What did we ever do before Rubbermaid/Tupperware and their knockoffs? When I bring kittens in the house, or travel with them, I have a 30 gallon tote, clear (so they aren't in darkness), and the top has a square hole cut in them middle (so they can't hop out). I put towels on the bottom, a small cat box, food and water. I remove the water when driving. When there isn't electricity, warmth is provided by rice socks (heated in microwaves where ever they can be scavenged). Where there is, a heating pad can be laid under about ten inches of one end of the tote, so if they want to be where it is warm, they can. This is good until they are about five weeks old, at which point they can jump out if the top is off. Whether or not there is enough space over time depends on how many kittens there are. At 3.5 weeks, they need time in a room to scramble around. These guys rode in the cap-covered back of my truck to New Jersey. They stayed out there during the day, because it was sunny but chilly, and the temp was just about right for them under a black truck cap. When I was at the hotel, they were of course inside with me. I stuffed towels in the holes behind the air conditioner. Other than that, the hotel room was hazard-less, and they had a grand time running around.
And everyone had a grand time playing with them.
Knuckles' foster home called this morning. He is acting fine and eating again. So I left him with the foster home and his sibs. I'm guessing his lethargy and "not eating" was possibly due to vaccine reaction (he was vaccinated with an intranasal modified live vaccine on Friday) plus the stress of changing homes.
4 comments:
You are amazing! Driving with kittens in the truck. Back when I had kittens, I didn't dare take them out. I had vet come over to give them shots!
I used to be very paranoid about moving kittens, etc. But one day we got handed a litter of kittens right before we had to leave for a wedding. Another time, we were getting ready to pull out for a camping trip, and the neighbors pulled in with a single neonate they found under their porch. So we have a second tent for kittens now!!!!!! I've heated up bottles on propane stove, and at rest stops, machine-generated coffee for a buck provides the medium to heat a bottle on the road (water from the taps in a rest stop doesn't get hot enough). However, it's important to make sure everything is as neat as possible when road traveling, because a lot of people see you. I bring tons of towels, and a bag to put dirty laundry in, and Wet Ones for people's hands, a cooler for KMR. I've got it down to the minimum amount of "stuff" now. The biggest problem is kittens that get messy. At home, just a washup under a warm faucet and a stint with a hair dryer takes care of messy kittens. That isn't always available on the road. Hot water is a luxury not to be taken for granted.
I use a smaller transparent plastic bin as an incubator for the teeny weeny babies, works good.
Must keep our kittens organized!
Yes, for the little guys I use a small bin, when I used to have to haul them to work every day and keep them under the desk. Condensation is a concern with plastic containers, although I imagine some humidity is better than the air being too dry. Now that I telecommute, I go straight to the big bin, since I don't have to carry it back and forth.
They are so much easier to take care of in a bin than a crate, and there are fewer cracks etc. in a bin, so they are easier to disinfect.
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