We made it through the first week with no problems. The kittens were thriving. Two were eating great; however, the littlest one just had problems from the beginning. The “suck” reflex just wasn’t fully developed and she was more difficult to feed. She would finally catch on, and we managed to get the food down her. My husband Jim was by far the best at feeding her. Somehow she just felt safe in his huge hand. Day by day it got better.
Cutest thing of all is that they were learning to play with each other. Not quite sure what to do they would wobble over to each other, then fall on each other-playfully biting. Walking was more a wobble, but they were very mobile. Laundry baskets were out as containers as they would use the holes to get themselves to the top, and then get stuck…big bellies lodged. Big bellies and kittens seem to go together. My daughter says it is worms…but they can’t have much of anything done until 6 weeks of age. They were eating well and all systems were go. We were on track. Mike and Karin took them after work and for the nights, Jim and I had them all day. They came with formula, bottles, lots of towels and the box they called home. We were able to do away with the heating pad we had to use at the beginning on occasion. As long as the box was covered from breezes, they were fine. They preferred low noise and slept a lot those first couple of weeks.
During this time period, permanent homes were discussed. It wasn’t going to be straight forward as the possibility of them being infected with FIV (like HIV in humans) during birth since the mother was unknown was possible. Although they could lead long, happy lives, my FIV cat Mitzy did, you would need to keep them isolated from healthy cats until 3 pounds which is big enough to test. What do you do in the meantime? At any rate, I knew Karin would keep one. We decided that we couldn’t let the littlest one go if she survived. We wanted the littlest one, and would work out the details later.
Then a week ago last Sunday we got a call early in the morning. We were supposed to have the kittens later that morning as Karin was working and Mike had to be gone. They said that our tiniest girl was having problems breathing and wouldn’t eat. They were still bringing them over later, but wanted second opinions. Jaime, our daughter and vet tech, was coming about noon. I had been up all night, so at 8:30 Jim took possession of the kittens. When I got up a little later in the morning he said they were asleep, he had just fed them, and our littlest one was about the same. Karin called, and we told her Jaime was on her way.
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n the meantime Jaime had been on the internet and had called the owner of the clinic she worked at to check our options. Unfortunately, the options were not good. That tiny, the chance was that the kitten had aspirated milk into its lungs. Antibiotics cause diarrhea which can kill at that size. There usually isn’t time to do much.She might have to be euthanized. My husband, bless him, had kept me occupied with filling the dog pools and such while we were waiting for Jaime…I didn’t see the kittens that morning as he had them all tucked in. Shortly after that he told me that our tiniest charge hadn’t made it. He had her wrapped in a towel in a little tiny plastic box; she just stopped breathing.
When Jaime came she told us what the vet and internet had said about 50% of bottle fed animal babies aspirate on the milk and die. It is terribly hard to raise them. This was a blow to all of us. All four of us were devastated but realized we had done everything we could do, and that she truly didn’t suffer. She made it a lot further with us than she would have.without us. Not only were we wrapped up in these kittens but about 5 other neighbors were. And interestingly enough, all of the men are big burly guys that love to hunt and are big outdoor enthusiasts. So for the “men” out there that think you have to fight pit bulls and promote cockfighting to be macho, think again. These guys are about as macho as they come. In the middle of all of this, I got a note from a "cockfighter" stating what good guys they really are. Right. Then he told me to shut my mouth about their "sport". Big surprise.
So although saddened we took care of business and regrouped last Sunday. We had two more, a boy and a girl, that still needed us. We started the next week with our two little survivors. And to all of you that are wondering, my dogs, even the pits, love them. My biggest fear is that they will get stepped on. My dogs greet them each morning, and anxiously wait for their return. My cats could care less.
Thanks for reading! Check back for another update. Keepsake16@yahoo.com
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