Monday, November 26, 2007

Ask me about my foster kittens...!

So I've mentioned to some of you that MLW and I are currently fostering four kittens for the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (whom I've discussed before). Contrary to popular belief, these are not four new additions to the household, but rather a short term project we've taken on as part of our volunteering. We're working on socializing the kittens (they're all semi-feral... I think) and making them good candidates for adoption. So yeah, it involves a lot of scheduled playing with kittens, petting kittens, holding kittens (and also being kittens the ubiquitous needs to feed, water, and clean up the waste of kittens, but I generally leave that to MLW... Have I mentioned how lovely she is lately?)

Many of you have asked for pictures of the kitties (well, those of you who haven't already met them). And now that our temporary Internet hook-up hiccup has been solved (through the generous auspices of the incredibly nice OragamiSlayer), we can bring the initial pictures to you. Thus, I happily introduce...
  • Buffy (the leader) -- Buffy enjoys eating, the house, eating, occasionally receiving special coded messages from the mother ship, and, oh yeah, eating.
  • Willow (the shy one) -- Willow enjoys eating, hiding, eating, seeing what other people are eating, and... you're not looking at her are you?! Don't look... eek. (Willow's is going to be the most work.)
  • Xander (the... boy) -- Xander is a cool dude. He is Willow's brother. Even through his eye drops, he's been great. He loves playing, and often will wrestle with Faith. Loves hiding behind things and jumping out. Doesn't mind eating, but isn't compulsive about it...
  • and Faith (the vaguely crazy one) -- Faith is the youngest of the kittens (I don't know if I said, but there are 4 kittens from three litters) and physically the smallest, but she doesn't appear to be aware of any of those factors. For the first couple days she truly terrorized the other three. Though now she and Xander seem to play wrestle more than fight. Faith is also the only one that really makes sounds. (All four purr, mind you, but Xander and Buffy only seem to make sounds when they go to use the litter box.) Faith has a cute/pathetic little meow sound she makes. Or should make... it often drops off, so one thinks, "Wait, did I hear that or not?" She often makes the noise while purring if not being petted with both hands...
Please bear in mind that Xander had a minor eye infection when we got him, so we had to give him drops. Hence the vague pirate-like look about him in some of the photos.

I also feel the need to stress that these are not OUR kittens. If you're interested in adopting any or all of them (or any number of other beautiful cats, dogs, birds, small critters, etc.) please contact the AWLA and fill out an application. Even if you're not sure, the first step is always an application. If you are interested in the kittens, please mention us and them. (It's likely the AWLA won't know them by name, because they have hundreds of cats, and more importantly, because we changed their names just recently... as there was no common theme, and many of them kinda sucked...)

More pic's to come I'm sure. Also likely wacky stories...

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