Rue's Ruse

Rue was found by a couple college students in the Bronx, New York City. She was very affectionate and so the students brought her to their apartment in Hoboken, NJ, with the intention to foster her until they could find her a home. They named her Rutabaga (Rue for short). However, they soon noticed her stomach getting bigger, and took her to the vet, where they found out she was pregnant! The students contacted the local shelters and rescues, however they could not take her in as they were already filled, so they posted a plea on social media for a home to take care of her and her incoming kittens.

A friend of the students showed this plea to her mother, who then offered to take in Rue. She fell in love with Rue, and planned to adopt her after she was done raising her kittens. Rue's caretaker took her to her local vet, which happened to be the same vet Kitten Academy uses, Aristokatz in Fairfield, CT! Dr Katz examined Rue and did an x-ray, and counted 6 kittens. Rue's caretaker knew she would need some help caring for a pregnant cat, so Dr Katz asked Mr A if he had any availability for Rue, however Kitten Academy had just taken in pregnant momcat Mural so Mr A reluctantly declined, but offered to help answer any questions Rue's caretaker might have. Dr Katz then offered to keep Rue at the clinic to help her deliver and care for her babies until adoption, and the day after she was moved to Aristokatz, Rue had her 6 kittens on August 21st!

During this time, Mr A kept in touch about Rue and her newborn kittens, and when when the kittens were about two weeks old, he noticed they would be walking around soon and would not have room to do so at Aristokatz, so he agreed to take Rue and her kittens to Kitten Academy! The family came to KA on September 2nd, and the kittens were also named by DJ the same day they arrived.

The family settled into Annex 2, and Mural and her newborn kittens nextdoor in Annex 1, with a newly installed cat door connecting the rooms! The door remained locked at first while the momcats got used to each other, but the hope was they might get along and combine the families. After a few days Mr A started feeding both moms treats at the door to help them get along, but it was a slow progress. Rue had an upset stomach a couple weeks later, but recovered with some anti-nausea meds and subcutaneous fluids.

In late September, a friend of Mr A and DJ and long-time member of the Discord community was visiting their local deli, also in the Bronx, NY, when she discovered a kitten in the store! She took him in and got him checked out by a vet, and besides being a little skinny, he was perfectly healthy! She knew he needed some care and other kittens to learn to be properly socialized, so she contacted Mr A and DJ, and asked if they could take in the kitten, which they agreed to! DJ met the friend halfway and brought him to KA on September 23rd.

He was just a couple weeks older than the Rue's Ruse, so he was named with their theme in mind, "Tomfoolery", or Tommy for short. Tommy was adorable, but also very energetic and a little too big and bitey to join the Ruse's right away, so he actually stayed in the Spa (master bedroom) for a few weeks while Mr A, DJ and the Faculty cats began to work on his socialization skills and cat manners. Mr A and DJ also brought some of the Ruses to the Spa, and the kittens got along well enough with Tommy, but he still occasionally got too excited while playing and needed to be taken away for a "Tomout".

Rue and Mural's relationship continued to improve with more "meet and treat" sessions, and in late September the door between their rooms was left open for a while, and the kittens slowly began to met each other and explore each other's rooms! Rue even began caring and nursing Mural's kittens like her own, and eventually Mural did the same. The Ruse's got collars on September 30th, and on October 1st, Rue's Ruses and Mural's Tinypaints were both moved to the main room and became fully integrated!

Some of the kittens started getting sick from nursing, so Rue (and Mural) started to wear "secret agent" sutical suits to start weaning the kittens. All momcats and kittens went to the vet on October 18th for a check-up and vaccines, and Rue and Tommy both had their graduation spay/neuter surgeries the next day. A couple days later, Rue's incision got a little infected and she had a fever, but with some antibiotics, fluids, and ice packs to cool her down, her fever broke the next night and she recovered in a couple days. Her incision healed, and she no longer needed the secret agent suit.

The kittens continued to play and were allowed to explore the house more, including climbing the Christmas tree. A couple weeks later Mr A noticed Rue had allowed a kitten to nurse on her belly where no nipple is present, which had created an ulcer. So Rue's suit was put back on, and she went back to Dr Katz for a check-up on November 3rd, where she got more antibiotics and bandages to protect the sore, and Mr A also treated it with honey. Later that month, The kittens got adopters! Sham and Gambit as a pair, Hijinks and Hustle as a pair, Caper and Tommy separately, and Rue and Gimmick were adopted together by the woman who first brought Rue to Aristokatz!

On the 29th all the boy Ruses were scheduled for their neuter graduation surgeries, however Caper and Gimmick had some anomalies in their pre-op bloodwork so their samples were sent for further testing, and they had to reschedule. Caper's white blood cell count was high, and Gimmick's BNP was high. Both were deemed fine enough for graduation surgery on December 7th, however Dr Katz still wanted to keep an eye on Caper. Sham's surgery was also postponed that day due to bloodwork, but then she was cleared and got her spay the next week on the 14th.

Hijinks and Hustle were adopted on December 5th, and Rue and Gimmick were adopted on the morning of December 10th. Tommy was adopted on December 24th, and Sham and Gambit on the 28th. Caper continued to get check-ups and medication, and was rechecked on the 27th, where his bloodwork looked good, so they tapered him off the medication and re-checked on January 10th, where he got his neuter surgery! Caper was finally picked up by his adopter on January 14th.