Blu

Baby Blu was an unexpected addition to my foster crew.  I was playing with Uvie and the 626 Ohana litter before bed when I got an urgent call from our medical mentor asking if I was home and able to accept Blu immediately.  Blu was pretty bonded to her sister, who had a tragic accident and passed away.  Her fosters were distraught (no fault of theirs; could have happened to anyone) and Blu was wailing, and everyone felt Blu would be better with other kittens and a new environment.  

Blu was very passive when she arrived, laying listlessly in my arms while I tried to comfort the fosters and take care of some other urgent needs, then transferring without a peep to my husband who took her upstairs to get settled in the kitten room.  She thought about eating some of our high preference treats, but lost interest quickly and slunk around until I picked her up to cuddle her.  Pudge the Fish and Uvie were besides themselves with joy, eager to play with their new friend.  That brought Blu out of her lethargy- she growled and hissed and spit at them, then clung to me.  Pudge and Uvie, with their ignorance is bliss attitudes, didn't pay any attention to her "stay away from me" signals and kept trying to be friends, so I had to kick them out and only let them in under careful supervision for several days. Blu was terrified of being alone and would wail if I left to go to the bathroom and come running when I came back in the room. She preferred being close to my head/face, so she often climbed up if I wasn't fast enough getting to her level.  I spent a lot of time with her sitting on my shoulder or head.  

Luckily, Scrump, Captain Gantu, and Cobra Bubbles were friendly, but in a calmer, less "OMG I JUST MET YOU AND I LOVE YOU DO YOU WANNA PLAY WITH ME PLEASE LIKE RIGHT NOW LET'S PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY" way and more of a "Hey... you look cool... I'm also cool.. I'll be over here when you're ready to interact with me" style.  I was able to leave Blu in their company for short bits of time in their company until she felt more at ease.  I'm so glad she arrived late on a Friday night so I could spend a lot of time with her over the weekend and help her feel comfortable around the other kittens. 
I have always believed that cats learn from observation and a good part of my success at fostering kittens is because my foster kittens see how comfortable and happy my house cats feel.  They see how much my cats trust me, and then they learn to trust me as well.  If I have foster kittens that trust me and get a new foster, they pick up on those good vibes and can settle pretty quickly too.  For Blu, she seemed to trust me inherently, but learned how to be a kitten through observing the Ohana litter and Uvie go absolutely and blissfully bonkers.  She curled into my lap, surrounded by soft security blankets, and watched the others pounce, wiggle, wrestle, and chase each other with uninhibited glee.  Whenever Pudge or Uvie noticed her, they'd try to get Blu to play.  Initially, Blu immediately cringed into me and I'd have to distract Pudge or Uvie so they'd give her some personal space.  But she started to cautiously join in, hanging in the background until she felt safe enough to commit to the group fun.  After that, she became close friends with Pudge and Uvie... the two happy and clueless rabble rousers who were never discouraged by Blu's standoffish nature.  Blu tended to hang back until one of them gave an enthusiastic invitation to play, usually delivered through a wild pounce on Blu's head.  And Blu would happily enter the fray, playing until they all dropped.  Blu almost always chose Pudge or Uvie as cuddle buddies if she wasn't sleeping on me.  

The Ohana litter were only with Blu for about a week before they flew off to find their forever homes.  I think Blu missed them, especially Pudge the Fish, because she got a little extra clingy to me and Uvie.  Uvie has been having visits with my friend Sarah (another IBR volunteer), who is seeing if her cats can learn to accept her.  When Uvie is gone, if I leave Blu alone in the kitten room, I can hear her wailing from almost anywhere else in the house.  I'm relieved she was old enough to be trusted to explore more of the house without potty accidents- she is ok if she can follow me around the house or hang out with my other house pets.  But I was also getting another new kitten, a fluffy little boy named Marvin that looked like a quadruplet of the 3 kittens my aunty adopted from me.  I was worried about Blu and her PTSD, since she was so anxious about meeting all the new kittens when she first came to my house.  But she feels safe here, and as long as she trusts the people and cats around her, it seems that Blu is ready to meet new kittens easily.  She took to Marvin, whom I call Nimbus, because he is such a floofy cloud kitten, immediately.  

Although Blu doesn't become completely distressed if she can be around my older house cats when I'm not available, she seems to prefer kittens her age/size for playmates.  With Uvie or Nimbus around, she is perfectly happy if I have to go potty or run to the kitchen for a snack.  She almost always comes running if I call her and still loves to rub into my face and neck, or climb up and sit on my shoulders or head.  I think Blu just has so much love in her heart, she can't stand to be alone- she has to share it with someone! In fact, she's scheduled to go to Petsmart soon and I don't think she'll do well all by herself.  I've reached out to our foster network and have found another friendly kitten heading to petsmart that I will be picking up tomorrow night with the hopes that they will become fast friends and can head to petsmart together!!  Fingers and paws crossed!