Amber & Cat Care Instructions

In the event you were ever to at-sit for me, you would get instructions like the following.

I have four cats, Woody, Tiggy, Ginger, and Pickles. Please feel free to fondle the babies. I would advise against trying to touch Tiggy, and Woody might want some pats, but you'll have to sense him out.

On Friday morning, I left the kitties with two dishes of wet food and two dishes of dry. That will hold them over until Saturday.

All of the foods are in the kitchen on the floor. The kittens and Woody eat together, but Tiggy seldom joins them. When you come, you can put down two cans of wet food. There are two different brand foods. Make sure when you do a feeding that you only dish out one brand per feeding. But, you can do whichever brand you like. If you try to serve two different flavors, it causes fighting-- the kittens want whatever Woody is eating, Woody wants the kittens to leave him be, etc.

All of the food is on the white shelves in the kitchen. To serve the wet food, you put one can on a big dish and then sort of mush it with your fork. To that mush, you add one can of water and mix it together to form a sort of stew consistency.

The dry food is in the same spot. You can just fill up the bowls. The kittens eat pretty much constantly, so those bowls should be filled at all times.

There are also some treats on the top of the bookshelf in the bedroom. You can give each kitten one and then Woody and then Tiggy. Tiggy doesn't really like them and won't eat hers but she sniffs it and walks away. It's good for her to have the option.

There are four litter boxes: two in the bathroom, one in the living room near the T.V., and one in my bedroom behind the rocking chair. You'll need to scoop all of them for poops and pees. There will be LOTS. Because they eat constantly, kittens all do the OPPOSITE constantly. There is a plastic bag on the bathroom doorknob and another one in the kitchen. You can use those and just bring them out with you when you go. Don't flush the litter! It clogs 95% of the time. The scoop is a pink thing on the back of the open box in the bathroom. There is also an open bag of litter in the bathroom with a bowl in it. You can add one bowl of litter to each box after you scoop. Because there are kittens who pee 50 times a day, I have tried putting in way more litter and it seems to work good.

For enrichment, you can open the window gate in the bedroom while you're there. The babies like to look out. You can also take the sleeping bag on the foot of the bed and sort of spread it out differently to mix it up. And I left a red sheet on the end of the bed that you can make a nest out of on the couch, too.

Ginger's favorite game is sponge ball. There are these spongey balls (a pink one, an orange one, some are painted like soccer balls) that you bounce and he goes nuts for. The balls get lost regularly, so you may have to go on an explore under furniture to find them. He can carry it around in his mouth, which is super cute. And he's learned to growl-- the new fun part of the game is that he holds the sponge ball in his mouth and growls near other cats to try to provoke them.

Pickles favorite game is throwing fur mice. Or maybe it's wrassling on his back and biting your hand.

Tiggy's favorite game is being left alone. You can open the top dresser drawer and the cabinet for her to go in.

Woody might like some rubs. You can use the blue brush near the canned food or a people brush and just brush his head between his ears. He HATES to have his body brushed, but LOVES his head groomed.

If there is hissing or the adults make noise at the kittens, let them be. It's important they can assert themselves to the kittens. They're not that stressed out-- they're just telling the kittens they don't play that crap.

There are three water dishes which will definitely need to be refilled. The kittens clean their toys in their dishes, so they empty about once each day. The dishes are under the table, in the hall outside the bathroom, and against the big blue wall in the bedroom. Rinse and refill them in the bathroom-- the kitchen water is nasty-tasting and they don't like it. If Woody shows interest in sink hands, the new way we do it is that I fill my hands up with water in the sink and he sits on the edge of the tub. I then put my hands right in front of him and he drinks. We usually do this three times in a row.

If Ginger's eyes are goopy, there is an eye wash near the lamp in the bedroom you can just drop in his eyes. Hold him tight, he doesn't mind it so much, although he hates the antibiotic cream (so you don't have to do that). There are also "pet wipes" you can use to clean the boogers if you need to.

I left the heat on in both the living room and bedroom. Windows are open in the kitchen and living room, and the bathroom (no screen! DO NOT OPEN MORE!) is cracked.

I am HIGHLY reachable in Boston, or you can't let me know if there are any questions at present. Thank you, thank you, thank you!