Tuesday I got a phone call from a woman telling me that they had a kitten in need of a bottle feeder, well you all know thats what I do. She drove just over 2 hrs to bring me this wee scrap of a thing. Lily is guesstimated to be somewhere between 4 and 5 weeks, I am thinking closer to 5 since she is :
1) able to eat on her own
2) use the litter box
3) has her canine teeth which start to erupt at 3-4 weeks, hers are fully in.
The story with Lily isn't unusual but its kinda sad really, well no matter how a bottle feeder comes to be it's always sad that they are not with their momma's who they need so badly. Anyway apparently a woman dropped her off at a shelter, her story was that this woman was giving away free kittens. Who doesn't like a free kitten, I mean they are snuggly and warm and OH MY GOODNESS so darn cute. She picked litter from a litter of however many there were and off they went. Lady comes to discover that Lily is much younger than the mother's owner claimed. She didn't know what to do so she took her to animal control to get her some help. Keep in mind that the woman DID do the right thing, she could have tossed Lily outside and left her to die or be eaten by a hungry animal, so turning her in was the right thing to do. They guessed Lily to be about 3 weeks old given her small stature. They put Lily in with another momma cat who had babes about 4 months old, and they thought that Lily was getting enough but it became apparent that she wasn't, so they contacted TCR who brought her to me. She was suffering from low blood sugar and I think she probably had a seizure when Heather picker her up. When she got here I filled out her info card and weighed her...offered her a bottle which at first she was not impressed with, gave her a small bit with a syringe and she perked up almost right away and managed to suck back 9 cc's right then and then finished the 1 ounce bottle by 12:30pm. heather wasn't sure she would live, than I remembered my faithful test, it's never been wrong as to whether a kitten is sick or healthy. Ruby (my miniature poodle) has always been right, if a kitten is sick she will give a quick sniff and walk away...she sniffed this kitten but she didn't walk away, Heather probably thought that I was nuts when I told her that "Ruby says she is and will be fine". She was still very curious and when I walked Heather out I came back to find Ruby laying beside my infant box and sure enough she is getting stronger and true to the past Ruby has adopted Lily and takes care of the cleaning, and mothering of Lily, except for the feeding. Ruby has always been right.
On Tuesday she weighed 197G, remember a newborn kitten usually weighs somewhere between 100 ad 130G at birth. So Lily is stunted, she was maybe just the runt of the litter, or she may just be small. However she is active and loves to snuggle and is eating on her own, granted not much from either a bottle or a can but she is at least eating.
She is a pretty easy wee girl, I never hear her cry for more than a few seconds and only small teeny wee meows. Despite her size she is doing really well.
she is adorable, snuggly, loveable, and really cute. So I will be updating my blog daily as usual until it gets to a point where her growth and development has steadied and when I can no longer get her to sit still long enough to be weighed.
Tuesday she weighed - 197G
Wednesday - 202G
Thursday (today)- 209G
her gains are not great but she is also quite active so that will not help in the gaining area, I am gonna give he anotherday to really start packing it on and if she doesn't then I am going to add some extra calories to her food and formula.
Tale care see you tomorrow
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