Here's the story as to how I came to have my current five fosters. In June 2010 I found that one of the females in the neighborhood had delivered 5 little kittens. She had them stashed in my backyard. The first time I saw them they were about 1 day old--just a huge pile of kittendom keeping each other warm. Shortly after that their mother moved them of course, for their own protection since she realized I knew where they were. In the next few days I kept tabs on them as to where they were in the backyard. My plan was to capture them around 8-12 weeks of age along with the mother and help transition them to solid food and keep her from having another litter!
My plans were a bit derailed when the kittens were 3 weeks old. I was home later than normal getting ready to take my cat to the vet when I heard a lot of noise in the backyard. (Note: we have a fully fenced yard.) Unfortunately, two neighborhood dogs had broken several boards in our fence and found the kittens. Their owner had followed them into the backyard and was trying to get things under control. I quickly raced into the backyard to find the larger of the dogs, an Akita, had one kitten in his mouth and another kitten had been wedged between the fence and a cement block. I thought for sure this kitten had been killed so I tried to get the other kitten out of the dog's mouth and yelled at the second dog to back off. Fortunately, I somehow got the kitten out of the Akita's mouth. He dropped the kitten and although the kitten was wet and dirty he seemed okay otherwise. Thank goodness the dog had not started shaking him because it would be all over. I stood between the kittens and the dogs while the dogs were taken from our yard. The kitten that had been in the dog's mouth I now know was Jackson. I got a pet carrier from my garage and started loading up the kittens. I struggled and finally got the cement block pulled away from the last kitten--it was still alive!! I couldn't believe it--the fuzziest of all had made it. This kitten was of course Sara! So, with little time to spare before my vet appointment I took the 5 kittens into my garage and coaxed their mother to join them so she would take care of them as only mommy cats can. I created a make shift nursery and after they settled down from their traumatic morning, everyone seemed fine.
