As many of you know I have been fostering a beautiful girl, Angel Marie, who came to me very sick with her 5 newborn kittens. They ALL had the URI common in shelters. One by one, the kittens passed away, all except 1.
As sick as Angel Marie was, she had very little interest in caring for the kittens. She would not clean them, so we would have to wipe them down and stimulate them. Now with this last one, who is also very sick but obviously stronger than the others, Angel Marie has completely rejected her, growling and hissing if the kitten is anywhere near her. Now she has gotten to the point where if I try to get near her or pet her, she will hiss and growl at me as well, trying to bite me. She also hasn't been eatting. I think her health problems go much deeper than the URI and unfortunately after conversing with the shelter manager, she believes the best thing would be to have them both put down at this point.
I tried to bottle feed AND syringe feed the kitten, to no avail. She wants no part of it. The shelter does not have the money to provide vet care, so if an animal is quite ill, they have no choice but to put it down. I would love to be able to provide her with vet care myself, but my funds have to be kept for if anything ever happens to my OWN cats. It breaks my heart, but I know I can't save them all. I don't want them to suffer, and at this point, I know that they are.
We will be bringing them in to the shelter after work. Shelley, the shelter manager, then told me about another girl they have there who needs a foster home. Her name is Lefty, where she only has 1 eye due to what they believe is a birth defect. She is young, pregnant and very much in need of a safe place to have her babies. She was featured in the local newspaper here recently and still no one stepped up to foster her. So maybe the bright side to this, if there is any at all, is that I will now have the room to foster Lefty so that she doesn't have her babies in the shelter? Here is the pic that was in the paper, with a girl who works at the shelter.
I tried to bottle feed AND syringe feed the kitten, to no avail. She wants no part of it. The shelter does not have the money to provide vet care, so if an animal is quite ill, they have no choice but to put it down. I would love to be able to provide her with vet care myself, but my funds have to be kept for if anything ever happens to my OWN cats. It breaks my heart, but I know I can't save them all. I don't want them to suffer, and at this point, I know that they are.
We will be bringing them in to the shelter after work. Shelley, the shelter manager, then told me about another girl they have there who needs a foster home. Her name is Lefty, where she only has 1 eye due to what they believe is a birth defect. She is young, pregnant and very much in need of a safe place to have her babies. She was featured in the local newspaper here recently and still no one stepped up to foster her. So maybe the bright side to this, if there is any at all, is that I will now have the room to foster Lefty so that she doesn't have her babies in the shelter? Here is the pic that was in the paper, with a girl who works at the shelter.