Usually when we send the last kittens in a litter home, we have a day or two to get ready for the next set of furballs. Sometimes it’s only a few hours. And occasionally, as was the case last weekend, the new kittens arrive before the incumbents leave.

An hour or so before the family adopting Hustle and Lupita came by to pick them up, we received three small kittens and their surrogate mom from the Homeward Trails adoption coordinator who’d been fostering them for several days in her bathroom.

We immediately stashed them in the bunkroom’s spacious walk-in shower. After sending off our Oscars, we transferred them to the villa, which we’d cleaned the day before.

All three kittens arrived with names, as did their surrogate mom-cat Polly, who had already raised her own litter of kittens and watched them get adopted. Leaving her behind with some residual milk in her belly, as often happens. Some empty-nester moms are willing to nurse a second litter, and some aren’t. Luckily Polly was willing.

Her adoptive kittens were found clinging to a log in Prince Georges County during the monsoon rains that flooded the DC area two weeks ago. That’s as much as we know about their initial rescue. They were delivered to the PG animal shelter, which notified Homeward Trails. The HT adoption coordinator who agreed to take them named them Hudson, Hannay, and Caspian. Given their backstory and names, we decided to call these guys the Drifters.

The adoption coordinator guessed they were about four weeks old, which was also our estimate, and said they were mostly weaned. That sounded good, considering that Polly didn’t seems to be opening the dairy bar very often, if at all. Given how bumpy the weaning process can be, and the struggles the Drifters had been through, we were surprised at how active and playful they seemed.

Hudson is a black male with medium-length fur. He’s easily the biggest and most mobile of the Drifters.

Hannay is a cute tortie who looks like her surrogate mom, though her paws are white where Polly’s are buff.

And Caspian is a squawking little buff puffball. His longish fur makes him look relatively big, but he’s by far the smallest of the Drifters.

When he followed us around and squawked while his sibs nibbled dry food and tasted canned food, we decided to bottle-feed him. Turns out he’s more of a nipple chewer than a sucker. And we later saw him snacking on dry food as well. So we now offer the bottle once or twice a day just to top him off.

Late yesterday afternoon I entered the villa to collect dishes and saw Polly nursing all three Drifters for the first time. I quickly closed the door and backed off.

So it looks like we have three healthy kittens and a talkative, face-rubbing mom-cat on our hands. The Drifters have already shown they can reach the lowest elevated levels of the villa, and have been almost perfect with litterbox use. We won’t be surprised if a few hiccups emerge over the next week or two, but as of today it looks like smooth drifting.

filed by: TS

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