Meet a little Miracle

As I posted earlier, Alley Cats and Angels responded to a request for help on Friday, 8/6, and took in 6 cats. A mama and her four 3.5-4 month old babies, and one little one who was temporarily named itty bitty pitiful kitty.  

This little one was one of the most pitiful kittens we've rescued in a long time. Close to 9 weeks old (confirmed by vet today), this little one is the size and weight of a 4.5 week old kitten. She was originally "rescued" over a month ago by a well meaning person after she saw some young boys abusing it. Unfortunately she did not have money to buy kitten replacement milk and the things a growing kitten needs. This little one was fed only condensed milk and hadn't grown in at least 3 weeks when we took her in.  

This little one is an angel, and at her age, she should be chasing little play mice and balls with bells in them. However, she doesn’t have the energy for that – she sleeps with her teddy bear and hobbles out of bed to take a couple bites of food at one time or go potty.  

This little girl is a real fighter, a survivor, and she's a miracle – so we have named her Miracle. She is way too small for her age, she's underweight (currently weighs less than 1 pound) and her body is in poor condition – she’s very thin, despite her potbelly - which is most likely due to parasites. She tested negative for both FeLV and FIV - yay! And she's currently on medication for intestinal parasites and ear mites. She is weak and has muscle atrophy on her right front leg; she does not use that leg well at all. The vet has recommended we monitor her leg carefully and the worst case scenario, it may have to be amputated in the future. 

Despite being so thin, weak, and not being able to use her right front leg, she gets in and out of her tiny litterbox and gets up to eat. What a trooper.

She's so small that we put her food and water in the plastic tops that go on open cans of cat food - beause they are so shallow.  She prefers Royal Canin Baby Kate dry to canned food/formula mix, but we'll do supplemental feedings with the canned food to make sure she gains weight. Dr. Jodi wants us to weigh Miracle every day to make sure she's gaining weight and will go into Dr. Jodi Reed at Harmony Animal Hospital on a regular basis for follow-up.  

One look at Miracle and she will steal your heart and break your heart at the same time. She has a long road ahead of her until she's a healthy girl but she's in very good hands with us.

Please keep Miracle in your thoughts and wish her lots of good health. She really is much tinier than she looks in her picture.

Adoption Update

Well, it wasn't the 18 adopted last weekend, but we are quite happy with the five (5) adoptions we had this weekend.  Tasslehoff, Ash, Zen, Mercedes, and Zonks were adopted this weekend.

Of course we had intakes!

We took in two (2) kittens Wednesday.   And took in six (6) Friday.  The little one from Friday is a fighter.  He's quite pitiful though - actually he's more than just pitiful and he has stolen my heart.  I really hope his bloodwork and such turns out ok.  The other four kittens (approximately 4 months old) and the mama, while thin are not emaciated and are super friendly.  Flea, ear mite, and intestinal parasite treatment has already commenced and full medical will be started soon.

Yesterday, we had two (2) intakes.  A sweet but EXTREMELY vocal kitten about 7 weeks old and then a little one maybe 4 weeks old was brought to us after it was found by someone who said he almost drown in a big puddle from the storm.  He's a fat little porker so he was nursing on a mama cat.  He's not big on the bottle and doesn't go for formula on a saucer yet so we're syringe feeding.  So much for going into the office to work at the paying job tomorrow - I'll be working from home again.  So glad I have that flexibility.  But this little guy is so lonely.  I have him in the living room with me in a smaller cage with a heating pad and some stuffed animals but I need to go out and buy another sound machine that has the heartbeat selection or see if I can find an old fashioned wind-up alarm clock becaue that will at least simulate mama's heart beat.

The person that brought the little bitty one into Petsmart yesterday came back today to give us very detailed information on the feral cat where she works that she feeds.  Marie P and I went out to trap tonight because there is one female thought to be pregnant and one older kitten that may possibly have a broken leg.  It was hot as hades and the mosquitos were loving me and ignoring Marie (perhaps I'm sweeter?  bwahahaha!!!).  Caught one adult, possibly the pregnant female.  Stayed for quite a while but did not see the hurt kitten so will keep going back.  We did see one kitten but he's a little too old to tame with our limited resources but not quite old enough to TNR so we'll be getting him/her in a couple of weeks.  They are at a business but it's a lovely location with lots of grass and trees and a huge pond.  The lady that brought us the kitten yesterday feeds and we'll also show her how to trap so she can help us trap at that colony.  The hurt kitten, once caught, if too old to tame, will be vetted and then we'll find someone in our rescue to keep him (with either Marie or me being the main "suckers").  If he does have a broken leg, that is treatable and we do not euthanize for treatable - however, he would be inside too long during treatment and recovery to safely be returned to his colony without a relocation confinement.

In barn cat news, we relocated three barn cats today to one barn home.  And it was a close drive too!  YAY!!! 

New rescues

Just got a little kitten settled in that someone "rescued" 8 weeks ago. Her friend said the kitten hadn't grown in over 3 weeks because of malnutrition. He looks like he's 5 weeks old. I'm feeding the little one malnourished canned food, KMR, and nutrical right now.

The other kittens we took in are older and are malnourished also but not as bad. Fleas and ear mites galore (I'm working on that in a few minutes).

Vet visit will be lined up ASAP.  And I'll work to get pictures.

Remember this baby?

Mother's Day 2011 TNR project in Spring Hope - took in three kittens, including "itty bitty spitty kitty".  Had to wear heavy gloves with spitty kitty even though she was only about 6 weeks old.  She was wilder than a March hare and wanted to rip my face off.  Well, this little lady is now a total lovebug.  And she purrs non-stop!  She and her sister were wedged between a fence and some wood back in a pen where a lot of snakes were rumored to be.  They were both quick sick.  We named itty bitty spitty kitty Lucky Charm because she's lucky we found her  - she most likely would have not survived without medical treatment.  Lucky Charm has been seen by a specialist at Animal Eye Care and she has an issue with her tear duct and will probably always have a slightly weepy eye.  The doctor said there is nothing that needs to be done and she is fine. 

 Itty Bitty Spitty Kitty on Mother's Day 2011

Super sweet Lucky Charm today

Trix today

The "healthy" kitten taken in that day, Captain Crunch, didn't make it.  He was "healthy" or so we thought when he was rescued but he ate from the dishes the adults ate from and died from salmonella.  Not something the vet would have found when they all went to the vet the next day. We've talked to the caregiver about being sure he washes the cats dishes.  Of the five older kittens (6 + weeks) taken from that colony, three died from salmonella.  A situation that could have been avoided with proper cleaning of cat dishes.  So sad.

Help Save a Life - Foster!

Can you help save a life by fostering?

We are in desperate need of foster homes so we can take in EIGHT 4-5 month old kittens. We are spaying mama cat through our Alter an Alley Cat program but the owner of the mama cat is struggling and the cats are living only on very meager table scraps each day.

We need foster homes please! We can split them up into much smaller groups.  Alley Cats and Angels takes care of all medical expenses and these cats will be vetted as quickly as we take them in as possible.