Last Saturday, they were born to a feral mom in the Denny's parking lot - she had all six next to a parking curb but then became panicked & abandoned her too-public "nest". Poor thing is a baby herself - she didn't eat the afterbirth or clean them up & their cords were dried together in a tangle, flies crawling all over them.
The lady who feeds the ferals there called me & I brought a trap. We contacted the homeowner on the other side of the fence & got permission to set up the trap there. Using the babies as bait, she finally went in ( i think the cries stoked her maternal instincts), but was freaked out.
For the safety of the babies, I provided large boxes w/holes & warm bedding & put them all in a large dog kennel with a chute leading thru the bathroom window, hoping that she would move them herself. Mom simply abandoned them - late that night, a freezing storm blew in & I had to take over.
The first kitten passed on Tues. night; then 2 more Wednesday; 1 on Thurs. am, 1 on Thurs. night & then the strongest early Friday am.
I had called both vets who both said that it was more humane to let them slip off naturally than to attempt to euthanise them (it's done thru the stomach, cuz they are so small). They also said that w/o the mom for the first 12 hours, the odds were terrible. Sadly, they were right
Run swiftly over RB, dear babies...and Tasha, dear RB dog, please care for them just as you did our other foster litters when you were here on earth
I am so sorry that I failed you