Teen volunteer Tristan cares for cats for his Duke of Edinburgh award – part 4.

This post has been written by Tristan Goodway-Sims who is undertaking a volunteer placement for a Duke of Edinburgh award

Honey’s kittens are now six weeks old and the time has flown by. As the kittens have increasingly been awake and a lot more active, there has been more cleaning out and tidying. I can only look longingly at my Xbox controller as I slap on the disposable gloves and get stuck into the dirty litter trays, bowls and pens.

Poo seems to be the theme over the last few weeks as Honey and one of her kittens had a mild case of the runs. I discovered this when I stumbled downstairs at 6.30am in the morning and was attacked by a foul smell! I found Honey and her kitten had had upset tummies. One kitten had managed to wipe his mess around – unfortunately on the fur of his littermates! Time to call in reinforcements… time to wake up my own mum! We filled a bowl with warm water and sponged each kitten clean. I then cleaned the pen with detergent and disinfectant and washed all the bedding on a very hot wash. Honey and the kittens were given special food for upset stomachs for 24 hours and then normal service was restored.

I am really impressed with how well and quickly the kittens have learnt to use the litter tray, much quicker than our dog Megan was toilet trained as a puppy. The cats and kittens do like a clean litter tray so I have to be even more vigilant to clean out the trays with all four kittens using them as well as their mum.

When they were five weeks old the kittens had their first trip to the vets for a check-up and their mum Honey had her second set of vaccinations. This meant a trip in the car, so the kittens went in one cat carrier and Honey in the other. The kittens seem to enjoy the car trip but Honey found it more stressful and made a nice pongy pile in her cat carrier (I did warn you that poo was the theme!). The vet seemed very pleased with all the kittens after a thorough examination and Honey had her injections. We also took the opportunity to collect more supplies for Honey and her kittens. On the way home the kittens dozed but Honey pooed again. I don’t know who was more pleased to get home – Honey or me!

Tristan grooming his foster kittens

Read Tristan’s previous post in the series here.