Peach and her Seven Kittens

Kitten photography is always a blast! This past week was especially fun as I had a visit from a wonderful mama cat with her  seven kittens! They were just over four weeks old and are currently in foster care until they are old enough to be adopted.

Peach, the mama, was found as a stray, and was taken in by the Fairfax County Animal Shelter because she was very underweight. The shelter staff didn’t even know she was pregnant at that time. After a few days, her pregnancy became evident and she was immediately placed in a wonderful foster home.

Here is what her foster mom had to say about Peach and her kittens…

Peach

“I had Peach for a week and a half before she gave birth.  She is a very sweet and loving cat.

It was a Thursday morning, and I heard a strange meow from Peach’s room.  When I opened the door she had started to give birth to the first kitten. This may have been her first litter, since she looks very young. She didn’t seem to quite know what to do about the kitten that was appearing.It was my first time fostering a pregnant cat, so we learned together.  In the first two hours she had five kittens, and I thought that was it. They were so tiny and amazing.  I left her to start nursing and got ready for work.  When I came back to check on her there was a suspiciously wet kitten on the pile.  I did a count and now there were six!  I gave her some love and went to work.  When I came back to check on her two hours later, there were seven kittens!!

Sadly, my sister’s cat passed on the same day that the kittens were born. Her boy Bowser was named after a character from Super Mario Brothers. In the game, Bowser had a love interest named Peach. In honor of Bowser, I named the kittens after other characters from the game. So we have Ray, Kammy, Wendy, Lemmi, Iggy, Koopa and Larry.

Peach has done a wonderful job nursing and caring for so many kittens. She is a great mom. I also helped her out by bottle-feeding them a few times a day, so she could keep up.  Once they got to about four weeks old, things got a lot more complicated for Peach and me.  They are all around one pound, and they have learned to run, jump, climb, and pounce. Peach takes breaks from them a couple of times a day now, but they still nurse and eat some wet food.  Seven is a handful, but I am so happy to have had this experience.  Soon they will go to foster in smaller groups of two to three for better socialization, and Peach will be ready for adoption. Even though I’ll get to sleep in a little longer in the mornings, I will miss these little guys!”

Ray

Kammy

Wendy

Lemmi

Iggy

Koopa

Larry

Peach and her kittens will be available for adoption from the Fairfax County Animal Shelter in several weeks. For more information on animals currently available for adoption from the Fairfax County Animal Shelter, visit the shelter’s page on Petango.

Artful Paws Photography is proud to provide photography to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter and other rescue groups.  For more information on photographing your family, please visit Artful Paws Photography’s website.