The 7 Dwarfs: My latest litter of foster kitties

I brought home a new abandoned litter yesterday.  There are 7 of them, so I'm going to name them after the 7 dwarfs from  Snow White.  They are about 6 weeks old but a bit malnourished and some of them have a bit of URI. The runt only weighs 11 ounces right now.  I put up a new album for them.  

My 4 previous foster kitties are all doing well.  One is at a local PetSmart adoption center and the other 3 are back at the shelter.  Those 3 aren't quite 2 pounds yet, which is the shelters minimum weight for adoption, but they are healthy and gaining so they should be ready to be adopted in a couple of weeks.

[opus88]

Oh how wonderful of you!! I saw the album and they are all so very darling, makes me wish for a baby in the house again!....wow 7 that will be a handful.
so glad to hear the other litter is doing ok hopefully find a loving home real soon.
best to the babies....

[Jade59]

I know, Opus...they're all so cute...makes me want one...for like a minute :)  

Nancy...do you have to bottle feed?

[PrettyKitty1]

This is so kind of you, to be fostering abandoned animals like this.  The kitties are just precious. I would adopt one in a blink of an eye if it wasn't for my duo 'Terror', Abby and Dillan, which have the amazing ability to drive anyone crazy!!!

[Fluffysmom]

Marvelous, and they are so adorable!  Someday I may ask you more about fostering; might be something I'd like to do somewhere down the line.

I looked at all the pictures, and one dwarf in particular looked right at me and meowed "come and take me home in a few weeks!", lol.

[nancyjac]

It just depends on a particular litter.  The ones I have now are old enough to eat on their own but need to gain more weight before they are adoptable.  They also need a substitute Mommy (me in this case) to teach them to use a litter box, clean themselves, etc. since the litter was brought in as abandoned strays.  The previous 3 abandoned litters I had did have to be bottle feed when I first got them.  

[nancyjac]

I think being a foster is very fulfilling and something that every shelter needs more of.  This time of year (Spring through Fall) is when most kittens are born so shelters are typically overloaded.  Even if you don't have the time to care for abandoned litters of kittens, even fostering a healthy adult cat or two during the months when shelters are overloaded is a big help and keeps them from being euthanized simply for lack of space.  I'd be more than happy to talk to you further about fostering or any type of volunteering with shelters or rescue groups.

[nancyjac]

I haven't formally given this bunch names yet.  Giving it a couple of days to observe their personalities before deciding.  I have 4 males and 3 females.

I'm thinking maybe Happy for the runt (gray tabby with the white legs) because he is always the first one to come dashing out of the pen and just loves everyone and everything.

The brown tabby seems to be the shyest of the bunch right now, so thinking Bashful for him.

The two soft grey tabbies (1 male and 1 female) tend to be a bit stand offish from the rest of the litter sometimes, so thinking maybe Sleepy and Grumpy for them.  

The larger darker grey tabby is totally silly and sometimes klutzy, so thinking Dopey for her.

That leaves Doc for the male lilac point, and Sneezy for the female grey/white spotted.

[nancyjac]

I just got the cutest photo of all 7 of them piled into their bed and uploaded it to my 7 Dwarfs album.

[nancyjac]

...and Dopey of course is the one laying flat on her back with her front paws stretched up in the air, and Happy is right up front getting ready to rush the camera....LOL

[aligator79]

There is always one in the bunch.  :)

[nancyjac]

ok, I have a minor dilemma here.  I am rethinking naming this litter after the 7 dwarfs for a couple of reasons.  One is that there are already cats at the shelter that have a couple of the names (Happy and Doc) and the other is that I typically try to stay away from names that potential adopters could interpret as negative traits (e.g Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy).  But I would like to use of theme for which there are 7 of something.  There is also a cat already named Tuesday, so days of the week are out.  I'm considering the locations of the 7 wonders of the ancient world (Giza, Babylon, Olympia, Ephesus, Halicarnassus (that one is a mouthful), Rhodes, and Alexandria).  Can anybody of other groups of 7 that might work for kitten names?

[aligator79]

some thoughts:

Seas
Continents
Days of the week
deadly sins
seven virtues

Not sure whether they would work well, but they are thoughts.  :)

[nancyjac]

ooooooooh.....great ideas!  Not sure the sins are good idea though....LOL.  But seas and continents sound very promising.  Thanks for the ideas

[nancyjac]

Well don't ask me why, but I have done a complete turnaround on naming this litter.  Every group of 7 that I could come up with had one or two that just weren't good fits, so I gave up on that idea.  Instead, I think I'm going to go with ice cream companies.

Blue Bell (F) and Blue Bunny (M) for the two soft grey tabbies that have a slight bluish tinge.

Good Humor Man for the tabby with white legs, the runt and the friendliest (the one that would have been Happy, if I had gone with the 7 Dwarfs names).

Dairy Queen (DQ) for the the silly one

Maggie Moo for the grey/white spotted one

Baskin Robbins for the tan tabby

and Haagen Dazs for the lilac point.
Haagen Dazs