Eddie - 3 weeks old!

Little Eddie has hit a growth spurt! He's tipping the kitten scales at just about 500 grams! He's been a fantastic bottle-baby and hopefully will take to gruel just as well. 

Between 3-4 weeks old most kittens start getting their teeth and are ready to transition to gruel. Eddie's canines finally poked through the gums about two days ago so he should be ready for gruel.

With the gruel transition he will need to have a litter box available, as well as kitten crunchies and water. So it's out of the kitten crate and into the playpen! 

He still needs the heating pad though, so it's set up under his bed. 

The blanket in the corner is for tunneling and snuggles!

Moving Forward

Little Evie was buried yesterday evening next to our little pet rat Edward.



Even when we cannot save all of the animals that need us, we can make a difference in the lives and time that they have. We can feed them and comfort them and give them peace. 

I will continue to care for and raise Eddie as well as I can and help to find him a loving home where he can live a long and happy life.  Once he has been weaned and has grown a little older I will bring another foster into our home for him to have as a companion to play with and learn from.

I am in awe of the fosters that have continued to care for animals for so many years. Their love and compassion is what has inspired me to foster in my own home, as well as volunteer in the local shelters. Without the support of those wonderful people I would not have gained the skills to care for tiny creatures like Evie and Eddie. 

Saying goodbye to Evie is hard, but I will always remember the short time that she spent with me. 

The hardest Lesson; Goodbye Evelyn

Sometimes there are situations that we cannot control no matter how desperately hard we try. 

Over the past week little Evelyn has been fighting to regain control of her own body.  She has been battling with dehydration, fighting to keep food in her stomach long enough to absorb the needed nutrition. 

Last night Evie took a turn for the worse; she tried to breathe through a mouthful of milk formula and aspirated a large amount of it into her lungs. She stopped breathing for around 30 seconds because her lungs were completely flooded with formula. 

I stayed up all night with Evie to monitor her condition. When she made it to 6 am I thought the worst crisis was past. 

I drove her in to the APA clinic where the staff and the Vet loaded me up with an arsenal of medications and treatments to help coax Evie back to health. 

Despite all our best efforts Evie died in her sleep just about an hour ago. 

I am extremely sad to lose my little girl, but I know that sometimes there are simply too many things for them to try and overcome. 

We'll miss you Evie. 

Mealtime with Eddie and Evie

Check out these adorable pictures from one of their meal times!!

Eddie has nearly doubled his weight and Evie finally broke 100 grams!!

Eddie and Evie day 2

Both babies are already gaining weight with Feedings every three hours.

Eddie is weighing in at 140 grams and Evie is now at 82 grams!

Here's a few pictures from today:

Meet Evie and Eddie!

Today Evelyn and Edward came home with us. 

These sweet little babies are part of a litter of seven orphaned kittens from Houston. 

A group of wonderful volunteers drove them, along with a number of other babies and moms, down to the Austin Pets Alive clinic so they could be checked out and sent to foster.

These little ones are only six days old and have not opened their eyes yet. Evie still had part of her umbilical cord hanging on!

We're super excited to have our first fosters of the year. 

A HUGE thank you to amazing people at Operation Pets Alive in Houston for bringing them all the way here to us!

Check them out at www.operationpetsalive.org

Good luck Xeric and Xiang! Happy New Year!

So I'm sitting in the car at the parking lot of Austin Pets Alive this morning. Xeric and Xiang have their spay and neuter surgeries scheduled and will get picked up this evening by their new moms.

There's a little bit of time before the clinic opens so the babies are climbing around and having some last cuddles with foster momma.

Lots of people have asked me how I can deal with saying goodbyes to the babies that I foster; the answer is in the new families that adopt them. I get so excited for my fosters when I get to meet the amazing people that are going to bring them into their homes.

I feel like a proud teacher that has watched her kiddos graduate on to bigger and better things.

There will always be a little sadness that these particular kitties have moved on, but then I am able to bring new kittens into our house, other little babies that need the same TLC and pampering.

Happy New Year and Happy New Beginnings babies!