I have a new baby in my house!

No, he’s not a new permanent resident. I’m fostering for the first time! This is Cosmo. He’s a feral kitten of around 14 weeks of age. He was trapped outdoors in a local town in an industrial area, an area we’ve been trying to clear of cats for a very long time now. (People keep dumping more there, which then reproduce. I hate people sometimes.) This little guy was caught young enough that we hope that maybe, with enough socialization, he may be able to be domesticated and be adopted some day – that is our goal, at least. (Once they’re too old they never “come back” and remain scared of humans the rest of their lives. Very, very few adult ferals have been eventually adopted out.) At the sanctuary that I work at we just don’t have the time to spend a lot of one-on-one time with this guy, so I’ve brought him home so I can try. I have a light touch with the ferals, I’ve befriended several at the sanctuary. ;)

This is a good time for me to do the foster thing. Previous to this in my life I’d have wanted to keep any animal I brought home, which is why I never dared do it before. But now… now I’m feeling very content with the fur-family we have now. We have two dogs, two cats, each of whom has a special place in my heart. They all just work well together, and I really don’t want to add any more permanent residents – I feel like the house is full enough for now. Especially with a baby on the way, of course.

Cosmo is staying in our spare bedroom (the room about which I’ve told Den on multiple occassions, “If I can’t have a human baby in there, at least I can have SOME KIND of baby in there!!), in a cage. He will not be roaming around the house mixing with our animals – not just for health reasons, but also because he’s so skittish, I need to be able to catch him to pet and hold him so he can get used to it.

I also discovered I’m going to have to keep the bedroom door closed, because I caught Merlin (my fat cat) on his hind legs, trying to snag some kibble through the cage bars, I kid you not. That seems to be Merlin’s main concern right now – that there’s FOOD in that cage. Jojo (the other cat) is like, “Oh, another cat?” Zoe, my little dog, checked him out briefly and wandered off, she likes cats just fine, they’re just not too interesting in cages. Zeeke, the shepherd, I’m going to try to keep out of that bedroom because he will scare the shit out of the poor kitten. He likes to chase cats.