July 12, 2021
Day 4 and the family is doing well and all things are quiet, except when we try to refresh the litterbox…
Wim gives it a try in the early AM but gets hissed at and semi-charged and decides not to go through with it.
Later, as I get up, we go downstairs together and Mitsy is in the carrier with some of the kittens and as Wim gives her the direct stink-eye, I quickly refresh the litter box.
That seems to work well. Dunno for how long, but we were able to ‘complete the task’.
We discuss how to go forward and come to the conclusion that we need to extend Basecamp with a second crate. It can be play-space for the kittens in future, and this is where we can exchange the food and the litter box with more distance between ourselves and mom. It makes it safer for all involved.
I make paper mini models of two such crates to see in 3D what the placement options are. It may seem over-the-top to you, but the crates have only 2 exits and to connect the two, one of the doors will have to come out and I am too tired to figure it out in my head. I also suddenly remember that I can probably open the front door (with the food bowls) and hang the dividers that come with the crates in the opening to close the gaps. I can hang one in the new crate as well as we are putting the extension in place, so that we can safely attach both to each other. It will be a lot of stuff going on for the cat family, but there is no other way.
I pick up dewormer from our own vet and ask how they would treat a non-domesticated cat, if they were the ones doing the spaying or any other kind of medical treatment. They tell me that they would drug it ahead of time, by mixing something in the food before the family gets there. They are OK with receiving her in a carrier as opposed to in a trap, if there is ever an emergency we would have to bring the family in for. I also ask about their rates for neutering and it almost floors me. It is an estimate that is based on the cat’s weight, strangely enough and the assistant tells me it can be between 500 and 700 dollars. That sure is a lot of money!
Because I work with the rescue services, it will be free for us and the rate is nominal for them. However, the vets the the rescuers use may require bringing them in (kittens included) in a trap, which I really do not want to do. So there are some questions I have for my contact at the rescue group about all of this.
One step at a time.
The next 3 days we will treat Mitsy for the worms and then repeat the treatment in 3 weeks. I wonder where we will be by then!