Going full circle -- Kitten Nursery Style

Besides working at the Kitten Nursery, I am sometimes called to come do office work at the Adoption Center.  The front of the Pet Adoption Center (PAC) is all about the animals with kennels of cats, cat enrichment rooms, and kennels of dogs.  There are a few kennels of kittens that you know came from the nursery but by the time they are old enough to adopt, it is almost impossible to remember which group they were from the nursery.  There was one in the "kitten enrichment" room that I remember because she is a tortie with a line right down the middle of her nose, orange on one side and black on the other.  Always fun to see the fruit of our labors.

Then in the back is all business.  There are open cubicles of workers, a large conference room, smaller huddle rooms, supply rooms, laundry room, break room, and then in the back  is a bulk supply area and staging area.

Well I was working the late afternoon doing some computer work.  There are tons of kittens out at foster homes and apparently, tomorrow is spay and neuter day so 6 groups of kittens were brought in for surgery tomorrow.  I couldn't possibly keep working with kittens coming in left and right.  Beautiful kittens that all came from the nursery but I have no idea who most of them are.  The good news is they are now old enough to be touched and the clean procedures that are so critical in the nursery are no  longer necessary.  So that means I can touch them with bare hands!!!  I had so much fun petting the kittens and even holding some.  Towards the end of the day, a man brought in a group of 3.  I hear him say they are "foster failing" (adopting their foster) one of them...maybe two.  So I was teasing with Jen that "foster fail" is bound to happen.  As we were talking, she pulled the foster fail kitten out.  Guess who it was....VANILLA ICE!  She let me hold him.  Just like when he was in the nursery, he still likes being tipped upside down and have his belly and face rubbed.  But he is big.  And he is wiggly and wanted to play.  I tried my hardest to get a photo of him but he would NOT hold still.  I still just loved holding and loving on him.  That is exactly what I needed to remind me why I've spent my summer volunteering cleaning poop, shoving gruel in them, and dealing with over 1,500 kittens.

Here is a photo comparison for you.  I wanted this kitty really bad myself but seeing his new "dad" was a great reward.  I'm not surprised they foster failed because Vanilla Ice is the BOMB.

Vanilla Ice 10/4 at the Kitten Nursery

Vanilla Ice 11/4 ready to be neutered and then to his forever home.

A few more weeks left until the Kitten Nursery closes for the season.  I can't wait to hear  how  many we helped over the summer.  I'm sure I will be back in March when they open again for 2016.  Although it is hard work, it is also very rewarding.