a veryspecial day.
Today is Wednesday, october18th 2023, and it is my baby, my
youngest cat, my youngest forbaby, my cat pumpkin.
(02:17):
It's her first birthday, that'sright, my little baby pumpkin
is a whole year old.
It's crazy to think it's been awhole year since I brought her
home.
More on that in a minute.
But in honor of her firstbirthday, I thought it would be
really a good time to come onhere and share a little bit more
of my personal pet stories withyou.
(02:37):
I know I have a lot of newlisteners that have come to the
podcast in the last few episodes.
You may not have heard some ofmy earlier episodes I put out on
my own about this time lastyear, talking about my
experience as a kitten fosterand how that experience shaped
me, taught me a lot andultimately led to pumpkin
(03:03):
becoming a part of our family.
Today I'm going to tell you thestory of little pumpkin,
princess Pumpkin Spice, herofficial name, pumpkin the
Calico.
I did a couple episodesactually talking about my
experience as a kitten foster,and so there is some backstory
(03:28):
and I will give you a triggerwarning there is pet loss in the
backstory of how pumpkin becamea part of my family.
I'm just giving you a triggerwarning that I will, in the
backstory in the next fewminutes, talk a little bit about
some loss and grief I had as afirst time kitten foster.
If you want to jump forward inthe markers to pumpkin story,
(03:51):
you can do that.
So as a part of my own educationprocess since I started this
podcast a year and a half ago, Ibecame more involved with my
own local shelter, kern CountyAnimal Services.
I started volunteering there.
I had thought about being akitten foster At the time.
I had been doxining a lot inthe summer last year 2022, but
(04:14):
in the fall it really slows down.
I was home a lot more and so wethought it would be a good time
for me to try to be a kittenfoster.
I had been at the sheltervolunteering and I was talking
to several of the staff members,including the then kitten
foster coordinator, and saidthat I'd be interested in taking
(04:36):
a solo kitten.
So my PSA, before I get into mystory, is there's always
animals in need.
If you're thinking aboutbecoming a foster or adopting a
new pet, our shelters are fullof amazing animals needing homes
.
I was at the shelter, I haddone some volunteer work and I
was talking to the kitten fosterand I said do you have any solo
(04:58):
kittens that maybe need alittle extra care that I can
help?
They did have a few and shesaid oh, I have one.
He was found alone outside andbrought in.
He was covered in fleas so theyknew he was very weak and he
was anemic and they really feltlike he needed some one-on-one
(05:19):
attention to make sure he waseating.
I brought home a single malekitten, a little Siamese kitten.
I honestly don't remember hisshelter name because I almost
immediately named him BinksWithout me.
I love scary movies, I loveHalloween time and so Hocus
Pocus has always been one of myfavorite movies since I was a
(05:39):
kid and so immediately I decidedI'm gonna name you Binks.
He did pretty well, he wasdefinitely skinny.
When I would hold him I couldfeel all of his little bones and
his ribs and it just broke myheart to think, oh, how long
he'd probably been outsidesomewhere on its own who knows
how long or if he'd had a mom atwhat point.
So I set up a little area forhim with I set up a little area
(06:06):
for him.
I had a little play pin.
I had a little zip top on itand I could put a heating pad in
it with nice warm towels.
It's always important withkittens to give them a heating
source, because young kittens,you know, under six weeks old,
don't know how to regulate theirown body temperature.
Yet that's what mom is for.
She keeps them warm whenthey're nursing and when they're
(06:27):
snuggling with her.
They'd even given me a sockfull of rice, which is one way
that you can put it in themicrowave and warm it up and
then you place it under ablanket or a towel for a kitten
and it helps keep them warm.
I knew he was skinny, I knew hewas weak, but he was eating, he
was going to the bathroom, hewas doing all the things he
should be doing, but after acouple of days he started having
(06:50):
some issues going to thebathroom, which is an uncommon
in small animals.
I was also giving him iron.
They'd given me little syringesfilled with liquid iron that I
would give him twice a day.
And so I was in communicationwith the foster team via email,
and that's one of the greatthings about shelters and
(07:11):
rescues they will be in contactwith you if you have any
questions about an animal youare fostering.
There's a lot of support outthere.
So on the fifth day I noticed hewas a lot weaker.
He wasn't really eating.
I was keeping him with mepretty much everywhere I went.
I had him wrapped up in myshirt and my hoodie.
I started wearing a robe around, which I don't usually do, but
(07:31):
that just allowed me to keep himwith me, up against me, helping
to keep him warm.
And so sleeping a lot isn'tuncommon for kittens.
Kittens do sleep a lot.
They sleep a lot in those firstfew weeks, but it was later,
that night on the fifth day,that I started noting some
differences in him.
Binks wasn't really holding hishead up like he had been.
(07:52):
He was walking around on hisown holding his head up, even
playing a little.
The first few days I had him, soI knew he wasn't doing as well.
And that night, as I wasgetting ready to go to bed, I
could physically hear himbreathing and having issues with
breathing.
So I knew something was wrong.
I knew something was going onand one of the things that can
(08:14):
happen with young kittens iswhat is called Fading Kitten
Syndrome.
So I had paperwork on that.
I was reading through it, I wasthinking maybe he had gotten
too cold.
I was trying to warm him up.
There's things you can do.
I'm not going to go intospecifics I'm not giving anyone
any kind of medical advice butthere's different things you can
do to try and help them whenthey're having a low like this.
(08:35):
He only got worse.
He was breathing veryerratically, very loudly.
He had no energy.
He couldn't hold himself up.
I called the emergency fosterline and was waiting for a
response.
As he continued to get worse, Iawoke my husband up, who was
already asleep and he was tryingto help me.
It all happened very quickly.
I was speaking to the personwho answers the emergency foster
(08:58):
line and she was calling theemergency vet.
She didn't know if I could getin because they're so booked.
He just got worse and worse andmy husband actually took him
from me and took him into theother room and, unfortunately,
while I was on the phonespeaking with her, my husband
looked at me and shook his headand I knew that, unfortunately,
little Binks was already gone.
(09:19):
So, from the moment I noticedhis breathing to him being gone
was actually pretty quick, withmaybe about an hour, so it
happened very quickly.
It was very difficult.
I found even writing out notesto do this episode.
It still affects me to thinkabout it because it was such a
shocking thing for me.
(09:41):
So late that night on October26th of last year 2022, binks
unfortunately did not make it.
Now we don't really know hisbackstory, and that is also
common with shelters.
We don't know where they'vecome from.
What happens with fading kittensyndrome is that their little
bodies just can't hold up.
They're not strong enough.
Their heart isn't strong enough, their lungs haven't developed
(10:04):
properly, they don't have astrong immune system.
They probably haven't gottenall of the important things they
needed from their mom cats, allthose important things in the
milk that helped them buildtheir immunity and grow.
He was facing a uphill battle.
He went downhill fast and therewas nothing I could have done.
(10:24):
There was nothing the sheltercould have done, always tell
myself that I was rather himbeing held in my arms for five
days rather than just sitting ina cage at the shelter with
little human interaction.
And so my husband had wrappedhim up and put him in his
carrier and put him in the otherroom for me for now, and it was
hard to tell people what hadhappened.
(10:46):
I was questioning myself a lot,even though now I know there
was nothing I could have done.
It was a difficult time forsure, and it took me about a
week before I could take hiscarrier back to the shelter.
Now he wasn't still in thecarrier after all that time.
The next day we decided, myhusband and I, that I'd already
become very attached to him.
(11:07):
If he had survived I likelywould have kept him.
It was kind of my deal with myhusband if I fostered and it
worked out that maybe that wouldbe our new kitten.
But unfortunately he didn'tmake it, and so my husband
buried him in our backyard sothat he would stay here with us,
because ultimately we had beenhis first home and his only home
.
And so that way he is here withus forever, just like any other
(11:31):
pet we have, and I was able towork through my grief.
I bought a little rock paintingkit and painted some rocks for
him and put one with his name onit and things like that, and
then put those outside nearwhere we buried him.
It was a difficult process forme to go through, but it also
taught me a lot about whyfostering is so important,
(11:54):
because there's so many of theselittle kittens that need that
extra care, that need thatsomeone Giving them a bath,
making sure they're eating andgiving them warmth and giving
them attention and all of thosethings.
I don't want this part of thestory to make anyone think that
they shouldn't be fostering.
It's very important and I don'tregret doing it at all Because
(12:15):
it led me ultimately to mylittle pumpkin.
That's the backstory in thatAll of this led me to, about a
week later after I lost being,to go into the shelter on
November 1st of 2022 to returnhis carrier.
I was talking to differentpeople to shelter and then the
kitten foster at the time saidhey, I was just going to call
(12:36):
you.
I'm like oh okay, we just got alitter of kittens and we wanted
to see if you wanted to fosterthem.
I was like a litter Okay, maybe, wait what?
So I went into one of themedical rooms with her and she
picked up this carrier and thesetiny little meows were meowing.
(12:57):
Oh, they were loud.
When I come to find out, therewere six kittens in the carrier.
They had just been brought inand they were too young to eat.
We think they were about twoweeks old and she said she
needed someone to foster them,to bottle feed them and tell
their old enough to eat on theirown.
You know, I thought about it.
(13:18):
I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm notsure about this.
But ultimately something in mesaid yes, I said sure, I will
say that I know with shelters,with both kittens and puppies,
if they come in they're tooyoung to eat on their own.
They don't have a mom, cat ordog.
Time is very crucial.
(13:38):
They need fosters immediatelyto be able to feed them, to
bottle feed them around theclock, basically.
So you know, I'd bottle fedbefore both Charlie and Frenchie
were bottle babies.
I'd done it before.
It's a lot of work, but I knewI could do it.
But I also don't ever done itwith one cat at a time, so I
(13:58):
really wasn't sure what I wasgetting myself into, but I said
yes because I felt like therewas a reason that I waited those
number of days to bring Binks'scarrier back.
There was a reason that thosekittens were there now and I was
there and be able to help them.
So I loaded up with formula andbottles and I took the six
kittens home and they screamedthe whole car right home, which
(14:22):
isn't very far, you know, as Ikept hearing them and all of
that I was thinking, wow, whatif I'd gotten myself into?
Luckily I already had somesupplies ready.
Obviously the shelters andrescues will give you whatever
you needed.
I had bought some things myself, like an extra heating pad and
the little zip top playpin Justmakes it easier getting them in
(14:45):
and out.
I'd already cleaned that outfrom Binks, so I set that back
up and put clean towels in withthe heater and everything and
got them all into there.
Once they were all settled intothe playpin and I had made
formula and I filled up the sixbottles, I started bottle
feeding them.
I'm looking at their paperworkfiguring out who's who and I
(15:07):
realized I had three boys andthree girls.
The three girls were allcalicoes.
First was Pumpkin, who hasalmost full calico coloring.
She has a little white on herbelly and her paws.
Her two sisters, also calicoes,were more white and then had
spots of calico.
They were named by the ShelterButternut and Squash.
(15:29):
I was like, yeah, I don't likethose names, so I renamed them
Sugar and Spice.
Spice would live up to her name.
She was super spicy when shewas being bottle fed and she
would let you know it when shewas not getting enough.
The boy I had won, who I renamedHarry, because he was white
with orange on his face and headand his tail, and he was the
(15:52):
biggest of the whole litter.
He was a little chunk evenbefore the bottle started.
And then his two brothers wereboth tuxedos, so they were all
black with a little bit of whiteon their faces and their chests
, just like a regular men'stuxedo.
They're super cute.
There were two the smallest boyhe was actually the smallest of
(16:13):
the entire litter, so he wasthe runt and it would take him
almost the full time I had withhim before he caught up and got
bigger than some of the otherkittens.
I named him George and hislittle brother Archie.
So I had six kittens, three boysand three girls, and I started
bottle feeding them.
Now you have to realize kittensat this age they were
(16:35):
approximately two weeks have tobe fed every two to three hours,
every two to three hours.
This really did become my fulltime job as a foster.
You have to be in the mom cat,which means you also have to
stimulate them to go to thebathroom.
So after I fed each one, Iwould have to wipe their little
butts to get them to go to thebathroom, because they weren't
old enough to do that on theirown.
(16:55):
So it was definitely a fullprocess, because once you get to
the number six being fed,number one starts to get hungry
again.
Let's just put it that way.
But they were all great, theywere all growing, they were all
eating, they were all doingeverything.
They should be Made me feelgood after losing binks, and it
was worth it, though, because Isaw all of them growing and
(17:19):
being active.
But one of the ways they wereactive actually made it a little
more difficult.
So it's not uncommon with alitter both kittens and puppies
for them to suckle on each other, because their innate response
is to find their mom's belly andfind where they're supposed to
suck to get food.
But when there isn't a mom catand they're curled up with their
(17:40):
brothers and sisters, theystart suckling on them.
It's very normal and eventhough they were being bottle
fed they still have that naturalresponse.
The problem with that is littlekittens can suck really hard
and if they're sucking on theirsame age young little brother or
sister they can actually causedamage to them.
(18:01):
They can develop sores, theycan even be open wounds which
can cause infection and allsorts of problem by the kitten
being sucked on as well.
As if there are any kind ofdiseases between them, then it's
transmitted even that much moreeasily.
So Pumpkin Ever the Cowico, wasthe first to develop this habit
(18:27):
and it became so noticeable thatI had to remove her from her
siblings.
I had to start keeping her inthe carrier and the rest of her
siblings in the playpin.
Eventually I was able to getanother small playpin so that
she could have a little nicerplace to sleep, but I had to
keep her separated Pretty earlyon.
It was within the first fewdays that I had to do this.
(18:48):
So I was giving her moreone-on-one time because I wasn't
able to leave her with hersiblings so pretty early in the
beginning I became.
I was attached to all of themand very attached to them by the
end.
But because I had spent moreone-on-one time with her, I
definitely became more attachedand she definitely had her
little personality from day one.
Then I started noticing hersister.
(19:09):
Sugar and Spice starteddeveloping the same habit and
unfortunately they were doing itto their brothers in a place
that was very dangerous.
Sometimes they will suck on thedifferent private areas,
especially for a boy, and it canactually cause way more damage
because they can actually causethe boy kittens not to be able
to go to the bathroom properlyas they get older.
So at this one we've got threeplaypins, three heating pads I
(19:35):
don't know how many dozens oftowels we went through on a
daily basis, but the three boyswere in the larger one, sugar
and Spice were in one together.
They didn't seem to suck oneach other at all, which was
good, and then little pumpkinwas still on her own.
It was a lot keeping themseparated.
Now they all did hang outtogether as I was feeding them,
allowing them to interact asthey started walking around more
(19:57):
, becoming more mobile.
I just had to keep my eye onthem and as soon as there was
any suckling behavior.
I had to separate them again.
Once they started eating solidfood, the suckling behavior
really stopped, and that'swhat's good about it is that's
typically what happens.
As the kittens, or even puppies, get older.
They're moving into eating morenormally.
Their teeth are coming in.
(20:17):
Then that behavior lessens orgoes away.
They don't have to be separatedas much.
So it was a lot of work, butthey were so cute.
I have so many pictures toshare with you guys.
We'll be posting on socialmedia and everywhere, and in the
blog post I'll post along withthis episode to share, because,
(20:39):
gosh, kittens are just adorable.
Even when you're exhausted,it's the middle of the night and
you're having to make moreformula, they're still super
cute.
So about a week or two I don'tremember exactly A little over a
week after I had had them, Istarted introducing wet food.
So they started getting some wetfood on plates.
They were making messes,sticking their paws and their
(21:00):
faces into it.
Little Pumpkin and Harry tookto it pretty quickly.
They were at that point thebiggest of the litters and they
took to it fast and startedeating the most.
Now I'm still bottle feeding atthis point because they still
need all those nutrients, andit's a transition.
They don't just one day go froma bottle to dry food and
(21:20):
anything like that.
There's usually a transitionand they'll start with some wet
food and they'll sometimes youwant to mix it with formula so
it's even more mushy, andeventually they start eating
more of that and they're eatingless of the bottle.
You'll introduce some dry foodas well.
So over the next couple of weeksthat was the transition they
were all going through.
They all took to it pretty well, except for little George.
(21:44):
He had no interest in wet food.
He was the runt.
He was the smallest.
I think.
His body was just developingslower than the rest of them, so
he just wasn't ready for it.
His teeth maybe weren't in asmuch, so he kept on the bottle
as long as he could.
Now they also wanted the bottle, even though if they were
eating wet food, kittens justwant the bottle.
(22:05):
So what it is, that's good,they want it.
The little runt George held outfor a while.
It probably was a good fullweek or two before he finally
ate wet food for the first time.
I was so happy.
They were all growing.
They all started using litterbox.
They all had little litterwithin in their play pins and as
they started eating more solidfood they were able to use it
(22:28):
more.
I have to say, kittens arepretty easy to learn how to use
litter boxes.
They're pretty, it's prettyintuitive for them, which makes
it really easy.
It's much different experiencethan when you're trying to potty
train a puppy.
So the feeding and the growingand all of that was going really
well.
But at their first checkup atthe shelter you take the foster
kittens in every two weeks or so, depending on the shelter, for
(22:53):
them to get checked, have theirweights checked, get vaccines if
it's the right time, and ontheir first check so two weeks
later, we noticed that they wereall showing some signs of upper
respiratory infection.
Some of them had crusty noses,which is a sign.
I'd heard some of them sneezing.
So I let the shelter staff knowthat they sent me home with eye
(23:14):
drops and they sent me homewith eye drops and liquid
antibiotics.
So that's what I had to startgiving them all twice a day.
So, along with bottle feedingthem and getting them to eat wet
food and transitioning them andgetting them to use their
litter boxes Twice a day, I hadto put eye drops in all their
eyes, which they did not like,and get them to take the liquid
(23:38):
antibiotics.
That wasn't too hard becauseyou could just stick it in their
mouth and they would just lapit up, but the eye drops they
were not fans up.
So unfortunately, with six it'sa lot to keep up on with all
the medication.
It took a little longer forthem to recover.
So the next checkup they gaveme another round.
So ultimately, to get them allcleared up of their little cold,
I ended up keeping them for sixand a half weeks.
(24:01):
Yeah, six weeks.
I loved it, it was great.
It was a lot of work, I wasexhausted and in the end we were
ready for them to come homeback to the shelter.
Definitely.
There was a point at that likesix week mark that my husband's
like okay, when are they going?
As you can imagine, six kitten,it's a lot of food, it's a lot
(24:26):
of poop, it's a lot of litter.
So I was having to go to theshelter probably every at least
once a week, sometimes more,make sure I had enough wet food
and dry food and litter and allof that.
And we were at the point wherethey were old enough so they had
free run of my home office thatI've been right now.
Unfortunately they weren'talways going in the litter box,
so my husband likes to say itstill stinks like the hitman's
(24:47):
in here.
It probably does, but we wereable to give them more room, but
I would open the office up andblock off the hallway and they
could run around in the hallway.
So as they got to be six weeks,eight weeks, six eight week old
kittens it's a lot of energy,it's a lot of running, it's a
lot of eating, it's a lot ofpooping, it's a lot of fun it
(25:08):
was definitely time for them togo back for their final checkup.
And if they were over twopounds which is what often times
shelters and rescues say, theyhave to be at least two pounds
to be able to be adopted.
Because they have to be atleast two pounds to be spayed or
neutered and the goal is tothey're old enough and big
enough is that they will getspayed and neutered and then
(25:28):
they're available for adoption.
So I had bought a little scaleon Amazon that at least once a
day I would check their weight.
So I would keep it running, Iwould check on before I fed them
.
That way I could see that.
Are they consistentlymaintaining their weight?
Are they gaining weight?
Those are two important thingsto know when you're dealing with
young kittens and puppies is tomake sure they're not losing
(25:51):
weight.
So that's something that I did,and so that's why I was able to
know.
That's why I knew the wholetime that little George was the
runt, because I was keepingtrack of his weight.
But the good thing with him ishe never lost weight.
He was either maintaining orgaining.
He just wasn't gaining as muchas his siblings.
So on December 14th of 2022, Itook the two pound kittens all
(26:14):
smushed into one carrier andtook them to the shelter for
their checkup and their nextround of vaccines.
But I had decided at this pointthat pumpkin was going to be my
forever kid, and this was ahard decision for me.
I was very attached to all sixof them and, honestly, I could
have kept any of them.
They were all great, butultimately, my husband and I
(26:35):
decided it was best for us tojust have one.
You know, they're at that pointin mid December.
There's not a lot of kittensand shelters, so I knew they'd
all be adopted pretty quickly,so I took them in that day they
all got checked out.
They all look good.
They didn't seem to have anymore upper respiratory.
(26:56):
They all were over two pounds,which I knew because I was
weighing out.
They verified that.
So I told them okay, there, no,it's good to go.
But I wanted to adopt pumpkin.
So after they'd all beenchecked out, they came back out
and were like this is the oneyou want.
I'm like yep, that's the one Iwant.
So they gave her a microchipand I filled out all the
(27:16):
paperwork and officially adoptedher on December 14th.
Pumpkin officially became myyoungest baby and I brought her
home that day and she's beenhere ever since.
So that is the story of howpumpkin, little princess,
pumpkin spice, came to be a partof my family.
(27:39):
She's officially one year oldCalico kitten.
She is not full grown yet.
She's gotten much bigger Ithink.
I weighed her and she wasalmost nine pounds.
I was shocked.
She's in that teenager phasewhere her legs are a little long
for her body but her head stilla little bit small like a
kitten.
But she's the cutest thing everand she's definitely a Calico.
She is full of personality.
(28:01):
She's very independent.
She was much more of a cuddlebug when she was a baby she used
to always crawl up onto me andthen crawl up into my arms and
go to sleep, and I had to holdher like a baby while she slept.
But she grew out of that oncein a while.
She does all of a sudden all hefeel this, and she jumped up on
me in the morning and looks atme.
I have to pet her and then shegoes off.
(28:24):
But I also know that all theother kittens were adopted by
the time of Christmas.
Little Harry, though, who Ialmost kept because he was so
cute he was such a littlepermachine.
He was actually adopted likewithin two hours of me bringing
him to the shelter.
That's how bad people werelooking for kittens at the time.
Hopefully there still arepeople looking now.
Plenty of kittens at your localshelter.
(28:44):
Cats go, foster and adopt.
So I knew right away that hehad already been adopted.
And then Sugar and Spice andGeorge and Archie were there a
few days.
They got them spayed andneutered and then, individually,
all four of them went to theirown homes, and I know that by
the end of December they all hadfound their own forever homes,
(29:06):
and that made me very happy.
I had a hard time knowing theywere in the shelter after being
in a house.
But they weren't there thatlong and they were off to their
own forever homes.
And so for me, having had adifficult first experience as a
foster with Beinks and losinghim to then raise six healthy,
(29:27):
happy, very active kittens, wasdefinitely a good ending to that
experience for that period oftime.
It showed me that fosteringBeinks there was a purpose.
He taught me a lot, but it alsomade me willing and able to
take on the litter of six, andwithout him I wouldn't have done
that and without doing that Iwouldn't have pumpkin now in our
(29:50):
family, and she's brought a lotof joy and love.
I love seeing her get Frenchymore active.
They play together and rollaround with each other.
Charlie has taught her thatanytime me Katmom walks into the
kitchen means oh, it must betreat time.
And she knows, just likeCharlie, to walk over to her
bowl and look at me with verysad eyes.
He has taught her well, she isa part of the Ver family
(30:14):
officially and they all havetheir bowls and they know that
anytime I'm near the kitchen itmust be treat time.
So today, on pumpkin's officialfirst birthday.
I wanted to share her story formany reasons to let you know
that it's so important to beinvolved with your local shelter
(30:35):
and rescue, to learn about whatthey need, learn about the
process.
Most importantly, to be willingto, if you're in a situation
that you can, to adopt from them.
There are so many kittens andpuppies and cats and dogs right
now in overcrowded shelters allover the country, but especially
where I live in Kern County inCalifornia, and they need homes
(31:00):
and some of them, unfortunately,are not making it out of the
shelter because there's just notenough space and they get full.
They have to go and it breaksmy heart and it's so hard and
I've seen it more from theinside, having volunteered and
fostered and worked there for aperiod of time.
It can be difficult but canalso be so rewarding and there's
(31:21):
nothing that says if you fosteryou have to keep any of them.
That was the journey I was on,because I had wanted another cat
at that point, but you don't.
I will say it's difficult tofoster and let them go, but you
also know that you're raisingthem and helping them become
kittens that are active andhealthy so that other people can
(31:41):
bring them into their furfamilies and without fosters, a
lot more kittens like the six ofthem wouldn't make it, because,
unfortunately, if they're notable to eat on their own and
they're brought to a shelter,they have to go to foster or
they can be euthanized.
And that's the sad truth andthat's not at any fault of the
shelter.
Those are the laws in place.
(32:02):
They can't be kept in a shelterovernight when there's no staff
and they can't eat on their own.
So that's why fosters are soimportant.
So if you've ever thought aboutfostering, learn about the
rescues and shelters in yourarea and how you sign up and how
you might be able to try it out.
Do like I did with one kitten.
One kitten is easy, in a way,because you get to give them all
(32:26):
of your attention.
I've met so many people thathave fostered individual kittens
who needed that extra care, whohad upper respiratory
infections, whatever it may be,and just having them in a nice
safe home, giving them extralove, help them to heal and be
healthy and then go off and goon to their own amazing fur
family.
It really is an amazingexperience.
(32:48):
It can be a lot of work, it canbe difficult, but it's so
rewarding when you see thoselittle babies even the older
cats, older dogs and you seethem become healthier, become
happier.
You see them grow and thriveand be able to go on and become
parts of other people's families.
It is really the most rewardingthing I've ever done.
(33:10):
I highly recommend you doing ityourself, if you're able.
Remember.
Most shelters and rescues willprovide all of the food and
supplies.
They provide all of the medicalcare.
All you have to give is yourtime and some space in your home
.
I hope this story will inspireyou to maybe think about
fostering.
If not, and you're ready, evenbetter than fostering is
(33:33):
adopting.
Let me tell you the amount ofjoy and love that pumpkin has
brought to my life in the lastyear.
It's a full circle moment forme to be at her first birthday
and realize how difficult of astart she had and how far her
and her siblings came while theywere with me.
Then they've all been able togrow up and be amazing cats.
I hope that pumpkin story willinspire you to get involved
(33:57):
donate, volunteer, foster, adoptwhatever works for you.
It all makes a difference inthe lives of animals who need us
.
Thank you so much for joining mefor another episode of the
(34:17):
story of my pet.
I hope you enjoyed this verypersonal story me talking about
my amazing little pumpkin on herfirst birthday and sharing the
story of how she became myfoster kitten and ultimately
adopted into my family.
Thank you for listening, asalways, and sharing the podcast
(34:38):
with others.
Remember, wherever you'relistening, please hit, follow or
subscribe If you haven'talready.
Give us a rating and a review.
That helps the podcast getpushed to more people, so the
more people can hear thesestories and learn about the
importance of helping animals inyour community, whether it's at
your shelters or through rescueorganizations.
(35:00):
You can volunteer, donate yourtime or supplies.
You can foster or adopt andhelp save the lives of animals
in need in your community.
Until next time, my friends,I'm sending much love from me
and my fur family, especiallylittle pumpkin on her birthday.
Thank you.
Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers, welcome
to another episode of the storyof my pet podcast.
I am your host, julie MartyPearson.
As always, I am very excited tobe here to open up and share a
very personal episode with you.
Some of you who are newlisteners to the podcast
(00:28):
probably haven't heard some oldepisodes from this time last
year when I was fosteringkittens for my local shelter.
So this episode is going totell a little backstory and talk
about my fur family and myexperience fostering.
I'm thankful for you all beinghere and listening.
(00:49):
Remember, share the podcastwith friends and family and
wherever you're listening rightnow, click, follow or subscribe.
And to really help me out andto help the podcast grow and so
more people can hear theseimportant stories, please rate
and review wherever you'relistening to this.
All of the reviews help thispodcast grow and get to more
(01:11):
listeners ears.
And you can actually catch thepodcast now on YouTube and I
will link that in the show noteso you can check that out, so
you can listen to that as welland subscribe there.
New episodes coming out fromnow on.
I will be adding clips, shortvideos as well as full episodes
on YouTube in the future.
So, if you prefer watching andreading captions, that will be
(01:34):
more available as we continuethe story of our pets from
around the world, educating andadvocating for animal rescue,
fostering and adoption.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Now let's get into the newepisode.
Hello, my friends, fellowanimal lovers, I am your host,
(01:55):
julie Marty Pearson.
Today I am sharing one of myown personal pet stories.
I am sharing this on a veryspecial day.
Today is Wednesday, october18th 2023, and it is my baby, my
youngest cat, my youngest forbaby, my cat pumpkin.
(02:17):
It's her first birthday, that'sright, my little baby pumpkin
is a whole year old.
It's crazy to think it's been awhole year since I brought her
home.
More on that in a minute.
But in honor of her firstbirthday, I thought it would be
really a good time to come onhere and share a little bit more
of my personal pet stories withyou.
(02:37):
I know I have a lot of newlisteners that have come to the
podcast in the last few episodes.
You may not have heard some ofmy earlier episodes I put out on
my own about this time lastyear, talking about my
experience as a kitten fosterand how that experience shaped
me, taught me a lot andultimately led to pumpkin
(03:03):
becoming a part of our family.
Today I'm going to tell you thestory of little pumpkin,
princess Pumpkin Spice, herofficial name, pumpkin the
Calico.
I did a couple episodesactually talking about my
experience as a kitten foster,and so there is some backstory
(03:28):
and I will give you a triggerwarning there is pet loss in the
backstory of how pumpkin becamea part of my family.
I'm just giving you a triggerwarning that I will, in the
backstory in the next fewminutes, talk a little bit about
some loss and grief I had as afirst time kitten foster.
If you want to jump forward inthe markers to pumpkin story,
(03:51):
you can do that.
So as a part of my own educationprocess since I started this
podcast a year and a half ago, Ibecame more involved with my
own local shelter, kern CountyAnimal Services.
I started volunteering there.
I had thought about being akitten foster At the time.
I had been doxining a lot inthe summer last year 2022, but
(04:14):
in the fall it really slows down.
I was home a lot more and so wethought it would be a good time
for me to try to be a kittenfoster.
I had been at the sheltervolunteering and I was talking
to several of the staff members,including the then kitten
foster coordinator, and saidthat I'd be interested in taking
(04:36):
a solo kitten.
So my PSA, before I get into mystory, is there's always
animals in need.
If you're thinking aboutbecoming a foster or adopting a
new pet, our shelters are fullof amazing animals needing homes
.
I was at the shelter, I haddone some volunteer work and I
was talking to the kitten fosterand I said do you have any solo
(04:58):
kittens that maybe need alittle extra care that I can
help?
They did have a few and shesaid oh, I have one.
He was found alone outside andbrought in.
He was covered in fleas so theyknew he was very weak and he
was anemic and they really feltlike he needed some one-on-one
(05:19):
attention to make sure he waseating.
I brought home a single malekitten, a little Siamese kitten.
I honestly don't remember hisshelter name because I almost
immediately named him BinksWithout me.
I love scary movies, I loveHalloween time and so Hocus
Pocus has always been one of myfavorite movies since I was a
(05:39):
kid and so immediately I decidedI'm gonna name you Binks.
He did pretty well, he wasdefinitely skinny.
When I would hold him I couldfeel all of his little bones and
his ribs and it just broke myheart to think, oh, how long
he'd probably been outsidesomewhere on its own who knows
how long or if he'd had a mom atwhat point.
So I set up a little area forhim with I set up a little area
(06:06):
for him.
I had a little play pin.
I had a little zip top on itand I could put a heating pad in
it with nice warm towels.
It's always important withkittens to give them a heating
source, because young kittens,you know, under six weeks old,
don't know how to regulate theirown body temperature.
Yet that's what mom is for.
She keeps them warm whenthey're nursing and when they're
(06:27):
snuggling with her.
They'd even given me a sockfull of rice, which is one way
that you can put it in themicrowave and warm it up and
then you place it under ablanket or a towel for a kitten
and it helps keep them warm.
I knew he was skinny, I knew hewas weak, but he was eating, he
was going to the bathroom, hewas doing all the things he
should be doing, but after acouple of days he started having
(06:50):
some issues going to thebathroom, which is an uncommon
in small animals.
I was also giving him iron.
They'd given me little syringesfilled with liquid iron that I
would give him twice a day.
And so I was in communicationwith the foster team via email,
and that's one of the greatthings about shelters and
(07:11):
rescues they will be in contactwith you if you have any
questions about an animal youare fostering.
There's a lot of support outthere.
So on the fifth day I noticed hewas a lot weaker.
He wasn't really eating.
I was keeping him with mepretty much everywhere I went.
I had him wrapped up in myshirt and my hoodie.
I started wearing a robe around, which I don't usually do, but
(07:31):
that just allowed me to keep himwith me, up against me, helping
to keep him warm.
And so sleeping a lot isn'tuncommon for kittens.
Kittens do sleep a lot.
They sleep a lot in those firstfew weeks, but it was later,
that night on the fifth day,that I started noting some
differences in him.
Binks wasn't really holding hishead up like he had been.
(07:52):
He was walking around on hisown holding his head up, even
playing a little.
The first few days I had him, soI knew he wasn't doing as well.
And that night, as I wasgetting ready to go to bed, I
could physically hear himbreathing and having issues with
breathing.
So I knew something was wrong.
I knew something was going onand one of the things that can
(08:14):
happen with young kittens iswhat is called Fading Kitten
Syndrome.
So I had paperwork on that.
I was reading through it, I wasthinking maybe he had gotten
too cold.
I was trying to warm him up.
There's things you can do.
I'm not going to go intospecifics I'm not giving anyone
any kind of medical advice butthere's different things you can
do to try and help them whenthey're having a low like this.
(08:35):
He only got worse.
He was breathing veryerratically, very loudly.
He had no energy.
He couldn't hold himself up.
I called the emergency fosterline and was waiting for a
response.
As he continued to get worse, Iawoke my husband up, who was
already asleep and he was tryingto help me.
It all happened very quickly.
I was speaking to the personwho answers the emergency foster
(08:58):
line and she was calling theemergency vet.
She didn't know if I could getin because they're so booked.
He just got worse and worse andmy husband actually took him
from me and took him into theother room and, unfortunately,
while I was on the phonespeaking with her, my husband
looked at me and shook his headand I knew that, unfortunately,
little Binks was already gone.
(09:19):
So, from the moment I noticedhis breathing to him being gone
was actually pretty quick, withmaybe about an hour, so it
happened very quickly.
It was very difficult.
I found even writing out notesto do this episode.
It still affects me to thinkabout it because it was such a
shocking thing for me.
(09:41):
So late that night on October26th of last year 2022, binks
unfortunately did not make it.
Now we don't really know hisbackstory, and that is also
common with shelters.
We don't know where they'vecome from.
What happens with fading kittensyndrome is that their little
bodies just can't hold up.
They're not strong enough.
Their heart isn't strong enough, their lungs haven't developed
(10:04):
properly, they don't have astrong immune system.
They probably haven't gottenall of the important things they
needed from their mom cats, allthose important things in the
milk that helped them buildtheir immunity and grow.
He was facing a uphill battle.
He went downhill fast and therewas nothing I could have done.
(10:24):
There was nothing the sheltercould have done, always tell
myself that I was rather himbeing held in my arms for five
days rather than just sitting ina cage at the shelter with
little human interaction.
And so my husband had wrappedhim up and put him in his
carrier and put him in the otherroom for me for now, and it was
hard to tell people what hadhappened.
(10:46):
I was questioning myself a lot,even though now I know there
was nothing I could have done.
It was a difficult time forsure, and it took me about a
week before I could take hiscarrier back to the shelter.
Now he wasn't still in thecarrier after all that time.
The next day we decided, myhusband and I, that I'd already
become very attached to him.
(11:07):
If he had survived I likelywould have kept him.
It was kind of my deal with myhusband if I fostered and it
worked out that maybe that wouldbe our new kitten.
But unfortunately he didn'tmake it, and so my husband
buried him in our backyard sothat he would stay here with us,
because ultimately we had beenhis first home and his only home
.
And so that way he is here withus forever, just like any other
(11:31):
pet we have, and I was able towork through my grief.
I bought a little rock paintingkit and painted some rocks for
him and put one with his name onit and things like that, and
then put those outside nearwhere we buried him.
It was a difficult process forme to go through, but it also
taught me a lot about whyfostering is so important,
(11:54):
because there's so many of theselittle kittens that need that
extra care, that need thatsomeone Giving them a bath,
making sure they're eating andgiving them warmth and giving
them attention and all of thosethings.
I don't want this part of thestory to make anyone think that
they shouldn't be fostering.
It's very important and I don'tregret doing it at all Because
(12:15):
it led me ultimately to mylittle pumpkin.
That's the backstory in thatAll of this led me to, about a
week later after I lost being,to go into the shelter on
November 1st of 2022 to returnhis carrier.
I was talking to differentpeople to shelter and then the
kitten foster at the time saidhey, I was just going to call
(12:36):
you.
I'm like oh okay, we just got alitter of kittens and we wanted
to see if you wanted to fosterthem.
I was like a litter Okay, maybe, wait what?
So I went into one of themedical rooms with her and she
picked up this carrier and thesetiny little meows were meowing.
(12:57):
Oh, they were loud.
When I come to find out, therewere six kittens in the carrier.
They had just been brought inand they were too young to eat.
We think they were about twoweeks old and she said she
needed someone to foster them,to bottle feed them and tell
their old enough to eat on theirown.
You know, I thought about it.
(13:18):
I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm notsure about this.
But ultimately something in mesaid yes, I said sure, I will
say that I know with shelters,with both kittens and puppies,
if they come in they're tooyoung to eat on their own.
They don't have a mom, cat ordog.
Time is very crucial.
(13:38):
They need fosters immediatelyto be able to feed them, to
bottle feed them around theclock, basically.
So you know, I'd bottle fedbefore both Charlie and Frenchie
were bottle babies.
I'd done it before.
It's a lot of work, but I knewI could do it.
But I also don't ever done itwith one cat at a time, so I
(13:58):
really wasn't sure what I wasgetting myself into, but I said
yes because I felt like therewas a reason that I waited those
number of days to bring Binks'scarrier back.
There was a reason that thosekittens were there now and I was
there and be able to help them.
So I loaded up with formula andbottles and I took the six
kittens home and they screamedthe whole car right home, which
(14:22):
isn't very far, you know, as Ikept hearing them and all of
that I was thinking, wow, whatif I'd gotten myself into?
Luckily I already had somesupplies ready.
Obviously the shelters andrescues will give you whatever
you needed.
I had bought some things myself, like an extra heating pad and
the little zip top playpin Justmakes it easier getting them in
(14:45):
and out.
I'd already cleaned that outfrom Binks, so I set that back
up and put clean towels in withthe heater and everything and
got them all into there.
Once they were all settled intothe playpin and I had made
formula and I filled up the sixbottles, I started bottle
feeding them.
I'm looking at their paperworkfiguring out who's who and I
(15:07):
realized I had three boys andthree girls.
The three girls were allcalicoes.
First was Pumpkin, who hasalmost full calico coloring.
She has a little white on herbelly and her paws.
Her two sisters, also calicoes,were more white and then had
spots of calico.
They were named by the ShelterButternut and Squash.
(15:29):
I was like, yeah, I don't likethose names, so I renamed them
Sugar and Spice.
Spice would live up to her name.
She was super spicy when shewas being bottle fed and she
would let you know it when shewas not getting enough.
The boy I had won, who I renamedHarry, because he was white
with orange on his face and headand his tail, and he was the
(15:52):
biggest of the whole litter.
He was a little chunk evenbefore the bottle started.
And then his two brothers wereboth tuxedos, so they were all
black with a little bit of whiteon their faces and their chests
, just like a regular men'stuxedo.
They're super cute.
There were two the smallest boyhe was actually the smallest of
(16:13):
the entire litter, so he wasthe runt and it would take him
almost the full time I had withhim before he caught up and got
bigger than some of the otherkittens.
I named him George and hislittle brother Archie.
So I had six kittens, three boysand three girls, and I started
bottle feeding them.
Now you have to realize kittensat this age they were
(16:35):
approximately two weeks have tobe fed every two to three hours,
every two to three hours.
This really did become my fulltime job as a foster.
You have to be in the mom cat,which means you also have to
stimulate them to go to thebathroom.
So after I fed each one, Iwould have to wipe their little
butts to get them to go to thebathroom, because they weren't
old enough to do that on theirown.
(16:55):
So it was definitely a fullprocess, because once you get to
the number six being fed,number one starts to get hungry
again.
Let's just put it that way.
But they were all great, theywere all growing, they were all
eating, they were all doingeverything.
They should be Made me feelgood after losing binks, and it
was worth it, though, because Isaw all of them growing and
(17:19):
being active.
But one of the ways they wereactive actually made it a little
more difficult.
So it's not uncommon with alitter both kittens and puppies
for them to suckle on each other, because their innate response
is to find their mom's belly andfind where they're supposed to
suck to get food.
But when there isn't a mom catand they're curled up with their
(17:40):
brothers and sisters, theystart suckling on them.
It's very normal and eventhough they were being bottle
fed they still have that naturalresponse.
The problem with that is littlekittens can suck really hard
and if they're sucking on theirsame age young little brother or
sister they can actually causedamage to them.
(18:01):
They can develop sores, theycan even be open wounds which
can cause infection and allsorts of problem by the kitten
being sucked on as well.
As if there are any kind ofdiseases between them, then it's
transmitted even that much moreeasily.
So Pumpkin Ever the Cowico, wasthe first to develop this habit
(18:27):
and it became so noticeable thatI had to remove her from her
siblings.
I had to start keeping her inthe carrier and the rest of her
siblings in the playpin.
Eventually I was able to getanother small playpin so that
she could have a little nicerplace to sleep, but I had to
keep her separated Pretty earlyon.
It was within the first fewdays that I had to do this.
(18:48):
So I was giving her moreone-on-one time because I wasn't
able to leave her with hersiblings so pretty early in the
beginning I became.
I was attached to all of themand very attached to them by the
end.
But because I had spent moreone-on-one time with her, I
definitely became more attachedand she definitely had her
little personality from day one.
Then I started noticing hersister.
(19:09):
Sugar and Spice starteddeveloping the same habit and
unfortunately they were doing itto their brothers in a place
that was very dangerous.
Sometimes they will suck on thedifferent private areas,
especially for a boy, and it canactually cause way more damage
because they can actually causethe boy kittens not to be able
to go to the bathroom properlyas they get older.
So at this one we've got threeplaypins, three heating pads I
(19:35):
don't know how many dozens oftowels we went through on a
daily basis, but the three boyswere in the larger one, sugar
and Spice were in one together.
They didn't seem to suck oneach other at all, which was
good, and then little pumpkinwas still on her own.
It was a lot keeping themseparated.
Now they all did hang outtogether as I was feeding them,
allowing them to interact asthey started walking around more
(19:57):
, becoming more mobile.
I just had to keep my eye onthem and as soon as there was
any suckling behavior.
I had to separate them again.
Once they started eating solidfood, the suckling behavior
really stopped, and that'swhat's good about it is that's
typically what happens.
As the kittens, or even puppies, get older.
They're moving into eating morenormally.
Their teeth are coming in.
(20:17):
Then that behavior lessens orgoes away.
They don't have to be separatedas much.
So it was a lot of work, butthey were so cute.
I have so many pictures toshare with you guys.
We'll be posting on socialmedia and everywhere, and in the
blog post I'll post along withthis episode to share, because,
(20:39):
gosh, kittens are just adorable.
Even when you're exhausted,it's the middle of the night and
you're having to make moreformula, they're still super
cute.
So about a week or two I don'tremember exactly A little over a
week after I had had them, Istarted introducing wet food.
So they started getting some wetfood on plates.
They were making messes,sticking their paws and their
(21:00):
faces into it.
Little Pumpkin and Harry tookto it pretty quickly.
They were at that point thebiggest of the litters and they
took to it fast and startedeating the most.
Now I'm still bottle feeding atthis point because they still
need all those nutrients, andit's a transition.
They don't just one day go froma bottle to dry food and
(21:20):
anything like that.
There's usually a transitionand they'll start with some wet
food and they'll sometimes youwant to mix it with formula so
it's even more mushy, andeventually they start eating
more of that and they're eatingless of the bottle.
You'll introduce some dry foodas well.
So over the next couple of weeksthat was the transition they
were all going through.
They all took to it pretty well, except for little George.
(21:44):
He had no interest in wet food.
He was the runt.
He was the smallest.
I think.
His body was just developingslower than the rest of them, so
he just wasn't ready for it.
His teeth maybe weren't in asmuch, so he kept on the bottle
as long as he could.
Now they also wanted the bottle, even though if they were
eating wet food, kittens justwant the bottle.
(22:05):
So what it is, that's good,they want it.
The little runt George held outfor a while.
It probably was a good fullweek or two before he finally
ate wet food for the first time.
I was so happy.
They were all growing.
They all started using litterbox.
They all had little litterwithin in their play pins and as
they started eating more solidfood they were able to use it
(22:28):
more.
I have to say, kittens arepretty easy to learn how to use
litter boxes.
They're pretty, it's prettyintuitive for them, which makes
it really easy.
It's much different experiencethan when you're trying to potty
train a puppy.
So the feeding and the growingand all of that was going really
well.
But at their first checkup atthe shelter you take the foster
kittens in every two weeks or so, depending on the shelter, for
(22:53):
them to get checked, have theirweights checked, get vaccines if
it's the right time, and ontheir first check so two weeks
later, we noticed that they wereall showing some signs of upper
respiratory infection.
Some of them had crusty noses,which is a sign.
I'd heard some of them sneezing.
So I let the shelter staff knowthat they sent me home with eye
(23:14):
drops and they sent me homewith eye drops and liquid
antibiotics.
So that's what I had to startgiving them all twice a day.
So, along with bottle feedingthem and getting them to eat wet
food and transitioning them andgetting them to use their
litter boxes Twice a day, I hadto put eye drops in all their
eyes, which they did not like,and get them to take the liquid
(23:38):
antibiotics.
That wasn't too hard becauseyou could just stick it in their
mouth and they would just lapit up, but the eye drops they
were not fans up.
So unfortunately, with six it'sa lot to keep up on with all
the medication.
It took a little longer forthem to recover.
So the next checkup they gaveme another round.
So ultimately, to get them allcleared up of their little cold,
I ended up keeping them for sixand a half weeks.
(24:01):
Yeah, six weeks.
I loved it, it was great.
It was a lot of work, I wasexhausted and in the end we were
ready for them to come homeback to the shelter.
Definitely.
There was a point at that likesix week mark that my husband's
like okay, when are they going?
As you can imagine, six kitten,it's a lot of food, it's a lot
(24:26):
of poop, it's a lot of litter.
So I was having to go to theshelter probably every at least
once a week, sometimes more,make sure I had enough wet food
and dry food and litter and allof that.
And we were at the point wherethey were old enough so they had
free run of my home office thatI've been right now.
Unfortunately they weren'talways going in the litter box,
so my husband likes to say itstill stinks like the hitman's
(24:47):
in here.
It probably does, but we wereable to give them more room, but
I would open the office up andblock off the hallway and they
could run around in the hallway.
So as they got to be six weeks,eight weeks, six eight week old
kittens it's a lot of energy,it's a lot of running, it's a
lot of eating, it's a lot ofpooping, it's a lot of fun it
(25:08):
was definitely time for them togo back for their final checkup.
And if they were over twopounds which is what often times
shelters and rescues say, theyhave to be at least two pounds
to be able to be adopted.
Because they have to be atleast two pounds to be spayed or
neutered and the goal is tothey're old enough and big
enough is that they will getspayed and neutered and then
(25:28):
they're available for adoption.
So I had bought a little scaleon Amazon that at least once a
day I would check their weight.
So I would keep it running, Iwould check on before I fed them
.
That way I could see that.
Are they consistentlymaintaining their weight?
Are they gaining weight?
Those are two important thingsto know when you're dealing with
young kittens and puppies is tomake sure they're not losing
(25:51):
weight.
So that's something that I did,and so that's why I was able to
know.
That's why I knew the wholetime that little George was the
runt, because I was keepingtrack of his weight.
But the good thing with him ishe never lost weight.
He was either maintaining orgaining.
He just wasn't gaining as muchas his siblings.
So on December 14th of 2022, Itook the two pound kittens all
(26:14):
smushed into one carrier andtook them to the shelter for
their checkup and their nextround of vaccines.
But I had decided at this pointthat pumpkin was going to be my
forever kid, and this was ahard decision for me.
I was very attached to all sixof them and, honestly, I could
have kept any of them.
They were all great, butultimately, my husband and I
(26:35):
decided it was best for us tojust have one.
You know, they're at that pointin mid December.
There's not a lot of kittensand shelters, so I knew they'd
all be adopted pretty quickly,so I took them in that day they
all got checked out.
They all look good.
They didn't seem to have anymore upper respiratory.
(26:56):
They all were over two pounds,which I knew because I was
weighing out.
They verified that.
So I told them okay, there, no,it's good to go.
But I wanted to adopt pumpkin.
So after they'd all beenchecked out, they came back out
and were like this is the oneyou want.
I'm like yep, that's the one Iwant.
So they gave her a microchipand I filled out all the
(27:16):
paperwork and officially adoptedher on December 14th.
Pumpkin officially became myyoungest baby and I brought her
home that day and she's beenhere ever since.
So that is the story of howpumpkin, little princess,
pumpkin spice, came to be a partof my family.
(27:39):
She's officially one year oldCalico kitten.
She is not full grown yet.
She's gotten much bigger Ithink.
I weighed her and she wasalmost nine pounds.
I was shocked.
She's in that teenager phasewhere her legs are a little long
for her body but her head stilla little bit small like a
kitten.
But she's the cutest thing everand she's definitely a Calico.
She is full of personality.
(28:01):
She's very independent.
She was much more of a cuddlebug when she was a baby she used
to always crawl up onto me andthen crawl up into my arms and
go to sleep, and I had to holdher like a baby while she slept.
But she grew out of that oncein a while.
She does all of a sudden all hefeel this, and she jumped up on
me in the morning and looks atme.
I have to pet her and then shegoes off.
(28:24):
But I also know that all theother kittens were adopted by
the time of Christmas.
Little Harry, though, who Ialmost kept because he was so
cute he was such a littlepermachine.
He was actually adopted likewithin two hours of me bringing
him to the shelter.
That's how bad people werelooking for kittens at the time.
Hopefully there still arepeople looking now.
Plenty of kittens at your localshelter.
(28:44):
Cats go, foster and adopt.
So I knew right away that hehad already been adopted.
And then Sugar and Spice andGeorge and Archie were there a
few days.
They got them spayed andneutered and then, individually,
all four of them went to theirown homes, and I know that by
the end of December they all hadfound their own forever homes,
(29:06):
and that made me very happy.
I had a hard time knowing theywere in the shelter after being
in a house.
But they weren't there thatlong and they were off to their
own forever homes.
And so for me, having had adifficult first experience as a
foster with Beinks and losinghim to then raise six healthy,
(29:27):
happy, very active kittens, wasdefinitely a good ending to that
experience for that period oftime.
It showed me that fosteringBeinks there was a purpose.
He taught me a lot, but it alsomade me willing and able to
take on the litter of six, andwithout him I wouldn't have done
that and without doing that Iwouldn't have pumpkin now in our
(29:50):
family, and she's brought a lotof joy and love.
I love seeing her get Frenchymore active.
They play together and rollaround with each other.
Charlie has taught her thatanytime me Katmom walks into the
kitchen means oh, it must betreat time.
And she knows, just likeCharlie, to walk over to her
bowl and look at me with verysad eyes.
He has taught her well, she isa part of the Ver family
(30:14):
officially and they all havetheir bowls and they know that
anytime I'm near the kitchen itmust be treat time.
So today, on pumpkin's officialfirst birthday.
I wanted to share her story formany reasons to let you know
that it's so important to beinvolved with your local shelter
(30:35):
and rescue, to learn about whatthey need, learn about the
process.
Most importantly, to be willingto, if you're in a situation
that you can, to adopt from them.
There are so many kittens andpuppies and cats and dogs right
now in overcrowded shelters allover the country, but especially
where I live in Kern County inCalifornia, and they need homes
(31:00):
and some of them, unfortunately,are not making it out of the
shelter because there's just notenough space and they get full.
They have to go and it breaksmy heart and it's so hard and
I've seen it more from theinside, having volunteered and
fostered and worked there for aperiod of time.
It can be difficult but canalso be so rewarding and there's
(31:21):
nothing that says if you fosteryou have to keep any of them.
That was the journey I was on,because I had wanted another cat
at that point, but you don't.
I will say it's difficult tofoster and let them go, but you
also know that you're raisingthem and helping them become
kittens that are active andhealthy so that other people can
(31:41):
bring them into their furfamilies and without fosters, a
lot more kittens like the six ofthem wouldn't make it, because,
unfortunately, if they're notable to eat on their own and
they're brought to a shelter,they have to go to foster or
they can be euthanized.
And that's the sad truth andthat's not at any fault of the
shelter.
Those are the laws in place.
(32:02):
They can't be kept in a shelterovernight when there's no staff
and they can't eat on their own.
So that's why fosters are soimportant.
So if you've ever thought aboutfostering, learn about the
rescues and shelters in yourarea and how you sign up and how
you might be able to try it out.
Do like I did with one kitten.
One kitten is easy, in a way,because you get to give them all
(32:26):
of your attention.
I've met so many people thathave fostered individual kittens
who needed that extra care, whohad upper respiratory
infections, whatever it may be,and just having them in a nice
safe home, giving them extralove, help them to heal and be
healthy and then go off and goon to their own amazing fur
family.
It really is an amazingexperience.
(32:48):
It can be a lot of work, it canbe difficult, but it's so
rewarding when you see thoselittle babies even the older
cats, older dogs and you seethem become healthier, become
happier.
You see them grow and thriveand be able to go on and become
parts of other people's families.
It is really the most rewardingthing I've ever done.
(33:10):
I highly recommend you doing ityourself, if you're able.
Remember.
Most shelters and rescues willprovide all of the food and
supplies.
They provide all of the medicalcare.
All you have to give is yourtime and some space in your home
.
I hope this story will inspireyou to maybe think about
fostering.
If not, and you're ready, evenbetter than fostering is
(33:33):
adopting.
Let me tell you the amount ofjoy and love that pumpkin has
brought to my life in the lastyear.
It's a full circle moment forme to be at her first birthday
and realize how difficult of astart she had and how far her
and her siblings came while theywere with me.
Then they've all been able togrow up and be amazing cats.
I hope that pumpkin story willinspire you to get involved
(33:57):
donate, volunteer, foster, adoptwhatever works for you.
It all makes a difference inthe lives of animals who need us
.
Thank you so much for joining mefor another episode of the
(34:17):
story of my pet.
I hope you enjoyed this verypersonal story me talking about
my amazing little pumpkin on herfirst birthday and sharing the
story of how she became myfoster kitten and ultimately
adopted into my family.
Thank you for listening, asalways, and sharing the podcast
(34:38):
with others.
Remember, wherever you'relistening, please hit, follow or
subscribe If you haven'talready.
Give us a rating and a review.
That helps the podcast getpushed to more people, so the
more people can hear thesestories and learn about the
importance of helping animals inyour community, whether it's at
your shelters or through rescueorganizations.
(35:00):
You can volunteer, donate yourtime or supplies.
You can foster or adopt andhelp save the lives of animals
in need in your community.
Until next time, my friends,I'm sending much love from me
and my fur family, especiallylittle pumpkin on her birthday.
Thank you.
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