11-06-2005, 12:15 AM
Last night, I heard a screaming sound from outside, and it sounded very familiar: it was a kitten. We have a lot of cats around our house (our land is something of a 'cat paradise', hehe), so there's always a fresh supply of kitties. Well, apparently this generation of cats isn't the best at parenting...there are far fewer now than before. Anyways, awhile back, we had tried to save one orphaned kitten...he was abandoned at birth (he was still attached to his placenta, which we had to remove ourselves) but he did not survive because he did not receive colustrum and was way too infested with parasites to live. Well anyways, when I heard the screaming last night, I remembered that sound from the first kitten we tried to save, and I followed the screams to find another one. This kitten was hidden in a bush behind our house, strangulating from a vine (it had a small vine literally wrapped around its neck). I broke the vine from its neck and brought it inside. It was screaming like crazy, obviously very hungry and cold. It had been awhile since the last orphan, but we still had a jug of KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer, sorta like formula for kitties). We inspected this kitten; its eyes were wide open which means it's survived at least 8 days of life. Its ears are up which means it's at least 2 weeks old. It's trying hard to walk, which indicates it may be as old as 3 weeks. At this point, its survivability rate is pretty good, since it clearly had colustrum and doesn't appear to carry parasites to any great extent, if at all. So all it really needed was some emergency first aid and a warm, isolated area to live in while it pulls through this difficult time.
Well anyways, here's a picture of our little munchkin:
![[Image: kitty.jpg]](http://www.nodtveidt.net/kitty.jpg)
Only one real hurdle remains in its struggle to survive, and that's the transition from milk to solid foods. This can often take a kitten's life if it has not developed correctly.
To anyone who ever wants to do this kind of thing: this is extremely difficult to do, but well worth it if your kitty survives. It's like raising a human baby, only harder since there's so much more you have to worry about, such as making sure your kitty poops and pees (you have to induce this yourself; they are not born knowing how and it's rather nasty at first but it gets easier as time goes on). If the kitty survives to adolescence, you've got a loyal friend for life.
Well anyways, here's a picture of our little munchkin:
Only one real hurdle remains in its struggle to survive, and that's the transition from milk to solid foods. This can often take a kitten's life if it has not developed correctly.
To anyone who ever wants to do this kind of thing: this is extremely difficult to do, but well worth it if your kitty survives. It's like raising a human baby, only harder since there's so much more you have to worry about, such as making sure your kitty poops and pees (you have to induce this yourself; they are not born knowing how and it's rather nasty at first but it gets easier as time goes on). If the kitty survives to adolescence, you've got a loyal friend for life.
\__/)
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(")_(") help him gain world domination.
![[Image: 11895-r.png]](http://fileanchor.com/11895-r.png)
![[Image: sig.php]](http://josh.whtiger.net/images/sig.php)
She's now a week old and very healthy because Rhiannon is raising her naturally. Today we found out that Huggies suck. :rotfl: 
![[Image: ds2_0105.jpg]](http://s94250218.onlinehome.us/qbtk/upload/ds2_0105.jpg)