Monday....got a call from a lady who has a 9 month old cat who, 2 days prior gave birth and the kids were dying...
Half dressed I gathered my supplies, KMR, syringes, feeding tubes, Karo syrup, etc etc and flew over there.
3 were dead, 2 were laying there by mom, who was ignoring them, cold as hell and barely alive.
I snatched them up and began working on them, even though I knew in my heart it was likely too late to save them. I've been here before, once they get this cold....too fragile to stop this downhill slide.
I rubbed and smothered them in a towel I heated in the microwave, I talked to them telling them to just hang in there, get warm so I can feed you, type of thing.
Tube fed....
I left with a heavy heart, there was just no reason for them to all die...why didn't this lady see the momma cat is NOT caring for them, and ask for help sooner instead of going to work and casually calling to say it's been 2 days now and her cat is not taking care of them??? Err!
No sooner did I leave that I recieved a text message saying there is a feral momma and her 3 newborns at the shelter who were about to be euthanized, do you want to save them..
So my new "cat room" residents are settling in for the most part, momma is a pretty young thing but feral as all get-out, obviously has had zero human contact before, so I may as well be a huge green scarey giant monster for all she knows.
I use my :talking to a very feral kitty" voice, moving slowly and calmly as I can, I need her to relax enough to feed her kids, which she likely had NOT done much, probably since being trapped and brought to the shelter that am.
I had to take the feral condo apart last night to slip in a huge litter box lined with softies, etc. so she would get out of the litterbox and be with her kids. (she felt safer in it with it's high sides, which kept her from her kids) Once that was in the cage I coaxed her out of the original litterbox and replaced it with a low sided one so she will want to be in the bigger one with high sides, and nurse those kids.
Thinking like a cat!
I'm about to go check on the new family, hope for the best, I NEED them to survive!
Half dressed I gathered my supplies, KMR, syringes, feeding tubes, Karo syrup, etc etc and flew over there.
3 were dead, 2 were laying there by mom, who was ignoring them, cold as hell and barely alive.
I snatched them up and began working on them, even though I knew in my heart it was likely too late to save them. I've been here before, once they get this cold....too fragile to stop this downhill slide.
I rubbed and smothered them in a towel I heated in the microwave, I talked to them telling them to just hang in there, get warm so I can feed you, type of thing.
Tube fed....
I left with a heavy heart, there was just no reason for them to all die...why didn't this lady see the momma cat is NOT caring for them, and ask for help sooner instead of going to work and casually calling to say it's been 2 days now and her cat is not taking care of them??? Err!
No sooner did I leave that I recieved a text message saying there is a feral momma and her 3 newborns at the shelter who were about to be euthanized, do you want to save them..
So my new "cat room" residents are settling in for the most part, momma is a pretty young thing but feral as all get-out, obviously has had zero human contact before, so I may as well be a huge green scarey giant monster for all she knows.
I use my :talking to a very feral kitty" voice, moving slowly and calmly as I can, I need her to relax enough to feed her kids, which she likely had NOT done much, probably since being trapped and brought to the shelter that am.
I had to take the feral condo apart last night to slip in a huge litter box lined with softies, etc. so she would get out of the litterbox and be with her kids. (she felt safer in it with it's high sides, which kept her from her kids) Once that was in the cage I coaxed her out of the original litterbox and replaced it with a low sided one so she will want to be in the bigger one with high sides, and nurse those kids.
Thinking like a cat!
I'm about to go check on the new family, hope for the best, I NEED them to survive!