How can 2 kittens impact my life so much? Well, I am definitely outside my comfort zone these past 4 to 5 days. Lots of problems! Lots of brain work figuring out solutions!! How to get the little ones to sleep at night and not waking my (normally very patient) husband? Litter training one of them! How to keep them separate from my unfriendly dog? And more and more.

Here's the story:

I want very much to help the less fortunate, be it at Christmas with donating to kids' shelters or volunteering at the humane society. So when the county animal shelter asked the community for kitten/puppy fostering this summer (so they can transition to no-kill) I signed up. It was something I wanted my children to experience since they never have had a baby pet, but something I knew about from my own childhood.

The shelter called on July 3 with 2 kittens that needed a home for one month only. They were already on hard food, no bottle feeding. It looked great, the schedule fit perfectly with ours.

I picked them up on July 4 (that shelter staff works all the time, extremely dedicated!). We planned to go to our weekend house for the next few days, so I just took a separate car. The ride up was hard! One kitten slept the whole time, and one cried the whole time and threw up a little and had a wet poo on a towel. Wah! My 13 y.o. daughter did everything she could to make it comfortable.

Things went better after we arrived. I got them settled into the master bedroom/office/bathroom. That night was a trial though. Here's a look back:

9pm. Sleep with #1 in my bed a couple hours to start.

11pm. Put #1 on a blanket in the corner (with the other), praying it didn't want to come back with me in bed. It didn't.

1am. Both wake up for a little play time, drink. I stayed up with them especially to make sure the litter box got used.

1:30am. Both go back into the blanket in the corner without my help to sleep WHEW

5:30am. Everyone awake, kittens and humans.

All day long I watched #1 for purposes of litter training. The poor baby had worms which meant it didn't like going potty anyway (the shelter had started deworm medicine before I got them). I took a well needed nap later that day, and kept fingers crossed that kitten #1 didn't need to sleep in my bed anymore. In fact, it went smooth night two. WHEW WHEW.

Litter training was accomplished after a couple mistakes within another day and the trip back went better.

But other big issues confronted me!
Keep the kittens separate from my dog. The shelter advised separating fosters from family pets and I planned to use the master bedroom/bath. This room has an outdoor patio that was perfect for fresh air, but the door needed to be blocked so kittens did not go out and run away.

I didn't want to spend alot (or hardly any) money either. So for the patio door? We had a big spare window screen that fit the doorway. I clamped one side to the door jamb and made a makeshift latch/hinge and nailed to the other side. Never again will I complain about my husband storing old stuff around the yard (like old window screens!!!)

For the bedroom door inside the house I bought a portable metal exercise pen. Though it was $60, it would be useful for other critters. It encircled the doorway so the dog couldn't get through but humans could walk over.

Night Schedule. Now only the problem of how to make the kittens sleep at night!! My husband would not tolerate middle of the night shenanigans. I wasn't looking forward to exhaustion either. We both needed to go to work!! (The teen daughter was to babysit during the day).

The first night the kits were running everywhere. Nothing worked. They would not settle into a corner blanket.

I hadn't planned letting them in the big sliding closet, but I gave it a try the next day (my laundry baskets were in there and I didn't want to relocate them along with all the other stuff that has changed!) It seemed the kits were not doing any damage so I let them explore.

And guess what?! They found a very enticing sleeping spot within an hour!! No more worries about night. The closet saved us!

So all is working out, except my brain hurts! Want a peek at the two little 'angels'?