Taking in the orphans

This is what they looked like when they arrived at my house.
This is after an initial bath at the shops

Last Monday, June 20, I went out to the research site to help with some of the work. We started with lunch in the shops where the sound of kittens mewing was overwhelming. I knew there were kittens, but I didn't know the story of the kittens.

They are very young orphans. They can't feed themselves or get into the adult litter box. When I saw them, rather than wanting to cuddle them, I wanted to walk away quickly. They were filthy and clearly not going to make it without major intervention.

Over lunch, I found out most of the staff were concerned, but didn't know what to do for them. I'm no expert, but figured I could do better than that situation. After lunch, Dawne and I bought syringes to feed them and bathed them, but we didn't have warm water. So it was a quick dip to get the worst off so we could hold them to feed them. They seemed strong enough, but clearly needed mothering.
So, I brought them home. 

Kenzie trying to top up hungry kittens.

Now lucky for me, but not so much her, Kenzie is staying with me right now. She's on the kitten day shift by default; which I acknowledge is unfair to foist 3 kittens on anyone, but Kenzie is a trouper and kind and hasn't shot me yet.



We made the kitten formula Shirley from Lethbridge No Kill Animal Association (NOKA) taught me last fall and set about feeding them... often. By around 9 pm we figured we had them full and gave them a thorough bath. Because they're so small, Kenzie got out her blow dryer and I cuddled them while she waved it over them. They looked blissful for the first time at that point. All fell asleep and stayed that way over night.


They seemed to be doing well and getting stronger until Thursday. It was a hot day and by evening, the little orange guy was a limp rag. He kept trying to crawl into a corner to die. The little grey guy wasn't much better. Oddly, little blackie, the runt was doing fine.
We called in emergency medical help from NOKA. This is the group I worked with last fall.

I'm tempted to call him Fred for some
reason, but I should probably check with
my brother Fred before I do that.

Sue came by and gave little orangey water under the skin or a subcutaneous water injection. He didn't look much better when she left and grey was a bit of a sorry sight too. She checked them all over, guessed their age at 3 weeks and wished us luck. I was so grateful she had come. 
None of us expected to see little orangey alive by morning and little grey didn't look like he'd make it much longer. 
I prayed. For the record, I can count the number of times I've prayed in my life. I remember them all. I save prayers for times when I really mean it.
Then around 9 pm, little orange guy came bouncing out of the kitten room and hopping across the floor like nothing had happened earlier! So Kenzie sat for the next couple of hours and dribbled water into little grey.

Friday morning, I opened the door to the kitten room not sure who would be alive. All 3 little fur balls came trotting toward me mewing for breakfast. So I fed them, but made them all take 2cc water before I gave them milk.
Friday night, Shirley came by and fixed us all up. She gave us 10cc syringes that the kittens can suck on easily, she gave us nutrient rich kitten formula and the kittens a clean bill of health. 
Since then they have done really well. They are eating, sleeping, using the litter box and playing with each other. Before, they cried all the time because they were never quite full and weren't defecating well (you have to help them at this age - Yeah!).

So, we'll see from here. They are still very, very young to be without a mom. Shirley says she's raised lots of orphans and there's no reason these guys shouldn't make it. Everybody pray now and Kenzie and I will do our best at this end.