I haven't been on in a long time and I apologize. Between volunteering and taking care of the immense feral population in my area, I don't have time to be online.
It's my last month in the Philippines after being here a year and I was looking forward to it being uneventful. All 19 of the ferals in my area are spayed/neutered, I got the park (the area I live in)'s permission to have the feral colony here so nobody is allowed to yell at me, they are paying for people to come in and care for them after I convinced them that the cats would help the area with it's rat problem and I haven't seen new cats in almost 2 months. I finally rehomed my 4th litter of kittens that I handfed and was excited that their one eyed momma was going this week to the vet for a check up on her infected eye (or lack there of now).
And then more kittens happened.
There are no cats that I am aware of in the area that are unspayed. I walk every morning and every night and I have not seen a single one that I do not recognize and know. But yesterday, when it was sizzling hot at 40 degrees and I was staying inside with my two boys in my house. A gardener in my area knocked on my door and brought me to a ditch (he doesn't speak english and I don't speak filipino so I didn't know what he was telling me). Inside the ditch, that is 5 feet deep, are two kittens. One calico that was already deceased and the tiniest, boney little kitten lying beside her. I jumped in and got the kitten and brought him home in my house to cool off (he was over heated, obviously) before I called the vet.
Then I got another knock on my door. The same gardener brought me back to a different ditch about 20 feet away, and two more kittens were in it. One looked a lot like the first one but the other was a bit bigger and black and white (the other two are white and tabby striped). I scooped them up too and brought them in my house.
After reaching my vet on his day off and getting him to come to my house, he took a look at the kittens and told me there was no hope for them. That they may be crying and walking now, but that they wouldn't make it but he'd give them some fluids, yet he suggested I just euthanize them.
Well, today in the next day and guess what? All 3 are currently chilling in my standup shower in a nice warm bed and doing a lot better. The largest one, the black and white one, is a normal kitten besides a bit too skinny. He plays and eats wet cat food on his own and I'm guessing them all to be around 4 weeks.
The other two are scrawny, have not an ounce of fat on them anywhere. You can see all of their bones and their stomach is not big like most kittens have. Their face looks like little aliens haha. But, the tiniest one (Shrimp, haha) is eating the wet food now too and hissing at the other ones if they try to take it from him. The middle one, a bit bigger than Shrimp, is still only drinking from the eye dropper, but he's walking around and, besides being very sleepy, seems to be okay.
I'm worried that their bodies won't be able to handle the wet food, but they don't really like eating out of the eye dropper so whatever food they do eat is better than nothing, I suppose. I gave them a bath in dishsoap (it's Dawn I think? Or dove... I forget exactly, but it's what I've used every time and was suggested to me by a shelter in my area) and tried to kill all the fleas so they look a lot better now. But I have a few questions for you guys if you can help me since I've never worked with kittens this malnutririoused before.
Do I let them eat as much as they want or should I limit it as to not overwealm their stomachs? I've never had ones this tiny before and my vet says he has no idea what to do with them, he's never seen kittens that are living that are as tiny as the two I have.
The two of them eat wet cat food and seem to really enjoy it and take to it much better than the KMR, do I allow them to eat that or should I try to make them drink more KMR? They will drink a little bit if I give it to them, but they really don't like it haha.
I would post pictures for you guys but they are a mess. It would not be 'cute kitten pictures' it would be very, very gross pics. It breaks my heart to look at them so I doubt you guys would really want to look at them either. I will post pics of them once they get better so at least then it's a 'happy ending' instead of all sad looking
But for now, I don't think it's appropriate to post.
It's my last month in the Philippines after being here a year and I was looking forward to it being uneventful. All 19 of the ferals in my area are spayed/neutered, I got the park (the area I live in)'s permission to have the feral colony here so nobody is allowed to yell at me, they are paying for people to come in and care for them after I convinced them that the cats would help the area with it's rat problem and I haven't seen new cats in almost 2 months. I finally rehomed my 4th litter of kittens that I handfed and was excited that their one eyed momma was going this week to the vet for a check up on her infected eye (or lack there of now).
And then more kittens happened.
There are no cats that I am aware of in the area that are unspayed. I walk every morning and every night and I have not seen a single one that I do not recognize and know. But yesterday, when it was sizzling hot at 40 degrees and I was staying inside with my two boys in my house. A gardener in my area knocked on my door and brought me to a ditch (he doesn't speak english and I don't speak filipino so I didn't know what he was telling me). Inside the ditch, that is 5 feet deep, are two kittens. One calico that was already deceased and the tiniest, boney little kitten lying beside her. I jumped in and got the kitten and brought him home in my house to cool off (he was over heated, obviously) before I called the vet.
Then I got another knock on my door. The same gardener brought me back to a different ditch about 20 feet away, and two more kittens were in it. One looked a lot like the first one but the other was a bit bigger and black and white (the other two are white and tabby striped). I scooped them up too and brought them in my house.
After reaching my vet on his day off and getting him to come to my house, he took a look at the kittens and told me there was no hope for them. That they may be crying and walking now, but that they wouldn't make it but he'd give them some fluids, yet he suggested I just euthanize them.
Well, today in the next day and guess what? All 3 are currently chilling in my standup shower in a nice warm bed and doing a lot better. The largest one, the black and white one, is a normal kitten besides a bit too skinny. He plays and eats wet cat food on his own and I'm guessing them all to be around 4 weeks.
The other two are scrawny, have not an ounce of fat on them anywhere. You can see all of their bones and their stomach is not big like most kittens have. Their face looks like little aliens haha. But, the tiniest one (Shrimp, haha) is eating the wet food now too and hissing at the other ones if they try to take it from him. The middle one, a bit bigger than Shrimp, is still only drinking from the eye dropper, but he's walking around and, besides being very sleepy, seems to be okay.
I'm worried that their bodies won't be able to handle the wet food, but they don't really like eating out of the eye dropper so whatever food they do eat is better than nothing, I suppose. I gave them a bath in dishsoap (it's Dawn I think? Or dove... I forget exactly, but it's what I've used every time and was suggested to me by a shelter in my area) and tried to kill all the fleas so they look a lot better now. But I have a few questions for you guys if you can help me since I've never worked with kittens this malnutririoused before.
Do I let them eat as much as they want or should I limit it as to not overwealm their stomachs? I've never had ones this tiny before and my vet says he has no idea what to do with them, he's never seen kittens that are living that are as tiny as the two I have.
The two of them eat wet cat food and seem to really enjoy it and take to it much better than the KMR, do I allow them to eat that or should I try to make them drink more KMR? They will drink a little bit if I give it to them, but they really don't like it haha.
I would post pictures for you guys but they are a mess. It would not be 'cute kitten pictures' it would be very, very gross pics. It breaks my heart to look at them so I doubt you guys would really want to look at them either. I will post pics of them once they get better so at least then it's a 'happy ending' instead of all sad looking