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Foster Cat Journal: Sweethearts

Last night we got Bob home from his #6 chemo treatment. We barely got in the door, when I saw it was already 7pm and time for the foster kittens to get their meds.

I have to get a photo of this for you...each cat has a paper plate with their name written on it so I can keep track of which cat is getting the meds. Then I take some yummy raw food and mix the Panacur into it. Each kitten has a different dose. Then I take some play dough like cat treat stuff and cover up their tiny Baytril, then hide that into the small mound of food. Last night everyone got a B12 shot, so I have the syringes on each plate. That was only SOME of what they got.

I put mama-Mazie into a cat carrier, then gave the plates to Chester and Polly. Sam watched them to make sure they ate it all. I took Cara into the bathroom so I could feed her separately. I gave her a tiny and I mean, TINY dot of food. She was clearly starving and attacked the spoon, gobbling the tiny morsal. Then I turned on my stopwatch app on my iPhone, watching a minute pass while Cara frantically ran around the room, looking for more food. I gave her another nibble.

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©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Cara, hoping for another bite of food.

It took about 6 minutes to go through 1/2 of the food, which was only about 1 teaspoon, total. I made sure she ate her baytril first. I waited, she started the familiar gurgling sound in her belly. Then she licked at her mouth, clearly she was going to regurgitate this food. She started to back herself up. Within a few moments, out came the food, along with a lot of mucus. Only because Cara MUST get these meds in her, did I use a paper towel to tease out the mucus and let her eat the remains back up. She must have been starving. She licked her lips, gurgled, but managed to keep the food down.

I waited a few more minutes and gave her a tiny bit of food. I thought she was going to lose it again, but she didn't. She sounded terrible, though. After about 10 more minutes I let her finish up and she was all right.

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©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Cara & Chester this morning.

This morning, I got up late, so I blame myself, but Cara just coldn't keep her food down. I think I let her go too long between eating and she builds up so much mucus that it prevents her from getting her food into her stomach. Even with very watered down food, she pushed it back up. Over the course of an hour, she spewed six times, each one with mucus, then more and more foam. She must be so hungry. It just kills me to see this. It completely makes sense as to why she is just barely 3 pounds and her brother, Chester is 4 pounds 10 ounces.

I put in a call to Dr Larry. Am waiting to hear back from him. I wish there was some way to get the mucus out of this poor kitten. She has such a sweet face and acts like a baby squirrel. If you sit still, out of the blue, she'll suddenly jump onto your shoulder. I don't know how she manages that distance. It's not from the floor, but from your lap..come to think of it, I was sitting on the edge of the tub and she got to my shoulder last night!

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©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Little Sweetie.

I just hate seeing her like this. I hate seeing all of them so sick. Chester snorts like a pig and Polly sounds like a duck with a cold. Her eyes are watery and she fusses like crazy every time I try to give her meds. Sam got a huge scratch on his hand from Chester, just last night. If they only knew we were trying to help them.

Speaking of help...

Thank you very much to all the kind people who jumped in to donate towards the kittens ever growing Vet bill! You're all sweethearts! We got a donation from someone in Norway and someone in the UK! It's an amazing feeling to know that so many of you cared enough to share what you could to help get these babies back to health.

If you didn't get a chance to donate to their fund, I'll re-run the ChipIn widget here. If you already donated, then I Thank You and the kittens thank you, too!

I really hope I have good news about these babies, soon!

Thank You! copy.jpg

Comments

Robin, Been there done that with trying to save sick kitties back when we lived in Nebraska farm country. As I read your words, it brought it all back. The ups, downs, the frustration and the utter helplessness when you can't seem to make it better for them. Some one dropped a litter of really sick kittens off at my mail box. We lived down an unpaved tree lined road that everyone thought lead to "the animal shelter" ie...my house! LOL This one poor litter of kitties brought with them a new virulent sub-type of distemper that killed every kitten once they stopped nursing. And despite all efforts, it spread to the farm kitties. No survivors. Not one kitten survived passed 6-8 weeks on the farm. Even the University of Nebraska couldn't name it. For 2 years I spayed and neutered every cat that we could find and watched every momma kitty that got past me lose their litters.
Did everything humanly possible to treat, care for and make comfortable each little kitty knowing how limited their time was, hoping against hope that we would get even one survivor. The vets tried everything and charged me as little as possible, bless them. (s) They knew they also had a vested interest in finding an end to the dying. Worked with them to set up a tracking system to see if the virus showed up any place else in the county or in the state. Made sure while I was there that there were no more litters and arranged for the farm to get a ready supply of spayed ratters from other farms before I left. That was 15 years ago. Your words brought back all of it. Sighhh
All this to say I know how your feel and wish I could give you the biggest hug in the world. HHHHHHHHUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGG Try to get as much rest as you can. We'll be lighting candles for the little ones and ...Bob. :) Marie and.... The herd. ( Bill, Emmy Lou, Billy Blue, Inky Doodle, Lucky May, Jo Jo, Curly Sue, and Missy too.) Herd= dogs cats humans LOL Good Luck Robin and I'll keep checking back. :)

Marie, you are a SAINT. YOU are the one who deserves the HUGE HUG!!!!!! What you did-all the work you did. Trying to find out what was going on. That is really serious stuff. I know maybe a tiny handful of people that would have worked that hard to save those lives and to keep going when it was obvious none could be saved. What a terrible battle you fought.

For now, I am very lucky. All my sick kittens have some how made it sooner or later, but I know I won't always be lucky and I know one day I will have to face very difficult decisions. Like you, I will fight and fight to keep them going. We do it for the ones we can save and we try to find a way to move on when we lose them.

You're a heroine to us all.
xooxo,
Robin & Bob and...whew...the other 12 kitties here!

I remember when Cara would stand on top of one of those dome shaped cats beds and jump off of it flying over onto my leg to get her food. I thought that was the cutest thing ever. I hope her tummy gives her and you a break real soon.

OMG she cracks me up. She gives NO warning. All of a sudden..WHAM...she flies through the air and lands half way up my arm. She's a velcro kitty!

i want to adopt cara.. we just got the ok from our landlord to get a 2nd cat.. and ohh she is beautiful.. tell her to hurry up and get healthy so she can come live in RI.. :)

Awww...Cara is such a cutie and what a fighter. Great spirit. Big green eyes. She is suce a lovely girl. Hope it all works out for her!

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