She is a kitten
that was born around 10:30-11:00am on May 4, 2002.
A black female cat had gone into labor; unfortunately, she had no idea
what was going on, she abandoned her first kitten on our front porch
where she had it.I don't know
how long it was left there, but my dad saw it when he went out, at first
he thought it was dead, but it was defiantly still alive. The female took the afterbirth off but that was it, the kitten
was still wet.My parents grabbed
a box to put it in since the mother was nowhere to be found. I
headed out to find milk formula and a bottle...Believe me it was pretty
hectic trying to find a bottle and kitten formula in town, more
or less all the places I checked were closed or didn't have any.
After I left on the bottle hunt, My dad found the mother giving birth
to the second kitten, and Watched her run off with it.We think she may have abandoned all of them because a black cat
has been staying at my house, However we can't be sure because there
are three black feral's total (the mother being one of them).We have tried twice to see if the mother
would take the kitten back, however she avoids it.Two males, a two year old, and a kitten (half grown) seemed to
be more interested then the mother, Poor Shadow got bopped on the head
The first time, then scared half to death the second time.Unfortunately, now the kitten has our scent
on him since he has been cuddling on us a lot.
It's been several days and the kitten is still going strong, he's a
Smokey gray with a light gray spot on his throat, he looks a lot
like tiger but he's solid in color (assuming its a he).We Probably spent two days calling vets, and the humane society
trying to find if there happened to be a nursing cat that might take
it in, but we've had no luck at all.We are currently bottle-feeding him; we found the liquid formula
although costly works best, the powder stuff tends to clog the bottle.
The kitten seems very talkative.Crying
for food is normal, but he cries in her sleep sometimes, he also has
a little put-put motor in him ;) he's learning how to purr, and if we
rub the right spot with a cotton ball (what we use in place of the mother's
tongue) he lets out these little purrs.He is currently very healthy; her sucking is hard.... on the
bottle and my fingers.He also crawls around good, and her bodily
functions work well, we usually have to rub her belly to make him go
but he has gone in her sleep.
The first night was critical the first three days actually are, but
I would manage to fall back asleep right when he started crying.I ended up staying up with him, and right
now, I have my sleep turned around.I take care of him at night while my mom watches him when I take
short naps during the day.Since
we switched her formula, he is getting a full stomach faster, falling
asleep with in a few seconds, and staying asleep for about 3 or 4 hours
at a time.Maybe I can sleep at night now: P
Currently all he does is eat, sleep, use the bathroom, and cry.her eyes are still closed and he's only able
to crawl for the time being.
He gets mad and groans if the bottle clogs, he's started chewing on
the nipple when that happens, some of the bottles even with the liquid
don't have big enough holes in the nipple.He also hates being in her box, he would much rather be laying
on my mom or me surrounded by and covered with a washcloth.her favorite position is curled up with her hind leg stretched
out and laying on the side of her head near her eyes and ear.
He also likes sleeping under a washcloth; we have two in the box, and
one on the bottom and one he can crawl under.He's been purring more often usually just after he’s eaten and
when he's curled up on me, or in my hand.He's also started to roll over on her back and stretch out then
roll back over.He has a cute yawn to.He is so tiny and fragile.:)
The first three days are critical, that's when the death probability
is the highest at.So far, he
is strong.And since we know how to take care of him
via info on the net, and bugging the vets office I really hope he survives.Like I said even if we had found a nursing
mother to take him Mom said we would still keep him.Mom has gotten to attach to him as have I.
and hopefully with the cats checking on him on a daily basis they should
accept him in the pack easily.
It is going to be a hard three months ahead.I'll keep posting news on how he's doing.The main worry health wise, is bacteria and
germs.Mom has made sure to
constantly boil the bottles, and restrict how many times he is given
the same bottle before its dumped.I'm not going to say he's in the safe zone until he has had her
first shots.... Watch "him" be a she with my
luck *would rather have a little boy* However if he tests positive for
aids, or leukemia we'll have to have him put down, I am really hoping
that doesn't happen.
These were all taken on May 8, 2002
These were taken on May 21 (isn't she adorable *^_^*)
Anyways here's a little calendar for keeping up with her progress.
Date, 2002
Notes
May 4
Kitten is born at 10:30 - 11:00 pm,
Is found and dried off.
After an hour gets a bottle and formula.Haven had distilled water before then
Is fed formula mixed from a powder.
Looked up care into
May 5
Is fed about every hour from the bottle however
am having trouble with the bottle clogging
May 6
Bodily Functions work better.
Got a liquid formula, She is able to get a lot more down him,
and is falling asleep faster and sleeping longer
May 7
Got a scare when her bodily functions seem to
stop working. but after talking to the vet's and using a warm
damp washcloth things are straightened out.
May 8
Bought a few cans of liquid formula, and several
bottles.
Shadow got licked on the head by Tiger.
Most of her umbilical cord has fallen off, however a little bit
still sticks out.
May 9
Shadow starts purring more fluently and rolls
over to her back and stretches for the first time.
Tiger seems more at ease with the kittens prescience, However
Cleo still avoids Her.
Notes that he has grown a little (I really wish we had a scale)
During the day she started rolling over, and staying on her back
so her stomach can be rubbed, that makes it a lot easier to stimulate
her body functions.
May 10
She's stopped feeding on a regular basis, instead
she either goes a few hours without food, or 30 minutes. He's
also able to hold Her self up via her front legs (she almost climbed
out of her box). She's started sucking on fingers while waiting
for the bottle to warm up. She is purring fluently and loud now,
she's been stretching out to go to sleep after eating, and purring
for several minutes till she falls asleep.
May 11
She's been uneasy for most of the day, and hasn't
eaten a whole lot, however after holding her for an hour or two
she contently fell asleep. The house has been cooling off since
its been raining a lot. so we figure she got too cold. especially
since mom hasn't been letting her lay on her for a while.
Kitten got a good bath from Cleo, then got bit :( not enough
to hurt, she just grabbed her fur in her mouth before getting
knocked away. The kitten however purred in sync with her loving
the attention.
The rest of her umbilical cord came off. She was also upgraded
to a bigger box so she can get more exercise. He has grown quite
a bit in one week.
May 12
Cleo kept insisting that she got to bath her,
(she's in an affectionate mood right now) Shadow enjoyed the attention
however I was nervous about her trying to bite. She slept most
of the night, She never cried except for twice, Once when I woke
him up to feed him, and again in the morning. She's still fussy
about the food :(. She laid on mom for about an hour or looking
perfectly content. She would stretch out and yawn and dose, then
stretch again and yawn. She also sucked on her fingers, she didn't
appear to be hungry since she kept spitting the bottle out.
She started washing her paws after some milk got on him. She also
licked mom's finger then rubbed her head against the wet spot.
She acts like he is trying to bath herself but she still doesn't
have the dexterity required to bathe successfully. She is still
just crawling around, but he seems to be getting around a lot
better.
May 15
her eyes are trying to open up, I can see them
slightly, but I'm not sure it its the eye or the third eye-lid
her eyes should open around the 18th
May 16
her eyes are pretty much completely opened now.
She is still doing fine
May 17
her eyes are opened enough that she is looking
around, she wont react to movement but she is opening her mouth
for the bottle freely, and she keeps going for Cleo. Cleo is still
bathing him, She did get freaked because she tried to find food
off her, she didn't appreciate it and ran. Later after she had
fed but was still crying I set him down next to Cleo, she bathed
her. She ended up falling asleep while purring. She's also started
sleeping with her paws over her eyes, we've been keeping the lights
dimmed for her, but I guess its harder to sleep now that he can
sort of see.
May 18
Shadow seems to be convinced Cleo is her mom, Cleo has gotten
in the habit of purring and mewing to her, and licking. In response
the kitten crawls all over her and has even been falling asleep
cuddled up to her. it seems to keep the kitten calm and gives
that extra comfort we humans cant give the little girl. Unfortunately
Cleo does have tendencies to get rough and trying to bite, they
have to be closely supervised.
We were suppost to see about getting something to treat Shadows
'diaper rash' hopefully the vet has something that will prevent
bacterial infections.
We are convinced that the kittens father is a beat up old tomcat.
He gets into a lot of fights and is pretty scarred up from cars
and fights. he is gray and white, with tabby stripes only on his
tail. Shadow's tail has very faint stripes on it. whether he carries
anything (worms, aids etc) is unknown, and hopefully has not been
passed to Shadow.
May 19
Cleo went back to her licking self, The kitten
started crying and wouldn't take food last night, I tried to comfort
her but nothing worked. then Cleo came and conveniently laid down
on the couch, I set Shadow next to her... she got a bath and shut
up.
later in the day Cleo gave her another bath, this time Shadow
peed a good bit on the couch... and me *ICKY* later she stimulated
him more but thankfully I wasn't taking care of him then.
Cleo later got mad because I pushed he away when I was trying
to feed Shadow, So Cleo jumped into Shadows box and gave herself
a bath while making sure I treated the baby good.
May 20
Cleo is still licking, and making sure to keep
Shadow completely clean. I've been letting shadow explore since
she crawls around more, I'll set her down onto of a towel and
Cleo comes and washes him and curls up next to him, Tiger keeps
his distance but will watch intently. I've noticed a few more
stripes are appearing on Shadows coat, mom is disgusted she has
a thing against gray tabbies..... I don't care, I just like shadows
personality. Besides, Cleo isn't the prettiest cat in the world
but she has the best personality :)
May 21
Shadow actually slept most of the night, I passed
out from allergy med last night, and she only woke up twice during
the night wanting food. Later after I left to get groceries mom
said she woke up right when I left, and was still up when I got
home, She had finished feeding him and he sat on the table leaning
against her and watched me put up the groceries. her motor is
getting a lot louder too. Cleo is still acting maternally, but
she's decided the kitten is only worth it if she gets plenty of
attention for washing him.
May 22
I finally got to sleep in my room, I had Shadow
in her box on the floor, I actually got to sleep about 5 hours
at a time before I heard "mewing". When I gave her attention
after feeding her this morning, she kept staring at the patterns
on my shirt, and then tried to paw at them. She's also been trying
to groom me and mom and herself which is so cute. I've already
decided that as soon as she is able to use the litter box
with out having accidents I'll set up my bedroom as a kitty safe
room... ummm I'm gunna have a lot of kitten proofing to do. (kittens
have a habit of trying to eat things you know) And I'm not the
most organized person in the world... . I know one thing, I am
defiantly using a covered litter box. (I used a uncovered one
with Kamu (K.C.) and socks and ended up with sinuses from the
dust.) as for spoiling her rotten *hehehe* take a look at some
things I know she will love in about 2 1/2 more weeks....
Shadows future accessories
These are things caught my eyes not only for Shadow but for my
other two kitties as well. What I really want to get is a bed
similar to the one shown, and a wacky cat gym I saw at Wal-Mart,
a covered litter box is a must have though. I'll just have to
see what she likes the best and get some similar toys.
May 23
I think I'm taking in the kittens sleeping habit,
I basically stayed up till 2:00am from not being able to sleep
(haven previously taken a nap from a food allergy) Shadow is taking
over 15 CC of food in each sitting, and then sleeping for about
6 hours at the most. She's stay up for an hour after eating and
just watch her surroundings then dose off again. At night she
is taking her share of milk in one sitting, but during the day
she will drink half and curiosity will get the better of her before
she take her full fill.
This morning or was that this afternoon? (I didn't get up for
the day till about 2:30pm) Anyways after I fed her she sat on
my lap with her paws on my arm and looked around my room, it was
almost like "Wwwwooow... I've never seen this place before"
it was cute. She will also follow my hands movement.. well sort
of, she follows movement but wont follow it directly.
May 28
Shadow stopped trying to walk off my lap or off
the table. She also demanded she get a little time to explore
my room. She acts like she is trying to find a place to use the
bathroom at, she wont use in in the pen we set up, we have plans
to make a litter box and introduce it to him tomorrow
May 29
Shadow is doing just fine, she doesn't like his
pen so we only have him in there when she's sleeping to protect
her from the other cats, and our feet. If were not holding or
feeding her, she gets to run around on the floor, he usually just
sits right down and watches, but would much rather be on her "moms"
lap or chest. Cleo is banned from going near her because twice
she sat on herand didn't move even after she cried out in pain.
She still gets to bathe her but only on our terms. she is adapting
well to not getting in her pen or near her when we don't want
her to. Shadow is starting to wrestle she is able to groom himself
better and is walking around but she still stumbles and falls
over a lot, she is still showing interest in moving objects however
she's not trying to pounce on anything. We also set up a litter
box for her, its about half an inch or an inch high. she hissed
at it when we presented it to her. we are going to try and litter
train her early since we do know its possible to do as early as
4 weeks and she is 3 1/2. She is aware of when she does number
1, and squats, however with bottle feeding he has a problem with
gas and she seems to be confusing gas and bowel movements as the
same thing because she doesn't move when she goes and we have
to clean him up.
May 31
I'm not having much luck with teaching her to
use the litter box, were thinking about teaching her to use the
big one with Cleo's help mainly observing and following. We've
been letting shadow take the run of one room with supervision
(the den which is kitten proofed and the living room) She's started
playing, she has no interest in toys however loves wrestling Cleo
and she licks, she did hug and rabbit kick so she has to be watched
as usual. Shadow is also sleeping all night as well. until she
is litter box trained or learning the box basics she's kept in
a carrier mainly so she wont get hurt if she gets stuck or eats
something. but also so I don't squish him or kick him off the
bed with out realizing it (she's so small I probably wouldn't
notice him laying on top of me if I was sound asleep)
June 14
We took shadow to the vet this week and she is
a girl, she is also perfectly healthy, we had her checked for
worms and also given a blood test, everything was negative. Wed
we got shadow a buddy, we had been planning, and picked out a
cream/gray striped boy, he's about a week older then her, fully
weaned and letterbox trained. He was dewormed before we took him
home, and also he was taken to the vet and given a blood test
which was negative. Shadow sniffed him over in the car, and tried
to play, he was to nervous to pay any attention to her, she spent
most of the trip sucking on his ear. After he slept off the blood
test side effects, he eventually came out of the carrier. Once
he got used to the surroundings both he and shadow have become
inseparable, wrestling chasing, sleeping together, pouncing, attaching
etc. They are both having so much fun, and shadow looks a lot
happier now. However Cleo has disowned Shadow, they were fine
that morning but one they came out of the carrier Cleo smacked
both and ran, now she growls if they come near her. Tiger doesn't
mind at all, he just moves if they try to attack him.
June 19
I haven't been keeping up with the exact dates,
however since the 14th Cleo has accepted both kittens again, letting
them sleep with her, and she makes sure to keep them clean. Alex
(the new kitten) has a habit of nursing on Cleo's chest, she just
licks him. Shadow has become more consistent about using the litter
box, and she has been off the bottle for a few days. They are
both still given milk, sometimes with the dry sometimes by itself
Aug 12
Its been a while since I posted, since the kittens
haven’t done anymore then eat, sleep, play, and cuddle.
Since the time we got Alex, he tought shadow
to eat dry food, and to use the box. It took about a week or two
before they both began to only use the box. We’ve been free feeding
(always keeping food in the dish) kitten chow and water. Also
Alex still sucks, mainly on the tip of his tail since almost all
the furry toys are lost somewhere. He usually only sucks at night
when he is about to go to sleep, half the time he falls asleep
while sucking. Thankfully he only does that about once a day.
About two weeks ago my dad built a screen door
for my room, it looks funny and a bit out of place, but it allows
me to keep the kittens upstairs at night but also have air circulation
and the ability to hear if anyone yells up at me. I keep there
food and water, and a covered box up there as well. Both sleep
on the bed, shadow on the left side, alex on the right, they usually
sleep eather on or right next to the pillow. Shadow sometimes
crawls under the covers with me, or under the spare blanket at
the foot of the bed. When there not sleeping there playing and
keeping me awake, my parents have even said they can hear them
“thumping” around. There
favorite toys are the rabbit fur mice, and anything with feathers.
I used to have some Indian decorations with feathers in my room
but not now. They also like killing a stuffed bear which I actually hate so
I don’t care. Sometimes I have to lock them up in the carrier
for a few hours to force them to sleep when they get to hyper.
But I rarely have to unless im super tired and don’t feel like
putting up with them. (I cant leave them out of my room because
they could easily slip outside when my parents get up at night
and take the dogs out, or just get up (they both have mild insomnia)
Shadow knows how to unlatch doors, The
door in the bathroom and my room has a hook latch. Shadow opened
the bathroom door while I was takeing a shower one night, but
thankfully no one was up to see that. Alex also tries to open
the screen door in my room. The bottom is acrylic glass, but from
two feet up it’s a wire screen, If I’m on the other side of the
door, doing something in the hallway, Alex throws a fit crying
and he’ll climb up on top of the screen and paw where the hook
is, though if I’m out of the room I put a door stop in front of
it so no mater how hard he tries he cant get it open. Thankfully
they don’t want out when I’m in the room.
The other night I locked them up since they kept
me up, I had a yard sale last Friday and Saturday and I was soo
tired from the heat and exastion, and dyhidration that I was to
tired to deal with them. They were only locked up for about 3
hours before I let them loose again.If I leave them alone in my room they sleep
during the day and play at night, If I keep them with me they
sleep at night and play during the day.They will still play at night but not as long or hard as
when they have already had plenty of sleep.
