Grand Opening

After the Junkpile kittens were all adopted in early July 2022, I made the difficult decision to close my home to foster litters. We had been packing since February, expecting our new home to be ready late October/early November. But KB Homes was fantastic and finished ahead of schedule, handing us our keys at the end of July. Though we had planned and packed fairly well, it felt like moving and settling into our new home took longer than any other move. I have a LOT of stuff.... One of my new neighbors was shocked to find out my husband and I had no children, as ours was the biggest house on the block, towering over the others until more houses went up around us.
But our new home has a downstairs room in case one of my parents needs to move in with us for support. It has a lovely open loft that's perfect for a video game haven, a room for all my craft supplies so they're not crowding the living room, a decent sized kitchen that opens into the front room for parties and gatherings... and a DEDICATED KITTEN ROOM for fostering. I started preparing for this room in advance, buying kitten wall shelves during Amazon Prime Days over a year in advance and collecting cat and dog beds and acquiring furniture to hold medications and linens. And always my brain was thinking of a nicer way to kennel kittens than critter nation kennel that gave them more room but could be very difficult to clean, especially for a shortie like me. I scoured facebook marketplace for months before we got the house, refining an idea that I wasn't sure would actually work and decided an Ikea loft, the Struva/Smastad model was the ideal base. I managed to find one at a reasonable price just after we got the house and we set it up in the kitten room shortly after moving in, but it took some time before I could convert it into the kitten kennel of my dreams. We had to have a garage sale to raise funds and unpack most of the rest of the house so we weren't surrounded by boxes or piles of unsorted treasures. But finally, my kitten room was ready. I let them know I was ready on 9/16/22. But the intakes were slow and most of the kittens we were getting were bottle babies. I am home enough to feed bottle babies on their schedule.

Finally, 10/8/22 I was asked to take some mushers. Their young mama was struggling to care for them and her milk dried up, so the shelter weaned them early. I heard the mama began recovering right away, but her babies weren't in great health. When I went to pick them up, one was so sick we agreed he should stay with the intake volunteer, who has a lot more medical experience. She pumped him with antibiotics and fluids but Tatertot Casserole never got to be reunited with his siblings.

The rest of the Savory Delights resolutely refused a bottle and they were too young to eat effectively, though that didn't decrease their enthusiasm for eating in the slightest. This resulted in nightly baths for nearly 2 weeks, and that still didn't prevent Fish Taco from losing the fur on his chin from food residue.

Shortly after getting them, we had another garage sale with the hopes to raise funds for a utility sink. We offered to host a simultaneous sale for the rescue and ended up with an entire section of donations to sell to raise money for the rescue. My parents let us set up at their house, on the corner of a busy intersection, and we set the kittens up in a pen in the garage. I surprised a few customers by flashing the kitten tucked into my hoodie several times, but it always led to a conversation about the rescue and we ended up raising over $500 for the rescye!! Our personal sales were too slow to buy the utility sink of my dreams and pay for the install, but we still considered it a successful day. One of my friends stopped by to see the babies and was a huge help caring for them while we haggled with customers.

The Savory Delights were one of the easiest litters to name, because they were so comforting to me from day one. They were unbothered by me nomnomnomming on their fat kitten bellies or dropping kisses onto their tiny kitten noses. I just wanted to gobble them up and the feeling was entirely mutual. They climbed into my lap at every opportunity. I found them delicious and named them accordingly.

When they finally surpassed their 2 week quarantine, they blended easily into the rest of the fur family, showing no fear of my house cats. My dog, Miyuki was particularly thrilled, as they still ended up wearing a lot of their dinners and she was asked to clean them up regularly. I'd call for "clean up, aisle nose" and she'd happily lick the food residue off of a kitten nose. The kittens accepted her tongue baths without complaint!
But once we left the kitten room, my 2 weeks of enforced lethargy ended and I had to start being productive again, doing that adulting thing that can be so tedious. You know.. paying bills, doing chores, unpacking/organizing soe more, and completing the project I committed to: making the Itsie Bitsie Rescue fundraising calendar. This meant a LOT of computer time or wandering around the house instead of laying on the floor covered in kittens. The Savory Delights were not keen on giving up mom time, and I rather like having them close by, so I pulled out my handed dandy kitten neck hammock (really, a ferret hammock for kennels that I hook together to wear around my neck). For the first week I could fit all 4 in my hammock if I was doing computer work or not moving around too much, but that didn't last long as they doubled in size. As I'm writing this, Beef is hanging out in my neck hammock while Pesto and Rissi sit in my lap.

The delights are a very social group with NO concept of personal space. When they hear me come home, the run to the door of their kennel or the barrier (if the husband already let them out) and begin climbing up as soon as my legs are in reach. If they're awake, I never have to look for them. If they're not scampering around within 2 feet of me, they come running (to the best of their abilities... but *some* of them are not as able as others... there may be some brain cells missing). If I'm available, they usually prefer sleeping on me- or in a big kitten pile.... or, their favorite, a big kitten pile ON ME.

But it's not just me- they like other cats and humans too. They'll cuddle with anyone.