So. I did that.

Bottle-fed a litter of kittens, that is.

It's exhausting.

It seems like you are ALWAYS feeding them, or cleaning them up, or mixing up formula, or washing their blankies and cleaning rags, or getting ready to gear up and do the whole thing over again. And while it was kind of fun to do it for a weekend, and get to see their adorable little faces screw up in concentration when they latch on to the bottle, and watch them lurch out of their carrier zombie-style toward me when it's feeding time, I have no idea how people do this for an extended period of time.

Moms everywhere, I salute you.

The FC had asked if I wanted to keep them longer, and I had to tell her no. If I didn't have to work (and therefore need a certain amount of SLEEP every night); if the kittens were a little older and didn't need to be fed every four hours; if there was only, say, one or two instead of FIVE of them; if I didn't already have one cat (Pony) on several different kinds of meds that need to be administered twice a day; if they had a mama nursing them so I didn't have to bottle feed; well, you get the picture.

Hopefully I'll have more kittens to foster soon; maybe I'll even have these guys back for a bit once they're a little older. And am I glad I said yes? Absolutely. Now I know the most efficient way to get poop out of white fur!