BeeBee's House

BeeBee’s House Is Closed

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Hello, all!

It’s been a couple years since we’ve been active, and though we have taken in a few fosters here and there, BeeBee’s House is no longer active in the fostering and rescue community on the Oregon Coast.

This has come about for several reasons. The first is medical – both Mr. James and myself (Dina) are disabled, and our conditions have worsened over the last couple years. Another reason is the (still ongoing, despite the wish of the majority of the world to pretend otherwise) COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of veterinary care available here. Cats and kittens in the shelter system often need immediate veterinary care in order to heal and survive, and that hasn’t been possible with multiple veterinarians in the area either retiring or leaving.

At first we thought just cutting back on the frequency of fosters might be enough (we were taking in up to three litters at a time in our heyday), and that didn’t improve things. Then we thought we would foster older cats and kittens, and still it was too much for us. After our last round of taking in fosters this spring (we took in 3 older boys from a hoarding situation), we realized that it was time to hang up our scrubs and accept reality — we’re just not able to care for animals outside our household pets any longer.

We really appreciate all the support we’ve received over the years, and are still working with our local animal welfare organization to help in other ways besides fostering however we’re able. It saddens us (we really miss working with kittens and watching them grow and be adopted into loving forever homes), but we helped nearly 100 animals during the years we were active, and that’s not nothing.

I have Vax’ildan’s tiny pawprint tattooed over my heart as a reminder of the ones we helped and those we lost. Some of our fosters were adopted by friends and family and we get to see pictures (and sometimes the cats themselves!) of them on occasion, and it makes us proud.

Again, thank you all for joining us on our fostering journey these last few years. We know we made a difference in a lot of lives, and we couldn’t have done it without your help.

Though we’re no longer in operation, we hope that you might consider volunteering at your local shelter or animal welfare organization. They are always in need of help and donations, and a little bit goes a long way.

Best Wishes,

Dina James and BeeBee’s House

On Hiatus

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Due to COVID-19, BeeBee’s House is unable to foster kittens for the foreseeable future. We work closely with our local shelter and veterinarian, and both have strict precautions in place to prevent the spread of the virus that include limiting contact with the public. In addition, the James Household is immune-compromised, and as COVID-19 can infect cats and kittens, we decided to suspend our fostering activities out of an abundance of caution.

Thank you to all who have supported us over the past two years. We hope to resume our services as soon as it is safe for all (post-vaccinations).

— BeeBee’s House

Bianca Needs Your Help!

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Late one April night (the 21st to be precise), there was an urgent message on social media from a friend of a friend, looking for help for a couple whose house had flooded. They were displaced, in the middle of the night, during a global pandemic, when all the hotels in the state were closed to new guests. The message said the family needed a place for a nursing mother cat and her five 10-day-old kittens, in addition to their very pregnant other cat, due to give birth at any moment.

We’re BeeBee’s House, and this what we do.

Near midnight, a woman rolled up to the house in her SUV, borrowed two carriers, and returned shortly with both mother cats and the kittens. The original plan was for their owner to take them back once a new place to live was found, but given circumstances (global pandemic, among other things), they ended up surrendering both mothers and their kittens to BeeBee’s House for both fostering and adoption. For the past 12 weeks, we have played host to both mothers and their kittens. The 10-day-olds and their mom went into the Big Kids Room and grew up healthy and happy, and all (including their mother) have new forever homes.

The younger mother held on to her pregnancy for two more weeks, and gave birth to five black kittens (all girls) the morning of May 2 in my bathroom.

Ginny (as we called the mother cat) is a small cat, and her kittens were all small and healthy, save one.

Baby Bianca was the largest at birth, but was also the least active. Even newborn kittens have a level of activity, and Bianca wasn’t showing much of it. As the days passed, it became more apparent that there was something going on.

She has been to the vet several times, with another visit upcoming. In addition to her visits, we had her mother spayed (as she went into heat again just after weaning her kittens).

BeeBee’s House has paid out of pocket for each appointment, and our reserves are tapped. We know times are hard for many right now, so if you have a little money to spare, we would appreciate you helping us care for these little lives.

Where does your donation go? It will help pay down the balance on the credit card we’ve been using to pay for these appointments. Services must be paid for at time of service, which we have covered for both preventative care and surgeries. Worming, flea control, medications, appointment fees, vaccinations, and two spay surgeries add up to quite the sum. Given estimates for upcoming care, we have set the goal at $2500. Anything left over will be kept for future kitten care. (This does not even consider the costs of water for laundry/cleaning, sanitizers, litter, food, and toys. All funds sought are for the veterinary care alone.)

Thank you for your time and attention. If you are unable to support us with a donation, a signal boost on your various platforms is appreciated just as much.

Best,
Dina James (and Bianca!)

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Milestone: 30 Kittens Adopted Out!

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It’s been a very long year for BeeBee’s House. When we did our year-end round-up, we realized we’ve had non-stop fosters since April. We took a short break in September to go out of town for a planned absence, but even that was cut short on our return by three days with an emergency call. (Hey, emergencies are just that – emergencies!)

We did some counting and calculating, and discovered that since our first litter of fosters in October 2017, we’ve adopted out 30 kittens! We’ve had our share of losses, but we take a modicum of comfort in that overall our mortality rate is lower than the national average when it comes to fostering kittens. Some kittens fade even with their mother present. We do what we can, and sometimes even our best isn’t enough.

Our wins have far outweighed our losses, however. We have fostered a total of 35 kittens and have adopted out 30 of them. That’s a 14% mortality rate.

From Maggie’s Fund, another foster page on the web:

The veterinary literature reports intimidating mortality rates for orphaned kittens up to 12 weeks of age, ranging from 15% to 40%. Deaths are rarely exhaustively investigated, but may be attributed to birth defects, trauma, infections and nutritional problems. Non-infectious causes are more common in the first few weeks of life, while infectious causes are more common at 3 to 4 weeks of age when the maternally derived antibodies from colostrum start to wane.

The biggest determinants of natural kitten loss are low birth weight and poor growth rates. For dedicated caregivers, it can be heartbreaking and frustrating to lose kittens, but it is worth remembering that up to 60% of low-birth-weight kittens under natural conditions will fail to survive.

This makes me extra-proud of Steve, one of the Marvels in our last foster group of 2018. Steve was the smallest of the Marvels, weighing just 78g at a day old. We lost two of his siblings, Clint and Natasha, and neither of them were next in line for low birth weight. Steve grew up to be the second largest of the group, at one point being the biggest until his brother Phil beat him out by 20g. Steve was named (aptly!) after Captain Steve Rogers (Captain America), who began life as a scrawny little guy and became a big healthy guy after a dose of super-serum. Our Steve grew into a hero, too.

Steve is the big orange fluffball, napping with bestie Wanda

BeeBee’s House is on holiday hiatus through February. We desperately need a break, as we’ve had non-stop fosters since April 2018 — sometimes two litters at a time! Our largest litter by far was the Marvels, and we had them the longest amount of time (11 weeks due to the holiday in November). We are seriously overdue for a break, and are enjoying the time with each other and our household cats. We ended up adopting one of the 30 ourselves (which still counts as an adoption!), and she just turned six months old last week. She’s a nightmare and we love her. She gets along well with her new family, and absolutely loves her big sister. (They’re curled up together on the bed behind me as I type this.)

Thank you to all the supporters and donations and general help to everyone who has seen us through this year. We couldn’t do what we do without you, and are very grateful to you all.

Happy New Year!

Dina and Rob James
BeeBee’s House Kitten Rescue

Foster Kittens: The Marvels

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We had just gotten home from our planned absence and weren’t due to go back on the call list for fosters for another three days (allowing time to recover from the trip/unpack/settle back in at home) when BeeBee’s House got an emergency call about a litter of six newborn kittens abandoned by their mother in a rural home. The homeowner did the best she could for them through the night, then called the shelter the next day for help. The shelter called me, and I picked them up at less than 24 hours old. There were three orange boys, a tuxedo girl, a calico girl, and a black tabby with white cheeks girl.

BeeBee’s House has a policy of not naming kittens until they’ve passed the crucial 48 hour mark, which all of them did. We named them all after Marvel characters. After 72 hours, the black tabby kitten we called Natasha started showing symptoms of Fading Kitten Syndrome. We did what we could for her until we could get her to the vet the moment they opened the following morning, and they did their best for the next eight hours, but she was unable to recover. She was three days old.

The rest of the litter continued developing normally, except four days later one of the orange boys stopped putting on weight despite having a good appetite. 24 hours later, I sat with little Clint as he began to fade just like his sister Natasha had done earlier that week. He was only seven days old; he hadn’t even opened his eyes.

We know Fading Kitten Syndrome is possible to beat when combated early, but despite our best efforts (even with the help of a veterinarian), it’s usually not enough. We did our very best to help Clint, and all we were able to do was keep him comfortable as he passed. We are aware of the fact that two losses of such young kittens out of a potential six is a fantastic outcome, but it doesn’t make it better. To lose Clint right after Natasha was a blow to our confidence in being able to foster neonates, but we had four others depending on us to care for them, which is exactly what we did.

Soon after Clint passed, the others began opening their eyes. First Peggy, then Wanda, then Steve, then Phil!

Soon after, they began toddling around.

Then they learned to use the litter box and eat solid foods.

They grew and grew and played and played! (And napped — Steve loved his naps.)

They ended up staying with us through the Thanksgiving holiday in late November, and went up for adoption at 10 weeks old in the second week of December. We usually return them at 8 weeks old, but as the shelter was closed for the holiday and Wanda hadn’t quite made weight despite her age, they all stayed with us a bit longer. Not that we were complaining! We loved having the Marvels and we’re so happy four out of six grew up healthy and happy.

Congratulations on your forever homes, graduates! Steve, Phil, Wanda, and Peggy!