How was your Easter? Easter is the time of fertility and babies. But no, not human babies, but kittens. Of course this can only mean one thing, yes I am currently sat with a 3 day old motherless kitten on my lap whilst I am typing with one hand. It’s quite a thing I can tell you. I volunteered the family to look after some abandoned kittens, and I am quite proud to say that we have all stepped up to the mark. The kittens were found in a box behind the Eroski in Llucmajor and were passed on to Elaine and Nicky at Cat and Kitten Mallorca (you can find them on Facebook) and then passed on to us to be cared for until they are old enough to eat by themselves. We immediately named them after well known supermarkets in the UK to honour their ignoble beginnings, so if you’re looking for kittens, then I can recommend Sainsbury (pictured, loving, inquisitive, sleeps a lot) and Morrison (grey, tabby, gobby, likes to eat) as they have come from fine parents!
There are many things which I had not considered when offering to feed these tiny furballs, for example, did you know that their ears flap backwards and forwards when they are drinking milk from a bottle? Or that you have to rub their bottoms with a damp cosmetic pad to get them to urinate? Apparently their real mothers would lick their bottoms, but that’s a step too far for me. Or that when they start to poo it is actually green? Or that when they cry for attention they sound like seagulls?
Luckily for us and for the kittens we pretty much work 24 hours a day in our house (one of us is normally awake and attached to a computer in the office or working on a photo or writing an article, occasionally we even do things like cook and wash up) so there isn’t much trouble with maintaining the two hourly feeding routine, although last week when we were both at The Crew Show working we did secretly take them with us in a carry box and leave them under my desk so that we could make sure they were fed. It’s quite like having your own baby, the constant care and the milk feeds, but unfortunately no nappies, just green poo on my jeans (nice). But unlike your own baby you can give them back when they start to wean, which is great because our adult cats are all sniffing around very suspiciously: we haven’t allowed them to be in contact with the kittens for everyone’s safety.
There have been a huge amount of baby cats abandoned in Mallorca in the past couple of weeks and the refuges desperately need foster carers who can bottle feed baby cats. You can give them back to the refuges once they are old enough that they can eat by themselves. If you can help then get in touch with me on phoenixmediamallorca@gmail.com or via my blog http://www.familymattersmallorca.com or through Facebook (search for me Vicki McLeod and send me a message) and I will hook you up. You won’t regret it, it’s a wonderful experience.