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Not On My Watch: The Nick of Time

Last night I reached out to all of you to help us find a home or rescue to take Miss Fluffy Pants so we could open up adequate space to take in a Feral Mama and some of her kittens (two of the five are still missing as of this writing). I'm glad to report that in LESS THAN ONE DAY we have some hope.

A special lady stepped forward to adopt Miss Fluffy Pants!!! She lives in the Atlanta area, but for some reason if that doesn't work out, MissFP has been accepted by the East Coast Maine Coon Rescue as a cat they will include as a courtesy post on their web site. They get a lot of adoptions and it's great exposure for our sweet girl! Thank you to Chris & Vicky at ECMCR! Check out one of the cats they're trying to save-a gorgeous Orange Maine Coon in New Jersey!

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©2012 Maria S. Miss Fluffy Pants caught the eye of one of our friends in Atlanta!

As for our Emergency Rescue last night, it's clear we waited too long to step in, but these cats belong to a resident of the same town Maria lives in so we couldn't just jump in without his permission.

I'd like to say some very angry words about the person who "owned" these cats. Things like, “you had a chance to get your cat spayed a year ago for FREE, why didn't you do it?”

Or how about asking why your “cat,” weighs TWO AND A HALF POUNDS!!!!! Are you even FEEDING HER?! Her kittens weigh between 8 and 10 OUNCES. Is it because they're YOUNG or because they're STARVING?

 

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©2012 Maria S. Our sad boy moments after rescue. I think he got a bit too excited to have real food to eat.

Thankfully Maria was able to get the Mom and the kittens set up in a two story ferret cage without too much trouble. It's not very spacious, but it's what we have until Miss FP finds a home. The Mama allowed Maria to wash the kitten's faces, carefully rinsing away the goop on their eyelids. They fussed as kittens do, but eventually she was able to tease their eyes back open.

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©2012 Maria S. It's a GIRL!

Once the kittens were clean, everyone got a huge helping of Halo cat food-thanks to the big donation they sent us! The kittens ate some of their food and wore the rest. Maria was able to tell that we have a Black male kitten, an Orange Tabby FEMALE! kitten and a FLAME POINT (our first!) female kitten. Mama is a Tortie to the max and full of “Tortie-tude.”

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©2012 Maria S. The little flame point female.

This morning, Maria took the day off work so she could take the family to the Vet! It's a good thing she didn't wait. Mama is severely underweight and the kittens are too small. They all have Coccidia, fleas and an eye infection. Had they gone on like this much longer, I have no doubt the kittens and probably the mama would have died. It wasn't so much that they couldn't fend off their infections or parasites, but between the combination of all these things, PLUS poor or no nutrition…they wouldn't have made it. The fleas would have caused anemia, the parasites would prevent them from absorbing nutrition-if they got any and the environment was not safe at all.

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©2012 Maria S. Mama getting ready to chow down, but very leary of what she's doing in a cage.

Mama went wild in the car on the way to the Vet and while she was at the Vet! She peed, screamed and gave the Vets a big scare when they tried to de-worm her. She did NOT want to be messed with. At least they did get her blood and she tested NEGATIVE for FIV+ and Feline Leukemia!

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©2012 Maria S. The little tykes after something to eat. They're already using their litter pan!

It's going to be awhile before these cats are healthy. Mama is going to need a lot of food. Maria tells me she can see the cat's spine she's so thin. What a horrible life these cats have led-all under the “watchful” eye of a human, who did nothing for them until Maria stepped in and fought to save them and give them the chance at a better life. I'm glad she could keep her cool and just get those cats into safety. I hope we'll be able to find the two kittens who are missing. It's a bitter pill to swallow, knowing we could have taken them in sooner and saved all five kittens, but were too worried about taking up what few resources we have.

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©2012 Maria S. Poor Mama. She's scared of humans, but the good news is…we MAY have a home for her, too! More on that when we have a confirmation.

 

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©2012 Maria S. Waiting for the Vet.

We did amazingly well with our fundraiser reaching just about the halfway mark of our goal, but because we had to take the cats to Vet and not the low cost clinic (because they are only open on Wednesdays), we already used up half of our funds to pay the first Vet bill. We urgently need to raise the remaining funds so we'll have that money ready when they need their vaccines, spay & neuter, and my fear-more medications and more emergency visits.

 

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©2012 Maria S. Nom-noms-a-rama!

If you didn't get a chance to help us last night, use the ChipIn Widget, below or this LINK to our fundraiser page on ChipIn. Every dollar adds up and no donation is too small.

 

The donation you provide to this Emergency Rescue is TAX-DEDUCTIBLE. The money will go to my 501©3 Non-Profit Cat Rescue: Kitten Associates.

If you'd prefer to send a check, please make it out to: Kitten Associates and please note on the check the funds should go to "Bright Eyes Fund" mail it to:

Kitten Associates
P.O. Box 354
Newtown, CT 06470-0354

Any funds not used for the care of this family will go into our General Fund.

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©2012 Maria S. Getting rescued WITH Mama…priceless.

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

 

Comments

I can so relate - the shelter where I foster took in a mom (10 months old) with 6 kittens last week. I got them on Thursday and the mom died on Tuesday. The kittens are being bottle fed. The woman who surrendered them had the mom since last July. No vet care, no spay. I am beyond angry....so I know what you mean.


But - you got them...and a lead for MFP.....that tilts everything back in the other direction.


Love the little orange baby "I haz an angreeee!!"


Keep up the great work!!!

That is such a tragic story and so unfair and SO unnecessary. I will never understand how there are people out there who are like YOU..who rescue, care for, love, are devoted to cats and others who turn a blind eye to a living creature. It slays me!!!!! We almost lost Bobette. She was so sick and thin when we got her and she was about 9-10 months old, as well and we lost 3 kittens. When I think about how if we ALL took responsibility for the animals in our life none of us would have to clean up anyone's mess or rescue any animals, but we don't do that. I just don't get it and I never will. My heart goes out to you and those orphan babies!

Is anyone keeping an eye out for the gray kitten and the other black kitten? Good that you saved the mama and babies! They're precious!

Yes there are folks looking for the missing two kittens...

Stories like this break my heart. I can't believe that people are so cruel. We've rescued all 12 of our cats. Luna had herpes virus when we got her and she was actually sitting in the middle of a road blind as a bat and we went over the top of her. Thank God, we didn't hit her. We stopped and ran back to get her. The back of her neck was soaking wet and we saw a pitbull on the side of the road standing that looks like he had just dropped her. We had to skip my friend's graduation to get her to the vet.  For days, we didn't even know if she had eyes under all that pus. She finally opened her eyes after three days. She's four years old today (approxiamately since we just assigned the date). She was only 5 weeks old. We rescued two from walmart's with eye infections--one's cornea was bulging to nearly bursting. She lost some of her sight, but she still has the eye. She can see shadows out of it--Nebua and her sister Aurora. Then Apollo ran to us at gas station. Hala slept outside our apartment in winter and then ran in when we told her to come in. Orion, Rigel, and Naboo were rescued from and overcrowded pound. Naboo had a bad cut and had the worst case of worms I've ever seen. She was about 10 weeks old and passed a tape worm twice her length--12 inches long. We had to feed her alot, carry her around in a sock or blankets to keep her warm. Then Eclipse got stuck under my parents house on her own about five weeks old. We got her and before we could even take her to the vet she was nearly dying from worms. She lost down to like 8 ounces. We had to force feed her some expensive food so she got enough nutrients. Endor was about five weeks old and living at a busy gas station when my friend brought her to me. She had the worse case of fleas I've ever seen in my life. She had 40 or more in lines around her eyes. While she slept after two consecutive baths we had to pick off fleas with tweezers--they were dead but we just couldn't get them off. Nimbus and Sirius were rescued by someone allergic to cats who was trying to do the right thing but couldn't keep them. We got them from her and Nimbus is a smaller cat with a bit of a heart murmmer. She might have to have meds or something later.

 

We've taken care of all of them even though at one point we were only making 7,000 a year. We pinched pennies, we borrowed money from our people family to take care of our "kids". And it just angers me especially with people who have funds who are just to lazy to do it. I've had to sit up all night in a bathroom using the shower as steam for a sick cat who could harly breathe out of it's nose.

 

Sorry for my rambling, but I love what you're doing. You're a beautiful soul.

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