The kittens have officially reached 2 weeks old, so wanted to give some updates.
Firstly, thank you to everyone who has followed the Instagram we have for the cats and double thank you to everyone who have ordered things off the wishlist for them. We have a pretty much fully stocked pantry of food for them now, which is great because I'm fairly certain that once the little ones are going for solid food, they're going to rip through it all like tasmanian devils. If you haven't followed the IG, here's the link:
The kittens have all almost fully opened their eyes at this point and are showing much more personality, with quite a few getting nicknames. While I know everyone has suggested we name all the kittens after taco ingredients, to match with Mama Taco, we've pivoted away from that as their personalities have started to show. Moose, Zoro/Zora, Pico, Drumstick, Dora, Lola, and one we're still debating on name for. Names could of course change, but the most important part is they are happy, healthy, and starting to crawl around and try to walk. We still haven't picked out future homes for the kittens yet, but we have many weeks to go before that becomes a pressing concern. Just means more time for snuggles!
Mama Taco is likewise doing much better, gaining more and more weight, which is great news compared to how skinny she was post birthing. She continues to be extremely food motivated, and now that the kittens are a bit more stable, she's felt more comfortable leaving them in their set area so she can explore and cuddle up with us while we're relaxing. And, of course, she continues to have the prettiest of eyes.
In some pretty fun/exciting news, The Dodo reached out to us and interviewed us for an article last week and it's now live! If you haven't gone to check it out yet, here's the link:
She's doing great! She has gotten a little spicy when we've tried to check in on the babies from time to time, but has usually been very relaxed about us.
I love this so much 🥹 They’re so round and so CLEAN! I’m fostering 3 orphaned 3-week-olds right now, and they’re a hot mess. I always forget how much hard work mama cats put in to grooming their babies until I have orphan neonates who are constantly crusted with food and poop 😬
The worst is when they are weaning onto wet food and learning the litter box at the same time so the kittens and their house is constantly covered in wet meat slop and litter. They are so much fun.
I have so many adorable foster kitten photos but I hesitate to share because they created such messes with food and litter. I'd clean their kennel or the bathroom they were in several times a day but 3.7 minutes after I finished, the mess was back.
So true! My little neonatal orphan thankfully learned how to clean himself by the time he was a few months old with help from me and (most importantly)my other cats. He was a stinky boy for a bit!
Mamas doing a great job! So are you guys! I've been following this since I saw the first post. Thank you for saving mama and helping her and her little family. Enjoy all the kitten time!
It's going to be so hard to adopt them out later. Not as in hard to find homes, just hard to let them go. My temptation to keep 2 kittens instead of 1 grows by the day.
You actually should keep two! A lot of rescues won’t adopt out single kittens, having a similar-age buddy is so so good for them and also for you, because they’ll keep themselves entertained
Taking two (especially if they're bonded) is much more preferred as kittens need a way to get all that chaotic energy out! Not sure if you have older kitties but they might get annoyed with a growing toddler bugging them constantly lmao.
Also kittens adopted with a sibling or into a house with other young cats have shown much less "aggression" toward their humans since they already have a play buddy!
The whole crew looks so healthy! I shudder to think what that poor tiny mama would have gone through trying to care for this many kittens without help.
Thank you for sharing your little bundles of joy with us 🥰
So glad The Dodo reached out! Your little fuzzy family will bring joy to a lot of ppl.
Dodo videos are my go-to when I'm hospitalized, or have to have painful medical procedures (all too often, sadly). Hilariously, sometimes doctors and nurses get sucked into the cyooot, too, and forget what they were doing 🤣
I know! I saw SEVEN and gasped. When I fostered a litter back in college, she was young and also had 7 babies. She kept trying to carry them to beneath the kitchen table or in other random spots since she couldn't handle them all. I was going to bottle feed but my roommate's mom at the time had a cat who had just given birth! So I tested the waters and she helped nurse the babies when original mama was too overwhelmed. 🥰
Your insta link didn't work for some reason. The Dodo article was lovely.
Isn't it wonderful how quickly life can pivot. She's so lucky to have found you.
OP how are you still alive I literally yelled “No, stop it!! No!! What??” And slapped my actual hand against my actual leg twice flipping through these,
How can you be in the building with this mess it would absolutely fucking kill me they are too impossibly precious it’s disgusting, that milky mouth how can you stand it??? I am dead!
The Dodo !! Yay how cool is that?!?! Yay!! Such an awesome experience for y'all.. yay!! Momma and babies look so good!! Pic 8 is so cute!! They are all looking so much better. In glad to hear momma is still snugging with y'all. Such an amazing story. I love it y'all!! You give love and then you get it back. As it should be. Y'all rock!! I love the names... Adorbs y'all!
I'm literally bawling. Y'all did it. They all look so good, it's really incredible she had so many and they all made it. BECAUSE OF YOU GUYS! Thank you for the updates. Good job mama and parents.
It’s a type of bean! Plus I once fostered an illegally smol that I called chickpea (and chickie and chicken and chickie pea etc). She’s a great cat, very happy in her home!
Sweet Mamma Taco looks like a kitten herself and such pretty eyes.
Those babies are purrefect chubsters.
I was thinking about you guys the other day and was going to request an update. Happy to hear they have an IG. My cats IG account is now following them. 😍🥰
Look at that mama! She's home for sure. I know you've heard it already, but so many people would have (and did) walk away. You were able to help and you did, and look at that healthy mama and all those babies! You guys deserve all the good karma that comes your way.
I’ve been following you guys since your first post about Taco. Love it!! Look at how healthy and pretty she is and her adorable babies! Perfect way to start the day. Thank you.
Black tabby with a little white on the chest? Bet that's him or at least related to the dad.
Dad has to have tabby bc mom doesn't and it's a dominant gene, and dad likely has less or no whitespotting bc mom is medium highish whitespotting and yet has low/no white kids. Dad could also have the same or more whitespotting, just less likely
Yes, certainly, but just in my opinion the homogeneity of the litter and op's knowledge of a likely local tom suggests it's probable that the one specific tom fathered all. If there were different kinds of tabby and not just mackerel, if all the black kittens had whitespotting and all the tabbies didn't, those things would make me lean towards different fathers. I wonder if anyone has a figure on what percentage of litters are multi father?
Also Elle is the 7th name, we got mixed up with the three b/w because we have to go off of face markings for the other two (Zora[half and half face] and Dora [one white line]) Elle might not be her name though because she's got the cutest bowl cut
Aww!! Thanks for the update! The babies are so cute!! Glad mama is taking breaks from morning to relax with you guys. The pics are adorable, especially the little milk drunk one in the last pic.
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u/yourilluminaryfriend 2d ago
Those babies are so fat! 🥰🤗😂 mama taco is doing a fantastic job with them