Say hello to Bastet and Lionel. Lionel is the one with bright blue and pink collar, and Bastet has the gold and black collar. Lionel has started eating wet food with no issue that is mixed with formula. I’ve tried soaked dry food, the treat tubes mixed with formula, and wet food mixed with formula. She refuses to take anything but the bottle, but she takes part of that completely fine. Still active, still wrestling with her brother. They were abandoned by their mother so I’ve been taking care of them since two weeks. Just want to know if I’m doing anything wrong at all. First time raising kittens this young, but not my first time having cats. Thank you so much for any advice and any time you take out of your day to interact with the post.

We urgently took in an approximately 2 week old kitten Friday night and as it was late the only formula option was PetAG Milk Replacer Plus. Everything I’ve seen says this is a perfectly fine formula, but I’m a chronic over-thinker and someone who tends to go beyond for my fur-babies, and I was wondering if it’s worth it to try and transition her to KMR or KMR Goats Milk and how to gently and safely do so.

She’s eating well, gaining weight, and having great pee and poo so far. Photo for tax, she was snoozing so good 😴

This is Vasylyna. We call her our little grandma, but she’s still very active and makes sure every visitor gets a greeting.

You came for coffee? Lovely. You also came to see Vasylyna. She has decided.

She lives with us at Khvostyky, our rescue cat café in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. The ginger girl in the other photos is Sima, who was evacuated from Kramatorsk with several other cats.

Vinnytsia has experienced Russian strikes too. The attempts to leave Ukraine without electricity and heating are frightening, especially when you have animals depending on you.

And then this little grandma is there, ready to meet another person. We love seeing how much she still enjoys life. Keeping her fed, warm, and cared for is something we can keep doing, even when everything feels difficult...

(Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/FosterAnimals/s/2tjImto4qi)

Meet Apollo (pic 1) and Mercury (pic 2), formerly known as Diana and Victoria!

We thought we were given an all girl squad by the shelter and got ourselves a surprise a couple of days ago! We emailed the shelter and their records are officially updated. Lesson learned: double check before you settle on foster names 😅

I have raised plenty of kittens never have I had it as bad as this little terror. Meet Peggy she’sis about 8 weeks old at this point and SHE LOVES TO GO FOR FACES?!? Claws out biting. She is a solo foster. I found her end of September by a bush bad infected eye. She doesn’t have great eye sight in its ether so she a bit uncoordinated but THAT DOESN’T stop her from jumping from the back of the couch and LATCHING on your face like she’s a face hugger from alien. I’ve been trying so hard to keep up ouches and that hurts when she’s playing. She loves attacking hands too. Swapping to toys, but SHE CRAVES THE MAN FLESH! I’m at my wits end here. When she gets too riled up i put her in her room. AND I FEEL SO DANG BAD! I don’t know if she had litter mates, as i found her alone, she understands ouch but I’m scared she will be like this with her new family too. HELP!

I have a litter of approximately 12 week old fosters with Mystery Diarrhea (at this point). I've had them since 9/20, and they've had not great poops the entire time. They tested postive for giardia on intake, and based on the look of their poop I suspected coccidia as well.

Fecal test on 10/14 was CLEAR (I know this doesn't always mean it's truly clear, but it's pertinent info).

What we've tried:

-10 days of panacur (mild improvement, probably from the giardia standpoint)

-5 days of toltrazuril (given at same time as pancur, so mild improvement)

-5 days of metronidazole (made them worse)

-10 days of azithromycin (moderate improvement, but still not great for two of them. We've seen a lot of crypto this year, so this was on assumption of that diagnosis)

-Tried a run of poultry-free food (no real change)

They're happy, active, and gaining weight. I'm starting to consider dietary factors. I've cut off all wet food, and currently have them on Purina One Sensitive Stomach food. There's also another foster (unrelated) in with them and she's not caught whatever this is, making me think it may not be contagious. (Before anyone comes at me for having her with them, know that it was a risk vs benefit situation of her being alone and undersocialzed. She needed confident friends)

Any thoughts on things to try? I'm getting a little burnt out on dealing with loose poops. They're continent and always make it to the box, but still. It gets really disheartening to keep having them not make it over the hump.

Pic of one of my Problem Poopers, Wallace, for tax and of the poop itself.

Hi,
I am currently fostering 2 4month old kittens. They are siblings, both females and cute as a button. There was an adoption drive yesterday and one of the two was in high demand (orange, and the cutest smoochiest face ever). A lot of people are inquiring about her but only her. When I insist they be adopted together, people back off.

I know kittens aren't usually considered bonded, but they are very close. They groom each other, sleep together, play, tear my house down etc. I would hate to see them separated. The rescue I work with dont care if they go separately but are allowing me to take the final decision.
What do I do?

I've been thinking about becoming a foster for some time now. My husband is on board and thinks it's a great idea. We've always had cats growing up and while together. I can't really imagine this home without them. It's just my husband and I in a quiet rural area, so it is a very calm environment. We both work, but I work from home. I only have one cat now and he is my whole world, but he is also 17 years old. When the time finally comes I want to make sure we have realistic expectations and a good idea of what we are getting ourselves into. Please share what your fostering journey has been like. What are some things you didn't expect? How should I prepare for this? If you could tell others that are thinking of fostering anything at all what would it be? Anything that can provide any insight would be helpful. Thank you and I love what you all are doing.

Getting an abandoned newborn to figure out artificial nipples can be so stressful, especially when they are hungry and fading.

Half the battle seems to be finding the right hardware, the stock nipples from pet store kits are almost always rejected, but even with Miracle Nipples, some preemies struggle with the regular size and only take to the mini.

When a kitten just pushes the nipple out with their tongue and cries, what is your go-to technique?

Do you switch straight to a 1mL or 3mL syringe with a drop of Karo syrup on the tip to stimulate their reflex, or how do you coax that first good latch? Would love to hear everyone's tips and troubleshooting routines!