When it comes to fostering kittens, “The goal is goodbye”. We at the Cole & Marmalade household learned this the hard way…mostly! =)
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Anita “Niti”
As heartbreaking as the end of your chapter with them may be, raising newborns into adoptable kittens ready for their fur-ever homes, is a “tale” of memories that will last a lifetime.
If you can make it through without foster failing…or foster triumph as we are currently calling it…you will have experienced every moment with your tiny charges.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Cat Man Chris and Baby Niti
But here in the Cole and Marmalade world, we’ve only ever fostered feral cats and kittens in the past–very different.
So when a trio of tiny furbabies needed our help, we were in for quite a ride!
Moving to Florida in May 2018, we finally had a rental home with landlords who were very open to feline rescuing; Big Cat Rescue. This meant that while we would have taken care of the property here, as we would anywhere, now we knew there were no more cross-country moves in our future!
Photo: Cole and Marmalade
We could focus on felines and helping them any way we can. Working with a local foster-based organization, we are in the unique position to open our home to all ages. Both of us, Chris and Jess, work from home so we are around 24/7. We also have very opposite schedules, with Chris getting up very early and Jess the night owl.
Rescue fosters reached out on July 27th with a question that would change our lives furever. Would we be able to foster 2 bottle-baby kittens found at an RV park?
Never working with kittens that young didn’t stop us in the least, knowing we were their last hope. The babes were dropped off that night. The next day, their sister was found hiding nearby in a vehicle and quickly joined the duo. (Full story here)
They became The Pointer Sisters; Anita, June and Ruth.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; (L to R) Ruth, June and Anita
Under 2 weeks old, their eyes had just opened and they needed to be bottle fed kitten formula every 3 hours. We happily traded sleep for ear wiggles.
Every milestone was recorded; first litter box usage, first “potato shaped body” run without falling and first solid food.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Niti – Moooooom! This is my private time!
Photo: Cole and Marmalade: The girls first taste of “big girl food”
As the girls grew, so did our love for them all.
Anita, or “Niti”, the tabby of the trio is an absolute snuggle-bug, lover, sweetheart and is the first to jump into our arms. Literally! Her nickname is perfect as she is “needy” – see what we did there?! LOL
Photo: Cole and Marmalade
She is also a “parrot-kitten”, loving climbing on our shoulders or backs whenever possible.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Niti Mom’s Parrot and Niti using her sister Jugg (under the towel) as a pillow
Ruth, or “Ru”, the torbie is almost as lovey as Niti. She does prefer to play and if she could play the lava-game ALL DAY, where you jump from object to object without touching the floor, she would!
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Ru Milk Drunk; Her little nose was the only injury she had when rescued and she healed up quickly!
Ru is always close behind her sister for after meal snuggles where she can check your face for any leftovers you may need help with.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; After dinner snuggles with mom; L: Niti, R: Ru
June, or June Bug lead to the name Jugg. If you follow our page at all you’ll know we did the unthinkable and fell head over paw for this little Tortie stinker. She is now a purrmanent part of our CaM family.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; That face!!! <3
She is our little gentle tortie and seemed to always be just to the side of her sisters playing off in her own little world. This doesn’t mean she isn’t happy snuggling in a kitten pile during cat naps and is right behind her sisters in a game of chase, wrestling or food comas.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Sleep smiling?
She will join Cole, Marm and Zig Zag, our other “foster triumph” and you can follow their lives on their own Facebook page: Jugg and Zig Zag.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade
On Chris’s birthday, August 15th, all three girls were spayed. In America, this is done on healthy kittens when they are at least 2 months old and 2 lbs in weight. All three tested negative for FIV and FeLV too.
All 3 are healing from their surgeries but Ru, having a bit more “tigger bounce” even in a smaller playpen, got to experience her first “cone of shame” and then a sock onesie. Jess made them both and she is actually pretty agreeable to them. She’s all healed up and happy to be in her natural furs again =)
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Fashionable Ru!
But now the story will move to the next chapter. Anita and Ruth need to find their furever home…TOGETHER!
There is no way we will separate these bonded sisters, who we’ve even caught going to the litter box together. You can’t get much more bonded than that!
Photos: Cole and Marmalade; Niti and Ru Bonded Sisters Fur Life!
Ruth and Anita are up for adoption and their profile pics are sure to attract many potential adopters. There are some special requirements though for these two who are the FIRST OFFICIAL CaM FOSTERS to be adopted!
- They MUST be adopted together.
- Bonus points if you keep their names since they both respond to them already.
- You MUST keep us updated because our hearts cannot fathom not knowing how their lives turn out. Especially when they are basically Cole, Marmalade, Jugg and Zig Zag’s kitty half-sisters.
- Their furever family MUST love them with all their hearts, souls and every fiber of your being.
That’s it for our added restrictions. =)
**PREVIOUS STORY; GIRLS HAVE BEEN ADOPTED**
To Niti and Ru: Please cherish the piece of our hearts you have now in your purrsession. ~ *legit happy tears while I type this* love you always, your first Mom, JessiCAT and Dad, Cat Man Chris.
Photo: Cole and Marmalade: Niti says “Who will get to be my purrent?”
Just to leave you with more ADORABLE photos of the memories that will be in our minds furever <3
Photo: Cole and Marmalade: Baby snuggle pile
Photo: Cole and Marmalade: Triple Towel Trouble this week when they all finally reached the shelves. This is what Chris walked into in the morning. LOL
Photo: Cole and Marmalade; Jugg and Niti playing on top of the playpen; like a kitty trampoline!
Awwwwwww that’s so pawmazing ♥ May you have an everlasting fun and great time watching your new kids grow. And may you find a perfect home for the other kitties. Aaaand may you have loads of patience and forgiveness for us, your crazy but faithful fans 🙂
Y’all are beyond AWESOME and AMAZING!!!! God bless y’all for what you do for small and big cats!!!! And Thank you for giving us CAM!!!
Ya kinda thought so when you asked Cole and Marm if they would like a sister. I glad you have two more little blessings as part of your family. As I sure that Ru and Niti will be to their new home too.
I bought one of those play pens for my blind kitten, Sable, to protect her and still allow her to interact with her big brothers. The bigger 2 boys were distressed by her eyes, or more accurately her lack of eyes, in the beginning. Nowadays Sable can usually be found with Smudge, the youngest of the boys, or myself.
However, these days the play pen has moved on to foster duty, and one of the Bug Brothers uses it as his personal trampoline and vulching perch. Scooter Bug is the climber and Bear Bug (he started life as Ivy Bear…turned out she was a he) is the runner. Scooter bounces around on top of the play pen while Bear runs in circles around it. I’m hoping it survives long enough for other inhabitants to practice their spider powers of hanging from the ceiling too! ?
Beautiful post JessiCAT.
I would love to be a foster mom, but I
don’t think I could ever let them go!
Looking forward to reading more!
Florida hugs to all,
Becca
So, this means Cole and Marm have TWO sisters? Wow!